Mujahedin Members and Self-immolation

The day a terrorist cult was raided

The decline of MKO began with the US-led invasion in 2003 of Iraq, where it had been exploited as Saddam’s mercenaries who had provided the MKO with sanctuary. Wearing a pro-democratic mask after her husband preferred to live in hideout, Maryam Rajavi reorganized the group’s headquarters in Auvers-Sur-Oise, north of Paris, to give the organization a new go.

On 16 June 2003 the French best-known anti-terrorist judge, Jean Louis Bruguiere, issued a detention order accusing MKO of "terrorist activities, association with a terrorist organization and financing terrorist operations". Shortly after 6 am on 17 June 2003 more than 1.200 police and gendarmerie forces launched the largest police operation in three decades to raid 13 MKO-run offices in outskirts of Paris. The main target was the office of MKO at Auvers-sur-Oise and Police arrested 164 suspected Mojahedin cadres as well as Maryam Rajavi, the leader.

In the next few days, people in some Western cities were shocked to witness one of the most appalling potentialities of Mojahedin; a number of the group’s insiders set themselves on fire just before the eyes of people in public to protest MaryamRajavi’s arrest. According to reports issued by Mojahedin itself, “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 sever burnings.

The self burnings proved, for those yet in doubt, that MKO preserved the characteristics of both a terrorist group and a cult. Following the classic techniques of cults, Mojahedin relies on psychological manipulation and brainwashing to mesmerize the insiders to follow the orders, one of which is to set themselves on fire whenever commanded to accomplish cultic ends of the organization.

June 18, 2009 0 comment

Auver-sur-Oise

Formation of a cultic ashram in Auvers

The admirers of Vincent Van Gogh can hardly resist spending a few hours in the French village of Auvers-Sur-Oise where the great artist spent his last days. Describing the place in a letter addressed to his brother, the painter once wrote “Really, it’s seriously pretty; it’s open countryside, characteristic and picturesque”. He was right and it hasn’t changed so very much since then, except for the established headquarters of Mojahedin Khalq cult on Rue des Gords since early 1980’s. Known to be the residence of Maryam Rajavi, the cult’s vice-guru leading the organization in the absence of her husband, to many it seems like a castle of mystery that leaks no information of what is going on inside.

It was only on the morning of 17 June 2003 when French SWAT teams went over the walls and broke into its headquarters for the first time to discover what was going on therein. It was only a few months after Nicolas Sarkozy became Interior minister that the French authorities began to suspect cult practices and terrorist activities within the highly guarded headquarters. It was mostly because mobs of members were swarming back from Iraq to their French enclave following Saddam’s fall, a globally despised dictator to whom they were notoriously known to be serving as mercenary pawns. And the aroused suspicion in French authorities proved to be well justified.

The shocking finding was not many illegal instruments, communication devices and big sums of money discovered and seized, but the raid’s aftermath. Maryam Radjavi was arrested and as a protest, several members of the cult set themselves on fire. Parisian could not believe the human torches running right before their eyes in the broad daylight. The tragic scene is best depicted by the French reporter, Alain Chevalerias, in his Brûlé Vif (Burned Alive):

June 18, 2003, on Wednesday we were in Paris. Street Nelaton, in the 15th district, about ten individuals gathered in front of the offices of the ministry of the interior. They had the air of eastern people. Chanting vague slogans, they shook brandish flags and the big photos of a smiling woman in their hands. Without going to preoccupy building, the police officials ascended the markets of it to begin their operation. It was 9:25. It was hot.

Suddenly, a scream tore the air. A little further in front of the line of the aerial subway, the flames were flying in the air. A man ran in the scene. Policemen intervened. It was too late; In the dark a monstrous figure was standing on the restless ground of soubresaut. The victim was obvious. She was an Iranian. The same country as theirs, she was a 42 year old woman called Marzieh Babakhani. She wanted to sacrifice herself by the fire to obtain the liberation of the woman whose picture floated above the small assembled crowd, to some extent, in front of the ministry of the interior. Urgently transported to the hospital Cochin, the insured’s soul returned in the evening.

In the midday, having splashed gasoline on her another was transformed to the same place. She introduced herself Sedighieh Mohageri and said she was 38 years old. Later in the afternoon, Mohammad vakilifard, a man of 46 years repeated the fatal gesture. An epidemic of suicides by the fire seemed to win the planet: the very day, a man in Bern; the day before and the next day four in London; two again in Rome and another in Ottawa.

The human tragedy ended with two deaths. For Pierre de Bousquet de Florian, the director of the DST, the decision taken by authorities was justified, "There was a danger for our country and our fellow-countrymen”.

Now leading France as its President, Nicolas Sarkozy is counted on not to have forgotten about this very controversial organization in France and in the world and the dangerous bunch of cultists who are dominating Auvers-sur-Oise. Any cult needs to found its own ashram as did Franklin Jones in Lake County, California or that of David Koresh located in Mount Carmel near Waco, Texas. That is also the case with Mojahedin in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise, a complex that is highly controlled. The residents are not free to go wherever they want in spite of having obtained political refugee status in France; no gate opens to let anybody in or out unless they carry a required written authorization.

