Mujahedin Khalq as a Destructive Cult

MeK Efforts to chain members in Liberty

Based on information obtained, the MeK leadership is seeking to Stop and disturb UNHCR’s individual interview with the walled members in Camp Liberty. MeK Efforts to chain members in Liberty

Maryam Rajavi has told camp administrators that "even if one desperate goes out, all the organization’s efforts and political measures at outside would be foiled."

Remnants of Rajavi simultaneously have put two steps on agenda in order to inhibit detachment of members:

* Enlightening members that any interview invitation should be subjected to declaration of Liberty as a refugee camp that, as they allege, would be the only way to obtain mass asylum

* Resuming lobbying efforts in the US to pressure the UNHCR and haggle with the American side in order to declare Liberty as a refugee camp

According to the MeK leadership, declaration of Liberty as a refugee camp would provide their long-term presence in Iraq and they would have a chance to discourage the UNHCR officials in perusing file of transfer the group members out of this country.

If such an assumption realized, members, who become tools for developing this trick hoping to obtain mass asylum, will be told that the UNHCR due to political obstacles is not doing its job.

An important point here is Rajavi’s gang sensitivity about defectors and those who get able to leave the camp at this point. That the MeK treat them as disturbers of political actions of group abroad, especially in case of the US, is an alarm indicating that the group leaders will not suffice only to these tricks, but with the continued separation of members, they will increase pressure on protesters who demand breakaway; on the other hand, leaders of the MeK in every possible way with all kinds of excuses will struggle to limit powers of the UNHCR in order to avoid legal interference in the determination of members.

So, in these circumstances, any of those who manage to get out of the hellish organization of Mujahedeen, more than ever before, should embark on enlightenment and should inform the world of the MeK.

November 6, 2012 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Will the victims of MKO Cult be forgotten?

Notes on removing the name of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from the US State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO)

The US State Department has recently come to the conclusion that the MEK is no longer a terrorist organization. The reason given is that the group has apparently not committed any terrorist act for more than a decade and has seemingly abandoned the use of violence to reach its political goals. The question this raises is, according to the US administration and the US judicial system, how many years are needed to consider the crimes of a terrorist group whitewashed? Certainly in a different international political situation with different interests, conditions would have differed. No doubt the US government would not adopt the same policy towards Al-Qaeda and would consider them terrorists for good.

But despite the claims made by the State Department, the leader of the group Massoud Rajavi has said again in the past week that armed struggle will never be removed from the ideology and strategy of the MEK, and the group has never even in theory distanced its thoughts from using violence. As far as the Iranian people are concerned they consider the group as terrorists and traitors and do not care what the US thinks about them. Removing the name of the MEK from the FTO does not give the group any credit in public opinion; on the contrary it discredits the list and brings discredit to the US administration and the State Department.

There is no doubt that the Rajavi cult has committed widespread acts of terrorism and claimed the lives of many civilians. The group also co-operated with the invading enemy and killed the defenders of Iran’s borders. This is the clearest betrayal of the nation according to any standards. The organization has also taken part in suppressing the Iraqi people along with the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and more importantly the cult has violated the most basic rights of its own members and subjected them to mind manipulation.

The victims of the group are the people of Iran, the people of Iraq, and the very members of the cult. The families of these victims have a common demand. That justice should be served on the totalitarian leader of the cult in an international criminal court.

Although the State Department has tried to whitewash the criminal past of the group and its leader, the report admits that the basic human rights of the followers are systematically violated. It is understandable that the list of FTO is modified according to the US international interests, but it is worth bearing in mind that trying to give credit to the most hatred group in Iran’s history and working hard to save it from being demolished does not help restore the image of the US government in the eyes of the Iranian people who have always witnessed a hostile attitude.

(The last paragraph has been petitioned on the WHITE HOUSE for signatures – please go to the link below and sign it)

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/will-mek-victims-be-forgotten
/jR2RRqPC?utm_source=wh.gov&utm_medium=shorturl&utm_campaign=shorturl

November 6, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Washington backed MEK terrorist group demands delisting in Australia

AN Iranian group with a history of violent clashes with authority is fighting to be delisted as a terrorist organisation in Australia and it has the backing of several federal politicians.
Washington backed MEK terrorist group demands delisting in Australia
For half a century the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), or People’s Mujahideen of Iran, has fought to topple what it calls the "oppressive" Iranian government.

Listed as a terrorist group in Australia since 2001, it is seen by some as a modernising democratic force, and others as a mystical terror-cult.

Its logo, in use since the 1970s, features a Marxist clenched fist holding a sickle, crossed over a gun and bayonet.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told AAP the MEK was listed because it satisfied, on reasonable grounds, the definition that it was either "a person who commits, or attempts to commit, terrorist acts or participates in or facilitates the commission of terrorist acts; an entity owned or controlled directly or indirectly by such persons; or a person or an entity acting on behalf of, or at the direction of such persons and entities."

Now the MEK is lobbying to be removed from the list, saying it has cleaned up its act.

But it’s unclear whether the outfit will be able to shake off its past.

In 1992, about 15 MEK members trashed the Iranian embassy in Australia and assaulted staff, an event filmed by an SBS camera crew which had been tipped off by local MEK supporters.

