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Highlightsfrom 2010:

Nov. 17: FDI joinsLarry Klayman and Freedom Watch to examine policy options for theincoming 112th Congress toward Iran.

From left to right: FDMI President Kenneth R. Timmerman,FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili, Larry Klayman (speaking), FDIadvisory board member R. James Woolsey

FDI briefs incoming House intelligencecommittee member Rep. Michele Bachmann on Iran.

(l-to-r: FDI president Kenneth R.Timmerman, FDI Sec/Treasury Bill Nojay, Rep. Bachmann, FDI Advisoryboard member R. James Woolsey)


Aug 30, 2012: FDI joins letter to Rep.Rohrabacher. FDI CEO Kenneth R.  Timmerman has joinedIranian-Americans and other activists ina letter to Rep. Rohrabacher that sets out the history ofAzeribaijan's ties to Iran. The letter ends with an exhortation to Mr.Rohrabacher to avoid the mistakes made by Obama, who ignored the criesof the Iranian people in June 2009 and turned a deaf ear to the murderof  Neda.

- Ban Ki Moon: UN supports freedom inIran. After being roundly criticized for lending legitimacy tothe regime by traveling to Tehran for the Non-Aligned Movement summit,UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon gavea brilliant speech to Iranian academics calling for greater freedomand respect for human rights by the regime. We have our seriousconcerns on the human rights abuses and violations in this country," hetold the group. Ban also warned the regime to loosen its strangleholdon political dissent. "Restricting freedom of expression andsuppressing social activism will only set back development and plantthe seeds of instability," he said. It is especially important for thevoices of Iran’s people to be heard during next year’s presidentialelection. That is why I have urged the authorities during my visit thistime to release opposition leaders,human rights defenders, journalists and social activists to create theconditions for free expression and open debate." Surely not the musicthe regime had been expecting!

Aug. 29, 2012: Iranians join on-linepetition against Rohrbacher letter.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher'sJuly 26 letter to Sec/State Hillary Clinton (see below) has ignited afirestorm within the Iranian-American community. FDI invites oursupporters to signan on-line petition calling on Mr. Rohrabacher to retract hisletter. "Any calls for separatism, such as the statement from Rep.Rohrabacher, are dangerous, ill-informed, and contrary to the expresseddesires of the overwhelming majority of the people of Iran," said FDIfounder and president Kenneth R. Timmerman, who has signed the petition.

Aug. 27, 2012: Iranian defector blastsFakhravar.
Former Iranian intelligence officer Hamid RezaZakeri released a seconddocument purporting to be an MOIS letter granting a passport toself-styled "student" leader, Amir Abbas Fakhravar, for use in overseasoperations. Zakeri explainshis allegations on Mardom TV (starting at 1h:15min in the program.


Aug. 24, 2012: No Political Prisoners?
Iran has "no politicalprisoners," according to  Mohammad Javad Larijani, secretary tothe judiciary's so-called "human-rights committee." Read WashingtonInstitute analyst Mehdi Khalaji's excellentWall Street Journal oped about the "human rights opening" in Iran."Meanwhile, this week Supreme Leader freed 130 "political prisoners"from jail as part of an annual amnesty to coincide with the Eid el-Fitrcelebrations. So which is it?

Aug. 23, 2012: Women barred from science, industry.
Nobel peaceprize laureate Shirin Ebadi  sent a letter to the United Nationsltoday complaining that the regime has decided to bar women fromstudying dozens of subjects, including nuclear physics and materialsengineering, both key for the oil industry. Also closed to womenstarting this year are computer science, civil engineering, Englishtranslation, and chemistry. "For the coming academic year, 36universities have closed 77 academic fields to women," shesaid.

Aug. 22, 2012: Christian pastorfaces new charges. In their ongoing persecution of Christianpastor Youcef Naderkhani, the regime appears to have dropped apostasycharges, but now plans to try him for "banditryand extortion." This is yet another outrage from a regime that hasvowed to "break" the effervescent house church movement inside Iran.Naderkhani's lawyer, who was disbarred by the regime earlier this year,will apparently be allowed to attend his trial in the coming days,although he was told international human rights groups that he is "notaware" of the new charges against his client.

Aug. 18, 2012: Escalation fromTehran. OnFriday, Ahmadinejad proclaimed Israel “aninsult to all humanity” and 
“atumor” that needs to be wiped out, duringa speech marking “Jerusalem Day” in Tehran. Meanwhile, on SaturdayRevolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh warned that any Israelistrike on Iran would provokeswift retaliation, allowing Tehran to "dump [Israel] into the dustbinof history."

In comments broadcast by the regime’s English language network, PressTV, Gen. Hajizadeh threatened nuclear retaliation. “If the loud criesof the leaders of the Zionist regime are materialized, it would be thebest opportunity for obliterating this fake regime from the face of theearth and dumping it into the dustbin of history,” Hajizadeh said.

Aug. 16, 2012: MOIS Defector releases document on Fakhravar.
Adefector from the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Intelligence,Hamid Reza Zakeri, has released a series of documents revealing allegedoperational ties between a self-styled “student” leader, Amir AbbasFakhravar, and MOIS.


The third of five documents, released today, purportsto be a letter from September 2004, signed by an MOIS official namedHeshmatollah Mahdavi, giving instructions to a judge to release
Fakhravar from prison, where the letter states he wasserving time for illegally excavating and selling antiquities. In theletter, stamped TOP SECRET, Mahdavi asks the court to waive the rest ofFakhravar’s prison sentence “in exchange for pending service to theministry in a classified operation” that Mahdavi will describe to thechief of the Revolutionary court in person.

After Zakeri began releasing earlier documents in this series,Fakhravar allegedly sent him a number of Facebook messages, includingthese,where he threatened “to cut” Zakeri’s wife and child, an MOISeuphemism for “murder.”

Fakhravar has denied the authenticity of these documents, and FDI isnot in a position without seeing the originals to determine theirauthenticity.

Fakhravar is a divisive figure who burst on the scene in the UnitedStates in 2006, miraculously “escaping” from Iran on a fresh Iranianpassport by flying to Dubai, where he was met by supporters whoarranged for him to come to the United States. He has claimed to be a leader ofthe student uprising of 1999, although he has told FDI that he was thenserving as a medic in a local police hospital where he helped treatedstudent casualties, or (in another version) as a law student.

Several people who later got to know Fakhravar when he was transferredfrom the criminal Qasr prison to the political wing in Evin prison haveprovided testimony shedding doubt on his claims to be a politicaldissident. Interviewed in different countries over a period of severalyears, they all pointed to his close ties to the prison warden, hisability to acquire street clothes, a cellphone, and other amenitiesforbidden political prisoners.

Fakhravar's supporters have swept aside this testimony as rumor andhearsay from his political enemies and have provided anextensive account of his counter-claims. For additional background, seethis Nov. 2011 article in the New English Review.

Last September, a group of 102 former student activists and leaderswrote a confidential letter to the Library of Congress, claiming thatthe student organization Fakhravar claims to head is a fake. “Thestudent confederation you refer to is a small group in [the]Washington, DC area that has no base among the Iranian students withinthe country or other locations in the world,” they wrote.

Aug 15,  2012: NIAC lobbies candidates and incumbents.
In abrazen lobbying email sent to Members of Congress and candidates, theNational Iranian American Council (NIAC) and its left-wing alliesoffered an “off-the-record policy and messaging webinar” on Iranpolicy, featuring NIAC president Trita Parsi, to be conducted on Sept12 at 2 PM Eastern time.

NIAC and its associates have consistently sought to lobby Congress andthe executive branch to remove sanctions on Iran and negotiate with theIranian regime.  During the 2008 election campaign, NIAC blastedthe outgoing Bush administration for failing to “reach out” to Tehran,despite the fact that the U.S. held no fewer than 28 high-levelnegotiating sessions with Iranian regime officials from 2001-2008, tono avail.

Aug. 13, 2012: War by Oct. 1?
The next IAEA report is expectedto detail new progress by the Iranian regime in uranium enrichment. Accordingto Debkafile, the report will show that Iran will have 250kilograms of 20-percent enriched uranium by October 1. This is enoughto make a 1945-generation nuclear device – and enough for several moresophisticated weapons. Debkafile believes Israel will be compelled tolaunch military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities after the U.S.national political conventions at the end of this month – and at thelatest by October 1.

July 26, 2012: Rep. Dana Rohrabacher callsfor U.S. to back Azeri separatist movement.
In a bizaare move,California Republican Dana Rohrabacher has written toSecretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging the United States to supportthe "reunification" of Iranian Azeris with Azerbaijan. This isprecisely what the Soviet Union tried to do in 1947 when it backed abreakaway Azeri Republic in Iran - a move that led President Truman tothreaten the use of nuclear weapons against the Soviets at the verystart of the Cold War. "The people of Azerbaijan are geographicallydivided and many are calling for the reunification of their homelandafter nearly two centuries of foreign rule," Rohrabacher wrote. "Aidingthe legitimate aspirations of the Azeri people for independence is aworthy cause in and of itself," headded.

FDI has consistently supported the rights of ethnic minorities in Iranin their quest for political freedom and human rights, and we havemoderated a number of workshops and conferences where various forms offederalism or confederation within the confines of a united Iran
were discussed. In his understandable desire to make lifemore difficult for the ruling Islamic Republic, however, Rep.Rohrabacher is openly advocating separatism, a stance that only playsinto the hands of the Tehran regime.

June 4,2012: Iranian-Americans urgeCalifornia legislature to adopt sanctions. Ina letter to California state Senator Samuel Blankesless, a group ofIranian-Americans urged the adoption of S.R. 29, which would requirethe St.ate of California to impose tough new sanctions against theIslamic Republic of Iran.

June 2, 2012: Iranian regime allows Nazi Propaganda website to go live.
In a country where the state strictly controls Internetaccess, it is no accident when anoutrageous Nazi propaganda website suddenly goes on line, praisingHitler for transforming Germany. Meanwhile, in the U.S., CodePink and 1970s feminist Gloria Steinem shower the Tehran regimewith praise. No surprise there.

May 25, 2012: FDI CEO Kenneth Timmerman column on Iran negotiations.
Ina column with the Daily Caller, Timmerman warned of the dangers ofphony negotiations with the Islamic Republic leadership over theirnuclear program. In the lead-up to yet another round of negotiationswith U.S. and Western government representatives in Baghdad, Timmermanwarned that the regime's goal was to keep on "talkingabout talks, not about substance," all the while buying more timeso the uranium enrichment centrifuges could keep spinning.

May 5, 2012: Iranian-Americans protest appearance by pro-Tehranlobbyists Trita Parsi in Sweden.
More than 1,400 Iranian-Americanssigned a letter to the Swedish Foreign Ministry to protest theirhosting an event with Parsi in Stockholm, one month after a U.S. court rejectedNIAC defamation experts in their harrassment lawsuit against HassanDai.

April 17, 2012: Iranian regime says it "will not tolerate" fall ofAssad.
Syria's Assad has been a staunch ally of the Tehranregime since the earliest days of the revolution, and Tehran is backinghim to the hilt as he brutally suppresses protestors. Now the IslamicRepublic claims to have established a "jointwar room" with the Syrian leadership, while ordering Hezbollah intoaction to defend Assad.

March 8, 2012: Ten minutes to midnight onthe Iran War clock.
FDI is happy to to take part in the IranWarClock project of the Atlantic Monthly, even though it includesmany "experts" we don't consider experts on Iran, as well as somepeople we normally wouldn't exchange greetings with. The conclusionsare a mathematical averaging of our views, not a consensus. Forexample, FDI's view is that there is an 85% chance of war - why? Mainlybecause of the appeasement policies of Obama and the pro-mullah regimelobby, which is also represented on this panel, and their acolytes inCongress.

