Mr. Ali Barzegar, a former member of MKO, returned home after twenty years of membership in the organization. Mr. Barzegar was welcomed by his family who had been awaiting his return since he had gone on compulsory military service twenty years ago when he was captured by MKO. During those twenty years, he was under psychological manipulation by Rajavi’s destructive cult and deprived from enjoying a normal life.
…. Attacks on American citizens, other foreigners, and Iranian citizens and officials during the time of the Shah. Involvement in a civil war in which it took a strong anti-American and anti-Western stance, was a more extreme leftwing movement than Iran’s Tudeh Communist Party, and regularly used terrorism and assassination during the struggle for power following the Shah. Involvement in a Saddam Hussein funded and supported military movement attacking Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, and in maintaining such a military movement on Iraqi soil during and after the invasion of Kuwait. Continuing involvement in a low level struggle of terrorism and …
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki held on Tuesday a meeting with a U.S. Congressional delegation, led by Senator John McCain, according to an official statement.
“Al-Maliki discussed with a delegation of U.S. congress, led by Senator John McCain, the development of bilateral relations and the ongoing political process,” said the statement received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“The premier underlined the importance of boosting ties with Washington in all fields, and the signed strategic agreement,” it added.
“We are keen to form a government of national unity, which includes all political blocs,” the statement quoted the premier as saying .
Terrorism Profiles – Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)
Name(s).
People’s Mujahedeen of Iran; PMOI; The National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA, the militant wing of the MEK), National Council of Resistance (NCR); the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI); Muslim Iranian Student’s Society.
Goals and Objectives.
The MEK is an Iranian dissident group whose ideology originally blended Marxism with a moderate interpretation of Islam. In the 1970s, the group opposed the regime of the Shah for its corruption and perceived susceptibility to U.S. and Western influence. Since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, MEK has opposed the religious Iranian regime, favoring a secular government in Iran. The group apparently supports the Arab-Israeli peace process and the rights of Iran’s minorities, although some believe the group takes these positions only to improve its image in Western countries.
Brief History.
The MEK was founded in the 1960s by leftist college students in Iran opposed to the Shah, who they believed was corrupt and too open to Western influences. During the 1970s, the group conducted several attacks against U.S. military personnel and civilians working with the Shah, as well as attacks against the Iranian government. The MEK participated in the 1979 revolution against the Shah, but quickly fell out of favor with Ayatollah Khomeini. Some of its original leadership was executed by the Khomeini regime.
In 1981, the MEK bombed several important government buildings, killing as many as 70 high-ranking Iranian officials. Under pressure from the government in Tehran, the group fled to France from 1981 to 1986, after which it took refuge in Iraq. While in Iraq, Saddam Hussein armed the group and sent it into battle against Iran during the Iran-Iraq War. The group also provided various security services for the Saddam Hussein regime, including helping with the suppression of Kurdish and Shi’a revolts after the first Gulf War in 1991. It continued to attack the Iranian regime, conducting a 1992 bombing campaigning of Iranian embassies in 13 different countries. In early 2000, the group used mortars to attack the leadership complex in Tehran that houses the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq War, the group has represented an important security threat to the Iranian regime.
U.S. and international policy toward the MEK has been ambivalent and controversial. Some see the group as a legitimate, pro-democracy resistance to the illiberal Iranian government, while others condemn the group’s earlier anti-Western attacks and regard the group as an anti-Western cult with a pro-democracy facade.
French authorities arrested more than 160 members, including the group’s leader Maryam Rajavi, in Paris in 2003, reversing the longstanding French policy of giving asylum to the group. Several high-profile figures have opposed the arrests.
During the 2003 Iraq war, U.S. forces bombed MEK bases in Iraq but later signed a cease-fire with the group. Finally in May 2003, the U.S. military disarmed the group.
Favored Tactics.
The MEK’s tactics range from bombings to organized guerilla warfare.
Anti-American Activities.
The MEK has not attacked or targeted U.S. interests since the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. During the 1970s, it conducted several attacks against American military and civilian targets and participated in the capture of the U.S. embassy during the revolution.
Areas of Operation.
The MEK is primarily based in Iraq, near the border with Iran, but it has a global presence. The group conducted attacks in Iran and has also attacked Iranian interests in Europe and elsewhere. The group has affiliated lobbying organizations in the United States and Europe, and prior to a French crackdown in 2003, its members took refuge in France.
Strength and Composition.
The MEK is comprised of Iranian dissidents opposed to the Islamic regime in Iran. According to the State Department, the group possesses several thousand fighters in Iraq and additional members operating overseas. Within Iraq, the group has until recently controlled aging military equipment given to it by Saddam Hussein, including tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles. The U.S. military in Iraq recently disarmed the group.
Connections With Other Terrorist Organizations.
MEK has no known connections with other terrorist groups.
State Supporters and Other Sources of Funding.
Until the recent war to topple Saddam Hussein in Iraq, the MEK received all of its military assistance and much of its financial support from the Iraqi regime. The group apparently uses front organizations to solicit contributions from Iranian expatriates and others, and may also raise funds among sympathizers within Iran .
Originally Designated as an FTO.
October 8, 1997.
Re-designated.
October 8, 1999, October 5, 2001.
Legal Challenges to Designation.
In 1998, a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives signed a letter challenging the State Department’s designation of MEK as an FTO. Some Members have suggested that the United States should support the group as an alternative to the Islamic regime in Iran. The debate over designation of the group has resurfaced in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq war. Some believe that the group represents legitimate opposition to the regime in Iran, while others contend that the group is essentially a fanatical cult with a sophisticated public relations wing and that its pro-Western, pro-democracy overtures should not be trusted. The State Department continues to resist pressure to remove the MEK from the FTO list. On August 15, 2003, the State Department added the group’s political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCR) to the group’s designation. Previously, the NCR had operated in the United States as a legitimate, registered lobbying organization.
Issues of Concern for Congress.
In the recent past, this group has actively lobbied on Capitol Hill. Its political/lobbying arm is now also specifically cited by name as an alias for the MEK (and thus a foreign terrorist organization), and its assets have been frozen as a specially designated entity by the Treasury Department under Executive Order 13224. (See also Legal Challenges to Designation, above.)
American treatment of this group in the aftermath of active hostilities in Iraq was at first ambivalent, but the group is currently disarmed. The status of this group is an important issue in the relationship between the United States and Iran.
By Miguel Denyer , overwatchreport.com ,Fri, Oct 22, 2010
Honorable Madam Hillary Clinton, The US Secretary of State
Respectfully, at the beginning of my letter, I would like to introduce myself. I am Nader Naderi one of the former members of PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran ) with almost twenty years of membership in that organization. I managed to separate from them and took refuge in the American camp (TIPF), located in Iraq, after the fall of Saddam Hussein the dictator of Iraq. I stayed in TIPF for four years.
During those awful years, I was witnessing the many crimes that this organization implemented against me and others. I had felt the real essence and content of this organization by my own flesh and bone, and the reality of this organization that I experienced in their garrisons and military bases is completely different than their behavior and attitude (anti terrorism and pro human rights) in Europe and United States of America.
The entity and the internal relations of this organization like the other religious cults throughout the world is based on fundamentalism and terrorism which separate them from any humanitarian values and foundations and as a result of this fact, their cultic internal relations are completely in contrast with all humane values and criteria. The members of this organization are deprived of having any choice, complaint and criticism and they are suffering from the lack of the basic and inferior individual rights, as a matter of fact in this organization having such rights are considered as blasphemy and treason against its leadership interests and they have designated harsh and severe punishments for people who wants to have those rights. Any dissent and disobedience in this organization will be suppressed and oppressed viciously and brutally with no mercy. [..]under PMOI leadership any protest, complaint, and criticism will be suppressed utterly with no mercy.
This organization with such a terrorist identity had participated in many crimes against humanity in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s reign and they cooperated with Saddam Hussein by all means. This organization with such a terrorist content and essence while the catastrophic event of 9/11 occurred in USA by the terrorist Al Quaida organization, they began throwing parties and distributing cookies, candies, and pastries among their members in their garrisons and military bases in Iraq to celebrate this cowardly and shameful attack which caused the death of thousands American men and women in twin towers and other places on US soil. The PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi who is living in her command base on French soil and she pretends that she is in love with democracy, freedom , justice and she cares about human rights and etc , she was the main factor to provoke and encourage her members to celebrate the death of thousands innocent people. Simultaneously, her husband, Massoud Rajavi was threatening and doing war cry. Massoud Rajavi said, “This operation (referring to 9/11) was the production of the fundamentalist Islam, now you wait and see what will happen if the revolutionary Islam comes to power (meaning the PMOI).” He was joyful and happy while he was watching the catastrophic event of 9/11 on the widescreen in Bagherzadeh Garrison.
Dear Madame Clinton, unfortunately some of your politicians have closed their eyes on PMOI’s past and its terrorist entity and instead of condemning the PMOI as a terrorist organization, they support and back them up. We are talking about an organization which according to one of the US State Department’s reports, is introduced as one of the most dangerous organizations throughout the world. We are talking about an organization which is totally against capitalism and it is proud of killing the American military advisors by its members during the Shah’s time. We are talking about an organization which one of its teachings was the struggle against Imperialism led by USA. These teachings were compulsory and all the members had to participate in those classes and Mr. Mohammad Seyed Al Mohaddessin, who is currently in charge of PMOI foreign affairs and pretends that he is pro human rights and against terrorism was the instructor of those classes. It is pretty strange that Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and Mr. Mohaddessin rapidly change their faces and become anti terrorism and pro human rights! The leader of this organization, Massoud Rajavi at the beginning of the war between coalition forces led by USA and Iraq declared war against USA and its troops and he said, “The day of revenge and punishment of Imperialism has arrived” and he instructed to all his members to fight against invasion of USA to Iraq, but his instruction was confronted with dissent in general by his rank and file and he was forced to retreat from his instruction.
This organization has made lots of humanitarian-like associations throughout Europe and in USA to deceive parliamentarians and politicians with the glamorous slogans like freedom , democracy , social justice, etc, but in their internal relations they are continuing their infelicitous ideological teachings to brainwash their members for keeping them ready for diabolic and ominous objectives.
This fact that they are disarmed completely by coalition forces led by USA is utterly right, but this question crosses my mind that “is their terrorist ideology which propagandizes death and hollowness also disarmed?” Their ideology is based on terror and maximum violence and the tool for begetting violence and terror is arms, so this ideology which is still working in their internal relations forces them to find arms and in my opinion they are capable of finding arms.
This organization basically is against family and making family. As you know after the ideological revolution in this organization all people who were married, were forced to get divorced, and now you can not find any married person and family in their internal relations. Since nine months ago many families of those stranded members who have been kept in Ashraf have been picketing to see their loved ones. It is more than two decades that those families have not seen their loved ones and now the PMOI operatives and officials do not allow those desperate families to visit their loved ones.
Recently Massoud Rajavi, the supreme leader of PMOI, has declared in one of his messages that if the Iraqi government wants to take its property back (Ashraf Garrison) the world will come across with a mass suicide like Khalkha group and David Koresh. Mr. Rajavi is ready, for his own survival, to sacrifice all those members. Well, this organization with such a cultic ideology probably would carry out such a mass suicide.
Now, Madam Clinton with all cultic behaviors and attitudes of PMOI and its terrorist ideology and beliefs the US politicians should stand under the PMOI emblem and take a picture with PMOI officials on your soil? The PMOI emblem which has a sign of an arm (Kalashnikov) which propagandizes the maximum violence?
Dear Madam Clinton, I urge you to intervene and force the PMOI officials to allow the families to meet with their loved ones, and also I urge you to prevent a human catastrophe (mass suicide) which PMOI supreme leader Massoud Rajavi, in his recent message has threatened. Massoud Rajavi the PMOI supreme leader deliberately and purposely wants to begin a skirmish with Iraqi forces to beget the human catastrophe that I mentioned above.
