Iran-Interlink

++The MEK have maintained absolute silence about Mehdi Abrishamchi’s appearance in the Court of First Instance at the Palais de Justice in Paris. Instead the sites are full of news about Syria, Iraq and everywhere else under the sun. The Commentariat points out that usually if somebody sneezes the MEK will take advantage of it for publicity purposes, but they haven’t even acknowledged that the court case exists. So, they are doubly angry about the picket by former MEK members outside the court in support of the prosecution. MEK defamation and intimidation attacks against ex members have specifically targeted those offering testimony to the investigative judge. One of these is Mansour Nazari who was physically attacked and injured in his neck. His attackers were commanded by notorious lumpen Mehran Kakavand whose role is to perform such jobs for the MEK. The Police are now involved and the Investigative judge has added the case of distribution of defamatory leaflets around the homes of ex members to the file against Mehdi Abrishamchi. So the MEK have stupidly made it worse for him. Several articles state that Iranian people are lucky the MEK has no power. But they also question the role of the French government, asking is it a victim of the cult or a perpetrator of the problem.

++ Iraj Mesdaghi, an internal critic of the MEK held interviews with Said Bahbahani of Mihan TV. Asked for his views of Rajavi’s shows and publicity stunts, Mesdaghi provides an in depth history of this phenomenon. He explains that as the MEK has lost in real terms – their leader is a fugitive, Maryam Rajavi’s so-called Presidency has not changed for years, they lost their army and more – the MEK has consequently increased the focus on its presentation. Mesdaghi points to the MEK wearing suits and ties, the men dying their hair and posing as important people. This, he says, is simply a sign of their defeat.

In English

++ Retired Colonel Patrick Lang of the US Army writes about ‘The MeK – Washington’s Favourite Communist Terrorist Cult’ in the blog Sic Semper Tyrannis. Lang describes the cult nature of the MEK, calling on the RAND report which he urges everyone to read in full in order to really understand the MEK, and the Human Rights Watch report ‘No Exit’, which also gives a clear understanding of the cult nature of the group. He concludes humorously saying “Given the choice between joining the MeK or the North Korean Army, to me it’d really be a toss up.”

++ Mazda Parsi writing for Nejat Bloggers says ““Human Rights” a tool for Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) to trap EP members”. “Obsessed with the idea of regime change in Iran, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ Rajavi’s Cult) have always resorted to any tool. Today, as the final nuclear deal between Iran and the West is highly expected, the MKO cult is trying to sell its regime change agenda in the European Parliament running propaganda about the alleged human rights abuses committed by the Iranian government. The MKO propaganda arm spends huge amounts of money and energy to organize hearing sessions in the US Congress or EU parliament. One of the recent events was the controversial hearing at the US Congress in which the so-called president of the MKO testified about the threat of ISIS in Iraq!”

++ Eldar Mamedov published in Lobelog notes the MEK’s failed attempts to coerce members of the European Parliament into taking a position which would derail the nuclear negotiations. “In 2010, when Iran´s then-minister of foreign affairs Manouchehr Mottaki visited the European Parliament in Brussels, he was greeted by protests from MPs. Some of them, known for their close links with the exiled Iranian dissident group Mojaheddeen-e Khalk (MEK), carried the picture of Neda Soltan, a young Iranian woman killed during the protests following the fraudulent presidential elections of 2009. They also tried to block the minister from entering the meeting room and even briefly scuffled with security guards.

The contrast with a visit of a delegation from the Iranian Majles to Brussels on May 6-7 could not be greater. Sure enough, the MEK tried to derail the visit by lobbying the MPs to adopt a resolution on capital punishment in Iran, which would have almost certainly led to the cancellation of the visit. When that plan failed, they called on Euro MPs to boycott the delegation.

In the end, however, the five member-strong delegation led by the leader of the “principa list” faction of the Majles Kazem Jalali did make it to Brussels, in the first such parliamentary visit in seven years. Apart from holding sessions with their counterparts from the EP delegation for relations with Iran, Majles members were received by the President of the EP Martin Schultz (a German Social Democrat) and the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Elmar Brok (a German Christian Democrat).”

++ Nejat Bloggers also reports on the repatriation of one former MEK member from Albania: “Mansour Shaabani returned his hometown after 27 years of imprisonment in the camps of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization. Shaabani was relocated in Albania two years ago. Finally he succeeded to get back to Iran by the help Iranian officials on May 10th, 2015. Mansour’s brother had several times gone to Camp Ashraf, Iraq, to visit him but he was never allowed by the cult leaders. Nejat Society, Gilan office aided Shaabani family to receive their beloved Mansour.”

 May 22, 2015

++ The MEK’s reaction to critics who picketed in support of the prosecution of MEK lieutenant Mehdi Abrishamchi on terrorism charges was to launch (yet another) intimidation campaign. MEK agents found the critics’ addresses and posted defamatory leaflets around their neighbourhoods. One perpetrator was arrested by police. He was identified as an illegal Afghan. He admitted being paid by the MEK along with several other Afghans to undertake this kind of activity. Former MEK member Mohammad Karami who was there during the arrest told the man “if you go back to the MEK, tell them if we were going to cave in at these things we wouldn’t have survived what you put us through in Iraq. The Afghan had photographed some of the critics and Karami encouraged him to take them back to the MEK and publish them as it would act as publicity against themselves. Other commentators reminded us that France is responsible for the safety of people in France not the MEK. They warned that some terrorist activity by the MEK is not far off; they will do it, and the host country government will be responsible. Former MEK members in Albania issued a statement supporting the court case against Abrishamchi and cheering on the critics and ex members in Europe.

++ This week in Baghdad, Massoud Meshkinian managed to run away from Camp Liberty and take refuge with the Iraqi authorities. His family had been in Baghdad the week before looking for him. Meshkinian reported that he was being forced by the MEK to appear on their TV to swear at his own family, but while they were trying to convince him he found an opportunity to run away to the Iraqis.

++ The Hajari family (2 brothers 1 sister and the mother) among others have strongly criticised the UN asking why they don’t open the gate of Camp Liberty to see if their relatives are alive or dead after all these decades. They say, “We will not give in to the backers of the MEK, in particular the Western intelligence services which want to keep the cult, and we will continue trying to get contact for as long as it takes.”

++ Several letters, mostly from inside Iran, were written about Maryam Rajavi’s Congress appearance saying that the Israeli lobby have made a disaster for themselves. This has exposed how corrupt they are.

++ Saber from Tabriz sent an article to Iran Interlink titled ‘Trusting Americans to this extent is not wise’. Directed at Massoud Rajavi, Saber examines the relations which the US secret services have had with Al Qaida, Libyan fighters, Saddam Hussein and others. He identifies different levels from foot soldier terrorists to head of state terrorists, all of whom the US used, then killed. He advises Rajavi not to be fooled. He will be next.

++ The President of Iraq, Fuad Masum, is visiting Iran. In meetings with top level Iranian leaders Masum said that work with Iran against ISIS is progressing well and will continue with military and intelligence cooperation to finish them off soon. He reported that the second-in-command of ISIS was killed in Mosul by an Iraqi aerial attack. Iran and Iraq agreed to remove visas between their countries. Responding to this visit, some of the Commentariat mention that it’s time for the Americans to take the MEK home. “Pack up the MEK along with ISIS and your other terrorists, leave the region and go home.”