Federal police raided about 10 homes of suspected MEK members in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in 2003.

No one was charged or arrested, and the AFP still won’t comment on the raids.

The organisation has a far more troubled record overseas.

Defectors speak of a Marxist-Islamist cult centred for 40 years on its leaders; husband and wife team Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

US government-funded think tank RAND Corporation, which produces analysis for the armed forces, listed the group’s cult-like characteristics in a 2009 report.

"(Massoud) Rajavi instituted what he termed an ‘ideological revolution’ in 1985, which, over time, imbued the MEK with many of the typical characteristics of a cult," the RAND report states.

It lists tactics including authoritarian control, confiscation of assets, sexual control (including mandatory divorce and celibacy), emotional isolation, forced labour, sleep deprivation, physical abuse, and limited exit options.

"Recruits were brought into Iraq illegally and then required to hand over their identity documents for ‘safekeeping’. They were effectively trapped," the report said.

The findings of the RAND report are largely replicated in a 2005 Human Right Watch (HRW) report.

It states that during the ideological revolution in Iraq, married couples were forced to divorce and families were broken up, with children sent to live in safe houses run by the MEK.

The HRW document says many were told their families had died, only to find out years later they had been alive all along.

Likewise the families had been told their loved ones in the camp had died.

The report claims members were also forced to undergo daily self-deprecation sessions where they would be marched out in front of hundreds of other members and asked to chastise themselves.

Those who tried to get out of the MEK were beaten, tortured, held in solitary confinement and even killed, it says.

But last month the US delisted the MEK as a terrorist group after a well-funded lobbying campaign.

Australian Federal MPs who support the group, including Labor Senator Claire Moore, and Nationals Senator John Williams, hope this country will follow suit.

"I think it’s worth giving them a go," Senator Williams said.

"Are they a threat to our society if they come here, are they a threat to the rest of the world?" he asked.

"A lot of countries have delisted them, saying they aren’t."

Co-Secretary of Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran, Peter Murphy, isn’t surprised the US delisted the MEK, calling the group "a peaceful, democratic, constitutionalist force for change".

But University of NSW Middle East expert Dr Anthony John Billingsley claims that’s a fantasy.

"It’s a dark illusion and a shameful demonstration of the power of lobbyists," Dr Billingsley told AAP.

"I wouldn’t call them a force for democracy in Iran, quite the opposite.

"They’re a group of weird, quite nasty terrorists, guilty of killing a fairly large number of Iranians including leading members of the regime, but also a large number of Americans and other westerners as well."

Upon delisting the MEK, US State Department officials released a statement saying it "does not overlook or forget the MEK’s past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992.

"The department also has serious concerns about the MEK as an organisation, particularly with regard to allegations of abuse committed against its own members," it said.

"The secretary’s decision today took into account the MEK’s public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade."

Dr Billingsley said some members are giving up their lives for the group.

MEK observer Mohammed Sadeghpour explained that last year a Brisbane based supporter sold his home and donated all the money to the group before moving to France to become a full member.

"He is a good supporter, whole-hearted," he said.

"He sold it for about $300,000 or $400,000.

"But these are individual decisions; they make them on their own."

A report produced later in 2005 by a group known as Friends of a Free Iran (FOFI), comprising four European Parliament MPs, found no evidence of the RAND and HRW claims.

Mr Murphy said HRW’s report was "a spray job, but useful slander" for the MEK’s opponents.

"There are obviously HRW staff that are very pro-Iranian regime," he said.

"It’s a shame HRW let itself go down that path."

But HRW says its critics haven’t provided any evidence to back up claims the organisation is pro-Iranian.

Mr Murphy bristles at any suggestion the MEK has operated as a cult, including instances of self-immolation.

When MEK leader Maryam Rajavi was detained and questioned by French police in 2003, 10 members set themselves on fire in Paris – three died.

Hunger strikes also occurred in Australia, and Ms Rajavi was released without charge after a few weeks.

When asked about these events, Mr Murphy’s frustration becomes apparent.

"There’s absolutely no evidence anyone asked them to do that," he said.

"What you are suggesting is just absurd, ridiculous."

After the interview with AAP Mr Murphy took to Twitter to say this author was a pawn of the Iranian government.

"AAP journalist Martin Silk is unethically entrapping torture victims, ultimately for the misogynist Iranian regime," he Tweeted.

AAP rejects this notion as absurd and ridiculous.

Mr Murphy denies the MEK was ever anything but a pro-democracy group or has used any terrorist tactics in its war with the Iranian government.

"One of the MEK’s cultic characteristics is a focus on suicide," the RAND report states.

"Although it had not used suicide as a tactical weapon in terrorist attacks since 1981, the MEK has frequently used the threat of suicide as a negotiating tactic or to frustrate investigations," the document says.

Labor Senator Claire Moore admits it seems odd a democratic group has only had one leader in 40 years.

But she blames the terrorist listing for stopping the MEK telling governments its side of the story.

She says she understands the group has been at war with the Iranian government in the past, and employed tactics including bombings and assassinations.

"But they deny they’ve been careless, and they haven’t been involved in terrorist activities against Australia, the US or any European countries," she said.

But Dr Billingsley insists any portrayal of the MEK as a peaceful organisation is flawed.

