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Camp Liberty

Update on camp Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL)

Update No. 13

Update on the implementation of solutions for residents of Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL)

1- 2015 has seen the largest number of relocations out of Iraq in a calendar year since the international community and the Government of Iraq began efforts to find relocation opportunities for residents of the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL) in 2011.

2- By the end of 2015, more than 1,100 residents will have been relocated to a situation of safety in third countries. This represents more than a third of the residents registered by UNHCR. By the beginning of 2016, it is expected that fewer than 1,970 residents will remain in the TTL.

3- The situation with relocations is at its most buoyant since efforts began. Almost half of all relocations have taken place in the latter half of 2015. These outcomes have been achieved with the cooperation and flexibility of the residents who have proceeded with the relocation process despite difficult circumstances, including rocket attacks on 29 October 2015 which resulted in the deaths of 24 residents and injuries to dozens of others.

4- UNHCR strongly condemned the rocket attacks; the High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, stating: “This is a most deplorable act, and I am greatly concerned at the harm that has been inflicted on those living at Camp Liberty. Every effort must continue to be made for the injured and to identify and bring to account those responsible.”

5- UNHCR deeply appreciates the measures taken by some countries to relocate residents to situations of safety and security. Albania’s exceptional contribution to this humanitarian endeavour merits special note. Albania has received more than three-quarters of the residents who have been relocated. Its efforts have contributed greatly to international efforts to find solutions for this group of people.

6- Central to the recent success is the residents’ commitment to meeting the bulk of costs associated with relocations to Albania. This commitment to meet travel costs and living expenses is crucial to the ongoing implementation of solutions for the group.

7- UNHCR urgently renews its calls upon states to find ways to offer long term solutions for the residents who remain at the Hurriya TTL. This appeal for help should be read in light of the potential for more attacks on the Hurriya TTL. As well as the attack of October 2015, the residents have been subjected to several rocket attacks, both in the Hurriya TTL and in Camp New Iraq (the former Camp Ashraf), which also resulted in deaths and injuries. These attacks, coupled with the current conflict in Iraq, leave residents of the Hurriya TTL open to significantly heightened security risks. This emphasizes the need for quick and pragmatic action on the part of States to ensure that these people are relocated to a situation of safety and security.

8- UNHCR continues to call upon the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and well-being of residents, including ensuring access to life saving medical treatment and assistance with the provision of good and services to enable the residents to make arrangements for their own protection.

9- UNHCR also recalls the Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Iraq and the United Nations explicitly recognizes that residents benefit from the principle of non-refoulement.

December 17, 2015 0 comments
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Albania

26 more Camp Liberty residents arrived in Tirana

On Tuesday December15, another group of Temporary Transit Location transferred to Albania, Peyvand-e Rahayee Website reported.

The group consists of 26 Camp Liberty residents bringing the total to 323 in 18 series. 

The names are as follows:

  1. Esmaeil Asadi
  2. Hushang Ashraf Samani
  3. Seyyed Massoud Afzali
  4. Wali Akbari
  5. Yusof Parvizi
  6. Mojgan Taghipour
  7. Mohammad Hekmati
  8. Ozra Khazaei
  9. Ali Khoshneshin
  10. Nahid Ranjkesh
  11. Mashaallah Saeedi
  12. Zohreh Samani
  13. Heidar Shaabani
  14. Akram Shirnejad
  15. Seyyed Mir Azizi
  16. Heidar Azimi
  17. Naser Ghafuri rad
  18. Hasan Ghosi Nekooei
  19. Leila Kulaei
  20. Marziyeh Golmaryami
  21. Ali Mahjoub
  22. Saeed Mokhtari
  23. Seyyed Esmaeil Mansouri
  24. Abolfath Molaei
  25. Batoul Molaei
  26. Bahman Namdar­
December 17, 2015 0 comments
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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mujahedin-e Khalq: propaganda against Iran sponsored by the US

At the same time as thousands of small and medium-sized Italian companies are about to sign trade agreements with the Islamic Republic of Iran and Imam Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Iranian state, is launching a decisive and merciless struggle against terrorism of Daesh, the Italian government, irresponsibly (but intentionally), continues to grant full political freedom to the clearly anti-Shia and anti-Iranian organization Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its related acronyms. A serious choice that proves the short-sightedness of a government policy, to Renzi, totally subordinate to the imperialist American and Israeli foreign policy.

