Page 181 – Nejat Society

Western countries revising their decisions on MEK !

In the recent Islamic Consultative Assembly election in Iran, the Fundamentalists took over the parliamentary majority with the majority of the popular vote, and in fact the Reformists lost their popularity among the people; Generally Fundamentalists are more loyal to their red lines and welfare of the people and are always more serious than the reformists in dealing with the US; in Iranian history, whenever the nation has been seriously opposed to the demands of Western countries, it has been Western countries that have turned to Iran and show their kind faces and, on the contrary, when Iran treat them with open arms and welcomed them, they got more greedy and have shown disrespect towards Iran. What has happened in Iran and in the international arena in recent years is that with powering Mr. Rouhani’s government, which is a moderate and negotiating government with western countries, when United States and Western countries see Iran at the negotiating table, they think that this negotiation is out of weakness and with greedy expectations they put Iran on a dangerous path, and as a result, even with Iran’s acceptance of the JCPOA and the fulfilment of its obligations, their demands will not end and practically they break the agreement or they don’t abide to their commitments and demand extra points.
The same thing happened in the military scene and with Iran’s inactivity on the political scene the US mobilizes all the opposition groups such as Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and Monarchists, against Iran and even allow itself to assassinate the high rank Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, but when Iran launches missiles at US bases in Iraq in response to this brutal assassination, and when the United States sees Iran’s anger, Pompeo urges American diplomats to cut ties with MEK and other anti-Iranian groups, and on the other hand, they urge Iran to return to the negotiations.

Let’s take a look at one of the groups supported by the United States, the MEK, a group that was on the US list of terrorist groups until 2012.

This terrorist cult has been rejected by several governments around the world and, primarily it seems to have lost its power due to the high age of its members, who practically can no longer do anything but to create false propaganda against Iran using thousands of fake accounts, something which was revealed a while ago by Intercept news agency’s article about Heshmat Alavi’s fake identity.

As it can be seen in history, the Mojahedin-e Khalq was founded in 1965 with the aim of armed struggle with the Shah’s regime and during its fight, it assassinated 6 American advisers and bombed several US affiliated companies in Tehran. After 1979 Islamic Revolution, MEK who were not elected by the people to the legislative and presidential posts, and so on, began to make tension and assassinations in the new born Islamic Revolution, which some of these include the bombing the office of the Islamic Republic Party that led to assassination of more than 72 members of this Party, and bombing the office of Prime Minister of Iran, which led to assassination of Mohammad Ali Rajaei and Mohammad Javad Bahonar, the president and prime minister of Iran in that time.

They also had no merci to innocent people and for the guilt of being a fan of Islamic Republic, assassinated so many people, that they didn’t even have mercy on women, children and infants. At the outbreak of war between Iran and the Iraqi Ba’ath Party, the cult of MEK joined Saddam in the war against their own country and betrayed its own people by massacring them. People still have painful memories of this group for decades now, and most of Iranian families have usually lost a member of their family in these cowardly assassinations; they always consider the MEK as a terrorists and a traitor and deeply believe that they have no popularity and social place in Iran with assassination of 12000 Iranians.

In 2001, the MEK by spreading rumors that Iran is making nuclear weapons, cased United States to put some sanctions against Iran. They firmly call for a US war on Iran, and there have been many rumors and lies about Iran’s production of weapons of mass destruction in some places, to force the United States into a devastating war with this country, but each time their lies got exposed by the visit of the Atomic Energy Inspector of that place. It is better to say that MEK with producing lies and rumors against Iran are actually playing the same role as Ahmad Chalabi played in the US-Iraq war. It is along this connection that the CNN article “Pompeo orders diplomats not to meet with Iranian opposition groups amid tensions” on January 8, 2020, which is about the disconnection between American politicians and MEK, be justified.

In fact, MEK are influencing on politicians and intends to empowering its political figures in different countries that make that country to act against Iran as it did in the case of Spanish VOX Party, and while they had spent about a million dollars on the group, they were defeated in the last year’s elections and the rival party, the Socialists, won more seats in the Spanish parliament, and according to the El Pais article “Iranian exile financed 80% of the 2014 Vox campaign” on 13 January, 2019, or “El exilio iraní pagó ocho meses los sueldos de Abascal y Espinosa” on 28 January 2020, now they lost their fans in Spain because they have bought some figures to work for them against Iran.

This intervening in the political affairs of different European and American countries is to such an extent that even the European Parliament has limited MEK’s access to this Parliament sections which are active in Iranian issues in accordance with LobeLog article “Nobody Can Be “Comfortable” With Regime Change Involving MEK” on 22 August 2019.

France also for decades has been a safe haven for this terrorist group, according to LobeLoge article “Is France Moving Against The MEK?” on 6th of November 2019, last year France didn’t allow MEK to hold its annual conference on the outskirt of Paris, which led to some doubts on its relations with this country and many critics see the move as the first step to expel this group from French soil, which is considered the cradle of human rights around the world. If France expels MEK in light of the doubts which have been made, they will move completely to Albania, their new home. Where MEK has endangered the sovereignty of the Albanian government in this country.

According to articles published in various news agencies around the world, it seems that this terrorist cult has lost its place among the countries and anti-Iranian organizations of the world, as well as the high age of its members and the lack of practical usage of the group’s capabilities against Iran, it can be concluded that the group is in the way toward inexistency and any time the group’s financial resources is being cut off from the United States and Saudi Arabia, they would be like a brain dead patient who is cut off from the resuscitation system, and for sure they will immediately destroyed and disintegrated. It should be noted that like many who fled from this terrorist cult at the time of the group’s move to Albania, most of the remaining members now want to leave and return to their homeland, but are unable to escape due to the old age and spend the last years of their lives in a nursing home called Camp Ashraf 3.

Alireza Niknam, geopolitica.ru

March 1, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Most of the victims of terror in Iran have been killed by the MEK

The first attempts to provide a definition of terrorist acts go back to the Geneva Convention of 1937 (UN, 1972).

The 1937 Geneva Convention for the first time defined the concept of terrorist acts as follows: “Criminal measures against a state for the purpose of terrorizing individuals and groups or at community level” (Article I, paragraph I, UN, 1972).

In addition to the UN legal mechanisms, it has issued numerous declarations, resolutions and reports on the prohibition and suppression of terrorism.

