Page 322 – Nejat Society

Using Mojahedin Khalq made the Americans look extremely hypocritical

‘US needs help to disentangle from Syrian misadventures’

Iran nuclear talks drew to a close and a historic agreement was reached between Iran and P5+1 and the deal was implemented, but the opponents, from the Israeli Prme Minister and Saudi Arabia to Iran hawks in US congress to the Iranian terrorist groups functioning unhindered in the West, went out of their ways to sabotage the agreement from the very beginning.

A Beirut-based commentator and analyst covering Middle East geopolitics says Saudi Arabia and Israel were desperate to strike a blow at Iran’s further international ‘rehabilitation’. Holding a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University, Sharmin Narwani says the deal was also struck as the US and its allies “desperately needed the support of rational, capable parties within the Middle East to help disentangle from their Syrian misadventures.”

In the following interview with Habilian Association, Narwani speaks about those who’ve failed to influence the deal. Having a great knowledge of Iranian society, she also touches upon the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) and describes them as “useful to the deal spoilers” who lacks any kind of support in Iran.

1. What is your take on the opponents of Iran nuclear deal before the agreement was reached between Iran and P5+1?

The primary opponents of the P5+1-Iran negotiations were Saudi Arabia and Israel – these two states were on the forefront of a large-scale propaganda campaign intended to derail the talks and prevent a deal from being struck. Their motivations were entirely political as both states actively seek to undermine Iranian influence in the Middle East and beyond. Both states view growing Iranian clout as a direct and existential threat to their nations, and to their ability to manipulate the region to advantage. During the one and a half years of negotiations, the Islamic Republic was in ascendency in the region, while Saudi Arabia and Israel were hemorrhaging credibility – even with their western allies. Their desperation to therefore strike a blow at Iran’s further international ‘rehabilitation’ was even more urgent than usual, and they were successful, on the surface at least, of gaining public support from at least one P5 member state, France. The French took some very hardline public postures – they managed to secure some large weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and Qatar during this period – but behind the scenes and at the actual negotiating table, I am told they barely made a peep.

2. How do you assess such activities after the agreement was reached? What are their post-Iran-deal plans?

Of course the French came into line immediately post-deal, mainly to try to gain a piece of the Iranian post-sanctions-relief economic pie. I believe France’s Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius may have even been the first P5+1 official to visit Iran. You can see from the slew of western officials and business delegations making pilgrimages to Tehran in the immediate aftermath of the Vienna deal, that commerce is of paramount importance to these states suffering from stagnant economies.

Economic considerations aside, this deal was also struck because the US and its allies desperately needed the support of rational, capable parties within the Middle East to help disentangle from their Syrian misadventures. By mid-2012, the US and its western allies suddenly realized that Syria would not be a quick ‘regime-change’ operation and were starting to grow concerned about the proliferation of jihadis and other extremists outside of their control, most of them armed, funded and supported by western allies in the Persian Gulf and Turkey. That’s when the US reached out to Iran in a secret meeting in Oman. So I think another consideration for the P5+1 is definitely to gain Iran’s assistance in helping to put out some of these fires. Iran will help, in the sense that eradicating political violence, re-stabilizing states and halting extremism is high on its priority list, but it is important to understand that western goals are not the same. The west is perfectly happy with weakened Mideast states – it just doesn’t want the extremism it has spawned to breach its own borders. At the present moment, the nuclear deal has been helpful in that the US can openly work in the same military theaters (Syria, Iraq) with Iran without a confrontation breaking out between the two. This is a direct result of Vienna.

3. Please tell me what do you think of Netanyahu’s March 2015 address to the US Congress over Iran accord?

I didn’t watch the speech – Netanyahu never has anything interesting or truthful to say. I did, however, watch the circus around it, and I have to say that if I was an American I would be seriously appalled at the pandering of my elected officials to a foreign official. I do think Netanyahu was a net loser by giving that speech. He created a contentious split in the American body politic and gained acrimony instead of galvanizing support. Clearly he lost, as the Iran nuclear agreement is a reality today. But it would be a mistake to write off Netanyahu. He – and his allies in the US and elsewhere – intend to exploit every opportunity, at every turn of this agreement, to put a wrench in the works. One way to do this is to undermine the ‘spirit’ of this deal, which we are seeing at the moment with further sanctions talk, threats about Iran’s missile program, and the ridiculous visa restriction measure that was signed into law by Obama a few weeks ago…

4. What is your opinion about the activities of Iranian groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, aka MKO) against this agreement?

I was in Vienna covering the final round of talks and there were some MEK people around with their usual stunts. I don’t really see this group as significant in any way. They are useful to the deal spoilers only insofar as they provide them with token ‘Iranians’ to parrot more anti-Iran propaganda. The MEK’s main interest is in constant demonization of the Iranian government because it enhances their funding opportunities and gives them access to some rather shifty ‘policymaking’ rooms in the west. So Vienna was a valuable platform for them – it probably earned them a few extra dollars. They make good parrots, but nothing more.

5. What is your take on the MEK which was until recently listed as a foreign terrorist organization in the US and is now functioning unhindered in the US and European countries?

Look, the MEK doesn’t really figure into any serious analyst’s calculations on anything to do with Iran. They are an extremely marginalized group within Iran – in all my visits to the country over the years, I have never heard a supportive word for the MEK from a single Iranian. On the contrary, Iranians tend to view them as traitors for fighting alongside Saddam Hussein’s military in an aggressive 8-year war that saw hundreds of thousands of Iranians die. So there is no love lost for the MEK inside Iran. Furthermore, the group’s support comes almost exclusively from foreign adversaries of Iran, which adds to the perception of MEK treachery.

Even when the organization was listed as a terrorist group in the west, it continued to function under different aliases, with the tacit approval of its western hosts. It has only ever been used as a tool by the west, to be pulled out when these states want a ‘lever’ against Iran. Look at the delisting in the US…it took place in late 2012, a few months after Washington had initiated quiet meetings in Oman with Ahmadinejad’s government which ultimately was the ‘opening’ that led to this nuclear deal. The Americans delisted MEK so they could have a pressure ‘card’ in their hand – to show the Iranians the US was willing to escalate if the Iranians didn’t fall into line. But Iran is well-versed in US tactics. I can’t imagine this bothered them much – though it did make the Americans look extremely hypocritical on their “War on Terror.” After all, the MEK had killed US citizens in Iran in the 1970s, attacked US soil in 1992, and continues to abuse its own members. This was the State Department’s very language when they delisted the group.

Listed or delisted, the MEK remains exactly the same. It always enjoyed western cover of sorts. Like many other western-groomed ‘opposition’ groups based outside the Middle East, it will be employed opportunistically by its hosts, and cut off when it is no longer of use.

Sharmine Narwani,

January 23, 2016 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 130

++ Former MEK Leadership Council member Maryam Sanjabi has published an autobiographical book in Iran titled ‘The Mirage of Freedom’ about her life with the MEK. The book is in Farsi.

++ A few items have been written anticipating the end of Massoud Rajavi’s career now that the nuclear issue has ended. They say, even though he is trying to jump on the human rights, bandwagon, with his background he is at the back of the queue. He was militarily dead after Saddam died, now he’s politically dead.

++ Every week Maryam Rajavi fabricates the support of one group of people or another; distinct from paid supporters. This week she claims that MEK supporters in Tabriz have asked the Americans to invade the area to liberate them. In reaction, a few people writing from Tabriz and elsewhere have ridiculed this. “There is nobody here from the MEK” they say, “the MEK are hated. Even when we do hold demonstrations it has nothing to do with the MEK.”

++ The series of interviews Davoud Arshad had with Alireza Nourizadeh over the past few weeks are done. Now the MEK have launched a vitriolic attack Nourizadeh in every one of their sites; tens of pages swearing at him and fabricating lies against him. Commentators say it is ironic that Nourizadeh is close to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and that while on one hand the MEK are trying to smooch the Saudis, they can’t stop attacking people close to them either. “Let this be a warning to the Saudis. Use the MEK and this is what you get – the MEK will bite the hand that feeds it.”

++ The funeral of Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi will be held on Saturday 23 January after he succumbed to cancer. Former member of the NCRI, Mohammad Reza Rohani, responded with a short, curt note titled ‘Mr Rajavi why don’t you write with your own name?’ Rohani explains that all this swearing at Mohammad Rahimi is from Rajavi himself but that he has it published under everyone else’s name like Mehdi Abrishamchi. “You still claim to be Muslim? I remind you, the prophet said ‘once someone has died, leave them alone’. But you can’t do that, you have to keep at it. This begs the question, is this swearing about him or issued as a warning against others doing the same thing he did?”

There is a spectrum of MEK and formers who have reacted to Massoud Khodabandeh’s article ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. The old red line between the internal critics and the ex-members is the same of course, nothing has changed there. But inside the MEK, with the appearance of this new red line, there is chaos. On the surface, internal critics all agree about Mohammad Rahimi’s heroic struggle against the Iranian regime. But beyond this there are clearly two camps. Some ask ‘why did Rajavi not allow him bring his wife to be with her son?’ These people recognise a red line. They realise now that even as a supporter you can’t ask for anything or you’ll be labelled an ‘agent of the Iranian regime’. Some others in this camp simply say, ‘he’s dead, let’s forget it and move on’. But the MEK has been badly burned by the exposure that this new red line has come inside the organisation itself. To sort this out the MEK – which long ago infiltrated the so-called circles of internal critics – has tried pretend that Mohammad Rahimi has nothing to do with the MEK and therefore there is no such thing as a red line. A memorial letter has been signed by tens of sympathetic people which does not mention the MEK at all, as though he wasn’t a member for decades. Signatories include the Matin Daftarys- former members of the NCRI – who have signed it out of good will, but whose names act to dilute Mohammad Rahimi’s association with the MEK. This kind of activity is particularly targeted at the English speaking audience.

The effect of this whole affair has been to create doubt, confusion and infighting to the extent that nobody in the MEK is capable of paying any attention to Massoud Rajavi. He has lost his hold over the members and supporters. We will expect to see an internal crackdown fairly soon.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi writing in Nejat Bloggers analyses ‘New Evidence on Mojahedin Khalq-Israel Alliance to Thwart Nuclear Deal’. Parsi writes that “Attempts by Israel and American GOP and also the mujahedin Khalq organization (the MKO) to push the West towards more hostility against Islamic Republic have so far failed… The outcome of the deal was very appalling for the three above- mentioned groups. It was a failure for the Israeli lobby AIPAC and the MKO’s lobby who had spent large amounts of money for their lobbying campaigns to obstruct the deal. Their target audience in the congress are paid large sums to run the anti-Iran agenda.” Parsi then exposes the corruption of Republican Senator Tom Cotton in this campaign, referencing Eli Clifton who wrote about this in Lobelog in March 2015 in an article titled ‘Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK’.

