Iran-Interlink

++ In a press statement, US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa, embarrassingly refers to Maryam Rajavi as ‘Maryam’ as though the two are BFF, and describes the woman responsible for thousands of deaths as a human rights advocate. Ros-Lehtinen then goes on to, unintentionally perhaps, reveal that her best use of the MEK is as a stick to beat the government of Iraq and the UN with. While careful not to attribute blame to the GOI – as do the MEK – for the September attack on Camp Liberty she declared ,”These parties – the Government of Iraq and the UN – made promises of security, but these promises have yet to be fulfilled, as is evidenced by the hundreds of protective T-walls that have yet to be installed despite assurances that they would go up and the inability of the parties to bring those accountable to justice.”… While mentioning the seven MEK members allegedly missing from Camp Ashraf Ros-Lehtinen makes no mention of the 42 surviving eye witnesses who are incarcerated incommunicado inside Camp Liberty.

++ Many people on the web this week have joined the demand for the UN to investigate the murder of ex member Massoud Dalili in Camp Ashraf. Evidence is emerging that he was imprisoned there and has more than likely been killed by the MEK and the disfigurement to his body (uniquely among the victims) was an attempt to destroy evidence.

++ This week marked the anniversary of death of Takhti, the legendary wrestler during the reign of the Shah who was widely admired for his sporting ethic and for helping people and charities. Much has been written in Persian against what they describe as the “opportunistic support of Rajavi”, and through examples writers have concluded that there is no relevance between the activities of the cult leaders and their abuse of human rights with Takhti and his passion for humanitarian ethics.

++ Baghdad has officially welcomed the appointment of Ban Ki Moon’s new special representative and her role in moving the MEK out of Iraq. Baghdad said any help in getting rid of this terrorist organisation by anyone and for any reason is most welcome. Observers, however, believe that the sticking point rests with the MEK’s American backers, specifically the Pentagon, who do not want this terrorist organisation to be dismantled. Hence they are trying to move them all together to another closed camp as hostages, something that European countries do not accept.

++ Following on from a revelation in a Bulgarian article earlier this month, both Voice of Russia and 21st Century Wire wrote about attempts by the United States to negotiate the en masse transfer of the residents of Camp Liberty to a new camp in Romania. Russian expert in Oriental Studies Boris Dolgov said “Washington’s plan to deploy the Islamists in Romania is inappropriate at the very least”, and elaborates, “If the Romanian leaders have certain doubts, and they will certainly question the correctness of the decision, then they should stiffly oppose the move. The organization acts against Iran, Tehran sees it as terrorist, Mujahedin-e Khalq is known for numerous terrorist attacks and life attempts. Besides, the US plan is at variance with the recent trend towards improving relations between Washington and Tehran. Also, a presence of Islamic militants will serve to aggravate tension in the region. It’s obvious that peaceful coexistence with the people of other religions is the last thing the Islamists will think of when arriving in Romania”. So far, the US attempts have proved futile, even though Romania heavily depends on Washington.

++ After declaring support for Rajavi and the MEK during announcements for the “Islamic government of Iraq and Syria”, an off-shoot of Al Qaeda which is engaged in fighting the Iraqi Government in Al Anbar province, many have written in Farsi about reasons Rajavi must support Al Qaeda as well as the remnants of the Saddam regime in Iraq and Syria. As much as Rajavi has tried to change master and become a western supported mercenary, until he is in full possession of such support he dare not let go of the vital life saving support he gets from the Saddamists office in Jordan, in particular the Ezzat Ebrahim branch of insurgents and Saddam’s own daughter.

++ This week many have written open letters to Romanian politicians warning them of the formation of a new lobbying committee in their parliament after America started putting pressure on Romania to accept them. Many comparisons have been made with the lobbying committees in the European Parliament and the Houses of Parliament in the UK and the problems they have caused in these establishments’ international relations especially with Iraq.

++ Families of Camp Liberty residents have asked for the names of those injured in the December attack on the camp to be made public. The MEK reacted by labelling the families as ‘agents of Iran’ who want sensitive information. Commentators have responded by pointing out that the injured are in Iraqi hospitals and since Rajavi claims Iraq is a subsidiary of Iran then there is nothing secret for Iran. The families this week have turned to the UN, particularly the UNHCR to ask for their help in discovering the names of the injured.

++ This week Rajavi and the MEK have on a daily basis posted announcements on Facebook and secondary sites rather than in their official sites, warning that the Iraqis want to attack us. In one of these they claim that Iraqi security have climbed the walls of the camp to take pictures. This is while Iraqi forces have been in charge of the camp even before they moved the MEK there. Writers about this are warning that this is another attempt to kill more hostages and blame Iraq for it. Interestingly in all the MEK propaganda there is not a single instance of a demand for getting out of Iraq, instead they and their benefactors in the Israeli lobby and House of Representatives in Washington ask for the expansion of the camp, and demand that the American army be brought in to protect them and all other sorts of peculiar and impossible demands to bide time to kill and get rid of as many people and witnesses as possible.

++ Iraqi media outlets have reported that the British parliamentarians who visited Iran met with the families of MEK terrorism and quote Jack Straw, former British Foreign Secretary, describing the MEK as a terrorist group, while another delegate said it is possible that the MEK be put back on the British terrorism list. Iraqi media also reported on interviews with former high ranking MEK members who have given evidence of the MEK massacre of Kurdish people to quell their uprising against Saddam in the 1990s.

++ Swearing on Rajavi’s paid sites and outlets against their internal critics has continued to the point that many outsiders are now reminding the group that this kind of behaviour against their own members and internal critics cannot be in their favour and the effect of this line of action which was intended to make others afraid of talking is wearing thin and in fact has the opposite effect.

++ It was reported that after Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visited and spoke directly with members of the MEK in Camp Liberty, the diplomat stressed the urgency of relocating the residents to another country. Since then the MEK have refrained from swearing at the US State Department. but have not mentioned the visit on their sites either. Commentators believe that because the US representative asked them to cooperate and move individually, Rajavi has panicked, and the MEK are now working with AIPAC to intervene and stop them being removed from Iraq and reintegrated into normal society. Many believe that now Rajavi has seen how people have left immediately after arriving in Tirana, he is now determined not to let the rest of the hostages get out of his hands.

17 January 2014

++ In an Open Letter to Ban Ki Moon, Massoud Khodabandeh demanded an investigation into Massoud Rajavi’s role in the deaths of the 53 Camp Ashraf victims. He wrote, ” The impunity given to Rajavi by Western governments from the start of his stay in Iraq in 1986 until now has given him such latitude that he is able to kill his own people and blame the Iraqi authorities for it without any fear of investigation or recrimination. Commenting on the death of Massoud Dalili, Khodabandeh said,” For me, and for anyone who has had any dealings with the MEK, it is absolutely clear that this person, who was registered with the UN in Baghdad as an escapee and who suddenly went missing one day has been forcefully or deceitfully taken back by the MEK to Camp Ashraf… and has been kept there clandestinely and when they realised they would have to get rid of him they tried to destroy the evidence of his presence there.” Asking Ban Ki Moon to stand up to the Pentagon, the letter concluded, ” There are 42 surviving members who were moved from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty who are eye witnesses to what happened that day. They would all have known Massoud Dalili. Nobody has seen or heard from them since the time they were handed back to the MEK commanders in Camp Liberty. The MEK’s past behaviour and the impunity Massoud Rajavi clearly enjoys to imprison and kill his own followers strongly suggests that many of them and others in the camp are being mistreated behind closed doors. How many more deaths will there be?”