According to international documents, there are generally three conditions for a behavior to be considered a terrorist:

There would be the possibilities of killing or at least severe bodily harm. In European law, even operations that cause financial loss without risking lives are considered to be terrorist operations.
Made by a person or organization with a design and with coordination and specific purpose.
The purpose is to create terror among individuals, groups, and people of a particular country.

In recent years, however, the favorable and profitable treatment in the subject of terrorism has led public opinion to think that some governments are setting up terrorist groups to wage proxy wars in their own interests or convince and support the already existed terrorist groups for their own interests.

Here are some examples as follow:

In recent days and weeks, the issue of assassination of Haj Qassem Soleimani on Iraqi soil by a foreign government has been the subject of domestic and foreign media debate. Here mentioning some points are important. First, the US government has invaded Iraqi sovereignty and military attacked on an official from another country who had authorized to attend. This is while that after the formal end of the Iraqi occupation in 2008, the United States entered into a security agreement with the Iraqi government entitled “Agreement between the United States of America and the republic of Iraq on the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and organizing their activity during their temporary presence in Iraq” (abbreviated as SOFA). Subject to Article 5, Paragraph 2, of this agreement, the United States shall recognize the sovereignty of Iraq at any time by requesting the United States to withdraw from its territory. But it officially violates this rule and proudly accepts the responsibility for this terrorist act and in fact declares a public war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Also beside Haj Qassem Soleimani, one of the most prominent figures in the fight against terrorism, especially ISIS, was Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes, who was also the deputy chief of Iraq’s Hashdo shaaby forces, testified in the attack. While, both of the mentioned figures and also the organization under their command, the Iraqi Quds fore and the Hashed al-Shaabi are on the list of US terrorist individuals or organizations. The question here is the Hashed al shaabi (all-Hashed al-Shaabi) organization, also known as the Iraqi mobilization, set up in 2014 and by the order of the religious authority to expel ISIS from Iraqi territory (after the capture of Mosul by ISIS) and was recognized in the Iraqi parliament on November 26, 2016 and is currently part of the Iraqi Armed Forces and is under the command of Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, how can be attacked by a foreign country under different pretexts? Isn’t this a violation of the sovereignty of Iraq and a deliberate government terrorism and a favorable and profitable treatment of terrorism?

We go back for a few years.

On September 22, 2018 simultaneous with holding the Iranian Armed Forces parade, on an armed terrorist operation, several parade participants in the city of Ahwaz including several children, were martyred and separatists called al-Ahwazi took the responsibility of it.

The leaders of the terrorist group are based in Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark. Habib Farajullah Cheab, deputy head of the al-Ahwazi terrorist group residing in Sweden, repost the tweet of Habib Jabr (head of the al-Ahwazieh terrorist group) in connection with the September 22 incident in Ahwaz. The message is: “targeting of the Revolutionary Guards in a military parade in Ahwaz by the national resistance of Ahwaz was in the context of self-defense and anti-terrorist militias in international level.”

Also, in April 1, 2018, he published a tweet with video of the attack on the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guards in Ahvaz. “The inscriptions of Najm al-Satte the Ahwazi National Resistance targeted the Revolutionary Guards headquarter in Ahwaz.”

on January 5, 2018, another tweet quoted the group as attacking a garrison in Mahshahr and Shadegan, saying: “the Ahwazi National Resistance has targeted the Javadolaemeh the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps garrison and garrison of Malek Ashtar garrison in the Abudy area of the Shadegan county.”

whilst, under international conventions of the fighting against terrorism, countries are obliged to take effective measures in this regard.

For example, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolution 1373, funds and other financial assets or economic resources of persons who committed a terrorist act or intend to do so, without any delay should be immediately blocked. This applies also to entities that are owned or operated by these entities, and to individuals and institutions that work on behalf of or under the guidance of such persons. Paragraph 2 (c) of the resolution also states: “Governments have no right to provide a secure base for the investment, planning, support or commission of terrorist acts.” It further states in paragraph f that “Governments shall provide assistance with criminal investigations or criminal trial procedures related to investment or support for terrorist acts, including assistance in gathering evidence necessary for the trial.” Paragraph 3 of the same resolution emphasized ensuring that the granting of refugee status is not abused by the members.

Despite the group’s admission of terrorist acts against a country, we still see these people backed by governments that claim to fight terrorism and freely pursue their activities. There is a claim that why a group that officially carries out terrorist operations is supported by some governments and even refuses to cooperate in bringing them to the courts.

But the United States accuse a group which formed for combating ISIS in its homelands and consider as a legal group, as a supporter of terrorism and committing terrorist acts and put it in the list of terrorist groups. Known a person as the hero of the fight against ISIS in the world who exiles ISIS out of the region, who is legally present at the request of Syria and Iraq on the territory of these countries to fight terrorism, as a terrorist and put him in the list of terrorist groups, and finally kills him cowardly.

The terrorist group of MEK is another example that most of the victims of terror in Iran have been killed by this group. This group, which was in the list of European terrorist organizations until 2009 and in the US list of terrorist organizations until 2012, to the testimony of many experts with the heavy costs of lobbying, and for the benefit of the US interests and their use against Iran, it goes out of the list. The group however, has a sectarian approach, with a rich record of terrorist operations and financial corruptions. The assassination of American advisors in Iran, the assassination of more than 12000 Iranians, including Iranian officials, cooperation with Saddam in invading Iran and betraying their own country, the suppression of the Iraqi Kurds, attacking on the Iranian embassies and ambassadors in different countries… all are just part of the crimes of this terrorist cult.

One day the US invades Iranian soil with the excuse of releasing its hostages, and another day it supports the terrorists who murdered innocent Iranians and its military advisers.

The military activities of Western governments, especially the United States in various countries, show that the fight against terrorism is a repeated excuse and a justification for attacking various countries and interfering in the affairs of the rich countries in terms of mineral resources. This dual behavior can be described as “the modern colonization in the new century.

By: Alireza Niknam

February 27, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Is Giuliani ‘comfortable’ with a nation of 81,000,000 people run by terrorists?

The United States Supports the Mujahedeen-e Khalk (MEK) Terrorist Organization

The United States continues to support the Mujahedeen-e Khalk (MEK), despite the fact that that terrorist organization is losing popularity, not that it ever had very much anyway, around the world.

The group remains basically based in Albania, a nation that allowed about 4,000 of its members into the country at the insistence of the U.S. government. As Dr. Olsi Jazexhi has stated, “The Americans imposed them (MEK) on Albania and since Albania is a very fragile state, they had to accept”.

