Page 698 – Nejat Society

MKO’s Outlook on Democracy and Government

The methodology and worldview of MKO as well as the picture Rajavi depicts of the world is fundamentally in conflict with the principles of civility and its components like reason, rationale, interaction, forum and relativism in thought. In fact, he considers the truth as an absolute concept monopolized in the ideology of his organization. In other words, truth for Mojahedin is not a relative concept but a kind of dogmatic notion that has its roots in empirical sciences and ideology.

As a result, only one group, trend, worldview, and ideology has perfect legitimacy and there is no room for other ideologies, trends, and doctrines. Based on these understandings,

Rajavi came to the conclusion that his ideology could auto dynamically eliminate the outside forces to assume its hegemony and dominance step by step. He even criticized the structure of western knowledge and derided their offspring like liberalism and individualism as well as the theories of the intellectuals and theoreticians of capitalist world and American pragmatism in order to prove his philosophic and ideological inferences that were based on the principle of polarity.

Taking a look at the doctrines and principles of the organization extracted from the theoretical book “The way of Hussein” may give us a better understanding of the real viewpoint of the organization and its leadership on democracy and other manifestations of civility.

It will give us other instances of MKO methodology to prove the fact that Rajavi has temporally deviated from the organizational principles of Mojahedin that the organization strongly adhered to. Unlike the past, now Mojahedin pretend to move on the same line with Western-favored concepts like private ownership (equal to robbery in the doctrines of MKO), open-market economy, and capitalism in recent years to win the support of westerners and the US in particular. In the book “The Democracy Betrayed” that includes answers to the accusations of the declaration of the US State Department, it is claimed that the founders of the organization had no objective but modeling the American society. In other words, Rajavi seems to have yield to capitalism,

American democracy, as well as all its cultural and ideological accomplishments based on liberalism and pragmatism.

Of the challenges facing Mojahedin in the US State Department’s statement is that they are accused of ideological inclination toward a totalitarian government and supremacy of the minority: the ruling of minority over majority is an indication of the direct effects of Communism on Mojahedin. These concepts having their roots in historical materialism and the principle of polarity, are opposed to Imperialism and consider modern concepts like democracy as well as social and individual freedom mere slogans for deceiving the masses.

The following excerpt may prove that Mojahedin refrain to believe in democracy, the vote of majority yet consider these concepts as the main enemies of their ideology. On the other hand, Mojahedin believe in the rule of minority over majority and refusal of democracy and the freedoms promoted by liberalism. An important point is that Mojahedin rely on a dynamism without which there is no possibility for understanding Qur’an. This is the boundary drawn between the interpretations made by MKO founders from Qur’an and the classic ones from their early years. The following is an excerpt from the book “The way of Hussein” based on which the ideology of the organization is to be analyzed:

By accepting the dynamism of the Qur’an and understanding its attitudinal basis, we will find no justification to adapt it to capitalism or separate it from government. Particularly, it has to be pointed out that the Islamic government is rich in respecting freedom and the will of man yet has no similarity to the democracy promoted by the West that is mere superstition. On the other hand, it promotes a kind of power enforcement and council leadership and in general, the ruling of the pious is its final manifestation. In this frame, the pious who are recognized by their more awareness of social issues lead the society and move it toward the fundamental of Qur’an.1
It is concluded that Mojahedin recognize no legitimacy for democracy or election for choosing the type of government. More importantly, in contrast to what they propagandize on the separation of the state and religion, they fundamentally believe in an ideological system rooted in the religion and consider religion and government as two inseparable issues in opposition to the belief of capitalism and modern societies. They also believe that performing the dynamism of Qur’an is impossible but by grabbing at the combination of the state and religion on the one hand and negation of democracy on the other. It has been pointed out that they believe in the ruling of a particular group rather than election and democracy.

They refrain to see ruling based on the vote of majority of people and consider it based on the doctrines deducted from this dynamism and take its legitimacy from their ideology.
The only difference between the ideology of Mojahedin and Marxism is the substitution of common terminology of Marxism with new ones. Both are based on disagreement to election, social and individual freedom, rationale, reason, consensus, civil law, etc. A brief look at the history of Marxism in recent decades may give us a better understanding of the belief system of MKO in which modern concepts like separation of government and religion, election and democracy, respecting social and individual rights, freedom and other democratic concepts are considered superstition and nothing more.

References:
1. The Way of Hussein, MKO Publication, Tehran, 1980, p. 22.