++ Nejat Society reports “Two brothers, defected from Mojahedin Khalq. The Bahadori brothers have now returned to their home town Jolfa, Eastern Azarbayjan.

Shahram and Shahrouz Bahadori were warmly welcomed by their family after 14 years of imprisonment in the camps of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO). The Bahadori brothers were recruited by the MKO in 2002 in Baku Azarbayjan where the older one was working. The MKO recruiters promised to provide them with European refuge.

Although they were promised a better life in Europe, they found themselves in Turkey and then Iraqi Camp Ashraf where they were immediately separated from each other. They were not allowed to meet each other for years. They were not told about their family who had several times come to visit them in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. The brothers made efforts to meet each other for eight years. Whenever they asked for a visit they were punished by the group leaders.

After their relocation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, they succeeded to meet each other randomly and eventually they managed to escape from the cult of Rajavi after the recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty in November. Then, they were aided by the UN and Iraqi human rights bodies and the Iranian embassy in Baghdad in order to return to their country.

One of the brothers told Nejat Society that a large number of members of the group are thinking of leaving the group but they are kept busy in computer classes – without the Internet – because leaders claim that they will be sent to Europe after finishing their alleged computer training course. Cult leaders keep members in a state of hesitation and passiveness by threatening them that leaving the MKO ends with death and destruction.”

++ Habilian Association: “A Beirut-based commentator and analyst covering Middle East geopolitics says Saudi Arabia and Israel were desperate to strike a blow at Iran’s further international ‘rehabilitation’. Holding a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University, Sharmin Narwani says the deal was also struck as the US and its allies ‘desperately needed the support of rational, capable parties within the Middle East to help disentangle from their Syrian misadventures.’ In the following interview with Habilian Association, Narwani speaks about those who’ve failed to influence the deal. Having a great knowledge of Iranian society, she also touches upon the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) and describes them as ‘useful to the deal spoilers’ who lacks any kind of support in Iran.”

January 22, 2016

January 23, 2016 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Two brothers, defected from the MKO, returned home

Bahadori brothers returned to their home town Jolfa,Eastern Azarbayjan.

Shahram and Shahrouz Bahadori were warmly welcomed by their family after 14 years of imprisonment in the camps of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO).

Bahadori brothers were recruited by the MKO in 2002 in Baku Azarbayjan where the older one was working. The MKO recruiters promised to provide them with European refuge.

Then, they were aided by the UN and Iraqi human rights bodies and the Iranian embassy in Baghdad in order to return to their country.

One of the brothers told Nejat Society that a large number of members of the group are thinking of leaving the group but they are kept busy in computer classes- without the Internet – because leaders claim that they will be sent to Europe after finishing their alleged computer training course.

Cult leaders keep members in a state of hesitation and passiveness by threatening them that leaving the MKO ends with death and destruction.

January 21, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Does the UN recognize our right to meet our children?

Mr. Ghodrat Sedigh is an aged father of one of Mujahedin-e Khalq hostages; Mohammadreza. He has recently went to Camp Liberty in accompany with some other families of Rajavis’ hostages. In an interview with Nejat Society he defines his trip to Camp Liberty, Iraq:

Rajavis henchmen started swearing at us and throwing stones as soon as we arrived at Camp Liberty gate. I was there just to visit my son. I was neither military man nor did I have government job.

We stayed at Camp Liberty gate for three days.

I’d even be happy to see my son from a distance where I could recognize his face, still the Cult leaders denied.

We visited Iraqi MPs at the parliament. The Deputy Prime Minister promised to peruse our demands after the Christmas holidays. Our only demand as families of Camp Liberty residents is to visit our beloved children. ..

A representative from the UN who participated the meeting also promised to facilitate the meeting between us and our children at UN base near Camp Liberty.

We returned to Iran hoping the visit with our beloved ones be expedited.

At the end I want to ask some questions: does the UN recognize our right to meet our children? If yes, why don’t they oppose Rajavi not to enslave our children..?

Is there any legal authority to investigate the Rajavis’ crimes?

January 18, 2016 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 129

++ Several items have criticised Saudi Arabia for using the MEK on its Al Arabiyeh television. These say that the Saudis have no tools and have resorted to wearing Saddam’s old boots. We are reminded that the MEK are not as they were before and the negative impact of using them outweighs the positive for Saudi Arabia. Some articles look at the situation of the MEK themselves as a mercenary force which will work for anyone. Irandidban has published a short bullet point article following the history of treason and mercenary activity of the MEK from its start up to now. Fars News in Iran also has a short bullet point article about the Al Arabiyeh channel’s use of the MEK and the separatist groups titled, ‘Al Arabiyeh the mouthpiece of terrorists and separatists’.

++ Atefeh Eghbal and others have written short notes comparing the MEK with Daesh in terms of how they treat families. This was in response to the incident in which a Daesh fighter executed his own mother because she wanted to help him get back to normal life. Iranian writers identify the MEK as being the same, saying the only reason they don’t publicly execute the families is because they can’t. The fundamental approach is the same, swearing, name calling, throwing stones, etc.

