No 263 News Bulletin of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran 24 MARCH 2008

CELEBRATING NOWROUZ, IRANIAN NEW YEAR

Resistance advances, mullahs reach impasse,

appeasement and concessions fail
Maryam Rajavi’s
New Year message
T he following are excerpts from Mrs. Rajavi’s
New Year message:
Last year was truly one of advancement
and pride for the Iranian people’s Resistance
on the one hand, and weakening and flagging
for the mullahs’ regime, on the other, which is
indicative of the beginning of its implosion and
ultimate overthrow.
Last year witnessed an unrelenting cycle of
protests and demonstrations across our enchained The Iranian New Year was celebrated with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian
nation. These protests were exacerbated by those Resistance, at her residence in Auvers-sur-Oise, northwest of Paris on Thursday, March 20.
surrounding fuel rationing, and their flames Hundreds of members and supporters of the Resistance took part in the event and many local
engulfed the country’s neighborhoods, cities, residents joined them to express their well wishes to Mrs. Rajavi and her movement in the New
universities and factories, where people chanted Year. In a message to the nation which was broadcast live to Iran via satellite, Mrs. Rajavi hailed
the slogans heard in Ashraf City: “We are the Iranians for their continued protests throughout the year and enumerated achievements of the
men and women of resistance. Fight and we Resistance.
will fight to the end,” “We will stand, chant,
and fight until the end,” and “Freedom is our
inalienable right.”
For the mullahs, last year ended as bitterly
MPs, Peers demand UK government
as it had begun, with UN Security Council obey the law, remove PMOI from terror list
resolutions 1747 and 1803. The mullahs tried
their utmost to prevent the passage of the
resolutions, ranging from taking British sailors
hostage to deceiving US intelligence agencies
about their clandestine nuclear program. But,
those plots failed.
In reality, it was the Iranian Resistance,
which did not allow the mullahs to achieve their
ends. It exposed the mullahs’ plans through a From left: Baroness Verma, Brian Binley, Lord Waddington, Lord Corbett, Hossein Abedini, Baroness Turner
and Lord Archer
groundbreaking revelation, dealing a crushing
blow to the religious fascism’s malevolent plans
Continued on page 2 B ritish MPs and Peers at a conference in the
House of Commons on March 11 urged
the Government to comply with a High Court
MP (Con); Baroness Verma; David Drew MP
(Lab); Roger Gale MP (Con); Baroness Turner
of Camden; Rt. Hon. Lord Archer of Sandwell
decision to remove the People’s Mojahedin QC, former UK Solicitor-General; Lord Clarke
Iranians defy mullahs, Organisation of Iran (PMOI) from its list of Hampstead; Baroness Blood; Baroness Knight
of banned organisations. Speakers included of Collingtree; Masoud Zabeti of the Committee
mark Festival of Fire Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Chairman of of Anglo-Iranian Lawyers and Hossein Abedini
the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.
On page 4 Freedom; Rt. Hon. Lord Waddington QC, The British Parliamentary Committee for
former UK Home Secretary; Brian Binley Continued on page 3

