Page 32 – Nejat Society

Atefeh Sebdani| The book. The documentary. And now the Episode

This is going to sound weird but I have to say it anyway.
There is not a cell in my body that longs for my episode to be broadcast next week on SVT.
On the contrary, I am filled with anxiety and feel extremely bad about it.
It has nothing to do with the amazing production or the end result. It just has to do with me giving so much of myself while the mujahedin sect continues to witch hunt and watch over me.
By choosing
.the freedom of speech
.the truth
.my constant inner call for justice
.my hope for a better world
… and thus following my values and beliefs, I have put myself at the front of a merciless arsenal of foot and internet soldiers. An organized movement that is so afraid of their illegal whereabouts and therefore existence being disrupted that they keep their own members captivated (at Camp Ashraf) and only a few manage to escape (like my mother) to freedom. You don’t even know the tip of the iceberg about what they are up to.
Cause very few of those who manage to escape dare to talk about them. Yes, not even my mother dares. She refuses to appear in any of my work, none of the documentaries or anything else I do. Even though the mujahedin took her children, her freedom and with that everything from her.
And I?
I get to experience day after day how boundless and organized the Mujahedin are.
So why am I doing a work with SVT?
Because my message is not about me. There is no personal gain whatsoever in this. On the contrary. My family and other ex-mujaheds I talk to are witnesses to how I feel these days before the launch of SVT Story.
I’m feeling like shit, frankly.
But my calling is not about me and never has been. It is bigger than me and I am just a tool that has been given opportunities to manage and exploit an untold story.
The book. The documentary. And now the Episode.
No matter my personal feelings, I’m never going to cave in against my values. Against Goliath.
I saved my mother. I did the hardest part already. But so many are left and don’t have a voice to scream for help.

Atefeh Sebdani’s Facebook account

April 6, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Atefeh Sebdani’s Episode on SVT Story, Swedish Channel One

Channel One of Swedish TV broadcasts a documentary about the life of Atefeh Sebdani. Atefeh Sebdani is one of the children of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) who was separated from her parents at the age of 5 and was smuggled from Iraq to Sweden with her two younger brothers.
On April 3, SVT story of Sweden’s Channel One will release this 29-minute documentary on the life of Atefeh Sebdani, titled “The Moment That Changed Life”.
Atefeh and her brothers are separated from their parents in a military camp in Iraq. They are sent to Sweden and raised within the Mujahedin. She waits for her mother for days, weeks, months and years. Difficult years. Gradually she realizes that mother will not come. But then suddenly one day 25 years later she gets an unexpected sign of life. This is author Atefeh’s story.

Atefeh Sebdani, who is now a Swedish citizen, is married and the mother of three children. She is a successful engineer and lecturer who published his autobiography titled “My Hands in Mine” last summer and was well received by the audience. The book depicts a part of severe violation of children’s rights in the cult-like structure of the MEK and its sympathizer families.

Atefeh is also one of the 4 young people whose life story was shown in the recent documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” made by Sara Moin in Swedish.
A few hours before the release of the episode, publishing its trailer Atefeh Sebdani wrote on her Facebook account about her fears, her concerns and the obstructions the MEK tried to launch in the way of the production of the episode:

to download the video file click here

Here’s the trailer for my episode that airs tomorrow on SVT Story.
It feels really hard for me to post this tonight and I will await the response before writing more than this post. If you want to send me your thoughts afterwards, please do so here in the comments.

As you can see, the title of the episode has changed. The cult did as the cult always does- acts like a cult. Monitors me and every step I take and communicates with the productions around me to gain control over the smallest detail. They will definitely get in touch with SVT after the episode premieres tomorrow and come up with new things to complain on.
As I warned SVT about during production.

Mujahedin continues to prove who they are: a controlling, authoritarian group that will do anything to preserve the last dignity they have and silence us defectors as much as possible. It’s just that they don’t realize that people who have to deal with them instead get to experience first-hand the things that I testify.

Thank you Mujahedin for never letting me down in that regard! Thanks for all the self goals! Bravo! You continue to confirm to the public exactly everything I tell about your cult.

Now I’ll take a deep breath. Cause tomorrow the whole world(!) will be able to watch my Story. Welcome to share this and inform, to keep showing your fantastic support. This, even though it feels so hard for me to expose myself like this. But now that it’s done, please help me to reach out.
I love and appreciate you all.