++ Massoud Rajavi has reacted angrily toward the request of family members who have asked for the names of those injured in the Camp Liberty attack on September 1st to be made public. Rajavi denounced their request as a plot by the Intelligence Ministry of Iran which he says is trying to “dismantle” the Mojahedin Khalq by trying to connect the families with the members in order to persuade them to go to Iran. Many people have described this as the most ridiculous statement ever issued by Rajavi, reminding him that he was the one who said the Iraqi government and its PM are working on the instructions of Iran and therefore firstly, according to this logic, Iran should already have these names since the injured people are in Iraqi hospitals. And secondly, they ask, what is in your mind and what do you think Iran can do even if they do have these names? Many have pointed out that as ridiculous as Rajavi and his statements have become, it is obvious that his greatest fear is for any contact between the injured members and the outside world, even with their immediate families, while they are in hospital. Many commentators have expressed their disgust that Rajavi is dismissing the families of his hostages in the camp as some sort of monsters and working for some mysterious agents, while he himself has been massacring Iraqi and Iranian civilians during the time of Saddam and is now doing the dirty work of MOSSAD in killing Iranian scientists as well as providing support for Al Qaeda in Iraq and Syria.

++ A frequent subject for comment this week has been the mysterious and suspicious death of Massoud Dalili an ex member. Many people knew him personally and blame Rajavi and the MEK for his murder. They point to the fact that the MEK did not reveal his identity for weeks and admitted it only when the Iraqis formally identified his body. All 42 surviving witnesses from Camp Ashraf knew him and would even recognise his voice. Javad Firouzmand in Paris has published an in depth analysis of the MEK video in which every part of it contradicts the next part. He has also identified the narrator as Hassan Nezamalmolk, one of the MEK’s torturers from the Saddam era. Firouzmand describes his own ordeal in the camp and how he was directly tortured by Hassan Nezamalmolk and Mehdi Abrishamchi (first husband of Maryam Rajavi and Saddam’s Mokhaberat section representative in the Mojahedin Khalq currently residing in Paris). Iran Fanoos in Germany published an article about the situation and identified the root of these problems to be the ideology of the group. The article is titled, “The ideology of death and humiliation”.

++ Ban Ki Moon appointed Jane Holl Lute as his Special Adviser for Relocation of Camp Hurriya Residents Outside of Iraq. In response Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has issued a short note on Pezvak Iran website welcoming the news and asking everyone to write to her and put her in the picture as well as asking her help to get the remaining MEK members out of Iraq ASAP.

++ During his visit to Iran, Jack Straw, former British Foreign Secretary, met with some of the families of the victims of MEK terrorism. He described the MEK as a terrorist organisation. Straw was part of a four person parliamentary group comprising Ben Wallace, Conservative MP, Lord Lamont, former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Jeremy Corbyn, Labour MP. The Britain-Iran Parliamentary Friendship Group seeks better relations with Iran. The delegates met with counterparts from the Iranian Majlis.

++ The MEK have announced the death of two members from heart attacks. The MEK said the cause of the heart attacks was the missile attack on Camp Liberty. Mohammad B commented briefly on his blog that from one side, the ages and the conditions of the members should be considered yet on the other side Rajavi still issues statements in the name of the National Liberation Army claiming he will topple both the Iranian and Iraqi governments soon. Mohammd B points out that two people have died from heart attack caused by missiles that have not even been near them, how do they expect to fight with two countries at the same time with this kind of morale?

++ The Mojahedin Khalq have published an article on their website as an attempt to somehow deflect the supporters’ claim that Rajavi has been and is responsible for all the problems MEK is facing. The MEK are basically saying that “if Ayatollah Khomeini had not rejected the candidature of Massoud Rajavi [for the Presidency or as an MP] at the start of revolution then things would have been different”. Many writers reacted to this recent claim from both the supporters of the IRI and the opposition to it alike. One of the oppositionist reaction is titled, “If Khomeini had not rejected the candidature of Massoud Rajavi, Iran would have certainly been a second North Korea” referring to the cultish practices inside MEK.

++ Abbass Mousavi from Habilian Association has written about the MEK position toward Iraq and Syria. He refers to the MEK announcements in support of Al Qaeda in Al Anbar and their joint claim that they would ‘topple the Iraqi Establishment by armed struggle and force’. He also refers to MEK statements in favour of supporting and participating in the “armed struggle” to topple the Syrian Establishment as well as their statements in support of fugitive Saddamists. He makes the point that with this declaration, Iraq can legitimately act, and in fact it is the duty of the government of Iraq to act, to finish off the MEK at the same time as finishing off the Al Qaeda forces in the Al Anbar province (near the Jordanian border), and the north (near the Syrian border). Several people reacted to this article, in particular from the families, who remind Mr. Mousavi that Rajavi has taken the MEK members hostage in Camp Liberty and this is the main factor that the Iraqi government has to take into account as well as other concerns.

++ Atefeh Eghbal from The Campaign to Transfer Camp Liberty Residents to 3rd Countries has issued a statement warning that the lives of the remainder of the residents are in imminent danger as Iraqi forces have started engaging with Al Qaeda forces, specifically in Al Anbar province. She points to statements published daily by the MEK (NCRI, Rajavi) which ask for greater protection in the camp, better and more facilities, more support from the Americans and everything under the sun except mentioning the need to get these people out of there, or asking for the transfer process to be expedited. She was also interviewed by the BBC Persian programme about the situation of these people, in which she again emphasised that all parties should accept and cooperate to remove the remaining residents to 3rd countries ASAP.

10 January 2014

++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad has written an open letter to the Kuwaiti writer, supporter of the Mojahedin Khalq and remnant of Saddam Hussein’s regime, Zafer Al Ajami, criticising him for advocating using the MEK to stop Iran’s ambitions to enlarge its influence in the region. He reminds Ajami of Saddam’s attack on Kuwait as well as the many other crimes committed by the MEK. His letter is entitled “Dear Mr Al Ajami, MEK hostages, our friends and families, are not your playing cards”.

++ Anne Singleton wrote an article titled ‘MEK’s Western backers are complicit in their deaths’. After head of the Mukhtar Army Wathiq al-Battat claimed responsibility for another mortar attack on Camp Liberty, Singleton wrote, “In the past year over 8,000 people have died in violent incidents in Iraq. The problem is not that the MEK are being singled out for attack, the real problem is that nobody is allowed to get inside Camp Liberty to help rescue these people from their enforced captivity. Nobody is allowed to help them or to relocate them or save their lives. In spite of the diverse efforts of various parties, MEK leaders have refused to allow any party to help or rescue the residents first in Camp Ashraf and latterly in Camp Liberty.” The article pointed out that it cannot be possible for only Massoud and Maryam Rajavi to block all access to the MEK residents in Camp Liberty, and that the MEK’s powerful backers have an interest in keeping them trapped there. Singleton concludes that the Rajavis “will expend their [members’] blood in whatever way suits them to fulfil the agenda of their backers, but clearly they will end up killing all of them sooner or later. And those who use the MEK in any way and deny help to the individuals are complicit in this scenario.”

++ Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Nickolay Mladenov called on the Government of Iraq to investigate the mortar attack on Camp Liberty and bring the perpetrators to justice. Both Mr. Mladenov and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) urged the international community to urgently intensify efforts to find resettlement opportunities. “This is the ultimate guarantee of the security and safety of Camp Hurriya (Liberty) residents,” he said. Since then Iraqi security forces have instigated further efforts to push back terrorists and insurgents throughout the country and as a result arrested Al Batatt at a checkpoint. In addition, Iraqi security forces and local tribesmen have started a sweeping operation against militants linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group in the western province of Anbar. Al Batatt previously claimed responsibility for the mortar attacks from outside Camp Liberty. It is still not known which assailants attacked and killed 53 MEK members from inside Camp Ashraf.

++ Many people have written articles in Farsi about the suspicious death of the 53rd victim Massoud Dalili in Camp Ashraf. They have pieced together the known facts to debunk Rajavi’s claim that this was due to his defection and that he led the attackers to the site of Rajavi’s hideout before the attackers killed him and disfigured his corpse to hide his identity. Iran Interlink wrote an open letter to Ban Ki Moon under the title: ‘Who killed ex MEK member Massoud Dalili? Pentagon must release the key to the UN investigation’. The article identifies the continued protection and immunity given to the MEK in Iraq by the Pentagon as the reason Iraqi investigators are unable to get inside Camp Liberty to interview the 42 surviving eye witnesses to the deaths. Dalili’s death and the MEK’s strange reaction calls into question who exactly did commit the murders inside Camp Ashraf. Iran Interlink’s article concludes “Currently the Pentagon does not allow the UN or the authorities of the sovereign state of Iraq to enter Camp Liberty and offer succour to the residents there. The Iraqi investigators as well as government officials widely acknowledge that their hands are tied by the UN and ultimately by the Americans who have deliberately foisted the MEK on them without giving them any chance to remove them or bring the criminal elements to justice. Unless the UN discovers the courage and ability to stand up to the Americans over this issue, it is clear that more and more residents of Camp Liberty will be killed.”

