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Maryam Rajavi holds her followers in contempt – where is her compassion?

Those MEK supporters living in western countries who have recently distanced themselves from the organisation and publicly questioned the MEK’s activities, (most of whom would deny that they have Maryam Rajavi holds her followers in contempt – where is her compassion? separated completely), have been stunned by the vitriolic attacks the MEK launched against them. They truly believed while they were close to the MEK that these kinds of attack were justifiably targeting real agents of Iran. Now they have also come under attack themselves and it is slowly dawning on them that such accusations are not only unfounded but are meant deliberately to instill fear and provoke self-justification as a way to distract and silence such criticism. They will no doubt find the courage to challenge this behaviour and continue to seek the truth.

The Rajavis of course claim that anyone who speaks out against them, particularly the former members, has been recruited by the IRI and sent to destroy the MEK as part of a malicious, murderous plan. Yet where is the evidence of this?

The MEK’s critics have pointed out many times that the people who are hurting the MEK most are the cult’s leaders. It is they who order self-immolations, who withhold medical treatment, who place them in the line of danger of attack and, most recently, starve them by denying them food and calling this a hunger strike.

The critics demand help and rescue for the people still enthralled by these leaders and held captive by isolation and cultic manipulation, not only in Camp Liberty but in western bases also.

So, if the critics are acting out of humanitarian concern, the Rajavis must surely be aware of the mixed message this sends. Here’s the problem: if the Iranian regime is the evil, terrorist sponsoring entity which Rajavi has built her whole narrative on, what are we to make of the message of these so-called agents who display nothing but compassion for the people still trapped inside the MEK, at every level.

None are calling for the deaths of the members. Quite the opposite, we all wish to help them, to give them back their humanity, their dignity and their integrity which Maryam Rajavi has stolen or destroyed. Critics of the MEK leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, have campaigned for ten years and more to expose the appalling cruelty and corruption of their little dictatorship. For years they have endured the insults, beatings and attempts at character assassination flung at them at the instigation of these two wicked people.

Anyone involved in dealing with the MEK in any place and over any issue, who has met with the former members has expressed surprise at the simple, straightforward concern they have for their former colleagues and their families. There simply isn’t a hidden agenda.

The MEK demonise the Iranian government as evil and wicked. So, using the same MEK logic, outsiders need to ask the Rajavis where did all this compassion come from? Why is the Iranian intelligence ministry acting in such a charitable way? Have they become social workers!?

Think! Who, in the past ten years, has done more to harm the members than Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. The cruelty and corruption which govern the group’s internal relations are known intimately by those who suffered under that regime. Where is Maryam Rajavi’s compassion? Why does she show no sympathy or kindness toward her own people, yet lash out against those who do?

Rajavi says the demand of her forced hunger strike is the return of seven allegedly missing people. But she has still not produced any evidence to demonstrate whether they are alive or dead, or where they are or why there has never been any sign of them anywhere. The people who could give clues to solve this mystery are out of reach of UN and GOI investigators. These are the 42 survivors of the September 1st attack on Camp Ashraf in which 53 people were brutally killed by unknown assailants. These 42 were transferred to Camp Liberty where they are being held incommunicado by the MEK leadership cadre. Why? They certainly have information about what took place in the camp on that day.

Until the facts become known, the hunger strike is meaningless and causing unnecessary suffering for the participants. If there is no end-game how long do they go on? We are witness only to another graphic example of the cruelty and callous indifference of the Rajavis toward other human beings.

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Middle East Strategy Consultants,Author of “Saddam’s Private Army” and “The life of Camp Ashraf”

December 10, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Notes on the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq and Americans in Paris

On Saturday, 7 December 2013, in an auditorium at the Bourse in Paris, France, Maryam Rajavi and the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) held a meeting with several notable supporters including former New York

Photo by CSD of Rudolph Giuliani and Maryam Rajavi

Mayor and Republican Presidential Candidate Rudy Giuliani, former Vermont Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate Howard Dean, former attorney general in the George W. Bush administration Michael Mucasey, and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s daughter Naomi Nontombi Tutu. Over the years, despite it cult-like practices and even when it was formally labeled a terrorist organization, the organization managed to acquire quite a list of high-profile ex-dignitaries in the United States.

I went to cover the event because I think the group may wind up playing a role of one sort and another helping to undermine American and European efforts to reach an agreement with Iran to forestall and foreclose its nuclear weapons capability.

There are several ways the MEK might do this.

It was listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization until last year for reasons outlined in this Council on Foreign Relations Backgrounder. Despite official denials, it may yet try to use violence inside Iran to undermine the talks, knowing full well that any terrorist incidents will serve the hardliners in the regime and “exacerbate the contradictions,” as leftist revolutionaries used to say. When Iranian scientists have been killed, suspicion often has fallen on the MEK, the Israelis, or both.

The MEK claims to have extensive intelligence resources on the ground in Iran and claims credit for the important revelation in 2002 of the regime’s secret nuclear program, although there has been extensive speculation that the actual intelligence was supplied to the MEK by the Israelis. Its ability to float information — or disinformation — about the regime’s activities could complicate debate inside the United States.

To the extent the MEK claims credit for adding to the pressure on the Iranian government to negotiate it strengthens the hand of those inside Iran who want to discredit the negotiators.

But its greatest disruptive ability at the moment may well be connected to the way the Iranian-backed government of Iraq has treated MEK members in various camps there. On September 1 this year, 52 of them were killed, allegedly by special forces from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, and seven (six of them women) are alleged to have been taken hostage.

Why the Iraqi government would do this, even with prodding from the Iranians, is something of a mystery. One obvious possibility would be revenge: the MEK sided with the mullahs to overthrow the shah, then attempted, and failed, to take over the revolution; it subsequently blew up scores of top Iranian religious leaders, and after Saddam Hussein invaded Iran it sided with his forces. More than 20 years later, when the United States led the invasion of Iraq to overthrow Saddam, the MEK still supported him. But U.S. forces decided its members might be used in some way as a card in future negotiations with Iran and the more than 3,000 MEK members in Iraq were put in a camp, disarmed, and began an existence in legal, political and diplomatic limbo. As the United States withdrew from Iraq in 2011, fears mounted that the government of Prime Minister Maliki would simply ship the Iranian MEK members across the border to face the tender mercies of the government in Tehran.

That did not happen. Instead their camp at Ashraf was closed after a violent incursion by Iraqi forces and they were sent to Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad (although they are still referred to by the MEK as “Ashrafis,” which is why in my tweets there were some references to killings at Camp Ashraf that were in fact at Camp Liberty).

The United States and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees assured the Ashrafis that they would be resettled in other countries, but that process has been very slow and one of the few countries willing to accept them even temporarily for medical care has been Albania. The camp came under repeated mortar attacks, and then came the September 1 killings and abductions.

Giuliani, Dean and others who worked to get the MEK “delisted” from the State Department’s catalogue of foreign terrorist organizations were involved to some extent in the assurances given the MEK that they would be protected at Camp Liberty and relocated in a timely fashion.

Giuliani argued yesterday that the issue of the Ashrafis and the nuclear negotiations should be linked, something the Obama administration is very unlikely to do. Dean claimed that failure to protect the Ashrafis dishonored the United States of America.

Following are my live tweets from the meeting:

http://christopherdickey.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-mujahadeen-e-khalq-mek-and.html?spref=fb

Award-winning author Christopher Dickey is the Paris Bureau Chief and Middle East Regional Editor for The Daily Beast. Chris’s nonfiction books include “Securing the City,” a New York Times Book Review notable book in 2009; “Summer of Deliverance,” his memoir about his father, poet and novelist James Dickey; “Expats,” about Westerners in the modern Arab and Muslim world; and “With the Contras,” a first-hand account of combat in Central American wars. He is also the author of two acclaimed thrillers: “Innocent Blood” and “The Sleeper.” Before moving to Newsweek, Chris worked for The Washington Post as Cairo Bureau Chief and Mexico City Bureau Chief. Chris’s columns about counter-terrorism, espionage and the Middle East appear on The Daily Beast. Links to most recent columns and articles are posted on The Shadowland Journal, and also on the archive at ChristopherDickey.com.

Christopher Dickey, The Shadowland Journal

December 10, 2013 0 comments

Duplicity of the MEK nature

Defector’s Testimonies on Pure Violence in the MKO

While Iran and the world six powers were negotiating the Iranian nuclear program, the Mujahedin Khalq propaganda arm the so-called National Council of Resistance was all the time launching their notorious disinformation campaign against Islamic Republic.

The MKO figure who is introduced as "chairman of the Peace Commission of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, is Mehdi Abrishamchi. He is the key PR runner who declares the alleged revelations on Iranian nuclear program in the press conferences organized by the group.

Mehdi Abrishamchi is actually the ex-husband of the group’s alleged president elect Maryam Rajavi who divorced his wife to grant her to the leader of the cult Massoud Rajavi. Massoud married Maryam immediately after she separated from Abrishamchi.

Once Abrishamchi became the MKO’s PR tribune under the misleading title "chairman of Peace Commission", former members of the group reminded his true nature as a malicious official of "the Cult of Rajavi".

Javad Firouzmand is an MKO ex-member and currently the spokesman of Iran Aria Association that was founded by former members of the group to aid release and relocation of the group members. Mr. Firouzmand is one of those defectors of the cult who published a detailed article on Mehdi Abrishamchi’s true face. He denounces Abrishamchi as an enemy of peace and freedom who used to ruthlessly suppress any opposite opinion in MKO camps in Iraq and now he despicably runs the MKO’s demonizing and misinformation campaign in Europe.

Nejat Society has translated certain parts of Javad Firouzmand’s enlightening article on the MKO dreadful senior member Mehdi Abrishamchi:

” Abrishamchi surely remembers the summer of 2001 when he was torturing me in prison of Camp Ashraf after I was arrested and jailed following an unsuccessful escape. He broke the bone of my chest by his foot. He together with Hassan Nezamalmaleki and Mahvash Sepehri tried to make me blind by shoving a pen into my eye. They tried to lift me by pulling me with my ears while my hands were coughed and my feet were chained, that ultimately ended with my ears bleeding and puncture.

Instead of cheating and chanting slogans of "freedom", Abrishamchi must answer me question: Did he respect my right for freedom when I decided to leave the MKO? I had spent the longest time of my life in the MKO, someday he has to state under what accusation he personally tortured me.

After several month of imprisonment he pulled me to Rajavi’s session called ‘To’meh’ [victim] in Camp Baqerzadeh where Massoud and Maryam Rajavi sentenced me to 8 years of hard labour and finally to death penalty. This way they wanted to threaten other dissident members of the cult. They signed my sentence before the eyes of 4000 members. Was it a crime to defect from the MKO Gestapo in the late years of Saddam Hussein’s ruling? Did it mean that I was a "regime mercenary" just because I wanted to leave the MKO?

I recall the days they hit me in the abandoned Camp Jalalzadeh. I was hand coughed beaten under their fists and feet. I do not forget Abrishamchi’s typical atrocity; he verbally abused my family while beating my chest, stomach and legs by his toes.

From early in the morning –when Saddam Hossein’s security forces submitted me to the MKO—Abrishamch and Hassan Nezamalmaleki started horrendously torturing me until noon. They were mad with Ba’th’s security guards who hadn’t shot me – Rajavi had previously ordered them to shoot any MKO defectors they come across. Beating me violently he was shouting," They should have killed this ‘henchman’. Why did they yield him alive?"