Madam Clinton, history has showed to us that all the terrorist organizations are alike and they should be isolated internationally. I wish all those captives of Rajavi’s ideology can be freed in the near future.
Regards,
Nader Naderi, Paris
Separated member of PMOI
Due to the numerous defections from the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MKO/MEK/NCRI(the Rajavi cult has entered another historical decline. The first wave of defections followed the collapse of Saddam Hussein, the cult’s former military and financial sponsor. At that time, the first major strike hit the MKO as coalition forces took control of Camp Ashraf, the organization’s ideological container, located in northern Iraq. As Saddam Hussein fell, the group’s leaders immediately cooperated with coalition forces and consequently shifted their policies in order to appease forces as well as maintain their presence at Camp Ashraf.
Cooperation with the coalition forces was one of the more severe policy changes the MKO made. The MKO made a huge effort to become friendly towards the West, ultimately shifting their attitude, and hoping their cooperation would bring them respect, and prosperity. Since the shift in approach, the ringleaders of the MKO (which is considered an anti-Iran terrorist organization) have appealed to both US and Israel security firms to help them bar defectors from escaping the camp, according to Fars News Agency.
The report says that "following several successful escape plans, the MKO leaders inked an agreement with the US Blackwater security firm to block defectors; escape and tighten control over the camp."[1]
The Mujahedin’s reputation and status in Iraq is as complicated as Blackwater’s. Both have committed crimes against Iraqi civilians, and eventually both are hated by Iraqi government officials and civilians alike. A RAND report on the MKO outlines that “much of the Iraqi public believe that the MEK did commit violent acts on Saddam’s behalf against Shias and Kurds." [2] As for Blackwater, the BBC News reported that, “Iraq has begun collecting signatures for a class action lawsuit on behalf of people killed or wounded in incidents involving the US security firm Blackwater. It will seek compensation for a number of such cases, the office of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said. Incidents include the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisoor square.” [3]
According to CNN, the Iraqi government is actively pursuing any former Blackwater personnel still working in the country. "I don’t think the Iraqi government is willing to have any Blackwater member, even if they are working in other companies, we don’t like to see them here working in any company,” said Ali al Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman.[4]
Neither Blackwater nor the MKO have a favorable presence in Iraq, and the relationship is unusual and puzzling for locals. As for Blackwater, in order to maintain presence, it’s just a matter of relinquishing their existence for a while and remarketing themselves under a new name. But for the MKO, that’s impossible because the ties to Iraq are deeper and cover a wider spectrum of victims in both Iran and Iran. The leaders of Camp Ashraf are supposed to be brought to trial because of their violent and unforgiveable acts as the mercenaries of the dictator, Saddam Hussein.
But meanwhile, and aside from their relationship with Blackwater, as the MKO displays full cooperation with Western intelligence agencies, it is clear that the MKO is in a desperate state. Without the protection of Saddam Hussein, they lack confidence and power, and they desperately need an umbrella to stand under. The shift in policy has made lower-ranking members uneasy and as a result many have defected and given testimony of the atrocious situation at the camp, causing a crisis for the leaders of the MKO. The Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, reports that "those MKO members who succeeded in fleeing the notorious camp have disclosed that the terrorist group’s ringleaders have created a gruesome atmosphere in the camp, especially for women and have even threatened the female members with rape and other forms of torture."[5]
In a more recent revelation, the MKO’s move to consort with Western intelligence agencies also includes Israeli intelligence. In June 2009 Gareth Porter a historian and journalist of IPS wrote of close ties between MKO and Israelis in order to reveal the existence of the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in August 2002. Porter writes that the MKO’s intelligence “apparently came from Israeli Intelligence. The Israeli co-authors of *The Nuclear Sphinx of Tehran*, Yossi Melman and Meir Javeanfar, revealed that ‘Western’ intelligence was ‘laundered’ to hide its actual provenance by providing it to Iranian opposition groups, especially NCRI, in order to get it to IAEA,” Porter concluded.[6] Scott Ritter, another reporter and Iran expert, furthers that, “much of the information behind this is being promulgated by Israel, which has a vested interest in seeing Iran neutralized as a potential threat. But Israel is joined by another source, even more puzzling in terms of its broad-based acceptance in the world of American journalism: the Mujahadeen-e Khalk, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group sworn to overthrow the theocracy in Tehran. The CIA today provides material support to the actions of the MEK inside Iran. The recent spate of explosions in Iran, including a particularly devastating ‘accident’ involving a military convoy transporting ammunition in downtown Tehran, appears to be linked to an MEK operation; its agents working inside munitions manufacturing plants deliberately are committing acts of sabotage which lead to such explosions. If CIA money and planning support are behind these actions, the agency’s backing constitutes nothing less than an act of war on the part of the United States against Iran.” [7]
Flynt Leverett, of the New America Foundation asks, “Why is no journalist from a major media outlet in the United States asking why the Obama Administration drove the P-5+1 to push a new sanctions resolution against Iran, when there is such clear disarray, disagreement, and desperation in the U.S. Intelligence Community regarding Iran’s nuclear program?” [8]
Clearly there needs to be more research done on the MKO, their involvement in intelligence gathering, their relationship with Israel, and their ultimate motives. Someone has to question their reliability. I propose, like Leverett, that any journalist from a major media outlet ask some pointed questions: Why is no journalist from a major media outlet asking how a terrorist organization maintains use of a powerful intelligence satellite, unless that satellite is owned and maintained by Israel or the United States? Is the information being fed to the MKO simply because no one would believe Israel?
Regarding the fact that a terrorist designated organization is not able to own an intelligence satellite, it is interesting that the MKO’s recently published so-called revelations on a new Iranian nuclear site near Qazvin signifies something the US feels is worth looking into. Porter has already outlined that the MKO has links with an Israeli spying system on Iran. Maybe everyone is in the dark and the MKO simply googled-earthed it—perhaps they found some suspicious mounds of dirt that could be considered dangerous signs of a nuclear threat. Then they passed that on to the CIA. The whole deal sounds preposterous and needs to be looked into. At least Gareth Porter is on the right track.
