Iran ‘Resorts To Execution When Under Threat’

Opposition activist Hamed Esmaeilion has accused Iran of resorting to mass executions whenever it faces a threat.

But speaking to Iran International radio on Thursday, he warned the Islamic Republic regime that this time around it cannot intimidate its critics as it did with thousands of hangings in the 1980s.

Esmaeilion’s wife and daughter were killed by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard in January 2020. He was speaking hours before political prisoners Majid Kazemi, Saleh Mirhashemi and Saeed Yaqoubi were hanged on Friday morning in Isfahan. The executions have been condemned around the world.

The mass execution of prisoners in 32 cities across Iran went on for five months starting in July 1988, ordered by the Islamic Republic’s founder Rouhollah Khomeini and carried out by officials including then Deputy Prosecutor General Ebrahim Raisi, now Iran's president. 

But Canada-based dissident Esmaeilion reiterated that the fall of the regime is “inevitable,” saying: "People have shown in polls and through street rallies that they have passed the Islamic Republic.

"The Islamic Republic has no chance to stay. Although the time of the fall of this regime cannot be predicted, it can be seen that the Islamic Republic is no longer capable of intimidating the people.”

Esmaeilion resigned as spokesman of families of victims of Ukrainian flight PS752 shot down by the IRGC in January 2020 to focus on his leading role in supporting Iran's protests and co-founded the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy.

The alliance announced its existence in a February event at Georgetown University and issued its charter, the Mahsa Charter, in early March based on “minimal positions” that could create the most consensus among the opposition.

However, Esmaeilion later resigned from the Alliance, blaming exiled Prince Reza Pahlavi for resisting the majority’s organizing efforts. The council consisted of Prince Reza Pahlavi, Nobel peace prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, US-based journalist and women’s rights activist Masih Alinejad, actress and activist Nazanin Boniadi and Secretary General of the Kurdish Komala Party Abdullah Mohtadi and Esmaeilion.