The anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, considered by many as a dangerous terrorist organization, will hold its annual meeting in Paris on Saturday.
By Chris Den Hond
The horrific atrocities of a notorious anti-Iran terrorist group MKO have come under the spotlight as it prepares to hold its annual summit. In the following report, we will see how the Wests stance on the group has revealed its double standards.
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In response to a Newsweek article, the Iranian Mission Counselor at the UN Office in Geneva said that MKO terrorist group still retains its terrorist nature but the West is trying to purge this terrorist group.
On the occasion of organizing a meeting of Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization (MKO also known as MEK) held on July 10, 2021, in a report written by DAVID BRENNA, by examining the background and performance of MKO terrorist group, he tried to respond to the accusations raised against MKO through the elements affiliated with the group.
In this regard, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Geneva sent a statement to Newsweek, emphasizing that the MKO terrorist group continues to maintain its terrorist nature and has collaborated with the Zionist regime in assassinating Iranian nuclear scientists.
Bahram Heidari, the Counselor of Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Geneva pointed to the meeting of the MKO terrorist group held on July 10 and said that it shows the depth of American political and moral decline of the opposition of the Islamic Republic of Iran which is deceived by such hated terrorist group who committed heinous terrorist crimes such as assassination, bombing, and sabotage in a way that this terrorist group has claimed lives of thousands of Iranian people.
He went on to say that MKO terrorists have maintained their terrorist nature and have continued to carry out assassinations inside Iran, including the assassination of Iranian scientists in collusion with the Israeli regime.
However, the United States and European Union have tried to ignore and purify the terrorist nature of this terrorist sect and use it as leverage against Iran, he emphasized.
Heidari also rejected the accusations against Assadollah Asadi, an Iranian diplomat imprisoned in Belgium, calling the accusations far from the truth.
He called the accusations raised against Asadi a conspiracy hatched by MKO terrorist group.
Almost a week has elapsed since Janez Jansha, the Slovenian Prime Minister chairing the EU rotating presidency, addressed an online gathering organized by the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist group.
In his speech on July 10, Jansha broke all diplomatic rules and attended a terrorist group conference disregarding his official position. In addition to making statements against the Iranian government and intervening in its internal affairs, he supported the MEK which used to be on multiple terror group lists for a long time.
Hours later, the Slovenian ambassador was summoned to the foreign ministry of Iran. Next, in a talk with Joseph Borell, Mohammad Javad Zarif voiced his objection to Slovenia’s act. Borell told Zarif that Slovenia’s action did not reflect the EU’s official position.
The MEK took advantage of all these reactions and called Jansha a brave Prime Minister. However, in Slovenia, Prime Minister faced harsh criticism in the media where he was warned of the consequences of his action, especially regarding Iran-Slovenia relations.
Delo berates Janša over Iran comments
According to the Slovenian newspaper Delo, the Prime Minister’s participation in the MEK gathering was without the knowledge of the president and the foreign minister calling it an arbitrary decision. This newspaper also expressed its concerns regarding how this act might jeopardize the economic transactions and relations of the two countries. It also added, “severity of Europe’s reactions to this incident shows how dangerous this matter could be. Slovenia has turned into a disruptive factor in EU’s policies.”
It seems highly likely that the Slovenian PM received a large sum of money for his several-minute speech. According to international reports published by American investigative journalists, the MEK pays its foreign guests, depending on their ranks, an average of thirty thousand dollars for a short speech. Of course, this amount is much more for A-listers. If we take into account the PM’s financial corruption and his two-year sentenced to prison in 2013, it should not be surprising that Jansha received an exorbitant amount to speak at the gathering.
This tactless act i.e., supporting a terrorist cult, damaged Slovenia’s reputation severely both at the international level and in the eyes of Iranian citizens because more than sixty percent of Iranian terror victims have been murdered by the MEK terrorist cult. Unless this mistake is fixed, it appears that future interactions between the two countries will be challenging.
The MEK held the conference before the eyes of the European officials in Albania showing how a terrorist cult could incur heavy costs to relations of the countries. Slovenia is an example of a country that got involved in the game of a terrorist group and acted irrationally and unconventionally just like their Albanian counterparts who entered this game long before by lining up their former officials to deliver speeches and support this terrorist group.
The new president will take office in Iran in the beginning of August and it is important that there be good relations between Iran and the European Union away from and not affected by disruptive factors. The MEK proved that its actions aim to break off such bilateral relations. They are costly terrorists for Europe.
By Reza Alqurabi
The so-called Free Iran Summit held annually by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ NCRI/ Cult of Rajavi) was supposed “to push for more assertive global policies toward the Iranian regime, including policies that support a large and growing civilian protest movement”, according to the MEK-run media. They also claimed that “Free Iran World Summit will link together Iranian expatriate communities throughout the world”. However, as a country with a large population of diaspora all over the world, there was no Iranian speaker as the representatives of the Iranian expatriate communities, in the Summit.
All prominent speakers of the event were non-Iranians except the group’s so-called president elect, Maryam Rajavi. The on-line audience was claimed to be connected from 50000 locations from all over the world to Camp Ashraf 3 in Albania which sounds quite implausible. Given that the MEK was really successful in linking such a crowd for the annual gathering, there should be at least a few prominent figures of Iranian political luminaries to address the Summit on behalf of the MEK.
Moreover, the “free Iran summit” had no “free” local audience. The crowd who was sitting in front of monitors of the alleged online audience and speakers, are actually prisoners of the Mujahedin Khalq. As members of the Cult of Rajavi, the individuals who are settled at Ashraf 3, are banned from leaving the group. This is the second contradictory point about the gathering organized by MEK.
Such controversies are normally faced with critics in a normal world, as the Socialist and Democrats of the European Union declared that they were “shocked” to learn that the prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša, whose country is now chairing the EU rotating presidency, addressed the MEK gathering. “This anti-democratic, cult-like organisation, which was on the EU terrorist list until 2009, has a long history of human rights abuses documented by organisations such as Human Rights Watch,” they argued in the official statement that they immediately published after the event. They denounced the act of the Slovenian prime minister to support “a group with such a violent, anti-democratic record” as “destructive behavior”.
To criticize the American speakers of the MEK’s so-called summit, Michael Rubin of the Washington Examiner described the MEK’s true nature for the readers. “In reality, its leaders Masoud and Maryam Rajavi rule with an iron fist,” Rubin writes about the organizers of the summit which is supposed to free Iranians. “It runs as a cult with its rank-and-file cut off from their families and the broader society. Its literature reads like a Lyndon LaRouche diatribe. Footnotes may look legitimate but pull readers down a rabbit hole of nonexistent sourcing, irrelevancies that do not substantiate their points, and dead links.”
Rubin adds that the MEK’s claim to have high support inside Iran is “fiction”. “Many resent the MKO’s terrorism that as often killed innocent Iranians as the regime officials they targeted,” he asserts. “More despise the group for siding with Iraq during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War. In effect, ordinary Iranians see the MKO as people in the United States see John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban.” Rubin believes that the appearance of American bipartisan figures to support a group so despised by Iranians, “serves as a barometer of corruption in Washington”.
Daniel Larison also wrote on Anti War that “the annual parade of prominent officeholders and policymakers that offer up effusive praise to such a wretched group is an ongoing disgrace for the United States and its allies, and it is a symptom of deeper problems with our foreign policy”.
Yes, Larion is absolutely right. “The MEK is a dangerous and disreputable group”. He accurately warns that the MEK “ought to be so politically radioactive that no one would want to be associated with them”. This is what the Iranian from all political understandings have realized. You find no Iranian political figure among speakers of the MEK gatherings, even among paid speakers. The Iranians inside and outside Iran see the MEK as definitely harmful to their fame and dignity.
By Mazda Parsi
Sources:
1. socialistsanddemocrats.eu, S&Ds call for clarification on PM Janez Janša’s participation in a meeting sponsored by the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, July 12th, 2021.
2. Rubin, Michael, The Mujahedin-e-Khalq has become a barometer of Washington corruption, The Washington Examiner, July 15th, 2021.
3. Larisn, Daniel, A Deranged Cult and Our Warped Foreign Policy, Antiwar.com, july 14th, 2021.
This time the scandal was made by a democrat figure, Micheel Flournoy, a former Pentagon official who was once under consideration to be President Biden’s secretary of defense. She addressed the annual gathering of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi), and then she claimed she didn’t realize the conference where she was a featured speaker on regime change was organized by the once-terror-listed MEK.
Daniel DePetris
Following the controversial sponsorship of a prominent defense expert for the MEK terrorist destructive cult, Daniel DePetris an expert of “The Defense Priorities” and a correspondent of Newsweek, the Washington Examiner and the National Interest. Tweeted on July 10th:
“Imagine being an Iran “expert” and thinking the MEK is a popular, legitimate opposition movement the U.S. government should support. My goodness…”
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Monday (12 July) sought to distance the bloc from comments made by Slovenia’s Prime minister at a meeting of an Iranian opposition group that enraged Tehran.
Iran’s foreign ministry has slammed Slovenian premier Janez Janša for participating in “Free Iran” conference of the exiled People’s Mujahedin (MEK) and summoned the country’s ambassador.
Janez Janša, Prime Minister of Slovenia #Iran’s people deserve democracy freedom & human rights & should be firmly supported by the int’l community. The regime must be held accountable for human rights violations. #FreeIran2021https://t.co/as6lOrWZmR
— People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) July 10, 2021
Janša told the meeting in an online message that the “Iranian people deserve democracy, freedom and human rights, and should be firmly supported by the international community”.
He also demanded that the “Iranian regime must be held accountable for human rights violations”.
Borrell said the statements from the Slovenian leader did “most definitely not” reflect the EU’s position, despite the country currently holding the bloc’s rotating six-month presidency.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell
“The EU’s position when it comes to Iran is balanced,” Borrell said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.
“We believe in bringing to bear political pressure, when necessary, in lots of areas and at the same time trying to find cooperation when necessary.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had on Sunday called on the EU “to clarify its stance” in a phone call with Borrell, Tehran said.
EU ties with the Iran are currently at a highly sensitive moment as the bloc is seeking to broker the return of the United States to the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran at long-running talks in Vienna.
We call for clarification on PM Janez Janša’s participation in a meeting sponsored by the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran!
EURACTIV.com
The newspaper Delo criticizes Prime Minister Janez Janša over his participation in the Iranian opposition group; MEK , writing in Tuesday’s front-page commentary that the timing and the manner were ill-chosen, and suggesting Janša lacks the credibility to defend human rights elsewhere, Slovenia Times reported.
Delo berates Janša over Iran comments
The European Union moves to distance itself from the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization after the prime minister of Slovenia participated in the terrorist organization’s annual conference. Rights activists say any support given to the MKO by EU officials must be condemned.
S&Ds call for clarification on PM Janez Janša’s participation in a meeting sponsored by the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran
The Socialists and Democrats are shocked to learn that the prime minister of Slovenia, Janez Janša, whose country is now chairing the EU rotating presidency, addressed an online gathering on Saturday, which was organised by the so-called National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), also known as the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI or MEK). This anti-democratic, cult-like organisation, which was on the EU terrorist list until 2009, has a long history of human rights abuses documented by organisations such as Human Rights Watch.
Tonino Picula S&D spokesperson on foreign affairs and Jytte Guteland, S&D shadow rapporteur on Iran, made the following statement:
“Support for a group with such a violent, anti-democratic record, at the level of the prime minister of a country holding the rotating presidency of the EU, is extremely irresponsible and grave. It undermines the ongoing efforts of the EU and its High Representative Josep Borrell to revive the nuclear agreement with Iran, a key foreign-policy priority for the EU.
“We call on the EPP Group to immediately and clearly distance themselves from such destructive behaviour from one of its members, and clarify whether it supports such a key EU foreign policy objective as the restoration of the nuclear agreement with Iran, or not.”
Socialistsanddemocrats.eu