For the record, "at the end of April, Israel launched an ImageSat international Eros-B spy satellite to keep watch on Iran’s nuclear progress.
Yitzhak Ben Yisrael, the head of the Israeli space Agency recently said in an interview that the observation of Iran from space would allow Israel to monitor precisely the above ground evidence of nuclear activity even at the deeply-buried and concrete–reinforced facilities at Natanz," according to New York Times bestselling author, Jerome R. Corsi. [9]
Corsi adds that "the Israeli Eros-B spy satellite is very possibly the best optical surveillance technology any country in the world has in orbit, including US, Russia and China."[10] The report suggests that the intelligence satellites are just owned by some few powerful states, not an exiled terrorist designated organization whose members more or less rely on donations obtained by standing around at the airport soliciting a few hundred dollars a day from gullible passersby.
MKO leaders now seem to be wandering among their former enemies as puppets with an agenda; they are collecting various photographs spit from expensive satellites from who knows where, peddling them to high-ranking US warmongers in hope that they will be granted their wish of taking over the country of Iran with the backing of the West, and Israel of course—and this is all too obvious in Iran. Iranians in Iran dearly cling to a dream that Iran will sort itself out in due time—without the help of the unreliable West, and certainly without the help of the treasonous MKO. Sanctions and suffering aside, the Iranians are strong-willed, intelligent, and friendly people.
They are highly educated and curious about the world. They are acutely aware of politics on both a local and global level, and they love and want to preserve their identity as an independent and proud nation which has so much to offer the world in terms of brain power, technology, culture and natural resources.
For the MKO, in this kind of atmosphere, there is no place. A political future in Iran for them is simply impossible. No one in Iran supports them. No one is willing to buy into their constantly changing ideology. And certainly, no one is ever going to forget the treason and massacres they committed against thousands of their own people during the Iran-Iraq war while they were supported by Saddam Hussein. For Iranians, the MKO expired thirty years ago, and a revival within their own country is highly unlikely, as they are out of touch with the Iranian public’s sentiment towards the way the country has been run, and towards the opinion that the greater population has about them, especially after they took refuge in Iraq. The MKO is plainly not welcome in Iran, not trusted by Iranians, nor should they be trusted by the West. Ultimately the MKO’s relationship with Western intelligence will lead to the cult’s self destruction. And for God’s sake it’s about time.
References:
[1]Fars News Agency, . "MKO Asks for US, Israeli Help to Stop Defection"
*Free Library by Farlex* 09.Oct 2010. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. *Farlex Inc.*. <
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/MKO+Asks+for+US,
+Israeli+Help+to+Stop+Defection.-a0239068020>.
[2] Goulka, Jeremiah, Lydia Hansell, Elizabeth Wilke, and Judith Larson.
"Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum." *RAND National Defence
Research Institute* (2009): Web. 3 Nov 2010. <
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871
[3] BBC NEWS." *US Blackwater lawsuit signatures sought by Iraq *. BBC, 18
Jan 2010. Web. 3 Nov 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8466303.stm.
[4] "Iraq spokesman: Ex-Blackwater employees not wanted in Iraq." *CNN WORLD
03* Jan 2010: Web. 3 Nov 2010. <
http://articles.cnn.com/2010-01-03/world/
iraq.blackwater_1_dustin-heard-blackwater-guards-iraqi-civilians?_s=PM:WORLD>.
[5] Fars News Agency, . "MKO Asks for US, Israeli Help to Stop Defection"
*Free Library by Farlex* 09.Oct 2010. Web. 3 Nov. 2010. *Farlex Inc.*. <
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/MKO+Asks+for+US,
+Israeli+Help+to+Stop+Defection.-a0239068020>.
[6] Porter, Gareth. "Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel." *Inter
Press Service* 3 June 2009: Web. 3 Nov 2010. <
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47081>.
[7] Ritter, Scott. "America Is Already Committing Acts of War Against Iran."
*Alternet* (30 Jul 2008): Web. 4 Nov 2010. <
http://www.alternet.org/world/93239/
america_is_already_committing_acts_of_war_against_iran
[8] Leverett, Flynt. "Desperately Seeking "Defectors" to Make a Case for an
Iran War." *New Amerrica Foundation* (19 July 2010): Web. 4 Nov 2010. <
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/articles/2010/
desperately_seeking_defectors_to_make_a_case_for_an_iran_war_34523
Flynt Leverett is a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, and global energy issues. From 1992 to 2003, he had a distinguished career in the U.S. government, serving as Senior Director for Middle East Affairs at the National Security Council, Middle East Expert on the Secretary of State’s Policy Planning Staff, and Senior Analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency. He left the Bush administration and government service in the spring of 2003 because of disagreements about Middle East policy and the conduct of the war on terror more generally. He is a consultant to the World Economic Forum’s “Gulf Cooperation Council and the World 2025” scenarios project and to the Club of Madrid on global energy issues. He is a peer reviewer for the International Energy Agency’s *World Energy Outlook*
[9] Corsi, Jerome. "Nuclear Crisis With Iran Intensifies." *Human Events –
Leading conservative Media Since 1944* 03 May 2006: Web. 4 Nov 2010. <
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14517>.
[10] Ibid
By: Mazda Parsi
Honorable US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton
Respectfully,
I had been a member of PMOI (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) for more than two
decades and I had spent and wasted twenty years of my life in Iraq in different garrisons and bases of this organization. Fortunately, I managed to rescue myself from this organization in 2004 and I took refuge in an American camp called TIPF, which was run and controlled by American army. I stayed in that camp for almost four years waiting to go to my ordinary and simple life and finally in 2008 prior to closing the camp completely, I left the camp. After going through many difficulties and hardships, finally I arrived in Europe safe and sound.
