Iran’s opposition TV network, Simay-e Azadi (INTV) has had great support from the Iranian people during their 25th annual Telethon which ran for 3 days across Friday 8, Saturday 9, and Sunday 10 January 2021. Iranians also voiced their support for the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran’s (PMOI/MEK).
During the telethon, many Iranian citizens lent their financial and moral support to the resistance units and their struggle for freedom and democracy, with many calls being made from inside Iran, a forbidden act for which the callers risked being arrested for expressing their support for the opposition openly.
Due to the Iranian regime’s systematic censorship of the media, it has created a serious need for the Iranian people to access outside news sources.
INTV is a non-profit 24/7 satellite channel, broadcasting from Europe, that broadcasts news and information to Iranians around the world and the donations from the telethon will allow them to continue their activities.
The Iranian regime has, in the past, condemned the financial support for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the MEK as enmity from God and punished such support with executions.
On June 1, 2014, MEK supporter, Gholamreza Khosravi, a 49-year-old political prisoner, from the south-western city of Abadan, was arrested and executed for providing financial support to INTV.
Before his execution, he said: “I am fully ready to die for people and the liberation ideals of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). I consider my death sentence as God’s will and whatever happens is for the good and I accept it wholeheartedly, and I am honored by it.”
Many MEK supporters, who bravely introduced themselves as members of the Iranian Resistance units, sent video messages during the telethon from Tehran, Isfahan, Tabriz, Kermanshah, Shahr-e Kord, Babol, Jouybar and Rudsar, stressing that INTV is the hope and voice for the struggle for freedom in Iran.
In a letter sent from Evin prison, a group of political prisoners also expressed their support for the telethon.
In the past few years, the network that the MEK has built inside Iran has expanded greatly. The resistance units have also played an important role in nationwide protests, including the November 2019 uprising which initially began as a result of the fuel prices being raised from 50% to 200% and soon led to calls for the overthrow of the regime in Iran and its supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
