Page 449 – Nejat Society

Whoops! What a big gaffe in the US report!

Did Pentagon lobby for Mojahedin Khalq?

Letter to the editor
Mail on Sunday Ebrahim Khodabandeh

Mr. Geordie Greig.

An unpublished report produced by the US Library of Congress for the Department of Defense (the Pentagon), has been continuously quoted by the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult in their media since it was conveniently ‘leaked’ to the internet in January. The so-called ‘Pentagon report’ mentioned my name along with that of my brother and my sister-in-law, but because what was written was so obviously made-up to fulfill the agenda of the MEK themselves, I chose to ignore it.

Then in an article dated February 16, 2013, the British newspaper Mail-on-Sunday also referred to this report and again this has been widely used by the cult in its media. Amused by the dramatic tabloid headline "British housewife accused by the US of spying for Iran ‘to save her brother-in-law’s life’", I had a closer look to find out why this article had been published six weeks after the report was first leaked.

The US report claims that in 2002: "She (i.e. my sister in law Anne Singleton) agreed to cooperate with MOIS (Iran’s ministry of intelligence) to save her brother-in-law’s life – he (i.e. me, Ebrahim Khodabandeh) was still a member of MEK at the time."

In 2002 I was living in one of the MEK’s bases in London. This means that my life was in danger inside the MEK in the UK!

In my opinion the Mail-on-Sunday article was published specifically to cover up this gaffe. It even points to this in the title.

At the start of the article it says: "Anne Singleton, 53, is alleged to have been blackmailed into training with the Iranian secret service during a visit to Tehran in 2002. The Pentagon-commissioned report claims that Mrs Singleton and her Iranian husband, Massoud Khodabandeh, 56, agreed to work for the regime in return for saving the life of his jailed brother." [bold added]

Not only is this untrue, it is yet another gaffe. The original report did not say that I was in jail at that time and the author of the article either did not bother to read the actual report, or was probably as confused as everyone else who read it as to what it was actually trying to say.

The fact is that I was arrested in Syria and taken to prison in Iran in June 2003.

In the year 2002 I was still a member of the MEK living in their collective base in London. My brother and my sister-in-law who had both left the MEK had established the iran-interlink.org website and were active in exposing the violation of human rights inside Rajavi’s cult which had been going on for many years.

I can tell from my 23 years’ experience and as one of the key personnel in the MEK’s Foreign Affairs Department in Europe that the gaffes made in the report and in the article both originated from the MEK.

Ebrahim Khodabandeh
February 20, 2013

February 23, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraqi people would never tolerate the MKO

Iraqi professor: USA and a few Iraqi officials back the Mujahedin e-Khalq organization and try to keep the terrorist group in Iraq for a while.

Referring to the U.S. role in the region’s instabilities, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad addressed the Iraqi people would never tolerate the MKO recent developments in the region and threats facing the nations in a friendly meeting with a delegation of Iraqi university Professors and scholars and said: “After the new Iraqi government came to power, the Americans found the developments in Iraq against their will and started to support and enhance terrorist groups to destroy the country’s security, they promoted the very same thing they had apparently came to fight.”

Habilian’s Secretary General added: “One of the most destructive terrorist groups in Iraq is Mujahedin e-Khalq organization. As though the group is acknowledged by the USA and other western countries as the sample of murder and crime and it is hated by Iraqi and Iranian nations since it has assassinated many innocent people in both countries, the United States is MEK’s most prominent supporter in Iraq.”

After Hasheminejad’s speech, Ali Abood Ne’emeh, a member of the Iraqi delegation, pointed out recent Islamic movements and said: “We believe the Islamic movements in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq,… wouldn’t have succeeded without Islamic Republic of Iran’s help and support and we have to thank you for this. We also appreciate our leaders who had a very impressive role in the movement of people.

Dr. Rashid Hussein, a university professor in Iraq, referred to the deep, ancient ties between Iran and Iraq and said:” Of course sometimes foreign factors cause problems for the ties between the two countries, but whenever these foreign factors are removed, the ties will be normal again.”

In another part of his speech he addressed the Imperial governments’ wickedness and stated: “The conspiracy of imperial governments is too obvious in the region and it has always existed. What is now happening in the Islamic Wakening countries is a good proof for this. These are due to foreign and imperial intervention.

