The ISJ urges a strong response to the regime’s schemes to pressure PMOI members in Europe, particularly in Albania, and to counter its terrorist schemes against them
- Presiding judge Dehghani during the 12th session of the tribunal on 7 May 2024: hosting the defendants constitutes a crime. Countries like France should comply with the International Organisations’ Red Notice by extraditing the defendants. Also, people of Albania must pursue their government to extradite the defendants, as Albania hosts them.
- ISJ, backed by over 4,000 parliamentarians across the Atlantic, urges the UN, EU, and US to strongly condemn this farcical court, which is designed to pressure the MEK in Europe, particularly in Albania, and to facilitate acts of terrorism against them. They must not allow the Iranian regime to exploit organisations like INTERPOL for such purposes.
- The Iranian regime’s judiciary serves merely as an instrument for the religious dictatorship as a mechanism for issuing death sentences, imposing lengthy prison terms, and instilling fear within society.
- ISJ urges European countries to protect Iranian refugees, particularly the PMOI in Ashraf 3, Albania, from the Iranian regime’s plots. It calls on them to guarantee the rights of Ashraf 3 residents with the help of the Albanian Government in line with the 1951 Geneva Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and international law.
1- Upon the Iranian regime’s first announcement in July 2023 of indictments against the leadership of the Iranian Resistance and over 100 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) —many of whom have resided in Europe (particularly in Albania) for decades—the ISJ alerted European leaders that through this sham trial, the regime, grappling with both internal and external crises, and deeply concerned by the growing influence and support for the PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), is setting the stage for terrorist acts against PMOI members. This is an attempt to pave the way for their extradition or, at the very least, to impose severe restrictions on them, it wrote.
We wrote to European leaders, “[Your] silence and indecisiveness vis-à-vis the regime’s aggressions have emboldened Tehran to issue these indictments against individuals most of whom have been living abroad for four decades. The release of Assadollah Assadi, the Iranian regime’s terrorist diplomat, was a case in point. Assadi commanded the biggest terrorist incident in Europe in decades. Similarly, the attack on the Iranian refugees in Ashraf 3 in Albania, on June 20 this year, based on false information provided by Tehran, was another such example.
2- In that letter, dated 2 August 2023, we called on European leaders to condemn the regime’s repressive measures against the PMOI and its 104 members under the cover of judicial proceedings and urged them to prevent the regime to take our democracies hostage through such dirty schemes, and set the stage for terrorist actions that endanger European security.
We also urged them to support the establishment of an international tribunal in Europe to prosecute those responsible for crime against humanity in Iran. Furthermore, we underscored that they should use the mechanisms available in the EU and in member states to ensure the basic rights and freedoms of the refugees who are members of the PMOI in Ashraf 3 in Albania and guarantee that they enjoy all the rights stipulated in the 1951 Geneva Convention and the European Convention on Human Rights and international law, including freedom of speech and assembly.
3- Ten months and twelve sessions of this so-called court have confirmed the accuracy of the ISJ’s assessments and warnings. As the regime faces escalating domestic and international crises and contends with the fallout from its regional warmongering, it has ramped up arbitrary and criminal executions. Concurrently, it has intensified its demonisation campaign against the NCRI and PMOI.
In this context, regime leaders have repeatedly emphasised that their goal with this court is to counter the PMOI’s influence within Iranian society and to facilitate the extradition of, or impose restrictions on, its members abroad.
4- Mullah Mostafa Pourmohammadi, head of the Islamic Revolution Documentation Centre, former Minister of Justice and Interior Minister, and a member of the 1988 death commission, told the state-run Mizan News Agency on 28 December 2023: “These trials should have started earlier… Many of today’s youth and adolescents are unaware of the early revolutionary events and the crimes committed by the PMOI. These courts can provoke questions in the minds of the younger generation and compel them to think.”
On 10 January 2024, Mizan News Agency quoted Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, a member of the Expediency Council, former speaker of the regime’s parliament, and a close relative of the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as saying: “Conducting these trials and disseminating accurate information about the crimes of this group will unveil the truth to society and the younger generation, revealing their true face… Any cultural initiative that clarifies both the scope of its operations and the true nature of the hypocrites (PMOI) to the public is crucial. It prevents the spread of the group’s ideology within society”.
5- Meanwhile, the regime’s judicial officials have repeatedly emphasised their campaign to extradite members and officials of the PMOI. The latest statement came on 7 May 2024, from Amir Reza Deghani-nia, the judge presiding over the 12th session of the tribunal, according to the Judiciary’s News Agency, Mizan: “We remind the countries hosting the defendants in this case that such hospitality is considered a crime under international terrorism conventions. Countries like France, which are sheltering defendants accused of terrorist acts and crimes against humanity, should reassess their stance and cooperate with international organisations to facilitate extradition in line with the red notice issued by the international community. Additionally, the Albanian public should advocate for their government to extradite the defendants hosted in Albania.”
Two weeks ago, on 23 April 2024, during the 11th session of the tribunal, Deghani-Nia said: “From this bench, I share an issue with international organisations and some of the countries hosting PMOI members. The people of those countries must take the lead and urge their governments and competent institutions to extradite the individuals concerned and ensure they face trial.” He emphasised the need for these individuals to appear in court for “final decisions and sentencing against the PMOI.” In a stern warning, he expressed hope that “governments prioritise the safety of their citizens by extraditing these individuals to the Islamic Republic of Iran, treating them as they would any other group accused of similar crimes, and acting in their national interest,” according to the state-run Kayhan daily on 23 April2024.
Speaking on the sidelines of the same meeting, he said: “Western countries have now been asked through INTERPOL to extradite the defendants to Iran,” as reported by Iran Press Agency, on 23 April 2024.
6 -Simultaneously, the Judiciary’s News Agency, Mizan, reported on 29 April 2024, that in a report entitled “The Most Important Actions of the Directorate for International Affairs of the Judiciary and the Secretariat of the Human Rights Headquarters in the year 1402 of the Persian calendar”, the judiciary outlined key undertakings from the past year to be a “special focus on coordinating judicial actions to “counter terrorism and terrorist groups, with a pivotal emphasis on prosecuting the PMOI as a terrorist group and playing a pivotal role in sending requests for the extradition of the terrorists.”
7- Massoud Setayeshi, the spokesperson of the regime’s judiciary, was quoted by Mizan News Agency on 21 January 2024, as saying: “As stated in the indictment read by the prosecutor’s representative, the PMOI has been issued a red notice by INTERPOL. Wherever the conditions for the arrest and covinction of the members of the PMOI are met, they will be arrested and returned to the country.
According to Mehr News Agency on 2 January 2024, Kazem Gharib Abadi, the regime’s deputy director for international affairs and human rights, said during the court hearings: “We also have the tools to pursue the court’s ruling. If the judicial rulings are presented to the countries that have now sheltered terrorists, it will at least pressure them to leave their country.”
As reported by the Islamic Republic News Network (IRINN) on 19 December 2023, he had stated: “We have extradition agreements with some countries… Those countries should extradite them … (Regarding other countries) when we deal with this amount of evidence and court rulings, it will be very difficult for a country like France for other countries like Germany, where some of the PMOI members are based, to actually come again to confront the judicial verdicts and continue to support these terrorist groups.”
8- Mohammad Dehghan, the regime’s vice president for legal affairs, also said of the results of the trial: “Some of the verdicts that call for punitive damages can be pursued in other countries, and some of the verdicts that carry criminal convictions must facilitate the extradition of those convicted,” according to the Young Journalists Club on 15 December 2023.
Nasser Kanaani, spokesman for the regime’s Foreign Ministry, has made similar comments several times, saying: “After the hearing and the issuance of the verdict, prosecuting the convicts based on existing mechanisms, whether in the context of the mechanisms of the judiciary, extradition agreements or other mechanisms, the judiciary will take the necessary action in relation to the extradition of the convicts” (Defence Press News Agency, 25 December 2023).
He had previously stated: “The Islamic Republic of Iran, within the framework of existing judicial and international police capabilities, has sent extradition requests to a significant number of host countries and the places where the members of the organisation are travelling” (Khorasan daily, 30 July 2023).
9- A series of members of parliament, Friday prayer leaders and state-run newspapers have made similar calls. “We hope that these criminals will be tried and returned to the country by the international police and punished once the court has rendered its decision,” Mizan News Agency wrote on 3 April 2024.
Ali Azari, another member of the regime’s parliament, was quoted by Mizan News Agency as saying on 26 March 2024: “By issuing a verdict in court, with the cooperation of the International police, members of this criminal group can be summoned to the country and brought to justice for their actions.”
As reported by IRNA on 13 December 2023, Mahmoud Abbaszadeh, a member of the National Security and Foreign Policy Commission of the parliament, had previously said: “After the issuance of the verdicts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will have the ability in legal forums to take action to extradite the PMOI to the country. Governments cannot support them.”
Hassan Nowrouzi, vice chairman of the judicial and legal commission of the regime’s parliament, was quoted by Borna News Agency on 13 December 2023, as saying: “We hope that these people will be returned to Iran through INTERPOL and real punishment will be imposed on them.”
Tasnim, affiliated with the terrorist IRGC Quds Force, wrote on 12 December 2023: “The purpose of the trial of the PMOI is a prelude to the extradition of the PMOI, to use the capacity of INTERPOL to extradite them and ultimately to prosecute the PMOI.”
10- These warnings are not limited to ISJ. Resolution 1148 signed by 145 members of the U.S House of Representatives underscored on 15 April 2024: “Whereas, in 2023, the Iranian regime started sham trials in absentia of some 104 veteran members of the Iranian Resistance, who are primarily based in Europe, including in France and Albania, to create a phony legal precedent against them and have them extradited to Iran or justify terror plots against them.”
Based on the above, ISJ calls on the United Nations, the European Union, the U.S, other democratic countries, and the relevant international bodies to end the policy of appeasement and adopt a decisive policy against the religious fascism ruling Iran. It urgently calls for the adoption of the following acts. As it enjoys the support of more than 4,000 parliamentarians and dozens of the most distinguished political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic, the ISJ will employ all capabilities toward realising these objectives. We call for the following steps to be taken:
1- Condemning the clerical regime’s sham trial against the Iranian Resistance. The Iranian regime must not be allowed to exploit international organisations, including INTERPOL, for its purposes. The Judiciary in Iran serves solely as an instrument for the suppression inherent in the velayat-e faqih system, which routinely hands down harsh punishments such as death sentences, amputations, and extended prison terms.
2- Supporting the Iranian Resistance’s call to establish an international tribunal to investigate the crimes committed by the Iranian regime and its leaders over the past 45 years. Members of the ISJ, who have been closely following the Iranian issue for decades, are fully prepared to participate and testify in such a court.
3- The European Union, and the United Nations should act to protect members of the Iranian Resistance living abroad from the regime’s conspiracies. With the support of Albania, they must safeguard the rights of PMOI members in Ashraf 3, Albania, in accordance with the 1951 Geneva Convention, the European Convention on Human Rights, and international law.
