Earlier this month, the Supreme Leader of Iran showed that he is terrified of resistance group, the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and their ability to mobilise the Iranian people into anti-regime protests, by levying long disproved insults at the MEK and calling on the Iranian people to resist the fight for freedom.
In a speech in Qom on January 9, Ali Khamenei admitted that he was scared of the MEK’s influence and asked the Iranian people to publically take a stand against the MEK and asked the Iranian youth to “transform cyberspace into a tool against the [MEK]”.
He then revealed that he is also concerned about high-ranking figures in the US, such as National Security Adviser John Bolton, publically siding with the MEK and even addressing them at the MEK camp in Albania, by mocking Bolton’s wish that the MEK could “celebrate Christmas in 2019 in Tehran”.
Of course, these are not the comments of a strong and defiant leader, as the Regime often describes Khamenei, against an insignificant group of thugs, as the Regime often paints the MEK. In fact, Khamenei’s comments only show how laughably weak the Iranian Regime is in the face of their organised and democratic resistance.
Of course, Khamenei is far from the only Iranian official to be concerned about the chances that the MEK will lead to the overthrow of the Regime. On the same day as Khamenei’s speech, Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts council, accused the MEK of undermining “the security of the people”. By this, he means the mullahs, the only people who matter to the Regime.
While Abdollah Ganji, a director of the state-run Fars News Agency, tried to claim that the protests were just the MEK’s way to create content for social media networks. However, the MEK don’t need to create protests to have something to post on social media; their pages are already filled with in-depth investigations into the crimes of the mullahs, including human rights abuses and the misuse of public funds.
Under pressure
The Iranian Regime is facing intense pressure both internationally, through sanctions and increased isolations, and domestically, through large-scale, nationwide, anti-regime protests, and so they are desperately hitting out at the MEK, which they blame for both.
After all, unlike the Regime, the MEK is popular enough among the Iranian people that they can help organise mass-protests even though MEK membership is banned in Iran. (It can even carry the death penalty, that’s how scared the mullahs are of the MEK.) The MEK also has strong working relations with many governments across the world, a stark difference to the Regime.
How is the Regime trying to counter the MEK’s influence?
The Regime has been severely limiting internet freedoms by slowing down speeds, banning social media websites, like Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, and blocking popular apps like instant messenger Telegram and photo and video sharing service Instagram. The Regime has even introduced Iranian replacement versions that allow security agents to spy on the private conversations of users.
This is not a new move by Iran, as they’ve certainly done similar things to stop Iranians from communicating with each other and the outside world before, but this renewed push comes after MEK-organised protests began in December 2017 and have not stopped since.
Source » irannewsupdate