++ Mohammad Reza Rohani, former member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), published the third part of his series of articles titled ‘The Smell of Joseph’s Shirt’. This third part answers questions raised in the first two articles. Rohani says the main objections against him have been as to why he writes against the MEK and he reminds these people that he didn’t start it. He only resigned and wished the MEK good luck. But for months after this the MEK did nothing but swear at him. He didn’t think this would happen but now he knows what they are really like.
++ Ashraf News reported on a statement issued by Ban Ki Moon’s Press Office following a meeting between the UN Secretary General and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari. Moon announced in the statement that the MEK must be removed from Iraq asap.
++ In a meeting with Catherine Ashton at the UN meeting in New York, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari said Europe should think about finding a place for the MEK asap. ‘They will be thrown out and you have to take them’, he said.
++ Several articles were published about how isolated the Israelis and also the MEK were this time in New York during the UNGA meetings.
++ Irandidban website has an article about Massoud Rajavi’s latest proclamations, which were not in his voice but were read out as a general rant. During the broadcast Rajavi claims that everyone who was killed in Camp Ashraf had loved to be martyred and he clearly stated that they were there for that purpose. Irandidban reminds us that the MEK had publicly demanded that they stay in Camp Ashraf in order to sell their belongings, not to get killed.
++ An Open Letter to Mr Samir Tahiri, Interior Minister of Albania, was published in English and signed by many former members and critics of the Mojahedin Khalq. Warning that the MEK is trying to send its trusted henchmen to control the new arrivals the letter asks Tahiri to ‘prevent the entrance of Mrs Masoumeh Malekmohammadi to Albania. She should be handed over to the Iraqi courts of justice for her criminal activities in Iraq’. And concludes, ‘We urge you and your government to allocate and designate a place for the separated members of the PMOI away from those who are loyal Mojahedin members in Albania in order for them to be safe and sound from the psychological tortures and pressures of the PMOI.’
++ An article by Amir Hossein Panahi from Aryia Association in Paris titled ‘Rajavi’s group and what they gained in New York’, discusses those individuals who were paid to make speeches to beggars in New York during the MEK’s mock demonstration. He concludes that the speakers would be better off if they hadn’t exposed like this how empty handed they are.
++ Sahar Family Foundation has translated several Iraqi newspaper articles into Farsi. These are some examples of what is covered: Iraq’s Foreign Minister declared again that the government of Iraq had no involvement in the disappearance of any MEK members and if Catherine Ashton or anyone else has any concerns they can of course talk with him and he can explain more about this issue; The Badr faction spokesman in parliament has declared that there is overwhelming evidence that the MEK massacred Kurdish people during the era of Saddam Hussein and that they have to be prosecuted before their deportation; Some Iraqi newspapers reported that while searching Camp Ashraf they have found mass graves some of which appear to contain Kurds and some Kuwaitis. A joint American-Kuwaiti team are investigating this and apparently one of the victims is a child princess related to the ruling royal family of Kuwait; another paper has said that, contrary to what the MEK claims, the American government has denied visiting the seven allegedly lost people and the government of Iraq also dismisses such claims.
++ A. Rayhani has written to Iraj Mesdaghi, a vocal critic of the MEK, giving many reasons why he and his colleagues who have deserted the MEK should start a separate MEK group so that other like minded people can join with them. Mesdaghi has answered this by reminding Rayhani that ‘you can’t start an opposition group from Sweden, all we can do from outside Iran is to help the opposition there. Mesdaghi says people can’t believe in an army without arms and they can’t believe in fighters who have suddenly become asylum seekers, and nor can they believe that MEK are warriors when they are working from Paris. In the same way such people wouldn’t accept us if we announced ourselves as the new MEK but this time from Sweden. Mesdaghi says ‘I am no Don Quixote! I am a realist. Let Rajavi make his wild claims’. Mesdaghi refers to Rajavi’s claims that the 3000 old and sick men and women in Iraq are going to play the role of Robin Hood from Camp Liberty, and that from there Rajavi will break down all the walls and go against the wishes of the UN and the international community, and he will break the chains of Imperialism and then destroy the army of Iraq and topple the Iraqi government…!
++ This week many have written articles marking the anniversary of America removing the MEK from its terrorism list. They commonly remark that contrary to what Rajavi claimed to the MEK forces, that being on this list was why they couldn’t topple the Iranian regime, now we see that this wasn’t the problem after all as the MEK are in a worse state than then. Some writers analyse the situation as ‘how the Americans use everything without hesitation’ – such as adding the MEK to the list then taking them off again just as easily. They point out that Hillary Clinton promised to remove the MEK if they agreed go to Camp Liberty. In Tehran, Dr Sajadi, Head of the Society for the Defence of Victims of Terrorism in Iran, says that although Clinton – wrongly – promised such a thing to a group of terrorists and kept her word, we saw that the terrorists did not keep their word and did not empty Camp Ashraf which has cost many lives until now. He says that the fact that the cult leaders have not been able to come back and are in a worse situation now is cannot be credited to the Americans since they have tried their best to use terrorism and groups like the MEK which has spent millions of dollars on Senators and ex-officials, etc.
++ A delegation from Faryad Azadi Association visited the Albanian embassy in Paris to discuss the MEK arrivals in Tirana. The delegation thanked the government of Albania for its humanitarian act and went on to explain the behaviour of the MEK, how they operate as a cult and offered consultancy as to how Albania can deal with them.
++ Ghorban Ali Hosseinejat wrote about the MEK’s so-called hunger strike in Camp Liberty which has apparently not affected the health of any of them after four weeks. (Hosseinejat points out this is a known sham tactic and the MEK typically do this for propaganda purposes.) He poses the question to Rajavi that if what you claim is true and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was responsible for the attack on Camp Ashraf and the deaths of 52 people while letting the remainder take photographs and films to be sent immediately to Paris for propaganda, and if meanwhile they take seven random people and put them in the hands of the Iraqi government – while most people believe this whole event has been an internal act – then, if this is true, isn’t it even more ridiculous that the MEK have gone on hunger strike asking the IRG to release them or they will kill themselves? If what you say is true, why would the Iranian Revolutionary Guard want to stop you killing yourselves?
++ According to Nejat Bloggers, Cologne city officials have objected to moves to bring 77 MEK from Camp Liberty to their city. Citing security concerns Mr Guido Kahlen, director of Cologne City Council seriously protested the decision. The Council considers the presence of those people with records of military, terrorist and cult-like activities as a risk to the security of Cologne’s citizens, he said.