Some people think the MEK isn’t so nasty after all, he said, because "they’re blowing up our enemies rather than us".

"The fact is they’re killing civilians," he said.

"It’s terrorism by any definition."

By Martin Silk, AAP

November 1, 2012 0 comments

Auver-sur-Oise

Rajavis’ Cult and the Risk of Terrorism in France

In the neighborhood of Islamic Radicals in Northern Paris, a large area of French territory is under the unofficial mandate of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization. About one month ago, few Rajavis’ Cult and the Risk of Terrorism in France people could imagine that members of Muslim Rap band would bomb a Jewish super market, just a few kilometers further.

Besides, a radical Muslim, Muhammad Marah, from Toulouse, cruelly murdered a Jewish Rabi and his two children. Since last month, French news agencies have several times reported of the arrest of terrorist radicals in cities including Niece, Marseille, Toulouse, Paris and Strasbourg – according to the reports, arrested suspects are mostly France-born youngsters who have joined terrorist networks, or Christians who have converted to Salafi Islam. In other words, the origin of this terrorism pattern is undefined stemming from a spontaneous generation.

Some believe that such phenomenon is the outcome of Arabic Spring and Anarchistic tendencies running in Northern and Central Africa. Some others think of ancient reasons that are found in families and their not-so-adapted cultures. Anyway, today French people are facing the increasing threat of internal terrorism of terrorists who see themselves as Muslims like Ben Laden and their belief is very similar to that of religious people of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Al-Qaida.

But Salafis, whether related to Al-Qaida or Saudi- are not the only violent group in France. Mujahedin Khalq also consider themselves true Muslims and real opposition against Iranian government. They have the very volatile potential and motivation, according to those who lived with them. They have been living in large region in the North of Paris, running large scale propaganda to influence French community and personalities.

Iranians see the cult of Rajavi (the MKO) much more radical than Salafis of France and Europe. A look at the MKO activities indicates dangers threating European society’s particularly French Society.

In 1965 the main core of the MKO was formed by a number of religious people who advocated armed struggle against Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, America and Israel. Their major operations were the killing of 6 American citizens in which Massoud Rajavi, currently disappeared leader of the group, was direct instructor and theoricain of terror teams!

The group’s first terrorist acts were launched in the 1970’s eventually; a large majority of members and leaders of the cult were arrested. Founders and central members of the group were executed and Massoud Rajavi, the only survivor of core members, was sentenced to long-life imprisonment.

According to the recently-published memoirs of Parviz Sabeti, a high-ranking official of Shah’s Savak (Shah’s security and intelligence Service), Rajavi’s death sentence was abated to life imprisonment because of Sabeti’s interference, not because of his brother’s efforts in Europe. Sabeti reveals that Massoud’s brother Kazem Rajavi was Savak’s spy in Switzerland and directly in connection with him, he was working for shah’s Intelligence and Security organization. In the book, he reveals that Massoud Rajavi betrayed founders and central members of the group and he widely cooperated with Savak when he was imprisoned so his punishment was reduced.

A few years later, Massoud Raajvi, Mehdi Abrishamchi [ex-husband of Maryam Rajavi] and other leaders of the group who are now living in Ouver Sur d’Oise, Paris, were released following the Iranian people’s Revolution[in 1978].

The group found a new success thanks to huge waves of the revolution. It started organizing itself in Tehran and other cities of Iran ….

To be continued

By Mohammad Alavi,Translated by Nejat Society

October 23, 2012 0 comments

Open letter of SFF to the UN Secretary General

Sahar Family Foundation has written an open letter to Mr Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General, and has sent the copies to the international media and the appropriate authorities.

The text of the letter is as follows:

Mr Ban Ki Moon,
UN Secretary General
With Regards

As the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has eventually left Ashraf garrison and moved to Liberty transit camp, and the process of UN asylum registration has begun,

As the name of the MKO had been removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO) in the US, Europe and Britain, and as Western countries no longer regard the MKO as a terrorist entity,

And as the suffering families of the members are still waiting in Iraq after almost three years to visit their loved ones and have not only not received any positive answer but have been insulted and accused and even harassed by the MKO elements,

We as the representative of the families of the members of the MKO in Iraq urge you to use your international capacity and:

Arrange for the meeting of the families with their loved ones in order to end their sufferings.

The news received from Camp Liberty indicates that the cultic relationships and standards are still imposed at their most intense. The members are told that they are bound to stay in Iraq and no one is allowed to leave. The members are also frightened about what the consequences would be if they leave the organization or seek to visit their families. The phobia of ‘extradition to Iran and facing torture and execution’ is systematically cultivated in the minds of the members.
The MKO authorities have clearly told the members that the National Liberation Army (Saddam Hussein’s private army of Rajavi) is the MKO’s sole capital investment and will never, under any circumstances, be given up. The leaders have emphasized that arms and weapons are not detachable from the MKO’s struggle.

As the obstacle of the FTO list has been removed and access by UN officials to the MKO members is much easier in Camp Liberty, there is no excuse for not arranging family meetings for the members. The families are eager to independently make sure about the physical and mental wellbeing of their loved ones.