++ There have been numerous warnings issued to western governments and security agencies, including from Sahar Family Foundation, that Rajavi is trying to incite his followers to attack, terrorize and eliminate the ex members and critics of the MEK in Europe and North America and blame this on the Iranian Government. This comes after exposure of the suspicious murder of the 53rd victim in Camp Ashraf, Massoud Dalili, which Rajavi likes to blame on Iraqi government forces. Following this claim, the MEK outlets have been on overdrive to say that ex members are a danger to the leadership and the cause and should therefore be eliminated before they can become part of the enemy force (in this case Iraqi government).

++ Arash Sametipour wrote for the BBC Persian website ‘Another missile attack on Camp Liberty’. He added more photos to the collection exposing Maryam Rajavi. Many commentators have criticised Rajavi during this week for not co-operating with the international agencies to take the remaining MEK and Ex MEK members out of Iraq.

++ Sahar Family Foundation published an article about Massoud Dalili, the ex member killed by the MEK in Camp Ashraf. (The MEK claims that Iraqi forces attacked Ashraf and killed Dalili after bringing him with themselves.) The article gives the details of his escape from the MEK, his registration with UNAMI and the ICRC and his refusal to stay under the protection of Iraqi security alongside 15 other ex members at that time in Hotel Mohajer, Baghdad. Dalili transferred to another hotel with less security and a few days later vanished. Now we know that he was abducted by the MEK and taken to Camp Ashraf. SFF clearly places responsibility for the murder of Massoud Dalili on the MEK and its leader Massoud Rajavi.

++ During an interview in Baghdad an Iraqi MP detailed the MEK’s role in suppressing the Iraqi people on the order of Saddam Hussein’s security services. He went on to explain how easy it would be for the European and American backers of the MEK to take them to their own countries. He explains that they don’t do so because they know the nature of what they have created. Their terrorist group is there to be used as a tool against the people in the Middle East region and they don’t want its potential danger in their own countries.

++ Many, including Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali), have again emphasised the fact that bringing the camp residents out of Iraq is very much possible and have even explained a variety of possible scenarios including the details of the movement of MEK leaders and commanders from Iraq to Europe as Maryam Rajavi and around 200 close people came to Paris through Jordan in 2003 during the fall of Saddam. Many have pointed out that Rajavi is getting paid by ex Saddamists to keep these hostages in Iraq as long as possible, a task which has no relevance to the stated goal of the organisation which is supposedly to oppose the Iranian government.

++ Ex members are reminding those groups and agencies who use every and any false excuse to attack Iran, that these kinds of action only help Iran to claim that all accusations of human rights abuses from outside the country are based on political hostility by the West and its agents and not on facts and reality.

++ Several ex members have been writing about an individual called Jafar Eghdami who is in prison in Iran. Some Facebook users and commentators have claimed that because he has been with the MEK he should be classed as a political prisoner or be released under the amnesty. Other ex members however have revealed their first hand knowledge of Jafar Eghdami’s terrorist operations using mortars and other military equipment on several occasions after having been trained in Camp Ashraf in Iraq during the era of Saddam Hussein. We are reminded by them that terrorists caught red handed in killing innocent people cannot and should not be portrayed as ‘political prisoners’ as this will jeopardise the struggles of real political prisoners who are neither criminals nor terrorists.

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers identifies the MEK and AIPAC as lobbying groups which promote endless wars in the Mideast. The article starts with the assertion that, “Very soon after the US administration was starting to admit that the military option could not be on the table any more, the MKO and AIPAC lobbies came up with a new Iran sanctions bill designed to frustrate the historic agreement reached by Iran and the West in Geneva. And, once that bill is passed, it provides automatic U.S military backing for Israel if its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decides to attack Iran.” Parsi continues, “Regarding the MKO as a cult-like group that had been on the FTO list until recently, the support it enjoys in the Congress is mostly linked to the financial donations it makes to its advocates rather than any deep loyalty to the group’s agenda. However, the support for the MKO agenda to violently overthrow the Islamic Republic is now paired with the long time efforts of AIPAC to drive the United States into a war with Iran.”

++ An article by Global Research implicates the MEK in the killings of Iranian scientists in the past four years. “Iran announced late June that its intelligence forces have identified and arrested all terrorist elements behind the assassination of the country’s nuclear scientists. All the elements involved in the assassinations of the country’s nuclear scientists have been identified and arrested,” Iran’s Intelligence Ministry announced in a statement at the time. A number of countries, whose territories and facilities had been misused by the Mossad-backed terrorist teams, have provided Iranian officials with relevant information, the statement added.

++ Soraya Abdollahi has published the 3rd part of her recollections of her and her son Amir Aslan’s lives and what happened after he was abducted by the MEK from Turkey where he had gone to find work.

++ There have been many more articles about the way the MEK started its hunger strike and then how Rajavi abruptly ordered it to end without even mentioning what it was about or what they had achieved.

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers has written an article denouncing Maryam Rajavi’s attempts to link herself with the legacy of Nelson Mandela; posing as a peace loving and democratic person. Among other differences Parsi points out that “In his struggle against racism and discrimination, Mandela viewed Palestine with the same charitable ideas he had for the people of his own country. Nelson Mandela expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian struggle in simple but compelling terms.” Whereas “allied with Israel, today the MKO-run websites and officials do not even cover the news of the Palestinian sufferings. Serving their new sponsor the Israeli Mossad, the group is not going to risk its survival by advocating the Palestinians’ desire for freedom.”

++ Mir Bagher Sedaghi has published an article in Setaregan website in Switzerland remembering the time he spent in Camp Ashraf and revealing some of the criminal acts committed there including the death of Ali Abadian on the order of one of the MEK commanders Zohreh Ghaemi (who was also in charge of the assassination of General Shirazi on the orders of Saddam’s secret service). She was among the 52 killed on September 1st at Camp Ashraf.

++ For the first time reporters were able to enter Rajavi’s nuclear bunker in Camp Ashraf. Many survivors of the MEK have written to observe that although they knew something was going on there they had no idea about the extent of Rajavi/Saddam’s collaborative work. Some have pointed out that there are three separate suites, each with en-suite facilities, which clearly indicates that these are not part of the general accommodation and have been made specifically for the individuals (women) who Rajavi would choose even in the event of a nuclear attack. Mohammad Razaghi has written a similar article calling it “The Anti Nuclear Harem of Massoud Rajavi”.

++ Two separate reports speculate whether the MEK could be moved wholesale to Jordan or to Romania. A report from Sofia reveals that US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with his Romanian counterpart about plans to relocate all 3000+ residents of Camp Liberty together just outside the city of Craiova. The MEK have allegedly offered Jordan to pay its own relocation expenses if they have permission to establish a camp near the border [with Iraq].

++ There are several articles responding to the recent threats by the Mojahedin Khalq against survivors and critics. These point out Rajavi’s desperation to silence his victims. Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has written a short article in Pejvak Iran explaining Rajavi’s need to divert attention through swearing and attacking the survivors so that they will react to that, and the main issues like human rights abuse and rape and etc in the MEK would be sidelined.

++ Zahra Mir Bagheri (the most recent Leadership Council defector and survivor who now resides in Germany), has written an article exposing Rajavi’s mercenary work for anti Iranian circles (Israel and Zionists) to try to stop the nuclear negotiations and work instead towards war. She concludes that as much as Rajavi tries to portray the survivors of the cult as traitors, it is obvious to everyone, even supporters of the MEK that it is Massoud and Maryam Rajavi who have been betraying their country, their people and their members.