Feb. 28, 2012: Your letters count. Regimeappears to back down on Pastor Youcef death sentence.
Theinternational outcry against the death sentence handed down last weekagainst pastor Youcef Nadarkhani for "apostasy" - that is, for becominga Christian and refusing to recant his faith - appears to be having animpact. FoxNews reported yesterday that despite official statementsfrom the regime that Pastor Youcef's was "immanent," as of Sunday hewas still alive and in good spirits. FDI President and CEO KenTimmerman will talk about what you can do to help Pastor Youcef tonighton the Michael Savage show ataround 8:30 PM Eastern. The American Center for Law and Justice has setup a special website withactivists' tools - twitter, facebook, on-line petitions - so youcan add your voice to the outcry to set free this prisoner offaith.  In addiiton, Representatives Trent Franks, Frank Wolf, JoePitts and Keit Ellison are sponsoring H.Res.556 that condemns the Iranian regime for its ongoing oppressionof religious minorities.

Ahmadinejad pledge when he took office in 2005 to "break"the underground church in Iran, and has relentlessly persecuted housechurches and Muslim converts to Christianity. On Monday, a court inKermanshah, in Western Iran, condemnedschoolteacherMasoud Delijani to three years in prison, solelybecause of his Christian faith. Arrests of Christians in Kermanshah hasintensified following anedictfrom the intelligence services on November, calling on thepolice to monitor the activities of foreigners, Christians and otherminorities.

Feb. 19, 2012: Former Mossad operative:Thailand hit team fit Iranian government M.O. 
Apologistsfor the Iranian regime say Iran couldn't possilby have been behind therecent spate of anti-Israeli attacks around the world because of theamateur-ishness of the would-be bombers. But former Mossad operativeMichael Ross says otherwise inthispiece from Canada's National Post.

Face of analleged terrorist?: One alleged member of the Bangkok hit squadescaped and fled back to Tehran, a woman named Leila Rohani. FDI sources have provided us with a copy ofwhat purports to be her oficial passport.

Feb. 17, 2012: Iranian regime bombers inThailand.
Authorities in Thailand yesterday releasedthisphotograph of three Iranian-bornbomb suspects partying with local Thai women in Pattaya, during a stayin the resort town shortly before an aborted terror spree in Bankok.Israeli officials believe was the Bangkok hit team was part of aworldwide series of Iranian-government attacks on Israeli diplomats.Masoud Sedaghat Zadeh, left, was arrested in Malaysia, MohammadKhazaei, center, was detained at Suvarnabhumi Airport, and Saied Moradiwas lost a leg when a grenade he tossed at police bounced back at him.The day before their arrest, other terrorist cells believedtobe tied to Tehran attacked Israeli embassy personnel and theirfamilies in India and Georgia.


Feb. 12, 2012: Day of Infamy in Iran.
For some two million Iranians who fled tyranny in their country andcame to America to embrace our freedoms, February 12 will foreverremain a day of infamy. FDI has beendedicated to helping the pro-freedom movement in Iran. Readexecutive director Kenneth R. Timmerman's commemoration of this day of infamy, and his message to theIranian people. "We must finally understand that it’s not thebehavior of the regime that poses a threat to world security; it’s thevery existence of this regime," Timmerman writes.


Feb. 11, 2012: Internet going down in Iran.How you can help.
The Tor Project, a non-profit venture thatprovides anti-censorship proxy tools free of charge to users incountries such as Iran, just announced a crash effort to circumventnewly-erected cyber-walls around local ISPs, as the regime attempts toerect a CyberCurtain around Iran in the approach to next month'sparliamentary elections. TOR is asking users with spare computercapacity in the West to set up "obfuscated bridge" servers. "This kindof help is not for the technically faint of heart but it's absolutelyneeded for people in Iran, right now. It's likely that more than~50,000 - ~60,000 Tor users may drop offline," Tor Project's JacobAppelbaum said. Technicalinstructionsare here, and more complete information is availableat Tor-talk.CNETis reporting that Internet-savvy users in Iran also arecircumventing the blackout using VPN - virtual private networks - inaddition to TOR and similar tools, CNET isreporting.

Jan. 16, 2012: Iranian-Americanresearchermurdered in
Houston-the intel wars begin? According to initial police reports,someone walked up to Gelareh Bagherzadeh's car as she was about to parkby her parents home in Houston, and shot her three times in the headthrough the window. They excluded robbery as a motive, since theassassin made no attempt to steal her purse, which was sitting on thefront seat.

Gelareh had been photographed taking part in anti-regimedemonstrations organized by SabzIran, a pro-green movement group in Texas, but so far the FBI has notopened an investigation - just as they have never opened aninvestigation into the alleged "suicide" of Ahmed Rezai, son of formerRev. Guards commander Gen. Mohsen Rezai, in Dubai on Nov. 12

Jan. 13, 2012: "War or regime change," financial analyst says.
Inarefreshingly clear-headedexchangeon Bloomberg television, financial analyst and authorJames Rickards examined recent talks between U.S. Treasury SecretaryTimothy Geitner and the Chinese authorities and said they were allaimed at warning the Chinese that U.S. sanctions would be imposed onChinese companies if they continued trading with Iran, and reassuringChina that it would get the oil it needs to drive its economy. "It'sabout making sure they get replacement oil," Rickards said.

War with Iran "began two years ago," he said. "2010 was the year ofcyber warfare. 2011 was the year of special operations," with theassassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and sabotage of facilities."2012, it's a full scale financial war." How Iran responds to themounting pressures against it will determine the outcome. "Eitherthere's going to be a regime change in Iran, or the Iranians will steeraway from their nuclear program, or there's going to be a shooting warin Iran. It will be one of those three options."

Rickards didn't hold out much hope that Iran would back off its nuclearambitions, and at the end of the program shortened his short list: The"divide and conquer game has been going on for three years. It'sover... It's going to be war or regime change."

Jan. 4, 2012: Grover Norquist, Mullah'sAlly.
Anti-tax campaigner Grover
Norquist hasused the resources of his Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) organizationto help hard-left and pro-Tehran groups lobby against U.S.sanctions on Iran, a new report reveals. Norquist ally, Michael Ostrolenk (see photo),offered the ATR office suite to host a meeting to establish ananti-sanctions lobbying coalition in November 2007 that was spearheadedby Trita Parsi and hisNational Iranian-American Council (NIAC). Ostrolenk's group, theAmerican Conservative Defense Alliance (ACDA) was "a founder andleader" of the anti-sanctions effort, known as Campaign for a NewAmerican Policy for Iran (CNAPI), the reportstates.

Norquist appears to have understood he was skating on thin ice, andnever publicly signed on to CNAPI's pro-Tehran lobbying campaign, eventhough he allowed them to use the ATR office for organizationalmeetings.  As Parsi himself pointed out in an email to othermembers of the anti-Bush administration alliance, Norquist was a bigget. "He exemplifies not just a powerful voice in the Republican Party,but also an important figure that can provide transpartisan legitimacyto our efforts," Parsi wrote.

CNAPI's efforts against U.S. sanctions on Iran were supported in partby George Soros through his Open Society Institute, which paid thesalary of a CNAPI staffer. The coalition included the hard-leftInstitute for Policy Studies; the Council on American Islamic Relations(CAIR), J Street, and the Campaign Against Sanctions and MilitaryIntervention in Iran (CASMII) .

"The founder of NIAC, Trita Parsi is an unpopular figure within theIranian-American community, as can be seen from his high disapprovalratings in a July 2011 poll of over 1800 Iranian Americans taken by thePro-Democracy Movement of Iran," writesIranian-Americanactivist Manda Zand Ervin. "If Mr. Norquist issupporting these apparently unabashed lobbyists out of a humanitarianconcern for the people of Iran, he should know that a large majority ofIranian people have no problem with economic sanctions if they resultin the removal of this illegitimate, dictatorial regime," she added.

Iran again asks Germany to expel Germancitizen...! During a meeting with German parliamentarians inTehran on Wednesday, the head of the Iranian majles Human rightscommnission asked Germany to expel PJAK leader Abdulrahman Haj Ahmadi,on allegations of terrorism, FarsNews agency reported. Zohreh Elahian demanded that extradite Ahmadito Iran, neglecting to mention that he has been a German citizen fordecades.

The Iranian regimehas repeatedly demanded that the EU arrest and deport Ahmadi, and atone point managed to get Interpol to issue a Red notice for his arrest,as we reported last year. This latest Iranian demand comes less thanone week after PJAK forces kileld 8 IRGC members and local Kurdishmilitiamen working for the IRGC during a clash near the Iranian Kurdishcity of Baneh on Dec. 28. In its version of events, PJAK claims theregime is trying to violate the 5-month old ceasefire in Kurdistan andpin the blame on PJAK. If the regime continues these attacks, "we willuse the right of self defence and respond to them as we did in Julylast year," a PJAK spokesman in Europe told FDI.

Jan. 3, 2012: Tabarzadi's VideofromPrison. A former student leader who has been in and out of jailfor years managed to send an unusual 15-minute cellphone video messageto the outside world and get it posted on YouTube.HeshmatollahTabarzadi apparently filmed the message from Rajayishahrprison, where he predicted that the regime's attempts to silencedissent would fail. "I believe freedom is the essence of being human,"he said. "Without freedom, choice has no meaning."  The Tabarazadivideo and an earlier one of prominent political prisoners taken insideGohardasht prison are "example[s] of social media providing Iranianactivists a platform on which they can express themselves more freelythan through other, frequently heavily censored media,"
RadioFreeEurope/Radio Liberty commented.

Jan. 2, 2011: Get a full suite of Internet Freedom Tools.
Thecooperative Internet freedom group, Floss Manuals, has produced afull-scope manual on how to circumvent Internet Censorship which isavailable in English, Farsi, and other languages. Produced at a "booksprint" in Berlin last year, it is now available along with otheronline resources through our special InternetFreedom page.

Dec. 28, 2011: Sakineh could be hanged.
Inaneffort to wriggleout of the sentence an Islamic court handed down to stone SakinehMohammadi Ashtiani to death on allegations of adultery, the IRI is nowweighing whether it can execute her by hanging instead, aspokesmanfor the regime's Judiciary told the Guardian in London.Women who have been raped are often accused of adultery under Islamiclaw. Sakineh Ashtiani is accused of having murdered her husband, basedon a forced confession televized on the regime's overseas propagandanetwork, PressTV.

Dec. 23, 2011: Israeli firmaccused of sending Internet monitoring gear to Iran. Israelilawmaker Nachman Shai called for a parliamentary investigation into thesale of Internet monitoring gear by Israeli firm Allot CommunicationsLtd. that made its way to Iran, Bloombergreported. The company sold its NetEnforcersystems to a RanTek A/S, a distributor in Denmark, which in turnshipped the systems on to a client in Iran. Allot says it was not awareof the onward sale to Iran, and could face stiff penalties underIsraeli law for "trading with the enemy" if the investigationdetermines it was complicy. The Israeli systems allegedly would allowIran to monitor network traffic to determine, intercept emails and textmessages, and track individual Internet users, even those using VPN orother security firewalls such as TOR.

Dec. 16, 2011: New York CourtFinds Iran Shared  Responsibility for 9/11 attacks. In alandmark decision, Judge George Daniels in Federal District Court inNew York told 9/11 families in court on Thursday that he accepted "astrue" the evidence they presented documenting Iran's material anddirect involvement in the 9/11 plot. FDI president Kenneth R. Timmermantestified on behalf of the plaintiffs and served as lead investigator (read hisaffidavit here).


Dec. 15, 2011:
Amnesty Internationalaccusesregime of "killing spree." Ina damning report released shortly before Christmas, AmnestyInternational said the Iranian regime has dramatically escalatedcapital punishment over the past 12 months into a "killing spree ofstaggering propertions." By its calculation, the Iranian regimeexecuted some 600 people during the first 11 months of 2011, 81% ofthem - at least 488 people - for alleged drug offences. "To try tocontain their immense drug problem, the Iranian authorities havecarried out a killing spree of staggering proportions," saidAmnestyInternational's Interim Middle East and North Africa DeputyDirector Ann Harrison. Download the 44-page report here.

Nov. 18,2011: Mohsen Rezai buries his son.
 
