Iran-Interlink

++ Fars News reported that tens of Mojahedin members have defected the group after arriving in Albania. Several are high ranking members, including the informant who asked to remain anonymous for fear of his life. He told Fars News that MEK commanders including Farzaneh Meidan Shahi and Esmayeel Mortezayee also known as Javad Khorassan, do not allow other members to leave their residence and contact their families.

++ An analytical article by Nejat Bloggers questions whether the MEK are simply struggling to survive or are they really able to topple the IRI. The article expounds on various recent difficulties faced by the MEK and concludes: “It seems that the sequence of the MKO failed tactics and its futile efforts to wipe them off have no end. The Mujahedin-e Khalq is a broken group that is reaching its expiry date.”

++ Ban Ki Moon announced that the UN is committed to resolving situation of former residents of Iraq camp. The US has pledged financial support to the UN Trust Fund for Resettlement of Camp Hurriya Residents in order to help deal with this issue.

++ Ghorbanali Hossein Nejad was the guest on Mardom TV this week.

++ On his website, Ghorbanali Hossein Nejad has published the correspondence he has had with an Iraqi personality, Zaafer Alaani, in which the correspondent asks why he is still supporting the MEK. It became clear from this that the MEK was still using Hossein Nejad’s name in Iraq without his knowledge and claiming he was supporting them.

++ There has been a lot of writing in both English and Farsi about the arrest of Ali Mansouri by various people who knew him as a veteran member working for the MEK for thirty years. Now that he has been arrested as an Iranian spy in Israel there are many interpretations as to how this happened. Many say that in line with how the MEK usually behave they believe the MEK had a problem with him. They have sent him to Israel – where he has been a long term collaborator with Mossad – to prevent him running away and they lose him, so that once again, they have sacrificed another dissenting member.

++ The so-called hunger strike continues and the MEK are on overdrive to publicise it. But not many people are convinced because none of those participating look ill or weak. But, given the MEK’s past history many are predicting that they will kill one or two of them – for example by not giving medication to a diabetic, etc – to claim they died from hunger. As the MEK never surrender the bodies of the dead for autopsy they can do what they like. There are many disaffected members now so any one of them can be killed.

++Fars News has published an informative article about Hassan Dai (aka Daioleslam), which goes into detail about when he joined the MEK, about his family – a brother and sister in Camp Liberty – and how he was moved by the MEK from Germany to Washington. The article introduces him as the MEK’s contact with the neoconservatives in Washington (there are some accompanying pictures of him in recent demonstrations, etc). Fars News has exposed Dai because he is trying to claim he is not with the MEK, even though people in America know that he is.

++ Mohammad Razaghi published an article remembering Ahmad Rezapour who committed suicide whilst with the MEK. HE describes in detail how the MEK abused him to the point that he became really ill, but the MEK wouldn’t allow him to remain in the dormitory with the accusation that ‘if you stay you might masturbate’. In public humiliation meetings the MEK accused him of sexual deviancy and subjected him to mass spitting and swearing, and this continued abuse led to him killing himself. Razaghi says that even though they had themselves brought all this on his head, the MEK later criticised his commander for not realising he would commit suicide, not because he was dead but because his suicide was ‘against the leadership’; that is, damaging to the reputation of Rajavi.

++ Razaghi had an interview with Iranian website ‘Rajavis’. The interviewer, among other informative issues, asks Razaghi why he doesn’t come back to Iran. Razaghi admits that after thirty years in opposition, there is always the fear that you might be prosecuted. But, he says, that can be overcome as we have seen others return and nothing happens to them. My main problem, he continues, is that Rajavi has left nothing for us to support ourselves with. “As a pensioner and a sick man, if I come to Iran what do I eat, where do I live. I love the people of Iran but I have real problems which are being sorted out in the western countries. The interview is titled: ‘I have nothing to lean on to live in Iran, Rajavi has taken everything from me’.

++ This week was the anniversary of the death of the singer Marzieh, who was widely criticised after she left Iran to join with the MEK. Many writers say what a shame it is that for such a famous star only ten or so MEK terrorists gathered around her grave and nobody else. This doesn’t show hatred of her they say, but is because nobody wants to go near the MEK. Otherwise, there would be hundreds of people who would have liked to go and show their respects. Iraj Shokri, an ex NCRI member has short article on his site remembering Marzieh and exposing some of the problems they created for her and describes how she was under pressure but had nowhere else to go. He claims that she wouldn’t have stayed if she’s found the opportunity but she became dependent on them after she left Iran.

++ This week, Jordanian parliament announced that no MP will participate in Maryam Rajavi’s meetings in Paris in future. In the past a couple of MPs had attended on a personal level paid by the MEK. The parliamentarians pointed to the presence of Syrian terrorists next to Rajavi and said they can’t go and sit alongside representatives of Syrian terrorism.

++ Tareq Al Hashemi, the fugitive Iraqi former vice prime minister, who has been charged with terrorism and was famous for his connection with the Saddamists, turned up next to Maryam Rajavi in Brussels this week. It is believed by many commentators that he had been brought by the MEK and the Israeli lobby such as Stevenson and others in order to sit next to Rajavi in public and to boost her message. Ironically, Al Hashemi only spoke a sentence or two to condemn the killings at Camp Ashraf and blame Prime Minister Maliki before pushing his own anti-Iraq, anti-Al Maliki agenda. Some pointed out that his whole speech could be summed up in one sentence: ‘Me, Ezzat Ebrahim, Saddam Hussein, Rajavi…. are all innocent’.

++ Several articles have been published in Iran and outside in Farsi and in English about what forces are against the reduction of American sanctions. Practically all start with the MEK and Israel and neoconservatives in the west, and follow with the hardliners in Iran, and others who have financial interests and connections with Russia and China in Iran.

++ Hojjat Seyed Ismaeli – an ex MEK intelligence commander – has an article in Irandidban going into detail about what Rajavi called his ‘strategy’. The title ‘The strategy that was left behind in Iraq’ is self explanatory. Ismaeli says that even though, from the start, the MEK were mercenaries for Iraq, they have now abandoned that path and are looking for a new strategy.

++ Hadi Afshar – known as Said Jamaali in the MEK – has published number six in a series of articles recounting his years with the MEK until he managed to run away. He had been a high ranking member serving in MEK operations and intelligence for thirty years. This week’s article is called, ‘Don’t be mistaken, I am not talking about the intelligence services of Iran’. HE describes what he has seen inside the MEK in terms of torture and murder and also names some of those who, other witnesses have said, were killed under torture in MEK prisons.

