THE AYATOLLAH SYSTEM OF IRAN –
A THEOCRACY GONE ROGUE
Stes de Necker
Establishment of the Ayatollah Theocracy
The current Iranian Theocracy or so-called “Khomeinism” is the founding ideology of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Impact of the religious and political ideas of the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, includes replacing Iran's millennia-old monarchy with a theocracy.
Khomeini declared Islamic jurists the true holders of not only religious authority but political authority, who must be obeyed as "an expression of obedience to God", and whose rule has "precedence over all secondary ordinances [in Islam] such as prayer, fasting, and pilgrimage."
Since the death of Khomeini, politics in the Islamic Republic of Iran have been largely defined by attempts to remain loyal and faithful to his ideology.
In the West however Khomeini has become the “virtual face of Islam" who inculcated Western fear and distrust towards Islam.
As Supreme Leader of Iran (also called the Supreme Leadership Authority), the Ayatollah is the head of state as well as the ultimate political and religious authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The armed forces, judiciary, state television, and other key government organizations are subject to the Supreme Leader. The current long-time officeholder, Ali Khamenei, has been issuing decrees and making the final decisions on economy, environment, foreign policy, education, national planning, and everything else in Iran.
The Supreme Leader directly chooses the ministers of Defence, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs, as well as certain other ministers, such as the Science Minister.
Iran's regional policy is directly controlled by the office of the Supreme Leader with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' tasks limited to protocol and ceremonial occasions.
All of Iran's ambassadors to Arab countries are chosen by the Quds Corps, which directly reports to him.
In its history, Iran only had two Supreme Leaders: Ruhollah Khomeini, who held the position from 1979 until his death in 1989, and the current Ali Khamenei, who is holding the position since Khomeini's death.
In March 1979, shortly after Ruhollah Khomeini’s return from exile and the overthrow of Iran's monarchy, a national referendum was held throughout Iran with the question "Islamic Republic, yes or no?" 98% of those voting voted "yes".
Following this landslide victory, the constitution of Iran of 1906 was declared invalid and a new constitution for an Islamic state was created and ratified by referendum during the first week of December in 1979.
The new constitution was largely based on the philosophy of Khomeini as presented in his work “Islamic Government: Governance of the Jurist” In this document Khomeini argued that government must be run in accordance with traditional Islamic sharia, and for this to happen a leading Islamic jurist (faqih) must provide political "guardianship" over the people.
The new Constitution stressed the importance of the clergy in government, with Article 4 stating that : “all civil, criminal, financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and all other statutes and regulations (must) be keeping with Islamic measures;…the Islamic legal scholars of the watch council (shura yi nigahban) will keep watch over this.”
As the constitution of the Islamic Republic states, it “intends to establish an ideal and model society on the basis of Islamic norms”.
The Constitution provides the necessary basis for ensuring the continuation of the Revolution at home and abroad. In particular, in the development of international relations, the Constitution will strive with other Islamic and popular movements to prepare the way for the formation of a single world community.
Maryam Rajavi (President elect of the NCRI) has maintained on many occasions that terrorism is a key instrument of advancing the regime’s foreign policy; the two cannot be separated.
In 1970 Khomeini broke from the traditional form of Islamic Governance and developed a new approach to state rule; A revolutionary change in Shia Islam proclaiming that a monarchy was inherently unjust, and that religious legal scholars should not just become involved in politics but rule.
Ayatollah Khomeini was a senior Islamic jurist cleric of Shia (Twelvers) Islam. Shia theology holds that Wilayah or Islamic leadership belongs to divinely-appointed line of Shia Imams descended from the Prophet Muhammad, the last of which is the 12th Imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi.
The God-given (Infallible) knowledge and sense of justice of the Imams makes them the definitive reference for (Shia) Muslims in every aspect of life, religious or otherwise, including governance.
However, the twelfth Imam disappeared into what Shia believe is "occultation" (ghaybat) in 939 AD and so has not been present to rule over the Muslim community for over thousand years.
In the absence of the Imam, Shia scholars/religious leaders accepted the idea of non-religious leaders (typically a sultan, king, or shah) managing political affairs, defending Shia Muslims and their territory, but no consensus emerged among the scholars as to how Muslims should relate to those leaders.
