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Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Court Order Doesn’t Mean MKOs Removal from U.S. FTO List

The Mujahedin-eh Kalq Organization (MKO/MEK) since 1997 has been listed by the State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The designation was reaffirmed in January 2009 by then-secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The MKO has had a long history of Court Order Doesn’t Mean MKOs Removal from U.S. FTO List terror and violence and has recently and eagerly tried to clean up its image—hoping the effort will help remove them from the FTO list. The MKO believes that if they are removed from the FTO list, they will have more credibility as an organization, and therefore gain more support from Western nations. The MKO currently argues that it had ceased its military campaign against the Iranian government in 2001, voluntarily handed over its arms to U.S. forces in 2003 and provided a flood of information to U.S. intelligence about Iran’s nuclear programs. [1] The MKO’s ultimate goal in this plan is to replace the Iranian government with their own, and they are seeking support from Western nations, never mind the fact that neither of the MKO leaders nor many members of this cult have stepped foot inside Iran for more than three decades. The MKO is out of touch with the pulse of the nation and the more they press for being removed from the FTO list, the more wary regular Iranians become—as it signifies that the MKO is becoming tighter with the very nations which impeded Iran’s natural political progress; Iranian citizens do not want a U.S. supported MKO—they simply see it as treacherous liaison, which if nurtured, will make an already tense relationship with Iran even worse.

The MKO believes they have made an advancement because now, by way of a heavy handed legal battle, they are celebrating a federal appeals court decision—argued January 12, 2010 and recently decided July 16, 2010—which orders the State Department to review its FTO designation of the MKO on the grounds that the MKO was not privy to classified information, and therefore could not establish an argument and rebuttal which they believe would generate a stronger case to get them removed from the list. The final order was not about lifting the MKO off the Foreign Terrorist Organization list, but about due process for the group. The court stated that the purpose of the remand was to afford the MKO “an opportunity to review and rebut the unclassified portions of the record.” [2] The court also stated in the order that the Secretary of State’s “denial of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran’s petition for revocation of its 2003 designation as a foreign terrorist organization is remanded to the Secretary for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.” [3] What this means, is that the petition will end up back on the Secretary’s desk and the Secretary will look at it again. The judge who preceded over the case made a note in the order which states that “none of the AEDPA (Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996) cases decides whether an administrative decision relying critically on undisclosed classified material would comport with due process because in none was the classified record essential to uphold an FTO designation.[4] This is an unfavorable comment—although the Secretary is obligated to reconsider, she is unlikely to lift the MKO from the FTO list.

Standard procedure for the MKO in a situation like this is to celebrate as if it was a huge victory. The celebration is meant to bolster morale among members and augment interest from anyone from the media who will listen and report on the MKO’s plight. In essence they have used this ruling to exaggerate the issue and create a positive hype. In celebrating, they also hope to reinforce support from agenda-pushing neoconservative politicians who believe that Iran cannot handle its own domestic affairs. In France, in Auver Sur d-Oise where Maryam Rajavi, the self-imposed leader of the MKO, who feels entitled to speak on behalf of Iranian citizens despite, as previously mentioned, not having set foot in Iran for more than three decades, spoke to her sympathizers after the ruling; her response to the court order was that "sanctions against this regime are necessary and very important, but not enough. A regime change materializes in the resistance of a nation. International peace and security can only be guaranteed when ruling religious fascism is gone. So barriers to change must be removed. The chains tying the hands of the organized resistance of people must be removed." [5]. The chains she speaks of is the designation of the MKO as an FTO, and the bottom line here is that the MKO has not been de-listed from the Foreign Terrorist List—a statement she wishes to twirl into a bondage metaphor.

Rajavi claims that the FTO designation of her cult is a barrier to gain international peace and security. This is fine to claim, but the logic is fuzzy because the information gleaned from the court proceedings suggests nothing about moving Iran towards peace and security. According to Glen Kessler’s report from the Washington Post, “During the court proceedings, some of that information was declassified. State asserted that the group has not ended its military operations, still intends to use violence to achieve its political goals, has trained females to be suicide bombers and that much of the information it has provided on Iran’s nuclear program has been wrong. But the court cast doubt on some of these assertions and said the group now must be given the opportunity to rebut these charges.” [6] Kessler asserts that the State Department said it would study the opinion ‘carefully’ and noted it continues to view the group as a terrorist organization.” [7] It’s clear that promptly, the court cast doubt not because they thought the MKO was really a peaceful and non-violent group, but because the MKO was denied access to classified information and therefore could not rebut.

It is important for Iranians to know that the people in the West are aware of the use of violence by the MKO against Iranian authorities and civilians. In fact, MKO terrorist activities are always mentioned in the United States’ description of the group. The following excerpt regarding the MKO’s activities is from the State Department’s “Patterns of Global Terrorism 2003”:

The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and occasionally uses terrorism. During the 1970s, the MEK killed U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. In 1981, the MEK detonated bombs in the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Premier’s office, killing some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. Near the end of the 1980-1988 war with Iran, Baghdad armed the MEK with military equipment and sent it into action against Iranian forces. In 1991, the MEK reportedly assisted the Government of Iraq in suppressing the Shia uprisings in southern Iraq and the Kurdish uprisings in the north. In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and installations in 13 countries, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. In April 1999, the MEK targeted key military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff. In April 2000, the MEK attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters, Tehran’s interagency board responsible for coordinating policies on Iraq. The normal pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during "Operation Great Bahman" in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. One of those attacks included a mortar attack against the leadership complex in Tehran that housed the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. In 2000 and 2001, the MEK was involved regularly in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military and law enforcement units and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border, although MEK terrorism in Iran declined toward the end of 2001. The MEK leadership ordered its members not to resist Coalition forces at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, and they surrendered their arms to Coalition forces in May 2003. [8]