It will not take long to turn this picturesque French village into a complete ashram for Mojahedin Khalq if their comrades in Camp Ashraf join them with a show of good-will from the French part. And, of course, the shining, smiling pictures of Maryam Rajavi will outdo those of Van Gogh if French MIVILUDES (Inter-ministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances) fails to take precautionary measures to fully monitor the activities of the organization. Eyes are needed to watch it from the within before it is too late.

Rania Negargar

May 3, 2009 0 comment

The cult of Rajavi

MKO Suicide bombers

The Use of the Philosophy of Martyrdom within Religious Cults for Acts of Terrorism

Martyrdom as an asset for a cult:

Martyrdom for the majority of people from different faiths and nationalities might be an honour, an example of people standing by their values and principals; and perhaps for some the promise of heaven. Some even might believe that their martyred friend or relative, can take seventy of their family and friends to heaven with themselves. But for a cult like Assassins in 11th century or Al-Qaeda or Mojahedin of Iran, martyrs are the greatest assets of all. They gain legitimacy for their goals and the rightness of their path by the number of their martyrs and how brave they were or how horribly they were killed.

Although one might say that the modern history of suicide attacks started with the Japanese Kamikazes. But I think the new phenomenon called suicide bombers started with the Mojahedin’s suicide attacks against Iranian authorities during 1980’s. Let me read part of the will of one of them mentioned in the publication of MKO 19th of June 1982, Gohar AdabAvaz. She killed the Friday Prayer Imam of Shiraz after praying with a few others who were present there. She writes in her will, “I don’t think my life belongs to me, it belongs to God and the people and the Mojahedin organization. If a new path can be opened with my life, then I will be very happy that I be small token in this path. I have chosen this path knowingly, and am waiting that moment of martyrdom, impatiently.”

Let me conclude that the use of the rich philosophy of martyrdom within a cult has given new meaning to martyrdom; it has changed it into new tools for materialization of the goals of the cult.

For example in 2003 when the co-leader of the Mojahedin; Maryam Rajavi was arrested for few days in France, eleven members of the organization set themselves on fire in front of the French embassies in several countries and two of them, one in London, were killed as a result.

Tom Spender, in new shoppers, writes about one of those who set himself on fire in London but survived. He writes:” Hamid, 21, of Lanacre Avenue, Grahame Park, was one of several Iranians across Europe to register the most extreme of protests at the arrest in France of about 160 members of the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI) – including the group’s leader Maryam Rajavi…. What followed stunned the Western world. Images of men and women silhouetted in flames on the streets of London and Paris dominated the television news. One Iranian in London, Neda Hassani, a 26-year-old Canadian computer science student, later died of her burns. Another woman in Paris also died.” When Hamid is asked why did he set himself on fire? He replies:” "I wanted to shock the world. Injustices are committed all over the world but most of them are not reported well.” And when he asked if he regret? He replies:” It was definitely worth it. I have not for one second thought that I shouldn’t have done it.”

If they can set themselves on fire over the arrest of their leader, what can stop them from using martyrdom as a means for any end?

A scene from ceremony of signing an oath with Mojahedin’s leader in Iraq.

Self burning of a Mojahedin’s member in Paris after arrest of Maryam Rajavi. 2003

April 5, 2009 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Is Iran’s MEK a Threat to the Islamist Regime?

The People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), more commonly known as the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (“people’s mujahideen”; MEK), is one of the most organized and controversial Iranian opposition groups. Although it maintains an armed wing—known as the National Liberation Army (NLA)—and numerous front organizations, it derives its greatest strength from the slick lobbying and propaganda machine it operates in the United States and Europe. The MEK also boasts extensive support within U.S. government and policy circles, including many of the most vocal advocates of a U.S. invasion of Iran [1].

The MEK remains on the list of banned terrorist organizations in the United States and European Union (EU). Both parties have indicated no intention of reconsidering their positions. The May 7 decision by the United Kingdom’s Court of Appeal to overrule the British government’s inclusion of the MEK on its list of banned terrorist organizations, however, may pave the way for both the United States and EU to reassess their positions regarding the MEK down the line. Given the MEK’s history of violence and its willingness to act as a proxy force against Iran, such a move would represent a major escalation in hostilities between the United States and Iran, with consequences in Iraq and beyond.