++ US and Iranian Foreign Ministers along with EU representative Federica Mogherini are in Vienna in expectation that sanctions will be lifted this weekend. On January 28, President Rohani will visit President Holland in Paris. Iranian exiles in Paris are preparing to start a new phase of anti-Iran activities after the unclear issue has ended. At the top of that agenda is human rights. Tens of different groups and individuals have made a joint announcement about pickets and demonstrations held from 27-28 January. This varies from known groups like the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan to unknown people from Chicago or a group calling itself ‘the book table of the Netherlands’. The main event will be a picket at Les Invalides. Ironically the MEK have announced that they will hold a separate picket on the same day, at the same time, only in Trocadero, which is a stone’s throw away. Contrary to the other events which are organised and attended by Iranian and French groups, the MEK event is all in Arabic and is Saudi backed. It is expected that the flags of Saudi and Israel will be flying together alongside the MEK logo at this picket. It is also expected that there will be more of the so-called Syrian Free Army there than the dwindling MEK people, and already the SFA’s local radio in France is being used solely to advertise this MEK event in Arabic and French. The MEK placards are all in Arabic – we haven’t seen any in Hebrew yet. As usual the MEK are touring Europe’s refugee camps and promising a trip meals and pocket money to any refugees willing to come along. Buses are prepared to set off from London on the 27th and from Brussels and the rest of Europe. These activities are being monitored closely by security services because of recent terrorist activities.

In English:

++ An interview with former MEK member Masoud Banisadr appeared in Fair Observer as ‘Living and Escaping a Terrorist Cult. In it, Banisadr describes the philosophy behind cultic abuse as used by the MEK. He describes his feelings after leaving: “It was great and horrible at the same time. If you find a very close friend has robbed you, it hurts; if you find him violating your trust and dignity and deceiving you for years, it hurts much more. Then imagine finding out a guy who you thought of as a saint and the holiest person on earth has been just a charlatan wanting to make you his slave through manipulating your mind—robbing not only your wealth, health and happiness, but your individuality, personality and humanity. Then you will understand what I felt.”

++ The names of twenty six more Camp Liberty residents who were transferred to Albania have been published by Nejat Society to help families identify where their loved ones are.

++ Mazda Parsi writes for Nejat Bloggers ‘The Cult of Rajavi (Mojahedin Khalq), a tool for Iran hawks’. “The media of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has launched a huge Saudi-oriented propaganda against the Iranian Government following the recent conflicts between the two countries. Unsurprisingly, the MKO is on the side of any country that happens to be hostile to Tehran, as the time of the nuclear negotiations the MKO made efforts to obstruct talks by repeating the same old misinformation about the Iranian nuclear activities.”

++ Peyvand Rahaee published an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon from forty families of MEK members asking for help to free them from Camp Liberty in Iraq.

++ Neday-e Haqiqat reports that Narges Behesthi has been seeking contact with two brothers for over ten years since they were taken by the MEK to Iraq. “In 2001 my older brother; Morteza went to Turkey to find a better job. For two months he took a temporary job. After two months that we had no contact with him, Moteza sent us a letter saying that he worked in a shipping company and that they would help him to go to Europe. He wanted us to send our younger brother Mostafa to Turkey. This way Mostafa who was seeking a good job went to Turkey as well. We later understood that the MKO recruiters in Turkey had promised my brother to send him to Europe provided that he stay at Camp Ashraf, Iraq for six months.”

++ Massoud Khodabandeh published an article on Iranian.com titled ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. In it he describes the plight of loyal MEK supporter Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi who is dying of brain cancer and his son Sepher. They want to contact the wife and mother who is in Camp Liberty, but Rajavi’s red line has now tightened to include his own supporters as well as external critics. Ebrahim is outside the MEK red line now because of this humanitarian request. He is accused of being ‘an agent of the Khomeini [sic] regime’. Khodabandeh predicts that this constant purging of members will continue until Rajavi is alone. He puts this down to Rajavi’s incompetence even as a cult leader.

January 17, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

New Evidence on MKO-Israel Alliance to Thwart Nuclear Deal

Attempts by Israel and American GOP and also the mujahedin Khalq organization (the MKO) to push the West towards more hostility against Islamic Republic have so far failed. However, measures of the efforts were not clear to the world until the recent news was published on the bribes given to US republicans by the Israeli state.

The historic nuclear agreement with Iran, labeled the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was negotiated for months and finally signed by Iran and the U.S., UK, Russia, China, France (the P5) and Germany (+1) on 14 July, 2015.

According to the deal Iran has promised to eliminate its supply of medium-enriched uranium, decrease its supply of low-enriched uranium by 98% and reduce approximately two-thirds the total number of gas centrifuges for 13 years. The deal is objectively good but perhaps more importantly, it has allowed both the West and Iran to declare victories through diplomacy, avoiding any military action.

The outcomes of the deal was very appalling for the three above- mentioned groups. It was a failure for the Israeli lobby AIPAC and the MKO’s lobby who had spent large amounts of money for their lobbying campaigns to obstruct the deal.

Their target audience in the congress are paid large sums to run the anti-Iran agenda. Republican Senator Tom Cotton from Arkansas is one of the vocal Iran Hawks in the Us Congress. New revelations about his corrupt relations with Israel has been recently published. “Given his ardent support, the Israel lobby paying for U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton’s recent trip to Israel with his wife likely has little complaint that it was the third most expensive congressional junket in 15 years,” according to the report posted on Arkansas Blog. [1]

The travel was sponsored by the American Israel Education Foundation, the charity arm of pro-Israel lobbying giant AIPAC. About $14,000 was spent on transportation, $4,000 on lodging and meals and $18,000 on other expenses, which includes a $7,000 bill for security in a region characterized by volatility. [2]

Daily News Bin described Tom Cotton as the one who “spearheaded a letter signed by forty-seven republicans who informed Iran’s leadership that they would do everything they could to undermine the deal if they ever gained executive power.” The report denounces Cotton for his “hyperbolic and dishonest rhetoric against the deal which often had him sounding like a cartoon character.” [3]

