In 1991, after losing western support by remaining in Iraq during the First Gulf War, Massoud Rajavi devised a plan to put Maryam centre stage as his pro-west advocate and to task her with re-gaining this support. First, he had to convince the handful of non-MEK members of the NCRI that she was up to this task. Although Massoud was acknowledged as an intelligent and charismatic leader, Maryam was held in such low esteem that it took two years of persuasion and bargaining before Massoud could convince the other NCRI members to accept her as the ‘interim president-elect of a future Iran’. That year, Rajavi also announced that the NCRI membership was increased from a dozen to 500 – 99 percent were MEK members, including myself – thereby diluting any challenge from the original members.

MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has a popularity problem both at home and in exile.

Since Saddam Hussein would not allow Massoud to leave Iraq, the aim was for Maryam to get out and emerge publicly in the west as the soft face of the ‘Resistance’ to announce the imminent toppling of the regime in Iran. Her role was to re-engage western politicians and gain their support for what Massoud described as the ‘only alternative’ to the Iranian regime.

Although Massoud’s mission for Maryam was serious, unfortunately her personality and capabilities were not up to it. Looking back over the years it is clear that her primary understanding of ‘doing politics’ was to simply pose and perform as if in a theatre show. A role she is still performing today in her every public appearance.

In 1993, I brought Maryam to Paris with a false passport. Massoud allocated her half the monthly allowance given by Saddam to fund the National Liberation Army and about 300 personnel, chosen by Maryam. This was supposed to be a new start for the NCRI, similar to when Massoud Rajavi escaped to Paris from Iran in 1981.

However, as soon as Maryam arrived in Paris she asked Mohaddessin to talk to his CIA contact and ask for visa to the US. Mohaddessin warned her they wouldn’t issue one. They didn’t and that door was firmly closed. The CIA contact told them that for the time being no other MEK were allowed to travel to the States, not even Mohaddessin himself, and that if they tried to go with false passports, they would be severely punished. Of course, Maryam later blamed Mohaddessin and shunned him for a few months.

After arriving in Paris, Maryam’s limited capabilities soon became clear. Instead of undertaking political work – contacting politicians, networking and lobbying – about which she had no clue, Maryam focused on recruiting Iranian exiles. She poached famous music stars from the diaspora and had the MEK members trawl refugee populations to create ‘supporter numbers’. She used Massoud’s money to fund dinner parties to which she would invite western feminists to listen to her talks. Maryam, in her headscarf, lectured American, Scandinavian and European feminists in why they couldn’t be considered real feminists until they accepted Massoud Rajavi as their ideological leader.

I could see that this was not what Massoud Rajavi had envisioned when he tasked her to reinstate the MEK in western political circles and began to argue with Maryam. She must have complained to Massoud because I was soon recalled to Iraq. I was told that I was needed to sort out some technical problems in the underground nuclear bunker. But I soon realised Massoud wanted to check my loyalties. I played nice until he sent me back to Paris. Then I immediately travelled to London where I surrendered my French, Iraqi and Jordanian identity documents and announced my separation from the MEK. I got identity documents in my real name and went about reintegrating into society.

By 1996 it became clear Maryam was to be deported back to Iraq. She asked for one last face-saving event before going back. The UK granted her a 3-day visa, backed by a guarantee from France that they would take her back afterwards. The MEK announced a concert for the famous singer Marzieh at Earls Court in London with free tickets. At the last moment they changed the advertising pictures of Marzieh outside to pictures of Maryam. It didn’t help. When she returned to Iraq at least half the people who had come to Paris with her didn’t go back – including myself, Dr. Massoud Bani Sadr (NCRI Rep in USA) and Dr. Bahman Etemad (NCRI Rep in UK).

By 1997, the loss of so many key members led to Massoud bringing as many as possible back to Iraq. Massoud even called me and tried to persuade me to return to Iraq as an NCRI member not as MEK. When I told him I had been too close to him and knew exactly why he was asking me to come to Saddam’s lawless land, he got angry and started swearing at Maryam who was sitting alongside him. Clearly, Massoud was furious with her for not only failing to get political support, but also losing many core members too. I had credible fear for my life.

Once outside the MEK, over the next year and a half it became clear to me that Massoud and Maryam were sending people into Iran not to kill but to get killed; to add to the blood bank that was already swelled by operation Eternal Light. Terror teams were being intercepted and arrested or killed at the point of entry from Iraq to Iran. Many died. It was obvious there was either a mole in the top level of the MEK or the top themselves were informing the Iranians. When the Iranian security services realised this they stopped killing MEK members and began to arrest and rehabilitate them. Members of these terror teams spoke out about their experiences: Arash Sametipour, Babak Amin, Marjan Malek. They became part of a movement of other ex-MEK members, inside and outside Iran, along with a nationwide association of families of those still inside MEK (Nejat Society), that began actively campaigning to expose the real nature of the MEK, NCRI and Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. The MEK was listed as a terrorist entity by major western countries.

In 2003, with the US invasion of Iraq, Maryam once again emerged on another passport in Paris. She was arrested under terrorism laws. However, some deal was done to free her as the MEK was restored to western favour and began to be used by an anti-Iran coalition of Neocons, Israel and Saudi Arabia. Eventually the MEK was removed from the terrorist lists and deployed in propaganda activity. The MEK members transferred from Iraq to Albania were set to work in a click farm, attempting to influence the narrative on Iran through social media. Maryam continued – increased even – her performances and shows. Her annual Villepinte event became a lucrative holiday trip for many politicians and former officials.

Throughout all this time, I don’t believe it has mattered to Maryam or the members that the fortunes of the MEK were dictated and paid for by foreign powers. Her role, after her husband disappeared in 2003, was to simply maintain the group as an entity; a feat she failed back in the 1990s.

Now, after three decades, Maryam Rajavi is still putting on performance and shows which she, probably sincerely, believes demonstrate her credentials to lead Iran in some mysterious future when it is liberated somehow from its demonic leaders. The problem is, to be a leader, you need followers. The only followers Rajavi has are the enslaved members in Albania, along with some paid supporters and paid advocates. She hasn’t the ability to lead or to learn. Just as when she arrived in Paris in 1993, Maryam still doesn’t know or understand how to ‘do politics’. The tragedy is she also doesn’t see herself as the useful idiot in the fight against Iran, or that the MEK is a merely sideshow, at best an irritant, in the west’s interminable mission to defeat Iran. Performance is all. All hail the unelected president-elect of Iran.

The Many Faces of the MEK, Explained By Its Former Top Spy Massoud Khodabandeh:. to listen to the full conversation click here

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The new legislation was approved by Albania’s Council of Ministers in December last year. It has now been reviewed by Albania’s Commission on European Integration, which announced that it meets EU requirements. According to Albanian officials, the legislation, which has been in the pipeline for a while, seeks to address shortcomings in the bureaucratic system so as to streamline documentation for various foreign individuals. Examples given are

“residence permits of persons without citizenship; residence permits for pensioners; residence permits for travelling employees, i.e. those foreign nationals working in different countries, not in an office or in an institution headquarters and whose work mostly involves travelling; and permits for those who use real estate owned by them in the Republic of Albania”.

The first Iranians to benefit from the new law are those who have rejected membership of the MEK but who, without proper documentation, have struggled to establish themselves in society. Journalist Gjergji Thanasi, who has followed the plight of these former MEK members for the past four years, explained the changes:

“previously there was a problem with getting various permits from different departments – residence, work, travel, etc. Now, foreigners will be issued with a single permit, a White Card, which gives them all the rights of Albanian citizenship, except the right to vote. After a while, they will be issued a Green Card which will entitle them to full citizenship rights.”

Hasan Heyrani, MKO former member in Tirana

For the former MEK members, this has been a welcome development. Hassan Heyrani said:

“I have been managing a coffee shop to make a living. But I can now incorporate my own business and buy property. This will make a huge difference in all our lives. The White Card will even allow us to arrange family reunions”.

The former members have applied for the single permit and have received registration numbers pending the issue of the White Cards in a month or two.

The new law also applies to the MEK members in Camp Ashraf 3 in Durres county. MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has already been reported to be working to hide this law from the members, and to take steps to mitigate its effects. Members are being asked to sign papers waiving any rights to independent life. They must swear an oath to identify as a member of the MEK cult rather than an individual with individual rights. The problem for Rajavi is that although she has already denied the members every one of the rights and freedoms contained in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, one of the principles set out by Article 30 in this document is that nobody can give away or waive their own rights and freedoms.

Heyrani anticipates this could be the end of the MEK as a cult.

“Once the members become aware that they can leave the organisation and enjoy the rights and benefits of Albanian citizenship, Rajavi’s hold over them will be broken”, he said. This author reminds readers that when the MEK were in Iraq, the members were also undocumented: “Members used organisational names rather than their own, to ‘lose their individuality’. Those who needed to travel used fake passports, or passports belonging to other members and supporters. The members were told that this was for security purposes since the Iranian government were spying on them. The real reason was to prevent members having valid documentation. Members were reminded that if they tried to leave the organisation, the punishment under Saddam Hussein for anyone without identity papers or a passport was an automatic 8 prison sentence as an illegal immigrant. That meant, most members would not dare leave. Several who leave did were imprisoned in Abu Ghraib prison under this law.”

Leaked photo of MEK’s Albanian headquarters

In Albania, Maryam Rajavi has benefitted from the notorious corruption in the country, from government down. She has benefitted from the tacit support of the CIA. This has allowed her to hold the members as undocumented slaves, totally dependent on the organisation for all their basic needs. People who managed to leave the cult have often struggled for some time to survive without the necessary documents that would allow them to work. In a matter of weeks, this situation will end. All the Iranians who came to Albania in 2016 will be able to register for the new documentation which will facilitate their break with the Rajavi cult and enable them to live freely and healthily in society.

A summary of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1: We are all born free. We all have our own thoughts and ideas and we should all be treated the same way.

Article 2: The rights in the UDHR belong to everyone, no matter who we are, where we’re from, or whatever we believe.

Article 3: We all have the right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

Article 4: No one should be held as a slave, and no one has the right to treat anyone else as their slave.

Article 5: No one has the right to inflict torture, or to subject anyone else to cruel or inhuman treatment.

Article 6: We should all have the same level of legal protection whoever we are, and wherever in the world we are.

Article 7: The law is the same for everyone, and must treat us all equally.

Article 8: We should all have the right to legal support if we are treated unfairly.

Article 9: Nobody should be arrested, put in prison, or sent away from our country unless there is good reason to do so.

Article 10: Everyone accused of a crime has the right to a fair and public trial, and those that try us should be independent and not influenced by others.

Article 11: Everyone accused of a crime has the right to be considered innocent until they have fairly been proven to be guilty.

Article 12: Nobody has the right to enter our home, open our mail, or intrude on our families without good reason. We also have the right to be protected if someone tries to unfairly damage our reputation.

Article 13: We all have the right to move freely within our country, and to visit and leave other countries when we wish.

Article 14: If we are at risk of harm we have the right to go to another country to seek protection.

Article 15: We all have the right to be a citizen of a country and nobody should prevent us, without good reason, from being a citizen of another country if we wish.

Article 16: We should have the right to marry and have a family as soon as we’re legally old enough. Our ethnicity, nationality and religion should not stop us from being able to do this. Men and women have the same rights when they are married and also when they’re separated. We should never be forced to marry. The government has a responsibility to protect us and our family.

Article 17: Everyone has the right to own property, and no one has the right to take this away from us without a fair reason.

Article 18: Everyone has the freedom to think or believe what they want, including the right to religious belief. We have the right to change our beliefs or religion at any time, and the right to publicly or privately practise our chosen religion, alone or with others.

Article 19: Everyone has the right to their own opinions, and to be able to express them freely. We should have the right to share our ideas with who we want, and in whichever way we choose.

Article 20: We should all have the right to form groups and organise peaceful meetings. Nobody should be forced to belong to a group if they don’t want to.

Article 21: We all have the right to take part in our country’s political affairs either by freely choosing politicians to represent us, or by belonging to the government ourselves. Governments should be voted for by the public on a regular basis, and every person’s individual vote should be secret. Every individual vote should be worth the same.

Article 22: The society we live in should help every person develop to their best ability through access to work, involvement in cultural activity, and the right to social welfare. Every person in society should have the freedom to develop their personality with the support of the resources available in that country.

Article 23: We all have the right to employment, to be free to choose our work, and to be paid a fair salary that allows us to live and support our family. Everyone who does the same work should have the right to equal pay, without discrimination. We have the right to come together and form trade union groups to defend our interests as workers.

Article 24: Everyone has the right to rest and leisure time. There should be limits on working hours, and people should be able to take holidays with pay.

Article 25: We all have the right to enough food, clothing, housing and healthcare for ourselves and our families. We should have access to support if we are out of work, ill, elderly, disabled, widowed, or can’t earn a living for reasons outside of our control. An expectant mother and her baby should both receive extra care and support. All children should have the same rights when they are born.

Article 26: Everyone has the right to education. Primary schooling should be free. We should all be able to continue our studies as far as we wish. At school we should be helped to develop our talents, and be taught an understanding and respect for everyone’s human rights. We should also be taught to get on with others whatever their ethnicity, religion, or country they come from. Our parents have the right to choose what kind of school we go to.

Article 27: We all have the right to get involved in our community’s arts, music, literature and sciences, and the benefits they bring. If we are an artist, a musician, a writer or a scientist, our works should be protected and we should be able to benefit from them.

Article 28: We all have the right to live in a peaceful and orderly society so that these rights and freedoms can be protected, and these rights can be enjoyed in all other countries around the world.

Article 29: We have duties to the community we live in that should allow us to develop as fully as possible. The law should guarantee human rights and should allow everyone to enjoy the same mutual respect.

Article 30: No government, group or individual should act in a way that would destroy the rights and freedoms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The post Documentation Frees MEK Members appeared first on Nejat Society.

To download the video file click here

The MEK reaction came in the form of an audio statement by Massoud Rajavi [the translated transcript is reproduced below]. According to the recording, Massoud Rajavi’s voice has not changed in two decades while he has been in hiding, presumed dead. He is now aged over 70. Photographs show him as a younger man.

Rajavi begins his statement by challenging Iran’s leaders Khamenei, Rouhani and [Ebrahim] Raisi to join him in an international court. Rajavi then repeats some of the allegations made against the MEK over its history. All of which have been documented. It reads as a list of crimes which have caught up with Maryam Rajavi and which he is furious about having been exposed. One particular issue that clearly stings him is the revelation that while he was in Iraq, Saudi Arabia paid Rajavi in suitcases of gold.

RAJAVI TO ASSASSINATE WITNESSES FROM ALBANIA

challenge to Iran’s leaders to meet him in court is hollow and laughable. In fact, throughout the history of his leadership. Rajavi has done everything possible to avoid any legal action. As well as being unable to answer to human rights organisations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, Rajavi has evaded both legal enquiry and prosecution. Much of this has been achieved by diversions and distractions.

– In 1987, France expelled 17 MEK members to Gabon. Rajavi ordered his followers to undertake hunger strikes throughout western Europe forcing the French government to return them to Paris.

– In 2003, Maryam Rajavi and other leading members were arrested at the MEK HQ in Paris on terrorism charges. Rajavi ordered self-immolations to protest her arrest. Three members died, other members suffered severe burns, with some suffering life-changing injuries.

– In 2011, in post-Saddam Iraq, an inquiry was held into how the MEK acquired land for their camp. Farmers in the adjacent village said Saddam Hussein had confiscated their land and gifted it to the MEK. The MEK refused to engage in a legal inquiry. Instead, Rajavi sent tens of unarmed rank and file members to aggressively confront Iraqi security forces. Several MEK members died and many were injured in the incident, including 5 Iraqi security forces.

– In 2013, 52 MEK members died in an attack by unidentified assailants on Camp Ashraf. There were, at that time, only 100 members guarding the evacuated camp. The majority of members had been relocated to a new camp near Baghdad. It was later discovered that all those who died had incriminating information about Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. A 53rd victim was a former member who had been kidnapped and taken to the camp.

– Also in Baghdad, the Iraqi judiciary summoned leading members of the MEK to court accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity. They were smuggled to Albania to evade arrest.

– In Albania, a leading MEK member Behzad Saffari accused, in print, investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi of being ‘an infamous spy of Iran’ an ‘officer of the mullah’s secret service’. Thanasi sued for defamation in August 2019. Two years later, the court case has stalled. Saffari has gone into hiding, his whereabouts is unknown, while lawyers for Saffari waste time and obfuscate. At one time, for example, Saffari’s legal team claimed he needed an English translator in court, in spite of the fact he was studying dentistry in the UK when he joined MEK and has acted as one of their main English language spokespersons throughout the past thirty years.

– Another way the MEK evades investigation and legal prosecution has been the elimination of former members of the organisation who have acted as critics and opponents. Several high profile MEK members have died in recent years under suspicious circumstances. One member Massoud Keshmiri was last seen with the MEK in Germany before disappearing. He has not been seen since. Last month former MEK member Hadi Sani Khani was trafficked by MEK from Albania to Paris. He also has not been seen since. Maryam Rajavi claims she doesn’t know where Hadi is, but Massoud Rajavi’s message makes it clear that this “former colleague of the Ministry of Intelligence in Albania” told them he was paid $500 by Iran. Yet, they don’t know what happened to him after he arrived in Paris.

It is significant that Rajavi’s audio message has not been in English, only in Farsi. It has been posted on some MEK sites but repetition and amplification of the message has been on sites specifically created for attacking former members; specifically Efshagari. This means they don’t want their own English-speaking supporters to see this.
It is also significant that Rajavi’s message is broadcast from Albania. It also carries the logo of the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) – the MEK’s military wing – aka Saddam’s Private Army. Rajavi still clings to this logo to pretend to his followers that they are still an army. Meanwhile, last week, an Albanian diplomat in Geneva claimed his country is fighting terrorism and that the MEK is not a terrorist organisation. Does the label ‘foreign paramilitary group trained by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard’ have a better ring to it for the Albanian government?

From Albania, Massoud Rajavi orders his followers to give the names and addresses of former members and critics to what he calls Resistance Cells (or terror cells), i.e., MEK members. The threat is clear. He wants to kill these people too. He is warning former MEK members, ‘if you expose me, I will kill you; especially if any want to pursue legal action’. This statement was not issued from Iraq or elsewhere, it came from Albania and is being celebrated by Maryam Rajavi and the members there. The Albanian government is responsible for the actions of Maryam Rajavi in that country. Now that there is a direct threat to the lives of those former members that MEK haven’t yet killed, Albania must take responsibility for their safety.
Rajavi’s challenge to Iran’s leaders is a deflection. This is not about Iran. He is not threatening those Iranians who are giving evidence in Tehran. If Rajavi was able to act inside Iran, he would have killed them and talked about it afterwards. But Rajavi has no power in Iran. He does, however, have power in Albania; he is backed by the US, EU, and UK. Rajavi’s claims of CIA support have not been disproved or disavowed by the US. It was the US embassy in Tirana which in 2017 halted the de-radicalization program planned by the Obama administration. We wrote in January that a quick and effective policy win on Iran for President Joe Biden would be to reinstate that plan and rid the US, Albania, the EU and the Iranian people of this toxic group. This statement reflects what happens when governments fail to curtail the MEK. It a matter of time before the MEK manages to kill again, simply because they can.
—
Translated transcript of Massoud Rajavi’s audio message:

Massoud Rajavi – Invitation to Khamenei, Rouhani and Raisi to Participate in an International Court of Justice – March 8, 2010
The curtains were drawn again. After the Antwerp trial and its historic verdict, the shop of the regime’s mercenaries abroad, who used to relay the mullah’s words line by line against the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance, has become so sluggish that the judiciary of the executioners itself has inevitably taken over the job.
In Ashraf, when 320 loudspeakers and 677 days of 24/7 garbage did not work, the head of executioners Qassem Soleimani replaced the so-called critics and ‘former members of the Mojahedin’. The revocation of citizenship and passports and the expulsion of mercenaries, which was the demand of the noble and free Iranian public, has shaken the limbs of agents and mercenaries so much that some employees of their own say that they have gone to lawyers to see the files of the case and its appendices and booklets to see if there is anything about them.
At the same time, a former colleague of the Ministry of Intelligence in Albania revealed that the ministry pays 500 euros a month to mercenaries for writing 12 articles against the Mojahedin, including: “Torture of dissidents, lack of freedom in Mojahedin relations, brainwashing, confession of sexual issues and moments, the severance of ties with the outside world, forced divorces, suspected killings within the Mojahedin, the killing of Kurds and Shiites in Iraq, taking of money from the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the fact that they took their nuclear information from Israel and they have no popular base or support in Iran”.
We have been well acquainted with the accusations of moral corruption, hypocrisy and espionage for the Soviet Union, the United States, Israel and Iraq since the time of the accursed Khomeini, and it is not new. What is new is the enemy’s helplessness in the face of resistance and the holding of sham exhibitions under the title of a court case, whose plaintiffs, witnesses, lawyers and judges are all its own tails. This is the rights and judiciary of the clerical government.

Once again, I call on Khamenei, Rouhani, and Raisi to come with us to an international tribunal if they dare. Bring those 17,000 killed who they give as the statistics, and those 17,000 killed who do not count in the Eternal Light operation in their statistics, and the next 17,000 who are going to be killed and brought up! This makes it clear that a great war has been going on in Iran for 40 years between the people and the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK, MKO) against the deceptive and anti-human regime.
In December 2007, we said: “The leaders of the clerical regime are turning their heels upside down for the fear of being summoned to international courts. One day they will write a warrant for us on Interpol forms! Every day, they sought our trial in Iraq, and from time to time in France, they commented on killing Sayad Shirazi and the announced operation of the Mojahedin Command Headquarters inside the country. They think that the Mojahedin are afraid of a trial. They are completely unaware of this fact and of this rule of law, that wherever there are drops of law and a speck of justice and fairness, and in any court where justice and the rule of law are relatively existent, the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance will undoubtedly win. I tell the mullahs and the Revolutionary Guards near and far that you have won in your plunder and trade, but we have won in our law and justice. To plunder the treasury of the Iranian nation and the oil and blood trade is your domain, and justice and the law is our territory. Now, this is the ball of game and this is the field. We also bring witnesses to the massacre of prisoners and the uprising of Aban, Sistan and Baluchestan, and witnesses to the ruined houses and the homeless.
I call on all my compatriots to provide the names and addresses of intelligence agents, mercenaries, secret servicemen, executioners, judicial operatives, the Basij elements, and the IRGC to the insurgent centers for the great day of justice and law. During the anti-monarchy revolution and at the beginning of Khomeini’s betrayal and crime, revolutionary insurgents shouted:
May our people’s weapons target the chests of traitors
https://www.iran-efshagari.com/%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AF-%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%88%DB%8C-%D8%AF%D8%B9%D9%88%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%A7%DB%8C%D8%8C-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%AD%D8%A7%D9%86%DB%8C-%D9%88-%D8%B1/

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I am now getting death threats from troll armies here on twitter, some wishing harm for me and my family. Here are a few examples. Please take these threats seriously and make this platform safe for everyone, especially journalist.@yoyoel @TwitterSupport @TwitterDC @Policy pic.twitter.com/t5rdTeDOm7

— Negar Mortazavi (@NegarMortazavi) October 24, 2020

On one occasion even Richard Grenell, who has recently been politely expelled from Germany (they really couldn’t stand his regular racist comments and unacceptable interference in European affairs), now the guy who runs the Trump2020 campaign, has retweeted one of these tweets.

Here @RichardGrenell retweets an account previously exposed as a false persona created by the MEK cult falsely accusing a group of Iranian Americans of being Iranian lobbyists. https://t.co/otjbKxdgQQ pic.twitter.com/APm3MqHIef

— Dan Friedman (@dfriedman33) October 27, 2020

The attacks emanate from the MEK’s troll farm in Albania. The MEK’s Heshmat Alavi account is still being used in spite of it being exposed as a fake account last year by Murteza Hussain in The Intercept.

A Trump campaign official is smearing Iranian Americans w/racist dual loyalty charges & amplifying a fake Twitter persona run from an Albanian troll farm by the MEK terrorist group. Oh & this guy was allowed to run US intelligence for a month. 7 DAYS UNTIL WE END THIS NIGHTMARE. pic.twitter.com/HbiOb9cYHi

— Jamal Abdi (@jabdi) October 27, 2020

Revealingly, the Trump campaign has joined in with these attacks, amplifying the threats, harassment and lies through Re-Tweets and Shares on social media.

Donald Trump MEK Terrorists And The Troll Factory In Albania

It is common knowledge that Saudi Arabia’s Sheikh Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) is seriously worried about the departure of Trump, opening the prospect of investigations into the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, ordered by him and carried out in the Saudi Embassy in Turkey. The Mojahedin-e-Khalq for their part are both worried about the future of their new benefactor (Saudi’s Mokhaberat after the fall of Saddam), and worried about their own future as pressure on Albania to give them free rein there may be lifted and the members would be subjected to the plan of deradicalization and integration as was planned by the Obama administration. This will place Maryam Rajavi in a particularly difficult position since she was deported from France and has been confined in Albania without the possibility of being granted a visa from any western countries.

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Trump started his presidency with the ambition of overturning the Obama administration’s achievements. However, he inherited a foreign policy already predicated on waging war and which was soon re-staffed and promoted by Republican warmongers. In this context, withdrawing unilaterally from the Iran nuclear deal might have appeared to be a strong-arm tactic to Trump, but to America’s allies in Europe it looked like a betrayal, and a slap in the face. Still, none were willing to come out on the side of Iran at that time. Even Russia and China were holding back at that stage. So, what were the steps in between which culminated in late December in an unprecedented four days of joint naval manoeuvres between Iran, China, and Russia in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman? What happened to embolden this trio to flex military muscle in the Middle East?

A review of these steps reveals that the blinkered aim of the Trump administration’s foreign policy to manufacture regime change against Iran by any means possible including all-out war has in fact resulted in the opposite result. Regime change is now in its coffin and the assassination of Soleimani is the last nail hammered in.

Instead of promoting freedom and democracy in the Middle East, American interference is destroying every possibility of ordinary people rising up and demanding change from their own governments. In Syria, the people rose up against President Bashar al-Assad because of genuine grievances against that regime. The outcome of U.S. support for Sunni extremists in Syria has been a swing from people supporting the American aim of ousting Assad to rallying behind their own terrible government to save them from the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. With an irony that can be lost on no one, authoritarian Russia and the theocracy in Iran are now allies of Syria in that struggle.

Tectonic Shift In World Order After Unforced Error By Trump 1

In another reckless act of overturning Obama’s legacy, the new Trump administration halted Hillary Clinton’s plan to de-radicalise the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) in Albania. Since then, American anti-Iran politicians have stuffed the MEK down the throats of the international community as the regime change opposition that will bring freedom and democracy to Iran. Since Iranians hate the MEK more than the current Islamic Republic, this has been a gift to the hard-liners in Iran. To quell every protest or demonstration since then, Iran’s security forces have only to claim that MEK are involved in inciting violence for the ordinary people to go home and announce their abhorrence of the MEK.

American actions are consolidating people around their own hated governments instead of helping them express their legitimate demands. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s response to the anti-government protests in Iran in November was to repeat false information published by the MEK about the death toll. When Pompeo retweets MEK propaganda it destroys any trust among Iranians that the U.S. has their interests in mind.

In another remarkable example of how Pompeo has frittered away American power and influence, just weeks ago, disgruntled Iraqi citizens were in the streets demonstrating against Iranian interference in their country. Instead of supporting them, Pompeo oversaw the U.S. bombing of Iraqi militia forces that were fighting against ISIS. The Iraqi people cannot take the U.S. side over this no matter how anti-Iran they are. If America had done nothing, said nothing, Iraqi people would still be in the street demonstrating against their own government. Instead, different Iraqis attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Now, in a pivotal act of hubris, the illegal assassination of Soleimani and Iraqi militia leaders at an international airport not only allows Iran to describe the U.S. as a terrorist state, but has brought Iranians of every belief together to rally together to mourn a national hero, the man who saved Iran from ISIS.

But it would be a mistake to believe that the U.S.’s Middle East foreign policy mistakes only impacted that region. In 1981, France gifted the CIA some land to host the MEK outside Paris from where they could plan their armed resistance to the new regime. Although France did not use the MEK politically as America did, their presence was tolerated. Until, that is, MEK activities began to impact European security and democracy.

In 2017, John Bolton, just before he became Trump’s National Security Advisor, promised the MEK they would celebrate in Tehran before the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution in February 2019. That did not happen, of course. But events subsequent to this promise certainly indicated there were already plans afoot to use the MEK to undermine European policy toward Iran. A bomb plot against the MEK in France was discovered by security forces in France and Belgium to have been a false-flag operation by the MEK used to blame and demonize Iran. After numerous acts of violence and confirmation that the MEK had funded Spain’s far-right Vox party in its EU election bid, several European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands as well as France and Belgium moved to expel MEK leaders, including leader Maryam Rajavi, to Albania.

In Albania, the MEK have caused multiple headaches for the government and the opposition there. The worst result of which has been the EU’s refusal to allow Albania to join the union. After kicking out the MEK, no European country would allow them to enter through the back door again.

Significantly, what these policy steps over time have revealed to America’s foes and her friends alike is that the U.S. cannot be trusted. The Trump administration has shown a reckless disregard for normal behavior in the international scene. It acts with callous cruelty and indifference against enemies and allies alike.

The unwanted assassination of Soleimani will result in tectonic shifts in the world order. No matter how hard mainstream media in the West works to normalize America’s actions, security and military experts the world over will have their own ideas about what the future holds.

Responsible Statecraft,

The post Tectonic Shift In World Order After Unforced Error By Trump appeared first on Nejat Society.

Since its arrival in Albania in 2016, the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), also known as the Rajavi cult after its leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, the group has caused problems for the authorities and citizens of their host country. Exploiting the unresolved problems of crime, corruption, and a weak state dependent on American approval, the MEK has manipulated, bribed, and intimidated its way into the political, media, and criminal elements of Alabania. According to well-known historian Olsi Jazexhi, the MEK has even perverted Albania’s foreign policy making it a hub for anti-Iran activities and creating a security nightmare for Albania’s police and security services.

Now the group poses another risk to the country — a public health risk that cannot be assessed or managed.
In 2017, both tacit support from the Trump administration, and overt support from neoconservative personalities, enabled MEK leaders to evade a planned de-radicalization program and instead build a closed secure camp in Manez — a remote town in the county of Durres — to house up to 2,000 cult members. Camp Ashraf 3 — as it is known — is guarded by private armed security personnel as well as MEK officials; only invited persons are allowed entry. Before this mass incarceration, dozens of members took advantage of the move to Albania to separate from the group. They reported terrible human rights abuses and conditions of modern slavery in the MEK. Journalists were refused entry to the camp to interview members locked up there.
For the majority of MEK members then, a lockdown may seem irrelevant since they were already in forced isolation from the outside world, but for Albania, the existence of the group in the country poses a real dilemma.
Although most cult members will not emerge in public, the group relies on regular supplies from outside, particularly food and medicine, and those who emerge to procure these supplies are part of a greater chain of contacts that stretch all the way to Italy. Not only are MEK members who move around Albania unaccountable and untraced, the MEK is notorious for trafficking its own members past national borders.

The MEK’s leading members made frequent trips to Italy in the early months of this year, exposing them to COVID-19. In this respect, it is important to acknowledge that the MEK members are not all based in the closed camp. Last year, MEK leader Maryam Rajavi was forced to leave her base in France and set up her new headquarters in Albania. Many leading members live in the capital Tirana and occupy a variety of premises — from business offices to an entire floor of the International Hotel in Skanderbeg Square in Tirana. Where are those people now? What contact did they have between Italy and the residents of Camp Ashraf 3? Durres county is the epicenter of the current coronavirus epidemic in Albania. Have MEK members inside been infected?
We don’t know and we may never know. The Albanian authorities, including the security services, do not have access to the camp. According to investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi, who lives in Durres county near the MEK camp, the Health Ministry “deals with Camp Ashraf 3 as if it does not exist. There is not a single line in the Durres Municipality health officials’ paperwork written about the camp and its residents. No Albanian health official has ever entered the camp.”
This means that no matter how hard epidemiologists may be working to trace the contacts of positive cases throughout the country, the MEK will not submit to allow Health Ministry staff inside the camp to test the individuals there. Thanasi goes on to explain, “the MEK have their own doctors, nurses, and dentists. When they have seriously ill patients, they hire private ambulances to transport them to a public hospital in Tirana.”
What is deeply concerning in this crisis, however, are the messages emerging from the camp and covertly passed to those who are concerned with their welfare. Over a thousand families of these disappeared MEK members, who have been trying for two decades to gain contact with their loved ones, say these messages are alarming. They say that the MEK leaders have blocked every form of access to medical care and hospital visits have been cancelled. They also report that some people have gone missing and nobody knows where they are. Everyone inside the camp is worried about the virus and that they are getting no help. They say there is a general sense of dread about the spread of COVID-19.
According to Thanasi, employees of Durres Municipality who engaged in disinfecting streets, squares, flea markets, and agriculture produce markets had contacted the MEK camp via the local Manez council officials offering to disinfect the camp. “We were thanked profusely before our offer was very politely turned down. The commanders at the camp insisted they had already thoroughly disinfected the camp”, Thanasi was told. The Municipal workers however added there was “no evidence this had been done.”
Outside the camp, local residents have observed the MEK’s efforts to deal with the crisis. Speaking to Thanasi, one resident said, at the camp entrance, Albanian armed security guards and MEK members have been observed wearing masks and gloves, “but those on duty at a second gate do not always use protective gear.”
It appears that in public, MEK personnel will wear the masks and gloves, but a group of MEK members who work in a small facility outside the camp fence opposite the main entrance generally do not wear protection. It could be that a shortage of PPE means the MEK has to adopt a public relations exercise to be seen to observe distancing, isolation and protective measures. More cynically, the patchy distribution of protective gear could be linked to a hierarchy of privilege.
Without official oversight, it is not known how many MEK members will contract the virus and how many will die as a result. What is known is that since arriving in Albania, dozens of MEK members have died — reportedly from old age and illness — yet their reported cause of death cannot be relied upon.

MEK leaders mostly refuse post-mortem examinations. The MEK leaders are just as unlikely to report incidences of COVID-19 infections and deaths. MEK members are especially susceptible to the ravages of this virus. Their average age is around 65, with some members in their seventies and eighties. Many members have underlying health issues, and weakness brought on by the decades of overwork and harsh living conditions endured in Iraq. Rajavi herself is so frightened of succumbing to the virus that back in March she had one of her parliamentary lobbyists raise the possibility of travelling to the UK where even as a visitor she could access world class medical facilities.
Clearly, even if the MEK does eventually allow sick members to be tested and gain access medical care, Albania is barely equipped to deal with a widespread outbreak of the coronavirus among the indigenous population. If this troublesome group consumes badly needed resources, the finger of blame will surely go to Albania’s corrupt politicians who allow this group to flout the country’s laws and national interests and pursue its own agenda. That finger of blame must as well point directly at the Trump administration too. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is happy to use MEK propaganda churned out by the troll farm in Camp Ashraf 3 by enslaved members to attack Iran and justify the continuation of extreme sanctions. What responsibility will he take for the health and wellbeing of these people and the people of Albania.

Responsible Statecraft,

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Trump started his presidency with the ambition of overturning the Obama administration’s achievements. However, he inherited a foreign policy already predicated on waging war and which was soon re-staffed and promoted by Republican warmongers. In this context, withdrawing unilaterally from the Iran nuclear deal might have appeared to be a strong-arm tactic to Trump, but to America’s allies in Europe it looked like a betrayal, and a slap in the face. Still, none were willing to come out on the side of Iran at that time. Even Russia and China were holding back at that stage. So, what were the steps in between which culminated in late December in an unprecedented four days of joint naval manoeuvres between Iran, China, and Russia in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Oman? What happened to embolden this trio to flex military muscle in the Middle East?

A review of these steps reveals that the blinkered aim of the Trump administration’s foreign policy to manufacture regime change against Iran by any means possible including all-out war has in fact resulted in the opposite result. Regime change is now in its coffin and the assassination of Soleimani is the last nail hammered in.

Instead of promoting freedom and democracy in the Middle East, American interference is destroying every possibility of ordinary people rising up and demanding change from their own governments. In Syria, the people rose up against President Bashar al-Assad because of genuine grievances against that regime. The outcome of U.S. support for Sunni extremists in Syria has been a swing from people supporting the American aim of ousting Assad to rallying behind their own terrible government to save them from the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. With an irony that can be lost on no one, authoritarian Russia and the theocracy in Iran are now allies of Syria in that struggle.

In another reckless act of overturning Obama’s legacy, the new Trump administration halted Hillary Clinton’s plan to de-radicalise the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) in Albania. Since then, American anti-Iran politicians have stuffed the MEK down the throats of the international community as the regime change opposition that will bring freedom and democracy to Iran. Since Iranians hate the MEK more than the current Islamic Republic, this has been a gift to the hard-liners in Iran. To quell every protest or demonstration since then, Iran’s security forces have only to claim that MEK are involved in inciting violence for the ordinary people to go home and announce their abhorrence of the MEK.

American actions are consolidating people around their own hated governments instead of helping them express their legitimate demands. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s response to the anti-government protests in Iran in November was to repeat false information published by the MEK about the death toll. When Pompeo retweets MEK propaganda it destroys any trust among Iranians that the U.S. has their interests in mind.

In another remarkable example of how Pompeo has frittered away American power and influence, just weeks ago, disgruntled Iraqi citizens were in the streets demonstrating against Iranian interference in their country. Instead of supporting them, Pompeo oversaw the U.S. bombing of Iraqi militia forces that were fighting against ISIS. The Iraqi people cannot take the U.S. side over this no matter how anti-Iran they are. If America had done nothing, said nothing, Iraqi people would still be in the street demonstrating against their own government. Instead, different Iraqis attacked the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad. Now, in a pivotal act of hubris, the illegal assassination of Soleimani and Iraqi militia leaders at an international airport not only allows Iran to describe the U.S. as a terrorist state, but has brought Iranians of every belief together to rally together to mourn a national hero, the man who saved Iran from ISIS.

But it would be a mistake to believe that the U.S.’s Middle East foreign policy mistakes only impacted that region. In 1981, France gifted the CIA some land to host the MEK outside Paris from where they could plan their armed resistance to the new regime. Although France did not use the MEK politically as America did, their presence was tolerated. Until, that is, MEK activities began to impact European security and democracy.

In 2017, John Bolton, just before he became Trump’s National Security Advisor, promised the MEK they would celebrate in Tehran before the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution in February 2019. That did not happen, of course. But events subsequent to this promise certainly indicated there were already plans afoot to use the MEK to undermine European policy toward Iran. A bomb plot against the MEK in France was discovered by security forces in France and Belgium to have been a false-flag operation by the MEK used to blame and demonize Iran. After numerous acts of violence and confirmation that the MEK had funded Spain’s far-right Vox party in its EU election bid, several European countries, including Germany and the Netherlands as well as France and Belgium moved to expel MEK leaders, including leader Maryam Rajavi, to Albania.

In Albania, the MEK have caused multiple headaches for the government and the opposition there. The worst result of which has been the EU’s refusal to allow Albania to join the union. After kicking out the MEK, no European country would allow them to enter through the back door again.

Significantly, what these policy steps over time have revealed to America’s foes and her friends alike is that the U.S. cannot be trusted. The Trump administration has shown a reckless disregard for normal behavior in the international scene. It acts with callous cruelty and indifference against enemies and allies alike.

The unwanted assassination of Soleimani will result in tectonic shifts in the world order. No matter how hard mainstream media in the West works to normalize America’s actions, security and military experts the world over will have their own ideas about what the future holds.

Responsible Statecraft

The post After Soleimani’s Assassination, There Will Be No Regime Change in Tehran appeared first on Nejat Society.

Even before its inception, the Trump administration was accused of foreign interference and repeated counter allegations that such charges are fake news. Now, even as House Democrats are squeezing whatever advantage they can from the Mueller investigation into Russian influence, a fresh allegation of foreign interference has emerged.

An investigation by The Intercept revealed that the White House used an article written by “Heshmat Alavi” to justify President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. After probing the propaganda element in Alavi’s other articles, former members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) have confirmed that the group is linked to the article. According to one such former member, Hassan Heyrani, “Heshmat Alavi is a persona run by a team of people from the political wing of the MEK. This is not and has never been a real person.”
Heyrani said the fake persona has been managed by a team of MEK operatives in Albania, where the group has one of its bases, and is used to spread its message online. Heyrani’s account is echoed by Sara Zahiri, a Farsi-language researcher who focuses on the MEK. Zahiri, who has sources among Iranian government cybersecurity officials, said that Alavi is known inside Iran to be a “group account” run by a team of MEK members and that Alavi himself does not exist.
This new scandal—Heshmatgate—involves a wide political and media class that has become so besotted with an unrealistic anti-Iran agenda that it has left the door open to an unchecked, unverified flow of MEK propaganda throughout American politics and the media. Thanks to these regime-change advocates, a foreign group funded by a foreign government has easily manufactured a false narrative aimed at sending American soldiers to die in a war with Iran that is against U.S. national interests.

The MEK’s target audience is not Iran or Iranians. It barely services its Farsi language outlets. The MEK is almost universally hated by Iranians everywhere and has no credibility among them.

After 2003, the MEK’s military strategy in Iraq under benefactor Saddam Hussein gave way to an intelligence-based strategy under the patronage of Prince Turki Al Faisal, the former intelligence chief of Saudi Arabia.

The MEK is now based in Albania where, under more favourable conditions facilitated by the Trump administration, it has been allowed to build and equip a troll farm using the infamous slave labour of its hapless members. Its aim is to influence people in the English-speaking world through online activity.

The Intercept revealed just one case of MEK’s deceptive anti-Iran work. But this is the tip of the iceberg. MEK interference in the internal affairs of America goes well beyond online attacks on Iran. In 2016, the Organization of Iranian American Communities in the US—a front for the MEK—announced a “General Elections Mobilization Effort,” publicly urging its members to “fulfill their civic duty through active engagement in the 2016 general elections to help inform candidates of our communities’ policy priorities.”
In America, warmongers and regime change pundits, John Bolton and Rudi Giuliani in particular, openly support the MEK. The MEK exploits this impunity to the full.

Critics of the MEK are subjected to character assassination and defamation campaigns. Journalist Jason Rezaian writes, “These efforts actively sought to undermine our credibility about the best approach to deal with Iran and resorted to personal attacks in order to do so.”

This revelation comes at the tail end of another scandal, the Iran Disinformation Project. This project, funded by the State Department, was ostensibly launched to expose and counter Iranian government propaganda.

It paid for social media accounts to smear and discredit Iranian-American human rights activists, academics and journalists who criticize the Trump administration’s hard-line policies on Iran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo must answer for the actions of the State Department, but who is behind the MEK and the mysterious Heshmat Alavi? How much influence does the MEK wield in Washington? And on whose behalf?
The formula for MEK activity is “the MEK and somebody’s money.” This explains how, back in 2014 just before the European Parliament elections, “somebody’s” money was used to fund the campaign of an Islamophobic far-right party called Vox.

Investigations into electoral misconduct revealed that “at least 971,890 euros” was gifted through thousands of contributions ranging from 200 to 5,000 euros from individual MEK members and supporters. The money did not originate with the MEK, but the money laundering was facilitated through the organization by Vox co-founder Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a long-term MEK advocate while he was vice-president of the European Parliament.

In Albania, enjoying the freedom granted by such money and impunity, the MEK is playing out in microcosm what it does in North America and Western Europe. After the MEK arrived in Albania, local journalists were disturbed by its bizarre behavior and filed reports on this activity. In response, the MEK used bribery and corruption to buy publishers and a broadcaster there. They use intimidation tactics to silence journalists. One journalist confessed to me he felt afraid in his own country when the MEK, accompanied by hired armed Albanian security personnel, followed him. In a public space, they photographed him and made verbal threats, demanding that he hand over his phone on which he had earlier filmed activity outside the MEK camp gate.
MEK corruption and deception is insidious and highly dangerous. In America, neoconservatives use the MEK as tool to destroy the Democratic Party.

MEK members inside the Albanian troll farms have admitted to me that, in addition to the usual “regime change” and “nuclear” tags they use, more recent additions include the names of various U.S. political candidates and “Virginia” with a view to swaying electoral opinion in the primaries.

Since the MEK is not a benign group, it is under heavy surveillance. It would be naïve to believe that the intelligence services do not know the identity of the three individuals behind the Heshmat Alavi persona as well as the others who work in the troll farm.
Saudi money and U.S. political advocacy help the MEK exploit America’s democratic systems to expand its influence. According to The Independent, “MEK articles were picked up by US government funded Voice of America’s Persian-language service.” In 2003, I gave testimony to the UK parliament that the MEK’s cult nature was an even greater threat than its terrorist or violent behavior. The MEK regards its needs superior to any considerations of law, morality, or mortality.
Back in 2001, commentator Elizabeth Rubin warned that the MEK “is not only irrelevant to the cause of Iran’s democratic activists, but a totalitarian cult that will come back to haunt us.”
Massoud Khodabandeh is the director of Middle East Strategy Consultants and has worked long-term with the authorities in Iraq to bring about a peaceful solution to the impasse at Camp Liberty and help rescue other victims of the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult. Among other publications, he co-authored the book “The Life of Camp Ashraf: Victims of Many Masters” with his wife Anne Singleton. They also published an academic paper on the MEK’s use of the Internet.

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Tensions increased when the scheduled return of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East on April 2nd was hyped by John Bolton as a “clear and unmistakable message” to Iran that the USA is ready for confrontation. The significance of Bolton’s wording has not been lost when he said the US would counter any attack [by Iran] with “unrelenting force”. Reporters and analysts were quick to contextualise Bolton’s rant against Iran in the demands of Israeli PM Netanyahu. In this respect, the fears of a false flag op which would be blamed on Iran are clear and present. But concerned observers do not appear to recognise the significance of a visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1st by Albanian President Ilir Meta along with top Albanian military leaders and diplomats.

Why Albania matters

Albania is now home to the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult (MEK) and John Bolton has long believed he can use the MEK to facilitate regime change in Iran. One of those ways is to create false flag ops which can be blamed on Iran as a means to provoke a military response. One such event took place in Iraq when it was reported last year, falsely it turned out, that Iran had launched missiles against the US embassy in Baghdad.

In Europe, several unresolved incidents have been blamed on Iran. This author has warned that these are false flag ops meant to destabilise relations between Iran and the EU as well as to provoke Iranian reaction. This activity has now shifted to the Middle East.

MEK operatives, brought from Albania, will be deployed to carry out false flag ops that can be blamed on Iran – such as a suicide attack.

An Albanian source told me off the record that alongside the delegation to the ship he witnessed the presence of Shish operatives taking some Farsi speakers on board the USS Abraham Lincoln who were not disembarked before the ship moved on.

Kuwaiti media also reports that MEK operatives have been arrested attempting to buy speed boats in the Persian Gulf. Such a combination is highly concerning. MEK operatives were trained as suicide bombers by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and in the MEK’s camps in Iraq. They have transferred this training to their new closed camp in Albania.

Albanians aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln

Bolton’s unrelenting drive to attack Iran and his unstinting support for the MEK can only lead to one conclusion:

MEK operatives, brought from Albania, will be deployed to carry out false flag ops that can be blamed on Iran – such as a suicide attack.

Their unique value is that as Iranians they can be passed off as Iranian naval personnel. This ties in with the attempted purchase of speed boats which are used by the Iranian naval forces. The attack on commercial vessels in the gulf for which no details are forthcoming hint that this was a trial run to see what Iran’s reaction would be. In this context, a false flag op that could trigger Bolton’s war in the Middle East is almost certainly already planned and underway.

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New patronage resulted in a strategic shift for the MEK

After the fall of Saddam Hussain and the disappearance of Massoud Rajavi, leader of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist cult, the group’s members were forcibly deported to Albania where the MEK regrouped under the now open support of the Israeli right wing and the regime change pundits of the USA. In Paris, Prince Turki al Faisal al Saud of Saudi Arabia presented himself at a public rally alongside of Maryam Rajavi, wife of the cult leader, to announce the death of Massoud Rajavi, to introduce himself as the new direct benefactor of Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) and to acknowledge Maryam Rajavi as the new head of the terrorist cult.
Under new management the MEK has undergone rapid change and the system of ‘Saddam – Massoud Rajavi’ has transformed into a system of ‘Turki – Maryam Rajavi’. The old system of ‘military-based direct terrorism’ changed rapidly to the new system of ‘intelligence based covert terrorism’. This, of course, was not surprising since Saddam and Massoud had always believed in a show of strength to push their agenda. They believed in achieving their political aims by murdering, threatening and terrorising their opponents. On the other hand, Prince Turki and Maryam favour intelligence-based covert operations to attack, discredit and weaken (and eliminate) their opponents.
Massoud would send terror groups to bomb targets in the streets of Tehran or participate in the massacre of Kurdish people in Iraq. Saddam used chemical weapons in an attempt to eradicate the inhabitants of vast parts of Iraq. Now Maryam hires paid showmen, uses rent-a-crowd to create the illusion of mass demonstrations in Western capitals, and cries wolf as victim while sending club wielders to silence human rights activists. And Prince Turki is, of course, the famous brain behind many setups against opponents of the house of Saud in the west although he is best known as the head of Saudi intelligence who resigned 10 days before 9/11 tragedy carried out by Saudis in New York, later paying lobbying companies to blame Iran for the atrocities.

Attempts to drive a wedge between Iran and EU
Many believe that the latest series of “convenient” incidents attributed to Iranian diplomats in Europe has been the brainchild of Prince Turki who used the MEK to hinder possible rapprochement between Iran and the EU, especially after the EU refused to fall in behind President Trump (Netanyahu and Mohammad Bin Salman) in jeopardising the nuclear deal, which they hoped would trigger another war in the Middle East to reverse their losses on the ground in Syria and Iraq.
However, that strategy has not yielded the best results and the EU remains at best ambivalent about being seen to take sides. So now the Turki-Maryam system has opened a new front, this time in Canada, which has also sometimes been perceived to be wavering in relation to Iran.

MEK renewing its attacks on Iranian Canadians
In Canada, the main focal point for Iranians is the Iranian Canadian Congress (ICC). The MEK has been trying to push its agents into this organisation for years. They have had some success with the backing and finance of the Israeli lobby in getting their agents into the ICC, but recently these agents with their extremist agendas have been voted out by the Iranian Canadians who are increasingly worried about their future as Canadians with an Iranian background. They see what is happening in neighbouring USA and they don’t want to be degraded to second-rate citizens just because Israel or Saudi rulers have grievances against Iran. Indeed, the Iran Canadian Congress has been successful, not only helping Iranian Canadians in recent years, but has now moved to higher levels in social and political circles, influencing the policies which concern them in Canada. In recent weeks they have achieved big victories for their membership including but not confined to:
1- Helping secure governmental funding in response to the flood in Iran
2- Petitioning the government to investigate and bring to justice Mahmood Reza Khavari and Maryam Sheikholeslami Aleagha, the two Iranian Canadian fugitives wanted by Interpol who, while serving at highest ranks of Iranian government, misused their position to steal hundreds of millions of dollars of public funds before running away to Canada. (Taking refuge behind their Canadian passports and thereby discrediting Iranian Canadians). The petition has quickly reached over 17,000 and is increasing.
Saudi Arabia MEK Maryam Rajavi terrorism in CanadaKhavari spotted at a Canadian casino
Activities aimed at silencing these Iranian Canadians indicates that the above achievements have rattled the house of Saud and their paid MEK agents. It looks like the failure to drive a wedge between the Iranians and Europeans who insist on saving the nuclear deal against the will of Trump has angered Netanyahu and Mohammad Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.
The fingerprints of MEK activity are already being revealed. Infamous Persian speaking regime change proponents from the USA are invited to Toronto for propaganda meetings to promote their agenda. But this will only work if the voice of ordinary Iranian Canadians is silenced. This is why threats to the Iranian Canadian Congress alongside the IC Journal (an online Iranian Canadian magazine) have begun in earnest. Lawyer after lawyer threatens to take the individuals and organisations to court on a variety of charges. At the same time, agent after agent contacts these individuals (mostly volunteers who are students, working mothers, etc …) threatening to ruin their lives and livelihoods if they do not give up their work (such as justly asking for humanitarian aid to be sent to flood victims in Iran).
Hallmark MEK money laundry techniques
Two die-hard supporters of regime change, Shahram Tabe Mohammadi and Mehrdokht Hadi, who groups like MEK support – and who, by the way, failed repeatedly to infiltrate the ICC with the aim of derailing it from within – have apparently now been tasked to confront and silence the ICC so as to open the way for the Saudi backed lobbies engaged in stopping any dependable dialogue between Iran and Canada.
The authors of this agenda are more obvious when we observe hallmark MEK money laundry techniques being used to funnel money from the sponsors to the team of lawyers they have hired for threatening the volunteer workers and media.
At a time that the ICC volunteers are desperately working hard to raise money for the Canadian Red Cross to help the flood victims in Iran, Shahram Tabe Mohammadi shamelessly announced that he is collecting money to pay for six different lawyers he has proudly hired threatening to sue the Iranian Canadian Council (ICC) and the Iranian Canadian Journal (ICJ) for defamation. These kinds of announcement bear the hallmark of MEK money laundry; pretending to get money from ordinary people but in fact getting paid by their benefactors. The latest example of this was the funneling about a million dollars to a far-right anti-EU Spanish party (VOX) through Alejo Vidal-Quadra through a network of individuals and accounts across the globe.
Shahram Tabe Mohammadi names some of the people he is threatening with legal action as Mr Mohsen Khakiki, Mr Mehran Farazmand (IC journal), Mr Bijan Ahmandi, Mr Mehdi Samadian, Mr Parsa Beheshti (a high school student), Ms Elham Eslami, Mr Ehshan Hamidi, and Mr Pooria Zarasoed. Mohammadi also announced that he has hired a team of lawyers including but not limited to Anoosh Salahshoor, Phillip J. L. Trotter and Adam Wawrzkiewicz, (all from Lewis & Associates Immigration Lawyers) and has then asked for money (online through social media) to pay for these lawyers!
The targets of this legal attack have since reported receiving anonymous phone calls threatening that they will be forced to pay the full fees of all these lawyers plus compensation if they don’t back off and stop their activities.

If failure in Europe is replicated in Canada, what next?
Up to this point, this type of activity is perhaps not so new for those familiar with the modus operandi of the Saudi Secret services and the MEK in the west. What is worrying is what would be the next step if they fail to achieve their goal of silencing the Iranian Canadians and their media. The MEK has been on overdrive in recent years in Europe; their new tasks planned by Turki and carried out by MEK agents trained by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard. Although this activity failed to disrupt or derail relations between the EU and Iran to the extent the Saudis had hoped, still, people were killed. For example, Mohammad Reza Kolahi in the Netherlands and Malek Sharaee in Albania. Both these deaths should be investigated with Maryam Rajavi the prime suspect as someone with the means, motive and opportunity to assassinate.
If these threats don’t work on the Iranian Canadians (which they most certainly won’t), then an escalation to the next steps by the Saudi backed MEK in Canada must be prevented. This rests on the shoulders of the Canadian government. Whatever the push and pull that goes on, we don’t want another murder or attempted murder in Toronto.

By: Massoud Khodabandeh (Middle East Strategy Consultants), Iranian.com

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