In English:

++ Nick Hankoff writes in Voice of Liberty ‘Not The Onion: Tom Cotton Befriends Radical Marxist Muslim Cult’. The article exposes US Senator Tom Cotton’s efforts to prevent a negotiated nuclear agreement with Iran by allying himself with the MEK cult. Hankoff suggests: “It’s possible Tom Cotton is (willfully?) ignorant to the leftist, tyrannical values and aspirations of the MEK. But like Howard Dean, Rick Perry, Rudy Giuliani, and many other politicians, there are big opportunities to work together for mutual political growth and enrichment.”

++ Justin Raimondo in Antiwar.com ‘Follow the Money, Why Argentina is in the War Party’s sights’, analyses the MEK’s anti-Iran activities: “Over the years, MEK has carried out a persistent campaign to foment a similar US invasion of Iran, their mainstay being various attempts to document Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons program. Virtually all of these attempts have been debunked as either outright forgeries or else half-truths based on outdated and dubiously sourced information… Now they have tried a different tack: accusing Tehran of sponsoring an international terrorist conspiracy, one tentacle of which is the alleged 1994 plot to bomb a Jewish community center in Argentina.” Raimondo acknowledges that the MEK’s advocates, “the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), the Israel Project, and the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group)… have no lack of means to publicize these theories: the campaign to tar Iran with the “terrorist” brush is fueled by the multi-millions of billionaires like Singer, Sheldon Adelson, and Norman Braman, whose insistence on 100 percent loyalty to Israel in the candidates and causes they support is remaking the political discourse in the US when it comes to foreign policy.”

Raimondo calls for “a mass mobilization by the American people against the drive to war – and, no, that’s not a pipedream. We did it when President Obama decided he wanted to bomb Syria and then gave Congress the last word. Congressional switchboards were soon inundated with calls opposing a new war one-hundred-to-one.”

++ Eldar Mamedov, an official in the European Parliament, writes: ‘MEK in the European Parliament

The Well-Funded Exile Group’s Desperate Attempts to Sabotage Diplomacy on Iran’. Among opponents of a negotiated settlement of the nuclear talks Mamedov says “The cult-like organization has spent vast sums of money to lobby political elites on both sides of the Atlantic for recognition as an alternative to the current Iranian government. Since a negotiated, multilateral deal with Iran would effectively bury prospects of Western-led regime change in Iran, the MEK is attempting to leverage its extraordinary influence to sink talks. Regime change in Iran, by any means, is the only item on the MEK agenda. Like experienced salesmen, its members employ different tactics to “sell” this approach to various audiences.” The article identifies the different tactics used by the MEK in America and Europe where the MEK have cleverly exploited MEPs sensitivities by targeting the issue of human rights. The author acknowledges this is an important issue but concludes “there are more effective ways to address these crucial issues than calling for regime change, undermining nuclear negotiations, or following the agendas of those with obvious ulterior motives.”

++ Sahar Family Foundation in Baghdad reveals ‘Rajavi preparing to battle the families: Killing two birds with one stone’. The article reports news from inside Camp Liberty that residents have been tasked to make and store Molotov cocktails. According to Sahar, residents “have been briefed that there is a danger that Iranian forces will attack the base under the cover of the families of the residents. Therefore they must be ready to defend themselves. Thus the members of the MKO have been mentally prepared to violently oppose the families.” Massoud Rajavi became alarmed when several families arrived at the camp looking for their loved ones. The article concludes: “Massoud Rajavi, like all cult leaders, considers the presence of the families outside the camp as a threat to his cult and like all dictators is against any information reaching the followers.

There is also another fact that some considerable numbers of members are old or sick or discontented and are not of any use to the cult. If they are dismissed or they defect in large numbers there would be a political damage to the organization. Therefore the best option for Rajavi is to get them killed as he planned in the past in the Ashraf Garrison in order to use them for propaganda purposes. In this way he would be able to kill two birds with one stone.

Rajavi is preparing his forces and arming them with Molotov Cocktails to wage battle against the Iraqis. He is using the excuse of the families’ presence at the camp gates in order for those who he considers no longer have any use for him to be killed.”

May 15 2015

++ Paris this week saw the start of the court case against leading MEK member Mehdi Abrishamchi on terrorism charges. Several former MEK members staged a picket in support of the prosecution.

++ More responses are rumbling through the Commentariat in reaction to Maryam Rajavi’s speech to Congress. The underlying theme is ‘how on earth did they end up bringing Maryam Rajavi to speak?’ Most concluded that this exposes high levels of financial corruption at the top levels of the US political system. But in that respect only America and Israel are paying the price because Iran is able to use this situation to its favour in the negotiations. By itself the event is a comedy – “bringing the representative of ISIS to talk against ISIS”. Some point out that Maryam Rajavi didn’t even attempt to say anything about ISIS to show any expertise. Worse than that she announced that to fight ISIS you need regime change in Iran fronted by the MEK; which will take the credit and take power. Rajavi complains that nobody should believe there are differences between Sunni and Shia because both Iran and ISIS are both after power. Then immediately follows that by demanding regime change in Iran to give power to the MEK! That, according to her and completely missing her own irony, is the way forward. Even the Americans acknowledge that the only effective force pushing back ISIS in Iraq is the Iranian backed militias alongside the Iraqi army. Some analyses conclude that the presence of Rajavi shows the utter weakness of the Israelis and the Americans. The Israeli lobby and its sub class have been brought so low and powerless as to play this card.

++ The Mohammadi family have written to state that they have not and will not give up on their struggle to make contact with their daughter Somayeh. They, along with other families, are asking ‘where is this so-called international community, where are the human rights organisations? How come, when it comes to the Mojahedin they can do what they want? Why are these organisations so useless?’

++ The MEK is preparing for its annual show in Villepinte celebrating the start of its terrorist campaign inside Iran and again the Commentariat is exposing the MEK saga of buying both audience and speakers.

++ Ehsan Bidi from Albania says the MEK has changed its tactics this week. Now MEK commander Afshin Ebrahimi is asking ex members “why are you still here?” He is encouraging them to leave Albania illegally. Bidi says this makes it even more obvious that they want to establish a base in Albania. The MEK has brought money, forces and have bought land and property there for a reason.

++ Mir Bagher Sedaghi from Setaregan Assoc in Switzerland published a short article asking ‘Is Rajavi as great as she thinks she is, or is she just daft?’ The article quotes Rajavi claiming victory “because the agents of Iran’s Intelligence ministry – Daniel Benjamin and Robert Ford – who tried to stop Maryam Rajavi speaking to Congress failed and we won.”

In English:

++ Fallout from Maryam Rajavi’s appearance by video conference in the US Congress continued this week. Some former MEK members wrote in English to congratulate Robert Ford and Daniel on their stance.