The MKO is claiming that the members have chosen their destiny willingly and knowingly and that they have no desire to visit their families. There are many documents however which prove these individuals are systemically mind manipulated and their willpower has been psychologically robbed from them.

UN officials have the capacity to arrange these meetings without the interference of the MKO authorities. The same thing has been arranged in other parts of the world in the past. This excuse that the MKO leaders do not cooperate can no longer be acceptable and it is the duty of the UN officials to demand that the MKO leaders give the members their most basic human rights. If the leaders are refusing to do so, it is surely right for the UN to announce it publicly and not just in private meetings.

We wish to thank you in advance on behalf of the families.

Sahar Family Foundation
Baghdad, October 10, 2012

Copies to:
Mr Martin Kobler and the UNAMI
Iraqi ministry of human rights
ICRC in Iraq
US Ambassador to Iraq
International and Iraqi media

October 13, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Five Points About Removal Of MeK From US Terror Blacklist

The recent announcement by the United States Department of State about removing the notorious Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK) Organization from its blacklist of terrorist organizations on September 28, 2012, has been followed by many analytical accounts. They ranged from many media analyses provided by the Western and Iranian experts who were opposed to the decision, to admiring accounts by former American politicians. The proponents of the move among former US politicians were mostly those whose palms had been greased by the MeK through accepting hefty financial contributions from the organization. They had, therefore, organized extensive campaigns and lobbies across the United States in order to take the name of the organization out of the list of terrorist organizations.

Iran
This article does not actually mean to put renewed emphasis on this grave mistake which has been committed by the US government. It is already too late and the United States has provided the group with considerable maneuvering room. (A secondary point here: given the behavior of the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and its government in the past years, especially in the past few months, it is almost certain that Ottawa will soon remove the MeK from its list of terrorist organizations in order not to lag behind the United States and the European countries in this regard!)

This paper only means to remind Western politicians of a few characteristics of this terrorist organization as defined by firsthand Western sources. Let’s hope that this would help the Americans to realize that delisting the MeK is not just a simple delisting of an organization from the long list of 52 organizations designated as terrorist entities by the US Department of State. This delisting, however, will have consequences and implications which may prove to be quite different from what they may seem at a first glance.

1. The issue of weird and cult-like conduct of the leaders of this organization and their bizarre treatment of other members has been acknowledged by many Western sources. A special case was a report released by RAND (Research and Development) Corporation in 2009, entitled “The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum,” (1) in which a special part had been dedicated to “Cultic Characteristics of the MeK.” Under that title, the report says, “… [MeK’s] subsequent exile undermined its optimism and openness. In France, Masoud Rajavi dramatically changed the nature of the organization. In 1985, he announced that Maryam Azodanlu, the wife of his close associate Mehdi Abrishamchi and the younger sister of a senior MeK member, would assume the position of MeK co-leader. Rajavi divorced his second wife, the daughter of former Iranian president, Abol-Hasan Banisadr, Rajavi’s ally, and announced that Maryam would divorce her husband and marry him. These actions would advance a new “ideological revolution.”

The Rajavis claimed that their new revolution was meant to highlight the equality of women, an idea that the IRI [Islamic Republic of Iran] found threatening. Although the MeK did promote women to leadership positions, which constituted a reversal of tradition in Iranian society, the marriage and the subsequent aggrandizement of Masoud Rajavi’s leadership role marked the beginning of an organizational transformation into a cult of personality. Initial changes included increased mandated study, enforced communal living arrangements, and imposed supervision of the group’s membership in exile throughout Europe.”

Elsewhere in the same document, it says, “After the MeK moved to Iraq in 1986, the Rajavis created the NLA [National Liberation Army], which included nearly the entire MeK contingent in Iraq, and they used its militaristic structure to consolidate their control.

Following the failure of Operation Eternal Light, the Rajavis initiated a series of policy changes that continued the transformation of the increasingly insular organization into a cult. While rarely admitting total failure, Rajavi implied in his speeches that the operation had not achieved its goals due to insufficient devotion to the overthrow of the IRI among the MeK rank and file, who were instead distracted by sexual interests as a result of their coeducational housing. To enforce a new “military” discipline, rank-and-file members were instructed not just to move into gender-segregated housing but also to divorce their spouses, maintain complete celibacy, and even cut off communication with friends and family, both within and beyond MeK compounds. Love for the Rajavis was to replace love for spouses and family. In addition, the Rajavis used funding provided by Saddam to construct self-sufficient camps that included schools, medical clinics, training centers, and prisons (often called “reeducation centers”) so that the population had little need for contact with the society beyond its walls.”

Three years after the RAND report was released, that behavior still continues within the ranks of the organization. Many examples of it can be found in the weblogs run by ex-members who have succeeded to escape the clutches of this organization. The authors of the RAND report have also noted in the conclusion part of their report that, “MeK leaders and supporters … allege that former MeK members and critics of the MeK are either Iranian agents or their dupes. However, interviews with US military and civilian officials, information voluntarily furnished by former MeK members at the ARC, and visits to Camp Ashraf suggest that these denials are not credible.”

2. The MeK is also no favorite with major human rights organizations. A great number of documents on frequent instances of human rights violations within the ranks of this cultic organization can be found here: Human Rights Watch, No Exit: Human Rights Abuses inside the MKO Camps, New York, May 2005.

