Paid advocacy for MKO

The MEK Uncovered

‘Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered; The Terrorist Group in The Eyes of International Media’, is a collection of articles on Mujahedin e-Khalq organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI, PMOI, etc.), published in major international Media outlets from 2000-2017, and reports on the group published by governments, research institutes and think tanks that helps to understand how MKO’s terrorism has been viewed by experts, journalists, politicians, governments and international organizations during the past 17 years.

Iran is estimated to have lost more than 17000 of its citizens to terror attacks since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, 12000 of whom are reportedly assassinated only by the MKO. The atrocities and crimes of the MKO set up one of the bloodiest chapters of Iranian history. Soon following the Iranian Islamic revolution, the organization started a phase of armed struggle in a bid to destabilize the newly formed government and have its revenge of failing to assume a share in the power. As a result, MKO’s dedicated terrorist teams launched numerous blind suicide operations, bombings, gun-shot assassinations as well as street gun-battles in which many innocent civilians and key officials were killed. In 2005, a report titled ‘No Exit’ was released by Human Rights Watch describing the terrorist group as a cult of personality that systematically violates the human rights of its own members.

There are also reports that members of the MKO deify Maryam Rajavi, who has already proclaimed herself “president” of Iran. Her photographs are frequently found in MKO camps, and MKO members staged forced public self-immolations to protest her 2003 arrest in Paris. MKO’s terrorist activities in Iran and abroad were not left unnoticed by global Media. The group’s terrorist nature has been widely reflected in the Media during the past 2 decades. Although the MKO has been described as a terrorist group in MEK Uncovered 13 official documents released by various governments including the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, etc, in the past few years, the group succeeded to lobby its name out of the lists of terrorist organizations thanks to its big lobbying campaigns and large sums of money paid to the people that lobby on its behalf. Considering MKO’s long history of adopting terrorism and cult-like practices as major tools to achieve its political aims, it is worth knowing how MKO’s terrorist and cult-like nature is reflected in major international Media outlets and research institutes in the past 2 decades.

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 1

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 2

Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered; The Terrorist Group in The Eyes of International Media

Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered 2
With the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States, the extremists opposing Iran in the White House were presented with an opportunity to bolster their support for the cult of MEK. On the one hand, Trump’s administration officials sided with this terrorist cult and a significant number of his close associates espoused the group. On the other hand, the MEK repeatedly incited the new administration to take severe measures and impose more sanctions against Iran, which all generally targeted the Iranian people.

Perhaps this magnitude of bilateral communications between mid-2017 and the termination of Trump’s presidency led a considerable number of Western media outlets, particularly the United States, to focus on the MEK and its relations with the Trump administration and highlight the group’s atrocious records of terrorism and deception.

Consequently, with Trump’s presidency coming to an end, an attempt was made to compile and refine all the articles in order to publish the second volume of the book.

The book, published in 830 pages, vividly demonstrates that the MEK is still a highly dubious and notorious group in the West and despite the efforts to present a different image of itself among Westerners, it has not attained much success.

The MEK uncovered

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 1

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 2

April 4, 2022 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Expecting Iranians to support the MeK is absurd

Ukraine’s resistance should end calls for ‘regime change’ in Iran by Israel and the pro-Israel lobby

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy addresses Congress, introduced by Nancy Pelosi to standing ovation, March 16, 2022. Screenshot from C-SPAN.

The inspiring Ukrainian resistance to Russia’s invasion already has one positive consequence a thousand miles to the southeast — it should end, once and for all, the dangerous calls in Israel and by the U.S. Israel lobby to step up attacks on Iran to change the regime there.

Vladimir Putin apparently expected that Ukrainian resistance would collapse quickly, and that the Russian invaders would have a cakewalk into Kiev. Instead, Ukrainians rallied around their government, and president Zelinsky’s popularity shot up overnight. A month later, their ferocious defiance is once again proving a central truth; even people who don’t like their rulers won’t accept foreigners who try to dictate to them at gunpoint.

The unhinged calls to overthrow Iran’s government are not confined to the fever swamps of the far right. Just last December, 7 former U.S. government foreign policy hawks, including General David Petraeus and Leon Panetta, who headed both the Defense Department and the CIA, publicly called on the U.S. to threaten to attack Iran. They said:

We believe it is vital to restore to restore Iran’s fear that its current nuclear path will trigger the use of force against it by the United States.

Earlier, a 2020 Washington Post opinion article, also written by members in good standing of the Washington, D.C. foreign policy establishment, was entitled: “Regime change in Iran shouldn’t be a taboo.” Its tortured logic ended with:

Seeking regime change isn’t rude. It is pragmatic, cost-sensitive, humane and — in the best sense of the word — liberal.