Maryam Rajavi’s New Year ...
Continued from page 1
to build nuclear warheads and the bomb. So
severe was the blow that like Hassan Rowhani,
the regime’s former chief nuclear negotiator,
the mullahs’ President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
said explicitly that everything began from the
summer of 2002 when the Natanz and Arak
nuclear facilities were first exposed by the
People’s Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK).
The mullahs’ President, Ahmadinejad, was
humiliated wherever he went, from Columbia
University in New York to Tehran’s Polytechnic
University and streets of Iraq.
Majlis sham election
The mullahs’ Majlis (Parliamentary) elections
further matured the unipolarization trend and
contraction of the regime’s ranks. Above all, the
election was a resounding ‘NO’ by the Iranian
nation to tyranny. This marked the ultimate
defeat for the ruling despots. More than 95
percent of Iranians boycotted the charade. So
pathetic was the election that according to official
figures only 26 percent of those in Tehran voted.
The candidate who came in first received only
11.5 percent of the votes and the one coming in
last received six percent. The situation is similar
in major cities such as Mashad and Tabriz. The
highest number of votes cast in these cities for
the winner was around 10 percent of the eligible
voters.
It was later announced that the so-
called “Principlist faction,” which supports
Ahmadinejad had obtained more than 70
percent of the votes.
The defeated factions, such as that of former
mullahs’ president Mohammad Khatami, are
truly pathetic. The maximum seats they were
allowed to compete for numbered around 30, or
less than 15 percent of the 290-seat Majlis.
2 IRAN LIBERATION - MARCH 24, 2008
IRANIAN NEW YEAR
Who are the new Majlis
Deputies?
In Tehran, which is a microcosm of the entire
nation with 30 seats in the Majlis, 18 of the
19 candidates who made it in the first round
were from Ahmadinejad’s faction and the single
remaining candidate belongs to Khamenei’s
camp, but a mild critic of the government. The
situation will not get any better in the second
round. The new Majlis in its entirety is one
composed of henchmen and torturers. One of
the deputies, Ruhollah Hosseinian, lauded the
former deputy Intelligence Minister, who was
implicated in the murder of more than 100
dissident writers and intellectuals in the 1990s,
as a great martyr of the regime. Another deputy
is Fatemah Alia, a woman who was personally
involved in torturing many Mojahedin women
in Evin Prison. Mullah Morteza Agha Tehrani is
one of the ringleaders of plain-clothe agents and
a mentor to the henchmen in Ahmadinejad’s
cabinet.
Mullahs’ under pressure
One can better grasp the real status of the
Majlis elections after considering the fact that
the regime remained under pressure from six
sides:
1. Internal defections, among the highest
echelons of the regime and further
contraction of the ruling clique;
2. Economic sanctions and the adoption of
resolutions, in particular the Security
Council resolutions;
3. The blacklisting of the Ministry of Defense
and its affiliated organs, the Revolutionary
Guards Corps, the terrorist Qods Force,
and most important banks of the regime as
terrorists and nuclear proliferators.
4. Deadlock in Iraq, especially following the
formation of the Awakening Councils,
which entered the fray as the most
important security and military factors;
5. The departure of a key regime ally in Europe,
Jacque Chirac and the latest position by
the European Union about the elections
in Iran, describing it as “neither free nor
fair;”
6. The status and advances made by the Iranian
Resistance in and out of Iran through
solidifying the third option, namely that the
solution for the Iranian crisis is neither the
continuation of appeasement nor a foreign
war, but democratic change in Iran through
the Iranian people and the Resistance.
The regime’s unipolarity emerged through
Ahmadinejad’s appointment as president
in July 2005 and was solidified in the recent
Majlis elections.
What lies ahead?
Now, the question is: What does Khamenei need
a Majlis comprised of henchmen and torturers
for? And for what purpose has he, as his cohorts
say, “engineered” the formation of such an
assembly?
Is it because he wants to preserve the status
quo? Or is he trying to devise a plan for further
adventurism and war?
What Khamenei said in his message
immediately after the election was that despite
the “adoption of the Security Council resolution,”
“the election boycott,” “portraying the country’s
management as gloomy,” “frightening the public
from the danger of an attack by the enemy,”
“the allegation of an unhealthy election,” “the
pretenses of popular disillusionment and apathy,”
a Majlis has been set up that is “committed,
opposed to Western arrogance, and powerful.”
In effect, what Khamenei is saying is that he
is preparing to challenge all those models which
are not compatible with religious fascism.
A day later, in his congratulatory message to
the Supreme Leader, Ahmadinejad described the
election as one which would “safeguard the right
to enjoy the capacity to acquire nuclear energy
with exemplary prowess.”
The situation was such that the European
Union and the United States affirmed the
illegitimacy of the elections and said that the
elections “were neither free nor fair.”
Of course, we welcome this change of
position by the European Union and consider
it as a turning point which has been imposed by
the regime.
Indeed, the National Council of Resistance
of Iran and its President, (Massoud Rajavi) have
been saying since June 20, 1981, until today
that we want an election based on popular
sovereignty and not based on the absolute rule
of the clergy. In September 2003, on behalf of
the Iranian Resistance, I called for a referendum
on regime change based on the Iranian people’s
free vote.
Resistance’s achievements
But in so far as the Iranian people and Resistance
are concerned, last year was a year of advances
and conquering of new heights. It can now be
said that the greatest conspiracies to preserve
the regime and destroy the Iranian people’s
Resistance were quashed. This was achieved
through;
1. The unsparing material and moral support
of the Iranian people and our compatriots
outside Iran, manifested for example in the
major gathering of Iranians last summer in
Paris;