I could never forget the evil face of Abrishamchi, Nezamalmaleki, Mahvash Sepehri and many other women of the Elite Council who used to torture me every day while my hands and feet were chained and my eyes were closed.

He was the person who after constantly torturing me for 8 hours ordered the guard of the prison to take me to their jail in Ashraf in which as he said they would be able to make me speak!"

December 8, 2013 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 32

++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad and Ghafour Fatahian from Iran Pen Association (Paris office) have written an open letter to their MEP, asking them to use their influence (since the MEK is given an open hand in the European Parliament to lobby against the government of Iraq in favour of the Saddamists, etc) to convince the Rajavis to stop the forced hunger strike imposed on the hostages in Camp Liberty. Interestingly, a couple of days later the MEK announced that Maryam Rajavi has asked the hunger strikers to stop but they have refused. This prompted a series of criticism again the leadership of the cult since everyone knows that this could not be true and this ongoing saga is only imposed by the Rajavis themselves. Many have pointed out two main reasons for the violence, abduction and forced hunger strikes ordered by Rajavi. One is to destroy as many witnesses as possible before they can leave and start talking, and two is to get paid by the remains of the Saddam regime and others, who want to discredit the Iraqi government (Saudi Arabia, Israel …)

Ali Jahani from Germany has also published a similar open letter to his MEP reminding them that having the MEK leaders and other Saddamists in their building and enjoying close relationships with MEPs places the responsibility of the forced hunger strike victims on their hands and it is not that people cannot see them and what they are condoning.

++ Edaalat Association (families of the victims of terrorism) in Iran has published an article on its website titled “From self-immolation in Paris to hunger strikes in Baghdad”. It goes into details about organised self-harm (when they are not able to harm others) which is done to save the skin of the leaders. It points to the fact that none of these acts can be voluntary or spontaneous and it is the MEK leaders and their western supporters who, on top of their responsibility for the terrorist acts carried out in the past 30 years, are responsible for these acts of violence and destruction against their own members.

++ Awaa Association in Germany, which published a list of names and addresses of many pseudo associations of the MEK in Germany, has now exposed a private meeting in which Massoud Rajavi himself from his hiding place puts the ex members, survivors and the critics of the cult at the heart of the cult’s ongoing problems and has ordered the members (and the lobbyists through their handlers inside the organisation) to put all their other work aside and to start working towards stopping survivors from exposing the crimes of the cult leaders. Awaa Association also explained that what Rajavi means when he says, “We will build a thousand Camp Ashrafs again”, is what he has ordered and it means they will be making one thousand pseudo associations in the EU and US, of which a couple of hundreds have already started working with their main aim to terrorise critics and survivors in a bid to stop their revelations.

++ Karim Gholami and Mehrdad Sagharchi were the guests of Mardom TV this week. They are among the recent arrivals in the west who are now living in Germany.

++ Many have written about Rajavi and the MEK’s claim that the Iraqi government has abducted some 7 missing members from Camp Ashraf and has given them to Iran. Both Iran and Iraq have rejected the accusation and even the US has been telling the MEK lobby in the House that this is not true.

The argument is that:

1- If true, why would the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (who you claim is responsible and that they deny) give in if you go on hunger strike? You are saying that they have clandestinely attacked your camp and have killed 52 of your members!

2- Why don’t you give your evidence to a responsible UN or other body to investigate? Why is it that after all this time you are not allowing even one of the witnesses of the incident to be interviewed by any investigative body?

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) published the 13th part of his articles (mostly his memories) this week on Pejvak Iran Website. The title is “Camp TIPF, a view from inside”. Hadi Afshar is currently one of the most attacked people by the MEK as he is the latest high ranking members who is directly pointing at Massoud and Maryam Rajavi the cult leaders for their responsibilities in all the crimes carried out by the MEK.

++ Some commentators have pointed out the fact that none of the western countries which give an open hand to the terrorist leaders are willing to give sanctuary to even a handful of the members. They point out that this fact by itself amounts to criminal activity as it is proven that many MEK hostages do not wish to be “western backed terrorists” and are forced to do so by the “western backed cult leaders”.

++ Iraj Mesdaghi has published a new article on Pejvak Iran website. The story is that some prisoners in an Iranian jail had gone on hunger strike and the most likely scenario is that they have been protesting against the death penalty. The news emerged in some media outlets and a day later Maryam Rajavi and her so-called National Council of Resistance issued a statement to the effect that “two thousand” prisoners have gone on hunger strike and, more than that, “they have been inspired by the hunger strike of the people in the Iraqi camp of the MEK”. Iraj Mesdaghi has gone into the news in detail and shown how irrelevant the prisoners’ action has been to the MEK, and how desperate Rajavi is to try to show that their so-called hunger strike (i.e. forced denial of food to the hostages) has something to do with Iran, Iraq, or any other reality.

++ Mohammad Razaghi from Paris has also written about this issue and has reminded us of many facts whereby the MEK have been recruiting criminals who have been wanted men, whether in Iran or in the EU/America and have evaded justice by running away to Iraq under the protection of Saddam/Rajavi. He goes on to say that the criminals should know that they have a backer who is herself backed by Mossad and other anti-Iran forces, and they will be using their services if and when they are out of prison.

++ Many articles have been written this week about Maryam Rajavi and how she is following Netanyahu’s line of action day by day. They remind us that when Netanyahu was hoping for the derailment of the negotiations in Geneva and also his hopes for failure afterwards, she was doing the same, including the ridiculous “discovery, yet again, of another nuclear site” the day before the meetings. Now that Netanyahu wants to demonstrate somehow that Iran is not keeping her side of the agreement, Rajavi is following the same line and is trying to prove that.

++ Shaya Al Soudani the Human Rights Minister of Iraq announced that the claim by the MEK that Iraq has abducted 7 of its members is nothing more than a sick propaganda stunt by the cult. He said the so-called hunger strike has been staged due to the exposure of this propaganda and is an attempt at damage limitation of their credibility with their own benefactors.

++ Afaf Abdolrazagh MP from Al Iraqia coalition in the Iraqi parliament announced this week that what the MEK are broadcasting under her name is nothing more than lies and that she has never supported this organisation, its leaders nor its actions, and has always asked for their removal from the country. The MEK, as usual, has ignored this and has not given any explanation about what they have been feeding through their media channels in the west.

++ According to Iraqi officials the number of deaths in Camp Ashraf was 53 and not 52. The last person took time to identify because the body had been so badly burned. Mohammad Karami from Paris asks through his website why it is that the MEK have not been cooperative enough to even announce the name of their own dead member? Not allowing the witnesses in Camp Ashraf to be interviewed by the investigators had been exposed before so that everyone understands that there is some truth about the role of MEK leaders in the massacre, but not announcing the name of this murdered member obviously points to the fact that the MEK leaders don’t even dare to announce who this one is.

++ Roya Doroudi, who had been transferred from Iraq to Albania (from the ones who are still loyal to the MEK and not those who have separated themselves), died this week. The MEK has given no explanation why and how. She was a child of one of the members at the start of the revolution and would not have been older than 37 years old. Many, including Atefeh Eghbal, have reminded us that time is short and these people are falling one by one only to be labelled and praised as ‘sacrifices for Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’ and the cult.

++Hamid Mansouri one of the older former members of the MEK had an interview with Tasnim News in Tehran. He has been explaining the MEK’s system of recruitment in America where he was studying and how they sent them to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He talks about how they treated people once under their control, and how they used them in whatever way Rajavi or Saddam’s Mokhaberat found fit.

++ Many writers have referred to the public praises issued by the MEK over the murder of an Iranian border guard by Saudi backed Jaish Al Adl terrorists in the south of Iran. Many have pointed to the concept that the MEK were removed from the terrorism lists precisely because they are terrorists rather than because they are not. Jaish Al Adl is the remains of Rigi’s group after he was caught and executed in Iran, and Rajavi enjoyed very close operational relations with the group including planning and training for them from the MEK HQ in Paris.

Fars News reported that Iraqi MP Rafe’ Abdul Jabbar had criticised the United Nations because it “turned a blind eye to the Israeli regime in a double-standard practice towards regional issues.” One of those was the MEK in Iraq. He censured the glacial pace in the relocation process of the MKO members to third party countries, and said, “Baghdad is obeying the UN in this regard and this organization is obeying the US.”

“We should admit that Iraq’s independence is still far away,” he added.

He said Iraq’s obedience to the UN decisions is the main reason for the inability of Iraq to expel members of the MEK group, adding that the MEK’s activities may influence Tehran-Baghdad relations.

++ A long and detailed article by Mazda Parsi from Nejat Bloggers exposes the payments received by politicians in America for advocacy of the MEK, even during the time they were on the US terrorism list.

December 06 2013

December 8, 2013 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

What matters for US promotion of Human Rights?

A day before the resumption of negotiations in Geneva on the Iran nuclear issue, the head of security Department of Geneva ordered the Mujahedin Khalq who were on hunger strike to evacuate the Place des Nations.[1] Hunger strike is among the MKO cult leaders’ tactics to get itself on the scene

The negotiations went on and resulted in an agreement between Iran and the 6 world powers. All sides hailed the deal calling it the first proper move towards the peace.

Police spokesman talked about the day that the hunger strikers were asked to comply with the laws and authorities.

“Shortly after the arrival of the press, a striker got sick. An ambulance was called. A policeman boarded to check the identity of the patient, who was yelling. His comrades were then rushed to the police shouting "fascist!" And two men jostled. Another striker suddenly dropped himself on the road on purpose paralyzing traffic. “[2]

The sight indicates the show of brainwashed members of a broken cult-like group who fell out of favor from international community and are ready to hunt an opportunity for a big show-off.

Hunger strike is among the MKO cult leaders’ tactics to get itself on the scene. In different phases and under different pretexts Rajavi ordered members to go on hunger strike for its political gain and its hidden agenda and to launch its propaganda campaign.

This latest hunger strike is being held under the pretext of saving the lives of the seven allegedly missed residents of Camp Ashraf, who the organization claims to be detained during the Camp Ashraf September clashes and hold by the Iraqi security forces somewhere in Baghdad.

Iraqi authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in the attack, in which camp residents also went missing.[3]

The question here is that if the lives of members are really important for the cult leaders why do they order hundreds of members to put their lives in danger? Whoever is familiar with the cult practices and whoever has the experience of living within the group knows well that the members are not allowed to do anything without the approval of its leader.

A number of former members of MKO condemned the forced hunger strike through a statement and hold Rajavi accountable for the lives of the imprisoned Camp Liberty residents. The statement reads:” “In fact, all political and propaganda affairs including self- immolations and hunger strikes are basically organized acts and actually under the order of the leadership and members are due to execute them,” [4]

Although the 95 days of hunger strike with no death report seems weird to the outside audiences as the critics notify it a propagandistic show in which the participants attend in turns to be filmed and photographed, yet the victimization of a number of the group’s dissidents and rank and files is not far from possible to make it believable.

Based on the reports of the group’s website several members have reached the point of no return. Maryam Rajavi through a fabricated statement asked” friends of Camp Ashraf and PMOI members imprisoned in Camp Liberty, who are in a critical condition and close to death in the cities of Geneva, Berlin, Ottawa and Melbourne, to end their hunger strikes…”, yet she didn’t mention the Liberty residents – who are the main participants of the strike to end their fasting. This shows the real intention of the cult leaders to use members as fuel for their propaganda machine. [5]

Rajavi as a leader of a destructive cult who is being ignored by its masters may make more dangerous decisions to victimize more of its followers.

This is the real threat of a cult and a human rights disaster that is being ignored by the west.

It is another example of the double standards within the US political stands. Just as terrorism, human rights is also a matter of geography, and even more so, of political interests.

The US has a legacy of saving the whole world through their so called humanitarian efforts; they did that in Korea, China, Guatemala, Indonesia, Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Grenada, Lebanon, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Libya and Iraq and more recently in Syria under the pretext of which it pushes its warmongering efforts and justify its military actions. [6]

Considering the concrete evidences of human rights abuses within the destructive cult of MKO reported by RAND and HRW and the testimonies of several former members of the cult who managed to escape the group, along with the deteriorating conditions of the Liberty residents, why don’t the US put forth and save these individuals’ lives who are under the threat of being attacked from outside or being victimized by the cult leaders’ themselves. If the US is capable to save nations why doesn’t it save the roughly 3000 enslaved members – striving for a free life of a bankrupt, desperate cult?!

By: A. Sepinoud

References:

[1] Gabus, Laure, Barazzone déplace les dénonciateurs du camp d’Achraf à l’Ariana, Tribune de Geneva, November19, 2013

[2]ibid

[3] al-Salhy, Suadad, Iraq says no success tracing killers of Iranian dissidents,Reuters, November26,2013

[4] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5504

[5] Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.

[6] Jacob, Anthony, After Iraq, US plans to save Syria!, PressTV, September 4, 2013

December 7, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MKO’s Lavishly Funded Sponsors Lash out at Geneva Deal

The MKO-run lobby in the US Congress is frustrated at the deal against made in Geneva that cracked the 3-dacade wall of mistrust between Iran and the US. Motivated by large amounts of money paid by the MKO and its large scale propaganda against the Iranian nuclear program, predictably the advocates of this formerly designated terrorist group rejected the deal. MKO’s Lavishly Funded Sponsors Lash out at Geneva Deal

Voice of Russia published a report on "a last ditch effort to derail diplomacy and garner support for regime change in the Islamic Republic" that took place on Capitol Hill. The briefing was organized by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization. VOR’s Sean Nevins wrote about the event, as well as his one-on-one interview with former Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Tom Ridge, and a discussion with the group’s propaganda agent in the US Ali Safavi.[1]

Nevins noticed that none of the speakers over the two-hour time span supported diplomatic efforts taking place in Geneva. Instead, they asked for "regime change" in Iran. For instance, he cites from an MKO advocate in Capitol Hill, Randy Weber, a Republican from Texas, saying, “We need regime change. That’s pure and simple.”[2]

The substantial fees they received from the MKO –20 thousand dollar for a 10-minute speech—have even convinced some politicians to deny any fact except those built up by the group’s propaganda.[3][4] Tom Ridge denies the most reliable and famous documents on the MKO violent substance. Asked by Nevins about the terror acts the MKO has committed, he claimed that the killing of American citizens during the 1970s in Iran were "allegations" while the State Department, Human Rights Watch, and the Rand Corporation said that the MEK was involved in those killings. [5]

Among bribed advocates of the MKO, several of them began lashing out at nuclear deal. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs panel and a hawk on Iran who is also in the pay roll of the group for its ardent support of the group, said in a statement expressing his opposition to a provision of the nuclear deal with Iran that could make it easier for the country to repair its aging fleet of civilian aircraft. The MKO sponsor said, "America should exploit some of the vagaries in the agreement’s language and prevent Boeing from repairing Iranian aircraft until we have a final deal". [6] Not so surprisingly, Congressman Sherman favors more air crash for Iranian civilians since he has been several times seen in the MKO events in order to speak on behalf of the group promising them to "work closely" with them.

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Michelle Bachmann is another US high profile who runs both MKO and Israeli agenda in the Congress. In 2011 when she declared her candidacy for presidential election, the analyst journalist Michael Rubin criticized her for embracing a cult-like terrorist group that has been a Saddam Hussein’s accomplice. " I was disappointed, therefore, to see Bachmann’s uncritical support for the Mujahideen e-Khalq Organization (MKO)," He wrote in Commentary Magazine, ”there are certain incontrovertible facts: (1) the MKO has targeted Americans in past terrorist attacks; (2) they have embraced Saddam; (3) they operate as a cult which remains hostile to freedom, liberty, and democracy; and (4), they have very little if any support among Iranians in Iran." [7]

Recent news on Bachman reveals more about her corrupt career in which she never tries to conceal the lessons he has learned from her bribe givers, the MKO and Israel. As the Truth Seeker reports, she was given more than US$25,000 for a trip to Israel for herself and her son earlier in November. The $25,000 covered accommodation at the luxurious David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem, shopping in and sightseeing. [8]

Speaking at a gala for the Zionist Organization of America on the last Sunday in November, Bachmann told listeners, "It may be incumbent upon the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] to make a decision he has no desire to make, and that would be to bomb facilities, that must be bombed, in Iran.” The author of the Truth Seeker piece denounces Bachman writing, "Although she isn’t selling sexual favors, she is effectively selling her charms to advocate a line that could ultimately result in war and the widespread loss of many innocent lives." [9]

In addition to other opponents of diplomacy with Tehran Senator Robert Menendez the Democratic chairman of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee criticized President Barack Obama’s administration for agreeing to the deal under which Iran will accept restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for limited relief from economic sanctions that have damaged its economy and cut deeply into its oil exports, reported Reuters. [10] Earlier this year Menendez received $2600 contributed by an MKO supporter in California named Masood Abooali, according to Austin Wright of Politico.com. [11]

Definitely the list of MKO-provoked politicians to derail diplomacy with Iran is hardly ever short. The group’s lavishly lobbying efforts in Capitol Hill to manipulate US representatives were closely witnessed by Sean Nevins of the VOR. This is how he puts his encounter with the MKO agents:

"Following my discussion with Tom Ridge, two people named Ali Safavi and Ben Borhani, from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is a political arm of the MEK, approached me to inquire about my questioning of the Secretary. They claimed that my concerns were part of a massive propaganda campaign targeted against the MEK by the Iranian regime."[12]

The VOR’s journalist who seems to be twisted by the MKO agents closes his article notifying that the 2009 Rand report on the MEK says they are “skilled manipulators of public opinion” with a" long history of deception".[13]

Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Nevins, Sean, Derailing diplomacy: MEK weighs in on Iran nuke talks & Tom Ridge interview, Voice of Russia, November 25, 2013

[2]ibid

[3]Greenwald, Glenn, Israel, MEK and state sponsor of Terror groups, Salon.com, February 10, 2012

[4]Shane, Scott, U.S. Supporters of Iranian Group Face Scrutiny, The New York Times, March 13, 2012

[5] ] Nevins, Sean, Derailing diplomacy: MEK weighs in on Iran nuke talks & Tom Ridge interview, Voice of Russia, November 25, 2013

[6] Pecquet, Julian, Dem to Obama: Don’t fix Iran’s airplanes, The Hill, November 26, 2013

[7] Rubin, Michael, Bachmann and the Mujahideen e-Khalq, Commentary Magazine, July 3, 2013

[8]The Truth Seeker, Michelle Bachmann Says Iran’s Nuclear Facilities “Must Be Bombed”, November29, 2013

[9]ibid

[10]Reuters, Bob Menendez Accuses Obama Administration of "Fear Mongering" Iran Sanctions, November 27, 2013

[11]Wright, Austin, Lindsey Graham return donation to Iranian exile group, Politico.com, November 13, 2013

[12] ] Nevins, Sean, Derailing diplomacy: MEK weighs in on Iran nuke talks & Tom Ridge interview, Voice of Russia, November 25, 2013

[13]ibid

December 4, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Directly targeting critics – New tactic by Rajavi cult

According to news coming from inside the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult HQ in France, after the recent

exposures and revelations by the survivors of the cult, in particular after Dr. Karim Ghasim, Dr. Mohammad Reza Rohani left the National Council of Resistance (NCRI, another name for Mojahedin Khalq) and the recent revelations made by Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali), Iraj Mesdaghi and others, the Leadership of the MEK have held a meeting chaired by Maryam Rajavi (Joint leader of the cult with her husband Massoud Rajavi) in which they have been discussing the effects of the revelations as well as deciding a line of action for damage limitation to the cult.

At the end of this meeting they decided the following lines of action to counter the effects of the revelations made by survivors of the cult and by political personalities as well as criticisms made by some of the nearest people to the organisation who now demand explanations:

– to create a false negative impression of the ex members and critics in their places of residence and among their social circles, and to start gathering signatures against them in these place;

– to collect some signatures and then make petitions and increase the number by adding false names (as they usually do) and then send these en-mass to all the relevant local places including town halls, churches, Party HQs etc and introduce these critics as terrorists who are in direct contact with Iran and the secret services of that country and therefore a danger to their society;

– to commission their paid lobbyists in parliaments, paid MPs and other bought, known people (working or retired) to create false documents against the critics of the terrorist organisation and send them to the foreign ministries of the relevant countries and other places;

– to gather factual information about the individuals, add false information between the lines, and produce documents against them. Then send their paid lobbyists to meet with judicial channels, police, politicians etc and produce damaging reports against these critics.

One such example is Amrollah Ebrahimi, a paid agent of the Mojahedin Khalq (NCRI,MKO ,MEK, Rajavi cult) who is tasked to gather and organise lobbyists among Netherlands’s Members of Parliament. Another part of his job is to employ character assassination against given targets on the internet to portray them as corrupt by falsifying stories about them.

It is noticeable that up to this point there has not been any evidence that this expensive line of action and tactic has worked as the only people who have been listening to this disinformation are the cult members.

Mohammad Karami, Paris ,Translated by Iran Interlink

November 30, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Tom Ridge denies Mojahedin Khalq killing of US citizens!

In a distortion of historical records, the former Secretary of Homeland Security describes the Mujahedin-e Khalq’s murder of US citizens as “allegations.”

Last week, Sean Nevins, Voice of Russia correspondent, attended what he called “a last ditch effort to derail diplomacy and garner support for regime change in the Islamic Republic” held on the Capitol Hill by the MEK and wrote about his observations and interview with Tom Ridge.

“Prominent US officials, such as John Bolton (Fmr. US Ambassador to the United Nations), Tom Ridge and Brad Sherman (D-CA), attended and spoke on behalf of the MEK,” Nevins wrote. “However, rather than focusing on the legitimately tragic events that took place against the MEK and its compound in Iraq, speakers zeroed in on the Iranian nuclear deal and its potential problems while also supporting regime change in the country.”

Following the briefing, he then approached the former Pennsylvania governor about supporting MEK, which “killed American citizens in the past.”

According to Nevins, Ridge denied the veracity of the claims, calling them “allegations,” and said that, if true, “the people at Liberty and Ashraf [the camps in Iraq] weren’t involved in those… assassinations back then”.

“This answer is despite the fact that the State Department, Human Rights Watch, and the Rand Corporation say that the MEK was involved with those killings.”

“Additionally, Voice of Russia asked the former Secretary about allegations by the same aforementioned organizations that the MEK has abused its own members in the Iraqi camps,” he added. “Again, the Secretary challenged the veracity of the claims.”

In a distortion of history, MKO and its supporters are trying to whitewash the groups anti-imperialism record and its killing of US citizens in 1970s, although the group claimed triumphantly the responsibility of some of its attacks.

In a June 4, 1980, issue of the Mojahed , MKO claimed responsibility for the assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Lee Hawkins under the headline “The Revolutionary Execution of a US Advisor.”

“With the revolutionary execution of Hawkins in June 2, 1973, we have shown that we will kill the US, UK, and Israeli (military) advisors in response to the blood of our people shed by the Imperialists,” adds the statement. “We are still loyal to our oath, and will not give up until we make Iran their grave.”

In its Country Report on Terrorism, the US State Department confirms that the MEK, during the 1970s, “killed US military personnel and US civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran.”

November 30, 2013 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 31

++ The Community of Independent Bloggers has raised a petition condemning the MEK’s ongoing hunger strike. The petition asks both the Iraqi and the French government to stop this barbaric act which everyone knows is being forced by the MEK leaders. Previously, reports have suggested that the hunger strikes are mostly undertaken under coercive pressure and specifically in Iraq reports say that food has been denied to the participants by the leaders.

++ Mohammad Karami was the guest of Mardom TV. He talked about the hunger strike, the situation of the new arrivals in Albania, and some aspects of MEK history according to the former military and intelligence officers of Saddam’s regime, including General Vafiq Al Smerai. Parts of a weekly video presentation by Behzad Alishahi were also broadcast. The series is called “what the MEK do and what the MEK say”, and concentrates on the current week by week activities of the MEK in their media and other activities.

++ Many have been writing about the ongoing hunger strike and the reasons Rajavi may want to continue this. This includes three former members of the all-women Leadership Council, Maryam Sanjabi, Batoul Soltani and Zahra Mirbagheri, who have pointed out the internal problems Rajavi is facing and they say he is creating this atmosphere only to silence his internal critics. Others have pointed to the fact that Rajavi cannot afford to allow these people to leave and to talk (as others have done). Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) explains that everyone knows that four witnesses are more convincing than two. Rajavi is now facing some of the survivors who have managed to get out. He is trying to keep the number as low as possible; whether being killed during the American bombing (of Iraq), self immolations, so-called accidents, depravation of medicine, infighting in Camp Ashraf or hunger strike, the result for him is the same.

++ Some articles have been published on the subject of why Rajavi is not coming out of hiding. A popular explanation is that he is not capable of facing his own forces rather than there being any restriction or danger from his enemies if he surfaced. But some have said that if he surfaced in any country, it is the Iraqi government that would pursue him to take him back and put him on trial rather than it being Iran which would do so, and because it is not easy for other countries to host one of Saddam’s henchmen in defiance of international law.

++ Karim Gholami from Iran Pen Association in Cologne has written an article about Maryam Rajavi and her desperate attempts to play the role of a living person. He refers to her actions, including finding new nuclear sites every 5 minutes and then moving on, or how the MEK, working alongside the Israeli government, have been against the Geneva talks with Iran but after they have concluded announce that Iran has been defeated and given up her ambitions to have the A bomb and then a few hours later again come up with statements that Iran is only a few months away from acquiring her first A bomb …

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has published the 12th part of his memoir under the general title “The system ruling the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation”. The title of the 12th part is “Working towards toppling the regime or running away” in which he explains the vacuum of leadership in the MEK whenever some thing has happened.

++ There have been reports from inside the MEK HQ in Paris that Mohammad Mohaddessin, one of the known members of the MEK/NCRI, has been refusing to accept orders by Maryam Rajavi. This has resulted in him being beaten up in some meetings. He has allegedly been demoted and is now held without access to outside world. Nima from Ariya Association in Paris has published an extensive article about this issue detailing the people who have been present and the way they have treated Mohaddessin, epecially Mehdi Abrishamchi (Maryam Rajavi’s first husband) who has been one of those beating up Mohaddessin. Abrishamchi, who has been a torturer working for the intelligence system of Saddam Hussein, is a wanted man in Iraq and many individuals have alleged that he has personally tortured them. The MEK has not yet reacted to explain the absence of Mohaddessin from his public role, raising the possibility that he is not giving way to the pressure to change his mind and support the cult again. Mohaddessin was the MEK contact with the Pentagon during the reign of Saddam and has been involved in many deals with the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Paris.

++ Many ex members and critics have been writing open letters to the European Parliament where the Mojahedin Khalq lobbyists are more active than in any other place. They are demanding that parliamentarians put pressure on Rajavi and MEPs who support her to come clean and let the hunger strikers choose for themselves if they want to eat or not. Many point to the role of cult lobbyists and their responsibility in the case of the deaths of any of these people. Many of them have no access to food because it is not given by the leaders of the MEK, and many don’t even know about what is happening in the world due to being trapped in the MEK camps for decades without contact with outside world.

++ The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for renewed efforts from states to relocate former Camp Ashraf residents, also known as Camp New Iraq. “Since the 1 September 2013 attack on Camp New Iraq where 52 residents died, there has been limited progress in moving the remaining residents to a third country. UNHCR encourages all Member States to share in the international efforts, admit residents and offer them a long-term solution.”

++ Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed that the Israeli government has promised financial assistance during to the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist organization, pointing out that some members of the leadership of the MEK reside in Israel and have become clients. An editor of the Israeli newspaper reported that one of the leading members of the MEK, who lives in Israel, met with senior officials in the intelligence service to request financial assistance, pointing out that the amount of this financial assistance was not known. According to the Israeli press, the Israeli financial grant to the organization comes after the MEK promised to provide detailed and accurate information about Iran’s nuclear facilities, stressing that Israel had previously given financial and in-kind assistance to the organization.

++ Writing for Iran Interlink, Anne Singleton drew parallels between the situation of three modern slaves discovered in London and members of the Rajavi cult. “In each case the victims were brought together thirty years ago to live collectively as part of a shared political ideology. In London, as in Iraq, this went wrong when the use of emotional and physical abuse was used to enslave the victims against their will. Just as the three women in London have had traumatic and disturbing experiences, so the escapees from Camp Liberty have described the systematic use of psychological, emotional and physical abuses behind closed doors to keep them under the control of brutal, exploitative leaders. As in London, the victims of the Mojahedin Khalq are left emotionally fragile and highly vulnerable. Their needs for a careful and compassionate process of recovery and rehabilitation are similar. This can only be achieved if they are protected from their former ‘owners’ who will try their utmost to collect them back up and return them to conditions of slavery.”

++ Talking to Haider al-Akaili, who is part of an Iraqi government committee overseeing the investigation into the September 1st killings at Camp Ashraf which was requested by the U.N., Reuters news agency reported that “The main thing that the investigations have revealed so far is that the Iraqi security forces were not involved in that attack and an unknown militant group was behind it… Akaili added that 53 people had been killed, not 52 as originally reported by the U.N. which said its representatives had seen corpses with gunshot wounds and some with their hands tied. The additional victim had not been reported until now because his face had been burnt and he had not been previously identifiable as a camp member… ‘The operation was elaborate, complicated and big,” he said, adding that MEK members who had seen the attack had shown a “serious lack” of cooperation with investigating authorities’. He raised the possibility that there had been a dispute within the camp and some of the attackers had come from inside it. Another scenario was that the seven missing people were behind the assault, he said.”

++ Richard Potter of Mondoweiss interviewed former NCRI and MEK member Massoud Banisadr. Among other subjects Banisadr describes the point when he believes the MEK transformed from a political group to a destructive cult: “What happened was, within Iran they were left losing 99% of their members. Only 2,000 to 3000 members were left in Iran. Most of them were gone because of the change of policy from peaceful demonstration to terrorist activities and street fighting. Even those who could become radicals were either killed in street clashes or by execution by the government. They lost the battle in Iran. Outside of Iran they were portraying themselves as the democratic alternative to the Iranian government. Two of the most important allies of theirs were ex Iranian President [Abolhassan] Banisadr and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Kurdish Iran. These two left the National Council of Resistance in 1984. Suddenly this coalition of Rajavi and others turned into the pseudonym MEK. In 1983 they could get support from the Labour Party of UK and the Socialist Party of France, but after this they did not have it anymore. MEK was on the verge of disintegration, so he had to do something, which is why I think he did what was called the Ideological Revolution, which is when it became a destructive cult.”

++ Mohammad Karami in Paris revealed a new tactic adopted by the MEK leadership aimed at intimidating and silencing its critics – direct targeting and character assassination. He described the MEK as spreading malicious rumours about these critics in their places of residence and among their social circles as well as gathering factual information to seed with false allegations to create documents which MEK advocates in parliaments and other capacities can take to the judicial channels to accuse the critics of being a danger to the public.

November 29, 2013

November 30, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Onward to complete decline

Every opposition group has to mull over two bases to gain face, credibility and legality.

The first and the most important base is the support among its own nation and the second is reliability within the international community.

Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) as an allegedly opposition group has always had hard time seeking these two bases.

Mujahedin Khalq abandoned the front in the country and fled to Paris and later to Iraq where Saddam Hussein, desperate for allies in the war with Iran, provided them with funding, weapons as well as land to accommodate.

Allying with one of Iran’s most hated enemies and direct fighting against their countrymen ended any popular support the MKO had inside Iran.

After the fall of Saddam, the MKO changed its anti-imperialist face and hence became a tool in the hands of the US following its order inside Iran and wherever the US deemed necessary. At the same time Mujahedin was trained, financed and armed by Israel to be used as its proxy.

MKO has been at the service of the US and Israel in their waging terror war against the Iranian nation in hope to be considered as a viable alternative to the Islamic Republic.

Nonetheless, the west is neither after regime change nor war against Iran. According to the Iranian American Islamic scholar Reza Aslan:

” Nobody is going to war with Iran, neither the United States nor Israel. I can tell you for a fact that Israel is not going to war with Iran because Israel keeps talking about it. If anybody who has studied Israeli politics at all can tell you anything is if Israel talks about bombing Iran then that means it has no intentions of doing it.”[1]

Incompetent in favoring the US more, that would lead to its putting them aside as an expired tool of sometime, the MKO makes efforts in vain seeking to gain the favor of the West.

It victimized members in Camp Ashraf, ordered members to hold hunger strike now for about 87 days, stages rallies spreading fear of Iran. Every time, ahead of the scheduled time of Iran-world Powers negotiations on the nuclear issue it creates new fabricated accusations and so called revelations in order to derail diplomacy.

Mujahedin indeed has put its entire attempt to keep itself on the scene. Conversely, all its endeavors have been futile and counterproductive.

“Senior diplomats in the US administration say the MEK figured prominently as a bargaining chip in a bridge-building effort with Tehran”, according to Wall Street Journal.[2]

The disclosures did little to earn the group and the group leader’s repetitive call urging the west to “step up the pressure on Tehran” and asserting the “futility of the negotiations with Iran” didn’t work. Iran nuclear talks agreed at Geneva talks. Iran and the six world powers hailed the agreement.

The MKO will never have the necessary popular grassroots to gain legitimacy and credibility among Iranian people. It is also unlikely that it can effectively rebuild its image and gain the favor of the west the way they wish. In fact the MKO has no role and place in the future of Iran

By: A. Sepinoud

[1] Garibaldi , US Officials Confirm: Israel Financing, Training and Arming MEK Terrorists to Murder Iranian Scientists, Loonwatch, February 10,2012

[2] Higgins, Andrew & Solomon, Jay, Iranian Imbroglio Gives New Boost To Odd Exile Group,Wall Street Journal, November29, 2006

November 27, 2013 0 comments

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