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Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

MEK Families Petition Albanian Embassy in Paris

Presenting over 11,000 letters and signatures of the families and friends of MEK members who have been taken hostage by the Rajavi cult, families demand an end to Human Rights abuse and access to their captured loved ones.

On the afternoon of Thursday September 10, 2020, a delegation of former members and officials of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (Rajavi Cult, MEK), including Alireza Nasrollahi, Mohammad Razaghi, Ghorbanali Hossein Nejad, Ghafoor Fattahian and a group of ex member in France, joined together in the Albanian Embassy in Paris.

Former MEK members in Paris visit Albanian Embassy

The 11,000 signatures and letters directed at the PM, President, and officials of the Albanian government from the families were presented in a book submitted to officials in the Embassy.

Former MEK members in Paris visit Albanian Embassy

Families are being refused entry visa to Albania by the direct request of leaders of Rajavi Cult. This denial of access to family members is a direct abuse of the UN Human Right Charter as well as International Laws. Families demand a stop to such behaviours which only support Modern Slavery, and demand access to their children and loved ones. Some of the families have not met with their loved ones for decades, as Saddam Hussein would not allow access either when the MEK were based in Iraq.

Former MEK members in Paris visit Albanian Embassy

The officials in the Embassy welcomed the delegation, registering their demand and promised that the message and the documents will be presented to the Presidential Office as well as the PM and other relevant officials in Albania.

We will publish in due course a full report and interviews with the media.

Hoping for the day that the families will be allowed to see their children.

–

Text of the letter:

To Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Albanian Government – Demanding MEK members basic human rights

Albanian Embassy in Paris

Former members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and families of MEK members in Albania have gathered in Paris to issue this message, through the Albanian embassy, to Edi Rama and his government.

Four months ago, a petition was signed by over eleven thousand people. The petition asked the Albanian government to let the families of MEK members in Albania have contact with their loved ones.

“For over three decades, the leaders of the MEK have refused to allow the families of these members to have any sort of contact with their loved ones in the MEK camps (in Iraq and in Albania).”

The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic raised the fears of these families about the health and welfare of their loved ones. Many worried they might not be able to have contact with them before it was too late. Elderly parents are desperate for a last, loving conversation with their children.

In spite of this petition and many individual appeals, neither Edi Rama nor any official or authority answered this petition nor addressed the concerns raised in it.

The inference for observers and experts alike is that a foreign terrorist cult, which operates an extra-territorial, extra-judicial camp in your country, is able to impose its will on your country. Otherwise, what objection do you have to allowing relatives to speak with one another. This is a basic human right.

The MEK has a long history of human rights abuses against its own members. The leader Maryam Rajavi presides over a dangerous mind control cult which keeps the members in a state of modern slavery. These members do not have any legal status in your country. They do not have identity documents, residence, work or travel permits. They do not have health insurance and do not receive payment for the work they are obliged to perform for Maryam Rajavi and her benefactors. This state of affairs was exposed by the revelations about the click farm in Manez.

The MEK has a long history of terrorism, violence, murder, crime, money laundry, people trafficking, human rights abuses, deception, duplicity and hypocrisy. Since arriving in Albania, the MEK has shown that it believes it is above the law – a belief bolstered by the lack of state control over the group. MEK appears to be holding the government of Albania to ransom, interfering in the internal affairs and foreign policy of the country with impunity.

With such impunity comes much danger.

The recent scandalous case of Ehsan Bidi – a registered UNHCR political refugee who sought refuge in your country and was issued ten-year residence and work permits – is an example. Bidi was the subject to a conspiracy to have him illegally and forcibly removed from Albania. This came about due to collusion between the criminal MEK, some corrupt security service officials and some corrupt members of parliament. The plot was exposed and thwarted by Bidi’s friends and supporters. But Bidi was right to fear for his life. The suspicious death of Malik Sharai was a reminder to everyone that MEK has killed many of its own members and former members to silence them.

There can be no doubt that those Albanians – lawyers, journalists, academics and others – who helped in this prevent and rescue intervention are true patriots who defended their country’s interests as well as those of a vulnerable individual.

Maryam Rajavi and her followers were expelled from Iraq and have now been expelled from the EU. The assessment of the EU security services is based on fact, not political expediency or corruption. It is difficult to believe therefore that the European Union would welcome the accession of a country which not only hosts such a group but offers it material and political support to continue its nefarious and illegal activities.

In this respect it is clear, Albania must choose – continue supporting the MEK’s criminal and unpatriotic activities or curtail the group so that Albania can be accepted as a member of the EU.

As for the families of MEK members and former members who have exposed and continue to expose the terrible abuses committed by Maryam Rajavi and her gang, we demand that all MEK members:

Have their full human rights observed according to the articles of the UN Declaration of Human Rights
Are given ID papers, residence, work and travel permits and national insurance benefits
Are allowed to freely choose where and how they live and who they associate with
In addition, there has been a blanket ban on issuing visas to families of MEK members – which Saddam also did when MEK were in Iraq. The Interior Ministry of Albania does not have any trace of names of MEK members in your country, yet every Albanian embassy has a list of names of the families who are subject to this ban. The eleven thousand plus signatories to the petition demand that visas are granted to enable families to travel to Albania where they can directly help their loved ones.

We will continue our campaigns and activities as long as these demands are not met.