Putin’s view that the Ukrainians would not resist the Russian military was not entirely an illusion. Ukraine has long-standing political and cultural ties to Russia; a significant proportion of its people are actually Russian-speaking; the country has only been independent for 30 years.

By contrast, Iran is a nation with a powerful, long-standing identity. John Ghazvinian notes in his recent, magisterial history of U.S.-Iranian relations that:

. . . Iran is one of the world’s oldest, proudest and most enduring civilizations. . . Iran has had 3000 years of (mostly) continuous nationhood. . . Iran is one of the very few nation-states that can legitimately claim to have existed more or less continuously since antiquity. . . Cultural, historically and politically, Iran has an extraordinarily strong sense of its identity and its regional significance.

For years now, Israel, apparently with at least some U.S. acquiescence, has been conducting a terror campaign inside Iran. The distinguished Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that this campaign has included “assassinations of nuclear scientists, explosions at nuclear sites, cyberattacks, attacks on Iranian ships, extensive airstrikes against pro-Iranian militias in Syria. . .”

The prevailing theory is that at least some of these attacks in Iran are carried out by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), an extremist opposition group. (The cult-like group has ties, probably including financial links, to top Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and to former national security adviser John Bolton.) Expecting Iranians to support the MeK is absurd, not least because the cult fought alongside Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s army during his 8-year war against Iran in the 1980s.

Meanwhile, Israel and the pro-Israel lobby have an immediate fear; the talks in Vienna to restore the Iran nuclear deal are apparently going well and nearing an agreement. The Biden administration is preoccupied with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and the last thing it wants is another crisis in the Middle East. What’s more, Israel’s refusal to stand squarely with the U.S., NATO and the Ukrainian government has not gone unnoticed. The pro-Israel lobby is surely already working overtime at damage control.

By James North, mondoweiss.net

March 26, 2022 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Biden Dilemma: Iranians Saw Trump As A Mad Man But Blame America For Their Woes

After enduring four years of President Trump’s hostile and belligerent policies and actions – the Muslim travel ban, extreme sanctions, incitement to violence, support for terrorist groups, assassinations of nuclear scientists and of general Qasem Soleimani – the Iranian people are entitled to conclude that America is waging a war against them. And Iran has responded; maximum pressure resulted only in maximum resistance. The sanctions, unfortunate as they have been for Iran’s economy, have not destroyed it. Indeed, evidence is emerging that Iran’s resistance culture itself has led to an entrepreneurial response to overcome the restrictions. Iran’s military opened a trade and security corridor through Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean coast. A dedicated port is under construction. The U.S. can no longer control Iran’s finances since it is no longer limited to trading through Dubai. The only way to stop that is using bombs; an actual declaration of war, which puts Israel at risk.

Biden Dilemma Iranians Blame America

Trump and his allies spent four years trying to crush Iran, to force regime change and failing that, threats to bomb the country back fifty years. They failed. The unintended consequence of that failure has been the militarisation of Iran. The Revolutionary Guards have become stronger and their power embedded in the wider region with allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. Commemorations to mark the January 3rd anniversary of the assassinations of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were titled ‘Martyrs Without Borders’ signifying their wider relevance. Although Iraq is in step with Iran to eject American forces from the region, the Trump administration failed to understand that Ayatollah Khamenei’s ‘harsh revenge’ could be achieved as much through regional soft power and international law as military strikes.

Furthermore, the assassination of Soleimani unified Iran in a way that no internal politics could have hoped to achieve as Iranians rallied round their flag. Back in 2016, Iran’s leaders were almost equally divided between western leaning moderates and revolutionary hardliners. Now we hear president Rohani echoing the speeches of Ayatollah Khamenei, and foreign minister Javad Zarif amplifying the role of the Quds Force in Iran’s foreign policy. National unity against the perceived external threat of America has now created grounds for military officials to be allowed to run for president in June’s elections. If the military prevail, it will make conflict more likely, not less. Iran says its missile program is defensive, that it does not want war, but with missiles in Iran and Lebanon trained on U.S. interests in the region, Israel is clearly less safe than before.

President Joe Biden will only have months to make a difference if he wants to pursue a diplomatic route. He must demonstrate through policies and actions that Trump was a hiccup, not the way things will be. Trump was not America. If Biden wants to start talking with Iran he must accept where Iran is now, not what it used to be. Confrontation and containment cannot be the starting point for negotiations; there will have to be more carrots.