Daniel Larison in The American Conservative writes “The refusal of these former officials to play along with some hawks’ disturbing admiration for the MEK is appropriate, but it is unfortunate that it should be necessary. The attention and praise lavished on the MEK in recent years by former officials, retired military officers, and politicians has been an embarrassing spectacle. Now the strange infatuation that many hawks have with the “former” terrorist group is spilling over into the regular business of Congress. As if to underscore how misguided inviting Rajavi was, a copy of the cult leader’s testimony shows that she intends to use her time to argue for regime change in Iran. Ali Gharib comments: But more to the point, the MEK has always had only one goal: the overthrow of the Iranian regime. For decades, it has tried to shoehorn regional and geopolitical dynamics into its aim, irrespective of any salient connections.”

Atwiw.com’s take on the event is even more blunt. After unpicking the MEK’s attempts to buy respectability, the jokey article concludes: “So, hey, if you’ve ever wanted to testify before Congress but there’s no discernible reason why they should invite you to do so, plus maybe you’ve got some unsavory things in your past that could complicate matters, don’t worry! Just fork over a few tens of thousands to your favorite congressperson and you could soon find yourself offering your “expertise” (or irrelevant ranting, but whatever, you bought your time fair and square) to our nation’s top legislators! Good luck!”

Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers argues that the “Appearance of the self-claimed president of National Council of Resistance, Maryam Rajavi in a hearing in US Congress indicates the absurdity of the claim of fighting against terrorism. Although the credibility of this so called leader is questionable getting support among some US congressmen for her presence in the congress is interesting and creates doubts in everybody’s mind.”

++ Also in America, Eli Clifton writing in Lobelog reveals that ‘Tom Cotton Allies Himself with the MEK’. “It appears that Cotton, who has quickly displaced Lindsey Graham as the Senate’s most hawkish member, has decided that it is necessary – perhaps even politically desirable – to make common cause with a group that has committed serious human rights abuses, allied itself for some two decades with Saddam Hussein, and carried out terrorist acts, including against U.S. citizens and servicemen – all in the interests of sabotaging an Iran nuclear agreement.”

++ On the subject of the nuclear negotiations Akbar Ganji’s article in the Huffington Post suggests ‘Why Tehran Fears the Iraqization of Iran on Nuclear Inspections’. In a well-argued piece he analyses Iran’s mistrust of American intentions. “Iranian leaders are deeply concerned about the IAEA inspection regime, and are afraid that Iran will meet the same fate as Iraq’s, right before its invasion in 2003, when the agency demanded inspecting even Saddam Hussein’s palaces. The IAEA searched everywhere and found no evidence of a nuclear program, yet Iraq was invaded… Ayatollah Khamenei and the military leaders believe that, beginning with the day after signing the final agreement, Israel and the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq will surely declare every single military site as “suspect,” claiming that the Islamic Republic is secretly trying to make nuclear bombs there. If Iran does not allow inspecting the “suspect” sites, Israel and MEK will declare victory, and if Iran does allow the inspection, the agency may eventually demand to inspect even Khamenei’s bedroom.”

++ Iran Interlink believes ‘Maryam Rajavi and her cult brand prove too toxic for The Hill’ after an article by long term MEK supporter Struan Stevenson omitted to mention either Maryam Rajavi or the MEK.

++ The appearance of Maryam Rajavi by videolink (because she is refused a visa to enter the USA) in Congress last week attracted a flurry of responses from critics and ex members in Iran Interlink’s Farsi site. These largely ignored American politics and instead demanded to know what was being done to help the 2000+ hostages being held captive in Camp Liberty by the Rajavis. Open letters from families and ex members were addressed to Ban Ki Moon and UN Rapporteur Ahmad Shahid asking ‘where is the international community, why do you not have power over a cult?’ Several petitions sprung up with the same demands.

++ The daughter of former MEK member Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad had visited Baghdad with her husband in another attempt to get a meeting with her estranged sister inside Camp Liberty. Along with several other families, she met with UN officials to plead for help in securing the safety and freedom of their loved ones from the camp. The MEK reacted by publishing a photograph of her but with the faces of UN officials blacked out and a caption underneath saying this was evidence of her working with the Iranian Intelligence ministry and Pasdaran.

++ The situation in Albania has worsened for around five hundred ex MEK members who were transferred there over the past two years. They report that Rajavi has sent two top level fixers – Mehdi Abrishamchi and Zohreh Merikhi – to intervene to stop the rapid dissolution of the MEK. Growing numbers are escaping the hold of the MEK and the cult is very worried about them exposing the internal crimes and abuses to the world. To stop people talking the MEK has employed intimidation tactics, saying that because the group is backed by the might of America and Israel it only takes a phone call for anybody’s refugee status to be denied and all aid cut off. Their message is that only the MEK can endorse a person’s refugee status and allow them to go to another country, claiming falsely that they endorsed the transfer of those accepted by the US. The MEK also says it will pay people if they declare themselves to the UN as ‘Mojahedin’ not as individuals and insist that they want to stay in Albania. This is interpreted as further evidence that the MEK is seeking to establish a closed cult base in that country with the intention of bringing Massoud Rajavi there. Outspoken critics of the MEK in Albania are now openly threatened in public meetings. People like Ehsan Bidi are told in front of the others that they will be killed and nobody will know how or by whom.

++ Former Iranian President Abol Hassan Bani Sadr has published the first of a series of damning articles in his newspaper ‘Enghelab Eslami’. Bani Sadr has begun to explain the real reasons why he left Massoud Rajavi and his Mojahedin Khalq after they arrived in Paris in 1981. It was not only, he says, because the MEK were traitors. In more detail he exposes what the MEK were doing in collaboration with Saddam Hussein without the knowledge of most of the MEK members. Further articles will be published revealing this hidden history.

In English:

++ The headlines tell the story this week as several articles reported on Maryam Rajavi’s testimony to Congress. ‘Cult Leader Will Tell Congress: Fight ISIS by Regime Change in Iran’ says Ali Gharib in The Nation. An analysis which was confirmed after the event with the headline ‘Controversial MEK Leader, Asked to Talk Islamic State, Instead Talks Iran’ by David Francis in Foreign Policy blog The Cable. Anger at the inclusion of Rajavi was expressed in Al Monitor’s article ‘Congressional invite to MEK (Mojahedin Khalq) sparks furious backlash’ with the succinct and accurate reaction from America’s former ambassador to Syria Robert Ford who said “What the fuck do the MEK know about the Islamic State?” He only agreed to testify in a separate panel because he said American soldiers deserved the benefit of his expertise. Ex-counterterrorism coordinator Daniel Benjamin refused to testify because of Rajavi citing as his reason that he “did not believe the MEK had anything to contribute to a discussion of [IS], and that this would be a distraction from an important issue,” he told Al-Monitor. “I said the story of the day would be the rehabilitation of the MEK, and I did not want to be associated with that in any way.”

Most articles pointed out the financial links between the MEK and members of Congress who support the cult.

In an article titled ‘Congress cannot rely on Rajavi’s testimony – Camp Liberty residents must be taken to safety now’, Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh predicted that Rajavi would not be able to criticise the Islamic State because she is on the same side as them. They urged members of Congress to question Rajavi about her hostages in Camp Liberty.

“Instead of condemning the Islamic State, Maryam Rajavi will speak about how the Iranian government wants to kill the people in Camp Liberty and is plotting every day to find ways to massacre them all. This is an old script. It has been the MEK script for thirty years. Does Ted Poe think the MEK has suddenly flipped sides and will line up with Iran against the Islamic State?

Whatever threats are faced by the residents of Camp Liberty, one thing is certain. The reason they cannot leave is because the MEK leaders refuse to allow them to leave. Members of Congress should robustly question Maryam Rajavi about that. They need to ask why the UN is unable to progress its work with these vulnerable people. Why, if they are in such direct danger, she doesn’t allow the Iraqi authorities to remove them to separate accommodation. The Iraqis have offered to place the MEK in various secure hotels and apartments in order to make life safer and more comfortable for them. The MEK have refused. Congress needs to ask Maryam Rajavi why the residents of Camp Liberty are not able to make contact with their relatives. Hundreds of families have travelled to Iraq since 2003 attempting to make contact with their loved ones. The MEK have accused them all of being ‘agents of the Iranian regime sent to kill them’. Is this plausible? Most of the family members are old people; the parents and siblings and in some cases the children of people trapped in Camp Liberty. Are they really desirous of massacring their loved ones?”

May 1, 2015

++ Several families of trapped MEK members in Camp Liberty have arrived in Baghdad to actively petition Iraqi governmental officials and UN staff to help them make contact with their loved ones. Once the MEK leaders found this out, the usual campaign of ugly swearing and disinformation began. Among the families is the daughter of Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad, who with her husband has travelled from Iran to visit her sister, who remains in Camp Liberty. Using screen shots from the MEK’s own sites, Hossein Nejad exposes the MEK’s hollow propaganda strategy to demonise the families. He reveals that the MEK have invented a family member for him with the name ‘Hossein Nejad’ who apparently denounces him as an agent of the Iranian regime. No such relative exists, though his daughter had written to invite her sister to visit. Hossein Nejad reminds Rajavi about this and asks ‘how come you are now swearing at us?’

Addressing Rajavi directly, the article exposes the contradictory messages coming out of the MEK. Photoshopped pictures show a mish-mash of Iraqi and Iranian governmental officials along with the families posing with UN officials. “You label us and the UN as agents of the Sepah Pasdaran and Iranian Intelligence. At the same time you admit we are the family members of your hostages and then you say it is the Iraqi Government which is preventing the families from visiting. Then you complain to the same UN and Iraqi officials saying the families are there to kill you. None of this adds up. All of it shows how afraid you are of allowing people to see their families.

++ Reza Akbarinasab, who has been trying to make contact with his brother Morteza in Iraq since 2003, writes from Tabriz. Morteza’s son, Yasser, died in the camp under suspicious circumstances; the MEK announced several contradictory scenarios to explain his death, but former members are clear that he was murdered because he was a disaffected member. Reza rejects the fabricated denouncements against him on MEK websites supposedly written by his brother which are currently being posted. He says “the gaffe starts right there. I know my brother Morteza, and under no circumstances, not even under torture, would he utter the hideous language of this writing. Where then is our brother? We are more anxious than ever now, we already lost Yasser, we worry that we might lose Morteza too.”

++ Survivors of the MEK in Albania launched a Farsi website this week www.iran-azadi-albania.com. Ehsan Bidi has written a long, detailed and documented article about the MEK’s plots to kill him over there. Bidi is an outspoken critic who refuses to be silenced. The article says the plots began when he went to language classes. He names the people, including MEK commanders, who are involved and says he has passed this information to the Albanian authorities. His purpose in publishing the information is to let everyone know what difficulties the ex-members are facing in Albania. Bidi’s article follows last week’s revelations by Iran Interlink that the MEK have sent several highly trained agents to the country to ‘eliminate’ these dissidents. The MEK regard people like Bidi as a threat and will stop at nothing to shut them up. Bidi writes that he has already lost a friend who died while they were trying to escape Iraq and reach Albania. He is adamant he will not hesitate to give his own life to expose the cult so nobody else has the experience we have had.

In English:

++ An article by Nejat Bloggers expanded on the information concerning the presence of high ranking MEK officials in Tirana. The article lists those involved along with some of their photographs and pseudonyms.

++ Members of Iran Zanan (Iranian Women’s Association), Germany, have written to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi concerning the MEK’s misuse of her name to pretend she supports the cult. The letter identifies the lies and deceit created by the MEK and warns Ms Pelosi not to allow the MEK to misuse her name without her knowledge.

April 24,2015

++ Two weeks ago an active MEK member was involved in an accident in Baghdad. He was arrested and imprisoned to await trial. Iraqi officials stated that pending his trial he was free to be released on bail. The MEK preferred not to pay this, but instead created a brouhaha for publicity purposes claiming that he had been kidnapped by ‘agents of the Iranian regime’, even writing to Ban Ki Moon. But when a group of families arrived in Baghdad trying to get contact with for their loved ones in Camp Liberty the MEK panicked. Fearing their member might run away the MEK suddenly paid the bail and welcomed him back in the camp with flowers and cheers of ‘victory, victory’. Following this MEK publicity several former members write that this person whom the MEK call Safar Zakeri is actually Safar Ali Zamanian. Writers say the MEK uses false names and has certainly done so for some of those going to Tirana and America. They point out different reasons: 1. To prevent the families of these people from finding them; 2. To hide the trail of criminal activities; 3. Historically Rajavi claimed money for fictional forces from Saddam Hussein; 4. Several disaffected members have been killed and their names used by other members to hide the fact.

Others ridicule this event saying the MEK have been reduced from claiming to free the whole world to celebrating bailing one member from prison.

Massoud Khodabandeh on Facebook says that at the root of the issue is that this person will never be trusted inside the MEK again. Anybody who undertakes an unsupervised absence – whether in prison or hospital or other reason – for a few days will be treated as an infiltrator by Massoud Rajavi. And like many before him, this person will be treated like this for the rest of his life. According to Khodabandeh it doesn’t stop there because sooner or later, after being treated like this, the person will rebel. And at that point the MEK will be forced to get rid of him, like many others. Khodabandeh says, if you look deeply into the photograph of the man with the flowers it looks not like a celebration but like his funeral. It hasn’t unfolded yet, but it will.

++ This week Iran Interlink published a list of several high ranking MEK who have arrived in Tirana, gathered together from various places. Some are from the leadership ranks, most are top level intelligence and military commanders of the MEK. Among them is Mahmoud Atai who signed the treaty of surrender with the American army in Camp Ashraf on behalf of Massoud Rajavi. Most have false passports and documents which Iran Interlink has listed along with their real identities. One of the missions is to buy large amounts of land and real estate in order to create a new cult camp. But the main and immediate objective is to silence or eliminate the former members who no longer obey the MEK commanders by whatever means possible. The sources of this information – who are known to Iran Interlink- are afraid for their lives; these are highly trained and ruthless intelligence operatives from the time of Saddam Hussein. Some are known to be Massoud Rajavi’s personal bodyguards. Rumours circulating among those in Tirana anticipate that this combination of activities – buying land, removing disaffected members – indicates that they are preparing a place to bring Rajavi. This matches with the new situation in Iraq; the defeat of ISIS and the killing of Al Douri in Tikrit have signalled the loss of hope in the Saddamists.

++ The Commentariat poured scorn and ridicule on the MEK for going into overdrive to support Saudi Arabia’s attack on Yemen. The MEK, they say, is more Saudi then the Saudis themseleves.

