Mujahedin Khalq as a Destructive Cult

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

More Iranian Nuclear Sites? MEK is not reliable

The MeK announced today that they have more evidence of Iranian nuclear intransigence. According to news reports, a site in northeastern suburban Tehran houses a secret underground facility where uranium enrichment has occurred for nearly a decade.

The MeK press release is available on DropBox, and details their history in revealing information about Iran’s nuclear facilities. Strangely enough, in this history they neglect to include another ‘revelation’ made a mere 16 months ago. At this time it was claimed that an underground facility around 70 km northeast of Tehran under a mountain near the town of Damavand housed more illegal Iranian nuclear activities, though the details were unclear.

I noted a few problems with the claims, notably the notorious unreliability of the MeK, as well as the very suspicious timing. Less than a month prior, the most left-leaning candidate, Hassan Rouhani, was elected president of Iran in a shockingly uncompetitive landslide. This ‘revelation’ was no doubt intended to ruin any possible good will or potential rapprochement between Iran and the West.

Today as well, the timing is suspicious. Rumblings from both Iranian and international press seem to indicate an optimism that a nuclear deal is imminent. The MeK is trying to remain relevant, while also scuttle any possibility for a nuclear deal while alleging that Iran’s actions are so terrible that a nuclear deal would be a terrible thing for the West. They may have been right in the past, but this is not always the case, and the example of July 2013 shows, they are not reliable.

UPDATE:

I should have trusted my gut and checked the image used for the safe door. Others have noted that it is in fact copied from the website an Iranian company that sells safes. The MeK’s website put forward a bizarrely fitting rambling refutation which makes them look like liars, and incompetent ones at that.

While the color appears slightly different in the background it is clear that the image is the exact same as the one on the company sales website. The major difference is that there are horizontal white lines across.

Here is a comparison of the images

It is clear that the coloration and saturation are nearly identical. The image used is clearly the same.

The MeK claim that this image is taken from one of their sources, yet they have no explanation for why the EXACT same photo, with the same detailed bricks, and spots are used. For this to have happened naturally the picture would have to have been taken from the exact same spot and the camera would have had to have been held at the exact same height.

The complexities of creating this exact same situation make the MeK claims laughable. Furthermore, the image posted on the Iranian companies’ site is dated to February 12 of this year so it would have to be a hell of a coincidence for them to have posted photo that is now suddenly relevant.

As I’d mentioned before the MeK is of questionable reliability and this merely serves to reinforce my previous statements.

by Morgan Carlston,Persophilia.blogspot.com

March 4, 2015 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The MKO, Fruit of the Tree of Extremism