Signatories:

Attached please find a copy of over 11,000 signatures

Yaran Association, Paris, Translated by Iran Interlink

September 12, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Letter of “mothers, the forgotten victims” to Maria Arena

A letter was sent by Ms Sorayya Abdollahi, Head of the “Mothers, Forgotten Victims”, to the Head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights, Ms Maria Arena.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Ms Maria Arena, Head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights
Greetings and Regards

We are the mothers and families of those who were deceitfully transferred by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) from countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Kuwait as well as the prisoners of Iraq-Iran war during the era of Saddam Hussein to MEK camp in Iraq. These people were then transferred to Albania in 2016 and settled in an isolated and remote camp.

The families of MEK members based in the camp in Albania, especially the suffering mothers, have been unaware of their children’s condition for some forty years, as MEK members are completely out of touch with the outside world.

The desire of families is to meet their loved ones or at least hear their voices for a few minutes. Now, if we consider these people as prisoners, according to international regulations and laws in any country, visiting the family and meeting the next of kin is the least recognized right. Now, considering this important issue, it is necessary to mention that the members captured in the MEK camp in Albania are deprived of the slightest human rights.

A campaign received more than 11,000 signatures from families and their relatives in Iran and other countries requesting the Albanian government to let them meet with their loved ones in Albania, or at least let them an audio and video communication. The Albanian authorities in support of the MEK did not pay any attention to the families’ demands. The photo and all the necessary documents were also sent to Albanian government officials and international organizations, but so far we, the families, have not received any response.

As a suffering mother, my son Amir Aslan Hassanzadeh has entered this terrorist cult with deception, and on behalf of all mothers and families, I urge you, as a European human rights official, to call on the Albanian government and ask them for what sin mothers are not allowed having any contact with their children.

Sorayya Abdollahi

“Mothers, the Forgotten Victims”

September 9, 2020 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The Mek and Children – Yaser Ezati

The MEK started training him as a cult member since he was four years old.

“We used to march in front of the portraits of the so-called martyrs of the organization. We were so manipulated that I did not miss my mother at all,”

Yaser Ezati told Mehr News Agency.

Yaser Ezati

His father was a high ranking member of the MEK and his mother was killed in the MEK’s deadly military operation against Iran “Forough Javidan”. Yaser was then sent to Germany together with hundreds of children of the MEK members in 1991. From there, he was transferred to Canada. He lived a challenging life with a number of MEK sympathizers in Germany and Canada.

In just one of his traumatic life experiences with MEK sympathizers, he recalls Forough, the mother of Neda Hassani – the 17-year-old girl that set herself on fire to protest the arrest of Maryam Rajavi by the French Police in June 2003. Yaser lived in Forough’s house in Canada for a period of time. He writes of Forough’s aggressive behavior against him:

“One morning in the winter, I missed the school bus. I got back home to tell Forough that I would take the next bus to school. All of a sudden, she stood up and grabbed me by collar and pulled me on the flour toward the garage where she started beating me. She kicked and bit me so awfully that I was not able to stand on my feet. At the time I was thirteen years old and Forough used to attack me at the slightest pretext.”

Yaser was returned to Camp Ashraf, Iraq a few years later in order to receive systematic organizational and military training. “The MEK forced me to stay in Iraq for seven years, I was kept in solitary confinement for fourteen months before I could leave the group,” he told MNA.

When he first asked to leave the group, they showed him a testament allegedly written by his mother in which it was written: “You should take a gun and follow my path”.

“Whenever I missed my family, may father would kick me in response”, he recounts.

September 9, 2020 0 comments

Albania

MEK was not embraced but imposed on Albania in 2016: Albanian historian

Olsi Jazexhi, an Albanian historian, reveals that the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was not embraced but imposed on Albania in 2016 by the Obama administration.

“MEK was imposed on Albania in 2016 when the Obama administration demanded the Edi Rama regime to host 3000 foreign fighters in Albania,“Jazexhi tells the Tehran Times.

Jazexhi also says while the majority of the Albanians are Muslim they are “marginalized and demonized by the present American backed regime“in the country.

The following is the text of the interview:

Q: Please tell us what the people in Albania know about MEK?

A: Albanians know that MEK has been a terrorist organization listed by the United States and the European Union until 2012 as such. Albanians are very worried and afraid of their government for hosting MEK. Many have protested in the past and have asked for their expulsion, but the Albanian government has intimidated and scared the citizens not to protest or question their presence. On the other hand, MEK and its supporters try to depict their ex-terrorist group as”the democratic opposition”of the regime in Iran. MEK spends a lot of money to misinform the Albanians and demonize Iran in Albania. In the past months, it has started to radicalize some Albanians, like ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra did before and make them join their terrorist activities against Iran.

Q: Why did Albania accept to embrace MEK?

A: Albania is not an independent country. After the Americans instigated a coup in 1998 and brought the Socialist Party to power, Albania lost its independence and democratic freedoms that we enjoyed after the collapse of communism. Since 1998 the elections are stolen, and the U.S. embassy certifies their theft as”democratic.”Even though the majority of the Albanians are Muslim, Albania’s ministers, prime minister, mayor of Tirana, and the president come or have converted themselves into Catholics or Zionist Evangelists. Muslims are marginalized and demonized by the present American backed regime, and Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama has jailed dozens of Muslims for their political beliefs since coming to power.
The Socialist Party of Albania has stolen the last parliamentary elections of 2017 and municipal elections of 2019. The opposition has abandoned the parliament, and the municipal elections were also abandoned. The U.S. government and its ambassador in Tirana, who behaves like a supreme leader, treats Albania worse than they treated Iran in Mossadegh’s time. Albania’s Prime Minister, Edi Rama, is like Anastasio Somoza of Nicaragua. The Americans know that he is an Islamophobia autocrat and a thief, but they treat him like Franklin Roosevelt treated Somoza.

Since Edi Rama’s government steals the elections, has destroyed the country’s economy, and most of his ministers are corrupt and some face drug smuggling charges, they are indebted to do anything the Americans ask them to.
If they do not obey the orders of the U.S. ambassador, they face jail and persecution. These things can be easily learned if someone reads the Wikileaks cables on Albania or learns the history of Albania’s prosecutor general Adriatic Llalla who dared to reveal the U.S.’s media dictates towards his institution.

Hence MEK was not embraced but imposed on Albania in 2016 when the Obama administration demanded the Edi Rama regime to host 3000 foreign fighters in Albania. Our government took this decision without asking the Albanians or doing any referendum about this dangerous act.

Albanians have protested and demanded that MEK should not be located in our country. However, the Americans and the regime they support did not allow our people to do a referendum and express their democratic will regarding the MEK.

Nowadays, MEK acts like an occupying army in our country. They have taken control of Albania’s foreign policy towards Iran, as well as putting pressure and blackmailing our government to expel Iranian diplomats.
They spread fake news as if the Iranian government does terrorist bombings in the country, discriminate the defectors, arrest, and jail Iranian asylum seekers.
They order our politicians to read their fake news against Iran and prohibit Albanian authorities from inspecting the crimes and illegal activities that Maryam Rajavi and her gang commit inside Manza’s paramilitary camp.

Q: What do you know about the countries or institutes which fund the Rajavi cult?

A: The main supporters of MEK in Albania are the Americans, Emiratis, Saudis, and Israelis. When the MEK army was relocated to Albania in 2016, the Americans, UNHCR, and our government cheated the Albanian public by telling them that MEK is coming for humanitarian reasons in Albania, like many Syrians, Palestinians, Afghanis, etc.

However, after their relocation was secured and Albanians were neutralized from protesting their presence, many American senators and politicians like John McCain, John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani started to come to Tirana and demand the Albanian government to give MEK anti-constitutional and illegal powers to fight against the government of Iran. Since 2017 the Americans, Saudis, Israelis, and Emiratis have sponsored MEK, Albanian security services, the media, and many NGOs to depict MEK as”the Iranian opposition,”which will”bring democracy to Iran.”

The same tactics that were used in Syria to promote Jabhat al-Nusra or ISIS or the Free Syrian Army are used in Albania to show these ex-terrorists ‘ foreign fighters as”freedom-loving democrats.”If until 2017, Albanian security services and anti-terror police depicted MEK as a dangerous terrorist organization with power and possibilities to commit terrorist acts and killings, after 2018, our security agencies have been forced to side with MEK and its illegal activities.

Q: Why did the U.S. State Department formally remove MEK from its list of terrorist organizations while it has been involved in assassinating many Iranians?

A: The Americans have a long history of supporting terrorist organizations for their imperialist interests. They supported and created al-Qaeda, ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra, the Free Syrian Army, and many other terrorist organizations in the past. After the destruction of Syria, Libya, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, etc., the next war of the Americans and Israel is against Turkey and Iran, who are the last remaining pillars of resistance against the Evangelical-Zionist imperialism in the Middle East (West Asia). The Americans support MEK like they support the Gulenist movement against Turkey. These organizations are the best terrorist tool they have to destabilize Turkey and Iran. Like Osama Bin Laden, they are the”good terrorists”of the West during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.

Q: What methods do the Rajavi cult use for spreading fake news?

A: The Rajavi gang uses fake news in many ways. They are masters of lies and deception. They use the internet a lot, twitter, fake websites, publication, and bribes. When I visited the European Parliament in 2018 to give my testimony about MEK, many European MPs showed us how one country was granting them access inside the EU institutions where they were spreading lies against Iran on daily bases (and) were trying to cheat European MPs.

In Albania, they use a lot of money to propagate anti-Iran news. They pay journalists, force media owners to spread their fake news about Iran, and pay many civil society organizations to promote their fake stories.

Top Albanian politicians like Ilir Meta, the President, Edi Rama, the prime minister, Lulzim Basha, the leader of the opposition, who have ongoing corruption court cases and live with the fear of going to jail, are approached by MEK who promises them favors with the U.S. State Department if they visit the MEK camp and read MEK-made anti-Iran declarations. They use blackmail too. Some TV owners and journalists who have published news about MEK crimes in Albania have been approached by MEK commanders who have blackmailed them to removing their news, or otherwise, MEK has claimed that they will face attacks by the Americans.

MEK has produced a number of fake news in the past years, which have been verified by me and my friend Gjergji Thanasi as fake. They claimed in 2018 that Iran planned a terrorist attack in Albania, a fact that we have proven to the media to be totally fake. However, their fake articles are later taken by major U.S. news outlets, like Fox News or Washington Times, and are sold to the world as true.