3. The United States, put the MeK, or as better known in Iran as ‘Monafeqin (hypocrites)’, on its list of terrorist organizations in 1997 and delisted them in 2012. The Council of Europe also listed the MeK as a terrorist organization in 2001 and delisted it in 2009. Britain, likewise, put the MeK on its terror list in 2001 and delisted it in 2008. Such periods of being “listed” and “delisted” have been seldom repeated for any other terrorist organization. Many such organizations have stayed on the terrors lists of the United States, the UK, or the European Union for many long years. It would be very ridiculous to assume that this development followed a decision by members of this group to really give up terrorism, regret their past deeds and try to go for more democratic approaches. Therefore no other explanation for this measure may occur to an analyst, except for the direct role of political decisions and expediencies, topped by the decision to use the MeK as a means of exerting pressure on Iran. The independent observers have, as such, considered this issue as a proof to the fact that the United States’ judiciary is not a truly independent power.

4. Last year, the UN special rapporteur on human rights for Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, submitted his first report to the UN Human Rights Council in which had had pointed to 17,000 names given to him by an Iranian nongovernmental organization in writing as the names of those killed in terrorist operations by the MeK. The Iranian nation will never forget two facts about this group. The first fact is countless cases of blind assassinations carried out by MeK members in early post-revolution years which were mostly carried out by members of this group in desolate streets and places and targeted people who were only suspected of being connected in some way to the nascent establishment of the Islamic Republic. They included many shoemakers, workers, bakers, teachers and civil servants. The second fact is their unbridled cooperation with the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during his imposed war against Iran. Without a doubt, it will be impossible for the Iranian nation, regardless of their political tendencies for or against the Islamic establishment, to imagine that the United States does not consider this group as a terrorist group anymore.

5. From 2003 onward and after this terrorist group lost its support from Saddam, its members lived in limbo at Camp Ashraf. The internal cult-like rules of the organization considered escaping to Iran by its members as a great treachery which was punishable by death. However, since 2005, many of them have returned to Iran voluntarily and through mediation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Perhaps, removing the MeK from the US Department of State’s list of terrorist organizations will make it possible for its members to interact more freely with the ICRC, or return to their families in Iran with more ease. In that case and if the MeK actually decided to stop its overt activities as well as covert terrorist operations against Iran and accept a more democratic structure in order not to be listed as a terrorist organization again, it would perhaps die in a few years. The reason is that the MeK owes its identity to its strange, clichéd, cultic, and inflexible rules and any kind of compromise in that regard will totally change its identity. There is a Persian proverb which says that “at times a remedy works just the opposite of what it is intended to do.”

By Mahmoud Reza Golshanpazhooh Executive Editor of Iran Review , Eurasia Review

Notes:

(1) http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG871.html

October 6, 2012 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The MEK Is Bad News, But Delisting Them Was A Good Decision

Members of the Iranian dissident group known as the Mujahedin e-Khalq, or MEK, really don’t like me. I don’t trust them, either. I’ve been reporting on the MEK for the Huffington Post since last The MEK Is Bad News, But Delisting Them Was A Good Decision summer, and members of the group have threatened my house and hacked my email.

Still, I believe the State Department’s decision Friday to remove the MEK from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations was a good one.

Like many people who’ve researched how the MEK actually works, I don’t believe that they’re freedom fighters in exile as they claim to be. Nor do I believe their values are democratic, as they claim they are.

I believe the MEK is a militant cult of personality, whose leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, figured out in the 1980’s that they could survive by doing mercenary work on behalf of governments that hate Iran. Saddam Hussein was their first patron, and he granted them land in Iraq to build a walled, military compound, Camp Ashraf, where until a few months ago, more than 3,000 members lived.

There, they would wake up every day and worship images of Maryam Rajavi before commencing with the day’s Army base-type tasks. The MEK claims to subsist on foreign contributions, but that’s only partly true.

In America, their well-paid U.S. advocates, men like former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, wax on about how the MEK renounced violence a decade ago and just needs U.S. backing in order to topple the Iranian regime and seize power. I’ve watched these guys earn $40,000 for an eight-minute speech.

But the debate over whether or not the MEK is a terrorist group doesn’t matter. It never really did. After dozens of conversations and background briefings over the past year, I don’t believe Secretary of State Hillary Clinton decided to delist the MEK how and when she did because the secretary suddenly changed her mind on the question of whether or not they are terrorists.

I think the reason the MEK was delisted on Friday is, more importantly, because Clinton understands that they’re a dangerous cult, and that all the other potential outcomes of the 30-year standoff between the MEK and the outside world would have likely been much, much worse.

Near the top of that list was mass suicide, a possibility that kept more than a few U.S. diplomats up at night. After that, it was that the MEK’s leaders would deliberately provoke a confrontation with Iraqi security forces, many of whom would be happy to avenge the ethnic cleansing raids MEK soldiers carried out for Hussein back in the day. In France, where Maryam Rajavi lives, officials considered the unwelcome possibility of public self-immolations — a tactic the MEK has used there before.

Truth is, most of the world doesn’t really care what happens to the 3,200 people who used to live at Camp Ashraf.

