Memoirs of Ms. Batoul Soltani – Part 11-1
In this session, I would like to describe the struggle that today MKO insists on its principals. They say that their struggle is their main investment. I want to talk about MKO fighters, to learn how their fight and their principals were at the beginning, in what stage of their struggle they are now, and how much they have been loyal to their primary principals of their struggle.
Since 1964, I mean when the founders of MKO established the group, they determined a definition for Right and Wrong. Their definition was somehow new at that time. They defined Right and Wrong as “exploiter” and “exploited”. The objective example for the Wrong was US-backed dictatorship of Shah. Along with these principals, they decided to launch an armed struggle against Shah and US military officials, advisors and economic or cultural authorities.
They continued their struggle, even after the mass arrests of the group’s members in 1970, fighting to overthrow Shah’s monarchy. They were killed either inside or outside the prison. It is good to know that at that time Masud Rajavi’s organizational comrades including Badi’ Zadegan, Hanif Nejad and even some others who were at lower ranks comparing Masud, were executed in the prison, but Masud Rajavi survived. Although MKO has always justified this fact by some nonsense, there are a lot of accusations against Masud Rajavi who could manage to survive among so many comrades who were executed. I’d rather explain the process Rajavi headed after the Islamic Revolution; I want to evaluate the way he acted far from those primary principals.
When Masud Rajavi was released from Evin prison, he addressed some speeches in Amjadiyeh stadium and other places. The criterion that can prove Rajavi’s disentitlement for MKO’s leadership was his eagerness to claim himself as the leader of the group immediately after he was released from the prison. He was extremely enthusiastic to introduce himself as the leader of the movement and the revolution and he tried to make others to recognize his self-assigned position. He did not want any other post except that of a leader. He didn’t recognize any other person as the leader.
When his true face was shown, the main problem of MKO was brought about. He showed his hostility toward many individuals. I mean, he was looking for a leadership role when the Iranians had all focused on Ayatollah Khomeini’s leadership as the only legitimate leader. In fact, Rajavi’s extreme jealousy and hostility was coming up. When he couldn’t get the first position as the leader of Iran, he tried to get the president’s office but he was not allowed to be a presidential candidate because he hadn’t voted for the constitution he was supposed to prosecute. All these things pushed him to an open opposition against the Iranian Revolution.
After a short period of time, on June 20th, 1981 he declared armed struggle against Islamic Republic. I think since then the organization’s circle of power has completely changed. Indeed, Rajavi himself insists on this change. But the change was in a way that the organization distanced from a popular organization. Actually, he declared armed struggle in that disturbing situation in the society after too much bloodshed, only to achieve his personally lost objectives. It was just for his personality in his cult. Therefore, he did his best to endanger social security.
At the time, I was in grade one at high school. I remember how MKO misused the tiniest complaints or protests in schools for its own cause. As a student, I didn’t know anything about the organization.
Just sometimes I protested against the conditions and MKO took the benefit of my adventurous, immature protests and recruited me. As the first step, once you joined the group, you had to leave your family and go to the group’s safe houses to “fight the Islamic Republic”. MKO members were quite active at schools and they could influence those who had the potentiality and opposed the regime. For example, some students protested against mass praying, they didn’t like to participate it , or they had complaints about veil (hijab). These people were the same ones who fell in MKO’s trap more easily. The group recruiters worked on the students in order to absorb them gradually. Then they used to ask the new recruits to give financial helps. They focused on those who were passionately revolutionary. They continued with the new recruited ones to bring more students to the organization’s net.
I remember that they arranged mountain climbing tours to recruit new students. So gradually I was recruited by MKO without having any information about the group and its cause.
When MKO declared armed struggle, they trapped a group of young people who had no way but to stay in MKO’s safe houses. They were supposed to launch operations. But I didn’t know this at that time. I could only read about it later. I was too young for politics or Rajavi’s theories, but I saw some active, devotee youth who worked for the group.