A massive funeralcortege in Tehran followed former IRGC commander Maj. Gen. MohsenRezai, as he buried his son, 35 -year old Ahmad Rezai, who appears tohave been murdered in Dubai (see below).

The Dubai police have yet to elucidate the circumstances of Rezai'sdeath in room 1823 of the Gloria Hotel. His body was found on Saturday,Nov. 11, after cleaning personnel had found the door locked for twodays. The hotel, located near Dubai's famed J
umeira beaches and the Jumeira Palmresort,  is frequented by Russian andIranian tourists.

The elder Rezai appears to be looking over his shoulder as rumorscontinue to circulate that his son was murdered, perhaps by thugs hiredby a rival gang within the IRGC.

More pictures from the funeral are here, here, and here.

 

Photos from Ahmad's latest trip to Mecca with hisfather earlier this year are here.

Nov. 16, 2011: Iran's Thugocracy strikesagain.
Read the inside story of Ahmad Rezai's murder in Dubai,the truth behind the allegations made against him by the regime and bymisinformed news accounts, from FDI president Kenneth Timmerman intoday'sFrontpagemagazine.

Nov. 13, 2011: Son of former IRGC commandermurdered in Dubai.
Police in Dubai and the AssociatedPress are trying to claim that Ahmad Rezai's death wasasuicide, but even the office of the Supreme Leader todayacknowledged that Ahmad Rezai, 35, wasmurdered in the Gloria Hotel in Dubai today. The initial police reportquoted by the AP claims he was found with a slit wrist, but Iranian websites and Rezai's father's Tabnakwebsite say that he was found dead under"suspiciouscircumstances," apparently electrocuted.

The regime had good cause to murder the younger Rezai, who initiallyfled to the United States in 1998 and denouncedtheregime and its ongoing assassination campaign against Iraniandissidents. An American citizen, AhmadRezaihasa daughter in the United States, and has tried repeatedly totravel to Iran to visit his family, but has been turned back severaltimes and threatened with arrest. According to an unconfirmed report,he was escorted back to Dubai earlier today by two Quds force officers,shortly before he was murdered.

FDI salutes the courage of Ahmad Rezai and will investigate thoseresponsible for his murder and expose them as more information becomesavailable.

Nov. 7, 2011: Hillary's Iran advisors on"meddling" in Iran politics.
In an interview with BBCPersian Service last week, Sec/State Hillary Clinton advanced an astonishing new claim: the Obamaadministration failed to respond to the massive demonstrations in June2009 because  Green movement representatives asked theadministration to stay quiet.

"At the time, the most insistent voices we were within the GreenMovement and the supporters from outside  of Iran were that we,the United States, had to be ery careful not to look like what washappening inside Iran and directed by... the United States," Mrs.Clinton said. "So we were torn. ... [W]e kept being cautioned that wewould put people's lives in danger, we would discredit the movement, wewould undermine their aspirations."

Who were Hillary Clinton'sadvisors at that point? Trita Parsi, Vali Nasr, Hooman Majd,and Ray Takehy, all of whom she welcomed to "private" dinners at theState Department to advise her on Iran policy.

In a biting on-line videoresponse to Mrs. Clinton's staements, Mojtaba Vahidi [photo], the repr
esentativeofpresidentialcandidate Mehdi Karrubi in the United States. chastizedMrs. Clinton for falsely concluding that the Green Movement wanted the United States to stay silent in responseto the demonstrations.

"At the absolute height of the Iranian protest movement’s oppression bythe Coup d’Etat regime of Iran, Mr. Obama made a statement about theU.S. government being prepared to dialogue with that regime and bydoing such a thing he encouragedthatregime and gave it the fodder it was looking for. A regimethat at that point was startled and clearly paralyzed (from fear) dueto the events both inside and outside; and this one statement of Mr.Obama’s - for which he has been criticized by both friends andopponents recently- psychologically energized that regime. As a resultof this, the U.S. government, headed by Mr. Obama, owes the Iranianpeople and the Green movement." [Translation thanks to BanafshehZand-Bonazzi].

Instead of encouraging the regime, the United Staates should hold adialogue with the
Iranian opposition as with a"government in exile." Such a dialogue, which Karubbi called for inJune 2009, would not be "meddling," Vahidi said.

Oct. 18, 2011: Five Azeris executed inUrimieh.
Five Azerbaijanis were executed on Oct. 10 in Urimieh
on allegations of drug trafficking, in northwestern Iran, and three more are awaiting execution, accordingtotheAssociation for Defense of Azerbaijani Political Prisoners inIran, ADAPP. "No proper trial was held," said Gurban Ahmadpurazer,the brother of one of the executed men. At least three of the executedmen confessed to crimes only after "severe psychological and physicaltorture," ADAPP said in a written statement.

Another 70  Iranian Azeris have been held since April afterprotesting the ecological degradation of Lake Urumieh, ADAPP also said.The head of the judiciary for West Azeribajan province, Seyed MohammadAli Mousavi, said that environmental protests against the drying up ofIran’s Lake Urmia were a form of "protestagainstGod...  rooted in political' opposition to the IslamicRepublic" and were being "steered by the country’s enemies."

ADAPP is seeking to bring a wider awareness to cultural, linguistic,religious, and political discrimination against Sunni Azerbaijanis bythe Iranian government.

Oct. 17, 2011: Regime secretly executinghundreds of political prisoners: UN.
A new report from theUnited Nations alleges that Iran carried out 300 secret executions inVakilabad prison in Mashad in Eastern Iran last year. "Vakilabadofficials, in violation of Iranian law, allegedly carried out theexecutions without the knowledge or presence of the inmates' lawyers orfamilies and without prior notification to those executed," thereportsaid. The report is the first from the pen of Ahmed Shaheed,
a former foreign minister from the Maldives, who took overas the UN human rights rapporteur for Iran onAugust 1. Human rights activists have been critical of UN monitoring ofIran in the past.

Shaheed noted that "more than 200 officially announced executions havetaken place in 2011," with another allegations of "at least 146 secretexecutions" since the beginning of this year. More than 100 juvenileshave been sentenced to death and are awaiting execution, Shaheedreported. "The
execution of minors, defined as an individual under the age of 18 yearsat the time they committed their offence, is prohibited by theInternational Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Conventionon the Rights of the Child, to both of which the Islamic Republic ofIran is a State party," he added. Shaheed was barred by Iran fromvisiting the country to prepare his report. Viewers can download a PDF of thecomplete report here.

Oct. 14, 2011:  Iranian-Canadians protest safe haven for Islamicregime officials.
A group of Iranian-Canadian activists havewritten to Immigration minister Ja
son Kenney, to protest the recent influx of Iranian regimeofficials to Canada, Macleansreported. The most high-profile recent exile is Mahmoud RezaKhavari, former CEO of Bank Melli, who fled to the comfort of his $3 million home in the upscaleBridle Path neighborhood of Toronto. The activists have gathered over1800 signatures for the petition to the Canadian government in favor ofopening an official inquiry into whether Khavari came legally toCanada. "For years members of the Iranian-Canadian community have beenconcerned that high ranking members of the Islamic Republic of Iran andtheir relatives are securing residency status in Canada and funnellingtheir investments to this country," they write. You can sign thepetition here.

Oct. 11, 2011:
No-show for NIAC show. Aftertwo months of large-scalecampaign of emails, advertisements,  phone calls, and personalinvitations, fewer than 20peopleshowedup for theNIACshow on Capitol Hill last week.  So much  for anorganization that falsely claims to be the largest Iranian-Americanorganization with more than 4000 members and 43000 active supporters!The pathetic showing came despite a boost from a Department of Statewebsite, apopular pro-Tehran website run by a NIAC sycophant, and from Rep.Jim Moran. Readthisupdate from our advisory board member Dr. Arash Irandoost.[Photo: NIAC founder Trita Parsi with Hooman Majd, who boasts in hisown memoire that he has worked as "an unpaid advisor to two Iranianpresidents," Khatami and Ahmadinejad.]

Oct. 10,2011: Friday Night Massacre atVOA. The Voice of America's Persian service has eliminated fourtop broadcasters known for their anti-regime positions, in whatappears to have been a Friday Night Massacre orchestrated by NIACprotegé Ramin Asgard, now the director of VOA Persian. When hewas still at the U.S. consultate in Dubai, Asgard worked closely withNIAC founder Trita Parsi, offering to allow Parsi to "handpickIranian-Americans to staff the State Department’s primary field officeon Iran," accordingtoaformer aide to Sen. Tom Coburn (R, OK). The broadcasters firedincluded Jamshid Chaharlangi, Ahmad Batebi, Kianoush Sanjari, andKourosh Seyhati.

FDIsources say that Asgard is hoping to fire more anti-regime journalists,while adding to the five young NIAC members recently brought on boardfrom southern California, to complete the VOA's transformation into theVoice of theMullahs. A recent evaluation of VOA broadcasting that appears to havegiven support to Asgard's makeover was authored by Hooman Majd, anIranian-American "scholar" who has worked as Ahmadinejad's "voice"during his vistis to New York.

Iranian regime intelligence planted a story withPress TV several months ago alleging a sexual harassment investigationagainst Chaharlangi, when in fact no such investigation was under waynorallegations made. Press TV is widely believed to be controlled byIran's ministry of information and security, MOIS.

Oct. 3, 2011: Republican presidentialhopeful Rick Perry slams Obama for weakness on Iran.
Gov. RickPerry today blasted President Obama for his failure to respond to theJune 2009 protests in Iran, and for failing to add his voice to thosecalling for the Iranian regime to release Pastor Yousef Naderkhani.

We can only hopethat President Obama, along with the United Nations, will work towardsecuring the release of Pastor Nadarkhani. Becoming a martyr forreligious freedom should not be the only path out of Iran,” Perrysaid. “President Obama has insisted that Iran’s leadership wasabout to unclench its fist so it could hold our hand. But Iran onlyunclenches its fists to strangle freedom and the dissidents who dare topractice it.”

Sept 30, 2011: FDI's Timmerman honored by the HopeforTomorrowFoundation with its International Humanitarian award.
Timmerman'sspeechincludeda passionate plea to help the people of Iran."We’restill looking for what former Defense Secretary Robert Gates oncecalled 'the elusive Iranian moderate.' Every time we find one – such asRafsanjani or Khatami – he goes out and commits some atrocity,"Timmerman said. "After 32 years of trying to change the way this regimebehaves, I believe there’s a better way. I believe it is time to helpthe Iranian people change the regime." FDI will be posting text andhopefully video of the speech soon.

Sept 29, 2011: Updates on Pastor YousefNaderkhani impending execution.
Even the left-wing Britishdaily the Guardian has condemned the proposed execution of PastorYousef on "blasphemy" charges, in an editorial titled "LiveFree-and Die."  The New Statesman's David Green provides newdetails of Pastor Yousef's trial, including lengthy excerpts ofthe charging documents from the regime that have been translated fromPersian by ChristianSolidarityWorldwide.

In the US, only conservative members of Congress and conservativepublications have done as much
(see below).Left-wing organizations such as Human Rights Watch, always quick tocondemn the United  States, have been slow to respond. Now we seethat HRW has issuedapressrelease, dated tomorrow, on Pastor Yousef.Better late than never!

 White House  Spokesman Jay Carney had to "look into the box"to find a canned statement condemning Pastor Yousef's plannedexecution, which he read this afternoon for willing news organizations."Okay, regarding Mike’s question about Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani, theUnited States condemns the conviction of Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani,"Carney read. The full written statement comes at the very end of today'sWhiteHousepress briefing.


S
ept 28, 2011: Iran toexecute pastor on"apostasy" charge. Christian pastor Yousef Naderkhani was hauled into court in northern Gilan province yesterdeay morningand today and again asked to renounce his faith in Christ, or faceexecution on apostasy charges as a former Muslim. According to MohabatNews, a source of news on the underground church in Iran, Pastor Yousefhas again refused to denounce his faith. Now Iranian Christians fear hecould be the"testcase" for executing members and leaders of the undergroundchurch. (For more, see our July 15, 2011 entry, below).

