Page 263 – Nejat Society

Ann Singleton, Adel and Bahman Azami,Sadollah seifi

Albania’s Modern Slavery Problem Alienates Europe

A UK report on modern slavery identifies its various manifestations – sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and domestic servitude – concluding that increased awareness results in an increase in detection and reporting. But, with trafficking at the root of much modern slavery it is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, not limited to the west or to any particular country.

Modern Slavery is usually a hidden phenomenon, it goes on behind closed doors and can be hard to detect. Victims are often isolated individuals – domestic servants or cannabis ‘farmers’ – locked away behind closed doors. Nobody knows of their existence because they have been illegally trafficked. Even those more openly kept in brothels for sexual exploitation are unable to escape for fear of reprisals against themselves and their families back home.

But there is another form of slavery hidden in plain sight: political slavery. This is not difficult to detect because the kinds of groups which practice it actively seek publicity and influence over worldwide politics. The exiled Iranian Mojahedin Khalq organisation (MEK aka MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) is one such group. It describes itself as a democratic political organisation, the main opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the life of the members speaks of a very different story.

A year ago, the last of nearly three thousand MEK members were finally expelled from Iraq where they had been operating under the patronage of Saddam Hussein. America paid millions of dollars to the UN and the Albanian government to have the group to settle there. Part of the deal was to establish a de-radicalization programme to return the members to normal life. This did not happen.

Instead, the group closed ranks and over the past year, several high-profile US politicians and former officials opportunistically visited Albania to heap praise on the MEK for its anti-Iran stance. John Bolton, Senator John McCain, among others have unabashedly promoted the group by meeting its leader Maryam Rajavi there.

Of greater concern was that during this same period the families of these MEK members in Albania complained to the UNHCR and the Albanian government about the treatment of their loved ones. They said that many, perhaps the majority of MEK members want to leave the group but have nothing – no money, no place to go, no officially recognised status and no language skills – to help them do so. They are effectively being held in a state of modern slavery.

A report by an Albanian lawyer (acting for MEK members who managed to separate from the group) after meeting with the UNHCR in Tirana reveals that under a secret agreement struck between the Americans, the government of Albania and the MEK leader, the UNHCR supervised the transfer of approximately 3,000 MEK from Iraq to Albania not as refugees but on a ‘humanitarian basis’. In other words, they have no official status in the country.

According to this agreement, all the expenses for the MEK members are to be doled out by the MEK itself. This means that members are totally dependent on the MEK leadership for their subsistence. Those who have expressed their desire to separate from the group, for whatever reason, must continue to obey MEK rules and restrictions, they must accept MEK imposed conditions so that they are given accommodation and food.

As such, they are forced to pay lip service to a belief system they no longer believe in. They are forced to give allegiance to a pseudo-political terrorist entity. Under these conditions, they are modern political slaves, trapped in plain sight in a circle of fear, coercion and isolation.

Bahman Azami, Adel Azami and Sadollah Seyfi talk about their ordeals with Albanian media (Nov. 2017)

The stories of those who do escape are harrowing. (See videos below.) In the MEK, any word of dissent is punished. How? By public humiliation, beatings, solitary confinement and ultimately death. More poignantly, in the MEK contact with your family is a punishable sin against the leader. Your devotion must solely focus on Maryam Rajavi to the exclusion of all others. This is a disturbing addition to the ways and reasons that individuals are enslaved. It is known as cultic abuse because of the involvement of a belief system. The MEK are political pawns whose minds have been hijacked for a cause most of them no longer believe in. Urgent action is needed to rescue them. But at present there is little hope of that. Even Albania’s deputy anti-trafficking coordinator, Dr Elona Gjebrea, who is also the deputy minister of the interior, has bowed down in the Court of Maryam Rajavi.

When counter-terrorism expert Anne Khodabandeh visited Tirana on 5-7 November to investigate the plight of former members, several media interviews she gave were pulled from broadcast due to MEK and Albanian Mafia intimidation when she revealed that the MEK are actively recruiting Albanian youth to their cause.

But a more sinister turn of events is taking place right now. The MEK is moving over 2,500 members to a remote camp in the north of Albania far away from any local communities. This desperate act serves several purposes. One is to recreate the isolation the cult enjoyed in Iraq where coercion and brainwashing were a daily occurrence – the new camp is called ‘Ashraf Three’. Another reason is to prevent families from reaching their loved ones and prevent members from escaping. The other is to empty the old university buildings in Tirana to make way for a new round of political slaves to take up residence. This time, families of Daesh fighters who have fled Iraq and Syria are rumoured to be ready to move to Albania on ‘humanitarian grounds’.

While America turns a blind eye to political slavery, the European Union takes a very different view. Not only have Albania’s efforts to accede to the EU been completely stymied by the MEK’s activities there, the group’s alignment with the Albanian Mafia and the threat of a new wave of political slaves means Albania is now regarded as a security threat on the border of Europe rather than a potential partner country.

IMPAKT 97: Jihad 2.0? What are the Iranian Jihadis (MKO, Rajavi cult) doing in Albania? (part 1)

To download the video file click here

IMPAKT 97: Jihad 2.0? What are the Iranian Jihadis (MKO, Rajavi cult) doing in Albania? (part 2)

To download the video file click here

Massoud Khodabandeh, Contributor ,Director at Middle East Strategy Consultants.

November 22, 2017 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

Full-time job of the MKO

It has been near two decades that the Mujahedin Khalq Organizaion (the MKO/MEK/ the PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi) propagate its fabrications on Iran’s nuclear program and eventually Iran hawks in the United States and Israel fearmonger about the “threat” of Iran.

If America could be made ignorant and amnestic of the horrors imposed on America by the MKO by selective information, leaks, and by silence brought and made possible by Israel then ISIS had a good chance of being received by the US and maintained by the Zionists for the rainy day.

