{"id":7221,"date":"2018-08-30T09:26:12","date_gmt":"2018-08-30T07:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/?p=7221"},"modified":"2018-08-30T10:16:26","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T08:16:26","slug":"mek-pmoi-iran-1988-massacre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/iranfreedom.org\/en\/activities-outside-iran\/2018\/08\/mek-pmoi-iran-1988-massacre\/7221\/","title":{"rendered":"Patrick Kennedy: Why would the regime spend so much time and energy targeting the MEK?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Patrick Kennedy:\u00a0both sides of the regime \u201cHardliners, reformists\u201d<\/span>\u00a0are on the side of oppression. All of them are on the side of dictatorship. And if you never thought that the MEK <\/a><\/strong>was making a difference all you need to know is that the MEK<\/a> <\/strong>Is the target, the top target, of these mullahs as they attempt to bomb both in Albania and in the Paris gathering. They are targeting in the US, the MEK activists. Why would the regime spend so much time and energy targeting the MEK <\/strong>if they did not know that the MEK <\/strong>was an existential threat to their continuing as a fascist dictatorship in Iran!?<\/p>\n

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Patrick Joseph Kennedy <\/b>\u00a0is an American politician and mental health advocate.From 1995 to 2011, he served as a\u00a0Democratic<\/a>member of the\u00a0United States House of Representatives<\/a>\u00a0from\u00a0Rhode Island\u2019s 1st congressional district<\/a>. He is the founder of the Kennedy Forum, a former member of the President\u2019s Commission on Combatting Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis, and co-founder of One Mind.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So, I\u2019ve said in previous events, when it came to standing up for those who are trapped in Ashraf when it came to other struggles for human rights for Iran, that this is not an Iranian issue this is a human rights issue. And it\u2019s the reason why we have people from all over the world gathered here to mark this thirtieth anniversary of thirty thousand political prisoners being summarily executed by a totalitarian fascist regime. Because we must remember them. Because if it can happen in Iran, in a modern era, it can happen anywhere in the world, where people do not stand up for human rights and those who suffered.<\/p>\n

Martin Niem\u00f6ller, a famous writer about the Jewish Holocaust, once said about the Nazis that first, they came for the gypsies, but I was not a gypsy so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, but I was not a trade unionist. So I did not speak out. Then they came for the Catholics, then they came for the Jewish. I was not a Jew so I did not speak out. And finally, they came for me and there was no one left to speak out.<\/p>\n

Speech by Patrik kenedi, The Roots of the Nationwide Uprisings & its Prospect, August 25, 2018<\/strong><\/h4>\n