Q: How do they deal with their formal members as there are many reports indicating pressure on members to crack down on any dissent?

A: MEK is a paper tiger organization. Most MEK soldiers who live inside the Manza Camp hate Maryam Rajavi and would like to defect. However, they are not allowed to defect and abandon terrorism by MEK and the Albanian government.

If a MEK soldier can escape Manza’s paramilitary camp, which is guarded like a prison by armed Albanian security police and MEK guards, the defector will have a very difficult life in Albania. Albanian anti-terror police will blackmail them and ask them to go back to Maryam Rajavi. The government will not give them a work permit. At the same time, MEK will accuse them of Iranian agents and will ask the government to jail the defector.

MEK soldiers have no travel documents or money to smuggle themselves into Europe. As a result, they will face starvation and slow death if they decide to abandon war and live in peace. The UNHCR, which has a duty to protect these refugees, is afraid of the Americans to do her work. MEK has extraterritorial powers in Albania. If MEK commanders torture, imprison, or even kill the defectors, the Albanian police have no power and are afraid to enter the camp and implement the law.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Report/Bidi_Ehsan_Greece_Border_1.mp4

One example of the tragedy of the defectors is the story of Ehsan Bidi. He was proclaimed an Iranian agent by Maryam Rajavi for opposing her crimes. MEK paid many media to demonize him as an Iranian agent. They pushed Albanian authorities to remove his UNHCR granted asylum in 2019 and imprisoned him for one year on orders of Maryam Rajavi. After spending one year in jail, on orders or bribes by MEK, Albanian police illegally threw him to the Greek border where he might have been killed should not, we, a group of Albanian journalists and MPs, have protested in Tirana against his illegal expulsion.

Maryam Rajavi would love to kill her defectors in Albania. However, she is not doing that for the time being since she is afraid of an Albanian and European backlash, which would alert the European public opinion about the monstrous nature of the Rajavi cult.

For the time being, Maryam Rajavi is bribing the Albanian government to destroy her opposition in Albania by poverty, imprisonment, and character assassination. Rajavi needs to fight and destroy the defectors who denounce war and terrorism and have escaped the MEK camp since their defection threatens MEK’s future. If Albania can restore its authority over the MEK Camp, many defectors will escape and denounce the crimes that happen inside this death cult.

Q: What do you think about double standards by Western countries, including the U.S. and some European states, which call resistance groups in West Asia”terrorists”while defend crimes committed by Israel and MEK?

A: The answer to this was given by your Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, on his twitter account a few days ago: Mr. Zarif said:

Thanks to @SecPompeo, we now know the country’s criteria to be removed from—or included in—State Dept’s terror list:

Relations with Israel.

Nowadays, the West is hostage to Israel and its fanatical American Evangelic narrative as”God’s chosen people.”Evangelical Zionism has made the West to descend back to Medieval Ages. The U.S. government has a medieval mindset. This is the reason why they support medieval regimes like Israel or psychopathic death cults like the MEK.

Q: As an Albanian, what can you say to the Iranian public about the presence of MEK in Albania?

A: I want to tell the freedom-loving people of Iran that we, the people of Albania, love Iran. Iran is a very important country in the Islamic world that supports Palestine.

We share the same culture and history with Iran. We are a Muslim majority country which has inherited many Iranian words and culture. Iranian culture has been very instrumental in enlightening the Muslims of the Ottoman Empire and the Balkans. I want to apologize to Iran’s wonderful people for having my country turned into a base for an anti-Iran terrorist cult. Iran has done no harm to Albania to get the MEK threat from us. I hope the Iranians understand that we do not like MEK. MEK threatened the national security of Albania and was imposed on Albania by the Americans. MEK has taken extra-national powers in our country, and it treats Albania as an occupied territory.

Since their coming, MEK has endangered the security, sovereignty, and democracy of Albania. Many European neighbors see Albania with fear because of MEK. MEK has blackmailed many journalists, media, and politicians into supporting their illegal activities. Albania, Iran, and our European allies and partners should work together to save Albania and Europe from the threat of terrorism and extremist organizations. MEK must be disbanded, deradicalized, and forced to accept peace, democracy, and international law.

By Reza Moshfegh

September 9, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MKO terrorist leader threatens Albanian journalists

When Western countries are harboring ‘useful’ terrorist groups, they generally want them to be low profile, but the US is the exception

Albanian journo challenges MKO ringleader to open debate, vows to keep exposing terrorists

[Editor’s Note: These two Albanian journalists writing about MKO, when it is under the full protection of the US and NATO, is a ballsy thing to do. They could be VT guys covering and saying what no one else will. We salute Olsi Jazexhi and Gjergji Thanasi.
When Western countries are harboring ‘useful’ terrorist groups, they generally want them to be low profile. But the US is the exception, as Trump buddy Rudy Giuliani has been a big promoter of the group.
US and Western media give them a free pass, so it was a surprise to see these two Albanians taking MKO on in a country where you can get someone killed for a very reasonable price.

I was surprised to see him claim that the MKO forces in the country outnumber the army and police. Wikipedia seems to disagree with about 6,000 regular and 5000 reserves, not counting the police.

But the bottom line here could be said that this long love affair the US has had with the MKO terror group, and never having been sanctioned for it formally or even in the media, might have led to the flood of proxy terror wars we see going on.
It reminds me of my mother, after spanking me, educating me as to why…”Give a kid an inch and they will take a mile”. That was a bit over my head at the time, but it was not a good time to argue or ask questions, or I would get a ’round two’ for being ‘sassy’… Jim W. Dean ]

Olsi Jazexhi (R) listens to a handler during a tour of a mosque in Aksu city, in China’s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), Aug. 21, 2019

An Albanian journalist, committed to exposing the criminal activities of the anti-Iran Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group, responds to the threats he has received from the group’s ringleader, Mariam Rajavi.

“I really want to have an open debate with you,” Olsi Jazexhi told Rajavi in a video posted on YouTube on Monday.

He said he had made the video after the MKO ringleader finally dared to verbalize threats against him and Gjergji Thanasi, a similarly outspoken Albanian journalist, through two of the group’s “commanders.” The terrorist top brass conveyed the threats in two articles that have appeared on MKO-related websites.

Jezexhi expressed surprise that the ringleader had chosen to target him in this fashion this time around after three years of “attacking me from behind” by pressuring him through the Albanian government and his employer.
“I’m very happy that you have come out with the face of your commanders to attack me,” he said, adding that the covert attacks had “caused so many troubles for my life, and destroyed it economically.”
‘Never to be silenced’
The journalist, however, pledged that he would not stop probing the group and revealing information about it.
“I want to tell you, Mariam Rajavi, that Albania is a democratic state, and we are a liberal democracy, where we have freedom of speech,” he said.

“We’re never going to be silenced. We’re going to investigate and expose to the international and Albanian community, the crimes and the illegal things that you’re doing in my country,” Jezexhi said.

The MKO has a squalid history of assassinations and bombings against the Iranian government and nation. It notoriously sided with Saddam Hussein during the former Iraqi dictator’s 1980-88 war on Iran.

Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.

Western countries, topped by the United States, have, nevertheless, taken the group out of their terror blacklists.
Currently based in Albania, the group throws lavish conferences every year in Paris, with certain American, Western, and Saudi officials as its guests of honor. These include former US national security advisor John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and former Saudi Arabian spy chief, Prince Turki Al Faisal.

The MKO was relocated from Iraq, where it used to enjoy the US’s protection, to Albania in 2016, where it was allowed by Tirana to set up a paramilitary camp.

Jezexhi said since then, the cult’s membership has grown from some 3,000 to around 7,000, identifying himself as one of the first public speakers in Albania to ever ask his government not to bring in the terrorists.

‘Good terrorists, standing army’

Jezexhi said the group has attained the “good and useful terrorist” status because of the support it gets from the US, the NATO military alliance and Israel, as well as the money it receives from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Mossad admits cooperating with MKO over anti-Iran plot

This, he added, was because “they’re being kept as a standing army, ready to be used and deployed at any moment…whenever the United States and Israel wants them to.”

“NATO needs to use [them] in the future war that the Americans and Israel plan to wage against Iran,” the journalist said.

In Albania, the MKO now outnumber even the army and the police, the number of whose overall forces stands at some 6,000.

The MKO terrorists have told the people in Albania that they have come there “on humanitarian visas” while their status does not differ at all from those returning from fighting alongside Takfiri terrorist groups such as Daesh, al-Nusra Front, or Tahrir al-Sham against the Syrian government and people.

Jezexhi said Balkan countries like Albania are mandated to prosecute those who used to engage in fighting abroad after their return, and have jailed and charged hundreds of the Takfiri returnees as a result of the imperative.

“However, in the case of Albania and since the United States is at war with Iran and Israel as well [is at war with Iran], the Albania-based Mujahedin are pampered by the Americans and the Albanian government,” he noted.

By: Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor – veteranstoday

Jim W. Dean, Managing Editor
Managing Editor
Jim W. Dean is Managing Editor of Veterans Today involved in operations, development, and writing, plus an active schedule of TV and radio interviews.

September 8, 2020 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Letter of the CEO of the Nejat Society echoed in the Albanian media

The Albanian newspaper Gazeta Impakt, in September 6, 2020 issue, translated and published the letter of Mr. Ebrahim Khodabandeh to Maria Arena.

In the letter, the CEO of the Nejat Society urged the Head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI) to endorse the legitimate demands of the families, and ask the Albanian government, which is responsible for this organization in its own country, why elderly mothers and fathers after some four decades should not have contact with their children.

Link to source:

Letter of the CEO of the Nejat Society echoed in the Albanian media

Drejtori i Përgjithshëm i shoqatës Nexhat i dërgon letër eurodeputetes Znj. Maria Arena

September 7, 2020 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Families of the MEK members should plant the seed of hope for their loved ones

Family relation is important since our mental growth, well-being, and stability all depend on our family relations. Children brought up in a healthy family will be able to establish better bonds outside their home.

Strong relationships will help us how to trust others and keep a positive attitude towards others.Family members usually share their feelings in different situations.

Destructive cults like the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) endeavors vigorously to break family ties. The consequences of cutting links with family include a world of distrust full of feeling of insecurity.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Interview/Giukan_1.mp4

A family makes all its members feel safe and connected to one another. It provides them with the comfort of having people by their side during tough times, helping them to manage and control the stress. A family allows its members to feel safe, protected, accepted and loved despite all shortcomings. Families are the basic units of the society that teach children about relationships. Now imagine the children who lived and grew up in a cult-like system. Children in the MEK – who are now in their thirties or forties—do not know how to build trust in others.

Family members share both good and bad times together; conflicts in family teach children a respectful way to resolve problems in the future, what the younger members of the MEK have never experienced.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Interview/Abdollahi_Ramin_Mum.mp4

The MEK leaders block communications with the outside world, particularly families are labeled as enemies of the group, and are considered”agents of the Iranian Intelligence”and eventually the enemies of their children! However, families who are inside the MEK camp live separately. Spouses were forced to divorce. No parents are allowed to live with their kids. No sibling is allowed to socialize in the camps unless it is the New Year’s celebration.

This is part of the regulations of every destructive cult. In March 2020, Glenn Stok published his experience of releasing his sister from the notorious religious cult, Scientology in We Have Kids website. He clarifies that it is impossible to communicate with a family member because they are brainwashed to the extent that healthy communication fails.”They may also be threatened and afraid to share their feelings with other family members who want to help,”he writes.

Just like the families of the MEK hostages, Glenn Stock believed that his loved sister needed help to get out of the cult. So he waited for an opportunity to break through and take his sister out. He regrets that their father died without saying goodbye to his daughter.”I witnessed this, and it wasn’t pleasant,”he writes about the anti-family rulings of the cult.”My dad was classified as a Suppressive Person because he attempted to obstruct the progress of his daughter’s training within the cult. His attempts were met with hostility that created anxiety for him and the rest of us. He left this world with deep emotional stress over having lost his only daughter.”

This is the traumatic fate of many mothers and fathers of the MEK members. So many of them died before they could even have a short phone call with their children in the MEK. Just a few examples of the recently deceased parents are the followings: The mother of Mohammad Hamid Atabay, the father of Bizhan Dehdashtnai, the mother of Javad Abdi, the father of Mohammad Javad Nowruzi, the mother of Manour Ramhormozy.

While Stock’s sister could come for the funeral of his father, standing distant from the family, members of the MEK have never been informed about the death of their parents. Stock could finally find the”loophole”to talk to his sister at the funeral of their aunt but families of the MEK hostages have no way except writing letters to the International bodies and Albanian authorities. They even publish videos speaking to their loved ones but they know that they are isolated and will not receive their messages. Nevertheless, they do not get tired of pursuing the case of their loved ones imprisoned inside the cult of Rajavi.

However, Glenn Stock knows that some destructive cults prevent any possibility for their members and their families to communicate.”If you have a family member or a friend in Scientology, or any religious cult, and you’ve lost the ability to communicate, plant that seed and wait for the opportunity to help”, he suggests.”Do it before it’s too late, and be ready to do whatever you can when the call for help arrives.”

By Mazda Parsi

September 7, 2020 0 comments

European Union

Nejat Society CEO’s letter to Ms Maria Arena MEP

A letter from Mr Ebrahim Khodabandeh, CEO of the Nejat Society of Iran, was sent to the Head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), Ms Maria Arena MEP.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Ms Maria Arena MEP, Head of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI)
Parlement européen
Bât. ALTIERO SPINELLI
15G305
60, rue Wiertz / Wiertzstraat 60
B-1047 Bruxelles/Brussel

Dear Madam,
Greetings and best regards
On behalf of the suffering families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult), based in the organization’s camp in Albania, I would like to inform you that this organization, due to its cultic behavior, prevents its members from communicating with the outside world, particularly with family and friends.

Recently, a petition was signed by more than 11,000 relatives, acquaintances and friends of these MEK members, in Iran and other countries, who asked the Albanian government to let them to contact their loved ones inside the MEK camp. Also, more than a thousand letters were sent individually with photos, specifications and documents to Albanian officials, as well as European and international bodies with the same request. Unfortunately, no response was received.

MEK officials not only ignored these demands but also threatened, insulted and slandered the media and personalities who had endorsed this human rights demand, and unfortunately the Albanian government is irrationally collaborating with this terrorist cult.

You are aware that Albania wants to join the European Union, but this request has not yet received a positive response due to the level of corruption in the country’s administrative, political and judicial system and the failure to meet the necessary standards. The presence of a terrorist cult in this country, which violates even the most basic human rights of its members, is a matter of concern for EU officials.

I urge you, as a European human rights official, to take a stand on this issue and endorse the legitimate demands of the families, and ask the Albanian government, which is responsible for this organization in its own country, why elderly mothers and fathers after some four decades should not have contact with their children.
I look forward to your reply to this letter.

Sincerely yours,
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
Tehran – Nejat Society
September 5, 2020

September 6, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The danger of MEK troll farm bolstering the propaganda of their paymaster

There is at least one more foreign policy opinion writer from the Mujahideen-eKhalq (MEK) whose existence is dubious, based on a study by a social media analyst and statements from a defector from the group. Amir Basiri, who contributed to Forbes 9 times, the Washington Examiner 52 times, OpenDemocracy, Algemeiner, and The Hill once also appears to be a fabrication.

The MEK is an Iranian exile group for which John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani, and other foreign policy luminaries have given paid speeches. Dems like Joe Lieberman and Howard Dean have also spoken on their behalf. But the group has American blood on its hands, has been accused of practicing forced sterilization, and their belief system has been described as a mixture of Marxism and Islamism. Its supporters claim they, and their front group the National Council of Resistance of Iran, are a sort of government-in-exile, despite nearly nonexistent support for the group within Iran. They also have waged a substantial disinformation campaign in the Western press, in particular targeting conservative media.

“Amir Basiri and Heshmat Alavi are two fake accounts,” Hassan Heyrani, an MEK defector told TAC.

“At Camp Liberty, near the BIAP airport in Iraq, I was in the political unit of the organization with some of the persons who grew up in America and Canada. We worked as a team to write the articles analyzing the Iranian regime. The MEK put them in The Washington Post and all the newspapers in Western countries.”

Basiri’s op-eds focus on the need for regime change in Iran which he claimed is “within reach.” The thrust of Basiri’s writing – last placed at the Examiner in October of 2018 – is to encourage American readers to take an interest and sympathize with the plight of Iranian protesters and dissidents. Basiri consistently argued against the Iran nuclear deal, downplayed terrorism against Iran, called for tougher sanctions as a method of regime change and highlighted the necessity of Trump working with the Iranian opposition.

“We are currently looking into the matter, so I won’t comment on this specific byline,” Philip Klein, Executive Editor and Commentary Editor of the Washington Examiner told TAC. “But I will say that we have recently instituted more rigorous vetting of outside contributors, including but not limited to asking for photo identification if necessary. We are especially on guard when it comes to unsolicited foreign policy commentary.”

A request for comment from OpenDemocracy, a site greatly concerned about disinformation campaigns, has not been returned as of press time. Basiri’s articles on Forbes are no longer online. (Update: Julian Richards, managing editor of OpenDemocracy, writes, “This article was submitted to us through our normal process and our editor corresponded with Amir Basiri about the text. In light of the allegations you have made, we have removed the article text from our site for the time being and I have written to the email address that Amir Basiri used to ask for confirmation of his identity.”)

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Report/Aljazeera_Alavi_MEK.mp4

The list of MEK disinformation tactics also includes fake online since-deleted sites such as PersiaNow and ArabEye and questionable sites such as Iran Focus whose domain was formerly registered under the name of an NCRI spokesperson and is now anonymously held.

MEK’s recent influence campaign on Facebook spearheaded by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) was recently reported on last year by Lachlan Markey at the Daily Beast. Markey explained how NCRI lobbyist Soheila Aligholi Mayelzadeh has helped place paid ads on Facebook reaching between 500,000 to 1.4 million users as part of the campaign to sway US public opinion in favor of MEK and intervention in Iran.

The list of outright fakes recently in the realm of foreign policy analysis is significant: there is the apparent Emirati fabrication Raphael Badani to MEK sock puppet Alavi, first revealed by The Intercept, to deepfake non-existent anti-Palestinian activist Oliver Taylor, whose work was placed at highly-respected publications in the United States and Israel.

As Adam Rawnsley wrote for the Daily Beast, “Badani is part of a network of at least 19 fake personas that has spent the past year placing more than 90 opinion pieces in 46 different publications. The articles heaped praise on the United Arab Emirates and advocated for a tougher approach to Qatar, Turkey, Iran and its proxy groups in Iraq and Lebanon.”

Geoff Golberg is the founder of Social Forensics, which tracks and monitors online social media networks and disinformation campaigns. Golberg’s run-in and exposure of various pro-MEK personas, sock puppets and boosters came just prior to his Twitter suspension in July of 2019, the official reason for which was calling an account he believed to be fake and interfering in Canada’s elections a “moron.”

“Rather than suspending accounts that blatantly violate Twitter Rules, Dorsey instead opted to silence my voice. Specific to Iranian-focused platform manipulation, along with The Intercept, I helped out ‘Heshmat Alavi’ as a sockpuppet propaganda operation run by the MEK. Remarkably, despite initially suspending the fake account, ‘Heshmat Alavi’ has been reinstated by Twitter and continues to disseminate propaganda,” Golberg said, adding that Basiri – whose account is currently suspended by Twitter – is another fake persona which has been on his radar for some time. He produced the following graphic demonstrating the interconnectedness of the two accounts:

Golberg said he knows little of geopolitics or political aspects and was led to investigate sock puppet accounts fomenting war with Iran because he noticed many oddities about their networks, followers and tweeting patterns. His further research and analysis led him down a rabbit hole of connections and resulted in death threats, mass reporting of his account and accusations that he sympathized with the Ayatollah’s regime.
Rather than the hype over Russian bots, the real danger on platforms like Twitter is fake accounts and troll farm accounts which amplify hashtags, spread lies and bolster the desired propaganda of their paymaster, Golberg says.

“Despite media coverage that tends to focus on ‘bots,’ which simply means fully-automated accounts, Twitter’s much larger problem is actually fake accounts. There are more than 100K fake accounts that exist solely to create the illusion of widespread sentiment that the US should go to war with Iran,” Golberg told TAC, adding, “Take ‘Sheldon,’ @patrick_jane77, for example, an account that reflects having nearly 120K Followers. Very few of the account’s Followers are authentic accounts, yet given Twitter refuses to enforce their own rules, it is easy to mistake “Sheldon” for being a popular account. Twitter’s entire platform is propped up by misleading or inflated Followers/Following counts. Twitter’s CEO, Jack Dorsey, has built a house of cards and continues to commit ad fraud at a massive scale.”

