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Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MEK in Albania, will it repeat the fate in Iraq?

When the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) was first relocated in Albanian territory in 2013, public opinion was instigated about the group. Rajavi’s cult was perhaps the first organization that had entered the country as a refugee, and was able to take up a place for the deployment of its members, from the very beginning. They had some special issues unrelated to normal refugees such as restrictions on cross-party visits to the city, restrictions on contacts with people outside their camps, uniformed clothing, the absence of any children among 2,000 men and women and etc…

By passing time, a number of members of the group left the group. The number of defectors has mounted to over 500 to this date. The disclosures on the human rights abuses inside the MEK that were made by former members and the fact that the group was listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the US Department of State, were was the reasons of the Albanian people’s cautiousness towards the Cult of Rajavi.
Besides, Americans’ support for the relocation of MEK members and the pressure on the Albanian government to receive members of the group, ultimately raised questions for the people of the country. Questions that were drawn to reports in Albanian newspapers and Internet websites, such as why these people were expelled from Iraq? Why does America act as a supporter of this group to resettle them? And if this group claims to fight against the Iranian regime, why they will not continue this fight in their country or around the Iranian borders?
The clashes of members of the MEK with defectors in the streets and daily news of the death of members of the group in the so-called Camp Ashraf three, increased the sense of danger regarding the group’s presence for the people Albania.

With the rise in the demands and questions by the people, which pushed the Albanian government to respond especially to the media, the group’s leaders began to take actions to reduce the concerns. These actions began with news and articles published in some Albanian media. Also, the group’s plans for communicating with Albanian people included the invitation of journalists and groups to have limited and controlled visit of their camp, free medical services to neighbors of the camp in Manez and providing a small financial assistance for certain people. This, of-course added other questions to the previous questions: What such refugee groups have such facilities or why and how do they provide such services?!

Under the orders of the leaders of the MEK, there were other activities to reduce the complication of the agenda, including the teaching of Albanian language to some members of the group in order to connect with people in the society as a direct advertising space to show off the group as an innocent entity to Albanian people.
However, with all the efforts of the MEK –which was like an operation for the group in Albania– a sense of distrust and danger was left for the people of this country about the presence of this formerly designated terrorist group with a dark background of terrorist acts and cult-like violence cult. They began to express concern at the stage of political demands to the Albanian government. In fact, today, the request for the expulsion of the members of the Cult of Rajavi from the country, along with demands such as political, economic and social problems of the people, are demanded from the government and the parliament of Albania.

In another words, the same fate that a decade after the collapse of Saddam Hussein happened to the MEK in Iraq, is waiting the group in Albania. The experience has shown that the awareness of people and then their demands to expel this intruder from their soil, as it happened in Iraq, will leave no other way for the Albanian government than the expulsion of the MEK

But this time, if the leaders of the organization are forced to relocate, it can be said with certainty that they will sign the decree of the complete collapse of their organization, because the experience of the other members will not allow them to once again decipher, deceive and resort to another grouping. This time we have to wait for the defection of the majority of the rank and file of the group in Albania, which means the loss of about two thousand forces of the cult of Rajavi.

Nejat Bloggers

May 22, 2021 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 287

++ All comments in Farsi have been about the MEK’s silence during Israel’s massacre of Palestinian civilians and destruction of vital infrastructure in Gaza. Most reactions conclude that the MEK don’t have anything to say for themselves. The cult is so mercenary that they can’t speak for themselves anymore and merely repeat and amplify what they are paid to say. The MEK is purely a click farm. Some compare the current silence with that followed the death of Massoud Rajavi. Again, the same thing has happened inside MEK: members are banned from talking or asking questions about Israel, just as they were/are banned from asking about Massoud Rajavi. When the MEK say ‘banned’ it means members will be severely punished, whether by shunning or being subjected to mass humiliation meetings. Some commentors point out that when the MEK arrives at this kind of deadlock situation, the only diversion left is to attack families and ex members. This week, former MEK member Ali Shirzad posted a note to say: ‘Before, you used to threaten to kill me. Now you threaten to set me up so I’ll be deported from Europe. This threat is clearly not directed at me because you know you can’t do this. It is directed against your own pathetic members in your camp in Albania. But I couldn’t stop laughing when I came to realise that the one who is threatening me is the one who herself has been deported from Europe, Maryam Rajavi.’ Other comments point out that as a mercenary force, the MEK has become like an old tool that Americans don’t want to throw out. They have enough room in the garage. Sure it’s an old tool, but it has sentimental value for the warmongers – like granny’s old sewing scissors, they just can’t throw it out.

++ While looking at Israel and Gaza and the MEK situation in Albania politically, some comments point out that the other side of the coin is the human rights of the people. The politicians only want to see profit and loss and sometimes they make a mistake – they forget the cost of human rights abuses by using these tools which in the long run comes back to haunt them. Examples are Al Qaida and Taliban. There is no profit in the long term from ignoring human rights.

++ Today, after eleven days, Rajavi said that Hamas – which according to the MEK means Iran – started the fight with Israel by firing rockets. (Nothing about the attack on the Al Aqsa mosque or the threats of evictions in occupied Sheikh Jarrah.) According to Rajavi, ‘Israel was forced to retaliate and kill a few Hamas militants’. This is as much as MEK has had the go-ahead to say. However, this was not posted on the first Farsi or English pages of the MEK sites, revealing that they were forced to say something, but what they said was not in Rajavi’s favour. The danger is that MEK members who remember the MEK’s history of collaboration with the Palestinians – from Yasser Arafat to Mahmoud Abbas – are now questioning this change of side to support the Israeli Zionists against the Palestinians. This is reminiscent of the change from anti-Imperialist struggle to hosting Neocons from America in the MEK rallies.

In English:

++ The total absence of MEK activity in the English language sphere is, as one Farsi commentator pointed out, evidence that for America, the MEK has become a defunct tool; not worth paying to hold rallies or make speeches or try to get to Paris for a publicity photo. Maryam Rajavi and her acolytes can only sit it out and wait. Meanwhile, in Albania, on a weekly basis, MEK members are dying from COVID-19, old age and illnesses.

May 21, 2021

May 22, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

MEK Intelligence gathering on journalists

Members of the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK/ MKO/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) in camp Ashraf three, Albania, have been tasked with gathering intelligence on journalists via telephone.

The new order from MEK leaders to increase the focus on telephone intelligence gathering from reporters and journalists was issued after photos and news were leaked from inside the group headquarters in Albania. The group’s leaders appear to be seeking sources of this disseminate news and images within themselves.

Therefore, the TET unit of Camp Ashraf, tasked with telephone intelligence gathering, is tasked with finding phone numbers of news outlets media activists and their relatives calling them in order to collect information, a regular basis. Calls from the MEK agents in Europe, in particular from Albania, focus mainly on media reporters who publish news material on the MEK camps in Albania.

The MEK agents use a new hardware that make these calls include Iran numbers on reporters ‘phone screens to avoid journalists’ suspicions about the calls as much as possible. However, such telephone numbers do not exist in Iran’s mobile operator networks.

The MEK agents call under the cover of a government official or an affiliate of a government agency and express gratitude for the inserted content about the MEK in Albania! Asserting that more information is needed, they try to find sources of the news and information.

Although most of the MEK’s efforts to discredit the information have been unsuccessful, it has increased the need for journalists to be vigilant and well-informed about the methods of telephone intelligence gathering.

May 20, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

MEK leaders and the illusion of overthrow

A series of popular protests (of 2017-2018) in Iran, on economic issues, created the illusion for the leaders of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK/ MKO/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) that the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran is close.
In this regard, the leaders gathered members and held a general meeting and read the message from Massoud Rajavi (who has been disappeared since 2003). It was emphasized that “with the rise of social uprisings and the formation of resistance units, along with the inflation of prices and economic issues, the Islamic Republic would be overthrown by February 2019, and the group would be welcome by Iranians’ with greetings and salutations and the group would put Maryam Rajavi on the throne of the presidency.

The baseless words of the terrorist leaders of the MEK can be considered from a number of perspectives:

First, the internal economic protests can be considered a natural occurrence in any country. At times, perhaps because of the current international developments, a country like Iran, in contrast to various hostile powers and under intense pressure from enemies, has been placed in a difficult situation and face shortcomings. The Increase in deficiencies and different requirements of life will provoke protests and with the elimination of shortcomings, conditions will return to normal. It should be borne in mind that Iran is a wealthy country that, thanks to its rich domestic resources, has the ability to overcome economic problems and control the situation.

Second, it seems that the leaders of the MEK have no knowledge of the international developments and capacities of the Iranian diplomacy system. They are unaware of the fact that the Islamic Republic of Iran has open and secret capacities in the political arena and international relations and if the conditions get hard and difficult, then based on logic and rationality, Iran will use all its capacities to preserve and secure the national interests and security of the country.

Third, for many years, the leaders of the MEK, with the promise of the overthrow of the Islamic Republic, have been able to sustain their nature and provide continuity for their political survival. But now, after forty years, they have not achieved their goals yet. The leaders of this terrorist organization even told their members that the recent protests in Iran were signs of the overthrow of the government.

Of course, the imagination has been futile. That’s why the organization has faced a domestic crisis in recent months, and many members, disappointed with baseless promises, began to protest and even some escaped from the Albania’s camp. Apparently, as the situation worsened, Maryam Rajavi has stayed in the camp and tried to maintain internal coherence holding a series of ideological meetings to prevent domestic defections.
Rajavi tries to keep hope alive within the group with the slogan of “overthrow is Close” and to prevent the beginning of possible riots. She announced the February 2019 as the time of the collapse of the Iranian regime. February 2019 was a serious test for MEK leaders.
Definitely, after the failure of the test, the MKO leaders had to wait for the internal crisis to emerge. The deceived members of the organization had no motive for staying in the organization. They do not see any necessity to stay in the group while the leaders promise never come true.

Dr. Reza Ekhtiari Amiri, Assistant Professor at Law Faculty of Mazandaran University

May 19, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Who are the MEK targets in cyberspace?

Regarding the deceitful recruitment techniques of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi), the record is very long. In the late 1980s the group lost its ability to attract cooperation. In fact, several thousand assassinations in the streets of Iranian cities, in addition to collaboration with Saddam Hussein in the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq, led to the group’s serious unpopularity among Iranian public and eventually the recruitment process became very difficult for of the MEK with its extensive record of violence and terrorist acts.

Therefore, the MEK recruiters used human smugglers to dispatch their forces to the neighboring countries of Iran. Turkey, Pakistan, the UAE, and even European countries such as Germany, were places where human traffickers went to immigrant Iranians or even travelers to deceive them to join the MEK. A large number of MEK’s current members and defectors were recruited by the MEK agents who promised them a dream life in Europe via joining the MEK in Iraq!

Years later, with the expulsion of the group from Iraq and its relocation in Albania, the new project for the MEK leaders was to escalate chaos and sabotage in Iran. In order to allegedly destabilize the Iranian government, they try to find operatives inside the country, and this time in the social networks and cyberspace. The techniques are similar to those of the 1990s In Turkey and the UAE.

The MEK agents who communicate with users inside the cyberspace, in one of their most widely used ways to identify and recruit individuals, they set up pages and groups with general topics in order to monitor reactions and comments from social network users. This way they select their targets.

Leaked photos showing MEK members at work

As an example, in Telegram, they observe the comments of users in different groups exploring their reactions to political and social issues. After engraving a social problem, such as abuse, inflation, unemployment, and so on, one has to examine the reactions of the people in the group. Then, they choose their targets among them. Any criticism of the system or government is considered as an opportunity for the MEK agents to deceive their targets through a process of communicating with individuals, sometimes in the course of a few months, in order to use them for further operations.

The Space of Instagram, YouTube and Twitter is also the MEK’s full-time activity place, in which they insert contents against the Iranian government in a variety of political, social, economic, cultural issues and other fields, with diverse literature tailored to various types of age and political opposition. This is the result of their precise observation of the individuals’ reactions are trying to trap them.

Observation of posts and content published by individuals on social networks, behaviors and interests of each person in cyberspace are also other mechanisms of the MEK to choose their targets. In some telegram channels, robots are used to detect and identify subjects that are relevant to the agenda of the MEK. These robots have the ability to examine the hashtags, keywords, or even the user’s intruders in a massive way, and have been programmed to quickly detect content against the system and then introduce them to the MEK agents in the cyberspace.

MEK’s targets are usually selected from among the lower aged groups, since people under the age of 20 usually have the slightest familiarity with the records of the crimes of the group and particularly its betrayal against its own country fellowmen.

A simple search by users in the cyber space, or consultation of an elderly can basically make the youth aware of the threat by the side of the MEK as a terrorist cult. However, the MEK agents are skillful in manipulating their targets. When they introduce themselves as members of the MEK, online presence on the social network becomes their priority to guide their target in such a way as he or she asks all questions and ambiguities from the MEK agents. Deceived targets have entirely confessed that MEK agents have repeatedly stressed that if they have any questions, they should ask themselves!

Unfortunately, the lack of appropriate consideration paid by families to their children’s activities in cyberspace and social networks, risks the life of their children. This is partly because of the parents’ lack of familiarity with the practices of the MEK in cyberspace, too. MEK, in its turn, uses the ground to launch its fraudulent activities.

May 19, 2021 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Family is taboo except after death

In human society, family is a group of people related either by birth or affinity. The purpose of families should be to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. It is the essential element and the fundamental pillar of society; and many societies in the world regard the protection and support of the family as their fundamental principles, since the decline or rise of each society is closely linked to the inner situation of each family.

On the other hand, the formation of a family is one of the basic rights of every person. This right, like other basic rights such as having a job and choosing a place of residence, is inevitable, and nobody can deny this right from another.

The above-mentioned statements are perfectly rational and acceptable to each audience. It is even surprising to everyone that, in the twenty-first century, leaders of a small society violate these logical principles. Today there are sects out there that deny this simple principle. They oppose the foundations of family.

Among destructive cults, the Cult of Rajavi (MKO/ MEK/ Mujahedin Khalq/ PMOI) has escaped the principle of family , forbidding the foundation of family as its fundamental organizational principle.

In fact, family is a strange word which is scarified in the cult-like regulations of the MEK. Rules such as compulsory marriage, forced celibacy, forced divorce, separation of children from parents, the sterilization of women, and many other components represent the violation of family rights by the MEK.

However, family turn out to become useful for the MEK leaders. In December 2018, one of the most famous MKO members, Mohammad Seyedi Kashani, in the Garrison of Ashraf 3 in Albania, died because of his age.
At the time of his funeral in the cemetery of Ashraf, the famous fringe occurred; the presence of people with flowers. They showed up as Seyed Kashani’s family. Perhaps, the most remarkable fringe for the ceremony was a paper on which it was written “family”. In the pictures of two women with flowers, moving to the grave of the man; you will find that one of them is Shohreh Moghadas, the wife and the other one, the daughter of Seyedi Kashani.

But why is the name of the family surprising to the audience? The answer to this question should be sought in the history of the MEK. After the heavy defeat the group in the “Eternal Light” against Iranian border, Massoud Rajavi called the operation as an “insurance letter” for the management and reduction of members’ protests for the failure of “Forough Javidan” and its heavy casualties for the organization.

All members were blamed for the failure. People got stuck in the “Chahar zebr” Strait (a location of a horrible battle in the operation), because of thousands of straits in their minds! And in fact, their “monotheism” was incomplete because they had to think about the leadership in their minds and they should not depend on anyone else in terms of emotional affairs and considered the interests of a husband and wife as partners and the members should only be interested in their leader, Massoud Rajavi.

These arguments were the introduction to another “ideological revolution” known as the “divorce revolution”. To control individuals, Massoud Rajavi considered the only factor in the failure of the organization to be an individual’s affiliation with the family and, in order to counteract it, sought to oppose the “individuality and gender” of the organization, and then members of the organization took a divorce and even insulted each other. Seyedi Kashani and Shohreh Moghaddas were not excluded from this and were obliged to obey Massoud orders, in addition to having a child. Shohreh Moghaddas went to France in March 1993 with Maryam and no longer returned to Iraq, and daughter of Seyedi Kashani was taken to Iraq in 1991 in a sectarian movement.

This is a story of the lives of many people who have been condemned to death in the Rajavi cult, and see their being excluded because, contrary to the principles of nature, in this sect, only death can be a factor in forming a family. When you observe Seyedi Kashani’s burial video, you are more likely to realize the reality of the secularism of the MKO. A woman and girl who have been for years not allowed to meet with their other family members, and only permission, is to attend the funeral. It is possible that if Massoud Rajavi, the head of the terrorist cult of the MKO, was presents on that day, he would condemn and blame the woman and daughter for expressing their kindness and grief.

May 18, 2021 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

I am ready to testify in any court of justice

Malek Hozhabr, 47, is from Roodbar, Gilan. He was a young boy, in his twenties, looking for a better life when he went to Turkey.

In Turkey, a recruiter of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) called Ali Ankara came to him. The first visit was not fruitful for the recruiter but he insisted and repeated his suggestion several times promising Malek and some other Iranian young men to help them immigrate to Europe via Iraq. Malek and two of his friends finally admitted to go to Iraq.

In 2002, they arrived in the MEK’s headquarters in Iraq, Camp Ashraf. Malek found out that he was on the wrong path as soon as he arrived in Ashraf. He expressed his dissent and asked to leave the group but he was not allowed. Instead, he was threatened to be delivered to Iraqi Intelligence Ministry. “I was constantly under pressure and forced to attend brainwashing meeting,” Malek says. “They wanted me to give up.”

Malek Hozhabr

After the American invasion to Iraq, Malek escaped Camp Ashraf and went to the American camp and from there he and two other comrades, named Heidar and Nasser succeeded to escape to Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where they were arrested by the security forces. The judge court listened to his testimony about his experience in the MEK and released him.

In 2005, Malek was able to return home after three years of being a hostage in the MEK. “As a victim of the Rajavi’s suppressive system, I am ready to testify in any court of justice,” he says.

May 18, 2021 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

I am a victim of Rajavi’s violence

Hassan Sharqi, 67, is from Tonekabon, Gilan, Iran. Hassan was 26 years old, married and had a child when he joined the Iranian army to serve. He was a soldier in Iran-Iraq war when he was taken as a war prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1980. He was kept as a POW in Iraqi jail, for nine years.

In 1989, after the ceasefire between the two countries, the POWs have not been exchanged yet. It was an opportunity for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) to recruit Iranian prisoners who were under severe pressure in the Iraqi camps.

Hassan Sharqi was deceived by the MEK recruiters to join the group. He was moved to the MEK’s Camp Ashraf. Years later, in 2012, he could manage to leave the group after 23 years of imprisonment in the MEK which was “a more horrible imprisonment than the one in the Iraqi camps”, as he says. He returned his home town but his wife had married another man.

“I am a victim of Rajavi’s violence,” he says. “I am ready to testify against Rajavi in any court.”

May 17, 2021 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Challenges of The Cult of Rajavi in Western media

“The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) are skilled manipulators of public opinion”, according to the RAND report.

Assassinations of the American military advisers and civilians in Tehran in 1970s, the statements and declarations of the group about assassinations and sabotage in various cities of Iran in Mujahed journal during the 1980s and 90s, the group’s military operations against Iraqi Kurds and Shiites and its cross-border operations against their own Iranian fellow countrymen were all as fuel for the group’s propaganda machine.

Mojahed Magazine – Statement of the MEK on the assassination of Brigadier General Harold Price

Mojahed Magazine – on the assassination of civilians in Iran

However, many of these media show offs, which Indeed, the MEK are very skilled in it, later turned out to be counterproductive. They were actually presented as the evidences of their crimes. For example, the content in the Mujahed journal on the assassination of American citizens was one of the most important documents that were strongly denied by the MEK during the years that the group was listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department.

The terrorist history of the MEK in Iran and the genocide of nearly 12,000 people in the streets of Iran were among the documents that MEK leaders attempted to deny, while the names, specifications, methods of assassination and … of each of the victims was detailed in The Mujahed journals of the 1980s. Mujahed journal was the official publication of the MEK.

During the years of the presence of the MEK in Iraq, there was always a headquarters in the suburb of Paris, Auver sur d’Oise which provided the media with a very visible and playable appearance. Its mission was commuting in the corridors of the European parliament and lobbying for the MEK, and particularly communicating the Western media.

Agents of the MEK, with their traditional ways, linked with Western media secretaries and journalists, and, while paying bribes in the form of fixed and monthly wages, demanded from the media connoisseurs to portrait the MEK as a democratic and freedom-loving group in Western media.

The same media propaganda has given rise to the opportunity and dare to put the issue of the claim of the MEK as the “alternative” to the Islamic Republic of Iran. However, the agenda was hardly ever covered in the media.
The group continued to use the capacity of Western media until it was entirely expelled from Iraq and relocated to Albania. With arriving in Albania, very soon, it became a very interesting subject for the same Western media, given that the view of the MEK forces were no longer inside the walls of Ashraf and in the deserts of Iraq and transmitted to the eyes of the European media.

In fact, the media could not publish the fictitious and custom reports fabricated by the MEK, because they were in Europe and before the eyes of thousands of cameras and Medias. Spreading fake news about the MEK would knockout the media.

Besides, the Cult of Rajavi turned into something stimulating with all controversial facts about human rights violations committed inside it. The presence of a large number of men and women together, without any marriage between them, without being a child among them, and other issues, such as frequent escape of members could all be hot topics of news reports. These issues made it possible for actual reporters to get interested in the cult-like group, and forced the organization to write a statement about it, and even, in some cases, attack reporters and certain Western media accusing them of being the agents of the Islamic Republic.

For example, The SPIEGEL’s report on the MEK and its defectors, the BBC report of the Iranian war prisoners who were jailed in the MEK or the lack of media coverage of the group’s un-crowded demonstrations in European cities, show that the MEK has lost the propaganda battle. The testimonies of hundreds former members of the group, now living in Europe has completely undermined the focus of the MEK in the media.

Meanwhile, the media’s progress towards the issues surrounding the MEK and dissemination of information on compulsory maintenance and slavery of about 2,000 people in Camp Ashraf 3 in Manez, Albania is the group’s problem of every day. This will get close to many other less-known dimensions of the MEK atrocities towards its own rank and file.

May 16, 2021 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 286

++ For the past two weeks, the MEK’s Farsi sites have all been directed at the election in Iran. The aim of the messaging is to bring the number of voters down. To that end there is nothing they will not do or say; lies, misinformation, exaggeration, fake news. Over the past few days the MEK has begun threatening and cursing people who might vote, especially Iranians living outside the country. The message is that we are watching the embassies and if we see you there to vote, we will get retribution. Many commentators point out that this behaviour is what MEK have always done – intimidation and violence. They pretend to be democratic but have operated for decades with an unelected leader and a so-called president-elect. What is clear is that as a mercenary force, MEK are paid to do this.

