THREE decades after 30,000 political prisoners were massacred in Iran, the leader of the country’s opposition in exile has said the international community must end its silence over the issue.

Maryam Rajavi, president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), told a global conference held in 20 cities around the world that the silence had enabled the clerical regime to carry on with its “crimes against humanity” in Iran.

“The mullahs have continued with impunity to violate human rights in Iran, crack down on public protests, launch terrorist operations, and wage catastrophic wars in the Middle East and other countries,” said Rajavi. “Now, the time has come to end this silence.”

She urged the UN Security Council to prepare for the prosecution of the regime’s leaders, those responsible for the massacre and the officials in charge of four decades of repression and human rights abuses in Iran.

“The clerical regime’s reaction to dissent, even inside prisons under their own control, is mass execution.

“Any legitimate protest or demonstration is repressed by detention and torture of participants.

“In the uprisings last December and January, what was the protesters’ demand and what did they do wrong to be tortured to death?

“The bodies of a number of them were handed over to their families, telling them that they had committed suicide while in detention.

“The regime commits the crime and yet blames the victims of torture and massacre as culprits and criminals.”

Rajavi said the regime’s spies should be expelled from western countries, their embassies closed and relations terminated with a regime that uses diplomatic resources to promote “state-sponsored terrorism”.

She said the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI/MEK) was playing an increasingly important role in the organisation of protests and resistance against the regime.

“The time has come for the world community to stand by the people of Iran in their uprising against the religious fascist regime ruling Iran and recognise their determination for regime change.

“The resistance units in Iran follow the footsteps of those men and women who said no to the regime and were massacred in 1988.

“The clerical regime is beleaguered by the eight-month-long uprisings, by the growing role of the PMOI and resistance units in organising and leading the revolts, and by the consequences of a plummeting and drowning economy.”

American Democrat Patrick Kennedy added: “This is not an Iranian issue this is a human rights issue… 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 for those who suffer.”