Articles

++ Sahar has published an article about a new broadcast from Massoud Rajavi for the residents of Camp Liberty. The message is delivered by audio tape alongside 15 year old pictures of Rajavi. The people who have informed Sahar about the broadcast from inside the camp say that one of the images shows two people fighting, one has fallen and the other is sitting on his chest and grabbing his collar. While this is showing, Rajavi is talking and clearly says that if he gets help he will be able to get up but if he doesn’t he will be finished. After this there has been much discussion among the members as they attempted to interpret this. It is clear to them he is not asking for help from those inside the camp because there is nothing they can do, but is it the Israelis or Americans to whom is he directing his message? Some have said that if that is the case then Rajavi is preparing us for either his coming out as an agent of MOSSAD or being resident in Tel Aviv, etc.

++ Some weeks ago, Desmond Tutu’s daughter was used by Maryam Rajavi as a speaker at an MEK event to express condolences for the death of Nelson Mandela. At that time, everyone pointed out that the MEK had been swearing vigorously at Mandela up to that date. Two weeks ago, Desmond Tutu himself was part of a group of dignitaries, including Kofi Anan, who visited Tehran. Irandidban website published a short report on the visit which highlighted the MEK’s silence over the visit in the context of them previously using his grand daughter against Iran.

++ Iran Ghalam has published a key article directed at the members inside Camp Liberty which Iran Interlink has condensed as much as possible here without removing the full meaning. Iran Ghalam asks for anyone who can, as much as they can, to take this message to the people inside the camp. In the article Iran Ghalam addresses them as “our dear friends”, while acknowledging that “even if you don’t consider us friends now you will come to see it later”. The article then presents simple facts, thus: ‘The ceasefire between Iran and Iraq has been in place for a long time, Saddam Hussein has been deposed, the MEK has been disarmed and Camp Ashraf has been emptied. Even if you don’t regard us as your friends, we can at least agree on these facts. Our message is based on these realities.’ The article then goes on to look at Massoud Rajavi’s analyses and suggests that “you can agree that he told all of us that peace between Iran and Iraq is impossible and that Saddam’s army is one of the best in the world and will never be toppled, and you can agree that the slogan he gave us was ‘if there is no Ashraf, there is no Mojahedin’. Surely you can agree that he told us these things. The question at this point then is, after all these things happening is it too much to ask that after thirty years, Massoud Rajavi hold a democratic election and is it too much to ask where the limit is of human rights abuses that can go on under the pretext of fighting the Iranian regime?” The article again acknowledges: “We probably don’t agree that Rajavi is a war criminal, but surely you do agree that for the last thirty years he has not done what he said he would do. You agree that in 1361 (1983), he announced that the IRI will be toppled in two years time. And ever since then, he and his wife have extended this year by year. Is it too much to ask after all this that Rajavi give his place up for a short period for four years to anyone elected by you to lead the organisation? Is it too much to ask Massoud and Maryam to explain what their aim is in keeping you in Iraq and preventing anyone from being sent to third countries? Is it too much to ask why didn’t we leave Camp Ashraf before 53 people were massacred there, and why did we leave only after that but without explanation? Why was a hunger strike held and why did this stop without achieving anything? Why are we refusing to co-operate with the UNHCR to the point that they issue statements against us? Why was Maryam Rajavi insisting that everyone in Liberty should be taken back to Camp Ashraf on the grounds that Ashraf is safer than Liberty, but when the people there got killed she took no responsibility for their deaths, even when the international community said it would be dangerous to return to Ashraf? Is it too much to ask what the plan is behind our support for some fugitive Iraqis and other foreign personalities, and why suddenly all our energy must go into saving an arrested Iraqi MP, are we after now after Iraq’s interests, have we become Iraqis now? Is it too much to ask why we are so closely aligned with and working together with the extremist groups in Syria to the point that there are reports of MEK members being killed in fights there, and the MEK’s sites are devoted to what is happening in Syria? Do we have Syrian nationality too now? The last and main question is, who is leading this organisation and where is he after a decade and why does his wife have nothing more on her agenda than holding parties and meetings to which she invites second hand and retired personalities? In the end we know that anyone who asks even one of these questions will not have an easy time and people have even been killed for insisting on getting answers. But we will not stay silent and we will continue to insist that the doors of the camp be opened so that people can come out and choose whatever they want to do next.”

++ There have been several more responses to Parviz Khazai’s swearing at Atefeh Eghbal and others who are internal critics of the MEK. One of the responses is from Nader Naderi who is from the same province of Lorestan as Khazai. Naderi has lashed Khazai, using some colourful local dialect as well, as somebody who has disgraced the Lorestan people who are famous for their courage on the front lines rather than sitting like Khazai in Sweden, encouraging others in the camps in Iraq to get killed.

