Page 600 – Nejat Society

Nejat Society Khuzestan Branch visit families of Ashraf captives

A delegation of Nejat Society, Khuzestan office including Mr. Hamid Dehdar Hassani, Mr. Ali Ekrami , Mr. Ali Sorkhian and Ms. Khabazan were welcomed by families of MKO captives on Wednesday, February 2nd, 2011. Nasiri Teymours, Ebrahimi Nezhads,Rahimis,Rashidis and Kaleh Jooiees were families of five captured members in the Cult of Rajavi.

During the visits, the families were very hopeful to have their loved ones back among them.

Members of Nejat Society reported the recent activities and situation of families picketing at Ashraf gates.

Families appreciated efforts of Nejat NGO to release their loved children. Besides, they told their memoirs of visits with their beloveds at Camp Ashraf where they were not allowed to visit their children freely without the control of MKO officials.

Families also declared their readiness to offer help to Nejat Society with their activities for salvation of Rajavi’s victims.

April 3, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

The Mojahedin Khalq logo and the Americans list

The description of its logo published by the Organisation remains valid and is used in internal teachings up to this day. No other statement, declaration or other announcement has ever contradicted the attached statement. The logo is being used by the organisation as the official symbol to this day.

In the Mojahedin’s own explanation of its logo we read:

… The name of the organization, the Mojahedin, is cited in the motto-verse, a name which has ideological and historical significance, refelecting on the entire history of those have striven and struggled (manintained the Jehadd) throughout the history of Islam. the paramount position of the motto-verse emphesizes the faith aspect and the struggle ideology of the Mojahedin’s school of thought and action, as the hige-pin of the organization’s revolutionary approach, stressing the fact that the true Islam is the criterion for the manner of meetingconfrontations and taking positions…
…For a revolutionary organization, the name has a particular importance, for the name fudamentally represents what the organization stands for; it encapsulates its point of veiw, its path and its ideological totality, the sum of its ideals, its values, its long-term policy and its political methodology…
… Indeed, [Imam] Hussein is the guidance lamp … This brief statement makes it clear that this portion of the emblem comes precisely out of the culture and ideology of Islam. An important point to remember is that an effective symbol is one which can communicate in the international language of revolutionary and progressive organizations. In this respect, our star is a hallmark which is instantly recognizable to elements in the forefront of progressive action, a symbol which is employed by other forces, as well. And therefore, having currency all over the world…
… The rifle: The rifle is in the truest sense, the mark of unswerving belief in and full commitment to the JEHAAD, the Islamic striving and struggle, and the revolutionary approach of armed combat, the objective manifestation of which, in historical terms, is what we term the "ASHURA OF HOSEIN" which deep in the hearts of the Shi’a Moslems is considered the "Day" par excellence (the moment of truth), the "Day of Blood and faith".
In the Koran, this meaning is elaborated in such verses as:
"Those who have accepted the faith and have slain and been slain, their misdoings will be absolved absolutely."
And again:
"O believers, "Arm yourselves."
The rifle represents for us the highest form of combat, which takes place in the world of sacred striving, to remove oppression and exploitation from society, that JEHAAD which IMAM ALI described as the gateway of gateways to heaven, so that one who wields the sword (or today the rifle) on battlefield hallows that ground and follows the straightest path.
In this sprit, we saw the validity of this approach in our own society when they underwent the horrible slaughter infected by the previous regime (the regime of Shah of Iran), which the people met with an active response, without waiting to talk or even to think about it. In the final analysis, the rifle is the most appropriate symbol of this approach, the sole way to resolve the contradiction between the people and Imperialism. And this is the very thing which makes the reactionaries uneasy and stirs them to mount their opposition…

And the State Dept. report said year after year that:

"… The MEK advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime and was responsible for the assassination of several U.S. military personnel and civilians in the 1970’s. MEK leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United State, Canada, and beyond…"
"… In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics. Upon entry into the group, new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and revisionist Iranian history. Members are also required to undertake a vow of "eternal divorce" and participate in weekly "ideological cleansings." Additionally, children are reportedly separated from parents at a young age. MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has established a "cult of personality." She claims to emulate the Prophet Muhammad and is viewed by members as the "Iranian President in exile…"."
"…In 2003, French authorities arrested 160 MEK members at operational bases they believed the MEK was using to coordinate financing and planning for terrorist attacks. Upon the arrest of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, MEK members took to Paris’ streets and engaged in self-immolation. French authorities eventually released Rajavi. Although currently in hiding, Rajavi has made appearances via video-satellite to "motivate" MEK-sponsored conferences across the globe.
According to evidence which became available after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the MEK received millions of dollars in Oil-for-Food program subsidies from Saddam Hussein from 1999 through 2003, which supported planning and executing future terrorist attacks…"

In addition, the report of course continues describing "Mojahedin Khalq Organization" by pointing out:

– The assassination of US military and civilian personnel in Iran during 1970s,
– Stressing the ability and the will of MKO members and leadership to conduct terrorist operations across the world,
– Introducing the MKO as one of the most violent political groups, established during 60s,
– Emphasizing the fact that MKO was disliked by Iranians, following the Islamic Revolution,
– Underlining the fact that for more than 3 decades, MKO used its bases in Iraq and Europe to conduct terror attacks against Iran,
– Expansion of financial base, military skills and leaders’ activities in Europe.
– Showing cult-like characteristics, in addition to terrorist ones,
– Ideological pressure on members and offering them distorted history of Iran,
– Stressing the existence of compulsory divorces, cleansing sessions and separation of kids from their parents,
– Establishing cult-of-personality around Rajavi.

The report continues talking about the "Activities" of Mojahedin Khalq:

– Confessing that despite US efforts, MKO members and leaders have never been taken to court for their role in illegal activities,
– MKO has been supported by reprehensible regimes, like that of Saddam Hussein.
– Stressing that MKO conducted terrorist operations from its bases in France for 5 years,
– Citing reports that showed Maryam Rajavi encouraged members to "crush Kurds under the tanks",
– That 7 Iranians had been arrested by FBI for transferring 400000 dollars to the MKO for buying weapons,
– Voluntarily surrender to coalition, after the ouster of Saddam, and submitting heavy weaponries,
– Arrest of 160 MKO members, including Maryam Rajavi, in France for using its bases in France for planning and financing terrorist operations,
– Self-immolations by MKO members, following the detention of Maryam Rajavi,
– Maryam Rajavi’s going to hiding, and using video-satellite to motivate members,
– Discovering documents that prove MKO received the money of oil-for-food program and used the money for terrorist attacks,
– Citing documents that prove MKO-Saddam ties: lists, a film showing Saddam when he gives a suitcase of money to MKO’s known leaders, and a footage of MKO members being trained by Iraqi army.

Below you can consider the stand of US towards terrorist Organizations including MKO (Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization) and its front Organizations during the past fifteen years:

April 3, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The MKO Advertises—Does Anyone Care About What They Don’t Tell You?

On February 16, 2011, the *New York Times* agreed to run a full page advertisement for the terrorist group and cult who are self-labeled the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK/MKO). [1] In an atmosphere of free speech, the MEK, even though they are a terrorist organization, has every right to run an ad to promote their cause. Surprisingly, so far no one has stood up to oppose it, as it was done in a similar situation in Seattle, when an ad was submitted by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (a group who is not affiliated with terrorism or terrorist organizations) to run on a METRO bus which stated “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars at Work.” That ad was never run, because over two thousand emails were received by the METRO asking for the ad to be halted, and furthermore, a powerful Jewish lobbyist proposed to run his own ad campaign to counter the message. There was public uproar in Seattle regarding the ad—both for and against.

The decision by METRO to not run the ad, because of its controversial nature prompted a lot of dialogue and the real Palestinian-Israel issue itself was reinforced in people’s minds as indeed “a problem.” This dialogue was good, and hopefully mind-opening. [2]

With the MEK however, and the ad they ran in the *New York Times*, there was little or no resistance to its presence simply because not many people know about the MEK and not many people care. There was no dialogue to speak of, and yet there seems to be a growing concern over Iran. Why isn’t any one questioning this group?

Here’s what you should know about the MEK. The group is a cult and it is true that members’ rights are being violated–by their own leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, not the US government, not the Iranian government and not the Iraqi government. Oddly a few years back, according to an article in the *New York Times*, Elizabeth Rubin reports that MEK leaders do not allow members to marry, and that they must attend weekly “ideological cleansings” and children are separated from parents. Rubin states that “every morning and night, the kids, beginning as young as 1 and 2, had to stand before a poster of Massoud and Maryam, salute them and shout praises to them." [3]

The main leader of the cult, Maryam Rajavi, wants you ignore these infringements of human rights as you read her group’s current full page ad in the *New York Times*. She wants you to believe that the MEK is on the terrorist list because of a diplomatic decision which was made by the Clinton administration in order to appease the Mullahs in Iran. Maryam is banking on the idea that Americans are afraid of Iran and would like to see it diminish. Removing them from the list is one step forward for neoconservatives who would like to see the oil rich region under American control, and who would like to see Iran’s Islamic influence in the Middle East weaken. Some Americans will question NY Times’ motive, and maybe some will actually support the idea, after all, there are political A-listers in favor of Rajavi’s cult. In fact, the ad has listed the following individuals, with accompanying titles, as supporting the MEK’s cause:

Alejo Vidal-Quadras (vice president of European parliament), General James Jones (Former National security advisor to president Obama, Supreme Allied Commander Europe), Bill Richardson (Energy Secretary During Clinton Administration, US Ambassador to the United Nations 1997-1998), Irene Khan (Former Secretary General of Amnesty International), Michael Mukasey (Attorney General of the United States 2007-2009), Abassador Dell Dailey (Former Coordinator for Counterterrorism, US Department of State), Ambassador John Bolton (US Ambassador to UN 2005-2006), Juan Garces (Legal advisor to the late President Salvator Allende), Prof. Ruth Wedgwood (Chair of International Law and Diplomacy in [sic] John Hopkins University), Struan Stevenson (President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq), Dirk Claes (senior Belgian Senator), Paulo Casaca (member of European parliament until 2009), Jan Zahradil (Vice Chair of the European Parliament Conservative and Reformist Group.)Each of these supporters has given a statement in a small blurb in the ad which of course favors the MEK. Some statements are vague, alluding to universal ideals such as “concern for the people in Camp Ashraf” and “appeasement leads us nowhere when fighting the forces of evil.” Other statements are more noteworthy declaring that the “unequivocal policy of the USA should be to overthrow the regime in Tehran” or “we must support Maryam Rajavi.” Finally others statements specifically call for immediate action such as “we must start backing the main opposition” and “we urge the US government to remove the PMOI (MEK) from the blacklist.” All the statements are designed to persuade readers that the PMOI is actually legitimate, and furthermore the rhetoric suggests that they are in fact the “main” opposition group.

What the ad doesn’t tell you is that they are, in fact, a group to whom Israel fed false information to regarding nuclear proliferation in Iran. [4] Nor does the ad tell you the group has killed thousands of people in Iran, including Americans. The ad does not tell you much about the backers of Maryam. For example, Jan Zahradil believes global warming is a conspiracy. Paolo Casaca is a member of *European Friends of Israel* (EFI) is an Israel lobby group formed in September 2006.

Michael Mukasey has Israeli citizenship. General James Jones served on Chevron Oil Company’s board of directors. What do these supporters have in common besides agreeing to allow their names have an association with the MEK? None of them have ever been to Iran. None of them have ever looked into what the Iranians think of the MEK. None of them see the far reaching implications of a MEK-controlled Iran. All of them are full blown supporters of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. And sadly none of them have theprudence to even consider what the Iranian people want.

The ad promotes the idea that the MEK is not a terrorist organization and this is alarming. In actuality, the recently accelerated campaign by US former politicians to remove Mujahedin Khalq Cult from the US list of foreign terrorist Organizations of Department of State stinks of Cold War logic. Bringing down the Islamic Republic and forging a new political order in Iran by embracing the MKO as the foundation just won’t work.

Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett who write for the *Monthly Review*comment on an event held in Washington DC in January 2011, which was “clearly designed to build public support for delisting the MEK as part of a U.S.-led campaign for regime change in Tehran.” [5] The Leverett’s posit how they are “struck by how much the ongoing campaign to rehabilitate the MEK in Washington, as part of a broader, regime-change-in-Iran strategy, rhymes with a similar campaign in the 1990’s and early 2000s to promote Ahmad Chalabi’s expatriate Iraqi National Congress (INC) to overthrow the Iraqi government." They further that “the United States will truly deserve what it gets if it falls for this again with regard to the MEK and Iran." [6]

On January 28, Eric Lach of TPM (Talking Points Memo) posts a detailed report and descriptive background on the pro-MEK gathering that the Leverett’s exposed. Lach details the true nature of the group. In his report he makes some interesting observations, and questions why, despite what the State Department says, none of the speakers of the panel bother to mention that the group is a cult and that Maryam Rajavi has established a cult of personality. According to Lach, the whole case of the MEK and why such heavyweights are supporting them remains unclear to him. [7]

As late as March 7th, Lach is still asking questions and not getting much of an answer. [8]But Professor William Beeman of the University of Minnesota seems to have found the answer. He believes that these prominent American figures "apparently have no ability to look at this situation from the viewpoint of the Iranian people."[9] It seems that professor Beeman is perfectly familiar with Iranian people’s hatred towards MKO terrorists and their wisdom regarding the plot. Beeman thinks that the most important fact that Bolton, Rose Lehtinin and others fail to comprehend is the absolute incapability of the MEK reaching power in Iran. He asserts that the "MEK could never, never in a million years form an alternative government in Iran." He reminds us that majority of Iranians view the MEK as traitors. Beeman concludes that "Washington politicians waste their energy on cockamamie schemes such as getting this group off the terrorist list so that we can throw millions of taxpayer dollars down their rat hole in the utterly vain hope that they will bring about regime change in Iran rather than seriously trying to engage Iran ourselves." [10]

It is now the time to caution Washington warmongers and anti-Iran neo-cons that supporting the MEK is a lost cause. The morally bankrupt MEK, with their million dollar propaganda crusade will never fulfill their dream of taking over Iran. Political backers of the MEK stink of imperialistic puppeteers and their actions merely reinforce the notion that the US will repeat itself as it tries for a foothold into Iran—the US backed the Shah, whom the majority of the people in Iran at the time saw as a dictator. Then the US dumped him.

The MEK ad in the* New York Times* is not the first one, and until there is some real dialogue, it certainly won’t be the last. As we wait for a conversation to flourish, New Yorkers and Americans alike need to be aware of the MEK and their sticky, agenda-seeking foreign supporters.

By Mazda Parsi

REFERENCES
[1] Advertisement posted by The National Association of Iranian Academics in
Britain, titled “Remove Iran’s Democratic Opposition, MEK/PMOI from US
Terror List and Protect Camp Ashraf.” *New York Times* Wednesday February: 2011, 16
A9. Print.
[2]Ervin, K. "Metro’s acceptance of ‘Israeli war crimes’ bus ad draws
complaints." *Seattle Times* December 20, 2010.
[3]Rubin, Elizabeth. "The Cult of Rajavi." *New York Times Magazine*. July: 200313
[4]Porter, Gareth. "Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group." *ISP*February 29 2008,
[5]Leverett, Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett "After "Iran Engagement": *
MRZine* January 24 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[6]Ibid.
[7]Lach, Eric. "Big Time Dems Join GOPers In Support Of Iranian Terror
Group." *TPM.com Talking Points Memo* 28 January 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[8]Lach, Eric. "Big-Name GOP Lawyers Lobbying To Remove MEK From Terror
List." *Talking Points Memo* 07 March 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[9]Beeman, William. "Beeman–Mojaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) Can Never Rule Iran."
*Culture and International Affairs*. William Beeman, 25 January 2011. Web. 29
Mar 2011.
[10] Ibid.