Finally, the organization was outlawed by the Islamic Republic because of its armed struggle against the regime, the state and the authorities. Some of its members were arrested. Masud Rajavi fled Iran along with Banisadr and survived, although his wife Ashraf was killed in Iran. Masud had no pity for his wife and never tried to get her out of Iran.
Translated by Nejat Society
The admirers of Vincent Van Gogh can hardly resist spending a few hours in the French village of Auvers-Sur-Oise where the great artist spent his last days. Describing the place in a letter addressed to his brother, the painter once wrote “Really, it’s seriously pretty; it’s open countryside, characteristic and picturesque”. He was right and it hasn’t changed so very much since then, except for the established headquarters of Mojahedin Khalq cult on Rue des Gords since early 1980’s. Known to be the residence of Maryam Rajavi, the cult’s vice-guru leading the organization in the absence of her husband, to many it seems like a castle of mystery that leaks no information of what is going on inside.
It was only on the morning of 17 June 2003 when French SWAT teams went over the walls and broke into its headquarters for the first time to discover what was going on therein. It was only a few months after Nicolas Sarkozy became Interior minister that the French authorities began to suspect cult practices and terrorist activities within the highly guarded headquarters. It was mostly because mobs of members were swarming back from Iraq to their French enclave following Saddam’s fall, a globally despised dictator to whom they were notoriously known to be serving as mercenary pawns. And the aroused suspicion in French authorities proved to be well justified.
The shocking finding was not many illegal instruments, communication devices and big sums of money discovered and seized, but the raid’s aftermath. Maryam Radjavi was arrested and as a protest, several members of the cult set themselves on fire. Parisian could not believe the human torches running right before their eyes in the broad daylight. The tragic scene is best depicted by the French reporter, Alain Chevalerias, in his Brûlé Vif (Burned Alive):
June 18, 2003, on Wednesday we were in Paris. Street Nelaton, in the 15th district, about ten individuals gathered in front of the offices of the ministry of the interior. They had the air of eastern people. Chanting vague slogans, they shook brandish flags and the big photos of a smiling woman in their hands. Without going to preoccupy building, the police officials ascended the markets of it to begin their operation. It was 9:25. It was hot.
Suddenly, a scream tore the air. A little further in front of the line of the aerial subway, the flames were flying in the air. A man ran in the scene. Policemen intervened. It was too late; In the dark a monstrous figure was standing on the restless ground of soubresaut. The victim was obvious. She was an Iranian. The same country as theirs, she was a 42 year old woman called Marzieh Babakhani. She wanted to sacrifice herself by the fire to obtain the liberation of the woman whose picture floated above the small assembled crowd, to some extent, in front of the ministry of the interior. Urgently transported to the hospital Cochin, the insured’s soul returned in the evening.
In the midday, having splashed gasoline on her another was transformed to the same place. She introduced herself Sedighieh Mohageri and said she was 38 years old. Later in the afternoon, Mohammad vakilifard, a man of 46 years repeated the fatal gesture. An epidemic of suicides by the fire seemed to win the planet: the very day, a man in Bern; the day before and the next day four in London; two again in Rome and another in Ottawa.
The human tragedy ended with two deaths. For Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, the director of the DST, the decision taken by authorities was justified, "There was a danger for our country and our fellow-countrymen”.
Now leading France as its President, Nicolas Sarkozy is counted on not to have forgotten about this very controversial organization in France and in the world and the dangerous bunch of cultists who are dominating Auvers-sur-Oise. Any cult needs to found its own ashram as did Franklin Jones in Lake County, California or that of David Koresh located in Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas. That is also the case with Mojahedin in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, a complex that is highly controlled. The residents are not free to go wherever they want in spite of having obtained political refugee status in France; no gate opens to let anybody in or out unless they carry a required written authorization.
It will not take long to turn this picturesque French village into a complete ashram for Mojahedin Khalq if their comrades in Camp Ashraf join them with a show of good-will from the French part. And, of course, the shining, smiling pictures of Maryam Rajavi will outdo those of Van Gogh if French MIVILUDES (Inter-ministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances) fails to take precautionary measures to fully monitor the activities of the organization. Eyes are needed to watch it from the within before it is too late.
Rania Negargar
LOS ANGELES, May 1 (UPI) — Charges filed against Iranian dissidents for supporting a terrorist group based in Iraq are complicated by alleged U.S. military cooperation with that group. 
The U.S. Justice Department accepted guilty pleas Wednesday from six men and one woman for collecting funds for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, a group listed by the State Department as a terrorist organization.
The American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, which is representing some of the suspects, says it will challenge the claims on the grounds the PMOI poses no threat to U.S. national security. The ACLU also claims court documents show the U.S. government provided material support to the PMOI as well.
"It boggles the mind that these seven refugees would be charged with providing material support for a so-called terrorist organization, when the U.S. government has supported the same organization for years," said Ahilan Arulanantham with the ACLU.
There is widespread speculation the U.S. military had used the group to carry out attacks on Iran.
The PMOI received its U.S. listing in 1997 in part because of its violent opposition to the Iranian regime. Some observers suspect U.S. President Bill Clinton listed the group, however, as a favor to the moderate Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.
The PMOI surrendered to U.S. military forces in Iraq shortly after the invasion of 2003, and it claims to stand as a democratic opposition to the clerical regime in Iran. It has won several delisting campaigns in Europe and is in the process of similar efforts in U.S. courts.
The sentencing hearing for the California case is scheduled for August.
UPI, May 01, 2009
http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/05/01/ACLU-claims-US-supported-PMOI/UPI-73151241206555/
http://www.metimes.com/Security/2009/05/01/aclu_claims_us_supported_pmoi/dffb/
Iraqi PM, Noori Al Maliki in London: Mojahedin Khalq will never operate from Iraq 
According to the London based Al Sharq Al Aawsat newspaper, concerning the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, Noori Almaliki the Iraqi prime minister said: we have been participating with the British and coalition forces during these times and the British forces have successfully brought to an end their military mission.
…
Concerning the Mojahedin Khalq presence in Iraq he said: Under no circumstances would their presence in Iraq be acceptable. Irrespective of some speculation that this may be due to pressure from Iranians or non Iranians, I should emphasise clearly that even if Iran asks us to keep them in Iraq, we will not allow this. This is a terrorist organisation present in various lists of terrorist entities across the globe which of course concerns many, including Iran, the United Nations and other countries.
From our point of view, this is an organisation which has committed many crimes against the people of Iraq, being Kurds, Shiites or Sunnis, hand-in-hand with the last regime (Saddam Hussein) and even right now they are meddling in the internal affairs of our country and there are allegations of their active involvement in the present insurgencies in Iraq. Therefore we cannot allow their presence in the new Iraq. According to the constitution of Iraq, the country will not be used as a base for any terrorist organisation and no one is allowed to use our soil to act against other countries.
Maliki added: I clearly emphasise to the members of this group that although we will not hand them over to Iran, they should not for a moment think that Iraq can be a base for them.
Translated by Iran Interlink
the original Interview(Arabic): http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=517372&issueno=11112
UK Parliament: No evidence of ill-treatment against MKO returnees
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will ask the government of Iraq to remove all restrictions on supporters of the
People’s Mujahedin of Iran based in Ashraf City following the recent judgment of the European Court of Justice. [257284]
Bill Rammell: On 26 January 2009, taking into account the judgment by the Court of First Instance on 4 December 2008, the General Affairs and External Relations Council adopted a list which did not include the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK/PMOI). Mindful of this 4 December judgement annulling the July 2008 listing of the MEK/PMOI, the UK believes that EU member states must observe and respect the court’s judgment in the current review of the EU list of terrorist organisations.