Today the world is obsessed with the threat of extremism. The menace of the Islamic State terrorists and their affiliates is touched all over the world. However, the international community should not be distracted from other extremists who are manipulating Western politicians under the guise of democracy and modernity.
While the world’s eyes are focused on and rising tensions in the Middle East, a former terrorist group from Iran is tromping through the halls of Congress, and garnering support from some of America’s most powerful and prominent politicians and officials, writes Sean Nevins of Mint Press News in Washington. [1]
In his documented, investigated article Nevins warns that the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ Mek) is not actually what it claims to be. He explores “how does a group go from being one of the most dangerous terrorist organizations in the world to having an office on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C., with backing from the likes of the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton and former Director of Homeland Security Tom Ridge, among many others” . Based on documents and reports of the FBI, Human Rights Watch, and the Rand Corporation, Sean Nevins conclude that “not only is it an opposition group to the current Iranian regime, but it is a kind of cult” verifying the reality of the MKO’s anti-American attitudes by the group’s own journals. [2]
This is not the first warning to Western audience on the threat of the MKO cult. Many other journalists, historians, scholars and etc. have so far cautioned about the risks of supporting a group with a dark, violent history of extremist acts and a cult-like nature. The extremism that the world is exposed to by the side of the MKO can be much more destructive than the one from ISIS or AlQaida because the MKO is disguising its cult-like beliefs and policy under pro-democracy and pro-feminism slogans.
The case of the MKO indicates that the roots of extremism are based in cultic manipulation not religious beliefs. Mohammed Jebara who is chief Imam and resident scholar at the Cordova Spiritual Education and writer of books and articles on Islam, suggests that the extremism is originated from cult-like exploitation. “Most cults have two main distinguishing characteristics: A great opposition to critical thinking with an insistence on blindly following a set of dogmatic ideals, all the while giving their followers the false sense of self-determination and free choice,” writes Jebara.”Secondly, isolating their devotees with threats of heavy penalties, including death, for “apostasy” through “deviation” from their “path.” [3]
Jebara describes extremist ideas as “puritanical, self-righteous, judgmental viewpoints” that “always allege to be the ultimate truth’’. He notifies, “The modern extremists are not a new phenomenon, neither to the Islamic world, nor to the world at large. Puritanical sects have existed from ancient times, as fringes, and have even overtaken the mainstream of some world religions.” [4]
“If someone can be induced to believe in irrational, ludicrous and intolerant ideas, they can be led to violently enforce and act upon them, “concludes Imam Mohammad Jebara. His description of cultist extremists perfectly meets the substance of the Cult of Rajavi (the MKO). [5]
The peak of irrational, ludicrous and intolerant ideas was demonstrated in June 2003 after the arrest of the group leader Maryam Rajavi by the French Police. To protest her arrest, a number of her brainwashed followers and sympathizers committed the most irrational act; they set themselves on fire in European cities. Two women burned to death and others were paralyzed.
One of the two dead women was Neda Hassani who was in her 20s when she set herself alight outside French Embassy in London. Neda was a Canadian citizen with links to the MKO. After the arrest of the cult leader, she was indoctrinated to commit self-immolation in order to put pressure of French Police to liberate Maryam Rajavi. [6]
Prior to 2003, suicide operations to target Iranian officials and civilians were also carried out by the group terror teams as well as cross border terror acts against Iran.
Furthermore, as it was mentioned on the top of this post, cult-like treatment of members inside the MKO camps have been reported by several international bodies and investigated reports. Thus, what is crystal clear is that the MKO is not a democratic secular group. It is definitely an extremist cult of personality and is as dangerous as or even more dangerous than ISIS or al Qaida.
Mazda Parsi
Sources:
[1]Nevins, Sean, How To Stop Being Terrorists: A Guide For ISIS, Courtesy Of The MEK, Mint Press News, January 21, 2015
[2] ibid
[3] Jebara, Mohamad, Imam Mohamad Jebara: Fruits of the tree of extremism, Ottawa Citizen, February 6, 2015
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
[6]BBC News, Fourth person in fire protest, June 20, 2003

February 16, 2015 0 comments

Albania

Open Letter of the Iranian Pen Club to the Prime Minister of Albania

With most respectful greetings to Mr. Edi Rama Prime Minister of Albania,

Your honor,

With all due respect, we would like to inform you that Iranian Pen club ( Kanon Iran Galam) consists of dissident senior ex-members of PMOI with more than 20 years of history with the PMOI whom are now Human rights activists and pursuing to save the lives of the rest of the members entangled in Camp Liberty in Iraq.

Our goal is to help the other members who have not yet been able to release themselves from the above said Cult to be able to join their family in the free world and start a new life. On this reason, we thank you and the government of Albania for your humanitarian efforts in accepting some of the members of People’s Mojahedin Organization which has removed these people away from the dangers of remaining in Iraq.

We believe that you and your government has demonstrated its commitment to human rights by taking this important step to save to lives of these unfortunate people. Unfortunately, but what we hear from Ex members of Mojahedin in Tirana is somehow disturbing. We hear that Maryam Rajavi is sending her top known agents from Paris and these agents, who are from her ‘Leadership Council’, are now trying to control the lives of the recently arrived people as they did in the Iraqi camps. Also, the Mojahedin Organization has taken advantage of this opportunity and has placed some of its commanders among the ordinary PMOI members who have been sent to Albania, in order to supervise and control them.

Once they arrive in Albania one of the first things all the new arrivals do is to contact their families and seek out other forms of support.