What is the MEK, what is its history?

The MEK was founded in the ’70s as an islamo-socialist organization, it participated in the struggle against the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, only to later do not recognize the new government of Khomeini. When the war broke out between Iran and Iraq – in which the two countries devastated one another, these (new) jihadists made the disastrous choice of siding with Saddam Hussein, at the time considered by most leftist Muslims as a watchdog of the United States. The National Liberation Army (NLA) was founded with the help of Hussein as their armed wing. Because of this choice the MEK’s path antagonized the majority of the Iranian people who considered him ”guilty of having helped to kill the children of Iran ”. After the US invasion of Iraq, the MEK became in fact to be at the service of Washington beginning with its leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

The MEK’s anti-Shia and anti-Iranian hatred transformed its substance, into abandoning its original socialist inspiration. The Mojahedin-e Khalq obtained coverage and support of Israel and its intelligence service (Mossad); moreover the approach if not the enslavement against Tel Aviv was the obligatory path to be able to continue their plainly anti Iranian activities.

Mohammad Javad Larijani, a close associate of Khamenei, in an interview with NBC revealed that "According to the Iranian government many recent attacks (such as explosions in military depots) and terrorist attacks (such as those against Iranian scientists) are conducted through a collaboration between Israel and the Mojahedin." This thesis could be considered until recently as Iranian propaganda but – as noted by an article published in Linkiesta – now the evidence of its truthfulness seems unexceptionable and accessible to all.

We read the online Italian newspaper that "Journalists have NBC continued its investigation in the United States, investigating the information gathered by the CIA. On February 9 of this year three public officials, in three separate interviews, have confirmed this link. Israel provided weapons, training and money to the MEK, for terrorist actions that were carried out in Iranian territory”. [1]

The sources have emerged: those who kill Iranian scientists? Bibi (Netanyahu), responds Linkiesta. The interesting thing, nailing Israel and anti-Iranian propagandists in Europe, is that the Israeli government has never denied his involvement. On the contrary, Lieutenant-General Benny Gantz was allowed to say that Iran should expect more “unnatural" events. [2]

Although, the MEK was formally listed as terrorist organizations by the US State Department, in 1997 (from 1997 until 2012), Seymour Hersh has revealed the continued support of the Republican administration for this organization. In 2008, the great journalist wrote an article entitled "Preparing the battlefield" where he explained that "The MeK was on the terrorist list of the State Department for more than a decade, but in recent years the group has received arms and intelligence, directly or indirectly, from the United States. Some of the secret funds for a new permit, said the Pentagon consultant, could end up in the coffers of the MeK." US poured money into the coffers of the Mujahedin, certainly not for humanitarian purposes. The script seems to be the same as always: to eliminate the enemies of the US.

In the same opinion is Ismail Salami of the GlobalResearch. His analysis seems to leave no room for doubt "The terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization aka MKO or MEK Seems to be a ubiquitous agent any time there is an assassination in Iran. A shadowy cult with myriad of financial, military and intelligence connections to Tel Aviv and Washington, the MKO works in league with Kidon, the assassination unit within the Mossad. There are firm reports indicating that the MKO members have received military and intelligence training both from the US forces as well as from the Mossad ‘’. [3] In the same article a report by Richard Engel and Robert Windrem of the NBC News was quoted, "cites two anonymous senior US Officials with two interesting claims: 1) That it was MEK Which perpetrated the string of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and 2) the terrorist group "is FINANCED, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service." I know the report testifies the veracity of what Iranian officials have asserted about the involvement of Israel with MEK and the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists on the soil.

In 2009, the MEK (or MKO) tried to assassinate former President Ahmadinejad. The news was picked up by many international media including also Il Sole 24 Ore 4, although the incident was not reported in its severity (Il Sole 24 Ore edulcorò the news with the typical attitude of the Western media). The statements of Ahmadinejad were moving: "The stupid Zionists have hired mercenaries to assassinate me." It would seem obvious that this organization is in direct hetero effects.

After this ‘enterprise’, fortunately failed, the jihadists intensified their relations with the US, France and Israel.

A year later, it organized a demonstration in Paris against the legitimate government of Tehran in June 26, 2010. While Obama distanced himself from these terrorists, the neocons continued to support them; the various French governments, even continued to host their sites. On that occasion "About 30,000 people from all over Europe, have heard the speeches of former Prime Minister of Spain, José Maria Aznar and former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, who have just founded with the Friends of Israel Initiative- asking the State Department not to consider the People’s Mujahedeen a terrorist organization, and the European Union to strengthen the unilateral sanctions against Iran " 3. At that episode, certainly, the group represented the prelude to something more dangerous: the CIA was preparing to give the MEK qualified trainers as well as a wider network coverage intelligence. Said and done.

Journalist Seymour Hersh has reported the presence of jihadist training camps connected to MEK in Nevada. Hersh writes: "They got the standard training in commo, crypto [cryptography], small-unit tactics, and weaponry-that went on for six months [and] they were kept in little pods." 4 The neocons have put the anti-government Iranian group in terms of hard hitting, and to provide even serious damage to the civilian Shiite population.

2012 was the year in which the Mujahedin ceased to be terrorists in Washington. On January 6, they organized a conference in Paris which was attended by members of the US elites including Tom Ridge, John Bolton, Howard Dean and French high profiles such as Philippe Douste-Blazy, Andre Vivien.

At this point a question is raised: Do the Mujahedin-e Khalq have relationships with Daesh and Al Qaeda?

Certainly the MEK has collaborated with the US in the destruction of Iraq Baathist, his former patron, and shares with the same anti-Shia hatred that Daesh does. The hypothesis of a collaboration between the two jihadi groups is certainly founded and it is very likely that the Mujahedin militants could be transformed to Daesh (or vice versa?).

Again, it is necessary to say that the evidences are not lacking: when Daesh began his bloody raids in Iraq, members of the MEK argued that any anti-terrorist measures would represent a violation of the Security Council of the United Nations.

While the men of Al Bagdadi were massacring Christian communities, Shia and Kurdish in Iraq and Syria, Saudi Arabia and Israel intensified their support for the MEK. The website of Iran’s Press TV quoted Iran-Interlink that "According to sources, who declined to be named, the MKO terrorists are undergoing training on how to conduct terrorist operations in Iran and Iraq and are receiving technical as well as information technology ( IT) training from Israeli agents ". [7]

And ‘he same as many members of the Iraqi Ba’th, after 2008, who have passed into the ranks of Daesh, it is very likely that the MEK / MKO has followed the same parable, in fact many weapons belonging to the anti-government Iranians were found in supplies of mercenaries of Al Bagdadi.

Yet, despite this, the leaders of the Mujahedin continue to give instructions in the EU institutions on democratic rights, especially civil and political.

How does the MKO make a living?

The MEK is an ‘organization of a dubious purpose with strong connections with the most militaristic right-wing American imperialist sectors. The Washington’s high- profiles enjoy the MEK’s donations whose men are allowed to move freely, organizing activities and events planned to delegitimize what they call “the anti-democratic governments in Iran”. The figures in these donations are large, the New York Times has a precious revelation: "Many of the American supporters, though not all, accepted fees of $ 15,000 to $ 30,000 to give speeches to the group, as well as travel expenses to attend MEK rallies in Paris. Edward G. Rendell, the former Democratic governor of Pennsylvania, said in March he that had been paid a total of $ 150,000 to $ 160,000 ". [5]

The strategy of the Mujahedin is to disguise themselves: they are sometimes as Marxist and Islamic organization managed to convince large sections of the left Eurocentric; sometimes they create artificial acronyms such as the Association of Democratic Women in Iran. The behavior of a representative, Davood Karim, who repeatedly took part in the campaigns of the Zionist right Islamophobic Roman, is somewhat ambiguous.  [9]

In Italy, some acronyms related to the MEK have also seized attention of several verbal anthropologists     

such as Tiziana Ciavardini – some visible also on her facebook page – that intentionally and  clearly intimidate  and slow down the cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue that the Ciavardini herself  has been pursuing so meritoriously,  for years.

In conclusion, I think we can say that despite attempts to disguise themselves behind usual ideological and political cover, the real nature and purpose of this organization is the destabilization of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A goal which, as we know, the various US administrations pursued for decades now.

By Stefano Zecchinelli , Translated by Nejat Society

References:

Israel Gunpoint  http://www.linkiesta.it/it/blog-post/2012/02/12/la-cia-svela-mek-mano-armata-disraele-leuropa-riveda-le-sue-posizioni/4249/

Iranian Scientists   http://www.linkiesta.it/it/blog-post/2012/01/11/chi-uccide-gli-scienziati-iraniani-elementare-bibi/3648/

Israel sponsored terrorist http://www.globalresearch.ca/mujahedin-khalq-organization-mko-us-israel-sponsored-terrorist-entity-directed-against-iran/5423450

Failed assassination of Ahmadinejad   http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/notizie/2010-08-05/attacco-fallito-ahmadinejad-080042_PRN.shtml

voltaire.net     http://www.voltairenet.org/article166095.html

Iran interlink    http://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=6884ù

Iran interlink    http://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=5709

Iranian Opposition     http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-opposition-group-mek-wins-removal-from-us-terrorist-list.html?_r=0

December 16, 2015 0 comments
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Former members of the MEK

Fereshteh Hedayati; member of the MKO Central Council defected the group

Ms. Hedayati is the first member of Central Council to declare her defection from the Mujahedin-e Khalq.

In september6, 2015 the Mujahedin declared a new entity called the Central Committee composed of a thousand women members of the group.

In fact, The MKO Cult leaders forced to announce this new committee after several members of the Leadership Council defected the group. These brave women who managed to release themselves from the Cult revealed horrifying facts about the MKO Cult leader; Massoud Rajavi abuses of female members of the group.

Maryam Sanjabi,Zahra Moeeni, Zahra Sadat Mirbagheri, Nasrin Ebrahimi, Homeira Mohammadnejad,Batoul Soltani are among the women of Leadership Council who exposed Massoud Rajavi’s sexual exploitation of women.Their exposures were a big scandal to the MKO Cult so called guru!

Ms. Fereshteh Khalaj Hedayati; member of the so called central Council of MKO noticed her separation from the Cult after 30 years of membership in the group. She declared his defection publishing a statement on her Facebook page, titled: ”Don’t be Silent”

In her statement Ms. Hedayati stated:

“Silence is not consent …, now we should talk about all those who lost their lives to pursuit a goal.

I am an eyewitness who is released from a cave.

How long should I wait. How long should I continue my silence …

…I spent 30 years of my life within the Rajavi’s group… I was an eyewitness for thirty years.. I am liberated from a brainwashing machine..

…. I believe it is the time to brake my silence..

For the sake of all those innocent people who are still at Camp Liberty and are not aware that the world outside of this damn cult is completely different from what they imagine…..   “

At the end Ms. Hedayati wrote:

” I declare my separation from the sinister, medieval Cult of Rajavi and deny any kind of relationship with this hellish group. I am ready to answer any question in this regard.

December 15, 2015 0 comments
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Albania

New groups of TTL residents transferred to Albania

The Camp Liberty residents transferred in two groups of 20, on December8th and 19th, Peyavand-e Rahayee Website reported.

The total number of those transferred is 297 in 17 series.

The MKO Cult leader forced to comply with the quota set by UNHCR to facilitate the weekly transfer of 40 TTL residents .

Names are as follows:( some of the names may be aliases)

  1. Behrouz Aghaiee Asl
  2. Esmaeil Ebrahimi
  3. Hazar Arkani
  4. Majid Ashk Khuni
  5. Ali Aslani
  6. Mohammadreza Allahverdi
  7. Samaneh Amanpur Gharayee
  8. Fereshteh Bagherzadeh
  9. Zari Parvin
  10. Halimeh Purshakiba
  11. Reza puraghl
  12. Farshad Purkashkuli
  13. Ali Javadi
  14. Mohsen Hajipur
  15. Mohammad Khazaei
  16. Kamran Khalatbari
  17. Nasrin Khatibi
  18. Darush Dabagh Tabrizi
  19. Zari Rezaei
  20. Nayereh Soleymani
  21. Effat Seyfzadeh
  22. Hussein Shahrokhi nejad
  23. Mohammad Saeid Sadriyeh
  24. Soghra Sadughiyanzadeh
  25. Maryam Safavi
  26. Saeid Ashuri
  27. Amir Abdulmohammadi
  28. Tahereh Azizi
  29. Abdollah Gheytani
  30. Ruhollah Karimi
  31. Manijeh Keshmiri
  32. Hassanali Kamalian
  33. Issa Moradi
  34. Mehdi Mosleh Ebadi
  35. Sirus Mirzakhani
  36. Mitra Naderi
  37. Muna Nikkhah
  38. Mohammadreza Nikukar
  39. Sara Haftbaradaran
  40. Masoumeh Yazdani
December 14, 2015 0 comments
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Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 124

++ The Day of University Students on 16th Azar in Iran has its roots in anti-Imperialist, anti-American student protests at the time of President Nixon and the Shah when three students were killed, sparking further widespread unrest. This year, as every year, Rajavi tried to jump on the bandwagon even though the MEK is no longer following its original anti-Imperialist path. This was the worst year ever for Rajavi because although the MEK had more slogans than ever not a single mention was made about them in Iran on that day. Genuine opposition forces commented that the non-violent nature of this year’s student activity was highly significant. Students chose to engage in peaceful, civil protest such as meetings rather than street demonstrations. These oppositionists blamed the MEK for this curtailment. They say the students would like to be more active, but want to avoid any risk of being associated with the MEK. This deliberate disassociation with MEK violence is seen outside Iran too. Over and over we see that where there is a demonstration or a meeting, the moment an MEK logo or slogan appears everyone disperses and runs away.

++ Last week forty Camp Liberty residents arrived in Albania and another forty will be transferred soon. The number over the past two months is over 200. In Iraq, the MEK is trying to slow down this process – they can’t stop it – so they can absorb the new arrivals and keep them under control. This week ten people separated from the MEK in Tirana and renounced the group. The MEK spend a lot of money and has sent its top people there for damage limitation and control. Anyone who wants to leave is required to sign a document agreeing to receive $500 per month (the UNHCR pays $200 pm) and that the legal work for their refugee application and their accommodation needs will be done by MEK representatives. The also promise not to talk. The MEK then maintain these dissidents in MEK buildings separate from the other members. Last week, seven such people left and asked the UNHCR to register them separately as individuals with nothing to do with the MEK. The UNHCR local representative laid the MEK paperwork on the desk before them and refused, saying they had already chosen to allow the MEK to pursue their cases. Iran Interlink queried this at the UNHCR office in Geneva and were told that no such agreement had been made between the UNHCR and the Mojahedin Khalq. The only conclusion which can be drawn from this is that the local UNHCR staff are open to corruption by the MEK. According to independent sources in Tirana, the MEK had told the ex-members they must sign a new agreement that from January they will be paid only $350 pm, though the MEK will still do their legal paperwork. Some have refused and this is what prompted the seven to try to leave.

++ The MEK’s NCRI website has complained this week that the government of Iraq is not allowing the “24 martyrs plus one dead” from the attack on Camp Liberty in October to be buried. Massoud Khodabandeh commented on Facebook: After being informed about this, I investigated the problem. I can’t understand why the MEK have a website called the National Council of Resistance of Iran which has no Farsi language on it at all. Instead, it has seven other languages, including the newly added Albanian language. I called Baghdad and enquired from officials there. They said “there is a person who calls himself the legal representative of the MEK – which we don’t recognise anyway – but who doesn’t know anything about law and is not even capable of arguing on the level of an ordinary person. He insists we hand over these bodies so they can hold a cultish ceremony in Camp Liberty and bury these bodies there. We have answered him clearly that these bodies are to be handed over to their next of kin and not their so-called ideological leader – we don’t recognise that. We have also informed him that if no next of kin come forward, they will be will be buried the same as everyone else in a cemetery and you are welcome to participate or help in that ceremony. We also reminded him that Camp Liberty is a transit camp and not a cemetery. Especially considering that relatives are not allowed inside so they wouldn’t be able to pay their respects to their relatives’ graves. But apparently the MEK can’t listen to or comprehend logic.”

In English:

++ Nejat Society published an open letter to the UNHCR representative in Baghdad. Mahmonir Iranpour, the sister of Ahmadreza and Mohammadreza Iranpour, has asked for help in getting to visit her brothers in Camp Liberty. “I have repetitively asked for visiting both through Email or telephone contact. But, every time what I receive says that MKO members don’t allow any chance of visiting our brothers. Here is the question, generally wherever a group of people are under control of a commissioner, they should abide by the commissioner orders. Your responses in this regard are not acceptable. Unfortunately, it seems that instead of employing international regulations as regards defending refugees’ and their families’ rights, the commissioner acts against United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees committee decisions which is detrimental to those imprisoned in Camp Liberty. It is our right to meet our brothers and we expect you to defend this right, not to deprive us of it…”

++ Mazda Parsi writing for Nejat Bloggers describes the MEK’s fear of the members’ families as a sign of the cult nature of the group. Using several examples of estranged families unable to make contact with their loved ones inside the MEK’s camp, Parsi says, “One sure sign of someone being involved in a cult is that there is a clear separation from family and friends. This sign is clearly observed in the Cult of Rajavi.”