++ Another activity which the MEK has embarked on in its websites it to publish the letters of Said Masouri from inside prison in Iran. Masouri has been affiliated with MEK on and off for years and this is not the first time the MEK have tried to take ownership of him, or someone, anyone. But this pose becomes ridiculous when the MEK publishes Masouri’s letters from inside prison in praise of terrorism and yet nobody is stopping them. And the MEK claim he has visits every week even though he is charged with murder and terrorism. Commentators point out that on the contrary, families of the residents in Liberty can’t even have a letter or phone call after twenty years let alone a visit. They point out that the MEK is saying the prisons in Iran are ten times better than the camp in Iraq.

++ Camp Liberty resident Jalal Abedini has died in hospital after an operation on a tumour. The MEK as usual have written a letter to President Obama and other leaders claiming that ‘agents of Iranian regime’ [the Iraqi authorities] have laid siege to Camp Liberty and don’t allow them to access medical treatment. They say that for months they have asked Jane Holl Lute of the UN to allow them to take him out of Iraq and she refuses. (This, of course, is not true and this news is only published in Farsi.) Already internal critics including Atefeh Eghbal have questioned “if you knew he was ill for a long time as you say, why is it we only find out after he died that you tried to save him? Why do people die before you plead for help, why not before?”

In English:

++ Fareed Zakaria in Newsmax ‘Iran Is Methodical and Rational’. Zakaria writes that Iran is denounced as irrational by some enemies who, at the same time, say Iran will bow to the pressure of sanctions; a rational response. Others say Iran is rational but not reasonable. The article argues that Iran is acting rationally and reasonably in line with its geopolitical interests: “Seymour Hersh has reported extensively for The New Yorker on America’s covert support for groups within Iran that seek not only to topple the regime but also dismember the country. Some of these groups, like the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq and Jundallah, are regarded by some as pretty nasty terrorist outfits. For a decade starting in 2001, Tehran watched as 200,000 American troops massed across its eastern and western borders in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Bush administration openly talked about the need for “regime change” in Tehran, which was branded as part of the globe’s “axis of evil.” I am not making the case that any of these policies should have been altered — international politics is a rough business — but given these realities, is it so bizarre that Iran has behaved as it has? Or that it has sought to build a nuclear industry that could give it a pathway to a nuclear weapon? Would a secular, hyper-rational country facing this same array of threats have acted differently?”

++ Mazda Parsi, Nejat bloggers ‘Concerns of False Prophets after Nuclear Deal’. The article deals with why the long term alliance between the Zionist regime, war mongers and the MKO is so deep. MEK pays for support from people like John Bolton and Robert Menendez to keep the group alive. “Furthermore, John Bolton is a senior fellow at the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute and the chairman of the Gatestone Institute, a right-wing “pro-Israel” activist group that has been accused of fomenting anti-Muslim sentiment. He is a steadfast supporter of the right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Exactly like the MKO and its Israeli ally Netanyahou, he is a vocal opponent of President Obama’s diplomatic approach regarding Iran. About the MKO-Israeli alliance it is worth mentioning that terrorist attacks against the Iranian nuclear scientists that ended in with the death of five of them was actually done in collaboration with a team of MKO operatives who were all trained by Mossad Intelligence Service.” The article concludes: “The MKO and its American and Israeli supporters are false prophets. They all have “an interest in creating a panic about Iran’s nuclear capabilities”.”

++ The title of Michael Luciano’s blog in Daily Banter really says it all: ‘Rudy Giuliani Supports a Mujahedin Group With a Hammer-and-Sickle Logo Because He’s Been Paid To’.

++ Ebrahim Khodabandeh writing for Iran Interlink exposes increasing infighting and disaffection inside the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which is based in Paris (although its life-term Chair, Massoud Rajavi has been in hiding since March 2003). Interestingly, Khodabandeh receives communications from a wide spectrum of current and former MEK members and supporters who know him personally. Collectively their communications reveal a picture of disintegration and dissent over the undemocratic practices inside the NCRI where even non-MEK members are expected to unquestioningly obey MEK dictates.

++ Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton) has written an Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi warning her not to allow the MEK to hijack her name. The MEK’s Farsi sites have appropriated her name and attributed to her words and political stances which are not only fictional but are far from her real position in relation to the MEK. Khodabandeh points out that in Farsi even the anti-Iran Neoconservative members of Congress have been misrepresented as attending an Iranian Nourouz celebration specifically to support the MEK.

++ In a long and detailed analytical article in Truthout, Gareth Porter exposes the myths fuelling the ‘The “Possible Military Dimensions” Bomb That Could Blow Up the Iran Deal’. The article exposes how the MEK was instrumental in information laundry for the Israelis to derail the nuclear negotiations with manufactured information. “Information now available shows that the documents were created in Israel. According to a senior German office official, those documents were given to Germany’s foreign intelligence service, the BND, in 2004 by the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), the armed exile Iranian opposition group that had been an Israeli client organization for several years. A popular Israeli history of the most successful covert operations by Israel’s Mossad, originally published in Hebrew in Israel, asserts that Mossad provided some of the documents to the MEK that later become the centerpiece of the case against Iran.”

++ Caleb Maupin’s article in RT says ‘US can’t afford more war and aggression, people want peace with Iran’. He says Iranians and Americans want peace, but a small but very wealthy and powerful group of oil corporations and military contractors in alliance with Israel want further hostilities throughout the Middle East. “All throughout the Middle East there are many countries with complex political situations. There are many people throughout the region who don’t like living under US-backed autocracies like the Saudi Arabia monarchy, or the regimes that they prop up throughout the region and they may be in rebellion. But this is not because Iran told them to. There are people all throughout the Middle East who are upset about the fact that Wall Street controls their oil resources and that people throughout the Middle East are hungry and starving while they have so much oil. These are very wealthy countries. Yet, the wealth of these countries is not under the control of their people. To characterize Iran as sponsoring terrorism is outrageous, especially when the US government and Israel are in alliance with the Mojahedin-e-Khalq which is a vile terrorist organization that has assassinated and murdered people. And the US and the Israeli government are working with them to destabilize Iran.

“The US is also working with Jundallah which is the terrorist organization that has been attacking Iran as well. Terrorist attacks have been taking place in Iran by US backed forces. Yet, Iran has attacked no one. Iran hasn’t attacked any of its neighbors, Iran want to live in peace. It is a country that is trying to survive. This is a country that was born in a revolution and in which the forces of wealth and power and Wall Street were kicked out, and they began with nationalized oil resources to develop independently. And of course that is a threat to any of the rich and powerful countries in the West because if one country can break free, other countries can break free, as well. The attack on Iran is an attempt to stifle independent economic development.”

++ An hour before the announcement from Lausanne on the result of the nuclear negotiations, Ramin Fakhari, an Iranian analyst, published an article analysing the situation. He concluded that irrelevant of the outcome – whether there is agreement or not and who names who to be the winner or loser – ensuring that there is one less nuclear bomb in the world, and reducing the savage effects of sanctions on the ordinary citizens of Iran is a victory for all the people of the world. The real winners are the people and the losers are Israel, the Saudis and the MEK.

