North Texans gathered to renew their vows with the fallen heroes of freedom and democracy

IACNT- On the occasion of the 36th anniversary of the 1979 revolution, on Sunday, February 8th, 2015, North Texans gathered in Carrollton to renew their vows with the fallen heroes of freedom and democracy.

In 1979, Iranians were able to overthrow the Shah in the hope of establishing a democratic government. However, Khomeini, a religious figure hijacked the leadership and in a matter of a few years established his theoretical dictatorship and ordered mass killings of opposition members. To be exact, on June 20, 1981, he issued a decree declaring the main opposition, the MEK, illegal and anyone associated with the organization to be arrested, imprisoned, and executed. Following this decree, thousands and thousands of innocent people were executed in the months to follow. On February 8, 1982, the regime forces attacked an opposition cell in Tehran which was the residence of the MEK internal leadership in Iran. Mousa Khiabani, Ashraf Rajavi, and a few other members were all killed after a bloody battle. The regime assumed by destroying the leadership cell in Iran, the opposition would be crushed and there wouldn't be any more resistance. However, the reverse was proven. The blood of the martyrs of Feb 8, 1982 (19-Bahman), on the contrary, made the opposition stronger and taught people to be more resilient against the regime.

For the past 36 years, the struggle against Mullahs has been led by the main opposition group, PMOI, who remains the hope for the future of Iran. Currently, close to 3000 members of the opposition live in Camp Liberty in Iraq. Camp Liberty residents are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. However, the Iraqi government is not bidding by the international rules to protect them. Currently, there is a medical siege imposed on the Camp. Residents are not allowed to seek medical attention when it is needed. Due to this medical siege which has been going on for months and months many sick residents are getting sicker everyday and so far, 24 patients whose lives could have been saved have died as a result. In the last month alone, three residents died due to lack of medical attention. Zahra Afzali, Asghar Sharifi, and Ali Salari were the latest casualty of this inhumane medical siege. In addition to commemorating these heroes, North Texans demanded the international community to uphold its commitment in protecting the residents of Camp Liberty and asked for the medical siege to be immediately lifted.

On Sunday Mr. Beheshit, a human rights activist, spoke to the audience regarding current events. The gathering concluded by audience members paying their respects to the fallen heroes by placing flowers on their pictures.