++ Sahar Family Foundation website has an article titled, ‘Warnings of MEK commanders in Liberty and Maryam Rajavi’s video conference’ . The leaders in Camp Liberty are warning that everything is on the verge of collapse, and even high ranking members are dissenting. This all goes back to the unanswered questions hanging over the deaths at Camp Ashraf. Rajavi has replied in a video conference that ‘giving up Ashraf was the price we had to pay to be removed from the US terrorism list, but that we have been more successful by delaying it for a year. We deliberately kept Giti and Zohreh (top women military and intelligence commanders who were killed) there and it was because of them that we were able to keep Ashraf for another year, otherwise we couldn’t have done it’. She goes on in the usual cult jargon to claim that ‘giving these martyrs was worth it as we got back much more than we paid for’. She then paints a picture of the rosy future of the MEK now it is off the US list of terrorist entities. She claims that now Camp Liberty is the ‘beacon of the arrow of evolution and struggle’ and replaces Ashraf, and should be kept at any price. In this video she instructs the commanders that everyone has to forget about leaving Iraq. Instead they have to think and work towards making Liberty into Ashraf. She has instructed the top leaders that questions are forbidden and ordered them to suppress anyone who starts questioning anything. She also ordered them to show more videos of her speeches as well as getting the members involved in more sport and exercise, and to interest them in the European football leagues in order to pull them towards football and other such distractions etc, to keep them busy. In addition to this situation, Sahar says there is clear evidence that the MEK do not allow people to visit hospitals outside the camp unless the MEK are 100 per cent sure they will stay with them and return to the camp. For example, the MEK transferred Hossein Shakeri, born in Amol and a graduate of Architecture in Italy, to Baghdad hospital so late that he died on arrival. According to hospital staff he could have easily been saved if he had arrived sooner. Sahar says many letters have been sent to and they have talked several times with UNAMI representatives in Baghdad clearly demonstrating that the humanitarian disaster at Camp Liberty is caused by Rajavi and his commanders, and it is they who do not allow things to be sorted out and the residents sent to safe places. Sahar asks everyone, specifically UNAMI, to intervene in the situation of Camp Liberty which, ten years after the fall of Saddam is still being run with impunity by the head of a terrorist cult.

October 25, 2013

++ The MEK’s nuclear revelations failed to bring it much needed media coverage apart from a tired report by Reuters which was subsequently dissected by Jim White in Empty Wheel with the title, ‘MEK Makes Desperate New Iran Nuclear Accusation, Reuters Yawns’. White concludes that “the MEK clearly sees diplomacy as the real enemy …”, but that “they have reached a level of incompetence that is barely worthy of rewriting the standard dismissal that Reuters keeps on file.”

++ On the same issue, the MEK’s supporters and those who have just left have been extremely critical in the Farsi language websites. The general argument is that even if you, the MEK, want to be a mercenary force and be known as traitors to your own country, you can’t impose yourself on others where you are not accepted, it makes you look ridiculous. The writers refer to the many western people, including those in the IAEA, who are responsible for the nuclear issue who have pointed out that if there is something that the MEK know then there can be no doubt that the Americans would have known about it long before them. The writers, from inside the MEK’s Iranian support base, refer to the killings at and closure of Camp Ashraf and say this nuclear revelation will not divert attention from that; you have to explain why these people stayed, why the survivors left only after the others were killed and not before this happened, and why are the investigators not allowed access to these 42 people who have been transferred to Camp Liberty.

++ Massoud Jabaani comments on something Parviz Khazai – an MEK supporter – has written about the current situation of the MEK in which he praises the fact that they stayed in Camp Ashraf and got killed. Jabaani reminds Khazai that ‘as somebody who has been working for the Iranian government as an ambassador then changing sides to be a representative of Rajavi in Scandinavian countries, you should obviously know that people getting killed without their own informed consent or free choice does not constitute martyrdom’. Jabaani details other abuses of human rights including forced divorces and the naked dances etc, and says that ‘in a disgusting career which includes working for the Shah, for Khomeini and then Rajavi, for which you have been paid without believing any of it, the worst part of all is praising Rajavi as an opposition leader’.

++ Minoo Sepeher has published the second part of her article which goes into the details of where Camp Ashraf started and where it finished. At the end of it she refers to a preliminary finding by the investigators into the Camp Ashraf killings of September 1st. In ten paragraphs the report criticises the Mojahedin for preventing the investigation from being conducted fully so that it can come to a conclusion. Criticisms of the MEK include: explosions targeted at destroying evidence, not allowing investigators into the camp before destroying things, claiming they have been attacked by RPG and mortar whereas no evidence of that has been found, the bullets found at the scene are not anything like the bullets carried by the Iraqi army, the MEK have been moving bodies far distances inside the camp before letting anyone get in to see them. There is clear evidence of attempts to clear up and set a scene after the killings took place. There is even a paragraph which says that on the following day, in the presence of UNAMI representatives, the Iraqi forces managed to stop one of the MEK members from exploding a homemade bomb which he had in his possession. Another obstacle is that the MEK refuse to hand over the films and pictures they have taken to the investigators. There is clear evidence that the killings had been pre-planned and the MEK had knowledge about it. Minoo Sepeher concludes that although we have to wait for the full report by the Iraqis, these killings must have been carried out by the MEK themselves.

++ Nejat Association reported that an official of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry announced that 33 members of the Mojahedin Khalq were received as refugees by the German government. He also noted that some of these individuals, who were interviewed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, “suffer from distressed mental states and fear staying in Iraq”. Germany has agreed to accept a total of 100 residents of Camp Liberty.

++ In an Open Letter to Catherine Ashton, Massoud Khodabandeh warned that the MEK were set to take aggressive or violent action to disrupt the 5+1 talks in Geneva with the Iranian delegation. Khodabandeh describes how Ashton had been unknowingly set up to perpetuate MEK lies about events at Camp Ashraf which the European Parliament’s Iraq Delegation exploited to pursue an anti-Iraq agenda. The letter concludes, “It is important to put the MEK where it belongs – it has no place in the political process. The group is purely a brand and a tool. Once a group is named as a tool in the hands of paying masters then it loses its potency. The MEK has no independent existence. You must look to the people who issue the orders to find out how to counter its influence.”

++ In Farsi sites and media there is much criticism over the continuation of the hunger strike (last week it was exposed that the participants have been denied food and are therefore forced to be on hunger strike). Critics pose the question: ‘what crime have these people committed that they must be killed by hunger strike? Why is it that every time someone has to burn themselves or starve to death or whatever, we never see the leaders involved? They point out that what Rajavi is doing to these people in Camp Liberty is against every human rights law and the only reason he does it is to get more blood.

++ In separate articles, Iran Interlink and Mohammad Razaghi exposed Ali Mansouri – who was arrested in Israel as a spy – as a long serving member of the Mojahedin Khalq cult. A statement issued by the MEK tried to claim that Mansouri was an infiltrator, an agent of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. Instead the articles describe him as a covert agent working for the MEK and Mossad, who used to visit Iran and bring back information. His arrest was either a mistake in which case the MEK and Mossad need to coordinate better, or the MEK saw him as a liability and set him up to get rid of him.

