++ This week many people have been predicting the end of Rajavi’s cult. For example, Nejat Association talks about the pathetic situation of the cult and, going through the various setbacks the MEK faces, warns that they will kill more of their own people. Other writers refer to Massoud Rajavi’s mentality which is to never give anything up, but when anything is taken from him, like Camp Ashraf, to pretend it was his idea and claim he did it. The general conclusion is that Rajavi doesn’t respond to anything but force.
++ Mohammad Karami and Jaafar Ebrahimi from Paris were guests on Mardom TV. Karami expanded on the history of the hunger strike in the MEK, starting with the first one in London in 1989 over the UN visit to Iran, followed by Gabon and the current event. He explained how the MEK fake the actual hunger strikes, but choose some people who are ill or have other problems to place at the front to show to journalists. This is not to say they won’ t kill one just to prove the strike to the media, just as they got people to burn themselves following Maryam Rajavi’s arrest in Paris. Karami pointed out that some of the residents in Camp Liberty are undergoing a forced hunger strike as food is being denied them, while others are simply faking.
++ Behzad Alishahi has begun a weekly media report in Farsi of which the first two have been published. The reports cover what the MEK say and write. He dissects their media with explanations, for example how much of their media is now devoted to Syria, Iraq, the Neocons, etc. At times this reporting becomes very funny.
++ Mohammad Razaghi wrote an article titled ‘Another gathering of the Rajavi-made NCR’. He reminds us that for twenty years now Maryam has been calling herself the elected president of Iran. Razaghi is disgusted by the leaders of the MEK who are promoting a hunger strike while drinking and eating and having an easy time themselves. As usual, he points out, they sit around and dictate what others should and shouldn’t do, including the US and Israel, but never seem to come up with any actual description of what they themselves are supposed to do.
++ Many have written in Farsi about Rajavi’s continued insistence on the hunger strike and his false claims against the government of Iraq. They conclude that this is to divert attention away from his own culpability for the deaths of those killed in Camp Ashraf, because these could so clearly have been avoided.
++ Personal testimonies abound from those who knew and worked with Ali Mansouri (the MEK member arrested in Israel). It is now clear that he was an active MEK intelligence operative working in Iran, Turkey and Europe. For some time he had been the official MEK contact with Turkey’s secret service. Now, many believe that his arrest is most likely the result of his going rogue or trying to defect from the MEK who have set him up to stop him talking by putting him in the hands of Mossad.
++ The MEK came out in praise of the killing of 14 Iranian border guards by Jaish al-Adl last week. But although many neocons and others tried to present the group as some kind of religious or ethnic minority opposition, the officials of the group itself say it is affiliated with Al Qaida and supported by Saudi Wahhabi fundamentalists. After this was exposed the MEK stopped talking and tried to water down their support.
++ A lot of articles and comments focus on the hunger strike – which is approaching its second month – by pointing out that the strikers actually look fatter than before. In particular criticism is aimed at one of the MEK’s most verbally vicious agents called Rahmani who was shown on the MEK’s TV claiming to be on hunger strike. Apparently after six weeks his cheeks are still pink and he hasn’t slowed down in swearing at everyone. Many writers point out that it is actually Massoud Rajavi’s job to kill people and then use them for publicity. He can no longer do this with guns and weapons and so, for example in 2003 he organised self-immolations to keep himself and the MEK going. His personal survival therefore depends on killing and taking pictures for advertisement.
++ Massoud Jaabani published a short article titled ‘This time they have tied their future to anti-Syrian groups’. He reminds the MEK that whatever they touch seems to be destined for collapse whether Saddam or any other side.
++ Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the UN Is committed to resolving the situation of the residents of Camp Liberty and that a Trust Fund has been set up to cover costs relating to the relocation process. The US administration has pledged $1m to the fund but says the Administration will continue to work with the U.S. Congress regarding these funds. Many Farsi commentators have interpreted this as ‘we will give the funds to Rajavi’.
++ A Nejat Association article titled ‘What are the practical ways to help the residents of Camp Liberty’ examines the MEK’s past ten years and concludes that whatever the problem is, it is not a shortage of money. Every entity involved in sorting out the MEK is clear it is the MEK leaders who do not let help reach the individuals in the camp and nothing else.
++ Following a statement in the British parliament that the UK is considering allowing 17 Camp Liberty residents to return to the country, reaction has come from various organisations criticising Britain for not doing more to take these people. Bahar Irani refers to what the UK government has said, that it must check whether they have been involved in terrorist acts. He points out that when these people were previously living in London, the MEK was known to be a terrorist entity and yet their papers were valid then. Now, he says, the MEK has been removed from the UK terrorism list but these people’s papers are no longer valid. Other writers highlight the hypocrisy behind the freedoms given to MEK leaders in the UK to visit parliament and use the UK banking system for money laundry; the British government is helping the MEK in so many ways they say, and yet is not willing to help the individuals who want to leave Iraq.
++ An article by Iraj Mesdaghi exposes an MEK operative who issues verbal abuse on the internet called Fariba Hadikhanlou. He explains her past history and how she would apparently work for anyone who would pay her. He includes pictures and documents in his expose and says it is sad that the MEK use this woman to demonise MEK critics.
++ Another article by Bahar Irani talks about the UN and the Rajavi cult. He explains the possible scenarios that face Rajavi now that the UN has a clear mandate from the international community to evict the MEK from Iraq. Irani interprets this as ‘either cooperate or we will force you out’.
++ Nader Naderi has blogged to say that he knows Ali Mansouri from Turkey and adds documents and links to times when he has been in the open; for example a picture of Mansouri in the Turkish media, along with other documents. He ridicules the MEK for panicking and claiming he wasn’t a member. He says Rajavi has again tried to paint a frog to sell it as a canary.
++Saeed Jamali (real name Hadi Afshar) published the seventh part of his memories. He was an MEK activist from the time of the Shah who later became one of the top operational intelligence leaders of the MEK. With every part he publishes, the attacks by the MEK get stronger. This week has come to the point that the MEK published pages and pages of attacks from people using different names swearing at him. Zanan Iran website has published its reaction titled ‘Can personality terror stop the voice of freedom?’ The site includes a link to one of the more vicious of the Rajavi cult’s attacks in the Iran Efshagar site. Zanan’s article includes a link to a video made in 2009 while Hadi Afshar was in the American run TIPF, five years after he escaped the MEK. In it he talks about and shows what the MEK did to him and the suffering he has undergone, including being taken to Abu Ghraib prison. He details how the Americans helped the MEK in suppressing dissident members by mistreating them.
++ Amir Movasaghi reminds us that at this time of year the MEK used to hold a week of celebrations called the ‘Phoenix Week’ in the camp and in Europe etc. This year they have not done so but claim it is out of respect for the people who were killed in Ashraf. Addressing Rajavi, Movasaghi says, ‘if you were really worried about the people who got killed, you knew and everyone else knows that you could have saved them. Both Massoud and Maryam Rajavi claim now that this was a necessary price to pay for keeping Camp Ashraf open for as long as they could. The article lists the MEK’s support for the terrorist killing of Iranian border guards, the hunger strike, the support for Syrian fighters and says the real problem behind not celebrating Phoenix Week is that both Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have been forced to hide because they cannot face the inevitable questions of their closest supporters and even the members.
++ Some people have written about the connection between the MEK and Israel, which is now open, and the situation of Camp Liberty. Some Iranians are now writing directly to Netanyahu saying that instead of saying ridiculous things like ‘Iranians don’t wear jeans’, if he wants Iranians to listen to him then he should tell Rajavi to open the doors of Camp Liberty. It is acknowledged that the Israelis have leverage in Camp Liberty because they own Rajavi.
November 1, 2013