Ideology

The MEK is an obscure organization with a long history of violence and opposition activities. It emerged in the 1960s, composed of college students and leftist intellectuals loyal to Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadeq; the popular leftist nationalist prime minister was deposed by a U.S.- and U.K.-backed coup in 1953 that restored Mohammad Reza Shah to power. Its revolutionary zeal combined aspects of Marxist and Islamist ideologies in pursuit of its goal to overthrow the U.S.-backed shah through armed resistance and terrorism. Its primary targets in the 1970s included ranking officials and symbols of the shah’s regime, both within and outside of Iran. The regime responded in kind with brutal repression through SAVAK, the shah’s notorious domestic intelligence apparatus. Thousands of members and associates of MEK were killed, tortured and jailed during this period. Consequently, like many Iranians at the time, the MEK viewed the Islamist opposition as a positive force for change. The MEK supported the revolutionary forces and the 1979 seizure of the U.S. Embassy and subsequent hostage crisis led by student activists in Tehran. The group’s unique brand of Marxism and Islamism, however, would bring it into conflict with the rigid Shiite Islamism espoused by the post-revolutionary government. The failure of a June 1981 coup attempt intended to oust Ayatollah Khomeini elicited a massive crackdown by the regime against the MEK, forcing the group’s leaders and thousands of members into exile in Europe. When France ousted operational elements of the group in 1986, many made their way to Iraq, where they joined Saddam Hussein’s war effort against Iran and enjoyed a safe haven [2].

Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, a charismatic husband and wife team that fled into exile in Europe, lead the MEK. From her base in France, Maryam Rajavi currently holds the position of “President-Elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)” after her husband’s disappearance sometime in 2003. He is presumed to be in hiding [3]. The Rajavis enjoy a fanatical cult-like following among MEK members and supporters [4]. The group’s cult-like character was displayed when 16 followers of the Rajavis staged dramatic public acts of self-immolation over a period of three days in June 2003 across major European and Canadian cities. The protests followed the arrest of Maryam Rajavi and 160 of her followers after a French court ruled that the MEK and its numerous front groups constituted a terrorist organization. According to former members of the group, the MEK’s “human torches” are a testament to the stranglehold the Rajavis have over their followers and the extent to which members are brainwashed and manipulated psychologically into blindly following them. The MEK is reported to maintain a list of volunteers ready and willing to perform acts of self-immolation on the orders of the leadership [5]. Like other cults, MEK members are often separated from their children and families and discouraged from maintaining contact with individuals outside of the group. Former members who defected from the MEK describe the Rajavis as autocrats who demand unquestioned loyalty from their followers (pars-iran.com, January 30, 2006).

Women make up a significant contingent of the MEK’s ranks, especially in its armed wing. In addition to its Marxist and Islamist pedigrees, the rise of the Rajavis to the group’s leadership led to the introduction of feminist ideologies into the group’s discourse. This aspect of the MEK’s ideology indicates their attempt to tap into local grievances and international sympathy regarding the position of women in the Islamic Republic [6]. In this regard, the MEK presents itself as a liberal and democratic alternative to the rigid brand of Islamism espoused by the ruling clerics, an image it has cultivated in U.S. and Western policy circles to great effect [7]. The U.K. court based its ruling on the premise that the MEK has renounced violence and terrorism, and that it currently maintains no operational capability to execute future acts of violence.

Violence and Terrorism

The MEK’s long history of violence and terrorism includes the abduction and assassination of ranking Iranian political and military officials under the shah in the 1970s, as well as attacks against the clerical establishment throughout the 1980s. Foreign-based MEK operatives also targeted Iranian embassies abroad in a series of attacks. MEK militants struck diplomatic officials and foreign business interests in Iran under both the shah and the Islamists in an effort to undermine investor confidence and regime stability. Furthermore, the MEK targeted and killed Americans living and working in Iran in the 1970s, namely U.S. military and civilian contractors working on defense-related projects in Tehran (mkowatch.com). The group has never been known to target civilians directly, though its use of tactics such as mortar barrages and ambushes in busy areas have often resulted in civilian casualties.

In addition, the MEK’s repertoire of operations includes suicide bombings, airline hijackings, ambushes, cross-border raids, RPG attacks, and artillery and tank barrages. Saddam Hussein exploited the MEK’s fervor during the Iran-Iraq war. In addition to providing the group with a sanctuary on Iraqi soil, Saddam supplied the MEK with weapons, tanks and armored vehicles, logistical support, and training at the group’s Camp Ashraf in Diyala Province near the Iranian border and other camps across Iraqi territory. In a sign of the group’s appreciation for Saddam’s generous hospitality and largesse, the MEK cooperated with Iraqi security forces in the brutal repression of uprisings led by Shiite Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens in 1991 [8]. MEK members also served alongside Iraq’s internal security forces and assisted in rooting out domestic opponents of the regime and other threats to Baathist rule.

Despite its history of high-profile attacks, the MEK never posed a serious threat to the Iranian regime. The group never enjoyed popular domestic support, despite its claims to the contrary. Many Iranians actively oppose the clerical regime and sympathize with segments of the opposition. At the same time, most Iranians also regard the MEK as traitorous for joining the Iraqi war effort against Iran and resent its use of violence and terrorism against Iranians at home and abroad (mkowatch.com).