++ Maryam Rajavi and the NCRI websites published statements in support of bombing Yemen, accusing the victims of these bombs of being “agents of the Iranian regime”. The critical Farsi Commentariat have denounced Rajavi for taking this cruel position at a time that the UN says this action is in violation of international law and has expressed deep concern for the lives of ordinary citizens there. Critics say that this is not the first time Rajavi has taken such an anti-human stance, and remind us of the MEK’s collusion with Saddam Hussein to kill their own people and their begging the Neocons to bomb their mothers’ and sisters’ homes in Iran. This is normal, they say, for Rajavi and the MEK.

++ This week the MEK has again asked to be armed in Iraq. Many critics ridiculed this, reminding the MEK that they are in the process of being expelled by the UN. Ehsan Bidi, who is in Tirana, goes into more detail about what is really in Massoud Rajavi’s mind. Bidi suggests that Rajavi is desperate to stop people being transferred to third countries – Albania, the US, Europe; he produces evidence of the ways the MEK is trying to prevent the UN from taking people to America. When Rajavi says “Iran wants to kill us, that’s why we need arms”, what he really wants, Bidi says, is a way to legitimize killing the residents of Camp Liberty. Rajavi even has people who will do this killing – bands related to the Saddamists and ISIS. Bidi then reflects on MEK history in this respect; whenever Rajavi announces that “Khamenei wants to kill us”, some weeks later a disaster strikes and several MEK are killed. This only happens to disaffected members not the commanders. There is clear danger that this will happen again soon. Bidi appeals to everyone to inform the authorities in their own countries and help prevent a tragedy from happening again.

++ The MEK published a video on its satellite and websites in reaction to an open letter by 80 ex members and critics addressed to the President of France asking him – as her host – to put pressure on Maryam Rajavi to release the people in Camp Liberty. The letter also emphasised the MEK’s threats to kill critics all over Europe, saying that the French should take action to stop this, not the potential victims. Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad has examined the MEK’s video message and come to an interesting conclusion. He points out that Rajavi has not only backed down from his threats to kill his critics, but has now apologised for this. Hossein Nejad explains that this is clearly the result of France’s security services having a word with the leaders and telling them that incitement to murder is illegal in Europe. Rajavi has had to take his words back because clearly Europe is not Iraq.

In English:

++ In the week leading up to the historic Lausanne announcement, Paul Mulshine has written two articles in NJ.com about the MEK and America. The first ‘More on Senator Menendez’s favorite (ex?) terrorist group and the insanity of neocon policy in the Mideast’ criticizes efforts to push America into a war with Iran. He mentions Menendez and Bolton as paid advocates of the MEK position, saying “As part of that propaganda, we’re supposed to think it’s just peachy to support the MEK in its efforts to topple the Iranian government. Or in other words, we’re supposed to support a terrorist effort in the midst of a War on terrorism.” His second article, ‘The week the neocons jumped the shark’ attacks Bolton and the neocon agenda as a distraction saying “Then there was the piece by former UN ambassador John Bolton headlined “To Stop Iran’s Bomb, Bomb Iran.” It contained the usual cliches about weapons of mass destruction and the need to stop terrorism along with this proposition: “Such action should be combined with vigorous American support for Iran’s opposition, aimed at regime change in Tehran. In the past Bolton has identified the “opposition” as called Mojahedin-e-Khalq. This is a shadowy cult that makes the Scientologists look transparent by comparison. In the past MEK members have killed Americans in terror attacks. More recently they are seen as the likely suspects in the car-bombing of nuclear scientists in Tehran.”

++ In a bad week for the MEK, Jim Newell for Salon, also writes about another MEK paid advocate, this time on the Democrat side. In his article “Howard Dean’s Iran secret: “Famously dovish” Dem is paid shill for Iranian regime change group”, Newell says “Dean, along with the likes of John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani, Ed Rendell and other notables, has given paid speeches at MEK rallies. In the first term of the Obama administration, MEK’s allies launched a expensive P.R. effort to get the State Department to de-list MEK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. (Anyone who lived in the D.C. metropolitan area between 2010 and 2012 will be familiar with a seemingly endless cycle of television ads calling for this.) The effort was successful: in September 2012, just before the election, the State Department de-listed MEK. It was a heavy, cynical lobbying effort that offered a real education in the how subjectively the government applies the term “terrorism” to suit its interests.” Newell comments sarcastically “Dean takes the same approach as Benjamin Netanyahu: suggesting that there is a “better deal” out there in which Iran eliminates every last trace of its nuclear infrastructure, reforms itself into the world’s number one protector of human rights, and abandons all of its regional interests. Perhaps, if John Kerry had the courage to twist a few more arms, he could even get Ayatollah Khameini and his regime to self-abdicate and put in place an American puppet government. How about… the MEK?”

April 3, 2015

++ The MEK and its affiliated fronts – the NCRI, Maryam Rajavi etc – have gone all out to praise Saudi Arabia for attacking Yemen. It is not the first time they have praised Saudi Arabia for just about anything at all [an indication of the needy relationship Rajavi has with the country]. Fars News reproduced the MEK praise alongside praise from Israeli media such as the Jerusalem Times, showing they are carbon copies of each others’ position.

++ This week Maryam Rajavi has issued a New Year Message; she does this every year as though she is the Queen of Iran. This year, as for the past thirty years, she promises this will be the last one and this coming year ‘we’ will topple the Iranian regime. Mohammad Razaghi has collated each of these messages along with a picture of Rajavi posing with her Haftsin table. One of the seven ‘S’s is the word Sarneguni [overthrow]. Razaghi says this is the best joke he has heard all year – that she simply doesn’t give up. Others have pointed out that her message is directed at Israel and the Neocons rather than any other group of people. Her message is actually a plea: “why don’t you attack Iran?”

++ The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) held its annual fake meeting last week. Various commentators say that ‘putting aside the usual lies and irrelevant issues, the whole discussion is reduced to demanding that the US re-arms the people in Camp Liberty’. This has provoked a reaction among internal critics of the MEK. They ask ‘why do you want to kill these poor pensioners by arming them in Iraq and making them into targets?’ Commentators also say that it is apparent that for Rajavi the NCRI presents more problems than it is worth. There are predictions the NCRI will be abolished before long.

++ Several people have written to President Holland asking him as the head of the MEK’s host country to put pressure on Maryam Rajavi to allow the hostages in Camp Liberty to leave and to allow international agencies to take them out of Iraq.

In English:

++ The extreme right Israeli Settlers news outlet Beritbart, in an article titled ‘A Complete Timeline of Obama’s Anti-Israel Hatred’, reveals that the MEK lined up with Israel behind the back of the American Administration to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

++ Iran Interlink reports that fifteen young Iranians have now arrived in America following their escape from the pernicious hold of the Rajavi cult… The fifteen individuals have been accepted as refugees by the United States and were flown to Los Angeles on 21 March. This group is part of a quota of 80 from the 3,000+ MEK members which the US agreed to accept from the temporary transit camp Liberty (aka Hurriyeh) in Iraq. The government of Iraq and the United Nations are coordinating efforts to have all the residents transferred to third countries as soon as possible. Only the cult leader Massoud Rajavi is obstructing and resisting this inevitable process.