But Secretary Clinton cares, despite years of daily MEK protests outside her office on C Street, N.W., where I’ve watched the same dozen or so people, all dressed in identical Maryam Rajavi t-shirts, banging drums and accusing Clinton of violating human rights, breaking international law, and callously leaving them to die at the hands of Iraqi soldiers.

Ironically, while they cursed the secretary from the sidewalk, inside the State Department, Clinton and her aides were quietly working on a plan to save thousands of brainwashed MEK foot soldiers in Camp Ashraf from their own leaders and from the Iraqi military.

The only way to do this is to split the 3,200 into small groups and transfer them out of Iraq a few at a time, as refugees. This being a cult, however, the leaders initially refused to let anyone leave Ashraf unless they all left as a group. But as one former U.S. diplomat said to me, "What the hell kind of country is going to agree to take in 3,000 militant cult members?"

Clinton only had one major bargaining chip. In exchange for leaving Camp Ashraf, the secretary agreed to delist the group from the U.S. list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, which she officially did on Friday. That afternoon, State Department officials presented us reporters with three reasons they said the decision was merited. None of the official reasons holds up to scrutiny, but the eventual outcome, the delisting, does.

Therein lies the difference between politics and diplomacy. The "reasons" given here didn’t win anybody over. They were more of a gesture meant to placate people like me, who have reported what everyone at the State Department already accepts, namely, that the MEK is dangerous and untrustworthy and capable of future violence.

But the question facing Secretary Clinton wasn’t whether the MEK could be trusted. Or even if the MEK’s members were still dangerous. Privately, U.S. officials don’t pretend to know the answer to either one.

The question at the heart of the MEK decision was whether Clinton would be willing to quietly save 3,200 lives. She was.

I may not trust the MEK or their tactics, but the year-long negotiation that culminated on Friday represents a bright point for U.S. diplomacy and humanitarianism.

By Christina Wilkie

October 3, 2012 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Now Focus Attention Back On Rajavi’s Hostages In Camp Liberty

Among humanitarian organisations and the estranged families of MEK members there is a sense of relief now that the US sideshow of speculation over MEK terrorist listing and who the MEK’s financial backers are has blown over. It means that attention can now properly be returned to the situation of the MEK in Iraq where the urgent problem is how to restore basic human rights to the former MEK fighters trapped in Camp Liberty. Because although UN inspectors and Diplomatic representatives have attested to the more than acceptable living conditions in the temporary transit camp, the residents continue to be denied their basic human rights by the MEK leadership. Since 2003 the Americans have been complicit in allowing the MEK to mistreat the membership. Unfortunately this situation has continued at Camp Liberty to where all but a handful of the former Camp Ashraf residents have been relocated.

Massoud and Maryam Rajavi run a personality cult which dictates to the members that only they should be worshipped and adored. There is no room for other relations, even friendships. In the MEK, members are not even permitted to maintain a relationship with other family members inside the group, such as siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Relations between individuals is severely restricted and constantly monitored for infringements. This state of affairs is maintained through a harsh, unremitting regime of daily confessions with infringements – or sins – punished by an escalating system of public humiliation, beatings and isolation. In Camp Liberty residents are billeted six to a bungalow even though enough space has been allocated to allow for two per housing unit. The cult leaders insist on more than two people sharing as a means to prevent dissenting views from being discussed behind closed doors.

In Iraq the estranged families of MEK members have maintained a vigil outside both Camp Ashraf – and now Camp Liberty – for nearly three years. These families have travelled to Iraq to try and get news of and contact with their loved ones who are being held hostage by the Rajavi cult. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have imposed cruel conditions on their followers in which nobody is allowed to have contact with their families outside the cult without the permission of the leaders.

The Americans in Iraq have done nothing to help these families reach their loved ones. Instead they have apparently done everything possible to prevent the dissolution of the MEK as a single entity, in spite of being informed of the cult nature of the group.

However, because the US terrorism list has no relevance in Iraq, the Government of Iraq will not change its stance because of this action. Indeed, no government of any colour would be able or willing to keep any MEK in Iraq because of its history of violence against Iraqi citizens.

Since the US government no longer regards the MEK as terrorists the Americans should now make a real effort to remove them from Iraq for their own wellbeing. The State Department claims that the MEK has publicly renounced violence – even though there is no evidence that the MEK leader Massoud Rajavi has made any verbal or documented declaration to this effect. (Who do the State Department thinks actually runs the MEK? Lawyers?) As such the MEK should be expected to fully decommission its military personnel and reconfigure its internal structure to allow it to pursue exclusively peaceful and democratic opposition activities against the governments of Iran and Iraq, and possibly Syria.

The burning question then is what the MEK will do with its redundant former fighters in Camp Liberty in Iraq? As avowed enemies of the Iranian government they must presumably take refuge in the West. To qualify as refugees they must renounce their membership of the MEK as a political entity. Logically this should not present any difficulty as they are no longer needed as fighters. (Because the MEK is now a peaceful organisation with no need for any personnel trained in violence or military/terrorist style activity.)

The first step is to open up Camp Liberty to the outside world, to the families and humanitarian NGOs which are waiting to offer help to the residents. The residents must be given access to external information sources, internet, television, telephones, print media, etc. Conditions must prevail such that each resident is able to enjoy freedom of movement in the camp, freedom of association in the camp, including between the genders, and freedom to contact their families. This would represent a first, yet vital, step toward solving the problem of the MEK in Iraq.