Iran experts are focused on re-joining the JCPOA. But this will not be enough on its own to recalibrate relations between the two countries. Not only will Iran expect sanctions to be lifted but will feel entitled to demand compensation for the financial losses suffered under extreme sanctions. People were denied medicine. Iranians saw Trump as a mad man, but they blame America for their woes. The damage done by Trump will take years to redress, but there is no reason why trust building cannot begin straight away. To start with Biden must treat Iran with respect. Acknowledge that assassinations and incitement to violence and terrorism are not how civilized countries behave.

Of course, the new presidency will be hampered by America’s internal problems. Biden inherits a deeply divided country. Yet, the decades long problem of Iran could very well offer a route to a new bipartisan consensus on a way forward. Although Trump has gone, the Adelson family, Neocons and Fox News will still be there; war is still on the agenda. Theirs is not a battle between Democrats and Republicans, but between warmongers and peacemakers. Their agenda doesn’t depend on who is the president. They want to defeat Iran. If Trump couldn’t do it, they will force the Democrats to do it. They want a war at any price. If Biden cannot prevent war, they will have won.

In this respect, this expert would advocate a much easier, cheaper and effective course of action to start with. Biden should immediately restore the Obama administration’s plan to deradicalize the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist cult in Albania. The MEK are, of course, the darlings of both the anti-Iran cabal in the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the hardliners in Iran. Both sides have used the MEK to destroy Iran’s indigenous opposition movement and to control the prevailing narrative on Iran in international politics.

By dismantling and deradicalizing the MEK, Biden can score easy wins in a variety of arenas. In Albania it would free around two thousand members from conditions of modern slavery, allowing them to reintegrate into normal society and be reunited with their families. It would relieve the Albanian government and security services of the headache caused by MEK crime, corruption and impunity in their country. For Iranians who universally regard the MEK with loathing as traitors and cultists, it would send a clear message that America will not tolerate terrorism or human rights abuses in pursuit of its foreign policy aims. Iran’s people would view dismantling this terrorist group as a goodwill gesture; building a modicum of trust that may sway some voters in June to have faith in the efficacy of diplomacy with the west.

But the most significant win for Biden would be to start tackling the corruption inside America which facilitated Trump’s belligerent agenda and that of his backers. Dismantling the MEK would stem one of the hidden conduits for the flow of foreign money and false narratives into America.

The MEK paid thousands of dollars for the likes of Rudi Giuliani and John Bolton to attend their rallies in Paris and Tirana to peddle the false narrative that the only way to deal with Iran is confrontation, regime change and war. The Heshmat Alavi scandal which exposed an industry of fake social media messages and accounts and a click farm in Albania, revealed that what had previously been covert activity had, under Trump, become mainstream.

In America, Professor Raymond Tanter has been tasked with creating a bi-partisan group to undermine the work of the new Biden administration. Funding for this project relies on the kind of corruption that has become embedded in the body politic. The example of MEK funding for the extreme right Vox Party in Spain reveals how the MEK use individual and fake association accounts to channel foreign funds into anti-Iran projects.

It is incumbent on the Biden administration to approach relations with Iran on a new page. Purging the old regime need not be as difficult as it first appears. The costs of erasing any traces of the MEK from that page are low, the benefits are great and many.

By Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh,

March 17, 2022 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

A Cult in Heart of Republic, a book on France’s ties to MKO terrorists

Iran has unveiled the Persian copy of a French book that reviews the grisly crimes committed by the notorious anti-Iran terror group, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization.

A Cult in the Heart of the Republic is the title of the book written by a member of the French Senate, Nathalie Goulet. In her book, she shines a light into the formidable anti-Iran terror group, known as Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, or simply the MKO.

The author tries to warn her fellow Senate members that a full-scale terror group exists in the heart of the French Republic.

A Cult in Heart of Republic, a book on France’s ties to MKO terrorists

In Iran’s city of Qom, political thinkers and activists have gathered to unveil the first Persian translation of the French book.

Iran says the MKO has killed over 12,000 Iranian civilians and statesmen, including former President Mohammal Ali Rajaei and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar in 1981. The group also fought alongside Iraqi forces against Iran during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

In 2012, the US and Europe delisted the group as a terror organization. The MKO was then relocated from an American military base in Iraq to Albania and France. Since then, the US and Europe have been taking part in the MKO’s annual summits in Paris.

Nathalie Goulet’s book tries to highlight the criminal track record of the MKO, while warning France that it’s making a big mistake by supporting the terror group.

In 1988, Iran executed the remnants of the terror grouping in Iran. The MKO is currently led by 68-year-old Maryam Rajavi, who is facing pressure from French human rights entities as a “smear” on France’s record of human rights advocacy.

