Articles

++ cibloggers dot com which publishes information about the MEK in Farsi has said the MEK is paying reporters to go to Iran and then publish false reports on their return. The MEK’s aim is for Iran to stop allowing people to come there. Some years ago the MEK tried other tactics of annoyance and interference such as paying for newspaper adverts for shampoo using Massoud Rajavi’s picture. This had no effect since nobody in Iran recognised him.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh has written an article examining how the MEK has marked its fiftieth year. To mark the anniversary, the MEK’s websites in Farsi and English feature a side banner purporting to show the group’s history. Khodabandeh says that what is most interesting is both what is missing and what is just plain wrong about this history. For example there is no mention of the MEK logo – which is still used – nor that the MEK was founded as an armed, anti-Imperialist group. Nothing is said about killing Americans in Iran and supporting the American embassy siege. There is no mention of Saddam Hussein whatsoever and no mention of the MEK’s current relocation to Albania.

++ September 1st marked the anniversary of the last attack on Ashraf Camp in 2013. The MEK is still refusing to allow investigators to talk with the 42 survivors. And as much as the MEK tries to whitewash events through its internet misinformation campaigns, it is clear that former member Massoud Dalili was taken by force, kept hostage and murdered at the camp.

++ MEK websites have been virulently attacking everyone who is not in favour of war against Iran – that is, anyone who supports the nuclear deal. More than anyone the attacks have focused on the Nobel Prize winning human rights and opposition activist Shirin Ebadi who has asked Congress not to oppose the deal. Many people have written open letters in her support congratulating her on being attacked by Rajavi because ‘this means you are doing something right’. Nader Naderi has pointed out that Maryam Rajavi’s hatred of Ebadi is personal and stems from jealousy. Rajavi is jealous of anyone, but particularly women, who is acknowledged in any way. Even though Rajavi herself does nothing, she still wants all the prizes.

++ Mostafa Mohammadi was interviewed by Haghighat Association about the MEK video of his daughter Somayeh. Mohammadi says “it is clear to me that that this is not my daughter speaking her own mind and she has been forced to say these things to camera”. He says that this is an act of desperation by Massoud Rajavi who is reacting to the outrage of the outside world to his hostage taking. Mohammadi continued, “The fact that already they have had to take off her uniform and put her in civilian clothes is a step forward for us”.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh has published the 9th part of the informative series of articles containing reports from inside the MEK which he receives from friends, former colleagues. This time there is news about Albania. The MEK has bought an empty university site where it is hoped to create another Ashraf Camp to isolate and control the cult members. Even there though they have a serious problem with disaffected members who are leaving by the day. The MEK is in a state of panic that most of the new people who come from Iraq will leave. As well as planning to shut off the site to create another isolated camp, Massoud Rajavi has planned new brainwashing sessions as a continuation of his so-called ‘Ideological Revolution’. This phase called ‘talab kar’ or ‘creditor’. This is based on Rajavi’s accusation that ‘after divorcing your spouse and separating from your children you still think I owe you something. You have to undergo this new phase so that you see that you are in debt to me. I owe you nothing.’ Rajavi has appointed four notorious torturers to oversee this indoctrination process: Faezeh Mohabatkar, Shahin Haeri, Mahmoud Attai, Adel Darbandi. These two women and two men are now in charge of controlling people. Khodabandeh says that the emails he receives suggest that one of the major questions for members concerns the expenses of Maryam Rajavi’s fancy events from which they see no gain or benefit. At the same time, they point out, long serving members are deprived of even a doctor’s visit. Maryam Rajavi has a recorded a video speech in which she attacks every single member and says it’s their own fault they got to this point because they failed to do their job. She claims the members in France are having a worse time than Iraq or Albania. She says ‘The money I spend is justified, but you don’t understand, and anyway we have no money’. In Albania several members have run away and got married. As a result the gender segregation is very strictly applied in an attempt to stop more such defections. Last week a female member was briefly imprisoned for handing over a glass of water to a man. According to Khodabandeh’s friends, only the high ranking members understand that this new phase of the Ideological Revolution is designed to bring the members under submission so that the next Secretary General of the MEK can be announced. This is something which Rajavi does every two years or so. The high ranking members are sick of this since they see the incompetence of these women. The brainwashing process has already been started in Europe but not in Albania since the MEK needs to get the rank and file isolated and in mental order first. Even though Khodabandeh’s friends say they know this is mostly about keeping people’s minds occupied rather than a significant change, this time the corruption is too much. The new MEK Secretary General will be Narges Ghajar Azadanlou who is Maryam Rajavi’s neice.

