Mujahedin Khalq Terror group

US mulls taking anti-Iran MKO off terrorism blacklist

The United States is considering the removal of the anti-Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from its terrorism watch list.

Senior US officials say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make her final decision on the matter two months after the terrorist group leaves Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, some 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the border with Iran.

MKO members are currently being relocated to Camp Liberty near the Baghdad International Airport under an agreement reached between the United Nations and Iraq last December.

The MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under US law, and has been described by State Department officials as a ‘repressive cult.’

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border.

It is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

MKO has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.
PressTV – May15,2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/05/15/241266/us-mulls-delisting-mko-as-terror-group/

May 15, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK to be delisted as terrorists in reward for engaging in terrorism

The Foreign Terrorism Organization list really doesn’t mean much if the way to get off it is by killing Iranian scientists at the behest of the US and Israel.

The Obama administration is moving to remove an Iranian opposition group from the State Department’s terrorism list, say officials briefed on the talks, in an action that could further poison Washington’s relations with Tehran at a time of renewed diplomatic efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program.

The exile organization, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MeK, was originally named as a terrorist entity 15 years ago for its alleged role in assassinating U.S. citizens in the years before the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran and for allying with Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein against Tehran.

The MeK has engaged in an aggressive legal and lobbying campaign in Washington over the past two years to win its removal from the State Department’s list. The terrorism designation, which has been in place since 1997, freezes the MeK’s assets inside the U.S. and prevents the exile group from fundraising.

Oddly, the entire article makes no mention of allegations that MEK trained at a US Special Forces camp in the NV desert and/or killed a bunch of Iranian civilians with magnet bombs.

Though its last paragraph amounts to as much.

“If there’s a coalition against the mullahs, then we should fund that coalition, and the MeK should be a part of it,” said Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R., Calif.). He cautioned that for now, he wasn’t advocating directly funding MeK. “The MeK has the resources to resist and fight the mullah dictatorship. They don’t need our money, they just need us to get out of the way and take the shackles off.”

Jim? I believe this is your department.

Though maybe it’s not all the dead scientists that made the difference here. Maybe it’s the art project that significantly resembles the INC’s finger painting projects leading up to the Iraq War. America. Big fans of primitive art.

We demand our terrorists to be able to both kill civilian scientists and draw crude pictures, you know.

Empty Wheel

May 15, 2012 0 comments

USA

U.S. not ready to remove MEK from terror list

An Iranian dissident group on the U.S. government’s list of terrorist organizations is showing signs of cooperation, but the United States has not decided whether to remove it from the list, a Department of Justice attorney told a federal appeals court panel Tuesday.

An attorney for Mujahedin-e Khalq urged a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to issue a writ of mandamus, essentially an order compelling the State Department to comply with a previous order, and to make a decision on delistment in a timely manner.

MEK is seeking the enforcement of a 2010 ruling by the same court ordering the State Department to review the group’s status on the Foreign Terrorist Organization list. In its ruling, the District Court gave the State Department 180 days to review the request from MEK to be removed from the terror list.

Robert Loeb, who argued the case on behalf of the administration, said the lack of total unfettered access to the MEK’s base inside Iraq demands more deliberation and time be given to the decision. Loeb argued questions still remain whether "hard core" elements of the group harbor weapons inside the base and thus retain the "capacity" to launch attacks.

Once the base is completely emptied, a decision on MEK’s status could be made within 60 days, the U.S. government has said. In court, Loeb stipulated that 60-day period could be subject to extension based on anything learned within that period.

The group has been on the terror list since 1997 because of the deaths of Americans during the 1970s. The group was granted refuge in Iraq by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. The MEK supports the overthrow of the Iranian theocracy.

The Obama administration has argued it needs to assess the MEK’s move from its previous base of operations at Camp Ashraf in Iraq to a processing center at a former U.S. base in Iraq before making its decision. The move is being conducted under U.N. auspices after the Iraqi government ordered the camp closed at the end of 2011.

Mark Toner, deputy State Department spokesman, released a statement this past weekend praising the "continued cooperation" of Camp Ashraf residents. Over half of the approximately 3,000 residents of Camp Ashraf have been relocated to Camp Hurriya, Toner said, with the goal of eventually settling in countries outside Iraq.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told a Senate panel last year that the way the transfer was carried out would influence the eventual decision on removing the group from the terror list.