April 3, 2024 0 comments

Nejat Publications

Nejat Newsletter No.112

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

– Modern slavery in Europe on the verge of the second quarter of the 21st century

Right now, in the most blatant way possible, the rights enshrined in the European Convention, drafted, ratified and enforced in the mid-20th century, are being violated on Albanian soil by a destructive mind control cult, and it is the responsibility of the Albanian government to put an end to this situation. And put an end to cultic relations in Manëz camp in Durrës province, which is nothing but modern slavery.

– Greeting message for Iranian New Year 1403
We hope that 1403 will be the Year of “Hope” for the voice of those mothers who are in Iran, who every day are impatiently waiting for the meeting of those beautiful boys and girls, who are “stuck” in the MEK

– Nejat Albania Conference on Intl Women’s Day
On Friday, March 8, 2024, on the occasion of International Women’s Day, a conference was held at the villa of Nejat Society Albania. The conference was attended by more than 40 Albanian women’s rights activists. The media activists and journalists, including the production team from ATV and Tirana 1 channel, also participated the event to produce contents.

– Nejat Society Albania’s social action on the occasion of the Intl Women’s Day
On the occasion of March 8, the International Women’s Day, the female members of Nejat Society Albania carried out a social activity in downtown Tirana giving flowers to women and mothers congratulating them on the occasion of Women’s Day.

– Statement on the occasion of March 8
The Nejat Society of Albania, as an organization that supports Iranians living in this country, has declared
one of its goals to fulfill the human rights demands of the families of the members trapped in the isolated and remote camp of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK,MKO, Rajavi Cult), and uses all its capacity in this direction.

– WHAT IS THE MEK?
The MEK has been fighting to seize power in Iran for over 57 years now. They are abusing any uprising
inside Iran to intensify their lobbying efforts in Europe, Canada and the USA. Western politicians, in turn, are playing along with the MEK’s propaganda game:
Out of ignorance, personal financial interest and/or because they hope that the MEK – should a regime change occur will be an easy negotiating partner.

– Nowruz for MEK hostages and their families
On the eve of the Iranian new year, Nowruz, Iranians all over the world try to have gatherings with their
loved ones, except for those who are in the camp of MEK. They have no way out of their enclosed camp in Manez, in north of Albania.

– MEK threatened former child soldier to death
Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi was threatened to death by agents of the Mujahedin e Khalq (MEK).
Ray Torabi is a former child soldier of the MEK who defected the group in 2018 after 18 years of membership in the group.

– The Children of Camp Ashraf – Official Trailer
The official trailer of The Children of Camp Ashraf was released. The documentary is based on the lived experience of four Swedish citizen whose parents where members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The film was directed by Sara Moien and produced by Linda Mutavi.

– Stockholm| Increased security to show Children of Camp Ashraf documentary
“The children from Camp Ashraf” is a documentary about four people of Irani an origin who were sent to Sweden as children in the 90s. Their families belonged to the militant, religious and Iranian resistance movement Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which is politically far left and has been described as sectarian.
Until 2009, the group was labeled as terrorist by the EU.

– The CEO’s gratitude to the women of the Albanian Nejat Society
Ebrahim Khodabandeh, CEO of Nejat Society, thanked the Albanian women in a message following the successful and fruitful activities of the women’s group of the Albanian Nejat Society.

To view the pdf file click here

April 3, 2024 0 comments

Albania

What we expect from the Albanian government?

More than 7 years have passed since September 2015, when the relocation of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from Iraq to Albania was completed. The group has been settled in the territory of a European country, Albania, which is one of the signatories of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). But they still behave as if they are under the umbrella of the former dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein; The MEK apply their cult-like mind control system over members; they do not allow their members to decide with their own free will.

For nearly eight years, the leaders of the MEK cult have deprived the members of their basic human rights in Europe as well, and instead of allowing the members to contact and communicate with their families, they have brainwashed them.

Why should the members of the MEK in Albania be so enslaved and trapped by the cult leaders that they cannot freely choose a profitable job for themselves like any other refugee in the country. The Rajavis should stop forcing defectors to spy other defectors by threatening them.

Why shouldn’t the members have the right to marry and live independently after being in Albania for about 8 years? They should be given the opportunity to live a normal life, get married and have children.

Why can’t the media activists freely go inside the Manez camp in Albania, so that the voices of the dissident members can be heard. With the withdrawal of cult-like control over members, the truth of inside the camp will be known to public and the government of Albania.

Why should the sick members be kept under the control of the MEK inside the Manez camp like slaves”? They are deprived of medical, medicinal and convalescent needs. Eventually, some of
them die or come close to death every day.

Undoubtedly, if the Albanian government had prevented the leaders of the MEK from continuing their cult-like and violent actions in its country, the death rate in this cult would have been significantly reduced. If the Albanian government had proper control over the Cult of Rajavi, many members who died due to diseases would be alive now.

Why does the Albanian government allow the leaders of a destructive cult, who boast of their violent and terrorist actions and incite people to violent acts, to continue this propaganda?

Didn’t the government of Albania notice how the leaders of the MEK led their members to clash with the police on June 30th, 2023?

Isn’t the experience of the MEK conflicts with different Iraqi governments after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and their experience of conflict with the Albanian police not enough for the government of this country to realize that the group is violent in nature.

The government of Albania must pave the way to remove cult-like regulations from the isolated Manez camp and instead, the law governing the country of Albania should be applied in the camp. This is the minimum expectation that the families of MEK members have from the Albanian government and it is the minimum that the Albanian government should as the consequence of hosting the group.

As Iranians, it is our tradition to visit each other during Nowruz and spend the New Year with our closest relatives. I hope the government of Albania fulfills this minimum request of the families, which is to visit their beloved children, and allow the families of the members taken as hostages in the Cult of Rajavi to have the opportunity to contact and meet their children freely.

Iraj Salehi, defector of the MEK and member of Nejat Society
Translated by Mazda Parsi

April 2, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK and Democratic Values

When a group is backed by AIPAC and FDD, consequently, logic, justice and humanity and transparency will disappear. A resolution introduced this week by Senator Thom Tillis, an American Republican from North Carolina, is the latest effort by a group of well-funded members of Congress to extend political recognition to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).

The most hilarious part of the resolution is the claim that the MEK will establish a “democratic and secular” government in Iran. The claim for democracy and secularism is definitely contrary to those hundreds of women in uniforms with monochrome hijab chanting around Maryam Rajavi, that reminds us of the Maoist China and North Korea.

As the self-appointed alternative of the Iranian government, the MEK is a cult of personality, settled in a remote, isolated camp in Albania. Its members are a few thousand of elderlies who are kept there against their will. Throughout the past few years, they either could manage to leave the group or passed away inside the camp.

The independent has been the only media to cover the news of the resolution signed by MEK-paid senators. However, it mentioned that the MEK is still considered as undemocratic by the US State Department:
“It’s the latest — and most direct, in recent memory — bipartisan show in support for the MEK and NCRI by lawmakers that will once again put them at odds with the views of the State Department, which has an adversarial relationship with the dissidents. Since the MEK’s un-designation as a terrorist group by the US government in 2012, the State Department has steadily maintained that it does not view the MEK and NCRI as “viable opposition” groups in Iran and have questioned their commitment to democratic values.”

The MEK lacks public support among Iranians. The most iconic slogan of the Iranian protesters has been “Women, Life, Freedom”. The MEK has hijacked the slogan and changed it to “Women, Resistance, Freedom”. They just deleted “life” because they do not believe in life. In the Cult of Rajavi, thinking of life is forbidden.

By Mazda Parsi

March 30, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MKO terrorists to hold annual gathering in Germany as France refuses to host event

Former US vice president Mike Pence (L) and Maryam Rajavi, ringleader of the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), meet in the Albanian town of Manza, on June 23, 2022. (Photo by AFP)

The anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) is set to hold its annual gathering in Germany as France has refused to grant approval for the meeting.

Every year, the MKO terrorists hold an event in the French town of Villepinte, near Paris, with rent-a-crowd participants.

This year, however, they will hold their gathering in Berlin on June 29.

Reports say France has opposed the event as it plays host to the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris later this year.

The Summer Olympics will kick off in the French capital on July 26. The games will end on August 11 before the Paralympic Games take place on August 28-September 8.

The MKO is responsible for a campaign of bombings and assassinations in Iran. Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks over the past four decades, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.

The notorious terror cult also fought alongside Iraqi forces in the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s war on Iran in the 1980s.

Despite its crimes and killings, the US and the European Union removed the MKO from their lists of terrorist organizations in order to use them as proxies against Iran.

Members of the terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization or MKO are standing trial in absentia.

A few years ago, MKO elements were relocated from their Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala Province to Camp Hurriyet (Camp Liberty), a former US military base in Baghdad, and later sent to Albania.

Iranian officials have condemned the hypocrisy of the US and its European allies in supporting the terrorist group that has Iranian blood on its hands.

March 25, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Modern slavery in Europe on the verge of the second quarter of the 21st century

Currently, nearly 2000 members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) have been settled in an isolated and remote camp near Manëz or Manzë city in Durrës province for about 7 years. They consider themselves to be the alternative of the Islamic Republic of Iran and want to overthrow the current Iranian regime by resorting to violence and bloodshed. By its own admission, this group is responsible for the lives of about 12,000 individuals in Iran.
The MEK actively participated in the Iran-Iraq war under Saddam Hussein’s rule in Iraq for many years, of course on the side of Iraq and against its own country, and also participated in many crimes against the people of Iraq, especially the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south.

After the fall of Saddam Hussein, the governments of Iraq one after the other wanted the exit of this organization, which they considered a threat to national security, until finally based on the agreement made with the then government of Sali Berisha (the leader of the right-wing Democratic Party of Albania). This organization was transferred to Albania with all its members as a humanitarian measure and settled in an isolated and remote camp near the city of Manëz in Durrës province.
What was narrated above is related to the recent and distant past and is not the subject of this article. Our current issue is a completely human rights matter. In addition to everything that has been said, the MEK violates the most basic human rights of its members on a daily and systematic basis. This is our issue today. It can be boldly said that there is no outside control over the internal anti-human relations of this camp in Albania, and practically modern slavery has been exposed in Europe on the threshold of the second quarter of the 21st century, and the Albanian government either does not want or cannot take action, to stop this process.

Mrs. Ela Deda, a criminologist and the legal director of the Nejat Society of Albania, in her speech at the women’s conference of the Nejat Society of Albania on the occasion of International Women’s Day on Friday, March 8, 2024, at Villa Nejat Hall in Tirana, stated:

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (official name: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) is an international instrument for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. This convention was prepared in 1950 by the Council of Europe. It is mentioned in this convention that:

Article 2 – Right to life (Article 2 protects the right to life of every person).

Article 3 – Prohibition of Torture (Article 3 prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and there are no exceptions or limitations to this right.)

Article 5 – Right to liberty and security (Article 5 stipulates that everyone has the right to liberty and personal security.)

Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life (Article 8 stipulates the right to respect private and family life.)

Article 10 – Freedom of expression (Article 10 protects freedom of expression limited only by “lawful” restrictions that are “necessary in a democratic society.” This right also includes freedom of thought.)

Article 12 – The right to marry (Article 12 states the right to marry and form a family for adult women and men [1]).
Meanwhile, the Republic of Albania wants to enter the European Union and is trying to align itself with the European legal and judicial standards. It is worth mentioning that this convention is approved by the Council of Europe and the Republic of Albania, as a member of the Council of Europe, is one of the signatories of this convention [2].
Now we will discuss some provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights and its examples in the Manëz camp in Albania:

Article 2 – Right to life

The MEK in Albania does not pay the least attention to the health of its members in terms of medical and health care, and the deaths that are constantly reported indicate this lack of care. It does not mean that treatment facilities are not available, but the MEK has deprived people of free access to these facilities. Many reports have been received that there is a lot of delay in bringing people to doctors and hospitals in Durrës or Tirana due to the fear of dissatisfied people running away. MEK members cannot easily leave the camp and go to medical centers in Albania.

Article 3 – Prohibition of torture

Former members of the MEK have reported systematic acts of psychological and physical repression in the inquisition meetings, as well as insults, humiliation, slander, and even physical encounters for forced coercion in the Manëz camp in Albania. The psychological destruction of the members has sometimes led them to the border of insanity, and currently there are many mental cases inside the camp that are kept in complete isolation. Inhumane and humiliating treatment is a common practice in the MEK in Albania to destroy people’s psychological defense so that they can take away the ability to say “no” from them so that they always give a positive answer to any illegitimate request.

Article 5 – Right to liberty and security

No member of the MEK in Albania feels safe and is always afraid of being targeted for repression and punishment, without reason. In the MEK, there are no written rules and regulations that can be cited, on which a person can be accused and punished, but the discernment of the leaders at any time is considered as law and regulation. It has been officially announced that the wishes of the organization’s leadership at any time are considered the law of that time.

Article 8 – Right to respect for private and family life

No one in the Manëz camp of the MEK in Albania has any privacy whatsoever. The MEK has invalidated and prohibited any kind of privacy based on its cultic doctrine. Based on the brainwashing that takes place, people are even obliged to report their night’s sleep and pay for it. Free thinking is rejected under the title of mental wandering or intellectual liberalism.

Article 10 – Freedom of expression

People in the Manëz camp do not have the right to disagree or even question the performance of the organization and its leadership. The MEK in Albania has a cultic pyramid structure with the leader at the top of the pyramid. Criticism is allowed only from top to bottom, and towards oneself in front of the official. No question is answered by logical discussion but psychological repression is done to silence the person. All methods of forced coercion are constantly used.

Article 12 – The right to marry

The right to fall in love, get married, form a family, and have children in the camp of the MEK in Albania does not exist at all. Forced celibacy, which is an anti-human imposition, is applied within the relations of the MEK in Albania. In the Manëz camp, gender segregation is implemented in the most severe possible way. There are no families or children in this camp. The family is called a nest of corruption. The main enemy of everyone is considered to be his family.
All of the above and many more clearly prove that destructive cultic mind control methods are practiced inside the remote and isolated Manëz camp. According to the laws and regulations in European countries, brainwashing and mind control and the impositions carried out in this camp are crimes, but the Albanian police and judicial system have closed their eyes on these cases for years.

All human rights organizations should demand that the gates of this mysterious camp with medieval connections be opened to the media, government officials and human rights investigators to find out what is going on inside this terrible fortress. Many former members inside and outside Albania are ready to testify at any place and at any time to provide details of this blatant violation of the most basic human rights of the members.

The fact that the MEK has been able to force people to voluntarily give up their human rights, by using mind control methods over time in its cultic base, does not fundamentally change anything, and the responsibility lies with the human rights institutions. Humanity does not accept this, because in practice what is really happening is that still the most basic human rights are violated, and this situation must be terminated immediately. If a person does not demand his rights due to mind control and brainwashing methods in an isolated environment and even volunteers for brutal mental and physical torture, should the torturer be allowed for doing it?

********

1- The European Convention on Human Rights, (official: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), is an international treaty for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe, which was drafted in 1950 by the New Foundation prepared by the Council of Europe, and entered into force on September 3, 1953.
European Convention on Human Rights
https://www.echr.coe.int/documents/d/echr/Convention_FAS
This convention has 59 articles and 16 additional protocols, in each clause of which there are many examples from within the organization, which are enough to condemn the MEK for violating basic human rights.

2- The Council of Europe (It is different from the European Union and should not be mistaken) has 46 members from European countries, including Albania. Albania is one of the countries that has signed the European Convention on Human Rights and is committed to its implementation.

March 24, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Nowruz for MEK hostages and their families

On the eve of the Iranian new year, Nowruz, Iranians all over the world try to have gatherings with their loved ones, except for those who are in the camp of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). They have no way out of their enclosed camp in Manez, in north of Albania. On the other side of the bars of the camp are the families of the MEK’s hostages who have been looking forward to the release of their loved ones for decades.

Every year, Nowruz is considered an opportunity by families of the MEK members to indicate their love, attention and concern to their beloved relatives who are kept under the modern slavery of the Cult of Rajavi. The manipulation system of the cult deprives the hostages of any way of contact with their friends and families.

The families send letters and video messages for Nejat society to publish on the website in the hope that their loved ones could find the chance to get their messages. The possibility of getting the message is not really high because members of the MEK are under a strict cult-like control. However, their families do not lose hope. Sending new year wishes has become like a tradition for the activists of Nejat Society.

The families know that their beloved parents, children, siblings and cousins who are in the MEK have missed an authentic Nowruz celebration for years. Every Nowruz, their organizational task for Nowruz is to wear uniforms, chant in front of the photos of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi and listen to their long speeches about their confidence in the overthrow the Iranian government this year. This is the repetitive story of every Nowruz celebration inside the MEK.

