Page 152 – Nejat Society

Sanctions imposed on US officials affiliated with the MEK

Iran slapped sanctions on outgoing US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo along with several current and former members of the outgoing administration for their role in terrorist and inhumane actions against the Islamic Republic and Iranian citizens.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry “added a number of American individuals to its sanctions list for committing terrorist crimes, promoting and supporting terrorism, which is a serious threat to regional and international peace and security, and for violating basic rules and fundamental principles of international law, including human rights,” Saeed Khatibzadeh, the ministry’s spokesman, said on Tuesday.

He said Iran’s measure was taken under a law titled “Countering America’s Human Rights Violation and Adventurous and Terrorist Actions” passed by the Iranian Parliament in 2017.

He said the sanctioned officials include Trump, Pompeo, former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin, CIA Director Gina Haspel, former national security adviser John Bolton, former US envoy for Iran Brian Hook and his successor Elliot Abrams, and chief of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Andera Gacki.

The spokesperson added that Iran placed sanctions on the US officials for their involvement in the assassination of top Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani and his companions in Iraq in January 2020, management of and support for acts of terror against the Islamic Republic, and creating, financing and training terrorist groups and providing them with weapons.

US advicated of MEK Terrorists

He said the US officials have been blacklisted for their full support for the Israeli regime’s acts of aggression against the Palestinian people, particularly the regime’s terrorist move to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientist, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh.

They have also been targeted for imposing cruel, illegal and unilateral sanctions on Iran and acting deliberately to create”specific living conditions for Iranians”by blocking their access to food, medicine, medical services and equipment, the official said.

The US officials have, furthermore, supported suppressive regimes in the region and their crimes against humanity and war crimes in Yemen, maintained active and full connection with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group and provided it with political and cultural support, paving the way for several terrorist measures against the interests of the Iranian government and nation, Khatibzadeh added.

Based on principles of international law, imposing unilateral sanctions and unilateral bullying measures are either a clear violation of the fundamental principles of the international law mentioned in the United Nations Charter or run counter to humanitarian international law, which would prevent the materialization of human rights, he added.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran reserves its right to adopt the necessary strategies to counter America’s international criminal acts in all fields,” the Iranian spokesman said.

He said Iran’s Foreign Ministry would issue a detailed statement about these American officials’ crimes as soon as possible.

In April 2019, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) slammed the US government as “supporter of terrorism,” designating American forces in West Asia, known as the United States Central Command (CENTCOM), as a “terrorist organization.”

The top Iranian security council said the designation came as a “reciprocal measure” against Trump’s “illegal and unwise” move to blacklist Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization.

January 24, 2021 0 comments

Albania

The latest deaths the MEK faces in Albania

Dr. Olsi Jazexhi discusses with Gjergji Thanasi the latest Covid19 deaths that the Mojahedeens, #MaryamRajavi cult – friends of #RudyGiuliani are facing in Albania. MEK is flooded with deaths but these deaths are not recorded or transmitted by Albanian authorities. MEK is burying their dead in villages of Tirana, Durres, probably inside their camp and now they are trying to set a new graveyard in the town of Manza, in Durres.

to download the video file click here

However their new graveyard has sent the inhabitants of Manza to protest the illegal graveyard. They want MEK to bury their dead inside their paramilitary camp. On January 14 the inhabitants of Manza protested publicly the land grab by MEK. Many Albanian media transmitted the protest. However, two days later media and televisions like Ora News, DurresiLajm, Syri.net, were forced to delete their videos and news. The Mojahedens, #FreeIran gang which pretend to bring democracy to #Iran are supporting censorship and authocracy in Albania. They are colliding with the Albanian government which helps them to:

1. Have no check on mojahedeens who die,

2. Hide their dead,

3. Bury their dead illegally,

4. Blackmail Albanian journalists who report their illegal activities,

5. Use quisling Albanian media to attack Albanian citizens as agents of Iran when they protest against land grab and illegal activities that MEK does in Albania.

The discussion of MEK’s attack against freedom of media and democracy in Albania is compared with the censorship that Big Tech is doing against #RudyGiuliani and #Trump in the United States. Olsi appeals to Rudy Giuliani to teach his good jihadi friend Maryam Rajavi to learn what democracy and human rights are. Rudy who complains about tech censorship in the United States must first ask his jihadi friends in Albania to not censor the Albanian media and not blackmail Albanian journalists.