++ Several responses and open letters denounce a new committee in the Romanian parliament which has been made by the MEK. Many refer to similar committees which the MEK have created in the UK and European parliaments and talk of the disgrace MPs face later down the line for taking money for supporting them. One example is MEP Paulo Casaca who was de-selected after his support for the MEK was revealed to his constituents in Portugal. Another example being Lord Corbett of Castle Vale who was mocked by his peers until his death. The writers suggest that the money paid is not worth the loss of your reputation.

++ Many commentators have written articles on the back of the UN half-yearly report on Iraq which mentioned the human rights abuses by MEK leaders and the way they have been stopping people from going to third countries, and linking this to the MEK’s lobbyists in America’s House of Representatives and the Senate who falsely claim there is nowhere to take these people. Many point out that, as the UN says, the real problem is that Rajavi and his backers refuse to open the door of Camp Liberty. They are resigned to the necessity of moving everyone to another closed camp like Romania but absolutely refuse to open the camp door as they know everyone will leave.

++ AFP reports that the French investigative judge in Maryam Rajavi’s case will decide after all these years of investigation whether to send her to court or not. Some people who have been following details of the case have offered qualifying explanations that in 2003 the allegations against Maryam Rajavi and nine others were that they were involved in: funding and planning acts of terrorism from Paris; planning to attack Iranian embassies across Europe; planning to kill some ex-members across Europe; moving their HQ from Iraq to Paris, including buying a studio (a paint factory) and establishing satellites and equipment to continue their broadcasting activities; and money laundry. Although due to political interference and the support of MOSSAD and CIA, some of these might be dropped, the judge will certainly not be able to drop all of it because everybody knows full well what the MEK are doing. Many others point out that the issue concerning Rajavi and his wife is much wider than whether French national law will cover it or not. They point out that crimes against humanity and war crimes can only really be dealt with under international law by places like The Hague. Mohammad Razaghi has put these facts together in a letter to Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki and asked him to pursue the Rajavis for their crimes against Iraqis, Iranians and his own members under Iraqi law because the majority of these crimes have taken place in his country.

++ Maryam Sanjabi has published a three part article about cults in the website ‘Call of the Truth’. She uses information from Steve Hassan and from Margaret Singer and compares their facts about cults with what she has witnessed inside the MEK. Massoud Khodabandeh has referred to this in his Facebook and congratulated her for her work. He says, I remember being with her, just after she had escaped the MEK, when a journalist from the Wall Street Journal put it to her, ‘you are from the leadership of the MEK and have defected. You, therefore, are different from other defectors. You have a responsibility to answer for what has happened in these camps.’ At that time Sanjabi responded by saying, ‘all I can say is that in a cult there are no leaders (plural) there is only one leader, and the rest of us are all victims’. She continued, ‘I will try in future to explain and expand on this as I have just come out.’ This is apparently the start of her explanation.

++ Several items have appeared in English from both sides of the fence which identify the role of the MEK in activities designed to destroy the P5+1 nuclear negotiations. Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian, referred to building trust and the dimensions of nuclear inspections as the main challenges facing the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. He underlined that there are others, including certain Arab countries, the Zionist lobby and Israel as well as the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), that make all-out efforts to make sure that the agreement and negotiations will fail. John Glaser writing in Anti War, describes as ‘too preposterous to be true if you say it out loud’, the fact that four high-profile former government officials are getting paid by an Iranian dissident group that until 2012 was an officially designated terrorist organization to publicly oppose the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran. Press TV reports, “The MKO has “combined efforts with Israeli, Zionist” groups to “bribe” US officials, said Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist in Florida. The four American officials “are nothing more than Zionist puppets who are consistently being paid by this group (MKO) and this group obviously being funded by anti-Iranian and pro-Israel initiatives,” Rickard told Press TV on Saturday.“This is a form of bribery and the bribery goes on and on and on,” he added.”

++ Dave Seminara has produced a detailed article for The Washington Diplomat which describes how “Despite its opacity and relative obscurity, analysts agree that the MEK has been able to punch above its weight in Washington.”

++ According to the Arabic-language website Voice of Russia, in her meeting with the Iraqi minister of Human Rights, head of the European Union Delegation in Iraq Ambassador Jana Hybáškova, said the EU plans to allocate 22 million euros for the relocation of MKO members outside Iraq in order to respond to Iraq’s requests.

++ Nejat Society reports on the French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic Regis Debray’s recent visit to Iran. Debray criticized his government for double standards and mistaken policies towards Iranians including hosting the Mujahedin Khalq Organization terror cult in French territory and aiding “the Iraqi aggressor” Saddam Hussein in the disastrous war against Iran. Regis Debray suggests: We are much more conscious of always hosting on our territory, with visible public support (by parliamentarians and mayors), the People’s Mujahedin, politico religious cult, so far without representation in the country, and with the record of fighting alongside Saddam Hussein against its motherland. It targeted and killed half of the government and made thousands of civilians die.”Where are the terrorists”, we ask. ” Are they with you or with us?”

++ Fars News says a prominent Iraqi politician described the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI or PMOI) as a big cancerous tumour being cut off from his country. “The MKO is like a cancer that Iraq has been afflicted with, but uprooting it is nearly complete and it has reached its final days,” former Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie told FNA on Sunday.

++ Fars News also quoted Lebanon’s al-Nahar daily newspaper saying that the Mojahedin Khalq has been reporting its activities and operations in Iraq as well as the status quo in the country to the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks for years. According to the report, the MKO leaders were called to the headquarters of the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks to present their intelligence on the situation in Iran.

++ Nazik Muhammad reporting for PUKmedia in Baghdad, said that Iraq had reached an agreement with the United Nations and the European Union to move the remaining members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to the Romanian territories as soon as possible. MP from the State of Law, Foud al-Duraki said in a statement to PUKmedia that the third country had been agreed on by Iraq, UN and EU which shall be Romania. “the Iraqi Government do not want MEK members to stay in Iraq, as they participated in oppression of 1991 revolution in Iraq with the former regime” al-Duraki added. The Iraqi Government had designated $500 thousand to transport the MEK members from Iraq, Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Muhammad al-Shaya’a announced. Another € 22 million (EUR) from the European Union shall also be designated to transport MEK members out of Iraq.

++ Fars News ran a disturbing report on the MEK in Iraq. According to the news agency, “Over 70 members of the grouplet sought to escape from the hospital where they were treated after going on a forced hunger strike, but they didn’t succeed,” a physician at one of Baghdad’s hospitals wrote in a letter to Iraq’s human rights ministry. The Iraqi physician wrote in his letter that these people have told him that they were forced by the MKO ringleaders to go on hunger strike, and have given letters to the Iraqi medics to be submitted to human rights organizations in order inform the relevant authorities of vitally bad conditions.

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers described the P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran as “a horrible nightmare for the pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Mujahedin Khalq terror cult that have been lobbying members of Congress to keep the pressure on Iran. Attempting to make them pass extra sanctions against Islamic Republic their ultimate aim is definitely a violent regime change in Tehran.” In spite of efforts by AIPAC and the MEK to promote a bill to increase sanctions against Iran, the deal appears is working. “The U.S. Treasury said hours following news of the Iranian move that it has suspended sanctions on foreigners engaged in transactions related to Iran’s oil exports, and some trade in gold and precious metals”, wrote Parsi.

++ American based attempts by Israel and the MEK to scupper the nuclear deal have been the focus of many English language items this week. Anti-War website and Habilian have reported efforts by the MEK and its lobbyists and backers to push forward bills to increase sanctions in violation of the terms of the agreement and in addition an emergency bill H.R.3707 which demands protection of the MEK in Camp Liberty in Iraq. Based on the MEK’s propaganda version of events at the camp, the bill ignores facts and promulgates a misleading and impossible demand – that the MEK be brought to the US. [No individual with links, past or present, to any terrorist entity will be given succour in the US.]

++ Kourosh Ziabari, Press TV, also cautions the US not to sabotage diplomacy with Iran. His article concludes, “But the hawkish, extremist figures in the U.S. political sphere, whether in the government, the Congress or the media, should carefully note that the door for diplomacy would not always remain open, and the chances to reach for a categorical, definite resolution of the decade-long nuclear controversy are limited.

“They should pay attention to the fact that President Rouhani’s administration has embarked on a very sensitive endeavor for directly talking to the United States, which many people inside Iran don’t think of positively. Any new sanctions against Iran under any baseless pretext would mean a violation of the Geneva agreement, the termination of its implementation and possibly an end to the long-sought talks. A peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the nuclear controversy would be beneficial to all parties, and will immensely contribute to regional peace and security. These pro-Israeli Senators who are certainly fueled and empowered by Tel Aviv should come to the understanding that pleasing Netanyahu and Shimon Peres at the expense of the interests of their own people and the people of the world is not a logical or relevant decision. Somebody should ask them not to kill the unprecedented chances that have emerged for a peaceful and viable diplomacy with Iran.”

++ Edaalat Association published an article comparing the luxury lives of the leaders of the MEK, illustrated with pictures of their houses and cars, etc. with the lives of the ordinary members who do not get paid and own only a bag of personal belongings [checked by the MEK to remove photographs of family, writing or other emotional mementos, etc], after decades of working for the MEK.

++ Abbas Moussavi of Habilian has referred to the numbers and statistics the MEK come up with and ridicules their claims. The latest claim is that 2 million Iraqis, 3,000 heads of tribes, 40,000 doctors and engineers and 25,000 Iraqi writers and over 200 thousand women over the age of 18 have signed a petition supporting the MEK. Moussavi reminds us that the number of tribes in Iraq could not be more than a fraction of this number and the number of writers cannot be as many as this. He then reminds us of their past claims and puts this down to the fact the MEK leaders have mistaken normal people for their brainwashed members.

++ UNAMI’s report on the human rights situation in Iraq in the first half of 2013 prompted articles from the MEK’s supporters asking the leaders to answer and respond to these claims. The MEK has remained silent.

++ There have been further articles about the few remaining members of the NCRI who had attended the latest meeting in Paris and sat without any objection to what Rajavi is doing to the members in Iraq. Many ex members have referred to this statement alongside the UNAMI Human Rights report and the American State Department’s report as a proof of what ex members have always claimed about the abuses of human rights inside the MEK.

++ In Iraq, Al Moragheb newspaper reported that MEK representatives have been to Israel and attended the funeral of Sharon as well as having direct talks with the secret services there. Iraqi Noon News Agency reported on the role of the MEK in Syria, saying that although it is not certain if they are participating in insurgencies alongside Al Qaeda, it is now clear that they are part of the training force for the terrorists in Syria and Iraq in the border region of the two countries. Turkish Anazol News reports that the Syrian Free Army are working with the MEK to open a new permanent base on the border of Lebanon and Syria to counter Hezbollah. If accepted by its Western backers, the MEK’s fighting force will be moved there to continue its mercenary activities, this time against Lebanon and Syria. Iraqi paper Al Bayene Al Jadidah reported a meeting between MEK representatives, the remains of Saddam and some Iraqi political figures in Jordan. According to the report, the MEK has promised to back the candidates during the upcoming election in Iraq in return for giving an open hand to the MEK and the Saddamists, and support for them to stay in Iraq. The MEK have been giving presentations showing documents which advertise their successful infiltration of US and EU political circles and the ways they have been pushing their favourite people into those parliaments and then having their favours returned.

++ Edward Termado wrote an article about the visit of some British MPs to Paris to read from the written pages given to them in front of Maryam Rajavi, followed by the usual claim that “the majority of British MPs support the MEK”! He reminds them that by getting paid to support the ongoing human rights abuses in the cult, they are certainly complicit in these acts and cannot play ignorant of what has been and is happening to people. He also reminds them that they have the power to transfer at least some of the residents of Camp Liberty to their own country, but they, and similar paid lobbyists in America, talk for money but never intend to help bring people out. He reminds them that they should be ashamed of themselves supporting terrorism and human rights abuse when the UN has just published its report about the MEK and their role in keeping people hostage in Iraq.

++ Open letters and private attempts by families and survivors have been continuing this week asking the UNHCR and UNAMI to announce the names of the injured people in Iraq.

++ Kame Amin the Iraqi Human rights minister this week again welcomed the efforts of the UN to expedite the expulsion of the MEK from Iraq, but announced his reservations as some western powers are trying to keep this mercenary force as a terrorist threat in Iraq for as long as possible. Iraqi PM, Noori Al Maliki, also announced that the GOI will pay half a million dollars to the UN fund toward the expenses of transferring the MEK out of the country.

++ This week Ms Nasrin Ebrahimi, Mr Mir Bagher Sedaghi and Mr Mehdi Nikbakht of Setaregan Association in Switzerland held a series of meetings with officials of the UNHCR and some concerned Swiss MPs in Geneva and Bern. The representatives of Setaregan (Stars) Association, who themselves are survivors of Mojahedin Khalq camps in Iraq, have reported the success of these meetings in raising the awareness of officials about the misuse of democratic institutions by the Mojahedin Khalq in western countries. Documents and supporting material were handed over during the meetings.

++ Yaser Ezzati, who was born into the MEK cult and who later managed to escape its clutches, describes how he was convinced to take part in the MEK’s terrorist activities when the MEK showed him a faked will purportedly written by his mother (who was killed in a terrorist operation) which exhorted him to take up arms. Ezzati said his father is known to be a torturer in the MKO. “He even beat me several times after I declared my defection! … “Whenever I missed my parents, my father would receive me by beating and kicking me.”