But what of other nations? The MEK’s foothold in Spain was lost when it supported the far-right VOX party. It has been barred from rallying in Germany, and France forbid its annual Villepinte rally. MEK members have lost access to European Union Parliament members.

Even the mighty U.S. has officially cooled its rabid support for the anti-Iran terrorist group. Following the assassination of General Qassam Soleimani by the U.S. in January, the murderous U.S. Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, ordered diplomats at all U.S. missions not to have contact with ‘Iranian opposition groups’.
Regardless of Pompeo’s statement, the group continues to have high-profile U.S. supporters, including former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton, who famously proclaimed in 2017 that the MEK and its minions would be celebrating in the streets of Tehran before the fortieth anniversary of the Iranian Revolution in February 2019. That anniversary, and yet another, came and went without any MEK celebrations anywhere in Iran, let alone in the nation’s capital.

Another famous and infamous U.S. citizen, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, personal attorney to U.S. President Donald Trump, calls the MEK a ‘government in exile’. Apparently, Giuliani has lost the ability to discern truth from falsehood, fantasy from reality; this is not surprising, considering who employs him. All reputable polls of Iranians, in Iran and around the world, do not support his bizarre assumption that Iranians support the MEK; on the contrary, overwhelming evidence indicates that they oppose the MEK’s goals and tactics.

And to call the MEK a ‘government in exile’ is ludicrous. Consisting of a few thousand aging anti-Iran terrorists, and perhaps a limited number of younger recruits, the organization is not seen as a ‘government in exile’ by anyone but the delusional Giuliani.

He also made this amazing statement: the MEK is “…a group that should make us comfortable with regime change.” This statement is incredible in a variety of ways: 1) the U.S. should not be in the business of overthrowing governments (e.g. ‘regime change); 2) who is the ‘us’ that Giuliani says should be comfortable with the MEK as a potential governing body in Iran? Certainly not the Iranians; 3) this is a group that, until 2012, the U.S. designated as a terrorist organization. It is responsible for the deaths of at least 12,000 Iranians. So is Giuliani saying that he would be ‘comfortable’ with a nation of 81,000,000 people run by terrorists? Perhaps so, since he himself works for the head of the largest terrorist organization in the world.

With diminishing support in Europe, and even the U.S. putting the official breaks on contact with the MEK, how does it stay afloat? NBC News reported that it is likely that the MEK id financed by Israeli intelligence.

That would make sense, since Israel, like the U.S., is a brutal, repressive regime, in violation of countless international laws, and forever violating the rights of the Palestinians in the most unspeakable ways. And since the U.S. supports Israel with $4 billion annually, one can be confident that some of that money is finding its way to the MEK.

So with fading support, and funding probably coming from Israel, and thus, at least indirectly, from the U.S., what is the MEK to do? Hapless Albania must continue to house them, against the wishes of Albanians, but their leaders are in a U.S. chokehold, so they don’t have much choice.

The U.S. wants the MEK nearby in case it needs their terrorism for some reason; the U.S. is not averse to having some other country do its dirty work: witness the U.S.-financed Saudi slaughter of Yemenis, as just one example.

And should the Albanian government decide to act as its people want, rather than as the U.S. demands, would the MEK then turn its terrorism on them? Albania has certainly been put between a rock and a hard place by the U.S., which doesn’t care in the least about it or the Albanian people; the whole nation is just a pawn in an international chess game that the U.S. is playing, that no one else is interested in.
The Iranian Revolution, which overthrew the U.S. installed and supported Shah, just celebrated its forty-first anniversary, despite all the efforts of the U.S. to defeat it. One must remember that the democratically-elected government of Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh was overthrown by the U.S. government in 1953, and then the Iranian people had to endure twenty-six years of oppression and torture under the U.S. puppet who did exactly what he was told by the U.S.; his repression of the Iranian people was unimportant to the U.S. government. It is unlikely that such an overthrow, if attempted, would be successful again. So instead of direct overthrow, the U.S. attempts to harm the people through sanctions, expecting them to rise up, overthrow the government, and usher in the MEK to repress the people and do the U.S.’s bidding. This is the fantasy that Giuliani, Bolton, Trump, Pompeo and their cohorts dream about, but as has been mentioned, reality and the Trump Administration barely have a nodding acquaintance with each other.
The government of Iran will continue to strengthen its defenses, as it works to strengthen its economy with products other than oil. The U.S. will continue its bizarre rantings about Iran and terrorism, trying to hide the fact that it, not Iran or any other nation on the planet, is the major sponsor of terrorism around the globe. And the Iranian people will continue to demonstrate the remarkable resiliency that has made their nation great.
*
By Robert Fantina

February 25, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Why did Netherlands approve asylum for a terrorist?

Mohammad-Reza Kolahi was not only a terrorist but an MEK agent who blew up a meeting of 70 top Iranian officials in 1981, killing them all.

[Editor’s Note: Mohammad-Reza Kolahi was not only a terrorist, but a big one. As an MEK agent he had penetrated a meeting of 70 top Iranian officials in 1981. Under the cover as the event production sound man he had literally mined the entire meeting hall with explosives in the speakers the night before.

During the meeting he set the timer and then excused himself to go get some ice cream, and blew everybody up, including the Chief Justice, a decapitation strike on the Iranian revolution.

For his reward Kolahi was spirited away into Holland for a quick asylum by a MEK friendly Western intelligence agency, and lived happily ever after until someone tracked him down and using local thugs sent him on his merry way into the hereafter on December 15th, 2015.

Kolahi - MKO member

From Wikipedia:
Kolahi the bomber, in 1981

In 2018, it was revealed that Kolahi had been living in the Netherlands as a refugee under the false identity of Ali Motamed (Persian: علی معتمد‎) and had been murdered in December 2015.[3] Kolahi was married to an Afghan woman and had a 17-year-old son.[3] He had avoided events organised by his Afghan wife’s family for fear of images of his face emerging on social media.[8]

According to Het Parool, two men suspecting of killing Kolahi were identified as 28-year-old Anouar Aoulad-Buochea and 35-year-old Moreo Menso, “Both suspects have a criminal record and come from the same Bijlmer neighborhood of Amsterdam.” Several sources accused the Iranian government of being behind the assassination.[4]

Kolahi has been joined this past week by a bunch of Idlib jihadis, sent on their way meet Allah by the SAA and its anti-terrorism allies in the battle to rid Syria of Western and Persian Gulf state proxy terrorists. There is much work still left to do … Jim W. Dean ]

The mausoleum built for all the victims of this attack. If you look closely on the floor you can see the raise name stone rows.