Dr. Hussein added: “The Iraqi people don’t ever tolerate the MEK, but unfortunately some Iraqi officials and the United States back the group and want them to stay in Iraq for a while.”

He pointed out the American propaganda and said: “We know what the USA is seeking in the world. But unfortunately they are using their propaganda machines and false advertisement to claim they have come to Iraq for Human Rights. They can easily promote themselves since the media is at their disposal.”

At the end Dr.Rashid Hussein appreciated Habilian Association’s activities and included: “We are very happy to see NGOs are so active in Iran and hope we can use Iran’s experience in this field in our country. We are still at the beginning in Iraq. It is such a useful experience. Specifically about Habilian, it is so nice to support families of the people who have sacrificed themselves for your country. This would encourage Iranian people for further sacrifices in the future.”

February 21, 2013 0 comments

USA

US Calls on MKO not to Relocate Back to Camp Ashraf

The US State Department spokesperson called on the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) "not to relocate back" to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters located some 100 kilometers West of the Iranian border.

"The only peaceful and durable solution for these individuals is resettlement outside Iraq, and that should continue to be the focus of everybody involved in this effort," Victoria Nuland said, reported Habilian Association, a human rights NGO representing the families of Iranian terror victims.

Following the mortar attack on the Camp Liberty earlier the week, the group called on the US administration to "facilitate the transfer of" its members in Camp Liberty back to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters.

"The answer for the individuals at Hurriya is not to relocate back to Ashraf," said Nuland.

She also made a reference to those advocating the MKO, and said, "If they want to see them safe, if they want to see them have a better life, the answer is outside of Iraq."

February 21, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US needs MKO to create tension in the region

Former top inspector of the Iraqi ministry of agriculture said the current troubles which oppressing powers like US needs MKO to create tension in the region the Zionist regime are creating for the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a new thing and they have tried this since the beginning of the revolution.

Mohsen Mousavi made the remarks during a meeting of a delegation of Iraqi officials, scholars and university professors with Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad Secretary General of Habilian Association in Mashhad.

Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad started the meeting with a brief on the recent developments in the region and awakening of the Islamic nations.

Referring to the colonial role of western governments during the past decades, he said: “Whenever the front opposing oppressive powers has been comprised of governments that enjoy little or no support from their people, the result has been nothing but a total failure for them. But, where the nations have confronted the colonizers, success has been achieved and the enemy heavily defeated.”

Mr.Hasheminejad pointed out the close and historic relationship between the two Iranian and Iraqi nations and expressed: “The two nations have long been in contact so the enemies have tried to separate them. But we can see although the ties between them had been practically cut for 40 years, the two nations welcomed each other after the fall of Saddam’s Ba’ath regime.”

Habilian SG also pointed out the western governments’ aim, specifically the U.S. government’s, to create separations between the nations in the region including Iran and Iraq and said: “The U.S. needs mercenary terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin e-Khaql organization. When the U.S Army occupied Iraq, it lacked the knowledge on Iraqi tribes and groups, so the MEK which had long stayed in Iraq, was used by the U.S Army for terrorist operations and training other terrorist groups.

Appreciating Habilian Secretary General for his beneficial details on terrorist MEK and U.S. colonial plans in the region, Seyyed Saber al-Hosseini, the head of Iraqi center for strategic studies, highlighted some activities of his center and said: “The center for Strategic Studies of Iraq has executed very good plans to reveal MEK’s crimes inside and outside Iraq. These activities include Satellite TV programs and brochures in Iraqi universities. Mobilizing people and rallying towards MEK camps has been another activity we have done several times during the past recent years.

He reiterated: “The terrorist MEK had a major role in suppression of the honorable Iranian nation and also the Iraqi nation at the Sha’abanieh Intifada as the Saddam’s striking arm. “

The Iraqi scholar referred to the problems on the way to expel the MEK and said: “You are aware the Iraqi administration is not all united and this is the reason of some problems created. Some people are after returning Iraq to the Saddam era.”