Loeb said the administration understands the "duty" to make a timely decision on MEK’s status, but said the administration also has a duty to the public to "get it right."

The group is also known as the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran.

Viet Dinh, a former Justice Department lawyer representing the MEK, said the group no longer poses a military threat because the U.S. Army peacefully disarmed the group after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The U.S. government treated MEK members as protected people under international law until the U.S. turned over responsibility to the Iraqi government.

Dinh told the court the State Department’s delay in making a decision is a violation of MEK’s due process rights, and liberties granted under the U.S. Constitution.

"The secretary has recognized (MEK’s) renunciation of violence and is legally bound to delist the organization," Dinh wrote in a filing in February." She cannot pocket veto (MEK’s) application for revocation of its terrorist status."

Col. Wes Martin, who served as base commander of Camp Ashraf in 2006 and was present for Tuesday’s proceedings, called Loeb’s argument "nonsense." Martin, who supports MEK’s removal from the terror list, told CNN he was certain Camp Ashraf has been completely disarmed.

The MEK enjoys the support of prominent high-ranking officials from past Democratic and Republican administrations who speak out against the group’s continued presence on the terror list.

By Jamie Crawford

May 13, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

The US never conducted a comprehensive search of Camp Ashraf

Research by RAND confirms that not all spots in Camp Ashraf were fully inspected

The remarks by the attorney for the U.S. Department of State, Robert Loeb, have provoked backlashes from MKO. During a May 8 hearing before the US Court of Appeal for the District of Columbia, Mr. Loeb stipulated that a decision on MKO’s status could be made within 60 days after the group’s main base, Camp Ashraf, is completely evacuated. He said that said the lack of total unfettered access to the MKO’s base inside Iraq demands more deliberation and time be given to the decision. Loeb argued questions still remain whether “hard core” elements of the group harbor weapons inside the base and thus retain the “capacity” to launch attacks.

Reported by the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR), MKO-run active committees in the US, Mr. Loeb’s remarks are “absurd”: “Allegations by the State Department lawyer on lack of access to, and suspicion of existence of weapons and ammunition at Camp Ashraf, are absurd and insult the professionalism and integrity of U.S. troops who served at Camp Ashraf”.

Mr. Loeb in the court remarked that the U.S. military had “never been able to inspect it [Camp Ashraf].” He also stated that the residents of Camp Ashraf did not permit the U.S. military to inspect the camp. “The MEK did not permit it at that time, and the military was unable at the time” to inspect Camp Ashraf, and “the MEK did not permit an inspection. . . . They did not permit a sort of door-to-door inspection of looking for [caches] of weapons or to actually disarm them door-to-door.” He also claimed that the U.S. military had been unable to verify that the MEK had disarmed.

Quoting some US military commanders, MKO disputes the claims by the State Department lawyer by saying that “Having served at Ashraf during several tours of duty in Iraq, we repeatedly inspected the entire camp without any hindrance and found no sign of weapons or ammunition, nor any plans or intentions to acquire weapons or use violence. These inspections were undertaken impromptu and without prior notice. At all times and during every inspection, the leaders and residents of Ashraf cooperated fully with the U.S. commanders and forces”.

But the research already done by RAND Corporation is much more reliable to decide which party is on a right path of the facts. In a part of RAND’s A Policy Conundrum it is well confirmed that there are still spots and buildings in Camp Ashraf never fully inspected by the US forces in contrast to the group’s claims.

Lack of manpower has also meant that MNF-I has never conducted a comprehensive search of Camp Ashraf. The MeK would not allow it, and MNF-I was unwilling to divert manpower at FOB Grizzly from regular regional security missions to force a search upon the group. As a result, there are buildings at Camp Ashraf that no American has ever searched. Former JIATF staff believe that weapons, personnel files, and possibly even MeK members detained by the leadership would likely be discovered in some of these buildings. At the very least, on the basis of rumors that the MeK were storing WMD for Saddam, the Iraq Survey Group, an international team organized by the Pentagon and the CIA to hunt for Iraq’s alleged WMD stockpiles, should have secured access to every building.

May 13, 2012 0 comments

Iran

Official blasts west’s double-standard attitude towards terrorism

A senior Iranian foreign ministry official condemned the western countries for sheltering members of different terrorist groups, including the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), and deplored the West’s double-standard attitude towards terrorism.