Approximately 3,500 members of the MEK remain in Camp Ashraf. Following an agreement with U.S.-led Coalition forces, MEK units allowed Coalition forces to disarm the group. Decommissioned MEK units are currently under surveillance in Camp Ashraf. Their future status, however, remains a point of controversy. Despite their demobilization, Iran believes that the United States is holding on to the group as leverage in any future confrontation with the Islamic Republic (see Terrorism Monitor, February 9, 2006).

Political Activism

Although it has been disarmed, the MEK retains the capacity to remobilize, especially if it gains a state sponsor. Nevertheless, it is the MEK’s lobbying and propaganda machine in the United States and Europe that enables it to remain a relevant force in Middle East politics and a key factor in U.S.-Iranian tensions. The MEK’s political activism falls under the auspices of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)—an MEK political front organization that also serves as an umbrella movement representing various Iranian dissident groups. These efforts persist despite the fact that U.S. authorities ordered NCRI offices in Washington to shut down in 2003 (New York Observer, June 5, 2007).

From Iran’s perspective, the U.S. position on MEK is both ambiguous and at times hypocritical. On the one hand, the MEK remains on the U.S. State Department’s list of banned terrorist organizations, yet the group remains on Iraqi soil, albeit disarmed and under surveillance by Coalition forces. The MEK has cultivated a loyal following among an outspoken network of U.S. politicians, former and active government officials, members of the defense establishment, journalists and academics advocating violent regime change in Tehran. The MEK is even credited in some of these circles for disclosing aspects of the Iranian nuclear program [9]. At the same time, it is accused of fabricating intelligence information to boost its profile in the United States (Asia Times, March 4). With their call for regime change in Iran and pleas for international support, media-savvy MEK representatives based in the United States appear regularly on the cable news show circuit and other forums in Washington, DC in a campaign reminiscent of the one led by Ahmed Chalabi and the network of Iraqi exiles who mustered American support for the Iraq war [10]. The MEK has also gained legitimacy as a liberal and democratic force for positive change in Iran, despite evidence to the contrary.

Conclusion

The MEK will continue to capitalize on the ongoing tensions between the United States and Iran by enlisting the support of elements in Washington seeking a bargaining chip against Tehran. It is important, however, to see this bizarre organization for what it is; that is, to see through the façade of liberalism, democracy and human rights that it purports to represent through its propaganda. The well-documented experiences of scores of former MEK members are reason enough to consider this group and any of its claims with a healthy dose of skepticism.

Notes

1. See “U.S. Policy Options for Iran,” prepared by the Iran Policy Committee (IPC), February 10, 2005 at www.nci.org/05nci/02/IranPolicyCommittee.pdf.

2. For a historical narrative of the MEK’s formative years, see Ervand Abrahamian, The Iranian Mojahidin, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1992). For an insider’s perspective on the history of the MEK from a former member, see the website of Massoud Khodabandeh at www.khodabandeh.org/.

3. See “Cult of the Chameleon,” an al-Jazeera documentary on the MEK (broadcast October 17, 2007) at www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=3384. For an insider’s perspective on the cult-like character of the MEK, see the website of the Dissociated Members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran at pars-iran.com.

4. For an overview of the events of 2003, including graphic photographs of the acts of self-immolation, see “MKO Human Torches” at www.mojahedin.ws/art_pdfs/MKO-HUMAN-TORCHES.pdf.

5. For an overview of the MEK’s position on women, see Shahin Torabi, “Women in the Cult of Mojahdin,” March 5, 2003 at mojahedin.ws/article/show_en.php?id=653 and Sattar Orangi, “The Strives [sic] for the Freedom of Women,” March 13, 2008 at mojahedin.ws/news/text_news_en.php?id=1601.

6. A. Afshar, “The Positive Force of Terrorism,” October 10, 2006 at mojahedin.ws/news/text_news_en.php?id=842.

7. See “MKO and Massacre of Kurd and Turkmen Iraqis,” April 19, 2006 at pars-iran.com/en/?mod=view&id=664.

By: Chris Zambelis

http://www.jamestown.org/single/?no_cache=1&tx_ttnews%5Btt_news%5D=4950

March 7, 2009 0 comment

Massoud Rajavi

Reiteration of Paris self-burning disaster in Ashraf

Alert and alert, the West states must be on the highest alert and feel moral and political responsibility to prevent more disastrous incidents in Ashraf garrison which can terrorize then jeopardize the local peace and security.
Maryam Rajavi (Iranian Ben Laden) has already tested the success of such an adventurous experience in Paris in June 2003 to achieve her terrorist aims and political blackmails. so that, she issued an ideological command to her cult innocent and deceived members to resort holy self-burning suicide with the intention of de-stabilizing the French political atmosphere to impose her illegitimate conditions on French govt. not to extradite her to Iran because of her terrorist committed crimes in Iran. The price of such an adventurous action was the destruction of two tempting women in France in June 2003. The more delay the heavy human losses in the Ashraf garrison as occurred in Paris in June 2003. Therefore, as a separated ex- member of the “People Mujahidin Organization of Iran” (PMOI) who have been under inhuman psychological and physical torture by this chaotic sect cal l for the urgent and press actions and efforts without any hesitation to salve the live of thousands incarcerated innocent victims in Ashraf garrison situated in Iraq. If the West public opinion and political elites consider the demoniac and inflamed message of Maryam Rajavi’s husband who is the ideological leader of this cult, they will find out that the history is going to be repeated again and create a new Paris self-burning disaster in Ashraf garrison with the highest dimensions of creature of the human catastrophe. Masood Rajavi stimulated and encouraged the caged victims of Ashraf garrison to upheaval against Iraqi elect govt. sovereignty and not to obey the rules and regulations, which has been passed by Iraq constitutional assembly. He intimidated Iraqi govt. to imply with his illegal demands not to impose Iraq dominion over his unlawful self-govt. in the territory of Iraq. Otherwise, he will openly goad and compel his deceived innocent victims in Ashraf garrison to start a hunger strike and if they cannot get their demands from Iraqi govt., they must resort self-holocaust solution to make the West public opinion to support his illegal demands. The authentic sources familiar to his violent nature and characteristics believe that Masood Rajavi’s message is too bloodthirsty and full of intimidations, desperations, and self-contradictions and he does not care how many people will be on fire and killed in his self-created holocaust. Now, I, as a survivor of this terrorist cult ask the West public opinion and responsible authorities to take Masood Rajavi’s message serious to avert Masood Rajavi’s latent holocaust in Ashraf garrison. According to an Iranian axiom, “when you push a wild cat on the ring or on the corner of the room; the cat will scrape and claw you.” It means that when there is an absolute impasse and no alternative to rescue the live and change the conditions, the reaction of such wild animals with violent natures towards such dead end conditions are unexpected, desperate, vague, and outrageous. As a result, the reaction of wildcat is adventurous and violent, it may invade you by any weapon, and way and bomb commit either suicide or self-burning. Based on the past Masood Rajavi’s terrorist adventures in the occasions of impasse conditions and political catch-22, the experience shows that, he is always endeavoring to theorize his cultic conspiracies to prepare the atmosphere for terrorist adventures. That is why he used the language of threat in his message vs. Iraq elect govt. several times in different ways and tried to place the responsibility of his future prepared terrorist activities on the shoulder of Iraq govt. and the rest of the world. That is why; the most significant part of his message is that “the world can not be in the peace and security without the establishment of security in the Ashraf garrison” where is his main and key base for preparing terrorist activities. The reality is that, if the West states are not determine to take necessary action regarding Masood Rajavi’s expressed threats today, thus, tomorrow will be too late. Moreover, the human beings will face the reiteration of Paris self-burning disaster in Ashraf garrison with the highest terrible dimensions. Therefore, the fenced in Ashraf garrison victims are expecting the human consciences and human rights organizations not to hesitate in rescuing them.
Iranpeyvand

February 17, 2009 0 comment

France

Retarded Process in the Terrorist Case of June 17

Now it is five years since Jean-Louis Bruguière, the then the anti-terrorism investigative magistrate, first targeted Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), officially regarded as terrorists by the US and the European Union, and issued warrant for the arrest of Maryam Rajavi and a number of her accomplices for a multitude of terrorist charges. The officials in DST, French counter-intelligence, were well aware of the group’s terrorist nature when its HQs were raided. But hardly anybody surmised that the group would engage in immediate cult-like reactions against the arrest of its she-guru through widespread self-immolations consequently leading to two deaths to perturb the consequent effectiveness of any order and mostly to affect the process of the investigation. Now, on the anniversary of the cult-like self-burnings, the group pays tribute to the burned bodies which explicitly implies glorification of such anti-social feats for similar political accomplishments.

It is said that French justice moves slowly particularly in dealing with terror cases, but it seems that through all these years authorities in charge of investigating terrorist activities have been much inactive. Five years is too lengthy for investigating into the case of the terrorists that are freely roaming the streets of Paris and whose threats might cause greater social shock. Furthermore, the slow-moving process of the case has given the group the impression that French justice system is under legal restriction to issue the final order.

In spite of the delay, anti-terrorism experts have made a determined effort to curb the group’s terrorist threat by keeping the case open. After and beyond the allegations that initiated the case in June 2003, the group has been exposed to new charges that makes the case much more complicated to deal with. Not only has the group failed to present evidences to acquit itself of the charges, dissemination of new evidences such as reports of abusing its own insiders, repeated assertion of its re-designation in the US and the EU terror lists, threatening tone of the group against its defectors and reported instances of attacking them, its lobbying efforts to be removed from the terrorist lists, its description as a cult of personality, legal complaints of defectors and families to prosecute the organization for its anti-human activities against the members, the espionage activities to escalate tension in international affairs and between the countries and much more make it hard to believe that it will ever escape a just trial.

