++ Sahar has published an article about a new broadcast from Massoud Rajavi for the residents of Camp Liberty. The message is delivered by audio tape alongside 15 year old pictures of Rajavi. The people who have informed Sahar about the broadcast from inside the camp say that one of the images shows two people fighting, one has fallen and the other is sitting on his chest and grabbing his collar. While this is showing, Rajavi is talking and clearly says that if he gets help he will be able to get up but if he doesn’t he will be finished. After this there has been much discussion among the members as they attempted to interpret this. It is clear to them he is not asking for help from those inside the camp because there is nothing they can do, but is it the Israelis or Americans to whom is he directing his message? Some have said that if that is the case then Rajavi is preparing us for either his coming out as an agent of MOSSAD or being resident in Tel Aviv, etc.
++ Some weeks ago, Desmond Tutu’s daughter was used by Maryam Rajavi as a speaker at an MEK event to express condolences for the death of Nelson Mandela. At that time, everyone pointed out that the MEK had been swearing vigorously at Mandela up to that date. Two weeks ago, Desmond Tutu himself was part of a group of dignitaries, including Kofi Anan, who visited Tehran. Irandidban website published a short report on the visit which highlighted the MEK’s silence over the visit in the context of them previously using his grand daughter against Iran.
++ Iran Ghalam has published a key article directed at the members inside Camp Liberty which Iran Interlink has condensed as much as possible here without removing the full meaning. Iran Ghalam asks for anyone who can, as much as they can, to take this message to the people inside the camp. In the article Iran Ghalam addresses them as “our dear friends”, while acknowledging that “even if you don’t consider us friends now you will come to see it later”. The article then presents simple facts, thus: ‘The ceasefire between Iran and Iraq has been in place for a long time, Saddam Hussein has been deposed, the MEK has been disarmed and Camp Ashraf has been emptied. Even if you don’t regard us as your friends, we can at least agree on these facts. Our message is based on these realities.’ The article then goes on to look at Massoud Rajavi’s analyses and suggests that “you can agree that he told all of us that peace between Iran and Iraq is impossible and that Saddam’s army is one of the best in the world and will never be toppled, and you can agree that the slogan he gave us was ‘if there is no Ashraf, there is no Mojahedin’. Surely you can agree that he told us these things. The question at this point then is, after all these things happening is it too much to ask that after thirty years, Massoud Rajavi hold a democratic election and is it too much to ask where the limit is of human rights abuses that can go on under the pretext of fighting the Iranian regime?” The article again acknowledges: “We probably don’t agree that Rajavi is a war criminal, but surely you do agree that for the last thirty years he has not done what he said he would do. You agree that in 1361 (1983), he announced that the IRI will be toppled in two years time. And ever since then, he and his wife have extended this year by year. Is it too much to ask after all this that Rajavi give his place up for a short period for four years to anyone elected by you to lead the organisation? Is it too much to ask Massoud and Maryam to explain what their aim is in keeping you in Iraq and preventing anyone from being sent to third countries? Is it too much to ask why didn’t we leave Camp Ashraf before 53 people were massacred there, and why did we leave only after that but without explanation? Why was a hunger strike held and why did this stop without achieving anything? Why are we refusing to co-operate with the UNHCR to the point that they issue statements against us? Why was Maryam Rajavi insisting that everyone in Liberty should be taken back to Camp Ashraf on the grounds that Ashraf is safer than Liberty, but when the people there got killed she took no responsibility for their deaths, even when the international community said it would be dangerous to return to Ashraf? Is it too much to ask what the plan is behind our support for some fugitive Iraqis and other foreign personalities, and why suddenly all our energy must go into saving an arrested Iraqi MP, are we after now after Iraq’s interests, have we become Iraqis now? Is it too much to ask why we are so closely aligned with and working together with the extremist groups in Syria to the point that there are reports of MEK members being killed in fights there, and the MEK’s sites are devoted to what is happening in Syria? Do we have Syrian nationality too now? The last and main question is, who is leading this organisation and where is he after a decade and why does his wife have nothing more on her agenda than holding parties and meetings to which she invites second hand and retired personalities? In the end we know that anyone who asks even one of these questions will not have an easy time and people have even been killed for insisting on getting answers. But we will not stay silent and we will continue to insist that the doors of the camp be opened so that people can come out and choose whatever they want to do next.”
++ There have been several more responses to Parviz Khazai’s swearing at Atefeh Eghbal and others who are internal critics of the MEK. One of the responses is from Nader Naderi who is from the same province of Lorestan as Khazai. Naderi has lashed Khazai, using some colourful local dialect as well, as somebody who has disgraced the Lorestan people who are famous for their courage on the front lines rather than sitting like Khazai in Sweden, encouraging others in the camps in Iraq to get killed.
++ Several responses and open letters denounce a new committee in the Romanian parliament which has been made by the MEK. Many refer to similar committees which the MEK have created in the UK and European parliaments and talk of the disgrace MPs face later down the line for taking money for supporting them. One example is MEP Paulo Casaca who was de-selected after his support for the MEK was revealed to his constituents in Portugal. Another example being Lord Corbett of Castle Vale who was mocked by his peers until his death. The writers suggest that the money paid is not worth the loss of your reputation.
++ Many commentators have written articles on the back of the UN half-yearly report on Iraq which mentioned the human rights abuses by MEK leaders and the way they have been stopping people from going to third countries, and linking this to the MEK’s lobbyists in America’s House of Representatives and the Senate who falsely claim there is nowhere to take these people. Many point out that, as the UN says, the real problem is that Rajavi and his backers refuse to open the door of Camp Liberty. They are resigned to the necessity of moving everyone to another closed camp like Romania but absolutely refuse to open the camp door as they know everyone will leave.