August 18, 2009 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Temporal Marriage, Rajavi’s Latest Scandal

After the appearance of the first round of interviews of Sahar site with Mrs. Batool Soltani, a female member of council of leadership of MKO that has recently managed to escape Camp Ashraf, many noted the necessity of the continuation of these interviews. Now there are more than 20 episodes of these statements in Sahar site that confirms their accuracy and truthfulness. The surprising nature of her statements was anticipated yet the great extent to which they have caused surprise in readers was unexpected. She implies the fact that the extent of disclosure against the organizational activities of MKO depends on the extent of direct contact and interaction of members with the top layers of the organization. In other words, the closer the detached members to the top layers, the more shocking would be the exposé of the internal relations of the organization. The significance of her statements lies in the fact that she is the first female detached member of the organization from the highest echelon of MKO and one of the closest to the leadership. Therefore, she is an eyewitness and her statements are not but the description of her own observations in the organization.

It is evident that her statements on some aspects like the relation of Rajavi with the members of leadership cadre are so shocking for other detached members since as she asserts, even the ranks below the level of leadership cadre have not been aware of these affairs and Rajavi has insisted on secreting these information in the council of leadership. Consequently, members of a high organizational status that have been unaware of these relations appear terribly surprised. The statements of other detached members like Mr. Shahsavandi confirm the hierarchical order of MKO and its intra organizational censorship. Control of information is the common practice of Rajavi in all organizational issues. For example, what Mr. Shahsavandi knew about the trial of Ali Zarkesh as well as his own discussions with Rajavi in this regard was buried away up to his separation from the organization. This is another cultic profile of MKO reveled by many detached members like Mr. Shahsavandi and Mrs. Soltani.

Likewise, the issue of Rajavi’s temporary marriage with the female members of council of leadership has to be investigated from a cultic point of view as it is a common practice almost in all cults in which the leader has relation with female members. This is the latest news on the scandals of MKO leadership leading to numerous negative consequences. Before, many detached members as well as dissident opposition groups to MKO condemned the marriage of Masoud Rajavi with Maryam Azdanlu and considered it the result of love affair between the two while Rajavi tried to prevent its internal and external feedbacks by calling it an ideological marriage. Despite all the accusations made by MKO dissidents against Rajavi in this regard, we held out hope that this marriage was merely a solution for ending the political and ideological cul-de-sac of the organization rather than a love affair. Unfortunately, the statements of Mrs. Soltani raise our doubts in this regard.

A brief look at the past and the time when Mrs. Soltani escaped MKO and the intentional silence of Mojahedin on her first interviews refraining from confirming the news of her escape indicates that there was a rationale behind the silence of the organization. It is the common practice of the organization to take a hostile position toward any detached member (even of the lowest organizational status) and publicize a writing of the member implying that all his/her future statements against the organization would be baseless as it was practiced for Marzieh Qorsi and many more after their separation. Surprisingly enough, Mojahedin have refrained to take any position against Mrs. Soltani or accuse her abusively, why? Some reasons on this silence were elaborated on before. However, the statements of Mrs. Soltani give us a better understanding of the issue.

The silence of the organization as well as making contacts with Ms. Soltani on the part of the organization promising to prepare the ground for her to live wherever she likes with her children has its roots in the fact that the organization is well aware of the negative consequences of her escape and revelations so is making its utmost efforts to convince or tempt her to maintain silence on the secrets of the council of leadership. Undoubtedly, her statements on the temporal marriage of Rajavi with the female members of council of leadership would raise many complaints, doubts and questions like that of the marriage of Maryam and Masoud. Likewise, it is likely that Rajavi’s justifications for these marriages would be similar to that of his marriage with Maryam.

The only persons to answer the questions on this issue are Ms. Soltani and those aware of it yet taking silence due to some reasons. Therefore, Sahar site would act as a bridge between Ms. Soltani and the readers in this regard. Also, those researchers studying on cults and MKO in particular are supposed to devote a part of their efforts to this subject and publicize the results of their studies. Evidently, this was an introduction to the issue that will be followed by more specialized and detailed articles in this regard.

August 18, 2009 0 comments

Members of the MEK

MKO Leaders Forcing Members into Hunger Strike

Leaders of the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), force the group members into hunger strike in a bid to exert pressure on the world public opinion and international bodies.

Reports from inside the camp said that the move by the MKO leaders is aimed at securing their stay inside Camp Ashraf (now known as the Camp of New Iraq) – the MKO’s main training center and headquarters – by any means.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – last month 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.

