Articles

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Holy Fighters in the Sidewalk

Translated from the article “Holy Fighters in the side walk “published in derstandard on October 23^rd, 2008:

This summer hundreds of polish students figured out that their education in the Political Science field doesn’t protect them against a short free trip to Paris and being hired by a terrorist organization.

Who can resist the offer of a three-day trip to the French capital for only 6 Euros (including the residence)?

The advertisement of the trip was so deceiving that no student didn’t go into trouble to ask about the issues behind the scene and the sponsors of the discounted trip, although the condition to win the trip was to attend a political demonstration at Charle de Gole Airport.

Therefore, the polish inexperienced native students became the Islamic freedom fighters for a day.

The demonstration in the airport is just the most recent activity of the expanded propaganda launched by the paramilitary Mujahedin Khalq Organization aka PMOI especially since the 1990’s.

PMOI has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US and EU.

Besides their fundraising activities in the sidewalk of European cities (Coln is one of the most important bases of MKO in Europe) they hold gatherings and demonstrations including the ones in the summer of 2003 that reached its summit with the suicide of two exiled Iranians.

MEK have repeatedly represented their threatening methods for the regime change in Iran.

People’s Mujahedin of Iran was founded in 1965 to oppose the Shah of Iran who was supported by the west and ruled Iran under his tyranny until the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The first MEK founders based their ideology on a raw mixture of the revolutionary Marxism, partisan struggle of Huchi Min and Che Guara and the Shiite Islamic characteristics, decorated with a protesting movement against the exploitation of the society and governmental violence.

The preferable device for MEK was from the beginning, the armed struggle to achieve the necessary power for their anti-shah and anti-American propaganda.

The MEK planned their first operation in 1971 intending to explode an electricity factory in Tehran while the celebrations on the occasion of the anniversary of the Iranian Imperial, but the plan was prevented by the regime ‘s security forces.

Following that operation, the wave of arrests started and Masud Rajavi (who is today, together with his wife, the dictator leader of MEK) fled to Paris following his imprisonment sentence.

The way the post revolutionary Iranian Regime (which had supported MEK at the beginning) treated MKO, forced them to go abroad and continue their bombings and anti-American and anti-Iranian activities not only in Europe where a lot of Iranians reside but also in Iraq.

In 1980’s Saddam Hussein sheltered the MEK who were discouraged by the regime of Tehran and in 1985 he used them as his mercenary in the first gulf war.

MEK also collaborated with Saddam to suppress the Shiites and Kurds’ uprisings in Iraq and what removed the support of their compatriots in their motherland for ever.

Then a type of cultural Islamic-Stalinist revolution appeared in the group and the cult of personality around the leadership of Masud and Maryam Rajavi was formed in a bizarre form of which the recent MEK’s slogan is the symbol:”Rajavi is Iran,Iran is Rajavi”

The MEK is represented in the west by its political arm National Council of Resistance (NCRI) which has owned a parliament in Paris since 1993.

The leadership council of MKO only includes women, that is a bizarre sign to the regime of Tehran which is ruled by males.

Those who criticized the group’s approaches disappeared in Abu Qoraib prison (with the help of Saddam Hussein’s regime) where has already had the notorious reputation.

The Human Rights Watch presented a report on the testimonies of a dozen of MKO defectors who witnessed tortures and assassinations in the cult.

After the American invasion to Iraq, the MEK bases in Iraq were bombarded but later the CIA hired MEK’s professional agents for intelligence operations inside Iran.

Outside Iran, the MEK who claim to have denounced military operations since 2001, are satisfied of the support they could enjoy by the future inexperienced generation and also the public opinion.

For example the Austrian member of the European parliament , Karin Resetarits, asked for the removal of MEK from the list of terrorist groups, in a 2500 populated gathering in front of Iranian Resistance against the Islamic fundamentalism.”

In December 2001, the MEK and its armed wing NLA were listed as terrorist entities following the European Union Council’s decision.

In June 2008, the British government decided to return their credit.

Translated by Nejat Society

November 25, 2008 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Dislocation of Ashraf; the sole solution to set victims free

Niyabati’s article “The necessity of releasing Mojahedin forces” in answer to Farrokh Negahdar’s article “Mojahedin must depart Camp Ashraf” contains some interesting and paradoxical points to which due attention is to be paid. It is somehow paradoxical since on the one hand, Niyabati has repeated the statements made by Farrokh Negahdar and on the other hand, he has drawn a border and red line between his own statements and those of Mr. Negahdar and has even threatened him of deserving trial and punishment by Mojahedin. First, it has to be pointed out that his article is a verification of Mojahedin’s typical insulting and offensive behavior against their critics that bears no rationalism and reasoning. On the one hand, he states:

It is simplistic if we seek a devil intention and political prejudice behind all dissidents’ position takings all the time. For sure it is not always so. 1

On the other hand, he is irritated by the statements made by Mr. Negahdar and writes:

If all those who have witnessed his betrayals pass away or forgive him, on the promised day of judgment the organization will not for sure leave him alone. 2

The reason why he takes a more aggressive attitude against Mr. Negahdar compared to other sympathizers of Mojahedin is pertinent to his past history. We have elaborated on the relationship between Niyabati and Mojahedin previously. It seems that his past semi-intellectual and megalomaniacal gestures insisting to show his superiority over Mojahedin and their leadership has been faded away and now he has turned to be a simple errand for Mojahedin. However, there are some significant points in his article. For example, he refers to Camp Ashraf and says:

The current issue is releasing Mojahedin and transferring them to a safe refuge. Nobody cares to ask Mojahedin if they are willing to leave Camp Ashraf or remain there. 3

The point is that even Mojahedin leaders refrain to pay attention to the will of Ashraf residents and ignore the fact that they have to let them choose their own destiny. In recent years, many have repeatedly focused on the necessity of holding a free referendum in Camp Ashraf. In this way, nobody would criticize Mojahedin leaders as for the decision made based on the demands of Ashraf residents and it will pave the way for Mojahedin to petition international bodies in order to achieve their demands. Earlier, Niyabati had elaborated on the psychological levers and factors aiming at convincing members to remain in the organization and made his attempts to justify the necessity of these factors; therefore, he dares not claim that all Ashraf residents are willing to remain in Iraq in the existing conditions. The main challenge of Mojahedin leaders at the time being is that MKO members cannot be transferred to another location as long as they are labeled as a Mojahed and are members of MKO due to their terrorist label. In fact, they would be recognized refugees if they declare their separation from MKO as did many former members who are now living freely in European countries. Niyabati writes:

In fact, there is not a country where they may ignore the terrorist list to consent giving asylum to residents of Camp Ashraf. 4

However, he desist to refer to the fact that there are many former members of MKO living freely in European countries and running an ordinary life. Niyabati has no doubt in the necessity of the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to another country. Yet, his only disagreement with Mr. Negahdar is that the latter truly believes that there is no country at the time being to let Ashraf residents in due to their terrorist repute. He has indirectly implied that transferring Mojahedin members to another country even as MKO members, results in the loss of Camp Ashraf, i.e. the strategic and ideological bastion of Mojahedin. He has also focused on the significance of camp Ashraf in his book and elaborated on the close relationship between Ashraf and the ideological revolution of Mojahedin, writing:

There is no doubt that the remarkable resistance of [Camp] Ashraf under the hegemony of Mojahed women has its roots merely in the internal ideological revolution of Mojahedin. 5

Evidently, Niyabati is well aware that the sole solution for the survival of Mojahedin is keeping Camp Ashraf ongoing. Therefore, it seems that Mojahedin prefer not to be removed from the terrorist list since in that case they would have no excuse to remain in Camp Ashraf and have to leave it and lose their organizational unity. Now the US presidential election coming to an end, the two-year pledge of Rajavi to overthrow the Iranian regime proves futile once more. These events have intensified Mojahedin crises. According to Niyabati:

I have no doubt … that deserting Camp Ashraf and compulsory transfer of Mojahedin, would be more advantageous for keeping the security of [Iranian] regime rather than that of Mojahedin. 6

In a nutshell, Niyabati and Mojahedin sympathizers’ insistence on keeping MKO members in Camp Ashraf aims mainly at maintaining the ideological and strategic container of Mojahedin and has nothing to do with posing a threat for the Iranian regime.

References:

1. Niyabati, Bijan, The necessity of releasing Mojahedin forces, two different view points

2. Ibid

3. Ibid

4. Ibid

5. Niyabati, Bijan, A different look at the internal ideological revolution of Mojahedin

6. Niyabati, Bijan, The necessity of releasing Mojahedin forces, two different view points

November 24, 2008 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

Cult leaders as psychopath

As it is the same with majority of the cults, the cult of Mojahedin cannot be truly explored and understood without understanding its leader. Massoud Rajavi is known to be an egocentric power maniac whose character and leading flaws has so far suggested exhibiting many of the behavioral characteristics of marked megalomania and paranoia. Many even go beyond to state that he is a psychopath who has succeeded to enforce himself onto the leadership position. Their assertion is in no way an arbitrary judgment but based on comprehensive researches done by prominent academics and cult experts.