++ AFP reports that the French investigative judge in Maryam Rajavi’s case will decide after all these years of investigation whether to send her to court or not. Some people who have been following details of the case have offered qualifying explanations that in 2003 the allegations against Maryam Rajavi and nine others were that they were involved in: funding and planning acts of terrorism from Paris; planning to attack Iranian embassies across Europe; planning to kill some ex-members across Europe; moving their HQ from Iraq to Paris, including buying a studio (a paint factory) and establishing satellites and equipment to continue their broadcasting activities; and money laundry. Although due to political interference and the support of MOSSAD and CIA, some of these might be dropped, the judge will certainly not be able to drop all of it because everybody knows full well what the MEK are doing. Many others point out that the issue concerning Rajavi and his wife is much wider than whether French national law will cover it or not. They point out that crimes against humanity and war crimes can only really be dealt with under international law by places like The Hague. Mohammad Razaghi has put these facts together in a letter to Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki and asked him to pursue the Rajavis for their crimes against Iraqis, Iranians and his own members under Iraqi law because the majority of these crimes have taken place in his country.
++ Maryam Sanjabi has published a three part article about cults in the website ‘Call of the Truth’. She uses information from Steve Hassan and from Margaret Singer and compares their facts about cults with what she has witnessed inside the MEK. Massoud Khodabandeh has referred to this in his Facebook and congratulated her for her work. He says, I remember being with her, just after she had escaped the MEK, when a journalist from the Wall Street Journal put it to her, ‘you are from the leadership of the MEK and have defected. You, therefore, are different from other defectors. You have a responsibility to answer for what has happened in these camps.’ At that time Sanjabi responded by saying, ‘all I can say is that in a cult there are no leaders (plural) there is only one leader, and the rest of us are all victims’. She continued, ‘I will try in future to explain and expand on this as I have just come out.’ This is apparently the start of her explanation.
++ Several items have appeared in English from both sides of the fence which identify the role of the MEK in activities designed to destroy the P5+1 nuclear negotiations. Speaking to Tasnim News Agency, former Iranian nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian, referred to building trust and the dimensions of nuclear inspections as the main challenges facing the nuclear talks between Iran and the world powers. He underlined that there are others, including certain Arab countries, the Zionist lobby and Israel as well as the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), that make all-out efforts to make sure that the agreement and negotiations will fail. John Glaser writing in Anti War, describes as ‘too preposterous to be true if you say it out loud’, the fact that four high-profile former government officials are getting paid by an Iranian dissident group that until 2012 was an officially designated terrorist organization to publicly oppose the Obama administration’s diplomatic efforts with Iran. Press TV reports, “The MKO has “combined efforts with Israeli, Zionist” groups to “bribe” US officials, said Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist in Florida. The four American officials “are nothing more than Zionist puppets who are consistently being paid by this group (MKO) and this group obviously being funded by anti-Iranian and pro-Israel initiatives,” Rickard told Press TV on Saturday.“This is a form of bribery and the bribery goes on and on and on,” he added.”
++ Dave Seminara has produced a detailed article for The Washington Diplomat which describes how “Despite its opacity and relative obscurity, analysts agree that the MEK has been able to punch above its weight in Washington.”
++ According to the Arabic-language website Voice of Russia, in her meeting with the Iraqi minister of Human Rights, head of the European Union Delegation in Iraq Ambassador Jana Hybáškova, said the EU plans to allocate 22 million euros for the relocation of MKO members outside Iraq in order to respond to Iraq’s requests.
++ Nejat Society reports on the French philosopher, journalist, former government official and academic Regis Debray’s recent visit to Iran. Debray criticized his government for double standards and mistaken policies towards Iranians including hosting the Mujahedin Khalq Organization terror cult in French territory and aiding “the Iraqi aggressor” Saddam Hussein in the disastrous war against Iran. Regis Debray suggests: We are much more conscious of always hosting on our territory, with visible public support (by parliamentarians and mayors), the People’s Mujahedin, politico religious cult, so far without representation in the country, and with the record of fighting alongside Saddam Hussein against its motherland. It targeted and killed half of the government and made thousands of civilians die.”Where are the terrorists”, we ask. ” Are they with you or with us?”
++ Fars News says a prominent Iraqi politician described the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI or PMOI) as a big cancerous tumour being cut off from his country. “The MKO is like a cancer that Iraq has been afflicted with, but uprooting it is nearly complete and it has reached its final days,” former Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie told FNA on Sunday.
++ Fars News also quoted Lebanon’s al-Nahar daily newspaper saying that the Mojahedin Khalq has been reporting its activities and operations in Iraq as well as the status quo in the country to the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks for years. According to the report, the MKO leaders were called to the headquarters of the French counterintelligence agency every two weeks to present their intelligence on the situation in Iran.
++ Nazik Muhammad reporting for PUKmedia in Baghdad, said that Iraq had reached an agreement with the United Nations and the European Union to move the remaining members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to the Romanian territories as soon as possible. MP from the State of Law, Foud al-Duraki said in a statement to PUKmedia that the third country had been agreed on by Iraq, UN and EU which shall be Romania. “the Iraqi Government do not want MEK members to stay in Iraq, as they participated in oppression of 1991 revolution in Iraq with the former regime” al-Duraki added. The Iraqi Government had designated $500 thousand to transport the MEK members from Iraq, Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Muhammad al-Shaya’a announced. Another € 22 million (EUR) from the European Union shall also be designated to transport MEK members out of Iraq.