In another part of his speech, Saber al-Hosseini said: “We hope Habilian Association has a good connection to the institutes working in Iraq on terrorism. The two nations’ martyrs have had common goals which could be the interface between the nations. About 250 thousand of the Iraqi people were martyred by Saddam regime because they didn’t take part in the war against Iran. This shows Iraqi people were not willing for this war to take place.”

Mohsen Mousavi, former top investigator of Iraqi ministry of agriculture, pointed out the victory of Iranian Islamic revolution led by Imam Khomeini and the struggles in the beginning of the revolution which shed light on the nature of different groups and also the efforts from oppressing powers including the Zionist regime against Islamic Republic and said: “The current troubles these powers are creating for the Islamic Republic of Iran is not a new thing and they have tried this since the beginning of the revolution. What has changed, is the direct presence of U.S. and Israel in the region. The result of this presence is that we can see numerous terrorist groups supported by western powers.

Referring to MEK’s status in Iraq he said: “The MEK is all surrounded and its activities are watched. They can’t do anything in Iraq, but unfortunately there are other political movements and parties in Iraq which are after destabilizing the country with the support of the U.S. and Israel. Financial support of these groups is continuous and not limited. Unfortunately, this is harmful for some popular political groups that are seeking new fields of activity. These terrorist acts hinder their activities.”

Former top investigator of Iraqi ministry of agriculture described the ties between the two nations as inseparable and said: “Naturally, these terrorist groups’ activities are an effort to cut the ties between the Islamic republic of Iran and government of Iraq. The U.S. failure in Iraq has been one of the reasons for harsh economic blockade against the Islamic Republic. “

At the end, Mousavi said: “Number of people killed after Saddam’s fall in Iraq is way more than number of the people killed before and even during the Saddam era. We hope a certain framework is created between us. Not only for the MEK threat, but also for opposing any common threats the both nations are facing in the region.”

At the end of the meeting, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad referred to the various aspects of MEK’s presence in the region and their destructive role and said: “Two issues must be addressed about the MEK. First of all they are still in the region and surrounded. But this is not all the problem. According to our Iraqi friends, there are several people in the Iraqi administration and Parliament who support them. Several Iraqi newspapers have taken money from them, so they also support the MEK. This is their destructive role. Unarmed MEK is far more dangerous than armed MEK.”

Hasheminejad continued: “The MEK is now seeking to destroy nations by highlighting their differences instead of just assassinating people. Anything leading to increment of tensions between the two countries is welcomed by them and this is the very destructive role of the MEK and one of the reasons why the U.S. is trying hard to keep them in Iraq. Another reason for the U.S. to try to keep the terrorist group in Iraq is to stop the MEK members from entering the United States. They are also well aware how dangerous these people can be.”

February 20, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US uses MKO to spread terror and chaos

United States uses MKO to spread terror and chaos inside Iran: Paul Sheldon Foote

Terrorist organizations are in the job of doing terror. In recent years they have been inside Iran conducting United States uses MKO to spread terror and chaos terrorist activities, bombing up places. The fact that they are Iranians, the fact that their native language is Persian means that they can move in and out of Iran a lot easier than anyone else could and so this would be a continuation of (the United States) using them inside Iran to kill people and blow up buildings.”
An analyst says the recent US, MKO meeting signifies that Washington is trying to use the organization for killings and bombings inside Iran as acts of terrorism are what terrorist groups typically do.

The comment comes as a bipartisan group of US congress members has met with the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in France.

The congressional team led by Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, met the MKO terrorists in Paris on Sunday and expressed strong support for the group. United States uses MKO to spread terror and chaos

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community.

On September 28, the terrorist group was taken off the US State Department’s terrorism blacklist a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified memo about the move.

Press TV has conducted an interview with Professor of California State University Paul Sheldon Foote to further discuss the issue. What follows is an approximate transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Sir welcome to the program. Well the MKO is well-known for carrying out a long list of terror acts. How do you see the sequence of events that led to Europe and the United States delisting the MKO from their list of terrorist organizations and also about the timing of this meeting in France? United States uses MKO to spread terror and chaos

Foote: The problem America has had for very many years is that the Iraqi government has said you say we are a free country now well why do we have to keep Iranian communists, free terrorists in our land and there have been frequent action for some of the Mujahidin cult terrorists have been killed by Iraqi troops.

