Iranian Official Calls for Prosecuting Members of the People’s Mojahedin

Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
TT

Iranian Official Calls for Prosecuting Members of the People’s Mojahedin

Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)
Members of the People’s Mojahedin in front of the entrance to Camp Ashraf 3 near Tirana on Tuesday (AFP)

The Assistant for Legal Affairs in the Iranian Presidency called for the trial of members of the opposition Mojahedin-e-Khalq, at a time when the Albanian police issued an indictment against six members of the organization, which is opposed to the regime in Iran.

Mohammad Dehghan, legal affairs assistant to Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, said that his country was making legal arrangements to return “the remnants of the hypocrites” to the country, in reference to the designation used by Iranian officials to describe the People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK).

“We must issue sentences for people who committed crimes against people or state property inside the country and enforce these verdicts abroad,” he said.

The People’s Mojahedin is the most organized faction among the Iranian opposition parties, which includes a wide range of supporters of the Shah’s regime, banned leftist parties, in addition to parties belonging to ethnic groups.

Dehghan, said legal measures were underway in coordination with the ministries of intelligence and foreign affairs as well as the judiciary to return “the hypocrites” to Iran.

The regime alleges that since the establishment of Iran in 1979, the group has carried out numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian officials and civilians, killing some 17,000 people.

Fars Agency, which is affiliated to the Revolutionary Guards, stated that the IRGC’s intelligence service had arrested the group’s “recruitment official” in the provinces of Golestan and Mazandaran, without revealing the identity of the person.

The Iranian vice-president’s comment came at a time when the Albanian police announced the indictment of six members of the MEK, in connection with clashes in Camp Ashraf 3, the headquarters of the group.

The Albanian police said that they had carried out raids at Camp Ashraf 3, which is inhabited by members of the People's Mojahedin, who are suspected of plotting cyber-attacks against foreign institutions, according to local media.

Media reports added that these operations were carried out as part of investigations into cybercrimes, noting that the police confiscated computers and software.

The clashes at Camp Ashraf 3 coincided with a French decision to ban a major demonstration in Paris by the Iranian opposition, due to security threats.

More than 290 French deputies and 76 members of the Senate had called for “supporting the Iranian people in their quest for change" and for taking “strong and decisive measures against the current regime.”

On Friday, French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to his Iranian counterpart, Ibrahim Raisi, for an hour and a half, on various bilateral and international issues.

 



Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
TT

Iran Pauses Process to Implement Stricter Headscarf Law for Women, Official Says

FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
FILE - Iranian women, some without wearing their mandatory headscarves, walk in downtown Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Sept. 9, 2023. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)

Iran has paused the process of implementing a new, stricter law on women’s mandatory headscarf, or hijab, an official said.

The controversial law, which was approved by the parliament in September 2023, will not be sent to the government as planned this week, according to one of the country's vice presidents. The development effectively means that Iran has halted enacting the legislation.

The law levies harsher punishments for women who refuse to wear the hijab and for businesses that serve them, penalties previously rejected by Iran’s reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian as he tries to restart talks with the West over sanctions imposed on Iran over its nuclear program.

“According to the discussions held, it was decided that this law will not be referred to the government by the parliament for now,” Shahram Dabiri, the vice president in charge of parliamentary affairs, was quoted as saying in an interview Monday with the pro-reform Ham Mihan daily.

The decision to halt the legislation — at least temporarily — was reached by top executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, The Associated Press quoted Dabiri as saying. At the moment, it is “not feasible to implement this bill,” he added, without elaborating.

Had the bill passed to the government, Iran's president would have had little room to maneuver. By law, he’s required to endorse the bill within five days, after which it would have taken effect in 15 days. The president has no authority to veto it.

Pezeshkian could try to convince Iran’s 85-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, to halt the bill.

If the bill had been enacted, Pezeshkian could also refuse to act on it or urge police not to enforce it, setting up a potential constitutional crisis that hard-liners could try to exploit to weaken him.

The president had earlier described the law as having “many questions and ambiguities.”