++ MEK former Mohammad Karami reported from Tirana that three women from the MEK’s Leadership Council have separated from the group. The MEK have tried to hide this and threatened the women with ‘the Pentagon’ [sic] to silence them. The MEK’s newspaper published a photograph of one of the women alongside some faked comments attributed to her so that they could accuse her of lying – character assassination. The woman has contacted her family and explained how this misinformation cannot be true. She also told them she is struggling because Albanian authorities exert pressure on anyone who leaves and have even assigned security personnel to help the MEK keep members under control.

++ There has been reaction to Rajavi’s Christmas message. Commentators remind us that over the years Rajavi sent several Christian Iranians to their death because they would not convert to become Shias in the organisation. Such victims include survivor Edvard Thermador in Germany and Phillip who was killed by the MEK in Iraq.

++ The reaction to an open letter to Donald Trump from thirty “members of the Iranian opposition, including human rights activists and former political prisoners” has been quite precisely divided. Only the MEK felt jealous and wished they had also jumped on this bandwagon. They even got frontman Ali Safavi a slot on Fox News to say as much. However, every other Iranian person, personality, group, business, charity, housewife or leader has universally condemned the letter and poured scorn on its authors in various ways – as nobodies, as traitors, as etc.

In English:

++ Massoud Khodabandeh wrote an article denouncing the MEK’s act of introducing fake information into the investigation into what really happened in Aleppo over the past few months. Such fake information can only derail a genuine fact-finding mission. Khodabandeh gives several examples of previous occasions when the MEK’s fake information undermined and impeded important issues for political reasons.

December 30, 2016

++ Over the past week the MEK continued its support for Al Nusra fighters in Aleppo and its condemnation of Iran’s role in freeing the city. In addition to internet promotion, the MEK sent small teams, buttressed by paid support, to wave flags at pickets outside various locations including Iranian embassies in Western capitals. There was no official reaction from Iran although the Iranian ambassador in London broke off from an interview about other matters to mention the MEK. He explained that the MEK is being used by a group called United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) in the hope that this kind of thing will provoke popular hatred in Tehran and people might come out in the streets and demonstrate against Britain or other countries. They should be sure that will never happen, said the ambassador.

++ Several people commented on the MEK’s photoshopped promotion of the flag-waving activities mentioned above. They say, what Maryam Rajavi really meant by her announcement in Tirana of the ‘Political Assault’, is actually an advertising campaign to find a buyer for her group. This buyer could be linked to Syria or any other area of conflict, she doesn’t care. But apparently, she has no buyers lined up. Some writers also say that Maryam Rajavi was faced by questions in Tirana, such as ‘why has Iran slipped off our agenda?’ She answered that ‘yes, we will topple the Iranian regime, but first we [sic] have to topple the Syrian regime’. Commentators remind us that she said something similar while the MEK were in Iraq. She insisted the MEK remain in Iraq because the MEK could only topple the Iranian regime after toppling the Maliki regime in Iraq.

++ In Iran, the University of Maybod, Yazd, held a symposium on ‘threats to society’. The event included the MEK and the culture of cults, how they operate and what students should be aware of. Ebrahim Khodabandeh delivered a keynote speech and conducted a workshop with the students. He highlighted two important issues as particularly relevant. 1. Now that the MEK has lost its stronghold in Iraq the group is trying to buy or fool Iranian students to join them just to prove the group is still alive. The MEK uses telephone and social media etc to try to recruit unsuspecting youth. 2. Khodabandeh emphasised that one of the benefits of the MEK move to Tirana has been that they are safe from the dangers of Iraq. But the down side is that Tirana is not open to the families as Iraq was. It is a closed environment and is under the influence of Israel and the supporters of the MEK. This does not mean, however, that the families will not prevail and rescue their loved ones, just like hundreds before them have.

++ MEK formers from Tirana report that Mehdi Abrishamchi (Maryam Rajavi’s ex-husband) has been dispatched to Albania where he has staged compulsory meetings for all the members. He has adopted the role of ‘thug’ and screamed and sworn and threatened the members to intimidate them so they will not run away.

++ On 9 December, Maryam Rajavi had a closed-door meeting in the European Parliament along with the one MEP who booked the room for her. The permanent Iraqi reporter at the EP tried to get in the room to report the meeting. He was insulted and refused entry. He complained to the office of the Head of the EP which intervened. Maryam Rajavi ran away and hid in the MEP’s office. They later smuggled her out so she would not have to answer any questions. The reporter said he will pursue this issue further.

++ Nader Naderi from a group of MEK formers in France has written a detailed comment on the MEK’s reports on American anti-Iran warmongers and the UANI group. Under the title ‘from killing Americans to begging for a low-grade job from them’, he reminds us of where the MEK were and where they are now. He details their history with evidence – the slogans, publications and songs glorifying killing Americans which the MEK promoted even after the revolution (which they deny). Now, says Naderi, the MEK’s campaigns on their current sites promote Israel and Netanyahu. Commenting on the warmongers and UANI group which support the MEK he says ‘We must wonder at those Americans who for a few dollars will sell their dignity like this’.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi writing for Nejat Society writes ‘How dogmatism stops the production of thought in the MKO’. The article explores the role of dogmatism and closed-mindedness in cult organisation. Parsi explains that Massoud Rajavi’s own dogmatism was replicated across the whole MEK organisation and tolerance was replaced by violence which extended through the whole existence of the group including against its own members. Other effects of this are the damage to the minds of members who protect their beliefs and never question them. Parsi, however, points out that such dogmatism is usually founded on fallacy which the fanatic refuses to question with debate or argument. Such mentality damages not only the victim but their family too since they are deliberately estranged by this uncompromising way of thinking. The result will be the inevitable decline of the members and the group.

++ Nejat Society has published No. 41 of its News Letter. Nejat exists to help families of MEK members to find and rescue their loved ones from the Rajavi cult.

Inside This Issue:

1- MKO ex-member in Koln University

2- RC: MEK members in Albania have no access to the outside world

3- CIA, Mossad and MEK Assassinated Iran’s Top Nuclear Scientist Majid Shahriari

4- The MEK and Its American Fans

5- Open letters to Axel Fischer, about MKO invitation to attend Rajavi’s carnival on November 26

6- Trump’s top picks for key posts back anti-Iran terror group

7- About Nejat Society

8- On the occasion of the Int. Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

++ Nejat Society announced that Abdolreza Zahedi is the latest MEK member to leave the group in Albania. His mother confirmed this news and shed tears of joy to be in contact with her son again. She said, ‘I wished Abdolreza’s father was alive and we could share our happiness after long years of suffering’. She insisted that she will continue her efforts to help her dear son repatriate to his homeland.

December 23, 2016