Thank you All, and especially thank you, AAIRIA, for organizing this event.
We have gathered here today once more to extend the voice of the people of Iran and stop IRGC from spreading the propaganda of its death machine in the West.
The ayatollahs of the Islamic regime vowed to “export their revolution” since 1979. One of the most effective ways to achieve this was to target the young minds in the West. That is why, in recent years, here in the United States as well as Europe, we have seen the presence of the Islamic regime and its proxies in Academia as well as at the policy-making level, whether it is through organizations such as NIAC or infiltrating influential academic roles such as the one help by Hossein Mousavian.
Mousavian is a professor here at Princeton, one of the most prestigious universities in the country, and a Middle Eastern security and nuclear policy specialist. We all know his role as the Iranian ambassador in Germany in the 90 when the atrocious Mykonos terrorist attack happened, resulting in the death of several people.
It was during the same time that Fereydoun Farrokhzad was murdered in his apartment in Germany following his involvement in producing an opposition radio program and, reportedly, receiving death threats. A murder that had hallmarks of the Iranian government’s operations all over it. Farrokhzad was not only a great Iranian Artist and activist, but as recent evidence has made it clear, he was also a member of the LGBTQ community.
As a Shia theocracy, the Islamic Republic waged war on all minorities, especially those who challenged its gender and sexual apartheid: Iranian women and queer community.
Queer community of Iran is one of the biggest victims of the Islamic regime in Iran. I urge you to look up the second chapter of the Islamic penal code of Iran, Especially codes 234 and 239, where you see same-sex relations in the Islamic Republic will result in inhumane punishments such as lashes and execution. The Islamic Republic is one of the few countries that still carries out executions under this law!
This is why from the beginning of the Woman Life Freedom movement Iranian queer community, alongside all groups of Iranians, has demanded our rights to LIFE and FREEDOM.
This is why we are appalled that a person like Hossein Mousavian holds such a position in an Ivy League teaching the next educated generation of Americans about the Middle East while sewing the seeds of Islamic Republic propaganda despite the school’s knowledge of his past. It is appalling that a person who loudly and proudly praised Qasem Soleimani, one of IRGC’s major commanders, was responsible for more murders, injuries, and kidnappings of Americans and American allies. Suppose today we see young Americans raising flags of Hizbollah and chanting in favor of the Islamic regime on Ivy League campuses. In that case, it is because of IRGC’s and its proxies infiltration into our Academic system. IRGC is no longer a threat to the People of Iran alone but a global threat.
Mr Eisgruber, this is not the first time you have been made aware of Mr Mousavian’s dark past and his ties to the Islamic Republic. In January 2022, UANI detailed Mousavina’s background in a letter to Princeton University.
Once again, we want to urge Princeton University and Mr. Eisgruber to terminate Mousavian immediately.
Omid Iravanipour
April 26, 2024