The refugees are given time limited support by the UN refugee agency accommodation and a small living allowance which is deemed sufficient for them to settle in their new country and make new lives for themselves.

And the MEK does not easily relinquish its control over these former members and has made every effort to prevent them from living independently. But more importantly, these new arrivals are desperate to tell their stories. They want to speak out about the suffering they endured, some for many, many years.

In this respect we would like to bring to your respectful attention the International Human’s Right Watch report in 2005. The report titled “‘No Exit’ – Human Rights Abuses inside the Mujahidin Khalq Camps Human Rights Watch, May 2005” reflects extensive violation of the human rights, although it was a drop out of the ocean. The report is based on the direct testimonies of a dozen former MKO members, including five who were turned over to Iraqi security forces and held in Abu Ghraib prison under Saddam Hussein’s government. The report details how dissident members of the shadowy Mujahidin Khalq Organization (MKO) were tortured, beaten and held in solitary confinement for years at military camps in Iraq after they criticized the group’s policies and undemocratic practices, or indicated that they planned to leave the organization. Amongst them Mr. Mohammad Hussein Sobhani a dissident member of the MKO after 20 years of activity in the Organization was jailed for eight years which was later handed over to Saddam Hussein being jailed in Abu Ghorab Prison and experiences severe tortures and psychological and physical mistreatments.

http://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/

We also would like to point at the reports of Mr. Alibakhsh Afarinandeh which has recently been released from this Mujahidin Cult and published in the Pejwak website. Mr. Afarinandeh explaines his and other dissident members’ imprisonment and tortures in 1994 in great detail.

http://www.pezhvakeiran.com/maghaleh-67274.html

Surely, The Family of refugees and Iranian people will not forget your great and humanitarian act of harboring their children in Albania. We are prepared to hand over the names and particulars of the discontented members and those who wish to defect from the organization as well as necessary files and documents.

With many thanks and regards

Iranian Pen club

Cc:

– Interior Minister of Albania

– UN Secretary General

– Embassy of USA in Germany

– Ministers of Affairs of the EU-

– Relevant MEPs

– Prime Minister of Iraq

February 8, 2015 0 comments

Albania

Mr. Razaghi Open letter to Ambassador Dritan Tola of Albania

Dear Excellency,

I am Mohammad Razaghi. I have been a member of the Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) for about 20 years, spending the best years of my life in the military camps of Saddam Hussein and Massoud Rajavi under conditions of brainwashing and physical abuse. I can say from first-hand experience that Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi have created a new version of slavery in the camps which were gifted to them by Saddam Hussain, and have used the enslaved members for purely personal benefit.

We were imprisoned at their hands in their camps. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi were personally responsible for creating the rules and regulations, and these ‘laws’ were implemented by their henchmen against us. Unfortunately now even after the fall of the dictator of Iraq, Saddam, this practice is still ongoing. The enslaved hostages are not allowed to move freely and walk out of the camp (now Camp Liberty). They are not allowed to send or receive mails or emails to and from their families and friends.

The so-called ‘members’ are not allowed to talk about their problems. All they are allowed to say is what has been dictated by the leaders. They are forced to repeat this and not to say anything else.

Inside the cult, men and women are not allowed to have any normal human relationship with each other. On the other hand, private conversations between even two men or two women are forbidden and can be seen as “plotting” by the leaders and hence punishable.

Members have no right to decide for their own future and the leaders choose everything, even things like what they should eat, drink or wear, etc.

Dear Ambassador Tola,

I thank you and the government of Albania for your humanitarian efforts in accepting some of the members of this organisation which has removed these people away from the dangers of remaining in Iraq. Your government has demonstrated its commitment to human rights by taking this important step to save to lives of these unfortunate people.

But what we hear from Tirana is somehow disturbing. We hear that Maryam Rajavi is sending her top known agents from Paris and these agents, who are from her ‘Leadership Council’, are now trying to control the lives of the recently arrived people as they did in the Iraqi camps. The pressure on these survivors of Camp Liberty who are now in your country is constant.