The secret deals between the cultish, violent regressive MKO –which was an acolyte of Saddam Hussein– and the US warmongers, show that Israel will create a friend out of an enemy of a friend. Considering the fact that the US has no common interest with the MKO –anti Iran stance as an American duty has also been cooked by Israel. In fact, Israel bribes the senators, congressmen, mayors and governors of the allied country to normalize relation with the MKO, a sworn enemy of US with blood on hand.

This is the very reason ISIS can be suspected of collusion with Israel. If the MKO could get removed of terror list, ISIS which has not killed the US citizens –as the MKO did in the 1970s– could also get but at a time chosen by Israel. Enemy of my enemy is my friend is obsolete ideological term for Israel. For Israel making friendship with the enemies of the friend and then using both of them for its own reactionary interests is the norm.

“Former administration officials like Tom Ridge and Washington think tanks allied with the Israel Lobby have published screeds calling for violent overthrow of the Iranian regime,” Richard Silverstein of the Jewish website Tikun Olam writes. “Their op-eds are bought and paid for by former terror groups like the MeK charged with assassinating U.S. diplomats. Ridge alone has earned tens of thousands of dollars for giving 15-minute speeches addressed to MeK gatherings around the globe. Scores of other past officials including Howard Dean, Rudy Giuliani, Ed Rendell, John Bolton, have also joined the gravy train.” [1]

A former CIA agent who writes on the American Herald Tribune, Philip Giraldi revealed the well-paid lobbying campaign of the MKO in the US government. He writes: “Multi-million dollar contracts with Washington lobbying firms experienced at “working” congress backed up by handsome speaking fees have induced many prominent Americans to join the chorus supporting NCRI. Prior to 2012, speaking fees for the group started at $15,000 and went up from there. Former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell reported more than $150,000 in honoraria. Rudy Giuliani has been paid generously for years at $20,000 per appearance for brief, twenty-minute speeches. Bear in mind that MEK was a listed terrorist group at the time and accepting money from it to promote its interests should have constituted material support of terrorism.” [2]

The US paid advocates of the MKO have been very probably informed about the true substance of the MKO by prominent columnists like Philip Giraldi. “MEK is widely regarded as a terrorist cult headed by a bizarre husband and wife team Massoud and Maryam Rajavi,” he asserts. “Its members are required to be celibate and are subjected to extensive brainwashing, physical torture, severe beatings even unto death, and prolonged solitary confinement if they question the leadership. One scholar who has studied them describes their beliefs as a “weird combination of Marxism and Islamic fundamentalism.” [3]

He suggests that with the sharp turn of the Trump Administration against Iran, the MKO is now finding an audience in the US, “telling the American public that Iran is”cheating”on the nuclear deal”.

A few weeks prior to the article by Philip Giraldi, Yuram Abdullah Weiler published an article on the American Herald Tribune titled “The Iran Nuclear “Threat”: Trump’s Recycled Fake News”. His investigated post exposes the so-called expert Alireza Jafarzadeh as the MKO’s arm in the US war hawk media, the Fox News. He suggests that Jafarzadeh just recycles the same alleged intelligence on the Iran nuclear program that he has repeated over and over since 2002. [4]

“Jafarzadeh gained notoriety in August 2002 when he held a press conference to present “evidence” of a nuclear weapons program in Iran” he writes. “In his 2006 book titled “The Iran Threat,” which reads like a pulp-fiction spy thriller, he admitted that he has worked as a lobbyist for the MeK and even managed to convince 219 members of the U.S. House of Representatives to sign a statement in support of the NCRI […] The similarity of the current (2017) Fox News article and the 2005 press release is striking.” [5]

Where is this intelligence fabricated originally?

The prominent journalist Gareth Porter has several times answered this question based on documented information. A few weeks ago, once more he asserted that Zionism is the main element to run the US policy and the agenda of its terror and propaganda arms in the world. “President Donald Trump’s new Iran policy clearly represents a dangerous rejection of diplomacy in favor of confrontation,” Porter suggests. “But it’s more than that: It’s a major shift toward a much closer alignment of U.S. policy with that of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” [6]

Porter denounces the MKO’s American sponsors as main operators of Zionists policy in the US. “But it was Bolton who worked with Israeli officials to plan a campaign to convince the world that Iran was secretly working on nuclear weapons,” He writes. “His goal was to sell key European nations on a UN Security Council resolution accusing Iran of developing a nuclear program. Bolton explains in his memoirs that the assumption of his strategy was that either the Security Council would strip Iran of its right to have a nuclear program or the United States would take unilateral military action.” [7]

About the alleged revelations on the Iranian nuclear sites he resumes: “In the summer of 2004, a large collection of documents allegedly from a covert Iranian nuclear weapons research program was suddenly obtained by Germany’s foreign intelligence agency. Those documents became the sole alleged evidence that such a program existed. But this writer found more than one telltale sign of fraud in the papers, and a former senior German foreign office official told me on the record in March 2013 that the source who passed on the documents was a member of the Mujihadeen e-Khalq (MEK), the armed Iranian opposition group. The MEK has allegedly worked with Israel’s Mossad for some time.” [8]

What makes the MKO credible for Iran hawks?

Richard Silverstein notices the history of the group and concludes that “It would be totally in character for the MeK to accept funding from Iran’s enemies, as it was once sheltered in Iraq by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.” [9]

Some of the services the MKO offers its sponsors are listed by Silverstein: “the MeK participated in the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists. Many analysts believe that MeK’s mysterious largesse originated in the treasury of the Saudi regime, a sworn enemy of the Iran’s Shia regime. NBC, quoting Obama administration sources, claimed the Mossad was an important funder as well. Meir Dagan, Israel’s former Mossad chief, publicly boasted of Israeli acts of terrorism sponsored inside Iran. Clearly, these sorts of operations need Iranian insiders and MeK is a likely culprit. The same NBC report asserted that the MeK participated in the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists. I reported here, based on a high-level Israeli former military officer, that the Mossad and MeK jointly coördinated the attacks. Other journalists have reported that the Saudis gave Israel $1-billion for various operations to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program including the assassinations and the Stuxnet malware attack.” [10]

In all these filthy deals there is a “poor bargain” for the people of the world. The destructive cult of Rajavi is a bad tool for the warmongers that will one day come back to haunt them just like what Al Qaeda and ISIS did.

