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Pompeo and MEK isolated by response to pandemic

As Mike Pompeo – now dubbed ‘Secretary of Hate’ by Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif – ramps up his daily rants against Iran in spite of universal pleas for the U.S. to lift sanctions in order to help Iran fight the spread of COVID-19, attention has again focused on the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), the so-called Iranian opposition group based in Albania. The MEK has, of course, become a favourite of anti-Iran hawks in the U.S. and Europe who see it as a weapon against the government in Tehran. But what is the significance of the MEK in Western powers’ anti-Iran campaign? And what impact has the group had on its host country, Albania?

The exiled Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK) was relocated from Iraq to Albania in 2016, making the country a hub for anti-Iran activities. The move came as a result of efforts by the Obama administration to comply with a longstanding demand by Iraq to remove the MEK from their country. After it was found that no normal country was willing to take on this terrorist entity – EU member state Romania refused to host them – it fell upon Albania to accept the U.S. dollars and fulfil American demands. The UNHCR transferred the MEK as an entity rather than as individuals; the individual members were rendered undocumented and stateless as a result.
This state of affairs suited the new Trump administration, which revelled in the MEK’s regime change rhetoric. In 2017, U.S. support enabled the MEK to regroup and build an extraterritorial enclave inaccessible to the Albanian authorities into which the hapless members were placed. As expected, the MEK aggressively imposed its anti-Iran stance on the country’s political, security and media landscape through corruption, intimidation and propaganda, perverting the country’s foreign policy decisions to favour U.S. and Israeli demands. The same maverick and dangerous behaviour led the EU countries and the European Parliament to ban most MEK activities last year. The leader Maryam Rajavi left France and set up her new headquarters in Albania – MEK leadership cadre occupy an entire floor of the International Hotel in Skanderbeg Square in Tirana.

This shift to Albania came at a time when the EU Council has endorsed the opening of accession talks with Albania and North Macedonia. Unlike North Macedonia, Albania will have to show progress in a number of areas before negotiations start. The primary concerns raised in the Council’s decision are implementation of justice and electoral reforms, fight against crime and corruption, Albanian asylum seekers in the EU, amendment of media laws in line with the recommendations of the Venice Commission. There can be no doubt that when a country’s system is rotten, scavengers will move in. The MEK are like rats chewing on tasty nuggets supplied by crime and corruption.

The situation of Gjergji Thanasi is a case in point. Thanasi, an award-winning investigative journalist, sued MEK member Behzad Safari for defamation, after Safari made scurrilous allegations against him. The case is dragging on because of corruption in the judicial system. Judges are removed, replaced, they don’t turn up, the public prosecutor does not turn up, the defendant does not turn up, the defence lawyers don’t turn up, the English language translator does not turn up. With such a broken system, a respected Albanian citizen cannot obtain justice against the defamatory statements made by a stateless member of a terrorist organization.

But, as destructive as the MEK presence has been in Albania, the group has inevitably played a greater role in the West’s confrontation against Iran. In June 2019, Murtaza Hussain of The Intercept revealed that an internet troll farm was operating from the MEK’s closed camp in Manez. The enslaved members, sitting behind banks of outdated computerware, were being used to manipulate social media messaging on Iran on a global scale. Hussain revealed that ‘Heshmat Alavi’, a self-proclaimed Iranian activist, “appears not to exist” and is “a persona run by a team of people from the political wing of the MEK”.

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

Heshmat Alavi is the name of an account run by three MEK operatives working from London. They direct the online activities in Albania. There are thousands of ‘Heshmat Alavi’ style accounts created by the MEK on social media churning out false information, misinformation and trolling genuine opposition activists who do not share the MEK’s, nor the U.S. government’s regime change agenda.

Since the EU curtailed its activities there, the MEK has manipulated itself into a cosy symbiotic relationship with the U.S. Secretary of State. MEK social media combatants and its prolific websites echo Pompeo’s extremist anti-Iran statements and stances. In return, Pompeo references the MEK’s misinformation and propaganda in his speeches. Even before the coronavirus pandemic hit, this positioning was not to the MEK’s advantage.

At a time when the WHO urged self-isolation and social distancing to prevent the virus’ spread, the MEK leaders, giddy with the false hope of regime change, urged Iranians to come into the streets and attack the police. Such reckless and futile statements in the name of regime change will not be forgotten or forgiven by Iranians. Nor will the MEK positioning itself alongside the country’s most virulent enemy, the U.S., at its time of greatest need be forgotten or forgiven.

Now that the world is being asked to work together to combat the spread of the virus, the U.S. and the MEK are increasingly finding themselves out on a limb as regards Iran. A political and moral self-isolation that will have serious repercussions in the future.

By MASSOUD AND ANNE KHODABANDEH, Balkans Post

Massoud Khodabandeh is the Director of Middle East Strategy Consultants and has worked long-term with the authorities in Iraq to bring about a peaceful solution to the impasse at Camp Liberty and help rescue other victims of the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult. Khodabandeh co-authored the book ‘The Life of Camp Ashraf – Victims of Many Masters’ with his wife Anne Singleton.
Anne Khodabandeh, is an expert in anti-terrorist activities and a long-standing activist in the field of deradicalization of extremists. She has written several articles and books on this subject, along with her husband, who is of Iranian origin.

April 2, 2020 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 269

++ Everyone in the world is affected by the Coronavirus crisis and the MEK are not excepted. Massoud Rajavi has issued yet another message ‘Payam number 22’, which prompted a lot of reaction. Commentators say, ‘there’s no way he’s written this because none of it matches up, every sentence is ridiculous’. For example, Rajavi claims “the regime has started this virus and spread it in Iran and beyond”. In another part he basically says “the only way to stop the virus is to attack members of pasdaran and the army in the street because the regime has created this virus as an excuse to bring the army in the street and is lying about self-isolation. You should come out and riot.” Commentators picked up various points and responded saying ‘Rajavi is either mad or just making things up’. Saber in Tabriz says ‘Yes, let’s say it’s all true. But I know that anytime you smell kabab you come out and want your share. I can tell you this time there is no kabab, what you smell is simply the branding of donkeys to separate them into which sides they are on. There’s nothing here for you.’

++ Over the past 2-3 weeks the MEK has been on overdrive to echo Pompeo, saying sanctions against Iran should be increased. The MEK are saying ‘the regime will collapse, and we will come to Iran and take over’. Every day, whatever Pompeo says the MEK say and whatever the MEK say, Pompeo says, copying each other., At the same time both are claiming there are no sanctions on essential goods and medicines. They claim that sanctions are aimed ‘at the regime not the people’. But everybody can see the effect and knows the truth. Some commentary described the MEK’s true situation as a purely mercenary force – running a troll farm; this is their only job. Mansour Nazari in Paris wrote article for Iran Interlink connecting this to events throughout Iran’s history and says that at this specific time when there is a crisis, they are siding with those who are committing crimes against humanity, the Americans. The MEK will go down in history as betrayers of the lowest sort.

++ The MEK have taken a reporter from AFP to their camp in Albania in an attempt to whitewash the NYT report. This invited reporter has then said some neutral things about what they observed in the camp and how the MEK behaved. The MEK is now rehashing this report and spreading it everywhere. Saber says, ‘OK, I accept all that is in this report, but surely you can admit that 80% of the truth about the MEK has been omitted – divorces, estranged families, etc. As one of the families of those stranded in Albania, I tell you there are many better paid jobs than doing this. You didn’t whitewash the MEK, you dirtied yourself to their level.’

In English:

++ Several pieces warn that the secret and closed lifestyle adopted by cults like the MEK makes them a danger to health and hygiene. The MEK’s camp in Albania is not accessible to the authorities, yet members are known to have travelled to Italy in recent weeks. The MEK never divulges the true cause of death of any of its members. With the lack of testing and medical support, many might die of COVID-19, but we will not know. This situation is of grave concern to the estranged families of MEK members who have no way of knowing what is happening to their loved ones inside the camp.

++ The Coronavirus crisis is revealing the true nature of various opposition groups and analysts. There are many posting in social media that although the Iranian government should be criticised for its early handling of the crisis, the time has come to show humanity and halt the sanctions so as to allow the country to combat the virus. Others, led by Pompeo and the MEK, see human misery as a political opportunity for them, and are clearly aiming to inflict maximum damage on the Iranian people in the belief that they will rise up and overthrow their government. There are various levels of delusion, this must be of the worst. Iranians commenting in English (and possibly every other language in the world), are rejecting this line of thinking. It remains to be seen if the American political establishment wakes up. The MEK never will.

++ Maryam Rajavi is panicking. She has been expelled from Europe and now has her headquarters in Albania. But with the Coronavirus threatening the great and the not so great alike, she is desperate to return to the relative safety of Europe where medical support and true isolation might mitigate the worst effects of the pandemic. Rajavi had one of her UK poodle MPs raise the issue in a Commons debate on 17 March. Toby Perkins asked “The Iranian regime has taken a country rich in natural resources and cultural history to a position of poverty that is brutal to its own people. However, rather than being supportive of the moderate opposition regime in exile, the UK Government have banned Maryam Rajavi instead of welcoming her here to promote the cause of peace that could prevail in Iran. Will the Foreign Secretary take steps to ensure that Maryam Rajavi is welcomed here, so that Iran can get back to becoming the wonderful nation that it really could be?”
Dominic Raab, Secretary of State, accepted the UK has a problem with Iran, but rejected this as a solution. All over Europe, political circles have turned their backs on the MEK. Rajavi will just have to sit it out like the rest of us wherever she is.

March 20, 2020

April 2, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Letter of Nejat families to the WHO

A letter written by a group of Tehrani families of the MEK members in Albania addressed to the representative of WHO in Albania, shows concern about the health of the loved ones in the MEK camp.

WHO Representative in Albania

The text of the letter is as follows:

Dr. Raúl González Montero
WHO Representative
Tirana, Albania

Dear Sir,
With regards, we address you on behalf of hundreds of suffering families of members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, better known as the Rajavi cult) residing in a remote isolated camp in Albania, about their severe health situation considering the COVID-19 pandemic.
You are probably aware that a South Korean cult has been responsible for the rapid spread of Coronavirus in the country. The Shincheonji Church of Jesus is held accountable for the rapid spread of COVID-19 among the members and for the decision to send thousands of adherents out into public which contributed to the rapid spread of the virus.
The leaders of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus frequently visited China and the members subsequently socialized with the Korean community without revealing the fact that many of their members are fatally ill.
In a similar way, leading members of the MEK which is based in Albania, make frequent visits to Italy, which has the largest cluster of infections after China. Although the members live in a secretive closed camp named Camp Ashraf 3, some socialize with the Albanian community around them while shopping or visiting officials. The cult’s leaders occupy an entire floor of the International hotel in the middle of the capital Tirana.

There are now rumors from inside the cult’s closed camp in Manez that some members have vanished, and some are showing signs of flu-like viral sickness. The MEK will certainly not reveal any illnesses inside the cult. They have always kept the cause of deaths inside their camp secret.

The problems surrounding the South Korean cult exist in just the same way with MEK. Unaccountable leadership, isolated and secretive membership. The members are mostly elderly, and many are sick and weak and therefore vulnerable to death following infection. The MEK have no testing kits or medical capability to deal with an outbreak. It is uncertain whether they would even accept any help offered.
The MEK with this secrecy is now considered as a health and hygiene threat for Europe in general and for Albania in particular. Unlike the South Korean cult, the MEK consists fewer than 2,000 members. Most of these are contained in a closed camp to which Albanian authorities have no access. The authorities must hold the MEK leaders accountable. Leader Maryam Rajavi must allow full access and investigation into what is happening inside Camp Ashraf 3 and submit the members to Coronavirus testing.
The WHO has a vital role to play in this situation.

With respect,
A group of Tehrani families of MEK members in Albania

March 14, 2020 0 comments

Albania

Albania’s Hosting of the MEK Affect Its Inclusion in the FATF’s Grey List,How?

Money laundry is an ordinary operational technique among criminal gangs and terrorist organizations to provide their own finances. However, this does not mean that governments do not commit it. In countries where mafia gangs are widely involved in money laundering, this criminal act can infiltrate financial institutions, acquire control of large sectors of the economy through investment, or offer bribes to public officials and indeed governments.

Edi Rama PM of Albania

The countries involved in money laundering are strongly pressured by international law and international organizations and are subject to sanction regimes.

On February 21th, the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that it has added Albania and five other countries to the countries under “increased monitoring”, otherwise known as the “grey list”. This list includes countries whose jurisdictions have “strategic deficiencies” in the prevention of money laundering and organized crime and are therefore subject to greater monitoring.

Albania entered the list, while it was dropped out of it in 2015, but, it was re-entered the list by the MONEYVAL, which is a permanent mechanism of the European Council in charge of evaluating the implementation of standards in the fight against money laundering and organized crime.

As early as 2018 Moneyval had called on the Albanian authorities to step up efforts to prosecute people involved in money laundering and confiscation of their property.

The report, which has been very negative for Albania, highlights the link between corruption and criminal organizations related to money laundering, warning the authorities that adequate measures have not been taken to combat the phenomenon.

MONEYVAL recognizes that the Albanian authorities are well aware of the risks that money laundering causes to the formal economy and have created national coordination mechanisms for policy development to address the risks. However, these mechanisms have not proven to be fully effective and there are some areas where better results could have been obtained.

Albania’s lack of action to combat money laundering is also recognized by the US government. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2019 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Money Laundering and Financial Crimes, the Government of Albania made no significant progress toward thwarting money laundering and financial crimes in 2018. It is insisted in the report that Albania remains vulnerable to money laundering due to corruption, growing organized crime networks, and weak legal and government institutions.

This situation has prompted the European Commission to expand the mechanism of control of the phenomenon of money laundering in Albania, placing the country on the gray list of countries at high risk of money laundering, from which it had left in 2015.

However, there is something worrying about Albania’s inclusion in the gray list, which discriminates it from other listed countries: The country is home for a terrorist organization with a long history of illicit fundraising activities.

The Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK) Organization, is an Iranian guerilla group listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada until a few years ago. This terrorist group, which was relocated with more than 2,500 members to Albania in 2016, is among criminal organizations that has a long history of money laundering activities.

According to evidence which became available after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the MEK received millions of dollars in Oil-for-Food program subsidies from Saddam Hussein from 1999 through 2003. In addition to discovering 13 lists of recipients of such vouchers on which the MEK appeared, evidence linking the MEK to the former Iraqi regime includes lists, as well as video footage of both Saddam Hussein handing over suitcases of money to known MEK leaders.

In addition, there are numerous reports exposing the MeK’s approach in fraudulently soliciting funds for imaginary orphanages and charities and then using the funds to purchase weapons and telecommunication equipment. Among these reports, one could refer to the German Federal Security Service’s report in 2008 and the Rand Corporation’s monograph in 2009.

The German Federal Office for the Protection of constitution (BFV) published a 23-page report in 2008, referring to the MEK as a terrorist organization which is actively involved in illicit fundraising activities. It is mentioned in the report that the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of MEK, active in Europe and North America, has drawn the attention of the world due to its substantial propaganda and systematic fund-raising activities.

The RAND Corporation, a U.S. government-funded think tank, issued an analysis of the MeK in 2009, referring to its extensive fundraising activities. The report mentioned criminal investigations conducted in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany about the MeK in 2001, which exposed ongoing money-laundering activities by the group, leading to the arrestment and prosecution of several of its members.

The MEK has repeatedly been questioned by the media about their financial resources, but they have never responded. This strengthens the speculations about the group’s current extensive money laundering activities.

Worryingly, it is more than five years since this terrorist-criminal group with a long record of money laundering resides in Albania, a country on the FTAF’s gray list for money laundering, and have warm relations with the country’s officials.

How Could Albania's Hosting of the MEK Affect Its Inclusion in the FATF’s Grey List?

This will probably make the situation a little more complicated in Albania and even in the Balkans, leading to further promotion of terrorism and money laundering and weakening of international mechanisms to combat money laundering in the Balkans. The fact that the Balkans have been a haven for organized crime networks and one source of human resources for extremist groups such as ISIS makes matters worse.

Albania has been longing for joining the European Union for years, but the process of starting negotiations to join Tirana has failed so far due to various reasons, including corruption and money laundering. Although Albania took some measures during this period, according to the FATF’s announcement, it was mainly legal adjustments and”not actions on the ground.”

Limiting criminal groups, including the MEK, and clarifying their financial mechanisms and resources can greatly contribute to transparency, which could bring Albania into the practical phase of combating money laundering. Otherwise, it seems unlikely that Tirana’s actions will satisfy the MONEYVAL experts to remove them from the grey list of money laundering and terror financing.
March 10 ,2020
BY Reza Alghurabi, ahtribune.com

March 12, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Students Stand Up To Modern Slavery

CNN reported on February 5, 2020 that right now, 40 million people are trapped in modern slavery. The report indicates that a worldwide campaign has been called for March 11, 2020 #MyFreedomDay against the phenomena. Students have organized events for the day to highlight the issue of modern slavery and celebrate freedom.

My Freedom Day

What exactly is modern slavery?

Modern slavery is pretty much defined the same way as slavery throughout human history has been defined. Slavery occurs when one person controls another person, through violence, the threat of violence or by mind manipulation and thought control, in order to exploit them, economically, sexually or otherwise, and the victim is not free, physically or mentally or both, to walk away.

The biggest difference is that modern slavery is usually hidden and it’s more complicated and difficult to identify. It could be a woman trafficked or kidnapped and made to work in a brothel in Europe, or a man threatened with being killed or mutilated if he doesn’t work in the fields, or a child forced to do dangerous work in gold mines or on fishing boats, or someone who has been brainwashed inside a destructive mind control cult to become a robotic worker. None of these people get paid and none of them are able to escape for fear of violence against them or their families, or for fear of being doomed or cursed by the cult leader.

MEK, an extreme example

The notorious camp of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) in Manez in Albania is a very clear and extreme case of holding modern slaves. These individuals have been subject to mind manipulation and brainwashing over many years in Iraq and now in Albania and they are forced to commit crimes such as terrorism, human trafficking, money laundry, fraud, robbery and forging documents.

The MEK operates as a destructive, mind control cult. The organization forbids love, familial relationships, voluntary exit, and contact with the outside world, in particular with friends and families, enjoying privacy of thoughts and an individual lifestyle, criticism of the leader, and denies many other basic human rights to its members.

Members are not paid in any form and they work round the clock seven days a week without any day off or vacation. The leaders even control their beliefs and opinions. They endure communal living with the minimum of health and welfare.

This CNN campaign should have an eye on this matter too. MEK members are trapped in a remote isolated camp run by cult leaders. They have no contact with the outside world, and they do not have any way out. Unfortunately, the Albanian government which hosts them cooperates with the cult for their own short term political and financial benefits.

These cult members, modern slaves, are very much looking forward to their eventual freedom.

March 11, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Nejat Families pen letter to the President of ICRC

Dear Mr. Peter Maurer,

Respectfully, we _signatories below this letter_ as families of members of Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (known as MKO/ MEK or PMOI) from Ardabil province of Iran, find it necessary to inform you about our dears (MKO members) situation, prosecution and unjustifiable acts against members by leaders, and violation of most substantial human rights of members, moreover, the massive difficulties and distresses for expectant families.

Peter Maurer president of the icrc

As you know, Mojahdeen Khalq Organization ,as a terrorist group on the basis of violent activities and killing of own opponents, had committed a lot of crimes against its own homeland and its own countrymen in alliance with Saddam Hussein during Iran-Iraq war.
Furthermore, this group committed a series of inhumane actions ranging from torture, prosecution, damages and suffering to threaten Iranian combatants with specific aims of recruiting or so on. there’s various evidences confirming it.
ICRC, as an organization responsible and guardian of international humanitarian law during conflicts, accomplished most valuable activities protecting Iranian captives, the numerous documents and reports indicates inhuman behaviors by MKO against captives during 8 years war specially in Iraq’s prisons. these reports additionally suggests wide humanitarian actions by ICRC for improving situation of captives too.
In recent years, members of MKO moved to Albania after long settlement in Iraq (Ashraf camp) according to multilateral agreement under monitoring of The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. UNHCR)
So sadly we notice you during these years specially after ending Iran-Iraq war and following exchange of captives _that happened as a result of ICRC’s worthy endeavours (as an independent humanitarian body free of political interests or any affiliation to states) there wasn’t good faith or neutrality to coercing this violence_based group for complying international human rights law norms. naturally ending war and following issues leaded to ending ICRC’s activities.

Dear president,
Today, its for years that MKO members are banned even from supplying most primitive human needs. They’re banned from any form of connection with outside world of their camp (unless for organizational purposes) especially with their own families.
This matter, in particular, after revelation of negative reports regarding to MKO’s internal framework and terrible history of this group, additionally international reports (such as report of human rights watch title to NO EXIT, 2005) leads to extreme worries of families over the physical and mental situation of our dears.
On this basis, and taking into account the unique background and admirable functions of ICRC during conflicts, and prominent aims of ICRC relating to promoting the respect to humanitarian rights, we demand you to take effective measures using whole possible diplomatic potentials for removing worries of families and to create context for making relations between MKO members and their families in specific mechanism allowed by international bodies, with full respect to third states rights and complying any other necessities.

We will appreciate your reply.
Best regards,

CC:
-European Union Representation Office in the Republic of Albania
-Mr. Luigi Soreca Head of EU Delegation to Albania
-Elizabeth Tichie Fiesberger, President of the United Nations Human Rights Council
-Representation of the European Parliament in stabilizing EU-Albania relations

March 11, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Why Bush officials chose to champion the MEK terrorist group?

Turkey is ratcheting up its invasion of Syria and trying to drag NATO into Erdogan’s personal rehabilitation scheme. Threats and counter-threats are flying as thickly as the bombs and bullets. It remains to be seen whether U.S. policymakers will blunder deeper into this quagmire.

Last October, the Washington establishment was aghast when President Trump appeared to approve a Turkish invasion of northern Syria. The U.S. was seen as abandoning the Kurds, some of whom had allied with the U.S. in the fight against ISIS and other terrorist groups. But the indignation over the latest U.S. policy shift in the Middle East is farcical considering the long record of U.S. double-crosses. Rather than the triumph of American idealism, recent U.S. policy has been perpetual perfidy leavened with frequent doses of idiocy.

Almost none of the media coverage of the Turkish invasion and flight of Kurdish refugees mentioned that President George H. W. Bush had urged the Kurds and other Iraqis to “take matters into their own hands and force Saddam Hussein, the dictator, to step aside” during the U.S. bombing campaign in 1991 in the first Gulf War. After it became clear that the U.S. military could not protect the Kurds from Saddam’s backlash, U.S. policymakers basically shrugged and moseyed along. As a CNN analysis noted in 2003, “Bush refrained from aiding Kurdish rebels in the north, although he finally sent troops and relief supplies to protect hundreds of thousands of fleeing Kurds who were in danger of freezing or starving to death. Bush has never regretted his decision not to intervene.” George H.W. Bush’s abandonment and betrayal of the Kurds did nothing to deter the media and political establishment from posthumously sainting him after he died in late 2018.

U.S. meddling in the Middle East multiplied after the 9/11 attacks. Even though most of the hijackers were Saudis who received plenty of assistance from the Saudi government, the George W. Bush administration seized the chance to demonize and assault Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime. President Bush portrayed his invasion of Iraq as American idealism at his best. In his May 1, 2003 “Mission Accomplished” speech abroad the USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush hailed “the character of our military through history” for showing “the decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies.” Speaking three weeks later at a Republican fundraiser, Bush bragged, “The world has seen the strength and the idealism of the United States military.” Washington Post columnist David Ignatius declared in late 2003 that “this may be the most idealistic war fought in modern times.” The torture scandal at Abu Ghraib and elsewhere in Iraq has not been permitted to deter the recent semi-canonization of George W. Bush by the establishment media.

The Bush administration and their media allies produced one smokescreen after another to sanctify the war. Almost all the pre-invasion broadcast news stories on Iraq originated with the federal government. PBS’s Bill Moyers noted that “of the 414 Iraq stories broadcast on NBC, ABC and CBS nightly news, from September 2002 until February 2003, almost all the stories could be traced back to sources from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department.” A 2008 report by the Center for Public Integrity found that “in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.” The report concluded that the “false statements – amplified by thousands of news stories and broadcasts” created “an almost impenetrable din for several critical months in the run-up to war.” Bush’s falsehoods on Iraq proved far more toxic than anything in Saddam’s arsenal. But the exposure of the official lies did not deter Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld from equating criticizing the Iraq war with appeasing Adolph Hitler in 2006.

FBI to investigate the case of MEK lobbyists

The chaos from the 2003 invasion of Iraq was still spiraling out of control when the Bush administration began seeking pretexts to attack Iran, which Bush had designated part of the “Axis of Evil” in his 2002 State of the Union address. Bush officials and subsequent administration chose to champion the Iranian terrorist group, Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK). That organization sprang up in the 1960s and proceeded to kill Americans in the 1970s and to kill large numbers of Iranians in the subsequent decades. A 2004 FBI report noted that MEK continued to be “actively involved in planning and executing acts of terrorism.” NBC News reported in early 2012 that MEK carried out killings of Iranian nuclear scientists and that it “financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service.”

That was the same year that a stampede of Washington hustlers took huge payoffs to publicly champion de-listing the MEK as a terrorist organization. As Trita Parsi noted in the New York Review of Books, MEK “rented office space in Washington, held fundraisers with lawmakers, or offered US officials speaking fees to appear at their gatherings. But the MEK did this openly for years, despite being on the US government’s terrorist list.” Federal law prohibited taking money from or advocating on behalf of any designated terrorist group. But, as a 2011 Huffpost headline reported, “Former U.S. Officials Make Millions Advocating For Terrorist Organization.” Former FBI boss Louis Freeh, former CIA boss Porter Goss, co-chair of the 9/11 Commission Lee Hamilton, former attorney general Michael B. Mukasey, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge pocketing $30,000 or more for brief speeches to pro-MEK events.

Glenn Greenwald rightly scoffed that the advocacy for MEK “reveals the impunity with which political elites commit the most egregious crimes, as well as the special privileges to which they explicitly believe they — and they alone — are entitled.” Greenwald pointed that average people were scourged by the same law the pooh-bahs brazenly trampled: “A Staten Island satellite TV salesman in 2009 was sentenced to five years in federal prison merely for including a Hezbollah TV channel as part of the satellite package he sold to customers.”

Thanks in part to the torrent of insider endorsements, the Obama administration canceled the MEK’s terrorist designation in 2012. While Washington poohbahs continue portraying the group as idealistic freedom fighters devoted to democracy, a simple online search shows that the Farsi translation of the group’s name is “holy warriors of the people,” as Ted Carpenter noted in his new book, Gullible Superpower. Trump administration officials have gurgled about MEK’s possible role in ruling Iran after the current government is toppled. But MEK remains odious to the Iranian people regardless of the group’s PR successes inside the Beltway.

The prior pratfalls of U.S. Middle East policy did nothing to stymie the outrage over Trump asserted that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from eastern Syria. Congress showed more indignation about a troop pullback than it had shown the loss of all the American soldiers’ lives in pointless conflicts over the past 18 years. The House of Representatives condemned Trump by a 354 to 60 vote, and Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, proclaimed, “At President Trump’s hands, American leadership has been laid low, and American foreign policy has become nothing more than a tool to advance his own interests.” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) said he felt “horror and shame” over Trump’s action. Boston Globe columnist Stephen Kinzer aptly described Congress’s protest as “a classic example of ‘buffet outrage,’ in which one picks and chooses which horrors to condemn.”

President Barack Obama had promised 16 times that there would be no “U.S. boots on the ground” in Syria; when Obama betrayed that promise, Congress did nothing. Trump’s plans to have fewer U.S. boots on the ground in Syria — or at least in part of it — somehow became the moral equivalent of giving Alaska back to Russia. Pundits attacked politicians who supported the troop pullback as “Russian assets” – i.e., traitors.

Syria offers another reminder that “material support of terrorism” is a federal crime unless you work for the CIA, State Department, Pentagon, or White House. After President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and former Secretary of State John Kerry all publicly declared that Syrian president Assad must exit power, the U.S. armed terrorist groups to topple Assad. The Obama administration’s beloved, non-existent “moderate Syrian rebels” achieved nothing. The Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PKK, a prime beneficiary of the U.S. occupation, has been considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government since 1997. Evan McMullin, a 2016 presidential candidate, admitted on Twitter: “My role in the CIA was to go out & convince Al Qaeda operatives to instead work with us.” Such absurdities spurred Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, to introduce The Stop Arming Terrorists Act in 2017 to prohibit any U.S. funding of terrorist groups. Gabbard’s bill was mostly ignored and never enacted though her outspoken criticism of U.S. policy did spur Hillary Clinton and others to vilify her.

Prominent politicians and much of the media blamed Trump for the attacks on civilians that followed the Turkish invasion, carried out mainly by groups allied with the Turkish government. U.S.-armed terrorist groups involved in the Turkish invasion have freed Islamic State prisoners. A Turkish think tank analyzed the violent groups committing atrocities in Syria after the start of the Turkish invasion; “Out of the 28 factions, 21 were previously supported by the United States, three of them via the Pentagon’s program to combat DAESH. Eighteen of these factions were supplied by the CIA.” A prominent Turkish journalist observed after his government invaded Syria: “The groups that were educated and equipped by the United States west of the Euphrates are now fighting against the groups east of the Euphrates that have been also educated and equipped by the United States.” This is nothing new: in 2016, Pentagon-backed Syrian rebels have openly battled CIA-backed rebels in Syria. A prominent Assad opponent who organized a conference of anti-Assad groups financed by the CIA was denied political asylum in 2017 because he provided “material support” to the Free Syrian Army, which meant he had “engaged in terrorist activity,” according to the Department of Homeland Security. A press backlash spurred a reversal on that decision but the media mostly ignored the other contradictions in U.S. policy in Syria.

Members of Congress were indignant that Syrian civilians suffered as the result of Trump’s troop pullback. But both Congress and most of the American media ignored the Syrian women, children, and men who died as a result of U.S. policies that intensified and prolonged that nation’s civil war. This is typical inside the Beltway scoring: the only fatalities worthy of recognizing are those that are politically useful.

Despite Trump’s sporadic declarations on Syria, the U.S. continues to have more than 50,000 troops deployed in the Middle East. The sooner those troops come home, the less likely that our nation will be dragged into another quagmire. The perennial follies and frauds of Middle East policy provide one of the strongest arguments for the United States to mind its own business.

By James Bovard | Future of Freedom Foundation

March 9, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

MEK Hinders Coronavirus Detection In Albania

International anger has greeted news that a South Korean cult has been responsible for the rapid spread of Coronavirus in the country. The 12 executives of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus must be held accountable for the rapid spread of COVID-19 among the members and for the decision to send thousands of adherents out into public which contributed to the rapid spread of the virus. Investigators are seeking to establish whether this was through neglect or a deliberate act.

Over a million people have signed an online petition calling for the church to be disbanded. But taking such action would not be easy. The church has many members in many countries, and many keep their membership secret. Indeed, the secrecy of cults is one of the major problems associated with their activities. Although prosecution of their leaders is the most effective way to deal with the criminality and human rights violations which inevitably play a role in any cult.

The leaders of the Shincheonji Church of Jesus frequently visited China and the members subsequently socialised with the Korean community without revealing the fact that many of their members are fatally ill.

In a similar way, leading members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) which is based in Albania, make frequent visits to Italy, which has the largest cluster of infections after China, South Korea and Iran. Although the members live in a secretive closed camp named Camp Ashraf 3, some socialise with the Albanian community around them while shopping or visiting officials. The cult’s leaders occupy an entire floor of the International hotel in the middle of the capital Tirana.

There are now rumors from inside the cult’s closed camp in Manez, that some members have vanished, and some are showing signs of flu-like viral sickness. The MEK will certainly not reveal any illnesses inside the cult. They have always kept the cause of deaths inside their camp secret.

Curiously, investigators are looking into why Albania has not announced a single case of Coronavirus even though there are multiple ferry crossings between Albania and Italy every day. The answer appears to be along the lines of ‘if you don’t look for it, you won’t find it’ and ‘if you don’t want to find it, you won’t look for it’.

The MEK is considered to be a national security threat for Europe in general and for Albania in particular. Now with this secrecy they should be considered as a health and hygiene threat too. Unlike the South Korean cult, the MEK consists fewer than 2,000 members. Most of these are contained in a closed camp to which Albanian authorities have no access. The authorities must hold the MEK leaders accountable. Leader Maryam Rajavi must allow full access and investigation into what is happening inside Camp Ashraf 3 and submit the members to Coronavirus to testing. The WHO has a vital role to play in this situation.

The problem is that the MEK is supported by the U.S. and that means it may not be possible for even the government of Albania to contradict or challenge the cult’s behaviour even in the face of the deadly Coronavirus threat. The question now is to what extent are the Albanians ready to suffer a heavy price to appease the Americans?

MEK Hinders Coronavirus Detection In Albania

March 9, 2020 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 268

++ Coronavirus is, of course, a hot topic and the MEK has been on overdrive to keep itself relevant by falsifying films, audios, and reports so as to denounce Iran for its response to the virus. This has resulted in a backlash among Iranians, including the external opposition. People writing against the MEK in Farsi say simply that it’s a nasty thing to do. A few people go on to say that Rajavi has lost the plot. First, thinking Saddam would help topple the regime. Then thinking Giuliani and Bolton would do it and now Rajavi is left expecting Coronavirus to perform regime change. The MEK’s misinformation campaign has spawned the hashtag #MEKtrolls on Twitter.

++ While doing this, there are reports in Farsi about what is happening inside the camp in Albania. Some members have reported suspicious events – people vanishing and others showing cold like symptoms. The inference is that the virus is spreading in the camp but there are no testing kits or access to medical professionals. Families of MEK members are worried about their loved ones. They say the rumours are disturbing.

++ For the last two weeks the MEK has been working hard on damage limitation over the New York Times article. Those answering back against the MEK point out that all the MEK’s attacks are against the reporter. The only thing MEK says is that ‘because the NYT published this, the regime will come and kill us all’. There is no evidence of how that could be achieved since Albania is a NATO country. In addition, what does any of that have to do with this article and why do you never answer anything in the article itself – which bit is correct or which bit is wrong in your opinion. You just rant and hope the troll farm will sort you out. It doesn’t, it won’t.

++ 20th February was the anniversary of the murder of Zaha Rajabi in Turkey in 1996. Rajabi was a member of the leadership cadre, in charge of the MEK’s trafficking activity; mostly arranging for recruits to transfer to Iraq rather than Europe which they would have been promised. Suddenly, this year, Maryam Rajavi wants to call her the MEK’s human rights martyr. Some older people who remember those days have said no, Rajabi was killed in a room with her boyfriend and she was pregnant at the time. This was when the internal Ideological Revolution [forced divorces and celibacy] was in full swing and Rajavi imposed a harsh crackdown on all members. For this reason, nobody but the MEK would have killed her. Her role was trafficking people, but unfortunately for her she fell in love.

In English:

++ Robert Fantina in Global Research writes about continued U.S. support for the MEK terrorists. “So with fading support, and funding probably coming from Israel, and thus, at least indirectly, from the U.S., what is the MEK to do? Hapless Albania must continue to house them, against the wishes of Albanians, but their leaders are in a U.S. chokehold, so they don’t have much choice. The U.S. wants the MEK nearby in case it needs their terrorism for some reason; the U.S. is not averse to having some other country do its dirty work: witness the U.S.-financed Saudi slaughter of Yemenis, as just one example. And should the Albanian government decide to act as its people want, rather than as the U.S. demands, would the MEK then turn its terrorism on them? Albania has certainly been put between a rock and a hard place by the U.S., which doesn’t care in the least about it or the Albanian people; the whole nation is just a pawn in an international chess game that the U.S. is playing, that no one else is interested in.”

++ Alireza Niknam writing for Geopolitica examines definitions of terrorism – for example, in Europe operations that cause financial loss without risking lives are considered to be terrorist operations. Niknam covers the assassination of General Soleimani and the Ahwaz parade attack. The writer highlights the U.S. hypocrisy of killing a general who had contributed to the defeat of ISIS in Iraq and Syria, while supporting the terrorist MEK which has killed thousands of their own people.