Shia jurists have tended to stick to one of three approaches to the state: cooperating with it, becoming active in politics to influence its policies, or most commonly, remaining aloof from it.
For some years, Khomeini opted for the second of these three, believing Islam should encompass all aspects of life, especially the state, and disapproving of Iran's weak Qajar dynasty, the western concepts and language borrowed in the 1906 constitution, and especially the authoritarian secularism and modernization of the Pahlavi Shahs.
Khomeini's decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements have outlasted his theological works because it is the former and not the latter that the Islamic Republic of Iran constantly “reprints."
Without the decrees, sermons, interviews, and political pronouncements there would have been no Khomeinism [ideology]; without Khomeinism there would have been no revolution; and without the Islamic Revolution, Khomeini would have been no more than a footnote to Iranian history.
Even the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988 is seen as an attempt by Khomeini to forge unity among his disparate followers, raise formidable (if not insurmountable) obstacles in the way of any future leader hoping to initiate any cooperation with the West, and most importantly to weed out his non- supporters from the his true supporters.
Before the Revolution, Khomeini is on record that he expressed the following:
‘In an Islamic order, women enjoy the same rights as men - rights to education, work, ownership, to vote in elections and to be voted in. Women are free, just like men to decide their own destinies and activities.’
After the Revolution however, Khomeini made a 180˚ turnaround opposing women to serve in parliament, likening it to prostitution!
“We are against this prostitution. We object to such wrongdoings....... Is progress achieved by sending women to the majlis? Sending women to these centers is nothing but corruption.”
Under Ayatollah rule, woman’s rights in Iran have been severely restricted; from what they are allowed to wear in public to the jobs they hold, to not being allowed to watch men’s sports in stadiums.
Restrictions on women’s rights in Iran include amongst others:
Compulsory “veiling” (hijab) laws.
The laws violate a woman’s right to equality, privacy, and freedoms of expression, belief and religion, and empower police and paramilitary forces to target women for harassment, violence and imprisonment.
Limited political involvement.
Women’s rights activists who had campaigned for greater representation of women in the February 2016 parliamentary elections, were subjected by the Revolutionary Guards to lengthy, oppressive interrogations and threats of imprisonment on national security charges.
Pervasive discrimination.
Women remain subject to discriminatory laws, including in gaining access to divorce, employment, equal inheritance, politics and in the area of criminal law.
Sexual and reproductive health.
Several draft laws that remain pending would further erode a woman’s right to sexual and reproductive health. Women continue to have reduced access to affordable modern contraception as the authorities have failed to restore the budget of the state family planning program cut in 2012.
National family policies.
In September 2016, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued national family policies promoting early marriage, repeated childbearing, fewer divorces, and greater compliance to “traditional” roles of women as housewives and men as breadwinners. The policies raised concern that female victims of domestic violence may face further marginalization and increased pressure to “reconcile” with abusers and remain in abusive marital relationships.
Gender-based violence.
Women and girls remain inadequately protected against sexual and other gender-based violence, including early and forced marriage. The authorities failed to adopt laws criminalizing these and other abuses, including marital rape and domestic violence.
Of all legal systems in the world today, Iran’s Sharia based laws are of the most intrusive and draconic laws on earth, especially against women.
According to the Sharia law:
· A non-Muslim man who marries a Muslim woman is punishable by death.
· A man can marry an infant girl and consummate the marriage when she is 9 years old.
· Girls' clitoris should be cut (per Muhammad's words in Book 41, Kitab Al-Adab, Hadith 5251).
· A woman can have 1 husband, but a man can have up to 4 wives; only Muhammad can have more.
· A man can unilaterally divorce his wife but a woman needs her husband's consent to divorce.
· A man can beat his wife for insubordination.
· Testimonies of four male witnesses are required to prove rape against a woman.
· A woman or girl who alleges rape without producing 4 male witnesses is guilty of adultery.
· A woman or girl found guilty of adultery is punishable by death
· A woman who has been raped cannot testify in court against her rapist(s).
· A male convicted of rape can have his conviction dismissed by marrying his victim.
· A woman's testimony in court, allowed only in property cases, carries half the weight of a man's.
· A female heir inherits half of what a male heir inherits.
· A divorced wife loses custody of all children over 6 years of age or when they exceed it.