Aside from warning France of the security threats posed to the country by the MKO, the French author says capitalizing on the terror group is a waste of time and money. She argues that the MKO is viewed as an obsolete killing machine in the minds of Iranians and has no place in Iran’s sociopolitical structure.

Yusef Jalali

March 15, 2022 0 comment

Maryam Rajavi

Maryam Rajavi John Bercow – It Takes One to Know One

For those living in the UK, it should come as no surprise that among the many shoddy failures in the Westminster bubble, former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has been banned from parliament for life after a bullying inquiry found him guilty. In spite of his effectiveness in his role as Speaker, those close to him, professionally and personally, knew him to be a difficult, unpleasant individual. Among the panel’s findings were that he acted as a “serial bully and serial liar”, his behaviour was a ‘marked abuse of power and authority’, and that “there is ‘no doubt’ that victims were telling the truth”.

It should also be no surprise to observers of Maryam Rajavi and her tragic little cult, the MEK, that these are the characteristics her close associates will also recognise as hers: bullying, lying, abuse of power and authority. Also, that her victims are telling the truth. Maryam Rajavi’s vicious screaming hysterics are famous among her inner circle.

, former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow

Maryam Rajavi and John Bercow

What links these two is that the MEK was in the process of grooming Bercow to become the MEK’s lobbying replacement for the late David Amess in the UK parliament. Amess lined up among an anti-Iran cabal that included John Bolton and Rudi Giuliani.

The MEK has a long history of association with some very unsavoury characters. While not all of them share these personal characteristics, most have been forced out of their official positions or had reputations built on years of corruption and sleaze eventually exposed: Rudi Giuliani is only a recent example. After he was voted out as a Member of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras of Spain showed his extreme right-wing views as president of VOX. He channelled finance from the MEK money laundering system into the Vox Party.

The history of the MEK includes many, many of such people. It is true, of course, that Maryam Rajavi cannot pick and choose her associates because decent people will not get involved in her schemes and crimes, not for any amount of money. But certainly the role call of MEK supporters does prove that it takes on to know one as Rajavi’s nasty corruption attracts like-minded people.

March 12, 2022 0 comment

Iran

Iran Condemns Western Support For Mojahedin-e Khalq Terrorists

Secretary of Iran Judiciary’s Human Rights Council condemned Western countries for granting immunity to the terrorist group of MKO, despite the group’s long-drawn-out history of bloodshed and atrocity against the Iranians.

Kazem Gharibabadi made the remarks in a letter addressed to the United Nations secretary-general, the UN high commissioner for human rights, and the UN Human Rights Council as well as the heads of the European Council, Commission, and Parliament.

The Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization (MKO also known as MEK), he wrote, is responsible for carrying out most of the assassinations that have targeted the Iranian people since the 1979 victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Secretary of Iran Judiciary’s Human Rights Council; Kazem Gharibabadi

“In order to introduce the MKO, it suffices to say that their top priority and the main basis of performance [relies on] assassination and murdering the individuals, who do not adhere to the same ideas as they [themselves],” the letter read.

The MKO has a dark history of assassinations and bombings against the Iranian government and nation. It notoriously sided with Saddam Hussein in the former Iraqi dictator’s 1980-88 war against the Islamic Republic.

Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution’s victory, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.

Western countries, topped by the United States, have, however, taken the group out of their terror blacklists.

The group throws lavish conferences every year in Paris, with certain American, Western, and Saudi Arabian officials as its guests of honor. These have included former US national security advisor John Bolton, former US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and former Saudi Arabian spy chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal.

Gharibabadi reprimanded some European countries for providing “safe havens” for the group, allowing it to set up its offices there, and even letting its members address their government and parliament sessions.

The support, he regretted, had emboldened “the murderous and dangerous organization’s ringleaders to [even] introduce themselves as human rights supporters.”

“This dual perspective of the issue of human rights” and support for a group, which has the blood of thousands of Iranians on its hands “is not acceptable under any circumstances,” the letter said.

It finally urged the United Nations and the European Union to prevent the free movement of the MKO’s members across the European countries and elsewhere and hold them accountable for their atrocities.

March 10, 2022 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

The MEK Failing to Win Support of Even Iran’s Enemies

Anne Khodabandeh, political activist, says the practice of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI and NCRI) terrorist group to pay huge amounts of money to former officials to speak at their conference proves that it has no support even among countries hostile to Iran.

In an interview with FNA, Ms. Khodabandeh said, “The MKO has been forced to create audiences by paying for students and refugees to attend these conferences. These individuals have no links to Iran and no interest in the issues presented.”

