++ After French journalist Regis Debray, writing in Le Monde last week, criticised his government for keeping Maryam Rajavi in the country for so long, Rajavi’s lobbyists have been brought out for the usual campaign of character assassination. Alongside them Manouchehr Hezarkhani, one of the last few remaining NCR personalities, has been ‘taken out of storage’ after a long silence to swear at the journalist in Farsi. Hezarkhani has gone into overdrive praising the people who remain in Iraq and get killed, and repeating Rajavi’s lies which are intended to keep them in Iraq. Nader Naderi has responded to Hezarkhani’s articles with a memory from Camp Ashraf at the time of Saddam Hussein when Hezarkhani had come to visit along with his son. According to Naderi, whether intentionally or innocently, Hezarkhani’s son announced in front of several people that he wouldn’t mind staying and working with the MEK. Hezarkhani got angry with him and in front of the others told him straight, “Have I fed you donkey brains to come up with such a ridiculous idea!” His son answered that he didn’t mean to stay permanently, only for a few weeks. To which Hezarkhani shouted back and demanded, “Have they been talking to you that you have come up with such a ridiculous idea. You will leave either before me or with me in a few days time.” Naderi reminds Hezarkhani of this outburst and says “how disgusting it is that what you didn’t want for your son for a few weeks, even though there was no chance of being killed, you are now advocating on behalf of Rajavi for other people’s children to stay and be killed.”

++ This week Jaish Al Adl, one of the terrorist organisations supported by Saudi Arabia, has kidnapped five Iranian border guards. Since the MEK have always been fully supportive of the activities of Al Qaida connected groups, the Families of Victims of Terrorism in Iran has published an article which examines the links between Jaish Al Adl and the MEK, and how they work together.

++ There has been a huge response from ex members and others following Maryam Rajavi’s death threats issued in speech given at a meeting in Auvers sur Oise, and which were published by the MEK in their Farsi sites before quickly being removed as too incriminating. In English, Anne Singleton’s article unpicks Rajavi’s wording to extract the precise meaning of what she is saying; there can be no doubt she is asking her loyal followers to kill the people she defines as her enemies in Europe. In Farsi, writers warn western governments, and in particular the French government, about the threat. Most analyse this as a last ditch and desperate attempt by Rajavi to save herself, but even so, they say, there is now a serious physical threat of violence.

++ This week the MEK suddenly changed their tune. The MEK used to openly support the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS). Now suddenly they are saying they don’t support it and have removed all such material, past and present, from the MEK’s websites. More interestingly, after all these years of insisting that they stay in Iraq, they are now saying it is Iran which doesn’t allow us to leave. Judging from the responses in Farsi, nobody takes any of this seriously and treat it simply as propaganda. But Irandidban website has an interesting analysis. Placing this alongside the change of tune of Saddamists and Bathist remnants and Al Arabiyah network belonging to Saudi Arabia, they link this with the Americans’ ridiculous new claim that Iran is supporting Al Qaida. Irandidban concludes that they have all been pushed into this position because they have failed in their attempts to interfere in the internal affairs of Iraq and since then are trying to whitewash their efforts. The article traces this back to Bandar Bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, whose covert plans in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon were exposed to such a point that he had to disappear from the scene. Now those behind these activities, including the MEK, are trying to distance themselves from it.

++ Nejat Association writes a critique of an article supporting the MEK from America: “The MKO’s million dollar campaign in the US Congress has always got the attention of Western media. Hannah Allam of the Miami Herald is one of many American journalists who report on the well funded MKO lobbying efforts in the Congress and its problematic situation as a foreign force in Iraq. The herald piece “Iran’s MEK has friends in Congress, but that hasn’t eased problems in Iraq” , quotes an MKO activist Shirin Nariman who admits that the group’s “deep pocket” and ” relentless lobbying” against Islamic Republic is the key to buy US high profiles…”

++ Mehdi Nikbakht has published article in Setaregan site in Switzerland comparing the life Rajavi and his wife were leading according to the newly published news about the nuclear bunkers etc, in Camp Ashraf, and how the ordinary members had to suffer without even the bare minimum for their needs – food, clothing, heating or cooling, etc – in the camps in Iraq.

++ There has been an enthusiastic response to the action taken by a group of French citizens calling themselves the Peace group who held a demonstration in Auvers sur Oise demanding the expulsion of the MEK cult from France. The MEK typically aggressive counter reaction similarly drew everyone’s attention. Many have connected this to Massoud Rajavi’s existential panic that now he has lost Iraq, he is going to lose France as well. So he ends up threatening anyone and everyone. Ariya Iran has published photographs taken by the group which show the MEK’s agents following the demonstrators as they made their way home after the demonstration and threatening them. One of them is a close bodyguard of Maryam Rajavi. There are also documents which reveal that a French woman who has been regularly featured alongside Maryam Rajavi at her dinners and parties, has been witnessed attacking demonstrators and trying to film their faces while threatening that they will be found and punished.

++ An article by Mahmoud Sepahi from Yaran Association in France is titled: ‘Run aground in Iraq, waiting to be put on trial in France, and Rajavi’s boring messages. Basically he lists the facts about Iraq, the MEK are being thrown out, and about France, Maryam Rajavi is waiting to be taken to court on terrorism charges, and yet she has closed her eyes as though nothing is happening and simply repeats the same boring nonsense she has done for the past three decades.

++ Homayoun Kohzadi in Paris has also been commenting on a different issue but with a similar conclusion. Kohzadi points to the repetitive and boring messages broadcast by Massoud Rajavi for over thirty years. ‘Starting from the time he came out of Iran and gave a 6 month timeline to overthrow the regime, then made it two years and now he extends it year by year but still expects people to sit and listen to him and his nonsense.’

++ Nejat Association published an article examining the MEK’s latest fraudulent activities on their websites using photoshop and other means to fabricate images purportedly showing unrest in Iran. Among such false MEK reports is that attached to a photograph of a queue for government rations for poor people. One report claims that an old man is the subject of the news, but in another report the subject is a young woman. The item has been duplicated with only the names changed; not even remembering it is they who have made the report up. After decades of this, says Nejat, nobody believes them.

++ M. Eftekhari sent an article to be published in Iran Interlink titled, ‘What convention? Which organisations? Which Iranians and what democracy?’ It is a response to Maryam Rajavi’s claim of holding a convention of Iranian associations for democracy. Addressing Rajavi directly he says none of these terms applied. Firstly, this was a speech not a discussion; everyone had to sit and listen to you. Then there were no associations, no names were published, no reports given out; this was only about you. They weren’t even Iranians; 95% were foreigners and the others were your own loyal members. Lastly, this had nothing to do with democracy because you have nothing to do with democracy. The whole thing was a sham.

++ Ali Jahani from Iran Pen association in Germany has posted reminder note titled ‘Why we should help the residents of Liberty’. He identifies the threats from Rajavi which loom over these people, and then shows that there are very, very few people who are trying to actually save them. He shows that nearly every site which mentions them wants to exploit them, whether American, Israeli, etc, they want to use their blood. Only their families and friends – former colleagues – are trying to save them.

++ Iran Interlink places two reports side by side for contrast. A group of French citizens calling themselves the Peace Association have asked for the expulsion of the MEK from Auvers sur Oise. While Press TV reports on President Obama’s use of executive powers to ease rules for potential asylum seekers in the US who support or fund of terrorist groups. This would, of course, allow the MEK to relocate there in future.

++ The MEK’s Farsi outlets continue to viciously attack recently separated members of the NCRI and and others who still consider themselves as internal critics of the MEK. In reaction to these, Esmail Yaghmai, the famous poet and ex member of the MEK and NCRI, who had been criticising them in good faith as a friend and suffered the inevitable backlash of swearing for his efforts, has posted a note which itemises the things the MEK says and concludes that they are so desperate that they don’t even check their own contradictions. In the end, he says, I welcome it because from outside you people can see your true face. Yaghmai says, “Now I take it as a credit to be sworn at by you”. He directs all this at Massoud and Maryam because nobody would do this without their order. He concludes, “I will doubt myself on the day, God forbid, that you begin to say a single positive word about me”.

14 February 2014

++ Sahar has published an article about a new broadcast from Massoud Rajavi for the residents of Camp Liberty. The message is delivered by audio tape alongside 15 year old pictures of Rajavi. The people who have informed Sahar about the broadcast from inside the camp say that one of the images shows two people fighting, one has fallen and the other is sitting on his chest and grabbing his collar. While this is showing, Rajavi is talking and clearly says that if he gets help he will be able to get up but if he doesn’t he will be finished. After this there has been much discussion among the members as they attempted to interpret this. It is clear to them he is not asking for help from those inside the camp because there is nothing they can do, but is it the Israelis or Americans to whom is he directing his message? Some have said that if that is the case then Rajavi is preparing us for either his coming out as an agent of MOSSAD or being resident in Tel Aviv, etc.

++ Some weeks ago, Desmond Tutu’s daughter was used by Maryam Rajavi as a speaker at an MEK event to express condolences for the death of Nelson Mandela. At that time, everyone pointed out that the MEK had been swearing vigorously at Mandela up to that date. Two weeks ago, Desmond Tutu himself was part of a group of dignitaries, including Kofi Anan, who visited Tehran. Irandidban website published a short report on the visit which highlighted the MEK’s silence over the visit in the context of them previously using his grand daughter against Iran.