Nina Shea, at NationalReviewOnline, adds that the U.S. Commission on InternationalReligious Freedom denounced the Iranian court proceedings againstPastor Yousef as"not only a sham, but contrary to Iranian law andinternational human rights standards." She called on Secretary of StateHillary Clinton to break her silence and to join with British ForeignSecretary William Hague in demandingtheIranianregime set Pastor Yousef free. Rep.Trent Franks (R, AZ), aco-chair of the Congressional Religious Freedom Caucus, issued a blisteringstatement condemning the Iranian regime. "I appeal to whateversemblance of humanity may remain in the hearts of Iran's leaders andurge the Obama Administration to make it clear, through every channelpossible, that such grievous human rights abuses will not stand."

    • Erdoganbacks down from "joint operation with Iran" against Kurds. Aftermeetings last Saturday with Iraqi president Jalal Talabani in Baghdad,Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened back in Ankaraon Sunday, Sept 25, to launch a "jointmilitaryoffensivewith Iran" against Kurdish rebel camps innorthern Iraq. The joint Turkish-Iranian offensive - not the first, byany means - was intended to target Turkish PKK guerillas in thenorthern Iraqi mountains bordering Turkey, and Iranian PJAK guerillasin the northwestern Qandil mountains bordering Iran.

But just yesterday, the Iranianregime's Consul General in Erbil, AzimHusseini (left), announced thatformerprimeminister Nichervan Barzani had brokered aceasefirebetween PJAK and the Iranian regime,potentiallytaking Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps out of the mix.

The IRGC has been severely bloodied in its assault agains PJAK forcesinside Iran and in northern Iraq, and was not eager for a renewedoffensive, Kurdish sources said.

Shortly before the reported ceasefire,a PJAK guerilla leader, Rewar Abdanan (below), warned the IRGC that his forces had withdrawnfrom northern Iraq and were now positioned "deep inside East Kuridstan"[Iran], where they could respond at any moment to IRGC provocation."[O]ur actions
have been conducted within thecontext of legitimateself-defence and in order to preserve the achievement of the Kurdishpeople," Abdanan  toldKurdishsatellitechannel, Newroz TV,

Sept. 9, 2011: 9/11 Case against Iranbroadens.
Plaintiffs representing families of 9/11 victims havefiled their second lawsuit against Iran, asserting that Iran played akey role in planning and facilitating the 9/11 attacks.The new case, Bingham, et al. v. Islamic Republic ofIran, et al., is being filed in federal court by the sameattorneys who have been litigating Havlish, et al. v. Islamic Republicof Iran, et al., now pending in the U.S. District Court in Manhattan.

Alice Hoagland, lead plaintiff in the new Bingham case, is the motherof 9/11 hero Mark Bingham, one of the passengers on United Flight 93who stormed the cockpit to try to re-take control of the aircraft fromthe terrorist hijackers. “Mark Bingham and other passengers on Flight93 gave their lives for their country, without any knowledge on thatmorning they would have to do it, yet they proceeded withouthesitation.  We, their survivors, deserve to know why they had togive their lives and who was supporting, aiding and abetting alQaeda.  Our whole country deserves to know,” she said.

In a column at Frontpagemagazine today, FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman recalls "Iran'sDirty 9/11 Secrets" and recounts not only the evidence the Havlish and Bingham attorneys are presentingagainst the Islamic Republic of Iran, but also the efforts by the CIAto block the lawsuits..

    • Heritage Foundation, Tony Blair, call for regimechange in Iran.
In a report from its Counter-terrorism taskforce, the Heritage Foundation calls for regime change in Iran andcovert U.S. government support for Iranian opposition group. The reportargues that the only way to break the "iron triangle" of the Iranianregime, Hamaz and Hezbollah is "bybringing freedom to the people under the tyranny of the leadership inTehran - change that has to come from within the country."

A
mong the measures the Heritage report urges the U.S. to take:
- Use public diplomacy to expose the regime's human rights abuses;
- Facilitate secure communication among dissidents by providingtechnology
- Provide covert financial and material assistance to democraticopposition groups inside Iran
- Engage in targeted covert actions to discredit the regime, such asdistributing "printouts of Iranian officials' foreign bank accounts andother assets."

FDI has long supported a similar agenda, and applauds theHeritage Foundation for its report. (The sectionon Iran is called, "What Else Must Be Done."

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
has also come out infavor of regime change in Iran and Syria in an interview publishedtoday by theGuardian. "Regime change in Tehran would immediately make mesignificantly more optimistic about the whole of the region," he said.

Sept 8, 2011: Iran rejects PJAKceasefire offer, kills deputy military commander. Iran resumedattacks on PJAK bases in northern Iraq on Sept 2, attacking repeatedlyacross the border into Iraq. PJAK claimed they repulsed the night-timeattacks and inflictedheavylosses on the IRGC troops. ghrejected an offer by PJAKleaders.

On Sept. 4, PJAK announcedaunilateralceasefire, and the next day they releasedastatement saying that thanks to mediation by "friendlyindividuals and circles," perhaps a reference to Nichervan Barzani (seeAug. 28, 2011 entry, below), PJAK was calling on the regime to resolveits conflict with the Kurds through dialogue and not violence.

The response from the IRGC was almost immediate. Instead of aceasefire, they launched repeated the shelling of PJAK bases insideIraq, killing three fighters, including the deputy commander of allPJAK forces. PJAK announcedthedeath of Majid Kawian, known as Comrade Samkou, on Tuesday, andclaimed that its forces had killed 107 IRGC fighters, and destroyed twotanks, 5 vehicles, and 1 bulldozer, some of whom were killed when PJAKfighters attackedanIRGCbase near Sardasht. OnPJAK's Nowruz TV, they showed off NATO-issue weapons they claimed theyhad taken from dead Iranian troops, including Western-made nightvision goggles, GPS systems, anti-tank missiles, and BKC guns. PJAK hasclaimed for some time that Iran's ally Turkey has provided NATOweaponry to Iran that has been turned against the Kurds.

Aug. 31, 2011: Facebook blocks anti-NIAC"cause.
Internet giant Faceboo
k has taken down a prominent"cause" that had attracted close to 3,000 supporters, ostensiblybecause its title, "NIAC is a Lobbyist for the Islamic Republic ofIran," might be considered defamatory. Despite a spate of emailrequests from members to re-instate the page, Facebook "Causes"executive Sydney Fleischerrefused, suggesting instead that the activists choose a different namefor their action. According to one of theactivists, FDI advisory boardmember Arash Irandoost, NIAC has boasted of having "taken down" theanti-NIAC page from Facebook's Causes website. "Unlike Trita [Parsi -NIAC's president] we are not driven by money. We are doing what webelieve to be morally right. I, much like you, am driven by convictionand values," Dr. Irandoost said in an email.

So far, Facebook has taken no action against a replacement "cause" pageset up yesterday. This cause had the straightforward title, "UnitedAgainst NIAC."  FDIhas joined this "cause" as a supporter and urges our readers andsupporters to do the same. (A similar page,
"NationalIranianAmericanCounciland Trita Parsi, Myths vs. Facts,"has also been set up.

NIAC efforts to compel testimonyfrom FDI fail in court. A U.S. District Court judge inWashington, DC yesterday rejected long-standing efforts by NIAC tocompel testimony and documents from FDI in relation to NIAC's lawsuit against HassanDaioleslam. In an early subpoena, served on FDI president KennethR. Timmerman at his residence in January 2010, NIAC demanded that heproduce “any email, article, letter or work, published or unpublished,public or private that you (or anyone under your (direct or indirect)direction, supervision or control) has produced or has in yourpossession regarding....the Islamic Republic of Iran.” The courtquickly rejected that demand as an open-endedfishingexpedition, but NIAC took 18 months to serve a newsubpoena, claiming in court documents it couldn't locate Mr.Timmerman's residence, even though they had already served him at thatlocation! Yesterday's court order vindicates FDI's efforts to quash thesubpoena.

"Plaintiffs had ample opportunity to depose Timmerman prior to theFebruary 4, 2011 discovery deadline," the Court order reads. "The Courtthen provided plaintiffs with additional time to depose Timmerman,allowing, them up until May 13, 2011 to take the deposition. Althoughplaintiffs maintain that their failure to depose Timmerman isattrributable to Timmerman's attempts to evade service of process, the court finds this explanationunpersuasive, given that (1) plaints appear to have knownTimmerman's home address throughout this litigation..."

In fact, the court documents allege some troubling connectionsinvolving NIAC's attorney, Afshin Pishevar, of Rockville, MD.

"Plaintiffs’ have conveniently neglected to advise the court in regardto the service issue, that Abraham Pishevar, the father of plaintiffs’present counsel, Afshin Pishevar, worked on the U.S. Senate campaign ofTimmerman, has been to Timmerman’s home on numerous occasions inconjunction with campaign conferences, and has taken photographs ofTimmerman and the inside of Timmerman’s home which, (Timmerman wassubsequently informed) Pishevar provided to the Iranian government,"the court documents revealed.

Perhaps encouraged by the successful efforts to get inside Timmerman'shouse, NIAC attorneys now wanted to get inside Timmerman's computer.Wisely, the US District court said no.

Aug. 30, 2011: Regime Intercepts Gmailaccounts.
The Dutch government warned a provider of Internetsecurity codes known as SSL certificates that it had been penetrated bythe Iranian regime and on July 19 had issued a number of fake SSLcertificates that were used to intercept Gmail and other Googleaccounts belonging to users inside Iran, in what computer securityanalysts call a "man-in-the-middle" attacks. Googleannounced the intrusion on Monday, and theGuardiannewspaper revealedon Tuesday that the Dutch company, DigiNotar, had acknowledged it hadbeen the target of what appears to be an Iranian government hackingjob, aimed at eavesdroppingon Iranian dissidents. Google says that thelatest edition of its Chrome browser has been programmed not to acceptthe fake SSL certificates, but it was issued nearly a month afterDigiNotar had issued them, leaving a gap that could have put thousandsof Iranian users at risk. The Iranian regime has made clear it intendsto crack down on dissidents using the Internet as an organizing device- the contemporary equivalent to the cassette tapes distributed byAyatollah Khomeini from his exile in France in the months leading up tothe 1979 revolution.

Aug. 28, 2011: Former KRG primeminister calls on PJAK to lay down arms. After talks in Tehranwith Ahmadinejad and other regime officials, the former prime minister of the KurdistanRegional Government, Nechervan Barzani, told a prominent Kurdish mediaoutlet in Erbil that PJAK should lay down its arms. In an interviewwith Rudaw ["The Happening'], translated by AFP, Barzanisaid,
I believethat PJAK must take the crucial decision to abandon its armed struggleand lay down its weapons.

However, in the English version posted on theRudaw website, Barzani made no such statement, although he remainedhighly critical of PJAK. “In their fight they (PJAK) never take intoaccount the interests of the Kurdistan region and they give excuses tothose countries (Iran and Turkey) to attack the territories of theKurdistan region,” Barzani said.

Regarding PJAK and PKK armed activities along the border, Barzani said,“It is unacceptable and based on the international standards theKurdistan region cannot tolerate it.”

Following Barzani's trip to Tehran to find a solution to Iran'scontinued bombardment of the Kurdish border region, Michael McClellan, a US Embassyspokesman in Baghdad called the PKK "a common enemy of Turkey,Iraq, and the United States," but remained curiously silent on PJAK.It's unclear from the statement whether McClellan was simply lumpingPJAK in with the PKK, as the Treasury Department has done, or whetherhis comments implied a more careful nuance.

Meanwhile, the PUK representative in Britain, Shanaz Ibrahim Ahmad, sentaletter to British prime minister David Cameron protestingBritain's silence over the ongoing attacks against Iraqi Kurdistan byTurkey and Iran, while a group of Iraqi Kurdish lawmakers lodgedaprotest with the UN office in Baghdad over the Turkish andIranian attacks.

