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Research Note of Department of The Parliamentary Library To view the Research Note click here
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implementing Article 2(3) of Regulation (EC) No 2580/2001 on specific restrictive measures directed against certain persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism and repealing Decision 2004/306/EC To view the list of Terrorist organizations published by EU click here
Terrorist group profile Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK)
Mothertongue Name: Mujahedin-e-Khalq
Aliases: Mojahedin Khalq Organisation, Mujahideen-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI)
Base of Operation: France; Iraq
Founding Philosophy: The MEK is the primary opposition to the current Iranian government and acts as the focal point of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), a coalition of Iranian opposition groups which claims to be the transitional parliament-in-exile with 570 members. The NCRI was headquartered in Iraq, with representative offices in other countries including a presence in Washington where it has previously received support from the US Congress. After the 9/11 attacks however, the US government actively courted cooperation from the government of Iran and further sidelined any unofficial support for the MEK. Worsening their reputation further, intelligence reports suggested that the MEK’s military camps in Iraq might be hiding some of Iraq’s weapons programs. The group surrendered to US forces following the US invasion of Iraq. In May 2003, US Central Command stated that the group was "complying fully with Coalition instructions and directives". The MEK began as a liberal nationalistic party supporting former Prime Minister Mossaddeq against the Shah. When a 1963 uprising against the Shah failed, more radical members split off to form the MEK. In 1971 the new group began its armed struggle against the Shah, whom it saw as a dictator and a puppet of the United States.
The group conducted a number of attacks on US military personnel and civilians in Iran in the 1970s. Although the group initially supported the 1979 revolution and the overthrow of the Shah, the group’s secular perspective led to an eventual crackdown by the Khomeni regime following MEK’s call for a mass demonstration after the 1981 impeachment of Abolhasan Bani-Sadr, the elected President and chairman of the Islamic Revolutionary Council. Thousands of MEK members were killed and imprisoned during the repression. The MEK’s leaders fled to Paris and their military infrastructure moved to Iraq. The headquarters were relocated to Iraq in 1987, the MEK’s military wing, the NLA was formed and began using Iraq as a base for cross-border raids into Iran. In 1991, it assisted Saddam Hussein in suppressing the Shia and Kurdish uprisings, and continued to perform internal security services for the Government thereafter. In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian Embassies and installations in 13 countries. More recently, the MEK assassinated the deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff of Iran in April 1999, and was involved regularly in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military and law-enforcement units and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border throughout 2000 and 2001.
Current Goals: The MEK’s goal is to overthrow the Iranian government and replace it with the NCRI. At a 1995 conference, the group outlined a 16-point plan:
1) Guarantee freedom of belief, expression and the press, without censorship; 2) Guarantee freedom for political parties, unions, groups, councils, forums, syndicates, except those loyal to either the Shah or Ayatollah Khomeini, provided they stayed within the law; 3) Ensure governments would be elected; 4) Respect for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; 5) Abolish courts, tribunals, security departments introduced by the Ayatollah Khomeini regime; 6) Ensure women enjoy the same social, political and cultural rights as men (including a ban on polygamy); 7) Abolish privileges based on gender, religion or ethnic group; 8) End discrimination against religious minorities; 9) Abolish compulsory religious practice; 10) Secure Iranian territorial integrity while recognising the right of Iranian Kurdistan to autonomy; 11) Safeguard all social, cultural and political rights for ethnic minorities; 12) Repeal what the MEK deems to be `anti-labour, anti-peasant laws’; 13) Encourage a return from exile for all who fled either the Shah or Khomeini regime; 14) Base the economy on the free market, national capitalism and private ownership; 15) Provide welfare needs to the poor; 16) Improve Iran’s foreign relations with neighbouring and other states; to live in peaceful co-existence.
The Mujahedin-e-Khalq have periodically released information on Iran’s developing nuclear weapons program, however the information cannot usually be verified. The group’s information was, however, crucial in the 2002 revelation of Iran’s uranium enrichment program. Its latest release came in February 2005, when the group passed on information to the International Atomic Energy Administration (IAEA) that Iran now possesses sources for polonium-210 and beryllium, crucial components in building an “initiator.” The group claims that this is the last objective that Iran needed to fulfill and that they plan to have a nuclear weapon by the end of 2005.
