Supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) gathered outside the U.S. Department of State, the White House, and the United Nations New York headquarters on September 22, as the UN General Assembly was happening.
During the protest, the MEK supporters spoke out in support of U.S. sanctions on Iran and urged the United Nations Security Council to re-impose the six UN resolutions against Iran, advising that these measures were urgently needed to prevent the Iranian regime from committing further crimes against humanity with total impunity.
The opposition leader Maryam Rajavi gave a speech the day before the UNGA was due to begin, which echoed the repeated calls on the MEK and the Iranian people to hold the regime to account for domestic suppression and international aggression.
She said: “On the eve of the UN General Assembly summit and on behalf of the Iranian people and Resistance, I would like to draw the attention of all governments and international bodies to [this]… Faced with executions and massacres, the people of Iran urged the United Nations, and the UN Security Council, in particular, to re-impose the six UN resolutions against the clerical regime in Iran. Otherwise, Khamenei will continue to ravage the nation as his regime’s survival depends on murder and suppression.”
Lifting the six UN resolutions imposing sanctions on the Iranian regime since five years ago has been in favor of the mullahs & against the interests of the people of #Iran. It prolonged the rule of the regime to continue its terror, massacres and belligerence. Enough is enough.
— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) August 21, 2020
The MEK supporters brought banners and chanted slogans that showed their hatred for President Hassan Rouhani and the mullahs, decried his speech and urged the UN to put in place more sanctions and hold the regime to account for past crimes.
One chant was: “Rouhani no no no, Rajavi yes yes yes. Democracy, freedom, with Maryam Rajavi. Change change change, regime change in Iran.”
One Iranian community representative said: “We are here to welcome the restoration of all the UN sanctions of the regime in Iran and call for recognition of Iranian people’s struggle for freedom. We are here to announce that the people of Iran support the MEK and firm policy on a regime that is responsible for the execution, massacres, and terror against its own citizens and abroad.”
During my address across from the White House, I emphasized, "what is required is comprehensive sanctions against the Iranian regime. This regime need not get a single dollar, as all of that would be used for repression at home and terrorism abroad." #UNGAhttps://t.co/CIj0nxqUoA
— Alireza Jafarzadeh (@A_Jafarzadeh) September 24, 2020
While Soona Samsami, the U.S. representative of the Resistance, said in her speech outside the U.S. Department of State that the regime is at war with its people and the world community, which is why the world must condemn the mullahs for human rights violations and hold them to account with sanctions.
She said: “Now that the Iranian people and MEK resistance units are mobilizing uprising, from December 2017 to November 2019 and January 2020, this has dispensed all illusions about the stability of the clerical regime.”
The UN must support the people of Iran in their struggle for freedom, democracy, and human rights, who are too often silenced by the regime. They must impose all sanctions and the six UN resolutions to protect Iranians and hold the regime accountable.
Iranians Call on UNGA to Recognize Their Struggle for A Free Iran