– First published … February 23, 2020 –

Association for defending victims of terrorism’s public relation section reported in 17 February that, third session of “legal capacities in access to justice for victims” held in Allame Tabatabei University. University professors and prominent human rights activists, law students and lawyers and some victims’ families were attendances.

ADVT meeting on February 17th

As first speaker, Mr. Jafar Kousha, Professor of law in Beheshti University, said:

“When a crime happens the community waits for a good and appropriate response to it, so, no response can bring negative consequences. We should pay attention to goals, roles and effects of punishments. In this regard, safeguarding values is the base of punishments and security is the most important value in the society. So we must oppose anyone who wants to put in danger the security of society.”

This prominent professor who was delivering about “non-punishment as a cause of spread of crimes” added that: goals of punishments are deterrence and compensation and without consistency between crimes and punishments, we face with negative effects.

He continued: “Our question is that what is the consequences if culprits or someone who put security in danger became unpunished?”

meeting on February 17th

Professor Kousha said about the case of Hafte Tir terrorist incident in 1981 that in Iran, we have not any criminal code for terrorism and this is a major problem.

Professor of law in university of Beheshti asserted on the necessity of having professional structures and judges and said: the obstacles should be lifted. Political calculations and relations hinder judicial processes. Judicial branch is independent.

Our problem is the security and authority of judiciary branch. If we impose suitable punishments on culprits there will be tranquility in victims and society will be in order and anyone who wants to do terrorist crime will be faced by a powerful judicial process and will be deterred from doing so.

meeting on February 17th

Another speaker in this session was Doctor Zamani, professor of Law and Political Sciences in Allame University. He talked about international responsibility of the state of Netherlands. He thanked Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism for its essays to deliver this sort of issues and wished that these actions prevent the victims of Hafte Tir terrorist incident to become forgotten.

Doctor Zamani added: all the victims of Hafte Tir terrorist incident are voiceless. Netherlands has a powerful judiciary system and bringing its state to the court is very tough goal but we should pay attention to two issues:

First, state of Netherlands has approved asylum and residency for Ali Motamed. Is there any international commitment for states to investigate about background of whom been accused of terrorism and disapproving asylum for them?

Do the families of victims, who are present in this session, have the right of pursuing legal process about Hafte Tir terrorist incident in Netherlands’ judiciary authorities? Why the asylum been approved for Ali Motamed? Is there any lawsuit in this regard?

He added: terrorist attacks have public dimension and it is on all states to investigate about it. We want from the state of Netherlands to afford necessary judicial assistance for victims’ families.

Doctor Zamani in other part of his speech said that: commitment of state is commitment for result and not the commitment to mere a try. State of Netherlands should act transparent and committed. Independency of judiciary system should not be a reason for not assigning the judicial procedures to the state as a whole. State is integrated.

meeting on February 17th

He added: after 2001 we saw a wave of change in the approach of states toward asylum seekers and due diligence had been added. It should be announced that how Mohammad Reza Kolahi acquired asylum and why his past was unknown for the state of Netherlands.

At the last part of his speech, Mr. Zamani, professor of international law said: traditional principle is that state must avoid in being a base for terrorists or attacking other states. We don’t know that Mr. Kolahi had acquired citizenship or residency. State of Iran should insist for the truth. All the states have duty to background check for anyone who wants to enter to that country.

Then, Ms. Anicée Van Engeland, a senior lecturer in International Security and Law at Cranfield University, made a video conference. Her topic was France and its measure to enable victims of terrorism in access to justice.

She said, “France has been presented a success model when it comes to enabling victims of terrorism accessing to justice. There is, first of all, a governmental body called the interministerial support unit for victims (CIAV). That body takes care of everything that’s outside the law, which is medical support, psychological support, coverage of medical cost, and access to social benefits. There are also several associations that are there to support the victims of terrorism.”

The professor of Cranfield University said in another part of her speech,

“The rules also state that protection of victims need to be adequately recognized in the criminal proceeding. While in France there is no definition of who is a victim of terrorism, per se there is certainly a position that is adequately recognized in criminal proceedings.

Once the victims of terrorism have filled the complaint and their complaint is being processed, they can have access to the compensation fund for victims of act of terrorism in other offences. They will support them with psychological and physical support.

During that time the prosecutor of Paris will start drafting a list of people who have been the victims. And the victims need to bring evidence that they were actually in the location and they were injured during the terrorist action. It’s extremely important as a lot of people have tried to claim for compensation by being pretending victims.”

Pointing out the long procedure of French courts, she said, “One of the victims had said lodging a complaint is pointless, it just adds one bad thing to another. They kill you once with the offender, and the justice system doesn’t kill you once but a thousand times.” She added that, but we know also some reports of the people who are accessing to justice.

The next speaker was Dr. Fahim Danesh, a university lecturer and researcher of international, law pointed out the existence of international courts in the Netherlands which make the country as a symbol of law and justice. He and stated that, nevertheless, with a thorough and accurate knowledge of the Dutch legal system we can lodge a complaint.

In one part of his speech, he said,

“One of the most important rights of the victims is that they should be recognized. In international instrument it was emphasized that these people are victims and domestic courts are responsible to recognize them. Being a victim can be addressed and reflected psychologically.

A fund has been established at the International Criminal Court for supporting victims. Different states donate a lot of money to this fund and there are plans to normalize the situation of victims.” He added that one of the main demands of the Hafte Tir victims is that they are recognized.

The international law researcher referred the case of Mothers of Srebrenica who sued the Dutch government and they could eventually obtain compensation from the Dutch government although they faced a lot of problems. He continued,

“We are in favor of such judicial system. Following the file case be an opportunity. The Dutch have, in their legal structure, accepted that the families of the victims should be theoretically included. This entry can be called “Amicus Curiae” (Court Friend). On this basis, we can submit our considerations to the court. We just have to show that we are neutral and third party and that we are amicus curiae.

The next speaker of the meeting was Dr. Nargesian, the Assistant Prosecutor of International Affairs of Tehran’s court. He pointed out some of the aspects in the case, such as the absence of a contract between the government of the Netherlands and Iran, as well as passing 38 years of the case made it difficult to address the issue. “The 1951 Convention states that terrorist offenders should not be granted asylum”, he emphasized.

