“Speaking out and unfurling banners on the main roads in Tehran are quite dangerous that she is doing”
Listen from 3:46:24 to hear directly https://www.thetimes.co.uk/radio/show/20210529-5728/2021-05-29
The Times Radio interviewed a young pro-democracy activist in Iran, a female member of the Resistance Units and a supporter of the opposition People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK), about the mullahs’ upcoming sham presidential election.
The young pro-democracy activist in Iran said the Iranian people want the regime’s overthrow. This regime does not represent the people of Iran. And the West must stand by the Iranian people, sanction and prosecute the regime’s leaders and officials who are engaged in human rights violations and terrorism.
In this interview the young courageous woman says: “In Iran, election is a joke. All of the candidates are the same and all the people of Iran know this. In the past 40 years, elections in Iran have never been about expression of popular choice. It has always been a selection by the supreme leader.”
This year the situation is very different, she said, adding, “There is a different atmosphere not comparable to the previous years. None of my friends and family will vote. The Iranian people are boycotting this mock election. The Iranian people’s true vote is the regime’s overthrow.”
The young pro-democracy activist in Iran said although women are being treated as second-class citizens have no rights in Iran, but young women are fighting back.
The interviewer asked: What are you actually doing? How are you fighting back as you put it?
She explained: “As a team, a few days ago, we set up a large banner showing the Mojahedin’s call to boycott the election and picture of opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi on a highway. A few people saw us but wished us well. We saw with our own eyes the extent to which the Iranian people support us. And this popular support gives us the heart to continue our work.”
As for the Iranian people’s resentment for the regime and its sham election, she explained: “People say this regime killed our young people on the streets in November 2019. Are we crazy to vote for them?
Why do you say if the more hardline Ra’isi wins the election and succeeds Hassan Rouhani, that would actually bring Iran closer to some kind of true democracy? The pro-democracy activist in Iran was asked.
A: “Iran today is very different. The regime is very weak. Their No. 1 worry is people’s uprising and the protests. There were three big nationwide protests in the last three years. People wanted regime change, end to dictatorship, and to rule of the mullahs. In 2019, we came very close to overthrow the regime. People’s rage is even more now than 2019. The regime is facing an explosive society. There are daily protests by virtually every sector. The economy is bankrupt. Corruption is very bad. People hate the mullahs. They hate whoever is with the mullahs.”
Q: What do you want to see from western governments as we get closer to the election? What would like to see from the West?
A: “We hate the policy of appeasement. Western governments should not deal with the mullahs. Any deal will help repression and killing of the Iranian people. It will help the regime get nuclear weapons. West should stand by the Iranian people and hear our cries for freedom and democracy. They should say that this election and this regime are illegitimate. We want the West to put more sanctions on the regime, on its leader and officials for human rights violations and terror. We know that the enemy is not West but the mullahs. Khamenei and Ra’isi should be put on trial for all their murder and terror. They don’t represent us.”
