Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Iran Freedom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/4FreedominIran\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"562\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@4freedominiran2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@4freedominiran2\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":477,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Iran Protests 2019\",\"Political Prisoners of Iran\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Reports\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/\",\"name\":\"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00\",\"description\":\"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":562,\"caption\":\"Two Iranian political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called on their fellow citizens to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support the overthrow of the regime.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/articles\\\/2020\\\/02\\\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\\\/14903\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Iran Freedom\",\"description\":\"Uniting for Freedom, Democracy & Equality\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Iran Freedom\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/Iran-Freedom-logo-with-text.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/Iran-Freedom-logo-with-text.png\",\"width\":251,\"height\":78,\"caption\":\"Iran Freedom\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/4FreedominIran\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/4freedominiran2\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCOlKtE23ls9XtndDe2dmXcg\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/iranfreedom.org\\\/en\\\/author\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections","description":"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections","og_description":"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.","og_url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/","og_site_name":"Iran Freedom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/4FreedominIran","article_published_time":"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":562,"url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@4freedominiran2","twitter_site":"@4freedominiran2","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections","datePublished":"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/"},"wordCount":477,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg","keywords":["Iran Protests 2019","Political Prisoners of Iran"],"articleSection":["Articles","Reports"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/","name":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg","datePublished":"2020-02-24T20:54:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-02-24T20:54:03+00:00","description":"Political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support regime change.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Political-prisoners-urge-Iranians-to-boycott-elections.jpg","width":1000,"height":562,"caption":"Two Iranian political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called on their fellow citizens to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support the overthrow of the regime."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/","name":"Iran Freedom","description":"Uniting for Freedom, Democracy & Equality","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#organization","name":"Iran Freedom","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Iran-Freedom-logo-with-text.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Iran-Freedom-logo-with-text.png","width":251,"height":78,"caption":"Iran Freedom"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/4FreedominIran","https:\/\/x.com\/4freedominiran2","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCOlKtE23ls9XtndDe2dmXcg"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/author\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14903"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14903\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14905,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14903\/revisions\/14905"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":14903,"date":"2020-02-24T21:54:00","date_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=14903"},"modified":"2020-02-24T21:54:03","modified_gmt":"2020-02-24T20:54:03","slug":"political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/articles\/2020\/02\/political-prisoners-urge-iranians-to-boycott-elections\/14903\/","title":{"rendered":"Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Political prisoners urge Iranians to boycott elections<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Iranian political prisoners Abolghasem Fouladvand and Majid Assadi have called on their fellow citizens to boycott regime\u2019s parliamentary elections and instead support the overthrow of the regime. This was in line and after a call to boycott made by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi<\/a>, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This call received a positive answer, and regime\u2019s\nelections met with a general boycott. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

These letters are the latest in a series\nfrom political prisoners who are risking their lives to make their voices and\nthe voices of all those calling for regime change, heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assadi, who is being held in Gohardasht\n(Raja\u2019i Shahr) prison, began his letter by saying that the mullahs stole the\npeople\u2019s 1979 revolution, rigged the 1980 presidential elections by\ndisqualifying Massoud Rajavi, and then over the course of the last 40 years\ntried to eliminate any opposition to the regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wrote<\/a>:\n\u201cIn this regime, the vote of the people has no meaning, and it is the whims of\nthe supreme leader that make decisions. The supreme leader takes advantage of the\npeople\u2019s religion and beliefs to justify his rule and the farce of the\nelections is meant to extend his rule at the expense of the people. \u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assadi said that the real measure of the\nIranian people\u2019s feelings were the recent uprisings, where protesters chanted\n\u2018Death to the tyrant, be he the Shah or the supreme leader\u2019 and \u2018death to the\nrule of the mullahs\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assadi wrote: \u201cIndeed, the real vote of our\ngeneration and our rebellious youth is the overthrow of the mullahs\u2019 regime and\nthe establishment of freedom, democracy, national sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assadi was arrested in 2017 on charges of\n\u201cpropaganda and conspiracy against the establishment\u201d and sentenced\nto six years in prison and two years in exile. During his imprisonment, he has\nbeen subjected to severe torture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fouladvand, who is also incarcerated in\nGohardasht prison, wrote that it was his \u201cduty\u201d to follow the call of Maryam\nRajavi, the president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). He\nalso said that the recent uprisings showed that the Iranian people could\noverthrow the mullahs because they were supported by the resistance units.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then quoted Massoud Rajavi as saying\nthat the regime will continue its repression until the very last day, which was\neven more reason to stand up against them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fouladvand, who was arrested in 2013 and\nwas sentenced to 15 years in prison for\u00a0\n\u201cwaging war against god and supporting the People\u2019s Mojahedin\nOrganization of Iran (PMOI\/MEK)\u201d, said it was the Iranian people\u2019s duty to\nboycott the elections. This, he said, would show solidarity with the 1,500\nmartyrs of the November 2019 uprising and encourage the international community\nto support the Iranian people and their resistance.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"