++ Iran Ghalam has published a key article directed at the members inside Camp Liberty which Iran Interlink has condensed as much as possible here without removing the full meaning. Iran Ghalam asks for anyone who can, as much as they can, to take this message to the people inside the camp. In the article Iran Ghalam addresses them as “our dear friends”, while acknowledging that “even if you don’t consider us friends now you will come to see it later”. The article then presents simple facts, thus: ‘The ceasefire between Iran and Iraq has been in place for a long time, Saddam Hussein has been deposed, the MEK has been disarmed and Camp Ashraf has been emptied. Even if you don’t regard us as your friends, we can at least agree on these facts. Our message is based on these realities.’ The article then goes on to look at Massoud Rajavi’s analyses and suggests that “you can agree that he told all of us that peace between Iran and Iraq is impossible and that Saddam’s army is one of the best in the world and will never be toppled, and you can agree that the slogan he gave us was ‘if there is no Ashraf, there is no Mojahedin’. Surely you can agree that he told us these things. The question at this point then is, after all these things happening is it too much to ask that after thirty years, Massoud Rajavi hold a democratic election and is it too much to ask where the limit is of human rights abuses that can go on under the pretext of fighting the Iranian regime?” The article again acknowledges: “We probably don’t agree that Rajavi is a war criminal, but surely you do agree that for the last thirty years he has not done what he said he would do. You agree that in 1361 (1983), he announced that the IRI will be toppled in two years time. And ever since then, he and his wife have extended this year by year. Is it too much to ask after all this that Rajavi give his place up for a short period for four years to anyone elected by you to lead the organisation? Is it too much to ask Massoud and Maryam to explain what their aim is in keeping you in Iraq and preventing anyone from being sent to third countries? Is it too much to ask why didn’t we leave Camp Ashraf before 53 people were massacred there, and why did we leave only after that but without explanation? Why was a hunger strike held and why did this stop without achieving anything? Why are we refusing to co-operate with the UNHCR to the point that they issue statements against us? Why was Maryam Rajavi insisting that everyone in Liberty should be taken back to Camp Ashraf on the grounds that Ashraf is safer than Liberty, but when the people there got killed she took no responsibility for their deaths, even when the international community said it would be dangerous to return to Ashraf? Is it too much to ask what the plan is behind our support for some fugitive Iraqis and other foreign personalities, and why suddenly all our energy must go into saving an arrested Iraqi MP, are we after now after Iraq’s interests, have we become Iraqis now? Is it too much to ask why we are so closely aligned with and working together with the extremist groups in Syria to the point that there are reports of MEK members being killed in fights there, and the MEK’s sites are devoted to what is happening in Syria? Do we have Syrian nationality too now? The last and main question is, who is leading this organisation and where is he after a decade and why does his wife have nothing more on her agenda than holding parties and meetings to which she invites second hand and retired personalities? In the end we know that anyone who asks even one of these questions will not have an easy time and people have even been killed for insisting on getting answers. But we will not stay silent and we will continue to insist that the doors of the camp be opened so that people can come out and choose whatever they want to do next.”

++ There have been several more responses to Parviz Khazai’s swearing at Atefeh Eghbal and others who are internal critics of the MEK. One of the responses is from Nader Naderi who is from the same province of Lorestan as Khazai. Naderi has lashed Khazai, using some colourful local dialect as well, as somebody who has disgraced the Lorestan people who are famous for their courage on the front lines rather than sitting like Khazai in Sweden, encouraging others in the camps in Iraq to get killed.

++ Several responses and open letters denounce a new committee in the Romanian parliament which has been made by the MEK. Many refer to similar committees which the MEK have created in the UK and European parliaments and talk of the disgrace MPs face later down the line for taking money for supporting them. One example is MEP Paulo Casaca who was de-selected after his support for the MEK was revealed to his constituents in Portugal. Another example being Lord Corbett of Castle Vale who was mocked by his peers until his death. The writers suggest that the money paid is not worth the loss of your reputation.

++ Many commentators have written articles on the back of the UN half-yearly report on Iraq which mentioned the human rights abuses by MEK leaders and the way they have been stopping people from going to third countries, and linking this to the MEK’s lobbyists in America’s House of Representatives and the Senate who falsely claim there is nowhere to take these people. Many point out that, as the UN says, the real problem is that Rajavi and his backers refuse to open the door of Camp Liberty. They are resigned to the necessity of moving everyone to another closed camp like Romania but absolutely refuse to open the camp door as they know everyone will leave.

