News

++ Former MEK Leadership Council member Maryam Sanjabi has published an autobiographical book in Iran titled ‘The Mirage of Freedom’ about her life with the MEK. The book is in Farsi.

++ A few items have been written anticipating the end of Massoud Rajavi’s career now that the nuclear issue has ended. They say, even though he is trying to jump on the human rights, bandwagon, with his background he is at the back of the queue. He was militarily dead after Saddam died, now he’s politically dead.

++ Every week Maryam Rajavi fabricates the support of one group of people or another; distinct from paid supporters. This week she claims that MEK supporters in Tabriz have asked the Americans to invade the area to liberate them. In reaction, a few people writing from Tabriz and elsewhere have ridiculed this. “There is nobody here from the MEK” they say, “the MEK are hated. Even when we do hold demonstrations it has nothing to do with the MEK.”

++ The series of interviews Davoud Arshad had with Alireza Nourizadeh over the past few weeks are done. Now the MEK have launched a vitriolic attack Nourizadeh in every one of their sites; tens of pages swearing at him and fabricating lies against him. Commentators say it is ironic that Nourizadeh is close to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and that while on one hand the MEK are trying to smooch the Saudis, they can’t stop attacking people close to them either. “Let this be a warning to the Saudis. Use the MEK and this is what you get – the MEK will bite the hand that feeds it.”

++ The funeral of Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi will be held on Saturday 23 January after he succumbed to cancer. Former member of the NCRI, Mohammad Reza Rohani, responded with a short, curt note titled ‘Mr Rajavi why don’t you write with your own name?’ Rohani explains that all this swearing at Mohammad Rahimi is from Rajavi himself but that he has it published under everyone else’s name like Mehdi Abrishamchi. “You still claim to be Muslim? I remind you, the prophet said ‘once someone has died, leave them alone’. But you can’t do that, you have to keep at it. This begs the question, is this swearing about him or issued as a warning against others doing the same thing he did?”

There is a spectrum of MEK and formers who have reacted to Massoud Khodabandeh’s article ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. The old red line between the internal critics and the ex-members is the same of course, nothing has changed there. But inside the MEK, with the appearance of this new red line, there is chaos. On the surface, internal critics all agree about Mohammad Rahimi’s heroic struggle against the Iranian regime. But beyond this there are clearly two camps. Some ask ‘why did Rajavi not allow him bring his wife to be with her son?’ These people recognise a red line. They realise now that even as a supporter you can’t ask for anything or you’ll be labelled an ‘agent of the Iranian regime’. Some others in this camp simply say, ‘he’s dead, let’s forget it and move on’. But the MEK has been badly burned by the exposure that this new red line has come inside the organisation itself. To sort this out the MEK – which long ago infiltrated the so-called circles of internal critics – has tried pretend that Mohammad Rahimi has nothing to do with the MEK and therefore there is no such thing as a red line. A memorial letter has been signed by tens of sympathetic people which does not mention the MEK at all, as though he wasn’t a member for decades. Signatories include the Matin Daftarys- former members of the NCRI – who have signed it out of good will, but whose names act to dilute Mohammad Rahimi’s association with the MEK. This kind of activity is particularly targeted at the English speaking audience.

The effect of this whole affair has been to create doubt, confusion and infighting to the extent that nobody in the MEK is capable of paying any attention to Massoud Rajavi. He has lost his hold over the members and supporters. We will expect to see an internal crackdown fairly soon.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi writing in Nejat Bloggers analyses ‘New Evidence on Mojahedin Khalq-Israel Alliance to Thwart Nuclear Deal’. Parsi writes that “Attempts by Israel and American GOP and also the mujahedin Khalq organization (the MKO) to push the West towards more hostility against Islamic Republic have so far failed… The outcome of the deal was very appalling for the three above- mentioned groups. It was a failure for the Israeli lobby AIPAC and the MKO’s lobby who had spent large amounts of money for their lobbying campaigns to obstruct the deal. Their target audience in the congress are paid large sums to run the anti-Iran agenda.” Parsi then exposes the corruption of Republican Senator Tom Cotton in this campaign, referencing Eli Clifton who wrote about this in Lobelog in March 2015 in an article titled ‘Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK’.