Cotton was bought by Israel for a good price.” It turns out he had a good reason to be so one-sided: Israel gave him a million dollar campaign contribution for his efforts,” according Daily News Bin. [4]

What the news websites just revealed a week ago had been previously covered by Eli Clifton of the Lobloge in March 2015. He noticed the alliance between the MKO and Tom Cotton in an article titled “Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK”. [5]

About the association of the MKO and the Zionist agent Tom Cotton, Clifton states:

”But Cotton and the MEK share a common agenda when it comes to the nuclear negotiations with Iran. In a controversial video appearance from her Paris headquarters before the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on counterterrorism last week, the group’s co-leader, Maryam Rajavi, recommended that the best way to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq was to pursue regime change in Iran. And, in January, Cotton, a protégé of Bill Kristol of the Emergency Committee for Israel, told an audience at the Heritage Foundation:

“Certain voices call for congressional restraint urging Congress not to act now, lest Iran walk away from the negotiating table, undermining the fabled yet always absent moderates in Iran. But the end of these negotiations isn’t an unintended consequence of congressional action. It is very much an intended consequence — a feature, not a bug.” [6]

21st Century Wire also suggests, “Tom Cotton has proven early just how low he is willing to go for money and power.” It makes fun of the Senator’s failed attempt to thwart the nuclear deal. “The other reason for Cotton running point on this failed mission is obvious: he was paid to do it. “ [7]

According to the Wire, the US senators are also paid by the other Iran’s foe, the MKO:

“In addition, many American politicians – both Republicans and Democrats, including Rudolph Giuliani and Howard Dean, regularly pocket thousands of dollars each from the “Iranian-American” lobbying front representing the wealthy cult terrorist organization known as MEK (aka MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult). In exchange for money, US politicians will speak publicly on behalf of the MEK and their cause for ‘regime change’ in Iran, and US politicians will regularly tell crowds of exiled Iranian donors that the US will “liberate” Iran for them. Granted, US politicians are selling pure fantasy here, but it’s this fantasy which keeps their campaign coffers full. Did Tom Cotton also receive money from the MEK/Iranian-American lobby too? We’d like to know.

“More than anything, this was a crass and cowardly attempt by the GOP and the Israeli and MEK lobbies – to push the US closer towards war footing with Iran – a country which has not attacked any of its neighbors in 400 years.” [8]

Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Brantley, Max, Tom Cotton’s expensive trip to Israel, Arkansas Blog, October 17, 2015

[2] ibid

[3] Dailynewsbin, Republican senator took million dollar bribe from Israel to sabotage Obama’s Iran deal, January 5, 2016

[4] ibid

[5]Clifton, Eli, Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK, LobeLog, May 6th, 2015

[6] ibid

[7] 21st Century Wire, Scarlet Letter: Foreign Money Drives Republican Senators’ Push for World War III

March 11, 2015

[8] ibid

January 17, 2016 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line

There was a time when Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi and others like him were willing to fight and die for the MEK and its leader Massoud Rajavi. Not any more. What was once a mass movement of over half a million Iranians has been reduced to a group of old and sick former combatants sitting it out in a closed camp in Iraq with no hope for the future. Neither struggle nor normal life are open to them now. In many ways, Ebrahim has been among the lucky ones. After the 2003 invasion he decided to leave Iraq and, after spending four years in the Temporary Internment and Protection Facility (TIPF) run by the American army, was able to join family members in England. In 2010, he was reunited with his fifteen-year-old son who had been left with his grandparents in Iran as a baby when both his parents – former political prisoners – joined other MEK combatants in Iraq in the 1980s. Ebrahim continued to support the MEK in England as an activist. He encouraged his son to be involved too. But what should have been the beginning of a new and happy future for father and son has been sadly cut short. Ebrahim is dying of brain cancer in a London hospital. His son, Sepher, and other family members and friends attend him in his last days.

Ebrahim’s only dying wish is to speak a few words with his estranged wife who is still trapped in Camp Liberty in Iraq. Sepher, who is now twenty, would also like to renew a relationship with his mother. Since 2010 he has only been able to speak by phone to his mother three times, and each time, he says, the call was controlled by MEK minders. In August 2015, after Ebrahim’s devastating diagnosis, they wrote to Maryam Rajavi in Paris asking her to allow this contact. They had no answer. They tried through the MEK in London, with the paperwork needed to bring her to London prepared by their lawyer through the UNHCR in Iraq. Still they received no help.

Instead the MEK began a vicious defamation campaign against the father and son. The MEK’s efshahgah website and others accused Ebrahim of being a long standing “agent of the Iranian regime’. Although this is the standard response of the MEK to its enemies, nobody could have been more surprised than Ebrahim himself that he is now being accused of this faux crime. Ebrahim remains a loyal supporter of the MEK. His son also. Even worse, the MEK began writing on behalf of his former wife; this time saying that Ebrahim had forced their son Sepher to work for the Intelligence agency of the “Khomeini regime”. Of course, for anyone familiar with the MEK this label is not new, nor does it carry any weight. It is not based on fact but is in fact the name given to the ‘red line’ used by Massoud Rajavi to define who he thinks his enemies are. MEK members and supporters at all levels are inculcated with fear of these enemies. It is a cultic control mechanism.

Rajavi first began delineating this red line in order to take control of the MEK after he and others left Iran in the early 1980s. The first victims of this red line were members of the newly formed National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) of which the MEK was only one member among several. Rajavi systematically began to draw his red line closer and closer to the needs and demands of his Mojahedin Khalq organisation. Those who disagreed with him were forced to leave the NCRI. Rajavi labelled them traitors and enemies of the Iranian people, addicted to the regime as agents of the Intelligence Ministry of Iran. This red line tactic suited him well. With hundreds of thousands of members and supporters in Iran and in the west, Rajavi intensified his aim to be recognised as the ‘sole leader of the Iranian resistance movement against the regime’. In 1985 he used his controversial marriage to Maryam Azodanloo to re-position this red line. Anyone who did not agree with his leadership was ousted from the MEK. Many left – including some who could have rivalled Rajavi for leadership of the organisation. Over the intervening years Rajavi used this strategy many times. Each time he announced a new ideological demand the red line would fall between those who accepted his leadership and those who didn’t. After each round of purges Rajavi would set about trying to recruit new members with the changed ideological framework. It didn’t work.

Little by little the MEK has shrunk as he labelled more and more people as his enemies. Alongside this strategy Rajavi tried to frighten his followers into staying with him by labelling anyone who spoke out against the organisation as ‘agents of the Iranian regime’. What outsiders may not be aware of is that Rajavi deems this ‘crime’ as punishable by death and that the reason such enemies are still alive are lack of opportunity and because of prioritising the overthrow of the ‘Iranian regime in its entirety’ before dealing with such critics. All well and good when these enemies really are against you. One such former member was Hadi Shams Haeri who rejected membership of the MEK following Rajavi’s forced divorces. Shams Haeri came to live in Holland where he began to campaign alongside other former MEK members to get his children back with him. Unfortunately, he succumbed to cancer in June 2012 without ever being reunited with his grown-up children. Shams Haeri’s actions attracted vitriolic attacks from the MEK. His demand to see his family fell outside Rajavi’s red line that separated families and banned all relationships except with him. Shams Haeri rejected Rajavi and paid the price.

Now with the situation of the Mohammad Rahimi father and son, it appears the red line is drawn even tighter. Ebrahim came from the heart of the MEK to help them in London. He and his son remain loyal to Rajavi and his aims but find themselves outside the red line simply because they want to have contact with a family member. Rajavi cannot tolerate any such contact. He wants to ban every relationship which doesn’t centre on him. Perhaps as a result of this unbearable, impossible demand, ten names have come to light over the past year of men and women inside the MEK base in Paris – from high ranking members right up to the top cult lieutenants (those just below second-in-command Maryam Rajavi) – who are on the brink of committing suicide or running away from the MEK. This will happen. It is inevitable.

As Rajavi’s red line grows ever tighter there will soon be no more room for anyone. It wouldn’t be a surprise if Mehdi Abrishamchi himself – Rajavi’s most trusted lieutenant – is soon found outside the red line. The only real task of everyone’s existence at this point is about how they can squeeze themselves inside the red line and not attract Rajavi’s wrath. Surely they are suffocating. The wonder is that these people appear unaware of their predicament. Someone who is on the brink, don’t they see that they will be next to be expelled from the MEK and subjected to character assassination on the Efshahgar website?

What is amazing is that the people remaining in the MEK do not appear to see that it is not the excluded who have changed but that Rajavi’s red line is drawn tighter and tighter around him to exclude thousands of former members and supporters. Normally, cult leaders grow their cults, attracting and recruiting new members, or as a minimum, maintaining what numbers they have. But since Rajavi stole the half-a-million-strong movement in the 1980s he has shrunk the MEK to fewer than two thousand people, most of whom are sick and old and trapped in the base in Iraq waiting to be moved to safety. This can only lead us to conclude that Massoud Rajavi is not a very effective cult leader. Not only has he failed to attract any new members for many years, but he cannot even tolerate the few followers he has left. If his red line gets any tighter only he and Maryam will be left. After he rejects her will he be unable to tolerate even his own company? Suicide then will be his only option; he can use his red line to hang himself.

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com

January 16, 2016 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

How Mujahedin Khalq abducted my brothers

Maryam sanjabi;MKO separated member interviewed Ms. Narges Beheshti

Ms. Narges Behesthi is a suffering sister who lost her brothers within the Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult.

It is now a decade that Ms. Beheshti is seeking to visit or at least have a contact with her two brothers; Mostafa and Morteza.

Unfortunately her older brother Morteza was killed during the Iraqi police invasion to Camp Ashraf. Actually Morteza was victimized for the cult leader’s interests and his passion for power.

Even after such a disastrous and painful event, the Rajavis denied the Beheshti family’s visit their younger brother; Mostafa.

Ms. Beheshti went to the Camp Ashraf dozens of times and requested for a visit, still she couldn’t.

In an interview with Ms. Maryam Sanjabi – MKO separated member, she describes how her brothers joined the Cult:

My brothers were not supporters of Mujahedin-e Khalq. We didn’t know these unpatriotic and traitors.

In 2011 my older brother; Morteza went to Turkey to find a better job. For two months he took a temporary job. After two months that we had no contact with him, Moteza sent us a letter saying that he worked in a shipping company and that they would help him to go to Europe. He wanted us to send our younger brother Mostafa to Turkey. This way Mostafa who was seeking a good job went to Turkey as well.

We later understood that the MKO recruiters in Turkey had promised my brother to send him to Europe provided that he stay at Camp Ashraf, Iraq for six months.

