++ When the MEK reported on the resolution introduced by Mr. Poe of Texas on March 17, 2016 to the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Middle East and North Africa and which was passed by that Committee this week, they gleefully added anything and everything they liked to promote themselves on the back of it. It was as though the whole of the American political class, including the Obama Administration itself, had come out in support of Maryam Rajavi. Analysis reveals that this ridiculous spinning of news is typical of a group which has no real substance to it. They use a low-level human rights issue for which support is inevitable and then spin it to pretend the politicians are actually supporting Maryam Rajavi and her so-called movement. Clearly this version is for internal consumption only. In reality, what is significant is that the Committee has asked the USG to help the Iraqis remove the MEK from Iraq ASAP.
++ This week KSA’s Al Arabiya published an interview with an officer of the Free Syrian Army in which he goes out of his way to stress that his group were given information about the location of Khan Tuman (a location the FSA subsequently attacked, killing fifteen Iranians) by the Mojahedin Khalq. At the same time Kuwait’s AlDastour newspaper published an advertorial written by infamous Saddamist Davoud Al Basari – who recently claimed that the US army is actually a Shia army and that Saddam was its victim [?!]. His article is full of praise for the MEK and in a few places emphasises that ‘the Arabs are now waking up to recognise the MEK as a strong tool to use and that investors in this group will surely not regret it’.
In reaction to these issues, Behzad Alishahi titles his article ‘Advertisement for a permanent job’. He says the MEK want to swap their current position as contractors for a permanent role similar to the arrangement they had with Saddam Hussein. An article by Nejat points out that the KSA knows that the IRI knows the MEK inside out and therefore there is no leverage in supporting them. Only US lobbyists will fall for the MEK’s tricks and so their level will never be more than short term mercenaries. Nejat lists other times the MEK has tried to aggrandise itself to get sponsorship, saying “the MEK never seem to learn the lesson that foreign agencies will not take their word at face value. They tried it with the US, with French Intelligence and with Saddam and failed. Yet they still can’t see that their self-aggrandisement doesn’t work.”
++ Another delightfully incisive article by Majid Rouhi this week is titled ‘Rajavi! What is this struggle of yours that the aim of it is to ‘topple’ the families and the strategy is swearing and shouting?’ Rouhi exposes the fact that the only real activity of the MEK for the past decade and a half has been against the families who come looking for their loved ones in his closed, inaccessible camps.
++ Many commentators have reacted to Maryam Rajavi’s announcement that she will hold her annual rally to celebrate the start of armed struggle on July 7th in Paris. The event marks the MEK’s failed coup d’état of ‘Sie Khordad’ and the anniversary of her arrest in 2003. Both events resulted in the deaths of the MEK’s own people. Most comments ask ‘why does she have to do this?’ and answer themselves ‘because she can’t do anything else’. Rajavi’s only talent is to pay for both speakers and audience to create an artificial event. What is new this year is that the MEK have opened up several new websites and social media sites in the Polish language advertising a weekend trip to Paris on condition people participate in the rally. Payvand Rahai site lists tens of these sites and Facebook pages. And ridicules them. Mohammad Razaghi points out that the MEK haven’t used their name or that of Rajavi on these advertisements. He concludes that not only has Massoud Rajavi been in hiding for over fifteen years, he now can’t even bear to hear his own name mentioned without shivering with fear.
++ This week one of the videos taken of families in front of Camp Liberty near Baghdad captured a poignant moment. In one heart breaking scene, Narges Beheshti recognises, as his face covering slips, that one of the MEK swearing at them is her own brother. He also recognises her as his sister. The film captures their mutual reaction. It is clear their instinct is to make contact, but her brother cannot because he is under the supervision of MEK commanders.
In English:
++ Nejat Society published another of its ‘Elimination Project’ stories, this time about the death of Masoumeh Gheibipour at the hands of the MEK. With testimony from former members, in particular Batul Soltani and Edward Termador who knew her well, Nejat pieces together the MEK’s shocking treatment and murder of one of their own members.
++ Tasnim News Agency, Tehran – “Iran’s Police spokesman said the Interpol has arrested a female member of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Albania for involvement in a bomb blast at the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party in Tehran in 1981. Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency on Sunday, General Saeed Montazer-al-Mahdi said the woman was arrested after she was put on the Interpol’s Red Notice, a warrant that necessitates measures to seek the location and arrest of a person wanted by a judicial jurisdiction or an international tribunal with a view to his or her extradition.”
++ Nejat Society – “[A] protest gathering was held on May 14th, in front of Dame Church in down town, Cologne. The human rights activists who participated the gathering appealed for the basic rights of MKO Cult members who are under the systematic manipulation practices of the Cult leaders. Homeira Mohammadnejad, Zahra Moeini, Batoul Soltani, Ali Jahani, Nader Keshtkar, Davoud Baghervand Arshad, Amir Mowaseghi, Mehdi Khoshhal and Abdolkarim Mahmoudi participated the rally.”
++ Habilian Association, Iran, writes about support given by controversial French Bishop Jacques Jean Edmond Georges Gaillot (known in France as Monseigneur Gaillot) to Maryam Rajavi. “In 2004 Bishop Gaillot met with Maryam Rajavi, MKO’s leader. Rajavi publicly thanked the bishop and expressed that his support had been very effective in promoting the cause of what she calls “Iran resistance”. Jacques Gaillot has praised the terrorists in Camp Liberty in Iraq for their brutal activities, what he calls it fighting for “bring freedom and democracy to Iran.” Camp Liberty in Iraq houses thousands of members of the terrorist group MKO.”
++ Nejat Society reports that a former MEK member from Camp Liberty has been reunited with his family in Iran after 27 years. “Mr Esmaeil Fallah Ranjkesh managed to escape Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult Camp Liberty on November 2015. Ranjkesh who is from Gilan Province contacted his family as soon as he stepped the free world. Mr Ranjkesh who was under the manipulation practices of the MKO Cult for years and lost his youth over the interests of the power thirsty leader of the Cult, Massoud Rajavi, finally dared to liberate himself from the destructive cult affairs. He is now reunited with his family.
“During his first meeting with his family members after 27 years, he said: “I cannot express how very happy I am. Especially when I hugged my elderly mother, I could realize the depth of Rajavis’ oppression against my family and I. He is surely a traitor. I will share my experiences within the MKO Cult affairs with the suffering families of the cult hostages…” Nejat Society congratulates Mr Fallah Ranjkesh and his family for their being back together after many years.”
May 20 2016