Aug. 6 , 2011: Clashes continue insideIran.
PJAK is claiming to have killed 25 IRGC soldiers andwounded 7 more in an attack on Friday against an IRGC base nearHawraman. Among the dead were 8 intelligence officers. In separatefighting, PJAK is claiming responsibility for shutting down the maingas pipeline between Turkey and Iran, but denies any of its membershave been killed or taken captive, as the regime claims. In separateaction on Friday, an oil pipeline was hit near Ahwaz but unknownattackers.

- Is PJAK a Separatist Group?
What is the group's actual agenda for thefuture ofIran, as opposed to the hidden agendasand allegiances ascribed to them?

FDI asked Rahman Haj Ahmadi thisweekthepoliticalquestionsthatmightnot interest the averageAmerican news reader, but that we know will be of vital importance toall Iranians who seek a democratic future for their country. Read his comments here.

Aug. 4, 2011: PJAKdeclares victory in running battles with the IRGC. Aftertwo weeks of running battles with IRGC forces in theQandil mountains and throughout Iranian Kurdistan, the Free Life Partyof Kurdistan (PJAK) has shown its strength. PJAK Secretary-GeneralRahman Haj Ahmadi told FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman he expectedmore attacks, since the IRGC could not back down after suffering over300 casualties. For Ahmadi's detailed commentary on the two weeksbattle between PJAKforces and the IRGC, seethis article from Newsmax.

July 27, 2011:Turkish troops join fightwith IRGC in northern Iraq. While the Iranian and Turkishregimes continue to allege falsely that PJAK is "controlledby"thePKK,itisIranand Turkey that are cooperating militarilyagainst their Kurdish populations. Last night, 20 Turkish tanks crossed into IranianKurdistan at the invitation of the Iranian regime, along with 300 Turkish special forces troops, whocame to fly intelligence missions into the Qandil mountains usingdrones. The Turkish assistance came after yet another IRGC thrust intoIraq on Tuesday morning was repulsedbyPJAKfighters, who destroyed a T-55 tank during the skirmish. OnWednesday, Iran continued shelling Iraqi border villages, PUKmedia reported.

Elsewhere inside Iran, PJAK guerillas attacked an IRGC position anddestroyed it, killing 13 IRGC soldiers. Newrouz TV, based in Sweden,broadcast video images of the attack today.

Since the fighting began on July 16, PJAKclaims to have killed 255 IRGC troops and lost 8 of its ownfighters.


July 24, 2011: Iranian nuclear scientistgunned down in Tehran.
An Iranian nuclear scientist,Dariush Rezaei-Nejad, was gunned down at 4:30 pm local time on Saturdayas he was entering the garage of his home in Tehran, alJazeerareported. Two gunmen on motorbikes approached and calledhim by name. When he responded, they shot him in the neck. Rezaie-Nejadis the fourth nuclear scientist to have been assassinated in the pasttwo years. At his funeral in Tehran today, Teheran governor MortezaTamaddon linked the murder to the assassination last year of two topphysicts also working on Iran's nuclear program, and said that thislatest assassination ‘was without a doubt part of a project todiscourage the Iranian nation from the path of (progress) it waspursuing.’ Iranian lawmakers predictablyblamed the US and Israel for the assassination.

July 23: Regime confirms deathsof 6 IRGC commanders in clashes with PJAK. Lenzirantelevized portions of a funeral in Qom of six IRGC commanderskilled during clashes with PJAK guerillas in Sardasht on Friday. Amongthose whose deaths was confirmed in Iranianmedia were Abbas Assemi, a senior Sepah intelligence officer fromQom; Abdulmohammed KhoramRoz, deputy of Imam Hussien Battalion; andColonel Habibullah Aramzade. In separate clashes today, PJAK claims tohave killed another 11 IRGC troops. The regime vowed tocontinue its attacks against PJAK until the group stopped allmilitary activities.

Meanwhile, PJAK sources claim to have killed three Kurdish "anti-PJAK"agents, hired by the regime to carry out attacks against civilians andblame them on PJAK. Among them was Hasela Shet. The anti-PJAK squadshave been responsible forkilling 368 civilians over the past few years, according to PJAKsources.

July 21, 2011: PJAK fights back.
Afterintensefighting last weekend, PJAK spokesman say they forced all IRGCtroops to withdraw back to their bases inside Iran by Monday, wherefighting has continued all week.  Yesterday, Iran again tried tobring IRGC troops into Iraq, but was again repulsed by PJAK fighters.PJAK claims it killed 15 IRGC troops in Mariwan (Iranian Kurdistan),and that it controls most of the main highway in the Oraman region(Howraman). PJAK reported a total of 150 IRGC troops killed, and 8 PJAKfighters. Clashes were also reported in the city of Khoy in WestAzerbayjan province. Also on Wednesday, the Iraqi parliament decided todispatch members of the Security and Defense committee and the ForeignAffairs committee on afact-finding mission to visit Kurdish villages still beingbombarded by Iranian artillery.

According to one unconfirmed report from inside Iranian Kurdistan, theIRGC has executed 4 Colonels and 6 soldiers of Bakhtiari origin forrefusing to fight Kurdish dissidents.

So far, there has been little media coverage of these events, exceptfor Newsmax,whichhasbeenpickedupby FoxNewsand others,andthe JerusalemPost. The Iranian regime's Press TV has puttogether a lengthy "documentary" to renew its false allegations thatPJAK is controlled by the PKK, and trotted out Paul Sheldon Foote ofCalifornia State University at Irvine, a frequent shill for the regimewho sees "communists" under every opposition rug. (There are plenty ofMarxist groups among the Iranian opposition, but PJAK isn't one ofthem).

July 17, 2011: Casualties mount in Iranianincursion.
PJAK sources claim they have killed 108 IRGC troopsin fighting along the Iran-Iraq border and wounded another 200,following Iran's incursion intoIraqi Kurdistan on Saturday. In one clash, 40 IRGC troops surrenderedto PJAK guerillas, PJAK sources say. Meanwhile, officialIranian media claim that the IRGC has dismantled PJAK's "biggestcompound" inside Iran near the Kurdish city of Sardasht. A PJAKspokesman, Sherzad Kamangar, toldAFP in Erbil that two PJAK guerillas had been killed and severalwounded, in Qandil. So far, the official Iraqi media has had little tosay on theIranian incursion. PJAK sources also said that two PJAK guerillas werekilled on Sunday in an attack on the IRGC base in city (Oshnaviyeh) near Lake Urimiyeh near the Iraqand Turkish border.

July 15, 2011: Iran invades northern Iraq.
An estimated 10,000Iranian Revolutionary Guards troops crossed the international borderinto northern Iraq today as part of an offensive aimed at smashingIranian Kurdish bases inside the Kurdistan Regional Government areas.The IRGC troops launched their attack from Sardasht, Piranshahr andMariwan in Iranian Kurdistan, and flowed across the border into Iraq at HajOmran, the main border crossing controlled by the KRG, FDIhas learned from Kurdishsources in the region. Until now, neither the Iraqi government northe KRG has protested the Iranian invasion, nor have they attempted toresist the Iranian troops. IRGC troops have given Kurdish villagers inIraq 72 hours to evacaute their homes, or face the Iranian onslaught,which appears to be targeting secret bases run by Free Life Party ofKurdistan (PJAK).

PJAK sources claim that high-ranking Turkish officers and Specialforces teams are playing an active role in the Iranian army thrust intoIraq, which at this point seems to have penetrated 1 km into Iraqiterritory through areas controlled by the KRG. The IRGC has beendeploying heavy weaponry in their assault including tanks, katyusharocket launchers, artillery, mortars, and U.S.-built Huey Cobra attackhelicopters against PJAK guerillas.

PJAKclaims to have killed 21 IRGC troops so far, including one Colonel.

Iran upholdsdeath sentence of Iranian pastor. The Iranian SupremeCourt has upheld the death sentence for "apostasy" against PastorYousef Naderkhani, an evangelical pastor from Rasht, unless he recantshis faith. Pastor Yousef is a former Muslim believer who came to Jesuswho has been bringing the Gospel to Muslims. He has been under arrestsince 2009.

Ahmadinejad has frequently said he will "destroy" the undergroundchurch in Iran. The Iranian regime has long dominated the traditionalchurches in Iran, but faces a special challenge from evangelicalpastors from a Muslim background, since their very existence threatensthe legitimacy of the Muslim dogma on which the regime is based. TheStateDepartmenthassaid that if Iran carries out the deathsentence, Naderkhani will be the first former Muslim executed forapostasy in Iran since 1990.


July 13, 2011: Iran continues to shellKurdish villages in Iraq.
Iranian Revolutionary Guards unitshave been shelling villages inside Iraqi Kurdistan for the past twodays, according to PUKMedia, the official news agency of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistanparty of KRG primeminister Barham Salih. The shelling is part of a larger offensivedirected against positions of the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistanin the Qandil mountains bordering the two countries.

The Iranian regime is accusing the KRG of providing facilities to PJAK,an allegation hotlydeniedbyPJAK and clearly absurd to any observer who has visitedthe area on the ground, where KRG and PUK checkpoints prevent access tothe Qandil region.

A photograph released by regime-owned PRESS TV shows alleged PJAKguerilla fighters allegedly training in areas controlled by the KurdishDemocratic Party of KRG president, Mustapha Barzani. In thephotographs, the guerilla fighters have disguished their faceswith head scarves, something PJAK fighters do not do. Besides that,PJAK camps are in areas under PUK control.

Leaked letters from the KRG representativein Tehran, Nazim Debagh, shows Iran repeatedly pressing the KRGgovernment to crack down on PJAK fighters. In one letter, sent to PM BarhamSalih on May 9, 2010, Debagh complains that “wehave had no response from you about the promises you made to theIranians” about taking strong steps against Iranian Kurds in the Qandilmountains [PJAK]. The letter says that the Iranians are pressing for aresponse by May 13th, and urges him “not to delay because in just onemonth, PJAK targeted four key areas inside Iran.” (On thesame day the letter was sent, Iran executed five Kurdish activists,including several PJAK sympathizers).

A second letter, undated put apparently from the same time period, isfrom Nazim Debagh to the Commander of the Sepah Qods, informing himthat “the KRG agrees to your request to deploy 46 IRGC members insideKRG territory.”


Clearly, the KRG can't be helping Iran to crack down on PJAK whileproviding assistance to PJAK at the same time. But Tehran'sspin-meisters have never let facts get in the way of propaganda.

May 31, 2011: FDI calls on Rep. Lamar Smithto reauthorize Lautenberg Amendment.
Along with ten NGOs thatdeal with Iranian refugee issues, FDI has written to Rep. Lamar Smith,chairman of the House Judiciary committee, urging him to reauthorizethis special provision that allows members of persecuted religiousminorities in Iran to make refugee applications while still in Iran.The Lautenberg amendment has been a lifeline for Iranian Jews andBahai's. Without its immediate authorization, 800 people currentlyawaiting visas could suffer reprisals by the Iranian regime. Read theFDI letter here.

The Hudson Institute's Paul Marshall and Tina Ramirez odf the BecketFund have written about the implications of failing to reauthorize thismeasure at NationalReviewOnline.

• State Department Documents Expose IranianTerror Group. A series of documents released by State to the MEKunder the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) reveal the MEK’sinvolvement in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran, theirties to Saddam Hussein, and death threats made by the group to anymember who tries to leave Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where they have beenbased since 1986. FDI comments that the new documents “dealt a body blow”to the MEK’s effort to get off the terrorism list. Read the full storyat the NewEnglishReview.

May 23,2011: Congress of Minorities Explains Why No Cooperation with Greens.
Aspokesmanforthe Congress ofNationalities for a Federal Iran, Karim Abdian, briefedCongressional staff members today on why many Iranian minority groupshave not rushed to embrace the Green movement. "We believe that thefailure of the leaders of the so-called "Green Movement" to articulateor reflect the demands and needs of the non-Perisan ethnic groups werethe reasons why the Movement did not garner the needed enthusiasticsupport in outlying ethnic provinces," Abdian said. "Iranian Nationalgroups hve been extremely suspicious of any changes that do notguarantee their place in a future Iran. They have clearly demonstratedthat they will not risk another change in the country wtihout clearassurances that the future government in Iran will be theirs as well."The Congress includes representatives of the Azeri, Ahwaz, Bakhtari,Turkomen, and Balouchi communities, and is being spear-headed by theKurdish Democratic Party of Iran (KDPI).

KDPI Secretary General Mustapha Hijri told the Congressional briefingtoday that "the only solution to liberate the poeple of Iran is theremoval of this regime and the establishment of a democraticgovernment." The KDPI long-ago abandoned its armed struggle against theIranian regime and is now focusing on political action inside Iran.

Like many secular groups, the KDPI rejects the vision of former PrimeMinister Mir Hossein Mousavi of a reformed Islamic regime that wouldreturn to the "glory days" of the early Revoluiton. "We think thesegment of the Green movement promoting democratic regime change isstronger  than the reformists led by Moussavi and Karrubi," Hijritold FDI.

• DACOR rejections calls to cancel Trita Parsi.
Diplomatic andConsular Officers, Retired (DACOR) has rejected calls byIranian-Americans to cancel Trita Parsi's presentation on May 24. The group will host Parsi at aForum on Iran at noon at its historic mansion, known as Bacon House, at1801 F street, NW in Washington, DC, despite protests byIranian-Americans that Parsi represents the positions of the Iranianregime. FDI joined other Iranian-Americans in a letter urging DACOR tocancel Parsi's presentation. "The Iranian-American community considersthe "self-appointed" Trita Parsi of the National Iranian AmericanCouncil (NIAC) an intellectuallydishonest regime apologist and an unofficial and unregisteredlobby for the Iranian regime. He contributes to the regime’s agenda andserves the interests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran,not the Iranians, nor the Iranian-Americans. In a recent survey, 96% ofthe Iranian-Americans expressed that Trita is a lobbyist for theIranian regime," the letter states.

Aseparate letter, sent by Walton Martin of the Iran InformationProject and
and Dr. Gill Gillespie of theIranian Refugees Action network, notes that internal NIAC documentsshow NIAC's "intent to outright deceive Congress, the NED,Iranian-Americans and Americans as a whole under the guise ofpretending to pursue human rights issues."

• More Bahai's arrested in Iran.
The regime coordinated raidsover the weekend on the Bahai Institute of Higher Education (BIHE) andthe homes of professors, according to IranPressWatch. More than thirty faculty members were arrested byintelligence ministry operatives in Tehran, Karaj, Isfahan and Shirazduring raids on Saturday. BIHE was established in 1987 as a communityinitiative to meet the educational needs of young Baha’is who have beensystematically denied access to higher education by the Iraniangovernment. “The Iranian authorities – not content with debarringBaha’is from university solely on account of their religious beliefs –are now cruelly seeking to shut down the community’s efforts to provideits youth with higher education through alternative means. Thegovernment’s actions are utterly unjustifiable,” said Diane Ala’i,representative of the Baha’i International Community to the UnitedNations in Geneva.

• Report on Karoon prison in Ahvaz.
IranBriefing presents adetailed report on the inner workings of the IRGC prison holdingthe largest numbers of Arab-Iranians (Ahwazis) of any prison in Iran.The prison even has a "non-smoking" section for non-smoking that theauthorities show to visitors as a model. Political prisoners aredetained next to those convicted of armed roberry or drug charges andshare toilets with them. "In order to terrorise and put pressure onpolitical prisoners, prison officials actively provoke non-politicalconvicts held in section 6 to attack political prisoners," the reportstates.

May17,2011:Iranian-AmericansStepUpProtestsofNIACMisrepresentation. Iranian-Americanshavewritten a series open letters over the past few weeks to protestthe misrepresentations of NIAC and its founder, Trita Parsi. The latestinstallment, released today, was addressed to General Wesley Clark,took part in a recent forum with Paris. "Dr. Trita Parsi and NIAC areshunned by the Iranian American community. We overwhelmingly believethat he is a lobbyist for the Islamic Republic. In a survey conductedof NIAC by the Pro-Democracy Movement of Iran, over 95% of the Iraniansbelieve that NIAC does not represent their interests or their views,"writes Sheri Alavandian of the Pro-DemocracyMovementofIran. She added that documents and emails that havecome to light in NIAC's lawsuit against Hassan Dai "clearly shows NIAChas been advocating for policies favorable to the Islamic (non)Republicgovernment in Iran." The documents also indicate that NIAC may havemisused funds obtained from the National Endowment for Democracy, Ms.Alavandian writes.

•WritinginNewsmaxtoday, FDI President Kenneth R. Timmermanreveals information from Iranian dissidents that reinforces claims that Iran was behind the coordinatedstorming of Israel's borders this past Sunday.

 May 16,2011: Why has the U.S. Invited an Iranian Trade Delegation to Visit? Des
pitestricteconomicsanctionsonIran,theU.S.hasnotonlyinviteda16-membertradedelegation to visit a trade fair in Kansas City openingtomorrow; it has given the delegates three months visas, so they canstay in the U.S. and travel at will, FDI Advisory board member RezaKahlili writesatFoxNews.comtoday. This will allow the Iranians to make contactswith U.S. companies and others that are usually off-limits to Iraniandiplomats, who are restricted to a 25-mile radius of their post(Washington, DC and New York).

May 14,2011: FDI unveils its MEK Resourcepage.
Learn the truth about the MEK's origins, itsassassination campaign against American military advisors to the Shah,and about the groups fraudulent activities in the United States andEurope, based on original documents, many of which are rare or havenever been seen.

May 13,2011: Wall Street Journal highlights MEK publicity campaign.
NotingtheMEK'scampaigntowinhigh-levelsupportfromformertopU.S.officials,theWallStreet Journal highlights the reticence of U.S. andEuropean officials to embrace the Marxist-Islamist group. "Obamaadministration and European officials, however, fear the campaign couldundermine Washington's policy of reaching out to opposition forces inIran. They say that's because the U.S. would appear to be aligned with a group that is widely unpopular due to itsmilitary alliance with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the1980s and '90s and a string of terrorist attacks the U.S. says itlaunched inside Iran." Read the article here.However,theWSJreporterstakeatface-valuethestatementsbyanMEKspokesmanthatall negative information about the group is fabricatedby the Tehran regime. As FDI has reported many times, the MEK's trackrecord of murdering Americans in Iran, and its willingness to serve asSaddam Hussein's strike force to attack opposition Kurds andShiites  in Iraq, is a matter of the historical record.


May 11, 2011: Iranian sends assassins after PJAK leader.
RahmanHaj Ahmadi was recently warned by German police that the Iranian regimehad sent three Kurdish assassins to stake out his residence. The threewould-be assassins were traveling on Turkish passports. As part of itscampaign against PJAK, the regime has trained agents provacateurs tocarry out terror attacks inside Iranian Kurdistan and blame them onPJAK. Read the full article here.

May 9,2011: Free the Iranian Hostages.
In an opinion column intoday's print edition of the Washington Times, FDI president and CEOKenneth R. Timmerman urges the Obama administration to remove PJAK fromthe Treasury Department's list of terrorist organizations. "Simply put,there is no factual basis for the Obama administration’s decision todesignate PJAK as a terrorist group," Timmerman writes. "The onlyjustification was a desire by the Obama White House to placate theTehran regime, which saw the group as a threat." Read the article here,or here

May 8, 2011: FDI Joins Iranian-American Activists Calling on UCLA todisinvite Iran-regime apologist Trita Parsi.
In a letter to thechairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, agroup of Iranian-American activists, joined by FDI, called on UCLA tocancel its invitation to Trita Parsi to address an upcoming forum onIran. As the letter states, "theIranian- American community considers Trita Parsi of the NationalIranian American Council (NIAC) an intellectually dishonest regimeapologist. He contributes to the regime’s agenda and serves theinterests of those in power in the Islamic Republic of Iran." Readthefullletterhere.

May 5,2011: U.S. Congress calls for stepped up support to Iranian dissidents. A bipartisan group of U.S.lawmakers introduced the Iran Human Rights and Democracy Promotion Actyesterday to increase U.S. support for Iranian dissidents. The bill,co-sponsored by Sens Mark Kirk (R, Ill), and Kirsten Gillibrand (D,NY), and Reps Robert Dold (R-10th/Ill) and Ted Deutch (D-19th-Fla) would make it U.S. policy to support Iraniandissidents and would sanction companies that sell law enforcementproducts to the regime, including water cannons, sniper rifles, andsurveillance gear. "In our view, the United States should makethe issue of human rights a fundamental pillar of our internationaldiplomacy with regard to Iran," Sen. Kirk saidat a press conference with his co-sponsors.

FDI salutes these lawmakers and urges theircolleagues in Congress to join them in large numbers to send anunmistakeable message to the regime in Tehran that their repression ofthe Iranian people has costs.

FDI further urges members ofCongress to rectify the tragic error of the Obama administration indesignating the Free Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan (PJAK) as aterrorist organization, an action taken on Feb. 4, 2009 as partof the White House "outreach" to the terrorist regime in Tehran.
 

May 4, 2011: State Department gets Iran wrong.
While there ismuch to praise in the State Department's latest human rights report onIran, one glaring error stands out that clearly shows that even U.S.government human rights monitors are being influenced by Tehran. I
n the very first section (page 4) the report states thatKurdish activist "Farrad Kamangar" received a death sentence in 2008"for 'endangering national security' based on his alleged involvementwith the Turkey-based Kurdish Workers Party." In fact, Farhad Kamangar, who was a middleschool teacher in Iranian Kurdistan, was a sympathizer of PJAK, theFree Life Party of Iranian Kurdistan. But the State Departmentappears to have accepted at face value Iranian regime claims that PJAKis a "branch" of the PKK.

During a recent trip to PJAK bases in northern Iraq, FDI presidentand  CEO Kenneth R. Timmerman met with Kamangar's brother Sherzad(right), who is a member of PJAK's political leadership.  "Mybrother was a PJAK sympathizer, but not an actual member," Sherzadsaid. "The regime used that pretext for hanging him. They called him a“terrorist” because he was close to PJAK, which they call a “terrorist”group."

The U.S. Treasury Department's designation of PJAK as a terroristorganization has only encouraged the Iranian regime, Kamagar believes,and may in fact have prompted them to hang his brother. Furthermore,other elements of the pro-democracy movement now shun PJAK because ofthe designation. "Most of the groups involved in the freedom strugglein Iran know that the world sees the Islamic Republic is a terroristregime. But at the same time, they see that the United Statesdesignates PJAK as a terrorist group. They know that PJAK is leading afreedom struggle, a democratic struggle against this terrorist regime,and so they wonder: how can the United States take such a decision?What does this mean? It’s a paradox – and it’s injust," Kamagar said. "Some democratic opposition groupswon’t deal with us because of this."

Read the State Department report on-lineor download it here as a PDF.

May 2,2011: Poorzand leapt to his death.
According to anews report this morning, Siamak Pourzand leapt to his death inTehran, in a final act of defiance against the regime.

 April29, 2011: Dissident journalist dies in Tehran.
Siamak Poorzand,81, a well-known journalist who has been repeatedly jailed by theregime, was found dead today at his Tehran appartment by the doorman,after failing to respond to phone calls.He appeared to have died of natural causes. Poorzand was in ill healthand has been under house arrest for years and unable to leave Iran,even though Canada had approved a request for political asylum and wasready to welcome him, his family told FDI. This picture, from 2005, wastaken when his younger daughter, Azadeh, secretly visited him inTehran. Amnesty International featured him as a prisonerofconscience in 2004.

He was abducted by the regime in November 2001 and subsequently put ontrial for "subversive activities, propaganda, and plotting against theIslamic Republic," and accused of distributing$4million to Iranian dissidentsand of working with Reza Pahlavi, son of the former Shah. The sheerexageration of the claims was a back-handed compliment to hiscredibility among Iranian dissidents
, He wasultimately sentenced to 11yearsinjail, but spent the later years athis home in Tehran under house arrest after suffering his third heartattack in Evin prison in 2007. His second wife, noted human rightsattorney Mehrangiz Kar, was forced to flee Iran shortly after his trialand conviction.