++ Inside supporters of the MEK have criticised the European Parliament and its resolution for not being directed at saving lives, but rather at prolonging the situation to help Rajavi. Otherwise, instead of crying crocodile tears for the camp, the EP would help to get the people out of Iraq.

++ Quite a few reports and articles showed how the MEK failed to disrupt the 5+1 meeting in Geneva. One is from a reporter for Mehr News who wrote a short piece about fringe activity at the meetings. He explains that as the press conferences of Ashton and Zarif got underway, officials identified three people from the MEK who tried to attend. Swiss police intervened to throw them out and thus prevented any disruption. The reporter says the three were obviously given press passes to get in the building by someone, that they had backers and asks who were they? He also says that there were MEK activists in the area outside the venue but they were not allowed to hinder or halt proceedings. Instead they went been trawling round the building looking for people to harass or attack. Failing in this too they could only daub graffiti around the city centre.

Iran Interlink, October 18 2013

++ Nejat Society wrote in response to Massoud Rajavi’s narrated message in which he implies that the victims of Camp Ashraf were all there to get killed for him and that they died saving his life. Nejat points out that if this is true it is truly shocking because Rajavi had deceptively kept them there under the pretext they were to sell the MEK’s remaining possessions. This shows, says Nejat that in order to save his skin, Rajavi is willing to kill every one of his followers.

++ Faleh Fayaz, Iraq’s National Security Advisor, met with the ambassadors of various countries in Baghdad. In the meeting he announced that the Mojahedin Khalq has until the end of the year to leave the country. He advised that any embassy which thinks it has any relation with the MEK should take them out as soon as they can.

++ In Tirana those who have deserted the MEK have started talking. One individual wrote a letter explaining how the MEK are putting pressure on them. He asks ‘where are the human rights organisations that he and his friends believed would be concerned over their plight’. He describes the MEK’s threats, one of which is that if they take money from the UN refugee organisation and register as refugees then the MEK will treat them as agents of the Iranian regime in which case they can do what they like with them – [in MEK jargon being an agent of the Iranian regime carries a de facto death sentence under made-up MEK law]. The dissidents in Tirana are now desperate. The MEK promised them money so they wouldn’t go to the UN, but this has been withheld and now they fear for their lives if they do take UN money. They are asking for help from anyone, anywhere.

++ Edaalat Association translated into Farsi an article by journalist Daniel Solis from the Czech Republic which exposes an MP, Daniel Herman, who has been taking money to work as a lobbyist for the MEK. He is now under judicial scrutiny and there have been a variety of critical radio reports and newspaper articles alleging that he has been bought by a terrorist organisation.

++ Mohammad Al-Seyhood from Nouri Al-Maliki’s coalition party speaking with Al Madi press on behalf of the coalition says that Iraq is neither a servant nor a colony of America and if Washington is worried about the mercenaries – MEK – they should take them out as soon as they can rather than interfere in the internal affairs of our country. He was speaking in response to those in America who are demanding a ‘sharp cut in US aid to Iraq’ over the alleged missing seven MEK from Camp Ashraf.

++ There were many articles in Farsi about what is behind the MEK’s so-called hunger strike. Some treat it as a joke as the strikers have not given up dying their hair and trimming their moustaches over the past six weeks. Others are concerned that Rajavi will start killing them one way or another to have something for the papers to write about. Some write, including Mohammad Razaghi, that we never see the MEK leaders burn themselves or go on hunger strike. Some articles refer to MEK propaganda outlets in Farsi pointing out that more than half is devoted Syria and support for terrorist organisations. One of these terrorists got killed last week – the contact with the MEK from the Free Syrian Army.

++ Yaran Association has published an open letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon specifying that we have information from people inside Camp Liberty that Rajavi has ordered that food be actually withheld. This means that many of those on hunger strike are not doing so willingly, they have no choice as their food has been removed. Contrary to every human right the MEK are deliberately starving people to death. The letter demands intervention to save these people.

++ The MEK claimed today that it had discovered something about Iran’s nuclear programme. The claim was not repeated by media outlets except a very few which took it with a pinch of salt and ridiculed them.

++ Sahar Family Foundation in Baghdad published an article which highlights the news that residents of Camp Liberty are being forced to be on hunger strike because they are given no food. Although this is supposed to be related to the seven missing MEK, the reality is that the overwhelming number of people in Liberty and among the MEK’s west based Iranian supporters blame Massoud Rajavi for the killings in Camp Ashraf. They are all asking’ why didn’t we leave before this happened because Rajavi in his statement said he was expecting this’. They point to the contradiction that if people have been detained and tortured by the MEK’s enemies then what good is a hunger strike to put pressure on such people to release the seven. In addition, news has reached Camp Liberty that well over half of those transferred to Albania have rejected Rajavi and become ex-members. They are also aware that the surviving 42 transferred from Camp Ashraf are still being held incommunicado and have no contact with the other residents of Liberty. After weeks the MEK leaders are still working on them and they are still not able to have contact with anyone. Rajavi is still claiming that whoever in the world condemns the killings and kidnappings of Camp Ashraf, this proves they support Rajavi so their blood has not gone to waste. But for the old, sick and injured on hunger strike none of this means anything as they are being deliberately denied food. Apparently Rajavi thinks this is a good idea; he can get rid of them and claim their blood for himself. Sahar concludes that if no intervention is forthcoming from the international community, then disaster is imminent.

++ In English and Farsi there have been many articles exposing the MEK’s disreputable role in attempts to disrupt any US-Iran negotiations and rapprochement.

++ In the UK, in response to a parliamentary question from the Bishop of Coventry; “To ask Her Majesty’s Government what response they have received from the government of Iraq to their representation requesting an investigation into the violence at Camp Ashraf on 1 September.” Government spokesperson Baroness Warsi (Conservative) replied, “The Government of Iraq has told our Embassy in Baghdad that a committee will conduct a full and open investigation into the attack on Camp Ashraf on 1 September, and that its findings will be made public.”

Iran Interlink, October 11 2013

++ Mohammad Reza Rohani, former member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), published the third part of his series of articles titled ‘The Smell of Joseph’s Shirt’. This third part answers questions raised in the first two articles. Rohani says the main objections against him have been as to why he writes against the MEK and he reminds these people that he didn’t start it. He only resigned and wished the MEK good luck. But for months after this the MEK did nothing but swear at him. He didn’t think this would happen but now he knows what they are really like.

++ Ashraf News reported on a statement issued by Ban Ki Moon’s Press Office following a meeting between the UN Secretary General and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari. Moon announced in the statement that the MEK must be removed from Iraq asap.

++ In a meeting with Catherine Ashton at the UN meeting in New York, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari said Europe should think about finding a place for the MEK asap. ‘They will be thrown out and you have to take them’, he said.

++ Several articles were published about how isolated the Israelis and also the MEK were this time in New York during the UNGA meetings.

++ Irandidban website has an article about Massoud Rajavi’s latest proclamations, which were not in his voice but were read out as a general rant. During the broadcast Rajavi claims that everyone who was killed in Camp Ashraf had loved to be martyred and he clearly stated that they were there for that purpose. Irandidban reminds us that the MEK had publicly demanded that they stay in Camp Ashraf in order to sell their belongings, not to get killed.

++ An Open Letter to Mr Samir Tahiri, Interior Minister of Albania, was published in English and signed by many former members and critics of the Mojahedin Khalq. Warning that the MEK is trying to send its trusted henchmen to control the new arrivals the letter asks Tahiri to ‘prevent the entrance of Mrs Masoumeh Malekmohammadi to Albania. She should be handed over to the Iraqi courts of justice for her criminal activities in Iraq’. And concludes, ‘We urge you and your government to allocate and designate a place for the separated members of the PMOI away from those who are loyal Mojahedin members in Albania in order for them to be safe and sound from the psychological tortures and pressures of the PMOI.’

++ An article by Amir Hossein Panahi from Aryia Association in Paris titled ‘Rajavi’s group and what they gained in New York’, discusses those individuals who were paid to make speeches to beggars in New York during the MEK’s mock demonstration. He concludes that the speakers would be better off if they hadn’t exposed like this how empty handed they are.

++ Sahar Family Foundation has translated several Iraqi newspaper articles into Farsi. These are some examples of what is covered: Iraq’s Foreign Minister declared again that the government of Iraq had no involvement in the disappearance of any MEK members and if Catherine Ashton or anyone else has any concerns they can of course talk with him and he can explain more about this issue; The Badr faction spokesman in parliament has declared that there is overwhelming evidence that the MEK massacred Kurdish people during the era of Saddam Hussein and that they have to be prosecuted before their deportation; Some Iraqi newspapers reported that while searching Camp Ashraf they have found mass graves some of which appear to contain Kurds and some Kuwaitis. A joint American-Kuwaiti team are investigating this and apparently one of the victims is a child princess related to the ruling royal family of Kuwait; another paper has said that, contrary to what the MEK claims, the American government has denied visiting the seven allegedly lost people and the government of Iraq also dismisses such claims.

++ A. Rayhani has written to Iraj Mesdaghi, a vocal critic of the MEK, giving many reasons why he and his colleagues who have deserted the MEK should start a separate MEK group so that other like minded people can join with them. Mesdaghi has answered this by reminding Rayhani that ‘you can’t start an opposition group from Sweden, all we can do from outside Iran is to help the opposition there. Mesdaghi says people can’t believe in an army without arms and they can’t believe in fighters who have suddenly become asylum seekers, and nor can they believe that MEK are warriors when they are working from Paris. In the same way such people wouldn’t accept us if we announced ourselves as the new MEK but this time from Sweden. Mesdaghi says ‘I am no Don Quixote! I am a realist. Let Rajavi make his wild claims’. Mesdaghi refers to Rajavi’s claims that the 3000 old and sick men and women in Iraq are going to play the role of Robin Hood from Camp Liberty, and that from there Rajavi will break down all the walls and go against the wishes of the UN and the international community, and he will break the chains of Imperialism and then destroy the army of Iraq and topple the Iraqi government…!

++ This week many have written articles marking the anniversary of America removing the MEK from its terrorism list. They commonly remark that contrary to what Rajavi claimed to the MEK forces, that being on this list was why they couldn’t topple the Iranian regime, now we see that this wasn’t the problem after all as the MEK are in a worse state than then. Some writers analyse the situation as ‘how the Americans use everything without hesitation’ – such as adding the MEK to the list then taking them off again just as easily. They point out that Hillary Clinton promised to remove the MEK if they agreed go to Camp Liberty. In Tehran, Dr Sajadi, Head of the Society for the Defence of Victims of Terrorism in Iran, says that although Clinton – wrongly – promised such a thing to a group of terrorists and kept her word, we saw that the terrorists did not keep their word and did not empty Camp Ashraf which has cost many lives until now. He says that the fact that the cult leaders have not been able to come back and are in a worse situation now is cannot be credited to the Americans since they have tried their best to use terrorism and groups like the MEK which has spent millions of dollars on Senators and ex-officials, etc.

++ A delegation from Faryad Azadi Association visited the Albanian embassy in Paris to discuss the MEK arrivals in Tirana. The delegation thanked the government of Albania for its humanitarian act and went on to explain the behaviour of the MEK, how they operate as a cult and offered consultancy as to how Albania can deal with them.

++ Ghorban Ali Hosseinejat wrote about the MEK’s so-called hunger strike in Camp Liberty which has apparently not affected the health of any of them after four weeks. (Hosseinejat points out this is a known sham tactic and the MEK typically do this for propaganda purposes.) He poses the question to Rajavi that if what you claim is true and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was responsible for the attack on Camp Ashraf and the deaths of 52 people while letting the remainder take photographs and films to be sent immediately to Paris for propaganda, and if meanwhile they take seven random people and put them in the hands of the Iraqi government – while most people believe this whole event has been an internal act – then, if this is true, isn’t it even more ridiculous that the MEK have gone on hunger strike asking the IRG to release them or they will kill themselves? If what you say is true, why would the Iranian Revolutionary Guard want to stop you killing yourselves?

++ According to Nejat Bloggers, Cologne city officials have objected to moves to bring 77 MEK from Camp Liberty to their city. Citing security concerns Mr Guido Kahlen, director of Cologne City Council seriously protested the decision. The Council considers the presence of those people with records of military, terrorist and cult-like activities as a risk to the security of Cologne’s citizens, he said.

++ Mohammad Reza Rohani – formerly a member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – has begun a series of articles titled ‘The Smell of the Shirt of Joseph’. Parts 1 and 2 go into detail about why he resigned from the NCRI and the pressure the MEK exert on him now to keep quiet. He points out that he is writing as a person who is not against them and has done his best to bring them back to normality, nevertheless he details the difficult situation he was in and why he had to leave.

++ Dr Ghassim writing similarly as a former NCRI member describes why he felt he was no longer an effective or useful member of the Council. One specific example he gives is that over the last decade Maryam Rajavi has held around 60 or 70 conferences and meetings, but, even putting himself aside, not once during the past ten years has a single Iranian been on the panel. Instead the panellists were always American or European lobbyists. Ghassim points out that as a member of the Council he should surely have been able to represent it at least once in the past ten years, but this example shows why he felt unable to play a part and be helpful any more.

++ Several writers in Farsi have pointed out that over recent days Rajavi’s stance toward Iran is an exact copy of that of Benjamin Netanyahu, and that the word for word copying makes it clear the MEK is being paid to repeat what Netanyahu says. They point out that no one else in the world, not even the Neoconservatives, follow word for word what Netanyahu says except the MEK.

++ The office of Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki issued a statement in English denying the MEK’s propaganda claims. The statement reads in part: “The Khalq Organization is accustomed to fabricating lies and disseminating them, in this regard they alleged that seven of its members had been missing in the recent events that took place in the New Iraq camp, and claimed that they were abducted by Iraqi troops. As we reject these allegations altogether we reiterate the fact that the Iraqi forces has never conducted any actions against members of this organization, whether in the camp of New Iraq or any other site, but the elements of this organization, which is still on the list of terrorist organizations refused to allow Iraqi forces, which were protecting the camp, entering the camp at the time of the accident and impeded investigation efforts.”

++ The US embassy in Iraq also issued a denial of MEK propaganda claims saying: “The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says it has no information on the whereabouts of seven Iranian dissidents allegedly missing following a deadly shooting on their compound north of Baghdad this month. The parent organization of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group says it has information that an American delegation has met the seven people held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport. U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford told The Associated Press by email Sunday that the claim of an American visit is “categorically untrue.” He says no one from the U.S. government has seen or visited those said to be missing.”

++ Several articles about Camp Ashraf have concluded that the MEK are trying to divert attention away from the UN’s efforts to remove them in order to keep themselves in Iraq. It is ironic that a couple of days ago another audio message from Massoud Rajavi was broadcast inside the MEK in which he viciously attacks everyone and says they have to get their ground back and fight to the last person. Rajavi says no one is allowed to leave Iraq. Many have written in response that it is clear he wants to get rid of the whole 3000. The 52 killed on September 1st have given him some blood and he is now prepared to kill them all.

++ Ashraf News and other Iraqi media report that some unnamed officials claim they believe Massoud Rajavi had been in Camp Ashraf but ran away shortly before the transfers to Camp Liberty began.

++ News from inside Camp Liberty is given by Mohammad Karami who has contact with an insider. He was informed that since the 42 survivors of the Camp Ashraf incident were transferred to Camp Ashraf, nobody has seen them or had contact with them. They have been held in quarantine so that it is clear they know things which Rajavi doesn’t want others to find out about.

++ In Iran, General Seyed Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the search committee for the lost people at the Armed Forces Headquarters said his organisation had met with officials of the ICRC and representatives of the Iraqi defense and human rights ministries in the south western Iranian city of Ahvaz to discuss the search for missing war dead. General Baqerzadeh said that some Iranian POWs were handed over to MKO terrorists, who were based in camp Ashraf, by the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussain and that some of them “were martyred and buried there,” which is why the search committee wants permission to search the cemetery of Camp Ashraf for bodies.

++ During President Rohani’s visit to the UN General Assembly in New York the MEK held a demonstration in Manhatten. Not one serious media outlet covered it. Only one or two weblogs mentioned it and a few paid adverts tried to make something out of it. However a reporter for the Farsi section of Radio Free Europe (Radio Farda) posted a short note and a picture gallery titled, ‘Full of colour, full of people’. The pictures showed only a few white people including John Bolton with the rest – a few hundred – being mostly poor black people (apparently beggars) who had presumably been paid to attend.

++ Mehrdad Sagharchi from Germany was the guest on Mardom TV this week. He answered questions on a variety of subjects from his own experience of Ashraf and Liberty.

++ A few Iraqi MPs , officials and Tribal Leaders in Iraq have issued announcements asking the Government of Iraq to put more pressure on the UN and the US to take the remains of Saddam – as they call the MEK – out of the country as soon as possible. Many refer to the incident in Camp Ashraf and say that if this was done by the families of the victims of MEK terrorism in Iraq as is claimed, then it show that people’s patience is running thin and the Americans should take their mercenaries out and back home.

++ Mohammad Razaghi responded to Massoud Rajavi’s audio broadcast in an article that points out how Rajavi is inciting the members to resist to the death and follow the path of the 52 who were killed. From this approach Razaghi draws the conclusion that no one else was after the blood of these people and no one else benefited from it except Rajavi himself.

++ Iran’s President Hassan Rohani and Iraqi Vice President Khazir al-Khazai met in New York on September 25. During the meeting in which many regional issues were discussed, including the crisis in Syria, President Rohani expressed gratitude to the Iraqi government for its closure of Camp Ashraf… Stressing that the terrorist group had the blood of Iranians and Iraqis on its hands, the Iranian president expressed hope that the remaining MKO terrorists would leave Iraqi soil shortly.

September 27 2013

++ Several articles in Farsi, the most thorough of which is by Amir Movasaghi, criticise Maryam Rajavi for her crocodile tears over the Camp Ashraf victims which the articles describe as ‘playing victim’ for an American audience. As usual, the articles point out, Rajavi does not ask for the remaining people to be removed from Iraq but instead insists the MEK retain a base in Iraq. This has led many to conclude that this is based on a policy of getting rid of them.

Hamid Reza Salmani, from Yaran in Paris, has written an article titled, ‘Why wasn’t Camp Ashraf evacuated sooner?’ He details the efforts that Rajavi made to delay the evacuation and encourage the residents to fight with Iraqi security forces and shed blood. He concludes by asking, ‘shouldn’t western judicial systems question Rajavi and the lobbyists about their deliberate role in this bloodshed and the deaths of the hostages?’

++ Homayoun Kohzadi’s article is about Rajavi himself and how he has continually insisted on ‘going back to Ashraf’. Kohzadi points out that Rajavi also begs the MEK backers to send them to Syria as a way to get rid of them. Finally Kohzadi reminds everyone that Rajavi claimed ‘Camp Ashraf is everything we have and if it is not there we should not be alive’. But in the end he was resigned to abandoning Camp Ashraf with as much bloodshed as possible. Kohzadi reminds us that Rajavi used to quote Lenin by saying ‘to negotiate we can even wear a skirt if needed.’ But, he says, Rajavi should remember that Lenin was stressing the importance of negotiating, not suggesting a disguise for escaping.

++ A statement issued by the MEK this week swears at anyone who speaks about Camp Ashraf or criticises anything that has happened there in the past 25 years. The statement calls such people ‘mad dogs of the Iraqis’, or ‘monkeys of Iranian Intelligence’. In the end the MEK threatens every person from Iranian officials to journalists, reporters and commentators in the West, we will ‘punish you in the same way we have the likes of Lajevardi, Sayad Shirazi or the mullahs blown up like Sadughi, Dastgeib, Madani, etc’ – names of people the MEK has killed in assassinations and suicide bombings over the past thirty years. In response many have written in Farsi to warn that it is all very well saying the MEK is no longer on western terrorism lists when it is apparent their next targets are not in Iraq or Iran or Syria, but will be in London or Washington or Paris. They warn, it is not the first time the MEK has diverted attention from their defeats by resorting to acts of terrorism.

++ Irandidban website has warned America, the UN and the government of Iraq that if they do not supervise the Camp Liberty residents when they are taken out of Iraq, there will almost certainly be a series of murders, killings and terrorist activities, because these people have unstable and disturbed mental health and many have been trained by Saddam’s Fedayeen exclusively for such activities.

++ This week’s guests on Mardom TV were Batul Soltani and Zahra Moini, who talked about their personal experiences of Camp Ashraf.

++ Nimnegah site published part ten of its interview with Mohammad Razaghi, a former MEK member. In this episode he recalls the MEK’s massacre of the Kurds in 1991 and describes how they didn’t even leave the dead but instead burned and destroyed the bodies and the villages as much as possible. The savage hatred and intimidation shown by the MEK as they ran over bodies with their tanks was to act as a warning for others to be afraid and submit.

++ Mohamamd Karami published more news about Albania. The ninth series have now joined the 159 already transferred. Significantly, from these, 69 have declared themselves to be against the MEK and the government of Albania has housed them separately from the others in an apartment block.

++ Sahar Family Foundation of Baghdad has published an article titled ‘After 27 blood filled years, Camp Ashraf finally closed’. The article reminds us of the three and a half years of picketing by families of the Camp Ashraf residents and then briefly recaps the history of Camp Ashraf from time Rajavi went to Iraq, how the base was built and how it has now been destroyed and renamed Camp New Iraq. It goes through each strategy that Rajavi announced over these 27 years and shows how he changed his word every few months until failure after failure brought the camp to what it is now.

++ Other Farsi commentators point out that the end of Camp Ashraf came about not because of the MEK themselves but because of the stubbornness and dictatorship of Massoud Rajavi. It is a failure of his leadership, they say, not his followers. In response to the threat to kill critics, many point out to Rajavi that Saddam Hussein has gone and those days have gone with him.

++ The former deputy head of Iraq’s parliament stated that he condemned the killings but welcomed the evacuation of Camp Ashraf and said Iraq is on the right track to getting rid of this terrorist entity but that this has to be accomplished faster.

++Many write about the situation of the Iranian opposition outside Iran, in particular in relation to the government of Iran. They explain how the MEK and Rajavi have always been used as a winning card in the hands of Iran in international relations which uses the terrorist MEK cult as an example of Iranian ‘opposition’ groups, and uses the MEK against foreign governments by pointing to the double standards of supporting a widely despised terrorist group as the main Iranian opposition. These writers warn real opposition groups to clearly separate themselves from the MEK or they will never gain trust among people and make progress.

++ Following widespread criticism, the MEK removed the ‘death threat’ item from its website after only a few days. Commentators pointed out that the MEK clearly don’t know how to react after they were warned that the item and the process of its removal have been scanned and linked and re-published on the internet by MEK critics. The MEK are in an mess they say. By this morning the MEK had restored the ‘death threat’ item. Similarly, this week the MEK published an item claiming that a group of Iraqis had held a demonstration in their favour – until several people identified the main image as taken in 2004 from inside Camp Ashraf when the MEK were inviting Iraqis into the base to win them over with meals and money. A photoshopped banner had been transposed across the centre of the image to make it look current. The MEK immediately reacted by removing the picture but then, days later, restored it.

++ Mohammad Karami has published reports from Camp Liberty residents who have arrived in Albania who say that the MEK are trying to get a woman called Masoumeh Malek Mohammadi on the transfer list for Albania. Mohammadi is a well known torturer and murderer inside the MEK and is wanted by Iraqi judicial authorities for crimes committed in Iraq. The MEK now want to get her out of the country before she is arrested. Previously another wanted woman, Farzaneh Meidanshahi was transferred to Albania to avoid arrest.

++Iraqi newspapers this week do not have much to say about the MEK and Camp Ashraf because of more important issues gripping the country but a few parliamentarians, including Sadegh Al-Laban, have been quoted asking their government to expedite the MEK’s expulsion because they are agents of foreign governments in Iraq. Iraqi police referred to the MEK threats of assassination made against officials and others in Iraq. Officials refer to the fact that in Iraq the MEK are a designated terrorist organisation and they must be brought to justice. A few papers have quoted officials who say the Camp Ashraf killings were the work of MEK leaders and that they have killed their own people inside the camp. Iraq is still investigating this. They say some of the bodies show signs of having been tortured before they have been shot, so some areconcluding this has been an internal affair.

++ In English, various media reported Iraqi dismissals of MEK claims it is holding seven allegedly missing Camp Ashraf residents. Nejat bloggers quoted Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari saying that “the presence in Iraq of dissident groups and terror militants was no longer tolerable – directly referring to MKO members”. Zebari “called on the UN and Western countries to honor their promises and relocate all militants out of Iraq as soon as possible”. Fars News reports a speech made by senior Iranian MP, Naqavi Hosseini, “Since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran the US has been using MKO as a tool to achieve its objectives in the region”. But, he stressed, Iran “intends to pursue the rights of the Iranian victims of MKO terrorist attacks through international human rights organizations”.

++ Meanwhile, an American newspaper gives coverage to Ted Poe, member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and chairman of the panel that handles terrorism issues, as he urges the UN to place a United Nations peacekeeping force in Camp Hurriya and report back to the Security Council” because “…it should be evident to all by now that the government of Iraq cannot be trusted to keep these refugees safe.”

++ Anne Singleton, author of two books on Camp Ashraf and the MEK, writes in an article titled ‘Loving families offer security and a future for Camp Liberty residents in Iraq’, that the residents are being used for political purposes by various quarters and that America has a moral duty to help them after they have spent nearly three decades working for western interests. She says, “Once it is acknowledged that the residents of Camp Liberty are individuals and not pawns to be deployed or destroyed, and the MEK leaders are required to restore their basic freedoms, then solutions as to what can be done with them will not be difficult to find. First and foremost of these is to reunite them with their families.” The article concludes, “When looking for a permanent solution for the residents, anybody with any sincerity must acknowledge that the involvement of these people’s families can offer the emotional, financial and mental security needed for them to return to normal life wherever they finally settle. Beyond this, the normalising presence of families at Camp Liberty will forestall the opportunity for further attacks.”

September 20, 2013

++ Nearly all the news, posts and comments in both English and Farsi this week relate to the 1 September events at Camp Ashraf. Reports from Nejat Bloggers, AFP, Anti-War, Press TV, and the Tehran Times gave sometimes conflicting information, but it has been established that 52 had been killed and of the 42 remaining residents over twenty were injured while seven people (Massoud Rajavi’s personal security detail) are still missing. The Mojahedin press office issued press releases and photographs of the scene including the dead, and claimed that Camp Ashraf was attacked by an Iraqi SWAT team. The government of Iraq and military and security officials denied any involvement in the events inside the camp, but said MEK activists attacked soldiers outside the gate killing two.

++ The United Nations, European Union, European governments and the US all issued strong condemnation of the violence and offered condolences to the victims’ families. None assigned blame for the deaths and all asked that the Iraqi government launch an investigation into the event. Amnesty International noted that the events were “disputed”, and called for an impartial inquiry. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki set up an inquiry into the deaths, and on Monday 2nd a UN team visited the camp to try to establish what happened.

++ Iran’s Revolutionary Guard announced itself delighted at what it called ‘divine vengeance’ and congratulated the children of the Iraqi nation, pointing to the MEK’s role in suppressing a Kurdish uprising in 1991 on behalf of Saddam Hussein, as well as many assassinations carried out by the MEK in Iran.

++ In Farsi, writers expressed condemnation of the killings and expressed their condolences for the families of the victims. At the start of the week many were repeating the MEK’s claim that Iraqi forces attacked the camp, but by mid week there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that Iraq did not do this. However, almost all of the writers blamed Massoud Rajavi for creating the conditions which led to these deaths. The gist of most posts and articles was, ‘You [Rajavi] have said for the past ten years that Nouri Al Maliki is an agent of the Iranian regime, so why are you keeping the members there? Let them go. Why are you there anyway, and what did you expect would happen?’

++ Interestingly the MEK use this event as the basis to continue its belligerent verbal attacks on defected members as though it was their fault that it happened.

++ The titles of some articles are interesting. In an article titled ‘Gentlemen come dine, the blood is ready’ Mohammad Razaghi explains how he believes the members were kept in Camp Ashraf to be killed. Ghorbanali Hosseinejat’s article is titled, ‘Yet another Ashura for the Mojahedin without Imam Hussein’. Arash Rezai’s article in Nimnegah details why the ideological leadership of a cult like the MEK needs blood.

++ Hossein Bagherzadeh, a respected human rights activist, wrote in Iran Emrooz. He examines various scenarios and describes how the event unfolded. He points out that if anyone criticises the MEK they become their enemy. But, he says, my writing is not about that, it is a serious reminder to the Mojahedin Khalq leaders that in a case when people are killed in cold blood, other Iranian opposition activists cannot refrain from expressing their views about the MEK and while condemning the killings, will also emphasize how much the MEK are hated by Iranians. Bagherzadeh says that up until now, anyone expressing that view would be labelled an agent of the Iranian regime. But he says ‘today I want them to look at themselves, what they have done and see that this is the result.’ He warns, ‘ I want them to look at themselves and change because tomorrow is not going to get any better than today’.

++ Behrouz Setudeh, a famous activist, writes for Iran Global. He asks how many times this kind of thing has to happen before the leaders of the MEK wake up. He reminds Rajavi of when he was in university with him 45 years ago and says, ‘you should remember international law, and you will see how silly and sad it is that in a country which has been at war, and whose government has changed, a group of foreigners sit tight and refuse to accept the order of the new government to leave their country. Even more ridiculous is that you are demanding that whatever you got from the old regime, the new government has to leave it for you… While you were working for Saddam Hussein your self-declared mission of ‘fighting the Iranian regime’ doesn’t change international laws and norms; you were still working for the Saddam regime.’ Setudeh concludes by suggesting that beyond all this, Rajavi should do one honourable thing and let the remaining MEK members go.

++ 139 people signed a letter condemning the attack and asking those in charge to follow up to make sure it cannot happen again.

++ A. Minoo Sepehr writes in response to this letter to remind the signatories how events unfolded and warns them not to fall into the trap of accepting MEK propaganda. He gives the example of the films of the alleged attackers saying they have no helmets or proper masks and no proper equipment. He also reminds them to look at what the MEK have shown as handcuffs which on the bodies are metal, but the unused ones also shown are plastic handcuffs. He highlights many similar discrepancies. Sepehr concludes by saying ‘yes, everyone is against this violence, but don’t think the version of events you heard from the MEK is the whole thing’.

++ Karim Gholami’s article titled ‘Did they have a second chance?’ explains that among those killed are some who tortured him while he was an MEK dissident. He says he wasn’t happy about their deaths because nobody deserves that kind of death. He says, ‘I had a second chance, I ran away and am now happy, but they didn’t. They took part in the torture but then they stayed and were killed as well’.

++ Among the dead is Amir, the son of Hadi Shams Haeri who died before being able to see his son in spite of years of campaigning for this right. Many people were deeply affected by this. Some consoled themselves by saying that according to their belief, whatever happened in this world, father and son will be reunited after death.

September 6, 2013

++ In English language media, the MEK have been on overdrive to convey the message that Iran’s President Rohani is not a moderate, and also that the MEK haven’t killed anyone and these accusations are lies created by the Iranian regime and therefore the west should not talk to Iran but instead talk to the MEK. Among these lobbyists, Raymond Tanter has unexpectedly been given a platform in Foreign Policy magazine. The reaction of the readers has been nothing but criticism of the magazine’s editors for allowing the MEK to misuse their publication. In a similar vein The Hill has published an item on its blog by a member of the British House of Lords, Lord Kenneth Maginnis of Drumglass, with a specifically MEK version of Iranian history.

++ In English there have been various articles questioning the MEK’s use of paid lobbyists like Bob Filner, and how the influence of Israeli interests in US foreign policy is shown by support for terrorist groups like the MEK.

++ In English Ebrahim Khodabandeh has written in response to Massoud Rajavi’s message telling his followers to “get lost”. Khodabandeh compares Rajavi to the deposed Shah saying, “the extent of Rajavi’s rudeness is beyond imagining. He used his vicious tongue to lash those who are the most loyal and supportive of his followers. The Shah at least did not call those who want to leave [Iran] traitors and did not insult them and was, in any case, talking to those who were against him from the beginning, and not those who had given everything for him.” In conclusion Khodabandeh addresses the MEK’s supporters directly and suggests: “Rajavi’s supporters should observe how he deals with his most self-sacrificing followers and how he rewards them after years of loyalty. What would have happened if Rajavi had real power, how would he have dealt with his opponents? Wouldn’t he be worse than any dictator in the world? And so I must ask: “isn’t it time for those who continue to support Rajavi to recognise their mistake and keep their distance from him?””

++ Over this week Hanif Heydar Nejat has published the last parts of his examination of the Forough Javidan operation from his personal point of view. Reading through this, it is abundantly clear that although he only describes his own experiences and has not even mentioned things that other ex-member claim, there is more than enough here to shed light on the inside working of the MEK and in a normal court to convict Rajavi for crimes against humanity and war crimes.

++ Mohammad Razaghi, ex-member and human rights activist in France, was this week’s guest on Mardom TV. He expanded on the reasons that Karim Ghassim has given for his resignation from NCRI and then went on to produce evidence of torture and murder inside the MEK with the names and addresses of both victims and perpetrators of these crimes.

++ Edward Termador in Germany has written an open letter to Pope Francis explaining his situation as a Christian inside the MEK during the time of Saddam Hussein. Edward was a POW in the Iraqi camps for nine years before being given to the MEK where he spent another twelve years. During this time the MEK would use his Christian background to advertise themselves to the church in Baghdad, but when he stopped cooperating with them he was, as usual, put under immense pressure and ended up in Ramardi refugee camp. In Ramardi, while still under pressure from the MEK, he rejected an offer by the Vatican to take him to Italy and instead he insisted on staying to ‘help the MEK to bring democracy to Iran’. Termador describes the situation at that time – closed doors, no contact with the outside world – and says this has not changed. He asks the new Pope to help the current hostages in Camp Liberty.

++ Within the framework of its attacks on President Rohani, the MEK held a picket in Paris with paid speakers and asylum seekers being given 50 Euros to attend. The picket was ridiculed by many including Iran based Edaalat Association which represents the victims of MEK terrorism. Edaalat published pictures of the small gathering of tens of people and asks how did the MEK argument move from attacking Rohani to the demand that they all be moved back to Camp Ashraf. This is, it points out, while their own supporters have signed a petition to ask Rajavi to send these people to third countries and have this week written many articles among themselves pleading with Rajavi to let their friends go to third countries in the west.

++ Many articles have been written in response to Rajavi’s ‘get lost’ speech criticising Rajavi’s backers – the US and Israel – for their inhumane way of pursuing their political agenda. They say Rajavi is a known creature but you shouldn’t do the same.

++ Rumours have arisen that Massoud Rajavi has been seen in Tel Aviv, alleging that he is currently living under an American protection programme there. But although the rumours come from various knowledgeable sources, no concrete proof has been offered to back them up.

++ Manouchehr Hezarkhani, the last non-MEK member of the NCRI, who everyone knows is there because he has nowhere else to go and has financial problems, has emerged this week in an interview on the MEK’s TV to support Rajavi and dismiss his critics, both external and internal. Hezarkhani says ‘why is everyone asking everything from Rajavi?’ Many reacted to this, including Hamed Sarafpour, who says that for 30 years many people have been putting their trust and lives in Rajavi’s hands not knowing that he was selling them to Saddam and his likes for money. He says, ‘We are not asking questions, we want him in court to answer for what he has done. We are not expecting answers from him, we want justice’. (Hezarkhani has been under pressure since the latest resignations and round of internal criticisms to join the rest of those who are paid by Rajavi to swear at others like Ghasim and Rowhani, but he has refused to do so. Many believe that coming out now in support of Rajavi is the nearest thing the MEK have been able to get out of him so they can say ‘OK he did his bit as well’.)

++ The Security and Defence Committee of Iraq’s Parliament announced this week that the remains of Mojahedin Khalq cult is a serious threat to the security of the country. Ghasem Alarajab, a member of the committee, told reporters that clear evidence is available that the MEK and Al Qaida in Iraq and the remains of Saddam’s regime are working hand in hand as one group in Iraq. He adds that this is not a new phenomenon as this cooperation started in the 1980s. He also said there is clear evidence that these three groups are actively involved in terrorism in Syria today. Therefore they are not only a threat to Iraq, but are a threat to the whole region. Alarajab added that dealing with the MEK is difficult because it is openly supported by the Americans. The Americans clearly support terrorism in Iraq under the guise of supposedly protecting the human rights of the individuals involved.

++ Hassoun Al Fathlavi, another member of Iraq’s Security and Defence Committee, has said that ‘no Iraqi would wish to have this terrorist cult on our soil and as much as their backers want to use our country as a base for terrorism in the region, we will clear up our country and root out terrorism from Iraq’. He goes on to say that the country’s constitution states that Iraq cannot be used as a platform to attack neighbouring countries, especially Iran. ‘The new Iraq is not the same as during the era of Saddam and we will not bow to the pressure of the backers of terrorism in our country’, he said.

++ Many have reacted to the MEK announcements which have been made through paid adverts in western media saying they are worried that Camp Liberty will be attacked. Many have linked this claim to the impending visit of President Rohani to the UN General Assembly and say that the MEK will probably create a Self-Inflicted-Wound in order to create the grounds to undermine theirs and Israel’s main worry which is the new government in Iran.

++ Razieh Matini (Iraj Mesdaghi’s wife) writes in Pejvak Iran about her own experience in Iran and as a prisoner and how she left the country. She goes on to say that the MEK have dealt in lies and have character assassinated everyone for all this time, including Mesdaghi himself. She poses the question that even if one accepts the 30 years of lies and deception (calling people agents of the regime, etc) why the MEK still can’t give even a small answer to their questions. Basically, the MEK cannot answer people’s questions but these will not go away no matter how much the MEK swear at everyone.

++ Irandidban has translated into Farsi an article by Greg Scoblete in The Compass on August 20 2013, ‘Why Is There Bipartisan Support for the MEK? Because Politicians Like Getting Paid’, highlighting the corruption and influence of money in the top circles of American political life. The article lists various financial rewards which the MEK pays and points out that these figures were being paid to speakers and lobbyists even before the US removed the MEK from its terrorism list. Money is somehow replacing justice and national policy in America.

++ Sahar Family Foundation published an article pointing out that the internal questioning and doubt is increasing whether in Liberty or in Europe. The problem is not confined to Mesdaghi’s letter or the resignation of NCRI members. It is the internal questioning that worries Rajavi and he is trying to keep it under control. But according to information which Sahar has from inside the MEK it is only getting more and more. Questions, for example, such as: ‘Why does everyone become an Iranian agent straight after – or even before – leaving the MEK?’ Yaghmai, Ghassim, Rowhani and Mesdaghi are named in this respect. Another question they can’t stop is ‘Where is Rajavi after ten years?’ This question has been banned but they can’t contain it any more. Another popular question is ‘Where is the national in the National Council of Resistance?, why is it only the MEK and no other news or statement issues from it except about the MEK?’ Yet another awkward question is ‘Why it is that the audience at Maryam Rajavi’s events comprises mostly non-Iranians and the speakers are all non-Iranians?’ A more specific question is, ‘The MEK used to have many supporters in Scandinavia, but not many of these Iranians come to Paris any more, why?’ The MEK reacted desperately by holding meetings in various cities around Europe and trying to approach supporters in a conciliatory way about these questions. Although the MEK has given up saying the questions are banned, instead they merely listen to placate the supporters, but never give answers to their questions. The same situation prevails in Camp Liberty. During the meeting in which Rajavi told his followers to ‘get lost’, the audience were told, if you have questions please write them down. To the question, ‘When will the regime be toppled?’, Rajavi answered, “Nobody knows, and I don’t know either. My responsibility is your situation on The Day of Judgement, I have to rescue you in preparation for that.” Therefore, after thirty year of using his followers he is now saying don’t ask questions I only have to make sure you are OK when you die. Rajavi apparently believes he is responsible for heaven and hell and has no need to answer for what he does in this world. This is while Rajavi has now admitted that Khomeini won the revolution through the mosques and with popular support – up to this time Rajavi has always claimed that Khomeini stole his right to be the leader of the revolution. Rajavi seems to have given up on this world and is now only worried about the next world. Sahar’s article concludes that it is clear that the collapse of the organisation is not far away because as a cult it only survives by stopping people’s questions through various means of manipulation and deception. Once the questions start, there is no way back.

August 23 2013