· A woman cannot drive a car, as it leads to fitnah (upheaval).
· A woman cannot speak alone to a man who is not her husband or relative.
Nowhere in the world is so much cruelty and barbaric punishment dispensed in the name of religion as in Iran.
Crimes punishable by death in Iran include murder; rape; child molestation; sodomy; drug trafficking; armedrobbery; kidnapping; terrorism; burglary; pedophilia; homosexuality; incestuous relations; fornication; prohibited sexual relations; sexual misconduct; prostitution; plotting to overthrow the Islamic regime; political dissidence; sabotage; arson; rebellion; apostasy; adultery; blasphemy; extortion; counterfeiting; smuggling; speculating; disrupting production; recidivist consumption of alcohol; producing or preparing food, drink, cosmetics or sanitary items that lead to death when consumed or used; producing and publishing pornography; using pornographic materials to solicit sex; recidivist false accusation of capital sexual offenses causing execution of an innocent person; recidivist theft; certain military offenses (e.g. cowardice, assisting the enemy); "waging war against God"; "spreading corruption on Earth"; espionage and treason.
This almost ‘sadistic-psychoses’, or fanaticism, is what we are witnessing daily taking place Iran.
This theocratic regime has become fanatics who thrive on terror and has survived primarily by instilling it in others. The religious dictatorship uses executions methods in the most barbaric way, such as public hangings and stoning alongside other cruel measures, including amputating hands and feet, or even gouging out eyes, to create a climate of fear and terror across the Iranian society, to utterly quell all voices of dissents who are the true subject of their wrath.
Since the beginning of the mullahs regime, their brain-washed subordinates – Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Qods Force, the Basij militia, and its notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) - have slaughtered countless numbers of innocent people under the guise of Islamic faith; even sending out death squads to track down dissidents living abroad.
The regime of the Supreme Leader has used religion as a
justification for repression.
A distortion of Islamic prescripts has over the past four
decades served as alibi for the corrupt regime to justify their horrors.
The regime for instance gave the name "rehabilitation”
to torture and “call for modesty” to a merciless repression of women in all
their social behaviour, to disguise their unholy theocracy.
In its war against Iraq in the 1980s, this regime offered
so-called ‘keys to paradise’ to schoolchildren and high school students whom it
recruited to wipe minefields in order to facilitate the passage of its troops.
The Constitution openly denies national sovereignty and
gives absolute powers to the Supreme Leader.
These are the features of a regime that is not a Republic
and has nothing to do with Islam, but calls itself the Islamic Republic.
Over the last four decades, the peace-loving people of Iran became the enemy of their rulers. Many have awakened to the fact that these fanatics own them, and that their world, as they knew it, didn’t exist anymore.
Since the end of 2017/beginning of 2018, many innocent Iranians opposed to the regime and/or taking part in peaceful demonstrations against the injustices in that country, ended up facing severe punishment, some rounded up by the attack dogs of the regime, the Basij militia, who waded into protesters on motorbikes, dragging many of the ringleaders off to prison, while others were beaten with batons or picked off by regime snipers using live ammunition, many arrests ending in execution.
Iran became the perfect example of the truth that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolute.
Thankfully there is a limit to how much stress can be put on people before open revolt and revolution becomes their only option. Iranians have had enough and the imminent overthrow of the draconic mullah regime is in sight.
Over the last four decades, two resistance organisations have played a major role in the creation of the critical mass necessary for this revolution. (For more about critical mass, see my article ‘CRITILCAL MASS - CRITICAL MASS AND SOCIAL DYNAMICS’ (https://stesdeneckerfoundation.blogspot.com/2016/08/critilcal-mass-critical-mass-and-social.html) - 29 August 2016.
1. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK)
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) was founded by Mohammad Hanifnejad, Said Mohsen, and Ali-Ashgar Badizadgan on September 6, 1965.
The Freedom Movement advocated for the “democratic principles enshrined in the fundamental laws of 1905-09 [Iranian] Constitution.”
By September 1971, SAVAK had infiltrated and captured and imprisoned about 150 MEK members, which included the group’s founders and members of the Central Committee.
Sixty-nine Mojahedin were brought before military tribunals and charged with attempting to overthrow the monarchy, among other offenses.