An appeal goes to organizations like Reporters without Borders @RSF_inter who while they condemn China, Russia etc and their threats against journalists, they should do the same against the mojahedeens and their blackmails against media in #EdiRama’s #Albania.

Dr. Olsi Jazexhi and Gerjgji Thanasi, YouTube

January 23, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

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.

Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh,

January 23, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mujahedin-e-Khalq After Trump

Among the many indicators of misdirection in the Trump administration’s policy toward Iran, one of the clearest was the fondness for the cult-cum-terrorist group known as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq or MKO.

For years, the group was designated a terrorist organization by the US State Department. But after an aggressive and well-funded lobbying campaign supported by a bipartisan cast of high-profile former public officials, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced in September 2012 that the group would be removed from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

However, in the State Department’s briefing on delisting of the MKO, a senior State Department official asserts that the Department does not overlook or forget the MKO’s past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992. He also pointed out that the Department has “serious concerns” about the MKO as an organization, particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its own members.

The MKO’s worrisome track record has not deterred prominent Americans from endorsing the organization. In the months preceding the State Department’s decision to delist the MKO, dozens of well-known advocates—primarily but not exclusively conservatives—lobbied on behalf of the group. Vocal supporters included former CIA directors R. James Woolsey Jr. and Porter Goss, former FBI director Louis J. Freeh, as well as Tom Ridge and Michael Mukasey, both cabinet secretaries in George W. Bush’s administration. Other proponents included former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and the late Senator John McCain.

Ties to the Trump administration

The MKO’s close ties to high-profile figures were clear after the election of Donald Trump in November 2016. The group saw Trump’s election as an opportunity to significantly influence US policy toward Iran.

On January 9, 2017, just days before Trump took office, a bipartisan group of 20 former US officials published a letter to Trump urging him to open a strategic dialog with the MKO. They reprinted a letter they published in 2015, calling much more firmly for a US-MKO strategic relationship.

In the following, we will take a look at the positions of several people close to Donald Trump who are among the supporters of the MKO in the United States.

John Bolton

John Bolton was Donald Trump’s third national security adviser. During the 2016 election campaign, Bolton broke with neoconservative pundits like Robert Kagan and Bill Kristol in praising Donald Trump’s foreign policy.

There have been quite a few former officials, politicians, and retired military officers that have been cheerleading for the MKO over the last few years, but Bolton was one of their oldest and most consistent American supporters. “Bolton probably sees the MKO as a fellow traveler in the drive for regime change in Iran,” said Cliff Kupchan, chairman and Iran expert at Eurasia Group.

According to The Christian Science Monitor, Bolton along with Patrick Kennedy, Rudy Giuliani, and Michael Steele have all received handsome speaking fees in the past from MKO-affiliated organizations. They were among a gaggle of former US officials, who lobbied the US hard in recent years to take the MKO off the State Department terrorist list. MKO expert Joanne Stocker asserts that the MKO likely paid Bolton at least $180k in “speaker fees,” making him more a lobbyist than a statesman.
Iran hawk Bolton admits receiving ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ from MKO
Iran hawk Bolton admits receiving ‘tens of thousands of dollars’ from MKO
Former US national security advisor John Bolton has admitted to receiving tens of thousands of dollars from the anti-Iran terrorist cult of Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO).

Rudy Giuliani

The former mayor of New York City was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, backing up his radical talking points, like the claim that President Barack Obama “founded ISIS.”

Giuliani was believed to be a likely pick for secretary of state in the Trump administration. However, on December 9, 2016, Trump announced that Giuliani had removed his name from consideration for any Cabinet post. On January 12, 2017, President-elect Trump named Giuliani his informal cybersecurity adviser.

For years, Giuliani has been one of the most prominent American officials to advocate on behalf of the MKO. The group has paid Giuliani handsomely for years—$20,000 or more, and possibly a lot more—for brief appearances before the group and for lobbying to have it removed from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), which occurred in 2012. A Treasury Department investigation in 2012 examined whether speaking fees paid by several MKO front groups to a long list of US politicians, including Giuliani, violated laws on Americans receiving money from designated terrorist organizations.

Newt Gingrich

The former speaker of the US House of Representatives and unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate was widely considered to be a potential running mate for Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, for which he reportedly actively lobbied the real estate mogul.

Gingrich supported Trump more quickly than many other establishment Republicans. After having consulted for Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign, Gingrich encouraged his fellow Republicans to unify behind Trump, who had by then become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Gingrich reportedly figured among Trump’s final three choices to be his running mate; the position ultimately went to Governor of Indiana Mike Pence. Following Trump’s victory in the presidential election, speculation arose concerning Gingrich as a possible secretary of state, or chief of staff, or advisor. Eventually, Gingrich announced that he would not be serving in the cabinet.

Gingrich has been especially enthusiastic about the MKO over the years, describing it as the vanguard of “a massive worldwide movement for liberty in Iran.” In 2017, Gingrich showed up along with former Democratic senator and former vice president nominee Joe Lieberman at a conference in Paris to laud the MKO. After speaking at another conference organized by the MKO, Gingrich said of them, the group “is clearly the largest resistance organization and deserves respect.”

Elaine Chao

The Donald Trump secretary of transportation spoke before an MKO conference in 2015 in Paris. She also had a seat next to Maryam Rajavi, the “president-elect” of the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MKO. She also received a $50,000 honorarium from the MKO-associated Alliance for Public Awareness, according to a report she filed with the US Office of Government Ethics. Chao received another $17,500 honorarium for a March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Association of Missouri, which MKO opponents also link to the group.

The Department of Transportation said in a statement that Chao has a “strong record of speaking out in support of democracy and women’s rights in the Middle East,” but “has not spoken to MKO events.”

Michele Bachmann

The former member of Congress from Minnesota and founder of the House Tea Party Caucus was a vocal supporter of Donald Trump. In an interview with SiriusXM Progress, Bachmann, who serves on Donald Trump’s evangelical advisory board, described Trump as a “committed believer” of Jesus Christ and a “man of faith” who has “asked God for help and wisdom.”

Bachmann is a major supporter of the MKO. On November 17, 2010, she appeared at a press conference at a Freedom Watch symposium aimed at promoting regime change in Iran through military intervention and direct US support for the MKO. At the event, Bachmann voiced her support for the MKO, asking that they be removed from the US State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Jo Lieberman

Following his retirement from the Senate in 2013, Lieberman became senior counsel at Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman, a law firm in New York City whose notable clients include Donald Trump. In early 2017, Lieberman introduced President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos to the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension committee. On May 17, 2017, Lieberman was interviewed by President Donald Trump for the position of FBI Director, to replace recently fired James Comey.

On January 9, 2017, in a letter to Trump, the former Sen. Joe Lieberman along with other former officeholders, including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, and retired Army Gen. Hugh Shelton, wrote a letter to the incoming president and urged him to work with the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran. In December 2016, Lieberman also appeared at an event at the Capitol Hill organized by the MKO. At the event, Lieberman said the goal of increased pressure on Iran would be to elicit concessions from Iran by causing them to “begin to wonder about the survival of the regime.”

John Ashcroft

The former US attorney general endorsed Trump in September 2017, saying that he offers a new hope for the American people.

Ashcroft was a passionate supporter of the MKO when he was in the Senate. In December 1999, the US Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) agents arrested Mahnaz Samadi, a leading spokeswoman for the MKO, at the Canadian border. Hearing about the case from his constituents, the then Missouri Senator comes to the rescue and writes a letter on May 10, 2000 to Attorney General Janet Reno opposing Samadi’s arrest. In his letter, he calls her a “highly regarded human-rights activist.”

Ken Blackwell

The former mayor of Cincinnati and the Ohio State Treasurer and Secretary of State led appointment selections for positions involving domestic issues during the presidential transition of Donald Trump. He has defended his work on Trump’s Election Integrity Commission, and described Trump as “a transactional person.”

While describing the MKO as “The main Iranian opposition group,” “representatives of a moderate interpretation of Islam,” Blackwell has called the group’s ringleader “a devout and profoundly anti-fundamentalist Muslim woman leader.” Attending the annual rally of the MKO in Paris, Ken Blackwell tweeted a photo of himself and Gingrich at the gathering on July 9, 2016.

Clare Lopez

During the 2016 election campaign race and after Donald Trump won the GOP nomination, the right-wing conspiracy theorist Clare Lopez backed some of his misleading campaign claims, like that the United States paid a ransom to Iran for the release of US citizens. Since Trump’s election, transition team insiders had reported that Lopez was in consideration for deputy national security advisor in the Trump White House. Since Trump took office, Lopez proved a reliable ally.

