October 27, 2007
A 3 decades long wish of the Iranian people has come to pass, and a step forward towards democracy in Iran has been taken. After decades of unabated oppression, terrorism, and murder, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and its Qods Force are at last recognized as terrorist organizations. The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates applauds executive orders 13382 and 13224 covering the IRGC, the QODS, the bank MELLI, and affiliated persons.
As we noted in our May, 2007 statement, “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) is at the center of the regime’s oppression machine. IRG not only executes the campaign of terror in Iran, but also leadership’s apparatus for conducting terrorist activities in Iraq, Lebanon, and elsewhere. It is also the central unit responsible for advancing Iran’s nuclear agenda.”
Although IRGC and its Qods Force have only recently become a perpetually repeated name in the political circles, Iranian people have known and experienced their brutality for decades. IRGC has for nearly 30 years been the violent executers of the Iranian people, the torturers of innocent prisoners, and killers of young Iranians, many of whom without trial or due process. By all international standards, IRGC acts would be considered crimes against humanity.
Today, the world has begun to grasp the scope of their role both inside and outside the Islamic Republic of Iran. Tomorrow, and as it confronts the theocrats in Tehran, the international community will surely appreciate, with better clarity, the horrifying extent of their crimes.
To go forward, we must appreciate that Iranian government can not successfully conduct foreign policy without IRGC and its internal oppression machine. Facing Iranian regime’s terrorist, expansionist, and predatory behavior necessitates embracing of the Iranian people’s plight for freedom and democracy.
The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates applauds the decision to impose sanctions on the IRGC, the Qods force, and Iranian financial institutions. We note that these decisive measures, as well as the multilateral sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council will be most effective when coupled with diplomatic and political recognition of Iranian people’s resistance and hence their quest for democracy in Iran. [/spoiler] [spoiler title=”ALERT: Students Clash with State Security Forces”] NCPDA- Today, Tehran’s Social Sciences School of Allameh University was the scene of clashes between students and the clerical regime’s State Security Forces (SSF) and Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). The anti-government protests by about 1,000 students have continued into the evening hours. The protestors, chanting slogans “down with dictator”, “this is our final warning, university students are ready for uprising”, “students professors unite,” managed to shut down all classes.
The SSF and MOIS unsuccessfully attempted to break up the protests by beating up and arresting the protestors. Reports indicate six students arrested by security forces and taken to an undisclosed location. The detained students are identified as Mahsa Mehrzad, Nilofar Abd-Haq, Behnam Sepehrvand, Araman Sedaqati, Maziyar Samiee and Mohammad Yazdani.
The demonstrators are protesting against widespread arrests and suppression of university students, and the expulsion as well as suspension of dozens of dissenting students in recent weeks.
Today’s events are once again representative of the clerical regime’s internal crisis and a testament to the Iranian people’s desire for democratic change and an end to the mullah’s regime. [/spoiler] [spoiler title=”Revolutionary Guard runs Iran’s Baghdad embassy, opposition group claims”] Canadian Press
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Iran’s Revolutionary Guard is using Iran’s Embassy in Baghdad to coordinate covert operations in Iraq, an Iranian opposition group has claimed.
Mohammad Mohadessin, a spokesman for the Paris- based National Council Resistance of Iran, or NCRI, also said the guard had taken over some of Iran’s most lucrative companies and was profiting from trade with the European Union.
“The Iranian regime is run by senior (Revolutionary Guard) officers and their role is growing,” Mohadessin said in a statement received Saturday. [/spoiler]