"We believe that despite the claims that others (Western countries) make about fighting terrorism, they provide the most support for terrorist groups," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said.

"In Europe the MKO has already been removed from the list of terrorist organizations and they are completely safe to continue their activities," he added.

When asked about reports that the US State Department may remove the MKO from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, Mehman-Parast said such moves could reveal the nature of Western countries.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – in 2009 and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.

The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi — the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.

Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.

He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in Western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.

Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in Western states and blocks their departure afterwards.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

May 12, 2012 0 comments

Imposture of MKO leadership for more bloodshed

Open letter of Mr. Homayoon Kahzadi to Mr. Ban Ki Moon Secretary General of United Nations

Honorable and distinguished Secretary General of United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki moon Open letter of Mr. Homayoon Kahzadi to Mr. Ban Ki Moon Secretary General of United Nations

Respectfully,

We are observing that the imposture and deceptions of the leadership of mujahedin’s cult( PMOI, MKO, MEK, Rajavi’s cult) for more bloodshed and killing of those captives in Ashraf has entered to the new phase and this time with new tricks they are trying their best to obstruct in the peaceful leaving process of those stranded captives from Iraq because according to Rajavi’s speech ¨ pmoi file should be terminated and closed in Iraq so if we are asked and inquired tomorrow , we respond proudly that we tried but we failed.¨ Yes this is exactly the mujahedin’s cult leaders tricks and tactics which this time with utilizing the nonsense and undermining of the Iraqi government and attributing Mr. Maliki to Iran , intend to prove and substantiate the Massoud Rajavi’s point and they pretend that the people are staying in Ashraf garrison and liberty camp with their own wishes and desires and they do not want to separate ,but the truth is except few people whose hands are smeared with blood of Iraqi people and the Iranian youth , no one wants to stay in the hellhole which is made by Rajavi even for a moment.

The leadership of this cult pretend that as if the captives want to stay in that hellhole , but I say no, the leaders and the operatives and killers in this cult want it .

Yours Excellency Mr. Ban Ki moon

I ,as a former member of this cult, who has experienced all the pains and hardships and tortures in this terrorist organization with my own flesh and blood and skin , would like to warn you about Rajavi’s danger which threaten the life and the destiny of those victims because the leadership of pmoi with flippancy and deception of the international organizations want to gain the following objectives:

Buying time for continuing the terrors

Killing of captives and the dissidents in both camps Ashraf and Liberty

Ruining the prestige of Iraq and its government

Ignoring of killing innocent people , because the leaders of pmoi after this relocation should respond to Iranian and Iraqi people as well as Kurds that why did they kill too many people?

Buying time because maybe they can postpone Rajavi’s trial even for few days and their intention is to rescue Rajavi from Justice.

I urge all international organizations and yours Excellency that do not pay attention to all those nonsense and absurd which are made and produced by the terrorist cult leaders and instead, bring them to Justice because the killers and cutthroats can not escape from Justice.

Honorable Mr. Ban Ki moon

Is not it an interference in a government affairs ? is not it a crime to attribute a prime minister of a country to another country ? should those killers and cutthroats interferer in the country affairs which they live in as guests ? so pay attention to all impostures and deceptions which this cult and its leaders utilize for keeping their dirty benefits and interests .

Yes, all those nonsense and absurd which the cult is saying are all lies for their own personal benefits because this relocation does not have anything to do with Iran or no-one else because either Iraqi government or Iraqi people have been suffering from the presence of this cancer tumor (pmoi) in Iraq and they want the expulsion of this cult from their soil.

Respectfully
Homayoon Kahzadi ,Paris

May 12, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

Posed Challenges, a cause of MKO’s uncertain future in the West

MKO’s posed challenges in the Western countries makes its future uncertain

It was just on April 10 that Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the Secretary-General, in his briefing to the Security Council concerning the transfer of MKO’s members residing at Camp Ashraf and the Temporary Transit Location (TTL) to other countries stated that “no country has committed to accept residents. A donor’s appeal meeting also took place the same day seeking to raise 39 million USD fund for the Ashraf project. Only one Member State made a concrete pledge and this falls far behind what we had hoped. Without international support, the process cannot succeed”.