He continued “We have a legal gap in our country, and terrorism has not been criminalized in our criminal law. But the Dutch government must be accountable for granting asylum, and we are ready to hear legal advice from lawyers.

The next speaker at the meeting, Dr. Nejandi Manesh, a professor at Faculty of Law and Political Science of Allameh Tabataba’i University, said in one part of his speech, “We demand the Dutch government the right to know the truth. Why the word “Martyr” is written on the tomb of Ali Motamed?

If the murder was a normal case, why is the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization’s (the Hypocrites) sign is on his tomb? Why the Dutch government has granted asylum to a terrorist? There were cases in which a person seeking asylum was a driver of a forbidden party who has not been granted asylum. Why has Mohammad Reza been granted asylum?

In another part of his speech, Allameh Tabataba’i University Professor said:

“Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization was designated as a terrorist group from 2002 to 2009. Why no measure was taken regarding the case? Removing the group from the terrorist list, must have done with prior consent of the victims. Perhaps the lawsuit against the Hypocrites in Albania will challenge the country’s judiciary, and all of these require the right question and what answer we are looking for.”

Dr. Nezhandi Manesh, spoke about the grief of Mr. Pakenjad, son of the martyr of Hafte Tir and said, “Another right that families have is to find a suitable way to compensation. Perhaps the bitterest moments I met was when Mr. Pakenjad was talking near the grave of his father and uncle’s killer. It was very heartbreaking.

In the end, he expressed his hope that within the legal framework, regardless of political discussions, the issue of litigation of the victims of the Hafte Tir bombing would be brought before the Dutch court and the victims get the desired result.

After discussing the legal issues, the families of the martyrs of Hafte Tir bombing expressed a part of their sufferings which still continue after many years. They urged the legal authorities and the attendees to pursue this issue diligently so that the desired result in the punishment of offenders can be achieved and the truth about the incident is clarified.

In the end of the meeting, Ms. Arjang, M.Sc. Student of International Law at Allameh Tabataba’i University, discussed the role and status of the United Nations in accessing justice for victims of terrorism.

At the same time, the exhibition “Who is Ali Motamed?” was held and welcomed by visitors and students.

According to the media in the Netherlands, two Amsterdam criminals have been jailed for the 2015 murder of an Iranian, Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi, who lived in the Netherlands hiding behind the false name of Ali Motamed.

More background on the attack

June 28, 2017 (Persian calendar 1396/4/7) On 28 June 1981 the Hafte tir bombing occurred killing the chief justice and party secretary Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, four cabinet ministers (Health, transport, telecommunications and energy ministers), twenty-seven members of the Majlis, including Mohammad Montazeri, and several other government officials.

[Ayatollah]Khomeini accused the PMOI to be responsible and, according to BBC journalist Baqer Moin, the Mujahedin were “generally perceived as the culprits” for the bombing in Iran. The Mujahedin never publicly confirmed or denied any responsibility for the deed, but stated the attack was ‘a natural and necessary reaction to the regime’s atrocities.’

The bomber was identified as a young student and Mujahedin operative by the name of Mohammad Reza Kolahi, who had secured a job in the building disguised as a sound engineer. He was never found and no group or person has ever accepted the responsibility or been put on trial for this bombing.

This has led to conspiracy theories by some who claim that the bombing was motivated by an internal power struggle and perpetrated by a faction within the Iranian ruling party. IRP was eventually dissolved because of these polarizations. Another conspiracy theory maintains that only state-backed organizations could ever acquire such a powerful bomb and points the finger at Israel’s Mossad.

Assassinations of “leading officials and active supporters of the regime by the Mujahedin were to continue for the next year or two,” though they failed to overthrow the government. Two months after Hafte tir on August 30, another bomb was detonated killing the President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar.

An active member of the Mujahedin, Massoud Kashmiri, was identified as the perpetrator, and according to reports came close to killing the entire government including Khomeini. The reaction following both bombings was intense with many arrests and executions of Mujahedin and other leftist groups.

To commemorate the event several public places in Iran including major squares in Tehran and other cities are named “Hafte Tir”.

By
Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor – from the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, Iran

February 24, 2020 0 comments

MEK Cult current operation - one of the groups self criticism sessions

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK Members Terrified of Cult Pressure,”First admitted then denied”

Patrick Kingsley was one of the few foreigners who has been recently allowed to enter the headquarters of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MEK, MKO, PMOI, NCRI, the Cult of Rajavi). He is also one of the very few journalists who could manage to walk in the”Highly Secretive”base of the group near Tirana, Albania.

During his report on the tour of newly built town, he was given the opportunity to observe the life of a few thousands Iranians living under the cult-like system of the Rajavis even though the camp’s authorities have tried their best to manipulate his perception of the life inside the system.

The New York Times journalist tries to stay unbiased on what he has heard about the group’s cult-like nature. Seemingly he is not convinced by what he is shown in the group so he tends to complete his observations in the camp with interviewing former members outside the camp. He also does not restrict his investigations to those US army officials that the MEK authorities suggest.

Eventually he finds a lot of controversy between what he was told by the group’s men and what he was told by former members and Captain Matthew Woodside, a former naval reservist who oversaw US policy in the Iraqi camp between 2004 and 2005 and who”was not one of those whom the M.E.K. suggested”that he contacts.

Sharing parts of his new article for the NY Times on tweeter, Kingsley exposes more facts about the life inside the MEK camp in Manez, Albania. He tweets:

Naturally, they all denied most of what was said about the group. They said celibacy, forced divorce and rejection of family life is just a necessary part of overthrowing the Iranian government.
One admitted the self-criticism.
One admitted it, then corrected himself.
The rest denied it

Hope the one member is OK right now. He would be lucky to survive peer pressure for the mistake he has made in front of a foreigner. It is very probable that he would be punished for tarnishing the MEK’s face for a Western journalist.

Patrick Kingsley brings the testimonies of ten former members now live independently in Albania”each of whom described being brainwashed in a celibate life“.”In the group, they stated that romantic relationships and sexual thoughts were prohibited, family contact very limited and friendships discouraged”, he clarifies.

And, he verifies that self-criticism is part of the MEK’s ruling system.”All of them said they were forced to participate in self-criticism rituals, in which members confessed to their commanders about any sexual or dishonest thought they had,”he writes.

“The oddest moment came when I asked about Massoud Rajavi, who hasn’t been seen since 2003, and whom former members say is the subject of cult-like reverence,”Kingsley tweeted about this part of his report:
In particular, senior officials stumbled when asked where the group’s leader, Massoud Rajavi, who disappeared in 2003, was.