Amid seizure of the MKO training base by Iraqi security forces, leaders of the terrorist group started forming a human chain against the Iraqis in a bid to increase costs of the camp’s seizure for Iraqi police and army.

The MKO top figures, including ringleader Masoud Rajavi, had assumed that the former US administration would issue the permission for attacking Iran so they could fight against the Islamic Republic together with the US forces.

Now the single goal of the terrorist group is preserving the training camp.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. The Iraqi government and parliament has announced that it would not tolerate the group anymore and is seeking to expel the group from the country in the near future.

The anti-Iran terror group has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many international entities and countries.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

Many of the MKO members 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.

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 Hussein 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.

The MKO was put on the US terror list in 1997 by the then President, Bill Clinton, but since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group has been strongly backed by the Washington Neocons, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

August 18, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

History and fate of Mojahedin Khalq if expelled from Iraq

Text of report by Majid Mehrabi-Delju entitled "Last house of discord" published in Iranian newspaper Hamshahri website on 9 August

Recently Iraq’s military forces were ordered by the country’s government to attack and take over History and fate of Mojahedin Khalq if expelled from Iraq Camp Ashraf, which had been at the disposal of the hypocrites [Monafeqin in Persian, reference to Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization] since the time of Saddam Hussein.

Reports and images of the attack were given extensive coverage by the world’s media. The Iraqi government denied it had been violent with the camp’s residents, though it was said the attack killed more than 10 and injured 200 people. The Iraqi government had been talking to the heads of this little group for two years so they would recognize Iraq’s national right to exercise sovereignty over this parcel of Iraqi soil. But the MKO’ leaders – it is not clear with which argument – negated this right of sovereignty and refused the Iraqi government entry into the camp.

They believe Iraq is under occupation and wanted Iraq to implement the Iraqi agreement with America concerning the camp, which would be considered a negation of Iraq’s sovereign rights over its territory.

"Among the MKO’ group in Camp Ashraf, there are people whose hands are stained with the blood of Iraqis. We shall refer these people to competent Iraqi courts for trial. Likewise some of these people have their hands stained with the blood of the people of Iran, and we shall deal with them in line with the security agreement. Most of them of course have stated an interest in returning voluntarily to Iran, so we intend to make preparations for that." These were comments made in Bahman 1387 [January-February 2009] by Muwaffaq al-Rubay’i, the Iraqi national security adviser, at a press conference during a trip to Tehran.

A day after the anniversary of the Mersad operation, or the Eternal Shining [Forugh-e javedani] as it is ordinarily referred to in the MKO language, and a day before the anniversary date of Abolhasan Banisadr’s flight from Iran with [Mas’ud Rajavi] the head of the MKO (seventh Mordad 1360) [29 July 1981], the Iraqi army surrounded Camp Ashraf to begin the countdown to the end of the MKO’ 23-year residence at the base. After this certain media sought to find a link between visits made to Iran in recent months by Iraqi officials and the Iraqi army’s attack on Camp Ashraf.
But as the head of the Iran-Iraq parliamentary friendship group, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, has said, the attack was an internal Iraqi affair and, contrary to rumors, Iraq did not do this for Iran’s sake. It seems that one of the most important reasons for the attack was the MKO’ collaboration with Saddam Hussein in attacks on areas including Khalisiya and killing of various innocent Iraqi Kurds and Shi’a.

The camp, as the Christian Science Monitor has described, has risen like weed, and with elegant gardens and wide avenues, is a memento of [previous] intense differences between Iraq and its neighbour Iran. The Mojahedin became armed and wealthy under Saddam Hussein, launching numerous attacks on Iran from Iraqi territory, the review wrote at the time of the Iraqi army’s attack on Camp Ashraf. Wikipedia writes about the camp that it is a complex of buildings and streets, and includes educational, social and sporting facilities. It has four Olympic-size pools, a shopping centre, a zoo, a park, a university, and a standard-size football ground. The website stated that Camp Ashraf had given its size and to function effectively, services like a shop, bakery, petrol station and even traffic police.

Dictator’s green light
The camp was founded in 1986 with the green light from Saddam Hussein; the 3,400 people based in the camp have committed crimes in the past 23 years, including against other camp residents. During the Iraqi army’s attack on the camp, a mass grave was discovered inside the camp.

