++ The MEK’s nuclear revelations failed to bring it much needed media coverage apart from a tired report by Reuters which was subsequently dissected by Jim White in Empty Wheel with the title, ‘MEK Makes Desperate New Iran Nuclear Accusation, Reuters Yawns’. White concludes that “the MEK clearly sees diplomacy as the real enemy …”, but that “they have reached a level of incompetence that is barely worthy of rewriting the standard dismissal that Reuters keeps on file.”
++ On the same issue, the MEK’s supporters and those who have just left have been extremely critical in the Farsi language websites. The general argument is that even if you, the MEK, want to be a mercenary force and be known as traitors to your own country, you can’t impose yourself on others where you are not accepted, it makes you look ridiculous. The writers refer to the many western people, including those in the IAEA, who are responsible for the nuclear issue who have pointed out that if there is something that the MEK know then there can be no doubt that the Americans would have known about it long before them. The writers, from inside the MEK’s Iranian support base, refer to the killings at and closure of Camp Ashraf and say this nuclear revelation will not divert attention from that; you have to explain why these people stayed, why the survivors left only after the others were killed and not before this happened, and why are the investigators not allowed access to these 42 people who have been transferred to Camp Liberty.
++ Massoud Jabaani comments on something Parviz Khazai – an MEK supporter – has written about the current situation of the MEK in which he praises the fact that they stayed in Camp Ashraf and got killed. Jabaani reminds Khazai that ‘as somebody who has been working for the Iranian government as an ambassador then changing sides to be a representative of Rajavi in Scandinavian countries, you should obviously know that people getting killed without their own informed consent or free choice does not constitute martyrdom’. Jabaani details other abuses of human rights including forced divorces and the naked dances etc, and says that ‘in a disgusting career which includes working for the Shah, for Khomeini and then Rajavi, for which you have been paid without believing any of it, the worst part of all is praising Rajavi as an opposition leader’.
++ Minoo Sepeher has published the second part of her article which goes into the details of where Camp Ashraf started and where it finished. At the end of it she refers to a preliminary finding by the investigators into the Camp Ashraf killings of September 1st. In ten paragraphs the report criticises the Mojahedin for preventing the investigation from being conducted fully so that it can come to a conclusion. Criticisms of the MEK include: explosions targeted at destroying evidence, not allowing investigators into the camp before destroying things, claiming they have been attacked by RPG and mortar whereas no evidence of that has been found, the bullets found at the scene are not anything like the bullets carried by the Iraqi army, the MEK have been moving bodies far distances inside the camp before letting anyone get in to see them. There is clear evidence of attempts to clear up and set a scene after the killings took place. There is even a paragraph which says that on the following day, in the presence of UNAMI representatives, the Iraqi forces managed to stop one of the MEK members from exploding a homemade bomb which he had in his possession. Another obstacle is that the MEK refuse to hand over the films and pictures they have taken to the investigators. There is clear evidence that the killings had been pre-planned and the MEK had knowledge about it. Minoo Sepeher concludes that although we have to wait for the full report by the Iraqis, these killings must have been carried out by the MEK themselves.
++ Nejat Association reported that an official of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced that 33 members of the Mojahedin Khalq were received as refugees by the German government. He also noted that some of these individuals, who were interviewed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “suffer from distressed mental states and fear staying in Iraq”. Germany has agreed to accept a total of 100 residents of Camp Liberty.
++ In an Open Letter to Catherine Ashton, Massoud Khodabandeh warned that the MEK were set to take aggressive or violent action to disrupt the 5+1 talks in Geneva with the Iranian delegation. Khodabandeh describes how Ashton had been unknowingly set up to perpetuate MEK lies about events at Camp Ashraf which the European Parliament’s Iraq Delegation exploited to pursue an anti-Iraq agenda. The letter concludes, “It is important to put the MEK where it belongs – it has no place in the political process. The group is purely a brand and a tool. Once a group is named as a tool in the hands of paying masters then it loses its potency. The MEK has no independent existence. You must look to the people who issue the orders to find out how to counter its influence.”
++ In Farsi sites and media there is much criticism over the continuation of the hunger strike (last week it was exposed that the participants have been denied food and are therefore forced to be on hunger strike). Critics pose the question: ‘what crime have these people committed that they must be killed by hunger strike? Why is it that every time someone has to burn themselves or starve to death or whatever, we never see the leaders involved? They point out that what Rajavi is doing to these people in Camp Liberty is against every human rights law and the only reason he does it is to get more blood.
++ In separate articles, Iran Interlink and Mohammad Razaghi exposed Ali Mansouri – who was arrested in Israel as a spy – as a long serving member of the Mojahedin Khalq cult. A statement issued by the MEK tried to claim that Mansouri was an infiltrator, an agent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Instead the articles describe him as a covert agent working for the MEK and Mossad, who used to visit Iran and bring back information. His arrest was either a mistake in which case the MEK and Mossad need to coordinate better, or the MEK saw him as a liability and set him up to get rid of him.
++ Inside supporters of the MEK have criticised the European Parliament and its resolution for not being directed at saving lives, but rather at prolonging the situation to help Rajavi. Otherwise, instead of crying crocodile tears for the camp, the EP would help to get the people out of Iraq.
++ Quite a few reports and articles showed how the MEK failed to disrupt the 5+1 meeting in Geneva. One is from a reporter for Mehr News who wrote a short piece about fringe activity at the meetings. He explains that as the press conferences of Ashton and Zarif got underway, officials identified three people from the MEK who tried to attend. Swiss police intervened to throw them out and thus prevented any disruption. The reporter says the three were obviously given press passes to get in the building by someone, that they had backers and asks who were they? He also says that there were MEK activists in the area outside the venue but they were not allowed to hinder or halt proceedings. Instead they went been trawling round the building looking for people to harass or attack. Failing in this too they could only daub graffiti around the city centre.
Iran Interlink, October 18 2013