No doubt, the residents stay in TTL is temporary and transitional and that other states are required to accept the resettlement of residents in their countries in line with their international commitments. One would better understand Mr. Kobler when addressing Member States had he specifically made reference to European countries that had already delisted MKO. At least he expects that these countries be the forerunners in accepting the residents if they really believe in removing it off the terror list. At this serious juncture, MKO desperately needs political and financial support of these countries more than any time. But as they have shown the least cooperation, a question raises that what is the reasons behind such procrastination to escape giving shelter to their favorite, de-proscribed group.

For sure, these countries have their own logic and reasons for indirectly expressing their disapproval. A review of the group’s past violent history and anti-social behaviors in Iraq and other European countries, regardless of the atrocities perpetrated against its own fellow Iranian, might well explain why they avoid risking acceptance of the group on their soil. What is just before European’s eyes is the group’s decade long persisting challenge with the Government of Iraq. Once forming close alliance with Saddam against Iranian regime, MKO acted also as his loyal mercenary in suppression of uprising Iraq dissidents. After the fall of the dictator, in a shift of position the group claimed to be standing beside the Iraqi people in a unified front to secure its stay in Iraq. As it is naturally a terrorist group whose strategy of struggle is founded on armed and violent warfare, soon it began to show its real, hostile attitude against the legally elected government and defied any reached legal decision; it preferred to make coalition with Iraqi insurgent groups. MKO in its struggle to survive not only claimed a position similar to that of Iraqi citizens with all granted rights but also postured as being in the vanguard of accomplishing democracy for Iraqi people and began interfering in the country’s domestic affairs.

Notwithstanding the ongoing challenges with the Government of Iraq, MKO has been the subject of many serious challenges and disputes for its defiance of legal and social laws in European countries and particularly in France, where its second headquarters are stationed. Some references to Antoine Gessler’s Autopsy of an Ideological Drift suffices to demonstrate that MKO’s presence in Auvers-Sur-Oise, the main strategic base for Mojahedin, has long been the center of many disputes with the French government. During their long stay there, Mojahedin have attempted to abuse the facilities for the achievement of their cultic and terrorist objectives and according to French D.S.T report, they have established another cultic-terrorist haunt in France. There are some more headlines as concrete evidences of violating and breaching asylum regulations according to Gessler’s.

1. Blatant defiance of the rules

Paris had required that the Iranian refugee leaders sign a written statement, containing the routine text promising to avoid all political activity on French soil. This would be respected for exactly two weeks.

2. Abuse of popular personalities

By hiding behind a broader front, the Mojahedin could manipulate Western public opinion as they wished. They had found the legitimacy that had eluded them for so many years.

3. Abuse of democratic capacities

Dramatizing simple situations, while distorting the facts to meet their own needs, the Mojahedin express their demands, published in press releases designed to create pity among the good people who are media consumers. They warn local authorities by subtle threats against them. In brief, they act in Europe as if they are in a conquered country.

According to our information, the organization does not use illegally obtained funds. On the other hand, the PMOI and some of its members are under indictment or civil action for misallocation of funds. This is notably the case in Germany, where significant sums of German private donations and State subsidies were used, in fact, for the purchase of arms for PMOI terrorists and militants in Iraq.

4. Violent behaviors in West

Yann Richard, researcher at the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI), considered a major specialist on Islam and author of Shi’ism and Islam, states that: “This group could probably be compared to the IRA or the PKK in its methods. These are rabid people who, should they actually come to power, would be worse than the present regime. They are bloody and violent madmen”?

“Concerning democratic freedoms, the sect has not yet accepted any other current of thought or any other identity but its own. In its small world and its international relations, everything is in place to punish its opponents. Prison, torture, secret executions, and dozens of other violations are common and in regular use by them against their ideological opponents. At this end of the 2O” Century, this is a blot on all humanity”.

The DST chief underscored how dangerous the PMOI was. It was more like a sect, a cult of personality for Massoud Rajavi and his wife. In 2001, the PMOI had claimed responsibility for more than 195 terrorist attacks on Iran from its base in Anvers-sur-Oise.

5. Launching attacks against embassies

“The People’s Mojahedin planned to attack Iranian diplomatic missions in Europe, except in France”, stated the Director of French Counter-Terrorism during a press conference.