The Rajavi cult leaders threaten the newly arrived people and do not let them come out of the camp so they are now still fully under cult control in Albania. People have to ask for permission and with acceptable reasons to get exit visas from the commanders.

Some of the well-known torturers of Saddam’s Private Army (MKO) like Hassan Ezati (aka Nariman) or Mokhtar Janat Sadeghi (aka Mokhtar) or Hooshang Doodkani, have now been sent to Albania. These people are trained by Saddam’s forces and are now using their expertise to make the newly arrived people to submit the leaders’ demands.

The names of some of the people who have lost their lives under torture in the prisons of Saddam and Rajavi at the hands of these henchmen are:

Gharban ali Torabi Killed under torture

Jalil Bozorgmehr killed under torture

Parviz Ahmadin killed under torture

Dear Ambassador Tola,

I am not the only victim of torture carried out on the direct order of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi in Saddam’s camps and at the hands of these torturers who are now stationed in Albania. I am asking you to allow us to attend a court of law in your country to present our claims and allow us to seek justice.

While I was imprisoned on the direct order of Rajavi, I also witnessed the torture and murder of others in these cells. I would like to have the opportunity to provide witness statements about these crimes.

I would also like to warn your government that this cult is certainly capable of ordering its members under the influence of drugs as well as brainwashing to carry out self-immolation or to burn others – as they demonstrated clearly in the streets of European capitals in 2003 where some of them lost their lives and several others were left permanently scarred and disabled.

I would also like to warn you that some of these people now in your county have received high level training in explosives from Saddam’s Republican Guards.

Dear Ambassador Tola,

I believe that the only solution to these threats is not to allow the cult leaders to continue keeping their hold on these people. (At the simplest level they keeping control of them by paying 500 dollars per month in exchange for their cooperation.) Otherwise you will face having a dangerous cult take root in your country.

I would like to say that I and my other friends with similar experiences are ready to give evidence in a court of law.

Yours sincerely,

Mohammad Razaghi

France

Interior Ministry of Albania

Foreign Ministry of Albania

Albanian Refuge Centre

UNHCR in Tirana

February 3, 2015 0 comments

Albania

Albania must protect human rights of Iranian refugees from MEK

Rajavi cult abuse – Albania must protect human rights of Iranian refugees from MEK

Albania’s efforts to improve its human rights and bring them into line with European and international standards could be seriously undermined if it does not take action to curtail the activities of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq cult organisation in that country. There is strong evidence that the MEK has bought land and property just outside Tirana in order to create a closed cult enclave similar to ones in Iraq, and that it is using coercion to keep refugees captive there where they are subject to systematic human rights abuses outside the supervision of the Albanian authorities.

The MEK is a terrorist organisation. It is being dismantled in Iraq because its presence and its activities there are illegal under Iraq’s constitutional law. UN officials have made high level efforts to persuade third countries to accept these individuals, in particular those with previous connections to those countries. Understandably, most Western countries have been extremely reluctant to allow trained terrorists into their countries even as refugees. Albania has, however, generously accepted to receive some of the Iranians as refugees. Since 2013, over four hundred of these former MEK combatants have been transferred from Camp Liberty in Iraq to Tirana by the UNHCR as refugees.

Unfortunately UN officials responsible for undertaking to transfer the residents of Camp Liberty have been hindered further in their task by the cult nature of the group. The MEK leaders have effectively imprisoned and isolated the residents of Camp Liberty just outside Baghdad, and refuse to allow them to leave independently or have contact with the outside world. This has meant that families wishing to help their loved ones have been unable to do so. MEK treatment of these people involves the violation of nearly all their internationally recognised human rights; including the right to form a family, to enjoy citizenship, freedom of belief and many more.

Once they arrive in Albania one of the first things all the new arrivals do is to contact their families and seek out other forms of support. The refugees are given time limited support by the UN refugee agency – accommodation and a small living allowance – which is deemed sufficient for them to settle in their new country and make new lives for themselves.

