++ Among the reactions to Zahra Merrikhi’s appointment as head of the MEK, some commentators remind us this is the fourth time a Secretary General has been announced. The first time was when Massoud Rajavi introduced Maryam as Secretary General of the MEK and everyone immediately asked, ‘then who are you’? He told everyone to shut up because it was never actually in question that he is in control of everything. In view of this, commentators say, this title means nothing. Nothing changes, just the names. The reality is that dead or alive the cult is based on him; there is no ‘election’ the whole group is based on his name. Some commentators scoffed ‘with this ridiculous appointment they dare to criticise elections in Iran and other places!’ Mehdi Khoshhal’s article, titled ‘The Albanian Zorba’, compares the scene from the film in which the village women gather outside the brothel of Madame Hortense as she is dying in order to take her belongings. Now that Massoud Rajavi is dead, the women of the MEK are queuing like vultures, waiting to get something from him for themselves.

++ In Albania, after the MEK said it would no longer pay UNHCR allowances to the former members, seventy people visited the UN office to demand their right to get their refugee allowances directly. Others have joined the protest to the point that Maryam Rajavi withdrew the threat and her lawyers have told the UN there had been a mistake and that the UN didn’t need to do anything as the MEK would pay the money in full to the formers.

Naturally the ex-members say they don’t trust the MEK and they continue their demand to be paid directly. The formers planned a demonstration outside the RAMSA office, but the Interior Ministry refused permission. The formers – through their lawyer – told the ministry and Albanian newspapers that they would ‘go ahead anyway and the police can arrest and imprison us’. On the day of the planned demonstration, the UN told the formers’ lawyer ‘don’t let them demonstrate, instead they should open bank accounts and we will pay them’. The lawyer – who is working pro bono – responded that ‘if the UNHCR does not do this, we will take them to court and they will have to pay the court fees and my fees on top of whatever allowances are owed to the former members.’

++ Meanwhile, since this situation developed, MEK henchmen have been stationed outside the UN office in Tirana supported by members of the Albanian security services. Their role is to intimidate any former MEK member who goes in and out of the building. However, in articles by ex-members, they say that the fear has spilled, they are no longer afraid. ‘Tactics like taking our pictures, filming us and threatening us have no effect. We will not stop until we get our rights.’

++ Every several months, Radio France Culture has a ridiculous interview with Maryam Rajavi about feminism or women’s rights etc, which everyone knows is paid advertising. After one such interview this week, some female ex-members wrote an open letter to the radio station asking them to respect the right to respond. They said, ‘for every ten interviews with Maryam Rajavi could you please broadcast at least one line from the ex-members in answer to three or four questions about how Rajavi treated women members inside the MEK. Zahra Mirbagheri, who suffered massively inside the MEK, has accused Radio France Culture of destroying the reputation of French human rights advocacy just for a few pennies. ‘You should not broadcast an advert without saying it is an advert’, says Mirbagheri. ‘And if you do, you still can’t, by law, tell lies in adverts, there has to be some truth in what is said.’

++ It has just emerged that Maryam Rajavi has written personally to the UNHCR in Geneva about the issue of refugee allowances. In her letter, she mentioned ‘a petition with 70 names’. The lawyer of several former MEK members and Sahar Family Foundation responded, saying ‘we must investigate how this petition, which was given directly to the UNHCR in Tirana, has been seen by Maryam Rajavi. This is a sign of corruption. The fact that immediately after the announcement of a demonstration by these formers, she did a 180 degree turn and now says there has been a mistake shows there are plots and collusion against the ex-members. The fact that the UN has now had to deal directly with the formers and couldn’t work to her agenda has exposed the corruption within this system.

In English:

++ Iran Interlink marked the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy by reminding us of the MEK’s reaction. Massoud Rajavi gathered his forces and celebrated the horrifying act of terrorism. He told his followers he believed they could do better!

++ Sahar Family Foundation published a petition which had been presented to RAMSA – the department responsible for the former MEK members at the UNHCR office in Tirana. The demands are:

1. Our refugee allowances be paid by RAMSA and we be supported by the United Nations in Albania
2. Work permits and jobs are granted to us in order that we are able to support ourselves.
3. Our Refugee Status is officially issued in order that we can receive our righteous benefits.

++ A Nejat Society article says the MEK is losing support as those who lobby for them – such as John Bolton – are themselves losing traction in the political scene in America.

++ Habilian Association has written an expose on the “Republicans’ favourite Democrat’, Joseph Lieberman. The article runs through his background, identifying him as a neocon associated with AIPAC and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. Lieberman opposed the nuclear deal with Iran and has taken a staunchly anti-Iran stance on every issue including Syria and Iraq. The article points to Liberman’s advocacy of the MEK but says “While Lieberman, General Jones, and Colonel Martin all failed categorically to accurately describe the true nature of the MEK terrorists they seek to support in a proxy war with Iran, the US policy papers these three lobbyists are reading from have done so and in great detail.”

September 15, 2017

++ In Albania this week the MEK staged an event to mark the 52nd anniversary of the foundation of the organisation. Maryam Rajavi, of course, talked about her ten-point plan for women and appointed Zahra Merrikhi as head of the MEK. A lot of money was spent on make-up and clothes and crowds but the event attracted no media coverage except among interested former members’ websites. It did prompt reaction from some Farsi observers. These say that Rajavi’s presence in Albania is needed to save the organisation because it’s collapsing. They also point out that ‘there is no Central Committee or a governing body just a cult leader, how can you come up with this show of voting for a Secretary General?’ Some have reminded us that Zahra Merrikhi was an MEK torturer under the Mokhabarat at the time of Saddam. Similarly, Saddam had 100% votes when he held elections.

++ A glance at the statistics in Albania reveal that although Rajavi has travelled there to save the MEK, the rate of disaffection is accelerating. There are just over one persons per week now leaving the group. The MEK, openly backed by the CIA, is pushing desperately for the Albanian Interior Ministry to give the go ahead to relocate the members to a closed camp in a rural area in the north of the country. Until now the ministry has resisted, fearing the establishment of yet another non-accountable CIA base in the country.

++ After Manouchehr Abdi escaped the MEK last week and had an interview with Albania’s Gazeta Impakt, the MEK has been on overdrive to make others afraid of talking. The MEK told all separated members that the money they get from the UNHCR will be stopped immediately unless they prove their loyalty. But they don’t know how to do this because they are already not talking to anyone. The MEK is on overdrive to disseminate misinformation about Abdi saying he had been a member of the MOIS from the start and had infiltrated the MEK 13 years ago. Ironically, to prove these revelations, they published a ‘confession’ that he had signed accepting that he is an agent of the Iranian regime etc, etc, back-dated to a long time ago. Today, Abdi talked with Mardom TV in Washington for three hours, going into the details of what the MEK did to him and what they are doing now to him and his family.

++ Saber from Tabriz wrote an article for Iran Interlink about the MEK’s 52nd anniversary. “Whatever you say, none of you can claim to be the descendants of the MEK’s founders. You showily gift a book listing your anti-Imperialist martyrs to John McCain, but this doesn’t translate into Farsi does it.” In another piece, Saber gives examples critical of the MEK. “I knew ‘martyr’ Aram Goftari because he’s from our locality. You claim he is one of your martyrs. Don’t you remember when he wanted to leave and you kept him by force. Then his wife, Marzieh Ghorsi and their little baby managed, to escape from you. All she had as the blood money of her husband was $70 and two decades of you spending money on character assassination to prove she is a bad person. The people you bring to your events and present this book with his name in it, get $70,000 for half an hour’s chat. This is where you stand with the people of Iran.”

In English:

Habilian Association and Tasnim News say ‘MEK rightfully named father of ISIS’. Tracing the evolution of anti-Iran terrorist activity from the MEK to ISIS, the article says “Iran is a victim of terrorism. This is not just a claim or a political motto; It is a part of our country’s historical reality. Terrorism is a serious threat, not only to our country, but also to the whole world. It is a tool for anti-popular groups and a chance for some states to spread terror and disrupt peace and security of people.”

++ Sahar Family Foundation met with officials of the UN in Albania to talk about the situation of separated members. The UNHCR’s Refugee and Migrant Services are directly responsible for 230 MEK members who are kept in a location in the Port of Dorsa by the MEK. There are a further 240 formers who have completely left the group and their situation is particularly harrowing. The UNHCR pays their refugee allowances directly to the MEK which, of course, does not pass any money to them. In the context of this dissolution, Sahar concluded “Reports indicate that the recent meeting between Maryam Rajavi and the American senators in Tirana took place because of the recent unexpected deterioration of the organization’s situation in Albania. And that it was also due to pressure from the Albanian government which has complained that the promises made by America previously had not been fulfilled. It is reported that the Senators’ meeting was a kind of impeachment of Maryam Rajavi for not controlling the members and for allowing concerns to be raised throughout Albania.”

++ Sahar translated extracts from the interview of Manouchehr Abdi with Gazeta Impakt in Tirana. Abdi escaped the MEK last week and was keen to speak about his experience of the group.

“SFF: after the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and the disarmament of the organization by the US military, and finally the departure of the group from Iraq that resulted in losing the Iranian border, how do the group authorities maintain the hope of regime change in the minds of members?

“M.A.: the group authorities, particularly the leader told members: ‘the army of uprising is still alive in Iran and you are the officers of this army! Your soldiers are those youngsters of revolt who are awaiting a spark. The moment the uprising occurs we will get on the plane to reach Iran in order to organize the uprising.’”

September 08, 2017