In English:

++ A number of female survivors of the Rajavi cult wrote an open letter to Womankind charity after it became the latest target of a Mojahedin Khalq propaganda campaign to promote Maryam Rajavi as a women’s rights activist. The letter advised the charity to research Rajavi as a controversial character and not to allow the charity to be tarnished by association with a woman with a long record of human rights abuses, particularly against women.

++ Tasnim News Agency in Iran reported on a visit by President Rouhani to The Second International Congress of 17,000 Iranian Terror Victims which was held in Tehran. A number of officials and families of the Iranian victims of terrorist attacks attended the congress. During the event, a book including a chronology of terrorist incidents in Iran during the first two years after victory of the Islamic Revolution (1979 and 1980) was unveiled. Press TV interviewed Tony Gosling, an investigative journalist in Tehran, about Rouhani’s visit.

++ Nejat Bloggers writes that the success of the nuclear agreement has destroyed the MEK’s efforts to be re-armed as a terrorist group. “…before the nuclear agreement, there was always a possibility for a US-Israeli invasion against Iran. In case of a military invasion against Iran, an armed MKO would have had the capacity to get prepared to be at service of the invaders as it has the eight-year long experience of serving the enemy of Iran, former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Besides, the progress of the ISIS terrorists in Iraq and Syria had given the MKO the hope to become an accomplice for ISIS in order to fight Islamic Republic.”

++ Ali Akbar Rastgou of Aawa Association wrote an open letter to President Obama explaining that the MEK is trying to falsely portray anyone who agrees with the nuclear agreement as supporters of the Iranian regime. Rastgou says, “Please do not forget that those who have paid the highest price for the cause of democracy and human rights in Iran (majority of the Iranian people) are supporting the deal.”

++ Nejat Bloggers: “On Tuesday August31, 2015 some families of MKO hostages gathered together at Nejat Society office, Khuzestan branch. The meeting was to look at the Cult function in transferring Camp Liberty residents to Albania. Mr. Hamid Hasani, MKO defector, while offering the latest news on the transfers, presented some explanations on the way the Cult acts in relocating TTL residents to Albania. Mr. Hasani reiterated that the families’ efforts and the ex-members’ revelations on the Cult has forced the MKO leaders to accept the members’ transfer to third countries. The Director of Nejat Society Khuzestan branch called on families to continue their efforts until all captives of MKO Cult be released from the physical and mental barriers of the cult. Mr. Ali Ekrami, another cult survivor, offered some explanations on the Cult history as well as the causes of the cult demise. At the end Nejat families emphasized: ‘Our ultimate goal is not just to visit our beloved ones, rather we will do our best to liberate all those who are captivated behind the bars of Rajavi’s Cult and to bring them a normal life. Our presence in front of Camp Ashraf and our direct observations on the Cult inhumane practices has multiplied our determination to liberate all the Cult hostages.’“

September 04, 2015

++ cibloggers.com has an online analysis of MEK activities. Among these activities, cibloggers.com lists the various blogs, Facebook pages and websites created by the MEK as deceptive clones of genuine internet places. Ironically many of these clones are of ex-members sites – in particular the MEK is using the name ‘Iran Interlink’ for these clones. Cibloggers describes this as ‘Rajavi’s Desperation’ and says that all this effort is just so that people might mistakenly visit their sites instead of genuine ones like Iran-Interlink.org. That is their maximum expectation.

++ The MEK have begun a campaign to publish a series of articles and pictures to show that the residents of Camp Liberty are holding demonstrations. Farsi commentators point out that this is a place to which even UNAMI officials have restricted access, let alone any press, media or families. They ask, “How can you call this a ‘demonstration’ when there are no media or officials to witness and report it?” Others have highlighted the MEK’s misuse of women’s rights by publishing pictures of a handful of women posing for pictures holding banners written in English. Several people have said, “We know these women, some are known dissenters and in any case none of them speak English. Their faces show they are under pressure. Rajavi is trying to position women at the front of the organisation, but the reality of their situation is obvious from this picture.”

++ News has emerged that Mojgan Parsai is in Tirana. Many people who knew her as a notorious torturer under Saddam’s Iraq condemn the fact that she is now freely walking around in Albania.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh has published part 8 of the ongoing articles in which he reveals what MEK insiders divulge to him about what is happening inside the cult. In this article Khodabandeh says this coming week marks the 50th anniversary of the MEK and Massoud Rajavi is on overdrive to spend money to uphold the past (nobody in the MEK still thinks they are continuing the original path of ant-Imperialism). Rajavi will shortly announce who he has appointed as the new MEK leader and will start a new series of Ideological Revolution sessions. According to people inside the MEK, this is his last effort to keep it together and stop it disintegrating. The reason is that nobody believes in it anymore and the MEK is falling apart. The most common doubts and questions which are being raised, and are being suppressed through physical and mental means, are:

– Rajavi always said after Maliki we will move back to Camp Ashraf, but everyone sees that even Camp Liberty is being closed and everyone is being moved to Albania.

– Second, how long does a man live that he is in hiding for 12 years? What’s the point of him?

– Third the NLA and military capability is finished, so what happened to the armed struggle which Rajavi still insists we must believe in? How does that work?

– There are many question about the recent nuclear deal and the fate of Camp Maryam in France as the French are saying more and more clearly that the MEK are no longer – have never been – welcome there.

– There is a huge amount of questioning and uncertainty about the fate of the people in Albania. There is clearly no plan. What is Rajavi’s strategy or tactic for them?

– The main question which frightens the MEK more than any other and which is gaining momentum is, ‘Can anyone give an example of the MEK doing anything for themselves, any independent action or strategy it has followed that has not been dictated by Saddam Hussein, America, Israel or Saudi Arabia?’

In English:

++ Two main threads this week. One is criticism of the MEK in the political context of the nuclear agreement. The other are reports concerning the ongoing human rights violations of the MEK, particularly the efforts of the Mohammadi family whose search for MEK hostage Somayeh has been met with violence in the streets of the small tourist village of Auvers-sur-Oise by the MEK.

++ A good news story from Nejat Bloggers: Fereydoun Ebrahimi, who had been forced to remain in the MEK’s cult camps for 15 years, managed to escape Camp Liberty in 2014 by approaching the UN officials and asking for help. Fereydoun had no contact with his family from the time he was recruited by the cult. He called his family as soon as he stepped back into the free world. He then went to Turkey. In Turkey he was able to meet with his mother and other family members after 15 years, though unfortunately his father had passed away. Ebrahimi now lives a free life in Germany and is due to repatriate to his homeland to join his family. The MEK Cult leaders prevent any family contact and consider family relations as their cult’s enemy. According to the reports of defected members of the group, most of those residing in Camp Liberty are willing to leave the Cult.

++ Fars News reports that according to an informed source in Bahrain “The Al Khalifa regime has recently asked the MKO terrorist group to cooperate with the Manama government to confront Iran”. He noted that the Bahrain intelligence service believes that Iran is the main supporter of the Manama government’s opponents and for this reason it supports the MKO as an armed opposition group which has assassinated over 12,000 Iranian citizens and officials. “The Manama government has sent Bahraini lawmaker Jamal Bouhassan to Paris to meet MKO leaders to the same end,” the source said. The source also revealed that Bahraini journalist Hani al-Fardan has been arrested for publishing an article against MKO. Al-Fardan has been arrested over an article during which he criticized Bahraini lawmakers for supporting the MKO terrorist group. Al-Fardan, the Arabic-language Al-Wasat journalist, was interrogated over his article that criticized the Salafist Member of Parliament, Jamal Bouhassan, who attended the MKO meetings in Paris, and disclosed how Bahrain and its Parliament support the MKO terrorist organization’s activities against Iran.

 August 28, 2015

++ The MEK continues to react to the nuclear deal. From the start until now the MEK have been dizzy. From one side they shout against the EU and US, repeating Netanyahu’s rants against the deal. On the other hand the Rajavis claim the deal represents ‘the defeat of Iran’ and ‘we forced them to sign this defeat’. Comments in Farsi say that Massoud Rajavi claiming such power as to have toppled Sarkozy in France, toppled Maliki in Iraq and that ‘we will topple Obama in the US’ is really ridiculous. Some say that although this is not the result of a sane mind and he really is delusional, but still this contradictory reaction shows that the MEK are really afraid they have lost everything they had since they had banked everything on the nuclear issue. However, from this week the MEK is officially moving from the nuclear issue to that of human rights, staging small pickets in Europe and North America to try to change the subject. The Farsi Commentariat identify the agenda of the MEK paymasters behind this rather than their own analysis and planning. The problem is that Western human rights organisations don’t want to be associated with the MEK because they have their own dirty history with Saddam Hussein and as cult. Instead the MEK has resorted to fabricating lies – using photos taken inside Iran of demonstrations and worker strikes and claiming these are MEK supporters inside Iran. Again, those who know them point out that this is not a new tactic, and say for example, this is how Iran Aid deceived the public into donating money; falsely claiming they were running refugee camps and saving all kinds of victims over the years. This activity is merely a symptom of the MEK trying to say they are still alive after the nuclear deal.

++ Nejat Association published a short two part interview with Byram Ali Mohammadi. In it he explains how, as a young teenager, he went to Turkey to find a job and while working in a car wash the MEK deceptively recruited him and took him to Iraq. Once there he found a way to run away but the MEK caught him and brought him back to their camp. As soon as he arrived in Tirana he escaped them and contacted his family who were able to help him and bring him back to Iran. He is the youngest and newest person to repatriate to Iran from Albania and there have been quite a few before him.

++ The MEK is still continuing its campaign of writing against the BBC using the names of various political prisoners in Iran. Farsi comments point out how ridiculous this is. It means that prisoners in Iran have access to satellite television to watch the BBC, then are then free to write a response using stock MEK invective and then post it to the UK! This means prisons in Iran are more open than anywhere else in the world. Other comments say that these nasty attacks on the BBC and Britain mean the MEK has given up after many years on the hope of getting a visa for Maryam Rajavi and have now childishly turned round to swear at the UK. Massoud Khodabandeh of Iran Interlink spoke with BBC Farsi about this issue. The producer said it was ‘unfortunate that when the BBC want to say something about the MEK and give them the opportunity to explain themselves, they always refuse, yet when we produce a programme which is irrelevant to them they come out and swear at us. However, the BBC understands its audience and their trust in us as well as their knowledge of the MEK and so it doesn’t affect us but only reveals the MEK’s madness.’

++ Following Mostafa Mohammadi’s activities in Auvers-sur-Oise to try to get his daughter back, the MEK continue to rant against him labelling him an agent of the Iranian regime. In addition this week the MEK have broadcast a video of Somayeh Mohammdi swearing at her family. It is clear from her behaviour that this is forced and that swearing at her own mother is not something she can easily do. The Mohammadi family are now back in Canada. Mostafa published an open letter to his daughter Somayeh saying that as we know you, we can see this does not come from your own thoughts and feelings and is forced. He continues, ‘however, me and your mother, your two brothers and your sister sat together and watched it over and over again. It made us very happy to see that you are OK. And we noticed that Maryam Rajavi has been forced to give you some civilian clothes to appear in. Although these are not exactly what she buys for herself from the Champs Elysees, we see it as a step toward your freedom that you have abandoned wearing military clothes.’ The letter continues, ‘if you do get to hear about this letter, my message is to maintain your hope and I promise we will meet again despite everything that Rajavi is doing and saying’.

In English:

++ In several articles promoting the nuclear deal, the MEK is cited as a deceptive and destructive element in opposing it.

++ An article by Mazda Parsi of Nejat Association discusses recent examples of the destructive and dangerous aspects of the MEK’s cult activities. He identifies the cases of Mostafa Mohammadi and Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad at Auvers-sur-Oise in which the MEK used public violence to try to silence them. The article refers to the Family Survival Trust as “a reliable and informed source on the cults since they professionally deal with a large number of case studies being abused by different cults. FST’s website proposes, ‘What damaging cults have in common is their vindictive abusiveness and their dissociative totalitarianism’.” Parsi links this with an interview with Ebrahim Khodabandeh who is a leading cult expert in Iran in which he says the MEK tells lies to recruit members then brainwashes them to tell lies themselves.

++ Iran’s Fars News Agency reported the visit of Iran’s Deputy Head of the Human Rights Headquarters for International Affairs Kazzem Qaribabadi to Baghdad. During meetings with officials from Iraq’s Judiciary and Human Rights ministries, Qaribabadi called for the complete expulsion of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization terrorist group members from Iraq and expressed Iran’s appreciation of Iraq’s stance toward the MEK. “He underlined the necessity for joint cooperation in fighting terrorism at international circles, hailing Iraq’s campaign against the terrorist groups, specially the ISIL”, the report said.

August 21, 2015