Residents of the camp are free to leave at any time if they demonstrate they have the appropriate travel documentation and finance to leave the camp and take up residence either in Iran or in a third country. Voluntary repatriations to Iran have previously taken place and, we understand, without the returnees concerned being ill treated. Such reparations will continue for those who wish to do this. There is no evidence to suggest forced relocation of the residents in Iraq or elsewhere will take place.
The US received assurances from the Iraqi authorities which make clear their commitment to the humane treatment and continued wellbeing of the camp residents. We understand that in addition to this the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights have also visited the camp and delivered these assurances to a representative body of the residents. We are naturally concerned that the rights of all those involved are observed and that camp residents continue to be treated humanely and their fundamental human rights be maintained.
Mr. Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will seek to put in place mechanisms to protect supporters of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran based in Ashraf City. [257285]
Bill Rammell: I should clarify that it was the US, not the UK, who had responsibility for the security and administration of the camp. The US informed us of its plans to hand responsibility for the camp to the Iraqi authorities from 1 January 2009 and this has now taken place. Both the Iraqi authorities and the US had been involved in discussions with the UN High Commissioner
27 Feb 2009 : Column 1203W
for Refugees and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq on modalities. The Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights also played a key role in overseeing the transition. In addition we understand that the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) discusses, on a confidential basis, all of the issues surrounding the camp with the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK/PMOI) and the Iraqi and US authorities. The ICRC follows developments at the camp closely and visits regularly.
The US received assurances from the Iraqi authorities before the handover took place making clear their commitment to the humane treatment and continued wellbeing of the camp residents. We understand that in addition to this the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights have also visited the camp and delivered these assurances to a representative body of the residents.
We are naturally concerned that the rights of all those residents involved are observed and that they continue to be treated humanely and their fundamental human rights be maintained. In this regard, we understand that as a result of their extensive contacts the US are satisfied that the Iraqi authorities are fully aware of their responsibilities with regard to Camp Ashraf and its residents.
On 26 January 2009, bearing in mind the judgment by the Court of First Instance on 4 December 2008, the General Affairs and External Relations Council adopted a list which did not include the MEK/PMOI organisation. The 4 December judgment annulled the July 2008 listing of the MEK/PMOI, the UK therefore believe that EU member states must observe and respect the court’s judgment in the current review of the EU list of terrorist organisations.
House of Commons
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqis. 
Seven Iranian-Americans confess collecting money for anti-Iran terrorists loyal to the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).
The MKO is blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many international entities and countries, including the US.
"With jury selection in the case underway, the seven defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of actually providing material support to the group," AFP quoted a statement released by the Justice Department.
The seven face up to 20 years in jail over the charges, after having been indicted for the first time by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in 2001.
They are to be sentenced on August 10. The court says they had helped the MKO by raising funds for its members at public places like the Los Angeles International Airport.
The group, which identifies itself as a Marxist-Islamist guerilla army, was founded in Iran in the 1960s but was exiled some twenty years later for performing acts of terrorism in the country.
The terrorists are especially notorious for taking sides with former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988).
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqis.
Baghdad has vowed to move MKO members to their country Iran or to send them to a third country, as it holds the anti-Iran group responsible for destabilizing Iraq.
Earlier in March, Iraqi national security advisor, Muwafaq al-Rubaie, described MKO members as "foreign terrorists" and ordered them to leave their headquarters in Camp Ashraf, where they had been stationed for more than two decades.
"The residents should understand … that their days in Iraq are numbered and we are literally counting down," al-Rubaie told reporters.
Never thought to be so, the presence of MKO in France has turned to be a domestic controversial issue. In spite of being removed from the EU list of terror, the French authorities are well aware of its cultic threat that might jeopardize the nation’s security. The challenge France is faced with has its roots in the time when the hijacked Iranian plane in 1981 landed in Louvre airport where Masoud Rajavi was welcomed with nobody taking the consequences of this action into consideration. It is likely that the reason was the position of France among the European countries due to its great revolution and well-known slogan that all great revolutions of the world have their roots in the cafés of France. Thus, they considered it an honorable action to support this group. However, they failed to recognize that the nature of Rajavi’s group was different from that of great revolutionary leaders and social peace-lovers. Here we refrain to judge whether French authorities had other hidden reasons for admitting Mojahedin or not. It suffices to the point that France leads all European countries in welcoming oppositions and consequently, has accepted Mojahedin disregarding their true nature.
Soon France found out the true identity of those to whom political refugee was given, yet their next activities in foiling their efforts seemed futile. They managed to expel Rajavi in 1986 but they were unaware that the issue of the presence of Rajavi and his followers in France had not come to an end and was turning to a real challenge for France. An instance is the fact that since then, Mojahedin have commuted between Iraq and France at will and also turned France into their central domicile among European countries. In addition, they have many security and legal cases on investigation in French courts and are under close surveillance of DST since their residence therein. The reports show that Mojahedin have broken all the norms of refugees and have committed all kinds of crimes under the cover of their political refugee status as an opposition fighting for freedom and democracy.
The crimes committed by Mojahedin are so numerous that this article fits not to include all, yet French authorities are well aware of them. Furthermore, there are other crimes and misdeeds of Mojahedin that France has to conceal due to political and diplomatic considerations. These crimes have been registered and described fully in the judiciary and security organs of France and are not to be reviewed here. As it was said before, France was unaware that Rajavi was not an ordinary political figure, rather he formed a very complex and expensive organization that would pave the way for the activity of his followers in France after drawing them back from Iran as a result of suffering a great defeat in guerilla warfare policy inside Iran. Giving leave to these forces to enter France was the second strategic error of France while it had been revealed that Auver-sur-Oise was the centre of terrorist activities of Mojahedin.
Inrush of these forces to France was the best advantage for Rajavi since they made the ground for him to strengthen his organizational establishment in France. It took 5 years until the time when France could recognize the adverse effects of the presence of MKO members in France and decided to force them out whereas it was not the end of the scenario as France paid most costs when Rajavi had formally left France. In fact, just the head of the organization had been driven out while its body that consisted of time bombs remained there.
France made some other mistakes too and the third one was letting Maryam Rajavi to reside in Auver-sur-Oise after the fall of Saddam. It suffices to point out that Maryam Rajavi returned to France along with 400 members of the so-called leadership council of Rajavi and only God knows the severe and terrible phases that they had passed to gain the qualification of safeguarding Maryam Rajavi. As Rajavi stated, they were the most faithful ideological members of MKO and had the responsibility of keeping Maryam and Masoud secure against all assaults and offenses.
On the potential competence of these members, it can be said that some of them were even inferior to the members of council of leadership. However, they were experts of some kind and shocked the world and Europe by their suicidal actions like self-immolations in Paris streets to force French government to set Maryam Rajavi free to immunize her against further threats. In fact, our warnings on prohibiting the entrance of the remnant members to France aimed at preventing the integration of the head and body of MKO; the imminent disastrous event maneuvered on by Mojahedin has occurred years ago upon the entrance of Maryam Rajavi and 400 members of council of leadership.
Mojahedin are afraid lest French authorities put their negligence in last decades aside and make the grounds for separation of the head and body. Ashraf residents, except for those who seek to detach from MKO, are like the cells and organs of this monster that would show their true nature after joining other cells and organs and the head. All the costs paid by France up to now has been just a result of the existence of the head of the organization and their primary task at the time being is to stop the joining of MKO highrankings and rank-and-file in Auver-sur-Oise or any other place in France.
In a nutshell, the disaster has occurred since many years ago and has targeted France. The entrance of Ashraf residents to Auver-sur-Oise means the end of a long-time project that Rajavi plotted long before when he lost his ideological and strategic ally and patron, Saddam, in Iraq. It is an issue of high significance for them and tied to their destiny. It is an issue of high significance for Mojahedin to recoil to the same bastion they once migrated to Iraq. But will French authorities make the same mistake, this time not a bunch of political campaigners but the most experienced terrorists trained under Saddam, to let them in? Auver-sur-Oise deserves to remain a calm, picturesque resort for Parisians than becoming a military citadel for terrorists and cultic practices.
Seven plead guilty to raising funds at LAX for terrorist organization 
Members of a group that for the last few years has sought donations from travelers at LAX on behalf of what they said was an Iraqi-based charity pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal charges of providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization.
In a plea agreement that came just as a jury was being selected for trial, the seven defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of actually providing material support to the group.
In court the defendants admitted that they knowingly raised funds to support the activities of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, by collecting money from MEK supporters and soliciting money from unwitting donors at public locations, including the airport. Donors were told they were supporting a charity called the Committee for Human Rights, which was sometimes referred to as the Committee for Human Rights in Iran.
However, the Justice Department charged that CHR was simply a “front organization” to support MEK operations, including its terrorist activities.
The fundraising activities took place from late 1997 to February 2001, authorities said. The group had established nonprofit status and set up bank accounts from which itwired money to the MEK.
“These defendants raised money at locations like LAX on behalf of the MEK, which is a terrorist organization,” U.S. Atty. Thomas P. O’Brien said. “We cannot allow any terrorist organization to fundraise on our shores or to steal money from our own citizens so that they can finance their own terrorism operations. Terrorism anywhere poses a significant security risk to the United States.”
The seven defendants are: Roya Rahmani, 48, of Vienna, Va.; Alireza Mohammadmoradi, 38, of Los Angeles; Moustafa Ahmady, 54, of Los Angeles; Hossein Kalani Afshari, 52, of Mission Viejo; Hassan Rezaie, 54, of Los Angeles; Navid Taj, 58, of Santa Monica and Mohammad Omidvar, 54, of Corona.
The defendants face a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 10.
Updated at 10 p.m.: Over the years, the MEK has carried out bombings, assassinations and cross-border attacks aimed at unseating Iran’s government, and was provided sanctuary safe harbor in Iraq by Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The group contends that it has since abandoned violence and is working to promote democratic transition. Ironically, U.S. troops in Iraq were once given the task of protecting an MEK base there.
Julie Cart
Terrorists living among us: The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) – Also called MEK by Iranians
MKO was founded in September 1965, by three graduates of Tehran University
involved in religious-nationalist political activism, namely: Mohammad Hanifnezhad, Saied Mohsen and Asghar Badizadegan.
The central ideology of MKO was based on revolutionary armed struggle as being the only viable opposition against the U.S. backed and supported government of the Shah in Iran. Their ideology relied heavily on an interpretation of Islam as a revolutionary message compatible with modern revolutionary ideologies of Marxism.
The Mojahedin-e Khalq (also known as MEK inside Iran) means People’s Advocates, yet more than 90% of their intended targets and almost 95% of their casualties have been Iranian civilians.
After completing its primarily efforts on developing a revolutionary ideology and training its members in urban guerilla warfare, thirteen MKO members traveled to Jordan and Lebanon in 1970, and received 4 months of military training inside Palestinian Liberation Organization camps.
Prior to carrying out any armed activities, the MKO planned to develop its ideology further and built an infrastructure and train new recruits. However, this strategy was thwarted by the emergence of a competing Marxist guerilla group, the Fadaian Khalq Organization.
On February 8, 1971, members of the Fadaian launched their first operation by attacking a police station in the village of Siahkal in the northern province of Gilan. This incident marked the emergence of armed struggle against the Shah’s government.
The MKO’s leadership, surprised by the Siahkal incident, decided to expedite their plans for armed operations by organizing a spectacular bombing attack against the electric power grids in Tehran. At this time, the government was in the midst of promoting a large-scale celebration marking 2500 years of Persian monarchy in Iran.