Clare Lopez is a tough supporter of the MKO and has described this terrorist group as “the largest, the oldest, the best organized, the most dedicated of Iranian democratic opposition,” admitting that she already had participated in their annual rallies in Paris. In 2011, when the group was still in the US Department of State’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, she explicitly announced that the department must immediately remove it from the list. She also rejects reports from Official US agencies regarding the violent history of the MKO, including the assassination of several US military personnel and civilians in the 1970s.

Tom Cotton

This junior United States senator supported Trump during the 2016 presidential contest. He was mentioned as a possible candidate for secretary of defense in the Trump administration. Cotton frequently met with Trump’s staff during the transition period, and, according to Steve Bannon, he suggested John F. Kelly for the role of secretary of homeland security. In December of 2018, Politico reported that Cotton is a potential choice to replace Jim Mattis as US Secretary of Defense after Mattis announced his resignation for January 1, 2019.

In a Senate meeting room on May 6, 2015, Cotton joined a panel hosted by the so-called Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC), a front group for the MKO. According to the Lobe Log’s Eli Clifton, Cotton and the MKO share a common agenda when it comes to the nuclear negotiations with Iran. “Neither Cotton nor the MKO, in other words, thinks there should be any negotiations with the Iranian government.” Clifton wrote.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry says the US and Europe, as supporters of the MKO terrorist group, have the blood of Iranians on their hands.

Lee Zeldin

This member of Congress representing New York’s 1st district endorsed Donald Trump as the Republican presidential nominee On May 3, 2016. In 2017, Zeldin supported Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, saying it offered the FBI a chance at a “fresh start” to rebuild trust.

In a testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s panel on Terrorism, Nonproliferation and Trade on April 29th 2015, the MKO ringleader Maryam Rajavi told lawmakers about regime change in Tehran. The hearing drew a crowd of MKO supporters, including Rep. Judy Chu, and Sheila Jackson Lee, who were not on the committee but stopped by to praise Rajavi. During the hearing, Freshman Rep. Lee Zeldin, left little doubt that he believed in MKO. “Because there are individuals like you, who are willing to rise up and take control of your country’s future,” he told Rajavi.

Walid Phares

Walid Phares is a right-wing conspiracy theorist and university professor who has worked for the Republican presidential campaigns of Mitt Romney in 2012 and Donald Trump in 2016. He worked as an advisor to presidential candidate Donald Trump and he was paid $13,000 per month by the campaign.

Phares has called the MKO as “the main Iranian opposition movement” and praised its role in the 2017–2018 violent riots in Iran. The Justice Department documents show that Phares met with the MKO on two separate occasions after Trump’s electoral victory in November 2016.

Lindsey Graham

This senator from South Carolina was an outspoken critic of fellow Republican Donald Trump’s 2016 candidacy and repeatedly declared he did not support Trump. After a March 2017 meeting with Trump, Graham became a staunch ally of the president, often issuing public statements in his defense. His ambiguity concerning Trump has brought scrutiny from both the right and left. Graham is also an ardent supporter of Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton. Lindsey Graham is a supporter of the MKO and have appeared regularly at the group’s events.

Now, Trump’s defeat in the presidential election is causing the circle of lobbyists and supporters of terrorism to collapse. Extremists in the Middle East, such as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Mohammed bin Salman took advantage of Trump’s presidency to beat the drums for war more vigorously while diminishing opportunities for dialog and a world free of violence.

Trump’s defeat and the Capitol riots were not simply the failure of one candidate. They indicated the defeat of Trumpism. This bellicose and anti-peace ideology must not influence future developments around the world. Trump’s circle of friends and supporters are a threat to democracy, world peace and security. This anti-peace circle with its destructive ideology has no place in the post-Trump world.

By Reza Alghurabi

Reza Alghurabi is an Arab journalist who lives in Iran. He is a former researcher at the Beirut Center for Middle East Studies and an independent researcher and journalist writing in Iranian newspapers including the Khorasan daily.

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV.)

January 23, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Complaint of Mr. Haj Sakhid Saeedfar to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances

Mr. Haj Sakhid Saeedfar, whose brother Haj Seyyed Saeedfar is a prisoner of war trapped in the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) camp in Albania, has sent a complaint to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances, with sufficient explanations about his brother’s condition and demanded an immediate investigation into his condition as well as a arranging a meeting with him.