But the question still remains that multitude of such undeniable evidences being presented, why the case process is still on a slow-moving path? And on what justice system measures can it be justified? Unfortunately, it is MKO that, through its propaganda machine, is benefiting the most out of the delay. Evident as it is at the present, the June 17 and its aftermath has turned into a juncture for MKO to enjoy a cult-like victorious jubilance over the case and pulling mugs at French government and other concerned judicial and social bodies. Indirectly it says that any final judgment causing a frustration would provoke a bigger mob of human torches to run in the streets of Paris to lacerate public sentiments. In fact, it was in part through utilizing self-immolations of the June 17 that the organization could draw public attention and give rise to a public sympathy that in general may question long-lasted democratic achievements of France.

Incorporated in Massoud Rajavi’s message delivered from his hideout on July 3, 2007, the West and legal bodies as well as the group’s dissidents are unequivocally warned of a violent backlash. Believing himself to be above all laws, he also addresses the French government concerning the June 17 case saying: “The French government and judiciary should suspend the shameful dossier of June 17. This dossier is known to be the blackest smear in the European’s counter-terrorism moves in an attempt to appease the Iranian dictatorial theocracy”. It happened at a time when the group was facing new charges alongside the already met allegations.

It seems that the heavier MKO’s offences and felonies become, the bolder it becomes to get engaged in a vast propaganda blitz to press social and international institutions. Through the past five years MKO has frequently criticized and badmouthed the French authorities as it is typical of the group when it is pinned down and its potentiality for violence is curbed. In fact, although France is known to be the only country in Europe which has centralized the investigation, prosecution and judgment of terrorist related cases, suspension of MKO’s dossier is dearly welcome by the group and the leaders promulgate it as “the Resistance’s great victory over futile June 17 coup” proclaiming that the case is void of reliable evidences and, thus, it has to be put off. For whatever reason the judgment of the case is deferred, however, it fails to be a matter of ongoing forever; it is the final judgment that matters and proves the efficiency of French legal system.

retarded process in the terrorist case of June 17

Mojahedin.ws – June 28, 2008

June 30, 2008 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq 's Function

The Chief Indictable Villains

Following the released reports of two Mojahedin-e Khalq members going on trial before a French court for allegedly helping a third member burn herself to death during a 2003 protest, the Mojahedin-run media are engaged in a vast propaganda blitz to disclaim allegations. The two are charged with ‘provoking suicide’ and allegedly providing gasoline for a woman to set herself on fire in broad daylight. The propaganda machine of the organization, by furnishing details from the trial, attempts to instill that:

– the committed self-immolations in Paris were unorganized but self-initiated deeds

– the deeds were carried out in opposition to the members’ presumed expulsion from France

– Mojahedin disclaim allegations of involving in terrorist acts against civilians and masterminding self-immolations

– the presence of at least one of the victims of the self-immolations, Marzieh Babakhani, in the course of the trial to announce that her self-burning was a self-decided act is a ploy to vindicate allegations of ‘provoking suicide’ and that, suicides were not pressured by the organization

– although not indicated in the file in the process, defendants insist to disapprove allegations of the group’s being engaged in cult-like activities

Any of the above cases can be discussed in detail, but of the importance is the absence of any acceptable evidence to acquit the defendants of the allegations. According to the existing videotaped evidences, the prosecution can charge that the two were not only aware of the suicide’s intention but also provided for her to commit self-burning. It alleges that the two men on trial were filmed on June 18, 2003, buying fuel from a gas station in the vicinity of the scene where she was abetted to set herself on fire.

In none of the defendants’ defences, as reported by Mojahedin-run media, there can be found evidences in relation to the file in process. For instance, the defense argues that Sediqheh Mojaveri, one of the two women who died of self-burning injuries, set herself ablaze because she had been threatened with expulsion from France to Iran. Not only there exists no evidence to her claimed cause of self-immolation, but in no way such defense acquits the suspects of their allegations. In fact, Mojahedin intend to distract the social opinion of the main issue for which the trial is set. Furthermore, they can present no proven evidence that the French government at the time had reversed her right to asylum.

Her expulsion as a refugee required certain procedures and her political condition as well as any possibility of risking her life would be taken into consideration. Besides, unless she had violated the regulations, the French government had no alibi for her expulsion. Indeed it raises a question that how two people contribute to the act of suicide for their third colleague to save her on the poor supposition that her life might be at risk.

The engagement of the refugees, being known as the members of a notorious terrorist cult, in such appalling activities in opposition to what is not beyond mere supposition indicate that Mojahedin hardly respect the regulations of the country wherein they have been granted asylum. It can also be concluded that they resort to cult-like practices against the civil and democratic laws of a country even before they are put into practice for any justifiable reason.