2. The round-the-clock efforts of our brothers
and sisters in Ashraf and in the unrelenting
work of the NCRI, its members and
supporters the world over;
3. The victories in courts, especially the
annulment of the terrorist label in the UK;
4. The resolutions in the European Parliament,
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe and its Committee on Legal
Affairs and Human Rights in support of the
judgment by the court in Luxembourg and
in the United Kingdom;
5. The support of more than 1,500 European
Parliamentarians and Parliamentary
Committees for the Iranian Resistance and the
third option for democratic change in Iran;
6. The realization by the international community
about the nuclear and terrorist threats posed
by the religious dictatorship;
7. The resolutions in the European Parliament
and reports by the United Nations missions
and the UN Secretary General’s Special
Rapporteurs concerning the legal status
of the PMOI in Iraq, including the recent
report by the United Nations Assistance
Mission for Iraq about the status of PMOI
members as protected persons under the
Fourth Geneva Convention and a reiteration
of the principle of non-refoulement, which
forms the pillar of refugee laws;
8. The great solidarity congress in Ashraf and the
declaration by 450,000 Iraqis in the Diyala
Province in Iraq;
9. The support of 3,000 tribal sheikhs;
10. The support of 300,000 Shiites in southern
Iraq and a major political movement of
Shiite Ulemas in defense of Ashraf;
11. The unsparing support of all democratic
parties and nationalist currents, groups and
personalities, whether Shiite, Sunni or Kurd
and Turkmen in Iraq, to the point where
except for the regime’s operatives and allies,
most Iraqis and nationalist forces consider
the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance as their
strategic ally in support for peace, security
and freedom.
Change is inevitable
The Iranian Resistance is the force for change.
By relying on its social base and its unremitting
struggle, it is advancing and on the offensive. It
will bring freedom to Iran.
The mullahs’ regime has reached the end
of the line. Appeasement and concessions are
doubly counterproductive and futile. In its
non-stop activities in the New Year, the regime
will pass through fragile milestones which will
transform its policies to the detriment of the
regime in its entirety.
SUPPORT FOR RESISTANCE
From left: Baroness Verma, David Drew, Lord Clarke, Lord Corbett, Hossein Abedini, Baroness Turner and Roger Gale
British MPs, Peers demand ...
Continued from page 1
Iran Freedom issued a statement at the end of
the conference excerpts of which follows:
The Proscribed Organisations Appeal
Commission (POAC) last November
determined that the ban on the PMOI was
“perverse”, “flawed” and “must be set aside”.
The verdict came after 35 MPs and Peers
launched a legal challenge calling for the
PMOI’s de-proscription. The government’s
request for an appeal was refused.
POAC concluded that “intense scrutiny of
the material requires the conclusion” that:
- The PMOI has not engaged in terrorist acts
in Iran or elsewhere since August 2001.
- The PMOI’s military structure inside Iran
had ceased to exist by (at the latest) the end
of 2002.
- In May 2003, the PMOI in Iraq disarmed.
- There is no material indicating that the
PMOI has obtained or sought to obtain
arms or otherwise reconstruct any military
capability, nor any material that it has sought
to recruit or train members for military or
terrorist action.
- There is no evidence that the PMOI has at
any time since 2003 sought to re-create
any form of structure that was capable of
carrying out or supporting terrorist acts.
- Thereisnoevidenceofanyattemptto“prepare”
for terrorism or of any encouragement to
others to commit acts of terrorism.
The government’s defiance of the Court
ruling comes when the regime is carrying
out its most ferocious crackdown on young
people. In January, the regime executed at least
32 prisoners, murdered a dissident student in
the north-western city of Sanandaj, executed
another wounded prisoner laying on a stretcher
in the northern city of Khoy, amputated the
limbs of five prisoners in the south-eastern city
of Zahedan, and sentenced two teenagers to be
thrown off a cliff in a sack in the southern city
of Shiraz.
The regime continues to export
fundamentalism and terrorism - in particular
to Iraq and Afghanistan. Its nuclear weapons
projects are continuing. Just before the UN
Security Council adopted a third set of
sanctions over the regime’s refusal to halt its
IRAN LIBERATION - MARCH 24, 2008
uranium enrichment last month, the National
Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) detailed
the location and weapons activity at two new
secret nuclear facilities in violation of the nuclear
Non-Proliferation Treaty.
The MPs and Peers condemn the bombing
of the water pumping station to Ashraf City
(Iraq) - home to the PMOI members - by the
agents of the Iranian regime last month.
Mr. Jean Ziegler, the UN Special Rapporteur
on the right to food, said under an agreement
signed by Iraqi authorities and the PMOI in
2003, residents of Ashraf City remain under the
protection of the Multi-National Force (MNF)
in Iraq. In 2004 the United States recognized
PMOI members as protected persons under the
Geneva conventions, meaning that they should
not be deported, expelled or repatriated, or
displaced inside Iraq, he said.
Mr. Ziegler added: “The Iraqi authorities
have failed to protect the inhabitants of Ashraf
City and its surrounding area from the actions
of third parties, which are impeding enjoyment
of the rights to food and water and creating a
critical humanitarian situation.
“I call on the Iraqi authorities to take
immediate measures to guarantee the rights to
food and water of the inhabitants of Ashraf City/
Camp Ashraf and its surrounding area.”
As repression tightens, MPs and Peers noted
that opposition to the regime has increased.
Hundreds of anti-government protests have
taken place since the New Year. For the past two
weeks, student activists have been holding an
anti-government sit-in in the university in Shiraz,
coordinated by PMOI activists inside Iran.
The Parliamentarians condemned the
government’s appeasement of the mullahs,
which helps to keep the regime in power. Neither
military force nor appeasement is the answer to
the threats posed by Iran. Instead, the UK and
EU should support the third option proffered
by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran, which
seeks democratic change brought about through
the Iranian people and their Resistance.
The PMOI is an ally of the international
community in its resistance to Islamic
fundamentalism. The British government must
implement the court rulings ordering it be de-
proscribed to signal to the people of Iran that we
stand on their side for democratic change.
3
 REPORTS FROM IRAN

