On Friday, August 26th, 2011, the streets surrounding the US State Department featured a motley crowd of protesters wearing yellow hats and t-shirts, chanting slogans, and pleading for the removal of Mujahedin Khalq (MKO/MEK) from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The crowd was mixed in race, and top-heavy with African Americans. An unusually large number of the protesters had scruffy hair and tattered clothes. And surprisingly, only a small number were actually Iranian-Americans. As the crowd was addressed by US politicians who supported the group’s cause, oddly, many in the crowd were not aware of what exactly it was they were protesting—this is because the majority of protesters did not really *have* a cause. They were merely following the assignment of the organizers, who paid them, fed them, and lodged them so they would commit to demonstrate that day. Protestors at the scene told one reporter that the Mujahedin Khalq organizers had told them that there were at least two thousand demonstrators present that day, but the estimate seemed high. [1]

The MKO is a terrorist group and has been blacklisted by the Department of State since the list was first created in 1997. Since then the MKO has persisted with a campaign to get itself removed from that list. And this time they have stooped to new lows: hiring the needy and desperate to do their dirty work, enlisting what seems like a busload of homeless to turn out in grand numbers for a spurious representation of support. It was purely a show of spectacular exploitation—the latest and greatest example of the MKO’s multi-million dollar effort to build support among Washington political elite, according to *The Cable*. [2] And if the false demonstration wasn’t bad enough, it has been reported in *The Christian Science Monitor* and *The Huffington Post* that many of the so-called MKO advocates had been paid large amounts of speaking fees. [3][4] According to Zaid Jilani of *thinkprogress.org* the rally included well-paid speakers and also paid demonstrators “who, it is probable fair to say, know even less about the MEK than the big-money speakers” and “were bused in from as far as New York city.” [5]

The group’s purchased advocacy was also confirmed by *Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, The National Interest, and The Cable*.

Golnaz Esfandiari and Hossein Aryan of *Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty*report that “rally participants also included a number of non-Iranian-Americans. Several of them told Esfandiari and Aryan that they had little or no knowledge about the MKO.” One African-American who was asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally—his companion admitted they had, but then retracted her statement at the man’s behest. [6]

Many non-Iranian rally attendees claimed that they were there in the name of Iranian human rights but were actually confused by the term MEK. Zaid Jilani writes that “of this group [of demonstrators], few seemed to have many details about the MEK, and instead pledged vague notions of support for human rights and democracy, often even getting the name of the MEK wrong.” [7] He revealed that in fact “some of the attendees had been bused and flown in at no personal cost, receiving transportation and in some cases lodging and meals.” [8]
Paul R. Pillar of *The National Interest* writes that one of the participants, a 23-year-old man from Staten Island named Melvin Santiago, said he learned about the demonstration from a friend who in turn got word of it through a flyer distributed in front of a church where the friend said that Santiago “usually goes for the food pantry”. [9]

Another attendee told Zaid Jilani that he supported human rights in Iran and he was informed about the rally at his church and admitted, “to be honest, I don’t really understand what the MEK is.” [10]

It is this latest rally that one can see the effort that the MKO has put in to changing their public persona as they push for being de-listed. According to a RAND report, the MKO are “skilled manipulators of public opinion.” [11] Paul R. Pillar, a professor, and a retired person who served over two decades in the US Intelligence Community asserts that “those who have sold their advocacy for big bucks deserve shame; those who have done so for a meal or two may be deserve our pity.” [12] What is truly appalling is that the MKO is actually a cult who abuses its own members, and now they are exploiting the public—a public who seems to have a weak moral code. Group supporters need to come forward and admit what’s going on, and the general public needs to question more deeply the legitimacy of this atrocious group, and especially those who are paid speaking fees to help the MKO.

The US needs to be aware of that the MKO’s past is beset with crimes and bloodshed. They not only have a history of terrorism against Iran, but against the US and its allies—in fact in the 1970’s, the MKO murdered several US citizens. The MKO has little support in the West, but in effect no viable support inside Iran (because they are a cult, but mostly due to their treasonous relations with Saddam Hussein). In short, US citizens, like Iranian citizens, should not trust the MKO. Pillar suggests that Hillary Clinton “should pay no heed to what Melvin Santiago and the other hungry homeless outside her office window are saying, or to what the high-paid hired guns are saying, about the MEK. Nor does she need to pay any attention to what people like me are saying about the group. She should keep the windows closed and just pay attention to the terms of the law and to what officials in the departments and agencies involved say about whether the terms of the law still apply in this case”.[13]

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1]Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really
Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[2]Rogin, Josh, MEK rally planned for Friday at the State Department, the Cable/ Foreign Policy, August 25, 2011
[3]Peterson, Scott ,Iranian group’s big-money push to get off US terrorist list, The Christian Science Monitor, August 8, 2011
[4]Wilkie, Christina, Mujahideen-e Khalq: Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization,The Huffingtonpost, August 9,2011
[5] Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really
Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[6]Esfandiari, Golnaz, &Aryan, Hossein, MKO Supporters Rally To Call For
U.S. Delisting, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, August 26, 2011
[7] Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26, 2011
[8]ibid
[9]R. Pillar, Paul, The Lobbying that Shouldn’t be Happening, The National Interest, august 27,2011
[10]Jilani, Zaid, Attendees bused into MEK Rally, Some of Whom Don’t Really Understand What the MEK Is, ThinkProgress, August 26,2011
[11]Goulka, Jeremiah &Hansell, Lydia &Wilke, Elizabeth &Larson, Judith, The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq; A Policy Conundrum, RAND Corporation, August 2009.
[12] R. Pillar, Paul, The Lobbying that Shouldn’t be Happening, The National Interest, August 27,2011
[13]ibid

September 5, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The two-sided demonstration of MKO terrorists

The yellow flags of well-funded Mujahedin Khalq’s supporters will be fluttered in front of the State Department on Friday August 26th following the calls the group has made for several weeks and the dollars it has spent for its usually artificially magnified demonstrations. The agenda is to call the DOS to delist MKO which has been on the list since its creation in 1997. The gathering will be surely accompanied by speakers whose pockets are filled with the MKO dollars. The coincidence is that it is the International Quds Day ; an annual event on the last Friday of Ramadan in which people rally to express solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposing Zionism .

If these efforts made by the MKO and propaganda campaign and its lobby in the US administration end with its being delisted, it will be a remarkable transformation; MKO was a terrorist Marxist cult with the blood of Americans on its hands, it turns into a friend, an ally for the US in its animosities against Iranian government, big change.

Elizabeth Rubin, a contributor to the New York Times Magazine who visited the MKO’s Camp Ashraf in 2003, believes that American supporters of the group are two groups.” in fact, an unlikely chorus of the group’s backers – some of whom have received speaking fees, others of whom are inspired by their conviction that the Iranian government must fall at any cost,” she writes in her new article.[1] as a person who has been eye witness of what is really going inside the MKO, Rubin describes her experiences of visiting an authoritarian cult closely, warning the US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton.”Mrs. Clinton should ignore their P.R. campaign,”she states.[2]

Removing the MKO from the list will not make it a good, reliable friend. Reza Nasri of Iranian.com asserts that as a “radical” group, MKO’s “fanatical ideology, pugnacious discourse, undemocratic structure, leadership mission and agenda”, signify it as a terrorist designated organization. Nasri uses a very dramatic simily to explain the unchangeable nature of Mujahedin. He writes, “a mere change of designation is as absurd as removing a snake from the list of reptiles and expecting it to act as peaceful dove.”[3]

The message that delisting the MKO will send to the public is on the one hand, the fact that you can buy everything in the US. You are able to consider a group a friend or a freedom fighter or a pro-democratic movement rather a terrorist communist cult, just if you are well paid by the group. On the other hand, removing the MKO from the list opens the door for other terrorist group’s lobbying efforts in the US government. ”just imagine what sort of message such laxity could send to both the defenders and violators of international criminal law,” Reza Nasri concludes.

Another side of MKO demonstration
As I mentioned Friday is also the day of Quds annual rally – a day of protest against illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the city of Quds (Jerusalem) by Israel. As the new patron of Mujahedin Khalq the Israel lobby has employed the MKO agents to bring over 5000 people to a counter rally against the Quds rally, according to Iran-Interlink.

An insider of the National Council of Resistance has told Iran-Interlink that some operatives of the group have already arrived in Washington to prepare the ground for the arrival of the other thousands.[4] the MKO’s gathering on Friday will serve the needs of their new Zionist friends besides what it will bring to their own agenda.

The history never forgets that the Mujahedin Khalq Organization started its struggle as an anti-Zionist, anti-Imperialist movement. Its operatives received military training in PLO camps and Israelis interests, were among their first targets of assassination and bombing during the 1970’s.

You may feel dizzy. No surprise. The history of the MKO is overflowed with controversies.

By Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Rubin, Elizabeth, nytimes , An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends, August 14, 2011
[2] ibid
[3] Nasri, Reza, iranian.com, Radical by Nature – The MEK will never become a moderate political force, August 20,2011
[4] Iran-Interlink, Growing International support for Palestinians prompts desperate measures from Israeli lobby – Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) mercenaries used to counter pro-Palestinian rally in America, August 18,2011

August 25, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Call for Action against MKO delisting

Despite rising concerns about the impact of Mujahedin Khalq’s lobbying campaign to get removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations of the State Department, the group’s well-paid advocates in Washington D.C do not bother to know about the group more closely.
Regrettably, the MKO’s propaganda and its fierce lobby did succeed to get delisted from the European list in 2009 thanks to the funds they had paid European parliamentarians for many years.

It’s now time to take action against the group’s deceitful propaganda in the U.S.
Fortunately,the MKO is seriously getting hammered in US media. And, as people who suffered the worst experience within the cult of Rajavi, we call all freedom lovers from all over the world to leave their comments on US State Department website to prevent the removal of the MKO from the black list. Let’s illuminate the minds of US authorities about the true substance of this destructive cult.

Link of the related page on the US State Department Website:

contact-us.state.gov/app/ask/
session/L3RpbWUvMTMxMzU2Mj
E3My9zaWQvdzNtZ3ZLQms%3D

You may want to leave your comment under the topic of “U.S. Foreign Policy “and Subject of “Stop delisting the MEK”

August 17, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Aftermath of backing the MKO terrorist cult

The complicated case of the terrorist, cult-like Mujahedin-e- Khalq Organization has been a controversial debate among US politicians for years now. The group’s lobbying campaign including a number of US former officials pushes the US government to delist the group for its further use against Islamic Republic while a large number of critics blame the campaign of support for a group which has been on the FTO list of the State Department since its formation in 1997. The list also includes terrorist groups like Al-Qaida and Liberation Tigers of Tamil.

The American authorities who oppose the removal of MKO from the blacklist, argue that the group’s terrorist cult-like nature has not changed and it still maintains the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts. They suggest that giving speeches to advocate a terrorist designated group is illegal — against Material Support for Terrorism Law.
In July 2011, the MKO’s terror designation was testified in a hearing at the US Congress. Ray Takey; Senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations of the US House of Representatives presented a testimony on the group’s background and its current isolation among Iranian public. Mr. Takey notifies the group’s basic anti-imperialism ideology. The statement includes:

“The core of MEK’s ideology has always been anti-imperialism which it has historically defined as opposition to U.S. interests. The MEK opposed the Shah partly because of his close associations with the United States. MEK’s anti-American compulsions propelled it toward embracing an entire spectrum of radical forces ranging from the Vietcong to the PLO. Given its mission of liberating the working class and expunging the influence of predatory capitalism, the United States has traditionally been identified as a source of exploitation and injustice in MEK literature. As the organization has lost its Iraqi patron and finds itself without any reliable allies, it has somehow modulated its language and sought to moderate its anti-American tone. Such convenient posturing should not distract attention from its well-honed ideological animus to the United States.

"Terror has always been a hallmark of MEK’s strategy for assuming power. Through much of its past, the party exulted violence as a heroic expression of legitimate dissent. One of the central precepts of the party is that a highly-dedicated group of militants could spark a mass revolution by bravely confronting superior power of the state and assaulting its authority. Once, the masses observe that the state is vulnerable to violence, than they will shed their inhibitions and join the protest, thus sparking the larger revolution. Thus, the most suitable means of affecting political change is necessarily violence. Although in its advocacy in Western capitals, the MEK emphasizes its commitment to democracy and free expression, in neither deed nor word has it forsworn it violent pedigree.

"During the 1970s, at the height of its revolutionary ardor, the MEK was fairly indiscriminate about its targets of violence. Among the victims of MEK terror have been American installations and military personnel. The MEK’s Communiqué Number 3 stressed that violence against the United States was permissible given America’s suppression of legitimate revolutionary movements in Palestine and Vietnam. The first such attack came in May 1972 on the occasion of President Richard Nixon’s visit to Iran. To derail that visit, the MEK bombed the U.S Information Office and targeted American companies such as General Motors and Pan-American airways. That same year, the party attempted to assassinate General Harold Price, the Chief of U.S. Military Mission in Iran. Although General Price escaped his assassins, the MEK did tragically succeed in murdering Colonel Lewis Hawkins, the Deputy Chief of Military Mission outside his house.”[1]

About the MKO’s current status in Iranian society particularly inside Iran the testimony reads, “The MEK commands very little support within Iran. Its alliance with Saddam Hussein and its cult-like disposition have alienated even the radical segments of intelligentsia that once found its ideological template attractive”. [2]

On the other side of the issue, dozens of former officials across the political spectrum – from conservative John Bolton to liberal Howard Dean – have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak at events organized by supporters of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or People’s Mujahedin, in the US, according to Financial Times.[3] Whether they are financially motivated to back a terrorist designated group or not, some of the advocates of MKO Cult including John Bolton, the former ambassador to the UN under President Bush, call for military action against IRI and openly support MKO and its removal from the black list. Seemingly, Bolton and other US officials who back delisting of the group are beating the drums of another war in the Middle East by means of the same pattern they used to push the war against Iraq in 2003 based on Chalabi’s allegations about Saddam’s Weapons of Mass Destruction which never were proved true.

On June24, Howard Dean claimed that Maryam Rajavi is the president of Iran. Even the mujahedin themselves do not call Maryam Rajavi “president of Iran” but they call her ”president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran". His assertion seems to be the consequence of MKO’s deceitful- but booming- propaganda campaign that has long portrayed the group as a democratic movement representing Iranian nation but the cable recently released on Iranian popular attitude towards the MKO verifies the opposite. The report which is based on input from State Department Iran-watchers and consular interviewing officers in the main posts that interact with Iranians on a regular basis, reveal:

”Showing a unanimity rare among Iranians, anecdotal information gleaned from both ordinary Iranians living inside Iran and abroad and from Iran analysts strongly indicates that the ‘Mujahedin-e Khalq’ (MEK) opposition group has not significant popular support inside Iran.” [4]

Removing the MEK from the US’s terrorism blacklist would make already frosty relations between Tehran and Washington even icier, believes Michael Theodoulou, foreign correspondent of The National acceptably.

“It also would allow the Mujahedin to receive US funding and become a powerful force in support of war with Iran, just like the Iraqi exiles who deceived us into war with Iraq, Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) warned,” he quotes from Parsi. [5]

Actually if the MKO is removed from the FTO list, it means that the group’s demonization campaign against Islamic Republic and its propaganda to depict itself as Iranians’ prodemocracy movement are capable of manipulating American authorities and leading them to another disastrous war.

“the fact that they [MKO] are against the government in Iran doesn’t make them good” said Gary Sick, an Iran expert in his recent interview with Theodoulou ,”Their support in Iran is very, very limited “,he said.[6]

In October 2007, PBS documentary series on the MKO titled “Showdown with Iran: the Mujahedin –e-Khalq (MEK)" quotes from Richard Armitage, US deputy secretary of State –currently an ardent advocate of the group. "I don’t know about that specifically, but we had discussed the MEK more pointedly after the invasion [of Iraq]. And there were some in the administration who wanted to use Mujahedin-e-Khalq as a pressure point against Iran, and I can remember the National Security adviser, Dr. [Condoleeza] Rice, being very specific about it saying no, a terrorist group is a terrorist group", Armitage said. ”That was exactly the point of view of the State Department as well,” he added.[7]

Besides, in a recently published report by Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI) you read: “Los Angeles investigation has determined that the MEK is currently actively involved in planning and executing acts of terrorism.”[8]

August is the time that may result in MKO’s success after its long-time efforts to deceive the hawks at the US administration but the fact is that the MKO’s terrorist cult-like nature never changes weather it is or is not in the list.

Furthermore, unleashing the MKO would result in more complexities in international relations. It would definitely worsens Iran-US relations, it might deteriorate the situation of Camp Ashraf residents in Iraq where the authorities and people are seriously against the presence of a Saddam’s ally in their territory, it would harm US popularity in the international community and mainly, it would violate the rights of American taxpayers who have to pay for cost of another war in the Middle East.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1] Takey, Ray, Council on Foreign Relations, United States House of Representative http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/112/tak070711.pdf
[2]ibid
[3] Fifield, Anna, Financial Times, Iranian exiles pay US figures as advocates, July 29, 2011
[4] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3748
[5] Theodoulou, Michael, The National, US move to delist MEK as terror group worries Iran’s opposition, July 26, 2011
[6]ibid
[7] PBS, Frontline, Showdown with Iran , the Mujahideen-e khalq, Oct. 27, 2011
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/showdown/themes/mek.html
[8] http://www.american.com/archive/2011/FBI%20-%20REPORT.pdf

August 3, 2011 0 comments

Nejat Publications

Pars Brief – Issue No.60

1. Jalal Talibani: Committee formed to shut MKO Ashraf camp

2. Iran Snapshot: Are US Politicians Giving Support to "Terrorist" Mujahedin-e-Khalq?

3. Cables: U.S. saw leftist Iran opposition group Mujahadeen Khalq as a ‘cult’

4. US State Department claims no popular support for MKO among Iranians

5. Banned Terror Group Seeks U.S. Rebirth

6. Iranian Exile Group Poses Vexing Issue for U.S. in Iraq

Download Pars Brief – Issue No.60
Download Pars Brief – Issue No.60

July 25, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Journalism versus Terrorism – Part 2

He was wearing a military uniform, sitting on his knees. This was the first picture I saw of Ali Safavi after I was keenly aroused to know him and his agenda. I had noticed his name as the author of an article in favor of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI) some years ago. After a quick Google search, I came across with his photograph in military uniform. Another photo portrayed him in a visit between Maryam Rajavi and the Israeli Rabbi Daniel Zucker.

Shockingly, on the Huffington Post, Safavi is introduced as a member of Iran’s parliament in Exile which is the elegant, polished title for NCR. According to the US State Department NCR is an alias for the MKO, thereby it is a terrorist organization –the State Department added NCR to the list in 1999. [1] Only the fact that Safavi is a member of a terrorist designated organization, writing on a professional media leads to the idea of shady journalism which is manipulating the ignorant audience.

How Safavi uses shady journalism to meaningfully distract public opinion? What are his rhetorical strategies to thrust his poorly stated ideas on the readers?
His sophistical arguments help Safavi convince people to think in unethical ways or draw false conclusion. The NCR member uses quibbling arguments to deceive his intended audience as what the first teachers of the history, the Sophists did.

As it was analytically described in the first part of these articles, “Repetition” is the very tool Safavi exploits to promote his cause – let’s say the cause of terrorist designated Mujahedin Khalq Organization. This major rhetorical strategy is used to produce emphasis, magnification and sometime moving effect.

The use of several synonymous or parallel words together and in various intervals helps him amplify his argument. For instance, the company of Iranian “regime” with “execution” in more than 50 cases implies what Safavi is strongly determined to do: demonizing Islamic Republic.

Repeating the name of MKO and its aliases for over 340 times, Safavi dwells on or returns to his strongest argument which is to promote MKO in Washington and its removal from the list of FTOs of the State Department. He gives excessive coverage to the group, its leaders and its activities. He exaggerates about their achievements. For instance, as I mentioned before, he describes MKO as the main Iranian opposition for over twenty times – although the group has no significant popular support inside Iran according to the recent unclassified report ” IRANIAN POPULAR ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE MEK" published in May 2011. The cable was based on input from State Department Iran-watchers and consular interviewing officers in the main posts that interact with Iranians on a regular basis. [2]

By going over a word or phrase like “democracy “or “democratic change” for about 40 times, in different parts of his writings, he pushes the audience to recognize fake importance of the MKO agenda. He portrays the Rajavis as heroes to bring "democratic change" by giving them extraordinary attention. However, the Rajavis are hardly ever known by the Iranian majority. "In speaking to hundreds of Iranians both in the preceding two months and before, ordinary Iranians were almost uniformly dismissive of the MEK, reacting with either disdain or apathy", according to the report.[3]

Ali Safavi vigorously pushes for on his partial allegation that his organization was blacklisted as a terrorist entity by Clinton administration as ”a good will gesture" to IRI, in almost all of his articles, although MKO was listed as a terror group at least three years prior to 1997. The DOS’s fourteen-page report on the group was published in 1994. [4]

Calling MKO opponents as “Tehran apologists” or “Intelligence agents” in a variety of cases, suggests that Safavi‘s unethical journalism is never free from bias. According to him, anyone who disagrees with the MKO deserves to be called Iranian “lobbyist” or “ agent “ but his own biased journalism to boost a terrorist designated group is professional! His most recent reaction[5] against Michael Rubin’s Commentary[6] is a significant evidence for my assertion.

