German-Iranian consultant resigns from pro-Iran group

Pro-Israel Iranian exposed alleged IRGC business

By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL
Updated: OCTOBER 15, 2018 19:16
Dr. Kazem Moussavi (photo credit: PRIVATE)
Dr. Kazem Moussavi
(photo credit: PRIVATE)
The Lawfare Project announced on Wednesday that a controversial German-Iranian business consultant, who works to boost trade with Islamic Republic of Iran, resigned his position on the board of the umbrella organization for Shi’ite Muslims in Germany--an entity that has a strong presence of radical Islamists, according to the German government.
The stunning revelation surfaced in connection with a lawsuit filed by Dawood Nazirizadeh, the German-Iranian businessman, against the Germany-based Iranian dissident, human rights activist, and blogger Dr. Kazem Moussavi, who has over the years campaigned against the mullah regime’s lethal antisemitism targeting the Jewish state.
According to a Lawfare Project statement, “Mr. Nazirizadeh is suing Dr. Moussavi regarding allegations made in the dissident’s blog, which regularly exposes those alleged to have links to the Iranian regime. Mr. Nazirizadeh has led a number of high-level delegations of German business people to encourage German trade with Iran. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) plays a dominant role in the Iranian economy.”
The US government classified the IRGC a terrorist entity in 2017.
Brooke Goldstein, Executive Director of The Lawfare Project, said “The Lawfare Project will continue to support the legal defense of those working to expose radicalization in the West. Libel suits are a common tactic and an act of lawfare, designed to silence and intimidate anyone brave enough to speak out about supporters of extremism and extremist regimes. The Lawfare Project’s legal fund is proud to support the defense of Dr. Moussavi in the interest of upholding freedom of speech on issues of public concern and national security. We are pleased to see that our legal defense has seemingly played a role in Mr. Nazirizadeh’s resignation from a group that, according to the German Ministry of the Interior, is ‘influenced and infiltrated’ by extremists.”’
Nazirizadeh denied in a 2017 interview with the Berlin newspaper Tagesspiegel that he has contact with the Iranian government. He, however, said that works with “the economic department of the province government in Alborz.” According to an article on the website of the weekly paper Jungle World that is based on the Tagesspiegel report,  there is an industrial complex in Alborz where companies of the IRGC and foundations of the IRGC are represented.
The Lawfare Project said in its statement that “Mr. Nazirizadeh’s resignation from IGS suggests that he was wary of being associated with an organization described in a written assessment by the German Ministry of Interior as having been ‘influenced and infiltrated’ by radical Islamists. Board members and supporters of IGS participate in the annual Al-Quds Day march, an Iranian regime-inspired event notorious in several countries for its displays of virulent antisemitism and support for the Iranian government and its terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah. Dr. Moussavi has regularly campaigned against the holding of the Al-Quds Day march in Berlin.”
The annual Al-Quds Day protest in Berlin attracts supporters of the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) campaign targeting Israel, advocates for the US and EU proscribed terrorist organization the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and neo-Nazis.
The prominent German attorney Nathan Gelbart is defending Moussavi on behalf of The Lawfare Project.
Moussavi, who has lived in Germany for thirty years, fled the Islamic Republic “after suffering harassment, imprisonment, and torture at the hands of the regime due to his political stance. The German authorities recognize Dr. Moussavi as a victim of political persecution, “ said The Lawfare Project.
In article on the website of the weekly magazine Jungle World, the German branch of the NGO Stop the Bomb--an organzation opposed to Iran’s efforts to secure a nuclear weapon-- wrote that Moussavi has received support from Kevin Kühnert, chairman of the youth organization of the Social Democratic Party in Germany, Seyran Ates, the head of the liberal  Ibn-Rushd-Goethe mosque in Berlin, and various youth socialist and green party student organizations.
Moussavi is the German spokesperson of the Green Party of Iran. He and the party advocate “ for a secular and democratic Iran free of nuclear weapons and vehemently opposes the regime’s antisemitism and Holocaust denial,” according to The Lawfare Project.