The propaganda scenario prepared by Mojahedin also attempts to clean Maryam Rajavi’s name of the allegations that her arrest was the cause to initiate such cult-like suicidal operations. But it is so easy a task to prove that encouragement of the members to commit self-immolation was an exalted strategy in the process of the organization’s ideological revolution as a working leverage against any made restriction by France. To wash Maryam Rajavi’s hands of the perpetrated self-immolations following her arrest, Mojahedin’s media quotes Pierre de Bousquet, the DST’s director at the time, saying “unfortunately, Mrs. Rajavi, because of the custody conditions, lost the opportunity of being immediately informed of the events happening outside to stop them”.

Such claims further prove the key role of Maryam Rajavi as Mojahedin’s she-guru to instigate or frustrate these cult activities. Even at the same time, Pierre de Bousquet had said the organisation could no longer claim that its aim was to defend human rights and bring about democracy. He said, as reported by the Observer, “The attempts at self-immolation to protest against the arrest of Madame Radjavi are proof of a new fanaticism. Auvers was to become the Mujahideen’s world headquarters after the loss of bases in Iraq.”

Stated in Mojahedin leaders’ messages at least in the past four years, suicidal activities have been advocated as working leverages against French legal bodies’ verdicts especially after the ruling of the European Court of Justice on December 12, 2006 to unfreeze the organization’s assets. Although the court has never ruled that MKO should be removed from the list of banned organisations, but under the pretext of the ruling, the organization chances orchestrating other activities.

How Mojahedin’s leaders accredit suicidal operations as solutions to encountered problems while denying cult allegations is a matter of consideration. The evidences being so evident, how can they convince the court that the committed self-immolations were the result of an abrupt and self-initiated outburst for personal reasons? And how do they justify their paradoxical mannerism of calling the victims of the immolations as heroes and martyrs?

Regardless of any verdict that the two suspects might face if convicted, for those who have developed a deep understanding of Mojahedin’s internal relations within Camp Ashraf and their European headquarters there remains no doubt that such suicidal activities are provoked by the organization itself. The two on the trial are not the only indictable suspects of the alarming elf-immolations. None of them can truly exemplify the model of the cult and terrorist entrepreneurs who, in both hideout and broad daylight, encourage and provoke such inhuman, undemocratic practices for ambitious, cult causes. They are the chief indictable villains escaping the law.

Bahar Irani – Mojahedin,ws – October 19, 2007

October 21, 2007 0 comment

The cult of Rajavi

Indoctrination of Suicidal Operations in MKO

A scrutiny into the internal relations of the cults, especially in their leaders’ manner of conveying orders to the members while they are absent, reveals that most of these orders are issued indirectly through tokens and expressions incorporated in the messages. But of course these tokens and expressions are thoroughly discussed and apprehended in a conducted series of inter-organizational instruction meetings. In the terrorist cult of Mojahedin-e Khalq, as it might be in other cults, it has been a preferably common approach at least for the last few years to prepare the members psychologically for unexpected and unplanned operations instead of giving direct commands. Nearly two decades before Mojahedin’s members first committed self-immolations in a number of the western countries in June 2003, Massoud Rajavi in his message delivered on the occasion of his marriage with Maryam Azodanlou (Maryam Rajavi) mentioned the suicidal self-immolations as indications of devotion and ideological loyalty:

I avouch once more that self-immolation and suicidal feats prove inferior compared with that redemption and sacrifice. As for Mojahedin at the present, self-sacrifice is the least they can do. From that day on, I saw no Mojahed and read no report unless they volunteered and dedicated for suicidal operations. Of course, it is not suicide but freedom and redemption. We are forerunners of vehemence regardless of how many innocent Iranians might be sacrificed. [1]

At the same meeting, Rajavi announced members’ preparedness for committing self-immolation which specifically indicated a coded revolutionary message:

Any reborn Mojahed carries certain codes and manners. I found identical codes and manners in anybody and any letter I encountered that day coming from inside or outside of the country; they all volunteered for suicidal operations, and each insisted to be the first. [2]

Ebrahim Khodabandeh, a detached member of MKO, reiterates that such modus operandi is common cult-like practices applied by majority of cults. The members are provoked to carry out feats rather than being given direct orders. As he instances in the case of his own arrest, the organization attempted to provoke his daughter to commit self-burning:

On some occasions, the organization refrains to issue direct orders; the members are instigated if they are to be indulged in an activity. He is made to believe he has made a self-generated decision. They never tell somebody, for example, to set himself on fire; they say ‘if I were you, I would set myself on fire’…. When I was arrested in Surya and were sent to Iran, the organization made an instant call to my daughter in London telling him I was under torture and was to be executed soon. They told him ‘if we were you, we would go before the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs and set ourselves on fire’. [3]

The wave of Mojahedin’s self-immolations in June 2007 in objection to Maryam Rajavi’s arrest by French police is the most explicit instance of cult activities practised by MKO. In contrast to the claims made by Maryam Rajavi that the parade of the human torches in Western countries was a matter of abrupt and self-initiated outburst, there are evidences that, as mentioned, a great number of members, through a showy avalanche of letters, volunteered for suicidal and self-burning operations as a proof of their yielding to the ideological revolution. In fact, the idea of self-immolation was first infused into the members by the leaders; it worked as a code for the members to endorse and follow.

Again and again Maryam Rajavi warns the Western states that self-immolations and suicidal operations are potential leverages to confront them against their legally adopted policies against Mojahedin. In a lecture addressing members, she maintained that such operations were consequent revolutionary accomplishments maintained by Mojahedin, and Massoud Rajavi was the only element who could deter perpetration of these operations:

Of the greatest accomplishments of your move was to make all came to know that it was only by the order of Massoud that you made no reaction when we headed for Iraq. You know well that you were all ready to disturb cities through your opposition. But it seems that your quiescence and the strict discipline led them to miscalculation. However, they had to make corrections the following year, and this year they might have learned a good lesson that it was only for Massoud’s command that we could confront them, a fact they are well aware. [4]

Heavily propagated by Mojahedin’s publications following Mojahedin’s first ideological revolution, self-burnings were highly approved as instances of heroic deeds. Published by Mojahedin’s organs we read:

Of the brilliant manifestations of Mojahedin’s loyalty and devotion that highlight the golden pages of Mojahedin’s heroic chapter are countless urges by members and sympathizers for self-burning as a means of displaying opposition and disclosure of the dictatorial intrigues. [5]

It should be pointed out that indoctrination of these suicidal operations is beyond limitations of boundaries; both Camp Ashraf residents and those active in Western countries equally receive persuading instructions:

The volunteers of the revolutionary self-burnings and similar suicidal operations consist both those who live in military camps and fight in forefronts of struggle against the regime and those who in different countries enthusiastically pursuit the accomplishment of Iranian’s modern revolution. [6]

Based on the mentioned facts, it can be concluded that committed suicidal operations by Mojahedin’s members are organizational indoctrinations. In fact, such feats are deliberately plotted cult-like ploys to fulfil the leaders’ ambitions. Applied in the same way as other cults, Mojahedin manipulate a variety of techniques and use impressive terms like heroic deeds, sacred and holy operations and a lot more to persuade members to commit suicidal operations. While denying any given command for such inhuman, abominable and cult-like deeds, Massoud Rajavi in his message acclaims self-burning operations and hails the victims:

Hail to Sedigheh and Neda, the two blazing torches and ever-glaring lights of freedom, and other 23 blazing heroes in 10 countries…. [7]

Sources:

[1]. Mojahed No. 253, Massoud Rajavi’s speech made on the occasion of his marriage with Maryam Azodanlou, 1975.

[2]. Ibid.

[3]. The lecture delivered by Ebrahim Khodabandeh at the Symposium of the Link between Cults and Terrorism held in Isfahan on October 2006.

[4]. Muslim Students Association’s Gazette No. 127.

[5]. Ibid.

[6]. Ibid.

[7]. Massoud Rajavi’s message delivered in July 2007.

Mojahedin.ws – Bahar Irani – October 16, 2007

October 21, 2007 0 comment

USA

“We oppose this organization. We don’t support it”

Part of Radio Farda’s interview with James Jeffrey is as follows:

The political scene of the US recently witnessed two controversial developments, namely the victory of Democrats in recent elections and the report of Iraq Study Group. Will these two development a beginning for a turn in US policies towards Iran?

Amir Mossaddegh Katuzian from Radio Farda posed this question for James Jeffrey Senior Advisor of Secretary of State in Near East Affairs and US policy-making on Iran.

– CQ quoted a former American official, who talked anonymously, that the US army has deployed a number of MKO members to Israel for military training and that some other of these members had been trained in Nevada Deserts earlier. Are you aware of that?

We have also heard about that report. When I was in Baghdad, I followed MKO’s status very carefully. We consider this group a terrorist organization. American forces watch the group so as not to allow them to act against anyone.

This is being performed in coordination with the Red Cross and UNHCR. This program is related to refugees’ affairs and I think these reports are baseless.

– Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the MKO, has disappeared since the fall of Saddam. No one has heard of him. New pictures of him have not been aired by MKO’s TV channel…

He is not in our custody. As far as we know he has never been in our custody. As far as I know he is in Western Europe or in the Middle East, but he is not in Camp Ashraf.

– Does it mean that he is out of Iraq, but he’s under US supervision?

We have no control over him. As the occupying force, according to UN resolutions, we are responsible for the MKO in Iraq. This only applies about the MKO.

Except this, we consider it a terrorist organization and like other terrorist groups such as PKK, Hamas, Hizballah and many others in the Middle East we oppose this organization. We don’t support it.

– What you said about the MKO means that changing Iranian regime is not on the agenda for the US?

What we observe is not to interfere in Iran’s internal affairs. This is related to the people of Iran. Changing regime is related to the people of Iran who would decide about its time. I hope democratic processes would let them do so. For instance, in the upcoming elections which we think is not healthy but we hope it could allow people to have a role in their future, even if limited.

Radio Farda, December 13, 2006

December 18, 2006 0 comment