The few mentioned examples of Safavi’s subtle and often unsound reasoning and his irresponsible coverage of a terrorist designated group poses a question in our mind: How can a journalist promote, encourage and endorse the cause of terrorists? His malpractices in support of a terrorist destructive cult prove his shady_ if not dirty_ journalism. That’s when journalism becomes a tool to advocate terrorism.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]US Department of State, Country Report on Terrorism 2006
http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82738.htm
[2] U.S. State Department document released in May 2011 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act http://iran.org/news/2010_05_25-10MEKdocs-DOC10.pdf
[3]ibid
[4]U.S. Department of State, Patterns on Global Terrorism. The 1994 report http://www.fas.org/irp/threat/terror_94/append.html
[5] Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.
[6] Rubin, Michael, Bachmann and the Mujahideen–e-khalq, Commentary Magazine, July 3,2011
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/2011/07/03/michele-bachmann-and-the-mujahideen-e-khalq/

July 19, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Journalism versus Terrorism – Part 1

Former spokesman of, National Council of Resistance in London – member of parliament in exile according to the Huffingtonpost – has posted 19 articles on the Huffingtonpost since February 2010. Reading through the whole articles, I looked for the salient features. Surprisingly I came across with a common pattern in them that might lead the audience to wonder if Safavi, Former spokesman of, National Council of Resistance in London – member of parliament in exile according to the Huffingtonpost was pushing the idea of the Foreign Terrorist designated entity, Mujahedin Khalq (MKO/MEK/PMOI) for which NCR is an alias, according to the State Department.[1]

In at least 18 articles out of 19 he just mentions the words or phrases: MEK, Mojahedin Khalq , PMOI and National Council of Resistance for more than 340 times.(!) Out of this big number more than 20 times, he claims MEK as “the main organized opposition” that represents the Iranian people against the “regime”.

He uses the term “regime” to refer to Islamic Republic government for over 102 times. Out of these 102, about half of them (at least 50 times) he portrays the “regime” by notorious acts including “execution”, “massacre” , “torture” , “ crack down” ,”suppression” , describing “the regime “ by adjectives like “suppressive”, “inhumane”, “deadly”.

He proposes the allegedly “Iranian “,”popular resistance” as the force to bring “democratic change” and eventually ”democracy" in Iran for about 40 times. This “democratic change” will guarantee “human rights” ,”freedom” ,”women rights” and “democracy” for the so-called suffering Iranian people under the current “regime”, according to Ali Safavi.

Besides, he uses the term “nuclear weapon” about 10 times to warn about the “threat “of a “nuclear bomb” made by the “regime”.

In the entire articles, out of those 340 that he mentions MKO and its other names, at least 58 times he asserts that “terrorist designation” of the group by the State Department has been a “good will gesture” to the “regime” in Tehran and the result of the ”regime” ‘s propaganda against the group. He calls the group’s opponents in the West as “Tehran apologists” who apply “appeasement “policy regarding Islamic Republic.

Safavi proposes the group’s “third option” which includes support for them to run their so-called “peaceful overthrow” of “the regime” in Tehran. He uses the verbs like “should”, ”must”, ”need to”, ”can” – boldly used in near 30 statements – to give advice ,make recommendation and even order the US administration, particularly President Obama to “immediately end shackling the MEK”.

Member of the allegedly parliament in exile mentions the name of MEK’s leader – in hiding now- Massoud Rajavi as the leader of the movement that wants to replace the “current regime” in at least 15 cases. He also introduces Mayram Rajavi (6 times) as the “president elect of Iran’s parliament in exile”.

Out of those 21 cases that he mentions the name of the Rajavis ,in 11 cases he refers to their speeches, messages and letters to prove their legitimacy, claiming MKO as “a Muslim organization” that believes in a “tolerant and democratic interoperation of Islam”.

The essence of Ali Safavi’s writings taken out of the particular patterns he applies to propose his arguments proves the hypotheses that he is promoting the cause of MEK in an apparently moderated media like the Huffington Post. That’s kind of biased journalism.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1] Chapter 6 — Terrorist Organizations, U.S Department of State < http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82738.htm >

July 11, 2011 0 comments

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