++ Iran Interlink reports on a “freak section in the House Report 114-270 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, gives us the ‘SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF IRANIAN DISSIDENTS LIVING IN CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ’. According to the report it is highly significant that neither the Mojahedin Khalq nor the Rajavis are mentioned. Apparently, Senate has resisted lobbying efforts by the MEK’s advocates in the US, and has given the green light to cooperation between the UNHCR and the government of Iraq to bypass MEK leaders and to deal with residents of Camp solely as individuals. This will help expedite their removal from Iraq.

++ Anne Khodabandeh writes ‘Brainwashing? There should be a law against it’ in which she cites the MEK as just one of many examples of how brainwashing can be used to enslave and exploit victims. Giving a very specific definition of what brainwashing is, Khodabandeh says, “public apprehension over the war on terrorism in Syria and the perceived threat of blowback, is the perfect opportunity for the government to introduce and explain the phenomenon of brainwashing in this narrowly defined sense as an element of the Prevent Strategy. The introduction of a criminal offence which allows the detection, prosecution and punishment of this abhorrent behaviour will aid public understanding and allay fears.”

December 13, 2015 0 comments
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Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Mojahedin Khalq Terrorist Commander poses as a human rights advocate to fool the Financial Times

Iranian exile Ali Safavi, who previously enjoyed infamy as a commander in Saddam’s private army – the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) – and who is wanted in Iraq on charges of torture and murder, has now emerged as a ‘human rights’ blogger in the normally conservative Financial Times.

Safavi’s personal blog has been reinvented as propaganda for the MEK by publishing it as article for its National Council of Resistance of Iran website – which curiously has no Farsi language on it whatsoever. This is the site the MEK uses when it wants to disguise its violent beliefs for Western audiences, posing instead as a political, now human rights, organisation.

When the MEK’s main benefactor Saddam Hussein was removed from power in 2003, its leader Massoud Rajavi became a fugitive whose whereabouts are unknown. His wife, Maryam Rajavi claimed refugee status in Paris along with her former husband Mehdi Abrishamchi. Commander Safavi came along with them. They were quickly arrested on terrorism charges and are still under investigation. The rest of the organisation were left at the mercy of vengeful Iraqis who regard them as part of Saddam’s repressive apparatus – his own private army – responsible for the deaths of 25,000 Iraqi civilians.

While the FT is free to publish a variety of views on Iran, the editors should be aware of the hypocrisy of this particular writer. The MEK is reviled by Iranians both inside and outside the country. (The MEK doesn’t even try to pretend the NCRI represents any Iranian constituency and therefore doesn’t need any Farsi on its website.) A blog by anyone associated with the MEK will certainly not enhance the reputation of the Financial Times, rather it will provoke contempt among right minded Iranians and negatively impact the already difficult work of genuine opposition groups who are advocating for their people.

December 13, 2015 0 comments
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The cult of Rajavi

Brainwashing? There should be a law against it

Shocking revelations about Maoist cult leader Aravindan Balakrishnan and his female victims in a suburb of London shone a light on the normally hidden phenomenon of cultic abuse which pervades society. The danger now will be that this is treated as just another sensational story before being placed on a journalistic ‘bizarre incident’ list along with Jonestown, Wako and Heaven’s Gate, as a freak occurrence.

Sadly, practitioners in the field of cult awareness know of thousands of lonely families suffering the loss of loved ones to cultic abuse with little recourse to help or even acknowledgement.

As a former member of the political cult Mojahedin Khalq, I am intimately familiar with the methods which Balakrishnan used to control and exploit his victims. As this case has highlighted, for a person caught up in cultic abuse there is no exit, they are in fact modern slaves. Indeed, the 2005 report on the MEK by Human Rights Watch was named ‘No Exit’.

If the experience of the daughter and the other victims in the Balakrishnan case are to teach us anything, it is that this is more common than we’d like to believe and that such ghastly behaviour – much like child abuse – thrives on secrecy and collusion; that is, the unwillingness of successive governments to acknowledge this as a widespread problem. More than anything we need to explode the myth that cults are about religion. They are not. The illusion that ‘new religious movements’ are relatively harmless belongs thirty years in the past. But for years, families and former cult members have been dismissed, even denigrated, as hysterical, malicious or delusional or have been exploited for entertainment by the media. No wonder they are reluctant to speak out.