Anne Khodabandeh Singleton is a British expert in cultic abuse and terrorism. She was formerly an MKO member, leaving the terrorist group in 1996.

Ann Singleton

Below is the full text of the interview:

Q: How do you interpret MKO’s practice of having former officials of different country’s deliver speeches in the terror group’s annual conferences?

A: Every year, the MKO holds a lavish and gaudy conference to advertise its leader Maryam Rajavi and its agenda. This is because the MKO exists, particularly now, as a propaganda outfit rather than as a normal opposition movement. Over the years, because it has no support among Iranians – whether inside or outside Iran – the MKO has been forced to create audiences by paying for students and refugees to attend these conferences. These individuals have no links to Iran and no interest in the issues presented. This year of course the event was held online, so this issue was not particularly prominent. However, it remains the case that the MKO is also forced to pay for a variety of political and other officials to deliver speeches which replicate the MKO’s core message of regime change against Iran. The significance of this is that Maryam Rajavi has proven incapable of winning support even among the most strident of Iran’s enemies. It does not matter whether the speakers are of the calibre and prominence of individuals like John Bolton or Rudy Giuliani or are second-rate retired officials that nobody has heard of it is not authentic genuine support, it is paid for. The real problem for Rajavi, however, is that she cannot share the stage with any other Iranian. This is partly due to the toxicity of her bloody and treacherous past, but also due to her role as the sole leader of a mind control cult. She simply cannot be seen by her own followers to be allied to other Iranian opposition groups or personalities. In subtle ways then, these rallies are an admission of Rajavi’s weaknesses and desperation rather than the magnificent advertisements she thinks they are.

Q: MKO hires lobbying groups, pays tens of thousands of dollars to the speakers at their annual meetings, and pays to have meetings with officials of different countries. How is MKO funded?

A: The MKO has gained a reputation among media and political commentators for spending huge amounts of money to stage events like their annual conference and to fund their lobbying activities among western politicians. While this has raised questions about the source of these funds, a glance at the beneficiaries of the MKO’s anti-Iran activities should give a clear enough answer to these questions – America, Europe and the UK and of course Saudi Arabia and Israel are all linked to the MKO’s anti-Iran agenda and activities. But since the MKO have apparently failed year on year to fulfil the promise of regime change, we should perhaps ask not who but why? The MKO of course was notoriously funded by Saddam Hussein for two decades up to 2003 in return for terrorist, intelligence and propaganda services. As a purely mercenary force, the MKO has currently been reduced to providing intelligence and propaganda services for its paymasters. Around 2,000 of Maryam Rajavi’s followers are imprisoned as modern slaves in a closed camp in Albania. Their role is to work in the click farm producing propaganda, misinformation and lies in relation to Iran. This is what Rajavi is paid for. But although this might appear to be the only purpose of the camp, there is a more sinister element to this mercenary group. The MKO members are mostly elderly, and many are sick and dying. But, as the saying goes, where is the best place to hide a book: a library – so it is possible to hide a small number of actively trained suicide terrorists among the 2,000 camp residents.

Q: As a Briton, do you believe attendance of ex-UK Parliament Speaker at the MKO conference would actually attract Britons and their politicians?

A: It would be an understandable mistake to believe that the flashy staging of Maryam Rajavi’s rallies and events might attract the equivalent media attention. But any actual audience for Rajavi’s shows is so small and narrowly drawn that in spite of employing a lobbying firm in America to advertise the event, it is almost certain that apart from the paid media and people whose jobs it is to keep an eye on such groups – intelligence officials and researchers – nobody else in the world paid any attention whatsoever except her own followers and supporters. As for Britain, we had a football match to watch.

December 20, 2021 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Fictitious Courts: The Illegitimate Relation of MEK and West

As we have all heard, double-standard policies in the world are always adopted and enforced, and in many cases, these policies are simply overlooked by the international community and the media. In a general view, it may be possible to state that the main point according to this cliché that “the end justifies the mean”, which means, in some cases the reactions of Western countries in the face of two identical events that occurred in two different places are completely different and sometimes contradictory. In the present interview with Mr. Robert Fantina, we address a few questions about the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which are an epitome of these inconsistencies and dual policies of the Western political community and media.

Robert Fantina; Journalist

Mr. Robert Fantina is a journalist and political analyst, and an author of wonderful books that you can find on Amazon. He’s working for peace and social justice. He writes extensively about US foreign policy and the Middle East, which focus on Palestine, he serves on the board of Canadian voices for Palestinian rights and Canadian for peace and justice in Kashmir.