Iranians defy mullahs,

mark Festival of Fire
O n Tuesday, March 18, Fire Festival or Chaharshanbeh Souri, an ancient traditional celebration
held on the eve of the last Wednesday of the Iranian calendar year ending on March 20, was
celebrated at the residence of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance.
The celebration reached its climax when bonfires were set on and participants jumped over them.
The event was celebrated simultaneously in Ashraf City, Iraq, home to members of the People’s
Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI).

Celebrations turn into protests

The event was widely celebrated in Iran despite strict government ban. People in Tehran and other cities
and towns turned the traditional event into a major protest against the regime, mainly in response to a
call by the PMOI to defy the mullahs’ ban.
Participants showed their hatred to the regime by throwing pictures of the mullahs’ supreme leader
Ali Khamenei and his president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on fire.
The common slogans among the youth were: “Death to Ahmadinejad,” “Death to Khamenei,” and
“Canons, tanks, machineguns in combating people would back fire.”
Loud noises of fire crackers and occasionally concussion grenades could be heard in Tehran. 20
different places were set on fire in the capital, reported the semi-official news agency Fars.

Getting ready to crack down

In the run up to the Festival an undeclared marshal law was enforced in parts of Tehran and many
premises including shops were raided.
On February 25, a state-run website quoted Eskandar Momeni, the deputy commander of the
regime’s State Security Forces (SSF) in Tehran as saying: “In the past few months the SSF has carried
out a number of operations extending from the border regions to far deep inside the cities. These have
resulted in discovery of many firecrackers.”
Moayedi, commander of SSF in Fars province told the state-run Fars news agency on February 27,
“the volume and the quality” of the firecrackers showed that “a group with the intention of creating
unrest under the pretext of Chaharshanbeh Souri” has imported those to Iran.
Moayedi said that the regime had been working in the past three months for the security of the Tehran - Special riot units deployed to control
the youth celebrating Fire Festival which turned
festive period. into an all out protest against the clerical regime

Workers protest in 15 major factories Young man hanged

I n recent weeks and run up to the Iranian New
Year (Persian calendar year beginning March
21) more than 15 factories and workshops had
gone on strike. Among them, 1,000 workers of
Minoo Food Packing Factory walked out on
March 12 over what the labor activists called
“substantial pay cut in the salaries and their end
of the year bonus” by the management.
Workers announced that they will stay on
strike until their demands are met by the factory’s
management.
The management spread a rumor that
striking workers intended to set the factory on
fire.
Other factories and workshops on strike are:
Tabas Mining Factory, Sarcheshmeh Cupper
Factory in the southern city of Kerman, Jahad
Agricultural workers in the southern city of
Bushehr, Gavmishan Dam Factory workers and
Beet Factory in the western city of Kamiyaran,
on New Year’s Day
Siyah-Roukh Factory workers in the western
city of Divandareh, Energy Company in the
southern city of Asaloyeh, Aras China Factory I n an unprecedented criminal act, a young
man was hanged on the New Year’s Day
in the northwestern province of Azerbaijan, for an alleged crime he had committed
Pashmineh Baft Factory in the western city of when 17. The sentence was carried out in
Qazvin, Mehrpoya Textile Factory in the central the central city of Isfahan on Thursday.
city of Isfahan, Navard Company in the western According to
city of Karaj, Iran’s Telecommunications and mullahs’ regime
Sandoq Nasoz in Tehran, Hamid China Factory, penal code the only
and municipal workers in Sadabad northern way to avoid capital
Tehran’s suburb. Workers are particularly angry punishment for
since they have not enough to provide for their murder is to pay
families in the upcoming New Year. blood money to the
Management in factories and workshops victims’ survivors.
nationwide has lately adopted a cunning tactic of At the moment
initially giving in to the angry workers’ demands there are 75 minors
which they would never deliver. This has been on death row in
the case in Sugar Cane Factory in the southern Iran according
city of Shoosh and Pashmineh Baft Factory in to international
the western city of Qazvin. organizations.

4 IRAN LIBERATION - MARCH 24, 2008

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