April 3, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Nejat Society Khuzestan Branch welcomed by families

During the visits, the families were very hopeful to have their loved ones back among them.
Members of Nejat Society reported the recent activities and situation of families picketing at Ashraf gates.

Families also declared their readiness to offer help to Nejat Society with their activities for salvation of Rajavi’s victims.
Nejat Society Khuzestan Branch visit families of Ashraf captives

March 31, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

The dissolution of Ashraf garrison, an end for the MKO terrorist cult

Describing an identity in a cultic framework which is defined for the members of terrorist cults is to a great extent the cause of terrorist behaviors. Considering the fact that terrorism is a multi- dimensional phenomenon, it should be acknowledged that the role of cultic identity is quite clear in terrorist operations. This reality gains more importance with regards to the terrorist organization of Mojahedin-e Khalq which deceptively recruits members and keeps them imprisoned in Ashraf camp by sever violent methods. Accordingly the efforts of MKO leaders for preserving this camp have tend to focus on those who assume human rights and fighting against terrorism merely as a tool for achieving their goals.

The aggravation of MKO efforts in removing its name from FTO lists of the world takes place while the Iraqi people and government are seriously objecting this terrorist cult’s presence in Ashraf garrison inside Iraqi soil. Therefore the MKO agents are trying their best to decrease the international pressures for defecting Ashraf camp and hold their power over the lands they have seized from Iraqi people.

The MKO terrorist cult has adopted many various ways ( like extensive lobbies with American authorities especially those who are famous for their anti-Iran approaches or taking human rights gestures or propaganda stances in sensitive issues like the nuclear issue of Iran) in order to keep its sovereignty over its member as the only guarantee for its survival.

In doing so, this terrorist cult has managed to find the required ground in a country in which it is enlisted in FTO list of its Department of State. The anti-terrorism policies of the USA are so baseless that recently a Washington appeal court has ordered the department of State to review the terrorist designation of MKO. In the same line of policy, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State in an interview declared that they are analyzing the issue based on some considerations. It is worth mentioning that MKO enjoys the support of high-ranking US officials and six committees (identified by Barbara Slavin, American reporter) responsible for this issue. They are trying to remove MKO from the list of foreign terrorist organization of the USA.

Considering the fact that most of the MKO members have been brainwashed by the leaders of this cult and many more are imprisoned in Ashraf garrison despite their own will, this Camp plays a vital role in the survival of the terrorist cult. Now regarding the explicit request of the Iraqi people and government for the expelling of this sect, the only remaining reason for the continued presence of MKO in Iraq must be the illegal support of the USA from 2003. After the announcement of US secretary of Defense Robert Gates, based on the complete departure of American soldiers from Iraqi soil by summer 2011, the leaders of MKO feel frightened and wandered. They are now taking any possible measure for preventing the dissolution of the cult. Only by getting familiar with these situations, we can understand the destructive activities of the MKO against the legal government of Nouri Al- Maleki and other Iraqi officials who insist on the dissolution of Ashraf Camp.

March 31, 2011 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraqi CMTE urges seizing Camp Ashraf

The Iraqi committee in charge of looking into the crimes committed by the MKO terrorist group in the country says the Camp Ashraf needs to be retaken from the group.

The committee also announced in a statement that the numerous crimes committed by the terrorist group should be investigated through legal channels, reported Habilian — an association that groups the families of those martyred in terror operations across Iran — on its website.

Addressing the elders of nomadic tribes, the representatives of NGOs and anti-MKO campaigners, the committee reiterated that it will voluntarily and without being forced by the government follow the crimes committed at the hands of MKO terrorists.

The committee emphasized that it will stand up for the rights of not only the martyrs but also all the individuals wounded or maimed as a result of MKO’s terrorist acts, adding that it will file a lawsuit to retake the personal properties of citizens seized by the MKO since its presence in Iraq.

“[The committee will also call for] the return of all properties, weapons and ammunition supplied to this (MKO) organization since the former [Iraqi] regime,” the committee further noted.
It also called on all Iraqi citizens who have suffered as a result of the MKO’s terrorist operations to come forward and submit their complaints, permitting the committee to legally follow their complaints.

March 31, 2011 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Official: international organizations hinder efforts to close the file”Mujahideen Khalq”

Amid continued international calls for Iraq to protect Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf, government advisor Saad Muttalibi confirmed the Iraqi government’s commitment to Iraq’s logistical principles of human rights and the quest to end this since many years ago, pointing out that international organizations do not cooperate in this aspect for political reasons.

Muttalibi told Radio Free Iraq that the presence of PMOI members in Camp Ashraf is not acceptable because of their cooperation with the former regime in suppressing the popular uprising and for fuelling sectarian violence.

Muttalibi explained that the Iraqi government calls for 1300 Iranian refugees living in Camp Ashraf and European nationalities to leave Iraq, and refers to the possibility of the return of 2000 refugees to Iran after the last time that the Iranian government issued a pardon for them.

Human rights organisations recently called on the United States and the United Nations and the Iraqi government to ensure the protection of Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf after receiving reports of having been abused by Iraqi security forces, which took over responsibility for the camp from U.S. forces last year [January 1, 2009].

This topic was also discussed by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. Congress, as students asked members of Congress to protect American residents of Ashraf and the U.S. Department of State to review its decision on the inclusion of the PMOI in the terrorist list.

Saad Muttalibi denied [Iraqi involvement in] violations of human rights in this camp, which he called Camp New Iraq, calling for European countries to call for the protection of Iranian refugees and to receive these refugees, but a member of the Commission on Human Rights in the Iraqi Council of Representatives confirmed that members of the Committee will discuss the situation of refugees in Camp Ashraf soon, noting that they have an agenda for next week to visit secret prisons and detention centres and will also visit Camp Ashraf to find out the truth of what is being built there.

The Iraqi government decided last year to transfer residents of Camp Ashraf to another province but the government adviser Saad Muttalibi stressed that all local governments refused to receive Iranian refugees in the provinces.

Muttalibi said the government will continue its contacts with international organizations concerned with the subject of processing Iranian refugees, but he stressed that such organizations do not cooperate with the Iraqi government because the opinion of these organizations is linked to higher political-parties which are trying to keep these refugees in Iraq.
Al Naeb, MP for a coalition of State of Law considers that the issue of MKO in Iraq is political, not humanitarian.

Hamid al-Mutlaq member Iraqi Council of Representatives for the Iraqi List, expressed the hope that the Iraqi government deal with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran in accordance with the principles of human rights.

Professor of Political Science Jubouri does not rule out that Iran is pressing Iraq to keep the elements of the PMOI from Iraq, but he believes that the Iraqi government also to consider their interests and trying to deal with this file with the countries of the world.

Samira Mandy, Radio Free Iraq (Radio Free Europe in Arabic)
Translated by Iran Interlink

March 29, 2011 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Pictorial- Mr. Ali Abdi succeeded to escape Rajavi’s Cult

Mr. Ali Abdi succeeded to escape Rajavi’s Cult in January 2011. He joined the families who are on strike at Ashraf gates. Mr. Abdi was taken as a war prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1985 when he was a service-man of Iranian army. In 1988 he was recruited by MKO agent, Mehdi Abrishamchi . Since he was sick and tired of hard life in Iraqi prisons, he was deceived by MKO’s propaganda and entered Camp Ashraf.
Mr.Abdi:"Previously we had no patrolling post in our units, but nowadays ,there are 6 of the most loyal members who always patrol the units and a duty officer supervises them . The members have lost their entire confidence to the group and their minds face a lot of contradictions. They should report their contradictory thoughts every day so the leaders doubt every one and fear their escape. ".."families presence at Ashraf gates has enormously impressed members but the group heads have completely blocked any runaway way."
Mr. Ali Abdi succeeded to escape Rajavi's Cult

