Iranian group releases plan to turn country into a democratic republic amid US, Israel strikes
The provisional government of National Council of Resistance of Iran’s (NCRI), an Iranian dissidents group, said on Saturday that it was looking to transform the country from a dictatorship into a democratic republic based on its president-elect’s plan.
The 10-point plan was released by NCRI’s president-elect Maryam Rajavi in June 2020 and it outlines the steps needed in order to bring freedom to Iran.
The first step of the plan calls for the rejection of clerical rule in favor of a republic built on “universal suffrage and pluralism.” The second step calls for freedom of speech, political parties, assembly, the press and the internet, as well as the disbanding of several entities, namely the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the Quds Force, plainclothes groups, the Basij, the Ministry of Intelligence, the Council of the Cultural Revolution and all suppressive patrols and institutions in cities, villages, schools, universities, offices and factories.
The third step involves a commitment to individual and social freedom, which Rajavi says will be in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Humans Rights. This would involve the disbanding of agencies that oversee “censorship and inquisition” as well as “seeking justice for massacred political prisoners,” as well as the prohibition of torture and the end of the death penalty. The fourth step then calls for a separation of church and state, as well as freedom of religion.
In the fifth step, Rajavi seeks to establish gender equality in several parts of society and to allow for the “equal participation of women in political leadership.” This step would also abolish discrimination, end the country’s modesty laws, allow for freedom to marry and divorce and to obtain education and employment. It also would prohibit the exploitation of women.
The sixth step would establish an independent jury and legal system in accordance with international standards that is based on the presumption of innocence, as well as the right to an attorney, right of appeal and the right to be tried in a public court. With this step, Rajavi plans to also abolish Sharia law and shut down Islamic Revolutionary Courts.
The seventh step would see the end of Iran’s “double injustices against Iranian nationalities and ethnicities,” which would follow NCRI’s plan for the autonomy of Iranian Kurdistan.
The eighth step calls for justice and equal opportunities in employment and entrepreneurship for all Iranians in a free market economy, restoring rights for blue-collar workers, farmers, nurses, white-collar workers, teachers and retirees.
In the ninth step, the group seeks to protect and restore the environment, which it says was “massacred under the rule of the mullahs.”
The tenth and final step calls for “non-nuclear Iran that is also devoid of weapons of mass destruction” as well as peace and regional and international cooperation.
- Tags: Maryam Rajavi, mullahs' regime, NCRI, people of Iran