During their efforts to acquire explosives, the MKO were infiltrated by the SAVAK security forces who tracked their activities and arrested thirty-five members of the MKO on August 23, 1971, just days before the scheduled onset of their first operation.
MKO’s remaining members who escaped detection by the security forces continued to recruit new members as well as carrying out a number of armed operations against Iranian government and, in particular, targeted American personnel and tourists in Iran since they regarded the U.S. support for the Shah as his Achilles Heal.
There were about 40,000 American citizens and military personnel living and working in Iran. MKO assumed that if they could stop U.S. support for the Shah, his control over the country would collapse. During these attacks against Americans many more Iranian civilians also died (a ratio of 25 to 1).
There is no doubt that the MKO is a terrorist organization and has long been on U.S. government’s terrorist list. European countries have detailed records of countless numbers of terrorist activities, planning, and funding initiated in Europe (although not targeting European citizens) against Iranian government officials and citizens including a bombing that maimed current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. However, MKO states that they target civilians because that is the only way to overthrow governments in Iran by putting pressure on the people.
When Nixon was supposed to visit Iran in 1972, MKO launched time bombs in more than ten Iran-U.S. centers in Tehran where Americans and Iranians would be gathered to welcome Nixon during his visit. These centers included: Association of Iran-US, Office of US Information, Iran-U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Offices of Pepsi Cola and General Motors in Tehran.
From 1972 to 1975, Mujahedin Khalq Organization continued bombings and damaged some targets like the offices of Pan-American Airlines, Shell, Du Pont, and EDS.
In 1975, U.S. State Department concluded that 4 American citizens were murdered by MKO to pressure the U.S. to stop its support for the Shah of Iran and leave the country. During the same year, there were more than 40 attacks against American tourists in Iran. There were many American casualties in Iran directly contributed to MKO and they promptly claimed credit for all at the time.
Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins, Col. Pal Shiffer, Lt. Col. Jack Turner, Donald J. Smith, Robert R. Grengrad and William C. Catrel from Rockwell International were victims of MKO attacks against U.S. interests in Iran.
It was shocking for the U.S. to lose six of its senior officers in a country which had closest ties with the U.S. in the Middle East. MKO’s deliberately targeted and planned sabotaging operations against US personnel and interests in Iran.
The Shah of Iran and his Israeli trained security forces (SAVAK) conduced a sweeping operation and many of MKO leaders and planners were arrested and imprisoned. The list included: Masoud Rajavi (the current leader of MKO), Hadi Roshanravani (top Intelligence official) , Mohammad-Ali Jaberzadeh Ansari (high ranking theorist), and the frequent FOX News guest, Alireza Jafarzadeh, the group’s spokesperson. The other key figures arrested included of: Reza Qaremi, Saied Mohsen, Mohammad Hanif-nezhad, Abdelreza Nikkbin called Abdi, Ali Asghar Badi Zadegan, Mahmoud Asgarizadeh, Rasoul Meshkinfam and Ahmad Rezaim and Lotfollah Meisami. All had taken part in assassinations, bombings, and planning operations against U.S. personnel.
One of the consequences of the Islamic Revolution was the freedom of all political prisoners, including Masoud Rajavi, and all the other senior operatives and senior members. Although the revolution was Islamic in nature, Marxist members of Leftist groups and also Marxist-Islamist members of MKO were also among the freed and subsequently merged.
Once regrouped the MKO was stronger than ever before. In November 1979, MKO officials asked for interrogating embassy staff. Thankfully, it was refused by "Revolution council".
After the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, MKO claimed that all the violence and ‘muscle’ against the Shah was directly attributed to the MKO and hence it deserves (it claimed) that it should be given political and economic control of Iran. When the new government of the Islamic Republic refused, MKO launched terrorist operations against Iran and joined Saddam Hussein during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88). The group is also known to have carried out order by the former dictator Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
After leaving his wife Ashraf Rabii, who was later killed in an armed clash by the Iranian security forces in the company of Moussa Khiabani the head of the MKO inside Iran, Masoud Rajavi remarried his current wife, Maryam Uzdanlu, now known as Maryam Rajavi who is now the co-leader of the MKO.