JT: As you know, in the war condition when two countries are in conflict, if someone betrays his or her country, in most countries of the world, this person is sentenced to death. Does this law also apply in the United States?

– As you know the MEK betrayed their country during the Iran-Iraq war and massacred a large number of innocent people in their country. They even massacred hospital patients in their invasion to Iran, this kind of action which is also prohibited by international law is known as a terrorist act. What do you think is the verdict of these people in wartime?

RF: yes, it does. Treason, the act of being a traitor, is dealt with severely in most circumstances. Some countries have outlawed execution, the United States has not, and this is an option if somebody doing that.

The MEK is a terrorist organization that seeks the overthrow of the legitimate government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Their terrorist activities – the killing of innocent people – are well-known. Yet they receive support from some western nations, most notably the United States, because that nation’s government harbors an irrational hatred of Iran, and will support any organization, even a terrorist one, that opposes it.

The leaders of the MEK should be charged in the International Criminal Court with the many crimes they have committed.

JT: As you know, the money of the MEK has led to the non-observance of international law in Western countries, and as we have seen in the case of Asadullah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat with political immunity, was illegally detained in Germany and in a Belgian court, he has sentenced to 20 years in prison that this verdict violates the 1961 Geneva Convention, and now Mr. Hamid Nouri has been arrested by the Swedish police on a sham complaint and is on trial. On his trial, he had repeatedly stated that he had not served in the Iranian judiciary at the time due to the pregnancy of his wife, and another point was that Mr. Nouri was not a decision-maker in the judiciary at that time, Do you think that a person who did not appear in the court and did not even a decision-maker can be condemned on behalf of a government?

– As you know, the courts issue the verdicts according to the judicial laws of the same country. Do you think that a court in a European country or any other country has the right to decide on the rulings of the Iranian courts? If that were the case, would it not be better to prosecute the US and Saudi Arabian court judges who sentenced people to death, or an American police officer who pressed his knee against the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes for being black and suffocating him?

RF: This is another case of western hypocrisy. If an official of any country is accused of a crime, there are international bodies, such as the International Criminal Court, that are responsible for dealing with the situation. One must consider, for a moment, if a U.S. official, say, for example, former President Donald Trump, was visiting a European nation and was arrested for the murder of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Trump ordered his assassination, while the general was visiting Iraq. Several international laws were violated by Trump’s order. Yet he has not been held accountable. But if he were to be arrested for this crime when traveling outside of the United States, the U.S. government would condemn the nation that arrested him, issue sanctions, and possibly invade. Yet the U.S. supports the arrests and incarceration of Iranian officials outside of their nations. This double standard is typical of the United States. It also shows that the U.S. remains powerful, despite its decreasing influence on the world stage, because the ICC has not charged Trump or any else in the former U.S. administration for the general’s murder.

JT: A while ago, the representatives of the Albanian government intrusively entered the camp of the MEK and fingerprinted the members of the entire camp to present the citizenship identity card. As you know, when a member enters the cult of MEK, he has to hand over all his identity cards to the superiors of the group from the first day, and he no longer has the right to take them back, and he somehow loses his identity. According to recent investigations, a large number of members of Camp Ashraf in Albania intend to flee the group but have avoided fleeing due to lack of identity documents, but now that new identity cards are being issued and due to electronic version of these identity cards, those documents can no longer be confiscated by the group. For this reason, a large number of people will be estimated to leave this cult. Now, considering this issue, how do you assess the future of the MEK if it loses a large part of its members?

RF: Reports indicate a great degree of dissatisfaction among members of the MEK. It is one thing to disagree with some policies of a government; it is another to want to violently overthrow it. U.S. officials often speak about any protest demonstrations that occur in Iran as indicating that the people there want a new form of government. Yet in the summer of 2020, when millions of people demonstrated in the streets of major U.S. cities across the country, these same officials didn’t see the situation quite the same way. Some MEK members disagree with some Iranian government policies; no government will ever exist that pleases all its citizens. But following their involvement in the MEK, and seeing the mental and physical manipulation that membership in it involves, the MEK’s numbers will likely see a substantial decrease now that electronic identity cards have been issued.

JT: As you know, Albania has been a safe haven for terrorists for several years, and it hosts ISIS, MEK, and other terrorist groups, and the Albanian government made separate camps formed for each of these groups. What do you think are the reasons why a country like Albania is willing to turn its country into a safe haven for US-backed terrorists?

RF: The reason is simple: the U.S. has ordered it to. When the MEK was forced to flee Iraq, the U.S. government forced Albania to accept its members. The U.S. wants its terrorists physically united so that when the U.S. government wants to mobilize them to destabilize some nation that refuses to do the binding of the U.S. or Israel, it can do so with ease.