Madame Clinton, it is very painful and woeful for me when I see that your country has allowed some of the members of this organization to stay in your country and take advantage of democracy and freedom which exist in your country for a long time. The terrorists who not only are not less powerful than Al-Qaida but also they are more complicated than them. They enjoy the benefits and privileges of being American citizens and unfortunately some of your political officials back them up. It is pretty strange for me while I hear or see that those PMOI members freely propagandize in favor of their group in your country. Your country became a target of terrorism which because of that thousands American men and women lost their lives in 9/11 and that catastrophic incident gave this message to all American people and politicians that they should be more vigilant and careful. Freedom and democracy is just, good and ideal for people but there are always people who take advantage of the democracy and freedom in favor of their terrifying intensions.
I am a live witness who had lived many years among them in different garrisons and bases, and with the complete knowledge and experience that I have gained about this organization, it is crystal clear for me that the leaders of this organization cunningly by spending huge amounts of money and disguising themselves behind a mask of freedom and democracy just to deceive people as well as the politicians throughout the world, successfully they hid their awful past which is laden with criminal records in Iraq, Iran and even against American citizens in the 70s, and by these tricks they have gathered a few foreign political backers in Europe and USA. But I should remind you that never trust a viper or python because we can not expect them to give birth to a beautiful dove of peace. This organization from its foundation till now has paved its way by utilizing aimless and blind terrorism, bombing and always disguising its image suitable with the condition on the ground and I am sure that your country as the first superpower in the whole world equipped by modern and complicated technology and science has enough evidence and information about this organization, its past and its present. Now the question which crosses our minds is why is this organization allowed and authorized to continue its presence in your country despite of being blacklisted and considered as a terrorist organization in your terrorist list?
Now this question crosses our mind that: “can Al Qaida leader or its representatives live and do their political activities in USA? If these terrorists change their clothes and wear suit and tie instead of their local clothing and eliminate their turban and begin chanting slogans like freedom, democracy and throw expensive parties and banquets, and etc, will your country and your resentful and mournful people who lost someone in 9/11 forget and relinquish their crimes? Have not you maximum penalty for criminals, murderers and slayers in your country like other countries? So the world has its own laws and regulations vis-a-vis terrorism and crime, specifically after the 9/11 catastrophe. So any kind of help, backing and supporting of criminals, slayers, and terrorists is considered as a cursed and obscene act, so why is there a support and help for them?
We are talking about an organization which its outside image is like a godsend angel who is the symbol of justice and equality and freedom loving as well as modernized and revolutionary but I should say to you from the bottom of my heart, according to my own personal experiences which I gained them all by wasting the best years of my life in that organization that this angel is just a diabolic cult but very powerful one in its essence and content, and its entity is completely dependent on the cultic regulation and rules which the other cults should come and take lessons from them. Substantially, which logic does justify the presence of this organization in your country? We are talking about an organization that has killed many Iranian people in their terrorist’s missions inside Iran.
They have killed and suppressed many Iraqi people (Kurds and Shiites) during their uprising in 1990 and 1991 to overthrow Saddam Hussein’s reign and in return they received many valuable and priceless gifts from their godfather, Saddam Hussein. In this organization any complaint and criticism toward its agenda and tactics especially towards its leadership will be punished severely and harshly, and no one dares to criticize against the leadership of this organization. So how do they claim that they are pro-democracy and freedom? I never forget this famous phrase which both Massoud and Maryam Rajavi used to utilize in their ideological indoctrination sessions to brainwash their members and it was “No one in this organization has any right except one right which is the right of dying for the sake of the leadership of this organization.” Can anyone find any trace of freedom and democracy in this phrase? Have we forgotten the desperate members of this organization who set themselves on fire just because Mrs. Maryam Rajavi was detained by the French police?
Is there any logic in these self burnings? But these kind of reactions which are implemented by the members of this organization substantiate a very powerful fact that they are capable of creating and begetting awful scenes wherever and whenever their leadership desires and that is an undeniable fact which all foreign politicians and governments should think about.
We should not forget that this organization had assassinated US military advisors during the Shah’s era (in 70’s) in Iran about which documents are available and I am sure that your central intelligence agency (CIA) has that evidence and documents. We should not forget that many dissident members of this organization who dared to open their mouths and complain about the brutal and inhumane agenda of this organization and its leadership either were mysteriously killed or disappeared and vanished (the names of those members who have been killed or have disappeared are available).
The political unrest after the Iran’s presidential election in 2009 perfectly showed that this organization does not have any popularity among Iranian people whatsoever and on the contrary they are considered as cussed and damned organization by Iranian people because of their cooperation and collaboration with the dictator of Iraq, Saddam Hussein who killed many Iranian citizens, military and civilian, during 8 year war with Iran.
The political unrest in Iran were just a peaceful demonstrations but the leadership of this organization intended to provoke the Iranian people to convert their peaceful demonstrations to a bloody chaos and they wanted to create carnage and bloodshed to take advantage of the blood in the favor of their leadership’s political interests. But the Iranian people were very vigilant and alert so they did not allow them to succeed in their diabolic plot. Actually the PMOI leadership was thinking that with the bloodshed and carnage the people of Iran would be provoked and instigated and as a result of that they would come on the streets of Tehran and other cities so the Iranian regime would have been overthrown by Iranian people, then the PMOI leadership would use this chance to return to Iran and confiscate the political power, but the truth is that Iranian people who are resentful of any violence and bloodshed, overcame the PMOI’s diabolic plot and they unanimously said No to the violence and bloodshed which was the desire of the PMOI leadership.
Dear Madam Clinton, any democracy and freedom has two aspects. The positive aspect of any democracy and freedom is for the people who are living under the democracy and freedom to promote their lives and gain whatever they want in their lives. But the negative aspect of any democracy and freedom is the people who want to take advantage of those two, democracy and freedom, to forward their diabolic intensions by using the levers which exist in any democratic and progressive countries. As a veteran and former member of this organization and according to my own knowledge of their internal relations and their thoughts and ideology , this is my humane duty to warn you that do not trust them by no means and do not be deceived by their beautiful slogans which are totally hollow and meaningless for them. This organization is not just “suspect of terrorism”, it is a terrorist organization itself which has come on the political stage equipped with glamorous and deceitful slogans and words which are totally meaningless and ridiculous in their leaders’ minds. I am ready to be present in any place and any court of law to testify about their crimes and reveal their real face which has been hidden purposely behind their mask of freedom and democracy just to forward their cultic ambitions.
