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Mojahedin Khalq responsible for all violence in Dyali

Governor of Khalis: Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult, MEK,MKO) responsible for all violence in Dyali

Staging a protest rally in front of Governor’s building, Hundreds of peoples of Khalis in Iraq called for the expulsion of MKO terrorists from their land.

The protesters, who carried different placards, demanded that the Iraqi government’s security plan should not change into a political issue and must involve all parts of Dyali province.

The demonstrators also declared their demands via the placards for the expulsion of MKO terrorists from Iraq.

Welcoming the movement against the presence of terrorists in Iraq and appreciating the Iraqi government’s recent military operation in Dyali province, the governor of Khalis demanded for the Iraqi government to intensify its operations in the region.

Oday Khedran also called for the presence of the Iraqi military and security forces in all critical parts of Khalis which have now changed into safe shelters for the armed terrorist groups.

He asked the Iraqi security forces to deport MEK terrorists from Iraq as soon as possible. He called MEK a terrorist cult which is responsible for all the existing unrests and violence in Dyali.

August 11, 2008 0 comments

Zeinab Taleb Jedi

N.Y. Judge Green-Lights Trial for Terrorism Case

N.Y. Judge Green-Lights Trial for Terrorism Case Involving Group Working With U.S. Military

A federal judge in Brooklyn has upheld a terrorism prosecution against a U.S. citizen working for a group violently opposed to the Iranian government.

Zeinab Taleb-Jedi had argued that her indictment for providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization was outrageous because the group to which she belongs, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), has been working with the U.S. military in Iraq.

But such are the fortunes of war, Eastern District of New York Judge Brian M. Cogan ruled in United States v. Taleb-Jedi, 06 cr. 652.

"Foreign relations generally and specifically during a time of war are not black and white, and the PMOI need not be viewed as a monolithic entity," the judge wrote. "It is perfectly permissible for the military to forge alliances with those in the PMOI with whom it wants to deal, while the Government deters through prosecution other individuals, particularly United States citizens, from rendering material support to the organization on their own."

Cogan observed that war itself is an "outrageous, but as determined by other branches of government, sometimes necessary undertaking."

Taleb-Jedi, who was born in Iran, came to the United States in 1978 and became a citizen in 1996. She worked for PMOI in America, then went to Iraq in 1999 to work at the group’s base. Among her activities were teaching English, translating documents and serving as a member of PMOI’s political department.

The U.S. State Department designated PMOI a foreign terrorist organization (listed as "Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization") in 1997, based on its involvement with assassinations and other activities targeting the Iranian government. Questioned by the Federal Bureau of Investigation after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, Taleb-Jedi was arrested and charged with providing material support to the group on her return to the United States in 2006.

In addition to arguing that the prosecution should be thrown out, Taleb-Jedi also challenged her indictment on First Amendment grounds, claiming PMOI is not a terrorist organization and that she is entitled to be a member of it.

The judge said any claim that PMOI was not a terrorist organization was complicated by the group’s own acknowledgement of its involvement in assassinations and other violent activities. Moreover, he said, the group’s designation by the State Department fell within the discretion accorded the executive branch in matters of national security.

The rest of her First Amendment challenge failed because, according to the prosecution, she was an employee of PMOI rather than a mere supporter, the judge said. Freedom of speech and association, he said, did not extend to actively working on a terrorist group’s behalf, even if her duties were nonviolent.

The judge noted that many terrorist groups simultaneously engaged in education and social welfare programs. But he said, even if Taleb-Jedi’s work was in a benign area, "she may be freeing up or enabling another person to take part in something far more nefarious."

However, Cogan added, if Taleb-Jedi could advance evidence at trial showing that her participation in PMOI was more passive or explicitly nonviolent in nature, an acquittal might be warranted. For instance, he noted, if her English lessons were solely to help the group advocate before the United Nations, such conduct might not constitute material support.

Taleb-Jedi was represented by Justine Harris of Federal Defenders. In a statement, Harris said she and her client were eager to take the case before a jury.

"Ultimate resolution of many of the legal issues will depend on whether the government can sustain its allegations at trial," said Harris. "At the close of the evidence, we will all have to revisit the substantial First Amendment and Due Process issues at stake."

The government was represented by Eileen M. Decker, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, as well as Eastern District of New York Assistant U.S. Attorney Kellie T. Currie.

Anthony Lin – New York Law Journal

August 11, 2008 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

An Urgent Appeal

An Urgent Appeal, for Actions and Initiatives on behalf of Iranians in limbo in Iraq; in Defense of Human Rights and the Right to Asylum

Tragedy is too often the stuff of literature. The majority of people worldwide, try to avoid persons and situations that are shaped by too great a tragedy, concentrating instead on that which is simple and promises some easy resolution

Yet activists are literary figures. They concentrate on human tragedies, not shying away from multi-dimensional problems and readily working towards difficult solutions.

In a region increasingly marked with tragedy , perhaps no story is more tragic than that of the former members of the Iranian Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), who wish to leave their state of limbo in war ravaged Iraq, can not return to Iran and hope for safety, and have not yet managed to gain asylum to any other corner of this earth.

The Iranian poet Shamlou – in his poem “Public Love” – talks of the dead of the year 1953 being the most loving of the living. And we have often repeated this when talking of those who have given their lives in any given year in the still ongoing struggle for freedom and human rights in Iran.

And yet one group of men and women, driven away by the unmet promise of the Iranian people’s revolution and told that if they loved their country and people well enough, they would give up everything and take up arms for just six short months, sought to prove this love by doing just this.

Security, jobs and children even were left behind, as these often young men and women – and some teenagers – left for Iraq , from where this struggle was to take shape.

Yet, each six month term was to be followed up with another, and they who had sought an alternative to two dictatorships within their own country, became victims of their leader’s power fantasies (which with time went as far as forcing all to divorce their partners and ban all other love – except the love for the one power – out of their very hearts) , Saddam Hossein’s war games , and the mind control, punishment routine , beatings and torture by their comrades!

And as the report released in 2005 by Human Rights Watch noted, there was “NO EXIT”![1] They were denied even the freedom to defect or leave. And so they were kept at Camp Ashraf in Iraq until this was turned into Camp “TIPF” , under the charge of US American forces. As hard at conditions were at Camp “TIPF”, with its recent closing the situation of these individuals became even more desperate.

Today, understanding the great and multi-faceted tragedy of these lives held in limbo and under extremely harsh and inhumane conditions , we deem it our responsibility to come to the defense of these fellow Iranians as well as to the defense of the legitimate rights of all political asylum seekers in Iraq. And we call upon all activists and defenders of human rights as well as political organs and organizations to familiarize themselves with this tragedy and – with us – to attempt to bring about a humane solution..

Iran National front – Europe (Germany); Summer 2008

The Following is a list of some of these former MKO members who are now in a state of limbo in Iraq, following the very recent closing of camp “TIPF”. Of these, 35 have been able to leave Iraq and are yet still in search of a destination.

Ebrahim Bolochi

Ebrahim Rahimi

Abolfazl Dehnamaki

Ahad Omidvar

Ahmad Soleimani

Ahmad Shahbazi

Ahmad Sehat

Ahmad Gharamohammadi

Ahmad Minai

Ahmad (pseudo name: Mehdi Ranjbar)

Ardeshir Baghbani

Arash Ahmadian

Esfandiyar Bakhshi

Esmail Momeni

Esmail Hooshyar

Afshin Gharatapeh

Iraj Golalipour

Iraj Mousavi

Parviz Derakshan

Parviz Ranjbar

Parviz Farahmand

Parviz Mousavi

Tohid

Jaber Tai Samirami

Jamal Azimi

Javad Assadi

Hamed Sarafpour

Hojatollah Rostampour

Hojatollah Kafai

Hassan Piransar

Hassan Nemati (Safar)