MEK members run online information operations from France, Albania: Murtaza Hussain

Golberg sued Twitter earlier this year, alleging that the platform engaged in “deceptive practices” and hasn’t stood by its own terms of service.

Accusations from MEK supporter Hanif Jazayeri that The American Conservative itself and senior editor Daniel Larison act as a mouthpiece for the mullahs are part of a broader campaign aimed at maligning the reputation and integrity of anyone who opposes regime change in Iran. Tweets calling for investigations of TAC also came from noted MEK sock puppet Alavi, MEK spokesman Shahin Gobadi and NCRI’s Ali Safavi.
A barrage of accounts retweeted Jazayeri’s accusations, many with only a few followers and which solely tweet boosting the MEK and supporting regime change in Iran.

It’s worth noting that Heshmat Alavi was following Amir Basiri prior to his suspension, as were others closely connected to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies such as Jerusalem Post Iran hawk Seth Frantzman, @sfrantzman, Jazayeri and a number of other pro-MEK shills. It is a hall of mirrors amplifying the case for war with Iran, and the ad money from NCRI and pro-MEK accounts seems to have dampened Twitter’s desire to crack down. A request for comment from Twitter was not returned as of press time.

As a matter of journalistic ethics any organization engaging in systematic dishonesty like this has provided a very good reason to blacklist them. Failing to do so will encourage other foreign interests to do the same in the future, so conservative publishers should decline all content and interviews from the MEK in the future. This is not a matter of foreign policy differences: if you wish to see the U.S. pursue regime change in Iran, the MEK does not help make that case. Any publishers or think tanks who are aware of this dishonesty and still treat them like a legitimate opposition group should be considered part of a campaign not wholly different from the last time we were lied into a Mideast war.

By Paul Brian and Arthur Bloom

Arthur Bloom is the managing editor of TAC.

Paul Brian is a freelance journalist. He has reported for the BBC, Reuters, and Foreign Policy, and contributed to The Week, The Federalist, and others. You can follow him on Twitter @paulrbrian or visit his website www.paulrbrian.com.

September 5, 2020 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The MEK and Children – Amir Vafa Yaghmai

Amir was born in Paris after his parents left Iran to join Masoud Rajavi there. He and his family were then sent to Iraq to relocate in Camp Ashraf, the land Saddam Hussein had donated to the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi). However, Amir’s connection with his parents was cut in Camp Ashraf, just like hundreds of other children.

As a child, he was again sent to Europe, enduring problems far from his parents. His destiny became worse when he was made return to Camp Ashraf as a teenager by the group leaders.
Amir is free now. In January 2019, he spoke of his dreadful days in Camp Ashraf for the first time, in an interview with Saeed Behbahani the host of Mihan TV. In the long detailed interview Amir revealed facts on difficulties, segregations and mental pressure he suffered during his stay in the cult-like structure of the MEK.

Amir Vafa Yaghmaee

Fed up with the oppressive atmosphere of the group, he asked to leave the group but he found his mother Akram Habibkhani against himself. During an hours-long session to convince him to stay with the MEK, the leaders of the camp humiliated him constantly before the eyes of his mother. They verbally abused him, spitted in his face while his Mom was just weeping tears looking at him. Finally, his mother told Amir: “Amir! Promise me not to leave unless your blood is shed!” BY the way. Amir could ultimately manage to leave the MEK.
Years after leaving the MEK, Amir is still shocked by his mother’s words. He wonders what state his mother was stuck in that she wished the killing of her son instead of leaving the group. He still envies normal children who enjoy the love of a normal mother. “When I am on trains looking at mothers and their children sitting next to each other, I envy them.”

Nevertheless, he has recently taken action to visit her mother in the MEK camp in Albania. “That day, I stayed in front of the MEK camp in Albania for hours,” Amir tells the story of that very day. “Finally they told me: it is not clear where your mother is. She might have gone shopping or she might have not been in that camp at all. The Albanian guards of the camp did not let me talk to the MEK members. We had to get back without visiting my mother. Even the political prisoners in the Islamic Republic of Iran have the right to visit their families but I am still wondering why the MEK did not allow me to visit my mother although I had already informed them.”

Amir’s father, Esmail Vafa Yaghmai who defected the MEK years ago, writes how the MEK abducted his son.

“The efforts of his mother together with the MEK leaders in order to mobilize teenagers to Iraq and my problematic conditions in France made Amir go to Iraq in July 14, 1998,” he writes on his blog.

“In the age of fourteen while he weighed only 30 kilograms, He took a Kalashinkov… this was the fate of one of the children in the MEK. Amir passed twenty two years of his life in grieve and turmoil. I cannot forgive myself for not preventing him from going to Iraq just because I wanted to respect his mother.”

Today, Amir has a PhD degree in Eco-logy, living in Europe with his wife and their newly born kid. Another defector of the MEK, Atefeh Eghbal writes about Amir’s unsuccessful trip to Albania to meet her mother: “The whole story is so simple that one may wonder why the MEK makes it so complicated. Amir went to Albania last year in the hope of meeting his mother telling him the news of the grandchild she has now but was not given the chance to tell her. Today, the MEK do not even let him call his mother.”

September 3, 2020 0 comments

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