March 28, 2011 0 comments

The MEK; Baath Party Accomplice

Economist: Saddam used MEK to crush Iraqi Kurds

Economist received a letter from the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran [In which Mujahedin propaganda campaign makes efforts to deny MKO’s role in suppression of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites resorting to baseless arguments] in relation to the blog post:”Dictators and violence, Grim decision-making”

The Economist replies to the MEK’s fallacious letter:

Allegations concerning the uprising of 1991 are currently being aired before Iraq’s High Tribunal, which has already heard the testimony of numerous victims who say they were targeted by the Mojahedin e-Khalq (MEK), the Persian abbreviation for the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Several arrest warrants have been issued on the basis of these testimonies.

Nibras Kadhimi, a scholar at the Hudson Institute who is a respected analyst of Iraqi affairs, has testified that the MEK was Saddam Hussein’s main force in recapturing the towns of Kifri and Kalar and their surrounding villages, as well as parts of Kirkuk, from the Iraqis rebelling against Saddam in 1991. There are many such documented testimonies in this regard.

Professor Raymond Tanter, a former member of the American National Security Council, wrote a paper in which he states: “Following their expulsion from Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini in the early 1980s, the MEK allied with Saddam Hussein and, in exchange for providing domestic security operations against Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, Saddam gave the MEK millions of dollars, protection, and bases along the Iranian border from which the MEK could launch their frequent attacks against the clerical regime.” The same allegation is made again in the US State Department’s “Patterns of Global Terrorism” published in 2002.

Wilfred Buchta, in his book “Who Rules Iran? The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic”, states that the MEK received some $80m a month from Saddam between 1982 and 1990. One of Saddam’s senior generals, who had a hand in suppressing the uprisings, also stated that the MEK received $7m a month after 1990.

A New York Times correspondent in Iraq, Elizabeth Rubin, who visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s base in Iraq, and wrote an exhaustively researched article on it published on July 13th 2003, quoted Mariam Rajavi making the statement denied in the letter (published above) from the MEK’s supporters. She also wrote: “Everyone I spoke to—Iraq intelligence officers, Kurdish commanders and human rights groups—said that in 1991 Hussein used the Mujahideen and its tanks as advance forces to crush the Kurdish uprisings in the north and the Shia uprisings in the south.”

In her book ”Why does the west forget?”, Baroness Nicholson includes further testimony of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, lending weight to the array of allegations against the MEK cited above. This was based on interviews she conducted during many visits to Iraq in the past 20 years.

March 28, 2011 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq parliament recognizes chemical attack on Halabja as genocide

Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult acted as Saddam’s private army

The Iraqi parliament has officially recognized the chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 as genocide.Halabja .

The decision came during a parliamentary session on Thursday where the proposal was put to vote and was approved by the majority of the parliament.

Halabja, situated 81km south east of Sulaimaniyah and 364 km north east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was subjected to an airborne chemical weapon attack in March 1988 by the former Iraqi regime. The death toll was widely estimated at 5,000, with more than 10,000 injuries.

On Tuesday, on the 23rd anniversary of the attack on the Kurdish town, the Kurdish MPs in Baghdad commemorated the gassing of Halabja by opening a photo gallery of images depicting the attack and displaying video footage showing the victims. They also called on parliament to recognize it as genocide.
On March 16, 1988 Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and sprayed it with a cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX for five hours.
The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court sentenced Saddam Husein’s cousin, Ali Hasan Majid notoriously known as "chemical Ali" to death for ordering the chemical attack.
Mr Majid had been earlier sentenced to death four times for crimes against humanity, his last sentence was in January 2010 – the same month he was executed.

The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court was set up to try former members of Hussein’s government. It was the same one that sentenced Saddam Hussein to death.

Many people from Halabja still suffer the after-effects of the gas attack, and since 2007, 17 victims of the gas attack have died of resulting medical complications.

March 27, 2011 0 comments

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