“Where is he? Said Ali Safavi, the group’s main representative in Washington.”Well, we can’t talk about it, it’s …”
He paused, staring at his feet.
Is he still alive? Is he in Albania?
“We can’t talk about it,”said Safavi, after being silent for a few seconds. of several seconds of silence.

Ali Safavi is one of the MEK’s propaganda commanders. He is the group’s figure who runs the group’s propaganda in Western media. The group authorities chose him to deal with the NY Times correspondent probably because of his long time experience in working with English language media.

Ali Safavi

However, Safavi was not able to answer the simplest question about the whereabouts of the group’s leader Massoud Rajavi.
This is the bottom line of the entire report. The MEK’s leader has been disappeared for near two decades. No one is allowed to ask about his whereabouts. No one is allowed to answer about his whereabouts. This is absolutely a cult-like system that no one should know that its everlasting leader is sick or dead or something.

February 23, 2020 1 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Saudi Arabia’s Dirty Money Feeds Mujaheddin-e Khalq Organization

Iranian Foreign Minister once again condemned the US act of terror is assassinating former Quds Force commander Lieutenant General Soleimani, noting that the terror came while Soleimani was on a peace mission in Iraq.
“The US targeted Lt. Gen. Soleimani while he was traveling in a civilian vehicle on a mission to promote peace in Iraq,” the Iranian diplomat said in Munich Security Conference 2020 on Saturday.
He noted, “Iran’s missile attack on the US its military bases in Iraq was legitimate defense and based on Article 51 of the United Nations’ Charter,” adding, “People in many countries around the world have objected to this terrorist act and, contrary to what the presenter says, they were not ‘proxy forces’ or ‘militias’.”
Answering the question of whether the “revenge” of the Islamic Republic of Iran is over, he said, “No, Iran has taken military action in response to military action.”
Iranian FM implied the role of Mike Pompeo in the assassination of Lt. Gen. Qasem Soleimani, saying that he is now trying to imitate Bolton’s behavior and therefore offered the assassination of Gen. Soleimani to Trump.
“I think President [Donald] Trump didn’t have good advisers. He has been waiting for our government to collapse since withdrawing JCPOA. At that time, John Bolton was telling him that Iran would come to its knees in a few months,”.

US policy on Iran
Referring to Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, Zarif said, “Although the US had signed the agreement and had been endorsed by the United Nations Security Council, Trump has suddenly decided to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal because of the agreement reached by former President Barack Obama.”
Stating that Iran won’t negotiate on JCPOA again, he said, “You don’t buy a horse twice.”
Responding to a question about the possibility of a dialogue between Iran and the US, FM Zarif said, “It does not mean that Tehran and Washington will negotiate directly, it means that the US should back to negotiating table of 5+1 which it had left it.”
“The United States continues to pursue a policy of regime change in Iran, which has failed over the past 41 years and Washington must accept the failure of that policy,” he added.

De-escalating tensions in the region

“Some countries including, Oman, Qatar and Iraq accepted to join the Hormuz Peace Endeavour (HOPE) initiative and Iran has sent a message to Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to advance the plan and ease tensions in the region, even though it has no diplomatic relations with these countries,” Iranian FM said.
Referring to Saudi Arabia’s negative behavior in response to Iran’s efforts to ease tensions, the foreign minister said, “After the assassination of Lt. Gen. Soleimani, their [Saudis] behavior moderated for several weeks, perhaps because they were concerned about our response. But after I said our answer was over, they went back to their previous behavior.”
“We are not seeking tensions with our neighbors at all. When Iraq invaded Kuwait, we helped Kuwait, despite Kuwait’s support for Iraq. When Saudi Arabia besieged Qatar, we helped Qatar. If anyone attacks Saudi Arabia today, we are ready to help them,” he said.

He went on to say, “We are ready to negotiate with all our neighbors about a security mechanism that will create security in the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf belongs to all of us. My message to my brothers is that the US does not provide you with security; the security does come from within the region.”
Zarif eventually referred to Saudi Arabia’s support for the terrorist group of Mujaheddin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as MEK) and said, “This terrorist group, which gives $ 50,000 to John Bolton for each speech, does not receive its money on the streets and through donations, but they receive it from some individuals in Saudi Arabia.”

US’ new plan for the Middle East
Referring to the ‘Deal of the Century”, Zarif said, “Trump has now angered the people of the region by unveiling the so-called “Deal of the Century,” adding, “Iran will not be responsible if any violence occurs in this regard.”

February 23, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

New York Times Questions Presence of MEK in Albania

The New York Times has published an article on the presence of the Iranian former Mujahedeen Khalq members in a camp near Tirana, questioning “what are they doing in Albania?”.

Reporter Patrick Kingsley, one of the few journalists allowed inside the barracks half an hour drive from Tirana, was initially rebuffed but after persisting was invited for a series of interviews and a tour.

Describing them as “propaganda sessions”, Kingsley was shown a museum, a cafeteria, a gym, and a recording studio used to record songs for social media that promote their message.

Those that Kingsley interviewed disputed claims that they were not allowed to leave but they were unable to talk about the whereabouts of the group’s nominal leader Masoud Rajavi who disappeared in 2003. Members denied tales of brainwashing and cult-like behaviour reported by dissidents, stating that they are ‘Iranian spies’.

Kingsley was also put in contact with three former American military officers who had helped guard the MEK camp in Iraq after the US invasion. According to the article, they “spoke glowingly” about the group, stating that the members were free to leave at will.

Kingsley refers also to Captain Matthew Woodside, an ex-naval reservist, “not one of those whom the MEK suggested [Kingsley] contact” who told a different story and said “I find that organisation absolutely repulsive. I am astounded they are in Albania.

New York Times article is probably the first critical article on MEK’s presence in Albania in the mainstream American media.

In the past, Exit News has published stories on the Iranian MEKs. One of our journalists was also granted access to the facility in June 2019 for the occasion of a conference where de facto leader Maryam Rajavi, ex-Mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, former senator Joe Lieberman, Columbian politician Ingrid Betancourt, and several former US Marines spoke.

“>

They observed members wearing a strict uniform, segregation between men and women, they also had their makeup confiscated and were asked not to take photos. Also noted was a heavy security presence including police and two different private security firms, and metal detectors at the entrance.

In the days following the visit, the Exit News journalists received some 15 phone calls and text messages asking them to return for further tours and talks.

Exit.al

February 20, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US-Backed MEK Again Exposed As An Extremist Cult

The publication of the documented report on the MEK’s “Secretive” camp in Albania by the New York Times made a flow of reactions in the media since it is virtually the first time that an outlet of the mainstream American media that questions the presence of the group in Albania.

The Daily Wrap Up, a concise show of the Last American Vagabond website analyzes the NY’s report revealing the US’s hypocritical approach towards the world’s most controversial issues like terrorism, democracy and elections. The host of the show criticizes the US and Israel for their double standards to use the cult-like MEK terrorists in their hostile policies against Iran.

As Ryan accurately puts, the double standards of the US government includes not only the issues of elections and democracy but also forced hijab which is severely practices inside the MEK base. He also notices the hypocrisy of the US in dealing with notorious dictatorships like Saudi Arabia compared with the Islamic Republic.

By Last American Vagabond

February 19, 2020 1 comment

NYT photo of the Ashraf3 CAmp of MEK in Tirana

The cult of Rajavi

Mujahedin-e Khalq gave us a tour in their Albania’s Camp

Depending on whom you ask, the People’s Jihadists are Iran’s government-in-waiting or a duplicitous terrorist cult that forbids sexual thoughts. What are they doing in Albania?

MANEZ, Albania — In a valley in the Albanian countryside, a group of celibate Iranian dissidents have built a vast and tightly guarded barracks that few outsiders have ever entered.

Depending on whom you ask, the group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People’s Jihadists, are either Iran’s replacement government-in-waiting or a duplicitous terrorist cult. Journalists are rarely allowed inside the camp to judge for themselves, and are sometimes rebuffed by force.

But after President Trump’s decision to assassinate Qassim Suleimani, a powerful Iranian general, it seemed worth trying again. Would a group that claims to want a democratic, secular Iran allow a reporter inside their camp?

The group’s loudest allies include Rudolph W. Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, and John R. Bolton, his former National Security Adviser. Both have received tens of thousands of dollars for speaking at the group’s conferences, where these influential Americans describe the People’s Jihadists as Iran’s most legitimate opposition.

NYT tweet on his tour to the MEK camp

Initially, the group ignored several requests for access. So less in hope than desperation, I drove to its base and presented my credentials to a guard.

Three hours later, shortly before sunset, I got a call. To my surprise, I was being allowed inside. So began a series of interviews, propaganda sessions and tours that lasted until 1:30 a.m. A New York Times photographer was admitted several days later.

The group perhaps hoped to correct the impression left by previous journalistic encounters. A visit in 2003 by a Times reporter to the group’s former base in Iraq ended badly after her subjects spoke from a rehearsed script, and she was barred from talking to people in private.

This time around, most residents were off limits, but officials did allow private interviews with several members.

At my request, these included Somayeh Mohammadi, 39, whose family has argued for nearly two decades that she is being held against her will.

“This is my choice,” said Ms. Mohammedi, after her commanders left the room. “If I want to leave, I can leave.”

While the group may not have tried to hide Ms. Mohammedi, there were several odd and telling moments when secrets were tightly held.

In particular, senior officials stumbled when asked about the whereabouts of the group’s nominal leader, Massoud Rajavi, who vanished in 2003.

“Where is he?” said Ali Safavi, the group’s main representative in Washington. “Well, we can’t talk about that, that’s … ”

He trailed off, staring at his feet.

Is he still alive? Is he in Albania?

“We can’t talk about it,” Mr. Safavi replied, after several seconds of silence.

Founded in 1965 to oppose the Shah of Iran, the group later rejected the theocracy that replaced him.

Immediately following the revolution, the group attracted significant public support and emerged as a leading source of opposition to the new theocratic regime, according to Professor Ervand Abrahamian, a historian of the group.

The group claims it still attracts significant support, but Mr. Abrahamian said its popularity plummeted after becoming more violent in the early 1980s.

“When you talk to people who lived through the revolution, and you mention the name ‘Mujahedeen’, they shudder,” said Mr. Abrahamian.

By the 1980s, the group’s ideology had begun to center on Mr. Rajavi and his wife, Maryam.

To prove their devotion to the Rajavis, members were told to divorce their spouses and renounce romance.

At the time, the group was based in Iraq, under the protection of Saddam Hussein.

Its destiny changed after the American-led invasion of Iraq. After an initial standoff, the group, also known as the M.E.K., gave up its weapons. Despite having been listed by America as a terrorist organization in 1997, it was placed under American protection.

But in 2009, American troops ceded responsibility for the M.E.K. to the Iraqi government. Led by politicians sympathetic to Iran, the Iraqi authorities tacitly allowed Iran-allied militias to attack the group.

American and United Nations diplomats began searching for a safer country to house the group. After intensive lobbying by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, the American government also removed them from a list of terrorist organizations in 2012.

A year later, they were finally welcomed by Albania. The Albanian government hoped its hospitality would curry favor with Washington, according to the foreign minister between 2013 and 2019, Ditmir Bushati.

The group purchased several fields in a valley 15 miles west of Tirana, the capital, and built a camp there.

When I visited, the base seemed oddly empty. The group claims it houses about 2,500 members. But across the two days, we saw no more than 200.

The others seemed to have been sequestered away — or to have left the group altogether.

Dozens of former members now live independently in Albania. I met 10 of them, who each described being brainwashed into a life of celibacy.

Inside the group, they said romantic relationships and sexual thoughts were banned, contact with family highly restricted, and friendships discouraged.

All recounted being forced to participate in self-criticism rituals, whereby members would confess to their commanders any sexual or disloyal thoughts they had.

“Little by little, you are broken,” said Abdulrahman Mohammadian, 60, who joined the group in 1988 and left in 2016. “You forget yourself and you change your personality. You only obey rules. You are not yourself. You are just a machine.”

The group strongly denied the accusations and portrays many of its critics, including Mr. Mohammadian, as Iranian spies.

I was taken on a three-hour tour of a museum about the M.E.K.’s history, where the exhibits did not mention Saddam Hussein or forced celibacy. Instead, they focused on the group’s persecution.

Some rooms had been turned into replica torture chambers, to explain how Iranian jailers punished and interrogated supporters during the 1980s.

In each room, members waited in silence for me. These turned out to be survivors of the torture — ready to personally explain each method of repression.

