Page 408 – Nejat Society

Congressmen bid to resettle Mojahedin Khalq in the US

Terrorist Mojahedin Khalq executes US-Israeli anti-Iran plots: Ex-member

Congressmen bid to resettle MKO in the US

A new Bill sponsored by Dana Rohrabacher aims to resettle Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) members inside the United States.

The primary objective of the Bill, H.R.3707, is “to ensure the emergency of Iranian dissidents living in Camp Liberty/Hurriya and to provide for their admission as refugees to the United States.”

Referred to the Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security earlier this week, the Bill says that it shall be the policy of the US to “take all necessary and appropriate steps in accordance with international agreements to support the commitments of the United States to ensure the physical security and protection of Camp Liberty/Hurriya residents, members of the opposition Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK).”

Earlier in April 2013, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R–CA) who is also a staunch supporter of the MKO in Congress, introduced a new resolution redoubling his efforts to promote ethnic separatism in Iran. There he wanted the Broadcasting Board of Governors to beam news broadcasts in Azeri and Baloch languages into Iran and its border regions with Pakistan to promote ethnic tensions.

Rep. Rohrabacher has so far attended so many meetings of the terrorist MKO group, a group which was on the list of foreign terrorist organizations for some 15 years for its acts of violence against Iranian and US citizens.

The US supporters of the MKO seem to spare no effort in defending the violent terrorist group. Earlier in November, the former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge described the Mujahedin-e Khalq’s murder of US citizens in 1970s as “allegations.”

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Firsthand accounts on the MKO camps in Iraq

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released the Half Yearly Report on Human Rights, covering the period from January to June 2013. The report states, "UNAMI has continuing concerns about human rights abuses committed by the PMOI/MeK leadership within Camp Hurriya against the residents."[1]

It was about a decade ago when the New York Times contributor Elizabeth Rubin first wrote her firsthand experience of visiting "the Cult of Rajavi" in Camp Ashraf Iraq. Her illuminating article revealed the inside world of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) to the western audience. [2]

There have also been numerous reports based on testimonies of former members of the group including the Human Rights Watch report titled "NO Exit" that was published in 2005. Researchers of "No Exit" visited the twelve eyewitnesses quoted in the report and inspected the "Human Rights Abuses Inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps". [3] However, the interviewees were claimed to be the spies of the IRI by the MKO.

As a matter of fact, Rubin was not the only western visitor to the MKO camps who exposed the true facts about the inside world of the cult — she described as she had "entered a fictional world of female worker bees". [4] Jeremiah Goulka was a lawyer in the Bush Justice Department and a co-author of the the RAND report of the US Defense Department who confirmed that the MKO was a cult-like group after he visited Camp Ashraf in 2009.[5]

Goulka puts, "Along with almost all of my interviewees and Human Rights Watch, I concluded that the MEK is a cult.” He refers to cult like practices the MKO leadership uses to manipulate members including "mandated celibacy and divorce, thought control, sleep deprivation, and forced labor". [6]

UNAMI monitors complete the firsthand experiences of Rubin and Goulka and evidences made by ex-members. "UNHCR has continued to work towards identifying individuals in need of international protection and durable solutions for the residents of Camp Hurriya," UNAMI report reads. "However, UNHCR’s efforts to find durable solutions for the residents have been hindered by the non-cooperation of residents, such as the boycotting of UNHCR interviews."[7]

The UN report notifies that the leaders’ reluctance to cooperate with UN officials. It is now about 9 month past the offer by Albanian government but the relocation process to transfer 210 residents of Camp Liberty has not been completed because "the PMOI/MeK refused the names accepted by the Government of Albania, and insisted that it should decide who should be resettled there."! [8]

As it is pointed out in the first hand account by UN monitors, the MKO members’ will and determination to leave the camp do not matter to the cult leaders. "The PMOI/MeK, which has a hierarchical and authoritarian structure, imposes a number of severe restrictions on the residents’ rights, including the right of freedom of movement within the Camp and the right to leave the organization, the free right of association, along with restrictions on contacts with family members (including those residing in Camp Hurriya), on access to basic communications, and on access to medical care and treatment…". [9]

While the UN monitors and other eyewitnesses of the MKO camps confirm violations of human rights taken place inside the MKO camps, the group’s propaganda uproars about what it calls "increasing human rights violation in Iran". Elizabeth Rubin properly states that despite Maryam Rajavi’s rhetoric to advocate a secular democratic government in Iran," Mujahedeen operates like any other dictatorship". She quotes the Iranian-American Historian Irvand Abrahamian, ”No one can criticize Rajavi." [10]

Rubin wrote another article on the MKO cult in 2011 following the group’s extensive lobbying effort to get delisted. The article was appropriately titled "An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends". Once again she recited her record of visiting of "a factory in Maoist China" to warn the US politicians on the risk of supporting Maryam Rajavi who " lives in luxury in France" but in her followers’ camps, "access to the Internet, phones and information about the outside world is prohibited." [11]

She reminded the audience of the interviews she had, in 2003, with some of the escapees from the cult, "They recounted how people were locked up if they disagreed with the leadership or tried to escape; some were even killed." [12]

Considering the UN official report and many other reliable accounts on what is really going on inside the MKO camps, urgent action is needed to help release the group residents who are under constant pressure of the cult tyranny. The UN should mobilize the international community to save the lives and minds of over 3000 individuals taken as hostages in Camp Liberty.

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5569

[2]Rubin, Elizabeth, The Cult of Rajavi, The New York Times, July 13, 2003

[3]https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/79

[4]Rubin, Elizabeth, The Cult of Rajavi, The New York Times, July 13, 2003

[5] Goulka, Jeremiah, Hansell, Lydia, Wilke, Elizabeth, Larson, Judith, The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq, A Policy Conundrum, RAND

[6]Goulka, Jeremiah, INVESTIGATIONS BEGIN INTO MEK SUPPORTERS UP, Salon.com, March 28, 2012

[7]https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5569

[8]ibid

[9]ibid

[10]Rubin, Elizabeth, The Cult of Rajavi, The New York Times, July 13, 2003

[11]Rubin, Elizabeth, An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends, the New York Times, August 13, 2011

[12] ibid

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

America needs to rethink the Middle East

Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

—From George Washington’s Farewell Address, 1796.

Nevada Sens. Harry Reid and Dean Heller have sponsored the “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act” that imposes new sanctions on Iran if passed, even though we are engaged in historical negotiations that would end any attempts by Iran to build a nuclear weapon—and even though there is no actual proof they are. The legislation demands Iran give up its legal civilian nuclear program entirely, and would commit the U.S. to join any attack that Israel launches against Iran.

Reid has received over $250,000 in pro-Israel campaign contributions in 2013, while Heller has received over $70,000. Contrast Sen. Rand Paul, who has not signed the bill, and accepted only $5,000 in Israeli PAC money.

The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is most associated with this bill. AIPAC has been the guardian of what is acceptable discourse regarding Israel. Their usual tactic is to label criticism of Israel “anti-Semitic.”

In 2001, talk show host Ira Hansen was fired by KOH radio for comments criticizing Israel. He said he was told to “only talk positively about Israel.” Is that still a media policy in Nevada? Ira is now a Republican State Assemblyman.

Iran is a theocracy, but also a limited democracy. Its youth chafe under the rule of the Ayatollahs. Women wear scarves, not burqas, and Tehran is as cosmopolitan as Tel-Aviv or Beirut. Iranians are not Arabs, they spring from ancient Aryan migrations from Northern India into central Europe. They are closer to Germans than to Arabs. Sanctions on Iran hurt the people in Iran more than the government. They can make it harder for Iranians in Nevada to get bank accounts or loans.

Saudi Arabia and Israel oppose the negotiations with Iran. Israel has been accusing Iran of being six months away from a nuclear bomb since the 1970s. Yet it is an open secret that Israel has at least 80 nuclear warheads itself. These were assembled outside of international law.

Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson shockingly suggested last October that we explode a nuclear bomb in the Iranian desert and threaten to drop another one on Tehran, the capital. What would happen if a wealthy American-Muslim suggested we do that to Israel?

In 2012, journalist Seymour Hersh reported that the Pentagon-trained members of the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), a Marxist cult, in the Nevada desert to wage terror on Iran. The MEK was on the State Department’s terrorist list because it participated in the 1979 revolution. Later, they split with the ayatollahs and believe they should rule Iran. The MEK is believed to have assassinated Iranian scientists.

Israel, Egypt and Syria have no vital defense importance to the United States. They also have no oil, while Iran’s oil would greatly contribute to the world economy. The US and Britain deposed an elected Iranian prime minister in 1953 and made the Shah an absolute monarch. The Iranian revolution went awry by putting the Ayatollahs in power. But Iran has never attacked its neighbors. We helped Iraq attack Iran. It is time to rethink our special favoritism toward Israel and our special animosity to Iran. It is time to heed George Washington’s advice and put America first.

By Brendan Trainor, News Review

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 39

++ Fars News ran a disturbing report on the MEK in Iraq. According to the news agency, “Over 70 members of the grouplet sought to escape from the hospital where they were treated after going on a forced hunger strike, but they didn’t succeed,” a physician at one of Baghdad’s hospitals wrote in a letter to Iraq’s human rights ministry. The Iraqi physician wrote in his letter that these people have told him that they were forced by the MKO ringleaders to go on hunger strike, and have given letters to the Iraqi medics to be submitted to human rights organizations in order inform the relevant authorities of vitally bad conditions.

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers described the P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran as “a horrible nightmare for the pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Mujahedin Khalq terror cult that have been lobbying members of Congress to keep the pressure on Iran. Attempting to make them pass extra sanctions against Islamic Republic their ultimate aim is definitely a violent regime change in Tehran.” In spite of efforts by AIPAC and the MEK to promote a bill to increase sanctions against Iran, the deal appears is working. “The U.S. Treasury said hours following news of the Iranian move that it has suspended sanctions on foreigners engaged in transactions related to Iran’s oil exports, and some trade in gold and precious metals”, wrote Parsi.

++ American based attempts by Israel and the MEK to scupper the nuclear deal have been the focus of many English language items this week. Anti-War website and Habilian have reported efforts by the MEK and its lobbyists and backers to push forward bills to increase sanctions in violation of the terms of the agreement and in addition an emergency bill H.R.3707 which demands protection of the MEK in Camp Liberty in Iraq. Based on the MEK’s propaganda version of events at the camp, the bill ignores facts and promulgates a misleading and impossible demand – that the MEK be brought to the US. [No individual with links, past or present, to any terrorist entity will be given succour in the US.]

++ Kourosh Ziabari, Press TV, also cautions the US not to sabotage diplomacy with Iran. His article concludes, “But the hawkish, extremist figures in the U.S. political sphere, whether in the government, the Congress or the media, should carefully note that the door for diplomacy would not always remain open, and the chances to reach for a categorical, definite resolution of the decade-long nuclear controversy are limited.

“They should pay attention to the fact that President Rouhani’s administration has embarked on a very sensitive endeavor for directly talking to the United States, which many people inside Iran don’t think of positively. Any new sanctions against Iran under any baseless pretext would mean a violation of the Geneva agreement, the termination of its implementation and possibly an end to the long-sought talks. A peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the nuclear controversy would be beneficial to all parties, and will immensely contribute to regional peace and security. These pro-Israeli Senators who are certainly fueled and empowered by Tel Aviv should come to the understanding that pleasing Netanyahu and Shimon Peres at the expense of the interests of their own people and the people of the world is not a logical or relevant decision. Somebody should ask them not to kill the unprecedented chances that have emerged for a peaceful and viable diplomacy with Iran.”

++ Edaalat Association published an article comparing the luxury lives of the leaders of the MEK, illustrated with pictures of their houses and cars, etc. with the lives of the ordinary members who do not get paid and own only a bag of personal belongings [checked by the MEK to remove photographs of family, writing or other emotional mementos, etc], after decades of working for the MEK.

++ Abbas Moussavi of Habilian has referred to the numbers and statistics the MEK come up with and ridicules their claims. The latest claim is that 2 million Iraqis, 3,000 heads of tribes, 40,000 doctors and engineers and 25,000 Iraqi writers and over 200 thousand women over the age of 18 have signed a petition supporting the MEK. Moussavi reminds us that the number of tribes in Iraq could not be more than a fraction of this number and the number of writers cannot be as many as this. He then reminds us of their past claims and puts this down to the fact the MEK leaders have mistaken normal people for their brainwashed members.

++ UNAMI’s report on the human rights situation in Iraq in the first half of 2013 prompted articles from the MEK’s supporters asking the leaders to answer and respond to these claims. The MEK has remained silent.

++ There have been further articles about the few remaining members of the NCRI who had attended the latest meeting in Paris and sat without any objection to what Rajavi is doing to the members in Iraq. Many ex members have referred to this statement alongside the UNAMI Human Rights report and the American State Department’s report as a proof of what ex members have always claimed about the abuses of human rights inside the MEK.

++ In Iraq, Al Moragheb newspaper reported that MEK representatives have been to Israel and attended the funeral of Sharon as well as having direct talks with the secret services there. Iraqi Noon News Agency reported on the role of the MEK in Syria, saying that although it is not certain if they are participating in insurgencies alongside Al Qaeda, it is now clear that they are part of the training force for the terrorists in Syria and Iraq in the border region of the two countries. Turkish Anazol News reports that the Syrian Free Army are working with the MEK to open a new permanent base on the border of Lebanon and Syria to counter Hezbollah. If accepted by its Western backers, the MEK’s fighting force will be moved there to continue its mercenary activities, this time against Lebanon and Syria. Iraqi paper Al Bayene Al Jadidah reported a meeting between MEK representatives, the remains of Saddam and some Iraqi political figures in Jordan. According to the report, the MEK has promised to back the candidates during the upcoming election in Iraq in return for giving an open hand to the MEK and the Saddamists, and support for them to stay in Iraq. The MEK have been giving presentations showing documents which advertise their successful infiltration of US and EU political circles and the ways they have been pushing their favourite people into those parliaments and then having their favours returned.

++ Edward Termado wrote an article about the visit of some British MPs to Paris to read from the written pages given to them in front of Maryam Rajavi, followed by the usual claim that “the majority of British MPs support the MEK”! He reminds them that by getting paid to support the ongoing human rights abuses in the cult, they are certainly complicit in these acts and cannot play ignorant of what has been and is happening to people. He also reminds them that they have the power to transfer at least some of the residents of Camp Liberty to their own country, but they, and similar paid lobbyists in America, talk for money but never intend to help bring people out. He reminds them that they should be ashamed of themselves supporting terrorism and human rights abuse when the UN has just published its report about the MEK and their role in keeping people hostage in Iraq.

++ Open letters and private attempts by families and survivors have been continuing this week asking the UNHCR and UNAMI to announce the names of the injured people in Iraq.

++ Kame Amin the Iraqi Human rights minister this week again welcomed the efforts of the UN to expedite the expulsion of the MEK from Iraq, but announced his reservations as some western powers are trying to keep this mercenary force as a terrorist threat in Iraq for as long as possible. Iraqi PM, Noori Al Maliki, also announced that the GOI will pay half a million dollars to the UN fund toward the expenses of transferring the MEK out of the country.

++ This week Ms Nasrin Ebrahimi, Mr Mir Bagher Sedaghi and Mr Mehdi Nikbakht of Setaregan Association in Switzerland held a series of meetings with officials of the UNHCR and some concerned Swiss MPs in Geneva and Bern. The representatives of Setaregan (Stars) Association, who themselves are survivors of Mojahedin Khalq camps in Iraq, have reported the success of these meetings in raising the awareness of officials about the misuse of democratic institutions by the Mojahedin Khalq in western countries. Documents and supporting material were handed over during the meetings.

++ Yaser Ezzati, who was born into the MEK cult and who later managed to escape its clutches, describes how he was convinced to take part in the MEK’s terrorist activities when the MEK showed him a faked will purportedly written by his mother (who was killed in a terrorist operation) which exhorted him to take up arms. Ezzati said his father is known to be a torturer in the MKO. “He even beat me several times after I declared my defection! … “Whenever I missed my parents, my father would receive me by beating and kicking me.”

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

The Other Lobby: MEK’s Crusade Against US-Iran Negotiations

If you say it out loud, it seems too preposterous to be true. 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.

BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray attended a briefing in the Dirksen Senate office building on Capitol Hill sponsored by “an Iranian exile group related to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).” The former government officials speaking out on behalf of this group against diplomacy with Iran included “former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, General James L. Jones, and and former US Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation Robert Joseph.”

Robert Joseph described the diplomacy as “appeasement” and urged additional sanctions, which Obama has promised to veto, to stop “Iran’s nuclear quest.”

Howard Dean refused to answer questions as to whether he was still getting boatloads of money from MEK groups and even went so far as to say that U.S.-Iran negotiations should not go forward until the Obama administration agrees to grant some kind of asylum to the 3,000 MEK activists sheltered by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein that are now living in a U.S. military base called Camp Liberty.

“We ought to sign no agreement until those 3000 people are safe,” Dean said.

Rewind to 2003. George W. Bush included Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorists like MEK in his propaganda justifying the invasion of Iraq. “Iraq shelters terrorist groups including the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization,” reads a document in the archives of the White House’s website, “which has used terrorist violence against Iran and in the 1970s was responsible for killing several US military personnel and US civilians.”

As recently as 2007, a State Department report warned that the MEK, retains “the capacity and will” to attack “Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada, and beyond.”

Many experts, including current senior U.S. officials, believe that the MEK, backed by Israel, is the group responsible for assassinating Iran’s civilian nuclear scientists in what are clear-cut terrorist acts.

This is the group lobbying hard to get high-profile U.S. officials to come out publicly against the U.S.-Iran negotiations, which supporters say is the only thing with any chance of verifiably curtailing Iran’s nuclear program and keeping Washington off the inevitable war path to Tehran.

Like I said, reality seems stranger than fiction in this case.

By: John Glaser

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mojahedin Khalq lobbyist Haward Dean refused to disclose his fees

MeK-Paid Officials Blast Deal as ‘Appeasement’

The Mujahedin-e Khalq has been called a lot of things over the years: terrorists, a cult, even (by themselves) a “government-in-exile.” One thing that is undeniable at this point is that they wield considerable influence among US officials past and present, and that lobbying heft is being thrown behind stopping the Iran nuclear deal.

Former Governor Howard Dean (D – VT), a major MeK enthusiast, was among the speech-givers at a recent sponsored “briefing” that condemned the deal, saying any deal must be conditioned on imposing some sort of deal on Iraq to deal with MeK exiles there. Former US Special Envoy Robert Joseph concurred, and blasted the current deal as “appeasement.”

The MeK is putting a lot of effort behind the same Senate sanctions bill that the Israel Lobby is so staunchly behind. The bill would violate the Iran deal by imposing new sanctions, and would effectively kill negotiations.

While the depth of the MeK’s funding of this is, like much of their lobbying, strictly off-the-record (Gov. Dean openly refused to answer questions about how much he was paid for his statement), the group appears to still envision itself being the benefactors of US-imposed regime change in Iran, and is willing to pull out all the stops to see to it that diplomacy does not succeed and rapprochement remains impossible.

By : Jason Ditz

February 1, 2014 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Former MKO member: They armed me by my Mom’s fake will

Yaser Ezzati, a former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization was interviewed by Mehr News Agency. Below is an excerpt of the interview.

Yaser was considered as a member of the MKO militia because his parents were also old members of the group; Yaser grew up in the MKO camps in Iraq.

Yaser was sent to Canada under the pretext of the group’s so-called policy to save children.

Yaser was returned to the MKO in Germany where he attended fundraising gatherings.”In 1997 the MKO gave me a fake will allegedly of my mother who was killed in Mersad Operation [Eternal Light],” Yaser said.”It was written:”You must take gun and follow my path”. I was impressed.” Thus, he was sent to Iraq where the group was rebuilding its forces after the horrific failure of the Eternal Light.

…Yaser Ezzati was mobilized to Iranian border to launch cross border mortar attacks.

“After I attended four operations, I declared that I gave up because I had no idea of what and who we were attacking,” he said. “I was told that I was a child of the group and I shouldn’t have disgraced the group.”

Ultimately, the MKO officials accepted his defection on the condition that he went on a six-month solitary confinement and then he would be sent to Iran.

Yaser who was so scared of getting back to Iran – that was terribly demonized by the MKO – stayed in Camp Ashraf until he was fed up with the brainwashing meetings that he had to attend every week.”Weekly Cleansing” was a cult jargon in which members had to confess all their private thoughts and dreams.” I could no more tolerate the condition”. Therefore, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement. He was brought on trial and accused of being the agent of Iranian Intelligence Ministry!

“Again they brought in my Mother’s will; I had no way out.”

The former member of the MKO Cult states that his father is known to be a torturer in the MKO.”He even beat me several times after I declared defection.”!

. Whenever I missed my parents my father would receive me by beating and kicking me.”

He continued,”some children in the MKO went crazy. I remember a person who committed suicide.”

He notifies that the militias are kept in the organization by recruiting them and paying them. They are offered free trips to attend the group rallies.

“I have not forgotten my past yet because an important part of my life, my childhood, my adolescence were lost for the misguided goal of the MKO”, he uttered.

January 30, 2014 0 comments

Camp Liberty

MKO Members Fail to Escape Camp Liberty

A number of members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI MKO Members Fail to Escape Camp Liberty and PMOI) failed in their attempt to run away from a hospital near the group’s transient settlement facility, Camp Liberty, near the Iraqi capital.

“Over 70 members of the grouplet sought to escape from the hospital where they were treated after going on a forced hunger strike, but they didn’t succeed,” a physician at one of Baghdad’s hospitals wrote in a letter to Iraq’s human rights ministry.

The Iraqi physician wrote in his letter that these people have told him that they were forced by the MKO ringleaders to go on hunger strike, and have given letters to the Iraqi medics to be submitted to human rights organizations in order inform the relevant authorities of vitally bad conditions.

Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the group are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly-established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who eventually took the MKO off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.

January 28, 2014 0 comments

UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Letter to Guterres from former MKO members

Letter to António Guterres UNHCR from former members in Eastern Azarbaijan province in Iran

Honorable António Guterres UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva

As your Excellency are aware, Camp Liberty in Baghdad, the temporary camp for nearly three thousand members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) subjected Thursday night 26 December 2013 to a terrorist attack by rockets and mortars. According to PMOI this attack caused death of 4 of the camp residents and wounding 71 others, many of them in critical condition.

The PMOI has published the names and photographs of the killed, but not the names of the wounded.

We, the undersigned, as a group of former members of PMOI in Eastern Azarbijan province (Northwest of Iran), express our support for the request of the families of the residents of Camp Liberty to ask your honor, as UN High Commissioner for Refugees and international authority are responsible to solve this issue, as well as the competent international bodies, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross and its office in Iraq to obligate the leadership of the PMOI to announce the names of the wounded residents in this incident by any appropriate means, such as informing the families or to allow the wounded to contact or meet their families because according to international humanitarian laws and basic principles of human rights, they are worried about the health and status of their relatives residing in the refugee camp.

We believe that lifting the cultic and organizational restrictions are the basic and fundamental way to liberate captive members in Iraq, from an organization that has known as a reactionary cult with dictatorial internal relations, as has been emphasized in recent UNAMI report for the first half year of 2013, where indicates: “UNAMI continuing concerns about human rights abuses committed by the PMOI/MeK leadership within Camp Hurriya against the residents….The PMOI/MeK, which has a hierarchical and authoritarian structure, imposes a number of severe restrictions on the residents’ rights, including the right of freedom of movement within the Camp and the right to leave the organization, the free right of association, along with restrictions on contacts with family members (including those residing in Camp Hurriya), on access to basic communications, and on access to medical care and treatment.”

We also announce our support for the request of a group of families of the residents of Camp Liberty to speed up the transfer of the residents from Iraq, where there are daily killings of many innocent people in terrorist incidents or in bloody sectarian clashes, to the third countries specially the sick and wounded, while nearly third of them have documents of residency or asylum in European countries or North America.

We join these families to call international bodies, especially the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to put their utmost efforts to urge the member states towards resettling the residents to the third countries as soon as possible.

We would like to express our deep appreciation and gratitude in advance for your efforts in this regard, and informing the families about the fate and status of their relatives in Camp Liberty.

a group of former members of PMOI in Eastern Azarbijan province (Northwest of Iran)

27 January 2014

Signatories:

1. Sirous Ghazanfari

2. Maseoud Taghipouryan

3. Mohammadreza Mobin

4. Akbar khabare

5. Hosen Hemati

6. Ahmad Hosenzade

7. Ahad Rsolpour

8. Karam Kheiri

9. Ali Ghanbarzade

10. Abdolahe Nikbakht tabrizi

11. Ali Amani

12. Alah Verdi Rsolzade

13. Shahryar Samade

14. Saeid pakdel

15. Hedar Abolhasani

16. Nader Chap Chap

17. Alireza Moghadami chbcghloei

18. Hamid Rastegari

19. Jaefar Fraj pour andbili

20. Akbar Dolt negad

21. Jelal Salmani

22. Habibe Monesi ghramlki

23. Jamshid Nazari

24. Mohammad javad Asadi

25. Esmaeil Aghapour

26. Mehdi Pourghasem

27. Reza Shams

A copy to:

– Secretary- General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon – New York

– Mrs. Jane Holl Lute UNSG adviser for relocation of Camp Liberty residents to third countries.

– UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the United Nations, Ms Nawi. Pillay – Geneva

– the Special Representative of the Secretary- General of the United Nations in Iraq, Mr. Nikola Mladenov

– Chairman of the human rights monitoring in the UNAMI in Iraq, Mr. Ashouri

– Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, in Iraq

– Ashraf – Liberty Project Office in the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations in Camp Liberty – Mr. Ahmed Al-Tamimi

– The International Committee of the Red Cross

– Office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Baghdad

– Office of the Prime Minister of Iraq

– Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights

– Amnesty International

– Human Rights

Community of Independent Bloggers,

January 28, 2014 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US should not sabotage diplomacy with Iran

The Geneva interim accord over Iran’s nuclear program signed on November 24 last year was a landmark development in the course of Iran’s relations with other countries, especially the United States, with which it directly negotiated at a high-level for the first time since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

According to the agreement known as the Joint Plan of Action, Iran will voluntarily limit certain portions of its nuclear activities, in return for relief from some of the sanctions imposed against Iran in the recent years, including the petrochemical and automobile industry sanctions. The P5+1 group(Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States) have also agreed to release $4.2 billion of Iran’s frozen assets, lift the ban on Iran’s gold trade, refrain from restricting its oil exports and allow the sale of civilian aircrafts’ spare parts to Iran.

Aside from the fact that the agreement signaled a revival of Iran’s economy that was somewhat troubled under the biting international sanctions, it also opened up new horizons for political and diplomatic cooperation between Iran and the international community and provided opportunities for the resuscitation of Iran’s marred relations with the United States and the European Union.

It was immediately following the conclusion of this important agreement that the Western officials, diplomats and parliamentarians began to enthusiastically travel to Iran one after the other to hold talks with their Iranian counterparts, exchange views with them and explore the possibilities of future cooperation with Tehran and bringing to an end the longstanding standoff between Iran and the West.

Delegations from the European Parliament, Italian Senate, German Bundestag, Mexican Chamber of Duties, Irish House of the Oireachtas and UK House of Lords and the foreign ministers of several countries came to Iran, and as reported by the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, it’s expected that prominent officials will be traveling to Iran in the coming weeks, including the Swedish and Polish foreign ministers, a parliamentary delegation from Romania and a group of Canadian lawmakers. In the diplomatic culture, such exchanges and communications signify the importance of bilateral and multilateral relations and indicate the foreign policy priorities of different countries.

In the wake of these determining developments that seem to be quite vital for the future of Iran’s foreign policy and its international standing, a group of hawkish U.S. Senators unexpectedly came up with the plan of introducing a bill that will impose new sanctions against Iran and will even oblige the U.S. government to give logistical support to Israel in case the Tel Aviv regime decides to launch a military strike against Iran.

S.1881, the “Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013,” was introduced by Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), a Republican Senator and former member of the House from Illinois. It’s noteworthy that of the 59 Senators supporting the bill, 16 ones are Democrats.

When it was first reported that the 100-member Senate will be giving the green light to the bill to impose a new round of sanctions against Iran, even the U.S. government officials were disturbed and frightened, because the deal that was signed with Iran after several days of intensive talks in Geneva, and more importantly after some 10 years of inconclusive negotiations, was not something trivial or insignificant which could be overlooked that easily with the obduracy and adamancy of a group of pro-Israeli Senators.

The White House immediately rushed to denounce the call by the Senators to pass the new sanctions and President Obama, likewise, said he will certainly veto any new sanctions that will derail the negotiations with Iran. “Imposing additional sanctions now will only risk derailing our efforts to resolve this issue peacefully, and I will veto any legislation enacting new sanctions during the negotiation,” said Barack Obama in a statement released by the White House.

Following the remarks made by the U.S. President, the Senate minority leader Harry Reid also announced that he will not allow the bill to reach the Senate floor. Any legislation in the 100-member Senate needs at least 67 votes to be able to override the president’s veto, and with the withdrawal of the Democrat signatories, it will not have any chances of being realized.

However, the very fact that there are some lawmakers and politicians in the United States, who contrary to the commitments entrusted to Washington by virtue of the Joint Plan of Action, are still pushing for new sanctions against Iran is alarming and upsetting. One of the commitments made by the United States and the five other countries talking to Iran is for them to refrain from imposing new unilateral or multilateral sanctions against Iran during the 6 months of the implementation of the interim accord, and after that during the talks for bringing forth the comprehensive agreement. So, any new sanctions by the EU or the United States would be a violation of the terms of the Geneva agreement, a deal-breaker action and will eventually force Iran into revising its approach toward the talks.

Like as the Geneva agreement has critics in Europe the United States who believe that the wave of sanctions should continue to be directed against Iran and there should be no removal of the sanctions until the complete dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear program in its entirety, the deal has its own critics in Iran, as well, who believe that the United States and its European allies cannot be trustable partners and holding talks with them will be fruitless and full of loopholes.

President Rouhani and his diplomatic team have a relatively hard job convincing and satisfying the domestic critics and opponents who dissuade the administration from sitting with the United States at the negotiation table, and the imposition of new sanctions will simply further complicate the situation for him. The critics of President Rouhani that include some lawmakers, journalists and public speakers say that the black background of the U.S. interventions in Iran’s internal affairs, its support for the 1953 coup against the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, its support for Saddam Hussein during the 8-year war, its sponsorship of MKO and Jundallah terrorist cults against the civilians and its policy of sanctions and military threats against Iran have all made it an unreliable negotiating partner and insincere interlocutor. They say when Iran was cooperating with the United States on the security of Afghanistan, the former U.S. President George W. Bush dubbed Iran as part of an “axis of evil”, and so the future of cooperation with the U.S. would be unclear.

President Rouhani and his team argue that Iran and the international community should move towards reconciliation and putting aside the disputes and the acrimonies of the past in order to solve the nuclear standoff once for all. Acknowledging the arguments of their domestic critics, they also concede that the continuation of the nuclear controversy is in nobody’s interests, so in order to find a sustainable solution for this controversy, both Iran and the West should forget about the bitter memories they have of each other, and negotiate in good faith, on an equal footing and based on mutual respect.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has several times reiterated that Iran’s negotiations with the P5+1 are simply limited to the nuclear issue, and this is how the Iranian government has decided to address the concerns of those inside Iran who believe that Iran should not show leniency toward the United States, a country which has already demonstrated its unconditional animosity and hostility toward Iran well over the past three decades.

But the hawkish, extremist figures in the U.S. political sphere, whether in the government, the Congress or the media, should carefully note that the door for diplomacy would not always remain open, and the chances to reach for a categorical, definite resolution of the decade-long nuclear controversy are limited.

They should pay attention to the fact that President Rouhani’s administration has embarked on a very sensitive endeavor for directly talking to the United States, which many people inside Iran don’t think of positively. Any new sanctions against Iran under any baseless pretext would mean a violation of the Geneva agreement, the termination of its implementation and possibly an end to the long-sought talks. A peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the nuclear controversy would be beneficial to all parties, and will immensely contribute to regional peace and security. These pro-Israeli Senators who are certainly fueled and empowered by Tel Aviv should come to the understanding that pleasing Netanyahu and Shimon Peres at the expense of the interests of their own people and the people of the world is not a logical or relevant decision. Somebody should ask them not to kill the unprecedented chances that have emerged for a peaceful and viable diplomacy with Iran.

By Kourosh Ziabari

AB/AB

Kourosh Ziabari is an award-winning Iranian journalist, media correspondent and peace activist. He has interviewed several prominent politicians, university professors, academics and media personalities. His articles and interviews have appeared on publications in Iran and across the world. He has won a presidential award in the National Iranian Youth Festival and three awards in Iran’s national press festival. His papers have been presented at conferences in Canada, Italy, Turkey and Czech Republic. He is a graduate of English language and literature and was the member of World Student Community for Sustainable Development.” You can visit his website at www.kouroshziabari.com.

January 27, 2014 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts