Articles

Whenever my phone rings, I hope its my son calling me

Often sitting by the phone, she waits to hear the voice of her dear son, Firooz.

Whenever my phone rings, I hope its Firooz calling me, she says.

Mrs. Saedi is the mother of Firooz who was entrapped by the Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult several decades ago.

We have several times went in front of MKO Camps in Iraq to meet Firooz, but Rajavi denied our visit, says Mrs. Saedi. Her eyes brim with tears when she talks about her son.

“Though, Rajavis cruelty against me and my son is not forgivable, still I don’t care. I just wish to see my son once more. I wish to hug him again and then I can die favorably."

May 11, 2016 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Mothers, the forgotten victims of ISIS and the MEK

Earlier this year, the Euronews network aired a short documentary film titled The forgotten victims of Syria: foreign fighters’ mothers speak out by Robert Hackwill.

This was accompanied by another short interview titled: My son the Jihadist – A mother speaks out produced by Anne Devineaux.

These films reveal the distressing situation of that group of victims of ISIS who are too easily demonized or forgotten. The films, and others like them, focus on the stories of mothers of the young people who were deceived into travelling from Europe to Syria and, once there, embroiled in a hideous deadly fight which bears no relation to their past lives and relationships.

Some of the mothers already know that their children have been killed in the fighting. Some are still in contact with theirs. Other mothers have no idea about the whereabouts of their children and have no means of getting in touch with them. They simply wait day and night to hear something of their loved ones.

These mothers describe young people who had normal and comfortable lives in Europe. Some had no Islamic background and as converts had no other Muslims in their families. But they all believed they were following a glorious cause and they believed they and others would change the world into an ideal place in which they could practice their faith without the distractions of western lifestyles. With this mentality they were easy prey for those who seek to exploit them, terrorist leaders who will commit any crime and atrocity for their own benefit. These young people became victims of cultic abuse which has caused their mothers a great deal of suffering.

This is reminiscent of the mothers of the people deceived by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK aka Rajavi cult) over three decades. As a result of deceptive recruitment, they were taken to bases in Iraq to commit terrorist acts against their homeland. They are also victims of cultic abuse and remain psychological and physical prisoners of the cult leader Massoud Rajavi, some in Iraq, some now in Albania. Similarly, their mothers are denied contact with them and do not know anything about their mental and physical welbeing.

These mothers, however, are even more forgotten and isolated since the likes of Euronews do not portray their stories as they have those of European mothers and they have no means to let world public opinion know about their situation. These mothers, unlike those in Europe, actually do know the whereabouts of their children. They have even travelled to find them and got within 100 metres of their base, but were still denied contact with their loved ones by Rajavi. In spite of this, the officials of the UN and other international organizations could easily arrange for them to meet with their loved ones inside the MEK camps in Iraq and in Albania except that for simple expediency they yield to Rajavi’s demands and deny the mothers this basic right.

Who should raise the voice of these most forgotten mothers and let the world know about them? It seems the UNHCR is determined to close their eyes to their plight and talk and collude only with the cult leader Massoud Rajavi. The bias is so brazen that we are entitled to ask what benefits accrue to those who knowingly ignore the rights of these mothers?

Is there any reason why the mothers of MEK members in Iraq and Albania cannot have the same access to publicity in order to try to win public sympathy as the mothers in Europe? When they travelled to Iraq after 2003 and braved war and chaos these mothers were supported by former members and a few human rights activists, but their efforts attracted little media interest. Surely there is nothing to stop European mothers joining with them in common cause, to tell the world “We need to be recognised as victims, not the families of terrorists”.

Iran Interlink,

May 10, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Why did the MeK keep schtum?

On April 2, 2016, a news broke that one of the former members of the MeK was reported killed in a gunfire exchange between the IRGC members and a terrorist ring in Sistan and Baluchistan Province.

“Brigadier General Mohammad Marani, the commander of IRGC Ground Force Quds Headquarters said that the ring affiliated with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization was fully disbanded in Chanf village, near the city of Nikshahr in southern part of the province. Five militants, including the band’s leader Ahmad Sahouei, have been killed. Rape, murder and armed robberies were among the crimes committed by the ring, the Iranian general said, stressing that the militants had long been monitored by security forces.”

Though the MeK showed a blithe disregard to the news and the group’s silence over the issue leaves a tinge of reality in the claims. Last week, the media were provided with further details about the mentioned head of the terrorist group and its relation with the MeK. Again the MeK kept silent and avoided making comments. The new details of the terrorist group’s leader exposed to the public are as follows:

Ahmad Sahouei moved to MeK’s bases in Iraq in early 1980s. There, he was trained in sabotage operations and guerilla fighting.

After a short while, he became one of the elite guerilla forces of the group and was officially praised time and time again by Maryam Rajavi. After a few years, he was dispatched to Pakistan and Afghanistan for special operations. After a while, he moved to Sistan and Baluchistan Province in South Eastern Iran under false identity. Hiding in the mountains of Sistan and Baluchistan, he formed a terrorist group committing new measures threatening the security of the region.

Under a forged identity, Sahouei was involved in killings, armed robberies and rape for years. The seasoned guerilla force then formed a semi-independent group and performed some acts threatening the national security in collaboration with some regional intelligence services.

He was residing in a place where he could easily get out of the ambush and escape. So the IRGC forces in a coordinated operation by Shia and Sunni people Sistan and Baluchistan demolished the group.

Undoubtedly, the MeK’s silence over killing of Sahouei, which is against the MeK’s policy, suggests that they are trying to continue working in the border areas by organizing terror rings to bring insecurity and terror acts to the region. In this way they will be able to satisfy their violent tendencies and promote violence in every possible way. Interestingly, all these plots are being foiled by the people’s collaboration with security forces.

May 10, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Perils for the MKO, the US purchasing Iran’s heavy water

As the leading enemy of the Iranian Government on the nuclear affairs, the US is now starting the first financial deals with Iran. The news of the US buying Iran’s heavy water marks a significant message to other players against the Iranian nuclear program. As a vocal opponent of diplomacy, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has received the message so it has launched an aggressive propaganda against the deal.

The MKO’s spokesman in the US Alireza Jaffarzadeh called the US decision “another unjustified concession” and “rewarding” the Iranian government. However, certain analysts including Jay Solomon of the Wall Street Journal considers this deal “a new gambit in a growing White House effort to encourage Tehran to stick to the nuclear agreement reached last year”.[1]

The MKO’s stance is as usual shared with their republican sponsors in the US Congress. "The White House wants to ease Iran’s concerns that it is not reaping the expected economic benefits of the nuclear accord”, Jay Solomon writes. ”But its efforts to buttress the Iranian economy have ignited fresh ire among Republicans in Congress who are drafting new legislation to block any Iranian economic integration with the U.S.”. American warmongers criticized the administration for “subsidizing Tehran’s nuclear program”. [2]

What the MKO fears most is seen in this paragraph by Jay Solomon: “The purchase agreement is the latest sign of rapprochement between Washington and Tehran after decades of hostilities. As part of the nuclear accord, the U.S. and global powers lifted certain sanctions on Iran. And the U.S. Treasury in recent months granted licenses to American companies, including Boeing Co. to return to the Iranian market. “[3]

As a matter of fact, rapprochement between Tehran and Washington results in more isolation for the MKO. While the MKO propaganda do not hesitate to obstruct any agreement between Iran and the West, there is a true fact that the US actually needs Iran’s heavy water. So, the purchase agreement seems to be a mutually beneficial deal for both sides. According to the WSJ, “The U.S. doesn’t produce heavy water domestically, and largely has been purchasing the material from Canada and other foreign countries in recent years. It imports around 75 tons of heavy water annually, according to Department of Energy officials.” [4]

Besides, the director of the Press Office of US Department of State, Ms. Elizabeth Trudeau clarified for journalists in a Press Briefing on April 22, “This heavy water will fulfill a substantial portion of the U.S. domestic demand this year for industry and domestic research applications.” She added, “Our purchase of the heavy water means it will instead be used for critically important research in non-nuclear industrial requirements here in the United States.” [5]

This indicates that the Islamic Republic has officially become an exporter of heavy water to the world. Bad news for the MKO is that the two first costumers of Ian’s heavy water are two super powers, the US and Russia. “Iran is holding talks with Russia to sell it about 40 tons of heavy water from its nuclear program “, reported the Reuters. “The Russian Foreign Ministry later confirmed Moscow was considering the purchase.” [6]

As the MKO detests the notion of rapprochement between Iran and the West, the practically successful nuclear deal will make the MEK more inapt. So far, the MEK has not succeeded to impose a significant challenge to the Iran-West nuclear conflicts, but western politicians should watch the group as a nuisance in the process of reaching peace.

By :Mazda Parsi

Sources:

[1]Solomon, Jay, U.S. to Buy Material Used in Iran Nuclear Program, the Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2016

{2] ibid

[3] ibid

[4] ibid

[5] Trudeau, Elizabeth, Daily Press Briefing, US Department of State Website, April 22, 2016

[6] Reuters, Iran in talks with Russia on heavy water sales, April 25, 2016

May 1, 2016 0 comments

Iraq

Corporate report. Iraq – in-year update December 2015

This is an update to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office 2014 Human Rights and Democracy Report. (Published 21 April 2016)

Extract:

(…)

On 29 October, rockets were fired at Camp Liberty, a temporary transit location for members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq, killing 24 residents and injuring others. FCO Minister for the Middle East, Tobias Ellwood, condemned the incident and called on the GOI to bring those responsible to justice. Officials at the British Embassy in Baghdad raised this issue with the Office of the Iraqi Prime Minister to make clear the need for an urgent and comprehensive investigation into the incident. On 11 November, the UK’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York underlined our concerns in the Security Council and to the Iraqi Permanent Representative. The GOI has begun an investigation, which we are following. We continued work with the UN High Commission for Refugees which is assessing applications made by residents for relocation.

(…)

Full Report:

The overall human rights situation in Iraq remained of grave concern between July and December 2015. The government of Iraq (GoI), with the support of the Global Coalition to counter Daesh, has made military progress against Daesh, but the humanitarian situation has deteriorated, with the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) rising to over 3.3 million.

Daesh and associated armed groups continued to commit atrocities. These included abduction and murder; punishments of stoning and amputations; systematic persecution of communities because of their religion or ethnicity; sexual violence and sexual slavery; forcible recruitment and use of children in conflict; and attacks on religious sites. As areas have been liberated from Daesh, mass graves have been discovered, highlighting the appalling numbers of civilians Daesh have executed. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq recently published a report that highlighted the systematic abuses perpetrated by Daesh. They reiterated their view that these acts may, in some instances, amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity, and possibly genocide.

Violence against women and girls remains common in Daesh-held areas. Reports estimate that over 1,500 women remain captives of Daesh – traded and sold by Daesh fighters as sex slaves. There are also reports of women being stoned to death, often on charges of adultery as a result of coming into contact with men to whom they are not related. Daesh has worked to remove women and girls from public life, taken away their independence, and placed them entirely under the control of men.

Levels of terrorist violence and numbers of civilian casualties in Iraq have remained high since July. According to the UN more than 1,794 people were killed in Baghdad between July and December. The UN reported that at least 3,520 civilians and 2,436 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) have been killed since July. This does not include accurate figures for Anbar province, meaning that the total number is likely to be higher.

Reports of sectarian atrocities and human rights abuses and violations have increased as areas have been liberated from Daesh. These include allegations of abuses and violations committed by the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF), Kurdish Security Forces (KSF), Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) and militias. Human Rights Watch has alleged that the ISF and militias have committed possible war crimes in their fight against Daesh, particularly in areas liberated from Daesh, such as Tikrit.

The GoI did not carry out any executions between July and December, although they retain the death penalty, and death sentences were handed down during this period. President Fuad Masum continued to review all death penalty warrants to ensure that all sentences had been passed by legitimate trials and without the use of forced confessions. An unofficial moratorium on the use of the death penalty had been in place in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) since 2008. However, on 12 August, one man and two women were executed by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) for the abduction and murder of two schoolgirls. Media reports suggest that there are currently over 205 people on death row in the KRI.

On 29 September, Department for International Development Minister, Desmond Swayne, announced that the UK would provide an additional £20m in UK aid funding to support the humanitarian response in Iraq. This brings the UK’s contribution to £79.5m. The funding will provide medical care, clean water and improved sanitation, shelter, cash support and other essentials to displaced Iraqis.

In October, the FCO hosted the Iraqi Minister of Justice, Haider al Zamali, and the Deputy Head of the Shura Council in London for a three-day fact-finding visit. As part of this, a Prisoner Transfer Agreement between the UK and Iraq was signed. The Minister also visited Belmarsh prison to find out how the UK had modernised an existing prison, talked to the Judicial Training College about possible collaboration, and discussed with the Crown Prosecution Service how they develop evidenced-based prosecution cases.

In November, FCO Minister for Human Rights and the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict, Baroness Anelay, visited Baghdad and Erbil. Baroness Anelay used the visit to meet Ministers and senior officials to discuss women’s rights, preventing sexual violence in conflict, and justice and accountability issues. She also heard directly from some of the victims of Daesh’s violence and brutality. During her visit the Minister announced the provision of up to £750,000 to help implement Iraq’s National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security, and over £65,000 for the Iraqi Al-Amal Association to support their work with young people and gender equality. Baroness Anelay also used this opportunity to launch the Arabic version of the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict and encourage its use in Iraq.

Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London

April 28, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

From Democratic Centralism to Dictatorship in the MKO

Democratic Centralism was once a principal of the Communist Party Organization by which members take part in policy decisions, and elections at all levels but must follow decisions made at higher levels. Many Marxist –oriented groups formed during early years of the 20th century and eventually during the 1960s in Iran tried to follow the principals of democratic centralism. This was a catastrophic legacy that the communist parties have left the Mujahedin Khalq Organization, too.

As for the MKO this legacy turned into a human tragedy. Democratic Centralism became a tool of domination over all members of the group. The so called struggles for liberation of the Khalq – ruled by Massoud Rajavi- produced a totalitarian cult of personality that required members to obey the leader blindly. Massoud Rajavi’s monopoly of power illegalized all criticism and opposition against the leadership.

Democratic centralism was supposed to be based on democracy in deciding and unity in action but this was not practically fulfilled. Particularly in the MKO, while the formulation of democratic centralism traditionally promoted election of all positions, this has not been done in the group. The leader of the MKO has not been changed for nearly 40 years. Besides, all the positions in the group’s hierarchy are assigned by the superior officials. Thus, election is unheard of in the MKO.

In fact, the convergence of power and centralization, created a situation in which the method of determining leaders became shadowy in practice. In the ceremony they call elections in the MKO – which is only held for a few high- ranking members– one person is introduced for a position by his superiors, then the audience is asked: ”Does anyone oppose this election?” definitely, nobody dares to express his opposition. No one raises his hand. This way, the person is determined for the position!

Historically, the decline of democracy has been repeated in all structures under democratic centralism. The most notable example is the former Soviet Union. As the central bodies are empowered in these structures, the power is eventually shifted away from membership. Members of the MKO also became a tool of carrying out orders of Massoud Rajavi rather than being empowered and developed to think and act as creative corps. Moreover, members are forbid from expressing disagreements to their superior officials.

Central bodies of the MKO attempt to manage information and perception of events to maintain their own dominance. Therefore, the democratic centralism has turned into a dictatorship in practice. Centralism seems to be an undemocratic notion in essence. Any kind of dictatorship under any name or motivation is unhuman. Furthermore, the history has showed that these kind of structures of power are not stable and consequently will lead to a lot of negative results. The main and the worst result might be the slavery of thousands of people inside the MKO Camps.

Mazda Parsi

April 26, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

A “Red Cleric” who loves terrorists

Jacques Jean Edmond Georges Gaillot (born 11 September 1935 generally known in French as Monseigneur Gaillot) is a French Catholic clergyman and social activist. He was Bishop of Évreux in France from 1982 to 1995. In 1995, by decision of Pope John Paul II, he was demoted to be Titular Bishop of Partenia, an extinct diocese, for having expressed too controversial and heterodox positions on religious, political and social matters.

Throughout 1989, Gaillot continued to cause considerable tension within the French Bishops’ Conference, to the extent that the members of the episcopate voted to censure him. This disciplinary action came after Gaillot gave an interview to the publication Lui, the French equivalent of Playboy. Furthermore, he also gave interviews to leading gay magazines and lambasted the incompetence of the Roman Catholic hierarchy to judge the circumstances of homosexuality. At this point, the bishop offered his resignation to the Pope, should he feel it necessary to remove him; no such action was taken however. [1] He has expressed his publical support for euthanasia [citation needed] and same-sex marriage, when it was legalized in France.

In 2004 Bishop Gaillot met with Maryam Rajavi, MKO’s leader. Rajavi publicly thanked the bishop and expressed that his support had been very effective in promoting the cause of what she calls “Iran resistance”. Jacques Gaillot has praised the terrorists in Camp Liberty in Iraq for their brutal activities, what he calls it fighting for “bring freedom and democracy to Iran.” Camp Liberty in Iraq houses thousands of members of the terrorist group MKO.

The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin e-Khalq organization (MKO, MEK, …) in its Persian acronym, is a terrorist organization, that has carried out decades of brutal terrorist attacks, assassinations, and espionage against the Iranian government and its people, as well as targeting Americans. The group used to seek to overthrow the Iranian revolutionary government with the help of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War.

Founded in 1963 by a group of leftist Muslim Iranian university students as an Islamic and Marxist political mass movement, the MKO was originally devoted to armed struggle against the shah, capitalism, and Western imperialism. However, according to a report by the Christian Science Monitor, it was the only group that used violence against Americans in the run-up to the revolution, launching a string of assassinations and attacks against American military and diplomatic officers in Iran in the 1970s.

The US Department of State describes MKO’s terrorist activities as follows:

The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives. During the 1970s, the MKO staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. In 1972, the MKO set off bombs in Tehran at the U.S. Information Service office (part of the U.S. Embassy), the Iran-American Society, and the offices of several U.S. companies to protest the visit of President Nixon to Iran. In 1973, the MKO assassinated the deputy chief of the U.S. Military Mission in Tehran and bombed several businesses, including Shell Oil. In 1974, the MKO set off bombs in Tehran at the offices of U.S. companies to protest the visit of then U.S. Secretary of State Kissinger. In 1975, the MKO assassinated two U.S. military officers who were members of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in Tehran. In 1976, the MKO assassinated two U.S. citizens who were employees of Rockwell International in Tehran. In 1979, the group claimed responsibility for the murder of an American Texaco executive. Though denied by the MKO, analysis based on eyewitness accounts and MKO documents demonstrates that MKO members participated in and supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and that the MKO later argued against the early release the American hostages. The MKO also provided personnel to guard and defend the site of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, following the takeover of the Embassy.

In 1981, MKO leadership attempted to overthrow the newly installed Islamic regime; Iranian security forces subsequently initiated a crackdown on the group. The MKO instigated a bombing campaign, including an attack against the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Prime Minister’s office, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. These attacks resulted in an expanded Iranian government crackdown that forced MKO leaders to flee to France. For five years, the MKO continued to wage its terrorist campaign from its Paris headquarters. Expelled by France in 1986, MKO leaders turned to Saddam Hussein’s regime for basing, financial support, and training. Near the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Baghdad armed the MKO with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of MKO fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces.

The MKO’s relationship with the former Iraqi regime continued through the 1990s. In 1991, the group reportedly assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shia and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime. In April 1992, the MKO conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and consular missions in 13 countries, including against the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. In June 1998, the MKO was implicated in a series of bombing and mortar attacks in Iran that killed at least 15 and injured several others. The MKO also assassinated the former Iranian Minister of Prisons in 1998. In April 1999, the MKO targeted key Iranian military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, Brigadier General Ali Sayyaad Shirazi.

In April 2000, the MKO attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters, Tehran’s interagency board responsible for coordinating policies on Iraq. The pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during “Operation Great Bahman” in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. One attack included a mortar attack against a major Iranian leadership complex in Tehran that housed the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. The attack killed one person and injured six other individuals. In March 2000, the MKO launched mortars into a residential district in Tehran, injuring four people and damaging property. In 2000 and 2001, the MKO was involved in regular mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids against Iranian military and law enforcement personnel, as well as government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border. Following an initial Coalition bombardment of the MKO’s facilities in Iraq at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, MKO leadership negotiated a cease-fire with Coalition Forces and surrendered their heavy-arms to Coalition control. Since 2003, roughly 3,400 MKO members have been encamped at Ashraf in Iraq.

In 2003, French authorities arrested 160 MKO members at operational bases they believed the MKO was using to coordinate financing and planning for terrorist attacks. Upon the arrest of MKO leader Maryam Rajavi, MKO members took to Paris’ streets and engaged in self-immolation. French authorities eventually released Rajavi.

The group formally renounced the use of violence in 2001, but an FBI investigation found MKO members to be “actively involved in planning and executing acts of terrorism” as recently as 2004. In February 2012, NBC News reported that the Israeli government had coordinated with MKO to launch a series of assassinations against Iranian nuclear scientists. The group’s delisting may open the door to future cooperation with the United States as well.

The MKO was removed from the State Department’s terrorism list three years ago after a concerted lobbying campaign, which featured some of the most prominent politicians and officials in the U.S., including John Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Tom Ridge, former director of Homeland Security; and Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York City.

the MKO is a kind of cult, according to the FBI, Human Rights Watch, the Rand Corporation, and just about every other organization which has investigated the group. It is precisely the kind of organization that should not testify about Islamic extremism.

Jeremiah Goulka, author of “The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum,” a report published by the Rand Corporation in 2009, told MintPress, “At the MKO camps, there’s a whole set of practices that are all textbook out of cult theory – sleep deprivation, make-work projects… forced celibacy, forced divorce, [and] gender segregation.”

Masoud Banisadr, a former member of the MKO, who had served as the group’s representative to the United Nations and the U.S., confirmed that forced divorces were common in the group. Banisadr told MintPress: “All members were forced to divorce their spouses, and later they have to send their children abroad to Europe and United States to be adopted by supporters and other members.”

Two former members of the MKO, Anne Singleton and Massoud Khodabandeh, published a book last September detailing coercive tactics used by the group’s leaders to maintain control and suppress dissent. A Human Rights Watch report also revealed a similarly questionable organization in Camp Ashraf.

The group currently has an office on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, where they launch campaigns related to Iran, attend congressional legislative hearings about the country, and attempt to influence public perception of Iranian government.

1. Englund, Steven (October 6, 1995). "Provocateur or Prophet? the French Church & Bishop Gaillot". Commonweal

April 20, 2016 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

I was lucky that I didn’t get back to the MKO!

Hanif Bali was only three years old when he was separated from his parents in Camp Ashraf and was sent to Sweden. The 29-year-old Hanif is now a member of parliament for Sweden’s Moderate Party.

“I was lucky that I didn’t get back to Iraq”, he said in a documentary that was filmed from a day of his life by Manoto TV. When in 1991, Massoud Rajavi ordered his rank and file to leave their children under the pretext of the Gulf War, Hanif and many other children were transferred to Europe where they were kept in the MKO’s team houses or by Swedish families or Iranian sympathizers of the MKO.

“I have had seven to eight mother,” Hanif said about his childhood as an immigrant. His biological mother was not allowed to call him except once a year on his birthday. “About my father I have very few memoires,” he said with a regretful look.

A large number of children of the MKO members were then brought back to the MKO’s camp in Iraq, Camp Ashraf. Some of them were eventually killed. Hanif was determined not to get back to the unpleasant life of the group in Iraq although the group recruiters tried to convince him to join the group when he was eighteen. The recruiter showed him a film of his father. In the film, Hanif’s father tried to indoctrinate him to go to Iraq and to allegedly fight just like his childhood friends who had gone to Ashraf and had been killed for the group’s cause. “I was shocked by the film because it was the first time to see my father,” he stated. He was lucky that his aunt was with him in that recruitment meeting. ”We won’t discuss it now”, she said. So, Hanif who felt angry with his father went home. He was very angry with him that after long years of no call and no contact, his father was just asking him to join the group. “Today, when I think of that day, I still get angry”, he told Manoto.

“This was a hard decision for a young boy to take”, he asserted. ”If I had accepted to join the group at that day, I would have been in a camp in the midst of war, in the midst of misery.”

Hanif was grown up in a democracy far from the cult-like totalitarian system that brainwashed parents to leave their beloved children behind for their leaders’ ambitions. He defines the big gap between his life and that of his parents, “The big difference between me and my parents is that I don’t see the world as black and white”.

April 20, 2016 0 comments

Albania

Clinton-Albania deal ensures MEK members stay as terrorists

When is a terrorist, who is not a terrorist, still a terrorist?

The answer to this complicated riddle can be surprisingly simple: When they are forced to remain in a terrorist group because there is no safe way for them to escape.

Image: Ehsan Bidi and Siavosh Rastar – who have no accommodation or money because this is supposed to be provided by Mojahedin Khalq terrorist group which they left

There is an ongoing debate in Europe and North America about how defectors from terrorism should be treated as they try to return to their homes in the West. Some say that on security grounds they should be either banned from re-entry or prosecuted and where possible imprisoned as an example to others. Others, usually practitioners who understand that deceptive recruitment is a huge factor in people’s involvement in terrorism, advocate for a more humanitarian and redemptive approach: allow these people home, albeit with severe restrictions imposed on their lives and activities, and get them to undergo re-programming.

What this debate does not address, however, is just how possible it is to actually escape a terrorist group in the first place. If you are in Raqqa, how do you step outside the group and remain safe?

In this context the fate of a handful of Iranians, stranded in Albania without any financial support or accommodation and unable to access refugee services, shines a spotlight on this aspect of the West’s approach to terrorism.

It would be easy to dismiss former MEK members Ehsan Bidi and Siavosh Rastar’s case as a local, individual problem. But when we look in more detail, it has everything to do with whether America and the West are complicit in forcing people to remain in terrorist groups because we do not see the need to help them leave at all. Certainly this is not a solution to terrorism – Plan B: get them all to leave – but a more facilitating approach toward genuine defectors could be a major factor in undermining the hold such groups have on their members.

Three years ago, Ehsan Bidi was brought to Albania along with other members of the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK). But Bidi was already a separated member when he arrived; it had just not been possible for him to escape them while in Iraq. As soon as he arrived he left them. Since then, he had been living on a small financial contribution from the UNHCR along with basic accommodation which they had provided. Suddenly at the end of March this year all this support ended. He and others like him were left destitute.

What Bidi and another handful of defectors didn’t know was that under the 2013 deal struck between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the then Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, the MEK members transferred to Tirana from Camp Liberty in Iraq would not be given official UN refugee status and would be dependent on Maryam Rajavi’s MEK for all their accommodation and costs while in Albania. Amazingly, neither the government of Albania nor the UNHCR has any obligation to treat them as refugees. All of these people are being transferred not as refugees but as the active members of a terrorist entity. In fact, part of the deal struck by Clinton was that the MEK would be removed from the US terrorism list specifically to allow this deal even though every active member remains radicalised to the core and capable of committing acts of terrorism.

This means that when people like Bidi and Rastar choose to reject membership of this terrorist group, they not only face the wrath of the MEK – which has promised to kill Bidi in particular because he is so vocal about this predicament – but they are also left destitute because the state doesn’t recognise them except as members of that terrorist group. After the UNHCR pulled the plug on its support, Bidi and the others were told ‘you must ask Rajavi to allow you back in the MEK or ask the Iranian embassy to send you back to Iran’. Clearly an impossible choice. It is a conundrum which was created by America and must be resolved by America.

A similar situation arose in Iraq after 2003 when the MEK were captured, disarmed and kept in Camp Ashraf. Within weeks the American army was being approached by defectors begging them for help to escape the clutches of the cult. After trying to send them back or ignore them, the army was eventually obliged, under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to establish a separate Temporary Internment and Protection Facility (TIPF) within their own compound to house the defectors. This allowed many others to escape and return to their families and to civilian life.

It is necessary now for the American administration to acknowledge that it has the same obligation toward the people it transferred to Albania under Clinton’s 2013 deal. It must give them the same opportunity to leave the MEK as was granted to people while in Iraq. Safe, alternative accommodation and social support must be given to those who, on principle, reject membership of a terrorist group. It’s almost unthinkable that this isn’t happening already.But while nobody imagines that in among the chaos of war in the Middle East and the massive refugee crisis that has engulfed Western countries, there can be a TIPF or something similar for ex-terrorists, we also know that Daesh kills defectors. They do this under the principle of ownership – we own our fighters and can dispose of them as we see fit.

In this case, if we stand by and allow Daesh, like the MEK, to dictate the conditions of how a defector is treated without making any effort to facilitate their safe exit, if we cannot offer a helping hand to those who wish to redeem themselves, then we are no better than the terrorists ourselves.

toptopic.com

Khodabandeh: The article has been translated and published in Albania ; The issue is of course important for the Albanians too:

gazetaimpakt.com/lajm/6997/marreveshja-klinton-shqiperi-i-detyron-anetaret-e-mek-kulti-raxhavi-te-qendrojne-si-terroriste/

April 19, 2016 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Why MeK keeps making the promise of overthrowing Iran’s gov’t

After Maryam Rajavi in 2010 and Parviz Khazaei in 2012, now is the MeK’s European patron Struan Stevenson to predict the overthrow of Iranian government.

Each time that the group makes a promise, they resort to a ground to reiterate their unending promises over and over again.

The MeK leadership’s excuse for this time is deepening the "cracks" among political parties in Iran, which has been stated by Stevenson.

"But his gerrymandering of the election lists may turn out to be the last straw for people who have had enough of fascist oppression, terrorism, corruption and brutality. The fault lines continue to deepen as more and more cracks appear. 2016 will be a pivotal year for Iran and it may well be the year that sees an end to the world’s most dangerous regime."

The reason that the hiding leader of MeK does not make such a promise is mainly because what he said in a public meeting years before his breakout. He said, "I withdraw all my remarks as regards the overthrowing. I’ve made a ghastly mistake."

Of course he intended to fool the members by this as he found it necessary that all the members accept to remain in Iraq with a long-term vision and with no hope. But this strategy did not hinder MeK leadership to resort to false promises in order to keep the frustrated and disappointed members in the camps in Iraq.

In 2007, for example, Rajavi assured the members that US Republicans would definitely attack Iran and that year was Iranian government’s final year.

So why such claims are repeated and the deadline for overthrowing Iranian government is being extended?

The truth is that the disillusioned members of MeK need a beacon of hope. They need to know that they will be released from that miserable condition one day and that they can take their revenge on the Iranian people after Rajavi’s gaining power.

Misinformation on the conditions in Iran is also like that. The Rajavi and his members are interested in misrepresenting the conditions in Iran and claim that Iran is a crisis-stricken country.

Of course the MeK leader intends to wage a so-called psychological warfare against the supporters of the other party with these claims.

But the major function of these promises is for the Rajavi to keep the miserable members and convince them not to leave the Rajavi’s organization and look forward to the day that the regime is "overthrown by itself."

2016 will be over and we should look forward to the next grounds of the MeK to repeat the promise!

April 18, 2016 0 comments

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