Haj Sakhid Saeedfar

The script of Mr. Saeedfar’s complaint is as follows
Work Group of Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID)
United Nations Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED)
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

Greetings and Regards
I am Haj Sakhid Saeedfar, a resident of Bandar-e-Turkman, Golestan Province, in the northernmost point of Iran. My brother, Haj Seyyed Saeedfar, was captured by Saddam Hussein’s forces more than 35 years ago during the Iran-Iraq war, and then forcibly transferred to the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) camp in Iraq by the deception and pressure of the MEK leaders.

Saedfar Seyyed

After the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, I went to Iraq several times to find my brother, along with other families whose loved ones had been captured by the leaders of the MEK, but unfortunately the leaders of the organization prevented us against all international rules and regulations. They did not allow us to meet our loved ones in that camp.

Later, I found out that in 2015, the MEK, together with all its members, went to Albania. So I corresponded with the government of that country, but no attention was paid to my humane requests to contact my brother.

Now, with the outbreak of Covid-19 disease all over the world, especially in Albania and the MEK camp, where at least 17 of them have died in less than a month, I and all my family members are worried about my brother.

We urge the committee in charge to immediately take care of the physical and mental condition of my brother Haj Seyyed Saeedfar in the MEK camp in Albania, and we also want to contact him, who has disappeared involuntarily.

Thanks a lot
Haj Sakhid Saeedfar, Haj Seyyed Saeedfar’s brother captive in the MEK camp in Albania
Bandar-e-Turkman – Golestan – Iran

January 20, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Letter from Mr. Ali Akbar Gholami Khairabadi to WHO

Mr. Ali Akbar Gholami Khairabadi, the brother of Gholamreza Gholami Khairabadi, who is being held in the MEK camp in Albania, wrote a letter to the World Health Organization in that country, expressing concern about his brother’s health and calling for an investigation.

Ali Akbar Gholami Khairabadi

The text of the letter is as follows:

Representative of the World Health Organization in Albania

Greetings and best regards

I am Ali Akbar Gholami Khairabadi, brother of Gholamreza Gholami Khairabadi.

My brother is currently stationed in the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) camp in Albania. He was captured many years ago in the Iraq-Iran war, and we later learned that he had been transferred to Camp Ashraf by MEK forces.

We have not met him in all these years, we have not even heard his voice and we have not received a letter from him. This is the ultimate wish of everyone to communicate with his brother and be informed of his condition.

You must know that even in the most horrible prisons in the world, regarding the most dangerous prisoners, families are allowed to communicate with the prisoner. But we are deprived of this minimum possibility.

Who can help us, the deprived families? To which international body should we take our complaint to support us?

Most importantly, it is possible that my brother in the MEK camp in Albania has contracted the disease caused by the Covid-19 virus and so he is in a difficult situation. The health facilities inside the camp are not good, and this disease has caused many casualties in the camp so far. Worst of all, the camp environment is completely closed and they have a group life. The individuals are not allowed to communicate with their families, and the Albanian government does not grant visas to Iranians to come and apply for assistance.

I desperately urge you not to neglect any possible action in order to alleviate the worries of me and my family, so that news of my brother will reach us and we will be able to communicate.

Please understand the feelings of me and my family and do not hesitate to pursue this issue.

Thanks and best regards

Ali Akbar Gholami Khairabadi

Torbat Jam – Khorasan Razavi – Iran

Copy to:

Office of the Prime Minister of Albania

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights

January 20, 2021 0 comments

Albania

MEK leaders regard the dead as commodities to be exploited

Albanians shocked at MEK disregard for their deadAs the number of deaths in the MEK camp at Manez in Albania due to COVID-19 continues to rise, the MEK have appropriated a section of the local cemetery to bury their dead.

Albanian protesters

This week, residents of the town protested that a piece of land which had already been designated for expansion of the cemetery for their community had been sold to the MEK. The cemetery in Manez is already close to capacity so this piece of land was of vital importance to the residents. Residents protested that they are already forced to bury two family members in one grave due to lack of space. This is not fair or dignified.

Residents point out that there is land available to the MEK for burials near their camp and that locals are willing to sell that land to them. There is no justification for using land dedicated for expanding the town cemetery. This total disregard for the rights, feelings and needs of others is a horrible characteristic of the MEK.