Date Formed: Formed in 1963; began armed operations in 1971
Strength: Greater than 500 members
Classification: Leftist
Last Attack: Jan. 21, 2001
Financial Sources: For years the group recieved all of its military assistance, and most of its financial support, from the Iraqi regime. In addition, the MEK uses front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities, as well as a number of charities which operate as human rights organisations monitoring the Iranian government, or which claim to provide relief for Iranian refugees, are in fact collecting funds for the MEK.
U.S. Terrorist Exclusion
List Designee: No
US State Dept. FTO: Designated: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Watched: No
Key Leaders: Rajavi, Maryam Rajavi, Massoud
Related Groups: Muslim Iranian Student’s Society • Financial Associate
National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Umbrella Group
National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) • Political Wing
Press Release: IHRC concern as US redefines terrorism to support banned group. UK & US aiding terrorism through tacit support of banned Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO) terror group.
IHRC is deeply concerned at the latest inconsistent application of the definition of terrorism used by the US and its allies. A ceasefire was called last week between US forces in Iraq and the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organisation (MKO), an anti-Iranian group responsible for attacks including bombings around the world, which have resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians.
The MKO were trained and funded in large part by the Saddam Hussein regime and were until the ceasefire enemy combatants. IHRC expresses its concern that in addition to the ceasefire, the MKO have been allowed to retain their weapons. This continuing blind-eye shown by the US and UK governments towards MKO activities within their borders and in US-administered Iraq exhibits not only a shameful lack of consistency but a complete deficit of ethical motivation.
IHRC fears that firstly, the MKO will be granted carte blanche the freedom to continue its terror activities. Secondly the message it will send out to the wider Middle East in this critical period. The US is prepared to act against Ansar al-Islam and other Islamists. However it is positively hesitant to take any action against MKO terror camps within Iraq, despite MKO’s long-established status as a proxy of the Saddam regime.
IHRC notes that both the UK and US have designated the MKO as a terror organisation (i). Indeed the MKO further participated in Saddam’s brutal crushing of the post-Gulf War Kurdish and Shia civilian uprisings.
(i) On 8 October 1997, the U.S. Secretary of State designated MKO as amongst 30 foreign terrorist organisations that “engage in terrorist activities that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security of the United States”. The British government under the “Terrorism Act 2000 (Proscribed Organisations) (Amendment) Order 2001, banned MKO as a terror organisation.
Islamic Human Rights Commission – 27 April 2003
Iranian opposition challenges Bush to keep his word,drop terror label
Hundreds of Iranian exiles linked to an opposition group Washington considers terrorist gathered Thursday to demand US President George W. Bush support them in their efforts to unseat the Islamic regime in Tehran.
The National Convention for a Democratic Secular Republic in Iran gathered Iranian-Americans to push for official US support for their efforts.
Iranian opposition leader Maryam Rajavi, addressing the convention in a video link from France, called on the United States and the European Union to end its appeasement of the Tehran regime and recognize her National Council of Resistance of Iran as an Iranian government-in-exile.
"Just as the time has come to abandon the appeasement of tyrants, so the time has come to remove the ominous legacy of that policy, namely the terror label against the Iranian resistance," Rajavi said, according to a printed translation of her remarks in Farsi.
Rajavi, president of the opposition group, cannot enter the United States because the council and its armed wing, the People’s Mujahedeen, are considered terrorist organizations by the US government and the European Union.
Its detractors call the organization a Marxist cult, but the group insists it is committed to democracy and is merely fighting oppression under the Islamic regime in Tehran.
The group has considerable support among US lawmakers, think-tank experts and lobbyists, who claim the terrorism designation was meant to appease Tehran and want Bush to order it lifted.
Bush has denounced the regime in Tehran, saying it supports terrorism and is trying to develop a nuclear bomb, and has urged Iranians to work against the ruling clergy. In February, during his State of the Union address to Congress, Bush said: "To the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you."
Tancredo and other lawmakers however want the United States to go further. They have introduced legislation to provide financial and political assistance to Iranian opposition groups that oppose terrorism and support democracy.
The People’s Mujahedeen, whose headquarters are in Auvers-sur-Oise outside Paris, was implicated in attacks on US military officers in Iran in the 1970s, and supported the 1979 Islamic revolution and the subsequent takeover of the US embassy by Iranian militants.
But the movement was suppressed in the years that followed, and the group set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids into Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.
The group also participated in Saddam Hussein’s crackdown on an uprising by Shiites and Kurds in 1991.
Some 3,800 of the group’s fighters were disarmed and interned by US forces in 2003 at a camp in Iraq. They have been given protected status under the Geneva Conventions, and US officials have interviewed them to determine if they had been involved in terrorist incidents.