With desire for peace and peaceful coexistence without any violence , bloodshed and terror.
Hassan Piransar/Paris
An Iran-based right group formed of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism called on the European Parliament to run a close study over the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to realize its terrorist nature and drop its support for the group.
In a letter to the Vice-President of the European Parliament and the President of the International Committee of In Search of Justice (ISJ) Alejo Vidal-Quadras, published in Edalat Society website on Sunday, the families of the victims of terrorism in Iran voiced their protest against the European parliament’s support for the MKO.
The full text of the letter is as follows:
Protest Letter of the Families of Terror Victims to the Vice President of the European Parliament
Receiving the news of your meeting with Maryam Rajavi in Paris and your support from Ashraf Camp residents, we, the members of Justice Supporters’ Association thought that it is necessary to inform you of some facts about the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization which has been announced as a terrorist cult by many international institutions and organizations.
We hope that this information could give you, the vice president of the European Parliament and the president of the International Committee in Search of Justice, a better understanding of the real nature of this organization
The organization which you voiced support for, is currently in the foreign terrorist organizations’ lists of many countries including United States of America. It has murdered more than 12000 Iranians and thousands of Iraqi civilians. Undoubtedly, you can feel the concerns of Iraqi families of the presence of this organization in Iraq’s soil.
The same organization which still holds the infamous stain of finding the corpses of Kuwaiti youths in its camps is claiming to be the defender of Human Rights; this is while Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization has perpetrated various crimes including kidnapping, high-jacking, armed robbery and attacks on civilians and military forces.
Based on the Human Rights Watch report of May 2005 and the report presented by National Defense Research Institute (RAND) in 2009, Mojahedin-e Khalq organization is a terrorist organization having a cultic nature. More than 70 percent of the members of this organization intend to leave the camp but they are not allowed to.
US Department of State has also referred to the terrorist operations and international crimes of this organization including arms transactions and the cooperation of MKO with Saddam regime for the suppression of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds in 1991, in its August 2010 FTO list report.
The leaders of this organization have even imprisoned their own members under the charge of criticizing the functions of the organization. They violate the basic human rights principles by not letting their members to get married, have babies or love their families. Meanwhile they speak up of defending freedom and human rights.
Other than separating children from their parents and transferring them to other countries for collecting money, most of the women in Ashraf Camp have gone under involuntary surgery and their wombs have been taken out. Another similar event happened in June 2003 in which a number of deceived MKO members immolated themselves in some European countries.
Dear Mr. Quadras, supporting such an organization is just standing against thousands of victims of this organization in Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, US and some European countries. Taking side of this organization equals with supporting the ominous phenomenon of the third millennium. Can you guarantee that no one else would be victimized by this terrorist cult? We, the families of terror victims hope that you could understand the real nature of this organization and help the victims’ families in administering justice.
The members of this organization have committed murders after going through brainwashing techniques and turning to some robots. Therefore they are considered as victims and should be returned to their families. Although the leaders of the MKO should be tried for all the crimes they have done against humanity.
Mojahedin began their terrorist operations against American citizens and American offices located in Iran in 1971 which are as follows:
– June 22, 1972- U.S. Air Force Brigadier General HAROLD PRICE, chief of the Air Force Section of U.S. Military Advisory Group in Iran.
– January 1973 – bombing the office of Shell Oil Company.
– A few days later bombing the office of Pan American airlines
– 3 June 1973 – assassination of U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Hawkins, U.S. military mission.
– 25 May 1974 bombing of Jewish American establishments like General and British establishments like Yorkshire Bank and Tichno Co. HQs
– January 27 1975, in response to the visit of Henry Kissinger to Iran the explosion of the office of TT International and Joan Doer Company.
– 11 May 1975 – assassination of Colonel Paul Schaeffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, U.S. Air Force officers in the mission.
– 4th July 1975, PMOI’s terrorists stopped the motorcade of the American Ambassador in Tehran and opened fired on his car, but because of the darkness inside of the car, an Iranian official who was working for American Embassy in Tehran and was the PMOI’s infiltration agent was killed by mistake.
– In July 1975, two bombs were exploded in two places, first in the USA and Iran Committee building and the second one in the English Consul in the city of Mashad.
– 28 August 1976 – 3 civilian employees of Rockwell International, Donald J Smith, Robert R Grangrad and William C. Catrel, advisor to the Iranian military were subject to bombing and kidnapping.
1. In December of 1970 carried out an abortive attempt to kidnap U.S. Ambassador Douglas MacArthur.
2. President Richard M. Nixon’s trip was marred by a series of bombings, including one explosion at the tomb of the Shah’s father shortly before the President and his hosts were scheduled to arrive.
3. The offices of El Al Airlines, Shell Petroleum, British Petroleum, British Overseas Airways, a Jewish Emigration office in Tehran, and numerous other U.S. facilities and properties were bombed and victimized.
4. In 1979, they supported the American Embassy occupation in Tehran and participated in the occupation of the Embassy by their agents who were student leaders.
As a result of the terrorist operation which happened in 9/11 in the USA, every country became astonished and confused at such brutal and barbaric acts, which targeted thousands innocent people in the twin towers, and all these countries and their governments condemned such brutality and savagery. But, surprisingly the PMOI’s operatives and leaders threw a very big party in Bagherzadeh Garrison in Iraq and celebrated that incident and showed their admiration for that terrorist act by dancing, shouting and congratulating one another in front of their leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Massoud Rajavi was on the stage and while he had his hands on his waist he began a war cry against the USA, and in his admiration for Osama Ben Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, he said, ”This was fanatical Islam which trembled and shacked the basis of US Imperialism and they destroyed the twin towers which were the symbol of their power, and successfully reduced it to rubble through their successful mission”. Then he (Massoud Rajavi) with a smile on his face continued his war cry and said, ”What will happen to the USA if revolutionary Islam with our Ideology and Maryam’s leadership comes to power, then this paper tiger (the USA) will be destroyed as a whole.”
After the downfall of Saddam Hussein, all the PMOI members underwent various interviews for recognition of their identification by the US State Department’s agents, the CIA, FBI, and specifically US Military Information section MI. They gained a huge amount of very valuable information from the PMOI members – all of which documents and information substantiate and prove that the ideology and the strategy of the PMOI are all anti-western, and particularly anti USA.
After the downfall of Saddam Hussein, the PMOI rapidly mobilized all its organization for three weeks to destroy all books, CD’s, tapes, newspapers, archives, and even the members’ personal memorandums which were produced in various of Rajavi’s sessions and gatherings. Whatever could be interpreted as anti-USA were pulled out of their library, archives, offices, storage rooms and etc, and were all burned to ashes under the direct supervision of the PMOI’s commanders. Right now if you go to the PMOI’s main garrison Camp Ashraf, you won’t find even a single piece of paper which is anti-USA. They performed the same exercise with their computers as well.
The US State Department has justly listed the PMOI and its political wing the National Council of Resistance (NCRI) as a terrorist organization in its terrorist list. While the State Department listed them as a terrorist organization, it did not have the valuable information which it now has now. In a report that was published in 2005 by the US State Department regarding the terrorist organization list, it mentioned justly that the PMOI is a potential threat and is a very dangerous terrorist organization. In that report it was mentioned that the PMOI has the potential to become a dangerous organization in any period of time because of their special terrorist training and cohesive organizational structure. For instance, on 17th of June 2003 when Maryam Rajavi was arrested by French Police, PMOI leaders ordered their members to set themselves on fire in public streets. If there was no complaint and protest from the international bodies and humanitarian organizations against this kind of brutality and savagery, it was still going to become one of the biggest of human catastrophes.
Tthe US State Department has justly listed the PMOI as a terrorist organization in the terrorist list and has justly mentioned in the US State Department report that the PMOI has signs of being a cult. We must stress that even though the State Department reports of 2005 and 2006 are not complete, that the report shows that this organization is a religious cult.
* Some of the Mojahedin Khalq documents from their own publications:
Lets create another Vietnam for America(pdf).
(Mojahedin English language paper April 1980)
Letter to Imam (Khomeini) (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper April 1980)
Some questions unanswered regarding the US military invasion of Iran (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper June 1980)
link to one of the Mojahedin Khalq songs advocating killing Americans (In Persian)
Excerpts from Bani Sadr’s memoirs taken of the interview with Pen Club
…The day after the bombing of Islamic Republic Party office, Mr. Abbas Davari and Mr. Azdanloo [two MKO members] came to see me. I asked them if they had bombed the IR Party office. They 
told that they hadn’t. I had already issued a statement to condemn that attack, the same day. I asked them the question because I was looking for a reason to accept Mujahedin’s alliance with our foundation. […]
When they declined the responsibility of that bombing, I posed some questions to answer so that I could decide what to do. The questions were about independence, freedom, the position of a political organization in society, the position of MKO in the society, the method of thinking in MKO – if it was like the past, a mixture of other ideologies?- if MKO was ready to accept critics on its ideology. They brought me the answer. They said that they had admitted the entire questions I had written […]
We are supposed to go to MKO’s safe house where we can learn about the changes they claim in their thinking method. If I make sure that the changes are serious; if they admit to the critics they are faces; if MKO becomes an organization with the objective of freedom, not the objective of power, I will manage to let them be a member of NCR. They bring me a book called Explaining the World. I read and correct it page by page. Then Mr. Rajavi comes to see me. I find out that the house belongs to his first wife [Ashraf]
I told Rajavi that we want nothing for the future. We don’t need any state and we just want to be political activists. Rajavi promises to make all changes in their ideology in order to adapt it with the freedom objective […]
[…] I tell Massoud Rajavi :" I cannot trust you totally, power addiction will not leave people easily […] I hope that you really act in accordance with what you say."
We manage to write an act based on three basic principles: Independence, freedom and lack of hegemony. I define these three principles: Any organization to submit to these principles, accepts that the objective of the struggle is freedom not power […]
One day Rajavi came to me and told that we had to communicate with states in order to be recognized as an alternative. I replied that the states were seeking their own benefits and we had nothing to do with them […]
[…]An hour later Mr. Rajavi came to my room and told that Mr. Tariq Aziz had asked to visit him […] I told him:" Now that you accepted to visit him, you should treat him the way our Iranian Emperor Shahpour the first treated the Roman Valerian. Our Emperor humiliated the invader to our country. He [Tariq Aziz] should understand that he had invaded a country which has national pride. You should notify that and you shouldn’t let the visit last more than half an hour." […] He said "Ok, I will" but instead of behaving like what he was supposed to, the meeting lasted 5 hours so that the following day Le Monde newspaper wrote that Mr. Tariq Aziz bought Mr. Rajavi or something like that […] after that visit, Rajavi’s behavior changed and changed …
Translated by Nejat Society
As President Ahmadinejad addressed the UN’s General Assembly in September, New York witnessed a bizarre atmosphere of MKO protestors. The protestors ran a high budget rally, and were addressed by some right wing political figures including Rudolph Giuliani, former mayor of New York, and John Bolton, a former US ambassador to the UN and a promoter of a second war project against Iran. [1] The protest also included a fresh faced 22-year old speaker, Sahand Khoshbaten, who calls himself a “human rights activist,” and “Iranian freedom fighter.” 
Khoshbaten organizes the “No to Ahmadinejad Committee,” a group which sends protestors to push for human rights when the President of Iran appears at the UN. But during the protest speeches it is clear that Khoshbaten is really a messenger from the terrorist cult, Mujahedin eh Khalq Organization. What many Americans don’t know is that the MKO, has no base among Iranians. And it should have no base among the few Americans supporting them anyway because the MKO committed murderous acts of terror against Americans, and are currently listed on the US Department of State Foreign Terrorist Organization List, a fact that most Americans don’t know. This rally was using human rights as a guise to target sentimental Americans—Iranian-born or not.