Even when families do bravely confront the cults which have enslaved their loved ones, they find themselves battling litigation, intimidation and disbelief.

Government failure to engage with this phenomenon has left the public unprotected. While civil law protects a designated group of vulnerable people from undue influence, cult experts argue that anyone can be susceptible to deceptive cult recruitment at some point in their lives; people are usually in a state of transitioning when they get involved in cults. This emphasis on susceptibility not vulnerability is an important distinction because it places culpability directly on the intention and activities of the perpetrator rather than looking for deficiencies in the victims. The Balakrishnan cult case is unusual because the leader was prosecuted, not just because the victims were rescued.

Interestingly, techniques for deceptive psychological manipulation are already acknowledged and understood in various modern contexts where coercive persuasion is used for cynical exploitation and enslavement. These include partner abuse, grooming for sex, spiritual abuse, abusive therapy, extremist violence and terrorism. All these are regarded as morally repugnant. But as yet we lack a law which covers the activity which underlies them all.

In the modern vernacular, the term brainwashing is used by ordinary people exactly to describe an unaccountable change of mind and/or personality in an otherwise normal person. Bewildered families of young people travelling to Syria say their children have been brainwashed. The government needs to catch up with scientific and social understanding of this phenomenon if we are to be protected. Are MPs aware, for example, not whether, but how many fully brainwashed cult members are working in sensitive national security roles? We know they exist because as cult counsellors we talk with their families. Yet the phenomenon is glossed over as almost immaterial.

Cultic abuse – known in the vernacular as brainwashing – has a very precise definition. It is not about ‘using advertising to brainwash us into buying things’ or ‘brainwashing us into becoming docile citizens under government dictates’. These are false and unhelpful myths. Neuropsychology explains that ‘changing your mind’ is a physical experience which can be scientifically identified. Brainwashing is not about doctrine, it is about the psychologically manipulative techniques used to literally ‘change’ our minds.

In more legalistic terms it is ‘the deliberate and systematic application of an array of recognised techniques for psychological manipulation without the knowledge or informed consent of the victim  in order to effect a breach of a person’s mental, emotional, intellectual and social integrity for the purposes of abuse, exploitation, slavery and/or pecuniary gain, and to so inhibit their critical faculties that they do not recognise their own predicament so that they may act in ways harmful to their best interests and the interests of society on instruction or by command or by neglect.

The advantage of criminalising cultic abuse in this way is that it is ideologically neutral and does not reflect any particular belief system but straightforwardly describes harmful behaviour. This would protect all our citizens and an obvious place would be an amendment to the new Modern Slavery Bill passed in March.

Prime Minister David Cameron has already uttered the word brainwashing in speeches about Radicalisation. There was no public outcry or panic. Ordinary people know what he means. What a law would do is to give a precise definition which would allow us to ‘join the dots’ between seemingly disparate events like the Balakrishnan cult, the Rotherham grooming for sex scandal and terrorist recruitment.

Indeed, public apprehension over the war on terrorism in Syria and the perceived threat of blowback, is the perfect opportunity for the government to introduce and explain the phenomenon of brainwashing in this narrowly defined sense as an element of the Prevent Strategy. The introduction of a criminal offence which allows the detection, prosecution and punishment of this abhorrent behaviour will aid public understanding and allay fears.

Anne Khodabandeh @AnneKhodabandeh

 Anne Khodabandeh, a leading authority on cultic abuse and terrorism, works as a consultant within the remit of the UK Prevent Duty. After twenty years in the MEK, a dangerous, destructive mind control cult, she helps families through Iran-Interlink.

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Iranian.com,

December 13, 2015 0 comments
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UN

Families of Camp Liberty residents ask Ban Ki-Moon for help

Dear Mr. Ban ki-moon, Secretary- General of the United Nations:

In 1984 my brother Morteza Akbarinasab along with his family (his wife and his three 2-5 years old children) left Iran towards MKO in Kurdistan of Iran & Iraq in order to have more freedom. Immediately after lodgment in MKO sectarian headquarters, he was divested of his power and this weak point caused that his 24 years old wife, named Khadijeh Nhknam who was apolitical and almost illiterate to be at MKO disposal until they abused her as a fighter in forooghe Javidan ( Eternal Light) operations in July ,1988 and was died.