But the MEK does not easily relinquish its control over these former members and has made every effort to prevent them from living independently. One obvious reason is that the MEK want to maintain numbers so they can advertise to Western sponsors as an opposition group. But more importantly, these new arrivals are desperate to tell their stories. They want to speak out about the suffering they endured, some for many, many years. Their stories are of terrible internal human rights abuses committed by the MEK leaders over a period of thirty years (documented by HRW and RAND) and which are still ongoing. They are also witnesses to the MEK’s war crimes while the leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi collaborated with Saddam Hussein. The MEK is desperate to silence them.

As the first group arrived, the MEK dispatched senior members from Paris to intimidate them and re-create the cult hierarchy in Tirana. Although unable to physically contain these people, the MEK first offered money and then issued threats to coerce them into compliance. Even so, over half of them rejected the MEK.

The MEK has now created a physical space in which the cult can continue to impose the same strict controls that exist in all its bases. Albanian authorities overseeing the resettlement of these refugees may choose to believe the MEK’s deceptive arguments that this is a humanitarian act because this appears to fulfil the obligations the government has toward the refugees. But former MEK members and cult experts know that already this inaccessible enclave hides systematic human rights abuses.

A country’s commitment to improve human rights for its citizens must not be allowed to exclude the most vulnerable people, including refugees. If Albania is serious about ratifying international human rights conventions and harmonising existing legislation to comply with European standards this issue must be addressed as a matter of urgency before conditions for these vulnerable refugees become intractable.

About Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton):

Middle East Strategy Consultants,

http://www.mesconsult.com

Autor of “Saddam’s Private Army” and “The life of Camp Ashraf”

http://www.camp-ashraf.com

January 25, 2015 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

True Facts on Women’s Rights within the MKO Cult

The mothers are unaware of their children’s destiny since the MKO Cult leaders has separated children from their parents sending them to different European countries.

January 18, 2015 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

lobbyists demand MEK terrorist cult in Iraq be re-armed rather than removed

Rajavi’s lobbyists demand Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult in Iraq be re-armed rather than removed

It is surely ironic that the same bunch of people who lobbied hard and at great expense to have the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult removed from European and American terrorist lists (the flimsy claim they had renounced terrorism was only possible because in 2003 the US army captured, disarmed and confined them to a single camp in Iraq), is now lobbying to have them re-armed.

Whether delusional or corrupt, this gang – listed below and now posing as the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ) – says the residents of Camp Liberty should have their “personal protection weapons returned to them for self-defence following serious threats and attacks [sic] as the Iranian regime’s intervention in Iraq grows”. But has neglected to inform their English speaking audience that the MEK leader, Massoud Rajavi, has demanded the MEK be re-armed with heavy weapons as well as small arms.

In any case, anyone who knows anything about the situation of Camp Liberty knows that the residents are deliberately imprisoned incommunicado inside the camp by the MEK leaders, that the greatest danger these residents face is from these MEK leaders, and that small arms are wanted in order to impose greater control over these captives as they become more and more desperate to escape the tyranny of the cult.

The ISJ statement should certainly not be read without context: Since attaining sovereignty in 2009, each successive government of Iraq has designated the MEK as a terrorist entity which must, under the Constitution, be entirely removed from Iraqi territory. The demand for re-arming rather than removing this group is doubly insulting for a country still swarming with Western spawned terrorist groups.

Perhaps the most ironic ‘complaint’ of the Committee is that the government of Iraq is not investigating the September 1, 2013 attack on Camp Ashraf in which fifty three people died. How is this possible when forty two key eye witnesses – survivors of the attack – have been incarcerated by the MEK inside Camp Liberty so that no investigator in the world has access to them?

Instead of demanding the MEK be re-armed ready to utilize violence again – the raison d’etre of the terrorist cult – this gang should be demanding from Massoud and Maryam Rajavi that each resident of Camp Liberty be given the opportunity to make contact with their families in privacy and to freely leave the camp if they desire. Then we would see how quickly and efficiently these people can be resettled.