By Mazda Parsi

Sources:

[1] Silverstein, Richard, Trump and Iran Nuclear Deal: ‘On the Road to Nowhere’, Tikun Olam, November 5, 2017

[2] Giraldi, Philip, The Rise of MEK/NCRI in Washington: Pay Off The Right People and You Are No Longer A Terrorist, American Herald Tribune, October 30, 2017

[3] ibid

[4] Weiler, Yuram Abdullah, The Iran Nuclear “Threat”: Trump’s Recycled Fake News, American Herald Tribune, October 13, 2017

[5] ibid

[6] Porter, Gareth, Trump Trashes Iran Deal to Satisfy Netanyahu U.S-Iran policy is closer to Israel than it has been in years, the American Conservative, October 20, 2017

[7] ibid

[8] ibid

[9] Silverstein, Richard, Trump and Iran Nuclear Deal: ‘On the Road to Nowhere’, Tikun Olam, November 5, 2017

[10] ibid

November 21, 2017 0 comments

Albania

Warning: MEK moving members to a remote and isolated camp in Albania

For three days now, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult) in Albania has been relocating its members to a remote and isolated camp in Albania which they have called the ‘Ashraf Three’ base after Camp Ashraf, the main MEK garrison in Iraq. The new base is surrounded by high walls and barbed wire to prevent the members from escaping.

MKO members in Albania

Since a long time ago the Rajavi cult has been covertly establishing facilities far away from Tirana, or any other town or city, to which it can move its members and separate them from the outside world. The aim is to exert maximum control over them to enable further brainwashing them without interference. A remote and isolated place similar to Camp Ashraf in Iraq is an ideal place for coercive psychological manipulation because it allows the leaders to control the followers both physically and mentally.

At present, the MEK members in Tirana enjoy some limited access to the outside world. This is not tolerable for the cult. The cult leader Maryam Rajavi wants her followers captive all the time. If they have free access to the outside world they will realize they are continually being told lies and they will discover that there is a way out.

The method of controlling the members inside the MEK is mind manipulation which requires an isolated area from which the members cannot escape and gradually people forget about the free world and accept their lives in there.

Cults like the MEK do not allow their members access to uncensored news or information. If they are moved to this new base the situation will be even worse than it was for them in Iraq since they now know a lot more than they did before about the outside world and therefore the internal pressure and suppression will be more severe.

The cult has also forced members to sign documents to swear that they wish to move to the new place willingly and voluntarily and they have no right to leave the place ever. They are told that this is for their own safety and security which is not correct. In this way they are giving away their rights and freedom for the rest of their lives.

The members have also been given promises of excellent facilities and services which are all lies and even if any such privileges existed these do not replace family relations and contact with the outside world which the cult is denying.

For instance, is it not worse that the members will not have access to the internet and will not be able to contact their families? In Rajavi’s world one has to live isolated from the world and only listen to the cult leaders.

Sahar Family Foundation urges all humanitarian activists and organizations around the world to prevent this human catastrophe from happening and rescue these people from being deceived into a lifelong prison.

November 20, 2017 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Hostage crisis, change of the cover not the essence of the MEK

On the 38th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, the propaganda activists of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/MEK/ the Cult of Rajavi/ the PMOI) keep on their efforts to purify their violent history projecting the entire violence committed at the time to the newly established Islamic Republic.

The member of the MKO’s parliament in exile, Ali Safavi fabricated a post on the Hill to distance his group from any opposition against the United States; the enemy of the enemy is now the dear respected friend of the MKO.

Safavi claims that the chants of”Death to America”and “the disdain for international norms” are exclusively embraced by the Islamic Republic. Approving the invalidity of Safavi’s claims is quiet easy by a very simple search in the accessible papers and documents of the group itself, as well as the international bodies and the worldwide media.

One very tangible investigated report is that of Chris McGreal of the Guardian that defined “what is the MEK” in September 2012, the same time that the group was delisted by the US State Department. “The MEK ran a bombing campaign inside Iran against the Shah’s regime the 1970s,” he wrote. “The targets were sometimes American, including the US information office, Pepsi Cola, Pan Am and General Motors. The group routinely denounced Zionism and”racist Israel”, and called for “death to America”…The MEK was an enthusiastic supporter of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran following the Iranian revolution. It called the eventual release of the American hostages a”surrender”. [1]

Definitely, the slogan “death to America” was widely used by the MKO at least in the first three decades of its existence. Besides killing the American citizens in Iran in 1970’s, the group was a radical anti-America entity until the fall of its former landlord Saddam Hussein. They celebrated the death of hundreds of American citizens in the September eleventh attack in 2001. “After this, the scenes of the airplanes smashing into the towers began to be broadcast on the widescreens in the hall over and over again,” Reza Sadeghi Jabali, former member of the group said in his testimonies. “Each time they were shown, the leaders would stand up, cheer, clap and shout slogans and each time they would look toward the section commanders to ensure they and their people also stand up and join the celebrations. And they would, because they knew the consequences of not obeying. Rajavi, standing on the stage, was more excited than anyone else. After a while he ordered people to stop and listen. He then said (his exact words): “Praise Islam. Praise Islam. Imagine, if this is what Reactionary Islam can achieve, then what a day it will be when Revolutionary Islam steps up to the scene”. [2]

The MKO’s anti-US approach was originally documented by the US State department. The State Department’s Country Reports on Terrorism released in 2011, listed the MKO’s attacks against the American interests in Tehran which included six cases of bombings in different places that ended with the death of six American nationals. One case was particularly committed in the US embassy in Tehran. “In 1972, the MEK set off bombs in Tehran at the U.S. Information Service office (part of the U.S. Embassy),” the report said. [3]

“Though denied by the MEK, analysis based on eyewitness accounts and MEK documents demonstrate that MEK members participated in and supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and that the MEK later argued against the early release [of] the American hostages,” the report said. “The MEK also provided personnel to guard and defend the site of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, following the takeover of the Embassy.” [4] Thus, it was not unlikely that the MKO agents would have killed the American hostages of the embassy if they had had the power at the time.