Wolf’s tracks
The MKO’ little group, following the calamity of the seventh Tir that martyred more than 70 members of the Islamic Republic Party, fled the country with Banisadr and preferred to pursue its counter-revolutionary manoeuvres from abroad, initially from France. In 1986 the French government forced the MKO to leave Paris, after which their base became Baghdad (the capital of Iraq). The group proceeded then to found a city north of Baghdad in the Diyala province, 80 kilometres from the Iran-Iraq frontier.

In addition to the terrorist actions the MKO carried out in Iran, the group also carried out military operations on the frontline against Iran during the imposed war [1980-88]. If we overlook the operations known as Aftab [Sun] and Chelcheragh [Chandelier] on Iran’s southern frontier, respectively taking place at midnight on the seventh Farvardin 1367 [27 March 1988] and midnight of 28 Khordad 1367 [18 June 1988], the operation Forugh-e Javidan [Eternal shining] was the best-known attack made on Iranian soil by the MKO.

Rajavi sought in this operation to do what Saddam failed to over eight years. He wanted to conquer Tehran in 33 hours. When the MKO entered Iran’s frontier towns and villages, they began to kill innocent people. They did not hesitate to decapitate patients and the injured in hospitals. The Mersad operations take place to repel this operation and the soldiers of Islam created a hell for the MKO in the Chaharzir district [in Kermanshah].

After that the MKO left their tracks on a number of terrorist acts inside Iran. The European Union and America kept the little group on their blacklist of terrorist groups for a number of years. But events concerning the sect led the European Union, led by the UK, to seek some way of opening their passage to Europe, as their the expulsion from Iraq seemed imminent.

Europe’s green light to the MKO

With the overthrow of the Iraqi regime in 2003, the MKO were disarmed by American troops. On the basis of the first phase of the security agreement between Iraq and America, signed on 26 Aban last year [16 November 2008], the country’s armed forces would take charge of Iraq’s security and American forces must return to specified bases. Camp Ashraf was not one of the camps placed under American control, but under the authority and influence of the Iraqis. The MKO should not have been pleased with the signature of the agreement.

They celebrated America’s national day for the Americans in Iraq and were happy with the presence of American troops in Iraq. About two months after the signing of the security agreement between Iraq and America (seventh Bahman) the EU removed the MKO from its list of terrorists. This could only mean one thing. At the same time various experts said the MKO’ removal from the terrorist list was a calculated response to the move due to take place in six months later in Iraq. Still, about 55 members of the MKO group in the camp (New Iraq Camp) are wanted by the international police.

Nobody will accept them

Iraq wants the MKO to leave the country or return to Iran or go to a third country. The Christian Science Monitor writes on Iraq’s decision to expel the MKO that the head of the Iraqi National Security Council believes that the members have been "brainwashed" and are potentially dangerous. It adds that it has been a difficult deal to persuade other countries to accept more than a few members of the group. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has so far given refugee status to 250 former members of the Mojahedin though officials say only some have been accepted by third countries [the Christian Science Monitor wrote].

In fact days after the Iraqi army’s attack on the MKO’ camp in Diyala, Abd-al-Husayn al-Shammari, the police chief of the Diyala governorate north-east of Baghdad, said residents of the camp now called New Iraq Camp, have no choice but to leave Iraqi territory. "The high commission dealing with the New Iraq Camp dossier has given members a month to leave Iraqi territory and they must decide in this time to return to their country Iran, which has issued a general amnesty for them, or go to a third country. They no longer have the option of remaining in Iraq," he said. A Western official has said Camp Ashraf is the last place left to the MKO, and asked, what are they without it?

Source: Hamshahri, Tehran in Persian – Translated by:BBC Monitoring Middle East

August 18, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

A report of purges within MKO- part two

Once in a letter addressed to Christopher George of Human Rights Watch/Middle East entitled Human Rights Abuse in Rajavi’s cult, Nowrooz Ali Rezvani, a disaffected and former member of MKO, presented documented reports of many physical and psychological mistreatments of the members by the leaders within the organization.

The following is a detailed and proven list of engineering operations plotted in years 1981 to 1994 in an attempt to purge some members for certain organizational reasons. The confessions by Mr. Rezvani well indicates the potentiality of the organization in subjecting the life of those in Camp Ashraf to severe jeopardy through a preplanned scenario and under the cover of defending the camp against the lawful interference of the Iraqi police to take the control in its hands.

It was a detailed account of human rights violation and now let’s point to some indications of Mojahedin’s inter-organizational relations to develop a better understanding of its anti-human nature and to what degree it respects the principles of democracy and human rights.