JT: The MEK ceremonies are usually attended by former American political figures, who give speeches and receive large sums of money from this group. These speeches have been legal since 2012 due to the removal of the MEK from the list of terrorist organizations, but with the regard that the group has a history of killing six American advisers, does the community of political, cultural, and social elites tolerate the presence of their politicians in these ceremonies?

RF: This goes back to what I mentioned earlier, about the irrational hatred that U.S. government officials have for Iran. The Iranian people overthrew the brutal U.S. puppet, the Shah of Iran. The newly-formed government severed ties with the Zionist entity and has offered stalwart support for the Palestinian people. It must be remembered that it is very expensive to run a political campaign in the U.S., and many U.S. officials rely heavily on financial contributions from pro-Israel lobbies. So if Israel tells them to oppose the JCPOA and support brutal and illegal sanctions, they will do so. The lobbies, not the citizenry, are their constituencies, and it is from them, and not the voters, that they take their orders. The fact that the MEK is responsible for the deaths of U.S. citizens is not important to these people.

JT: As you know, the corruption case of some American figures has been investigated these days, and even the issue of the presence and receiving money by Rudy Giuliani from the group of MEK has been included in the case of his financial corruption, which is being investigated by the FBI. In another case, John Bolton attended and spoke at a time when the group was on a list of terrorist organizations, which is considered a crime under US law. Now the question arises that what are the motives of politicians to cooperate with American killers? Is it just about money or something else?

RF: It is partly money, but also partly ideology. Iran is a mainly Muslim country; there is a great amount of hostility towards Muslims by U.S. government officials. Also, many U.S. officials, especially those that have been appointed by the current president, or previous presidents, are avowed Zionists. They will, therefore, do whatever it is that Israel wants, and Israel seeks to be the only powerful nation in the Middle East. Its main competitor for that title is Iran.

Additionally, especially during the disastrous Trump administration, there were many members of the so-called Christian Right in positions of power; former vice-president Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were two among many. It must be remembered that the evangelical Christian movement has strayed so far from the teachings of Jesus Christ that he wouldn’t recognize them as Christian if he were to attend any of their meetings. These people support Israeli terrorism and see Islam as the arch-enemy of Christianity. I can assure you that that is not what true Christianity is about. Yet that is why many of these people embrace MEK and any and all enemies of the peaceful nation of Iran. This is a nation that hasn’t invaded another country since at least 1798; conversely, the U.S. has been at war for at least 227 years of its 245-year history, and most of those have been offensive, not defensive wars.

Officials of the U.S. government need to use diplomacy, and not discredited religious ideology in dealing with other nations in the world. This is a lesson they have yet to learn.

geopolitica.ru

November 27, 2021 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Pence’s Despicable Shilling for the MEK

The willingness of so many prominent politicians and ex-officials to embrace such a group reflects how warped and toxic the debate over Iran policy is in this country.

Mike Pence joins the long and growing list of current and former elected officials and retired officers to discredit themselves by shilling for the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), the deranged cult and “former” terrorist organization that seeks regime change in Iran and pretends it is a legitimate opposition group:
Pence described the MEK as “a well-organized, fully prepared, perfectly qualified and popularly supported alternative” to the current government in Iran. Rajavi, he said, is “an inspiration to the world.”

Mike Pence

It isn’t surprising that some former Trump administration officials have become pro-MEK shills since they left government. Even if they weren’t lacking in integrity and apparently willing to take money from anyone, they share the MEK’s hostility to Iran and they are presumably only too happy to cheer on a group that almost all Iranians everywhere despise. Fortunately, there are no longer MEK boosters in charge of U.S. policy right now, but the MEK’s extensive network of bought-and-paid-for cheerleaders in both parties means that their baleful influence will continue to be felt in our Iran policy debates for years to come. MEK shills have already demonstrated that they have no shame if they’re willing to endorse a group like this in public, but it is important to keep explaining why their support for this group is so damning. This is a group that has American blood on its hands, and it routinely abuses its own members. It is an oppressive and fanatical organization, and it would be a nightmare if it ever managed to gain power over a larger population. There is a reason it has sometimes been likened to the Khmer Rouge.

by Daniel Larison, The Antiwar

October 30, 2021 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

MEK – From Fanatical Terrorists to Fanatical Followers

Experts and informed observers will be aware that over the past few months the MEK has been absent in public discourse regarding Iran. For a group which touts itself as the main opposition, this is nothing short of disaster. After being expelled from France three years ago and setting up her headquarters in Albania, Maryam Rajavi has worked hard to keep the MEK relevant. This meant continuing with the annual rallies in which paid speakers speak to rent-a-crowd audiences. Even though due to the COVID-19 crisis, even these events have been severely curtailed and forced online. It also meant accepting a new role for the MEK members in Albania. But, aside from the MEK slave members tapping and clicking into cyberspace, the MEK has been unable to make any breakthrough in the new political landscape concerning Iran.

