{"id":250782,"date":"2021-11-15T09:38:10","date_gmt":"2021-11-15T14:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=250782"},"modified":"2023-02-01T04:38:53","modified_gmt":"2023-02-01T03:38:53","slug":"iran-1000-former-political-prisoners-vow-to-continue-the-struggle-for-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/iran-1000-former-political-prisoners-vow-to-continue-the-struggle-for-freedom\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran:\u00a01000 Former\u00a0Political Prisoners Vow To Continue the Struggle for Freedom\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"iran-november2019uprising-ashraf3-min\"<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In an event in Ashraf-3, home to thousands of members of Iran\u2019s main opposition movement, the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization<\/a> of Iran (PMOI\/MEK), the participants, including 1,000 political prisoners under the regimes of the mullah and the Shah, called on the international community to break its silence vis-\u00e0-vis the 1988 massacre and the November 2019 uprising and called for the prosecution of the perpetrators of both massacres, including the Iranian regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and his president Ebrahim Raisi.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The participants paid homage to the memory of 30,000 political<\/a> prisoners massacred in 1988 and 1,500 protesters slaughtered during the November 2019 uprising.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Several former political prisoners spoke at the event and recounted their harrowing ordeals while in captivity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ms. Masoumeh Malek Mohammadi<\/a>, one of the MEK\u2019s officials who had spent nearly five years in prison moderated the program.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe summer of 1988 saw the largest massacre of political prisoners in modern history,\u201d said Ms. Mohammadi, adding, \u201cIn today\u2019s program, we are trying to show a glimpse about the facts and dimensions of this horrible crime, as well as a picture of the resistance of the PMOI. The victims of this crime were the most enlightened, selfless, and revered children of the Iranian people, who were hanged in groups behind the concrete walls, in the death corridors of various prisons\u201d.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The event came in simultaneous with the transfer of the court proceeding in Stockholm of an official of the clerical regime for his role in the 1988 massacre to Albania.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The entire Stockholm district court relocated<\/a> to the Albanian port of Durres, at the prosecution\u2019s request, to hear testimony from witnesses to be questioned until November 18, who are all members of the MEK and reside in Ashraf 3 near Durres.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In providing an explanation for the rare decision, the Chief Swedish Judge of Noury case on October 26 said: \u201cDespite all the difficulties and challenges for the transfer, we made this decision considering the significance and importance of testimonies of the plaintiffs who are in Albania. Given the importance of these testimonies for the case, all the six judges, two prosecutors, lawyers for the plaintiffs will all come to Albania.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parvin Firoozan, who has spent nine years in the regime\u2019s prisons, was the first speaker. \u201cAlthough the real dimension and details of the 1988 massacre of political prisoners are unknown, the execution of female MEK members remains a mystery and is kept in dark more than other aspects of the massacre and very few women have survived that genocide,\u201d Firoozan said. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The next speaker was Asadullah Nabavi<\/a>, who had spent 13 years in prison.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSemnan Prison was full of political prisoners at the beginning of the massacre, and at least 50 MEK supporters were held in general and solitary confinement. But in October 1988, both general ward and solitary confinements were completely empty, and by mid-October 1988, only three of us survived.\u201d Nabavi said\u00a0adding, \u00a0\u201cThe number of martyrs in Semnan is definitely high. This is only a small part of mass executions in a tiny city. Through these figures, one can assess the number of executed MEK supporters throughout Iran, showing the nationwide scale of the massacre and genocide.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The martyrs of the November uprising are alive and immortal.
They are the blossoms of a determined generation and an arisen nation, heralding the arrival of the angel of freedom in #Iran<\/a>. #IranProtests<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/jBKGgzmZNN<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/s4z2uMwWje<\/a><\/p>\n

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) November 14, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n