It is also said that most cult leaders, especially those who lead a destructive cult, have suffered personality disorders of some kind that relate to certain unyielding, maladaptive behaviors that cause a person to develop prejudice and anti-social functioning. Psychiatrists are of the opinion that the roots of these disorders can be traced to have often been manifested in the person’s childhood and which later set the ground to create problems in how to deal with the society and the rest of the world.

Similarities between cult leaders of all sorts are in fact character disorders commonly identified with the psychopathic personality as asserted by psychiatrists who have studied the behaviors of the leaders from the very beginning when cults came to jeopardize the society around them and even in a global scale. No cult originates unless established and run by people who believe to possess superhuman talents and skills who gathers around themselves a collection of devoted followers to convince them that they are ordained leaders with the ability to sense their followers’ needs and draw them closer with promises of fulfillment. It is only the beginning and gradually, as Madeleine Landau explains, “the leader inculcates the group with his own private ideology (or craziness!), then creates conditions so that his victims cannot or dare not test his claims. How can you prove someone is not the Messiah? That the world won’t end tomorrow? That humans are not possessed by aliens from another world or dimension? Through psychological manipulation and control, cult leaders trick their followers into believing in something, then prevent them from testing and disproving that mythology or belief system”.

In the same way that Thaler Singers’ Cults in Our Midst played a great role to prove Mojahedin Khalq’s cultic nature, there are many more other sources that may help reach a conclusion that the group’s leader Rajavi inherits psychopathological traits studied and traced in most cult leaders. The following is an excerpt from the book entitled "Captive Hearts, Captive Minds" by Madeleine Landau Tobias and Janja Lalich studying the cult leaders as psychopath.

Cultic groups and relationships are formed primarily to meet specific emotional needs of the leader, many of whom suffer from one or another unotional or character disorder. Few, if any, cult leaders subject them- selves to the psychological tests or prolonged clinical interviews that allow for an accurate diagnosis.

However, researchers and clinicians who have observed these individuals describe them variously as neurotic, psychotic, on a spectrum exhibiting neurotic, sociopathic, and psychotic characteristics, or suffering from a diagnosed personality disorder.

It is not our intent here to make an overarching diagnosis, nor do we intend to imply that all cult leaders or the leaders of any of the groups mentioned here are psychopaths. In reviewing the data, however, we can surmise that there is significant psychological dysfunctioning in some cult leaders and that their behavior demonstrates features rather consistent with the disorder known as psychopathy.

Dr. Robert Hare, one of the world’s foremost experts in the field, estimates that there are at least two million psychopaths in North America. He writes, "Psychopaths are social predators who charm, manipulate, and ruthlessly plow their way through life, leaving a broad trail of broken hearts, shattered expectations, and empty wallets. Completely lacking in conscience and in feelings for others, they selfishly take what they want and do as they please, violating social norms and expectations without the slightest sense of guilt or regret."

Psychopathy falls within the section on personality disorders in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the standard source book used in making psychiatric evaluations and diagnoses. In the draft version of the manual’s 4th edition (to be released Spring 1994), this disorder is listed as "personality disorder not otherwise specified/Cleckley-type psychopath," named after psychiatrist Hervey Cleckley who carried out the first major studies of psychopaths. The combination of personality and behavioral traits that allows for this diagnosis must be evident in the person’s history, not simply apparent during a particular episode. That is, psychopathy is a long-term personality disorder. The term psychopath is often used interchangeably with sociopath, or sociopathic personality because it is more commonly recognized, we use the term psychopath here.

Personality disorders, as a diagnosis, relate to certain inflexible and maladaptive behaviors and traits that cause a person to have significantly impaired social or occupational functioning. Signs of this are often first manifested in childhood and adolescence, and are expressed through distorted patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself. In simple terms this means that something is amiss, awry, not quite right in the person, and this creates problems in how he or she relates to the rest of the world.

The psychopathic personality is sometimes confused with the "anti- social personality," another disorder; however, the psychopath exhibits more extreme behavior than the antisocial personality. The antisocial personality is identified by a mix of antisocial and criminal behaviors–he is the common criminal. The psychopath, on the other hand, is characterized by a mix of criminal and socially deviant behavior.

Psychopathy is not the same as psychosis either. The latter is characterized by an inability to differentiate what is real from what is imagined: boundaries between self and others are lost, and critical thinking is greatly impaired. While generally not psychotic, cult leaders may experience psychotic episodes, which may lead to the destruction of themselves or the group. An extreme example of this is the mass murder-suicide that occurred in November 1978 in Tonestown, Guyana, at the People’s Temple led by Jim Jones. On his orders, over 900 men, women, and children perished as Jones deteriorated into what was probably a paranoid psychosis.

The psychopathic personality has been well described by Hervey ClecMey in his classic work, The Mask of Sanity, first published in 1941 and updated and reissued in 1982. Cleckley is perhaps best known for The Three Faces of Eve, a book and later a popular movie on multiple personality. Cleckley also gave the world a detailed study of the personality and behavior of the psychopath, listing 16 characteristics to be used in evaluating and treating psychopaths.

Neuropsychiatrist Richard M. Restak stated, "At the heart of the diagnosis of psychopathy was the recognition that a person could appear normal and yet dose observation would reveal the personality to be irrational or even violent." Indeed, initially most psychopaths appear quite normal. They present themselves to us as charming, interesting, even humble. The majority "don’t suffer from delusions, hallucinations, or memory impairment, their contact with reality appears solid." Some, on the other hand, may demonstrate marked paranoia and megalomania. In one clinical study of psychopathic inpatients, the authors wrote: "We found that our psychopaths were similar to normals (in the reference group) with regard to their capacity to experience external event~ as real and with regard to their sense of bodily reality. They generally had good memory, concentration attention, and language function. They had a high barrier against external, aversive stimulation….In some ways they dearly resemble normal people and can thus ‘pass’ as reasonably normal or sane. Yet we found them to be extremely primitive in other ways, even more primitive than frankly schizophrenic patients. In some ways their thinking was sane and reasonable, but in others it was psychotically inefficient and/or convoluted."

Another researcher described psychopaths in this way: "These people are impulsive, unable to tolerate frustration and delay, and have problems with trusting. They take a paranoid position or externalize their emotional experience. They have little ability to form a working alliance and a poor capacity for self-observation. Their anger is frightening. Frequently they take flight. Their relations with others are highly problematic. When dose to another person they fear engulfment or fusion or loss of self. At the same time, paradoxically, they desire closeness; frustration of their entitled wishes to be nourished, cared for, and assisted often leads to rage. They are capable of a child’s primitive fury enacted with an adult’s physical capabilities, and action is always in the offing.

Ultimately, "the psychopath must have what he wants, no matter what the cost to those in his way."

November 22, 2008 0 comments

Auver-sur-Oise

What’s up in Auver Sur Oise?

MEK created a perfect garrison in the heart of Europe; they have made the French Parisian country side, Ouver Sur Oise, their headquarters to control their cult; they own over 30 phone lines and a powerful internet connection; there are houses aligned next to each other; the walls between the house have been removed so as the houses can serve as a hall in case of necessity; the complex is even equipped with rifle-pit and secret rooms; this is the place where Maryam Rajavi resides and directs her cult.

There are various teams who serve there: a team to control the members organizationally; a team to arrange foreign relations; a team to manage financial sources and money laundry. They have also formed a section for the protection of the forces; a section for controlling them and a political section.

In the eastern part, there are separate buildings which house the so-called members of the council where they get the orders of what to do and what to write. They are considered as the cult’s political and cultural arms. But when it is the turn for the more internal relations of the cult these people are called as lazy people without motivation, who should always be pushed to work.

The MEK has tried to keep the neighbors satisfied so they spent large amounts of money on gardening and decorating their houses; they have even helped the reconstruction of other buildings paying large sums to the Mayor. Of-course the satisfaction of the neighbors can not justify the existence of a terrorist cult in France. The cult has forced most of the members to stay.

Can anyone in Europe believe that there are some people who are not allowed to leave their house without permission? Can the Europeans believe that there are some people in Europe who are not allowed to get out of their house except for gathering and demonstrations? These people are living in Ouver Sur Oise. There are some supervisors who are assigned to control those who are not satisfied with the cult or who are likely to complain and also all the walls, doors and windows are always controlled by the protection guard.

All ordinary people in the camp have had no contact to the free society for years, so they can’t speak or understand French, and they are not able to solve their personal problems independently and this is one of the obstacles against their will to leave the cult. The French government is well aware of the internal structure of MEK and its cult-like practices and inhumane behavior in Ouver Sur Oise, but it hasn’t done any significant act to remove this base and even hasn’t banned their illegal activities. If the French government builds a refugee camp ( like TIPF in Iraq) near Auver Sur Oise camp, most of the forces will leave the base ( and this is what most of the defectors wish for their ex-comrades )

But the reason that the French government hesitates to do so is simply stated by a normal French authority:” if France does so, it implies that it is itself accused of helping MEK; in Iraq the fault was on Saddam Hussein who had protected MEK for his own benefits but in France the fault will be put on the current administration that surely will not accept it.” Therefore the defectors feel a heavy responsibility to denounce the camp and the inhuman treatments inside the camp and the crimes committed by MEK leaders who hide themselves there. Maybe the French authorities will be forced to open the doors of that horrible castle.

Translation – Nejat Society

November 20, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Is PMOI a democratic organization?

The self-assigned president of the so-called National Council Resistance (which is the political arm and the elegant admirable cover for MEK)without war and with a pen in hand wearing beautiful clothes, recently replied the Italian Newspaper ,Metro, the question on the solution to Iran problem as :

“Support the change inside Iran and by the Iranians, we believe that this is the only way to achieve democracy, free opinion and respecting the rights of minorities. We are a democratic organization.” (According to MEK’s website)

As it is referred to Iranians, they always selected what they wanted and they will absolutely make a change whenever it is needed.

As it is referred to minorities, we have witnessed in MEK how the few number of other religions were forced to change their ideology the example is Mr. Edvard Termado (who is a defector of MEK, he is Christian who was forced by the group to convert to Islam

But about Maryam Rajavi’s word:” we are a democratic organization.” There is a question since we have been in MEK and served there we can understand what you mean by Democratic!?

The forced signatures you took from us or the forced meetings we had to attend every week to insult and beat each other. You mean the people who waist their lives in the prisons of Ashraf where under heavy physical and mental torture the opponents die. Or those who were assassinated by the terror squads and then you claimed that they died due to illness!

Your Democracy is also obvious in the testimonies of hundreds of defectors in various international communities where they denounce the way you forced mothers to leave their children or spouses to divorce, the way you destroyed the family relations. The pure democracy is shown in the ideological leaders’ order for the hysterectomy surgery on women of Ashraf! You might interpret democracy as the forbidden phone contacts between members and their families. We would be so pleased to realize your documented, clear description for this sentence:”we are a democratic organization”

November 19, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

A Call To Disclose Cult Abnormalities

More than two decades ago when Massoud Rajavi informed of the great change and ideological revolution within Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), still believing to be active as a political group, hardly anybody first came to assume that it was actually the beginning of a long path leading the organization into the abyss of internal and external challenges. Although Rajavi’s marriage with his comrade’s wife received appreciations of a novel move in the group’s internal relations, soon the magnitude of the marriage itself was faded in comparison with other significant consequences of the move that required time to be actualized. The intended personality change in the insiders could not take effect overnight ant it really consumed time to accomplish Rajavi’s plotted ideological principles. Even Rajavi himself anticipated prolongation of the process when he said: “If you fail to comprehend now, be patient. I do not know, maybe you come to understand in one, five or ten years”.

It was in no way an overstated assertion since he knew well what would come out of his initiated revolution. Still many aspects of his devised ideological ploy and its profound effects remain concealed and beyond the scope of the world. Only in the recent years, and following the disclosures made by many defected members, the outside world has been to some extent informed of the organization’s cultic aspects and internal human tragedies. Interestingly enough, the modern world was even shocked to a great degree to learn about horrible, deplorable stories related by the ex-members about what passes inside the organization.

Of the most outrageous, scandalous cult records recently revealed are hysterectomy operations and Rajavi’s sex scandal, his polygamous marriage with the female cadres of the Leadership Council. Being under the constant influence of cultic behaviors that show most abnormal to the outsiders, the insiders and even the separated members consider them as typically normal. As expounded by Thaler Singer “If you spend enough time in any environment, you will develop a personal history of experience and interaction in it. When that environment is constructed and managed in a certain way, then the experiences, interactions, and peer relations will be consistent with whatever public identity is fostered by the environment and will incorporate the values and opinions promulgated in that environment”. 1

It is of great importance to perceive to what extent the detached members of MKO have come to incorporate abnormal experiences and interactions of the group’s cultic environment now out of that milieu. Long being engaged in cooperative activities with other comrades in an environment that hardly could they realize its cultic structure under the cover of political campaign, these members fail to perceive that they had been coerced into many abnormalities. It has to be pointed out that it is a fact most cult members have experienced and as Singer explains “when you engage in cooperative activity with peers in an environment that you do not realize is artificially constructed, you do not perceive your interactions to be coerced. And when you are encouraged but not forced to make verbal claims to "truly under- standing the ideology and having been transformed," these inter. actions with your peers will tend to lead you to conclude that you hold beliefs consistent with your actions. In other words, you will think that you came upon the belief and behaviors yourself”. 2

So explicitly explained by cult experts, the insiders and newly defected members are unaware of the change in them while in the cult and which are regarded bizarre behaviors by the outside onlookers. The defectors should know that whatever they consider as the mist ordinary, normal and unimportant are much objectionable, bizarre and abnormal to the outside societies. Then, it is best recommended that the defected members of MKO be sensitive to whatever monotonous regularity they were putting up with in the cult and to disclose them to the world to judge for itself.

References:

1. Thaler Singer, Margaret, Cults in our midst, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; A Wiley Imprint, p.76.

2. Ibid.

November 19, 2008 0 comments

USA

US Presidential election and PMOI’s vague future

The US presidential election ended with the victory of Barak Obama. The case was largely reflected in the world due to its crucial value.

The change in the ruling party in the US will absolutely influence the US foreign politics but the fate of other countries won’t undergo large changes because they will try to adjust their new relations.

Here, only the dependent movements including MEK/PMOI might undergo unexpected changes. MKO’s vain hope on warmongers of the US and its propaganda show that this reliant movement plays no independent part in its own fate.

According to Masud Rajavi’s analysis, the warmonger party of the US administration should have prepared the preliminaries for military invasion to Iran so as after the overthrow of the Islamic Regime Masud Rajavi and his wife Maryam could achieve the power in Iran. This bad-omen dream shows the dependence of the cult on foreign countries rather than seeming unrealistic.

In fact, the dependent political movements of Iran have two main characteristics:

First, the reliance on foreign support has an old history (MKO/PMOI has been supported by Saddam Hussein for three decades)

Second; the fate of these dependent movements is unexpected. Their fate depends on decisions made by the supporters and their agreements with the group’s enemies.

Today the same dangers threaten Mujahidin’s Cult, Today that the US forces in Iraq are facing a lot of problems of which one is the MKO/PMOI that was supposed to serve CIA as a “ good terrorist “ organization but the cases in Iraq make MKO’s fate ambiguous.

MKO’s baseless propaganda and its dramatic activities including the support of millions of Iraqi people for MKO/PMOI, or the support of Iraqi tribal leaders who are still loyal to Saddam, will not have any influence on MKO’s future.

Translation: Nejat Society

November 16, 2008 0 comments

Auver-sur-Oise

Auvers-Sur-Oise; Mojahedin dead-end in France

Of the main cause behind intensifying security measures in Auvers-Sur-Oise and concealing it from the focus of the media may be the fact that Mojahedin are highly concerned about the rumors running rampant that insiders are deserting. Majority of those who have defected from the organization are known to be quitters, but to be a deserter is absolutely intolerable. Being a highly closed cult of personality, Mojahedin Khalq Organization disapproves either of the two groups of the quitters and deserters, but, according to many MKO former members, Rajavi discriminates in favor of the former. He is quoted to have reiterated that he prefers to have a member quitting every day to having even one deserter in a year since the cost the latter imposes on the organization is irreparable.

Now this question arises that why a quitter is supposed to impose lower costs on the organization? As a former MKO member explains, when a member declares his willingness to separate the organization, he has to account for some ambiguities, such as being the enemy’s accomplice, and undergo some process. First, the dissident member has to sign papers that his separation is a willful act due to individual frailty and failing to keep on his past enthusiasm for struggle as a freedom fighter. Then, he is forced to sign to discredit any criticism of the organization at any time in future done in his name. Thus, the quitters are careful about whatsoever they say about the organization lest it should make public their signed papers which might indicate that they have talked under outside pressure and discredit whatever made testimonies. That is just what happened in the case of Marzieh Qursi who quitted MKO last year and tried to unveil some of its cultic activities and features.

Mojahedin justify that the process at least works as a barrier for possibly further collaboration of separated members with the other oppositions in general and the Iranian regime in particular hence cutting costs to the possible extent. However, those members who manage to escape from or desert MKO impose a greater cost on the organization since they are under no obligation and have signed no particular paper. They freely take the opportunity to disclose whatever the organization tries to keep concealed about its cultic relations and scandals. In the same way, it is evident that the members’ slinking away from Auvers-Sur-Oise would be in no way tolerable and is incomparable with escapes made from Camp Ashraf.

There are evidences that disclosures of members deserted while in Europe have been much more effective compared to those escaped from Camp Ashraf. The reason may be their familiarity with the Western culture and knowledge of appropriate terminology and the ways in which the real nature of Mojahedin can better be publicized. For example, Masoud Banisadr’s “The memoirs of an Iranian rebel” has been much more successful than oral statements and testimonies made by other separated members. Also, the fact that Auvers-Sur-Oise has drawn the attention of France security agencies is another impetus for Mojahedin to maneuver on Camp Ashraf than Auvers-Sur-Oise and its occupants.

It has to be also pointed out that there are countless instances of complaints and objections made by local citizens who are disturbed by living in the vicinity of Rajavi gang’s residence; as it was one of the reasons for Rajavi’s expulsion from France when protests were made that he was shattering peace and security in the suburbs of Paris. However, at the present Mojahedin run two strategic strongholds which are under the threat of disintegration and dissolution. They know well that collapse of Ashraf may lead to their strategic blockade in Auvers as well, so they reluctantly abide by the imposed rules of being under the control of outsiders as done in Iraq.

Wherever they are, Mojahedin necessitate a camp-like location to run a collective life. Contrary to their phase of armed struggle which bore no settlement, now they are highly in need of a dwelling to survive. Unlike the past, they are in need of securing a permanent setting to run a seemingly pro-democratic struggle. That is why Auvers-Sur-Oise is of great strategic and political significance for Mojahedin. They are willing to turn it into a legalized refuge of their political struggle in Europe. In fact, they try to model Ayatollah Khomeini whose settlement in Paris suburbs was the climax of his political, anti-monarch struggle conducted from France and initiation of his Islamic regime. But there is one exception. Looking it from an impartial angle, Khomeini’s residence was open to the world to visit.

As pointed earlier and verified by many reporters visiting Auvers-Sur-Oise, it has been turned into a strategic fortress and cultic bastion guarded under strict security measures. Generally, it has to be a location for all opposition groups dissenting the present Iranian ruling and a place where people of all classes can attend freely to express their ideas and take part in collective political activities to achieve a joint objectives.

The reason why Mojahedin have established another camp in France is a matter of consideration to which France government has to pay due attention. If it is an ordinary camp of some political refugees, why it is so unusual? The fact is that despite pro-democratic and peace-seeking gesture of Mojahedin leaders, Auvers-Sur-Oise is a cultic bastion and an assembly of terrorist plotters set in the heart of Europe. It might well answer the question that why Mojahedin refrain to admit anyone to Auvers-Sur-Oise while they insistently invite their Western advocates to visit Camp Ashraf. The duality may be the ground for the West to take a closer look at the course of events therein.

November 16, 2008 0 comments

Auver-sur-Oise

Auvers-Sur-Oise, the blind spot in the Val d’Oise

In an interview with VOA, Alireza Jafarzadeh, the diplomatic activist of MKO, released some statistics on Camp Ashraf. He raved about the number of Ashraf members as well as entertaining, educational, health, and medical centers therein. Likewise, Mojahedin-run TV is engaged in broadcasting programs on the significance of Camp Ashraf and its residents giving repeatedly cliché, inflated information on the structure and facilitations of Camp. It is evident that the demagoguery is aimed to cover the truth about what really passes within Ashraf under a cover of heavy media propaganda. However, many believe that it is a tactic through which Mojahedin attempt to distract the attention of the public opinion to effortlessly continue with their main job in Auvers-Sur-Oise quarters.

As a terrorist cult, the organization has developed sophisticated techniques to twist the mind of its listeners from among a range of sympathizers, advocates and ordinary run of people uninformed of the facts. It well recognizes the effect of propaganda in how to defend peace and freedom by appealing to patriotism, nationalism and humanitarian sentiments to continue with its violent plans.

Camp Ashraf is now considered as the mainstay of Mojahedin with regard to the practice of their cultic relations. After the Fall of Saddam in Iraq and the takeover and siege of Ashraf by the U.S. forces, Mojahedin have actually lost the opportunity of using the camp as the command center of plotting and launching over the border terrorist operations. Therefore, it has no strategic significance for the time being and has turned to be a spot merely keeping the cultic relations of the organization ongoing and intact. Now this question arises that in spite of overexposure of Camp Ashraf, why Mojahedin keep silent on releasing the least amount of information on their main quarters in France where the leaders, on whom the survival and life of the cult depend, are residing and making decisions?

Except the local residents of Auvers-sur-Oise, hardly any visitor to the calm town is conscious of a globally proscribed terrorist cult having situated its citadel there. Reported by New York Time’s correspondent Craig S. Smith going there on an arranged interview with Maryam Rajavi:

The sleepy town of Auvers-sur-Oise, 20 miles northwest of Paris, is best known as the place where van Gogh lived the last months of his life. Japanese and American tourists wander uncertainly down its main street, peering at reproductions of his paintings in front of the buildings that they portray. Few of the tourists are aware that the town is now home to an almost cult-like Iranian opposition group, some of whose members have divorced their spouses as an act of loyalty to the cause and whose armed wing is on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The group’s devotion to Mrs. Rajavi is so extreme that some members set themselves on fire when she was briefly detained by the French police two years ago. 1

It has to be pointed out that Auvers-Sur-Oise is not an ordinary site; on the contrary, it is well guarded by means of numerous controlling and security systems to the point that they have caught the attention of all interviewers and reporters arriving there. Almost all individuals meeting the residence of leaders and ranking Mojahedin in France unanimously focus on its complexity and high level of security. According to an Italian reporter once coming to have an interview with Massoud Rajavi:

His [Rajavi’s] dwelling in Auvers-sur-Oise, in the Parisian suburbs, is much like a fortress. There is a high wall keeping it concealed from suspicious looks. There are high voltage barbed wires around as well as searchlights on the walls illuminating the surroundings. The road to Massoud Rajavi’s villa (leadership centre) is controlled by two French check-points equipped with machine guns. The only entrance to villa is guarded by Mojahedin forces themselves. 2

Also, the Germany national broadcasting writes:

There were some impedimenta in our path to his [Rajavi’s] dwelling, 4 kms to northwestern Paris. The park therein was not well landscaped; the area was surrounded by barbed wires charged with high voltage. There were a number of French police officers at the entrance door to settle the possible disputes. 20 men always accompany Massoud Rajavi. His political assistants live outside his small fortress. 3

As noted by another Italian reporter, the main residence of the Rajavis and the highly imposed drastic security measures even for the group’s members is described as:

A place where no one (even the insiders) can enter unless fully inspected and under highly control measures. 4

The use of controlling systems fails to be productive in itself; however, the act of Mojahedin in misusing the facilities provided for them by the West is a matter of consideration. They make attempt to abuse these facilities for the achievement of their cultic and terrorist objectives and according to D.S.T report, they have established another cultic-terrorist haunt in France. The western political analysts have come to the point that ‘the Rajavis misuse the surprising laxity of the European governments by living in Auvers-Sur-Oise luxuriously for many years.’

There are evidences that Auvers-Sur-Oise is known at the present to have become the main strategic base for Mojahedin and they abuse it in different ways in order to pursue the totalitarian objectives. According to D.S.T report:

We have been able to identify numerous PMOI members recruited and housed in France, making regular trips to Iraq… They also follow several different routes to Iraq: passing through Jordan, Egypt, or Turkey. They make their connections through different European countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands… Once in Iraq, the militants undergo various levels of political and military training. The NLAI fighters coming from Iraq regularly visit PMOI HQ in Auvers-sur-Oise, while veteran soldiers are installed in France and remain continuously active in promoting the organization. 5

In addition, a fact is acknowledged that Mojahedin aim to establish another Camp Ashraf in the Europe:

The Mojahedin’s aim was to move their "world operational centre" -previously based in Baghdad -to the Val d’Oise. 6

Interestingly, Mojahedin broadcast the majority of their television programs from Camp Ashraf and refrain to give any information about Auvers-Sur-Oise while almost all their political contacts and activities are conducted from the HQs there. It is much surprising that at a time when Mojahedin petition the West to remove their name from the terrorist list, what really panics them to let a free entrance into their dwelling. What is really different about Camp Ashraf and the camp in Auvers-Sur-Oise with the former being the focus of the media and propaganda while the latter remains off the air.

References

1. New York Times, September 24, 2005

2. Massoud Rajavi’s interview with Corriere della Sera Daily.

3. Massoud Rajavi’s interview with Deutschlandfunk.

4. Massoud Rajavi’s interview with Italian News agency (Ansa).

5. Gessler, Antoine; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, chapter 14, DST report on MKO.

6. ibid.

November 15, 2008 0 comments

Iran

Hatred towards the Mojahedin Terrorists

Hatred towards the Mojahedin Terrorists is an indication of close ties between the people of Iran and Iraq

In a meeting with a number of Iraqi cultural figures as well as academicians in Tehran on Monday, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said, "From the start of the US and other occupiers’ invasion of Iraq, we described the military campaign as a ‘quandary.’ Now, years after the assault, the occupiers are in reality mired in Iraq’s quagmire."

"Colonial acceptance has no place in Muslim states particularly in Iraq and Afghanistan and if the occupiers seek to linger in these two countries under any pretext, they should satisfy public demands," he added.

According to Press TV, the Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council meanwhile termed the Iraqi nation as prudent and resistant, adding that the high turnout of Iraqis at the parliamentary elections was a true representative of their commitment to Islamic values.

He noted that Tehran calls for Iraq’s perseverance of territorial integrity as well as the establishment of stability and tranquility in the war-torn country.

Hashemi Rafsanjani meanwhile called on Iraqi scholars and academician to seal a bright future for their country through teaching and training Iraqi students.

The Ayatollah also referred to the Iranian and Iraqi nations’ hatred towards the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) as an indication of close ties and feelings between the officials and people of the two countries.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who was killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. – FNA

November 13, 2008 0 comments

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