The MEK was relatively unknown at this time, but the resistance organization rapidly became a household name, which was lauded for its efforts to bring democracy and freedom to Iran.
The regime executed or imprisoned all of the MEK’s leadership, including its founders and members of the Central Committee. Massoud Rajavi received a death penalty but Massoud Rajavi’s brother, Dr. Kazem Rajavi, organized an international campaign from his home in Geneva to commute Massoud’s death sentence to life imprisonment.
Massoud Rajavi was freed from prison after serving seven years of his sentence. His release occurred on January 20, 1979, four days after the Shah fled Iran.
Mr. Rajavi was among the last group of 162 political prisoners to be released.
Four days after leaving prison, Mr. Rajavi gave a speech at Tehran University where he discussed the MEK’s history, his reverence for freedom, and bringing democracy to Iran. His speech was attended by thousands of people. This event marked the new beginning of the Mojahedin National Movement.
Mr. Rajavi announced the MEK’s political platform for a new Iranian government in a speech on February 23, 1980. In his speech, Mr. Rajavi established the MEK as the main opposition party to Khomeini and the fundamentalist clerics.
Rajavi’s speech in Tehran University was, in fact, the Mojahedin’s anti-fundamentalist manifesto.
Though the MEK is a political organization, its orientation, operation, and support derives from its interpretation of Islam, which was conceived in its early years. The MEK believes that Islam is an inherently tolerant and democratic religion and is fully compatible with the values of modern-day civilization.
The Mojahedin believe that freedom, gender, ethnic and religious equality, human rights, and peace are more than just political commitments; they are ideological principles based on their view of the Quran and the traditions and teachings of Prophet Muhammad, Shiite Imams, and other leaders.
The MEK’s political platform and interpretation of Islam are one and the same.
This combination makes the MEK unique amongst political groups, and it is a major reason the organization continues today to amass broad public support.
“The Islam we want is nationalistic, democratic, progressive, and not opposed to science or civilization. We believe there is no contradiction between modern science and true Islam, and we believe that in Islam there must be no compulsion or dictatorship.” (Mr. Rajavi – 1982)
“Freedom is a divine blessing. Anyone trying to restrict human freedom has neither understood Islam nor mankind and the [anti-monarchist] revolution. Freedom is indispensable to the survival of mankind as human beings.” (Rajavi – 1980)
In 2009, the U.S. government transferred the protection and security of over 3,000 PMOI members in Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government. On the orders of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, then-Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki attacked Camp Ashraf in July 2009, April 2011, and again in September 2013, killing over 100 residents and injuring more than 1,000 in the process.
Subsequent to these attacks, the residents of Ashraf were transferred to Camp Liberty under the auspices of the United Nations. They were attacked several more times by missiles and rockets, as a result of which dozens were killed and many more were wounded.
The objective of the clerical regime and its puppet government in Iraq was to completely eradicate the Iranian Resistance through these attacks.
The PMOI has attained significant victories in support of regime change and establishment of freedom and democracy in Iran.
As a result of their relentless international political campaigns and efforts, the safe relocation of almost 3000 residents of Camp Liberty to Albania and other European countries was successfully completed on September 6, 2016.
The PMOI’s relocation as an organization completely foiled the Iranian regime's schemes to destroy and annihilate the Mojahedin at Camp Liberty, Iraq
2. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)
On July 21, 1981, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, then leader of the opposition People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, announced in Tehran the formation of a coalition of democratic opposition forces seeking to overthrow the mullahs' Velayat-e Faqih regime and establish a pluralistic democracy in the country.
In autumn 1981, the NCRI began a series of intense and lengthy meetings in which its members drafted and adopted the Council's constitution, its platform, and the immediate tasks of a provisional government as well as the NCRI's internal modus operandi.
The NCRI has also adopted a number of plans for Iran's future, including: The NCRI's Peace Plan, the Plan for the Autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan, the Declaration on the Relations of the Provisional Government with Religion and Denominations, and the Plan on Rights and Freedoms of Women.
In 1993, upon the NCRI President's proposal, the National Council of Resistance of Iran adopted the ancient Persian Lion and Sun as the NCRI's official emblem, and placed it on the tri-colored flag of Iran.
Maryam Rajavi was born into a middle-class family in Tehran. One of her brothers, Mahmoud Rajavi was a veteran member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and was a political prisoner during the Shah’s regime.