One survivor, Raheem Moussavi, stood beside a bloodied mannequin and slowly detailed the four different techniques the Iranian torturers used to beat him. The process culminated in being whipped by a metallic cat-o’-nine tails.

Searching for influence, the group has turned increasingly to the internet.

I was shown a recording studio, where two musicians compose anti-regime songs and music videos for release on Iranian social media.

I wasn’t shown the computer suites, which defectors had portrayed as a kind of troll farm: junior members using multiple accounts on Facebook and Twitter, typing messages that criticize the Iranian government, lionize the M.E.K. leadership and promote its paid lobbyists.

When Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Bolton made public speeches in recent years, members were ordered “to take a particular line and tweet it 10 times from different accounts,” said Mr. Mohammadian, the former member.

I was taken to an empty gym, and then to a small cafeteria. It was already close to midnight, but a small group of women had been told to wait up for me.

They scoffed at the idea of the troll farm. As for the limits on their private lives, they said such discipline was necessary when battling as cruel an adversary as the government of Iran.

“You can’t have a personal life,” said Shiva Zahedi, “when you’re struggling for a cause.”

After I left, the group put me in touch with three former American military officers who had helped guard an M.E.K. camp in Iraq after the American invasion.

Each spoke glowingly about the M.E.K., and said its members had been free to leave since the American military began protecting it in 2003.

American officers had access to every area of the Iraqi base, and found no prison cells or torture facilities, said Brig. Gen. David Phillips, who commanded the military policemen guarding the camp in 2003 and 2004.

“I wanted to find weapons, I wanted to find people tied to beds,” General Phillips said. “We never found it.”

But other records and witnesses gave a more complex account.

Capt. Matthew Woodside, a former naval reservist who oversaw American policy at the Iraqi camp between 2004 and 2005, was not one of those whom the M.E.K. suggested I contact.

He said that in reality American troops did not have regular access to camp buildings or to group members whose relatives said they were held by force.

The M.E.K. leadership tended to let members meet American officials and relatives only after a delay of several days, Captain Woodside said.

“They fight for every single one of them,” he said.

It became so hard for some members, particularly women, to flee that two of them ended up trying to escape in a delivery truck, he recalled.

“I find that organization absolutely repulsive,” Captain Woodside said. “I am astounded that they’re in Albania.”

Besar Likmeta contributed reporting.

By Patrick Kingsley, Feb. 16, 2020

Patrick Kingsley is an international correspondent, focusing on long-term reporting projects. He has reported from more than 40 countries, written two books, and previously covered migration and the Middle East for The Guardian. @PatrickKingsley

February 17, 2020 0 comments

Albania

Where is Albania heading to?

I am wondering where the Albanian government is heading by giving full support to a terrorist cult, which they hosted back in 2016 after it was expelled from Iraq.

MEK background

The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, NCRI, NLA, or better known as the Rajavi cult) had a military base in Iraq facilitated by Saddam Hussein and they actively participated against their own county alongside the enemy in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

This was alongside a terrorist campaign waged inside Iran in the early 80s which claimed 12,000 lives. They also joined with Saddam’s army to suppress the 1991 uprisings in the north and south of Iraq.

The cult has also a disturbing record of abusing the human rights of its own members who are brainwashed and isolated in a closed camp, first in Iraq and now in Albania.

Saddam who had a hostile attitude towards Iran and Iranians used the MEK terrorist cult to carry out sabotage activities inside Iran until he was overthrown by the American invasion of the country in 2003.

Female operators in ISIS and MEK, victims of destructive cults

MEK moved from Iraq to Albania

After the fall of the Baghdad dictator in 2003, the Iraqi governments, one after the other, insisted that the MEK, which they found a threat to the country’s national security, be expelled from Iraq. The problem was that no country was prepared to host them until Albania showed itself willing to do so for the short-term benefit of some politicians.

At the present time the Albanian government serves the cult in the same way as Saddam Hussein did in the past.

Trump Thanks Albania for ‘Standing Up To Iran’

On January 15, 2020 it was announced that ‘Albania Expelled Two More Iranian Diplomats’. Acting Albanian Foreign Minister Gent Cakaj announced the decision in a Facebook post. “The two representatives of the Islamic Republic have been asked to leave the territory of the Republic of Albania immediately,” Cakaj wrote, without offering further details.

U.S. President Donald Trump thanked Albania for expelling Iran’s diplomats for alleged national security reasons. According to the U.S. embassy in Tirana, Trump thanked Prime Minister Edi Rama in a letter for his “steadfast efforts to stand up to Iran”.

The Trump administration’s hostility towards Iran and Iranians is no secret, and the US president thinks that he might somehow use the MEK terrorist cult against Iran. This is why he supports the group and tries to keep it intact despite violations of the basic rights of the members.

The role of the Albanian government in this matter is no more than blindly following Washington’s guidelines, even if that means paying the price of losing the EU membership that they are so eager to gain.

EU-Albania relationship

Albania is an EU candidate country and it has made considerable progress in recent years in meeting the political criteria and the objectives related to the five key priorities for the opening of accession negotiations. However, the Albanian government needs to further tackle the remaining challenges in a sustainable, comprehensive and tangible manner, particularly when it comes to the fight against corruption at all levels, the fight against organized crime, promotion of the rule of law as well as judicial reform, the protection of minorities and establishment of good neighborly relations.

Now Albania, to appease its US instructors, has hosted a terrorist cult in Europe and fully supports it by every possible means. Defectors from the MEK are put under enormous pressure in order to be forced into returning to the cult, and the members are denied any contact with the outside world, particularly with their families. The Albanian government prevents the families of the MEK members from going there and visiting their loved ones.

What are the Albanians up to?

The Albanian government apparently prefers the short-term benefits of turning against Iran and supporting MEK against Iran to its long-term benefits in relation to Europe and the wider world. The MEK is no longer a security or even political threat for Iran, it is rather a human rights issue. But the MEK could well be a threat for Albania as well as the whole Europe.

The members have been brought to Albania without travel documents and therefore they have no legal status in the country (they are stateless) and they are currently living in conditions of modern slavery at the hands of the cult leaders.

In Albania, hundreds of members have left the cult and they have no legal and financial support at all. Thousands of families are deprived from having any contact with their loved ones in the MEK camp.

I am afraid the Albanians are taking a great risk by fully following Trump’s hostile policy towards Iran and Iranians. The support given by the Albanian government for US actions are unique in the world and will by no means make them closer to Europe.

February 15, 2020 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts