Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Your Country Needs You

It is patently clear by now that the unilateral US sanctions against Iran:

•Are illegal under international law;

•Constitute a form of economic warfare, indeed even economic terrorism, designed to harm the average Iranian (brutally pushing them to topple the Islamic Republic);

•Are designed to weaken Iran; (see page 10 where this is described as a ‘ benefit’ of the sanctions – obviously written by an American brute with no morals);

•Harm the economies of the West in a deep recession;

•Are having no impact on the stability of the Iranian government or advances in the nuclear programme; and

•Are causing Iran to pivot her economy to the East and South even more strongly and to expand and diversify both her trade partners as well as her industrial output.

The sanctions have been shamelessly supported by extremist elements within the ‘Iranian’ expat community.  

It is rather unthinkable for an Iranian patriot to ever promote war and sanctions against Iranians, no matter what the reason for their own exile condition.   In fact, it would be unthinkable for anyone with the slightest bit of common sense to support such misery against their own community.  

But such treachery is often linked to that strange Mujahedin cult (MEK) that actually joined forces with Saddam in his murderous war campaign against Iran in the 1980s.  Iranians would support the Islamic Republic against the Mujahedin-E-Khalgh, just as they would against the MEK’s foreign masters like Israel and USA.  

Personally, I would not be surprised if the same MEK traitors who assassinated Iranian scientists in the service of Israel were also behind the assassination of people like Neda and the worst violence in Iran in 2009.  

After all, they and their foreign masters would be the only ones to see any gain from such treachery and sabotage. 

With the election of President Rohani, Iranians have clearly demonstrated that they collectively want to take a more conciliatory stance in order to resolve the economic problems caused by the sanctions.  But where is the reciprocal note of reconciliation from the West?  How is it that the drive for more sanctions is still supported in several Western quarters?   

The arrogance and ill will of the West in the sanctions warfare against Iran is even more evident today.   

As a result, a civil society movement to fight the sanctions is taking shape inside Iran, for Iran’s inalienable rights under international law are above any individual or regime.

Question is: are Iranian expats going to use their positions in the West to help their mother country free herself of foreign economic terrorism? Or will they side with Iran’s enemies?

By Niloufar Parsi

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Camp Liberty

Some Liberty residents decided not to attend UNHCR interviews

Some Liberty residents have decided not to attend interviews with UNHCR to process their cases

Update No. 6

Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf) residents and the processing of their cases for solutions*

UNHCR has expressed continued deep concern for the safety and security of the residents in the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL), following the second deadly attack on 15 June. UNHCR reiterated the urgent need for enhanced physical protection, asking the Government of Iraq to do everything in its power to guarantee the security of the residents.

Invoking their security concerns following the two attacks on Camp Hurriya, a number of residents have decided not to attend interviews scheduled for them with UNHCR to process their cases. Nevertheless, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq of 25 December 2011 on the situation of the residents of Camp New Iraq, UNHCR continues to process the applications of the residents who have been transferred, on a voluntary basis, to Camp Hurriya and who engage with UNHCR.

Camp residents who have submitted requests for international protection are formally asylum-seekers under international law. In the absence of a national system of adjudication in Iraq, UNHCR is considering these requests on an individual basis in an appropriate procedure. Individual interviews are taking place – with those who engage – in a safe and neutral location, and in full confidentiality. Transmittal to States of the cases of those with determined international protection needs is ongoing. Pending their relocation outside Iraq, the residents are in transit in Camp Hurriya, while their claims are being processed, as provided for in the above-noted Memorandum of Understanding.

International law requires that asylum-seekers must be able to benefit from basic protection of their security and well-being. This includes protection against any expulsion or return to the frontiers of territories where their lives or freedom would be threatened (the non-refoulement principle) as well as treatment in accordance with basic humanitarian standards – including, most importantly, their security. The primary responsibility for ensuring respect for these standards lies with the Government of Iraq. Freedom of movement is the most desirable state while processing takes place.

UNHCR, together with the Government of Iraq, UNAMI and other concerned actors, including importantly the international community, remains committed to doing its part in finding peaceful solutions to this long-standing problem. Accordingly, UNHCR and UNAMI are continuing their combined efforts to find solutions, including relocation opportunities, for the residents who wish to depart Iraq. To date a total of 135 residents have departed to other countries.

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Bad News for the MKO

Once the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was delisted from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organization of the US State Department, the group opened its Washington office and paid Senator Robert Torricelli to register for lobbying in the Congress on behalf of the group." Unable to operate openly in Iran, the MEK is instead waging some of its battles in Washington” ,reported Susan Cornwell of Reuters. "It opened an attractive new office in April just a five-minute walk from the White House”. [1] In contrary to the efforts of the MKO agents in the United States, on July 18, 2013,   131 members of the US Congress signed a letter urging President Obama to reinvigorate Iran diplomacy. The letter, being circulated by Representatives David Price (D-North Carolina) and Charles Dent (R-Pennsylvania), is the biggest ever pro-Iran diplomacy letter from the Hill, those supporting the initiative said. [2]

A day before the Dent-Price letter was published,  Ryan Costello special correspondent to the Huffington Post reported that 29 prominent former government officials, diplomats, military officers and national security experts sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “seize the moment to pursue new multilateral and bilateral negotiations with Iran once Rouhani takes office and to avoid any provocative action that could narrow the window of opportunity for a more moderate policy out of Tehran.” Costello believes that the Obama administration has, rightfully, expressed cautious optimism over the election of Rouhani as a moderate Iranian authority. [3] 

This is no good news for the MKO. The group has so far advocated for a tougher US policy towards Iran paying large amounts of money to US prominent figures to "stop appeasing" Iran. The MKO leaders who seek the overthrow of the Iranian Government criticize the West for what they call "appeasement policy" towards Iran.  "Long active as an advocacy group in the United States and Europe, the MEK is now formalizing its campaign to pressure the Obama administration to maintain a hard line – including in multilateral nuclear talks – with the Islamic Republic, which it hopes will one day crumble", according to Susan Cornwell. [4]

As Jason Ditz of the Antiwar website puts, "Getting to the top of a Congressional committee with foreign policy implications is reserved mostly for the lunatic hawks, and Congressmen who are reasonable are usually anonymous." But this time as Ditz admits, the names of the signatories of the letter are known to everyone.[5]  Worse news for the MKO is that the name of one of its high profile sponsors is found among the signatories of the Dent-Price letter: Senator Sheila Jackson Lee who is "longtime Mujahedeen champion" according to Elizabeth Rubin. [6] Jackson is one of the speakers at the MKO’s recent gathering in Villepinte. She calls Maryam Rajavi "sister". According to Maryam Rajavi at the same rally, "western countries and appeasers are trying in vain to portray such a figure [Rouhani] as a moderate".[7] Congresswoman Jackson Lee seems to be confused between the generous offers of the MKO and her 130 peers who believe that " it will  be prudent for the United States to utilize all diplomatic tools to reinvigorate ongoing nuclear talks."[8] However, Jason Ditz implies that the Israelis agree with Maryam Rajavi rather than their American friends, " That’s not going to sit well with the Israel Lobby, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already made it clear that the he wants the US to treat Rohani with hostility, and the Obama Administration has already suggested that’s the path they’re going with."[9]

In order to encounter any move based on engagement and diplomacy regarding Iran, the MKO propaganda machine runs hysterically. Occasionally, together with their multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, the MKO instigators repeat their so-called revelations about the Iranian nuclear program making efforts to convince the West that the Islamic Republic is seeking a nuclear bomb – what the reportedly new sponsor of the group Benjamin Netanyahu is also yelling about. The most recent allegation by the MKO on the Iranian Nuclear program was released last week. To their surprise the Dent-Price letter was regulated a few days after the group claimed to have discovered a secret site in the mountains Northeast of Tehran but the report could hardly ever attract attention in the world. "The group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility”, reported Reuters. [10]

"Clearly, the MEK’s latest revelations are recycled claims and, like before, are essentially allegations based on vague intelligence leaked to the group by American officials",  suggests Nima Shirazi at Wide Asleep in America. "The MEK merely acts as a laundering service for the unproven accusations of its handlers in the United States and Israel." [11]

Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June, 14 2013

[2] Rosen, Laura , 131 House members sign letter supporting diplomacy with Iran, The Back Channel, July 18, 2013

[3] Costello, Ryan , Congress, Former Policymakers Urge Obama to Revitalize Diplomacy with Iran, the Huffington Post, July 19  ,2013

 [4] Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June, 14 2013

[5] Ditz, Jason, Over a Quarter of House Wants Iran Talks, Antiwar.com, July 18, 2013

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

[7] Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.

[8] Rosen, Laura , 131 House members sign letter supporting diplomacy with Iran, The Back Channel, July 18, 2013

[9]Ditz, Jason, Over a Quarter of House Wants Iran Talks, Antiwar.com, July 18, 2013

[10]Reuters, Exiled dissidents claim Iran building new nuclear site, July 11, 2013

[11] Shirazi, Nima, Dirty Laundry: MEK Re- Ups 3 Year Old Nuclear Propaganda, Wide Asleep In America, July 13, 2013

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Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

UK peer: MKO ban members from Iran

Former vice president of the EU Committee on Foreign Affairs Baroness Emma Nicholson says the heads of MKO bans likely penitent members from return to Iranterrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) do not allow members in Iraq to return to Iran and rejoin their families there.

The British life peer said in an interview with Iranian NGO the Habilian Association that the terrorist groups’ members are not allowed back in Iran by their leaders in the knowledge that they will not face persecution there.

The MKO terrorists, formerly based at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, now face expulsion from the country.

Nicholson said that “western European states are not at all wishful of receiving them because of their recent past history” with just two European countries, Germany and Albania, giving a lukewarm response to the UN Secretary General requests for asylum to the members of the terrorist MKO.

The terror cell has, however, turned down the two offers asking to be relocated to the US, where they are most ardently supported.

Last year, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said there is space for discussion of some MKO members return to Iran if officials give their approval.

He added that would only be possible if they “regret their past mistakes” as many MKO members have been kept at Ashraf Camp against their will.

MKO terrorists are notorious for carrying out terrorist acts and assassinations of lay people and top officials in Iran.

The Habilian Association, which represents part of families of the victims of MKO terrorism, estimates that it has assassinated over 12,000 people in Iran.

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Camp Liberty

Save Enslaved MKO Members

Save Enslaved MKO Members

Those lobbying to return MKO members to Ashraf are building the altar to scarify them

It is no more the question of keeping forces on alert near the Iranian borders looking for an opportunity to strike at the pillars of the regime to inherit the reins of power after its fall. Rather, it is a desperate need to protect very same disarmed forces against any attack that threaten their life just in the middle of Iraq. The members of MKO deserved any form of confrontation when they were fully armed with Saddam’s donated weapons to be used against Iranian and Iraqi people. Now the deplorable condition of these poor men, the outcasts of a failed militia with a countless record of bloodshed, call for a universal decisiveness to save them, now wallowed in the mire of a personality cult.

The UN special envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, knows well, if not better than anybody, what is going on within Camp Liberty, the temporary camp that houses these people, when he expressed concern at human rights abuses therein. In his latest remarks, Mr. Kobler cited reports from some residents that camp leaders are keeping residents from leaving, from participating in the resettlement process, from contacting family members outside Iraq, and from medical treatment.

And what is the response by the group’s leaders to end the sufferings of the members? We witness everyday protests and demonstrations by sympathizers and supporters of MKO outside UN headquarters and on the streets of the European countries calling for the protection and guaranteed rights of the residents as well as condemning Mr. Kobler. In her recent attack, Maryam Rajavi, the self-appointed president elect of the group, strongly condemned Kobler for what she referred to as deceitful efforts to present false reports to the Security Council and the UN Secretary-General.

The heavy propaganda and lobbying struggle by MKO’s widespread network in European countries demanding to return Camp Liberty residents to their previous camp, Camp Ashraf, is no more considered a humanitarian gesture to save suffering members. Everybody knows that Camp Ashraf does not qualify a more secure place than Liberty. The number of the insiders killed in Camp Ashraf when MKO’s leaders deliberately provoked a few confrontations with Iraqi forces, many of whom were happy to avenge the ethnic cleansing raids the group carried out for Saddam back in the day, exceeds those killed in Camp Liberty’s mortar attacks. Mr. Kobler had also provided a warning of the group’s potentiality in provoking and waging violence at the time.

Is Camp Ashraf really a sanctuary and does MKO care about the safety and protection of the abandoned insiders in Iraq? The first reaction the Iraqi Government received from MKO after announcing its decision to close Camp Ashraf in a decision to expel its residents from the country was an angry backlash and threatening tone. And the first practical approach by MKO was to provoke the Iraqi forces, not acquainted with the group’s self-destructive tactics, to mount an aggressive response to evacuation of Ashraf. Then, anyone can say what would be the fate of the insiders if they were ever permitted to return to Camp Ashraf.

 MKO is at the end of line in Iraq and it has enough devoted members active under a pro-democracy masquerade around the world. But MKO is facing a conundrum over the insiders’ future uncertainty in Iraq, a big bulk of members still waiting to be accepted as refugees in third countries. The problem can be solved in the way that would best benefit MKO. What the group needs at the present to fuel its propaganda machine for a full move is sacrifice. Where else can MKO leaders find a better slaughter house than Camp Ashraf to make about 3000 martyrs? In fact, those lobbying to return members to Ashraf are building the altar for MKO to scarify poor insiders.

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MEK Camp Ashraf

Iraq to Build a Mall in MKO’s Camp Ashraf

The local administration of the Iraqi town of Khalis declared plans to build a mall in Camp Ashraf – the main training center of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) – after all members of the terrorist group are expelled from the Camp.Iraq to Build a Mall in MKO's Camp Ashraf

Khalis Mayor Uday AlKhadran told a press conference that an Iraqi court has transfered the authority of the site to the local administration of Khalis which plans to build a mall in there once all MKO terrorists are expelled from the Camp.

"The Camp of New Iraq (Ashraf) still accomodates 100 members of the MKO members, and the rest have already been transferred at the order of the UN to (the transient facility in Camp Liberty in Northern) Baghdad during the last year in preparation for housing them in other countries.

He further pointed to "the suspicious political activities of Ashraf residents who refused to sell the property of Camp Ashraf in accordance with their earlier agreement with the Iraqi government, despite receiving attractive offers from Iraqi and foreign traders and companies".

The Iraqi government evacuated Camp Ashraf almost completely last Summer and moved more than 3 thousand MKO members to Camp Liberty, and kept only 100 members in the Camp of New Iraq (Camp Ashraf) to complete the sale of property and transfer the money to the MKO.

The Diyala province which hosts Camp Ashraf has on several occasions declared its intention to invest in the Camp to turn it into a tourist site and build a large commercial exchange center for trade between Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Baghdad.

The MKO was a long-standing member of the US State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, but after heavy lobbying the group was dropped from the list last year. The group was allied to Saddam Hussein and retains a significant presence at Camp Liberty, and formerly at Camp Ashraf (its main training camp) during the US occupation.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MEK Camp Ashraf

The Future of a Terrorist Bastion

The military and cult bastion of the terrorist MKO is nearing the end of its days as one of the most controversial spots in Iraq. The last remaining group of the members, a total of 100, will be forced out sooner or later and leaves the camp in the hands of the local authority in Diyala Province. The province’s administration has unveiled a recent judicial decision by Baghdad courts to empty Camp Ashraf and hand it over to the local administration who have announced on several occasions the intention to turn it into a tourist attraction and a large commercial exchange center between the Kurdistan region of Iraq and Baghdad.

In a latest press conference, Uday AlKhadran, Khalis Mayor, told that an Iraqi court has transferred the authority of the site to the local administration of Khalis which plans to build a mall in there once all MKO terrorists are expelled from the Camp.

“The Camp of New Iraq (Ashraf) still accommodates 100 members of the MKO members, and the rest have already been transferred at the order of the UN to the transient facility in Camp Liberty in Northern Baghdad during the last year in preparation for housing them in other countries”. He further pointed to “the suspicious political activities of Ashraf residents who refused to sell the property of Camp Ashraf in accordance with their earlier agreement with the Iraqi government, despite receiving attractive offers from Iraqi and foreign traders and companies”.

It has to be pointed out that not all the claimed properties and assets in Camp Ashraf have a function of legal and civil purpose and many of the vehicles, instruments and machineries allocated to the group by the ousted dictator belong to Iraqi army and people living in the vicinity. In fact, the group brought nothing when it came to Iraq and all it claims to possess is out of the bundles of dollars Saddam allocated to it from the pocket of the Iraqi people when they needed the sums more than any other time.

Since the fall of Saddam, the Iraqi lawyers have filed complaints on behalf of Iraqi people and particularly by farmers living in Diyala province whose crop lands have been occupied by the group. In fact, the closure of Camp Ashraf was a legal demand by the Iraqi government and the local people, to whom the lands belong. Naturally, MKO as the occupier is reluctant to return what it had seized under the direct order of the ousted Saddam.

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MEK Camp Ashraf

Mojahedin Khalq members obstructing court ruling

Eighty members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) residing in Camp Ashraf are obstructing the implementation of the Iraqi Court’s decision to evacuate this Camp, said an Iraqi official.

Uday Khadran, the governor of Khalis, told the Al-Sumaria that an Iraqi court has ordered the evacuation of Camp Ashraf and the delivery of the Camp to the Khalis governorate.

Referring to the remaining members of the MKO in Camp Ashraf who refused to leave their long-held military headquarters, al-Khadran said, the presence of these individuals in Ashraf after the relocation of most of the group members to Camp liberty is by no means legal.

He called on the security services to fully carry out the court order and to purge the Camp of the terrorist elements of MKO.

Iraqi government has relocated some 3100 members of the terrorist group from their former military headquarters to Camp liberty, but 80 members have not left the camp yet.

The relocation was in line with a memorandum of understanding signed on December 25, 2011, between Iraq and UN to temporarily transfer MKO members from Camp Ashraf to Camp liberty for the UNHCR to review their refugee status and send them to third countries.

Al-Sumaria ,Translated by Habilain

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