Former Rep. Ted Poe of Texas, who had been chairman of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Counterproliferation, and Trade, wrote a Stars and Stripes article dated August 29, 2023 that was titled:

To help the Iranian people achieve their democratic goals, protect Iranian dissidents 

His resolution asks United Nations institutions to investigate crimes against humanity in Iran, including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988, most of whom were members of People Mujahedeen organization of Iran (PMOI).

He's onto something.

A resolution was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives, with 36 co-sponsors from both political parties last week, specifying that the protests, which have been ongoing since September, “are rooted in the more than four decades of organized resistance against the Iranian dictatorship.” It also credited the largely women-led protests with enduring “torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and death,” thereby persisting to the very brink of their one-year anniversary.

The resolutions are happening around the world.

In a statement, the Comité Français pour un Iran Démocratique (CFID), comprising French figures from various political backgrounds, expressed grave concern about the Iranian regime’s conspiracies against the leading force of the organized opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

In an urgent plea, Canadian Member of Parliament Michael Cooper penned a letter to European leaders, including the Presidents of the European Parliament, Council, and Commission, expressing grave concern over recent actions by the Iranian regime.

Canadian Member of Parliament James Bezan strongly voiced his opposition to the Iranian regime’s crackdown on the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and its violent actions against MEK members who are residing in Albania.

Sheila Paylan, international human rights lawyer and former SGBV Specialist at United Nations human rights said:

“In the summer of 1988, Iran witnessed one of the most tragic and brutal events in its history. Tens of thousands of political prisoners were forcibly disappeared and extrajudicially executed in a matter of weeks. Victims of a merciless government cracked down on dissidents. The massacres took place based on a fatwa by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini and what has been determined by experts to amount to crimes against humanity and even genocide.”

Referring to the political prisoners murdered during the 1988 massacre, she added,

“These prisoners were individuals who dared to raise their voices against oppression, who sought nothing more than the realization of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms. Their lives were tragically and senselessly cut short, leaving families shattered and communities scarred.

We are fortunate that some of those who were incarcerated at the time of the 1988 massacres survived and are living witnesses to these heinous crimes. Having sought refuge in Albania, they must therefore be protected at all costs as they are critical to any future investigation or inquiry about the massacres.”

 Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and the leaders of his regime continuously target PMOI as the main enemy, and by doing so they present the PMOI as the only alternative to their regime to the people of Iran and the international community. It is interesting that the previous Iranian mullah dictator, Ruhollah Khomeini, was the first who started this behavior.

This behavior is still going on.

Towards the end of August 2023, Belgian parliamentarians, and personalities in a joint letter to the leaders of the European Union warned against the new conspiracy of the Tehran government against members of the Iranian opposition and political refugees in Europe. They announced that the European Union must support the establishment of an international court in Europe for the trial of Iranian regime officials who are responsible for crimes against humanity. They wrote in their letter,

"We ask you to use all existing mechanisms to guarantee the fundamental rights and freedoms of Iranian refugees and members of the Iranian opposition in Ashraf 3 in Albania, including freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, and ensure that they enjoy all the rights set forth in the 1951 Geneva Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights and international law.

Therefore, at the international level, it is time to end the 40-year immunity of regime leaders from prosecution and punishment for committing genocide and crimes against humanity."

Khamenei, Raisi and Ajei and other people responsible for the 1988 massacre and those who ordered the killing of Iranian youth in the uprisings of the last few years, especially the leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard corps (IRGC), should be brought to justice in an international court.

We Iranians who have fled this evil regime hope that momentum is building for it.

Hassan Mahmoudi is an Iran & Middle East political and economic researcher.

Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License