April28, 2011: Iranians Spooked by Stuxnet.
The Stuxnet story justkeeps getting better and better. While Western computer securityanalysts who have examined the code have found that Stuxnet exclusivelytargets the controllers that spin uranium enrichment centrifuges, thepossibility that it could also affect the Bushehr nuclear power planthas got the Iranians absolutely spooked – so much so, that theParliament is considering closing the plant permanently and startingall over again. Read the latest at Newsmax.com.  For additional background, read FDI advisory board member RezaKahlili'sblog.

April25, 2011: Trita Parsi hits brick wall in Canada.
Following anoped by FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian human rightsactivist and advocate Sayeh Hassan in the National Post on Friday,pro-Tehranlobbyist Trita Parsi appears to have backed out from participating inthe Ottowa Iran conference. 
(See April22, below). Moreto come as the details emerge...

Parsi and friends continue totry to curry favor with the Obama WhiteHouse. A key Parsi sponsor and funder, Noosheen Hashemi, founderandchairman of the Hand Foundation and the PARSA Foundation, paid $35,800to attend anObamacelebrityfund-raiser  on April 20 at billionaire MarcBenioff's San Francisco home.

The PARSA foundation has given grants worth more than$400,000 recently to NIAC, accordingtoitsownwebsite. Most of these grants came after NIAC reportedlyhad advised the State Department and the White House not to openlycriticize the Iranian regime for its crackdown on protesters after theJune 2009 election fraud in Iran.

April 22, 2011: Conference onIran to feature Tehran apologist. In an opinion column in today'sNationalPost, FDI president Kenneth Timmerman and Canadian humanrights activist and advocate Sayeh Hassan
urgedthe Canadian authorities to cancel a scheduledspeech by Trita Parsi at a conference on Iran to be held in Ottowa nextmonth.The conference will be sponsored in part by the CanadianDepartment of National Defence and the Canadian Security andIntelligence Service (CSIS), making the invitation of a knownpro-Tehran advocate all the more questionable. "Given theleadership role the Canadian government has taken in condemningTehran’s human rights violations, pushing for smart sanctions andshowing support for the pro-democracy movement in Iran, it is thereforesurprising that the Ministry of National Defence and CSIS, two entitiesresponsible for the safety and security of Canadians, did not performdue diligence on Trita, the founder of the Teheran-friendly NIAC," weargue.

The Canadian Parliament calls Ahmadinejad's regime "a threat to peace,human rights, and international law." Read their ground-breaking report(PDFfile)


April 21, 2011: FDI joins The New Iran.

FDI has joined "The New Iran," a new paradigm fordemocratic participation and grass-roots leadership that is the mostpromising development we have seen in a long while. Based on audienceparticipation software developed by Dr. Iman Foroutan, The New Iran [NahadeMardomi] doesaway with parti-bazi - thetop-down, personality-driven organizations of the past that have failedto energize the Iranian people with a convincing vision of a bettertomorrow.

The New Iran busts through the old paradigm by doing away withback-room politics as usual, where hidden agendas and unspokencompromises have generated mutual suspicion.

Individuals and organizations have been joining The New Iran at asteady clip since the website went live just over one month ago. Nosecret core of supporters runs the site or determines the agenda of thegroup; everything, right down to the political program and transparentstructures for deploying money, is being determined out in the open, bygrass roots activists willing to donate their time.

Their most powerful tool is their ability to convince others of thejustice of their cause. They do this through on-line “meetings,” and awide variety of content members post.

Dr. Foroutan developed theplatform for The New Iran from proprietary software initially developedfor popular TV shows that require distant audiences to cast secureballots for the contest of the night. Security is a key element, toprevent stacked voting; and at the New Iran, participants from Iranworried about revealing their true identity can join using pseudonymsbut cannot vote for this reason, until a more secure on-line system canbe set up.

Dr. Foroutan is offering his platform to the Department of State tohelp mobilize the grass roots democracy movement in places like Egyptand Tunisia, where the better-organized Muslim Brotherhood appears tobe poised to divert the popular revolutions in those countries toIslamist goals.

Ourview: The New Iran offers the greatest promise for a revitalizedpro-freedom movement in Iran that we have seen in ages. But it is justa tool. Now it’s up to Iranians to pick it up and use it.

March28, 2011:
A'Jad saysthe time to attack Jerusalem is near. A feature-lengthdocumentary film, produced by a top advisor to Iranian presidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad, claims that the cataclysmic events that will usherin an era of Muslim world domination are about to begin, triggeredbyactions launched by Iran and its Lebanese ally, Hezbollah.  This film was discovered byReza Kahlali, author of the memoire A Time to Betray, and anadvisory board member of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran.

This is one of the most important revelations about the intentions ofthe current Iranian regimes to have emerged in many years.

It combines Ajad’s messianic belief in the imminent return of the 12thimam, with a real world military alliance between the Islamic Republicof Iran, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups to launch a region-wideworld against Israel and other American allies.The film is nothingshort than a declaration of war, an Iranian version of Hitler’s “MeinKampf,” which after all in German means “my struggle” or “my jihad.”

Watch the complete movie with English subtitles at RezaKahlili'sblog. Or watch a brief presentation from CBN thismorning, here:


March21, 2011: Iranian dissidents torch Tabriz refinery, transformers. IraniandissidentsinEastAzerbaijanprovincetorchedtheTabriz refineryusingpetrol bombs last Tuesday (March 15), setting a massive fire that shutdown the refinery for three days, according to the AzerbaijanMovementforDemocracyandIntegrityinIran. More than 100fire-fighting vehicles took 11 hours to get the blaze under control,cutting off electricity to Tabriz, the provincial capital and Iran'sfourth largest city.  The government declared a state of emergencyas security forces sealed off the area in a massive manhunt. But in theend, no one was arrested in connection with the attacks, the group said.

In what appeared to be dry run attacks six days earlier, dissidents launched commando-style attacks on a series of electricaltransformers in Karaj, just north of Tehran, again using petrol bombs.Despite the security crack-down, no arrests were made, the AzerbaijanMovementsaid.

Azeris are the most numerous minority in Iran, numbering well over 20million, by most accounts. Azeri merchants control much of the Tehranbazaar, and their far-flung families live all across Iran. (The Afsharclan, for example, is firmly established in Mashad, along the Afghanborder, as well as in East Azerbaijan closer to Iraq). "There areAzeris in Khorassan, Gilan, Ilam and Mazandaran" in addition to thetraditional strongholds in the northwest of the country, the spokesmanof the Azerbaijan Movement for Democracy and Integrity in Iran, Loheasb Zeinali, 32, told FDI in arecent meeting in Europe. "We are nota separatist movement. We believe in a united Iran. We are looking forpartners.”

Zeinali had run a branch of the family carpet business inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia, until he was arrested there in November 2004and subsequently expelled for holding a demonstration to celebrate there-election of President George W. Bush, during which he asked theUnited States to bomb terrorist regimes, such as Iran. "They tried to send me back to Iran," hetold FDI. "In the end they gave me three months to shut down my carpetbusiness and leave the country." Eventually, he managed to getpolitical asylum in Europe.

Zeinali believes that now is not the time to talk about a newconstitution, or about what form a future republic will take. "Now isthe time to overthrow the regime," he said.

Azeris and other tribes have traditionally played a key role in Iranianpolitics, especially in times of transition. The Bakhtiari tribes shutdown the oil fields during anti-Shah protests in 1978; Qashqai's weredeeply involved during WWII and during the 1953 coup. Anti-shah riotsin Tabriz in January 1978 helped spark the revolution, which initiallywas led by Ayatollah Shariat-Madari, an Azeri cleric based in Tabriz.

Even today, Zeinali says, "everybody is waiting for the Azeris" tospark nation-wide protests against the regime.

March17, 2011: Have an opinion on Trita Parsi and NIAC?
Take thisonline survey. Is Parsi an Iranian regime agent? A human rightsactivist? Should NIAC be shut down? Be forced to answer questions onits ties to regime officials? Takethesurveyhere.

March 16, 2011: Iranians defy Khamenei order.
Despite a "fatwa"from the supreme Leader calling on Iranians to shun the traditionalChahar Shanbe Soori fire festival, the streets of Tehran were packed onTuesday night as fire dancers ushered out the old year. (For videos of the celebrations and protests,see the website of FDI advisory board member Reza Kahlili,here). The ancient Zoorastrian festival falls on the last Tuesdayof the old year, and has become a rallying symbol for Iranians fed upwith the clerical regime.

March8, 2011: Heavy security in Tehran for women's day protests.
Protestscalledtocommemorateinternationalwomen'sdayappeartohavefizzledtoday,assecurityforcesreportedly prevented people from gathering inTehran. A group of 300 women's Rights advocates had called for theprotests two days ago, adding their voices to that of Nobel Peace prizelaureate Shirin Ebadi. More from RadioZamaneh

• Former U.S. officials say they were paid to attend pro-MEKevents.
Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton (D) and formerCENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni have acknowledged that they were paidto appear at recent events supporting the MEK, according to reports inleft-wing blogs.

Hamilton and Zinni are among the many big time former governmentofficials and military leaders who have appeared at recent pro-MEKevents sponsored by a group called Executive Action, LLC, according tothe TPM website. Hamilton, who once chaired the House Foreign AffairsCommittee and was a co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, told generallypro-Tehran reporter Barbara Slavin he was paid "a substantial amount"to appear at a panel in Washington D.C. in February. Zinni, who spokeat a similar event in January, said he had been paid his "standardfee," without detailing what that is. Readthe full story here.

MichaelRubin provides some useful reminders on the MEK's terrorist past inCommentary and called the groupo "an ideological chameleon. Only foolswould believe that the [MEK] is sincere in its pro-American rhetoric."The State Department's 2008 reporton international terrorist organizations recalls the MEK's terrorattacks against U.S. citizens, and says the group "displays cult-likecharacteristics" that includes veneration of current MEK leader MaryamRajavi and "weekly 'ideological cleansings.'"

March2, 2011: Newsmax roundup of yesterday's protests.
Tuesday’sprotests, which took place in Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, and Shiraz,came in defiance of the massive police and anti-riot squad presence theregime has deployed in recent days. Meanwhile, Washington continues todither. congressional Republicans and Democrats alike criticizedSecState Hillary clinton for a failure to enforce existing U.S.sanctions on Iran, Newsmaxreportstoday.

March1, 2011: Iranians protest in Tehran, Shiraz, Mashad, Isfahan.
Iraniansignoredrestrictionsbytheregimeandcameoutthisafternoonandeveningtoprotestthe arrest of reformist opposition leaders Moussaviand Karrubi.  FDI Advisory board member Reza Kahlili is trackingthe blogs and the twitter traffic, and has put up aspecialpage where English-language readers can view the latest.Cellphone videos show thousands in the streets of Tehran shouting"Death to the Dictator" [Marg-barg-diktator"]


Feb.28, 2011:  Moussavi and Karrubi jailed.
Family members sayboth Moussavi and Karrubi were jailed over the weekend. No lights havebeen seen at their homes of the past three days. On Monday, a reformist website confirmed that theyhad been taken to Heshmatieh prison in Tehran.

Meanwhile, an IRGC source has told al Arabiya TVthat  Iran hs been operatingseveral military bases in Libya on behalf of Qaddafi. The bases
are located mostly along Libya’s borders with the Africancountries of Chad and Niger. From there, the Guards have been smugglingarms and supply logistical assistance to rebellious groups in thewestern and Central African countries. For more, see the website of FDIAdvisory board member RezaKahlili.