While Ali Safavi calls the hostage taking in the US embassy as “medieval”, claiming that the Iranians have changed and seek a normal relation with the US, he should be asked what about the MKO. As the representative of the MKO, he claims that his group has got “re-energized, boosting its strength and cohesiveness” to aid the Iranian people in their aspiration for friendship with the West. Supposing that the Iranians trust the MKO for the alleged vows, has the MKO really changed?

“The MEK reinvented itself in American eyes,” Chris McGreal clarifies. The state department report quotes an American journalist as saying of the MEK:”They hope to transform their public image in America from terrorists to freedom fighters”. [5]

The MKO abandoned violence only after it was disarmed by the US army in 2003. However, the violence inside the cult-like structure of the group continues systematically. The 1992 report of the State department –before the group could buy support in the US government— said the MKO’s leadership”never practices democracy within their organisation”. [6]

“Many Iranians who have dealt with MEK members assert that the [MEK] suppress dissent, often with force, and do not tolerate different viewpoints. The [MEK’s] credibility is also undermined by the fact that they deny or distort sections of their history, such as the use of violence or opposition to Zionism. It is difficult to accept at face value promises of future conduct when an organisation fails to acknowledge itspast,”the report said. [7]

The time has come for the world to see the true image of the Cult of Rajavi; one that still keeps people as hostages in its camps, depriving them of their most basic rights, barring them from leaving the cult and allow them to choose freely whether they want to stay in the cult or not.

Respects for human rights, gender equality and free-market economics is worthless in the MKO. The small society of the Cult of Rajavi is an iconic example of segregation, gender inequality, and forced unpaid labor. Read the testimonies of former members.

Mazda Parsi

Sources:

[1] McGreal, Chris, Q&A: what is the MEK and why did theUS call it a terrorist organization? , the Guardian, September 21, 2012

[2]https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/6599

[3] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3855

[4] ibid

[5] McGreal, Chris, Q&A: what is the MEK and why did the US call it a terrorist organization? , the Guardian, September 21, 2012

[6] ibid

[7] ibid

The MEK killed three U.S. Army colonels and three U.S. contractors, It also bombed the facilities of numerous U.S. companies

November 18, 2017 0 comments

Albania

Double standards in Albania’s fight against terrorism

Albania’s High Criminal Court changed the sentences of two Muslim Albanians from prison to house arrest. The detainees, Xhezair Fishti and Medat Hasani, who are Salafists, were arrested in November 2016 by Albanian counter-terrorism units on suspicion of planning an attack on the Israeli national football team, which was scheduled to play Albania on Nov. 12, 2016.

These Salafists were two of some 150 Muslims who the Albanian police detained that month. Albanian authorities, who generally regard Muslims with suspicion, conducted mass arrests and closed the borders with Kosovo and Macedonia. They did this so that Muslim Albanian fans could not attend the football match between Albania and Israel and shout anti-Israeli and pro-Palestinian slogans.

However, out of the 150 people who were detained, four were singled out as terrorist suspects and accused of plotting to attack the Israeli team. This counterterrorism operation was coordinated along with the Kosovar police, which, for its part, arrested another 19 Muslims with the same excuse. Now a year later, Albania’s High Criminal Court has not been able to find any incriminating evidence for the arrests and therefore was forced to free them from jail and instead hold them under house arrest.

It seems that the detention by the Albanian authorities of four Muslim Albanians in 2016 was made based on false Israeli media claims, since now, a year later, no charge has been proven against the detainees.

Since 2014, the government of Albania has been very aggressive in arresting Sunni Muslims and surveilling their mosques and civil society organizations as part of its policies for “fighting terrorism”. Pressured by the American administration and U.S. Embassy in Tirana, the Albanian government has changed many of its laws, arrested and jailed dozens of Muslims and imams who “sympathize” with Daesh, confiscated properties belonging to terrorist suspects and with the help of the U.S. administration has put pressure on Muslims in Albania to cooperate and spy on other Muslims and imams who are seen as “potential terrorist supporters”. In its fight against terrorism, the Albanian government has been helped a lot by Turkey, which has extradited Daesh suspects to Albania when the government asked for their extradition.

However, while the Albanian government has been more than zealous in appeasing the Americans during their fight against terrorism and cracking down on Daesh sympathizers, it has not shown the same zeal for fighting other terrorist organizations that presently operate or have members hiding in the country.

Two foreign governments have accused Albania of hosting members of two terrorist organizations in the country. The first is Turkey, which has asked Albania to detain Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ) members and close their organizations in the country. The second is Iran, which has asked Albania to not host and at least to curb the activities of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist organization that advocates the violent overthrow of the current government of Iran.

FETÖ and the MEK are terrorist groups as much as Daesh is. These terrorist organizations seek to overthrow the governments of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran by means of violence and terrorism. Albanian Criminal Code Articles 231 and 265 condemn the participation, incitement, recruitment, organizing, leading and training in terrorism and calls for the overthrow of regimes in other countries. Daesh, FETÖ and the MEK do or have done these things during the past years against many governments in the Muslim world. However, while the governments of Turkey and Iran have demanded that Albania help them in their fight against terrorism, Albanian authorities have continuously failed to stick to their laws and fight terrorism impartially and without bias.