It was, among other reasons, through fear of serving as a sanctuary for the PMOI’s subversive activities that France decided to strike the group so strongly. As M. Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, Director of Territorial Surveillance (DST), made clear, his agents were not acting on ground they did not know. “Just for 2001, there were 195 attacks and terrorist actions against Iran claimed in statements from Auvers-sur-Oise,” he medicated. He added: “We have learned that they were planning actions outside Iran, aimed notably at Iranian diplomatic missions in Europe. This is a future danger, but a clear one”.

6. Abuse of children for fundraising activities

As stated in the US State Department’s released list of designated terrorist organizations concerning MKO, “In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics”. It also asserted that MKO’s members are required to undertake a vow of “eternal divorce” and that children are reportedly separated from parents at a young age. After separating children from their parents, these innocent children were sent to Western countries to take part in the street fund-raising activities under false pretences of being homeless Iranian children whose parents were executed by Iranian regime.

Reported by the LA Times quoting the FBI, “MKO members in the name of a Charity Committee for the Defense of Human Rights collected money from passengers, mostly Asians, under the false pretenses of helping refugees. They showed the photos of children suffering from hunger and apparently victims of mistreatment and torture in Iran. In this way, they gained the sympathy of passengers by telling them that they want the money to help the refugees.” (Nimrouz, No. 628, March 10, 2000, page 1 and 49.)

7. Establishing an international HQ in West

According to the French intelligence services, the Mojahedin’s aim was to move their “world operational centre” — previously based in Baghdad — to the Val d’Oise. If the searches of about 20 sites in the Val d’Oise did not turn up arms or explosives, the Rajavi’s villa was, nonetheless, ‘a real Fort Apache’. “We were surprised by the security systems,” stated Pierre de Bousquet de Florian. “We found between 8 and 9 million US dollars in cash, as well as systems for coded communications”.

According to an Interior Ministry source, Auvers-sur-Oise had been turned into the Mojahedin’s “International HQ”. Up until March-April [2003], their command structure was in Iraq and only moved with the outbreak of war.

8. Security threat

No European country denies the espionage potentiality of MKO that well threatens the state and social security of any country. The accumulation of sophisticated apparatus in a base where came under the raid of French police needs no further explanation: “Almost 200 parabolic antennas and a hundred computers were seized. Their examination should allow the investigators to sharpen their knowledge of the financial circuits financing the PMOI, which run through several countries and many bank accounts. During their searches, investigators also found radio scanners tuned to police frequencies”.

9. Wounding public emotions

The day after the police operation against the People’s Mojahedin in the Paris suburbs, European and world public opinion were shocked to discover individuals voluntarily turning themselves into human torches.

What level of fanaticism could push seemingly sane and healthy people to such extremes? Moreover, some of the “spectators” tried to block the access of rescue services which could have saved the victims’ lives. The French judicial system could only note the facts and prevent any repetition.

“Two Iranians suspected of preventing the intervention of rescuers while a woman was immolating herself in front of DST headquarters in Paris 011 Wednesday will be brought before an instructional magistrate for their criminal investigation.

French Government spokesperson, Jean-Francois Cope, considered these self-immolations as “obviously, extremely dramatic”. He added, “Alas! It also tells us a great deal about the mindset of their leadership”.

10. Money laundering and financing

One of the big unknowns remains the PMOI’s financing. Must we believe Maryam Rajavi when she flatly claims that the money all comes from fundraising among the Mojahedin and their supporters? This was notably the case in explaining the millions of dollars uncovered during “Operation Theo”. This is just the tip of the iceberg. The PMOI has a lot more at its disposal:

“… Maryam Rajavi rejoiced Thursday when she was freed thanks to the payment of 80,000 euros fixed by the Paris Court of Appeals. The bail was paid as of Thursday morning at the Paris Appeals Court’s administrative offices. Maryam Rajavi has been jailed since 21 June…

As to the 8 million dollars (7 million euros) found in the different homes of Iranian opposition members in Auvers-sur-Oise, Mrs Rajavi insisted that these funds belonged to the Iranian resistance: ‘Not a euro, not a dollar comes from any government or any country,’ she guaranteed, ‘Even if I am not informed of the details, I am sure that the movement can account to the judicial system for each cent’.

This statement is in serious contradiction with the police investigators who all note that large amounts of PMOI money circulate around the world through “dirty” networks.