++ AFP reports that the French investigative judge in Maryam Rajavi’s case will decide after all these years of investigation whether to send her to court or not. Some people who have been following details of the case have offered qualifying explanations that in 2003 the allegations against Maryam Rajavi and nine others were that they were involved in: funding and planning acts of terrorism from Paris; planning to attack Iranian embassies across Europe; planning to kill some ex-members across Europe; moving their HQ from Iraq to Paris, including buying a studio (a paint factory) and establishing satellites and equipment to continue their broadcasting activities; and money laundry. Although due to political interference and the support of MOSSAD and CIA, some of these might be dropped, the judge will certainly not be able to drop all of it because everybody knows full well what the MEK are doing. Many others point out that the issue concerning Rajavi and his wife is much wider than whether French national law will cover it or not. They point out that crimes against humanity and war crimes can only really be dealt with under international law by places like The Hague. Mohammad Razaghi has put these facts together in a letter to Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki and asked him to pursue the Rajavis for their crimes against Iraqis, Iranians and his own members under Iraqi law because the majority of these crimes have taken place in his country.

++ Maryam Sanjabi has published a three part article about cults in the website ‘Call of the Truth’. She uses information from Steve Hassan and from Margaret Singer and compares their facts about cults with what she has witnessed inside the MEK. Massoud Khodabandeh has referred to this in his Facebook and congratulated her for her work. He says, I remember being with her, just after she had escaped the MEK, when a journalist from the Wall Street Journal put it to her, ‘you are from the leadership of the MEK and have defected. You, therefore, are different from other defectors. You have a responsibility to answer for what has happened in these camps.’ At that time Sanjabi responded by saying, ‘all I can say is that in a cult there are no leaders (plural) there is only one leader, and the rest of us are all victims’. She continued, ‘I will try in future to explain and expand on this as I have just come out.’ This is apparently the start of her explanation.

++ Several items have appeared in English from both sides of the fence which identify the role of the MEK in activities designed to destroy the P5+1 nuclear negotiations. Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian, referred to building trust and the dimensions of nuclear inspections as the main challenges facing the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. He underlined that there are others, including certain Arab countries, the Zionist lobby and Israel as well as the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), that make all-out efforts to make sure that the agreement and negotiations will fail. John Glaser writing in Anti War, describes as ‘too preposterous to be true if you say it out loud’, the fact that four high-profile former government officials are getting paid by an Iranian dissident group that until 2012 was an officially designated terrorist organization to publicly oppose the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran. Press TV reports, “The MKO has “combined efforts with Israeli, Zionist” groups to “bribe” US officials, said Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist in Florida. The four American officials “are nothing more than Zionist puppets who are consistently being paid by this group (MKO) and this group obviously being funded by anti-Iranian and pro-Israel initiatives,” Rickard told Press TV on Saturday.“This is a form of bribery and the bribery goes on and on and on,” he added.”

++ Dave Seminara has produced a detailed article for The Washington Diplomat which describes how “Despite its opacity and relative obscurity, analysts agree that the MEK has been able to punch above its weight in Washington.”

++ According to the Arabic-language website Voice of Russia, in her meeting with the Iraqi minister of Human Rights, head of the European Union Delegation in Iraq Ambassador Jana Hybáškova, said the EU plans to allocate 22 million euros for the relocation of MKO members outside Iraq in order to respond to Iraq’s requests.

++ Nejat Society reports on the French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic Regis Debray’s recent visit to Iran. Debray criticized his government for double standards and mistaken policies towards Iranians including hosting the Mujahedin Khalq Organization terror cult in French territory and aiding “the Iraqi aggressor” Saddam Hussein in the disastrous war against Iran. Regis Debray suggests: We are much more conscious of always hosting on our territory, with visible public support (by parliamentarians and mayors), the People’s Mujahedin, politico religious cult, so far without representation in the country, and with the record of fighting alongside Saddam Hussein against its motherland. It targeted and killed half of the government and made thousands of civilians die.”Where are the terrorists”, we ask. ” Are they with you or with us?”

++ Fars News says a prominent Iraqi politician described the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI or PMOI) as a big cancerous tumour being cut off from his country. “The MKO is like a cancer that Iraq has been afflicted with, but uprooting it is nearly complete and it has reached its final days,” former Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie told FNA on Sunday.

++ Fars News also quoted Lebanon’s al-Nahar daily newspaper saying that the Mojahedin Khalq has been reporting its activities and operations in Iraq as well as the status quo in the country to the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks for years. According to the report, the MKO leaders were called to the headquarters of the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks to present their intelligence on the situation in Iran.

++ Nazik Muhammad reporting for PUKmedia in Baghdad, said that Iraq had reached an agreement with the United Nations and the European Union to move the remaining members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to the Romanian territories as soon as possible. MP from the State of Law, Foud al-Duraki said in a statement to PUKmedia that the third country had been agreed on by Iraq, UN and EU which shall be Romania. “the Iraqi Government do not want MEK members to stay in Iraq, as they participated in oppression of 1991 revolution in Iraq with the former regime” al-Duraki added. The Iraqi Government had designated $500 thousand to transport the MEK members from Iraq, Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Muhammad al-Shaya’a announced. Another € 22 million (EUR) from the European Union shall also be designated to transport MEK members out of Iraq.