++ UNAMI published its Half Yearly Report on Human Rights for January to June 2013. Section 11.1 covered Camp New Iraq (Camp Ashraf) and Camp Hurriya (Camp Liberty). The report points out that the “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.” It goes on to say, “UNAMI has continuing concerns about human rights abuses committed by the PMOI/MeK leadership within Camp Hurriya against the residents. These claims have been made to United Nations Monitors during interviews with residents who had managed to leave Camp Hurriya, as well as in a number of private discussions with residents who still reside in the Camp – despite the leadership’s attempts to prevent such discussions. 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.”

++ This week in Baghdad, Dr Nafeh Issa, a prominent political and human rights activist, says some MPs have shown him evidence that some groups of MPs who still have Saddamist affiliations have been meeting in Jordan with representatives of the MEK. During these meetings the MEK promised unlimited financial backing by the Saddamists in Jordan – the Izzat Ebrahim branch and Saddam’s daughter – in return for the promise that if they are re-elected they will help the MEK to stay in Iraq and get Ashraf camp back to be used as the HQ for their mutual political benefits and activities. The MEK have given examples of how they have been able to financially support and push their own candidates into the European Parliament and the US House of Representatives, etc.

++ Adnan Al Mayahi, MP in Baghdad, member of the security and defence commission in parliament, announced that fresh evidence has shed more light on the relation between the MEK and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Al Qaida in the Anbar province. He also criticised western governments saying that they love to have these terrorist organisations but only to use them in countries like ours rather than having them in their own countries. With reference to Ban Ki Moon’s appointment of Jane Holl Lute as his Special Adviser for Relocation of Camp Hurriya Residents Outside of Iraq, Al Mayahi says her appointment doesn’t change anything for my country and the continued presence of terrorists here. Our position is clear and simple, he continues, the MEK have been part and parcel of Saddam’s regime, have massacred Iraqis and after Saddam have become proxies to interfere to endanger our people including support for Al Qaida and ISIL and trying to create corruption in the country.

++ This week the MEK tried to sell the idea that by signing a deal with the West, Iran has drunk poison and will collapse soon. Many Farsi commentators reacted by reminding Rajavi that he has been saying this for over thirty years, but the reality is that the poison that will affect the remains of the MEK is if there is rapprochement between Iran and the West because the West is the only place that was feeding the MEK after the fall of Saddam.

++ There have been several articles about the possibility of moving the whole MEK organisation to Romania and the desire of the Americans to keep them intact and to create a new closed-door camp in that country. Many refer to this as a failed attempt but which, if it does go ahead, will open the doors anyway since if the MEK leave Iraq they will leave the organisation anyway. In example they say that when the MEK arrived in Albania over half separated in first few days of arriving in the country. At present the MEK is desperately trying to prevent them from talking by misusing their financial dependency. Many have contacted Iran Interlink and said the MEK will pay $500 per month on condition that they do not openly criticise the MEK or say what happened to them in the camp, and that they do not talk to the UN about anything nor accept the $200 the UN pays to refugees. They have all pointed out that this situation cannot last as they are all talking privately and the word is spreading anyway, but that out of desperation to feed ourselves we have to agree to this for now. Critics point out that if more people arrive, the MEK will not be able to pay for all of them. In this respect Bahar Irani has mentioned this situation in an article in Mojahedin.ws pointing out that the MEK’s silence over the Romanian case and their lobbyists’ silence and refusal to answer on this issue shows they are seriously worried because they know that just moving them at all will precipitate the collapse of the organisation.

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers has written about the threat which the MEK will pose to the West if the group is relocated to the Balkan region, in particular Romania. Citing various experts and journalists the article concludes with a section from Anna MIKHAILENKO’s piece on the new US plan to move “the Cult of Rajavi” to the Balkans, translated from Russian by the ORIENTAL REVIEW. ““It is obvious that the Mojahedin-e-Khalq is not a peaceful organization” she writes. “In fact, it would be better compared to the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, or Jubhat al-Nusrah, other groups which also enjoyed the tacit support of the United States until they became too unruly.” … MIKHAILENKO warns of the threat of “this army of 3,000 militants” at the door of a tensed region. “Harboring so many fighters so close to Ukraine, a country that has been afflicted with EuroMaidan fever for the past month and a half, could pave the way for any number of coercive scenarios for regime change”, she suggests.”

++ This week there were still a few articles about Massoud Dalili who was killed in Camp Ashraf, asking the UN to push the Pentagon back and allow the witnesses to be questioned and the issue to be fully investigated.

++ A few articles have pointed out that Maryam Rajavi has echoed Netanyahu’s statements about Iran this week. Both of them fear Iran having better relations with the West. Many point out that until only a few days ago Rajavi claimed the deal to be as poison and claimed Iran will die from it. Now it seems they have jumped to order and now that Netanyahu has changed the argument, Rajavi has had to obey and change her tune as well.

++ This week the MEK have tried more than before to praise Saudi Arabia and try to get nearer to the security services of the Kingdom. A few Arabic outlets claim the MEK have had new meeting with Saudi Arabia’s secret services in a bid to start more terrorist activities and bombing in Iraq, Syria and Iran with the promise of more money from the Kingdom. (Note that even at the time of Saddam the MEK got money and backing from Saudi Arabia and had good relations with Wahhabis, Al Qaida and the Saudis.)

++ Ashraf news website reported that former MEK member Mohammad Razzaghi said the MKO has been training some militant groups fighting the Syrian government, including the FSA, on bomb manufacturing, planting and detonation methods, assassination and street war. Razzaghi noted that some MEK leaders have had a series of meetings with the Syrian opposition leaders in France and Jordan and discussed help and assistance to the FSA and a number of other extremist Salafi groups in Syria.

++ There has been reaction to Maryam Rajavi’s attack on disaffected members and internal critics in which she clearly asks them to fight against the ex members. She challenges them by claiming that if you are only critics and not agents of the Iranian regime then you have to expose those who are agents of the regime among yourselves. Mohammad Razzaghi has answered by pointing out that what the critics question is nothing other than what you and your husband have been doing and saying, such as the forced divorces, the separation of the children, and now working with MOSSAD and praising Wahhabis, etc. This is what they are criticising.

++ Parviz Khazai the infamous member of the NCRI in Scandinavia has yet again come out with an article swearing at the internal critics of the MEK. He refers specifically to Atefeh Eghbal but without naming her, calling her “that oik” and trying to discredit her by claiming she only wants to be famous. Khazai himself first worked for the Shah and after the revolution switched to the Islamic Republic as civil servant before being bought by Rajavi to become a low paid, low level lobbyist. There are many examples of his immoral and degenerate behaviour, visiting prostitutes and being found drunk in the street. Even inside the MEK he is known as a man with no dignity.

++ Hadi Afshar, (Said Jamali), has published a note about his experiences in Geneva with the MEK attacking and threatening to kill him. He briefly details how Rajavi’s ideology and his teachings have created these kinds of murderous thugs. He warns Rajavi, even if you kill a few of us as you do in Ashraf and Liberty, you will never get rid of all of us and there will always be enough people to expose you and there is no way you can evade justice.

++ The MEK have held their so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) meeting in Paris. Hojjat Seyed Ismaili, an ex Intel officer of MEK and former Central Leadership Council member, has written a short note in Irandidban website titled, ‘Useless members of the NCRI and the boring rants of the Mojahedin Khalq’. He says that their announcements claim they have discussed and talked about the economy of Iran and the effect of the reduction of the subsidies and also about international events surrounding the Middle East etc. Islmaili asks, should they not talk more about their immediate problems such as why they did not evacuate Camp Ashraf until 53 of them had been killed and only then were they ready to come out. Why did they go on hunger strike for over 100 days, why did they stop and what happened to their demands. Wouldn’t they want to ask who is Massoud Dalili and why did he end up in the camp with his face burned beyond recognition. Why don’t they ask about the alliance between the MEK, the ISIL and Al Qaida. Don’t they want to find a solution for the desperate 3000 people in Camp Liberty. Why don’t the MEK give the names of the injured to their families. Wouldn’t they want to know from their leaders why he or she have never mentioned the need to transfer these people to third countries; leaders who are afraid of even saying it. Why are the MEK engaged in the internal politics of Iraq and Syria and have not been engaged in Iran for at least a decade. In this meeting Maryam Rajavi has announced that whoever asks for the names of the injured are all agents of the regime who are trying to find out the exact situation on the ground so as to discover where to aim their missiles next time. Many others who wrote on this affair criticised the members of the NCRI for sitting there passively and not asking ‘what on earth are you talking about?’

++ There are reports from inside both Camp Liberty and Auvers-sur-Oise that there is a ban on questioning and that any questioner will be severely punished. Absolutely forbidden is to ask: 1. why didn’t we leave Ashraf before the attack and why, after giving so much resistance, did we then accept to leave? 2. Was Rajavi in the camp when it was attacked? 3. Why did we stop the hunger strike after 108 days and why have you stopped pursuing what happened to the allegedly missing seven who you say are being held by the Iraqis? 4. Should we stay in Iraq or go? 5. What happened to those who left Iraq, what happened to those who went to Albania and who is going to leave next? Asking any of these questions is forbidden on the grounds that if these things are talked about it will give information to the enemy and therefore the questioner is an agent of the Iranian regime and has no other motivation but this to help the regime attack us again.

24 January 2014

++ In a press statement, US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, embarrassingly refers to Maryam Rajavi as ‘Maryam’ as though the two are BFF, and describes the woman responsible for thousands of deaths as a human rights advocate. Ros-Lehtinen then goes on to, unintentionally perhaps, reveal that her best use of the MEK is as a stick to beat the government of Iraq and the UN with. While careful not to attribute blame to the GOI – as do the MEK – for the September attack on Camp Liberty she declared ,”These parties – the Government of Iraq and the UN – made promises of security, but these promises have yet to be fulfilled, as is evidenced by the hundreds of protective T-walls that have yet to be installed despite assurances that they would go up and the inability of the parties to bring those accountable to justice.”… While mentioning the seven MEK members allegedly missing from Camp Ashraf Ros-Lehtinen makes no mention of the 42 surviving eye witnesses who are incarcerated incommunicado inside Camp Liberty.

++ Many people on the web this week have joined the demand for the UN to investigate the murder of ex member Massoud Dalili in Camp Ashraf. Evidence is emerging that he was imprisoned there and has more than likely been killed by the MEK and the disfigurement to his body (uniquely among the victims) was an attempt to destroy evidence.

++ This week marked the anniversary of death of Takhti, the legendary wrestler during the reign of the Shah who was widely admired for his sporting ethic and for helping people and charities. Much has been written in Persian against what they describe as the “opportunistic support of Rajavi”, and through examples writers have concluded that there is no relevance between the activities of the cult leaders and their abuse of human rights with Takhti and his passion for humanitarian ethics.

++ Baghdad has officially welcomed the appointment of Ban Ki Moon’s new special representative and her role in moving the MEK out of Iraq. Baghdad said any help in getting rid of this terrorist organisation by anyone and for any reason is most welcome. Observers, however, believe that the sticking point rests with the MEK’s American backers, specifically the Pentagon, who do not want this terrorist organisation to be dismantled. Hence they are trying to move them all together to another closed camp as hostages, something that European countries do not accept.

++ Following on from a revelation in a Bulgarian article earlier this month, both Voice of Russia and 21st Century Wire wrote about attempts by the United States to negotiate the en masse transfer of the residents of Camp Liberty to a new camp in Romania. Russian expert in Oriental Studies Boris Dolgov said “Washington’s plan to deploy the Islamists in Romania is inappropriate at the very least”, and elaborates, “If the Romanian leaders have certain doubts, and they will certainly question the correctness of the decision, then they should stiffly oppose the move. The organization acts against Iran, Tehran sees it as terrorist, Mujahedin-e Khalq is known for numerous terrorist attacks and life attempts. Besides, the US plan is at variance with the recent trend towards improving relations between Washington and Tehran. Also, a presence of Islamic militants will serve to aggravate tension in the region. It’s obvious that peaceful coexistence with the people of other religions is the last thing the Islamists will think of when arriving in Romania”. So far, the US attempts have proved futile, even though Romania heavily depends on Washington.

++ After declaring support for Rajavi and the MEK during announcements for the “Islamic government of Iraq and Syria”, an off-shoot of Al Qaeda which is engaged in fighting the Iraqi Government in Al Anbar province, many have written in Farsi about reasons Rajavi must support Al Qaeda as well as the remnants of the Saddam regime in Iraq and Syria. As much as Rajavi has tried to change master and become a western supported mercenary, until he is in full possession of such support he dare not let go of the vital life saving support he gets from the Saddamists office in Jordan, in particular the Ezzat Ebrahim branch of insurgents and Saddam’s own daughter.

++ This week many have written open letters to Romanian politicians warning them of the formation of a new lobbying committee in their parliament after America started putting pressure on Romania to accept them. Many comparisons have been made with the lobbying committees in the European Parliament and the Houses of Parliament in the UK and the problems they have caused in these establishments’ international relations especially with Iraq.

++ Families of Camp Liberty residents have asked for the names of those injured in the December attack on the camp to be made public. The MEK reacted by labelling the families as ‘agents of Iran’ who want sensitive information. Commentators have responded by pointing out that the injured are in Iraqi hospitals and since Rajavi claims Iraq is a subsidiary of Iran then there is nothing secret for Iran. The families this week have turned to the UN, particularly the UNHCR to ask for their help in discovering the names of the injured.

++ This week Rajavi and the MEK have on a daily basis posted announcements on Facebook and secondary sites rather than in their official sites, warning that the Iraqis want to attack us. In one of these they claim that Iraqi security have climbed the walls of the camp to take pictures. This is while Iraqi forces have been in charge of the camp even before they moved the MEK there. Writers about this are warning that this is another attempt to kill more hostages and blame Iraq for it. Interestingly in all the MEK propaganda there is not a single instance of a demand for getting out of Iraq, instead they and their benefactors in the Israeli lobby and House of Representatives in Washington ask for the expansion of the camp, and demand that the American army be brought in to protect them and all other sorts of peculiar and impossible demands to bide time to kill and get rid of as many people and witnesses as possible.

++ Iraqi media outlets have reported that the British parliamentarians who visited Iran met with the families of MEK terrorism and quote Jack Straw, former British Foreign Secretary, describing the MEK as a terrorist group, while another delegate said it is possible that the MEK be put back on the British terrorism list. Iraqi media also reported on interviews with former high ranking MEK members who have given evidence of the MEK massacre of Kurdish people to quell their uprising against Saddam in the 1990s.

++ Swearing on Rajavi’s paid sites and outlets against their internal critics has continued to the point that many outsiders are now reminding the group that this kind of behaviour against their own members and internal critics cannot be in their favour and the effect of this line of action which was intended to make others afraid of talking is wearing thin and in fact has the opposite effect.

++ It was reported that after Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visited and spoke directly with members of the MEK in Camp Liberty, the diplomat stressed the urgency of relocating the residents to another country. Since then the MEK have refrained from swearing at the US State Department. but have not mentioned the visit on their sites either. Commentators believe that because the US representative asked them to cooperate and move individually, Rajavi has panicked, and the MEK are now working with AIPAC to intervene and stop them being removed from Iraq and reintegrated into normal society. Many believe that now Rajavi has seen how people have left immediately after arriving in Tirana, he is now determined not to let the rest of the hostages get out of his hands.

17 January 2014