As nuclear negotiations in Iran approach the June 30 deadline, the Iranian government is finding itself under the ever increasing scrutiny of critics and opposition groups, according to the Digital Journal, June 22.
The National Council of Resistance of Iran now claims that it is receiving widespread support from people within Iran, including from prisoners. The NCRI is a parliament in exile consisting of numerous Iranian dissident groups, with the principle member being the Mojahedin-e-Khalq.
Due to the groups’ anti-government stance, members of the MEK and NCRI can be jailed simply for their allegiance to the groups. While the MEK was one of the principle groups in the 1979 revolution, the group was heavily persecuted by Iran’s nascent clerical regime. It is estimated that as many as 120,000 members of the MEK were executed in the years immediately following the revolution.
Many members of the MEK who survived the initial purges fled to Iraq, Europe, and elsewhere, trying to escape the brutality of Iran’s still ruling clerical regime. Still, some supporters were unable to flee Iran.
Iran still regularly arrests and executes people with alleged ties to the MEK, even though the group renounced all violence in 2001 and disarmed in 2003, when the United States invaded Iraq. The MEK was also delisted from the State Departments foreign terrorist organization (FTO) list in 2012.