Page 409 – Nejat Society

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Starving MEK calls for democracy in Iraq: just for the LOLs

Massoud Rajavi apparently doesn’t know how long it takes for a normal human being to starve to death even on a diet of sugar and water. It is surely a lot sooner than 74 days; though perhaps these women have not quite used up their fat reserves yet. But then, since everything the MEK does and says seems to be based on fiction, it is no wonder the journalist completely misunderstood what message she was supposed to convey in her article – since when have the MEK been fighting for democracy in Iraq?! The only blessing for Rajavi is that this story only made it to the local free paper, location of yet another of the MEK’s western backed safe houses. And of course, the diplomats and the public at the American embassy can see for themselves what a joke this outfit is. We bring it to you ‘just for the LOLs’. (Iran Interlink editor)

Hunger strikers calling for democracy in Iraq: ‘I don’t know how long they can continue’

Natalie O’Neill, Hendon Times, November 16 2013

Hunger strikers camped outside the US Embassy are on their 74th day as they continue to campaign for the safety of hostages in Iraq.

The six Anglo-Iranians, five of whom are from Barnet, are drinking nothing but water and eating only sugar cubes in a desperate attempt to draw attention to their cause.

The group has been sleeping in a makeshift camp outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square since September 1, following news that 52 people were killed in Camp Ashraf and hostages taken.

Many Iranians living in Barnet had loved ones living in the camp which was home to the principal Iranian opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

Laila Jazayeri, director of the Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK said: “I don’t know how long the hunger strikers can continue. I think what they’re doing is a very brave thing – they are very determined but they are very ill and unwell.

“They are desperate to secure the protection of the hostages and the remainder of our people who are now living in Camp Liberty.”

Iran Interlink from Hendon Times,

November 17, 2013 0 comments

Nejat Publications

Pars Brief – Issue No. 75

Inside this Issue:

Britain may admit 17 Liberty residents with no links to terrorism
U.S. Pledges Support to UN Trust Fund for Resettlement of Camp Hurriya Residents
MEK Makes Desperate New Iran Nuclear Accusation, Reuters Yawns
German authorities protest over MKO relocation in Koln
Spy nabbed in Israel MKO agent: Ex-MKO member
5 Enemies of Diplomacy Hell-Bent On Sabotaging Peace Between America and Iran
Just who has been killing Iran’s nuclear scientists?
Meet The Weird, Super-Connected Group That’s Mucking Up U.S. Talks With Iraq

Download Pars Brief – Issue No. 75
Download Pars Brief – Issue No. 75

November 16, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Mojahedin Khalq spending spree suffers backlash in Washington

Lindsey Graham returns donation to Iranian exile group

Masood Abooali contributed $2,600 in August to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign. The next month, the Iranian-American received a refund, along with a terse explanation: The campaign was “uncomfortable” with some of his associations and had rejected his contribution. Lindsey Graham returns donation to Iranian exile group

Abooali, a 56-year-old engineer who lives in Northern Virginia, left Iran 30 years ago and is now a U.S. citizen. He said in an interview he’s a former political prisoner — detained three times for a total of two years — of the regime in Iran that came to power in its 1979 revolution.

He’s also a supporter — but, he emphasized, not a member — of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, known as the MEK, a leftist group of Iranian exiles pushing for the overthrow of the regime.

Last year, the State Department removed the MEK from its list of designated terrorist organizations after a number of defense heavyweights spoke out on the group’s behalf, including former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Frances Townsend, who was a homeland security adviser to President George W. Bush.

For his part, Abooali said his “past is clear of any violence or any activity against the United States, which I am proudly a citizen of.”

“I’m a hardworking family man concerned for my family that I left behind, concerned for my mother who I haven’t seen in 30 years,” he said, explaining that he contributed to Graham’s reelection campaign because of the South Carolina Republican’s hard-line stance on sanctions against the Iranian government and his denunciation of its human rights abuses.

“To me,” Abooali added, “the politics of appeasement is hurting us.”

Graham is very much a hard-liner on the issue. The outspoken member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who faces several conservative primary challengers back home, is pressing for stepped-up sanctions against the Islamic Republic even as the Obama administration works to clinch a deal to curb the country’s nuclear program.

Graham’s push for tougher sanctions — an issue that could become a sticking point this week with the Senate expected to take up its annual defense authorization bill — has won him the backing of a number of supporters of the MEK.

His roster of donors last quarter includes two names that match those listed as having signed a 2011 letter urging then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to overturn the group’s terrorist designation. Others match the names of those listed as having commented in support of the group in online forums or signed pro-MEK petitions.

Each of the contributions was refunded.

“During routine due diligence by campaign staff, it was discovered that a few donors had associations the campaign was uncomfortable with,” said campaign spokesman Tate Zeigler, who declined to provide further details.

“In an abundance of caution,” he said, “the contributions were refunded.”

Last quarter, the Graham campaign sent refunds to 24 donors totaling $44,825 according to its latest filings with the Federal Election Commission. But not all of the refunds were because of the contributors’ associations, Zeigler said. A “significant number” were because the donors “had exceeded their federal limit.”

In all, Graham’s campaign hauled in $1.2 million in the past quarter and has raised $6.2 million this election cycle. His recent donors include the political action committees for a number of top defense contractors — Raytheon, General Atomics and BAE Systems, among others — along with a personal contribution from former President Bush.

Abooali said he had no hard feelings over his rejected contribution, noting that Graham never asked for his support. He also said he would donate again to “any politician who takes sides with the Iranian people” and works to strengthen sanctions against the regime.

Earlier this year, Abooali contributed to two other Iran hawks, giving $2,600 to Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and $1,000 to Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Neither campaign reported sending Abooali a refund, nor did either respond to questions about whether they have concerns about accepting donations from a supporter of the MEK.

The State Department revoked the group’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization in September 2012, saying its decision was based on three factors: The MEK had renounced violence, its members hadn’t committed any “confirmed acts of terrorism” in more than a decade and it had cooperated in “the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf,” a refugee camp in Iraq where thousands of members of the MEK had lived in exile since the 1980s.

“The department does not overlook or forget the MEK’s past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of U.S. citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992,” a senior State Department official said last year, speaking to reporters on background.

The decision came after a lobbying blitz — complete with television ads, speaking gigs and columns in a number of major newspapers — urging Clinton to overturn the terrorist designation, which dated to 1997.

Last year, for example, Ridge co-wrote a pro-MEK op-ed with retired Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton and former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.

“The regime in Tehran views MEK as an existential threat because MEK strives to replace the unelected, clerical regime with a liberal democracy that champions a non-nuclear Iranian future, equal rights for women and minorities, and a free press,” they wrote in the op-ed, published online by Fox News.

“But,” they continued, “the major opposition to the mullahs is being prevented from realizing these dreams of freedom for the Iranian people because both Iran and the U.S. designate them as a terrorist organization.”

Austin Wright, Politico

November 16, 2013 0 comments

Albania

Albanians choke on MEK, Al Qaida, Chemicals dumped by America

‘We Are Not A Dustbin’: Albanians Balk At Reported Chemical Weapons Plan

Environmental activists protest against the proposed chemical weapons plan outside a government building in Tirana on November 13.

Albania has done the United States a lot of favors in recent years.

It has agreed to take in freed Guantanamo Bay prisoners and contributed to the U.S. military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan with little protest from society.

But with reports now surfacing that Syria’s chemical weapons may be dismantled in their country, Albanians’ generosity appears to have reached its limit.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the capital, Tirana, on November 12, the second rally in less than a week.

Chanting “No To Chemical Weapons,” the demonstrators gathered in front of parliament before marching to the U.S. Embassy.

Sazan Guri of the Alliance Against Waste Imports, which organized the protest, stressed that Albanians remain very pro-American and that the demonstration was not against the United States. The goal, instead, was to spread the message that Albania should not be a “dustbin.”

“We are against the weapons and not against America. America is our big brother, always in cooperation with this nation and this country,” Guri said.

During the 20th century, there has been strong pro-U.S. sentiment in Albania, in particular in recent years after the U.S. intervention in the Kosovo war in the late 1990s and its commitment to Kosovo’s statehood.

Popular Opposition

After years of importing hazardous waste from its richer neighbors, the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama banned waste imports in October, weeks after coming to power. The ban followed a two-year grassroots campaign from environmentalists. Earlier this month, Albania’s parliament passed legislation allowing for the import of some nonhazardous waste.

Besar Likmeta, a Tirana-based editor for the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, says there is opposition to taking in Syria’s chemical weapons from “all strata of society.”

“People are worried for their safety. There isn’t much information that is coming out of the government. Also there is this feeling that pro-Americanism has been taken for granted and we’re kind of saying yes to everything that is being put on our table,” Likmeta says.

Likmeta notes that Albania agreed to take in 11 former Guantanamo Bay prisoners and 210 members of an Iranian opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO). It also supported Washington in its military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed in October that Syria had destroyed all its declared equipment for the production of chemical weapons ahead of a November 1 deadline.

That represented the first step toward eliminating Syria’s arsenal by mid-2014 under a September United Nations Security Council resolution. But how that will be achieved has still not been determined.

After media reports surfaced that the United States had asked Albania to destroy the weapons on its soil, Prime Minister Rama confirmed on November 12 that he had indeed discussed the issue with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Rama stressed, however, that no final decision had been made.

A decision, however, could come as early as November 15, when the OPCW, the global chemical weapons watchdog, was due to discuss plans on eliminating Damascus’s arsenal.

The U.S. Embassy in Tirana declined comment on the reports.

But during a visit to the northern city of Shkoder last week, the U.S. ambassador to Tirana, Alexander Arvizu, said NATO-member Albania and “all the responsible international partners” must look for ways to contribute to disposing of Syria’s chemical weapons.

“It’s incumbent upon all responsible nations, certainly including the United States and Albania in that group, to find timely and effective ways to eliminate the menace that is posed by Syria’s chemical-weapons program,” Arvizu said.

Albania has recent experience in eliminating chemical weapons. With U.S. technical and financial assistance, Tirana destroyed its own 16-ton arsenal in 2007.

Albania’s geographical position on the Adriatic Sea would allow the transportation of the Syrian stockpiles by sea or by air without transiting another country.

Safety Concerns

But there are also concerns about safety.

Much of the hazardous waste from Albania’s own destroyed arsenal remains stored in containers at an army base near Tirana.

Likmeta recently visited that facility and was disturbed by what he saw.

“There was nobody to be seen, guarding these 25 containers of chemical waste and hazardous waste which remain from Albania’s stockpiles. I was standing and shouting for somebody to hear it, to meet somebody there at the gate of the base, but there was no one to answer,” Likmeta said.

Moreover, an attempt to dispose of Albania’s conventional weapons took a tragic turn in 2008, when 26 people were killed and more than 300 wounded in an explosion at a former army barracks outside Tirana where old artillery shells were being dismantled.

Parliamentary speaker Ilir Meta also raised questions about Tirana’s ability to dismantle the weapons in a television interview on November 7, saying, “Even other, much bigger and more developed countries do not accept it.”

Norway has already rejected the idea of dismantling Syria’s arsenal on its soil. Denmark and Sweden say they are prepared to help transport the weapons but not dismantle them.

France and Belgium have also been mentioned in press reports as possible sites for the dismantling of Syrian chemical weapons.

Ian Anthony, the director of the Arms Control and Nonproliferation Program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, says that “both safety and security issues would have to be examined in the specific context of what it is that Albania was being asked to do. If the task that was given and that Albania agrees to accept was broadly comparable to what they’ve already done, then they have the experience and they have the facilities.”

“If they’re asked to do something which is of larger scale and a more complicated process, then I think there would be risks unless Albania receives significant assistance from outside parties,” Anthony says.

Likewise, Alastair Hay, professor of environmental toxicology at University of Leeds, says Albania won’t be asked to do something that the OPCW doesn’t think it is capable of doing.

Arbana Vidishiqi and Antoine Blua,

RFE/RL’s Balkan Service contributed to this report

November 16, 2013 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 29

++This week’s guest on Mardom TV was Mohammad Hossein Sobhani. Among other issues he went into some detail about what it is that the Mojahedin Khalq do for MOSSAD. Expanding on this he reminded us of what various former CIA officials have said about the MEK – ‘they are useful because they do things we are ashamed to do ourselves’.

++ Hamed Sarrafpour’s Facebook this week mentioned the discovery of plutonium in the body of Yaser Arafat. He says that although 95% of the MEK’s websites praise Israel, this week Rajavi couldn’t resist re-publishing the picture of his wife posing with Arafat, but while claiming they are in grief over his death they still were very careful not to make any mention of Israel in this respect.

++ In reaction to the support which some European parliamentarians have given to the MEK and Al Hashemi (the fugitive from Iraq) in Brussels, there have been many reactions from Baghdad. Among them Karim Alivi a prominent MP for the Badr parliamentary bloc who said that in order to continue supporting the MEK, European countries must move them to their own countries and not foist them on Iraq. He said ‘we refuse to keep them in Iraq under any name, refugee or other, because they have killed our children and our people during the era of the tyrant Saddam’. Another is the head of the Commission for Foreign Affairs in Iraq who has issued a statement saying that ‘we have discussed the MEK with our foreign counterparts. The ambassador of the European Union assured us that the MEK had not been invited by parliament, but only by a media representation which has no relation with the EP or EC and that what Al Hashemi and MEK have been claiming about being invited by the EP is simply a lie’.

++ Irandidban website has published an article listing some of the MEK’s western supporters and some of their Iranian supporters in the west and asks, why is it the most disreputable people are gathered under one roof?

++ The saga of the hunger strike is continuing. Nejat Association in Tehran has published a short article explaining how Rajavi is trying to use this to force a response from western governments who are ignoring him and his demands – Rajavi’s theory is that he can open his way with other people’s blood. It is clear they can read his hand and so refuse to answer. But many critics within the sphere of influence of the MEK including Hadi Afshar and Saeed Jamaali address their fellow supporters and remind them that if anyone dies during this so-called hunger strike then their hands are dipped in their blood as well because they are the people who should get Rajavi to spare their lives rather than inciting them to carry on to their deaths.

++ Javad Firouzmand from Ariya Iran in Paris has written an Open Letter to Maryam Rajavi endorsing the claims of Hadi Afshar and his ongoing memoir. Firouzmand refers to the many women who have claimed Rajavi raped them in front of Maryam and says that with so many high ranking disaffected members making these claims and comparing this with what the MEK have themselves said about the relation of women to Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, it is necessary, once and for all for the Rajavis to come clean and either deny or confirm the accusations. This will not go away says Firouzmand, and ‘although I have my own doubts about these events, if you don’t answer we can only assume they are true’.

++ Atefeh Eghbal writes on the subject of the hunger strike. She says it is clear that in the near future the so-called president elect (for the past 16 years) will emerge to save the lives of the hunger strikers by giving a speech the same way she came out after the murder of 52 members in Camp Ashraf who were apparently there to protect her belongings. Everyone will be a winner except those who have genuinely starved who will suffer the ill effects for the rest of their lives.

++ Mohammad Reza Rowhani has published the fifth part of ‘The Smell of Joseph’s Shirt’. He examines specific concepts published under the name of Massoud Rajavi himself and relates these to the attacks against himself. Rowhani concludes that from this comparison it is clear that the attack on him was done by order and was not spontaneous. He also refers to incidents from before he had left, during and after, when the MEK’s intelligence operatives had been pretending to be his friend to investigate and try to gather information about his life in order to later fabricate lies about him.

++ Irandidban carries an article under the title, ‘Anti-Iranian policies and the future of Rajavi’. The article says that Israel, Saudi Arabia and their backing systems in the west have tried using terrorism in various ways, from Al Qaida to Jundullah to Jaish Al Adl even though they know that this doesn’t help but only brings hatred against them from among Iranians who know who is behind these things. Clearly after they failed in every other way they have had to resort to terrorism. But Rajavi knows, and his masters know, that the MEK has even lost the capacity for terrorism and is no longer of much use to the point that the MEK have become a rent-a-crowd carnival service. The MEK have become mere cheerleaders for terrorism so far have they been demoted in Washington and elsewhere.

++ Behzad Alishahi, from the Community of Independent Bloggers, has made a short video producing documents from throughout Rajavi and the MEK’s history. This demonstrates how the MEK have been betraying their country and their own members. How, from the start, they have been working as a mercenary force from initial collaboration with the Soviet Union and then inside Iran working for different factions, then helping western intelligence from France and then openly joining forces with Saddam up to now when they are openly working for Israel and western forces against Iran. They have no history when they were not mercenaries.

++ In English, Press TV has linked the recent position taken by France in the Geneva talks with the uncompromising stance of Israel and also the MEK. According to the article France snubbed Zarif during an official visit, the first such high-level meeting since 2009, The article claims that for years France has been the most anti-Iranian nation in the EU, and perhaps even more so than the US. It exposes France’s position, pointing out that “openly imperialist Zionists, on the other hand, occupy nearly all the top positions in Hollande’s cabinet: the interior, finance and, of course, the foreign minister. The prime minister and defense minister are the only two among the government’s top jobs who probably don’t have Israeli citizenship. … And the lack of pro-Iranian counterpoints in French society does not stop there: France is the second home of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), a group of fifth columnists who have absolutely no legitimacy to any Iranian for reasons it takes only seconds to comprehend: they fought with Saddam Hussein against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. But a poster of the ringleader of this bizarre cult, Marjane [sic] Rajavi, was recently all over Paris to advertise her new book. And they are supported by the French government to the extent that they have been mistakenly removed from the EU’s terrorist list. This is who has influence in France’s corridors of power – groups which care little for the average Iranian’s well-being, or for international justice that contradicts French interests. when you combine Iran’s economic rise and their opposition to France’s support for dozens of imperialist projects and illegitimate dictators, it’s no wonder that France and Iran are fighting tooth and nail.”

++ Politico reported that a contribution of $2,600 made by MEK supporter Masood Abooali in August to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign was refunded the following month with ‘a terse explanation: The campaign was “uncomfortable” with some of his associations and had rejected his contribution’.

November 15, 2013

November 16, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The MKO more isolated than ever

With the progress — although a little– made in Geneva talks, a few groups seem enraged by the results. Israeli Prime Minister was the first one to lash out against the deal. The other opponent to a normalized Iran-West relationship is the Mujahedin Khalq organization (the MKO) which is backed by Neo-con and Zionist politicians in the West.

Speaking before meeting John Kerry the US secretary of State, the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Western negotiators of caving in during talks in Geneva and handing Iran ”the deal of the century”.

Netanyahu’s anger when he calls the proposed short-term agreement "a very bad deal” that Israel “utterly rejects” is only comparable with comments and speeches by the MKO’s leaders Maryam and Massoud Rajavi who label any dealer with Iran as appeaser of “ Mullahs” and “ agent of the regime”. Such animosity against hopes for a historic deal is only provoked by the side of warmongers whose thirst for power never let them care for peace. [1]

The warning by the National Council of Resistance of Iran – the propaganda arm of the MKO — came hours after world powers failed to reach an agreement after the three-day talks in Geneva. "Any deal between world powers and Iran that does not demand a complete halt to uranium enrichment will give Tehran the opportunity to acquire nuclear weapons", reported AFP citing from NCRI. [2]

The leader of the MKO Maryam Rajavi accompanied with Netanyahu to obstruct nuclear negociations saying that a deal must also call for the end of “the production and installation of centrifuges, complete closure of the Arak heavy water site, accepting… open access for the International Atomic Energy Agency to all of the regime’s sites and experts”.[3]

Perhaps the leaders of the cult never expected that the IAEA was granted permission to visit two key nuclear sites in Iran only a few days after Geneva talks ended. Iran agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency to enter long-unseen nuclear sites, including the Gchine uranium mine and a heavy-water reactor in Arak, as part of a co-operation deal struck in Tehran. Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of Iran’s atomic energy organization, met the IAEA chief, Yukiya Amano, and agreed a roadmap for greater co-operation. A joint statement issued by the IAEA and Iran said both sides had agreed "to strengthen their co-operation and dialogue aimed at ensuring the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear programme". [4]

Saeed Kamali Dehghan of the Guardian reported that at the same time, the UK foreign secretary took pains to clarify the Geneva talks had not failed and there was still a deal to be done.[5]

Dehghan added, "While parallel talks in Geneva ended without agreement at the weekend, both sides stressed a great deal of progress had been made."[6]

Western governments including the United States and the United Kingdom sound to have admitted their past mistakes regarding Iranian nation and today they are trying not to lose the opened opportunity by the moderate newly elected Iranian administration. In August 2013, the US government admitted its role in Iran’s 1953 coup against the democratically elected Iranian president Dr. Mohammad Mossadeq. CIA released documents to acknowledge its role in the coup. However, it had been previously confirmed by some U.S. officials. [7]

A few months later, exactly on the eve of the November nuclear talks in Geneva, the former British Foreign Minister Jack straw was interviewed in BBC Persian studio where he confessed about Britain colonial intentions in Iran. He called on UK and US administrations to apologize for he acts they committed against Iran in the past. [8]

Netanyahou’s awkward comments saying, ”Israel is not obliged by this agreement" demonstrate that he is not going to learn the lesson his allies have learned from the history. In his animosity against Iran, he does not hesitate to use the enemy of his enemy: the Mujahedin Khalq. [9]

Early this year, Jack straw described Iranians’ distrust against Britain in an informative article on the Telegraph. "Transcending their political divisions, Iranians have a strong and shared sense of national identity, and a yearning to be treated with respect , after decades in which they feel (with justifications) that they have been systematically humiliated not least by the UK,” he wrote. [10]

Straw warns that resolving the current impasse over Iranian nuclear program requires statesmanship of a high order from both sides. The British former FM notes that Netanyahu- who sees his weakened position in the last elections in Israel – is standing on top of war mongers’ campaign."There has been no more belligerent cheerleader for the war party against Iran than Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister,” he stated. Straw ended his article with a peace making phrase:”War is not an option”. [11]

Bad news for the Israeli proxy in Iran the MKO is that today the world is seeking peace and even in Israel, the rival parties of Netanyahu’s party Likud, oppose his warmongering ideas. Definitely, the MKO–Israeli dream will not come true because the overthrow of the Islamic Republic is no more the desire of western powers – they have come to the conclusion that all options are Not on the table any more.

The MKO – which is widely dependent on Israel these days – is getting more and more isolated. Their only resort to survive amongst western politics is pouring more money into the pockets of their western advocates.

Karim Sajadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Foreign Policy that the MKO had little support in Iran because ordinary Iranians were nationalists troubled by both the group’s ambiguous ideology and its past partnership with Saddam Hussein as its main financial backer. “What keeps them in the news are their deep pockets”, Sadjadpour told foreign Policy.”Once their pockets run out they’re basically going to be rendered irrelevant”. [12]

Once the MKO loses its financial resources its survival –in the Western politics, let alone Iranian politics – relies on the financial, military and intelligence support they get from their new sponsor Israel — despite the group’s past anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist ideology.

Mazda Parsi

Refrences:

[1] Tait, Robert & Foster, Peter& Blair, David, Iran nuclear talks: Benjamin Netanyahu lashes out against deals, The telegraph, November 8, 2013

[2] AFP, Iran opposition group warns against rushing into nuclear deal, November 10, 2013

[3] ibid

[4]Kamali Dehghan, Saeed, Iran allows inspectors to visit two key nuclear sites, The Guardian, November 11, 2013

[5]ibid

[6]ibid

[7] BBC News, CIA documents acknowledge its role in Iran’s 1953 coup, 20 August, 2013

[8] Iranian.com, Former British foreign minister Jack Straw asks for forgiveness from Tehran in BBC Persian studio !, November6,2013

[9] Tait, Robert & Foster, Peter& Blair, David, Iran nuclear talks: Benjamin Netanyahu lashes out against deals, The telegraph, November 8, 2013

[10] Straw, Jack, Even if Iran gets the Bomb, it won’t be worth going to war , The Telegraph, February25, 2013

[11] ibid

[12]Drezon, Yochi, Meet the weird, well-connected Ex-Terrorists, Foreign Policy, October30, 2013

November 12, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MKO delisting, another UK atrocity against Iranian nation

Iran and the UK have historically had a very turbulent relationship which goes back to centuries, not decades.

The root of the strained relations between the two countries can be traced back even before the Iranian revolution in 1979. Britain has inflicted huge damage on Iranian independence and interests. Replacing one leader with another with more loyalty to the UK ambitions, its oppressive tobacco monopoly in 1890, installing dynasty of Pahlavi, supporting the coup against the democratically elected leader Mosadeq in 1953 and bringing back to power Mohammad Reza Shah. These are some of the examples of the atrocities committed by UK against Iranian people. The most painful of all has been the overthrow of Popular government of Dr. Mosadegh. This was done in retaliation of Dr. Mosadegh’s action of nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian oil company. At that time British had a majority of oil share which was unfair and unjust.

The former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw in an Interview with BBC Persian which was aired in November 5, 2013 confessed to British colonial intentions against Iran and its unfair treatment of the nation.

Straw who now serves as a member of parliament, mentioned reinstatement of Muhammad Reza Shah in the throne and supporting its brutal regime, Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, supporting Saddam Hussein and arming him against Iran. He also referred to the 1953 coup of Iranian elected Prime Minister. [1]

Flashing back at the history it is not surprising that Iranians do not trust the UK’s intentions, according to the Straw.

It is not the first time the former British Foreign Secretary admits the prolonged history of UK interventions in Iran’s internal affairs. In a Daily Telegraph article in February 2013, Straw made reference to the active interference of Britain in Iran’s affairs from the 19th century on:

"From an oppressive British tobacco monopoly in 1890, through truly extortionate terms for the extraction of oil by the D’Arcy petroleum company (later BP), to putting Reza Shah on the throne in the 1920s; from jointly occupying the country, with the Soviet Union, from 1941-46, organising (with the CIA) the coup to remove the elected prime minister Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953, then propping up the increasingly brutal regime of the Shah until its collapse in 1979, our role has not been a pretty one. Think how we’d feel if it had been the other way round"[2]

Britain’s protracted history of meddling in Iranian politics has caused the Iranian people whether reformist, conservative, or with any other political orientation to be suspicious and skeptic towards Britain.

Like any other politician, Straw made this remarks just as historical mistakes by his countries’ politicians. He didn’t make any reference of the current unfair policy against Iranian nation, such as illegal and inhumane sanctions against Iranian people. This is done under the pretext of fabricated and unfounded evidence over Iran’s civilian nuclear program. Another point that Mr. Straw failed to mention was delisting of Mujahedin Khalq from terrorist groups. There are many concrete evidence that this group has been involved in a number of terrorist activities such as assassination of Iranians and Western targets.

Michael Rubin ex-pentagon officials in an article published in Commentary Magazine, called the group dishonest – creepy cult. Having lived in Iran during the 1990s, Rubin said: “The only thing on which Iranians agreed was their dislike of the Mojahedin al-Khalq Organization (MKO),” [3]

Once the group was delisted by the UK, there were ample and indisputable evidence to prove that it was a terrorist organization. UK Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said she was very disappointed with the ruling. Home Officer lawyers had argued that although there had been a "temporary cessation of terrorist acts", there was reason to suspect the halt was only "for pragmatic reasons" and attacks might be resumed in the future. [4]

Yet after all heated discussions the UK lifted the ban on Mujahedin Khalq as a proscribed terrorist group due to political considerations and some hidden agenda.

However, 5 years after the delisting, in response to an MP asking about the immigration status of 52 Camp Liberty residents who are seeking resettlement in the UK, British Secretary of State for the Home Department said that the UK has agreed to consider, exceptionally, their re-admission as refugees, subject to a UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) assessment of each individual to ensure that none have been complicit in acts of terrorism or other activities incompatible with refugee status."[5]

Harper also said that the UNHCR has submitted 17 assessments to the Home Office, adding that “no decision has yet been reached”.[6]

Today that the UK government is seriously concerned about the security and protection of its citizens , it is reluctant to give asylum to the members of a terror cult group with a dark history of violence and terror- even if the group was delisted by the same government .

By: A. Sepinoud

References:

[1]Iranian.com, Former British foreign minister Jack Straw asks for forgiveness from Tehran in BBC Persian studio !, November6,2013

[2] Straw, Jack, Even if Iran gets the Bomb, it won’t be worth going to war, telegraph.co.uk, February25, 2013

[3]Rubin,Michael, Yes, Mujahedin al-Khalq is a dishonest cult, Commentary Magazine, July7, 2013

[4] bbc.co.uk, UK’s ‘terror’ ban appeal denied, May7, 2008

[5] UK Parliament, Britain may admit 17 Liberty residents with no links to terrorism, October 30, 2013

[6]ibid

November 12, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Israel, France and the MKO terrorists

When Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif made an official visit to Paris last week, the lack of governmental pomp was telling.

When a foreign delegation – from even the tiniest country – meets with France’s foreign minister, the minister is always waiting smilingly to receive them, as a good host should. This reception always takes place outside and with plenty of shiny soldiers around, so the press can produce images which display French power.

The Iranian delegation, however, was hidden away and made to wait in a room deep inside the Quai d’Orsay building. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius finally arrived, the snub clear to the surprisingly small number of waiting journalists. Fabius clearly does not realize what a premium the Iranian culture places on being a good host.

The French media barely covered the visit, the first such high-level meeting since 2009, despite the fact that it came during the same week as the second round of Iran and P5+1 talks in Geneva.

And those talks, as we all know by now, have been torpedoed at the behest of France. By surprisingly backtracking on previously accepted agreements, France ignored a tremendous amount of international desire for a solution that was on the cusp of completion.

France near the top of anti-Iranian governments

Many might have expected that the US or the UK would pull the rug out from the international community on any subject concerning Iran’s détente with the West, but France.

Yes, France. For years France has been the most anti-Iranian nation in the EU, and perhaps even more so than the US. Despite the hope that this would change with the parting of Sarkozy “l’Americain”, the recent actions in Geneva seems to confirm that the administration of Francois Hollande will maintain a fanatically hard-line approach to Iran worthy of Benjamin Netanyahu.

Despite all their talk about being the birthplace of human rights and the like, years of reporting in France have led me to conclude that France is Machiavellian to a degree worthy of imperial Rome.

France has no intention of aiding Iran, because it has nothing to gain, much to lose and because it is blinded by the overwhelming presence of anti-Iranian radicals.

Payback for Syria

When France refused to join the US-led war in Iraq, many thought that France had turned a corner in its relations with MENA (Middle East/North Africa). After all, France, long ago booted out of Algeria, was no longer stationing its armies in the Muslim world (except Lebanon and Afghanistan) and it seemingly passed up a ripe chance to boost the profits of national oil giant Total. Of course, it is still fomenting coups and forcing elections in many heavily-Muslim African countries south of the Sahara (see Mali, 2013), but at the time many chose to focus on the positive.

However, Iraq was never in the French sphere of influence – it was strictly British – and so France had little to gain by invading. It is the same situation in Iran: France doesn’t view Iran as potential partner because the Sarkozy-led anti-Iranian sanctions have drastically reduced trade between the two countries, and pushed Iran to pivot towards the East.

Recognition for Iran would, in fact, only strengthen France’s competitors: China, India and maybe even the US and Britain, given the fact that Iranians speak overwhelmingly more English than French.

France also sells tens of billions of euros worth of weapons to Persian Gulf nations, and that kind of business has made France a proxy for Saudi Arabia and especially Qatar, which has a real love affair with all things French, and not just the Paris-Saint Germain football club.

Ending the Cold War on Iran would also hurt allies like Israel and the corrupt scions of non-Hezbollah Lebanon. If Iran is not pigeonholed into a pariah, it would openly compete with France’s influence in Lebanon, which is massive and hugely profitable for French corporations.

Syria, a much larger prize than Lebanon, used to be hugely in France’s political, economic and cultural sphere, and Paris wants that to return.

That’s why French planes were hours away from bombing Damascus, until the US changed their mind, due to the overwhelming, near-total international condemnation. This imperialist lust also explains why France was the first nation to recognize the Syrian opposition, and to a degree even Persian Gulf nations have not yet accepted.

With their long-awaited goal of ousting the anti-imperialist Assad regime and re-establishing themselves in Syria now thwarted, France is not in a mood to end Iran’s isolation.

But for those who believe selfish national self-interest is an appropriate guiding principle for foreign policy, France’s motivations for isolating Iran do clearly go beyond French resentment over Syria.

Powerless French Muslims, Zionists & MKO

France is the largest Muslim country in the EU, but what influence does this community have which could play a role in détente with Iran? Almost none at all.

More than 90% of Muslims voted for Hollande in the 2012 presidential election – they overwhelmingly tell me they admire Iran’s success and oppose Israel – but why should Hollande try and please them when they are already in his pocket? And this is not a rich community that has any soft power, either – this is a group which populates the poorest areas of the nation (not counting the Roma of course, who live in a completely different world from everyone else).

Besides, where else would Muslim voters go – the conservative UMP party? The party which wants to deport grandma and keep mosques in the basement? The party which must count plenty of aging Nazi collaborators among their members?

Progress is there, sort of: people of North African descent finally made it into a presidential cabinet – three paltry junior ministers.

But openly imperialist Zionists, on the other hand, occupy nearly all the top positions in Hollande’s cabinet: the interior, finance and, of course, the foreign minister. The prime minister and defense minister are the only two among the government’s top jobs who probably don’t have Israeli citizenship.

Such a lack of diversity is almost laughable, and certainly contributes to the obvious presence of a closed intellectual circle surrounding Hollande. The problem is, of course, not the fact that these top three ministers are Jewish: The problem for Iran is that they are Zionists. (It can’t be said enough that Iran is proud to boast of supporting the largest Jewish community in the Muslim world.)

But with such one-sided thinking dominating the government’s internal debates, it is not surprising that French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius reneged on previous agreements to pull the rug out from under everyone in Geneva. His reasoning: "It is necessary to take fully into account Israel’s security concerns and those of the region…."”

And the lack of pro-Iranian counterpoints in French society does not stop there: France is the second home of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), a group of fifth columnists who have absolutely no legitimacy to any Iranian for reasons it takes only seconds to comprehend: they fought with Saddam Hussein against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war.

But a poster of the ringleader of this bizarre cult, Marjane Rajavi, was recently all over Paris to advertise her new book. And they are supported by the French government to the extent that they have been mistakenly removed from the EU’s terrorist list.

No stopping the anti-Iran discourse in France

This is who has influence in France’s corridors of power – groups which care little for the average Iranian’s well-being, or for international justice that contradicts French interests.

When we understand just how strong anti-Iranian sentiment is among the French elite, and how little influence France’s huge Muslim community has, one wonders how long it will take for France to adopt a more neutral policy towards Iran?

What levers are there to push things which are already so far gone in one direction? When Iran has to rely on the US and the UK to rein in France’s radical stance, we should realize that Paris has gone off the deep end.

And when you combine Iran’s economic rise and their opposition to France’s support for dozens of imperialist projects and illegitimate dictators, it’s no wonder that France and Iran are fighting tooth and nail.

But ahhh … la belle France … home of human rights and republicanism and all that. It is a nice country – to look at, certainly. But expecting France to play fair – history both recent and distant indicates that this is a fool’s expectation.

Unfortunately for many around the world, France’s actions in Geneva indicate that Paris is hoping to extend, not end, the West’s Cold War against Iran.

By Ramin Mazaheri

November 11, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq demands EU move the MKO to their own countries

Badr parliamentary bloc demands EU move the Mojahedin Khalq to their own countries

An MP for the Badr parliamentary bloc, Karim Alivi, says the EU must move the Mojahedin Khalq from Iraq to their home countries in order to support them.

Alivi said in a press statement , received by the Khabaar News agency, that with reference to the European Union’s declaration of support for the MEK terrorist group, he demands that the EU transfer these criminals from Iraq to their home countries instead of advocating support for them in Iraq. For us they do not qualify for asylum because they have killed our people and are criminals.

He said we refuse to keep them in Iraq under any name, refugee or other, because they have killed our children and our people during the era of the tyrant Saddam. Today we say to Europe and to any state which supports them, in order to protect them they must be based on their territory and not at the expense of the suppressed people who have suffered at their hands.

By Khabaar News ,Translated by Iran Interlink

November 10, 2013 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 28

++In reference to an MEK picket in front of the White House during the visit of Prime Minister Al Maliki, several outlets talk about the desperation displayed by having ten or twenty paid people which nobody took any notice of. Not even anti-Iraqi groups wanted to be associated with it. Many analyse that the weaker the MEK become the more they are losing their benefactors who see they are not worth the money paid. There was even a quote from someone linked to the MEK in Washington saying that ‘with the money we spent on this so-called demonstration if we had given food handouts in front of the White House, we would have got a hundred more people to chant for us’.

++ The Kermanshah branch of Nejat Association has interesting article which points out that until the latest event at Camp Ashraf, anything happening under the sun, even an earthquake in South East Asia, the MEK would blame the intelligence services of Iran for. It is interesting, therefore, that in response to the deaths in Ashraf and the allegedly-missing seven people, the MEK has moved away from Iran and are concentrating blame on Al Maliki and Iraq. It is clear from this that Rajavi has received a severe blow in losing his foothold in Iraq, but he doesn’t want to lose face. Blaming Iran would be degrading – so he says now that the whole world conspired against us and that is why we lost. His game is to take the blame off himself by claiming it wasn’t just the MOIS but the whole he was facing.

++ Saeed Jamali has been continuing his memoirs, one per week, and because he has been at the very centre of the organisation, the MEK have been on overdrive in concentrating all their swearing at him in every way possible, from fabricating lies to personal attacks etc. This has not deterred him, but many people have also written in his support, even those who don’t agree with him. Commentators say that the MEK will not get away with muddying the waters, there are clear questions from disaffected top ranking people and they have to come clean and say whether these are true or not.

++ Behzad Alishahi was the guest on a two hour Mardom TV programme this week. He went into the details of how mind control and cult culture works in the Mojahedin and about other aspects of the cult.

++ Javad Firouzmand from Ariya Iran, who is one of the famous disaffected members who has been publicly tried by Rajavi and condemned to death and has suffered in both Rajavi’s and Saddam’s prisons for being vocal against Rajavi, is writing a series of articles. In the second one, published this week, he corroborates the information given by Saeed Jamali. Because they were working together at many times in the MEK he is able to add supporting evidence to Jamali’s exposures.

++ Maryam Rajavi has declared that ‘if we are allowed to sell Camp Ashraf and other assets to the British company which is willing to buy it, for five hundred million dollars, then we will donate one hundred million of it to the UN Fund [to which the US has already given one million]‘. This hasn’t been taken seriously but has attracted a backlash from many critics, in particular Iraqis and others who point out that half the camp was given to the MEK by Saddam to be used as a terrorist camp and this was one of the stated reasons for the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, and the other half taken by force from nearby villagers. The MEK have no documentation, not even a piece of paper signed by Saddam to show ownership. They point out that as a last effort, since Rajavi knows no other way, he is trying to bribe the UN and Americans, but up to now no one has responded to this silly proposal by these terrorists.

++ Following the anniversary of Marzieh’s death, this week, a few who knew her personally like Iraj Shokri and Esmail Yaghmai have written their memories of that time which exactly match what MEK critics have said until now; which is that in the last years of her life she tried to leave the cult, and when she found the opportunity she used telephones and middle people to contact the outside world to ask for help and to be rescued. Because of this the Rajavis ordered that her telephone be cut off and that she be made to live in isolation in Paris until she died. Yaghmai refers to Marzieh’s complaints that her written memoirs went missing and how she asked for an investigation since she believed that MEK members had stolen them, to which the MEK answered by swearing at her. The MEK is famous for not allowing anyone to keep any personal documents or writings etc.

++ Hamid Reza Salmani from Yaran Association in Paris has published some memories on their website recounting his experience of Ali Mansouri (the MEK member arrested in Israel). He explains how he was recruited by Mansouri in Turkey in the mid 1990s and was from there sent to Iraq.

++ Many have written articles about the British government’s statement that the UK is ‘considering’ the cases of 17 residents of Camp Liberty referred to them as refugees by the UNHCR. Mazda Parsi from Nejat Bloggers has gone into the history of the MEK and European countries and makes the point that, yes the MEK are supported to be used as a terrorist organisation outside Europe, but Europe and America know the MEK as a tool very well – that they are not creatures to be kept at home – and that is why they are so reluctant to take them, and so they delay and play games to keep them out.

++ On the anniversary of the US embassy siege – in which the MEK participated and promoted a far more radical line than was taken by Ayatollah Khomeini – the MEK have significantly remained silent.

++ The Fedayeen newspaper Kar online has an interview with Mehdi Fatapour one of the prominent leaders of the organisation. He talks in the interview about the US embassy takeover, going into detail about how and why it happened. He rejects the claim that the Fedayeen were involved in the act. He says, not only were we not involved in the occupation but even before the revolution we took a stance against the MEK’s violence toward US servicemen in our country. Our way was not to fight with foreigners, we were engaged in fighting at home, not the outside world.

++ The latest news from inside Camp Liberty is that people are refusing to attend lectures and not obeying orders and that the imposed controls are cracking. A lot of people are apparently angry. They notice that 52 were killed and then the remaining 42 then arrived in Camp Liberty and they now want answers. It is not enough to say ‘someone came from the sky and killed them’. They want real answers. This information has been passed to Paris and now Maryam Rajavi is sending messages and videos to try to calm people down. The basic question is ‘if this was a suicide mission, why did only 52 die and the others stayed alive, and if it wasn’t suicide then why was even one killed?’ Maryam has replied that ‘keeping these people there and sacrificing top members like Zohreh Ghaemi and others was pre-planned. The plan has worked and the result is that the blood of these people has meant that we came off the US terrorism list and also we delayed evacuating Camp Ashraf to this date. We have therefore achieved our aim and we would have given the other 42, but thank God this wasn’t necessary’. She also claimed that ‘keeping these people in Ashraf was partly our decoy to hide the whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi and we were successful in this part as well’. She says nothing has been lost and ‘Liberty is now the beacon of the arrow [sic] of evolution and has replaced Ashraf’.

+ Many have written in Farsi about the so-called hunger strike which has now passed its second month. They ridicule it as ‘proof of Maryam’s Ideological Revolution’. They point out that Bobby Sands died well before 60 days, but these people who have undergone Maryam’s Ideological Revolution, are getting fatter by the day while on hunger strike.

++ There was another terrorist attack this week by Jaish Al-adl – which is supported by Saudi Wahhabis and runs a Facebook account and website from London. This time the terrorist group assassinated the Prosecutor of Zabol city in Baluchestan killing him, his driver and a passer by in the attack. Rajavi again, as last week, has been praised and supported this act of violence, which raises the question again ‘how did the US and UK and Europe come to the conclusion they are not terrorists and take them off their terrorism lists?’ Commentators point out that it is precisely because they have not given up terrorism, but because they firmly have hung on to their terrorist credentials.

++ Ariya Iran has an article about the support the MEK has given to the Jaish Al-adl terrorists. The site published a scan of the MEK’s Farsi publication of the same day in which the MEK are praising them for the assassination. But in their English and French sites they have been on overdrive to condemn the kidnap of a French journalist and call it terrorism. This shows how hypocritical they are.

++ Maryam Sanjabi, a former member of the MEK’s Leadership Council who defected recently and exposed their cult corruption etc., has written a note in her Facebook page referring to the recent exposures by the likes of Iraj Mesdaghi, Hadi Afshar, Karim Ghassim and Rowhani and Esmail Yaghmai, saying that although none of this is news, it is certainly confirmation of what has been said by others over the past decade. From one side she wonders why, after being exposed so much, are some in the West are still supporting them; surely any benefit is negated by the damage inflicted by them, which is now being proved. In addition she questions the mentality of the newly defected members and supporters who think they should answer every bit of rubbish that Rajavi throws at them and defend themselves against it. It is unfortunate, she says, that they can’t understand that both their side and the ones who are in the MEK and forced to swear back at them are no more than puppets for Rajavi to serve his survival. If either side knew what Rajavi really thinks about them then the last thing on their mind would be to defend themselves against the rubbish he throws at them.

November 8, 2013

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