++ Nejat Society reports “Two brothers, defected from Mojahedin Khalq. The Bahadori brothers have now returned to their home town Jolfa, Eastern Azarbayjan.

Shahram and Shahrouz Bahadori were warmly welcomed by their family after 14 years of imprisonment in the camps of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO). The Bahadori brothers were recruited by the MKO in 2002 in Baku Azarbayjan where the older one was working. The MKO recruiters promised to provide them with European refuge.

Although they were promised a better life in Europe, they found themselves in Turkey and then Iraqi Camp Ashraf where they were immediately separated from each other. They were not allowed to meet each other for years. They were not told about their family who had several times come to visit them in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. The brothers made efforts to meet each other for eight years. Whenever they asked for a visit they were punished by the group leaders.

After their relocation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, they succeeded to meet each other randomly and eventually they managed to escape from the cult of Rajavi after the recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty in November. Then, they were aided by the UN and Iraqi human rights bodies and the Iranian embassy in Baghdad in order to return to their country.

One of the brothers told Nejat Society that a large number of members of the group are thinking of leaving the group but they are kept busy in computer classes – without the Internet – because leaders claim that they will be sent to Europe after finishing their alleged computer training course. Cult leaders keep members in a state of hesitation and passiveness by threatening them that leaving the MKO ends with death and destruction.”

++ Habilian Association: “A Beirut-based commentator and analyst covering Middle East geopolitics says Saudi Arabia and Israel were desperate to strike a blow at Iran’s further international ‘rehabilitation’. Holding a master’s degree in International Relations from Columbia University, Sharmin Narwani says the deal was also struck as the US and its allies ‘desperately needed the support of rational, capable parties within the Middle East to help disentangle from their Syrian misadventures.’ In the following interview with Habilian Association, Narwani speaks about those who’ve failed to influence the deal. Having a great knowledge of Iranian society, she also touches upon the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) and describes them as ‘useful to the deal spoilers’ who lacks any kind of support in Iran.”

January 22, 2016

++ Several items have criticised Saudi Arabia for using the MEK on its Al Arabiyeh television. These say that the Saudis have no tools and have resorted to wearing Saddam’s old boots. We are reminded that the MEK are not as they were before and the negative impact of using them outweighs the positive for Saudi Arabia. Some articles look at the situation of the MEK themselves as a mercenary force which will work for anyone. Irandidban has published a short bullet point article following the history of treason and mercenary activity of the MEK from its start up to now. Fars News in Iran also has a short bullet point article about the Al Arabiyeh channel’s use of the MEK and the separatist groups titled, ‘Al Arabiyeh the mouthpiece of terrorists and separatists’.

++ Atefeh Eghbal and others have written short notes comparing the MEK with Daesh in terms of how they treat families. This was in response to the incident in which a Daesh fighter executed his own mother because she wanted to help him get back to normal life. Iranian writers identify the MEK as being the same, saying the only reason they don’t publicly execute the families is because they can’t. The fundamental approach is the same, swearing, name calling, throwing stones, etc.

++ US and Iranian Foreign Ministers along with EU representative Federica Mogherini are in Vienna in expectation that sanctions will be lifted this weekend. On January 28, President Rohani will visit President Holland in Paris. Iranian exiles in Paris are preparing to start a new phase of anti-Iran activities after the unclear issue has ended. At the top of that agenda is human rights. Tens of different groups and individuals have made a joint announcement about pickets and demonstrations held from 27-28 January. This varies from known groups like the Iranian Democratic Party of Kurdistan to unknown people from Chicago or a group calling itself ‘the book table of the Netherlands’. The main event will be a picket at Les Invalides. Ironically the MEK have announced that they will hold a separate picket on the same day, at the same time, only in Trocadero, which is a stone’s throw away. Contrary to the other events which are organised and attended by Iranian and French groups, the MEK event is all in Arabic and is Saudi backed. It is expected that the flags of Saudi and Israel will be flying together alongside the MEK logo at this picket. It is also expected that there will be more of the so-called Syrian Free Army there than the dwindling MEK people, and already the SFA’s local radio in France is being used solely to advertise this MEK event in Arabic and French. The MEK placards are all in Arabic – we haven’t seen any in Hebrew yet. As usual the MEK are touring Europe’s refugee camps and promising a trip meals and pocket money to any refugees willing to come along. Buses are prepared to set off from London on the 27th and from Brussels and the rest of Europe. These activities are being monitored closely by security services because of recent terrorist activities.

In English:

++ An interview with former MEK member Masoud Banisadr appeared in Fair Observer as ‘Living and Escaping a Terrorist Cult. In it, Banisadr describes the philosophy behind cultic abuse as used by the MEK. He describes his feelings after leaving: “It was great and horrible at the same time. If you find a very close friend has robbed you, it hurts; if you find him violating your trust and dignity and deceiving you for years, it hurts much more. Then imagine finding out a guy who you thought of as a saint and the holiest person on earth has been just a charlatan wanting to make you his slave through manipulating your mind—robbing not only your wealth, health and happiness, but your individuality, personality and humanity. Then you will understand what I felt.”

++ The names of twenty six more Camp Liberty residents who were transferred to Albania have been published by Nejat Society to help families identify where their loved ones are.

++ Mazda Parsi writes for Nejat Bloggers ‘The Cult of Rajavi (Mojahedin Khalq), a tool for Iran hawks’. “The media of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has launched a huge Saudi-oriented propaganda against the Iranian Government following the recent conflicts between the two countries. Unsurprisingly, the MKO is on the side of any country that happens to be hostile to Tehran, as the time of the nuclear negotiations the MKO made efforts to obstruct talks by repeating the same old misinformation about the Iranian nuclear activities.”

++ Peyvand Rahaee published an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon from forty families of MEK members asking for help to free them from Camp Liberty in Iraq.

++ Neday-e Haqiqat reports that Narges Behesthi has been seeking contact with two brothers for over ten years since they were taken by the MEK to Iraq. “In 2001 my older brother; Morteza went to Turkey to find a better job. For two months he took a temporary job. After two months that we had no contact with him, Moteza sent us a letter saying that he worked in a shipping company and that they would help him to go to Europe. He wanted us to send our younger brother Mostafa to Turkey. This way Mostafa who was seeking a good job went to Turkey as well. We later understood that the MKO recruiters in Turkey had promised my brother to send him to Europe provided that he stay at Camp Ashraf, Iraq for six months.”

++ Massoud Khodabandeh published an article on Iranian.com titled ‘Massoud Rajavi strangled by his own red line’. In it he describes the plight of loyal MEK supporter Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi who is dying of brain cancer and his son Sepher. They want to contact the wife and mother who is in Camp Liberty, but Rajavi’s red line has now tightened to include his own supporters as well as external critics. Ebrahim is outside the MEK red line now because of this humanitarian request. He is accused of being ‘an agent of the Khomeini [sic] regime’. Khodabandeh predicts that this constant purging of members will continue until Rajavi is alone. He puts this down to Rajavi’s incompetence even as a cult leader.

++ The families have been busy writing to various organisations to get help, in particular the UNHCR. They complain that in both Iraq and Albania, the local UNHCR officials are under the control of Massoud Rajavi and playing into his hands, whether by denying visits in Iraq or by refusing to accept the people in Albania as individuals. The UNHCR office in Tirana sends them back to the MEK telling them “they are your lawyers”. This has made it extremely difficult for people to get out of Iraq or to leave the MEK once in Albania.

On this issue of the families, irandidban website has a short comment titled ‘Iran is obliged to help the families of the people stranded in Camp Liberty’. The article says that families who visit Iraq from Iran must naturally be given consular support by their country. In the same way, families who visit or campaign from other countries must be supported by those other countries – which includes the families in London like the Mohammad Rahimi father and son. The concept that the MEK is labelling every family that wants to visit their loved one as an agent of the Iranian regime is the most ridiculous thing and is irrelevant to the task of the families. Their task is concerned with basic human rights which are not related to or affected by anyone’s allegiances or job in any way. The UNHCR should follow the law and not be intimidated by the MEK’s phobias and threats which are all just words.

++ This week people have continued writing about the pitiful situation of Ebrahim Mohammad Rahimi and his son who want to talk to the wife and mother, but are denied by Maryam Rajavi and the MEK.

++ The reaction to Rajavi’s silence over the execution of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia was to compare this with the MEK’s very overblown and public weeping and commiserations following the death of Zahran Alloush, the leader of Jaish al-Islam. Many writers talk about the mercenary relation between Massoud Rajavi and the Saudis going back to the time of Saddam Hussein, with some articles accompanied by documents and pictures of Rajavi travelling to Riyadh to collect his money. They remind us that the Saudi owned al Arabiyah TV replaced Baghdad TV to broadcast the MEK’s propaganda and interviews with Maryam Rajavi, etc. Some articles position the MEK as sitting somewhere between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Among them Dr Mohammad Sahimi, a prominent lecturer from the US, wrote an article expanding on the significance of Sheikh al-Nimr within the history between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In this analysis he includes a section discussing the Iranian opposition outside Iran. In this he says the most shameful are those who call themselves Iranian but who, at this time, take the side of the Saudis. Those who work for al Arabiyah or other media outlets may have an excuse because it is their job. But those who take backhanders and don’t openly claim any relation are truly despicable.

++ Farsi comments have gone to town over the Christmas activities of Maryam Rajavi. She has gone to a church in Paris and instead of joining the ceremony has positioned herself at the head of all the priests, attendants and congregation and pretended to pray. This has been ridiculed as the dirtiest kind of self-promotion. An article by Zahra Moini from the Iran Women’s Association reminds us of Edvard Termador, an Armenian Christian, who while inside the MEK was forced to denounce his faith and announce he has become a Muslim. At the same time, the MEK would parade him around the Christian churches in Baghdad to pretend they have Christians among them as well. Moini reminds us of Termador’s testimony as well as others that the only other Christian in the MEK, a man called Phillip, was killed when he protested and refused to give up his religion and tried to run away. Zahra has attached documents showing how Edvard Termador managed to contact the Pope who then arranged safe transit for him out of Ramardi camp – where he was hiding from the MEK – to Europe.

In English:

++ Emma Ashford in The American Conservative writes that ‘Exiles bend Washington’s ear—and drag us into conflict’ using Ahmed Chalabi as an example of exiles who want to influence American foreign policy for their own agenda. “Policymakers in Washington are not blameless in this. A recent invitation by Congress to the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group, to testify before the House Subcommittee on Terrorism on issues relating to Iran and ISIS highlights how little scrutiny such groups sometimes face. Though certainly a vocal opponent of the regime in Tehran, MEK was only removed by the State Department from the list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2012, after heavily lobbying Congress. The group is communist and is often described as a cult. It is so extreme and so unrepresentative of the Iranian opposition in general that other regional experts testifying before Congress refused to appear on the same panel.”

++ Mazda Parsi writing in Nejat Bloggers explains that cult members like those in the MEK are deliberately made terrified of leaving their group. Parsi says the way to rescue such people is to first remove them from under the hegemony of the cult leaders. In Iraq, the UNHCR must cooperate with the families of Camp Liberty residents to open the gates and allow them to leave and get help.

++ Nejat Society reports on what is happening inside the MEK‘s closed camp in Albania. Since the relocation of hundreds of people from Iraq, defections have increased dramatically. One defector, using the pseudonym Mehdi Tofiqi, describes panic among the leaders and a subsequent tightening of control over everyone. He says that contrary to conditions in Camp Ashraf where all the members were in one place, Rajavi now tries to isolate people in small groups in dormitories where the windows are covered in newspaper to prevent people looking in, or out. Female commanders have been sent from Paris to reinvigorate the brainwashing sessions. In addition, spies are distributed throughout the population to report on any signs of dissent.

++ The letter of one mother to the High Commissioner of the UNHCR makes a very simple and logical point: “I am Mahnaz Akafian, the mother of Mohammad Ali Sasani, who was a prisoner of war in Iraq but he is now prisoner in MKO in Iraq. I have not had any news from my son for 28 years. Some time ago I went to Ashraf Camp and more recently I went to Liberty Camp in Iraq to find him. Unfortunately, I did not get any result. I do not know if humans have different rights. I ask you a question as a human rights representative. If a person is in prison and is condemned to death, do they have the rights to have contact with and see their family members? We ask from the MKO that we see our children. Even if we are guilty of all the sins they accuse us of, why shouldn’t we be allowed us to see our children? So many fathers and mothers were not allowed to see their children and they died. With this weak body of mine I ask, let us meet our son! Kind regards, Mahnaz Akafian, a mother, 7 January 2016.”