Documents

The latest report of CRS on the Mojahedin-e Khalq

The Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)

CRS PRODUCT (LIBRARY OF CONGRESS)
CRS Product Type: Reports
Publication Date: 02/25/2025
Author: Thomas, Clayton

Summary

The Mojahedin-e-Khalq or MEK (also known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, or PMOI) is an exiled Iranian opposition group. This report provides background on the group, including its origins, its 1997 designation by the U.S. Department of State as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), its 2012 delisting as an FTO, and other issues.

Background

The MEK was founded in Iran in the early 1960s to oppose the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran. The group’s foundational ideology has been described by one historian as “a combination of Islam and Marxism.”1 Alongside and in periodic collaboration with other opposition groups of various ideological backgrounds, the MEK in the 1960s and 1970s sought the overthrow of the then-U.S.-backed Shah through guerilla attacks against the Iranian government and other targets. Some of these attacks killed U.S. military personnel stationed in Iran according to a 1994 congressionally mandated State Department report.2 The MEK participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution and, after the fall of the Shah, “supported the takeover of the U.S. embassy, and opposed the release of American hostages” according to the 1994 State Department report.3 The MEK has denied involvement in the 1979 embassy seizure and other attacks on Americans in Iran.4

In the early 1980s, the MEK fell out with the newly established Islamic Republic led by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and launched attacks against it (including a 1981 bombing that killed Iran’s chief justice and dozens of other officials); in response, the government detained and “indiscriminately” executed thousands of MEK supporters.5 MEK leader Massoud Rajavi and other MEK figures fled to France in 1981 as the crackdown intensified and founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) purporting to act as a government-in-exile. In 1985, Rajavi married Maryam Qajar-Azodanlu, who changed her name to Maryam Rajavi and became secretary-general of the MEK and the “President-Elect” of the NCRI. The Rajavis and other MEK members left France in 1986 for Iraq, where the MEK aided the government of Saddam Hussein in its war against Iran.6 Massoud Rajavi has reportedly not been seen in public since 2003 and his whereabouts are unknown; some analysts speculate that he is dead.7 According to the State Department report mentioned above, NCRI “disintegrated in the 1980s” as various partners “left the organization because of their objections to Rajavi’s dictatorial methods and his unilateral decision to ally with Iraq.”8

After the 1988 conclusion of the Iran-Iraq War, the MEK remained in Iraq, which they continued to use as a base for attacks both in Iran and abroad. Such attacks included coordinated assaults against Iranian diplomatic installations in 11 countries (including Iran’s Mission to the United Nations in New York) in April 1992, and the April 1999 assassination of the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff.

Listing as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO)

In October 1997, the State Department made the first designations pursuant to Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (as added by Section 302 of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, AEDPA, P.L. 104-132), which authorizes the Secretary of State to designate as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) any group that engages in terrorist activity that threatens U.S. national security.9 The State Department announced the designation of 30 groups as FTOs, including the MEK.10 An October 1997 media report on the designations, citing an unnamed senior Clinton Administration official, stated that “inclusion of the [MEK] was intended as a goodwill gesture to Tehran and its newly elected moderate president, Mohammad Khatami,”11 a quote that has since featured prominently in MEK efforts to portray the designation as baseless and politically motivated.12 A 1999 State Department report announcing the redesignation of most of the original designees (including the MEK) featured several frequently asked questions, including, “Why was the MEK designated?” The report answered:

We have sufficient grounds for concluding that they are a terrorist organization and continue to engage in terrorist violence. The designation is based on activities much more recent than the takeover of our embassy.

Additionally, directing terrorism against a government or entity with whom we have differences does not exclude an organization from designation as an FTO.

MEK is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization because of the acts they commit, not who they act against and not who they are.13

In 1999, the State Department also added “National Council of Resistance” and NCR as aliases of the MEK.14

In the 2011 Country Reports on Terrorism (the last in which the MEK was included as an FTO), the State Department reported the group had 5,000-10,000 members worldwide, with large contingents in Paris and other European capitals, and that the NCRI (“the MEK’s political arm”) had “a global support network with active lobbying and propaganda efforts in major Western capitals. NCRI also has a well-developed media communications strategy.”15 That report also stated, “Before Operation Iraqi Freedom began in 2003, the MEK received all of its military assistance and most of its financial support from Saddam Hussein. The fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime has led the MEK increasingly to rely on front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities.”16