++ Press TV reported that two MEK members Massoud Kashmiri and Mohammad Reza Kolahi Samadi  who masterminded the 1981 bombing of the Iranian prime minister’s office and the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party have been spotted in Germany. The two men were seen while dining out in the German city of Cologne and driving to Hamburg under fake identities.

++ Iraqi officials have announced this week that the bodies of the 53 dead are still there and no one has come to collect them. The official, speaking to IRNA, gave the exact names and explained that at least ten of them are from the highest levels of the Mojahedin’s ranks, and wondered why they have been left to rot and no one has come forward to claim the bodies?

++ Following the news of a missile attack on Camp Liberty today, many people have already written about it and the role of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi in preventing the individuals from leaving Iraq and thereby knowingly exposing them to this danger.

++ Reuters reported on the attack on Camp Liberty. “Iraqi authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in attacks on the group. In a rare claim of responsibility for attacks on the MEK, Wathiq al-Batat, commander of the al-Mukhtar Army militia, told Reuters his group had fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds at the camp. “We’ve asked (the government) to expel them from the country many times, but they are still here,” he said, accusing the group of communicating with Sunni and Shi’ite politicians he said were linked to al Qaeda.”
December 27 2013

++ In the week that Roya Daroudi, one of the second generation MEK members, died in Tirana, many Farsi writers questioned why a woman in her mid-30s died, and why the MEK remain silent on this issue. Mohammad Karami informs us through his weblog that her mother, two brothers, her uncle and his wife are among the ex-members who have left the MEK. This, and the fact she was kept in Iraq and then mysteriously died after arriving in Albania provokes unanswered questions.

++ Irandidban and many others, in both Farsi and English articles, have referred to MEK veteran Medi Abrishamchi. His past, his work as a torturer for Saddam, his giving his wife to Massoud Rajavi, all expose him as the most corrupt person in the MEK. The fact he is now trying to act as spokesman for the group has resulted in everyone laughing at him.

++ Among the paid speakers at Maryam Rajavi’s show in Paris last week was the daughter of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Naomi Tutu. In this way the MEK are trying to link themselves with Nelson Mandela. Several writers have pointed out that until only a few weeks ago the MEK was vehement in its rants against Mandela, and contrast this with the sudden change of tune after his death. The MEK previously swore at him for visiting Iran three times, defending Palestinian rights and refusing to visit America or meet with an American president.

++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad was the guest of Mardom TV this week. He talked, among other things, about how the MEK manipulate people to take part in hunger strikes and other self-damaging acts.

++ Further articles in Farsi about Roya Daroudi’s death in Tirana point out that she was among the children evacuated from Camp Ashraf in 1991. As they grew older, some were able to escape the clutches of the MEK, but others like Daroudi were unfortunately taken back to Iraq and now she is dead.

++ The MEK issued a long statement in Farsi against one of those recently arrived in Tirana called Ehsan Bidi. The MEK accuse him of being an agent of the Iranian regime. The MEK name him alongside Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad whose photograph with Bidi’s family taken in a hotel in Baghdad two years ago, and taken from the Sahar website, is also published. Both Bidi and Hossein Nejad wrote about this allegation pointing to the fact that anything the MEK claim has already been said, whether by picture or text, and shows they have nothing to hide. Bidi says the MEK only started attacking him when they found out he is speaking out against them. He says they are worried that his friends in Tirana will talk to him and they will leave as well. Hossein Nejad has ridiculed Maryam Rajavi saying ironically, ‘Sorry, we didn’t know that even when we have escaped from Camp Liberty we are not allowed to meet with our families’. Bidi announced in his reply that there are 120 torturers and mercenaries among the members who are wanted by Iraqi courts. One of the reasons the MEK are after Bidi is because he has evidence which has given to the courts in Iraq and will now pass on to other countries. He says this is the reason Rajavi is trying to demonize him as an agent.

++ Arash Sametipour has started a new weblog. He had many interviews with BBC and other media after being released from prison in Iran once he had served a sentence for terrorism while an MEK member.

++ Many, including Kanon-e Iran Galam writing in English, continue to address open letters and articles to MEPs and parliamentary groups asking that they intervene and use their good relations with the Mojahedin Khalq to demand that Maryam Rajavi stop deliberately depriving the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty of food. Many remind the MEPs that they can help, and if they don’t and anyone dies then they must bear some responsibility. Most have pointed to the fact that this so-called hunger strike amounts to a further attempt to eliminate members and is aimed at reducing the number of live witnesses. Other articles protested against the presence of the terrorist MEK leader Maryam Rajavi in a session of the EP committee sessions. “Maryam Rajavi is a terrorist and there is no place for terrorists in the parliament,” one letter said, adding, “Some EP members who have close cooperation with MKO should rather spend their energy on transferring Camp Liberty residents to a third country and in this way prevent the MKO leaders from victimizing these people.” The letter reminded the European Parliament that the MKO has killed thousands of Iranian and Iraqi citizens as well as seven Americans.

++ Anne Singleton wrote an article for Iran Interlink titled ‘Maryam Rajavi holds her followers in contempt – where is her compassion?’ Focusing on the MEK tactic to demonize critics and the futility of the so-called hunger strike, the article asks people to “Think! Who, in the past ten years, has done more to harm the members than Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. The cruelty and corruption which govern the group’s internal relations are known intimately by those who suffered under that regime. Where is Maryam Rajavi’s compassion? Why does she show no sympathy or kindness toward her own people, yet lash out against those who do?”

++ In Farsi, many people, from MEK supporters to critics, have pointed out that it is many years since we saw any Iranian standing alongside Maryam Rajavi in her public shows, and it is years also since we have seen anyone standing there who does not admit to being paid.

++ Irandidban published an article about the Paris show, which attracted no media coverage, pointing out that the MEK believe they can survive with money and paid speakers. But to have the money and this support they have to offer themselves as mercenaries. Unfortunately they are discovering they are too old and out of touch even for this.

++ In Iraq, Emad Youkhenna MP, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, announced that there is a plan to deport the MEK faster and in bigger numbers and that the MEK know about is, so they must start packing. He also referred to the disaster they made for the country with Saddam Hussein.

++ In Iraq, Raad Al-Dehlaki, an MP from Al Iraqieh Coalition, announced this week that until the MEK leave Iraq, he is sympathetic to these hostages inside Camp Liberty and believes they should be kept safe. He and others in Al Iraqieh are regularly paid by the MEK.

++ Forat Al Shareh from the National Coalition emphasised again that Iraqis suffered greatly at the hands of these people at the time of Saddam, and because of this people are putting pressure on the government to take them to court, bring them to justice and deport them as quickly as possible.

++IRNA has referred to Al Jazeera as ridiculing the West for using Maryam Rajavi and reproducing her jargon. IRNA has published the whole of Maryam Rajavi’s speech in Paris for Iranians to read, in which she is basically asking western countries not to negotiate with Iran and to go only for regime change. IRNA quotes Rajavi and other Zionist media as claiming, ‘Iran will never give up trying to acquire an atomic bomb therefore American should go to war’.

++ Soraya Abdollahi has started a new series of open letters addressed to her son, Amir Aslan, in Camp Liberty. She has tried for four years without success to contact him and been rebuffed by the MEK who refuse to allow her any contact with him. Amir is now among the hunger strikers who are known to be deliberately denied food by MEK commanders.

++ The 100th day has been and gone! Some writers express concern for the health of the hunger strikers, saying they will never fully recover from the damage. Others ridicule it asking, ‘How come they are still alive? Everyone can see that Rajavi is stuck with it and doesn’t know how to proceed. We all know it is aimed at getting rid of people, but now this has been is exposed, Rajavi doesn’t know how to stop it.’

++ Abbas Moussavi from Habilian Association has written about the Paris show and Tutu’s daughter as a paid speaker. He points to the MEK’s sudden changes of direction and says it is a mark of desperation. The MEK know how the world sees them, but still can’t afford to stop doing it. Naomi Tutu said, ‘the swearing that all the world throws at you should not reduce your will, you should put your head down and continue what you are doing’. Moussavi says, ‘Even the MEK themselves know the whole world is swearing at them’. He says their new slogan is ‘the whole world is swearing at us, therefore we are’.

December 13 2013

++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad and Ghafour Fatahian from Iran Pen Association (Paris office) have written an open letter to their MEP, asking them to use their influence (since the MEK is given an open hand in the European Parliament to lobby against the government of Iraq in favour of the Saddamists, etc) to convince the Rajavis to stop the forced hunger strike imposed on the hostages in Camp Liberty. Interestingly, a couple of days later the MEK announced that Maryam Rajavi has asked the hunger strikers to stop but they have refused. This prompted a series of criticism again the leadership of the cult since everyone knows that this could not be true and this ongoing saga is only imposed by the Rajavis themselves. Many have pointed out two main reasons for the violence, abduction and forced hunger strikes ordered by Rajavi. One is to destroy as many witnesses as possible before they can leave and start talking, and two is to get paid by the remains of the Saddam regime and others, who want to discredit the Iraqi government (Saudi Arabia, Israel …)

Ali Jahani from Germany has also published a similar open letter to his MEP reminding them that having the MEK leaders and other Saddamists in their building and enjoying close relationships with MEPs places the responsibility of the forced hunger strike victims on their hands and it is not that people cannot see them and what they are condoning.

++ Edaalat Association (families of the victims of terrorism) in Iran has published an article on its website titled “From self-immolation in Paris to hunger strikes in Baghdad”. It goes into details about organised self-harm (when they are not able to harm others) which is done to save the skin of the leaders. It points to the fact that none of these acts can be voluntary or spontaneous and it is the MEK leaders and their western supporters who, on top of their responsibility for the terrorist acts carried out in the past 30 years, are responsible for these acts of violence and destruction against their own members.

++ Awaa Association in Germany, which published a list of names and addresses of many pseudo associations of the MEK in Germany, has now exposed a private meeting in which Massoud Rajavi himself from his hiding place puts the ex members, survivors and the critics of the cult at the heart of the cult’s ongoing problems and has ordered the members (and the lobbyists through their handlers inside the organisation) to put all their other work aside and to start working towards stopping survivors from exposing the crimes of the cult leaders. Awaa Association also explained that what Rajavi means when he says, “We will build a thousand Camp Ashrafs again”, is what he has ordered and it means they will be making one thousand pseudo associations in the EU and US, of which a couple of hundreds have already started working with their main aim to terrorise critics and survivors in a bid to stop their revelations.

++ Karim Gholami and Mehrdad Sagharchi were the guests of Mardom TV this week. They are among the recent arrivals in the west who are now living in Germany.

++ Many have written about Rajavi and the MEK’s claim that the Iraqi government has abducted some 7 missing members from Camp Ashraf and has given them to Iran. Both Iran and Iraq have rejected the accusation and even the US has been telling the MEK lobby in the House that this is not true.

The argument is that:

1- If true, why would the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (who you claim is responsible and that they deny) give in if you go on hunger strike? You are saying that they have clandestinely attacked your camp and have killed 52 of your members!

2- Why don’t you give your evidence to a responsible UN or other body to investigate? Why is it that after all this time you are not allowing even one of the witnesses of the incident to be interviewed by any investigative body?

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) published the 13th part of his articles (mostly his memories) this week on Pejvak Iran Website. The title is “Camp TIPF, a view from inside”. Hadi Afshar is currently one of the most attacked people by the MEK as he is the latest high ranking members who is directly pointing at Massoud and Maryam Rajavi the cult leaders for their responsibilities in all the crimes carried out by the MEK.

++ Some commentators have pointed out the fact that none of the western countries which give an open hand to the terrorist leaders are willing to give sanctuary to even a handful of the members. They point out that this fact by itself amounts to criminal activity as it is proven that many MEK hostages do not wish to be “western backed terrorists” and are forced to do so by the “western backed cult leaders”.

++ Iraj Mesdaghi has published a new article on Pejvak Iran website. The story is that some prisoners in an Iranian jail had gone on hunger strike and the most likely scenario is that they have been protesting against the death penalty. The news emerged in some media outlets and a day later Maryam Rajavi and her so-called National Council of Resistance issued a statement to the effect that “two thousand” prisoners have gone on hunger strike and, more than that, “they have been inspired by the hunger strike of the people in the Iraqi camp of the MEK”. Iraj Mesdaghi has gone into the news in detail and shown how irrelevant the prisoners’ action has been to the MEK, and how desperate Rajavi is to try to show that their so-called hunger strike (i.e. forced denial of food to the hostages) has something to do with Iran, Iraq, or any other reality.

++ Mohammad Razaghi from Paris has also written about this issue and has reminded us of many facts whereby the MEK have been recruiting criminals who have been wanted men, whether in Iran or in the EU/America and have evaded justice by running away to Iraq under the protection of Saddam/Rajavi. He goes on to say that the criminals should know that they have a backer who is herself backed by Mossad and other anti-Iran forces, and they will be using their services if and when they are out of prison.

++ Many articles have been written this week about Maryam Rajavi and how she is following Netanyahu’s line of action day by day. They remind us that when Netanyahu was hoping for the derailment of the negotiations in Geneva and also his hopes for failure afterwards, she was doing the same, including the ridiculous “discovery, yet again, of another nuclear site” the day before the meetings. Now that Netanyahu wants to demonstrate somehow that Iran is not keeping her side of the agreement, Rajavi is following the same line and is trying to prove that.

++ Shaya Al Soudani the Human Rights Minister of Iraq announced that the claim by the MEK that Iraq has abducted 7 of its members is nothing more than a sick propaganda stunt by the cult. He said the so-called hunger strike has been staged due to the exposure of this propaganda and is an attempt at damage limitation of their credibility with their own benefactors.

++ Afaf Abdolrazagh MP from Al Iraqia coalition in the Iraqi parliament announced this week that what the MEK are broadcasting under her name is nothing more than lies and that she has never supported this organisation, its leaders nor its actions, and has always asked for their removal from the country. The MEK, as usual, has ignored this and has not given any explanation about what they have been feeding through their media channels in the west.

++ According to Iraqi officials the number of deaths in Camp Ashraf was 53 and not 52. The last person took time to identify because the body had been so badly burned. Mohammad Karami from Paris asks through his website why it is that the MEK have not been cooperative enough to even announce the name of their own dead member? Not allowing the witnesses in Camp Ashraf to be interviewed by the investigators had been exposed before so that everyone understands that there is some truth about the role of MEK leaders in the massacre, but not announcing the name of this murdered member obviously points to the fact that the MEK leaders don’t even dare to announce who this one is.

++ Roya Doroudi, who had been transferred from Iraq to Albania (from the ones who are still loyal to the MEK and not those who have separated themselves), died this week. The MEK has given no explanation why and how. She was a child of one of the members at the start of the revolution and would not have been older than 37 years old. Many, including Atefeh Eghbal, have reminded us that time is short and these people are falling one by one only to be labelled and praised as ‘sacrifices for Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’ and the cult.

++Hamid Mansouri one of the older former members of the MEK had an interview with Tasnim News in Tehran. He has been explaining the MEK’s system of recruitment in America where he was studying and how they sent them to Iraq under Saddam Hussein. He talks about how they treated people once under their control, and how they used them in whatever way Rajavi or Saddam’s Mokhaberat found fit.

++ Many writers have referred to the public praises issued by the MEK over the murder of an Iranian border guard by Saudi backed Jaish Al Adl terrorists in the south of Iran. Many have pointed to the concept that the MEK were removed from the terrorism lists precisely because they are terrorists rather than because they are not. Jaish Al Adl is the remains of Rigi’s group after he was caught and executed in Iran, and Rajavi enjoyed very close operational relations with the group including planning and training for them from the MEK HQ in Paris.

Fars News reported that Iraqi MP Rafe’ Abdul Jabbar had criticised the United Nations because it “turned a blind eye to the Israeli regime in a double-standard practice towards regional issues.” One of those was the MEK in Iraq. He censured the glacial pace in the relocation process of the MKO members to third party countries, and said, “Baghdad is obeying the UN in this regard and this organization is obeying the US.”

“We should admit that Iraq’s independence is still far away,” he added.

He said Iraq’s obedience to the UN decisions is the main reason for the inability of Iraq to expel members of the MEK group, adding that the MEK’s activities may influence Tehran-Baghdad relations.

++ A long and detailed article by Mazda Parsi from Nejat Bloggers exposes the payments received by politicians in America for advocacy of the MEK, even during the time they were on the US terrorism list.

December 06 2013

++ The Community of Independent Bloggers has raised a petition condemning the MEK’s ongoing hunger strike. The petition asks both the Iraqi and the French government to stop this barbaric act which everyone knows is being forced by the MEK leaders. Previously, reports have suggested that the hunger strikes are mostly undertaken under coercive pressure and specifically in Iraq reports say that food has been denied to the participants by the leaders.

++ Mohammad Karami was the guest of Mardom TV. He talked about the hunger strike, the situation of the new arrivals in Albania, and some aspects of MEK history according to the former military and intelligence officers of Saddam’s regime, including General Vafiq Al Smerai. Parts of a weekly video presentation by Behzad Alishahi were also broadcast. The series is called “what the MEK do and what the MEK say”, and concentrates on the current week by week activities of the MEK in their media and other activities.

++ Many have been writing about the ongoing hunger strike and the reasons Rajavi may want to continue this. This includes three former members of the all-women Leadership Council, Maryam Sanjabi, Batoul Soltani and Zahra Mirbagheri, who have pointed out the internal problems Rajavi is facing and they say he is creating this atmosphere only to silence his internal critics. Others have pointed to the fact that Rajavi cannot afford to allow these people to leave and to talk (as others have done). Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) explains that everyone knows that four witnesses are more convincing than two. Rajavi is now facing some of the survivors who have managed to get out. He is trying to keep the number as low as possible; whether being killed during the American bombing (of Iraq), self immolations, so-called accidents, depravation of medicine, infighting in Camp Ashraf or hunger strike, the result for him is the same.

++ Some articles have been published on the subject of why Rajavi is not coming out of hiding. A popular explanation is that he is not capable of facing his own forces rather than there being any restriction or danger from his enemies if he surfaced. But some have said that if he surfaced in any country, it is the Iraqi government that would pursue him to take him back and put him on trial rather than it being Iran which would do so, and because it is not easy for other countries to host one of Saddam’s henchmen in defiance of international law.

++ Karim Gholami from Iran Pen Association in Cologne has written an article about Maryam Rajavi and her desperate attempts to play the role of a living person. He refers to her actions, including finding new nuclear sites every 5 minutes and then moving on, or how the MEK, working alongside the Israeli government, have been against the Geneva talks with Iran but after they have concluded announce that Iran has been defeated and given up her ambitions to have the A bomb and then a few hours later again come up with statements that Iran is only a few months away from acquiring her first A bomb …

++ Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has published the 12th part of his memoir under the general title “The system ruling the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation”. The title of the 12th part is “Working towards toppling the regime or running away” in which he explains the vacuum of leadership in the MEK whenever some thing has happened.

++ There have been reports from inside the MEK HQ in Paris that Mohammad Mohaddessin, one of the known members of the MEK/NCRI, has been refusing to accept orders by Maryam Rajavi. This has resulted in him being beaten up in some meetings. He has allegedly been demoted and is now held without access to outside world. Nima from Ariya Association in Paris has published an extensive article about this issue detailing the people who have been present and the way they have treated Mohaddessin, epecially Mehdi Abrishamchi (Maryam Rajavi’s first husband) who has been one of those beating up Mohaddessin. Abrishamchi, who has been a torturer working for the intelligence system of Saddam Hussein, is a wanted man in Iraq and many individuals have alleged that he has personally tortured them. The MEK has not yet reacted to explain the absence of Mohaddessin from his public role, raising the possibility that he is not giving way to the pressure to change his mind and support the cult again. Mohaddessin was the MEK contact with the Pentagon during the reign of Saddam and has been involved in many deals with the Israeli and Saudi embassies in Paris.

++ Many ex members and critics have been writing open letters to the European Parliament where the Mojahedin Khalq lobbyists are more active than in any other place. They are demanding that parliamentarians put pressure on Rajavi and MEPs who support her to come clean and let the hunger strikers choose for themselves if they want to eat or not. Many point to the role of cult lobbyists and their responsibility in the case of the deaths of any of these people. Many of them have no access to food because it is not given by the leaders of the MEK, and many don’t even know about what is happening in the world due to being trapped in the MEK camps for decades without contact with outside world.

++ The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) called for renewed efforts from states to relocate former Camp Ashraf residents, also known as Camp New Iraq. “Since the 1 September 2013 attack on Camp New Iraq where 52 residents died, there has been limited progress in moving the remaining residents to a third country. UNHCR encourages all Member States to share in the international efforts, admit residents and offer them a long-term solution.”

++ Israeli newspaper Maariv revealed that the Israeli government has promised financial assistance during to the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist organization, pointing out that some members of the leadership of the MEK reside in Israel and have become clients. An editor of the Israeli newspaper reported that one of the leading members of the MEK, who lives in Israel, met with senior officials in the intelligence service to request financial assistance, pointing out that the amount of this financial assistance was not known. According to the Israeli press, the Israeli financial grant to the organization comes after the MEK promised to provide detailed and accurate information about Iran’s nuclear facilities, stressing that Israel had previously given financial and in-kind assistance to the organization.

++ Writing for Iran Interlink, Anne Singleton drew parallels between the situation of three modern slaves discovered in London and members of the Rajavi cult. “In each case the victims were brought together thirty years ago to live collectively as part of a shared political ideology. In London, as in Iraq, this went wrong when the use of emotional and physical abuse was used to enslave the victims against their will. Just as the three women in London have had traumatic and disturbing experiences, so the escapees from Camp Liberty have described the systematic use of psychological, emotional and physical abuses behind closed doors to keep them under the control of brutal, exploitative leaders. As in London, the victims of the Mojahedin Khalq are left emotionally fragile and highly vulnerable. Their needs for a careful and compassionate process of recovery and rehabilitation are similar. This can only be achieved if they are protected from their former ‘owners’ who will try their utmost to collect them back up and return them to conditions of slavery.”

++ Talking to Haider al-Akaili, who is part of an Iraqi government committee overseeing the investigation into the September 1st killings at Camp Ashraf which was requested by the U.N., Reuters news agency reported that “The main thing that the investigations have revealed so far is that the Iraqi security forces were not involved in that attack and an unknown militant group was behind it… Akaili added that 53 people had been killed, not 52 as originally reported by the U.N. which said its representatives had seen corpses with gunshot wounds and some with their hands tied. The additional victim had not been reported until now because his face had been burnt and he had not been previously identifiable as a camp member… ‘The operation was elaborate, complicated and big,” he said, adding that MEK members who had seen the attack had shown a “serious lack” of cooperation with investigating authorities’. He raised the possibility that there had been a dispute within the camp and some of the attackers had come from inside it. Another scenario was that the seven missing people were behind the assault, he said.”

++ Richard Potter of Mondoweiss interviewed former NCRI and MEK member Massoud Banisadr. Among other subjects Banisadr describes the point when he believes the MEK transformed from a political group to a destructive cult: “What happened was, within Iran they were left losing 99% of their members. Only 2,000 to 3000 members were left in Iran. Most of them were gone because of the change of policy from peaceful demonstration to terrorist activities and street fighting. Even those who could become radicals were either killed in street clashes or by execution by the government. They lost the battle in Iran. Outside of Iran they were portraying themselves as the democratic alternative to the Iranian government. Two of the most important allies of theirs were ex Iranian President [Abolhassan] Banisadr and the Kurdish Democratic Party of Kurdish Iran. These two left the National Council of Resistance in 1984. Suddenly this coalition of Rajavi and others turned into the pseudonym MEK. In 1983 they could get support from the Labour Party of UK and the Socialist Party of France, but after this they did not have it anymore. MEK was on the verge of disintegration, so he had to do something, which is why I think he did what was called the Ideological Revolution, which is when it became a destructive cult.”

++ Mohammad Karami in Paris revealed a new tactic adopted by the MEK leadership aimed at intimidating and silencing its critics – direct targeting and character assassination. He described the MEK as spreading malicious rumours about these critics in their places of residence and among their social circles as well as gathering factual information to seed with false allegations to create documents which MEK advocates in parliaments and other capacities can take to the judicial channels to accuse the critics of being a danger to the public.

November 29, 2013

+ One article by M. Eftekhari is about Massoud Rajavi. He compares Rajavi with Don Quixote; how, as much as people tell him he is living in a dream world, he is still fighting windmills. He says the difference between the fictional and real character is that Rajavi is forcing others to go to their deaths for his madness.

++ This week’s guests on Mardom TV were Massoud Jabani and Mohammad Razaghi. They explained in detail various aspects of how the MEK deceive and con people on the internet and in real time to get money out of them. They also talked about how the MEK treated their own members in their prisons and their relations with the Israeli right wing. Massoud Jabani has described the MEK as ‘living as a wedge in the gap’, meaning they find a gap and jump into it. Their whole existence is and has been to work against peace and to live on war.

++ The MEK announcement this week that they had discovered a new nuclear site in Iran was ignored by news outlets. Many critics have written about why the MEK has done this and why they chose a notorious torturer in Saddam’s prisons, Mehdi Abrishamchi, to front this. Some say the MEK is ‘more Catholic than Netanyahu’. So that while Netanyahu at least works hard to save face in his own country to survive the criticism that he is torpedoing the nuclear talks, Rajavi has become a liability for all his backers by jumping in and declaring ‘I am a western mercenary’, and he won’t go away. Others refer to the past history of the MEK and how they pretended to be anti-Israeli just a decade ago. On the subject of Abrishamchi, many have pointed out the fact that although he is a dirty face, he has been chosen because he is the first husband of Maryam Rajavi and ever since he was forced to be the first to congratulate his wife on divorcing him and marrying his closest friend he has been kept as part of this threesome.

++ The bombing at Iran’s embassy in Lebanon was so horrifying that it was condemned by every side, US, Russia, Europe etc. The MEK were the only so-called opposition which did not condemn it, and this led some people to the interpretation that they were involved; evidenced by their support for Jaish Al Adl and other groups just a week before. These critics believe the MEK are not capable of being used as a terrorist group and are now being used as cheerleaders for terrorism.

++ In Iraq, Valid Alhelli MP, from the governing coalition, referred in an interview to the MEK’s massacre of many Iraqis in the north and south on the order of Saddam Hussein. He reiterated that their presence in Iraq violates the Iraqi constitution.

++ Abbas Albayati MP, from Iraq’s Security and Defence Committee also mentioned the MEK in an interview, saying, ‘we see no difference between this group, Al Qaida and the terrorist groups working in Syria. Therefore we have to dismantle their system and throw them out.’

++ Five hundred participants attended a Seminar at Baghdad University on November 16 on the subject of terrorism and specifically the Mojahedin Khalq. The Seminar was organised by Dr. Nafeh Isa and included several NGOs, many members of parliament and other officials who attended and gave speeches. Adnan Alshahmani, member of the Security and Defence Committee responsible for overseeing the expulsion of the MEK from the country, referred to the European Union and its responsibility to be active in taking in these people as soon as possible. He said, ‘the EU told us clearly they would remove the MEK from the terrorism list in order to allow them to come to Europe. But although they did the first part, they have not done the latter’. He said, ‘I can understand they have the same problem we have with this group and they are afraid of accepting them on their own soil, but they have promised something and they have not done it’.

Adnan Seraj head of the Information Centre of Iraq gave a speech and referred to documents which show the MEK are still part of the security problem of Iraq and should therefore be dealt with as criminals under the law. He reminded participants that 50 MEK leaders are wanted by international courts and Interpol, and 126 are fugitives wanted by Iraqi courts. Mazhar Abbas head of the Bani Tamin tribe spoke on behalf of all the tribes who have come together to unanimously demand the expulsion of the MEK from Iraq. An exhibition of pictures, documents and books was also on display. Among the prominent speakers was Dr Mowafaq Al Rubai, former national security advisor to the government. He emphasised that it is unfortunate that there is still some support within some circles for this terrorist group. He said they should not be in any doubt that this mistake will, sooner or later, bear a heavy price as the MEK are trained by Saddam’s Republican Guard and have no respect for the life of anyone. Many of the MEK have moved to these camps because they were fugitives in either European, North American or other countries.

The MEK reacted not after the event but the day before under then pseudonym of the NCRI, threatening that anyone who attends tomorrow will be known as an agent of the intelligence ministry of Iran.

++ In the ongoing saga of the hunger strike, it has now passed the 80th day and since it has become ridiculous the MEK announced that a few individuals have been transferred to hospital just before they nearly died. The MEK are under severe criticism by their own supporters. They say that the deaths of 36 and then 52 in Camp Ashraf are not enough for Rajavi and he still needs more blood by trying to kill them under the pretext of hunger strike. Many criticise Rajavi saying that although he claims to know that the seven missing people are being held by Iraq, he never shows any evidence to say how. Hadi Afshar (Saeed Jamali) has addressed Rajavi directly with the challenge that ‘Maryam Rajavi’s latest show in Paris last week was attended by what she calls 600 VIPs. Couldn’t these 600 help the remaining people get out of Iraq or could they not be helpful in presenting your documents – which you claim to have – in a court in the West.’

++ In America, in answer to Ros Lehtinan – the MEK’s main benefactor in the Senate and Head of the Middle East sub-committee of the Foreign Affairs Committee – the State Department representative who recently visited Camp Liberty said he has evidence that the seven missing people are not in the hands of Iraq.

++Irandidban has published an article with bullet points demonstrating that Rajavi is trying to somehow eliminate the seven missing people, For example, Rajavi claims that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have been working with the Iraqi government to kidnap only seven people. He then announces that every day they are under torture and will be killed soon. When on 13th November a representative from the US Department of State answered that there is evidence they are not in the hands of Iraq, the MEK give no reaction but pretended nothing had been said and instead asked President Obama to intervene on their behalf with the government of Iraq. It can be read from these actions that Rajavi wants to kill them and blame Iran and Iraq.

++ An article on Irandidban website describes Rajavi as swinging from one benefactor to another after the fall of Saddam and refers to the latest speech by Maryam Rajavi who claims that all terrorist activity, from Al Qaida to Hizbollah, and what happens in Yemen and Syria, are all part of a network of terrorism run from Tehran. And on top of all this the nuclear bomb which Iran has is no longer aimed at Europe but is now aimed at Saudi Arabia. Her solution is that because Iran is anti-Arab therefore all the Arab countries should unite – presumably under the umbrella of Rajavi – to fight Iran. Maryam Rajavi has forgotten that she was thrown out of Iraq and is being kept in France for a rainy day and that her so-called backing of Syrian terrorists has backfired and neither the West nor Arab countries would want the MEK to be part of any of their activities let alone gather under her umbrella. Basically she is talking nonsense.

++ Hamed Sarafpoour has responded to an article by Esmail Vafa Yaghmai who writes in detail about the mentality of a member of the MEK; basically, short of naming it a cult, describes exactly how a cult operates. Sarafpour has welcomed his progress, that he can see that much, but reminds him that those who have previously gone through this know he has not gone halfway yet to understand how he and others have been affected. He encourages Yaghmai to continue undergoing this difficult process of understanding in order to help himself and others.

++Many refer to Rajavi’s advertising that the hunger strikers are going to die, including Maryam Sanjabi who has published some facts about Rajavi’s use of his followers’ blood over the history of the organisation. She concludes that nobody but Rajavi himself is responsible for this.

++ Mohammad Rahbar, a famous green movement leader, noted on Ruzonline where Mehdi Abrishamchi, who announced the so-called nuclear discovery earlier this week, has come from; how he became a member of Saddam’s Security Services, how he stayed alive during Operation Eternal Light by staying well behind the lines and how he survived the bombardment of Iraq and ended up with Maryam Rajavi in Paris. Rahbar says to Abrishamchi, ‘instead of finding ridiculous ‘sites’ and telling stories to the rest of the world, you should come clean and explain, among other things, how your wife suddenly became your sister and married your friend.”