List of members of the ISJ according to the MEK:

Alejo Vidal-Quadras, former MEP; Patrick Kennedy, former Congressman; Günter Verheugen, former member of the EU Commission; Nicole Fontaine, former MEP; General Hugh Shelton former US military; David Kilgour, former Canadian Secretary of State; Ingrid Betancourt; Raymond Tanter; Horst Teltschik; Colonel Wesley Martin, former US military; Senator Lucio Malan, Italian Senate; Alessandro Pagano MP; Antonio Razzi, Italian Senate; Gérard Deprez MEP; Ryszard Czarnecki, MEP; Tunne Kelam MEP; Lord Carlile, UK; Lord Clarke, UK; Lord Maginnis, UK; Lord Dholakia, UK

About Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton):

Middle East Strategy Consultants,

http://www.mesconsult.com

Autor of “Saddam’s Private Army” and “The life of Camp Ashraf”

January 15, 2015 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Rajavi panic the collapse of his cult

After the relocation of a few hundred of members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization in Albania, the organizations’ leadership found it crucial to maintain its rule over relocated members who were not isolated in the cult hegemony anymore. In order to keep members under the cult control in Albania, the MKO needed to use its most reliable servants.

One of these servants is Faezeh Mohabatkar who has been recently sent to Tirana too. She is one of five assistants of the MKO’s first commander.

The relocation of such a person to Tirana shows that the MKO leaders are planning to reorganize their cult-like group in Albania and Europe. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi probably are counting on Albania as a new container for their cult of personality.

The new commander for MKO members in Tirana seems to be fully trusted by the leaders. Faezeh Mohabatkar apparently fits all the criteria of a suppressive cult commander who is able to keep resettled members under the cult control by any means possible.

Most of the former members of the MKO recall Mohabatkar as a torturer. Zahra Sadat Mirbaqeri is former member of the group who has experienced mental and physical torture under Faeze Mohabatkar’s ruling. Mrs. Mirbaqeri declares that she is ready to present her testimonies against Mohabatkar in any court of justice.

Mirbaqeri recounts the pain and suffering she underwent under the command of Faezeh:

“… I was sick. They ordered that I had to attend a session for Ashins (women of the second layer of the Leadership Council). I refrained from attending the meeting. So, Faezeh ordered 6 to 7 women in the room to take me to the meeting by force. I hided in a corner of the dorm but they found me.

“Despite I was resisting, they took me to the meeting by pulling my arms and feet on the floor

“I was shouting and crying; the pain in my neck exacerbated. They put my army uniform on me by force….”

Since then, Zahra Mirbaqeri was sentenced to death because of the disobedience she showed toward her superior. She was all the time verbally abused by Faezeh in the cult sessions.

Now, Faeze is supposed to execute cult jargons in Tirana where the group members are no more quarantined behind the bars of Ashraf or Liberty. Will she succeed to run her cult-like practices in a European city? Is she able to maintain the entire relocated members in the cult?

The experience of the previously resettled members demonstrates that once members are cut off the cult-like relations they are able to defect more easily.

Choosing Faezeh Mohabatkar – with a horrible background of oppressive attitude – for linking the main cult in Iraq to the part of cult resettled in Albania, has a message to relocated members: You cannot simply leave the cult.

But, is this method an effective technique to prevent the cult of Rajavi from collapsing?

Mazda Parsi

January 5, 2015 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Sanjabi and Khodabandeh in the Conference on “World Against Violence and Extremism”

Maryam Sanjabi and Ebrahim Khodabandeh Participate in the Conference on “World Against Violence and Extremism”

The International Conference on World Against Violence and Extremism (WAVE) was held in Tehran by the Institute of Political and International Studies (IPIS) on 9-10 Dec. 2014, with the participation of hundreds of delegations from 53 countries around the world.

The Conference was opened on Tuesday Dec. 9 in the Summit Conference Hall with the welcoming remarks of Mohammad Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the opening remarks of Hassan Rouhani, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the opening session Asif Ali Zardari, former President of Pakistan, Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway, Mohammad Mohaqqeq, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Afghanistan, and Dominique de Villepin, former Prime Minister of France, also delivered speeches.