Cyrus Safdari of *Iran Affairs* suggests the irony that comes out of such American support for a terrorist designated organization like the MKO. He reminds us of a controversial fact that "of various bullshit reasons given for the US invasion of Iraq, the US accused Saddam of aiding foreign terrorist organizations. But the only organization they could tie him to was …..wait for it ….the MEK!"[2]. In another article published by *Newsweek *which highlights Safdari’s punch line, former Clinton administration official Martin Indyk, who served as assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs in 1997, said that “one of the reasons the group was put on the terrorism list in the first place was part of a ‘two-pronged’ strategy that included ratcheting up pressure on Saddam. Like the Bush White House, the Clinton administration was eager to highlight Iraqi ties to terrorism and had collected extensive evidence of Saddam providing logistical support to the MKO in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War. (The MKO’s headquarters are located on a heavily guarded street in central Baghdad.) But the United States could find no other hard evidence linking Saddam to terror groups, Indyk said. ‘That was about all we had on [Saddam] when it came to terrorism,’ Indyk told *Newsweek*.” [3]
Even with some American support and Iranian-American support, the MKO is simply not a viable alternative to the current regime. No Iranian would agree with the MKO’s motto that they are “The Voice of Change for a New Iran.” Which Iran is the MKO referring to? The one that has few, if any, supporters? The one full of MKO defectors? One MKO defector, Mr. Dashtestani, who now lives back in his home country of Iran, recently escaped Camp Ashraf, the MKO headquarters, which members operated out of in the war against their home country. Dashtestani explained about the control the MKO cult group has over its members. He recalls, "During the past six months I travelled through half of Iranian territory, [and] I was never asked a question, but in Camp Ashraf if you want to go outside you have to ask at least three people."[4]
The US State Department report on the MKO in 1994 is a clear guideline to those who hesitate about the legitimacy of the group in both Iran and the United States:
"Exploiting Western opprobrium of the behavior of the current government of Iran, the Mojahedin posit themselves as the alternative. To achieve that goal they claim they have the support of a majority of Iranians. This claim is much disputed by academics and other specialists on Iran, who assert that in fact the Mojahedin –e- Khalq have little support among Iranians. They argue that the Mojahedin’s activities since the group’s leadership fled from Iran in 1981 particularly their alliance with Iraq and the group’s internal oppression have discredited them among the Iranian polity." [5]
Patrick Disney of *Foreign Policy* pushes a more sensational description of the MKO—a description that might hit home with Americans who seek to understand just who the MKO are. Disney asserts that "the MEK organization has literally zero support among the Iranian people.
The closest thing to how Iranians feel about the MEK is how Americans feel about Al-Qaeda. It’s not even a subject of debate. Which is why it’s bizarre that members of congress would want to lend US credibility to such an organization."[6]
Mahan Abedin, Director of Research at the Centre for the Study of Terrorism, believes that "both sides in the US debate readily admit the Mojahedin’s isolation both in Iran and amongst the Iranian Diaspora in the West is not fully appreciated.” Abedin contends that this isolation is originated from two reasons, the group’s alliance with Saddam Hussein and its communist philosophy. He writes that, "The organization’s radical and near-communist origins have always alienated large swathes of Iran’s modern middle and upper classes. The MKO’s alliance with Iraq’s former Baathist regime during the Iran-Iraq war was a huge strategic blunder from which they could never hope to recover. The sight of MKO forces aiding the Iraqi turned them into perennial traitors in the eyes of Iranians. This perception of the Mujahedin still persists, more than 15 years after the ending of the war". [7] It seems ridiculous to count on an opposition group with unsubstantiated support among Iranians living in Iran. Western sponsors such as John Bolton, and Rudi Giuliani are on the wrong track by supporting the MKO—who because of their terrorist label, and because they know they have almost no support amongst Iranians—consistently hide behind front organizations such as Khoshbaten’s “No to Ahmadinejad Committee.”
Who are these American supporters who think they know what is best for Iran? By allowing and supporting a known terrorist group (and its front groups) to protest in front of the UN, the Americans are simply perpetuating hypocrisy and bad relations between the two countries. Perhaps the Americans have forgotten the last time they went against the hearts and minds of Iranians when the CIA carried out a coup d’état in 1953 and placed the unpopular Shah in power, only to have it blow back with hatred and distrust towards American foreign policy in the region. Iranians have not forgotten, and Iranians don’t want the MKO. Americans need to know that.
References:
[1] Anti-Ahmadinejad demonstration in New York addressed by dignitaries." *CNN
ireport* 27 September 2010: Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-496415?ref=feeds%2Flatest>.
[2] Disney, Patrick. "Disney on the MEK-MKO-PMOI-NCRI-whatever." *Iran
Affairs* (24 September 2010): Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
http://www.iranaffairs.com/iran_affairs/2010/09/
disney-on-the-mek-mko-pmoi-ncri-whatever-.html>.
[3] Iskoff, Michael. "Ashcroft’s Baghdad Connection." *Newsweek* 26
September 2002:. Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
http://www.newsweek.com/2002/09/25/ashcroft-s-baghdad-connection.html>.
[4] Dashtestani, Mahmoud. *Nejat Society*. Interview by Habilian
Association. 09 October 2010. Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3309>.
[5]Katzman, Kenneth. US State Department Report, Library of Congress.
Congressional Research Service. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
Washington, Nov 1992. Doc. call no.: M-U 42953-1 no.92-824F as posted on the
Iran-interlink.org website:
http://www.iran-interlink.org/files/child%20pages/USstatedept.htm
See also: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
website: http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4ac9c2c52.pdf.
See also: CORI (Country of Origin Research and Information) website:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4ac9c2c52.pdf
[6] Disney, Patrick. "The Middle East Channel." *Foreign Policy*. The Slate
Group, 22 September 2010. Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/22/
congressional_backers_look_to_exiled_iranian_group_for_regime_change
[7] Abedin, Mahan. “Mojahedin-e-Khalq: Saddam’s Iranian Allies”
Terrorism Monitor. The Jamestown Foundation, 05 May 2005. Web. 1 Nov 2010. <
http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=433>.
By Mazda Parsi