Her older sister Narges was killed by the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, in 1975. Her other sister, Massoumeh, an industrial engineering student, was arrested by the clerical regime in 1982. Pregnant at the time, she was ultimately hanged after undergoing brutal torture.
In 1993, during its plenary session, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition whose members include a number of Iranian opposition organizations and prominent personalities, elected Maryam Rajavi as the President-elect for the period of transitioning power to the Iranian people.
Maryam Rajavi has mounted an extraordinary political, social, cultural and ideological challenge to the ruling mullahs in Iran.
Under her leadership, women have risen to hold key positions in the Iranian Resistance. Over half of NCRI members are women. They occupy various political, diplomatic, social and cultural positions in the Resistance.
Maryam Rajavi has made numerous speeches regarding the real message of Islam, which revolves around tolerance and democracy, in direct contradiction of the reactionary and fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. She believes that one of the most important differentiators between these two entirely contradictory views of Islam focuses on attitudes toward the status of women.
Among her published works are: “Islam, Women, and Equality,” “Women, the Force for Change,” and “Women against Fundamentalism.”
In 2002, the NCRI adopted a plan to form the National Solidarity Front for the overthrow of Iran's ruling religious tyranny. Within the framework of this front, the NCRI declared that it is prepared to cooperate with other political forces. The National Solidarity Front embraces all Iranians who totally reject the Velayat-e Faqih regime and all its internal factions, and seek to establish a democratic and independent republic based on separation of religion and state.
In 2005, Maryam Rajavi declared: "In the free Iran of tomorrow, we will be committed to and defend the abolition of the death penalty and elimination of all forms of cruel punishments. We once again reiterate our commitment to the Convention against Torture, international humanitarian laws, and the Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Discrimination against Women."
The NCRI acts as the Iranian people's “Parliament-in-Exile”.
Both the NCRI and the PMOI are the only true resistance movements who have stood bravely and unafraid of the clerical regime. Since their formation the NCRI and the PMOI has remained steadfast in their opposition to the mullah’s dictatorial government.
In 1994, during a speech delivered at the Oslo city hall, Mrs. Rajavi warned about the octopus of religious tyranny and Islamic fundamentalism whose heart beats in Tehran. She said: “Fundamentalism has turned into the greatest threat to peace in the region and the world,” adding, “The mullahs ruling Iran are pursuing their expansionist agenda and exporting crises and tensions by exploiting the religious beliefs of over a billion Muslims.”
In December 2004, during a speech at the European Parliament, Maryam Rajavi proposed the Third Option, a clear prospect to resolve the Iranian crisis, which had caused anxiety on a global scale.
“In the face of this challenge, two options have been raised: The make-a-deal approach to the clerical regime with the aim of containing it or including gradual change. For the past two decades, Western countries have subscribed to this approach. The other option is to overthrow the clerical regime by way of an external war, similar to what occurred in Iraq. No one would want to see this repeated in Iran. But I have come here today to say that there is a third option: Change brought about by the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance. If foreign obstacles are removed, the Iranian people and their Resistance are prepared and have the power to bring about change. And this is the only way to prevent external wars. No concession is going to dissuade the mullahs from continuing their ominous objectives.”
In a call in August 2016 to the people of Iran and members and supporters of the Iranian Resistance, Maryam Rajavi announced the movement calling for justice for victims of the 1988 massacre in Iran.
The movement's demands included prosecution of all masterminds and perpetrators of the 1988 massacre, publication of the names, specifics and places of burial of all victims of the massacre, and announcement of the identities of everyone involved in making decisions and executing the slaughter.
The ‘Call for Justice’ rapidly grew both inside Iran and abroad and now, after 28 years, turned the massacre of political prisoners into a top issue of debate in Iranian society.
After more than a year of civil protest and demonstrations against the brutality and total disregard of basic human rights and freedoms in Iran, the immanent overthrow of the deceptive mullah regime and prosecution of those responsible for the decades of suffering of the Iranian people has arrived.
The rest of the free world carries full responsibility to support and promote the judicial prosecution and punishment of all those responsible for their heinous crimes.
In modern civilised society there is no place for such a barbaric antiquated ideology.
May God bless Iran and her people abundantly.