In May 2005, Newsweek’s Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball wrote an article about the hullabaloo of the MKO. They state that the MKO has long been controversial because of its history of violent attacks in Iran, its relationship with Saddam’s regime and its background as a quasi-religious, quasi-Marxist radical resistance group founded in the era of the late Iranian shah. They mention that in 1997, the Clinton administration put MKO on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist groups. They also put forward that the MKOs U.S. supporters, among whom at one point numbered dozens of members of Congress, charged that the Clinton administration only labeled MKO as a terrorist group as part of an ill-conceived attempt to improve relations with the ayatollahs who currently run Iran. They relate that the Bush administration added two alleged MKO front organizations to the State Department’s terrorist list in 2003. [9] Isikoff and Hosenball state that “despite the group’s notoriety, Bush himself cited purported intelligence gathered by [MKO] as evidence of the Iranian regime’s rapidly accelerating nuclear ambitions. At a March 16 press conference, Bush said Iran’s hidden nuclear program had been discovered not because of international inspections but ‘because a dissident group pointed it out to the world.’ White House aides acknowledged later that the dissident group cited by the president is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), one of the [MKO] front groups added to the State Department list two years ago.”[10] Finally the Newsweek article reveals that “in an appearance before a House International Relations Subcommittee a year ago, John Bolton, the controversial State Department undersecretary who Bush has nominated to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, was questioned by a Congressman sympathetic to [MKO] about whether it was appropriate for the U.S. government to pay attention to allegations about Iran supplied by the group. Bolton said he believed that [MKO] ‘qualifies as a terrorist organization according to our criteria.’ But he added that he did not think the official label had ‘prohibited us from getting information from them. And I certainly don’t have any inhibition about getting information about what’s going on in Iran from whatever source we can find that we deem reliable.’” [11]

Regardless of John Bolton’s—or any other official’s ambition for Iran, and regardless of the MKOs position or non-position on the FTO list, the MKO simply can not and should not be a trusted device. Following the 2005 report of Human Rights Watch on MKO atrocities against its own members titled "No Exit," various cases of human rights violations by the MKO was revealed through testimonies made by the group’s former members. Joe Stork, a Human Rights Watch expert on the Middle East, in a UN Refugee Agency report stated that “it would be a mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for serious human rights abuses". [12]

U.S. officials, especially those of the State Department should research and reflect deeply before making any decision about a group that owns all the criteria of a destructive terrorist cult. Western politicians should realize that their support for the MKO will never improve their standing among Iranians inside or outside the country and the reason why is articulated by Trita Parsi, an author who founded the National Iranian American Council (NIAC):

[The MKOs] involvement in terrorism is undisputed. It assassinated several Americans in Iran in the 1970s. It supported the taking of the U.S. Embassy in Iran and blasted Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini for releasing the American diplomats in 1981, arguing instead that the hostages should have been executed. It made a pact with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s and fought alongside his army against their Iranian countrymen. Later in the 1990s, they became Saddam’s most trusted henchmen, tasked with quelling Kurdish and Shiite uprisings against the Iraqi dictator.

According to defectors, Mujahedin members in Camp Ashraf celebrated the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
In 2003, French authorities descended upon the Mujahedin headquarters in France, arresting the leader of the cult, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi. Immediately, zealous Mojahedin members staged hunger strikes and several set themselves ablaze. Hardly the behavior of a democratically oriented opposition group. [13]

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, whose reputation would be tarnished should she allow a change of status for the MKO after the current court ordered remand, would be making an insouciant error. The removal of the MKO from the FTO list is a Pandora’s Box and both the U.S. and Iran would face a political nightmare over the next several years. In order to be fair, the U.S. should afford the MKO the right to a democratic process in which they can review the charges against them, but they should also be acutely conscious as to why they are on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list in the first place, and why they need to remain there.

References:
[1] United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit. Argued January 12, 2010. Decided July 16, 2010 No. 09-1059. PMOI v. Hillary Clinton. http://pacer.cadc.uscourts.gov/common/opinions/201007/09-1059-1255582.pdf
[2] Ibid
[3] Ibid
[4] Ibid
[5] Policy prevents this author from citing this source, which is readily available on the web.
[6]Kessler, Glenn. "Court tells State Dept. to reconsider terrorist label for Iran opposition group." Washington Post 17 July 2010, Print.
[7] Ibid
[8] http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2005/65275.htm
[9] Isikoff Michael & Hosenball Mark. "Consider the Source: The State Department says MEK is a terror group. Human Rights Watch says it’s a cult. For the White House,
MEK is a source of intelligence on Iran.
”MSNBC.com 20 May 2005: Web. 10 Aug 2010. <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7902719/site/newsweek/>.
[10] Ibid
[11] Ibid
[12] Human Rights Watch, No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps, 18 May 2005. Web. 10 August 2010 http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/45d085002.html
[13] Parsi, Trita. "Deciding the Fate of the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation." Iran Press Service 10 October 2008: Web. 10 Aug 2010.
<http://www.iran-press-service.com/ips/articles-2008/october-2008/
deciding-the-fate-of-the-mojahedin-khalq-organisat.shtml>.

By Mazda Parsi

August 14, 2010 0 comments

USA

U.S. Intelligence Community: MEK trained females for suicide attacks

In newly declassified documents for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia Circuit, US department of State unveiled that based on the assessments of the U.S. Intelligence Community, the MEK trains female members of the organization for committing suicide operations in Karbala. The documents also say that the MEK solicits money under the U.S. Intelligence Community: MEK trained females for suicide attacks false pretext of humanitarian aid to the Iranian population.

Among the disclosures in the declassified material: “the MEK trained females at Camp Ashraf in Iraq to perform suicide attacks in Karbala”; “the MEK solicits money under the false pretext of humanitarian aid to the Iranian population”; “an August 2008 U.S. Intelligence Community Terrorist Threat Assessment, clearly states that the MEK retains a limited capability to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism”; “[t]he MEK publicly renounced violence in 2001, but limited intelligence reporting indicates that the group has not ended military operations, repudiated violence, or completely or voluntarily disarmed”; “[t]he [intelligence community] assesses that although there has not been a confirmed terrorist attack by the MEK since the organization surrendered to Coalition Forces in 2003, the MEK retains a limited capability and the intent to use violence to achieve its political goals”; and “UN inspectors say that much of the information provided to the UN by the MEK about Iran’s nuclear program has a political purpose and has been wrong.”

Habilian reporting from declassified Court documents, August 12, 2010

August 14, 2010 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Complex brainwashing and indoctrination methods in the PMOI

What is the meaning of the ‘Salvation Dance’ (described by Mrs. Batool Soltani, ex-member of the PMOI Leadership Council in her autobiographical writing), which was performed by the Muslim Leadership Council’s women in front of Massoud Rajavi, the leader and founder of the Rajavi cult?