Delisting as an FTO

In the late 2000s, the MEK mounted a legal and advocacy campaign in the United Kingdom and Europe to seek delisting as a terrorist group; the group was delisted as a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom in 2008 and the European Union in 2009.17 Seeking to capitalize on that momentum, the MEK petitioned the U.S. State Department to revoke its FTO designation in 2008, pursuant to AEDPA. In January 2009, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied the petition but noted in a document provided to the MEK that “the continued designation of the MEK should be reexamined by the Secretary of State in the next two years even if the MEK does not file a petition for revocation,” given the MEK’s claims to have renounced terrorism.18

In July 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia directed the Secretary to review the designation and to “provide the PMOI the opportunity to review and rebut the unclassified portions of the record on which she relied” in keeping the group on the FTO list.19 That court ruled again in June 2012 that the Secretary’s “delay in acting on PMOI’s petition for revocation is egregious” and ordered the Secretary to deny or grant the petition within four months.20

The MEK complemented its legal efforts with an advocacy campaign in Congress focused on the status of the group’s members in Iraq.21 MEK members in Iraq relinquished weapons to U.S. forces in Iraq in 2003 and remained concentrated largely at a location known as Camp Ashraf. In 2004, then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld designated MEK members as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and U.S.-led coalition forces maintained security at the camp.22 U.S. forces handed security responsibility for the camp to the elected Iraqi government in 2008. As U.S. forces withdrew additional forces from Iraq in 2009, Iraqi government forces asserted greater security control over Camp Ashraf, and conducted operations inside the camp resulting in the deaths and injuries of some MEK camp residents. Some House Members introduced or cosponsored resolutions calling for protections and humanitarian assistance to Camp Ashraf residents (e.g. H.Res. 704, 111th Congress; and, H.Res. 231 and H.Res. 332, 112th Congress). Other Members introduced or cosponsored a resolution calling for the MEK’s delisting as an FTO (H.Res. 60, 112th Congress).

On September 28, 2012, the State Department announced the MEK’s delisting as an FTO. In the announcement, the Department said

With today’s actions, the Department does not overlook or forget the MEK’s past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of U.S. citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on U.S. soil in 1992. The Department also has serious concerns about the MEK as an organization, particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its own members. The Secretary’s decision today took into account the MEK’s public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade, and their cooperation in the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, their historic paramilitary base.23

In 2013, the MEK left Iraq for Albania, where the group remains at a site called Camp Ashraf-3 and reportedly has periodically faced threats from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).24 The U.S. government provided some diplomatic and financial support for the MEK’s move to Albania and the Albanian government’s role in hosting the group.25 In June 2023, Albanian police reportedly raided the MEK camp as part of an investigation into “unsanctioned political activities;” the MEK claimed one of its members was killed and dozens injured in the raid.26

Some Members of Congress have remained engaged in MEK-related issues. In the 118th Congress, H.Res. 100, which would have expressed “support for the Iranian people’s desire for a democratic, secular, and nonnuclear Republic of Iran,” condemned “violations of human rights and state-sponsored terrorism by the Iranian Government,” and referenced “opposition leader Mrs. Maryam Rajavi,” had 243 cosponsors. H.Res. 1148, which would have expressed the House of Representatives’ support for Rajavi’s “Ten-Point Plan for the Future of Iran,” had 227 cosponsors.27 In December 2023, NCRI asserted that Members of Congress had formed a “Congressional ASHRAF Protection and Rights Advocacy Caucus” and published what NCRI described as the caucus’s ‘mission statement,’ ‘statement of purpose,’ and ‘by-laws.’28 In a January 2025 “Strategic Framework,” the NCRI-aligned Organization of Iranian American Communities (OIAC, see below) called for the United States government to “formally recognize” NCRI as a “parliament in exile.”29

Role in Iran

As an exiled opposition group, the MEK plays no role in the authoritarian political system of the Islamic Republic. Given the Iranian government’s repressive approach to civil liberties and the media, there is not reliable information on the MEK’s activities or support within Iran. The MEK claims to be a focal point for broad-based opposition to the Iranian government.30 To bolster the group’s claims that it has support within Iran, the MEK has argued that it has received information from domestic sources on the government’s nuclear program and crackdowns on public protests.31 Limited public opinion polling suggests the group may not have broad popular support in Iran or within the Iranian-American diaspora.32 Statements from Iranian government officials as recently as January 2025, as well as alleged Iranian operations against both the MEK and the Albanian government, suggest that Tehran continues to view the MEK as a threat.33 The January 2025 OIAC “Strategic Framework” asserts that MEK “Iranian Resistance Units” operate covertly in Iran, organizing protests and strikes.34