++ Hadi Afshar published an article about the hunger strike called ‘removing all trace’. He points out that many people don’t really know who Rajavi is unless they have lived with him. When the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003 Rajavi ordered that everybody’s cupboard, every supporter’s house and every archive of the MEK be searched to remove the history of the MEK so they wouldn’t find anything anti-American. Afshar says Rajavi and the world know that four witnesses are better than two in a court of law and therefore the hunger strike is aimed at killing as many as possible who are witness to his activities. “Rajavi claims that 7 members were taken hostage by Iraqis and Iranians, I’m not sure about that but I clearly see that the rest of the 3000 have been taken hostage by Rajavi himself and he will do his utmost to kill every one of them to remove any trace of his crimes.”

++ Adel Azami wrote a short article directed at Massoud Rajavi in which he refers to some of the letters which had been forcefully obtained from members and which the MEK publish. One of them published this week had been supposedly written by Ismael Yaghmai 30 years ago, and judged against his current position the MEK now claim he has betrayed the organisation. Azami says, “Rajavi. Your corrupt ideology and your criminal activities can only be considered as betrayal since 30 years ago our agreement with you was not that you sell us to Saddam Hussein, nor that you give information about Iranian people to the army of Iran’s enemy during the eight year war, nor that against every interest of the people of Iran who are suffering under sanctions and hardship you go hand in hand with Netanyahu and push for war against the Iranian people. We agreed that you be our leader, not go into hiding for ten years. If, in your opinion, that letter shows the progress of Yaghmai’s betrayal, then what can we call what you have done over thirty years. You have changed your word, not Yaghmai.”

November 22, 2013

++This week’s guest on Mardom TV was Mohammad Hossein Sobhani. Among other issues he went into some detail about what it is that the Mojahedin Khalq do for MOSSAD. Expanding on this he reminded us of what various former CIA officials have said about the MEK – ‘they are useful because they do things we are ashamed to do ourselves’.

++ Hamed Sarrafpour’s Facebook this week mentioned the discovery of plutonium in the body of Yaser Arafat. He says that although 95% of the MEK’s websites praise Israel, this week Rajavi couldn’t resist re-publishing the picture of his wife posing with Arafat, but while claiming they are in grief over his death they still were very careful not to make any mention of Israel in this respect.

++ In reaction to the support which some European parliamentarians have given to the MEK and Al Hashemi (the fugitive from Iraq) in Brussels, there have been many reactions from Baghdad. Among them Karim Alivi a prominent MP for the Badr parliamentary bloc who said that in order to continue supporting the MEK, European countries must move them to their own countries and not foist them on Iraq. He said ‘we refuse to keep them in Iraq under any name, refugee or other, because they have killed our children and our people during the era of the tyrant Saddam’. Another is the head of the Commission for Foreign Affairs in Iraq who has issued a statement saying that ‘we have discussed the MEK with our foreign counterparts. The ambassador of the European Union assured us that the MEK had not been invited by parliament, but only by a media representation which has no relation with the EP or EC and that what Al Hashemi and MEK have been claiming about being invited by the EP is simply a lie’.

++ Irandidban website has published an article listing some of the MEK’s western supporters and some of their Iranian supporters in the west and asks, why is it the most disreputable people are gathered under one roof?

++ The saga of the hunger strike is continuing. Nejat Association in Tehran has published a short article explaining how Rajavi is trying to use this to force a response from western governments who are ignoring him and his demands – Rajavi’s theory is that he can open his way with other people’s blood. It is clear they can read his hand and so refuse to answer. But many critics within the sphere of influence of the MEK including Hadi Afshar and Saeed Jamaali address their fellow supporters and remind them that if anyone dies during this so-called hunger strike then their hands are dipped in their blood as well because they are the people who should get Rajavi to spare their lives rather than inciting them to carry on to their deaths.

++ Javad Firouzmand from Ariya Iran in Paris has written an Open Letter to Maryam Rajavi endorsing the claims of Hadi Afshar and his ongoing memoir. Firouzmand refers to the many women who have claimed Rajavi raped them in front of Maryam and says that with so many high ranking disaffected members making these claims and comparing this with what the MEK have themselves said about the relation of women to Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, it is necessary, once and for all for the Rajavis to come clean and either deny or confirm the accusations. This will not go away says Firouzmand, and ‘although I have my own doubts about these events, if you don’t answer we can only assume they are true’.

++ Atefeh Eghbal writes on the subject of the hunger strike. She says it is clear that in the near future the so-called president elect (for the past 16 years) will emerge to save the lives of the hunger strikers by giving a speech the same way she came out after the murder of 52 members in Camp Ashraf who were apparently there to protect her belongings. Everyone will be a winner except those who have genuinely starved who will suffer the ill effects for the rest of their lives.

++ Mohammad Reza Rowhani has published the fifth part of ‘The Smell of Joseph’s Shirt’. He examines specific concepts published under the name of Massoud Rajavi himself and relates these to the attacks against himself. Rowhani concludes that from this comparison it is clear that the attack on him was done by order and was not spontaneous. He also refers to incidents from before he had left, during and after, when the MEK’s intelligence operatives had been pretending to be his friend to investigate and try to gather information about his life in order to later fabricate lies about him.

++ Irandidban carries an article under the title, ‘Anti-Iranian policies and the future of Rajavi’. The article says that Israel, Saudi Arabia and their backing systems in the west have tried using terrorism in various ways, from Al Qaida to Jundullah to Jaish Al Adl even though they know that this doesn’t help but only brings hatred against them from among Iranians who know who is behind these things. Clearly after they failed in every other way they have had to resort to terrorism. But Rajavi knows, and his masters know, that the MEK has even lost the capacity for terrorism and is no longer of much use to the point that the MEK have become a rent-a-crowd carnival service. The MEK have become mere cheerleaders for terrorism so far have they been demoted in Washington and elsewhere.

++ Behzad Alishahi, from the Community of Independent Bloggers, has made a short video producing documents from throughout Rajavi and the MEK’s history. This demonstrates how the MEK have been betraying their country and their own members. How, from the start, they have been working as a mercenary force from initial collaboration with the Soviet Union and then inside Iran working for different factions, then helping western intelligence from France and then openly joining forces with Saddam up to now when they are openly working for Israel and western forces against Iran. They have no history when they were not mercenaries.

++ In English, Press TV has linked the recent position taken by France in the Geneva talks with the uncompromising stance of Israel and also the MEK. According to the article France snubbed Zarif during an official visit, the first such high-level meeting since 2009, The article claims that for years France has been the most anti-Iranian nation in the EU, and perhaps even more so than the US. It exposes France’s position, pointing out that “openly imperialist Zionists, on the other hand, occupy nearly all the top positions in Hollande’s cabinet: the interior, finance and, of course, the foreign minister. The prime minister and defense minister are the only two among the government’s top jobs who probably don’t have Israeli citizenship. … And the lack of pro-Iranian counterpoints in French society does not stop there: France is the second home of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), a group of fifth columnists who have absolutely no legitimacy to any Iranian for reasons it takes only seconds to comprehend: they fought with Saddam Hussein against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war. But a poster of the ringleader of this bizarre cult, Marjane [sic] Rajavi, was recently all over Paris to advertise her new book. And they are supported by the French government to the extent that they have been mistakenly removed from the EU’s terrorist list. This is who has influence in France’s corridors of power – groups which care little for the average Iranian’s well-being, or for international justice that contradicts French interests. when you combine Iran’s economic rise and their opposition to France’s support for dozens of imperialist projects and illegitimate dictators, it’s no wonder that France and Iran are fighting tooth and nail.”

++ Politico reported that a contribution of $2,600 made by MEK supporter Masood Abooali in August to Sen. Lindsey Graham’s reelection campaign was refunded the following month with ‘a terse explanation: The campaign was “uncomfortable” with some of his associations and had rejected his contribution’.

November 15, 2013

++ 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