In winter 1982, Mojahedin Khalq forces stationed in the northern Kurdistan executed three POWs, one of them underage. The commander on the scene were Mr. Mesbah, a member of the central cadre, Mr. Assad, a deputy of the organization’s leadership from Tabriz. The commander of the firing squad was Qudrat-allah Heidari and the firing party was constituted of Mr. Karim Turk and a woman whose son had been executed by the Iranian regime.

In Spring 1984, four more POWs were executed in Kurdistan border zone, the jungles of Shah Nosqeh region just in the vicinity of Pazhveh Village. The executioners were Morteza, working in armory, from Hamada, Naser Turk known as Naser Gestapo, Karim Turk from Tabriz known as Karim fascist, Mr. Assad from Tabriz, Mahdi from Hamadan, and Reza Karam-Ali also known as Yaqub from Tehran.

In 1984, six dissidents were executed in the jungles of Shah Nosqeh region in Kurdistan as they were opposed to Rajavi’s announced imamate. The executed were pseudonymously called Saeed from Tabriz, Qasim from Zanjan, Naser from Shiraz, Rasoul from Kermanshah, Qulam from the northern Iran, and Suhrab from Tehran. The executioners were Karam from Hamadan, Reza Karam-Ali from Tehran, Naser Turk, Karim Turk and Ibrahim Zakeri, the commander of the execution.

In 1985, more than 700 members of the organization were imprisoned in the Iraqi Kurdistan region in jails located in suburb Saveh, Kahrizeh, and Camp Ghayur. Other imprisoned were some members of political bureau and central council including Ali Zarkesh along with other 117. They were all condemned to death and following their preliminary investigations they were sent to prisons in Suleymanieh.

In 1985, more than 50 recalcitrant members of the organization were imprisoned in the Iraqi Kurdistan city of Suleymanieh and built jails in camps Mesbah ans Ghayur. Some were also imprisoned within the safe houses in Kirkuk.

In 1990, more than 500 recalcitrant members of the organization were imprisoned in the castle-like Debs Prison in the vicinity of Kirkuk. The prisoners’ seven day-long hunger strike is an indication of their protest to drastic shortages and harsh prison condition.

In 1991, there were numerous jails and cells inside Camp Ashraf, some of them were the prison of the municipal building, the prison of college, the prison behind the rifle range, the residential prison, and prison H which was one of the most horrible solitary confinements with cell cages in size of graves, there were other prisons in headquarters and army regiments as well.
In 1992, there were prisons and safe-houses set up around Baghdad including prison Muhammad zabeti, prison Saadati, prison Seifi, prison Akbarzadegan, prison Malik Marzban, a prison known as the camp of the members of the National Council of Resistance close to American Embassy, prison Mirzai, prison Dr. Muhammad Tabatabai, prison Rezai, and more.
Pakistan, 1987. Asghar Mirzai working in the Voice of Mojahed from the northern Iran was sent to Pakistan after engaging in some inter-organizational friction. After a while the organization announced that he had broken with the organization and had reported information about the camps of the National Liberation Army and headquarters of leadership to Iranian regime. Still the members were digesting the story that there came the news of his assassination by the regime. His wife was in a state of mental imbalance since it remained an unsolved question why her husband was killed soon after his separation.

Explanation: Asghar had been long working in Rajavi’s private bastion known as Camp Badi-zadegan located 45 km. west of Baghdad in Abu-Ghurib region where he made programs for the Voice of Mojahed. Thus, he had proven information concerning Mojahedin’s implication in Haj massacre and he was also the link between the Voice of Mojahed’s broadcasts and the Iraqi regime.

Of other obliterated members to name was Bahram Turk from Tabriz who worked in Rajavi’s private bastion known as Camp Badi-zadegan located 45 km. west of Baghdad. He knew anything about Rajavi’s residential and its secrets. Later, he was identified as a troublemaker and was degraded to work as a simple gardener in Rajavi’s private courtyard. It did not take long to be announced that he had been found drowned in the camp’s pool. He was reported to have fallen into the pool and drowned as he could not swim and there was nobody around to help him. Bahram was a real source of information and knew things about the organization’s association in Haj massacre. His wife was six month pregnant when he died and the baby was named Bahram after him.

Explanation: Reza Asadi was once a pilot in IR Air Force who had his hand in the escape of Dr. Banisadr and Masoud Rajavi from Iran. He was a comrade working close with Bahram and knew him well. A detached member, now he is living in Netherlands. In a letter to a friend, he gave some details about Bahram’s skill in swimming.