++ The second aim in the last two weeks has been to stop people criticising MEK. This has been directed at the members’ families and ex-members – a campaign of cursing and now threatening violence against ex-members to stop them talking. Former MEK member Ghorban Ali Hussein Nejad wrote a note on Facebook saying ‘MEK, you don’t make sense. It is now over one and a half years that I have given up talking about you. But still you have been plotting against me, trying to ruin my life. That shows that what you say is not true. Even when I stop talking, you don’t stop targeting me.’ Other commentators point to the irony of western governments who, even after years of MEK killing members and former members, still don’t take the threat seriously. What is the difference then between Europe and Saddam’s Iraq, they ask. Maybe they are following the same line: if you leave MEK it is safer for you to live in Iran than in the EU or North America.

++ As part of its election broadcasting, Iran TV had a programme about people who have registered for candidacy with the knowledge they will not be ratified. These are people who don’t accept the constitution – they want regime change – but register as a candidate. The programme pointed out that the very constitution they reject bars them from candidacy and there is an element of duplicity and deceit in their registration. As an example, the programme said the first person to do this was Massoud Rajavi who didn’t accept the post-Revolution constitution but wanted to be the president. Ayatollah Khomeini was quoted, who described Rajavi’s act as deceptive. Rajavi was, of course, rejected. In the same way, the current wannabe candidates are also being deceptive. Ironically, the MEK are delighted that the Iranian media has broadcast something about Massoud Rajavi. The Iran Efshahgar ‘attack site’ has happily mentioned this programme simply because it mentions Rajavi.

++ Everyone has commented on the situation of the Palestinians and Israel, saying ‘if there was any doubt that MEK was working for Israel there is no doubt now. MEK have remained silent, waiting for instruction what to say. They can’t even say anything for internal purposes because they have members who are not against Palestinians – remember the MEK trained with the PLO before the Revolution – but because the MEK get money from Israel they can’t say anything.

In English:

++ Nejat Society reported from Albania where former MEK members have benefitted from the vaccine programme. They enjoy the same healthcare as Albanian citizens. Two vaccine recipients denounced the MEK leaders who “do not want to see them happy and healthy”. Gjergjy Thanasi, an Albanian Christian, had handed out red-dyed Easter eggs – symbolic of Christ’s blood and a reminder of the days when communism snuffed out religious freedom in that country. The former members are also now free from the dictates of the Rajavi cult and live “inspired by their own free will and their own decisions… They are not forced to confess any of their thoughts and deeds to the commanders anymore.”

++ Anne Khodabandeh looked at the developments in the Vienna talks and wondered whether the US, in spite of saying Iran is not serious, is itself not serious about re-joining the JCPOA. The path is clear: the US must credibly lift sanctions and Iran will scale back its nuclear enrichment to agreed levels. But the US position, according to Khodabandeh, has been complicated by the inexplicable tolerance of the MEK and the Israeli sabotage and provocation activities. Khodabandeh concludes that although the US cannot control Israeli behaviour, it is possible to dismantle the MEK in Albania as had been agreed in 2016 as a goodwill gesture to Iran.

++ Nejat Bloggers published a short piece exposing the hypocrisy of the MEK leaders who have enjoyed luxuries and comfort over the years while the ordinary members have suffered hardship and deprivation. According to one former member, at one time “under the pretext of financial problems, [MEK leaders] forced the members to grow a plant called “Mallow” in the Camp Ashraf in order to provide at least one meal per day.”

++ Iran’s Mehr News reported on the MEK picket in Vienna. The MEK protestors threatened and insulted Iran’s delegation “while intensive negotiations continue between Iran and P4+1 to reach an agreement on the full revival of JCPOA and the lifting of oppressive sanctions against the Islamic Republic”. The report said the MEK’s demand is to halt the nuclear talks and cancel the JCPOA completely. They are “quite noticeably being coordinated by the elements affiliated with the Iran International TV… One of them even clashed with police”.

May 14, 2021

May 16, 2021 0 comments

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