His older son Yaser Akbarinasab who was in a camp in Germany and under the patronage of MKO leaders, before coming of age was promised to meet his father in Iraq, so was persuaded to return to Iraq, but they did not permitted him to return to Germany. Following several years of protests, he was considered as an undesirable person and in 2006 they pretended that he has set himself on fire and was killed. They did not permit our reliable physicians to dissect him and was buried in the same camp.

As I said and as far information that both of you and I have about sectarian and authoritarian groups like MKO and Iraq conditions, potential risk that sometimes turns to actually threatens the life of my severely oppressed brother.

In short I can say that:

1- My brother like other residents of liberty is not permitted to contact with his family- even through correspondence- and therefore he is divested of his powers that has no choice other than inhabitancy in insecure Liberty camp and under the pressure of MKO.

2- Massoud Rajavi by his regular brainwashing has succeeded that over last thirty years to abuse these individuals and caused that they become hearth less and unfeeling. He knows that their meeting with their family is a danger for them, and this prevention does not correspond with any of the legal and human standards and is considered as genocide!

3- I personally protest that why governments and the international and human rights organizations do not eliminate opinionated MKO.

4- To compensate these harms and to observe families, and residents, human rights that I name them absolute captured, it is necessary that the doors of liberty camp be open until sympathetic families cam meet their loved ones freely and in presence of UN representative.

Respectfully

Reza Akbarinasab

Tabriz- Iran – 09.Dec.2015

Awwa Asssociation and Faragh NGO,

December 13, 2015 0 comments
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Iraq

Iraq welcomes the omission of MEK terrorist leaders in Section on Camp Liberty of Congress Report

A freak section in the House Report 114-270 – National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016, gives us the “SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF IRANIAN DISSIDENTS LIVING IN CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ.” (Reproduced below.)

Iran Interlink spoke by telephone with one of the Iraqi officials in charge of expelling the residents of Camp Liberty from Iraq. He agreed to speak off the record to say that Iraq “welcomes and agrees with all seven articles”. He emphasised that “we noticed in particular that there is no mention of the MEK or the Rajavi leaders in the Senate document” and this has been “the most helpful position from America for twelve years… We take this as a green light to go ahead, without interference, to work with the UNHCR and deal with every resident of Camp Liberty as a separate individual with no connection with any group.”

The official indicated that the whole Government of Iraq is “fully committed” to working closely with the US authorities in Baghdad and elsewhere to implement these seven non-binding recommendations of Congress. In this respect, he said, “Iraq will happily issue visas to anyone who would help remove the MEK – in particular, and naturally, the families of residents”. But that “any other independent person” would be welcome if they could help.

For years, both UNAMI and the Government of Iraq have tried to deal with the camp residents as individuals according to Iraqi and International law, but these efforts have been hindered by the MEK’s Western lobbyists and outside forces which have forced barriers between the UN and the individual camp residents. It is welcome news that in this report Senate has ignored these lobbyists and forces.

Following is the text of Section 1227 of House Report 114-270 – NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2016

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

SEC. 1227. SENSE OF CONGRESS ON THE SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF IRANIAN DISSIDENTS LIVING IN CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ.

It is the sense of Congress that the United States should–

(1) take prompt and appropriate steps in accordance with international agreements to promote the physical security and protection of residents of Camp Liberty, Iraq;

(2) urge the Government of Iraq to uphold its commitments to the United States to ensure the safety and well-being of those living in Camp Liberty;

(3) urge the Government of Iraq to ensure continued and reliable access to food, clean water, medical assistance, electricity and other energy needs, and any other equipment and supplies necessary to sustain the residents during periods of attack or siege by external forces;

(4) oppose the extradition of Camp Liberty residents to Iran;

 (5) assist the international community in implementing a plan to provide for the safe, secure, and permanent relocation of Camp Liberty residents, including a detailed outline of steps that would need to be taken by recipient countries, the United States, the Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and the Camp residents to relocate residents to other countries;

(6) encourage continued close cooperation between the residents of Camp Liberty and the authorities in the relocation process; and

(7) assist the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in expediting the ongoing resettlement of all residents of Camp Liberty to safe locations outside Iraq.

December 9, 2015 0 comments
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