We had no contact with my brothers for a year when we received a letter from Mostafa. In the letter he had asked us to send our sister to Turkey as well. Though we were somehow doubtful, we agreed that my sister go to Turkey. My sister went to Turkey in accompany with one of our relatives. We were worried so we wanted our relative to make sure that my sister would reach our brothers. In Turkey someone else had gone to welcome my sister. The two men said that we would drive you to your brothers. Our relative refused my sister to go with them. And after some disputes with the two men he took my sister back to Iran.

Two weeks later Mostafa called us. While crying he said “.. why didn’t my sister come here.. they will kill me…,” he was crying when the connection suddenly cut out.

Tanks God. We were lucky that the Rajavi army didn’t succeed to take another member of our family as hostage.

After the last call we could not find my brothers. We had no news of them.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, through NejatNGO we understood that my brothers had not gone to Europe. They had no job rather they were transferred to camp Ashraf,Iraq. In fact they were deceived by the MKO Cult recruiters in turkey. The Rajavis henchmen had assured my brothers that they will help them with sending them to Europe and providing them with residency in case that they stay at Camp Ashraf, Iraq for six months. Then they wanted Mostafa to write a letter to get my sister to Iraq as well.

In 2004 my mother could visit my brothers for the first time after three years. In that year for the first time the Cult leaders allowed the families to visit their children at Camp Ashraf. My mother could have a short visit with my brothers. The conversations were strictly controlled by the Cult in a way that my brothers couldn’t speak freely to their mother. My younger brother had taken my mother’s hands from under the table while crying. They didn’t dear to express their emotions….

From then on we have had no contact with my beloved brothers.

Unfortunately Morteza was killed in 2011 during the clash between Iraqi police and Camp Ashraf residents.

We went to Camp Ashraf several times but the Cult leaders didn’t allow us to visit Mostafa…. The separated members of MKO told us that the members are kept under pressure within the Cult and some even do not know that their families come to visit them….

Neday-e Haqiqat website published the interview in Persian.

January 14, 2016 0 comments

Families of Rajavi’s hostages in Camp Liberty ask Ban Ki-moon for help

Dear Mr. Ban Ki-moon!

In the present modern world and specially in the world that the people care for their relief and security, the assassination and slavery are not of any meanings and without doubt the persons who proceed to the mentioned actions are far from the world liberal people eyes and live in isolation, as DAESH the Excommunicating-Terrorist Group, has made insecurities all over the world at present and it’s a model of all criminal factions.

United Nations Secretary –General!

MKO (Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization) is one of the terrorist groups, maybe more dangerous than it, that captured some of Iranian family members over 30 years and makes them for terrorist actions.

Hereby we remind you of some crimes of the terrorist faction heads (MKO):

Assassination and terrorism before Islamic Revolution such as assassination of some American advisors and top managers
Partnership in 8-year imposed war, together with Saddam and slaying of Iranian border zone people.
Killing of in-camp members such as Ghorban Torabi, Alan Mohammadi , Parviz ahmadi, Mehri Mousavi, Alinagi Haddadi & etc .
torture of the members and the prisoners in Ashraf camp and now in Liberty camp.
Intense brainwashing of Iranian family offspring for doing criminal actions.
make restraint the relocation and movement of the organization members to third countries.

Mr. Ban Ki-moon!

Hereby we, injured families of the faction members in Golestan Province- Iran, request you to fulfill releasing and rescuing our children from MKO perfidious commanders’ hands. As to insecurities in Iraq, for instance in some weeks ago its proved by missile attacks to Liberty camp, whereas the guilt was on MKO heads shoulders that fail to move the members and the prisoners to other countries, and now our beloveds are at risk of severe threats by some Iraqi militia groups. They are in dangerous and insecure situation. We request you and other Union advisors to take measures about movement of the prisoners and make them free in their lives, including communication with the outside world and their families in the shortest time after decades away and unaware from them.

Regards

Families of MKO members in Golestan province of Iran

11 January 2016

Signatories:

1.Ali-asghar Mardani, father of the prisoner “Ali-akbar Mardani”.

2.Abolghasem Mudabber, brother of the prisoner “Seiyed-taghi Nowkandehei”.

3.Gol-agha Mudabber, brother of the prisoner “Seiyed-taghi Nowkandehei”.

4.Ahmad Saghaei, brother of the prisoner Ms. “Shayesteh-banoo Saghaei”.

5.Mahmood Torabi, brothers son of the prisoners Ms. “Masomeh” & “Maryam-banoo” and “Mohammad-reza Torabi”.

6.Moslem Torabi, brothers son of the prisoners Ms. “Masomeh” & “Maryam-banoo” and “Mohammad-reza Torabi”.

7.Ata Torabi, brothers son of the prisoners Ms. “Masomeh” & “Maryam-banoo” and “Mohammad-reza Torabi”.

8.Nad-ali Torabi, brothers son of the prisoners Ms. “Masomeh” &” Maryam-banoo” and “Mohammad-reza Torabi”.

9.Vali-ullah Seraj, brother of the prisoner Ms. “Zahra Seraj”.

10.Mohammad-hussein Livaninejad, uncle of the prisoners “Hossein-ali” and “Abbas-ali Livaninejad”.

11.Shahram Riyahi, Son of the prisoner “Mohammad-taghi Riyahi”.

12.Khalil Riyahi, brother of the prisoner “Mohammad-taghi Riyahi”.

13.Samad Golalipour, brother of the prisoner I”raj” and “Hoshang Golalipour”.

