Articles

Albanian media fooled by MEK ‘misdirection’

In Albania last week, two Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) members asked permission from their commanders to leave their base, Camp Ashraf Three in Manza, to visit the graves of MEK buried on the outskirts of Tirana. After leaving the camp they travelled to the UNHCR in Tirana to ask for refuge. They are now living among over two hundred other dissociated members in Tirana.

This event tells us several disturbing things about the MEK in Albania.

First, that MEK members must ask permission for an activity as simple as visiting a graveyard. Second, that members are trying to escape the group. Conditions inside Camp Ashraf Three are difficult to independently ascertain. It is a closed camp. Not even government agencies such as security services and customs are allowed inside. The UNHCR cannot freely visit and inspect the premises. But according to conversations with dissociated members in Albania, it seems the residents are suffering the same conditions as they did in Iraq. There they were held in conditions of modern slavery and forced to undertake work for the group with no pay. Every aspect of their everyday lives was dictated by the leader Maryam Rajavi (who took over after the death of the cult leader Massoud Rajavi); who they spoke with, what they believed in and even what they ate and wore.

The event also alerts us to the fact that many MEK are dying in Albania. According to dissociated members speaking anonymously, there are three times as many deaths by natural causes in Albania as there were in Iraq. In Iraq the MEK excuse was “no doctors”. It would be interesting to discover what the MEK excuse is now.

One reason, of course, is that many of the MEK are elderly, many are sick. The average age of MEK members is above 60. At this age most people would be looking forward to a comfortable and relaxed retirement, to allow the younger generation to take over their work. Not the MEK. They have no younger generation after forced divorces and the removal of children left an ageing polity. Members must work until they die. Recruitment has proved extremely difficult because the group is hated by almost all Iranians. As a result, the MEK resorts to deceptive recruitment and coercive control for maintaining members.

One aspect of this deception is that rather than being ‘refugees’ as the MEK claim, the members have legal status in Albania. The government of Iraq did not allow them refugee status in Iraq because they are terrorists. They were brought to Albania by the UNHCR without travel documents; each migrant was given a piece of paper stating, ‘on humanitarian grounds’. Similarly, the government of Albania does not allow the MEK members or ex-members to be given either refugee status or residence or work permits. The secret agreement between Albania, the US and the MEK leader struck in 2013 included the provision for de-radicalisation once the members arrived in Tirana. This did not happen; the earmarked budget remains untouched in the American embassy, the MEK remain radicalised for terrorism.

The graveyard also raises another disturbing issue. There are sixteen public graves. It is reported that many others have since died but the MEK now buries them inside Camp Ashraf Three. It has already been ascertained that independent investigation cannot take place there, so it is not known how many graves there are. In Iraq there were hundreds.

The number of graves matters. When the US army detained the MEK in 2003, there were 3,800 members. (See RAND Corporation – The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq A Policy Conundrum, Summary xiii.) Over the next fifteen years, attrition of members through dissociation, conflict, deaths by natural causes, suicide and murder meant that when the UNHCR brought the last group of MEK to Albania in September 2016, the total number relocated was 2,901 individuals with 2,745 remaining at the end of that year. Since then well over two hundred have left; some departed Albania, around two hundred remain destitute in the country.

However, according to a report from US Senator Robert Torricelli, an official representative of the MEK, there are currently over four thousand MEK in Camp Ashraf Three. Where did the extra numbers come from? Are these MEK or are they the widows and orphans of killed Daesh members which investigative journalist Gjergji Thanasi discovered were destined to be the next controversial influx of undesirables dumped on Albania by the Americans. Have some already arrived?

Thanasi made the discovery while investigating import permit irregularities linked to the construction of MEK’s closed Camp Ashraf Three. This led to the further discovery that MEK is not registered for tax and does not conform to any Albanian law or customs or morals. And since the MEK members are not registered anywhere – they have no identification documents, have no work permits and pay no taxes – they could be anyone. The four thousand residents of Camp Ashraf Three – with its small-arms firing range, reinforced concrete armoury, three-meter wall and guard turrets – could be literally anyone.

Yet instead of investigating this disturbing situation, with some notable exceptions, Albania’s media have seen fit to uncritically publish the MEK’s defamatory statements aimed at silencing critics and diverting attention from their criticisms. When confidence tricksters do this, it is called ‘misdirection’; divert the attention of the target while they are robbed. When the MEK do it, it is called politics.

If it was the intention of some Albanian media outlets to politicise the MEK presence in the country, and by doing so bring the conflict between America, Israel and Saudi Arabia with Iran, to Tirana, then they have succeeded. However, it is surely not the role of an independent, objective media to act as a mouthpiece for any side. It is far more fitting for serious journalism to investigate the serious and evidenced allegations of human rights abuses, modern slavery, tax evasion, people trafficking, political corruption and facilitating terrorism which are levelled against the MEK, and report the facts to their country’s citizens.

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Balkan Post

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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.

March 27, 2018 0 comments

Albania

Anti-terror Edi Rama releases Iranian journalists

Gazeta Impakt has learned exclusively that two Iranian nationals, public television journalists for IRIB, who were detained today by anti-terror police on suspicion of terrorist acts, have been freed after being found innocent. The Iranian journalists were detained with another group of Iraqi-German nationals and other foreigners who had been officially invited to the Bektashi World Headquarters to celebrate Nouruz Day.

The Iranian nationals, who were detained by the National Intelligence Service and the anti-terror unit with the names F. Z., 65 and S.M., 59, were held at the police station from 11.00 am to 6.30 pm. The journalists, who had come to Albania on an official invitation from the Bektashi World Headquarters, were questioned about the Mojahedin, or MEK, terrorist group that Albania has hosted and protected since 2013. Anti-terrorist officials suspected that the journalists intended to commit terrorist acts against the Mojahedin terrorist group.

The ban on Iranian journalists was made on the order of Maryam Rajavi, the head of the Mojahedin terrorist organization – an organization known as the Rajavi Cult or the National Resistance Council of Iran. Maryam Rajavi complains in her speeches and in meetings with US senators, etc., that Iran has introduced secret agents to Albania in order to eliminate her Iranian jihadists who have killed thousands in Iran in the past. Maryam Rajavi and her organization attacked all those Albanian media which criticize this organization, accusing them of being related to the Brenshme Ministry or paid by Iran; attacking Albanian academics who go to Iran for scientific conferences or even Iranian ex-members in Albania who are abandoning this organization. Apparently, Maryam Rajavi’s finest hysteria is directed against senior Iranian IRIB journalists who had come to Albania to celebrate Nouruz Day with their Bektashi brethren. Maryam Rajavi, who suffers from the jealousy and hysteria of an impotent old man and desperate for power, demands that Albania and Albanians have no connection with Iran, against which the Mojahedin have declared war. Preferably widow Maryam Rajavi would like Albanian citizens to head off former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko in going to Iran to make jihad against Iran in order for Rajavi to become president of the country.

The ban on Iranian journalists angered the Bektashi community and their own president, Baba Edmond Brahimaj, who sent his secretary to the Tirana Police Department and demanded the release of the journalists. The attack on Iranian journalists, their detention as if they were terrorists, under Maryam Rajavi’s orders, shows that Albania has already turned into a state that has been put in the service of international terrorism and the terrorist organization MEK. This organization, which two days ago celebrated Novruz in Tirana with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, is determined in its violent and terrorist fight against Iran. Encouraged by many US and Israeli extremist circles, Rajavi wants to undertake terrorist acts against Iran, thus breaking the Albanian criminal code, which condemns terrorist activity.

Maryam Rajavi’s campaign of defamation against the free media, Albanian academics and Iranian journalists, shows the anti-democratic schizophrenia of this organization. The Iranian Mojahedin do not believe in freedom of thought and of the press.

They are a dictatorial group that worships terrorism and violence. In the past, they have killed hundreds of journalists, intellectuals, and civil society activists in Iran, Iraq and Turkey. Hereinafter, Albania will face the hysteria and terrorism of the Iranian Mojahedin who cannot live in a free and democratic world.

But apparently, the recent ban on Iranian journalists has proved fruitless. IT turns out that the Iranian journalists were journalists and were not paid killers. Maryam Rajavi was left unsuccessful and gob-smacked. Iran did not bring any man for the desperate widow.

Gazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania,Translated by Iran Interlink

March 27, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

The MKO in the past one year

On the eve of the Iranian New Year, it is worth looking back at the MEK conduct in the past one year. The group leaders took mean actions to cope with their declining phase during the past year. Weather they were successful or not, the international community should be vigilant about the threats by the side of the MKO as a destructive cult.

Maryam Rajavi

Once they were completely relocated in Albania, the MKO authorities had to reconstruct the regulations of their cult-like organization because of the increasing rate of defection in the new community which was not as isolated as it was in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, Iraq.

The group authorities established a new base in a remote region outside Tirana and named it “Ashraf 3” in order to impose more limitations on members and to launch their cult-like practices more easily. Members were made to sign an engagement letter before being resettled in the new camp according to which they were committed to stay in the group until the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The group leaders even confiscated the members’ properties that were given to them by the UNHCR.

Being isolated in the new camp, far from the normal life of the civil society and having signed the so-called engagement letter, members of the MKO are literally taken as hostages by their leaders. Fortunately, the UNHCR finally agreed to pay the monthly payments of those who defect the MKO independently. However, those who are still in the MKO camp do not know that they have the right to use the UN facilities once they leave the MKO because they are always told by the leaders that their defection from the group results in their homelessness and poverty. The UNHCR authorities should inform the members on their rights of living in a free community after their departure from the cult otherwise they are intimidated about living independently by the cult leaders.

The past year was also a challenge for the MKO leaders in their foreign relations. They had to enhance their lobbying efforts inviting American congressmen to their Tirana base where Maryam Rajavi received them in a huge propaganda show. The group’s members were made celebrate the reception of American lawmakers as if it was a big victory –they did not dare to ask their leaders what happened to the anti-Imperialist and anti-Zionist slogans of the MKO.

On the other hand, the US politicians have spent a large amount of money of the US taxpayers for the relocation and residence of the MKO in Albania contributing the Albanian government and the UN High Commissioners of Refugees. Regarding the MKO’s history of terrorist acts, suicidal operations and cult-like behaviors such as self-immolations, sooner or later the West will come to the conclusion that the Cult of Rajavi has more disadvantages than advantages for the West as they experienced it with Al-Qaida and ISIS. The terrorist extremist groups will often turn back to haunt their promoters someday.

Mazda Parsi

March 19, 2018 0 comments

Albania

The Expulsion of Iranian Diplomats – A ‘Hot Potato’ for Minister Bushati

An organization fighting for the collapse of the current form of government in Iran called the NCRI (National Council of Resistance of Iran) has publicly called on the Albanian government to expel from Albania two Iranian diplomats accredited in Tirana. The NCRI demands that the Albanian government expel the First Secretary of the Iranian Embassy in Tirana, Mostafa Roodaki and Cultural Attaché, Seyed Ahmad Hosseini Alast. This request is based on the April 1997 EU Resolution on the expulsion of Iranian spies accredited under diplomatic cover.

According to the NCRI, the two diplomats are simply spies of the Iranian secret service called VAJA. Despite the fact that the NCRI errs about the functions attributed to one of the aforementioned persons, this call is extremely problematic for the Albanian government, especially Minister Bushati and Xhafa, who according to Albanian law has the authority to designate a foreign diplomat accredited in Tirana persona non-grata. It should be noted that, according to the official Diplomatic List of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, the First Secretary at the Iranian Embassy in Tirana is Mr. Fereeydon Zandi.

A demand from a fugitive Iranian fugitive organization should not be taken seriously by the Albanian authorities, but when this organization has ‘heavyweight minders’ in the international arena, such a call can be extremely problematic!

On March 5-6, a scientific symposium on the work of our national poet Naim Frashëri was held at Modares University in Tehran. The symposium, along with scientific authorities from the Republic of Kosovo, FYROM and Bosnia, was also attended by prominent Albanian personalities such as Dr. Prof. Rexhep Meidani, former President of the Republic of Albania, Academician Floresha Dado, Dr. Arian Leka lecturer at the Academy of Arts etc. The NCRI alleges that organisations such Habilian or Didban Centre act as instruments of the Iranian VAJA and used this symposium to influence Albanian VIPs against the Mojahedin (MEK) organization housed in Camp Ashraf Three in Manza near Durrës.

In this context, it remains to be seen how Bushati and Xhafa will react to this request for the expulsion of Iranian diplomats, as well as the request from Nejat Association, which appealed to the Albanian authorities to provide visas and enable the families of Mojahedin members to travel from Iran to Albania and meet with their loved ones living in Manza.

The situation also becomes more problematic because of Prime Minister Rama’s personal enmity toward former President Meidani. We recall here the public show that Rama performed against Meidani when he became Public Recorder (Qatip) – when he sponsored the SP program and then dropped this program together with Meidani, or when the first act undertaken by the Director of the Customs of Spiropali, Rama’s ‘protégé’, was the dismissal of the son of former President Meidani, or the extremely immoral attacks undertaken by Rama against the wife of former President Meidani. It remains to see how the two Rama ministers will treat Iran’s ‘hot potato’.

To add a little humour in our writing, we can confirm without fear or favour that former Prime Minister Pandeli Majko will eat ice crea in the Gelato La Pasticceria at the Golestan Shopping Centre in Tehran after the Mojahedin of Makkah take over Iran, and at the same time, former President Rexhep Meidani will drink coffee at the ‘Lamiz’ cafe in Tajrish Square in Tehran after Iran’s current government destroys the Mojahedin’s military camp at Manza. The British boast of their humour, but indeed, English humour is far inferior to the humour of Albanian politicians!!!!! / GJERGJ THANASI /CNA.al

Gjergi Thanasi, City News Albania

Translated by Iran Interlink

March 19, 2018 0 comments

Duplicity of the MEK nature

The MKO far from the legacy of Mossadeq

On the occasion of the death anniversary of the death of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Iranian Prime Minister of Iran, the leader of the destructive cult of the MKO, Maryam Rajavi’s narcissism leads her to claim to inherit the legacy of Mossadegh!

She does not hesitate to put the name of her destructive cult –People’s Mojahedin of Iran_ alongside the name of Dr. Mossadegh as the inspirers of the youth of Iran for her alleged freedom and democracy. Listing the achievements of Dr. Mosaddegh’s 28-month tenure, Rajavi accurately said about mosaddeq, “He was targeted from all directions for his cause which cherished independence, freedom, and an unwavering struggle against foreign colonialism, and against domestic dictatorship and fundamentalism.”

Nevertheless, Maryam Rajavi should be asked what the MKO has in common with Dr. Mosaddegh in both the achievement and the cause. While Dr. Mossadegh was the most prominent figure of the Iranian nationalism, the history of the Mujahedin Khalq –particularly its leader Massoud Rajavi—is full of anti-nationalistic acts. Siding with Saddam Hossein in the eight years of Iran-Iraq war and acting as the proxy force of the Israeli and American Intelligence services in Iran after the fall of Saddam, the MKO has nothing in common with the Nationalist movement of Iran.

Mosaddeq’s nationalization efforts led the British government to begin planning to remove him from power. In January 1953, the U.S. and Britain agreed to work together toward Mosaddegh’s removal. The plot, known as Operation Ajax, centered on convincing Iran’s monarch to issue a decree to dismiss Mossadegh from office. On the 60th anniversary of the coup against Mosaddegh, the CIA publicly admitted for the first time that it was behind the notorious coup in August 1953.

This indicates that, the Western Imperialism felt their interests threatened by the side of Mosaddegh as a nationalist anti-West leader who was democratically elected and cherished by the Iranian people. In contrast, the MKO leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi and their followers have served as Saddam’s private army and the US-Israeli proxy forces in order to launch cross border terror acts against Iranian civilians including the Iranian nuclear scientist.

The legacy of Mosaddeq and the nationalist Movement is probably the most symbolic for the many Iranians of both religious and secular persuasions who favor political development toward a democratic society but the Mujahedin Khalq is a violent group detested by the majority of Iranians. However, the opportunist leaders of the MKO have always been seeking a chance to boost their declining establishment. The names of great leaders of the masses all over the world such as Mandella, Ghandi and Mosaddeq are used as the apparatuses for the propaganda machine of the MKO.

Mazda Parsi

March 10, 2018 0 comments

France

France’s long history of playing with Iran

In the following report provided by MNA staff members, a summary of France’s playing with Iran at different stages is discussed with the hope that our Foreign Ministry takes a tougher stance against the European country.French foreign minister has finally arrived in Tehran.

The French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian arrived in Tehran early on Sunday March 5, 2018 and so far, he has met with Iran’s SNSC Secretary Ali Shamkhani and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Jean-Yves Le Drian had postponed his trip to Tehran, which had been planned for January 5, 2018.

The decision for postponing the trip came as Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a phone conversation with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on January 3, 2018, calling on France to “take its legal responsibility to combat terrorism and violence,” criticizing that a terrorist group, called Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), has a base in Paris, operating against the Iranian people and provoking and persuading people to take violent actions in Iran.

France’s support for terrorist MKO

Mohahedin-e Khalq (MKO) is a terrorist organization in exile that has carried out a lot of brutal attacks against civilian and government officials in Iran killing a large number of them.

The terrorist MKO has been supported by the Western governments since its founding.

The terrorist organization operates freely in France and holds regular conferences in French capital Paris every year in order to recruit many more terrorists.

They were involved in the recent riots in the Iran. On January 5, 2018, Iran’s intelligence ministry said on Friday that a MKO terrorist cell was discovered and dismantled in Boroujerd, Lorestan province, saying they were involved in sabotaging actions during recent protests.

Prior to that on July 2, 2017, Iran’s foreign minister had warned against activities of the MKO in France, saying “giving permission to carry out activities to a group which is loathed by the Iranian people, has a dark history of assassinations, had sided with Saddam regime, and has been making attempts to carry out attacks on the Iranian soil leaves a black stain on the countries that cooperate with such groups.”

Zarif added that the MKO had become an instruments in the hands of Iran’s enemies.

Now with all these in mind, the Iranian policy makers are expected to transfer Iranian people and government’s worries about the terrorist MKO’s activities in France.

France’s playing with the JCPOA

The level of hostility of the current US government towards the nuclear deal with Iran is clear to everyone, but Europeans’ position toward the pact is different. Some of them verbally continue to support the implementation process and want to keep things going. In this regard, Tehran has repeatedly stated that oral support is not enough and the Europeans have to take action against US’s moves in violation of the JCPOA.

Foad Izadi, professor of American studies at the University of Tehran believes that France has taken a hypocritical stance towards the nuclear deal with Iran and wants to relate the JCPOA with Iran’s missile program.

The continuation of making anti-Iran accusations and uncalculated remarks

In the past months, French senior officials including President Emmanuel Macron and Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian has uttered baseless claims and accusations against the Islamic Republic of Iran. They have explicitly named Iran as a threat to the region and the world and these claims have been of course condemned by statements issued by the Iranian foreign ministry. However, the effectiveness of these claims, considering their frequent expression, can be sized up.

Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, Le Drian criticized Iran for destabilizing measures in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.

“The other condition for building trust is keeping one’s word. The destabilizing actions carried out by Iran in Syria, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Yemen, or in the Gulf region—whether directly or through the groups it supports—these initiatives cannot be tolerated. And I’m stated this very bluntly. Likewise, for ballistic activities carried out by Iran, which are incompatible with the resolutions of the Security Council. This attitude runs contrary to our interests, and runs contrary to the U.S.’s interests. This attitude is a threat to the security of countries in the region. We certainly share the objective to curb this policy, because he cannot accept interfering and the desire for hegemony that they testify to.”

While visiting UAE and Saudi Arabia, French President Macron repeated in Dubai that he wanted to keep the landmark 2015 nuclear deal, which Trump has challenged.

But he said he was “very concerned” by Iran’s ballistic missile program, mentioning a missile fired from Yemen and intercepted by Saudi Arabia on Saturday, and raised the prospect of possible sanctions with regard to those activities.

“There are extremely strong concerns about Iran. There are negotiations we need to start on Iran’s ballistic missiles,” he said.

“Like what was done in 2015 for the nuclear activities, it’s necessary to put a framework in place for Iran’s ballistic activities and open a process, with sanctions if needed, of negotiation that would enable (that).”

It is worth to mention that in the past months, Mr. Macron shared the same views against Iran in his meetings with US President Trump and Israeli PM Netanyahu.

The French Foreign Minister Le Drian has also made threats against Iran saying that if Iran does not take care about the concerns over its missile program, new sanctions may be levied on Iran.

Of course, it is to be borne in mind that the negative report card of the French in dealing with the Iranian nation is not limited to these remarks in regards with the JCPOA, Iran’s missile program, and defense capabilities.

HIV-Infected Bloods Case

The case of “HIV-Infected Bloods” dates back to approxmately three decades ago and came to being in the course of Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). However, the case is one of the other unpleasant and unforgettable measures taken by the French authorities against Iranians.

Mérieux Institute, which currently is at the ownership of French Sanofi-Aventis Company, exported HIV-contaminated coagulation factors, for being used by patients suffering from hemophilia, to some countries including West Germany, Italy, Argentine, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran.

In the same direction, exporting HIV-infected bloods claimed lives of many patients suffering from hemophilia.

The necessity of Iran’s Foreign Ministry taking legal action against France’s baseless accusations

With all the above considerations, the widespread accusations made by Paris authorities against Tehran indicate that the approach taken by French authorities after the implementation of Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is based on double-standard, bias, an unilateral policy.

In this regard, Naqavi Hosseini Spokesman for Parliament National Security Commission said, “it has already been reiterated that Iran’s defensive power is not negotiable and in my opinion, Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs should take urgent action against the issue seriously.”

“In general, the respected government of the Islamic Republic of Iran should revise its relations with French authorities categorically,” he maintained.

For his part, Ali-Akbar Velayati Senior Advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution in International Affairs pointed to baseless remarks raised by French officials with regard to renegotiating with Iran’s missile power and said, “defensive preparedness is of the initial and inalienable rights of any nation and no country is allowed to interfere in internal affairs of other countries.”

Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Ghasemi also showed harsh reaction in this respect and said, “the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran will never allow others to undermine its missile power since it is for peaceful purposes.”

March 10, 2018 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Families of MKO members eager to know how their loved one looks like now

In order to determine whether a person is in a cult or not, one should study the group`s behavior rather than the group`s beliefs. Destructive cults can claim that they believe in spiritual issues or democracy or many other sublime notions but their genuine practices indicate that their main objective is the promotion of the leader’s ambitions that can be purely physical and somatic. Experts on cults advise that parents or family members whose child or other loved one is involved in a destructive cult should remember that this is not the person’s real personality but it is a mimic dictated by the cult leader so they should let the cult members know that they are loved and cared regardless.

However, once the members are is stuck in an isolating cult such as the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO / MEK/ the Cult of Rajavi) their family have no more access to the members to show them their love and care .

Families of the hostages taken in the Cult of Rajavi know about the mind control mechanism which rules the cult and prevents them from leaving the cult. However, they have tried their best to voice their love, for their children and the pains and sufferings they have endured as the result of this separation.

After being away from their loved ones for many years, they are very anxious to see them once more.

When the MKO was located in Iraq, rather close to the Iranian border, the families traveled to Iraq, Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty respectively several times. They picketed at the gates of the camps for long hours but the cult authorities did not allow them to visit their loved ones accusing them of being the agents of the Islamic Republic.

Families gathering in front of the MKO camps were replied by violence. The MKO authorities had dictated the rank and file to throw rocks at the families offending them and using abusive language which usually ended up in fierce clashes between them. But the families were so eager to visit their loved ones that could endure all the offensive treatment by the side of the group asking, “At least send us a new photo of our beloveds”.

Today, loved ones of these families are much farther from their hometown, residing in Albania. They have been recently resettled in a new base outside Tirana. According to the Albanian TV show Fiks Fare on Top Channel “In October 2017,the National Land Council approved a construction permit for the special camp, which had already begun construction in Manzë in Durres. The transfer of Mojahedin to the new premises is already well underway. This camp is being built by ‘FARA’ association.”

“Fiks Fare approached the Court of Tirana to inquire about this association which turns out to have been registered by court decision No. 5538 on 08.02.2017,” the show reported. “The Fiks Fare show has managed to find some former members of this organization – 3 of the 200 defectors from MEK. All three respondents claim that the Mojahedin hiding in Manzë camp are warriors very well-prepared for battle.”

The show also reveals the totalitarian structure of the MKO that restricts members so as they are not able to have any contact with their families. ”According to them, the MEK imposes very stringent conditions on members, whereby any communication with families is strictly forbidden. Today the three live in some UNCHR-paid flats, but they will soon reach a crossroads because they do not have any identification documents, neither migrant status nor political refugee status.”

Considering the vague condition of members of the MKO in Albanian territory where they do not have any official identity, the support of their family will be very helpful for them in order to get deradicalized and adopt more moderate position so they can get back to a normal life in the free world.

By Mazda Parsi

February 27, 2018 0 comments

Iran Interlink

Mojahedin Khalq attempt to place lobbyist Josh Hawley in Senate may yet backfire

In July 2016 Josh Hawley was implicated in a scandal exposed by the Financial Times. Hawley, along with John Bolton and Michael Mukasey were paid by the foreign terrorist organisation Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) for advocacy.

Hawley is currently running for Senate, presumably with MEK backing. It is not clear yet whether his past will catch up with him.

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Josh Hawley could be drawn into Eric Greitens investigation despite hands-off approach

David M. Drucker, Washington Examiner, Feb 23, 2018

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, the presumptive Republican nominee for Senate, could be drawn into the investigation into Gov. Eric Greitens, who was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on charges relating to allegations of sexual impropriety.

Republican insiders are fretting that the Greitens affair could put undo political strain on Hawley’s bid to unseat Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., who is vulnerable in the midterm but is a tough campaigner. Hawley, in his position as state attorney general, could be asked to assist in the Greitens probe by local prosecuting attorneys, and plans to answer the call if it comes.

“A felony indictment by a grand jury is a serious matter. There is no place for party or partisanship. The criminal justice system must be allowed to work. I am confident the House’s investigation will be thorough and swift, and will proceed without regard to party,” Hawley said Friday, in a statement issued through his attorney general’s office.

Hawley exudes the image of a straight-laced conservative — the opposite of Greitens since it was revealed that he engaged an extramarital affair with a hairdresser before he was elected governor. Greitens was indicted on felony charges of invasion of privacy related to that affair.

Private polling conducted before the indictment showed Greitens’ support with voters holding, suggesting he might be able to weather the storm. He is vowing to fight the charges, even as Republicans in the Missouri legislature have begun to turn on him.

“As I have said before, I made a personal mistake before I was Governor. I did not commit a crime,” the governor said Thursday, in a statement emailed to political supporters and campaign contributors.

“With today’s disappointing and misguided political decision, my confidence in our prosecutorial system is shaken, but not broken. I know this will be righted soon. The people of Missouri deserve better than a reckless liberal prosecutor who uses her office to score political points. I look forward to the legal remedies to reverse this action. This will not for a moment deter me from doing the important work of the great people of Missouri,” Greitens added.

The Hawley campaign has been gaming out how to navigate the Greitens scandal, but there’s not much to do as long as the attorney general could be called on to participate in the investigation. Missouri is a Republican-leaning state, voting for President Trump by a 20-point margin.

But some Republican operatives worry the matter could end up negatively impacting Hawley’s campaign.

“McCaskill is already a tough beat and we’re not helped by Greitens’ situation. If this isn’t taken care of it runs a good chance of materially hurting our chances to take this Senate seat. The situation isn’t yet critical but it shows every sign of moving in that direction,” a Missouri GOP insider said.

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Release: Schaefer Campaign Calls on Hawley Supporters to Disclose Ties to Iranian Terror Organization

Press Release, Missouri Times, July 14, 2016

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Kurt Schaefer’s campaign today called on supporters of Josh Hawley to disclose their financial ties to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran [PMOI]. Since releasing an ad highlighting Hawley’s documented work on behalf of the PMOI, a group that killed American soldiers, a number of Washington DC insiders including John Bolton and Michael Mukasey have come sprinting to Hawley’s defense. The problem? They failed to disclose their paid work for the group.

“Josh Hawley’s allies in Washington DC have spent millions falsely attacking Kurt Schaefer, and now they’re defending his paid work for an organization on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations,” Schaefer Campaign Manager Scott Dieckhaus said. “But Hawley’s friends in Washington DC have failed to disclose that they have been compensated, just like Hawley, by the PMOI to advocate for their removal from the terrorist list. As if their work on behalf of a terrorist group that killed American soldiers wasn’t enough, now they have failed to disclose that they were on the group’s payroll. Hawley and his allies should come clean and disclose their paid advocacy on behalf of the PMOI.”

A Financial Times story highlighted both, Mukasey and Bolton’s involvement with the group. Excerpts from a story include:

“An Iranian exile group is spending millions of dollars in a lobbying effort to be removed from the US’s list of foreign terrorist organisations, recruiting a group of US national security luminaries to be its advocates. Dozens of former officials across the political spectrum – from conservative John Bolton to liberal Howard Dean – have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to speak at events organised by supporters of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or People’s Mujahedin, in the US, the Financial Times has learnt.”

“Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic chairman of the House foreign relations committee, and Michael Mukasey, attorney-general in the last Bush administration, both told the FT they were paid for speaking at MEK-linked events.”

“Mr Bolton, George W. Bush’s ambassador to the UN, said he did not see the fact he was being paid “as an issue”, while Mr Dean, the former Democratic national committee chairman, dismissed the question as a “sideshow”.

“None would disclose how much they had been paid, but Ed Rendell, the former Pennsylvania governor, said he received $20,000 for an 11-minute speech. “But even if I was paid $50,000, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in it,” he said.”

The full story can be found here:

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc6d5774-b23d-11e0-9d80-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz4EJHoryLp

February 25, 2018 0 comments

Albania

MKO hostages should be informed about their rights

According to the news websites covering the situation of defectors of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi), the UN High Commissioner of Refugees paid the first monthly contribution to defectors in Albania last Friday February 9th, 2018. The new improvement in implementing laws by the UNHCR considering the defectors of the MKO as independent refugees seems to be a good move.

Since the MKO relocation process to Albania was completed in September 2016 until last Friday, the group leaders have been able to manipulate the UNHCR in executing the international laws about MKO members convincing the UNHCR authorities to allocate the individuals’ monthly payments as a whole to the organization’s leaders.

This rule malfunction helped the MKO leaders confiscate the members’ money and eventually use it as a pressure tool to ban them from leaving their group. Over three hundred people who managed to leave the MKO after the relocation in Albania faced a great deal of problems once they dissociated themselves from the group. They were left homeless and moneyless in the society. They were aided by charities and humanitarian communities. Read the stories of some of the defectors here.

The right to be informed

By officially receiving their first payment, MKO defectors will be able to lead a rather normal life in the free world. Therefore, those who are still taken as hostages in the MKO bases in Albania should be aware of the new regulations in the system of payments of the UNHCR. Particularly, those who are kept in the newly-rented Camp Ashraf 3 in a remote location outside Tirana –more isolated and lonely than the time they were located in Tirana—should be informed about their basic rights. They should be learned that their defection from the cult-like MKO does not result in homelessness and poverty.

This is the crucial responsibility of the UNHCR and the Albanian government to make sure that individuals who are in the Ashraf 3 are not intimidated by the hardship of leaving the Cult of Rajavi.

By Mazda Parsi

February 18, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Gulf war: fake pretext for Rajavi to separate children from their parents

When Saddam Hussein invaded his small, oil-rich neighbor in the summer of 1990, the Country Department faced its first full-scale post-Cold War international crisis. Bush’s foreign policy team forged an unprecedented international coalition consisting of the NATO allies and the Middle Eastern countries including of Saudi Arabia, Syria, and Egypt to oppose Iraqi aggression. The US-led coalition’s effective air campaign in January 1991, which was followed by “Operation Desert Storm,” a 100-hour land war, expelled Iraqi forces from Kuwait. However, this short-term operation offered Massoud Rajavi the opportunity to run his cult-like regulations over the members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO, MEK, PMOI, the Cult of Rajavi).

At the time, the MKO forces were located in Camp Ashraf, 62 kilometers from Baghdad. Members of the group and their families including children used to live in the camp too. Children got involved in the cult of Rajavi because their parents belonged to the cult. Defectors of the MKO such as Nadereh Afshari and Hadi Shams Haeri described the horrible situation of the children who were kept in the Cult of Rajavi, in isolated separated units located far from their parents, under a very abusive control that made them undergo severe sufferings. Ali Akbar Rastgou, former member of the MKO describes the conditions of Camp Ashraf after the US-led invasion of to Iraq in his book in Persian about the history of the group that was published in Germany.

According to Rastgou, Camp Ashraf was not targeted by the coalition forces while Baghdad was bombarded all the time. However, Massoud Rajavi had ordered to permanently relocate children in the bases of the group and hotels in Baghdad in order to allegedly move them out of Iraq. Baghdad was bombarded several times of the day. Practically, the children were in more danger than the time they were at Camp Ashraf.

Purposely orphaned children of the MKO

In February 1991, finally, about 900 children from 2-months-old to 18-year-old were smuggled to Jordan with fake IDs. They were then sent to European countries including Germany, Netherlands and Sweden where they were made adopted by European families and Iranian families who were sympathizers of the MKO.

In fact, absence of emotional balances makes cult children more vulnerable than children within the larger society that enjoy normal family relationships. The stories of the bitter fate of a number of these intentionally orphaned children are accessible in the worldwide media.

Now that kids were wiped off Camp Ashraf, Rajavi was prepared to launch the next phase in the process of turning his group in to a destructive cult. The next step was “forced divorce”. The parents whose children were detached from them had to detach from their last family link, their spouse. Eventually, almost all married members of the MKO divorced their spouses in order to give their exclusive love to their cult leader, Massoud Rajavi.

By Mazda Parsi

February 14, 2018 0 comments

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