Hossein Bakhshalizadeh

Hossein Bazrpour

Hossein Borojani

Hossein Rezai

Hossein Zendegi

Hossein Mehravar

Hamzeh Tomari

Hamidreza Sistani

Hamidreza Karimi

Hamid Abdolghafari

Hamid Fellahat

Hamid Mohebi

Hamid Naji

Khosrow Dehani

Davoud Razavi

Dormohammad Dehani

Rayan Petrosian

Rahim Khodagholi

Reza Azmodeh

Reza Zand

Reza Mohammadi (Mehrtash)

Ramezan Ghorbanzadeh

Ramezan Mohammadinasab

Rouzbeh Kurdi

Soleiman Kheyri

Siavash Biyabani

Siavash Saidnia

Seyed Abbas Moussavi

Cyrus Taefi

Cyrus Vafa

Shokrollah Mohammadi

Shahab Ekhtiyari

Shirin Masratbakhsh

Sadegh Khorshidi

Sadegh Zohouri

Abedin Janbaz

Adel Kheyri

Adel Matlabi

Abdolamir Sayahi

Abdolsatar Jahangiri

Abdolkarim Mohammadtaghinejad

Abdollah Nikbakht Tabrizi

Ali Ahmadi

Aliakbare Bojari

Ali Bakhsh-afarinande (Reza Gooran)

Ali Barzegar

Ali Jahanifard

Ali Khademan

Alireza Shahmoradiyan

Ali Abdollahi

Ali Mohammad Baloch

Ali Moghadas

Ali Mirahmadi

Ali Miri

Alireaz Goyande

Alireza Mozenzade Tabrizi

Omad Bagheri

Gholamreza Asghari

Gholamreza Rezai

Gholamreza Kermani

Farzin Fasihi

Farshid Farsat

Farhad Bazrafshan

Firooz Karegar

Kambiz Taghipour

Kaveh Pourhamadani

Karam Eslami

Kamal Mousavi

Kiakavoos Amirahmadi

Keyvan Rastbin

Michael Petrosian

Majid Rouhi

Majid Shabani

Mohsen Abdolkhani

Mohsen Abdollahi

Mohammad Ebrahim Rahimi

Mohammad Amir Raisi

Mohammad Taghi Ansari

Mohamad Tehrani

Mohammad Hossein Yousefi

Mohmmad Dadjou

Mohammad Dostdar

Mohammad Razaghi

Mohammad Reza Hosseini

Mohammad Saadooni

Mohammad Sahebi

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi

Mohammad Ghale-joghi

Mohammad Karami

Mohammad Yousef Charezahi

Mahmoud Bayat

Mahmoud Khaleghi

Mahmoud Eynaki

Morteza Mohajer

Masoud Zarghami

Moustafa Heydari

Moustafa Shafiie

Mansour Asari

Mansour Keshmiri

Manouchehr Khodadadi

Mehdi Barjeste Garmaroudi

Mehdi Abbaszadeh

Mehdi Fazollahi

Mehdi Nikbakht

Mehrdad Abdolvand

Mehrdad Fathi

Mehrdad Vosoghi

Mousa Marzban

Mirbagher Sedaghati

Nader Keshtkar

Nader Naderi

Nadali Rahimi

Nasrollah Azari

Norouz Tavakol

Hadi Afshar (pseudo name: Said Jamali)

Hashem Ostovar

Homayou Kaviani

Vahid Karami

Younes Hassanpour

List compiled on 15.08.2008

[1]For more information please read: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/1.htm

August 11, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

PMOI obstacle to peace

The U.S. relationship with an Iranian opposition group based in Iraq jeopardizes the future of relations with the Islamic Republic, an Iranian report says.

An Iranian Press TV report says the U.S. relationship with various militant groups in the post-Sept. 11, 2001, geopolitical environment is duplicitous.

The United States and Iran have had an acrimonious relationship since a CIA-backed coup in 1953 overthrew the Iranian government. Now, the report said, "U.S.-Iranian political atmosphere and dominant American philosophies have encouraged the U.S. government to forge a friendship with an Iranian opposition group that is living in exile, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran."

The report points to a 2007 BBC report saying Tehran in 2003 offered to abandon its support for Hamas and Hezbollah if the United States would revoke its support for the PMOI, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney refused the offer, the report said.

Press TV said that instead of pushing for warmer ties with Iran, Washington has thrown its support behind the PMOI in order to promote democracy in Iran. The column cites a report this year from Seymour Hersh in The New Yorker claiming the U.S. intelligence community has "longstanding ties" to the PMOI as well.

Furthermore, though considered a terrorist group, the PMOI is offered U.S. military protection in its base in Ashraf city in eastern Iraq, Press TV notes.

"Especially in a time where both Iran and the U.S. have mounting levels of distrust for one another; how would supporting an enemy of Iran make Iran want to be a cooperative friend to the U.S.?" the report asks.

UPI, August 1, 2008

http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2008/08/01/

PMOI_obstacle_to_peace_Iran_says/UPI-72771217631365/

August 5, 2008 0 comments

European Union

EU officials: Keep MKO blacklisted

Some European Union members have warned against removing the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from the bloc’s list of terrorist groups.

MKO should be black listed again A number of EU parliamentarians, in a letter have slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list.

The letter adds, the MKO claims to be a democratic Iranian opposition, while it is instead a terrorist group with totalitarian ideals.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, it said, adding that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war.

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

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

Press TV, Aug 04, 2008

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=65572&sectionid=351020101

August 5, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

The Risk of a US-Iran Proxy War

Washington DC – NIAC held a briefing yesterday on Capitol Hill to shed light on the risk of a possible proxy war between the USA and Iran through various sectarian and political groups in Iran and Iraq, including the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The event featured Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.), an expert on strategy and military organizations.

Gardiner spoke of the clandestine support offered by Iran for groups in Iraq and by the USA for entities using violence against Iran.

He argued that the proxy war is already well under way, even though it contradicts the diplomatic approach currently propagated by the US military and state department, and even though some of the possible groups supported are designated by the US State Department as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The proxy war has created an atmosphere, in Gardiner’s view, in which incidents that otherwise could be handled could now ignite a much larger conflict.

Gardiner’s presentation took place against the backdrop of recent media reports pointing towards a US-Iran proxy war with clandestine US support for militant groups fighting Tehran and vice versa. The briefing provided lawmakers and staff in Congress an opportunity to look more deeply into this issue.

The event is part of NIAC’s US-Iran Policy Program, which is funded by the Ploughshares Fund, the Kenbe Foundation, the Pluralism Fund, the Colombe Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

Julia Murray, NIAC, Jul 31, 2008

http://www.niacouncil.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1187&Itemid=2

August 3, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Relatives of MKO Members Stage Rally

TEHRAN (FNA) – Families and relatives of the members of the anti-Iran armed opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), staged a rally in Relatives of MKO memebrs stage rally front of the British embassy in Tehran on Monday to voice strong protest against the removal of the group from the list of terrorist organizations by London. (2008/07/28)

July 29, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Families of MKO members gathering

Families of MKO members gather in front of British Embassy Tehran

Families of members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) gathered in front of the British Embassy in Tehran on Monday to protest London’s recent decision about the notorious organization. families of MKO members gathering

London has recently removed the terrorist organization from the Britain’s terror list.

The protestors were families of those MKO members who have been kept (mostly unwillingly) in the terrorist cult’s camp some 60 km north of the Iraqi capital city of Baghdad.

The center, called the Ashraf Camp, is a place where the MKO members are brainwashed to get prepared to participate in terrorist operations against civilians targets.

At the end of the gathering, the families read a protest letter addressed to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown condemning the UK’s decision.

The letter considered as the gathering’s final statement, voiced the families serious concerns about the fate of their relatives and loved ones.

Stressing that London has made the decision for "political" reasons, they urged British premier to "make sure" that the terrorist group "would not use our children in terrorist activities again." "What has happened under Saddam Hussein’s regime must not be repeated again. We require assurances from the British government that our children would not enter terrorist activities one more time." The protesting families stressed that they would find the British government responsible, once their children entered any more terrorist operations.

They also called on Brown to "safeguard meetings between us and our relatives in the Ashraf Camp".

Established in 1960s, the MKO is at 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.

July 28, IRNA

July 29, 2008 0 comments

Zeinab Taleb Jedi

Iranian widow must go to trial in NY

Iranian widow must go to trial in NY on terror charge

NEW YORK (AP) – A naturalized U.S. citizen must face trial on a charge of providing material support to an Iranian terrorist organization she’s accused of helping to lead, a federal judge ruled Thursday.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan denied a defense motion to dismiss the case against Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, who was arrested in 2006 at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Defense attorneys have labeled the prosecution "outrageous" and argued it violated Taleb-Jedi’s civil rights.

They said that the Iranian-born widow was never involved in violence and that the group, the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedeen Khalq, has won the backing of some U.S. military officers and politicians because it advocates the overthrow of the Iranian government.

The judge, saying foreign relations "during a time of war are not black and white," wrote: "There is nothing outrageous about giving military support to certain elements of the PMOI while at the same time prosecuting an allegedly high-ranking member for violating the material support statute."

The judge, however, cautioned that "if the proof at trial shows only that the defendant participated in the PMOI through mere membership and chanting at meetings, it may well be insufficient to reach a jury or sustain a guilty verdict."

The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. Department of State in 1997. Prosecutors say Taleb-Jedi, 52, became an English teacher in 1999 at the organization’s Iraq headquarters, Camp Ashraf.

She became a U.S. citizen in 1996. In 1997, she learned that her husband died in a bus bombing on the road between Camp Ashraf and Baghdad.

During the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2004, U.S. soldiers seized tanks, anti-aircraft weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and more than 420,000 pounds of plastic explosives at the camp. Prosecutors allege that Taleb-Jedi told FBI agents at the time she "wholeheartedly" supported the group and that two informants have since identified her as a member of a leadership council.

Taleb-Jedi’s lawyer predicted the allegations won’t hold up at trial in Brooklyn.

"Real questions remain about what the government says Ms. Taleb-Jedi actually did, and we look forward to a jury hearing the whole story," attorney Justine Harris said.

"Once the evidence is presented at trial, we will all have to revisit the very serious constitutional issues at stake."

Prosecutors did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Thursday.

If convicted, Taleb-Jedi faces up to 15 years in prison.

By TOM HAYS, Associated Press Writer, July 25, 2008

July 28, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

London based Sky News airs MKO Terrorists show

London based Sky News airs Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists show as UK demands Iran halt activities for Israel

Sky News airs Mojahedin Khalq Terrorists show after lifting ban

An MKO member has criticized the Islamic Republic in a televised interview in a first move since the reversal of the UK ban on the group.

Azam Mollahassani Majdabadi Farahani Kohneh alias Leila Jazayeri appeared in a live program on Sky News television Sunday and severely took to task the Iranian government.

She accused Iran of violating human rights and meddling in the internal affairs of its neighbors.

This has been the first appearance of a member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) since a British court ruling ordered the reversal of the UK ban on the organization.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community, including the US. The group has claimed responsibility for numerous terror attacks against Iranian officials and civilians.

During the program, Jazayeri claimed the Iranian government executes and stones people on a daily basis.

She also said the country’s economy has collapsed, alleging that nearly 85 percent of the Iranian people live below the poverty line and demand a regime change.

The MKO member called on Western governments, in particular Britain, to support the overthrow of the Iranian government by Mariam Rajavi, a leader of the outlaw group.

Leila Jazayeri has been involved in several violent acts against the disaffected MKO members.

She has also disrupted several meetings wherein participants were believed to be critics of MKO policies. She is known to have several criminal court records in European countries for assault and injury, fraud and other charges.

Press TV, London, July 21, 2008

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail.aspx?id=64336&sectionid=351020101

July 28, 2008 0 comments

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