Nejat Society congratulates Mr. Jamil Bassam and his wife on their wedding.
Family is the first shelter and marriage is the sign of being rid of organizational and cultic relations.
Two leading Mojahedin-e Khalq members, Hadi Roshanravani (62) and Mohammad-Ali Jaberzadeh Ansari (60) have been arrested by Interpol on entering Finland some days ago.
The Iranian government has asked for their extradition to face criminal charges.
At this moment Iran-Interlink believes that extradition of the men to Iran will not serve anybody’s interests. However, we do believe that as members of a destructive cult (the Mojahedin-e Khalq) they must not be handed back to the MKO on their release. We urge the Finnish authorities to put aside the political rhetoric which surrounds the arrest of these victims and look at the evidence of psychological manipulation used by the cult to coerce and control its membership.
Before any criminal charges are considered against them, the two men need to be given urgent psychological and medical attention. It is necessary to establish whether their past actions came of their own free will or whether they have been acting under the influence of mind control imposed by the Rajavi cult.
We urge the Finnish authorities to allow these men some time without any interference from outside influences, that is, visits by the cult’s operatives.
Past experience has shown that spending only a short time outside the direct influence of cult manipulation allows victims to regain some normal perspective. Once the ability to think critically returns, cult victims are able to make informed decisions about their involvement in the destructive practices of their organisation.
Two Iranian exiles detained on Sunday. Iran is demanding that Finland extradite two Iranian men whom it accuses of being members of the MKO organisation, which it considers a terrorist group.
The two were stopped while entering Finland on Sunday.
The chairwoman of the Parliament’s Legal Affairs Committee, Heidi Hautala (Green) says that the men came to Finland to take part in preparations for the visit of the organisation’s leader Maruam Rajavi, who was invited to Finland by the Parliament’s human rights group.
Officials held the two at Helsinki-Vantaa Airport on the basis of an international arrest warrant issued by Interpol.
Helsingin Sanomat has learned that the warrant was issued at the request of Iran. There was no suspicion that the two would commit crimes while in Finland.
The police kept the two in custody from Sunday until the Wednesday court hearing.
Police asked the court to allow the two to be kept in jail until Finland decides on Iran’s extradition request.
The court let the men go, but they were ordered not to leave the country.
The Ministry of Justice will decide on the extradition request. Helsingin Sanomat was not able to reach Minister of Justice Tuija Brax (Green).
“It is very dangerous to let them go even for a short time, as they can flee. The Finns are not used to these kinds of people”, said Iranian Ambassador Reza Nazarahari to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday evening.
He says that the two should be handed over to Iran to face trial (…)
Helsingin Sanomat, Finland
Two MKO members with a long history of terrorist activities have reportedly been apprehended by the Interpol police in Finland.
Two men were taken into custody upon entering Finland on Sunday, according to Finnish daily Helsingin Sanomat.
Hadi Roshanravani and Mohammad-Ali Jaberzadeh Ansari are said to be the two
who were arrested.
The men have traveled to Finland to pave the way for a visit by Maryam Rajavi, the wife of the founder of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), who is herself a high-ranking member of the terrorist group.
Officials in Helsinki believe the two men do not pose a threat to Finnish national security but are set to decide on whether the country will extradite the criminals to Iran to face trial.
The 62-year-old Hadi Roshanravani is the top MKO operations intelligence official. He had been conducting espionage operations in Iraq and Europe for decades with the support of the last Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein.
The 60-year-old Mohammad-Ali Jaberzadeh Ansari is a high-ranking MKO theorist that had been tasked with legitimizing the various terrorist operations carried out by the group in Iran and Iraq.
The MKO has committed acts of aggression against both Iranian and Iraqi nationals and remains banned by the European Union and the United States. In a recent move, however, Britain removed the MKO from its blacklist of terror organizations.
The UK initiative has prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO on Thursday and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.
The recent support for the MKO has led the group to initiate various trips to Europe and the United States to lobby for its removal from the lists of terrorist organizations banned by Western countries.
Evidence links the group to the June, 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed, including then Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.
The assassination the following August of Iranian president Mohammad Rajae’i and prime minister Javad Bahonar has also been attributed to the group.
Leaders of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization are fearful of visits between the MKO members with their families, an Iraqi minister says.
Meetings between the members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization and their families should take place without the supervision of the leaders who are fearful of their separation from the group; Fars News Agency quoted the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights Wijdan Mikhail Salim as saying on Tuesday.
The remark was made during the Iraqi official’s meeting with the Iranian families of MKO members, who called for grounds to be prepared for visits.
