++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad and Ghafour Fatahian from Iran Pen Association (Paris office) have written an open letter to their MEP, asking them to use their influence (since the MEK is given an open hand in the European Parliament to lobby against the government of Iraq in favour of the Saddamists, etc) to convince the Rajavis to stop the forced hunger strike imposed on the hostages in Camp Liberty. Interestingly, a couple of days later the MEK announced that Maryam Rajavi has asked the hunger strikers to stop but they have refused. This prompted a series of criticism again the leadership of the cult since everyone knows that this could not be true and this ongoing saga is only imposed by the Rajavis themselves. Many have pointed out two main reasons for the violence, abduction and forced hunger strikes ordered by Rajavi. One is to destroy as many witnesses as possible before they can leave and start talking, and two is to get paid by the remains of the Saddam regime and others, who want to discredit the Iraqi government (Saudi Arabia, Israel …)

Ali Jahani from Germany has also published a similar open letter to his MEP reminding them that having the MEK leaders and other Saddamists in their building and enjoying close relationships with MEPs places the responsibility of the forced hunger strike victims on their hands and it is not that people cannot see them and what they are condoning.

++ Edaalat Association (families of the victims of terrorism) in Iran has published an article on its website titled “From self-immolation in Paris to hunger strikes in Baghdad”. It goes into details about organised self-harm (when they are not able to harm others) which is done to save the skin of the leaders. It points to the fact that none of these acts can be voluntary or spontaneous and it is the MEK leaders and their western supporters who, on top of their responsibility for the terrorist acts carried out in the past 30 years, are responsible for these acts of violence and destruction against their own members.

++ Awaa Association in Germany, which published a list of names and addresses of many pseudo associations of the MEK in Germany, has now exposed a private meeting in which Massoud Rajavi himself from his hiding place puts the ex members, survivors and the critics of the cult at the heart of the cult’s ongoing problems and has ordered the members (and the lobbyists through their handlers inside the organisation) to put all their other work aside and to start working towards stopping survivors from exposing the crimes of the cult leaders. Awaa Association also explained that what Rajavi means when he says, “We will build a thousand Camp Ashrafs again”, is what he has ordered and it means they will be making one thousand pseudo associations in the EU and US, of which a couple of hundreds have already started working with their main aim to terrorise critics and survivors in a bid to stop their revelations.

++ Karim Gholami and Mehrdad Sagharchi were the guests of Mardom TV this week. They are among the recent arrivals in the west who are now living in Germany.

++ Many have written about Rajavi and the MEK’s claim that the Iraqi government has abducted some 7 missing members from Camp Ashraf and has given them to Iran. Both Iran and Iraq have rejected the accusation and even the US has been telling the MEK lobby in the House that this is not true.

The argument is that:

1- If true, why would the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (who you claim is responsible and that they deny) give in if you go on hunger strike? You are saying that they have clandestinely attacked your camp and have killed 52 of your members!

2- Why don’t you give your evidence to a responsible UN or other body to investigate? Why is it that after all this time you are not allowing even one of the witnesses of the incident to be interviewed by any investigative body?

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) published the 13th part of his articles (mostly his memories) this week on Pejvak Iran Website. The title is “Camp TIPF, a view from inside”. Hadi Afshar is currently one of the most attacked people by the MEK as he is the latest high ranking members who is directly pointing at Massoud and Maryam Rajavi the cult leaders for their responsibilities in all the crimes carried out by the MEK.

++ Some commentators have pointed out the fact that none of the western countries which give an open hand to the terrorist leaders are willing to give sanctuary to even a handful of the members. They point out that this fact by itself amounts to criminal activity as it is proven that many MEK hostages do not wish to be “western backed terrorists” and are forced to do so by the “western backed cult leaders”.

++ Iraj Mesdaghi has published a new article on Pejvak Iran website. The story is that some prisoners in an Iranian jail had gone on hunger strike and the most likely scenario is that they have been protesting against the death penalty. The news emerged in some media outlets and a day later Maryam Rajavi and her so-called National Council of Resistance issued a statement to the effect that “two thousand” prisoners have gone on hunger strike and, more than that, “they have been inspired by the hunger strike of the people in the Iraqi camp of the MEK”. Iraj Mesdaghi has gone into the news in detail and shown how irrelevant the prisoners’ action has been to the MEK, and how desperate Rajavi is to try to show that their so-called hunger strike (i.e. forced denial of food to the hostages) has something to do with Iran, Iraq, or any other reality.

++ Mohammad Razaghi from Paris has also written about this issue and has reminded us of many facts whereby the MEK have been recruiting criminals who have been wanted men, whether in Iran or in the EU/America and have evaded justice by running away to Iraq under the protection of Saddam/Rajavi. He goes on to say that the criminals should know that they have a backer who is herself backed by Mossad and other anti-Iran forces, and they will be using their services if and when they are out of prison.

++ Many articles have been written this week about Maryam Rajavi and how she is following Netanyahu’s line of action day by day. They remind us that when Netanyahu was hoping for the derailment of the negotiations in Geneva and also his hopes for failure afterwards, she was doing the same, including the ridiculous “discovery, yet again, of another nuclear site” the day before the meetings. Now that Netanyahu wants to demonstrate somehow that Iran is not keeping her side of the agreement, Rajavi is following the same line and is trying to prove that.

++ Shaya Al Soudani the Human Rights Minister of Iraq announced that the claim by the MEK that Iraq has abducted 7 of its members is nothing more than a sick propaganda stunt by the cult. He said the so-called hunger strike has been staged due to the exposure of this propaganda and is an attempt at damage limitation of their credibility with their own benefactors.

++ Afaf Abdolrazagh MP from Al Iraqia coalition in the Iraqi parliament announced this week that what the MEK are broadcasting under her name is nothing more than lies and that she has never supported this organisation, its leaders nor its actions, and has always asked for their removal from the country. The MEK, as usual, has ignored this and has not given any explanation about what they have been feeding through their media channels in the west.

++ According to Iraqi officials the number of deaths in Camp Ashraf was 53 and not 52. The last person took time to identify because the body had been so badly burned. Mohammad Karami from Paris asks through his website why it is that the MEK have not been cooperative enough to even announce the name of their own dead member? Not allowing the witnesses in Camp Ashraf to be interviewed by the investigators had been exposed before so that everyone understands that there is some truth about the role of MEK leaders in the massacre, but not announcing the name of this murdered member obviously points to the fact that the MEK leaders don’t even dare to announce who this one is.

++ Roya Doroudi, who had been transferred from Iraq to Albania (from the ones who are still loyal to the MEK and not those who have separated themselves), died this week. The MEK has given no explanation why and how. She was a child of one of the members at the start of the revolution and would not have been older than 37 years old. Many, including Atefeh Eghbal, have reminded us that time is short and these people are falling one by one only to be labelled and praised as ‘sacrifices for Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’ and the cult.

++Hamid Mansouri one of the older former members of the MEK had an interview with Tasnim News in Tehran. He has been explaining the MEK’s system of recruitment in America where he was studying and how they sent them to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He talks about how they treated people once under their control, and how they used them in whatever way Rajavi or Saddam’s Mokhaberat found fit.

++ Many writers have referred to the public praises issued by the MEK over the murder of an Iranian border guard by Saudi backed Jaish Al Adl terrorists in the south of Iran. Many have pointed to the concept that the MEK were removed from the terrorism lists precisely because they are terrorists rather than because they are not. Jaish Al Adl is the remains of Rigi’s group after he was caught and executed in Iran, and Rajavi enjoyed very close operational relations with the group including planning and training for them from the MEK HQ in Paris.

Fars News reported that Iraqi MP Rafe’ Abdul Jabbar had criticised the United Nations because it “turned a blind eye to the Israeli regime in a double-standard practice towards regional issues.” One of those was the MEK in Iraq. He censured the glacial pace in the relocation process of the MKO members to third party countries, and said, “Baghdad is obeying the UN in this regard and this organization is obeying the US.”

“We should admit that Iraq’s independence is still far away,” he added.

He said Iraq’s obedience to the UN decisions is the main reason for the inability of Iraq to expel members of the MEK group, adding that the MEK’s activities may influence Tehran-Baghdad relations.

++ A long and detailed article by Mazda Parsi from Nejat Bloggers exposes the payments received by politicians in America for advocacy of the MEK, even during the time they were on the US terrorism list.

December 06 2013

++ The Community of Independent Bloggers has raised a petition condemning the MEK’s ongoing hunger strike. The petition asks both the Iraqi and the French government to stop this barbaric act which everyone knows is being forced by the MEK leaders. Previously, reports have suggested that the hunger strikes are mostly undertaken under coercive pressure and specifically in Iraq reports say that food has been denied to the participants by the leaders.

++ Mohammad Karami was the guest of Mardom TV. He talked about the hunger strike, the situation of the new arrivals in Albania, and some aspects of MEK history according to the former military and intelligence officers of Saddam’s regime, including General Vafiq Al Smerai. Parts of a weekly video presentation by Behzad Alishahi were also broadcast. The series is called “what the MEK do and what the MEK say”, and concentrates on the current week by week activities of the MEK in their media and other activities.

++ Many have been writing about the ongoing hunger strike and the reasons Rajavi may want to continue this. This includes three former members of the all-women Leadership Council, Maryam Sanjabi, Batoul Soltani and Zahra Mirbagheri, who have pointed out the internal problems Rajavi is facing and they say he is creating this atmosphere only to silence his internal critics. Others have pointed to the fact that Rajavi cannot afford to allow these people to leave and to talk (as others have done). Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) explains that everyone knows that four witnesses are more convincing than two. Rajavi is now facing some of the survivors who have managed to get out. He is trying to keep the number as low as possible; whether being killed during the American bombing (of Iraq), self immolations, so-called accidents, depravation of medicine, infighting in Camp Ashraf or hunger strike, the result for him is the same.

++ Some articles have been published on the subject of why Rajavi is not coming out of hiding. A popular explanation is that he is not capable of facing his own forces rather than there being any restriction or danger from his enemies if he surfaced. But some have said that if he surfaced in any country, it is the Iraqi government that would pursue him to take him back and put him on trial rather than it being Iran which would do so, and because it is not easy for other countries to host one of Saddam’s henchmen in defiance of international law.

++ Karim Gholami from Iran Pen Association in Cologne has written an article about Maryam Rajavi and her desperate attempts to play the role of a living person. He refers to her actions, including finding new nuclear sites every 5 minutes and then moving on, or how the MEK, working alongside the Israeli government, have been against the Geneva talks with Iran but after they have concluded announce that Iran has been defeated and given up her ambitions to have the A bomb and then a few hours later again come up with statements that Iran is only a few months away from acquiring her first A bomb …

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has published the 12th part of his memoir under the general title “The system ruling the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation”. The title of the 12th part is “Working towards toppling the regime or running away” in which he explains the vacuum of leadership in the MEK whenever some thing has happened.

++ There have been reports from inside the MEK HQ in Paris that Mohammad Mohaddessin, one of the known members of the MEK/NCRI, has been refusing to accept orders by Maryam Rajavi. This has resulted in him being beaten up in some meetings. He has allegedly been demoted and is now held without access to outside world. Nima from Ariya Association in Paris has published an extensive article about this issue detailing the people who have been present and the way they have treated Mohaddessin, epecially Mehdi Abrishamchi (Maryam Rajavi’s first husband) who has been one of those beating up Mohaddessin. Abrishamchi, who has been a torturer working for the intelligence system of Saddam Hussein, is a wanted man in Iraq and many individuals have alleged that he has personally tortured them. The MEK has not yet reacted to explain the absence of Mohaddessin from his public role, raising the possibility that he is not giving way to the pressure to change his mind and support the cult again. Mohaddessin was the MEK contact with the Pentagon during the reign of Saddam and has been involved in many deals with the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Paris.

++ Many ex members and critics have been writing open letters to the European Parliament where the Mojahedin Khalq lobbyists are more active than in any other place. They are demanding that parliamentarians put pressure on Rajavi and MEPs who support her to come clean and let the hunger strikers choose for themselves if they want to eat or not. Many point to the role of cult lobbyists and their responsibility in the case of the deaths of any of these people. Many of them have no access to food because it is not given by the leaders of the MEK, and many don’t even know about what is happening in the world due to being trapped in the MEK camps for decades without contact with outside world.

++ The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for renewed efforts from states to relocate former Camp Ashraf residents, also known as Camp New Iraq. “Since the 1 September 2013 attack on Camp New Iraq where 52 residents died, there has been limited progress in moving the remaining residents to a third country. UNHCR encourages all Member States to share in the international efforts, admit residents and offer them a long-term solution.”

++ Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed that the Israeli government has promised financial assistance during to the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist organization, pointing out that some members of the leadership of the MEK reside in Israel and have become clients. An editor of the Israeli newspaper reported that one of the leading members of the MEK, who lives in Israel, met with senior officials in the intelligence service to request financial assistance, pointing out that the amount of this financial assistance was not known. According to the Israeli press, the Israeli financial grant to the organization comes after the MEK promised to provide detailed and accurate information about Iran’s nuclear facilities, stressing that Israel had previously given financial and in-kind assistance to the organization.

++ Writing for Iran Interlink, Anne Singleton drew parallels between the situation of three modern slaves discovered in London and members of the Rajavi cult. “In each case the victims were brought together thirty years ago to live collectively as part of a shared political ideology. In London, as in Iraq, this went wrong when the use of emotional and physical abuse was used to enslave the victims against their will. Just as the three women in London have had traumatic and disturbing experiences, so the escapees from Camp Liberty have described the systematic use of psychological, emotional and physical abuses behind closed doors to keep them under the control of brutal, exploitative leaders. As in London, the victims of the Mojahedin Khalq are left emotionally fragile and highly vulnerable. Their needs for a careful and compassionate process of recovery and rehabilitation are similar. This can only be achieved if they are protected from their former ‘owners’ who will try their utmost to collect them back up and return them to conditions of slavery.”

++ Talking to Haider al-Akaili, who is part of an Iraqi government committee overseeing the investigation into the September 1st killings at Camp Ashraf which was requested by the U.N., Reuters news agency reported that “The main thing that the investigations have revealed so far is that the Iraqi security forces were not involved in that attack and an unknown militant group was behind it… Akaili added that 53 people had been killed, not 52 as originally reported by the U.N. which said its representatives had seen corpses with gunshot wounds and some with their hands tied. The additional victim had not been reported until now because his face had been burnt and he had not been previously identifiable as a camp member… ‘The operation was elaborate, complicated and big,” he said, adding that MEK members who had seen the attack had shown a “serious lack” of cooperation with investigating authorities’. He raised the possibility that there had been a dispute within the camp and some of the attackers had come from inside it. Another scenario was that the seven missing people were behind the assault, he said.”

++ Richard Potter of Mondoweiss interviewed former NCRI and MEK member Massoud Banisadr. Among other subjects Banisadr describes the point when he believes the MEK transformed from a political group to a destructive cult: “What happened was, within Iran they were left losing 99% of their members. Only 2,000 to 3000 members were left in Iran. Most of them were gone because of the change of policy from peaceful demonstration to terrorist activities and street fighting. Even those who could become radicals were either killed in street clashes or by execution by the government. They lost the battle in Iran. Outside of Iran they were portraying themselves as the democratic alternative to the Iranian government. Two of the most important allies of theirs were ex Iranian President [Abolhassan] Banisadr and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Kurdish Iran. These two left the National Council of Resistance in 1984. Suddenly this coalition of Rajavi and others turned into the pseudonym MEK. In 1983 they could get support from the Labour Party of UK and the Socialist Party of France, but after this they did not have it anymore. MEK was on the verge of disintegration, so he had to do something, which is why I think he did what was called the Ideological Revolution, which is when it became a destructive cult.”

++ Mohammad Karami in Paris revealed a new tactic adopted by the MEK leadership aimed at intimidating and silencing its critics – direct targeting and character assassination. He described the MEK as spreading malicious rumours about these critics in their places of residence and among their social circles as well as gathering factual information to seed with false allegations to create documents which MEK advocates in parliaments and other capacities can take to the judicial channels to accuse the critics of being a danger to the public.

November 29, 2013