Story & photo:Helen Brown
Ali Nekooi was born in Iran and has lived in Burngreave since the 1980s. He has been an activist and supporter of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) since 1985, when he was handed literature in the streets of Sheffield.
The organisation is a collective working together for democracy, freedom of belief and expression, freedom of the press, and equal rights for men and women in Iran.
Ali’s donates his time raising awareness, helping with fundraising and attending the large annual NCRI gathering in Paris. This year 120,000 people attended from all over the world – including three coaches of people from Burngreave. Ali says some people from Burngreave came for humanitarian reasons as the regime in Iran has executed over 120,000 people since it came to power in the 1980s.
Ali explained that the gathering is held in June to commemorate those that died in June 1981 when a peaceful demonstration of 500,000 people protested against the Khomeini Regime mixing religion and government rather than having a democratic state. The day ended in 200 being massacred by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, with many more executed later.
The gathering in Paris is important because they are trying to raise awareness of the current and historical issues regarding the Iranian regime that are not featured in the news.
“There is a lot of pressure on us to give up,” Ali says, and this is why they will keep trying. He states, regarding why the organisation must keep going, “Tolerant Islam is the most effective way of confronting groups like ISIS/Daesh, and other forms of extremism. You have to present a better ideology, a better alternative.” And this is what the NCRI hopes to do.