October 2, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

48 Years After Formation of MKO

MKO lacks the least political support among the Iranian people and opposition

This September, Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR, NLA) commemorates 48th anniversary of its formation. Now on the list of designated terrorist organizations, there is no denying that it shares many characteristics and similar terrorist and violent tactics employed by any of the same groups and entities on the list. However, hardly any of other terrorist groups can be identified even close to it in utilizing tactics in pursuit of overall strategies that have oftentimes changed in degree and frequency; a make-believe shift from an absolute violent to a presumably pro-democracy group, an opportunistic and ambivalent shift from the ultra-left to ultra-right, and turning into an enthusiastic pro-imperialist after being initially and inherently recognized an ardent anti-imperialist.

As an opposition lasting for nearly half a century in Iranian temporary history, MKO is known to have had the most destructive impact on other campaigning freedom-seeking and ideological groups. In contrast to genuine sincerity and righteous causes of the early founders of the organization, as many believe, the subsequent unsavory assumption of power as the leader by Massoud Rajavi actually led the organization to a different path of deviation that so far has challenged it. It does not mean that the early founders like Muhammad Hanifnejad were totally free from mistakes and errors in decision makings that were somehow a natural impact of other active political, ideological and mainly Marxist groups’ activities, but Rajavi’s persistence to walk on a more tortuous path of mistakes led many to doubt the honesty and veracity of the early founders in their claimed campaign.

Benefiting a wide range of public support for its ideological and religious believes MKO was holding at the beginning, it did not take long, only a decade later, for the group to be totally divested of majority of its publically reputed figures who were superseded by pro-leftists. In fact, MKO has failed to remain an un-diverted group and has often been realigning itself with leftist ideologies and has undergone a thorough change both in its membership make up and political interaction with the world outside. Now nearly after five decades of its formation, MKO is facing strong opposition from a variety of other opposition groups that are drawing firm lines of demarcation between genuine and sham ideological, political and strategic policies practiced by MKO and themselves. Here are some examples of these oppositions’ perception of MKO.

– A front of opposition believes that the formation of MKO was engineered by under-the-curtain hands to carry through imperialist, freemason and capitalist ends and to confront genuine Islamic movements. Based on questionable, historical analyses and evidences, this front argues that the formation of MKO followed a tactic of forming a trend at the expense of Islamic movements but at the service of imperialism interests.

– There are others who are of the opinion that MKO was principally a devoted Islamic group but the strong impact of Marxist movements on Iranian campaigning intelligentsia at the time impelled the leaders to nest fallacies in reasoning to make impetuous decisions. These seriously made miscalculations are known to be the root of the consequent organizational and eclectic deviations lasted so far.

– Another group believes that surviving intellectuals of the early Mojahedin like Taqi Shahram and Bahram Aram, who had concealed their Marxist inclination as they joined the organization, were the subset to lead the organization to a full derailment. They are said to have established close collaboration with SAVAK, Pahlavi’s Intelligence Agency, and CIA to deflect the organization from its main path by open declaration of conversion to Marxism when the top leaders were arrested and executed.

– A fourth group observes that transformation of MKO into a deviated terrorist cult is the result of Massoud Rajavi’s hegemonic and ideological leadership. Rajavi’s plotted ideological revolution was in itself a result of the organization’s failures during 1981-1985 and a process that turned to be the major cause behind all deviations and failures of organization.

– The end of the bipolar order is generally associated with the collapse of the USSR that had its great impact on revolutionary Marxism. As a result, majority of left-oriented groups building their struggle on revolutionary and violent underground militarism encountered shocking failed strategies. The claiming revolutionary MKO was not an exception; compelled to undergo a change, MKO is presumed a pro-democratic, non-violent group with no actual reformation of its old infrastructure.

– And a last group of commentators conclude that MKO is considered a good case for historical studies concerning idealist, revolutionary and militant groups turning into non-democratic cults acting under a pro-democratic guise.

Frankly speaking, no campaigning group can be found in Iranian contemporary history so controversial as MKO. The group’s blind assassinations and bloody terrorist operations under a false flag of freedom and democracy repelled Iranian people and made MKO disappointed of availing itself of the determinative public element inside the country to face absolute public rejection. The supporters of a once claiming revolutionary group at the moment are neither the internal or the external oppositions but state-sponsored warmonger Western parties and a few retired and former Western personalities in need of MKO’s money.

September 15, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Eyewitness: condition at Liberty was one hundred percent better than Ashraf

SFF interviews Hassan Sharqi

Mr. Hassan Sharqi who could release himself from Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) SFF interviews Hassan Sharqi on August 22nd, 2012 was interviewed by Sahar Family Foundation a few days after his defection. The following is the interview which was translated by Nejat Society.

SFF: Please introduce yourself.

Hassan Sharqi: I am Hassan Sharqi. I was taken as a War Prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1980 and I was in Iraq POW’s camps for 9 years. I joined the MKO in 1981 because of the difficult conditions in Iraqi camps. After a while, I found out that I was detained in a worse situation. I still had to stay imprisoned but this time in the cult of Rajavi. I asked to leave the organization twice, in 2008 and in 2012 but they didn’t accept my demand. Instead, they held long-time meetings to punish me. Since Camp Liberty belongs to the United Nations, I decided to announce my defection during the interview and not to get back to the organization.