In a 2022 statement to Foreign Policy, a State Department spokesperson was quoted as saying that “the United States does not see the MEK as a viable democratic opposition movement that is representative of the Iranian people.”35 The spokesperson also reportedly relayed that the State Department “continues to have serious concerns about the MEK as an organization, including allegations of abuse committed against its own members.”36 The group has long faced accusations that it holds members against their will and commits torture—allegations the group denies.37

Relationships with Other Iran-Related Groups in the United States

A number of U.S.-based advocacy groups seek to represent the views and interests of Iranian Americans. While the groups voice support for a free and democratic Iran, they often disagree strongly on U.S. policy approaches. Of these groups, the Organization of Iranian-American Communities (OIAC) appears to be closest to the MEK. OIAC materials and speakers regularly promote Maryam Rajavi, who has spoken (via video) at OIAC events, including a December 2024 OIAC briefing for congressional staff reportedly attended by several Senators and former U.S. military officials.38 OIAC has denounced Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah and so-called “crown prince” whom other advocacy groups (such as the National Union for Democracy in Iran, NUFDI) have promoted.39

Footnotes
1. Ervand Abrahamian, The Iranian Mojahedin (Yale University Press, 1992), p. 92.
2. U.S. Department of State, Report on the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, October 28, 1994. The report states that the MEK “are known to have assassinated” six Americans, including three U.S. military personnel, between 1973 and 1976. The report was mandated by Section 523 of the FY1994-1995 Foreign Relations Authorization Act (P.L. 103-236) and is at http://iran.org/news/1994_10-State-Dept-MEK-report.htm.
3. U.S. Department of State, Report on the People’s Mojahedin of Iran.
4. See National Council of Resistance of Iran, U.S. Representative Office, FARA filing at https://efile.fara.gov/docs/6171-Informational-Materials-20170110-1.pdf.
5.U.S. Department of State, Report on the People’s Mojahedin of Iran.
6. Ibid.
7. Jonathan Masters, “Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK),” Council on Foreign Relations, July 28, 2014. In a 2020 interview, an MEK spokesperson reportedly said, “We can’t talk about it” when asked about Massoud Rajavi’s whereabouts. Patrick Kingsley, “Highly secretive Iranian rebels are holed up in Albania. They gave us a tour,” New York Times, February 16, 2020.
8. U.S. Department of State, Report on the People’s Mojahedin of Iran.
9. 8 U.S.C. §1189. For more, see CRS In Focus IF10613, The Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) List, by Liana W. Rosen. For follow-up, congressional offices may contact Clayton Thomas.
10. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Public Notice 2612, 62 Federal Register 52650, October 8, 1997.
11. Norman Kempster, “U.S. designates 30 groups as terrorists,” Los Angeles Times, October 9, 1997.
12. See, for example, “The resilient MEK: Rebuilding the Iranian Resistance in exile,” PMOI/MEK, September 8, 2021.
13. U.S. Department of State, 1999 Report Index, October 8, 1999, at https://2001-2009.state.gov/s/ct/rls/rpt/fto/2682.htm.
14. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism, Public Notice 3130, 64 Federal Register 55112, October 8, 1999.
15. U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Terrorism 2011, July 2012, at https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/ct/rls/crt/2011/195553.htm. For more information on the MEK’s reliance on Iranian diaspora communities as a financial support system, see Mark Edmond Clark, “An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the Mujahedin-e Khalq,” in Terrornomics, ed. Sean S. Costigan and David Gold (London: Routledge, 2007), pp. 65-76.
16. Ibid.
17. For an account of the MEK’s legal campaign in the United Kingdom and European Union, including references to primary sources, see Ben Smith, “The People’s Mujahiddeen of Iran (PMOI),” UK House of Commons Library, Briefing Paper Number CBP 5020, March 7, 2016, pp. 9-12.
18. People’s Mojahedin Organization v. United States Department of State, 613 F.3d 220 (D.C. Cir. 2010).
19. Ibid.
20. In re People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, 680 F.3d 832 (D.C. Cir. 2012).