14.Abolghasem Mottaki, brother of the prisoners “Mohammad-hossein” & “Ali-hossein” and “Gholam-hossein Mottaki”.

15. Motaki, Mother of prisoner “Roohallah Ramouz”

16.Ahmad Golalipour, father of the prisoner “Iraj” and “Hoshang Golalipour”.

17.Hamid Zahed, brother of the prisoners Ms. “Habibeh” and Ms. “Halimeh Zahed”.

18.Mohammad-ali Arab, father of the prisoner “Ghorban Arab”.

19.Ali Hashemi, brother of the prisoner “Ali-akbar Hashemi”.

20.Kamran Bazazi, brother of the prisoner Ms. “Mahnaz Bazazi”.

21.Hossein-ali Rigi, brother of the prisoner “Barat-ali Rigi”.

22.Cheragh-ali Rigi, brother of the prisoner “Barat-ali Rigi”.

23.Morad-mohammad Aghatabai, brother of the prisoner “Hamid-mohammad Aghatabai”.

24.Mohammad Aghatabai, brother of the prisoner “Hamid-mohammad Aghatabai”.

25. Hamid-reza Rigi, brother of the prisoner “Barat-ali Rigi”.

26.Mohammad-ali Rigi, brother of the prisoner “Barat-ali Rigi”.

27.Zoleikha Rigi, sister of the prisoner “Barat-ali Rigi”.

28.Mohammad-mehdi Naserimoghadam, brother of the prisoner “Hadi Naserimoghadam”.

29.Muhtaram Najmi, mother of the prisoner “Hadi Naserimoghadam”.

30.Maryam Naserimoghadam, sister of the prisoner “Hadi Naserimoghadam”.

31.Nafas Varshi, brother of the prisoner “Ashor-mohammad Varshi”.

32.Karim Khormali, brother of the prisoner “Bahram Khormali”.

33.Mehrnoosh Nick-sir, sister of the prisoners “Mehrnaz” and “Mehran Nick-sir”.

34.Abdolrahim Abedi, nephew of the prisoner “Mohammad-khaled Masoodi”.

35.Mohammad-ali Ghezelsoflo, brother of the prisoner “Nor-ullah hezelsoflo”.

36.Hossein Hajili-davaji, brother of the prisoner “Emam-verdi Hajili-davaji”.

37.Haj Mehdi Mohammadi-zadeh, father of the prisoner “Fereshteh Mohammadi-zadeh”.

38.Nase Rahim-arbabi, brother of the prisoner “Ahmad Rahim-arbabi”.

39.Ali-reza Nargesi, brother of the prisoner Ms. “Leila Nargesi”.

40- Bibihajar Vahedi mother of prisoner “Yalmaz Vahedi”.

41- Masoumeh Heydari sister of prisoner “Massoud Heydari”.

Peyvand-e Rahayee Website published the letter

January 13, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

The Cult of Rajavi, a tool for Iran hawks

The media of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has launched a huge Saudi-oriented propaganda against the Iranian Government following the recent conflicts between the two countries. Unsurprisingly, the MKO is on the side of any country that happens to be hostile to Tehran, as the time of the nuclear negotiations the MKO made efforts to obstruct talks by repeating the same old misinformation about the Iranian nuclear activities.

Although the MKO’s propaganda usually does not succeed to run its anti-Iranian agenda in the international community –because of its very insignificant role in the region—there are some groups who indulge it. The American Iran hawks as well as Saudi authorities try to coddle the MKO in response to material and spiritual services the group offers them.

Daniel Larison of the American Conservative magazine explains what motivates the US supporters of the MKO to get in bed with a violent cult-like exiled group that they know it is detested by the Iranians. “The views and preferences of the people in the other country are of no concern for the hawks except insofar as they can be misrepresented to support their preferred policy,” writes Daniel Larison. “The exiles pretend to speak for their country, and their patrons here pretend to believe them.”

Larison describes the MKO as “a totalitarian cult” and “a horrible organization” which is cynically indulged by US policy makers for their own reasons. He suggests that MKO sponsors in the US will cite the opposition’s imaginary preferences in the government’s policy debates to insist that the U.S. ought to be doing what they claim the opposition wants.

This policy is effective for the MKO to fuel its propaganda machine and especially to feed its brainwashed members inside the cult. However, this policy of hypocrisy does not work for the group either in the US or in the region.

The same thing is applicable about Saudi Arabia. Saudis are seeking any ally to strengthen their hostile unity against their powerful rival in the region, the Islamic Republic. As a neighboring country, they know better than Americans that the MKO does not represent the aspirations of the Iranian people but they also prefer to ignore the fact and to harbor terrorist cult-like groups such as ISIS and the MKO to stabilize their state in the region and to help their warmonger friends in the West.

Daniel Larison believes that “the ambitions of exiles and the delusions of hawks” harm the interests of both the US and Iran but he fails to mention that the support of Iran opponents for the MKO also deteriorates the group’s situation among the Iranian people.

While the group’s propaganda about death penalty in Iran is endless and the group’s leader promises a future Iran without death penalty, its large-scale support for Saudi Arabia after the execution of 47 people in one day explains its deceitful tactics in its anti-Iran attitude.

By the way, the MKO’s fraudulence to gain the support of Iran’s enemies has only made it a tool in the hands of its supporters. Ultimately the support does not result in prosperity for the group. The expiration date of the MKO will pass someday just like what happened to al Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

Mazda Parsi

*Larison, Daniel, Beware of Exiles and Their Promises, American conservative Magazine, January 2nd, 2016

January 12, 2016 0 comments

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