Even though the Turkish Embassy in Tirana and many Turkish authorities have continuously asked the Albanian government to crack down on FETÖ and detain terrorists who abetted the coup of July 15, 2016, Albanian authorities have neglected their duties. The latest example of this double standard was on Oct. 7, 2017, when Albanian border police detained Muhammed Aydoğmuş, a FETÖ suspect whom Turkey had placed on Interpol’s wanted list. Aydoğmuş, who was detained while trying to exit Albania with falsified documents after being found to be a FETÖ member, was released and not detained as both Albanian and Turkish law demands.

Apart from his crimes in Turkey, Aydoğmuş had committed two crimes according to Albanian Penal Code Articles 189 and 297, which carry a jail sentence from three to seven years for people who falsify documents and try to illegally cross the border. However, Aydoğmuş got special treatment from Albanian authorities. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and a number of Western officials asked Albania to release the FETÖ suspect with the excuse that his arrest was political. The Albanian government and its courts have so far refused requests by the Turkish Embassy in Tirana for his extradition and he is not even being held in detention for his crimes in Albania, as any other person might be.The double standards that Albania displays in its fight against terrorism can be seen even in the case of MEK that Albania hosted on the request of the U.S. after 2013. This organization, which was relocated in its entirety from Iraq to Albania in 2016, now has several camps in Tirana. They run different operations against Iran from these camps and the leader, Maryam Rajavi, and the commanders continuously call for the violent overthrow of the government of Iran. Prominent U.S. senators and officials, including John McCain and John Bolton, have visited Albania over the past months and together with Rajavi and a number of Albanian politicians such as Pandeli Majko and Fatmir Mediu have called for war against Iran.

What Rajavi and MEK does in Albania is exactly what many Salafists were doing in 2013 and 2014. The Salafists were calling for the violent overthrow of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and replacing his regime with their caliphate. Imam Genci Balla, one of the Salafist imams who was calling for the fight against Syria in 2013 has been jailed by the Court of Serious Crimes and condemned to 17 years in prison. He was arrested in 2014 and charged under Articles 231 and 265 of the Albanian Criminal Code. He and many of his friends were charged with inciting terrorism and for calls to take part in military action in a foreign country.

Many Salafist Muslims who followed Balla ask in their Facebook postings why their imam is in jail but the Iranian MEK, which makes the same calls as Balla did in the past, are never charged, but instead honored by American and Albanian politicians. Other people ask why Albania does not extradite FETÖ suspects to Turkey in the same way that Turkey extradited Daesh suspects to Albania in 2013.

The release of Aydoğmuş, who was caught breaking the law, and the detention on false charges of Fishti and Hasani by Albanian authorities shows that Albania has different standards in its fight against terrorism. If one happens to be an Albanian Salafist Muslim, the chances are that they can very easily be jailed on false charges and mere suspicion of being a terrorist, but if one is a FETÖ or the MEK member and are caught breaking the law or even making open calls for a terrorist war against Turkey or Iran, the Albanian precedent shows that they will not face justice for terrorist-related activities. It seems that for as long as U.S. foreign policy is hostile to the country in which one wants to wage their terrorism, Albania will obey and not punish them if they engage in terrorist activities.

Olsi Jazexhi, Daily Sabah

November 16, 2017 0 comments

Albania

The Mojahedin-Mafia coalition threatens media freedom, censorship of Ora News television

to download the video file click here

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton) exposing Maryam Rajavi’s MEK activities in Albania

The strength of the Iranian Mojahedin organization in Albania is unconscionable. The organization in question – known as the MKO, the MEK, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the Rajavi cult – not only wants the violent overthrow of the government of Iran, not only has it managed to recruit politicians, MPs and young Albanians in its campaign against Iran, but their power has already been extended to the media in Albania.

On November 8 and 9, the British activist and former member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, Anne Singleton – Khodabandeh, visited Albania. During her stay, she visited several institutions and gave several interviews to the Albanian media, showing her experience in the process of deradicalization of violent extremists. Anne Singleton was interviewed by several television outlets including Ora News and TemA TV. She, along with some former Mojahedin who have separated from the jihadist organization and have been deradicalized, provided interviews showing their experience and suffering in the Iranian jihadist organization and the reasons why they decided to abandon jihad.

The TemA TV and Ora News reportage was widely viewed so that the Mojahedin organization in Tirana demanded a counter-response to her allegations. But the reportage to be broadcast by one of these television channels never appeared. The Mojahedin not only refused to answer questions from the journalist who went to interview them but visited the media’s editorial office and “convinced” the owner not to show the interview of the British activist.

While Ora News featured an interview with the British activist on 12 November 2017. However, today, two days after the interview of British activist Anne Singleton the broadcast has been deleted by Ora News from its channel on Youtube and from the news edition of the date 12 November 2017. The Iranian Mojahedin, this cultic and jihadist organization operating freely in Albania, seems to have extended its power not only to corrupt Albanian politicians but also to Albanian media. What is being written here is not conspiracy theory, but fact. Below are the hidden links of Ora News television where Anne Singleton talked about her experience with the Iranian jihadist organization:

The news edition of Ora News where interviews were conducted:

http://www.oranews.tv/emisionet/edicioni-i-lajmeve/arrestimi-i-gjyqtarit-te-henen-para-gjykates-sekseri-qe-mori-20-mije-euro

News Page where the news was deleted:

http://www.oranews.tv/article/ekskluzive-pr-ora-news-anne-Singleton-muxhahedinet-po-rekrutojne-te-rinjte-shqiptare#.WgipuWBtZ84.facebook

Link to Youtube where news is deleted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Tu_JltAx8&feature=youtu.be

Here is the original interview in Ora News that was published by Gazeta Impakt:

Muxhahedinet iraniane kercenojne lirine e medias, censurojne televizionin Ora NewsGazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania, November 14 2017

November 15, 2017 0 comments

Ann Singleton Former members of the MEK

Exclusive for Ora News, Anne Singleton: Mojahedin Khalq are recruiting Albanian youth

Anne Singleton who introduces herself as a human rights activist who separated from the Mojahedin group, said in an interview with Ora News that this group is terrorist and is extremely dangerous for Albania. Singleton said the Mojahedin are recruiting young Albanians to use for their purposes. On the other hand, the Mujahedin group in Albania calls Anne Singleton an Iranian intelligence agent who spreads propaganda against the democratic opposition of Iran.

Ann Singleton

In May 2013, the first opposition group in Iran, the so-called Mojahedin, arrived in Albania. Today, more than 3,000 Mojahedin are being protected in Albania. Their arrival in Albania was accompanied by great debates due to poor public knowledge about their activities and after allegations of their designation as terrorists. But with the United States mediation, Albania accepted an agreement to shelter them. Anne Singleton, a British activist and human rights consultant, arrived in Albania to raise concerns about this group. Anne says she was part of this group and separated after having realized that their intention to oppose the Iranian regime democratically was deceptive. Singleton said the Mojahedin are currently recruiting young Albanians to use for their purposes. On the other hand, the representatives of the Mojahedin in Albania call her an Iranian agent who is trying to demonize the democratic opposition to the Iranian regime. According to the Mojahedin in Albania, Anne Singleton, and her husband Massoud Khodabandeh, are two agents of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS), who are based in London. According to the Mojahedin, the Pentagon has also called them agents of the Iranian intelligence services who were recruited by the Mojahedin group and who were used as anti-opposition activists.

Interview for Ora-News

What is the purpose of your visit to Albania?

I came to Albania because of the scandal, if we can call it this, caused by the presence of the Mojahedin in Albania. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on and trying to help members who want to leave this organization to do so safely.

What is this organization to you?

I was a member of this organization for 20 years. I was recruited as a student. My visit is about a terrorist group which believes in the violent overthrow of the Iranian government and for 40 years has a history of violence. For the past 15 years I have been trying to expose the true nature of this group and to help members who want to leave.

Why did they come to Albania?

The Mojahedin have come to Albania because they have been expelled from Iraq. After 2003 they lost Saddam Hussein’s protection and therefore had to leave. The Iraqi government thought the group should be broken up, however the Americans thought the Mojahedin were in favor of their anti-Iran agenda and apparently found a third country to host them, which was Albania.

Why Albania?

Because no one else was prepared to accept them. Your government has received money from the Americans to shelter a former terrorist group in your capital.

We do not know much about the agreement Albania has made with the United States. Why are they so mysterious? Why do we not know much about them?

The first thing that goes through my mind is to say that whatever they do is illegal. Originally, they came from Iraq to Albania under a secret deal between the US, Albanian government, and the Mojahedin. Nobody knows what this agreement is or if it exists. What we are concerned about is that the Mojahedin have come, through this agreement, as a group, which means they do not have individual status and in fact they have no status in Albania. A piece of paper said they were brought on humanitarian grounds, but that does not mean anything. You cannot work with it, you cannot access anywhere, you cannot have a passport with it. If we follow this logic, they were brought to this country illegally as if they were trafficked. They were trafficked as a group without any status through this deal about which no one knows anything. And the Mojahedin themselves are a secret organization because of the cultic nature of the group – what you call in Albanian a sect.

Then why are they living in bad conditions? Are they funded and by whom?

The Mojahedin have never been an independent group. They were funded by Saddam Hussein. He paid for them, supplied arms, they were under Saddam Hussein’s patronage. But in addition, Saudi princes have always funded the group. There have been funds from anti-Iran elements, from America, Israel, support from the anti-Iran front, but I can assure you that this money never goes to the members. They are not paid, they are somehow, modern slaves, gladiators.

What is the risk that Albania is taking by protecting them?

The risk that Albania is taking is greater than you understand, or even what your government understands. At superficial levels, the Mojahedin present themselves as democrats, as human rights defenders, and want to introduce themselves as an alternative to the Iranian regime about which they tell many lies, about how repressive it is. I am not saying that the Iranian regime does not use repressive methods but not to the extent that the Mojahedin say. The reality is very different. The Mojahedin have never given up on their belief, and it is the blind belief of the entire organization, in violent regime change. How can you say they are democratic if they believe in changing the regime by force? Within the organization, their structure is hierarchical. They have the leader who is there for life. This is a criminal organization. Their expertise, apart from terrorism, assassinations – because they were involved in the killings of nuclear scientists in Iran, and their history of American assassinations before the revolution – this expertise has been used by ISIS, AL Qaeda, and it facilitates terrorism. Although they are not now in a position to undertake terrorist acts in Albania, they are experts in human trafficking, money laundering. They have the expertise to teach organizations how to manipulate their members, to use suicides, which they were the first to invent. In addition, as a result of its cultic nature, this group poses a risk to society. You may ask how? Why? We look at them in the streets and they do nothing to anyone… But they are recruiting your youth, young Albanians, to join this organization, as I did years ago, and work for them for nothing in return.

What do you suggest? To drive them out?

The Mojahedin leadership is very close to the Americans, and the Americans are very close to your government, so… The European Union is very concerned about the Mojahedin in Albania for two reasons, one because Albania has applied to join the EU, which will not will happen for as long as this group is in Albania. But besides this, they know the Mojahedin well. They know this group is dangerous, they know it represents a threat to parliamentary democracy and to society, and they want to see it dismantled, or not in Albania.

Sonil Frashëri, Ora News, Tirana, Albania ,Translated by Iran Interlink

November 14, 2017 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Massoud Khodabandeh responds to MEK ‘s defamations in the Gazeta TemA newspaper

Dear Sir/Madam

I have been informed by colleagues in Tirana that you have published a defamatory post

http://www.gazetatema.net

against me (Massoud Khodabandeh) and my wife (Anne Khodabandeh nee Singleton). This is not entirely unexpected since the MEK always attack their critics rather than answering their criticisms. I am, however, surprised that you did not take the trouble to contact either me or Anne for any clarification of the libelous comments made in this piece. I guess the fight against fake news has not reached your outlet yet.

Interestingly, the libellous allegations in this post are based on ‘reports’ purported to come from the United States Ministry of Defense (Pentagon) and The Library of the US Congress. They do not. They are fake. Did you not think for a moment to check these sources – perhaps with the military attaché in the American Embassy in Tirana? For your information, reports in the Library of the US Congress are available to the public. No such report exists there.

In any case, a simple check on our background would show that we are British citizens living in the same house for sixteen years in the UK. The claim, therefore, that the American authorities have been after me from 2013 should have alerted any decent journalist. The idea that we are British citizens who have not been investigated and imprisoned as spies for a foreign country – one for which the UK has a large degree of enmity – which is the central allegation of your article, is bizarre at best and indeed stretches the imagination of any normal person.

My background is widely known. I left the MEK while they still enjoyed the brutal support of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. When I left I was a high-ranking member of the Central Committee, member of the political wing (NCRI) and was head of the security of the leadership of the organisation. Since 2003 and the fall of Saddam I have been working as a consultant with the department in the Government of Iraq responsible expulsion of the MEK from that country how to facilitate this event as safely and securely as possible. A mission, I am glad to say we succeeded in.

Anne was also a member of this organisation and underwent military training in the terrorist camp of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. She spent many years in the MEK’s so-called public relations department. We met and married after leaving the MEK. Anne currently works as a consultant under the UK government Prevent Duty helping to prevent young people from being recruited into violent extremism, terrorist entities and foreign struggles which will rob them of their futures and sometimes their lives. She has just visited your country on a mandate given to her by European Members of Parliament to report back on the situation of the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (aka MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult, Saddam’s Private Army) in Albania.

However, again I remind you of basic journalistic principles. You failed to inform your readers that Farid Toutonchi – the author – is an active member of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation. We managed to have him expelled from Iraq along with the other members of the group. The Americans then dumped them on your country. No doubt his status in your country – like that of the other MEK – will become clear when he appears in court to answer for this libellous article.

You also failed to mention that the appearance of this ridiculous piece coincided with interviews with Albanian media by three ex-MEK members who finally managed to escape twenty-five years of slavery with this group.

You have also failed to inform your readers that there is no evidence whatsoever of any of the libellous allegations against myself and my wife in any official or reliable source (i.e., not the MEK’s own websites). Instead, you have mentioned our website Iran-Interlink.org (a site preceding the existence of your site by far) but did not mention that this organisation has and is helping the victims and the families of the victims of Mojahedin Khalq. Through Iran-Interlink, we are now helping enslaved MEK members gain their freedom. Is this considered espionage in Albania? The contact details for this site are also easily available.

Dear Sir/Madam,

The Mojahedin Khalq have been deported from Iraq to your country to be deradicalized. Your government had even been paid for this task. This did not happen. Instead we see well known American war-mongers are now reviving this terrorist organisation against Iran as they have done with many others against Turkey, Iraq and Syria.

Anne has visited Albania to warn of MEK activities there. Of particular concern is the recruitment of young Albanians to serve the group. With first-hand knowledge of this she is able to alert civil groups how this takes place and how to prevent this from happening.

With this in mind, the best way to determine what the MEK is actually doing in Albania is to arrange a live media debate between Anne and MEK leader Maryam Rajavi – or one of her followers – so that the truth can be brought into the public arena. Anne will explain her task to establish legal status for Rajavi’s followers in your country and warn against recruitment. Maryam Rajavi might then explain to the Albanian people why she is calling for war and terrorism from their country. The citizens of Albania are already deeply suspicious of the strange behaviour and secretive activities of this group. An explanation by Rajavi in the media would go a long way to clarify for them who the group is and what they are doing in the country. Although I suspect that all this would do is to further convince Albanian civil society that they do not want such a controversial, provocative and secretive group living alongside their families, their children and their youth.

With our help, over a thousand MEK members have escaped this group in the past decade. If there is still any doubt about the integrity of myself and my wife, I suggest you invite these formers to speak about their experiences.

I have briefed my lawyer on this issue and am sending a copy of this letter to the Albanian Embassy in London seeking clarification on the situation of Albanian justice regarding such matters.

Yours sincerely,

Massoud Khodabandeh

Gazeta Impakt,

November 13, 2017 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 211

++ The MEK’s television channel has aired many programmes asking supporters for money. The adverts present various individuals who have already paid. The response among Farsi speakers is that ‘there is no need to go to this pretense, we all know you are doing money laundry’. For many years the MEK has pretended that its members and supporters are the source of its income. But it is public knowledge that the money is from Saudi Arabia and Israel. Even in the years 1995-6 when the UK Charity Commission investigated and closed the bogus Iran Aid charity, it was obvious to everyone that this was a money laundry front. Clearly, the MEK now has new money coming and these TV programmes are aired to disguise where it’s from.

++ Iran’s Day of Koroush (Cyrus the Great) came and went before the MEK suddenly realised they had missed the bandwagon. So, this week they tried to catch up. The Commentariat ridiculed them. Most pointed out ‘you were anti-monarchist when you started, now what’s all this about Koroush’? Some went on to say that ‘Koroush didn’t sell his country for pennies, didn’t lick his enemies’ boots and didn’t force his soldiers to divorce or use them as forced labour etc. In fact, he was symbol of human rights and tolerance. You are famous for abusing human rights’.