So America keeps trying. It’s a real shame that Dana Rohrabacher who claims to be a Republican from Southern California is continued being reelected. It shows you how stupid Republican voters are when you have Republicans supporting communist terrorists.

Press TV: And what do you think the United States has in mind next for the MKO?

Foote: Terrorist organizations are in the job of doing terror. In recent years they have been inside Iran conducting terrorist activities, bombing up places. The fact that they are Iranians, the fact that their native language is Persian means that they can move in and out of Iran a lot easier than anyone else could and so this would be a continuation of using them inside Iran to kill people and blow up buildings.

Download US uses MKO to spread terror and chaos

February 20, 2013 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq wants rehabilitated Iran ‘terror group’ out

An Iranian exile group attacked in Iraq this month has moved from terrorism lists to international good graces, but Baghdad wants it out over its opposition to Iran’s rulers and ties to Saddam Hussein.

On February 9, mortar rounds and rockets slammed into Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad that now houses some 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), killing five people, according to Iraqi security officials.

The attack triggered condemnation from the United States and United Nations, but in Iraq officials are eager to see the group depart.

The PMOI’s "presence in Iraq is illegal and illegitimate," Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, told AFP. "Their presence is rejected."

Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said the "nature of the relationship between the (Iraqi) Shiite political powers and Iran," Baghdad’s Shiite neighbour to the east with which it has close ties, is a key factor in Iraq’s insistence on the PMOI’s ouster.

Shammari also noted other factors including the PMOI’s links to executed dictator Saddam, under whose rule Iraq’s now-empowered Shiite majority was oppressed.

Saddam allowed the PMOI to establish a base called Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad after he launched the 1980-88 war with Iran, in which the group fought alongside his forces.

According to the US State Department, Saddam armed the group with "heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of (PMOI) fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces" near the end of the war.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the PMOI turned over "2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery," the State Department said.

The group was also allegedly involved in Saddam’s violent suppression of 1991 Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq.

"The former regime used (the PMOI) to carry out repression" in Iraq, said Dr Adnan al-Saraj, who has written books about the group.

Saddam gave the PMOI four bases in Iraq, buildings in central Baghdad and other perks including Iraqi passports and free petrol, Saraj said.

Almost all PMOI members in Iraq have moved to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, the last of their bases, as part of a UN-backed process that aims to see them resettled outside the country.

But after this month’s attack, the PMOI complained about the slow pace of the process, which has dragged on as few countries have come forward with concrete offers of resettlement.

The PMOI has not taken the move from Camp Ashraf, where some members have lived for decades, quietly, alleging Baghdad is acting at Tehran’s behest.

It has also criticised the UN’s assertion that the camp meets minimum humanitarian standards and complained about a variety of alleged shortcomings including restrictions on using forklift trucks, which it said amounted to "torture".

While not accepted in Iraq, the PMOI has made strides internationally.

The group, which was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran but took up arms against the country’s new clerical rulers after the 1979 Islamic revolution, successfully campaigned for its removal from US and EU terrorism lists.

The PMOI said it renounced violence in 2001 after carrying out attacks in Iran and elsewhere for decades. It now issues deluges of statements to the media and has enlisted well-known western politicians and officials as advocates.

The language of the official US condemnation of the attack on Camp Liberty also indicates the progress made by the PMOI, which was listed as a "terrorist organisation" by Washington until last year and by the EU until 2009.

The US State Department condemned it as a "terrorist attack," and also referred to the attack as a "tragedy".

Although the PMOI has gained international acceptance, Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert and senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the same is not true within Iran.

"They’re widely viewed as a backward and intolerant cult by their opposition peers in Iran," Sadjadpour said.

By W.G. Dunlop – Dailystar.com

February 19, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US further befriending MKO terrorists

The congressional team led by Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, met the MKO terrorists in Paris on Sunday and expressed strong support for the group. US further befriending MKO terrorists

The US congress members called for the immediate transfer of the MKO terrorists to Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala Province. The American legislators even threatened to declare Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maleki a sponsor of terrorism after an attack on the terrorist members inside another camp in Iraq.

The mortar attack, which happened earlier this month on Camp Liberty near Baghdad, left at least seven members of the terrorist group dead and more than 50 others wounded.