21. Ali Gharib and Eli Clifton, “Long march of the yellow jackets: how a one-time terrorist group prevailed on Capitol Hill,” Intercept, February 26, 2015; Ali Harb, “How Iranian MEK went from US terror list to halls of Congress,” Middle East Eye, July 17, 2019.
22. Jeremiah Goulka et al., The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum, RAND National Defense Research Institute, July 28, 2009.
23. U.S. Department of State, Delisting of the Mujahdin-e Khalq, September 28, 2012, at https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/09/198443.htm.
24. Kingsley, “Highly secretive Iranian rebels”; Hollie McKay, “Inside the Albanian compound of an exiled Iranian opposition group,” Coffee or Die Magazine, September 20, 2022; and, Harun Karcic, “How Albania Ended Up in Iran’s Cyber Crosshairs,” Foreign Policy, November 8, 2022.
25. Pamela Dockins, “US praises Albania for MEK resettlement,” VOA, February 14, 2016; U.S. Department of State, Remarks Before the Daily Press Briefing, September 12, 2016.
26. Maziar Motamedi, “Why was this Iran dissident group raided in Europe?” Al Jazeera, June 21, 2023.
27. Rajavi’s Ten-Point Plan, which includes calls for “a republic founded on universal suffrage and pluralism,” “separation of religion and state,” and “complete gender equality,” is available at https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/maryam-rajavis-ten-point-plan-for-future-iran/.
28. “Congressional caucus spearheads global initiative to ensure safety and rights of Iranian dissidents in Ashraf-3,” National Council of Resistance of Iran, December 21, 2023. See also Matthew Petti, “Congress forms caucus to aid Iranian ex-terror group,” Responsible Statecraft, January 16, 2024. As of December 2024, the caucus did not appear on the Committee on House Administration’s list of Congressional Member Organizations (CMOs) in the 118th Congress. As of February 2025, the caucus does not appear on the CMO list for the 119th Congress. See CMO lists at https://cha.house.gov/congressional-member-and-staff-organizations.
29. “Strategic framework for U.S. policy on Iran: Supporting regime change, engaging viable alternative, and facilitating transition,” Organization of Iranian-American Communities, January 15, 2025. OIAC’s website says the group “supports the 10-point plans by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi for a democratic Iran.” See https://oiac.org/about/.
30. See, for example, Matin Karim, “The Resistance Units: The frontline of the fight for freedom in Iran,” PMOI, February 17, 2025.
31. “About the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK),” PMOI website, at https://english.mojahedin.org/about-the-peoples-mojahedin-organization-of-iran-pmoi-mek/.
32. Nancy Gallagher, Ebrahim Mohseni, and Clay Ramsey, “Iranian public opinion at the start of the Raisi Administration: a public opinion study,” University of Maryland Center for International and Security Studies, September 2021; Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans, National Public Opinion Survey of the Iranian American Community 2023, February 2023.
33. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, “Iranian state actors conduct cyber operations against the government of Albania,” September 23, 2022; Gerta Zaimi, “Iran’s Balkan front: the roots and consequences of Iranian cyberattacks against Albania,” Middle East Institute, December 22, 2022; “Killing of senior Iranian judges puts spotlight on exiled opposition group,” Amwaj.media, January 20, 2025.
34. “Strategic framework for U.S. policy on Iran: Supporting regime change, engaging viable alternative, and facilitating transition,” Organization of Iranian-American Communities, January 15, 2025.
35. Harun Karcic, “How Albania ended up in Iran’s cyber crosshairs,” Foreign Policy, November 8, 2022.
36. Ibid.
37. No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps, Human Rights Watch, May 18, 2005; Kingsley, “Highly secretive Iranian rebels”; Murtaza Hussain and Matthew Cole, “Defectors tell of torture and forced sterilization in militant Iranian cult,” Intercept, March 22, 2020.
38. “A bipartisan conference in the U.S Senate examined the path to a free democratic Iran,” Organization of Iranian American Communities, December 14, 2024.
39. OIAC, “Reza Pahlavi, son of overthrown shah, is no advocate for a democratic Iran,” May 10, 2023.

March 16, 2025 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

What was the fate of us 800 MEK children?

Whenever you see someone supporting the MEK, show them this video. This is the moment when more than 800 children, including myself, were separated, in most cases forever, from their parents by the MEK cult in 1991. Prior to that, our parents were forced to divorce each other. All based on Masoud and Maryam Rajavi’s orders.

What was the fate of us 800 children? No one will fully ever know because no one kept track. But many of us were transferred to foster families and homes where in many cases we were raped and abused. Sharing our stories is not easy, but a handful of us do because we found the courage within us to do so. A few hundred of us, including myself, were eventually lured back to Iraq “to find our parents” and ended up being recruited as child soldiers by the MEK, where we spent almost two decades within their ranks. I escaped and today I share my stories.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Documentary/MEK-Children-SVT.mp4

But the MEK will argue that their goal in doing so was to “save the lives of the children” and that they took them out of a war-torn Iraq during the first Persian Gulf War. And that they were sent to safe countries.
Then you should ask them:

– Why didn’t at least one parent accompany their child?
– Why didn’t the parents join their children after the war ended?
– Why are most of these children still separated from their parents after almost 35 years?

That is when you will come to the real answer that the MEK is an Islamic cult that has stripped its members of the most basic human rights and emotions. To the point where a mother, like mine, has no love for her son anymore and chooses loyalty to the cult and leader over family.
I will not we forgive. I will not forget. And I will continue writing and sharing my stories so the world can wake up to the evil the Islamist MEK cult represents.

Ray (Mohammad Reza) Torabi

December 28, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Public Screening of the documentary Mother, Love, Separation

The opening of the public screening of the documentary will be next Sunday, November 4th, in the city of Shkodër. The documentary is supposed to be shown in other cities of Albania and finally its closing event will be held in Tirana. A number of Albanian media have expressed their desire to broadcast the documentary on their networks later.

https://dla.nejatngo.org/Media/Documentary/Mum-Love-Sep.mp4

The Documentary is the story of the pain and sufferings of mothers and families of people trapped in the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Aldo Sulollari, the media manager of Nejat Society Albania, together with Erisa Edrisi, the head of the NGO, had a trip to the Persian Gulf last summer, and visited Soraya Abdullahi (mother of Amir Aslan Hassanzadeh) and Masoumeh Rezaei (mother of Saeed Farajullah Hosseini).

The sons of these two mothers have been taken as hostages by the MEK for years. Sulollari and Edrisi conducted meetings and discussions with the suffering mothers. They were closely involved in the pain and sufferings of the mothers and families of the members of the MEK who are trapped in the group’s camp in Manez, Albania.

The outcome of the meetings and conversations of several days on what these two languishing mothers explained on behalf of all mothers and suffering families, in addition to additional images from the records on the issue in Iran, is a 40-minute documentary, titled “Mother, Love, Separation” (“Nëna, Dashuria Ndarja” in Albanian language) which was directed by Aldo with the help of Erisa’s as the translator.

Documentary “Mother, Love, Separation

October 30, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The Children of Camp Ashraf Documentary

The documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” is based on the life story of four Swedish citizen whose parents were members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The film was directed by Sara Moien and produced by Linda Mutavi. Since January 31st, it has been screened in two Swedish festivals, Goteborg film festival and Tempo Documentary Festival. It was aired by the Swedish TV channel SVT, on June 17th.

Children of Camp Ashraf is about Amir Yaghmai, Parwin Hosseinnia, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sebdani. They are four of the children of Mujahed parents who ended up in Sweden. Sara Moein’s extremely engaging documentary, presents a rich archive material about the experiences of its protagonists who suffered a traumatized childhood in the MEK’s system. They are trying to reconnect with the group in order to visit their parents, who are now in Albania.

Camp Ashraf, mentioned in the film’s title, was a military camp in the desert of Iraq, near Iranian border. The film depicts how the children lived and grew up there, until they were smuggled to Europe and North America. The parents of these almost 1000 children remained in Camp Ashraf to continue fighting, while their children were displaced. The children in the film were placed with mujahedin sympathizers in Sweden. One of the participants, Amir Yaghmai later returned as a child soldier to Camp Ashraf.

https://dla.nejatngo.org/Media/Documentary/SVT-Children-Ashraf-1.mp4

June 29, 2024 1 comment

Former members of the MEK

The Children of Camp Ashraf – Official Trailer

The official trailer of The Children of Camp Ashraf was released. The documentary is based on the lived experience of four Swedish citizen whose parents where members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The film was directed by Sara Moien and produced by Linda Mutavi. Since January 31st, it has been screened in two Swedish festivals, Goteborg film festival and Tempo Documentary Fesrival.

https://dlb.nejatngo.org/Media/Documentary/Camp-Ashraf-Doc.mp4

to download the video file click here

In the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution, the MEK left their homeland, allied with Saddam Hussein, and settled in Iraq. Here, based on collectivist ideas, they established a large camp, Camp Ashraf. The organization became increasingly cult-like, tied to its leaders, and in the early 1990s, it was decided that hundreds of children in the camp would be raised by sympathizers abroad. Amir, Parwin, Hanif, and Atefeh are some of those who ended up in Sweden, and in Sara Moein’s deeply engaging documentary, they narrate their experiences to a rich archive of materials. They also try to reconnect with the organization and their parents, who are now in Albania.

March 10, 2024 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

Documents to Expose Rajavi’s Violence against Dissident Members

A recently published document from inside the Mujahedin-e Khalq proves that Massoud Rajavi has used the most horrific tactics to suppress dissident members. Former child soldiers of the MEK revealed the cover and some pages of a pamphlet that demonstrates how critics against the MEK’s strategy will end with imprisonment, torture, elimination and even murder of the criticizing person.

The pamphlet which is titled “Organizational Ideological Argument” is actually the abstract of thousands of manipulation sessions run by Massoud and Maryam Rajavi in Camp Bagherzadeh, Iraq in 2001. The heart-breaking memoir of these sessions are always part of the difficult experiences of every former member of MEK. All of the confirm the content of the recently published document. According to the contents of this booklet, the MEK leaders forbid any kind of dissent and criticism in their cult-like organization.

Organizational Ideological Argument

guidelines to push the dissident members to the hands of the Iranian Government or the Saddam Hussein’s Intelligence Service

Zhina and Amir, the two former child soldiers of the MEK published two pages of the document that contains a dozen of guidelines to push the dissident members to the hands of the Iranian Government or the Saddam Hussein’s Intelligence Service (Estekhbarat). The document which is dated September 2001, clearly argues that defection is forbidden:

“There is no such a person as defector. A defector who wants to leave the organization to enjoy a normal life should confess in front of the cameras. His place is not in the organization; he will be sent to Iran without cyanide capsule and arm.” This way, the MEK leaders plan to threaten their dissident members that they will certainly be arrested and executed by Iranian government and the group actually pushes them to this dark fate.
According to the document, no dissident member is allowed to go to Europe to take refuge. Instead, he or she will be handed to the then Iraqi government that was called by the MEK as the landlord.

“If we do not smuggle the defector into Iran, we will hand him to the landlord who will deal with him in accordance with their laws. Explanation: unlike European countries, Iraqi government does not deal with individuals and does not grant refuge. Iraq deals with the organization as a whole. It has accepted members based on the organization’s credit. Therefore, people who are attached with the organization are not questioned and do not have to fill out forms while arriving or leaving the country. Consequently, once the organization does not admit the responsibility of an individual, he will be treated as an illegal person.”

The content of this document is nothing new for former members of the MEK. We have already seen the testimonies of numerous defectors of the group who were victims of such a horrific punishment by the Cult of Rajavi. However, this booklet can be considered as a legal document to prove the inhumane attitude of the MEK leaders towards their own members in order to bring them to justice in a fair international trial.

June 2, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

53 years of the MEK crimes

The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (People’s Mujahedin of Iran also known as MEK, MKO or PMOI) was formed on the basis of Marxism and Islam; later Islam was removed from MEK’s doctrine . This group, established in 1965 in a bid to overthrow the Shah, harbored an anti-Western and anti-U.S. ideology. They also formed alliances with other Iranian Marxist groups such as the Organization of Iranian People’s Fedai Guerrillas.

But both of them had a marginal role in the Shah’s overthrow during the Islamic Revolution which was mainly fought by the supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini. MEK leaders were mostly imprisoned by the Shah’s security apparatus and couldn’t play a direct role in the 1979 Revolution.

Due to their intense anti-American approach, MEK killed many US officials, including three officers who had been military advisors under the Shah and three civilian contractors working in Iran. They also kidnapped the US Ambassador to Iran. They were the main elements for occupying the US embassy in Tehran, and when the embassy staff were released they called it a”surrender”.

MEK 33 year of Crimes

The MKO has also made numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian civilians and government officials since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks over the past four decades, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the terrorist group’s acts of terror.

Based on these facts, US State Department put the MEK on their list of international terrorist organizations on October 8, 1997. Since 2010, this terrorist group’s henchmen have assassinated four senior nuclear scientists in Iran.

Later, it was revealed by a 2012 NBC News report that MEK’s brutal assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists has been committed via”training and arming by Israel’s secret service”. The report also conveyed that what was being said by US officials confirmed the same”charges leveled by Iran’s leaders” about the Israeli involvement in the killings in Iran.

Later it was revealed that the US was also behind these terrorist assassinations by provided intelligence to the MEK. Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh revealed in an interview with Democracy Now that the Bush administration secretly trained the Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist group when it was still included on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorists. Writing for The New Yorker magazine, Hersh reported that:

“The US Joint Special Operations Command trained operatives from Mujahideen-e-Khalq, or MEK, at a secret site in Nevada beginning in 2005.”

Later it was revealed that this training was held at Department of Energy’s Nevada National Security Site, located about 65 miles northwest of Las Vegas.

Human rights abuses in MEK camps also included physical abuse, lack of exit options, forced celibacy, emotional isolation, extremely degrading peer pressure, forced labor, sleep deprivation, intense ideological exploitation and isolation.

to view the full report on the MEK in International documents click here

April 11, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

The MEK Uncovered

‘Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered; The Terrorist Group in The Eyes of International Media’, is a collection of articles on Mujahedin e-Khalq organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI, PMOI, etc.), published in major international Media outlets from 2000-2017, and reports on the group published by governments, research institutes and think tanks that helps to understand how MKO’s terrorism has been viewed by experts, journalists, politicians, governments and international organizations during the past 17 years.

Iran is estimated to have lost more than 17000 of its citizens to terror attacks since the establishment of the Islamic Republic, 12000 of whom are reportedly assassinated only by the MKO. The atrocities and crimes of the MKO set up one of the bloodiest chapters of Iranian history. Soon following the Iranian Islamic revolution, the organization started a phase of armed struggle in a bid to destabilize the newly formed government and have its revenge of failing to assume a share in the power. As a result, MKO’s dedicated terrorist teams launched numerous blind suicide operations, bombings, gun-shot assassinations as well as street gun-battles in which many innocent civilians and key officials were killed. In 2005, a report titled ‘No Exit’ was released by Human Rights Watch describing the terrorist group as a cult of personality that systematically violates the human rights of its own members.

There are also reports that members of the MKO deify Maryam Rajavi, who has already proclaimed herself “president” of Iran. Her photographs are frequently found in MKO camps, and MKO members staged forced public self-immolations to protest her 2003 arrest in Paris. MKO’s terrorist activities in Iran and abroad were not left unnoticed by global Media. The group’s terrorist nature has been widely reflected in the Media during the past 2 decades. Although the MKO has been described as a terrorist group in MEK Uncovered 13 official documents released by various governments including the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, etc, in the past few years, the group succeeded to lobby its name out of the lists of terrorist organizations thanks to its big lobbying campaigns and large sums of money paid to the people that lobby on its behalf. Considering MKO’s long history of adopting terrorism and cult-like practices as major tools to achieve its political aims, it is worth knowing how MKO’s terrorist and cult-like nature is reflected in major international Media outlets and research institutes in the past 2 decades.

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 1

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 2

Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered; The Terrorist Group in The Eyes of International Media

Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered 2
With the inauguration of Donald Trump as President of the United States, the extremists opposing Iran in the White House were presented with an opportunity to bolster their support for the cult of MEK. On the one hand, Trump’s administration officials sided with this terrorist cult and a significant number of his close associates espoused the group. On the other hand, the MEK repeatedly incited the new administration to take severe measures and impose more sanctions against Iran, which all generally targeted the Iranian people.

Perhaps this magnitude of bilateral communications between mid-2017 and the termination of Trump’s presidency led a considerable number of Western media outlets, particularly the United States, to focus on the MEK and its relations with the Trump administration and highlight the group’s atrocious records of terrorism and deception.

Consequently, with Trump’s presidency coming to an end, an attempt was made to compile and refine all the articles in order to publish the second volume of the book.

The book, published in 830 pages, vividly demonstrates that the MEK is still a highly dubious and notorious group in the West and despite the efforts to present a different image of itself among Westerners, it has not attained much success.

The MEK uncovered

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 1

Mujahedin-e Khalq uncovered- 2

April 4, 2022 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Home Office documented case of child soldiers of the MEK

Recent testimonies of former child soldiers of the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK) in western newspapers and eventually in the social media, brought the case of MEK’s child soldiers to light. However, recruiting child soldiers has been a longstanding tactic in half a century history of the group. The fact was partly documented by the Home Office of the United Kingdom, in 2007.

Even before its militarization and the foundation of the group’s so-called National Liberation army, aka Saddam’s Private army in Iraq, the MEK leaders were never overly concerned with the age of their followers. Before the 1979 revolution, when the MEK conducted an underground struggle against the shah’s regime, many of its members were teenage girls and boys that had been drawn to a “modern Islam” as articulated by the organization. This Islam was a reinterpretation of the religion in mostly Marxist terms. Many of these under-18 believers were dispatched to fight against the Islamic Republic. An unknown number of them were killed.
During the late 1990s, child soldiers of the NLA were recruited from Europe and North America where they had been smuggled to in 1991 under the order of Massoud Rajavi.

In the chapter about the Mujahedin Khalq as an Iranian opposition group, the British report on Iran published by Border and Immigration Agency of the Home Office, on May 4th, 2007 reads:
“According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 “The MeK reportedly recruited members from the USA, Europe and Iraqi prisoner of war camps and jails. Children were said to be among MeK members in Ashraf camp, including 17-year-old Majid Amini who ‘was recruited to join the MeK in Tehran with promises of completing two school grades in one year and gaining a place in college’, according to his parents. There were reports that the MeK recruited children from Sweden.”

January 13, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Report by “Child Soldiers International” on the MEK

Details on the sufferings of child soldiers recruited by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK/ MKO/ PMOI/ NCRI/ Cult of Rajavi) have recently come to light by former child soldiers of the group but the Child Soldiers International exposed it twenty years ago.

Child Soldiers International (formerly the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers) is an international human rights research and advocacy organization. They seek to end the military recruitment and the use in hostilities, in any capacity, of any person under the age of 18 by state armed forces or non-state armed groups. As they state advocate for the release of unlawfully recruited children, promote their successful reintegration into civilian life, and call for accountability for those who unlawfully recruit or use them.

In 2001, the Child Soldiers International’s report on Iran was published by the Refworld which is the leading source of information necessary for taking quality decisions on refugee status by the UN’s High Commissioners of Refugees and other international bodies and states.

Report by Child Soldiers International on the MEK

According to the report, as an Iranian opposition group the MEK is listed as an entity that recruited and deployed children under 18 for military use when it was located in Iraq. This part of the report says:

This group includes the National Liberation Army (NLA) of Iran as an armed wing and the Muslim Iranian Student’s Society as a front organisation. It is the largest and most active Iranian opposition group outside the country. The MKO was founded in 1965, advocating an anti-Western platform which combines Marxism and Islam. It is now based in Iraq.928 The MKO has launched an international campaign against the Iranian Government through propaganda, street demonstrations and violence. Women play a prominent role in the organisation.
There are reports that children under 18 have been recruited from Sweden to MKO camps. In 2000, following a visit by President Khatami, the German Government closed hostels that were reportedly used by the MKO to raise money and train cadres. There have also been regular but unconfirmed reports of the MKO trafficking children from camps in Iraq to Europe and North America.

As a cult-like extremist group with a record of violent activities, the MEK is now located in Albania, Europe. The cases of hundreds of child soldiers of the MEK have been ignored since the publication of the Child Soldiers International’s report. Regarding the growing revelations made by former child soldiers of the MEK, the threat of the Cult of Rajavi to Albanian youth and children should not be neglected.
Moreover, the leaders of the MEK should be brought to trial for violation of the rights of at least eight hundred children they separated from their parents and trafficked to the west in 1991 and mentally and physically abusing at least 300 of these children who they brought back to Iraq to train and deploy as child soldiers of their so-called NLA.

refworld.org

January 9, 2022 0 comments

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