Feb. 26, 2011: Left-wing blog says Obama planning Iran overthrow.
Wouldthatitwereso...ForeignPolicyJournal,aleft-wingwebzine, detailssomeofthegrants for pro-democracy funding from the StateDepartment over the past three years, while citing FDI for our role inhelping the pro-democracy movement in Iran. FDI Advisory Board member Pooya Dayanim comments: "Pleasenote that the Foundation for Democracy in Iran (FDI) on whose advisoryboard we sit is the only group NOT GETTING US GOVERNMENT funding or (tomake it clear) any other government's funding and yet more ink is spenton FDI than any other group. I believe these attacks are actually acompliment on the great work of Ken Timmerman (FDI's President) and theBoard of FDI."

Feb.25, 2011: Stop the Bomb calls for protest of German-Iranian bank inHamburg. A German NGO that has been warning about Iran'snuclear weapons program for years is calling on German authorities toshut down a German-Iranian bank that continues to operate in Hamburg,despite UN, US, and European Union sanctions. According to the U.S.Department of Treasury, the European-Iranian Trade Bank. EIH hasprovided important financial services to the Iranian nuclear weaponsprogram and is controlled by the Iranian regime. The demonstration willbe held at 2 PM on Feb. 27, 2011 in front of the bank's headquarters inHamburg, Germany. For details, go here

Feb.24, 2011: Tehran under seige as regime tries to avoid protests.
AfterplacingMoussaviandKarrubiunderhousearrest,theregimeisnowtryingtopreventnew mass protests initially scheduled for today. FDIadvisory board member Reza Kahlili has obtained a stunningcellphonevideo showing the astonishing array of anti-riot troops,bassiji's, and motor-cycle plainclothes troops blocking access to majorsquares in Tehran today.

Feb.14, 2011: BBC calls on protestors to send photos.
As the firstreports of clashes between pro-freedom demonstrators and regime forcesin Tehran's Enghelab square hit the wires this afternoon (Tehran time),the BBC Persian service has called on protesters to upload theirpictures via the Internet. Only problem: the Iranian regime has cut offInternet access, including most Twitter accounts, and placed reformistopposition leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Hojjat-ol eslam MehdiKarrubi under house arrest. By 4:20 pm Tehran time today, large crowdswere seen converging on Azadi square; while security forces werestationed in Laleh Park, preparing to intervene. Large crowds of silentprotesters were also gathering in Shiraz.

•  Here's a cellphonevideo, apparently from this afternoon, showing Basijis onmotorbikes en route to crack down on protesters.
UPDATE -6 PM Tehran time [09:30 Eastern Standard time]
• FDI sources say that Turkish president Abdollah Gul, in Tehran today,urged Iran's Islamic leadership to allow peaceful protests so thatyoung people would "let off steam," which appears to be fewer anti-riotpolice (and more plain clothesmen) than during previous large protests
• Protest reported in Kermanshah and Shiraz at 6 PM local time.
• Students at Sharif University arrested
• Tear gas reportedly fired at students in front of Tehran University
• Very large crowds reported in Azadi square in Tehran
• One early report from the Wall Street Journal via Newsmaxhas security forces wearing uniforms during the early hour of theprotests.

UPDATE - 10:30 PMTehran time [2:30 pm Eastern Standard time]
Bloggers report:
• Plain clothes officers shouting at women protesters "najess"(unclean) and "you can do what you want with them"
• Protesters chant "Mubarak, Ben Ali, NOw it's time for Seyed Ali" [ie,Khamenei] YouTubeVideo
U.S. Secretary of State HillaryClinton says protesters in Iran"deserve to have the same rights as protesters in Egypt that toppledMubarak.
• Protests spread to Mashad, where students are attacked by regimeagents.

Feb. 13, 2011:State Department opens Iran Twitter feed. AP isreporting a new Twitter feed, "USA dar farsi," aimed at encouragingIranians to launch civil disobedience similar to the protests thatrocked Egypt. The move comes after stinging criticism of the Obamaadministration for its silence in the wake of the June 2009 electionprotests in Iran, including by FDI (see below).HowlongbeforetheWhiteHouseshutsitdown?

Meanwhile, Reza Pahlaviappeared on Fox News today, saying that Iran's time has come. "Mycompatriots in Tehran want to have their Tehran moment, as Egyptianshad their Cairo moment... Iran's turn is going to come up soon as well."
He urged "free countries" to drop their attempts at dialogue withregime, and to offer more support for the pro-freedom movement instead.

Feb. 11, 2011:Ahmadinejad sees hand of 12th Imam in Egypt. Ahmadinejad onFriday said the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and Ben Ali in Tunisiamarked the beginning of a new era without US influence in the MiddleEast that was being "managed by the imam of the ages," the 12th imam."This is a global revolution, managed by the imam of the ages,"Ahmadinejad told a crowd of supporters in Azadi square. He predicted itwould soon lead toward a one-world Islamic government. FDI says: Watch what he does, and listen to what he says. Read the full dispatch here.

He predicted the formation of a world government, ruled by the 12thimam. "Hearts and beliefs are swiftly leaning toward forming a globalgovernance and the necessity of the rule of the perfect human, linkedto the heavens," he said.

Feb. 9,2011:
An Open Letter toKen Timmerman on the Launch of Iranium, by Jerry Gordon, senioreditor at the New English Review. "You and other friends at theFoundation  for the Defense of Democracies and the Center forSecurity Policy, and the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs are to becongratulated for your cogent presentations in The Clarion Fundproduction: Iranium.  All of you have sent an important message toAmericans, Israelis,  Europeans, Latin Americans  and theWorld.... You personally have felt the brunt of Islamic terrorism whilea journalist held hostage in Beirut  that transformed you into acommitted opponent of Jihadist Islam." Read the complete letter hereand here

Feb. 8,2011: Protesters in Iran throw shoe at Khamenei. In what iswidely considered a supreme insult in the Muslim world, protesters inIran today threw a shoe at Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei. Thephotograph below was posted to Khamenei's official website, andreproduced (by an inattentive editor?) at the official mehrnews.comwebsite. (By the time we post this, they may have removed the photofrom the official websites, so we have downloaded it for our readers).The triangle shows the person who appears to have thrown the shoe.

Remember that an Iraqi journalist, angry with George. W. Bush forhaving overthrown Saddam Hussein, received international attention andwas considered a "hero" by al Jazeera and other Islamist news outletswhen he threw his shoes at President Bush during a news conference inBaghdad with prime minister al-Malaki. Remember also the official WhiteHouse photograph of President Barack Obama, speaking with  newly elected  Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Obamawas photographed with his feet up on his desk, showing his shoes toNetayanhu, a position of supreme disrespect. That White Housephotograph was reproduced all across the Middle East and taken as asign of a new U.S. policy of disapproval toward Israel.


TODAY ONLY: WATCH IRANIUM HERE


BBC Persian features coverage of Iranium features Shohreh Ashdagloo,John Bolton, and FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman. Watch it here

Feb. 7,2011: Watch Iranium on-line tomorrow.
The new film on thethreat from the Iranian regime, Iranium, will premier tomorrow with ashowing on Capitol Hill. The film's producer, the Clarion Fund, ismaking it available for free on-line viewing to the first 50,000viewers on Tuesday, Feb. 8. Gototheirwebsitetomorrow to view. Iranium features noted scholaron Islam, Bernard Louis, former CIA director R. James Woolsey, Rep.Elliot Engel (D, NY), Clifford May, Clare Lopez, John Bolton, FrankGaffney, FDI president Kenneth R. Timmerman and a host of others.

Feb. 4,2011: Khamenei urges Egyptians to impose Islamic state.
AddressingFridayprayersinTehranforthefirsttimeinsevenmonths,SupremeLeaderKhameneiswitchedfromPersian to Arabic to urge Egyptians todump Mubarak and secular rule and imposeanIslamicdictatorship. Meanwhile, in Iran itself, the regimeshows what Islamic rule actually means, carrying out an average of oneexecution every 10 hours since the start of 2011. The latest victimsinclude Dutch citizen, Zahra Bahrami,who was arrested while visiting Iran during the Dec. 27, 2009 protestsand condemned to death on drug charges that appear to have beeninvented after her arrest.

Jan.31, 2011: Obama favorsIslamic government in Iran and Egypt. A takeover of Egypt by theMuslim Brotherhood "may be Obama's intention," FDI president KennethTimmerman writes,"just as his intention during the post-election protests in Iran was tosupport the regime in place because he saw it as a potential partner inresolving the Iranian nuclear crisis."

Jan. 28, 2011: Regime Broadens Crackdown on Christians.
"Sincethe Presidential Election of 2009, there has been a surge in Muslimsleaving the faith; most of them have joined branches of Christianity,while others have also shown interest in Sufism, Zoroastrianism,Bahaism, and Buddhism," Lisa Daftari writes in FrontPagemagazine today. More than 70 Christians have been arrested sinceJan. 1, especially recent converts from Islam.

Jan.21, 2011: The MEK Is Not Part of the Iranian Opposition, woman's rightsactivist says.
"The MEK is a jihadist, communist cult that haskilled thousands. The Americans they are reaching out to — includingRudy Giuliani and Tom Ridge — must not be fooled," writes Manda ZandErvin at Pajamasmedia.

"They bombed the offices of El Al, Shell, BP, and Jewish-owned officesin Tehran. They bombed numerous other U.S. facilities and properties,killing and maiming. In its publication, The Mojahid, Mr. Rajavi said: “Wewill make this another Vietnam for America.” She goes on to name theU.S. military officers and civilians murdered by the Mujahedin justbefore the 1979 revolution, and explain that the only reason Rajavitook the MEK into opposition was because ayatollah Khomeini refused toname him prime minister in 1981.

Jan.19, 2011: Archives Canada bows to Iranain regime, cancels screening ofIran film. On the same day producers ofthe new documentaryfilm Iranium launched their PRcampaign and announced pre-release screenings in the U.S. and Canada,Archives Canada said it was cancelling the screening it had plannedbecause of multiple complaints and threatening letters, including fromthe Iranian regime embassy in Ottowa, the NationalPost reported today. (Click on the image below to view thetrailer). Newsmaxreported on the story on Thursday.

Jan.13, 2011: Regime attacks FDI... again. If you subscribe to theold adage, 'you're known by you're enemies,' then FDI is honored by thelatest attack against us and our president, Kenneth Timmerman, thatappeared in today's lede editorialof Keyhan daily, which is controlled by the Supreme Leader and run bygoons from the regime's intelligence ministry. As the Iranian economycollapses under the burder of international sanctions brought about bythe stubbornness of Iran's unelected leaders, all Keyhan can think ofis to conjur up weird conspiracy theories and foreign plots. 

Under the title, "The Dance of Terrorists on the Tip of the Sword," Keyhan writes, "While terrorismagainst the Islamic Republic has had many faces, the most prominent onetoday is the policy being promoted by foreign and especially Westernanalysts such as Kenneth Timmerman, thepresidentofNationalDemocracyOrganization[sic].whoislayingtheideologicalgroundworkfortheseformsof terrorism under the nameof democracy and human rights." At least they spelled Timmerman's namecorrectly.

Why did they get FDI's name wrong? Perhaps because we have been bannedfrom the Internet in Iran by government censors in January 2010, alongwith scores of other pro-freedom groups and foreign radio networks.(See below). Perhaps Stuxnet has also attackedKeyhan's electronic archives!

- FDI Advisory Board member addressesWorld Affairs Council in Los Angeles. Reza Kahlili, a former CIAspy inside the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) told the World Affairs Council last night that the U.S. must support thepro-freedom movement in Iran, or  suffer the consequences as theIslamic regime uses the nuclear weapons it is hell-bent on acquiring.Video should soon be posted here.For Reza's latest opeds and commentaries, go here.

Jan. 12, 2011: Iranianregime escalates attacks on Christians. Regime agents began a massiveround-up of Christian evangelicals and converts from Islam on Dec. 26,interrogating more than 600 people and arresting at least 25. OnJanuary 4, the governor general of Tehran Province, Morteza Tamadon,acknowledged that Christians had been arrested because of their“corrupting” influence and warned that there would be further arrests.The Hudson Institute's Paul Marshall has more.

 



 

 

 

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