 March 27, 2015

++ This week Iranians joyfully celebrated Chahar Shanbe Suri with their families, with friends and in their communities. Nothing of much note happened apart from the usual needless, unfortunate firework injuries. Not a sign of the uprising that Maryam Rajavi’s ordered last week. Mohammad Karami exposed the MEK’s delusions on his weblog with an article titled ‘False Pictures, False News and False Identity’. He explains that the MEK have taken a single photograph from BBC Farsi showing that a police car was set ablaze outside a stadium in Ahwaz during a local clash. The MEK misleadingly claimed this is what happened “in Iran”. The MEK website also distorted an AP news article by adding bits to it themselves. Karami provided screenshots of the original AP article alongside the MEK version which clearly shows what they have added. Karami reminds us that they did the same thing last week with AP coverage of Maryam Rajavi’s Berlin Women’s Day show, in which the MEK edited out AP reporting that the audience was mostly made up of Polish and Czech students. He reminds us also of the ‘nuclear safe door’ debacle, pointing out that the MEK couldn’t even find a graphic obscure enough to avoid instant exposure. Karami reviews several years of photoshopped pictures of audiences, demonstrations and other events and concludes that the MEK has long ago become nothing more than image makers.

++ This week seven people moved out of Hotel Mohajer in Baghdad to resume normal life. The hotel is where ex members reside when they escape from Camp Liberty. This is good news because for many months conditions in Baghdad meant that there were not appropriate nor sufficient resources and facilities to allow them to move out. Now the situation in Iraq has eased the hotel has gone back to being a transit hotel.

++ Parviz Khazai, the MEK’s nefarious NCRI representative in Norway, has written a sixteen page report by order of Rajavi with title ‘Up to date report to the people of Iran’. Ebrahim Khodabandeh has unpicked it in an article, not, as he says because of the issues it contains but because this shows what the MEK’s problems are, where they are stuck and what they are trying to sort out with this report.

Khazai’s report has three subtitles: 1. About the Iranian regime. 2. About outside Iran and 3. About the people of Iran. Ironically, says Khodabandeh, Khazai explains that the MEK’s success are that it prevented Iran from taking over Iraq – during the eight year war [by siding with Iraq], during the 1991 Gulf war [by crushing the Kurdish uprising] and after the 2003 invasion [by siding with the Saddamists and insurgents] – and that it prevented Iran from building a bomb [as the source of nuclear exposures]. Although these are not things to be proud of says Khodabandeh, that is not the point; we didn’t think it was the MEK’s job to do these things. This is not opposition activity, in fact it is something quite different, and these are not questions of the Iranian people.

Khodabandeh says he is in contact with various people including current and former MEK members and they confirm that everybody’s questions are: 1. Where is Massoud Rajavi, the leader? 2. Why is it you are part and parcel of the Neocon/Zionist alliance and have nothing to do with Iran but everything to do with Israel? And 3. Where is all the money coming from to pay for all this? These are the questions of your own people let alone everyone else. Therefore this is not a report aimed at the people of Iran, nor is it aimed at the MEK’s own people. This report is for Israel because Rajavi is afraid of being dumped. It is an advertisement and justification of what the MEK has done for Israel in the hope of continued support.

In English:

++ TEHRAN (Tasnim) – ‘Mojahedin Khalq Has Strong Ties with ISIL: Former Member’

A former member of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) revealed the group’s close relations with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group. Ghorban Ali Hosseinnejad said the leaders of MKO (also known as MEK) maintain strong ties with the ISIL Takfiri group in Iraq and Syria. “The MKO leaders had pinned hope in ISIL to seize control of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad after the northern city of Mosul fell to ISIL forces last summer”, Hosseinnejad was quoted by Iraqi Al-Masalah website as saying.

++ Michael Knights, Foreign Affairs, (The Council On Foreign Relations) ‘After Tikrit What to Do With Iraq’s Shia Popular Mobilization Units’

“Eastern Iraq has also been a literal and figurative battlefield between Iranian-backed Iraqi militants and the Iraqi state. Ravaged by the Iran-Iraq War, the borderlands soon after the cease-fire became sites of tit-for-tat border raids. Baghdad sent in the Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MeK), Shiite opponents of the Iranian theocracy classified as a terrorist organization by the United States. Tehran sent in the Badr Corps, an Iraqi Shiite force recruited by Iran. In the 1990s, Iran also periodically sent its air force into Iraq to hit the MeK. It even fired salvos of Scud-like missiles into Diyala as late as 2001.”

++ Justin Raymondo, Antiwar.com ‘Bin Laden and Bibi, Together At Last, Israel’s alliance with al-Qaeda’: “Israel has never hesitated to ally with the worst elements on earth in order to advance what its leaders regard as the Jewish state’s interests. From South Africa’s apartheid regime to the death squads of Central and South America, to the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) – an Iranian exile group of Marxist terrorists – Israel has always given a helping hand to whoever merits it according to their amoral calculus. And as Israeli and American interests began to radically diverge – a process that has been ongoing since the demise of the Soviet Union – it makes perfect sense that they should align with our worst enemies.”

++ Nejat Bloggers: ‘Mr Rahmani – former MKO member – joined his family after 27 years’

“Mr. Mahmoud Rahmani who was a POW of Iran-Iraq war in 1987, was deceived into joining the Cult of Mujahedin-e Khalq. Mr. Rahmani who was forced to stay with the group for 27 years, transferred to Albania from Temporary Transit Location, Iraq. In Tirana far from the Cult boundaries and strict manipulation practices, Mr. Rahmani managed to release himself from the cult. Now, he is with his family after about a quarter of a century. When he left his family, his son was a 3 year old child. Now he is a 30 year old married young man. Within the mind manipulating cult of MKO, having contact with the family members both within and outside the Cult Camps is forbidden.”

++ Fars News: ‘Senior Iraqi MP: ISIL Continuing Mojahedin Khalq’s Terrorist Ideology’.

“Iraqi MP Hunain Al-Qado said the importance of reminding MKO’s crimes stems from the fact that some people try to keep these crimes under wraps.

He said the terrorist groups all pursue a shared objective, and added, “There is no difference between the ISIL’s terrorist acts in Iraq and Syria and Mojahedin-e Khalq’s terrorist acts.” “These groups use the same methods and have similar purposes which is creating fear and terrorizing civilians. So, what is going on now in Iraq is the continuation of MKO’s ideology.”

Emphasizing the need for cooperation among the regional countries that have been targeted by terrorist groups, al-Qado said, “On account of the arrogant powers’ struggles against Iran as well as their efforts in sowing the seeds of chaos in the Axis of Resistance, which is made up of Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and most probably Yemen in the future, it is vital to set up strategies in order to encourage integrated efforts in these countries and other countries which are a victim of terrorism.””

++ Iran Interlink, March 20 2015:… On the occasion of Norooz, Iran Interlink is posting this article titled ‘Uncertain Future for MKO’ which was first published by Knight Ridder in March 2005. Our thoughts and hopes are with the victims of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, and their families, who are still held in incommunicado captivity in Camp Liberty …

++ The death was announced yesterday of Hareth al Zaari, a backer of the MEK. Al Zaari escaped from Iraq in 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein to Jordan where he established the Association of Muslim scholars. This association was part of a cohort, which included Saddam’s daughter, fighting against the Iraqi government and trying to stop the progress of the country. Iraq had issued an arrest warrant against him. Al Zaari died in Turkey from cancer and his body will be taken to Jordan for burial. Although he was a fugitive he was very influential for the MEK; Massoud Rajavi was highly dependent on his patronage.