On the day we met, we talked about the article you penned for the Nimrooz. Now I try to give some details. For two years I was working with Bahram in a garage in Baghdad. He was one of those who lacked the proficiency to be invested with responsibility but was enthusiastically devoted to Maryam (Rajavi) and was ready to dive through a window hearing her name. The devotion branded him an ideological element with consequent conferred responsibilities. They say he was drowned in an ordinary pool. Your article in the Nimrooz made me recollect a joint travel I had with Bahram. We were en route to Kirkuk from Baghdad on a hot summer day in month Ramazan. We stopped the car on the bank of river Takrit, a big, rapid and raging torrent, to swim. I am a good swimmer and can swim in any condition.

But Bahram was many times better and swam easily in the deepest part of the river where hardly anybody, and even me, could swim. He swam so comfortably as if he was lying on a soft, flat mattress enjoying himself.

August 18, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Demonstrations in Diala to deport Rajavi cult

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: A big demonstration has taken place in the al-Khalis suburb demanding to deport the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) from Iraq, the suburb’s Mayor, Uday al-Khadran, said on Monday.

PMOI media spokesperson, Mahdi Aqbaee, accused the Diala province’s police commander of arranging the demonstration, but the commander denied these accusations.

Last week, Iraqi forces engaged with PMOI fighters at the organization’s headquarters in Camp Ashraf in al-Khalis suburb (15 km north of Baaquba city). Two policemen were killed and 66 others were injured, while 12 of the organization’s elements were killed and 400 others were wounded.

“Thousands of the suburb’s residents participated in the demonstration,” Mayor al-Khadran told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“The demonstrators want to deport the PMOI from Iraq due to the organization’s interference in the Iraqi issue,” he said.

The PMOI, also known by the abbreviations MKO and MEK, is a militant socialist organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran’s current government. Founded in 1965, the PMOI was originally devoted to armed struggle against the Shah of Iran, capitalism and Western imperialism.

“The organization’s members committed acts of aggression against Iraqi forces inside Camp Ashraf,” al-Khadran said.

“Diala residents do not want the PMOI to stay in Camp Ashraf,” he said.

The organization officially renounced violence in 2001 and today it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an “umbrella coalition” parliament-in-exile that claims to be dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran.

For his part, Aqbaee said, “The Diala police commander, General Abdulhussein al-Shemmary ordered a number of his forces to arrange the demonstration.”

“This measure is illegal,” Aqbaee said.

After more than 20 years of living in Camp Ashraf in the Iraqi province of Diala, near the borders with Iran, the PMOI announced that it is ready to leave Iraq, setting five conditions they said the Iranian government has to fulfill.

He said that the organization members, when they arrive in Iran, are to have immunity against arrests and torture and enjoy the right to express their views and that the Iranian government should issue an official commitment in this regard addressed to the United Nations (UN), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the two governments of the United States and Iraq.

He also said those four sides should certify the commitment, and the UN and ICRC should be responsible for activating this agreement inside Iran.

According to Aqbaee, the conditions should allow PMOI members to sell their property in Iraq, while those who do not want to return to Iran should have the right to seek asylum in a third country.

The former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein dedicated Camp Ashraf in Diala province, northeast of Baghdad, to host the PMOI members since the 1980s.

Although being designated as a “terrorist” group, the organization has been under U.S. protection.

After the security agreement between Iraq and the United States government was signed, the Iraqi government took the responsibility of providing security to Camp Ashraf residents.

For his part, General al-Shemmary denied the accusations that the demonstration was staged by his forces, stressing that there was no military presence in the demonstration.

“The PMOI operatives were behind the death of two policemen and the injury of 66 others,” al-Shemmary said.

“The damage reached Camp Ashraf itself, which is considered an Iraqi government property,” he said.

Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

August 18, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

MP Urges Expulsion of MKO Members from Iraq

Members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) should be expelled from Iraq’s soil, an Iraqi lawmaker said.

"The MKO members should leave Iraq’s soil. That is the least aspiration of the Iraqi nation," member of the Iraqi parliament Neda al-Sudani told Fars News Agency.

"Their presence is against our will. The nation of Iraq does not want them (MKO) and asks for their expulsion," she noted.

Stating that the MKO’s presence in Iraq is a sensitive issue for Iran, she added, "We do not want their presence to be extended any further."