Nejat Society, as the representative of families of MEK hostages and defectors of the group, wishes both families and their loved ones in Manez camp the reunion and sharing of love and happiness with each other. May the Iranian year, 1403, offers them the best possibilities to break through the slavery of the Rajavis.

March 18, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Donors to Bob Menendez Legal Defense Linked to ex-Terror Group

About 15 percent of the people who gave to Menendez’s legal defense fund have links to the MEK, a controversial Iranian exile group.

SEN. ROBERT MENDENDEZ, D-N.J., is fighting charges that he accepted money in exchange for assisting foreign governments. That legal defense is being paid in part by donors with links to a former terrorist organization, a sign of the senator’s need for fast cash.

In September, federal prosecutors hit Menendez and his wife with a raft of bribery charges and, more recently, obstruction of justice. (Menendez and his wife pleaded not guilty to the charges.) With a trial scheduled for May, Menendez stands to rack up staggering legal fees. His legal defense fund, according to public disclosures, had already spent $373,223 as of the end of January.

Much of the cash in the fund — he has raised over $400,000 — comes from sources one might anticipate. New Jersey and New York donors with various business and political interests in his home state, including the real estate firm led by Jared Kushner’s family, have given the fund money. There are, however, many lesser-known donors. One is Ahmad Moeinimanesh, an electronic engineer from Northern California. Another is Hossein Afshari, also from California.

At first blush, these smaller contributions to Menendez Legal Defense Fund might appear to come from a smattering of individual donors. An analysis of the donor rolls by Responsible Statecraft and The Intercept, however, shows that about 15 percent of the people who gave to Menendez — including Moeinimanesh and Afshari — are linked to an Iranian exile group called the Mojahedin e-Khalq, or MEK.

Menendez and the MEK have a relationship going back a decade. Shortly after the group was removed from a State Department list of “foreign terror organizations,” Menendez advocated for the MEK following an attack on its members by the Iraqi government.

Menendez’s elevation of the group as a viable alternative to the Islamic Republic continued since then. The senator met with its leader, Maryam Rajavi, last May and heaped praise on the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a so-called political wing indistinguishable from the MEK, at a 2022 Capitol Hill event organized by the Organization of Iranian American Communities, a group allied with the MEK.

“Let me start off by thanking the Organization of Iranian Communities for putting together today’s event on Capitol Hill,” said Menendez. “I’m thrilled to see so many Iranian Americans from across the country, and I’d like to thank and recognize the National Council of Resistance of Iran for their commitment to elevating your voices, the voices of Iranians inside of Iran and constantly advocating for the freedom of the Iranian people.”

“He is a man with principle and integrity and I don’t believe all of the negative things some media put out.”
Moeinimanesh, the chair of OIAC’s California chapter, who contributed $2,500, was one of a dozen Iranian Americans with links to the MEK or its affiliates that gave to Menendez’s fund. (Neither Moeinimanesh nor OIAC responded to a request for comment.) Afshari gave $1,000. “Giving money to people I think are nice is not illegal,” Afshari told Responsible Statecraft and The Intercept, of his contributions to Menendez’s legal fund. “He is a man with principle and integrity and I don’t believe all of the negative things some media put out.”

In total, MEK-affiliated individuals made up approximately 5 percent of the total funds raised, over $20,000, by the end of January. (Seven other donors, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the OIAC, and Menendez’s office did not respond to requests for comment.)

Responsible Statecraft and The Intercept established links between the MEK and most of these donors by cross-referencing their names with signatories on OIAC and National Council of Resistance of Iran letters and affiliations. Court records linked Afshari to the MEK.

Menendez and the MEK

Menendez’s perch atop the Senate Foreign Relations Committee made him one of the most influential Democrats on foreign policy. He was an attractive friend for Egypt, one of the two foreign governments now accused of bribing him for political favors. The dramatic federal indictment claimed cash, gold, and expensive gifts from Egypt were linked to a weapons sale and the release of a hold on $300 million in aid to Cairo. An updated indictment in January alleged that Menendez also accepted Formula One tickets and other gifts from Qatar in exchange for favors.

The sway Menendez held in Washington — and his hawkish stances on Iran — also made him a valuable ally for the MEK. The group had made an arduous journey from its early days as a student-run radical Marxist group in the late 1960s. Anti-monarchists, the MEK fought on the winning side of the 1979 Iranian Revolution but faced a crackdown as the young Islamic Republic consolidated power. Forced into exile, the MEK fought on the Iraqi side of the Iran–Iraq War in the 1980s, giving rise to antipathy against the group inside its home country.

The exile in Iraq also brought an inward turn, leading the Rand Corporation to conclude that the MEK, due to its aggrandizement of its late-leader Massoud Rajavi and his wife, Maryam, was a “cult.” Human Rights Watch, Rand, and The Intercept have reported that MEK leaders abused group members’ human rights.

In 1997, the MEK was placed on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations for, among other things, its role in the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attempted attack on the Iranian mission to the United Nations in 1992. The designation would last for a decade and a half. Following a successful lobbying campaign by its supporters in the U.S., the group won a major victory when it was removed from the American terror rolls in 2012.

The shift in the U.S. stance meant American politicians, including Menendez, could grow close to the militant outfit without controversy about the terror label. Prominent figures were more regularly seen speaking at the group’s annual conference outside Paris, casting the MEK and Maryam Rajavi as a viable political force within Iran if the Islamic Republic were overthrown. The appearances were often well remunerated; former Vice President Mike Pence, for example, received $430,000 from the MEK following the end of the Trump administration.

Though he had been quiet on the MEK while it was designated as a terror organization, once it was delisted Menendez consistently expressed concern for the group and its members. In 2013, the MEK began a frantic lobbying push in Washington after its encampment in Iraq — the former base from which it mounted military attacks — came under attack from Iranian-backed groups; the Iraqi government, which was close to Iran, was unwilling or unable to guarantee MEK members’ security.

Menendez, a top recipient of campaign contributions from donors with ties to the MEK, stepped in. A month after the attack, he held up a sale of Apache helicopters to Iraq that were meant to be part of efforts to push back the Islamic State group. Speaking at a 2014 MEK rally in Paris, Menendez said, “I told Prime Minister Maliki” — Nouri al-Maliki, of Iraq — “in person last year that his commitment to the safety and security of the MEK members at Camp Liberty is a critical factor in my future support for any assistance to Iraq.”

Menendez has continued to address MEK convenings and speaks about the group in terms hinting at accepting its self-image as a government-in-exile. And he is quick to point out that he is a friend to the MEK. In a video message to the OIAC in 2021, Menendez wished the group a happy Nowruz, the Persian New Year, and reiterated his support for their work. “You know, that you have friends in Congress and throughout the U.S. government, as well as a host of international NGOs who will continue to shine a light on these abuses” — by the Iranian government — “and continue to press for accountability,” Menendez said. “We will continue highlighting the plight of Iran’s people at the regime’s expense.”

Now, Menendez also appears to have friends among the MEK who are willing to help him with his plight — at their own expense.
Donors to Bob Menendez Legal Defense Linked to Iran Exiles MEK (theintercept.com)

Eli Clifton – The Intercept

March 17, 2024 0 comments

Mirlinda Zharri and women of Nejat Albania

Missions of Nejat Society Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Greeting message for Iranian New Year 1403

On the occasion of the Iranian New Year, we wish you from the bottom of our hearts, with the best possible joys, we sincerely wish you a Holy, Prosperous New Year 1403 full of Peace and Love.

May the feeling of Prosperity and happiness be present in your hearts full of love!
We hope that the New Year 1403 will be the New Year of “Hope” for the voice of those mothers who are in Iran, who every day are impatiently waiting for the meeting of those beautiful boys and girls, who are “stuck” in the MEK Mojahedin-e Khalq!

We sincerely wish the opening of the doors of hope, for the young people of this organization to meet and communicate with their relatives in Iran!

We hope that “Diplomatic Relations” and “Consular Relations” between the 2 Honourable States Albania – Iran will be opened as soon as possible, in such a way as to bring our 2 Honourable States closer, to take the right “Steps” for a “Peace” Prosperous “!

The Iranian New Year coincides with the Holy Month of Ramadan 1403 in Albania!
We hope that our relations will be excellent in the future between 2 ancient peoples with unique traditions in the world!

HAPPY IRANIAN NEW YEAR 1403!
WITH HONOR AND RESPECT,
MIRLINDA ZHARRI!

March 17, 2024 0 comments

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