++ This week a group of MEK formers had a meeting in the European Parliament exposing the MEK. They acted as an echo for the voices of the people in Albania about the human rights abuses going on inside the MEK.

In English:

++ Anne Khodabandeh visited Tirana last week to investigate the scandalous situation of former MEK members in Albania. She had an opportunity to speak with some officials responsible for the MEK, though all were afraid to speak on the record. Khodabandeh was interviewed by several media outlets, television, internet and newspapers. Some had their output censored by senior editors and media owners. (Ironically, Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations was in Tirana from 8 to 10 November to participate in the EU-Western Balkans Media Days – aimed at strengthening freedom of speech and media independence.)

++ Gazeta Impakt broadcast a two-part interview on the MEK in Albania. In the first, Anne Khodabandeh talked about a range of issues, including the illegal trafficking of the whole MEK to Albania. She said that since they do not have UN refugee status they have no legal status in the country. She also mentioned that there is already evidence of the MEK recruiting young people in Albania to join their cult. The second part involved the testimony of three former MEK members. Adel Azami, Bahram Azami (cousins) and Sadollah Seifi, who all come from the same village in Iranian Kurdistan and joined the MEK together twenty-six years ago. They each explained how they had been deceived by false propaganda by the MEK and spent all those years trapped in the organisation. Adel escaped five years ago and is now resident in the UK. The other two escaped the MEK only weeks ago and are now on the difficult road to recovery. Anne Khodabandeh was on hand to clarify certain issues and to say that anyone leaving the MEK would be supported by the families’ Sahar Family Foundation.

++ “Nejat Society members of Khuzestan branch met Sheikh Mansuri family. Their beloved son; Nesar was a POW of Iran-Iraq war when the MKO recruiters deceived him into joining the cult. He is taken hostage by the Cult of Rajavi now for long years.

I am sure my brother loves his family; says Ms. Samira Mansuri, Nesar’s sister. She recounted the story of their last visit to the MKO Camp Liberty in Iraq:

‘we were picketing in front of the Camp Liberty gates along with other families. All the families wrote and signed petitions to the UNHCR asking for a visit with our loved ones’. The UNHCR representative, however, quoting the MKO cult leaders, said that the members were unwilling to visit you. And we can do nothing… We were all sure that the cult leaders do not tell the truth. And our beloved family members were under severe pressure and manipulation of the cult.’

Nesar regularly wrote letter to us when he was captive in the Baath prison Camps. However as soon as he transferred to the MKO Camps, the Rajavis didn’t allow him to write a letter or contact his family.”

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers writes to answer the question ‘What caused the decline of the cult of Rajavi?’ by explaining how cults work. He starts by explaining that people do not join cults but are deceptively recruited and often spend years trapped in the group afterwards. He says the process is gradual. “The leaders of the group Massoud and Maryam Rajavi ran very meticulous methods of brainwashing to indoctrinate their cult-like ideas. The more the group members endured cult-like practices, the more they lost their trust to the outside world.” Parsi tells why forced celibacy is used in the MEK. However, after 2003, the MEK’s hypocrisy became clear for the members and many began to escape the cult a process that is still ongoing. Parsi concludes: “Doubts about the group’s leaders and their ideology was enhanced when members found themselves in a rather free world in Tirana. They could see the normal life of ordinary normal citizens whenever they could manage to get out of the group’s camp –although under sever supervision and control of their superior ranks. Hence, they got informed of the aspects of violations of human rights that the leaders of the Cult of Rajavi committed against them. This instigated the second and hopefully last stage in the decline of the cult of Rajavi.”

++ Richard Silverstein in Tikun Olam mentions the MEK’s role in the Iran nuclear deal now that Donald Trump is trying to scupper the deal. (Trump and Iran Nuclear Deal: ‘On the Road to Nowhere’.)

“Many analysts believe that MeK’s mysterious largesse originated in the treasury of the Saudi regime, a sworn enemy of the Iran’s Shia regime. NBC, quoting Obama administration sources, claimed the Mossad was an important funder as well. Meir Dagan, Israel’s former Mossad chief, publicly boasted of Israeli acts of terrorism sponsored inside Iran. Clearly, these sorts of operations need Iranian insiders and MeK is a likely culprit. The same NBC report asserted that the MeK participated in the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists. I reported here, based on a high-level Israeli former military officer, that the Mossad and MeK jointly coordinated the attacks. Other journalists have reported that the Saudis gave Israel $1-billion for various operations to sabotage Iran’s nuclear program including the assassinations and the Stuxnet malware attack.

“It would be totally in character for the MeK to accept funding from Iran’s enemies, as it was once sheltered in Iraq by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.”

November 10, 2017

November 13, 2017 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

MKO Cult hostage brother recounts his ordeals

Mr. Nader Zare whose beloved brother; Fereydoun is enslaved by the Cult of Mujahedin-e Khalq met the Nejat Society members at Nejat office of Khuzestan branch.

Nejat Society members clarified the situation of MKO members in Albania as well as the fragile situation of the cult there. Mr. Zare thanked the Nejat Society members’ efforts on liberating those enslaved within the bars of Mujaheidn-e Khalq Cult.

Mr. Zare recounted his ordeals:” I have traveled to MKO Camps in Iraq 11 times. I could witness the cult-like nature of the group. Once in 2003 I managed to enter the MKO Camp Ashraf and visit my brother. Fereydoun was disabled from both legs. We couldn’t talk freely with each other since the cult elements were with us everywhere… a person called Rashid was one of my brother’s higher level responsible. I told him:” Fereydoun is disabled from both legs. He is of no use to your organization. My aging mother is ill. Let me take him with me. Rashid smiled and told me with a shout: ”take him if you can..”

Then I asked Fereydoun to come with me. Fereydoun however threw his head down and replied me while tearing:” I cannot”

November 12, 2017 0 comments

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