++ 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

++ Politically, the MEK have been flying the flag for Syria this week, working hard to promote the West’s Aleppo agenda. Farsi commentators have suggested that the MEK did the same propaganda work for Saddam hoping the West would pay them, but see what happened to him. Not only will the MEK get nothing for promoting the Syrian issue, but it appears they have forgotten who they are and what they are for.

++ A further backlash occurred in Tirana. Maryam Rajavi has been pumping up her followers with promises that now Donald Trump has been elected as US President he has ‘personally assured me’ that he will help the MEK. However, now that Rudy Giuliani is out of the picture, it is clear there is no substance to her claims and the members have become deflated and depressed again.

++ In Tirana, the MEK is working flat out to somehow prevent any families from Europe or North America, or anywhere, from visiting Albania. They are very afraid of this happening.

++ Also in Tirana, former members have issued a collective statement warning about Rajavi’s new phase which involves intimidation and threats to kill former MEK members living in Albania. Gangs of MEK follow them in the street, swear at them and make life difficult for them in any way possible. Now the MEK are activated in this way their history shows there is a very real threat to the formers. The MEK have previously harmed, seriously injured and killed dissenters in Europe.

++ The MEK has trafficked several of its operatives out of Albania. Some have been seen in Sweden collecting money in the streets. One member of the public who had been approached for a charity donation showed the documentation used by the MEK to a former member who lives in Stockholm. He reported that the MEK does not use its own logo and instead prints Swedish governmental charity logos on its (false) documentation. They ask for National Insurance numbers and bank account details to process donations. The donations are demanded using ridiculous stories such as ‘there are over a thousand people on death row in Iran and if you don’t pay to help them immediately, they will die’. Three of these MEK members were recognised by the Stockholm resident as fully radicalised operatives, trained by Saddam’s Mokhaberat in dissembling, bomb making and assassination techniques among other skills. They use local MEK supporters as interpreters.

++ Neda-ye Haghighat website is running a project to collect the names, stories and photographs of internal victims of the MEK – those killed internally in one way or another. Each week the site publishes their stories along with evidence. This week, number 25 and 26 were published: the stories of Alireza Taherlou and Morteza Houdashtban who were killed by the MEK in Camp Ashraf whilst being imprisoned for dissent.

In English:

++ Will Bredderman in Observer Media reported that Rudi Giuliani had “had voluntarily ‘removed his name from consideration for a position in the new administration’ all the way back on November 29”. “… Giuliani, Trump and White House chief of staff-to-be Reince Priebus released a joint statement announcing the decision late today, an age-old practice for burying unflattering news. Priebus, the outgoing chairman of the Republican National Committee, stated that America’s mayor ‘was vetted by our team for any possible conflicts and passed with flying colors’— despite the payments he and his company Giuliani Partners have received from the Islamic State-funding government of Qatar or the registered terrorist group Mujahedin e-Khalq, a banished Iranian political party.”

++ An Open Letter to Baroness Afshar by Anne Khodabandeh of Open Minds and published by Iran Interlink commiserated with the respected Iranian women’s rights advocate over a debate she called in the House of Lords last week. Whilst the other participants echoed her call for the UK government to put diplomatic pressure on Iran over its human rights record, Lord Alton, without a qualm of conscience, entered the debate by promoting and praising Maryam Rajavi and her “commitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to other international instruments”. Khodabandeh described this as ‘throwing a mouse in the stew’ after a Persian proverb. “Rather than enjoying a free and productive discussion about human rights in Iran, the whole debate was contaminated by Lord Alton’s unwarranted support for a terrorist group which is known far and wide for its war crimes and crimes against humanity. We cannot now expect Iran not to take advantage of this speech and denounce the UK for double standards and supporting a terrorist group.”

++ Daniel Benjamin’s second article in Politico Magazine ‘Yes, We Do Know the MEK Has a Terrorist Past’ completely refuted an attempt by Robert Torricelli to do “what the group’s supporters always do: He rewrites history, and then smears the group’s critics”. Benjamin uses several examples of US governmental and academic assessments of the MEK’s sordid and bloody history over decades to trounce Torricelli’s attempts to whitewash the group’s past. He concludes “It’s probably too much to ask that Robert Torricelli or any of the renowned political figures supporting the MEK reconsider their views. But others in Congress and the public ought to consult the abundance of evidence of the MEK’s troubling history, including the abuse of its members relayed in reports by such observers as Human Rights Watch and the account of its efforts to buy influence on Capitol Hill contained in the memoir by former Congressman (and onetime Iran-based CIA operative) Robert Ney. A more informed debate about the MEK might start there.”

December 16 2016