After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, the MKO members showed an increasing willingness to leave the group, prompting the leaders to impose limitations on the family visits which they believed played a major role in its members’ leaving Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The MKO has been listed as a terrorist organization in Iran, the European Union and the United States.
It launched terrorist operations against Iran following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88). The group is also known to have cooperated with Iraq’s US-backed former dictator Saddam Hossein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
The terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for numerous terror attacks against Iranian officials and civilians.
Germany’s Green Party has rejected an attempt by Maryam Rajavi to re-brand the MKO terrorist group as a credible and legitimate partner.
Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the outlawed Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), or People’s Mujahedin Organization, recently met with members of the German Parliament in a bid to rally support for the removal of the group from the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations.
“The Iranian exile organization of the People’s Mojahedin Organization which acts under the cover of the National Council of Resistance of Iran is not a suitable partner in dialogue for a responsible policy towards Iran,”a spokesperson for the Green Party, Claudia Roth said late Thursday.
Maryam Rajavi directly ordered the massacre of Kurdish people
Roth told reporters that
the group’s position on the EU terror list should be carefully evaluated, as the Rajavi organization has a ‘past of terror’ and assisted the ‘crimes’ of the deposed dictator, Saddam Hussein, in Iraq.
The Green Party, which holds 51 out of 614 seats in the Bundestag, said it clearly dissociates itself from considering the Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a legitimate ‘democratic Iranian opposition’.
The MKO which has been listed as a terrorist organization in Iran, the European Union and the United States, has a long and bloody history of targeting Iranian civilians and government officials.
Incidents linked to the group include the June 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party in which 72 high-ranking Iranian officials including judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mohmmad Beheshti, and tens of Majlis deputies were killed.
The following August the group assassinated President Mohmmad Ali Rajae’i, Prime Minister Javad Bahonar and National Police Chief Ali Dastgerdi at the Prime Ministry building.
The MKO also assisted Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in the massacre of thousands of innocent Iraqis and is responsible for several acts of terror in Iran including the 1994 bombing of a revered Shia shrine in Mashhad, eastern Iran.
In 2003, French anti-terrorist police arrested 165 members in Paris, including Maryam Rajavi, for ‘associating with wrongdoers in relation with a terrorist undertaking.’
More recently, around 10 members of the notorious organization were arrested in France and Switzerland on charges of money laundering on September 29, 2008.
Nothing to impede Iran-Italy friendly ties: Italian ambassador Service: Foreign Policy
Italian newly-appointed ambassador to Iran Alberto Bradanini stressed no issue could impede Iran-Italy friendly ties.
Italy has always fully endeavored to boost the level of all-out cooperation with Iran, Bradanini said at a meeting with Iran’s Parliament National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi.
The ambassador also underlined the influential role of Iran-Italy parliamentary friendship group on promoting bilateral cooperation and called for setting up the group.
Elsewhere in his remarks he referred to Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and assured that Italy considers the group as a terrorist one and will not shift its stance regarding the band.
Boroujerdi for his part said grounds for mutual cooperation on economic, industrial and political sections are available.
He also called for Italian government to prevent MKO moves in the country.
Also concerning Iran’s nuclear technology, Boroujerdi emphasized on the Parliament approval of the plan for building twenty nuclear power plants and said the Europe particularly Italy can take part in construction of the plants to create a new positive development over mutual ties.
Europe needs to review its policy regarding Iran to open a new room for a constructive interaction and mutual regional cooperation.
Iran-Interlink report from the House of Lords – A government spokesman in the House of Lords confirmed that the Americans will hand control of the Mojahedin-e Khalq’s military base in Iraq, Camp Ashraf, Iraqi authorities before the end of the year.
Lord Malloch-Brown, minister of state for the foreign office, was responding to a question about the situation of people in the camp following signing of the status of forces agreement between the US and Iraq.
The Bulgarian unit which was also involved in protecting the foreign terrorist base will leave the country by December 20 according to Sofia’s leading news agency.
A group of tribal leaders and Sheikhs from southern regions of Iraq met and exchanged ideas with members of Habilian Association executive board. In this meeting which was initiated with the speech of director of Habilian’s political committee Sayed Hussein Kakmyab welcomed the Iraqi delegation’s arrival in the holy city of Mashhad and said: Habilian Association has been established in 2005 with the objective of gathering deeds and documents about MKO terrorist group in Iran and also to open MKO crimes cases in international tribunals. This association is comprised of the children and other family members of terror victims in Iran. Hearing the name of terrorists would undoubtedly remind you of the enemies of Iraqi people.
MKO has been for years at the heart of criminal acts against the people of Iraq. They have committed several acts of terrorism inside Iraq and have killed a large number of people in your country causing many human disasters in there. In Iran they have also assassinated over 12000 people including the Iranian president, prime minister, judiciary chief and several MPs by launching terrorist operations. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran they were forced by the people out of the country, so they resorted to Saddam Hussein and resumed their terrorist operations this time under Saddam’s service. Saddam would provide them with a sum of $50 million every three months and they would be under full command of Saddam in return. They were also given an extra budget from the money earned by selling oil. An instance of what they have done in return is the suppression of Shiite Intifada and also massacre of Kurds and Turkmen. They would do whatever they could to satisfy Saddam Hussein in return for his favors toward this terrorist group.
Son of Martyr Kamyab went on and said: right now and as the influential tribal groups in the current scene of Iraq you would play a major role in informing the Iraqi people about this terrorist group. You ca disclose the evil nature of MKO inside and outside Iraq. As the representatives of the two nations of Iran and Iraq we have many things in common. We enjoy the great civilization of Islam which has caused our getting closer to each other this is why the world superpowers always are up to make disunion between us. We also possess huge oil resources which is another reason for the exploiters to create sedition among us.
He also added: I think you agree with us that America attacked Iraq merely for its own interests and in order to attain their wicked ambitions they began to implement their plots for hypocrisy between Iran and Iraq. Shah of Iran insisted on Persian nationalism and Arab nationalism, and Saddam on separating Sunnis from Shiites. Saddam imposed a war on Iran which lasted for 8 years and amid which hundreds of thousands of the people from both nations were killed. What do you think of this war to be set up for? It was just the result of the global superpowers’ plots.
Pointing to the efforts of the Iraqi people to choose their own destiny, their own parliament and government kamyab said: the Iraqi people set the foundations of an independent parliament and chose independent government mostly working for the Iraqi people. It is as bright as the day for all of you that America, after the fall of Saddam, started to support terrorist groups like the Mujahedin-e Khalq and Al Qaeda instead of backing Iraqi peoples’ freedom movement. This way they wanted to justify their illegitimate presence and occupation in Iraq.
Kamyab notified the Iraqi peoples’ recent demonstrations through which they had demanded the expulsion of MKO from their land and said: such demonstrations show that the Iraqi peoples’ unwillingness and that they never want MKO to remain in Iraq any more. A recent instance of such demonstrations was the one by people of Khalis.
Director of the Political Committee of Habilian Association pointed to the progresses the Islamic republic of Iran has made in recent years, especially in the field of nuclear energy, and said: we believe that the Iraqi youth as well can achieve such successes.
Then he mentioned the issue of Ashraf and said: Camp Ashraf is a part of Iraq’s soil and I hope you can have it back again by expelling MKO terrorist cult from Iraq.
Yousof Hamadi head of the delegation of southern Iraq’s tribal leaders was another speaker of the meeting. He expressed gratitude on behalf of the whole delegation for Habilian’s efforts and declared solidarity and sympathy with the families of terror victims in Iran.
He said: My colleagues and I would like to know more about your efforts in Iran and your development and progress you’ve made in all fields. Unfortunately there was an inaccurate picture of Iran in our minds as a result of false propaganda against Iran and we were surprised and realized that how far we had been mistaking about Iran as soon as we arrived in your country.
Hamadi also spoke about the crimes and atrocities of Saddam’s oppressive regime and said: Saddam Hussein suppressed Shiites and assassinated many of them. Many of Shiites Sheikhs were ordered to leave the country and go on exile.
Then he notified the Iraqi parliament’s decision for the expulsion of MKO terrorist group from Iraq and said: we are well aware of the evil nature of this group and the help they gave Saddam in suppressing and killings of Shiites. They welcomed the Americans’ arrival in Iraq and have their bloody hands in the massacre of Iraqi people and creating mass graves in Iraq.
Hamadi stated: we have come to Iran to see your developments and to convey your friendship massage to the Iraqi people.
At the end of the meeting the petition for the expulsion of MKO was signed by the delegation.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon has dismissed a BBC report that he has sent a letter on the situation of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).
The BBC had reported that Ban had voiced concern about the situation of some 3,500 MKO members, who live in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The report said the UN chief has sent the letter to Iraq’s Foreign Minister on 15 October 2008.
“Ban Ki-moon has sent no letter on the MKO to the Iraqi government and the news is not true,” UN Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq told IRNA on Wednesday.
The MKO has blacklisted as a terrorist organization by several countries including the US. It has been involved in terrorist operations against Iran following the Islamic Revolution of 1979 and during the Iraq-Iran war (1980-88).
The group is also known for supporting Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hossein and is accused of collaborating with the Baath regime in the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
Camp Ashraf is situated northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad.