++ An Algerian writer, Avatef Farah, who joined in with the MEK anti-Rouhani demo in Paris has now posted her photographs on Facebook exposing the way the MEK have used false pictures and banners. The demonstration had more Arab participants than the MEK, and they had their own anti-Iran slogans not MEK provided ones. Farah comments ‘it is obvious it wasn’t an MEK demo but was an anti-Iran demo paid presumably by the Saudis and Israel’. In her comments she says ‘everyone I asked said Maryam Rajavi had organised it. So why didn’t she attend it herself?’
++ Massoud Khodabandeh writes comparing the collapse of the MEK after the nuclear agreement marked a political ceasefire between Iran and West with the collapse of the MEK after the military ceasefire at the end of Iran-Iraq war. In both cases this exposed the real mercenary nature of the MEK. Before these ceasefires the MEK claimed they would defeat Iran but the moment Iraq said ‘no’ they had to stop, the moment the nuclear agreement was reached they had to stop too. The MEK is not in charge of its own destiny.
++ Over the past two weeks the MEK has relentlessly campaigned to prevent people voting it today’s elections in Iran, arguing that if they stay away from the ballot box, the regime will definitely collapse. No matter what the outcome of the elections, the MEK will claim some influence. Some Farsi commentators are reminded of the election of former President Mohammad Khatami. There was a high turnout, but the MEK claimed it was less than 10% because they had called for a boycott. This sparked the resignation of Hedayat and Maryam Matin Daftary from the MEK’s National Council of Resistance after they had announced internally that they couldn’t go along with this ridiculous assertion by the MEK. Several people also commented on the MEK’s interference in today’s elections by pointing out that neither Maryam Rajavi as the NCRI’s ‘permanently elected’ president nor the ‘Sheikh’ of Saudi Arabia are in any position to even talk about elections let alone call for a boycott.
++ Parviz Khazai, notorious even inside the NCRI for his immoral lifestyle in Scandinavia, gets paid sometimes to write silly articles. This time he has written ‘Who are those who are afraid of the MEK?’ Fanous Association in Germany wrote a short note in response. First they point out that Saddam must be turning in his grave to see money he channelled to the MEK being spent on prostitutes in Scandinavia and writing silly things. Then they answer the article by saying “contrary to what Khazai says, there are many serious people who are afraid of the MEK. Formers are afraid. The security forces in Germany are seriously afraid of the MEK. The families of Rajavi’s hostages in Iraq are afraid. Certainly, no worries have been raised in political circles because there are no worries about the MEK politically. But in terms of MEK violence and crime and killings, everyone is afraid.”
++ Majid Rouhian, an MEK former living in Denmark, has started new series of articles about his experience with the MEK. The title of each one is ‘Massoud Rajavi, was this in line with toppling the Iranian regime?’ He gives various examples such as the MEK torturing himself and colleagues, forcing POWs to join, stealing from shops in Europe (he lists the illegal activities he has undertaken for the MEK), and with each example poses the question, ‘was this in line with toppling the regime?’
In English:
++ Nejat Society has published the first in a series of articles revealing Massoud Rajavi’s elimination projects. “As a totalitarian cult of personality, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) could not survive for over three decades without eliminating the opponents and critics inside the group. According to various reports and testimonies, there have been numerous cases of assassination of dissident members of the Cult of Rajavi. Some of these assassinations were then reported by the group’s media as suicide or even martyrdom.” The first example is Ali Zarkesh who is described as “second to Rajavi and a rival”. Quoting from Mohammad Hossein Sobhani in his book Dark Days of Baghdad, the article reveals “Massoud Rajavi wrote in a letter to one of the group’s high-ranking member, Saeed Shahsavandi, Zarkesh was punished because he had ‘repositioned’! What kind of repositioning deserves death punishment?”
++ A report by Voice of America on Senator John Kerry’s visit to Albania describes the resettlement of the MEK in that country as “…a sensitive issue. The U.S. has assisted Albania in its efforts to resettle the MEK, a group that has supported the U.S. in military operations in the Middle East and in its fight against terrorism.”
++ Sahar Family Foundation reported the story of Mr Ashur Varshi, 46, who escaped Camp Liberty only weeks ago and who is now living in hotel accommodation in Baghdad provided by the Iraqi authorities. “Varshi joined the MKO 27 years ago. As a 19–year–old teenager his ideal was the overthrow of the Islamic Republic through armed struggle. But ultimately, the totalitarian and manipulative system of the group made him leave it. ‘After 27 years of companionship with the group, I was threatened to death (by Alireza Budaqchi under the pseudonym of Ahad) just because I had said that the leader’s arguments were not realistic’, Varshi writes. ‘He [Ahad] used to pressure me to praise the leader’s words’. Ashur who was labeled an anti-leader agent, was eventually supervised all the time. ‘There was an absolutely suppressive atmosphere’, he recounts. ‘I was repeatedly summoned by them; and I was faced with mental torture in order to stop criticizing the group’.”
++ Nejat Association and Sahar Family Foundation report on visits by groups of families from Iran to Camp Liberty. They come seeking contact with their estranged loved ones. “The families gathered in front of Camp Liberty and called their children. Though they are not allowed to use loudspeakers, the families screamed their basic right of visiting their loved ones. The Rajavi’s brainwashed elements’ reaction was to nervously swear at families. Ashur Varshi’s brother was also among the families who have traveled to Iraq. The two brothers saw each other after nearly three decades and the scene was so impressive. The Varshi brothers met at Mohajer Hotel in Baghdad where Ashur resides in accompany with other survivors of the MKO Cult. He is the most recent defector of the Cult.”