SFF: During the years you were in the MKO, how many times did you contact with your family?

HS: Except the nine years of my imprisonment in Iraqi prison that I used to write letter, I had no contact with my family during the 24 years that I was in Camp Ashraf. About one and a half years ago, my brother called to me via loudspeakers from the eastern side of the Camp. He wanted to visit me but I wasn’t allowed to meet him because of the severe controlling
conditions in the group and the way the officials treated us. My brother is back in Iran now.

SFF: how influential was the families’ presence at the camp?

HS: it was extra ordinarily influential. When their voice was heard in the camp, it was very motivating. Members are stuck there, they are waiting the day they can join their family. Some could risk and escape the camp to set themselves free. After each escape, supervision and guarding was enhanced so it became harder and harder for others to leave the Camp.

SFF: what kind of communication facilities did you have in the Camp?

HS: I, myself had no access to communication tools like cell phone, telephone or the Internet. These tools were only accessible for high ranking members.

SFF: why doesn’t the MKO allow members to contact their families?

HS: mainly because they fear the collapse of the cult. They fear that members be absorbed by the families. That’s why Massoud Rajavi, the cult leader, calls the families as mercenary and enemy. He is afraid of them. He says that the Iranian regime wants to stop you by wife and life and eventually to stop you from struggling.

SFF: In which phase were you transferred to TTL?

HS: I was moved in the third convoy.

SFF: can you describe the condition at Camp Liberty?

HS: about water, electricity, food and settlement facilities, I believe that the condition at Liberty was one hundred percent better than Camp Ashraf. American forces have previously been in TTL, they’ve left their equipments there and now the MKO is using them. About kitchen and preservation equipments, Camp Ashraf has never had such amenities.
About living conditions, if the authorities housed the members according to what the UNHCR had assigned, the place would be the best. The beds and closets are very good. Each Conex has three air conditioners. But out of 40 Conexes the authorities allocated only 20 ones to members’ accommodation and the rest were allocated to offices and working place.

SFF: the MKO says that it had no possibility for planting trees? What does it mean?

HS: in my idea, there is no need for planting trees or building side walks and streets if the site is a temporary one, there is no need for asphalted streets. They want to make a new base because they’re losing Ashraf. What they do has nothing to do with a Temporary Transit Location. Secondly, everyone knows that planting trees in this hot season is a vain work. The trees will go dry. This is just to keep members busy so that they cannot think of anything else.

SFF: did the MKO conserve its organizational structure at Camp Liberty?

HS: yes, it did . They accepted to move to liberty because Iraqi forces were not involved. Camp Ashraf consist three parts. They moved them all to Liberty. They didn’t want the organizational structure to be understood. They divided the forces in 40 quarters that were given to them. They separated each part from the others using curtains because they didn’t want forces of each unit communicate with the other one. You may not believe that in the world of satellites and the Internet, we weren’t able to communicate with the person next to us. They disagree with any form of communication devices. Brainwashing sessions including Current Operation, Weekly Cleansing and Organizational meetings were held more severely and more frequently than the ones that were held at camp Ashraf.

SFF: where was your interview with UNAMI?

HS: on August22, I was interviewed by UNAMI representatives who were installed in camp Liberty together with 15 other members.

SFF: did they hold any meeting for you before the interview?

HS: yes, on August 21, I was told to be at the commandant’s office at 9 O’clock. Two officials, Rasoul and Mohammad Bakhshayee tried to manipulate our minds about the following day’s interview. The meeting took three and a half hours long. They told us that we should claim that the conditions of life were not good at liberty and we had problems with water and electricity. We had to say that we had had contacts with our families before coming to liberty and we had no meetings except Current Operation. They asked us to say that food supplies were very little and Iraqi forces didn’t let us reach food easily. They told us to tell lies.

SFF: why did you decide to leave the group?

HS: I spent 33 years of my life in camp Rumadia (9 years) and Camp Ashraf (24 years) as a prisoner. I found out that the MKO was a liar and just wanted to maintain its establishment from collapse. Thus, I asked to leave the group twice but they refused my demand. On the interview day, I used the opportunity and said everything to the authorities of HCR. I told them about the reality of the organization and that I didn’t want to get back any more. I was serious in my decision.

SFF: do you think there are other people in the group who are willing to leave it?

HS: during the years of imprisonment, the MKO has manipulated members by brainwashing sessions and deceitful words of leaders so no one is able to make a serious decision until he is helped from the outside world. They have no idea of the world they would enter after defection.

SFF: what do you want to do after your release?

HS: First of all, I want to hire an attorney to sue the MKO leaders in Iraqi judiciary in order to reveal the atrocities they committed against me in those 24 years. Then, I’m determined to return to my country even if I am alive for a few days. I am an Iranian; I shouldn’t be far from my territory.

SFF: Thanks for your time.

HS: thank you, I know that SFF has played a major role to denounce the Cult of Rajavi. I want to continue denouncing Massoud Rajavi and the crimes he committed.

September 9, 2012 0 comments

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