Her first decision was to change the name from MKO to National Council for Resistance (or NCR) which was Maryam Rajavi’s most important contribution to the MKO in decades. This allowed the MKO to stay on the political scene in Europe and America and not be treated as a terrorist organization. Its main use was to deceive the Americans and Europeans against thinking that this is the same Mujahedin responsible for assassinating American citizens in Iran.
Once the NCR started campaigning for money and influence in Washington for assistance against the Iranian Islamic government, the U.S. politicians and the Israeli lobbyist ignored their origins and their past activities against American civilians. The new face and spokesperson of the NCR became Alireza Jafarzadeh, the frequent FOX News "Iran Analyst". Mr. Jafarzadeh was comfortable in Washington’s power corridors, much like Ahmed Chalabi, the exiled Iraqi who provided much of the now-discredited information on Iraq’s weapons program.
Fox News now introduces Jafarzadeh as either their employee, or Iran Analyst, or as the head of a consultancy company. But as recently as 2002 the same man was interviewed by Fox News as the MKO’s representative in the US Congress. And, it doesn’t help the U.S. image overseas or the cause to unite against terrorism when Gen. McInerney publicly called for the U.S. government to support MMKO terrorist organization to carry out deadly bombings in Iran.
“This group loves the United States. They’re assisting us in the war on terrorism; they’re pro-U.S.,” said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) in an interview. But not everybody agrees.
Middle East scholars widely dispute the assessment that the MKO is a legitimate democratic alternative to the Iranian regime. “That’s patently nonsense,” said the Neo Conservative Michael Ledeen of the American Enterprise Institute, who is often against Iran and supports military actions against the Islamic government.
“I know about support on Capitol Hill for this group, and I think it’s atrocious,” said Dan Brumberg of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. I think it’s due to total ignorance and political manipulation. There’s not much debate [about the MKO] in the academic circles of those who know and understand Iran and Iraq.”
Elahe Hicks of Human Rights Watch said that “many, many Iranians resent” the MKO/MEK. “Because this group is so extremely resented inside Iran, the Iranian government actually benefits from having an opposition group like this,” she said. The families of those civilians that lost their lives as a result of MKO bombing are staunch opponents of the MKO in Iran.
James Phillips of the Heritage Foundation agreed. “When they sided with Iraq against Iran in the [1980-88] war, that was the kiss of death for their political future. Even Iranians who might have sympathized with them were enraged that they became the junior partner of their longstanding rival,” he said.
“Some of their representatives are very articulate,” Phillips continued, “but they are a terrorist group. They had a longstanding alliance with Saddam Hussein, and they went after some of the Kurds at the behest of Saddam Hussein and performed with precision brutality and catastrophic results. Many Kurdish people died and many others maimed for life. They regularly performed torture on behalf of Saddam. ”
Now MKO’s once 30,000 strong members are living with their families throughout Europe and some here in United States, almost all on refugee status collecting benefits paid by taxpayers to live outside Iran and avoid being prosecuted for bombing civilians to achieve political goals.
While the MKO and Fox News and their friends are weaving a web of deceit, Richard Perle is giving aid and comfort to MKO terrorist, the same terrorists who wanted to interrogate our people being held as hostage. MKO has blood on their hands from their wanton acts of violence. Now the “Conservative” TV network (FOX) takes a MKO spokesman and pays him to consult with us on Iran. It is indeed tragic.
I don’t know if I’m disgusted or saddened or heart-broken by our government’s indifference to the presence of this terrorist organization in our country despite being on U.S. State Department terrorist list.
As an American who served in Gulf War I, whose father served in Vietnam, and grandfather had served in the Second World War, I am bewildered that these individuals are allowed to stay near our families and live in our cities and towns.
Writers views.com By Charles Kent