Earlier in August, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki stressed his government’s resolve to expel MKO members from his country.

"We have always had a clear stance on all terrorist groups. They have to leave the Iraqi soil. The government has underlined this stance since the beginning," Maliki told FNA at the time.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – last month and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.
Asked about the possibility of the return to power by Iraq’s former Baath party, al-Sudani told FNA that based on Iraq’s laws the Baath party can neither have a share in the government nor nominate anyone for elections.

A leading US daily, the Washington Post, cited Turkish and American officials as well as an insurgent leader as saying that the US officials engaged in negotiations with Iraqi insurgent groups in two meetings this spring that culminated in an agreement to organize talks intended to bring the groups into Iraq’s political life.

August 17, 2009 0 comments

Members of the MEK

36 PMOI members to face trial

Thirty-six members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) are due to stand trial in al-Khalis, according to an informed source.

Thirty-six members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) are due to stand trial in al-Khalis, according to an informed source. “Those members are currently held in accordance with Article 431 for triggering acts of violence that took place between police forces and Camp Ashraf residents in late July,” a judicial source from Diala province told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

Last month, clashes erupted between Iraqi security forces and PMOI members at Camp Ashraf, the headquarters of the organization, leaving 10 members killed and 400 others wounded, according to the organization’s media spokesperson.
Two policemen were killed and 66 others were injured in the clashes, according to Iraqi officials.

The group officially renounced violence in 2001 and today it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an “umbrella coalition” parliament-in-exile that claims to be dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran.

The PMOI has had thousands of its members for many years in bases in Iraq, but they were disarmed in the wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and are said to have adhered to a ceasefire. Its armed wing is, or was, called the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA).
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein dedicated Camp Ashraf in Diala province, northeast of Baghdad, to host the PMOI members since the 1980s.

August 17, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

10 major Iraqi parties support MKO expulsion

10 major Iraqi parties announced by issuing a statement their full support for the expulsion of MKO terrorist group from this country.

10 major Iraqi parties announced by issuing a statement their full support for the expulsion of MKO terrorist group from this country. According to Fars News Agency, the statement which was issued by the Coordinating Committee of national and political parties and forces of Iraq in England, says: in late last July Iraqi army and armed forces tried to enter camp Ashraf in Diyali province in order to find control over the camp in account that the camp is a part of the Iraqi soil and a foreign rebellious force belonging to MKO which is an opponent of the Iranian government is based there.

This terrorist organization has been present in Iraq during the era of Saddam in power and has played a key role in assisting the Iraqi dictator in suppressing 1991 Shiites Intifada and massacre of Iraqi Kurds and continued this role until after the fall of the criminal regime in Iraq in 2003.

The statement also states: Military conflicts at the time of doing this operation were the result of the failure of talks with elements of the organization for peacefully entering the camp and of course this operation was within the framework of the security pact signed between Baghdad and Washington over power transmission to Iraqi forces which led to some casualties for both sides.

Participant parties who wrote and signed the letter include the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Assembly, Al-da’avah Party (Party of Islamic invitation), Democratic Party, Union of Iraqi Kurdistan, the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraqi Communist Party, and National Democratic Alliance, the Communist Party of Iraqi Kurdistan, Organization of feyli Kurds and democratic movement Iraqi Ashouries.

August 17, 2009 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Execution, the approach to repel dissenters

An interview with Batool Soltani on MKO self-immolations – Part ten

Sahar Family Foundation: since the deployment of the American forces in the region and even before that the serious agenda before the organization has been the resistance of Camp Ashraf. That why it is of such significance for the organization is another issue to deal with. But the question here is implementation of the means, explicitly suicide operations, to defend Ashraf as the strategic bastion. That is the fact we have already talked about when referring to human tragedy and human shield, the members’ risking their life in defense of Ashraf. Rajavi has reiterated that ‘if Ashraf resist, the whole world resist’, in fact, such mottos show clear dispositions of the leadership and other rankings towards Ashraf for its strategic importance. Will you give further details on anything untold concerning this issue and even what approaches did Rajavi take to deal with those members who would resist against plotted suicides in defense of Ashraf?

Execution, the approach to repel dissenters Batool Soltani: well, here are a nexus of issues that can be discussed separately. One is the vow to defend Ashraf through any possible means. First it was resolved to fight in defense of Ashraf tooth and nail but circumstances proved to be more serious and they had to think of a different approach to resist, that is to say, human shield. Once they resolved on urgent transfer of the cadres of the Leadership Council from Iraq to France and they even provided passports for high rankings to get them out of Iraq. In 2003, Massoud Rajavi, the beating heart of the organization, made a call insisting that Auvers-sur-Oise, Maryam’s residence, was the brain of the organization while Ashraf was naturally the heart; the brain would naturally collapse if the heart’s beating declined, and it is a question of how the brain and heart interrelate.

You know, after the fall of Saddam, the organization concentrated all its propaganda capacity on Auvers-sur-Oise to present it, along with Maryam, as the organization’s headquarters of the political leadership in the West. They began to maneuver on Maryam as a political engine there just after experiencing the failed tactic of electing her as the president-elect. Just after her sham election, she was sent to France to play her role there but it proved to be a big failure and she was returned to Camp Ashraf to be conveyed back right before the fall of Saddam. A new round of propagation began since they were of the opinion that now,

After the political fluctuations in the region, the West would have a differently positive opinion of Mojahedin. They targeted two aims simultaneously; to stabilize their political bastion in the West by attracting attentions to Auvers-sur-Oise, and second, to continue an increasing protection in favor of Camp Ashraf for two reasons. First, it has been regarded the organization’s ideological receptacle that has the potentiality of rendering members’ ideological readiness.

Second, it is observed to be a potential armed force just within the reach of the coalition forces to be used against Iran if they had any plan. The organization’s analysis of the regional crises had convinced it that American’s military interference against Iran was decisively inevitable and was planning to fan the fire to accelerate what it imagined had to happen sooner or later. Thus it was all conditioned on the preservation of Ashraf as a future lever for America against Iran that could possibly lead to Mojahedin’s seizing of power, the key issue on the back burner that required the organization to be disarmed but remain under the protection of a second patron and to unwillingly consent to the wills of the Iraqi government until the due time came. So Ashraf had to be preserved to invest the organization with a promising future. After the 17 June tragic incidents, Massoud Rajavi insisted on a new role play for the Leadership Council, the human shield to defend Ashraf. It was just coincident with Rajavi’s two-year pledge that ended with Bush’s presidency.

Rajavi knew well that out of Iraq would be the end of road for the organization and insisted on staying in Iraq at any cost in hope of a miracle that could open the gate to drive through into Iran. In an earlier analysis he had stated that the organization’s permanent stay in Iraq meant destruction of the organization in whole; it was only a short stay to move to Iran. But now there was another analysis that contradicted the previous; to leave Iraq was equal to complete annihilation. The sole solution was to preserve Ashraf; they could either wait to fish in the troubled waters of intensified crises in the region or all would be buried in Camp Ashraf. The approach for the latter choice was a mass suicide. But then they conjectured that there could be other solutions as well. On was based on the promise that because of the Geneva’s fourth article they could not be forcefully repatriated. Then they draw a picture that they would fight tooth and nail if there was any plan to relocate them forcefully.

The last proposed resolution was a mass suicide; two deaths were the outcome of this decision. A number of members dispersed after the invasion of the coalition forces were returning to the camp when en route they were informed of the camp’s siege by American forces. Two members the Leadership Council, Marzieh Ali-ahmadi and Nazhat Arzbeigi, immediately set themselves on fire to execute their organizational duty. In fact, they carried out the mission Rajavi had assigned members to do in case American forces occupied the camp. On two conditions members were told to commit mass suicide; the incursion of either Americans or Iraqi Shi’its into the camp. Just when Americans were behind the wall of Ashraf, many members the Leadership Council were preparing to commit suicide. Rajavi had even issued an ultimate for the disobedient who refrained to commit suicide, it was revolutionary execution. No doubt, no outsider could draw any distinction between a voluntary suicide and revolutionary execution following a mass suicide. Rajavi has thought of slightest details concerning his mass suicide program at Ashraf; nobody has to be survived, the willing and the unwilling have to be burn together.

Notably, there were other deterrent decrees issued by Rajavi in private and in a meeting of higher echelons; the lower echelons were unaware of the decrees. The escapees had to be targeted and executed by others; it was the same fate that befell the disloyal and betrayers. The deserters for the opposite front would also face the same destiny. Interestingly, if anybody failed to commit suicide, others had the responsibility to help him/her accomplish the job. Thus, the human tragedy in defense of Ashraf is a program that has to be possibly brought into actuality and there are a variety of approaches that will act to remove deterrents.

August 16, 2009 0 comments

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