In Iraq, the MEK graveyard was a tragic mess. When investigators opened graves to locate lost relatives, they found graves where the interned body did not match the name of the headstone, some graves were empty, some graves had a single named headstone but contained two or three bodies. In Paris, a MEK member stole flowers from a local cemetery to adorn Maryam Rajavi’s camp. It should come as no surprise to those familiar with the MEK. The cult leaders regard the dead as commodities to be exploited.

After arriving in Albania, the MEK used the cemetery in Tirana for some members. But after building their extrajudicial, extraterritorial camp in Manez, the MEK buried one of their dead in the local cemetery without permission. The residents were outraged, pointing out that they barely had enough space to bury their own families. They were angered that a foreign group could do this. The MEK was made to exhume the body and intern it elsewhere. Residents complain that recent burials have caused disruption as the MEK block roads for hours for their processions, disregarding local needs and rights.

The MEK response to such sensitive issues has always been to lie and obfuscate, ultimately blaming the innocent victims of their crimes and misdemeanours. In this recent case, the MEK accused the residents – whom they condescendingly referred to as ‘peasants’ – of being organised by “elements working for the Iranian regime”.

MEK issued a press release saying, ‘This is a false accusation, and this small rally was provoked and organized by some elements working for the Iranian regime’. Surely the residents of Manez would be amazed and angered by claims that they are a “security threat” to the MEK members there. The fact is, the MEK poses a severe security and health threat to the residents themselves.

This kind of gas lighting and misdirection practiced by the MEK is not new. It is their modus operandi; to deflect investigation, criticism, and prosecution. But this reaction over such a sensitive issue as a cemetery only shows there is no bottom to the depths the MEK will go.

January 18, 2021 0 comments

Albania

Protest against MEK in Albanian city, Manza

A number of residents of the city of Manza in the Albanian province of Durres went out to protest against the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran who use this city as their camp called Ashraf 3, which is witnessing an outbreak of the Coronavirus.

Albanian protesters

Albanian news sites reported, Thursday, that”residents of the city of Manza went out today in a protest in the city against the existence of the MEK because of the organization’s occupation of the public cemetery.”

The protesters demanded, according to what was reported by the Ashraf News correspondent, the Albanian authorities to stop the violations of the MEK’s leadership and its exploitation of the public

One of the protesters said in an interview with Ashraf News,”This space (the cemetery) should be available only to the indigenous people and not to those who came from Iran.”

In a related context, and as usual, the MEK claimed that”the protests that took place in the city of Manza against it were small and that they were instigated by members working for the Iranian regime.”

The organization claimed, through one of its leaders, that”the coexistence between the MEK members and the residents of Manza is very friendly, but certain people in the village are being abused by the Iranian regime,”considering the protest stand as a security threat to the MEK members.

Albanian media sources informed the correspondent of Ashraf News in Tirana, that the leadership of the MEK exerted pressure on the”Aura News”channel to delete the news of protests against it in the city of Manza.

The sources associated with Aura News said,”The MEK managed through exerting heavy pressure to delete the news regarding the issue of the cemetery in the Albanian city of Manza,”adding that”the channel bowed to the leadership of the MEK and removed the news from its official website.”

January 16, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Anti-Iran Terrorist Group Mojahedin-e Khalq’s Ties to Iraqi Army in 1980s

Below is an interview with Mr. Yaghout Meraji, a former member of the anti-Iran terrorist group the Mojahedin-e Khalq MEK, conducted November 24 and 25, 2020.

***

Robert Fantina: The participation of the MEK in the joint operation with Saddam Hussein has been one of the most controversial disputes between the Mojahedin-e Khalq and their opponents. You claim that you participated in 1988 the Mojahedin-e Khalq military operation from France. Can you explain the facts of this war?

Yaghout Meraji: Our main reason of presence in Iraq was the total collaboration with Saddam’s army against Iran during the war between the two neighbor countries.

Each MEK military action was completely dependent on the Iraqi army, including all authorization. Unfortunately, we betrayed our country by participating with the Iraqi army in the war against the Iranian regime and it’s an unforgivable sin forever.

RF: The opponents of the Mojahedin claim that there are many strict requirements regarding the separation of men and women, brainwashing, etc. Is this true? What information do you have in this regard?

YM: When you are an MEK member you don’t have any right to think of anything else; just the two leaders. Every other thought is strictly not allowed. You must obey as they order to do.

In fact, I can consider the MEK as a brainwashing factory.