In this so-called Salvation Dance (nude dancing), the women of the Leadership Council were indoctrinated through cultic-religious psychological manipulation to remove all their clothes in front of their guru, imam, spiritual leader, Massoud Rajavi, who is responsible for sending them to heaven while they die for him, in order to show their devotion and allegiance to him.

In Iranian culture, and especially in Islamic culture, the nudity of women in front of men is considered as high corruption and sin. So the question which comes into the minds of right thinking people is “why is the leader of the PMOI, who claims to be Muslim and that his organization is a Muslim organization, demanding that his Leadership Council perform nude dancing in front of him and Maryam Rajavi?” Maybe you think that the PMOI has reformed its ideology into a more western-like culture? Or, that they do this to show their ideological differences with the current regime of Iran.

If you ask the operatives of Rajavi’s cult the same question they will respond that “it shows the richness of their ideology, in which the souls of women and men become as one with their spiritual leaders”. You could also say that Massoud Rajavi is a highly lustful and salacious leader, who wants to take advantage of the women in his organization, especially beautiful women.

Well, we can think and imagine whatever comes into our minds, but if you ask me, as someone who has spent nearly twenty-five years of my life in that organization, I have my own point of view about this sensitive but serious subject.

First of all, whatever interpretations are mentioned above are not wrong; they are correct to some extent, and I can not say that they do not exist at all. But are those above mentioned reasons considered as a threat or danger? Having passion and lust for beautiful women, even as the PMOI’s leader is a matter of Massoud Rajavi’s own personal desires, or even that they are trying their best to show themselves as an open minded and reformed organization and not as a fanatical one to western countries. In this interpretation the behavior may look strange but not dangerous. But what is really happening there? And what is the real purpose of such deeds that occur in the PMOI’s internal affairs? What is the real interpretation of nude dancing in the PMOI? Is it utilized as a tool? What are the leaders of the cult thinking by performing such strange and odd activities? What do they want to achieve?

For Muslim women, according to their religion, one of the most precious and vital aspects of their belief is their cover (hijab); for that reason you would not see even the hair of a Muslim woman because it is covered by a headscarf. In Ashraf garrison, the PMOI’s main base, women and men are completely separated from each other, even their gas station working hours are divided between men and women, and no man can go for gas during the women’s turn, and vice versa.

These women in the Leadership Council are all Muslim, and they are very devout and serious in practicing their religion, and all of them wear a headscarf (hijab). So, taking off their clothes in front of their guru and leader and being naked is a giant step in their internal affairs. It is the end result of the long-term brainwashing and indoctrination which began in 1989 (Second Ideological Revolution).

In this final test, they become completely and utterly devoted and obedient and ready for any order which comes from Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. If this nude dancing which was performed by the Leadership Council in front of Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, were just to satisfy Massoud’s lust and his sexual desires, it could be considered as Rajavi’s sexual exploitation of women inside the PMOI. But the question remains “what did Rajavi want to achieve after all those years of brainwashing and indoctrination?”

To answer these questions I will take you back-stage in the PMOI. These ladies, the Leadership Council, are high commanders and they have many subordinates, the rank and file, who are under their direct command. To gain this position, these ladies must have proven themselves to Massoud and Maryam Rajavi as being ready and willing to implement and carry out their orders by all means, so they had to undergo the most difficult test which was opposite to their religious regulations and beliefs. Taking off all their clothes, even their underwear, in front of Rajavi means they had become the soul of him and at one with him to the point that they are ready to do whatever he wishes. (Do not forget that these ladies, the Leadership Council, are devoted Mulsims.)

After this prelude, I take you to the year of 2003. In that year, many PMOI members set themselves on fire in Paris and other countries in protest to the incarceration of Maryam Rajavi. Setting themselves on fire was an order which came directly from the leaders and Leadership Council of the PMOI. Just by conveying six words: set yourself on fire for Maryam, many of the brainwashed members killed or injured and disabled themselves for that cause. This is the dangerous aspect of Rajavi’s religious indoctrination and brainwashing methods.
These PMOI Muslim women, after passing through many years under religious-cultic indoctrination, entered into the final test to show that they were ready to carry out anything desired by their leaders, even by trampling their Islamic regulations. Their nude dancing in front of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi was the final phase of their brainwashing to become committed, loyal and devoted to their gurus, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. It showed their allegiance to them for implementing their orders in the PMOI’s internal relations, which means maximum suppression and oppression of the rank and file to keep them as captives and slaves of Rajavi’s cultic thoughts, and ready to implement any order by all means, whenever and wherever their leaders desire.

Unfortunately, all the PMOI Leadership Council’s members who are still in the PMOI have had all human sentiment hollowed out from them, and as a result they are capable of implementing many hazardous deeds and missions; and surely it is not their fault since Rajavi and his brainwashing methods made them like this.

I assert that nude dancing is the final step in brainwashing of the Leadership Council which Rajavi utilizes for implementing his desires. These dangerous desires could be a mass suicide, setting their members ablaze, a mass hunger strike to death, and terrorist activities, etc.

In the end, I do not reject the idea which says Rajavi is a salacious leader, or that he has a passion and lust for women but I emphasize that we should be alert and vigilant to the dangerous purposes and objectives of all this brainwashing and religious indoctrination that Rajavi has done for many years. All these indoctrination and brainwashing methods, which I call “Rajavi’s complicated tools”, are designed for the cult leaders to forward their cultic objectives, whenever and wherever needed, and that is the thing which makes this cult so dangerous and terrifying.

So, in my view, the PMOI is as a dangerous poisonous snake which if you are not vigilant enough, will bite you, and believe me, its poison is deadly as hell, so watch out.

Respectfully
Hassan Piransar , an expert on the PMOI,Paris

August 14, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Letter of Ms. Abdullahi to the US Secretary of States

How is it that you recognize the MKO as a terrorist group but at the same time you support it to keep our children as gladiators in slavery?

(No wages! No spouses! No family! No outside contact! No readings! No thinking! No future! No . . . ! Just worshiping Rajavi, being terrorists, and killing until being killed)

Ms. Sorayya Abdullahi has written a letter to the US Secretary of States on behalf of the families picketing in front of Ashraf cultic garrison in Iraq which is seen below. It is worth mentioning that hundreds of family members of the victims seized inside Rajavi cult (Mojahedin-e Kahlq Organization – MKO) in Iraq have been picketing outside Ashraf garrison the base of this cult in Iraq for about six months and demanding visiting their relatives, but the MKO is still refusing to fulfill their demands. The physical and psychological pressure on these families caused by long time demonstration has led to Ms. Abdullahi and some others to be hospitalized in Baghdad.