11. Defying refugees’ rights

MKO has been recognized responsible for a variety of antisocial behaviors against its own defectors living in countries where they have been granted asylum. There are many cases of attacking their meetings and rallies in European countries and injuring them as well as direct and indirect threats. Many of former members have accused MKO of physical and psychological threats after their separation and starting a new life as European citizens.

12. Illegal cross-border travels

Members of the organization used false passports to travel to European countries and raise funds to buy arms and pay for their propaganda.

13. Escalation of costs and surveillance measures

Acceptance of refugees like members of MKO imposes extra costs on any country as has already imposed on France. The boss of France’s Direction for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST), Prefect Pierre de Bousquet confirms the danger posed by MKO:

“But it was the indirect consequences of the American intervention in Iraq that pushed us to accelerate our actions. The concomitant factors of the retreat to Auvers-sur-Oise of its leaders, veteran soldiers and intelligence officers coming to us from many sources were convincing. We could see that the PMOI aimed to establish its new world HQ in France, now that it had lost its Iraqi bases. For reasons of principle, as well as the presence of risks to our fellow citizens, we could not accept these developments”.

14. Operating under aliases

The main problem arises when a group, mostly a proscribed one, comes to operate under a variety of aliases or forms affiliated groups and associations that actually serve to fulfill the objectives of the mother group. MKO is one of the best examples. As described by the US State Department Report on the group: “The MKO’s penchant for aliases has created some confusion. The group’s original Persian name, the Sazeman-e Mojahedin-e Khalq-e Iran, has been shortened and translated into several commonly-used monikers: the Mojahedin-e Khalq, the Mojahedin, the MKO, the Mek, the people’s Mojahedin of Iran, and the PMOI. Currently, the group favors the “PMOI” appellation. The Mojahedin’s deliberate use of the name of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCR) also is misleading”.

MKO’s umbrella associations active only in England outnumbers 20, not speaking of a lot more active in other countries. The fact will reveal the extent of the jeopardy of offshoots of a terrorist organization. None of these organizations and unions was known to be the aliases of MKO when they were permitted to be established.

15. Provoking crises

According to French police, the raid on 17 June 2003 was “one of the biggest undertaken by the DST (French Counter-intelligence) in the last 30 years”. International press agencies reported that it was the result of more than three years of investigation. The post-raid incidents set of one of the serious, unprecedented crisis in France and other European countries. A number of the group’s insiders immolated themselves in public to protest Maryam Rajavi’s arrest. According to reports issued by Mojahedin, “16 people attempted to set themselves alight in three days in Paris, Berne, Rome, London, Ottawa, Athens and Nicosia”. The human tragedy ended with two deaths; two women, Sediqeh Mojaveri, 44-year-old, and Neda Hassani, 19-year-old, died because of the self-immolation injuries.

And there are many more to mention. The European countries as well as other the UN state members have witnessed MKO’s violent reactions to the Iraqi government’s decision to evacuate Ashraf and it agreed to relocate after inflicting many deaths and injuries on the both sides. It might be a scenario repeated in any country where they will be resettled. Besides, Rajavi in his recent message to his disciples has compared them to “ready to launch missiles”. As a result, is it logical in any way to jeopardize the internal security and political relations of a country just for receiving these residents?

The past experiences, at least for the France, has proved that you let some ranking members or leaders of MKO in a country and others will follow and open their way through the abuse of existing gaps in democratic rules and political leverages. While a country that houses them is expected to fully adhere to the principles and regulations and behave them according to international commitments, the group abides by no promise to respect any code of social and political behavior. However, there might be some countries that out of humanitarian concerns and under some external pressures or for political concerns yield and let some to settle on their soil. But they are well aware that they have to bear serious consequences, the first of which will be an angry and strong reaction from the side of Iran that pushes it even to reconsider its diplomatic relations, if it has any. How the public opinion and the opponent parties react is another question.

May 10, 2012 0 comments

UN Rapporteur Admits: Iran Victim of MKO Terrorism

The UN Special Reporter for Human Rights in Iran, Ahmed Shaheed, admitted in his new report that the Iranian people have been a victim of the terrorist activities carried out by the members of UN Rapporteur Admits in New Report: Iran Victim of MKO Terrorism the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

"For the first time, it has been explicitly mentioned in a report by the UN special rapporteur that based on documents, 17,000 Iranian people have been targeted by MKO’s violence, and that the country is a victim of terrorism," Secretary-General of Iran’s Habilian Association – a human rights group formed by the families of 17,000 terror victims in Iran – Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad told FNA on Saturday.