The speech makers of the afternoon session included Ebrahim al-Jafari, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq, Walid al-Muallem, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Syria, Adnan Mansour, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants of Lebanon, Habib bin Mohammad Alriami, Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister of Oman, Georgios Iacovou, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, Werner Fasslabend, former Minister of Defense of Austria, Budimir Loncar, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Former Yugoslavia, Ashot Hovakimian, Deputy Foreign Minister of Armenia, Atiqullah Atismal, Acting Foreign Minister of Afghanistan, Teresita Quintos Deles, Ministerial Adviser to the President on Peace Process of Philippines, and Nizomiddin Shamsiddinzoda Zohidi, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Tajikistan.

The various sessions continued on the second day with speeches from personalities such as Kareem Abdullfattah, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt, Esam Alddin Ali Abdullah, Coordinator for Counter Terrorism in the Interior Ministry of Sudan, Thore Ottar Vestby, Mayor for Peace of Norway, Jose Vicente Rangal Avalos, Executive Vice President of Venezuela, Samuel Santos Lopez, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua, Proto-Genes Pinheiro De Queirez, Federal Parliament Member of Brazil, and Abdulhamid Dashti, Chairman of the Human Rights Committee of Kuwait. The final speaker was Dr. Mansoureh Karami, wife of martyred nuclear scientist Massoud Alimohammadi, representing the Association for Defending Victims of Terror in Iran (ADVT). Her attendance and speech were very warmly welcomed by the participants, audience and the media.

Political and executive personalities and diplomats and officials from NGOs from various countries participated in an evening dinner reception hosted by Javad Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran. Maryam Sanjabi, former member of the Leadership Council, and Ebrahim Khodabandeh former official of the International Department of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, aka Rajavi Cult) participated in the opening session, dinner reception, and most of the fringe meetings of the two day conference and actively spoke with most participants and reporters. They were also interviewed by the Iraqi television network Al-Forat and delivered their points of view about the problems facing the families of Camp Liberty residents in Iraq – who desire to visit their loved ones but are prevented from doing so by MKO leaders – and urged the Iraqi officials responsible for the camp to take immediate action in this regard.

Sanjabi and Khodabandeh, during the two days of the conference while speaking to the participants gave a brief report about the latest situation of Rajavi’s mind manipulating destructive cult (MKO) and emphasized the need to establish contact between those trapped in Camp Liberty in Iraq in the hands of Rajavi, and their suffering families. In all cases, without exception, the addressees approved the necessity for this basic right to be fulfilled and made promises that they would do everything possible in their capacity to help this human rights issue which is the result of the whim of a violent extremist leader of a cult.

Khodabandeh also met with Jean-Marie Guthenno, President of the International Crisis Group, Ali Dabbagh, former Iraqi Government Spokesman, Jan Oberg, Director of Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research of Sweden, Richard Bacon, Member of Parliament of the United Kingdom, Herald Kindermann, German Council of Foreign Relations, Martin Fleischer, Vice President of the East-West Institute of Brussels, Cardinal Theodore Mc Carrick of the USA, Jim Slattery, former Congressman of the USA, and many dignitaries including governmental, non-governmental, international and human rights officials, and briefed them in detail about the Rajavi Cult and the situation of his victims and hostages in Camp Liberty.

Ebrahim Khodabandeh also met Ebrahim Jafari, Iraq’s Foreign Minister, and delivered to him the pleas of the families who anxiously want to visit their loved ones in Iraq. Mr. Jafari expressed his sympathy with the families and promised to try to help them. In this meeting Mr. Jafari emphasized that the MKO is a terrorist cult which has committed many crimes against the people of Iraq and confirmed that it is the wish of all factions and tendencies that they should leave the country and that their leaders be prosecuted. He said that preventing the families from visiting their relatives shows by itself the nature of the leaders of this group.

The Conference ended on the afternoon of Wednesday Dec. 10 with a concluding speech by Mr. Zarif followed by a question and answer session with him.

