Page 794 – Nejat Society

Re: Letter from Mr. Paulo Casaca, MEP, to the Canadian Government

Honorable Mr. Stockwell Day, I am writing to you in order to express our deep concerns about a letter, addressed to the Minister of Immigration and Citizenship, in which Mr. Casaca made serious allegations against our organization and its directors. The letter has been translated and published in one of the Mojahedin e Khalgh organization’s satellite sites at the following address: http://www.iran-efshagari.com/details_d.aspx?id_news=3476 .

As a Canadian citizen, I find Mr. Casaca’s intervention with Canada’s internal affairs presumptuous. His expression of opinion on a subject that he has no prior knowledge of is quite irresponsible. Though I am quite confident that our Centre and its directors are well recognized not only by the community we are directly serving, Iranian-Canadians, but also by the community at large as well as the relevant government offices I wish to give a brief history of our organization and its establishment.

In May 2003 and during the pre-election debates on the board of directors of a university based discussion group since part of its members strongly believed in the importance of Human Rights advocacy as part of the group’s agenda we made a decision to split the group in two sections and our organization inherited the original name and the mandate of such advocacy and the other section continued its bi-weekly discussion sessions that were held at OISE for almost three years. Our first major project, right after our registration as an organization, was the unfortunate case of Ms. Zahra Kazemi in which we worked with likes of Mr. Maurice Capithorne, Honorable David Miller, Mr. John Cartwright and many others. In our second major project, on the occasion of tragic earthquake in Bam-Iran, once again we worked with Mr. Buzz Hargrove, Mr. Jack Layton, Ms. Shelley Carroll and many other credible individuals to collect $130,000 and donate it to the Red Cross for the cause. Ever since our centre has been fully active and involved in regards to the well being of the Iranian community in Canada as well as demonstrating a transparent desire to achieve freedom and democracy by the means of peaceful and civilized activities in Iran. Needless to mention that our records, personally and professionally, is always available for audit by authorities.

In the past four years our directors were invited to serve in different organizations and sit at different boards all as result of their dedication to the cause of democracy and human rights. During this time, as one example, I have been one of the first members of the Stop the War Coalition, founder and board member of Iranian Queer Organization (IRQO), member of the Bam Relief Committee, former president of Muslim Canadian Congress and current director of Canadian Muslim Union, member of National Ethnic Press and many other positions for which have never been compensated by funds, grants, donations or any other form of payments.

In late fall 2005 Mr. Mohammadi approached our Centre and explained his situation. We, in return, gave him a realistic picture of how limited our involvement would be since his daughter is of a legal age and without Canadian status. At that time Mr. Mohammadi was working with a respectable non-Iranian lawyer, Ms. Pamila Bhardwaj, who accepted the case pro bono and because of the family’s language barrier I agreed to act as their translator and also write their letters. The lawyer is still helping the devastated family by representing them at the Ministry of Immigration and Citizenship as well as other government departments. As I was just learning about the internal history of MKO through the contacts, witnesses and the first hand experience of the family’s young son who just came back from Iraq, Camp Ashraf, I was approached by some former members of MKO being kept in TIPF, Iraq, and they informed me about the suspicious suicide of a young man by the name of Yaser Akbari Nasab. Though by the time we were informed about this sad event almost two weeks were passed of the date of his death there was no news about it on any site or other media. In an interview with Radio Farda I publicly talked about this and correctly asked for International monitoring of the situation in this camp. This is when the MKO started attacking me, our organization and other directors. Despite all the threatening and discouraging messages and by ignoring the many warnings by concern members of our community we did not change our minds and never stopped doing what we deemed appropriate, legal and democratic. Up to this day our Centre has been involved directly with the case of former members who have been trapped for years in Iraq and we did all to bring their cases to the attention of UNHCR, HRW, AI and similar international organizations. Contrary to the claim of Mojahedin, and its echo by Mr. Casaca, these people ignored the many offers of some shady HR organizations which may or may not have ties with the IRI and are consciously paying a heavy price for that decision.

The volume of the threats, allegations and accusations that we received so far, particularly me and Mr. Saeed Soltanpour, has been beyond tolerable. The most recent wave of attacks started when Mr. Mohammadi and his wife, with serious concern for the future of their daughter after the negotiations between Iran and USA regarding the future of residents of Camp Ashraf, traveled to Baghdad and after an unsuccessful visit with Somayeh on their way back to the city were physically attacked by MKO members, started a desperate campaign in Iraq. On the morning of December 10 Ms. Sonya Hooykaas, the Canadian Council from Jordan called me and by confirming the very story asked me to convince him to return to Canada since she had concerns for their safety. She also asked me if it is OK that she adds my name to her report to Ottawa to which I agreed. However, our belief is that we should not allow pressure and violent threats to paralyze us and concern for personal safety should not prevent us from helping those in urgent need. Unfortunately the current leadership of MKO transferred a credible and popular opposition group into a violent and isolated organization that exists and operates at the will of any willing player but Iranians. I trust that their isolation from the Iranian communities in the Western world as well as inside Iran has been noticed and documented by those interested.

For all these reasons we continue our work by relying on our credentials within our community and all the protection that is available to any Canadian citizens. By now, we are not only used to the exhausted methods of MKO in affiliating every single criticism with ties to the Ministry of Information in Iran but also amused by it. However, it was quite a shock to hear that a member of the European Parliament who has no knowledge of us either individually or as an organization repeats the same baseless rhetoric. It is quite naive of a politician to claim that a government, even as repressing and violent as IRI, plans such extensive operation just to rescue a young novice from a military camp in a war zone. After all, even MKO could not accuse us of any other wrong doing but our assistance to this family. Yet, Mr., Casaca ignored the fact that in no communication the father asked his daughter to sever her relations to the organization or go back to Iran. Actually the recent rush by these desperate parents was due to their fear of their child being returned to Iran as result of negotiations. After all many of MKO members including its leadership reside and operate in Western countries and mostly in Europe.

Ordinary people chose their representatives hoping that they are knowledgeable and just above all. Irresponsible judgments and unwise opinions are not the most desirable qualities for those who are vested with such power. As citizens who believe in the Canadian charter of rights we wish to bring your attention to the serious damage caused by Mr. Casaca’s passing of opinion and would like him to withdraw his allegations immediately. Also since the MKO has gone to an unusual extant in order to defame and terrorize us we would like the Canadian authorities to acknowledge the gravity of the situation and have some proper measures in place.

Sincerely,

Niaz Salimi

Director

Cc:

Honorable Diane Finley “ Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Honorable Maxime Bernier “ Minister of foreign affairs

Ms. Chrystiane Roy “ Iran Desk

Mr. Fernando Da Silva Marques “ Portuguese Embassy

Mr. Paulo Casaca – MEPEU

Canadian

Centre for Thought, Dialogue and Human Rights in Iran “ Toronto (CTDHR), January 6, 2008

http://cdhriran.blogspot.com/2008/01/re-letter-from-mr-paulo-casaca-member.html#links

January 13, 2008 0 comments

USA

Is America the next option for MKO to settle after Iraq?

For the reasons discussed, relocation of MKO to France, and also other European countries, after its expulsion from Iraq is out of the question. The next option, then, might be the United State of America. In spite of telltales that the organization benefits from a number of supporters inside the Congress and other lobbying bodies, for many reasons, including ideological and strategic challenges, MKO is barred to inter the US territories, let alone to be accepted as political settlers.

It is a well proven fact that MKO ideologically antagonizes the capitalist camp characterized as deterring man’s evolution. In MKO ‘s early ideological texts, the group’s anti-capitalist ideas and its ambition to implement a radical redistribution of wealth as well as to inaugurate a classless society are fundamentally sanctioned principles. In contrast to their strongly claimed pro-democratic conducts especially in the past few years, there is no close affinity between MKO’s ideology and liberalism. In many critical situations that the organization has considered as turning-points, and particularly in the course of its ideological revolution, MKO has reiterated the significance of its ideology, even compared with those of Marxist groups, as extremely antagonizing capitalism and especially that of the America’s. Unlike terrorist groups like al-Qaeda whose antagonism with America is rooted in their reactionary and historical positions, MKO’s contradiction is generated out of a scientific comprehension and socio-historical dynamism. Giving further clarification about MKO’s ideological revolution, Mehdi Abrishamch has stated:

Mojahedin’s ideological grasp, in contrast to others, has distinctively and quantitatively historical and social inclinations. Nowhere else can you possibly find the world explained as in MKO and chiefly by Rajavi. [1]

That is MKO’s last achievement revealed particularly following the ideological revolution, which is exactly concurrent with the publication of the State Department’s genuine report on MKO. Although some five months after the publication of the State Department’s report, and in a hasty response to the report, the organization published a book entitled The Democracy Betrayed, the report itself and the later registration of MKO as a FTO proved that the US has developed a deep understanding of MKO and its dual nature and that, it would no longer be duped by the group’s fallacious mottos and claims. The latest report of the State Department Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism released on April 30 discloses even a deeper appreciation of the organization by stating that the group’s leader has established a”cult of personality”. Thus, the US is well aware of the group’s left ideological drift that in circumstances shifts tactics in pro-democratic disguise.

The support MKO claims is receiving from a number of neocons, by the means of which it might practice the proposed “third option”, proves to be nothing above a political ploy regarding the group as cost-effective instrument against Iran. Even in some instances MKO is looked upon as a worthless implement since Americans have no doubt that advertised publicity of MKO among Iranians ends to the gates of a castle in the air.

It seems that the existing US-Iran tensions can be an alibi to grant MKO a temporal settlement in the US soil. However, MKO’s terrorist tag and the US determination to combat terrorism on the one hand and MKO’s insistence on preserving its militarist structure that indicates its tenacity of resorting to armed struggle strategy on the other hand disillusions Americans to trust and endure presence of the organization on their soil. The capacity of MKO as a terrorist organization to conduct terrorist operation anywhere in the world is a truth Americans fail to come to terms with as stated in the State Department’s latest report:

MEK leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United State, Canada, and beyond. [2]

Americans believe that MKO has the capacity to conduct its terrorist feats under an idealistic cult structure throughout the world. The self-immolation and suicide operations are known to be the most practical stratagem and revolutionary deeds advocated by the leaders:

Many members and sympathizers of Mojahedin, residing in military camps as combatants against the regime or scattered in different countries, are urging to commit self-immolation or other self-sacrifice deeds to advance Iranian modern revolution. [3]

Of course, Americans admit that in spite of MKO’s open manipulation of propaganda and terrorist approaches to achieve its objective in its campaign against the Iranian government, it has never been tried for its crimes:

The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives and has been supported by reprehensible regimes, including that of Saddam Hussein. During the 1970s, the MEK assassinated several U.S. military personnel and U.S. civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the violent takeover in 1979 of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Despite U.S. efforts, MEK members have never been brought to justice for the group’s role in these illegal acts. [4]

The cause is not malfunctioning of judiciary systems but MKO’s capacity of adaptation strengthened through other complicated ideological and cultist teachings. MKO’s inherent tendency toward Machiavellianism frustrates having any trust in its promises and Americans are well aware of the fact that even the group’s surrendering of weapons following the invasion of the coalition forces to Iraq was a tactic to prevent its complete demise. Stated in the State Department’s report:

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 voluntarily surrendered their heavy-arms to Coalition control. [5]

MKO has the potentiality of perpetrating terrorist operations in the US far beyond the menaces of al-Qaeda. Even much above the terrorist threats, MKO’s cultist deeds, like self-immolations in some European countries, are perpetration of unspeakable cultist prejudice and violence which Americans can never tolerate because they have had enough of these deeds by destructive cults that have shaken the country only in the past few years. Thus, MKO’s presence in the US will impose irreparable damages both on the country’s policy making and the nation. The American citizens never consent to live next-door with the terrorists and the cultists.

References:

[1]. Lecture delivered by Mehdi Abrishamchi on the ideological revolution within MKO.

[2]. The State Department Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, the report released on April 30.

[3]. Mojahed, No. 253: Massoud Rajavi’s speech made in the first open session of the ideological revolution in Paris.

[4]. The State Department Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, the report released on April 30.

[5]. Ibid. Bahar Irani,Mojahedin.ws,January 12, 2008

January 13, 2008 0 comments

London, a resort of retirement for MKO

Looking at it from a different angle, the excitement of MKO over the POAC’s ruling is for something beyond its mere removal from the list of the proscribed organizations. That is to say, the judgment plainly decrees that MKO, as a political organization with a military infrastructure, has reached the end of its political life and must run a peaceful life of retirement in an appropriate resort place with no better alternative than England. For two reasons, MKO cannot pass the days of retirement in other European countries. First, its proscription as a terrorist organization has developed a phobia of its threat among the European states. Second, in none of the other European countries there could be found suitable political grounds to evolve the embryo of revolution for other countries whose exiled opposition are inspired through close contact with the intelligentsia communities. Once in France, the early Mojahedin could avail the ostensible political dynamics there; but it was nearly three decades ago and besides, Mojahedin have grown too old for the tast.

Now the West holds no more hope for the claimed capacity of Mojahedin who themselves have come to recognize that they can no more bury their heads in the sand and have to succumb to realism. MKO has lost hope to assume the political power since its struggle might and morale have debilitated and no country intends to entrust a bankrupt group with the legitimacy of a political alternative. Consequently, it is a matter of common sense and prudence for MKO to find an appropriate resting place, while maintaining the look of an active group, to start off an unannounced retirement and to brood over a lost, unproductive life.

England, because of its strongly conservative policies and as a country that has well merged traditionalism with modernism, seems to be a much appropriate option. There MKO would be granted the opportunity of having offices and publishing papers and bulletins and arranging regular rallies to maintain the prestige of an active opposition as well as enjoying the nice weather and romantic aura of London.

It is sheer truth rather than an ironically stated or humorous remark. For many reasons, MKO cannot announce retirement but at least it can survive for a while by taking refuge in a safe reclose. Unlike other modernized European countries, English people are anxious to keep to traditions and classism and show much reluctance to make innovations even in literature, cinema and the like. They prefer reading long novels of Dickens and poems of Shakespeare. Such a piquant, enchanting classic atmosphere provides a favourite resort for the retired Mojahedin since they are also nostalgic feel a great attachment to the past. In fact, the entity of the organization has its roots in its past and in any granted circumstance, there is an attempt to connect the present to the past.

A look at the veterans and analysts of the organization appearing in a variety of TV programs signifies them as the vestige of a passÃ© political group who sooner or later have to be retired. In respect to the group’s leader, how long the elegant dresses, make ups and beauty products can hide her aging visage. She also needs retirement and a calm, nice place to repose. They have lived enough to the ripe age of retirement, like thousands of English citizens, to walk on the banks of the river Times and chat about the past. The POAC’s ruling deems necessary as a prerequisite to sign Mojahedin’s retirement papers and provide for their pension. It is needed to grant them a status as senior citizens to live peacefully in the company of other retired British citizens.

Mojahedin.ws,

January 13, 2008 0 comments

MKO and the Aftermath of Recognizing POAC’s Judgment (2)

As stated in the previous article, if MKO insists to recognize the POAC’s judgment and is standing resolute against the renunciation of terrorism as it claims, at least it must revise its previously adopted principles to prove the earnestness in its decision. Notably, a series of the organization’s early pamphlets, designed to provide the basis for its general aspirations and systematic world-outlook, explicitly theorize and advocate the violent strategy of armed struggle. In fact, the cornerstone of its struggle when emerged as an opposition was partly the Machiavellian doctrine of the ‘end justifying the means’.

A specified catalogue of these early booklets and pamphlets that were drafted by a selected ideological team to manifest the organizational ideology and policy are still strongly valued as practicable. The specific series are entitled Takamol (Evolution), Shenakht (Epistemology), Cheguneh Quran biamuzim (How to study the Koran), Rah-e anbiya rah-e bashar (The way of the prophets: the way of humanity) and finally a book entitled An account of the formation and short history of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization from 1965 to 1975.

Explicitly stated in these works, MKO reveals the reasons for its adopted strategy of armed struggle based on Marxist-Islamic eclecticism. Mojahedin were on the belief that armed struggle was an inevitable consequent of a historical determinism; any intransigent attitude would be equal to that of a reactionary. Although at first it was hard for the Westerners to comprehend what was lying behind Mojahedin’s ideology, but some later made references indicate that they were developing a real understanding of Mojahedin’s ideological infrastructure and methodology. They are well aware of the fact that the merely stated words put no bonds upon Mojahedin that hardly respect obligations whenever an opportunity is grabbed at. As stated in POAC’s ruling, in a draft refusal letter dated September 1, 2006, the Secretary of State clearly declares his doubt on Mojahedin’s renunciation of terrorism:

Mere cessation of terrorist acts do not amount to renunciation of terrorism. Without a clear and publicly available renunciation of terrorism by the PMOI, I am entitled to fear that terrorist activity that has been suspended for pragmatic reasons will be resumed in the future. [1]

The duplicity of Mojahedin is a fact that is also referred to in the US State Department’s report. To expect Mojahedin forswear terrorism for ever is like expecting a leopard change its spots. The group’s abandonment of terrorist acts is temporal and might be retained if circumstances deem them necessary. In paragraph 46 of the POAC’s ruling we read:

However, at the heart of his submission lay the contention that the Secretary of State was entitled to conclude that the PMOI was “otherwise concerned in terrorism” within the meaning of sub-paragraph (d) of Section 3(5) of the 2000 Act because, although it was not actually committing acts of terrorism, it retained a future will to do so. In effect the Secretary of State’s case was that Section 3(5)(d) covers the category of situations such as the present, where the Secretary of State concludes that an organisation that for whatever reason is not actually committing acts of terrorism retains a future will to re-engage in future acts of terrorism if or when future circumstances permit. [2]

The conclusion by the Secretary of State asserts that MKO’s resort to militarism is not the outcome of a deliberate decision but innate in its methodology of struggle, its world-outlook and a dialectical process leading eventually to the establishment of a classless society. As Abrishamchi has point out:

We are not the ones to decide the necessity of an organized or aggressive struggle; we are not the ones to decide where to an organized or unorganized struggle leads us. It is not our mentality to decide the necessity of an armed struggle. [3]

The Organization, formed as a political group with militarist bent, naturally opposes any criticism of strategy and resists urges of modifications in general ideology and uses a variety of labels for the dissidents. They are dim-witted who cannot grasp the necessity of laws ruling over the phenomena:

To make any change in any phenomenon, one has to develop a comprehensive recognition of it. In respect to society and social movement and struggle, the recognition is of great significance because of their complexity. Thus, any change within a phenomenon, society and social movement requires recognition of the laws controlling them. [4]

Relatively, if any change is to happen within MKO concerning disavowal of terrorism, the ideological principles recognizing aggressive conduct has to be removed from its methodology of struggle, otherwise, it is hard to believe that it will be unwavering in its renunciation of terrorism. Armed strategy is the effect of the group’s principal ideological cause and source and its renunciation is totally out of question if the cause remains intact.

The change in principles is a move of such great significance that even Mojahedin themselves cannot ensure to what degree it is feasible and practical. As a testament in POAC’s ruling, the organisation states that it had to exercise extreme prudence before officially publicizing its decision since all those who had up to that point been involved in military operations or assisted the operational units, had to be fully informed of and convinced about the reasons and wisdom of the decision made by the organisation’s leadership. Not in a single occasion has the organization tried to convince the insiders that it intends to actualize the will to stop military and terrorist activities.

[1]. PROSCRIBED ORGANISATIONS APPEAL COMMISSION, Appeal No: PC/02/2006, p. 10.

[2]. ibid, P. 13.

[3]. Mehdi Abrishamchi’s lecture delivered on the ideological revolution for the sympathizers in Norway.

[4]. An account of the formation and short history of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization from 1965 to 1975 (originally in Persian), p. 17.

Omid Pouya, Mojahedin.ws, January 8, 2008

January 13, 2008 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Seminar on Releasing Captives of MKO Terrorist Cult

A seminar on the subject of how to release the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) who are held both mentally and physically captive in the Ashraf Camp in Iraq was highly attended by the families in the city of Shiraz despite the cold and snowy weather. The families of the members of the MKO who anxiously desired visiting their beloved ones after so many years had gathered in this seminar organized by the Nejat Society in the city of Shiraz on 11th of January 2008 in the Red Crescent Hall of that city.

Mr. Ebrahim Khodabandeh, Mr. Kambiz Bagherzadeh, and Miss Ronak Dashti the former members of the MKO delivered speeches in this seminar. Mr. Khodabandeh while describing the common methods used by all cults to manipulate and to brainwash the followers, gave some examples on practices applied within the MKO cult and referred to the subjects such as the family relationship, the emotional feelings, expressing opinions, make of choice, thinking independently, showing excitements, and presentation of caring, to be highly restricted and are considered as unforgivable sins. He emphasized that according to the MKO’s ideology all fondness and emotions must be entirely directed towards the leadership. He explained that inside the MKO everyone is held responsible against the leadership while he is considered as impeccable.

Mr. Khodabandeh mentioned the efforts made by the families within the framework of the Nejat Society to organize meetings with their beloved ones held in Iraq. He clarified that restoring the family emotions could lead to the savior of the member from the psychological boundaries the person is held in. Mr. Bagherzadeh referred to all mistreatments and confinements applied against discontented members inside the MKO and underlined that although his brother was in the same base with him but he did not see his brother for more than one and a half years.

Miss Dashti another former member of the MKO who had some bitter experiences while residing in the Ashraf Camp in Iraq explained how his brother and her were deceived by the MKO to be taken to Iraq and to the Ashraf Camp and how she was finally released thanks to the efforts made by her mother who traveled to Iraq and demanded the visit with his daughter. She described how the families could play a major roll to try to free their beloved ones from captivity.

She described that giving high commanding positions to the women is a sham gesture taken by the MKO while the truth is that women are expected to work even harder than men and their emotions are also systematically suppressed more. She clarified that members are expected to dislike whoever they adored before particularly the members of their family. She also explained that all discontented members are labeled as being metal cases. Miss Dashti also referred to the high level of dissatisfaction amongst the forces inside the Ashraf Camp who find no way out.

The hatred amongst the families in the hall of seminar was to the extent that they started shouting and cursing Mas’ud Rajavi the leader of the MKO who has caused all these miseries for the families and their beloved ones.

In the end the families wrote separate letters of request to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Iraqi government demanding the arrangement of a visit with their beloved ones by their own expenses without the presence of any third party as soon as possible.

The core slogan of the seminar was”the release of our children from the boundaries of the MKO terrorist cult and arranging a visit between the families and their beloved ones”

Nejat Society,11th of January 2008

January 12, 2008 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Families’ gathering together

A meeting held in Shiraz under the title of”Salvation”with the participation of MKO family members as well as the former members of the Rajavis’ Cult.

January 11, 2008 0 comments

The Ideology of the MEK

Cults’ Methodology

Cults' Methodology

January 7, 2008 0 comments

France

Is France the next option for MKO to settle after Iraq?

The serious challenge MKO is facing at the present is the next soil to encamp after expulsion from Iraq with respect to the fact that Camp Ashraf is uphold as its most vital ideological reservation. So significant a site to preserve the organization, and since the Iraqi government is determined to expel the group and close up the camp, dismantlement of Camp Ashraf drives MKO into much critical situation beyond what it is suffering at the present. Its barren efforts to be removed from the lists of the proscribed organizations have made it much difficult to convince any country to accede to the group’s flow of refugees. The uncertainty, presupposes two possibilities; the whole and entire relocation of Camp Ashraf to another territory in the region, Latin America and even Africa or individual transfer under the auspices of the international bodies like UNHCR, ICRC, or other concerned humanitarian organizations.

But, MKO never consents to be dispossessed of its organizational identity and individual transfer of the members but the option of the wholesale relocation. Many assume that since some key ranking figures, including the leading cadre and its president-elect, are already situated in France and the organization is engaged in an extensive campaign aimed at winning support from among the politicians there, then, France might be the next appropriate option. However, there are evidences that corroborate unfeasibility of such a formed theory some of which are mentioned below:

1- The organization is not acquitted of its allegations of June 17 and French judicial system is still making inquiry about its file.

2- There are countless indications of alleged civil disturbances and violations against citizens and refugees, like the incident in which agents of MKO assaulted an association of Iranians in Paris and wounded 13, that makes French police and authorities to be seriously concerned about the hostile nature of the organization.

3- Organizationally instigated cult-like operations like the June 17 self-immolations with two deaths have been serious warning for repetition of similar acts; two members recently went on trial before a French court for allegedly helping a third member burn herself to death.

4- There are also corroborated evidences that led to the expulsion of Rajavi and his gang from France in 1985 that led to his alliance with Saddam and its flight to Iraq.

5- There exists a widespread public panic regarding MKO’s cult-like makeup and its potential threats against the French citizen.

From the very first days of the group’s refuge in France, strict measures were taken by French authorities to have it under surveillance. However, on occasions it found opportunities to engage in illegal activities and violation of regulations concerning refugees’ status. Although the leaders had already agreed not to engage in any form of political activities in France, its clandestine activities were juxtaposed to a snake’s progress:

Paris had required that the Iranian refugee leaders sign a written statement, containing the routine text promising to avoid all political activity on French soil. This would be respected for exactly two weeks. [1]

Following the coalition forces attack against Iraq and fall of Saddam, MKO started to move the headquarters to France again. According to the French intelligence services, the Mojahedin’s aim was to move their”world operational centre”- previously based in Baghdad – to the Val d’Oise. The head of France’s Direction for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST), Pierre de Bousquet confirmed the danger posed by the group beyond that of a campaigning political group:

The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) has, for a long time, been going over to a terrorist logic. Despite the organisation’s rhetoric, which claims only to be fighting against a regime, it should be noted that their attacks have usually struck many civilian victims. As to the claims of the PMOI that it wants to bring democracy to Iran, this must be understood within the paradigm of the movement’s extraordinary autocracy, where a radical cult of personality is enforced. Its members must be blindly devoted to Massoud Rajavi and his wife. The slightest criticism is severely punished. The PMOI can be considered as having followed a sectarian detour which is obvious in the fanatical behaviour of it militants: the dramatic immolations of recent days show the sad truth about them. [2]

Based on confidential reports that proved the organization was engaged in terrorist and clandestine activities, produced two weeks before 17 June 2003, DST undertook a major operation against the group under the code named”Theo”. Following the operation, the Figaro could obtain and publish what was believed to be the first-hand information on MKO and was enough to spread panic among the nation:

The PMOI has carried out a number of activities on French soil that are clandestine, sectarian, delinquent, and even seriously criminal. In France, tile organisation has two or three hundred militants and sympathisers. Its ‘hard nucleus’ is made up of a few dozen militants. [3]

Even before relocation of its headquarters from Iraq to France, the organization had started expansion of its residence sites in France as a preparation to establish a second base similar to Ashraf. A report by DST asserts that:

The construction company, Algeco, was called in by the Mojahedin to add bungalows in their camp on rue Gordes. Several hundreds of square meters of housing space have been rented by the organisation in the Val d’Oise in its reorganisation on French soil”. [4]

Accordingly, the wholesome transfer of Camp Ashraf to France seems to be out of question. In respect to Germany, MKO’s situation there is not better than in France. Its trespass of law as well as financial scandals in Germany has sounded the alarm for the authorities there to keep a watchful eye on the organization’s activities. Exploitation of members’ children, after separating them from the parents forcefully, for illegal fund-raising activities was among its most noted outrageous and immoral actions there. Referring to uncovered scandals of MKO by German authorities, Anne Singleton has said:

In Germany, the government uncovered the Mojahedin’s financial activities. After a two year investigation, the German High Court on 21st December 2001 closed the Mojahedin ‘shop’ – twenty-five houses and bases – after evidence was found of misuse of Social Security and fraud. Disturbingly, the Mojahedin had used the members’ children who had been evacuated during the Gulf War of 1991. These children, whilst they lived in the Mojahedin’s bases in Germany, were required to undertake work in the base and take part in fund-raising activities, collecting money in the street. At the same time, the Mojahedin were abusing every possible avenue of Social Security in Germany in order to claim benefits for these children. Documents in Germany showed that ten to twelve million Marks had been used by the Mojahedin to buy weapons. Considering that a Social Security claim of 130 – 260 Marks could be made per child per day, this is a conservative figure of the amount that the Mojahedin collected on account of these children. [5]

Of course, MKO’s situation in other European countries is just the same. Its proscription as a terrorist group in England makes it even worse and erects impassable barrier since England, as a member of European Union, has adopted strict rules against terrorist threats under its enacted Terrorism Act. Besides, any asylum granted to MKO by the European countries raises suspicions on their claim of their engage in war against terrorism. Then, will the US welcome the opposition that might be exploited against Iran? Let’s discuss it. References: [1]. Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, Translated by Thomas R. Forstenzer, 2004, p. 103.

[2]. Ibid, 93

[3]. Ibid, 95

[4]. Ibid, 100

[5]. Anne Singleton; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003.

Bahar Irani,December 31, 2007

January 6, 2008 0 comments

USA

Iran’s Nuclear Program Never Existed

Editor’s note: The recently released National Intelligence Estimate says Iran had “suspended its nuclear weapon program.” But Iran’s purported nuclear weapons program never existed, writes NAM contributing editor William O. Beeman. Beeman is professor and chair of the department of anthropology at the University of Minnesota and author of “The ‘Great Satan’ vs. the ‘Mad Mullahs’: How the United States and Iran Demonize Each Other.”

Iran has never had a proven nuclear weapons program. Ever. This inconvenient fact stands as an indictment of the Bush administration’s stance on Iran.

The recently released 2007 National Intelligence Estimate that Iran “suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003” caught the Bush administration flat-footed. In his panic, Bush grasped desperately at the idea that the weapons program may have once existed. However, the report does not offer a scintilla of evidence that the weapons program was ever an established fact.

Designating 2003 as the date that Iran “stopped” its program is telling:
this is the year the Bush administration first decided to create a case for attacking Iran based on the purported danger of its nuclear program.

In February 2003, the U.S. government-designated terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq, better known as the MEK (or MKO) “revealed” the existence of Iran’s nuclear facilities to Washington. The MEK, which had been purged from Iran during the period following the 1979 revolution, took up residence in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein. The MEK, sometimes identified as an “Islamic Marxist” organization, is dedicated to the overthrow of the current Iranian government. It has been assiduous in courting American lawmakers to recruit U.S. support for its cause. Legislators such as Kansas Senator Sam Brownback and Florida Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen have championed this cause, and neoconservatives Patrick Clawson and Daniel Pipes lobbied for its removal from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations in order to use the MEK in the Bush White House drive for regime change in Iran.

Subsequently, the Bush administration claimed that Iran had “concealed” its weapons program for decades, and began a campaign to shut down all nuclear development.

In fact, the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) grants all nations the “inalienable right” to peaceful nuclear development. Further, it does not require any nation to report its facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) until fissile material, such as uranium, is actually introduced into the facility.

Iran did indeed have a brief reporting lapse. It revealed the start of its nuclear enrichment experiments at the time they began, rather than announcing this to the IAEA 180 days before experimentation as was required. This was in 2003, and it was the only serious breech of protocol.

The National Intelligence Estimate now identifies 2003 as the date when the weapons program stopped — literally at the point when the Bush administration first became aware of it.

2003 was two years before the election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. It was more than a year before the United States began to lobby for U.N. economic sanctions against Iran. Claiming that “international pressure” had caused Iran to modify its behavior, the Bush administration tried desperately to justify its exaggerated characterizations of the danger Iran posed to the world. The only event that the Bush administration can now claim as constituting “international pressure” is the May 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

If the international community understands that Iran never had a weapons program, President George W. Bush’s statement that Iran could start the program up “again” is clearly absurd.

It is now clear that the Bush administration’s campaign to convince the world of the danger of Iran’s purported immanent nuclear weapons was a sham. The campaign was one in a series of public pretexts to effect regime change in the Islamic Republic. No amount of equivocation, or bluster about Iran’s “continuing” danger can mask the fact that American credibility on this issue has been irrevocably damaged.

The only positive outcome of this debacle may be that the Bush administration may finally accept that differences with Iran can only be solved by actually talking to the leaders of the Islamic Republic. Restoration of diplomatic relations, even at a low level, will begin the process of reducing the hostile atmosphere that has been created, and will start the long, slow process toward the restoration of productive and peaceful relations.

New America Media, News Analysis, William O. Beeman

January 5, 2008 0 comments

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