Members of the MKO terrorist group are being transferred from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, which is situated about 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the border with Iran, to Camp Liberty near Baghdad Airport.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community.

On September 28, the terrorist group was taken off the US State Department’s terrorism blacklist a week after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified memo about the move.

The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it received the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.

The MKO has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

February 18, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Vain Attempt to Question the UN Legitimacy

MKO fails to understand that it is making a futile attempt to question the legitimacy of the UN

The undeniable fact about the UN is that it is a recognized unique international character along with its affiliated Vain Attempt to Question the UN Legitimacy councils, bodies and committees. It has a global responsibility to fulfill and works on a broad range of fundamental issues and if it ever engages itself in solving regional differences, disputes and conflicts, that is because to achieve greater general causes and to coordinate efforts for a safer world. In the same way, when the UN Secretary-General officially appointed Mr. Martin Kobler as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of UNAMI on 11 August 2011, he tasked Mr. Kobler with sensitive duties to take up. As Mr. Kobler said upon his arrival in Baghdad, “I am privileged to be here to contribute to serving and assisting Iraq and its people at a time when the country is going through an important phase in its transition towards a peaceful and prosperous state”.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Kobler is not in Iraq to deal with the never-ending problems, better to say non-stop excuse makings, of an outcast terrorist group that has no respects for internal or international agreements. As a coordinator to help solve one among many problems in Iraq, Mr. Kobler did his best to mediate a settlement between the Iraqi government and Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, MCR, NLA). The issue of Camp Ashraf, MKO’s bastion located in eastern Iraq, has been one of the main issues dealt with by UNAMI for more than two years. In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2011 by the UN and the Iraqi Government to resolve the situation, the Ashraf residents were re-located to a transit location near Baghdad known as Camp Liberty to carry out a process to determine refugee status again by another office of the UN, UNHCR.

But Mr. Kobler, unfamiliar with MKO’s unconventional thanksgiving, never anticipated that his humanitarian efforts would leave him the most hated and despised man in the eyes of MKO along with Iranian and Iraqi officials. Strong condemnation of Mr. Kobler’s efforts and announcing his boycott as well as seeing him biased and siding with Iran and Iraq regimes is not an unprecedented campaign since MKO’s safe settlement in Camp Liberty. Even after the recent mortar attacks against Camp Liberty, Mr. Kobler did not hesitate to request the Iraqi authorities to ensure medical care for the wounded and confirmed that all those injured have been hospitalized. However, the most unethical, shameful attack against him that raised outcry from sensible politicians was made after the bloody incident when Rudy Guiliani, the former New York mayor, lambasted Mr. Kobler saying:

“You allowed it to become a concentration camp and you permitted it to become a killing field. You shouldn’t resign. Ban Ki-moon should fire you today.”

While the UN monitors are still on the ground and Mr. Kobler has asked the Iraqi authorities to promptly conduct an investigation into the mortar explosions, why is MKO pressing the UN’s head to dismiss his Special Representative for Iraq? That is mainly because Mr. Kobler has a general and humanitarian cause to fulfill rather than bowing down to irrational, impractical demands of a terrorist cult; that is because he cannot be bought and exploited as many other paid advocates of the group like Rudy Guiliani himself; that is because his efforts to redeem the enslaved insiders goes against the group’s barbaric plots to victimize them; that is because he played a decisive role in closing the cult’s bastion and returning the occupied lands to their real owners and … .

Mr. Kobler is not easily corruptible and cannot be manipulated as a stooge of MKO’s propaganda campaign; he is experienced enough not to be trapped in group’s provoked propaganda brawls and keeps away from rebutting unproven allegations leveled against him. In contrast to MKO’s press to be recognized an entity with exclusive privileges and rights, Mr. kobler insists to devote efforts to recognize the rights of the insiders as human beings with the rights of deciding for a free life in a third country. MKO fails to understand that it is making a futile attempt to question the legitimacy of the UN and its representatives. An effective cooperation is a more sensible approach, a right path which MKO is unfamiliar with.