++ Anne Khodabandeh wrote for The Iranian that U.S. Iran policy has been backed into a corner by misguided support for the MEK. “…continued engagement with the MEK indicates that the Trump administration still clings to the delusion that the MEK has leverage or influence or power in relation to events in Iran. It does not. The enduring support of MEK by anti-Iran pundits defies logic. Nothing has been gained throughout the past four decades. Much has been lost that can be linked to this support. The MEK promises regime change but cannot even come close to delivering.” This support, argues the writer, enabled the MEK to coerce Albania’s leaders into taking actions contrary to the country’s interests. This has not only enraged Albanian citizens and alienated the European Union, it will not further American policy toward Iran.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh, CEO of Nejat Society in Iran, has written an open letter addressed to those with awakened human consciences. The estranged families of MEK members have tried for decades to have human rights officials all over the world listen to their pleas for help. It appears they have no consciences. Let’s see if this letter finally reaches the eyes and ears of those who can and should help.

++ Award winning Albanian journalist Gjergji Thanasi wrote a response to the Nejat Society’s appeal. “As an Albanian who has extensive information about the MEK and their paramilitary facility near Manez town (Ashraf 3 Camp), I pity the rank and file MEK members who are little more than serfs to their lady owner, the old stateless harpy Maryam Rajavi!
“As an Albanian I consider Rajavi’s activity in Albania to be a threat to the national security of my homeland and a blatant violation of human rights of the poor cult members!

“Tell the families to wait and hope. Their loved ones momentarily are simply doomed. It is easier to break out from a low security jail than to leave Camp Ashraf 3. The quisling segments in the Albanian government and opposition behave shamefully like lap dogs to that evil woman Rajavi.
“Momentarily there is very little you can do. It is virtually impossible to receive an Albanian visa as a holder of an Iranian passport. Only those Iranians who are holders of EU, British, American, Canadian, Australian and New Zeeland passports can enter Albania. Even they will suffer a low-level harassment from our police.
“Nothing special that cannot be handled by your Albanian lawyer. They will face a vigorous slander campaign on the part of MEK. The usual stuff: spies of the Mullahs’ regime, terrorists of the Quds force, even in case of senior citizens 70 years old or more.”

++ Mazda Parsi writing for Nejat Bloggers examines the MEK’s love affair with other extremists. The MEK is an extremist movement because “studying the group’s substance and function, one can find out that the MEK has some traits in common with every extremist ideology”. Referencing Robert Fantina’s article in Global Research, Parsi lists other extremist allies, Israel, Saudi Arabia and the far-right Vox in Spain. As an extremist group MEK can align with other extremists regardless their stated ideological beliefs because they all “squeeze through the rifts they make in societies”.

++ Iran’s ambassador to the UK, Hamid Baeidinejad, denounced the MEK’s anti-Iran messaging over the Coronavirus outbreak in Iran. He accuses the MEK of trying to force public opinion into a “mental deadlock” through a duplicitous media and news campaign. “In the early stages of the virus’ emergence in Iran, when the country had not yet sensed the urgency to seek foreign aid, the media campaign tried to imply that the Tehran government would resist Western assistance even at the expense of its people’s lives, he said.

“At the time, they were trying to create the impression that Iran was facing international isolation, and that no country was willing to provide it with emergency aid, Baeidinejad noted.

“In the second phase, the propaganda drive alleged that the foreign medical supplies that had entered the country, including testing kits, were contaminated, he said.
“The official gave assurances that Iran procures the foreign items required through trusted suppliers, and that all the relevant sanitary standards are observed in the process.”

Mar 06, 2020

March 9, 2020 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Mujahedin-e Khalq to mislead Iranians on coronavirus outbreak

Tehran’s ambassador to the UK says the notorious Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group and other foreign-based anti-Iran movements have launched a propaganda campaign over a coronavirus outbreak in the country with the goal of misleading the Iranian public opinion.

Hamid Baeidinejad said the MKO terrorist cult and its fellow movements have been trying to exploit the epidemic to force the public opinion in Iran into a “mental deadlock.”

The campaign features a “very duplicitous” media and news policy, the envoy said.

In the early stages of the virus’ emergence in Iran, when the country had not yet sensed the urgency to seek foreign aid, the media campaign tried to imply that the Tehran government would resist Western assistance even at the expense of its people’s lives, he said.

At the time, they were trying to create the impression that Iran was facing international isolation, and that no country was willing to provide it with emergency aid, Baeidinejad noted.

In the second phase, the propaganda drive alleged that the foreign medical supplies that had entered the country, including testing kits, were contaminated, he said.

The official gave assurances that Iran procures the foreign items required through trusted suppliers, and that all the relevant sanitary standards are observed in the process.

The Iranian administration outlines the country’s most recent efforts to battle the new coronavirus outbreak.

“The main goal pursued by this propaganda is to create distrust between the people and the authorities,” he noted, dismissing the “delusions” of those who think such campaigns would yield result.

The MKO has conducted many assassinations and bombings against Iranian officials and civilians since the 1979 victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution. It notoriously sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his 1980-88 war on Iran.

Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution, about 12,000 died in MKO’s acts of terror.

The terrorist outfit was on the US list of terrorist organizations until 2012. Major European countries, including France, have also removed it from their blacklists.

The new virus emerged in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year, and has claimed more than 3,000 lives worldwide so far.

In Iran, it first showed up in the north-central city of Qom. By Tuesday, the country reported 77 fatalities, and 2,336 cases of infection. 435 patients have recovered their health.

The country has mobilized all its resources to tackle the issue, including by ramping up the production of sanitary items, increasing imports of preventive items and enforcing diagnostic measures across the nation.

Most recently, Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Reza Rahmani said the production of disinfectants and hygiene products had at least doubled over the past two weeks.

March 5, 2020 0 comments

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