The new president in America, Joe Biden, himself dithered and eventually failed to re-join the JCPOA and lift sanctions, in the process losing a key policy win. However, Iran also has a new president, Ebrahim Raisi, whose first foreign policy announcements defined Iran as looking toward its neighbours and beyond that, looking East. Usually, the MEK would slip itself between the two enemies. This time, Iran has turned its back and the MEK have simply fallen into the gulf and into obscurity. Much to the dismay of anti-Iran pundits, Iran’s newly appointed foreign minister, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, met with many countries during the UN General Assembly – including the UK’s Liz Truss. The MEK were not able to stage any protest at the event.

In the past weeks, Maryam Rajavi has also failed to take any position about Iran, which for various reasons, political, social and economic has been in the news: Iran became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization; the US agreed to withdraw combat troops from Iraq (something Iran’s leaders vowed to make happen after the illegal killing of general Soleimani, deputy commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and eight others); Iran’s naval commander highlighted the navy’s various successes; Iranian fuel successfully arrived in Lebanon to ease shortages there; Ali Landi, a 15-year-old boy who heroically rescued two women from a fire, died of severe burns; Iran’s women’s football team qualified for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup; Iran’s volleyball team beat Japan to win the 21st Asian Volleyball Championship. Maryam Rajavi and the MEK maintained complete silence over all this news, pretending none of it happened at all. Not even a word of criticism or scorn. Nothing. Just sliding rapidly into irrelevance.

Instead, the MEK personnel are being utilised behind the scenes. MEK members are being lined up to give witness testimony in a politicised court case in Sweden. The unstated aim of the trial is to dredge up events that took place three decades previously at the end of the Iran Iraq war in which political prisoners in Iran were executed. The defendant is accused of involvement in unlawful killings while Ebrahim Raisi was a judge in the trials. In this way, Raisi will be tarred with the same brush. But although this activity is straight out of the MEK playbook, this time the organisation is not being promoted. Indeed, it appears that efforts are being made to keep the toxic MEK/NCRI brand out of the reporting. Former MEK stooge, Struan Stevenson’s demand that Raisi be arrested does not mention the MEK, referring to one of its members in the UK only by his name. Even the Saudi backed Iran International TV fails to mention the MEK brand.

Clearly, the MEK are no longer needed as a brand either for funding or fronting anti-Iran efforts. To make matters worse, in Albania, Maryam Rajavi is beset by internal dissatisfaction among the members. Whether as a reaction to losing political and monetary support or as a distraction to divert the attention of the member from her failures, she has resorted to one of her husband’s old tricks – shake up the leadership line up.

Rajavi has introduced a profound change to the organisation of the MEK by appointing her own daughter and her niece to leadership roles. According to MEK expert, Massoud Khodabandeh, this effectively spells the end of the Rajavi Dynasty started by her husband Massoud Rajavi in the 1980s and replaces it with the beginnings of the Qajar Dynasty as members of her own family – Qajar-Azodanlu and her former husband, Mehdi Abrishamchi – are positioned to take control of the cult.

Significantly, several of the family and loyal aides recently promoted to lead the MEK, are French citizens. Unlike Rajavi herself, they will be able to move to Paris and restore the headquarters there. While there is no indication that the MEK will be able to resurrect its role as provocateur and mercenary force against Iran from Auvers-sur-Oise, it would surely be easier to take control of the vast personal wealth Rajavi has inherited from her husband through this change in personnel and location.

As the MEK appears destined to slide further into irrelevance and obscurity, we must ask what will become of the rank and file members languishing in Albania without hope or help. It cannot be that they continue to be exploited as modern slaves, without recourse to health or family. Hopefully, as the MEK’s role diminishes they will become more burdensome. In time, hopefully a short time, they may be dropped entirely and pushed out into the wider community. As for the leadership cadre, there is precedent for violent, destructive cults to fade into social cults. The Ismailis, who began with the Al Sabbah cult of assassins and are currently led by the Aga Khan, are a case in point. In time, the MEK will evolve from fanatical terrorists to fanatical followers. Followers without a struggle.

October 16, 2021 0 comment

Newer Posts

Older Posts