++ Widespread ridicule followed Maryam Rajavi’s annual invitation to the Iranian people to ‘rise up and overthrow their government’ on the occasion of the joyous Iranian celebration of Chahar Shanbe Suri, an ancient purification rite. The MEK treat it as though the Iranian people are doing it to support them. One Farsi comment was that “the next step will be for Maryam Rajavi to ask all the people of the world to take their socks off before going to bed at night and then the next morning claim that she made it happen saying ‘look, all the world supports me because they took their socks off!”

++ The Quarterly issue of Cheshmandaz Iran, whose editor is Meysami a well-known critic of Iran where he is resident, has published a two part article by Mohammad Karimi, also a known revolutionary at time of Shah who had been involved with the MEK at that time. In this final part titled ‘Mojahedin-e Avare’ (The Homeless Mojahedin), he goes into detail about the start of the MEK when he was with them and is a short but thorough history. In the same publication Maysami writes, “People ask me where do I think Massoud Rajavi is. My only answer is that after what he has done he is staying somewhere that he doesn’t have to answer to anyone for anything. I don’t know where but I know why.”

++ In reaction to Maryam Rajavi’s Berlin show to mark International Women’s Day, Mirbaghersaderi in Switzerland writes about this from the angle of Maryam Rajavi’s outstanding hypocrisy, her unique potential and ability in lying. The writer says she is far superior to anyone else in this skill.

++ Many people continue writing to their friends and family in Tirana. Hassanpiransar congratulates his friend Alireza Mirbagheri for moving out of Iraq but encourages him and his friends to take the next step and free themselves. He tells them not to be afraid. Hassanpiransar says “the MEK pay you $500 per month and this keeps their rope around your neck. The difference between that and the UN money is only $300 and I promise you, you will not collapse if you take that instead. The damage done by that extra $300 is much worse than struggling to make your own way. The MEK’s money is poison for you.”

In English:

++ This week, following Maryam Rajavi’s show in Berlin to mark International Women’s Day, several former MEK members have written open letters to political representatives of their countries of residence to protest and to inform.

Iran Zanan (Iranian Women’s Association) wrote to Otto Bernhardet in Germany after he met with Rajavi to ask him ‘Do you know who Maryam Rajavi is?’ The letter listed the human rights abuses specifically affecting women in the cult, including murders, forced hysterectomies, grooming for sex and ongoing incommunicado incarceration.

Mohammad Razaghi wrote to Manuel Valls, the Prime Minister of France warning of the danger posed by MEK members living in Auvers sur Oise who have been trained in the manufacture and use of explosives and chemical weapons; this training was provided by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard says Razaghi who is an eye witness to many of the MEK’s criminal and terrorist activities. Such MEK members living in France use false identities to evade detection by security services, he says.

++ Using the framework of Maryam Rajavi’s claim to defend the rights of women, Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers says she should be challenged to identify the economic, political and social achievements of the women in her own camps both in France and Iraq. Parsi points out that “no woman in the MKO earns money or runs her own business. Women in the MKO are completely separated from men. Even women are not allowed to associate with their same sex comrades as friends. Friendship is forbidden. Celibacy is obligatory and a lot of other facts that prove that female members of the MKO enjoy no social achievements. They are not given the slightest opportunity to learn social skills. Most of them have no idea how to use a cellphone. About the political achievements of the MKO female members, it is enough to mention that the group has no significant role in the political scene of Iran.” Parsi says former members of the MEK are highly motivated to help rescue their former comrades who Rajavi is holding hostage.

++ PressTV reported that Rudi Giuliani made his lucrative annual pilgrimage to Europe to advocate for the MEK in a speech in Berlin. As expected, Giuliani’s speech, delivered to a captive audience of Polish and Czech students taking time out from an MKO funded all-expenses paid tourist trip, followed the usual trend of ineffectual nobodies being paid to make unwarranted and unwanted criticisms of President Obama’s efforts in the nuclear negotiations as part of a greater attempt by Zionists and Neocons to stymie the process. He described Obama as “extremely reckless”. Giuliani also wants the residents of Camp Liberty to be given refugee status. Press TV did not report how Giuliani proposed this should be granted – the residents continue to be held in incommunicado captivity by the MEK leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi – we can assume he didn’t elaborate.

++ Another MEK-paid advocate was unable to attend the Berlin show because of problems at home. The New York Times reported that the US “Justice Department is preparing to file corruption charges against Senator Robert Menendez… after a two-year investigation into allegations that he accepted gifts and lavish vacations in exchange for political favors for a longtime friend and political benefactor. The article focuses on Menendez’ friendship with Salomon Melgen, a wealthy Florida eye surgeon and the corrupt practices which ensued. It was left to Paul Mulshine in nj.com to focus on the senator’s use of his powerful position as Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for “courageous efforts to keep the cowardly and evil Obama administration from caving in to the crazed Iranian mullahs who want to rain nuclear destruction on the U.S. and Israel”.

“The senator’s recent behavior should be seen in light of his affinity for another Mideastern group he champions, Mojahedin-e Khalq. You’ve probably never heard of it. But Bob Baer has… “These guys killed Americans,” said Baer, a former CIA agent who spent much of the 1980′ and ’90s in the Mideast. “They tried to kill one of my colleagues, but they ended up shooting his driver.” MEK, as it’s known, is an Iranian dissident group of Marxist-Leninist origins that operates from a base in Iraq called Camp Liberty. Menendez has become its prime spokesman in Congress – and also the prime recipient of donations from MEK sympathizers, according to an article on the Intercept site.”

++ Marcin Banasik writing for Dzienni Poliski24 newspaper exposes the MEK’s activities in Poland. The MEK created a Facebook page to lure students into participating in an all-expenses paid trip to Berlin for Rajavi’s show. But, said the paper, the students weren’t informed that the trip was paid for by a terrorist organization and that they were expected to support the MEK as part of the conditions attached to the trip.

“When we called the number given on the web, we were told that the organizers are associations supporting the struggle for democracy. The person responsible for compiling the departure list would not, however, give us a Polish contact for the tour. Facebook is the only information we had and it says that “the subject is the same as every year in Paris”.

The point is that in 2008 the People’s Mojahedin held a rally at Charles de Gaulle airport. That was attended by around 3.5 thousand Polish students and was met with criticism from Iran. The Iranian ambassador in Warsaw said that this event, in which a terrorist organization could deceive students, was a humiliation for Polish society.

Until yesterday the authorities of Kracow University did not know about the Berlin trip. In the same way as the Paris Conference, Professor Anna Krasnowolska from the Department of Iranian Studies at Jagiellonian University learned about the Berlin Conference in March from us. Professor Krasnowolska said “I advised my students not to participate in this. The way in which it is organized shows that the concept of democracy is foreign to the People’s Mojahedin”.

When articles began to circulate on the Internet showing the true face of the Conference in Paris, some students began to sell their tickets for the trip to Berlin. “I preferred to withdraw from participation in the meeting altogether. I even heard that the Americans refuse to issue visas to those who were at a similar conference”, the student from Krakow told us.”