Mrs. Hilary Clinton
US Secretary of States

I have learned that the Mojahedin-e Kahlq Organization (MKO- Rajavi cult) has once again been designated as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) by the US State Department. We are of course pleased that the United States government recognizes the group as a terrorist cult. But this letter is about the rights of the families of the members of the cult in Ashraf garrison the base of the MKO in Iraq. I am a mother and my son has been seized inside the garrison for many years. I am writing this letter from the hospital and I am not in a healthy condition at all.

It is now round 6 months that I am picketing along some other families outside the main gate of Ashraf garrison. Not only the leaders of the cult have not given a positive answer to us, but also they have continuously intimidated and insulted us in order to keep us away from our relatives. Isn’t it our right to be able to visit our loved ones and freely talk to them while they are just a few hundred meters away?

The Iraqi government wished to dismantle the garrison and put the leaders of the cult on trial for their crimes against the Iraqi people and free the victims. Apparently they cannot execute their official decision since the influence of dominating powers in Iraq would not let them do so. Would you consider this a just policy that on one hand you designate the MKO as a terrorist group and on the other hand use your influence to support them and do not let the families reach their just and natural demands?

The UNHCR, the ICRC, the AI, the HRW, the Iraqi officials and the ministry of human rights of this country, and many lawyers and politicians have approved the legitimacy of our demand and believe that the leaders of the MKO must be under pressure to accept the wish of the families.

Even well-known international institutes such as the American RAND and the British Chatham House are now criticizing US the support for the Rajavi terrorist cult and are disturbed by this support. We do not need or ask for the support of the US, but if your government stop backing the group which you designate as terrorists, this would be a great help to us to reach our just demands to see our loved ones.

There are some views indications that some war mongering cliques who have a great influence on US policy wish to save the cultic structure of the MKO with the hope that one day maybe they can be used against the Islamic Republic of Iran the same way that Saddam Hussein did. Is this true? If not how would you justify the double standard policy of US administration against this terrorist group?

I, as well as the suffering mothers and families who have gathered outside Ashraf garrison despite the high temperature and hard living, would like to have a clear answer from you. Please do not respond to us saying that this is not related to your government since it is clear for all of us and even for the international officials in Baghdad that the American forces and the American influence in Iraq is the only obstacle against to freely visiting our relatives and I write this letter on their recommendation and I ask for answer.

Apparently some currents among US policy makers consider our children as free and ready to use terrorists who must go to kill until they are killed. How do you justify this undue policy for your people and for the people of the world? It seems that we have no choice but to either continue the present sufferings and go to hospital one by one or reach to our right and see our beloved ones.

Copy to:
US Ambassador in Baghdad
UN General Secretary
UNHCR
ICRC
IA
HRW
Iraqi minister of human rights
Iraqi and international media
American Forces Commander in Iraq

Sorayya Abdullahi
On behalf of the families picketing outside Ashraf garrison in Iraq
Baghdad – hospital
Saturday 7 Aug 2010

hundreds of family members of the victims seized inside Rajavi cult (Mojahedin-e Kahlq Organization – MKO) in Iraq have been picketing outside Ashraf

About Ms. Abdullahi and her son:
Ms. Sorayya Abudllahi Mirzanaqi the daughter of Gholam-Reza was born in 1961 and lives in the city of Ardabil in the north west of Iran. She has two daughters and one son. His son named Amir-Aslan Hassanzadeh the son of Manuchehr was born in 1982. He left Iran to Turkey in June 2002 along with his friend Mahmoud Akbari to find a job and of course a better life in Germany.

After 10 days Amir called his mother and said that he is in a hotel in Ankara and has found a man called Ali Ankaraii and he is supposed to take them to Germany.

Ali Ankaraii is a known name for all trapped in the Rajavi cult in Turkey. He was the MKO contact man in Turkey and of course he never used to reveal his true identity and the organization he was working for to his victims. He managed to send many individuals to Iraq through Jordan deceiving them for a job and a better life in Europe.

Ali Ankaraii called Amir’s mother and asked her several thousand dollars but Ms. Abdullahi could only manage to send 1700 USD to Ali’s bank account.

Finally Amir told her mother that she could ring him after two weeks and gave her a telephone number in Germany. Ms. Abdullahi tried several times to call the given number but did not succeed and could never find a trace of her son.

Round 5 years after Amir had been disappeared one day Mahmoud Akbari, Amir’s friend, went to Ms. Abdullahi’s house. She was surprised to see him there and asked him what happened in Germany and asked him after Amir. Mahmoud answered that they did not go to Germany but to Ashraf garrison the base of the MKO in Iraq. He then explained that he left the MKO when the Americans invaded Iraq and came to Iran with the help of the Red Cross. He also said that he asked Amir to go along with him but Amir said that if he leaves the MKO he would have no choice but to go to Iran where he would definitely be executed.

August 12, 2010 0 comments

Iran

Spokesman Calls US Biggest Sponsor of Terrorism

Spokesman Calls US Biggest Sponsor of Terrorism in Decades
Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast condemned the US for sponsoring and conducting terrorist operations across the globe while accusing other countries of state-sponsored terrorism under false pretexts.
Iran's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast
"Under such circumstances that instances of the US behavior show this country has been the biggest sponsor of terrorism during the last three decades, Washington projects the blame and levels void accusations against other countries in a bid to conceal its acts in this regard," Mehman-Parast said on Monday.

Addressing the international community, he stressed the necessity for preventing the outburst of such unfounded and biased claims and accusations, and warned that such a trend can negatively affect international trust as the main pillar of global stability and security.

He also deplored the US State Department’s annual report on terrorism which has accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism, and said the Islamic Republic of Iran has always made special efforts to cooperate with the international community in fighting terrorism.

Mehman-Parast blasted the double-standard policy adopted by certain western countries, specially the US, on terrorism, and said while these states accuse others of sponsoring terrorism, they provide support for the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), and the terrorist Jundollah group.