February 18, 2013 0 comments

Camp Liberty

Investigate the MEK and its critics

Investigate the MEK and its critics – abuses at Camp Liberty cannot continue

A missile attack on Camp Liberty on 9th February resulted in the tragic deaths of seven residents. Seven more Temporary transit Location - Camp Liberty families have been plunged into grief and dismay over losing their loved ones. Their grief compounded by the fact that, whatever their wishes, they will have had no contact with this loved one for several years. And compounded by the fact there appears to be no acceptable explanation why they had to die at all but especially in such a tragically avoidable way.

The problem with the MEK in Iraq is not so much where they are, but that they are still there at all. Even the MEK’s own supporters understand this logic. Speaking to an MEK rally in the US, long time MEK advocate Rudi Giuliani said, "These people can all be removed within hours… Planes can be sent immediately. They can be here within a day. We have done far more difficult things than that. It’s only about 3,000 people".

Moves to relocate the MEK and send them to third countries started two years ago. Officials from the United Nations and the government of Iraq collaborated to undertake the calm and unhurried negotiation needed to achieve their peaceful relocation first out of Camp Ashraf to a temporary transit camp – Camp Liberty – and then on to third countries where they can rebuild their lives in safety and security. Their every effort has been met by obstruction and obfuscation by the MEK leadership. Two years on and the residents are still no closer to gaining their actual freedom. Even worse, many have died and will continue to die as long as they are unable to walk freely out of the camp and get the help that is available to them. (The Iraqi authorities have kept alternative accommodation available for two years for the individual residents.)

Describing the attack as “vicious and senseless”, US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said, “We call on [the Government of Iraq] to earnestly and fully carry out that investigation and to take all appropriate measures to enhance the security of the camp consistent with its commitment and obligation to the safety and security of the camp’s residents. The terrorists responsible for this attack must be brought to justice.”

It is essential that a thorough investigation be made into this latest attack and the perpetrators brought to justice. More than anything this is necessary for the families of the victims. They need the facts and they need justice. But above all else they need answers. Any family suffering the sudden and violent loss of a loved one will ask ‘Why?’ Why did they die in this way?

The only person preventing the residents in Camp Liberty from leaving and taking refuge in a safe place is the leader of the MEK, Massoud Rajavi. He is therefore the only person who can answer this question. Only he can explain to all the suffering families why their loved ones are still in the path of danger. Why, after ten years, they are still unable to walk freely from the camp and continue their lives in freedom and safety. Why is he still holding them hostage and what did these seven individuals die for?

While we wait for a reasoned, satisfactory answer – which will never be forthcoming – the focus must return to the living. While the Government of Iraq pursues its thorough, painstaking investigation into the deaths of these seven victims, international human rights investigators must likewise undertake a rigorous investigation into the never ending allegations of unbearable daily systematic abuses against all the residents of the camp, including the leadership cadre.

While the MEK persists in denying access to the relevant external agencies to freely enter Camp Liberty and talk to the residents without hindrance, this investigation can start with the recently escaped members. Many of them are now resident in Europe as well as in Iraq and Iran and are willing to give testimony to their experience of human rights abuse inside the MEK camps.

Human Rights Watch conducted a scrupulous and methodological investigation into allegations of human rights abuse resulting in the report ‘No Exit’ in 2005. Testimony from former members in Europe formed the basis of the report. HRW rigorously checked them, their background and their information. A similarly professional approach toward the more recent escapees will yield further evidence of abuse. One of the more controversial but easily verifiable allegations is that the MEK leader instigated a programme of spurious hysterectomy operations to ‘neutralise the gender’ of women members. Already the names of a hundred women victims have been compiled (out of around 800). Medical records and examination will verify the conditions surrounding these operations. Around thirty women who now live in Europe have declared themselves willing to participate in such an investigation. They want justice, for themselves and for the other women still trapped in Camp Liberty.

These women, the families and the former members challenge international human rights organisations to be fearless and determined. Every aspect of this sad debacle must be examined from every angle; the MEK itself and its critics. Such an investigation is long overdue and can only help to end the existing stalemate at Camp Liberty.

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Middle East Strategy Consultants

February 18, 2013 0 comments

Camp Liberty

Inhabitants of Liberty do not enjoy the minimum of security

Urgent call
Inhabitants of Camp Liberty do not enjoy the minimum of security under Rajavi

It is 10 years now since the Baghdad dictator, the only state sponsor of MKO terrorist cult up to now, has been toppled, but the members are still both mentally and physically captive in the hands of Rajavi. As far as the suffering families whose loved ones remain confined by the MKO are concerned, the fall of Saddam Hussein did not improve their situation and did not lead to their safety. On the contrary it ended in greater threat and suffering. The families are shocked by the passivism of international organizations, in particular the UN in the face of this situation.

The process of the past 10 years, particularly the past 3 years during which the families have remained in Iraq with the hope of learning about their loved ones’ wellbeing, shows that the only party who doesn’t want to lift the burden of the MKO from the shoulders of the oppressed Iraqi nation is Massoud Rajavi. It is obvious that the burden of the MKO – the legacy of Saddam Hussein and a threat to national security – under pressure from the occupying forces, is still a problem for the Iraqis.

Previously we revealed reports from inside Camp Liberty that the top officials of the MKO were instructed to demonstrate that living conditions in Liberty are very difficult in order to feed the organization’s propaganda machine which in turn tries to put pressure on the UN and the government of Iraq, and follows the line of “getting back to Ashraf”.

News which has emerged following the hand-made missile attack on the camp which resulted several casualties, reveals that the officials of the MKO tried to impose every kind of obstacle to prevent the wounded being taken to hospitals in Baghdad in order to add to the loses. This attack, considering the atmosphere of revenge within some Iraqi forces that know the MKO as collaborators with Saddam Hussein in suppressing the Iraqi people, could easily have been predicted and the same threat still remains.

It is routine in the Rajavi cult to create martyrs and Rajavi calls it “opening a nut with blood”. In his previous speeches about the incident of April 8, 2011 which led to the deaths of 36 individuals, Rajavi had said that ‘with this amount of martyrs we managed to inspire the world and managed to delay evacuating Ashraf garrison’.

It is worth mentioning that in that incident some individuals died because the MKO prevented them from being taken to hospital immediately. Rajavi’s policy is to make the number of martyrs as high as possible for propaganda purposes. Now that Rajavi is following the path of “returning to Ashraf”, he strives to increase the number of dead in Liberty.

We know that the Iraqis did all in their capacity to help the wounded and gave every sort of aid to transfer them to hospitals in Baghdad and even managed to take some and have them treated. But the MKO officials of the camp deliberately tried to prevent this in order to increase the number of dead for propaganda use.

Rajavi tries to control both internal and external opposition and protest by claiming that he is struggling against the Islamic Republic of Iran and is giving so much blood for this struggle. He always pushes such claims at his critics instead of answering their sincere queries. He tries to legitimize his actions by claiming to have more martyrs than others.

Why does Rajavi insist on going back to Ashraf?

Considering the ongoing security status of Iraq, which is one of the worst in the world, it is obvious that the deceived followers of Rajavi residing in Camp Liberty do not enjoy any security. But the question is: if these people do not feel safe just outside Baghdad in an American base, how would they be safer nearer to the Iranian border and far away from Baghdad? If Rajavi is honest and his real concern is his followers’ security he should have asked for them to be transferred out of Iraq to a third country or at least to the west of Iraq further from the Iranian border.

The truth is that Liberty is much smaller than Ashraf and Rajavi’s cultic apartheid cannot be enforced in it so easily; gossip spreads quicker amongst the people and therefore cultic control is much harder. What has no place in Rajavi’s scheming is the life of the members of his cult and he even prefers to have more casualties for using in his propaganda campaign.

It must be mentioned that returning to Ashraf would be the clearest indication that the organization is to be restored for terrorist activities. This would make the present situation even more complicated and in consequence both the national security of Iraq and the security of the residents of the camp would be at greater risk.

Sahar Family Foundation which represents the families of the trapped members of the MKO in Iraq wishes to draw the attention of all international and humanitarian organizations worldwide, in particular the UN and UNAMI and the SGSR Mr Martin Kobler to the fact that while the residents of Camp Liberty are under the cultic rule of Rajavi they will not enjoy the least bit of security.

We urge all western countries and humanitarian organizations, despite all the obstacles created by Massoud Rajavi, to do all in their capacity to transfer the MKO members in Iraq to a third country and let their families be gratified.

February 17, 2013 0 comments

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