He said that the development took place after Iran presented a number of documents to Shaheed in September about the crimes committed by the MKO against the Iranian government and nation and the support provided by the Zionist regime and certain western countries for the terrorist group.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

The MKO started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled from Iran to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in Western states and blocks their departure afterwards.

The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi – the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.

Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.

He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in Western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.

Iraq had announced earlier this year that members of the terrorist group must leave by the end of 2011.

May 6, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Why delisting the MKO is a threat for peace?

To illuminate the minds of those who wonder why supporting Mujahedin Khalq Organization Why delisting the MKO is a threat for peace? cause danger to the world, we should have a look at various records on the history and current practices of the group. There have been various documented reports on the MKO including reports by RAND Corporation, 2009 and HRW’s “No Exit”, 2005 but recent analysis on the group and its supporters in the West sheds light on the potential threat of harboring a terrorist designated cult.

After the last enlightening article by Seymour Hersh on the American financial and military support for the group a large number of analysts and journalists commented on the issue criticizing the US government for their double standards towards terrorists.

Members of the MKO are so notoriously famous that no country is willing to accept them. Their fate in Iraq is uncertain. Martin kobler, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) warns that finding a place for the group members after they leave Iraq “is the most difficult part of the story”. No country is willing to accept a number of brainwashed, isolated military trained cult-like insurgents. Josh Rogin of the cable also suggests that part of the difficulty of dealing with the MEK is that they have been cut off from the world for years and little is known about their individual histories.[1]
Having been isolated in a Camp in Iraqi deserts, under sever mind control techniques, the MKO have turned into a cult of personality that Jeremiah Goulka truly describes:

“I studied the MEK for the U.S. military and visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK facility 40 miles north of Baghdad. I also interviewed former MEK members. As Human Rights Watch also concluded, I saw that the MEK is a cult. It uses brainwashing, sleep deprivation, and forced labor to indoctrinate members. It segregates men from women, mandates celibacy, forces married members to divorce (except for its leaders), and separates families and friends who must seek permission just to converse.

MEK members must report their private sexual thoughts at group meetings and endure public shaming. In a Catch-22, those who deny having sexual thoughts are accused of hiding them and shamed, too. The cult has but one purpose: to put itself in charge in Iran.”[2]

Goulka concludes that an MEK regime in Iran will bring neither liberty nor justice.

The MKO is often described by as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies”. Former members of the group interviewed by various human rights bodies and journalists explain how they were victims of the totalitarian cult like organization. Owen Benett Jones in recent article on BBC “An Iranian Mystery: just who are the MEK” clarifies the two sides of positions towards the group. He himself wonders who to believe, former members who are either” embittered “or “broken”; or western supporters of the group who are either financially “motivated” or just “naïve”. However, he comes to a conclusion with his dilemma:” in over 25 years of reporting .I’ve been lied to often enough but, as successive former MEK members told what they had been through, their tears seemed real enough to me.”[3]

The MKO has also a four-decade history of violence, assassination and espionage against the Iranian people and authorities, as well as targeting American military and civilians living in Iran in the 1970’s. Tony Cartalucci also strongly criticizes Western support for the MKO as “treason and overt criminality”. He writes about the group’s terrorist acts:

"Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), has carried out decades of brutal terrorist attacks, assassinations, and espionage against the Iranian government and its people, as well as targeting Americans including the attempted kidnapping of US Ambassador Douglas MacArthur II, the attempted assassination of USAF Brigadier General Harold Price, the successful assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Louis Lee Hawkins, the double assassinations of Colonel Paul Shaffer and Lieutenant Colonel Jack Turner, and the successful ambush and killing of American Rockwell International employees William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard.

"Admissions to the deaths of the Rockwell International employees can be found within a report written by former US State Department and Department of Defense official Lincoln Bloomfield Jr. on behalf of the lobbying firm Akin Gump in an attempt to dismiss concerns over MEK’s violent past and how it connects to its current campaign of armed terror – a testament to the depths of depravity from which Washington and London lobbyists operate."[4]

But why is that the MKO can gain such a support from the West although it is literally a cult-like terrorist organization?

Actually, the MKO foists itself as a democratic freedom lover organization. Goulka writes about the MKO’s propaganda and how western figures are trapped by it:

"The MEK presents itself well and is good at running “Astroturf” campaigns. Its NCRI is a self-proclaimed “parliament in exile,” dedicated to the principles of western liberal democracy. Over the years, lots of American civilian and military officials have failed to do their homework and fallen for the MEK’s sales spiel, excited as they were to hear what they wanted to hear. (If something sounds too good to be true…)"[5]

What is the potential danger of harboring a terrorist cult?

As it is widely known by different reports, the MKO is more than a terrorist group, it is a cult of personality, around a disappeared leader, Massoud Rajavi very similar to that of Al-Qaida around Osama bin Ladan, maybe more dangerous. Giving financial and military support to members of a cult of personality with a history of numerous terrorist attacks may hardly endanger the Iranian National security because the cult of Rajavi barely has supporters inside Iran. Most Iranians view them as traitors. But, it will risk the US national security. Removing the MKO from US list of Foreign Terrorist Organization will allow the MKO to act –even more freely– in the US society. Members who are totally obedient to their leaders will not hesitate to run their cause in a western free environment –where they can accelerate the leaders ambitions for power achievement in Tehran. To gain such a goal war with Iran would be inevitable and more American soldiers would go to endless battles and more taxpayers’ dollars would d be spent for the so-called US national security – which is already threatened by the cult of Rajavi. The MKO is a key for war and insecurity not only for Iran and the region but for the US national security.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]Rogin, Josh, U.N. Iraq chief:the countries of the world must take MEK ‘refugees’, The Cable, April26,2012
[2]Goulka, Jeremia, THE IRAN HAWKS FAVORITE TERROR GROUP, Salon.com, March 28, 2012
[3] Benett Jones, Owen, An Iranian mystery: just who are the MEK?, BBC, April16,2012
[4]Cartalucci, Tony, US State Department Hands Terror Cult US Base in Iraq, Infowars.com, March 9, 2012
[5]Goulka, Jeremia, INVESTIGATINS BEGIN INTO MEK SUPPORTERS, Salon.com, March28, 2012

May 3, 2012 0 comments

Iran

Speaker lambasts UNSC silence on assassination of Iranian scientists

Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani lashed out at the UN Security Council for keeping mum about the assassination of Iranian scientists by the Zionist regime of Israel.

"The Security Council which is so watchful (of world events) didn’t even frown at the Zionist regime (for the assassination of the Iranian scientists)," Larijani said in Tehran on Monday, blasting the silence shown by the international bodies on Tel Aviv’s terror attacks against the lives of Iranian nationals and elites and implying that the world body is under the influence of the Zionist regime of Israel.

He reminded that the Iranian scientists were assassinated in blatant violation of all international laws, and said the measure is an inhumane and inhuman act carried out merely for the sake of grudge.

Meantime, he played down the boastful remarks uttered by Israeli officials about the assassination of Iranian scientists to buy themselves credit, saying that killing a person is not so much complicated a task and only proves a regime’s lack of moral values.

In the fifth attack of its kind in two years, Israeli agents assassinated a 32-year-old Iranian scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, and his driver on January 11, 2012.

The blast took place on the second anniversary of the martyrdom of Iranian university professor and nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was also assassinated in a terrorist bomb attack in Tehran in January 2010.

The assassination method used in the bombing was similar to the 2010 terrorist bomb attacks against the then university professor, Fereidoun Abbassi Davani – who is now the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization – and his colleague Majid Shahriari. While Abbasi Davani survived the attack, Shahriari was martyred.

Another Iranian scientist, Dariush Rezaeinejad, was also assassinated through the same method on 23 July 2011.

Reports said that the terrorist attacks on Iran’s scientists were joint operations by Israeli spy agents and the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).

The NBC News said in a report in February that Mossad has financed and trained the MKO to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

Two senior US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed to the NBC News that the MKO was to blame for the series of assassinations against Iranian nuclear scientists.

"All your inclinations are correct," said one of the officials while speaking about the group’s role in the assassinations and Tel Aviv’s support for the group.

The US officials said the US government was aware of the assassination campaign.

May 1, 2012 0 comments

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