The Jundollah terrorist group is responsible for several terrorist operations which have killed tens of citizens, officials and security forces in southeastern Iran. The group is directly sponsored and supported by Washington.

Abdolmalek Rigi, the ringleader of the terrorist group, confessed after his arrest in late February that his group was assisted and supported by the US and disclosed that he was on route to Bishkek to meet a high-ranking US official at a nearby military base when he was arrested by Iranian security forces.

Rigi also said that he and the US official were going to discuss new terrorist attacks on Iranian territory.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

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

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

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

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

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

August 10, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Disgusting show on the MKO television

As you may well know a large number of families of seized members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) in Ashraf garrison, the base of MKO in Iraq, are picketing in front of the main gate of the garrison for over six months and demanding the visit of their loved ones. But the leaders of the cult refuse to fulfill this demand for unjustified excuses.

Alarge number of families of seized members of the mko in Ashraf garrison, the base of MKO in Iraq, are picketing in front of the main gate of the garrison

Today (Friday 6 Aug 2010) at 1400 Baghdad time, the satellite television of the Rajavi cult showed two of its victims called Barat-Ali Rigi and Sa’id Sohrabi-Nezhad forced to insult their own families in front of the camera. These two shattered victims under severe psychological and physical pressures imposed by the Rajavi cult were made to call their own families “vile clown” and name the action of their suffering families as “circus of animal”.

What the two mentioned seized victims have been dictated to say and they of course had rehearsed it several times was totally irrelevant to the case of the families. They said that since the resistance (alias for the Rajavi cult) is gaining victories every day and the Iranian regime is badly terrified, then they have forced the families to go to Iraq and try to see their relatives and sit in front of the gate of Ahsraf garrison for six months in intolerable conditions. The Rajavi cult has claimed through these two victims that the protests inside Iran and the sanctions imposed on the country has put the Iranian regime in the corner and hence they have put their pressure on the Ashraf garrison and have arranged the conspiracy of the families.

These allegations have been raised many times by the leaders and the elements of the cult and their excuse for not letting the members go out of Ashraf for a few hours to meet their relatives is that, as they say, the families who have come from far away round the world are agents of the Iranian ministry of intelligence. While the truth is that the MKO is in a very tight situation in Iraq and is so afraid of the mind manipulated members visiting their relatives since they see it equivalent to their emotions being roused and the effects of brainwashing fade away and consequently they leave the cult. This is what the Rajavi cult is terrified of and the rest is excuses and playing games.

But if one can assume that the cult is honest we come with a suggestion to counter the conspiracy of the families who, as said by these two members, have been sitting in front of Ashraf garrison in depressing conditions for six months. The best way is that these two who have been chosen for the television show and others who are all supposedly more intellectual and more intelligent comparing to their families spend a few hours and step outside Ashraf garrison and brief their families and persuade them to join the cult. Or even better make a trip to Baghdad and talk in front of Iraqi and foreign reporters and repeat the same words and answer their questions. But no doubt the leaders of the cult would never allow such things to happen and the reason is known to everyone.

But Massoud Rajavi must know that these disgusting television shows and forcing individuals to insult and accuse their own families would never solve any problem for him. When the families see these filthy tricks they become more certain that their relatives are victims of a cult and they become more assured that their loved ones must be saved. The truth is that the Rajavi cult in Iraq is stuck in a deadly trouble and this is why the leaders are afraid of even old parents of their followers and of course this is the auto-dynamic answer of history to those who wrongly think that end could justify means.

August 10, 2010 0 comments

USA

MKO Remains in US Blacklist

The anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), remained in the US list of terrorist groups and organizations despite intense efforts by Zionist lobbies and a number of the Congressmen to delist the group.

The US State Department announced in its recent annual report on terrorism that no change has been made in the MKO’s status.

The MKO insists that the US should delist it as a terrorist organization, a demand which has been rejected so far by Washington.

An appeals court in the US had earlier ruled that the State Department should review the terror status of the MKO.

The MKO had filed a petition against the US blacklisting in 2008.

The Bush administration, however, rejected the request in its final days in 2009, after examining the material submitted by the group and the US intelligence community, including classified information.

In July 2010, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals in Washington said in a 22-page decision that the US government failed to give the group a fair chance to rebut unclassified information that claimed the group supported terrorist activities.

The government was obligated under a 1996 antiterrorism law and 2004 revisions to give the group the chance to rebut unclassified information, the appeals court said, adding that the group was "permitted access to the unclassified portion of the record only after the decision was final."
In a statement, the State Department said it would study the decision, but added that the US government continues to view the group as a terrorist organization.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

Some other members of the MKO who have had a role in the assassination of a large number of Iranian citizens and officials are currently living in France.

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

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

Earlier this year, Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.

Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.

The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi — the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.

Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.
He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in the western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.
Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in western states and blocks their departure afterwards.

August 8, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Israel’s Secret Relationship with MKO

In the 1960’s when the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) was founded by a handful of Iranian university students, its ideology encompassed a classless, monotheist society which denied all symbols of Western capitalism and Jewish Zionism. With this denial came a penchant for violence and systematic killing—killing which the State Department recognizes as terrorism. Michael Rubin, an independent scholar who in 2009, led a workshop at the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee—America’s pro-Israeli lobby) conference in Washington DC, wrote an article in 2006 titled “Monsters of the Left” in which he declares that the “MKO launched a wave of bomb attacks which targeted the Iran-American Society, the US Information office, the Hotel International, Pepsi Cola, General Motors, and the Marine Oil Company […] In a wave of bombings that continued into 1975, the MKO group attacked clubs, stores, police facilities, minority-owned businesses, factories it accused of having ‘Israeli connections,’ and symbols of state and capitalism.” [1] While carrying out these attacks, the MKO not only denounced Israel, but it supported the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), and in fact, during the 1970’s, some of the MKO’s core members went to train in PLO military camps. [2] The MKO’s hostility towards Israel and Zionism was so strong that it led them to bomb the Jordanian Embassy in Tehran, “to revenge King Hussein’s September 1970 crackdown on their PLO patrons,”admits Rubin. [3] Israel may have been an enemy of the MKO at one time, but now they have warmed to them—because the ideology of the MKO has shifted, and Israel may be able to use them.

Now, the MKO could use a helping hand too because since the US-led invasion of Iraq, in the enclave of Camp Ashraf, a place the MKO has called home for over two decades, there is impending precariousness. The MKO fears for its future because they are no longer under the protection of Saddam Hussein, and there’s no telling what the shaky new Iraqi government will do. What’s more, the U.S. government no longer considers MKO members in Iraq to have the “protected-persons” status the U.S. gave them in 2003, and is privately supportive of Iraqi government efforts to encourage the residents to leave. [4] At present, the MKO’s biggest fear is Iranian reprisal. Even though they helped bring about the 1979 Islamic Revolution, killing Americans and ousting the Shah, in the years following, they simply proved to be too power hungry for the Iranian regime. In a move which was designed to distance them from the regime, and gain support, they changed their ideology, and in the 1980’s joined Saddam Hussein and moved to Camp Ashraf in Iraq (where many of them still remain). During the time in Iraq, they killed Kurds in exchange for arms, and then turned against the government they helped bring to power—killing Iranian officials and civilians. Support they needed from Iran shriveled, and the people of Iran now hold the MKO accountable for their deadly attacks on citizens and officials throughout the last four decades. For the MKO leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, a worst case scenario would be deportation back to Iran because they are viewed as fascist cultists, and worse, traitors. With this kind of track record, a relationship between the MKO and Israel is weirdly devious—and secret.

The MKO sees the West’s support as their only hope for continued existence. In order to formulate opportunity within the framework of hope, they no longer denounce imperialism and Zionism. And in a last ditch move to maintain their dying support among a small minority of Iranians, they have turned to President Ahmadinejad’s “Zionist” foes—credulous Western politicians and, yes, Israel. Despite the MKO’s past admonition of Zionism, Israel has been obliging, secretly working with the MKO in opposition to Iran. In order publicly unite with the West, the MKO came to the media in 2003 and announced that Iran had nuclear warheads—which according to the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA), turned out to be wrong. Not only was the information incorrect, but it was fabricated by the Israeli government. In June 2009, Gareth Porter, an expert on U.S. national security policy, published an article on IPS, titled”Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel Analysis.”Porter reveals that”Israeli intelligence was the source of the collection of intelligence documents which have been used to accuse Iran of hiding nuclear weapons research.” [5] Referring to various sources, Porter asserts that”the documents collection which the IAEA has called ‘alleged studies’ actually originated in Israel and in fact Israel intelligence assembled the documents.”[6] According to Porter, “German officials have said that the Mujahedin E Khalq or MEK, the Iranian resistance organization, brought the laptop documents collection to the attention of U.S. intelligence, as reported by IPS in February 2008.

Israeli ties with the political arm of the MEK, the National Committee of Resistance in Iran (NCRI), go back to the early 1990’s and include assistance to the organization in broadcasting into Iran from Paris.” [7] The Germans have long been wary of the MKO and Germany’s Office for the Protection of the Constitution has noted that the MKO’s propaganda campaigns often include attempts to contact members of parliament to inform them of the MKO’s alleged goals, encourage political support, and influence parliamentary debate about Iran.

MKO’s secret ties with Israel do not begin or end with Iranian nuclear documents. They also unabashedly attend AIPAC functions. In fact, the MKO has intensive and very direct cooperation with the Iran Policy Committee, a spinoff of AIPAC. Mahan Abedin, a journalist for the Asia Times, reports that there are regular media reports which allude to direct Israel-MKO ties. [9] In an article that Abedin wrote in which he interviewed a former MKO member, Massoud Bani Sadr, BaniSadr disclosed that”the [MKO] is exclusively motivated by the interests of the cult, and as such it will cooperate with any constituency. If there is any hesitation in collaboration it stems from Israeli reluctance, since the Mujahedin because of its close relationship with the PLO, is not fully trusted by Israelis. On the other hand from an Israeli perspective, the [MKO] is the only viable tool against Iran.”[10] In 2006, Connie Bruck, a writer for New Yorker, spoke with an Israeli diplomat who declined to elaborate on the MKO-Israel relationship, but did at least say to Bruck that “Israel had found the [MKO] useful.”[11]

Richard Silverstein points out that the Israeli lobby in Washington advocates tougher U.S. policy against the Islamic Republic. [12] And the MKO is all for it. In their efforts for starting a war with Iran, or impose crippling sanctions on it, the Israel lobby and the neocons have been aided by two groups of Iranian exiles: the monarchists, and members and supporters of the MKO. [13] Silverstein notes that “Israel is in the midst of a massive diplomatic, political and intelligence campaign, both public and covert, that could lead – if those officials behind it have their way – towards a military strike on Iran. It is a war for the hearts and minds of Americans. Or you might call it the war before the war. In intelligence circles, this Israeli project is known as perception management and defined by the department of defense as:

Actions to convey and/or deny information … to foreign audiences to influence their emotions, motives and objective reasoning as well as to intelligence systems and leaders … ultimately resulting in foreign behaviors and official actions favorable to [US] objectives. In various ways, perception management combines truth projection, operations security, cover and deception and psychological operations.” This is a parallel policy which is consistently held by the MKO, and its political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). In hope that Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the MKO, will become the puppet of the United States—a shoe in the door in Iran, the NCRI’s website maintains a canopy of praise for the U.S. for anything which is against Iran and the Iranian people. (Recently the NCRI’s website ran a headline that states, “Maryam Rajavi, President elect of the Iranian Resistance, welcomed the imposition of new sanctions against the mullahs’ regime by the US and the European Union”) [14]. The relationship with the US, the sanctions, and the underlying reasons and ramifications for pressing sanctions should be seen as more complex for the Rajavi’s, as they deem themselves Iranians—because Iranians are simply too savvy, and they know that sanctions are just a simplistic reprisal. The Rajavi’s attitude and blind devotion to U.S. policy, along with their support for the Israeli lobby shows that they are out of touch with Iranian sentiment. Iran doesn’t like Israel’s attitude and blind devotion to itself and its expansion. For Iranians, Israel demonstrates a haughtiness that doesn’t chronicle nicely with the rest of the Middle East, and Israel’s policy towards Iran is to pressure the U.S. to do what Israel wants. After 9/11 Iran held sympathy for the U.S. and offered to exchange al-Qaida terrorists for MKO terrorists [15]. But the Bush administration neoconservatives declined after Israelis met with Manuchehr Ghorbanifar (an unreliable intelligence source for the U.S. who was involved in the Iran Contra scandal). The Jerusalem Post reveals that at least one of the meetings was quite specific with regard to an attempt to torpedo better US/Iran relations:

“The purpose of the meeting with Ghorbanifar was to undermine a pending deal that the White House had been negotiating with the Iranian government. At the time, Iran had considered turning over five al-Qaeda operatives in exchange for Washington dropping its support for Mujahadeen Khalq, an Iraq-based rebel Iranian group listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department.”[16]

According to Juan Cole, an expert on the Middle East, “The neoconservatives have some sort of shadowy relationship with the Mujahadeen-e Khalq Organization, or MEK [MKO]. Presumably its leaders have secretly promised to recognize Israel if they ever succeed in overthrowing the ayatollahs in Iran. When the U.S. recently categorized the MEK as a terrorist organization, there were howls of outrage from ‘scholars’ associated with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, such as ex-Trotskyite Patrick Clawson and Daniel Pipes.”[17]
MKO ties with US and Israel officials might offer short-term benefits to the group. But they will harm the fame of those who currently support them. Despite all effort made by the MKO propaganda campaign to win the support of AIPAC which “has a lot of weight” in U.S. congress according to Massoud Bani Sadr, the MKO”have not been able to pass a single substantial resolution in support of the organization in congress. Note also that the US government regards the Mujahedin as a terrorist organization and does not want to create another Al-Qaeda.”[18] For now these strange bedfellows must remain a secret.

References:
[1] Rubin, Michael.”Monsters of the Left.”Frontpagemagazine.com 13 January 2006: Web. 30 Jul 2010.
<http://97.74.65.51/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=6036>.
[2] Abrahamian, Ervand. The Iranian Mojahedin. London, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. p 127.
[3] Rubin, Michael. Ibid
[4] McNaught, Anita.”Iranian Militant MeK Group Losing Fight to Stay in Iraq.”Fox News” 12 January 2009: Web. 30 Jul 2010.
<http://www.foxnews.com/story/0, 2933, 479404, 00.html>.
[5] Porter, Gareth.”Report Ties Dubious Iran Nuclear Docs to Israel.”IPS 3 June 2009: Web. 31 Jul 2010.
<http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47081>.
[6]Porter, Gareth. Ibid
[7]Porter, Gareth. Ibid
[8] According to Mahan Abedin, an Independent Iranian journalist for the Asia Times and an expert on Iran, Iraq, and Islamic movements and ideologies.
See Abedin, Mahan.”Dissent and Defection: An Iranian Confession.”Asia Times Online (18 may 2006): Web. 31 Jul 2010.
[9] Abedin, Mahan.”Dissent and Defection: An Iranian Confession.”Asia Times Online (18 may 2006): Web. 31 Jul 2010.
[10] Bruck, Connie.”A Reporter at Large: Exiles.”New Yorker 6 March 2006: 48.
[11] Silverstein, Richard.”AIPAC’s Hidden Persuaders.”Guardian 15 May 2009
<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/may/13/aipac-iran-us-obama>.
[12] Sahimi, Muhammad.”The Israel Lobby, the Neocons, and the Iranian-American Community.”Antiwar.com 21 November 2009: Web. 2 Aug 2010.
[13] NCRI website
[14] Windrem, Robert.”Al-Qaida Finds Safe Haven in Iran.”MSNBC.com 24 June 2005: 2 Aug 2010.
<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8330976/>.
[15] Cole, Juan.”AIPAC’s Overt and Covert Ops.”Antiwar.com 30 August 2004: 2 Aug 2010.
<http://www.antiwar.com/cole/?articleid=3467>.
The article Juan Cole cites, which is no longer available online, originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post.
[16] Cole, Juan. Ibid
[17] Sherwell, Philip.”Israel Launches Covert War Against Iran.”Telegraph 16 February 2009.
<http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/4640052/
Israel-launches-covert-war-against-Iran.html>
[18] Bruck, Connie. Ibid

By: Mazda Parsi

August 8, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

If they were American mothers . . . !

Imagine if the suffering mothers and families of the mentally seized members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) were American, British or Israeli, what would be their present circumstances? We are talking about those families who have no trace of their loved ones for more than two decades and just have heard from the former members that they are still in Ashraf garrison (base of Rajavi cult) in Iraq and hundreds of them have been sitting in front of Ashraf main gate in tough conditions for about six months with the hope that they can eventually see their relatives.

To guess the answer to the above question is not hard. In such a case the Voice of America and BBC and all western media as well as international and humanitarian organizations would raise their voice for those families and would let the world know about their hardship and would release thousands of photos and news pieces with exact details. They would cry for them and make songs and arrange interviews.

But unfortunately the political circumstances is in a such way that influences are made in the western policy by war mongering cliques who think that the Rajavi cult might one day be useful for them and they might be able to use the useless elements of the cult trained and used once by Saddam Hussein. They of course know that they must not take these free terrorists back to their own countries.

Their natural and logic demand is just like any other mother in the world. They wish to visit their loved ones

Mothers and families of course are not interested with political affairs. Their natural and logic demand is just like any other mother in the world. They wish to visit their loved ones.

This demand is recognized in the whole world even for criminals and dangerous prisoners. But the members of the Rajavi cult according to the teachings of the cult must regard their families as enemies and have no right to visit them. Massoud Rajavi the leader of the cult justifies this rule as considering the emotional affections with the families would distance the members from the so called struggle and hence they would leave the cult. Rajavi has mind-manipulated his follower for many years by killing all sorts of emotions in their hearts and has turned them into robots who can fulfill his desires. According to the doctrine of the cults that Rajavi follows too, if a person manages to kill the love for his/her family, therefore the person is capable of killing anyone including him/herself.

Rajavi is standing against the families and would not yield to their demands, since he thinks if he let his followers go outside the Ashraf garrison and visit their families they would learn about the outside world and the consequence would be that they no longer obey him and his cult would collapse. Once Rajavi’s slogan was “death to America” and he was proud of it. Then his main enemy became the Islamic Republic of Iraq and now the front line of his battle is the families.

The Iraqi government righteously urges the Ashraf camp which is unique in its kind in the whole world to be dismantled and the leaders of the cult be tried and the victims be freed to choose their own destiny. This demand of course has not been fulfilled since the forces that have power in Iraq wish to keep the Rajavi cult alive on the boarder to Iran for their own supposedly interests and they have done so until now (RAND report) and it is clear that they have no sympathy for the families. The elements of the cult can be useful for them when they are brainwashed and obey the commands of the leaders without questions and fight like gladiators and kill until they are killed. The presence of the families of course bothers them and their backers.

Only those who have a loved one in Ashraf garrison and fear from the fact that they could for any reason be a victim of the greed of the leader can fully understand the families’’ situation. But anyone can put him/herself in their place and try to understand how these suffering families might feel. The concerned families do need sympathy and moral support. They are not Americans but after all they are mothers.

August 8, 2010 0 comments

USA

The MEK remained in US terror list

The MEK remained in US terror list Despite all the vast propaganda campaign and pulling any lobbying string, while leaving no stone unturned, for taking the name of MEK out of the US State Department terror list, once again this terrorist group was designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

In a new report by the US Department of State office of the coordination for counterterrorism which was released on August 5, 2010, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization was referred to as a terrorist organization.

MUJAHADIN-E KHALQ ORGANIZATION
aka MEK; MKO; Mujahadin-e Khalq (Iranian government name for group); Muslim Iranian Students’ Society; National Council of Resistance; NCR; Organization of the People’s Holy Warriors of Iran; the National Liberation Army of Iran; NLA; People’s Mujahadin Organization of Iran; PMOI; National Council of Resistance of Iran; NCRI; Sazeman-e Mujahadin-e Khalq-e Iran
Description:

The MEK was originally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997. The MEK is a Marxist-Islamic Organization that seeks the overthrow of the Iranian regime through its military wing, the National Liberation Army (NLA), and its political front, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

The MEK was founded in 1963 by a group of college-educated Iranian Marxists who opposed the country’s pro-western ruler, Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The group participated in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that replaced the Shah with a Shiite Islamist regime led by Ayatollah Khomeini. However, the MEK’s ideology – a blend of Marxism, feminism, and Islamism – was at odds with the post-revolutionary government and its original leadership was soon executed by the Khomeini regime. In 1981, the group was driven from its bases on the Iran-Iraq border and resettled in Paris, where it began supporting Iraq in its eight year war against Khomeini’s Iran. In 1986, after France recognized the Iranian regime, the MEK moved its headquarters to Iraq, which facilitated its terrorist activities in Iran. Since 2003, roughly 3,400 MEK members have been encamped at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

Activities:
The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives. During the 1970s, the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. In 1972, the MEK set off bombs in Tehran at the U.S. Information Service office, a U.S. diplomatic facility staffed by internationally protected persons, the Iran-American Society, and the offices of several U.S. companies to protest the visit of President Nixon to Iran. In 1973, the MEK assassinated the deputy chief of the U.S. Military Mission in Tehran and bombed several businesses, including Shell Oil. In 1974, the MEK set off bombs in Tehran at the offices of U.S. companies to protest the visit of then U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger. In 1975, the MEK assassinated two U.S. military officers who were members of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in Tehran. In 1976, the MEK assassinated two U.S. citizens who were employees of Rockwell International in Tehran. In 1979, the group claimed responsibility for the murder of an American Texaco executive.

In 1981, MEK leadership attempted to overthrow the newly installed Islamic regime; Iranian security forces subsequently initiated a crackdown on the group. The MEK instigated a bombing campaign, including an attack against the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Prime Minister’s office, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. These attacks resulted in a popular uprising against the MEK and an expanded Iranian government crackdown that forced MEK leaders to flee to France. For five years, the MEK continued to wage its terrorist campaign from its Paris headquarters. Expelled by France in 1986, MEK leaders turned to Saddam Hussein’s regime for basing, financial support, and training. Near the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Baghdad armed the MEK with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of MEK fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces.

The MEK’s relationship with the former Iraqi regime continued through the 1990s. In 1991, the group reportedly assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shia and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime. In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and installations in 13 countries, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. In June 1998, the MEK was implicated in a series of bombing and mortar attacks in Iran that killed at least 15 and injured several others. In April 1999, the MEK targeted key Iranian military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, Brigadier General Ali Sayyaad Shirazi.
In April 2000, the MEK attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters, Tehran’s interagency board responsible for coordinating policies on Iraq. The pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during “Operation Great Bahman” in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. One attack included a mortar attack against a major Iranian leadership complex in Tehran that housed the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. In 2000 and 2001, the MEK was involved in regular mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids against Iranian military and law enforcement personnel, as well as government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border. Also in 2001, the FBI arrested seven Iranians in the United States who funneled US$ 400,000 to an MEK-affiliated organization in the UAE, which used the funds to purchase weapons. Following an initial Coalition bombardment of the MEK’s facilities in Iraq at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, MEK leadership negotiated a cease-fire with Coalition Forces and surrendered their heavy-arms to Coalition control. Since 2003, roughly 3,400 MEK members have been encamped at Ashraf in Iraq.

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 “motivational” appearances via video-satellite to 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. In addition to discovering 13 lists of recipients of such vouchers on which the MEK appeared, evidence linking the MEK to the former Iraqi regime includes lists, as well as video footage of both Saddam Hussein handing over suitcases of money to known MEK leaders, and of MEK operatives receiving training from the Iraqi military.

Strength:
Estimates place MEK’s worldwide membership at between 5,000 and 10,000 members, with large pockets in Paris and other major European capitals. In Iraq, roughly 3,400 MEK members are gathered at Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s main compound north of Baghdad. As a condition of the 2003 cease-fire agreement, the MEK relinquished more than 2,000 tanks, armored personnel carriers, and heavy artillery. Between 2003 and 2006, a significant number of MEK personnel voluntarily left Ashraf, and an additional several hundred individuals renounced ties to the MEK and been voluntarily repatriated to Iran.

Location/Area of Operation:
The MEK’s global support structure remains in place, with associates and supporters scattered throughout Europe and North America. Operations target Iranian government elements across the globe, including in Europe and Iran. The MEK’s political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has a global support network with active lobbying and propaganda efforts in major Western capitals. NCRI also has a well-developed media communications strategy.

External Aid:
Before Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003, the MEK received all of its military assistance and most of its financial support from Saddam Hussein. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime has led the MEK increasingly to rely on front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities.
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2009/140900.htm

August 7, 2010 0 comments

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