December 20, 2014 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Dear Washington: Kick Out This Iranian Militant Cult

In the war of words on Iran’s domestic issues and controversial nuclear program, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) always is front and center to condemn the country. The MEK is known by many monikers: the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), but is best known by the multifaceted National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Through social media, the group spams most Iran-related hashtags with their propaganda, bankroll prominent U.S. officials to advocate on their behalf as the “democratic alternative” to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and even re-opened an office a block from the White House where they hired former Senator Robert Torricelli (D-N.J.) as their legal representative.

None of these points would be problematic if it weren’t for the fact that the European Union and United States formerly designated the Iraq-based MEK as a terrorist organization for its past activities. What makes this realization peculiar is the very people in Congress that cozy up to the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi, by calling for staunch sanctions–sometimes even war–on Iran due to its nuclear program and particularly human rights violations, seem to turn a blind eye to the activities of the totalitarian cult of Marxist-Islamist Iranian dissidents we know today as the MEK.

The amount of misinformation circulated by their public relations is disturbing and it’s time to expose their true nature.

Not A Champion of Iranian Women

To this day, the followers of the Mojahedin-e Khalq and its apologists dismiss it is a cult and continue to refer to their group as a “deeply democratic organization whose guiding principle on all issues is referendum and discussion until a consensus is reached.” Despite denials, its conduct tells otherwise as cited by a RAND report: deceptive recruitment, emotional isolation, extreme degrading peer pressure, forced labor, imprisonment, lack of exit options, sexual control, sleep deprivation, and physical abuse.

Maryam Rajavi’s marriage to one of the original founders of the MEK symbolized the transformation from an organization to a “cult of personality.” With the money provided by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein–they formed an alliance due to a deep disdain for the Iranian regime–to “construct self-sufficient camps” which included: medical clinics, prisons (also known as “reeducation centers”), schools, and training centers, in order for the population not to engage with outside society. Additionally, prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq, members of the Mojahedin carried cyanide tablets around their neck to avoid capture. Self-immolation and suicide reportedly are a popular form of political protest amongst members.

With knowledge of this publically available, it is difficult to take them serious. But what is truly an affront to women is when Rajavi and her supporters claim they offer a better alternative to the current women’s rights situation in in Iran.

In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Soona Samsami a representative of the NCRI expresses:

“Rajavi has outlined a Ten Point Plan for Future Iran, which says, ‘We believe in complete gender equality in political, social and economic arenas. We are also committed to equal participation of women in political leadership. Any form of discrimination against women will be abolished. They will enjoy the right to freely choose their clothing.’”

Even though the group promotes leadership positions for women, in order to impose “military” regulations on its members, the MEK forces them not only to move into gender-segregated compounds, but also cut ties with family and friends–both inside and outside of the commune. They even require members to divorce their spouses and to live a life of celibacy. It is presumed that love for family and significant others would be replaced with love for the Rajavis.

Last but not least, when it came to attire for women, journalist Elizabeth Rubin notes:

“Everywhere I saw women dressed exactly alike, in khaki uniforms and mud-colored head scarves, driving back and forth in white pickup trucks, staring ahead in a daze as if they were working at a factory in Maoist China.”

Iran’s women rights record is problematic, but this is not and should never be considered the alternative, even momentarily.

Listen To Iranians

While Samsami says “Young women in Iran find true inspiration in the main opposition” that is Maryam Rajavi, the group has not won an audience with the Iranian people at home in Tehran.

Not only has the Mojahedin-e Khalq lost its support because of its alliance with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s–an insult to the Iranian people’s nationalism–but also for its position against Iran’s nuclear program, something the average Iranian sees as their legitimate right. Many Iranians convey the group is “worse than the mullahs” or along the lines of what some Iranian democracy activists claim that “if it had had the chance, [the MEK] could have become the Khmer Rouge of Iran.”

With that in mind, there is no chance the MEK could win over the Iranian people if a potential regime change took place–something various legislators in the United States need to recognize.

It’s time the MEK’s blind proponents see them for what they really are: a sham.

Holly Dagres,

December 14, 2014 0 comments

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