RF: Do the security forces of the Mojahedin Khalq control the members and their behavior?

YM: I think have answered this in previous question; however, they control all.

RF: Some opponents of the Mojahedin Khalq claim that its leaders are violently opposed to other groups opposed to the Iranian government, especially the monarchists. Can you discuss this?

YM: Yes, it’s true. In each big general meeting, Mr. Rajavi used to start his speech by attacking the other opponents for saying that MEK is a unique alternative to the Iranian regime; he couldn’t ever support the other opposition groups.

RF: You say that you were present at the Zaerian residence. Do you know Mr. Amir Saadouni, who is currently participating in the vandalism case in Villepinte? Who was in charge of him and what were the duties and missions assigned to Saadouni by the Mojahedin Khalq Organization?

YM: Yes, I’ve seen Mr. Saadouni two or three times in Zaerian, when MEK needed help; generally, several people came from different European countries and Amir Saadouni was one them. His stay lasted one or two weeks. He was in charge of driving and transporting the food and any other foodstuffs to different residences of MEK. He has a very good relationship with the official members, such as Mr Abrishamchi etc.

RF: Which of the officials and cadres of the Mojahedin Khalq have you been in contact with and what have been your main duties and responsibilities in this group?

YM: The official cadre who was directly in contact with me was Mohsen Jarari (Issa) and in Zaerian Hossein Pourheidari.
US Officials Speak at Iran Regime Change Conference

My duty was mainly that of a translator.

RF: Were you involved in the financial transactions of the Mojahedin Khalq in France? How much money were transferred to the accounts related to the group?

YM: This question is very difficult to respond to, but in Zaerian I saw two financial transfers two times monthly from England.

RF: Maryam Rajavi and some of the group’s cadres have gone to Albania from France for nearly two years and have not returned to France. What is the reason for this non-return?

YM: After widespread transfer of the MEK from Iraq to Albania, all members of the group were living downtown with the population. In this case the new lifestyle has changed the vision of a large number of the MEK members and this action caused them to separate from and abandon the MEK. This situation was seriously hard, for which Maryam Rajavi understood that if she doesn’t move to Albania immediately, MEK will be finished.

This program was very interesting for the French government and it was the wish of the French government that the MEK leave France definitely without any eventual return.

RF: Have you ever been with the group’s delegations to the European Parliament? How are these programs coordinated, and what were the goals of the group during these meetings?

YM: Yes, each opportunity to speak with European countries is important just for showing that MEK and its political branch, NCRI, are alive. The MEK foreign relationship organized the meeting with EU and into two groups, one to support Mrs Maryam Rajavi; this group was present in the meeting room just to applaud her speech, and another group outside of EU parliament for lunch and slogans. Ultimately, it was useless as usual.

RF: Are the contents presented by the supporters of the Mojahedin Khalq on Twitter, Facebook, etc., based on personal analysis and political views of the members of the Mojahedin Khalq, or do the group officials order the posting of these articles by their supporters?

YM: When you are a member of a cult you don’t have any one to talk you out of the MEK goals so you become like a robot and have to execute everything they demand. This is exactly the same situation for the supporters who are very active in the social media.

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RF: Did the Mojahedin-e Khalq also commit fraud against the French government and the French people? What were the details of these actions?

YM: Unfortunately yes, specially the members of NCRI. Those who received the wages monthly in cash didn’t report to the tax authorities. That is the same situation for the foreign workers.

RF: As you know, the Mojahedin massacred more than 12,000 Iranians since the 1990s, and then assassinated people like Sayad Shirazi, nuclear scientists, etc. in Iran; however, the group was removed from the European and American terrorist lists. What do you think was the reason for these removals?

YM: Yes you’re right, it’s a political game to put them on terrorist list for pressing Iranian regime to come to the negotiation table and remove MEK from the same list trying to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

RF: Until a few years ago, the organization had more than 500 members at its headquarters in France, and if we assume that it spends € 500 per month per member, more than € 250,000 would be the monthly cost of the headquarters of Auvers-sur-Oise. Were the incomes of the organization enough for these costs and were taxes paid to the French government?

YM: MEK had obtained sufficient financial means from Saddam during the time he was in power. Because of that abundant financial aid, the MEK is able to continue. In 2003, French security forces during a search discovered more than € 8 million cash in their office.

RF: Do you have any information about the arrest of Mrs. Rajavi by the French police on charges of money laundering in France?

YM: Early in the morning, MEK members called me to tell the news about this and asked to go to the front of security French forces office in 15th district near the Eiffel tower. A few minutes after gathering in this place, I saw a man burning in the flames.

RF: According to the US State Department in 2011, the MEK has no social base inside Iran, but abroad they declare themselves as an alternative to the Iranian government. Is the organization unaware of this or does it just intend to deceive the thoughts of European and American political elites?

YM: That is right. Since 1981 MEK hasn’t had any legitimate prestige in Iran for a simple reason, collaboration with Iraqi invading army. For the Iranian people that is unforgivable forever and for this reason was forced to link its existence to foreign forces.

RF: One of the methods of assassination the organization used was suicide operations, such as the method used in the assassination of Martyr Madani, who was assassinated by a member of the Mojahedin with an explosion. How does the organization convince its members to carry out such operations?

YM: Yes correct, this terrorist action has never existed before, MEK is founder of this kind of terrorism in the world.

RF: Saadouni, a member of the Mojahedin and close to Abrishamchi, was arrested in Belgium for carrying explosives and falsely stated during interrogation that he had received the bomb from an Iranian diplomat. Is this part of the organization’s new suicide operation, established with the intention of damaging the international image of Iran?

YM: As you know, survival of the MEK is absolutely essential in these circumstances, so sacrificing the other members as Saadouni or anyone else is very simple and crucial. And it may be mainly to attract the attention of the media as was done in the beginning of this year regarding the rumor of Maryam Rajavi’s death.

By Yaghout Meraji and Robert Fantina, Global Research,

January 12, 2021 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

MEK and Children – Fatemeh Akbarinasab

Fatemeh (Negar) Akbarinasab was born in 1979. His father Morteza Akbarinasab was a member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI). He took Fatemeh, her mother Khadijeh Niknam and her two brothers Yaser and Musa across Pakistan border and then to the MEK’s headquarters in Iraq.

Fatemeh Akbarinasab

The situation in the group’s Camp Ashsraf in Iraq was stressful for the family but it became worse when the young mother of these three kids was killed in the MEK’s cross border operation against Iran in 1988. “The night before the operation my mom brought us a bag of chocolate,” Fatemeh says about their last visit. “She looked so sad, she kissed us so many times and told us that she would go to Iran and bring us souvenirs.”

The kids were not told about the death of their mother for some time. After the kids kept on asking about their mother, they were told that she was disappeared in the operation. Later, Fatemeh tells an Iraqi newspaper that her mother was shot in the back while she was escaping from the MEK forces towards Iranian border. Apparently, Khadijeh had a plan to leave the group during the operation.

In 1991, during the Gulf war, Fatemeh and her brothers were taken to Germany under the order of Massoud Rajavi. In Germany, They were kept in a team house under the command of Mujahed members. “Fatemeh was a naughty girl so she was under physical and verbal abuse by an aggressive female commander,” her uncle says. “She was frequently jailed by that woman so when she turned 18 she escaped the group camp.” She was legally old enough to manage an independent life in the German community.

She called her family including her uncle in Iran. She also could manage to take her brothers out of the team house to take a trip around the city just for a few times. However, she was shocked when she realized that the MEK had sent her brothers back to Iraq without informing her. She was told that they have gone to Iraq for a six-month training and visiting their father but the boys were actually captured in Camp Ashraf in Iraq for years.
Nine years later, the older brother Yaser was mysteriously killed in Camp Ashraf. The allegations about his death were never made clear. The MEK commanders did not explain whether he set himself on fire or he was shot mistakenly! Eventually, Fatemeh traveled to Iraq to visit Musa and her father Murteza but she was not allowed to meet them freely. She was not even allowed to see the tomb of Yaser.

Fatemeh Akbarinasab

While she was in Iraq she was interviewed by the Iraqi newspaper Alefba, on her visit at Camp Ashraf. “My father was accompanied by a dozen of MEK members and I just had ten minutes to talk to him,” she told Alefba. “They asked me to stay in Camp Ashraf but I did not accept so they, including my father, attacked me.” Since then Fatemeh was labeled as “the Iranian mercenary” by the MEK propaganda.

After the ineffective trip to Iraq, Fatemeh took legal actions to help her younger brother leave the group. Musa was finally able to leave the group and join her sister in Germany. They are both living in Germany right now.

January 12, 2021 0 comments

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