The Threat of Cults

Camp Ashraf, the Micro Model of Future Iran!

Although you may be familiar with MKO’s rhetoric and its dual face when addressing the world outside versus its strongly closed internal fort, you could be possibly taken by surprise to hear its leaders once more reiterating brazenly what they dreamed for the future Iran with not in the least belief to what they publicize. Of course, majority of the gathering hired crowed in the Paris-Nord Exhibition Hall on June 28 hardly knew what Maryam Rajavi was saying in her speech because neither had they any basic information about the organization nor were they to be under any further aegis of MKO as its supporters.

The gathering was claimed to be incorporated representatives from the Iranian exile community residing in various countries in Europe, the United States and Canada but none from Camp Ashraf whose members the organization propagate as the backbone of the Iranian Resistance against Iranian regime. Camp Ashraf Camp Ashraf,the micro model of future Iran is also known to be the ideological preserver of the organization and a micro society upon which it intends to build the future Iranian society. Thus, whatever the organization suggests for Iran has to have been already tested within its miniature model of promised utopia, Camp Ashraf.

Here is what Maryam Rajavi puts forward in her speech: ‘The future Iran we are fighting for will be a society in which all Iranian citizens enjoy freedom of speech, belief, religion, clothing, and free access to information. Everyone will be equal before the law.’

Ashraf residents In his first organizational gathering after the initiation of the ideological revolution, Massoud Rajavi in depiction of the process to arrive at the intended utopia said: “All the discoveries are first made in a laboratory before being generalized. I hope we bring this wave to the surface of the society in the near future”. Of course, he meant his novel, unprecedented discoveries through an unconventional internal revolution that totally discarded traditional social values.

Honestly speaking, are Ashraf residents, locked up within high walls of a closely watched camp to represent an Iranian micro-society, enjoying ‘freedom of speech, belief, religion, clothing, and free access to information’? I think Maryam Rajvi knew well she was joking when she was saying these words. And I do hope the organization is removed from terror lists at least because the captured souls of Camp Ashraf will be granted the opportunity of attaining physical freedom out of a dangerous cult whose leader looks upon them as scapegoats for the accomplishment of his/her cult ambitions.

Sattar Orangi, Mojahedin.ws, June 30, 2008

http://www.mojahedin.ws/news/text_news_en.php?id=1727

July 1, 2008 0 comments

Raymond Tanter

IPC: Terrorist Financial Involvement

Rajavi cult Lobbyist exposed In a video posted online, Professor Raymond Tanter has denied that the Iran Policy Committee (IPC) is a lobbyist for the Iranian Communist MEK (MKO, PMOI, NCRI, Rajavi Cult, or Pol Pot of Iran) terrorists. The MEK is a communist terrorist organization responsible for killing large numbers of Iranians and Iraqis. The MEK has murdered American military officers and Rockwell International employees. In 2003, American and coalition forces attacked the communist terrorists at Camp Ashraf , Iraq . Now, the American military is protecting these terrorists. In June 2003, some members of the Rajavi Cult burned themselves in France and elsewhere to protest the arrest of a cult leader in France . However, published financial disclosures of the IPC show that Professor Tanter claims to work 20 hours per week for the IPC and receive only $5,000 per year in compensation. A September 2, 2007 meeting in France with NCRI leaders to negotiate an American divorce settlement provides a lead as to the financial arrangements between the IPC and the NCRI. On September 2, 2007, Professor Raymond Tanter and his wife, Constance Andresen-Tanter, met in France to discuss a proposed divorce settlement for a divorce case in America with Mohammad Mohaddessin and Sarvenaz (“Sarvi”) Chitsaz. Clare Lopez, a former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee and the former Executive Director of the Iran Policy Committee (IPC), testified in support of Constance Andresen-Tanter at a hearing before Associate Judge Michael Ryan about her involvement in this meeting: Tanter vs. Tanter, Superior Court of the District of Columbia , Family Division, Docket Number CPO3612-07, March 6, 2008.

Mohammad Mohaddessin is the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political front for the Iranian Communist MEK terrorists. http://www.ncr-iran.org/

He is the author of a book, Enemies of the Ayatollahs. See also an interview with him:

Mohammad Mohaddessin:”There Is No Such Thing as a Moderate Fundamentalist”

Middle East Quarterly

September 1995

http://www.meforum.org/article/267

Sarvenaz (“Sarvi”) Chitsaz is the Chairwoman of the Women’s Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). She speaks and writes about the plight of women in Iran . Her failure to defend Constance Andresen-Tanter in the divorce case provides additional evidence of the lies of the Rajavi Cultists about caring about women. For truthful accounts about mandatory divorces, assigned marriages, and other bizarre cult practices of the communist terrorists, read: Anne Singleton’s Saddam’s Private Army and Masoud Banisadr’s Masoud.

Tanter’s Denial

US Intelligence on Iran & the MEK

Friday, 30 March 2007

This investigative report produced by the Dateline programme probes into the role of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (the MEK) in providing intelligence related to the Iranian nuclear programme to the US . The MEK is a listed terrorist organisation, which is amongst the world’s most equipped and well armed, having under its control a functional military capability. Following the historic and infamous Iraq intelligence failures, this report questions once again the credibility of US intelligence sources.

http://www.aimislam.com/aim-tv/videos/us-intelligence-on-iran–the-mek

Form 990 Financial Disclosures

Unfortunately, the interviewer did not ask Professor Tanter who is funding the Iran Policy Committee (IPC). The current list of IPC Scholars and Fellows is:

James Akins, Ambassador (fmr.), IPC Advisory Council

Lt. Col. Bill Cowan, IPC Military Committee

R. Bruce McColm, IPC Empowerment Committee Chairman

Lt. General Thomas McInerney, USAF (ret.), IPC Advisory Council Chairman

Captain Charles T. Chuck Nash, USN (ret.) IPC Military Committee Cochairman

Lt. General Edward Rowny, IPC Military Committee

Raymond Tanter, IPC Cofounder

Major General Paul E. Vallely, USA (ret.), IPC Military Committee Cochairman

http://www.iranpolicy.org/

Viewers of the Fox News Channel will be familiar with some of these names.

The Iran Policy Committee, started in February 2005, has disclosed its not-for-profit status:

Not-for-Profit Status

Contributions payable to the Iran Policy Committee (IPC) are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. The Committee is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization and is publicly supported as described in 509(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Committee’s IRS identification number is 20-2883425

http://www.iranpolicy.org/mission.php

The Iran Policy Committee

Alban Towers , Suite L-34

3700 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington , DC 20016

Office: (202)249-1142

Fax: (202)249-1143

Email: info@iranpolicy.org

http://www.iranpolicy.org/contact.php

Currently, Guide Star shows that only an amended 2005 Form 990 has been filed.

http://www.guidestar.org/pqShowGsReport.do?partner=guidestar&npoId=100790851

Margaret Bartel, Bartel & Associates, 911 Duke Street , Alexandria , Virginia 22314 , Employer Identification Number 56-2581708, telephone (703) 548-4250, signed as the preparer the 2005 amended Form 990 on August 10, 2007.

Raymond Tanter signed, as IPC President, the 2005 amended Form 990 on August 14, 2007.

The IPC claimed to have received $115,000 of direct public support in 2005. Claimed compensation of officers and directors was $15,416.61:

Raymond Tanter, President, working 20 hours per week, received $5,000.00 for the entire year.

Bruce McColm, Co-Chair, working 6 hours per week, received $5,208.30 for the entire year.

Chuck Nash, Co-Chair, working 6 hours per week, received $5,208.30 for the entire year.

Claimed other salaries and wages were $26,557.65.

In Part VI-B of the 2005 amended Form 990, the IPC claimed not to be involved in lobbying activities to influence legislation at the national, state, or at the local levels, including no publications, mailings, direct contact with legislators or their staffs, and no rallies, demonstrations, seminars, conventions, speeches, or lectures. In Part III (page 3) of the 2005 amended Form 990, the IPC disclosed $101,686.85 of expenditures for:

“The Iran Policy Committee produced 3 major white papers on Iran and U.S. policy options. It also participated in five briefings on Iran to the U.S. Congress and conducted nine major presentations to audiences across the US , Canada and in Europe .”

There are no other postings of Form 990 for the IPC for the years since 2005 at Guide Star.

Divorce Settlement in France

There has been a divorce case (07 DRB 102) in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia , Family Court, Domestic Relations Branch, before Associate Judge Michael Ryan. However, on September 2, 2007, Raymond Tanter and Constance Andresen-Tanter met in France with NCRI leaders to negotiate a divorce settlement. Raymond Tanter offered to withdraw his petition for divorce and to pursue a non-contested divorce if Constance Andresen-Tanter would accept the return of her personal property in Apartment 507 of Alban Towers in Washington , DC plus a payment schedule for payments of $30,000 for bills and of $150,000 for her new life. At a hearing on March 5, 2008, Associate Judge J. Michael Ryan reviewed this settlement offer.

Defend Constance Andresen-Tanter

While Professor Raymond Tanter and the NCRI can pay large sums of money to attorneys, Constance Andresen-Tanter has no access to enough money to defend herself in court. Lawyers, political leaders, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), members of the media, literary agents, anti-war activists, women’s organizations, anti-communists, and opponents of the neo-conservatives (neo-Trotskyites) should come to the defense of Constance Andresen-Tanter and learn what is really happening at the Iran Policy Committee. Her contact information is: (212) 920-7748 mobile telephone Email: cwa_temp@yahoo.com Paul Sheldon Foote, June 27, 2008 http://360.yahoo.com/paulsheldonfoote

June 30, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Legal Measures to Combat Cult Violence

Infiltrating the cults & Building a public awareness to resist influence and unethical abuse of cults There are cults in our midst, more than the average citizen realizes, and these powerful groups infiltrate many areas of our lives. (Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst)

Public’s peripheral and private life is always susceptible to being infiltrated by a variety of cults that might threaten the social health through psychological damages or appalling cult-oriented operations. In the same way, infiltrating cults can to a great extent decrease their threats and stop whatever deliberate violence, criminal activities and other anti-social behavior plotted by the cults. Furthermore, majority of cult recruits are deceived by what cults falsely advertize and is totally different with what is actually practiced within the cults.

Cult-defined values and standards are usually kept concealed from the new Cult Violence recruits so as not to make a free approval and disapproval of the cult they are invited to join. If the targets are to join and exist in the cult, they must conform to the rules even if they are not privately accepted. Once joined, the targets have to conform to the cult’s standards regardless of having developed an awareness of the existing discrepancy between personal and social standards and those of the cult’s.

A well informed infiltrated agent may secretly help targets to develop awareness for a timely decision. But the greater jeopardy seems to be when cults plan to threaten the society with their menacing activities. It is even worse when the cult reveals to have an infrastructural terrorist nature. The Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI), for instance, is a terrorist cult that had proved to be a big threat for Pahlavi’s monarch before its fall following Iranian Islamic revolution. In one instance, infiltration into the organization not only stopped its terrorist operations but also led to the apprehension of almost all leading members and thus, immunizing the regime against the group’s threats for a while. Explaining on the event, Masoud Banisadr, a MKO’s ex-member, has said:

Masud Banisadr Mojahedin began their military operations in August 1971. Their first operations were designed to disrupt the extravagant celebrations of the 25-century anniversary of the monarchy. SAVAK [the Monarchy’s security-information apparatus] through one of the old member of Tudeh party, who was recruited by them, could infiltrate into Mojahedin and soon was able to arrest another sixty-six members. In the subsequent months, the group lost the whole of its original leadership through executions or street battles. 1

In spite of infiltrations into the organization to decrease the risk of its terrorist operations, it was a heavy cost for Iran’s revolutionary regime and the people as well. However, it has not been an unproductive preventive measure as another ex-member explains:

Another problem for the Mojahedin has been infiltration. The military attempts are failing due to the desperation of their recruitment policy, which has led to heavy infiltration of their ranks. The organisation is now so thoroughly infiltrated, that out of four recent terrorist attempts, three teams were immediately arrested at the border and the other one before they were able to undertake any action, because of intelligence that reached the regime via these infiltrators. 2

As cults have indeed influenced all types of people and infiltrated different aspects and contexts of social life, a public awareness deems necessary as another preventive measure against the spread of cults’ threats.

Considering it a duty, many established NGOs and groups, mainly formed by those who have suffered, that is to say, ex-members, parents and families, perceive themselves as caring and experienced in the suffering that cults inflict upon members. They are much more concerned about the dangers threatening society at large, as evidenced by the violence, criminal activities and other anti-social behavior in which cults have indulged. These groups can be of a great help in collaboration with legislative and judicial bodies to control cult activities and minimize their threats.

The relative balance of influence that these key groups play varies from country to country and is constantly changing according to the number of active cults and the degree of their threat. It has been suggested that these groups are primarily concerned about the dangers that cults pose for individuals and society, but they play an influential role for a widespread public awareness against destructive cults. Generally, the society blames the victims themselves who have been entrapped by the cults. As best explained by Singer:

We all are being influenced all the time. And we all are potentially vulnerable to a cult’s pitch, especially as our society becomes more and more commercialized, violent and alienating, dishonest and corrupt, polarized and without structure. To counter the blaming mentality, we must, as a society, seek educational and informational preventive programs to teach about open versus deceptive recruitment and to expose the manipulative and unethical techniques used by various cults to keep members guiltily bound to the group. If you buy a pair of shoes that don’t fit, you can usually return them. But once you join a cult, it may be years before you get out. 3

The established NGOs can draw on the stories of worried, anxious relatives and even the unconventional ethical ideological practices within the cults to attract the attention of the media. If the media accept and reinforce the image of the reported cults and let the public picture them as intrinsically and typically sinister, bizarre, and a dangerous threat, such an image will become accepted as part of the conventional, taken for granted wisdom of the general population. This can lead to encouraging the public opinion to react in an increasingly negative fashion which can fan the flames of escalating antagonisms on the cults. The public need to be concerned about the threats of cults and as Singer concludes:

The psychotechnology of thought reform is not going away. It is also not harmless, as the apologists and cult spokespeople would have us believe. We have, in fact, seen cult techniques of persuasion and control become more skillful, more subtle, and damaging during the past two decades. Education, information, and vigilance are constantly needed to keep us, and our minds, free. 4

Unfortunately, sometimes the number of active cults and the propaganda machine run by them exceed the counter-cult associations and NGOs and the mass media show little interest to cover the related reports and news as it is a generally adopted policy not to talk of the cults. It is only when a cult has indulged in a task of unconventional nature or immolation for some religious or political end that the media dash to cover it. It was only early this month that the news came out with the reports of the removal of a total number of about 416 children, mostly teens, from a polygamist remote compound Ranch of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a breakaway Mormon sect. Hardly had anybody heard of the cult endangering the life of many innocent children abused in different ways by the cult.

It is not the first and will not be the last report of the children being abused by a cult. Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization also has long abused children and has separated them from their parents sending them away to countries far from their parents. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of these children and their names have almost sunk into the oblivion since rarely anywhere they are talked about.

It is not enough to bring general public awareness of cults through news reports of numerous bizarre crimes and acts of terrorism committed by members of some notorious cults and organizations. Although through these reports the public become somewhat educated as to the extraordinary social organization, practices, and techniques of influence employed by the cults and the groups associated with the crimes, much more has to be done to prevent outburst of such cult events.

1- Masoud Banisadr; Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel.

2- Anne Singleton; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003

3- Thaler Singer, Margaret; Cults in Our Midst, p. 28.

4- Ibid, p.103.

Research Bureau – Mojahedin.ws – April 28, 2008

April 28, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Taking advantage of security-information measures against the cults’ ploys

Legal Measures to Combat Cult Violence: Taking advantage of security-information measures against the cults’ ploys It remains a matter of controversy to what extent security-information systems and measures can be productive against the cults’ threats and ploys. But, no doubt, it calls upon any country’s security apparatus to be alert to cults’ menacing activities and, in the government’s words, to smash them rigorously. It is only in these cases of destructive groups engaging in threatening social and national security that does the state security forces might have the permission to intervene. As not all the established cults are destructive and some are peacefully religious cults with regular religious rituals, the security apparatus can be advised to adopt measures against cults that might pose any harm under a peaceful guise. In the US, for example, the FBI agents trained to negotiate in hostage and armed standoff confrontations have rethought their tactics following the 1993 debacle at the Branch Davidian cult’s compound near Waco, Texas. The tragedy, a 51-day siege of followers of David Koresh, ended in the deaths of more than 80 people after cult members set fire to their fortress-like structure when federal agents tried to storm the building. Although freedom of religion is guaranteed in France by the constitutional rights set forth in the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, however, in recent years, some legislation and government actions were taken against some groups and cults considered to be dangerous or criminal. Officials and associations fighting excesses of such groups justified these measures by the need to have appropriate legal tools and the need to fight criminal organizations masquerading as legitimate religious groups. With a little modification, it has been the same with active political groups particularly those with a history of violence and practice of terrorism. Taking refuge in France, the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization has shown its cult potentiality and to mobilize people for multiple protest demonstrations. In the course of Iran-US football match in Lyon in 1998, for example, and the visits of Iranian key officials to France, notably that of President Khatami in 1999 and Iranian members of parliament in February, 2001, the organization demonstrated the degree of its mass mobilizing threats that alarmed France. Reported by Associated Press, 21 June 1998, quoting some French authorities talking about some taken security measures before Iran-US football match, we read: Several Iranian opponents were not permitted to cross the Franco-Belgium border and prevented from entering French territory when the Iran-United States match was about to played Sunday night in Lyon, Interior Ministry sources stated. These Iranians, coming from Germany and the Netherlands, whose number was not given, are linked to the opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin, according to the same sources. They went on to point out that most of them had no tickets to the match and ‘did not meet the requirements for visiting France’. They were refused entry, because they represented a ‘threat to public order’. 1 The raid on MKO’s headquarters in Paris was also the result of intelligence and security preventive measures: The raid, carried out under a search warrant issued by the Paris-based anti-terrorism investigative magistrate, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, mobilised more than 1200 officials, including 80 members of the elite GIGN: France’s SWAT team. It was carried out by the Directorate for National Internal Security (DST or French counter-intelligence) with the support of the Central Command of the Judiciary Police and under the technical direction of the RAID (France’s specialised unit for hostage and terrorist incidents). Thirteen targets were surrounded in the Val d’Oise and Yvelines departments, with a particular focus on the Auvers-sur-Oise camp which was suspected to be a refuge for many active PMOI members. 2 Not only MKO in France were engaged in activities that disrupted the environment and injured public sentiments, but also severely confronted the critics and opponents as well as carrying out operations against Iranian objectives in Europe, that is to say, embassies, consulates and etc. They even considered the physical elimination of former members of movements working with Iranian intelligence (Vevak). 3 Similar preventive measures were taken in Germany in the course of the World-Cup 2006 and the German security system warned Mojahedin about any troublesome activity before the plays started. In another case, the German police raided and arrested a number of suspect MKO members: The police stated that they detained 50 persons for criminal enquiries and searched dozens of homes belonging to opposition members. The border guards prevented Iranians resident in other countries from entering Germany. Thirty Swiss members of the opposition had tried to enter Germany, according to the press release of the NCIR". 4 Long known as a globally blacklisted terrorist group, MKO is transformed into a destructive cult and a cult of personality as proscribed by the US state Department report in May 2007. In many cases, MKO is referred to as second to al-Qaeda for its globally threatening features and, in spite of being expelled from Iraq, majority of Western countries’ security apparatus are cautious about the entry of its members since they know they would have a hard task to deal with the organization if settled: In any case, there is no sanctuary for the PMOI and governments who do open their borders to them will have to exert a constant vigilance. If not, their national territory could become bases for action in violation of host countries. 5 The killing of a Brazilian man by armed plainclothes Metropolitan police who chased him into London’s Underground and killed him with shots to the head because they thought he might be a suicide bomber was only a preventive measure against further possible violent operations of al-Qaeda cult in England. It has to be taken into consideration that MKO is not an exception and security systems have to be necessarily more watchful of the organization since terrorism and cultism are interrelated features of the organization. Although its activities banned in Western countries, MKO has proved to carry destructive cult potentialities that ignore decrees of law and principles as it did in Self-immolation episodes. Unremitting surveillance of MKO as a destructive cult will be the best preventive measure to minimize its threats that jeopardizes the Western societies among whom it resides and plots cult-like activities. References: 1- Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, “Des opposants iraniens empéchés de pénétrer en France”, Associated Press, 21 June 1998. 2- Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, “Pierre de Bousquet: les Moudjahidin ont bascule dans une derive sectaire” interviewed by Le Figaro, 20 june 2003. 3- Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, “Debut en Allemagne de Ia visite de Khatarni sous haute surveillance”, Reuters and Agence France-Presse, 10 July 2000 239.- Delphine Minoui, op. cit. 4- ibid. 5- Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, p. 179. Research Bureau – Mojahedin.ws – April 24, 2008

April 24, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Getting to know the Cult of Mojahedin

A cult, particularly a destructive one, is almost any kind of organization whose followers have been deceptively and unethically recruited and retained. They use manipulative techniques, which are imposed without the informed consent of the recruit and are designed to alter personality and behavior. These groups are only concerned about advancing the mission or business of the group, and not the well being of the individual members. They pose great dangers not only against the society among whom they live but also against their own followers. Our modern history contains records of cults’ threats and human tragedies that have shaken the world. Talking on the tragic end the followers of a destructive cult might be led to Margaret Thaler Singer has said: Twice in less than fifteen years we have been shown the deadly ends to which cult followers can be led. In 1978, aerial photos of 912 brightly clad followers of Jim Jones, dead by cyanidelaced drinks and gunshots in a steamy Guyanese jungle, were shown in magazines and on television, reappearing with each subsequent anniversary of the end of Jonestown. And in early 1993, television news programs showed the Koresh cult’s shoot-out, then several weeks later its flaming end on the Texas plains. 1 They are only an example of many countless instances. As reported recently, Texas police raided a gated compound outside the tiny Texas cattle town of Eldorado built and run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Reportedly, more than 400 children and teens had been rescued and taken into temporary state custody while the authorities continued investigating allegations that girls at the compound were being sexually abused by men. The number of active cults only in the US is estimated to range from 3,000 to 5,000. It is hard to get a precise number as cults change their names, splinter off into other groups, or shut down in one area only to open back up in another. Unfortunately, there are approximately 180,000 new cult recruits every year and the cults are developing more sophisticated techniques to form and establish new aliases. They originally start under religious and political covers and it is only after getting totally involved in the cults that the followers come to recognize the real intention of the cults. One way to avoid being entrapped by the cults is to learn to recognize common cult-recruitment tactics and situations. The people who have suffered tensions or are in search of Utopia are most vulnerable to be recruited by the cults. In general, cults follow nearly the same tactics for deception and misrepresentation to recruit, retain and achieve cult-related ends. Today, it is really a hard task to distinguish a cult from another legal group but in the past decades there have been attempts to help people in cult prevention. There are identical factors shared by majority of cults which can be of great help to recognize a cult. Referring to important characteristics of a cult Robert Jay Lifton observes: First, all cults have a charismatic leader, who himself or her- self increasingly becomes the object of worship, and in many cases, the dispenser of immortality. Spiritual ideas of a general kind give way to this deification of the leader. Second, in cults there occurs a series of psychological processes that can be associated with what has been called”coercive persuasion”or”thought reform,”as described in some detail in this book. And third, there is a pattern of manipulation and exploitation from above (by leaders and ruling coteries) and idealism from below (on the part of supplicants and recruits). 2 Thus, the characteristics to mark a cult are three: 1. Charismatic and self-appointed leader who claims divinity or special knowledge and demands his followers unquestioning and total loyalty and obedience. 2. An organized structure of totalitarian hegemony with the leader at the top

3. Planned thought reform and brainwashing techniques to induce a state of high suggestibility and dependency on the group and self-alienation.

To determine how dangerous a cult might be, Bonewits draws a Cult Danger Evaluation Frame which can be a good help to determine just how dangerous a cult or group might be in comparison with other groups. The factors indicated by Bonewits include:

1. INTERNAL CONTROL 2. WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s3. WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s) by members 4. DOGMA 5. RECRUITING6. FRONT GROUPS 7. WEALTH 8. POLITICAL POWER 9. SEXUAL MANIPULATION 10. CENSORSHIP11. DROPOUT CONTROL 12. VIOLENCE13. PARANOIA 14. GRIMNESS 15. SURRENDER OF WILL16. HYPOCRISY 3

It seems that Bonewits has developed a good understanding of cults’ menace in the modern world which is shared with other researchers. A look at Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s criteria for a destructive cult is a precise approbation:

1. Authoritarian pyramid structure with authority at the top

2. Charismatic or messianic leader(s) (Messianic meaning they either say they are God or that they alone can interpret the scriptures the way God intended.

3. Deception in recruitment and/or fund raising

4. Isolation from society — not necessarily physical isolation, but this can be psychological isolation.

5. Use of mind control (Mileu Control, Mystical Manipulation, Demand for Purity, Confession, Sacred Science, Loading the Language, Doctrine Over Person, Dispensing of Existence) 4

Considering signs that distinguish a destructive cult, a precise evaluation of MKO well crystallizes it as one of the most destructive and visible examples of a cult that jeopardizes the security and thought well-being of the people among whom it takes refuge under the cover of a pro-democratic, political group. Far beyond being recognized as an alternative to Iranian regime as MKO claims, it is an alternative to a destructive cult sharing their characteristics. For sure, no sensible people consent to a dangerous cult to steer the country.

References: 1- Thaler Singer, Margaret; Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, p. 3.

2- Ibid, XII.

3- www.qed.net/bonewits/ABCDEF.HTML

4- www.refocus.org Research Bureau, Mojahedin.ws, April 9, 2008

April 10, 2008 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Brainwashing: Crime against Humanity

Gathering and Speeches in the city of Tabriz in Iran

On Tuesday 4th of December 2007, a meeting was held in the Law Department of Tabriz Islamic Free University. The topic was "Brainwashing: Crime against Humanity".

The meeting started at 1600 hours with the attendance of hundreds of students and scholars. Dr Samad Azizi the head of the Law Department opened the meeting and welcomed the students and participants. He introduces the presenters and discussed the importance of the topic in the world today.

Then Dr Hassan Movassaqi a senior lecturer in the Law Department started his speech. He gave a background of brainwashing in the history and discussed its consequences on human life in details. He went through many past examples of brainwashing and showed how it abuses human rights and why it must be considered as a crime against humanity. He scientifically showed the psychological aspects of brainwashing and explained how someone could hold control over other people’s minds and change their thoughts and persuade them to do deeds against their own will. He referred to the Davidian Cult lead by David Koresh in Waco in Texas and their final fate and called upon the International community to adopt serious measures to tackle this global difficulty urgently.

The next presenter was Mr Ebrahim Khodabandeh a former member of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) lead by the cult leader Mas’ud Rajavi. He spoke about his experiences of 20 years membership in the MKO and gave many examples of how a person could practically be brainwashed.

He mentioned that he has been studying about cults and their common techniques of thought reforms since he left the organisation in 2003 and returned to Iran. He went into details of the process used by the MKO and many other cults to manipulate their members using psychological methods in order to recruit, preserve and control their followers.

He concluded that the leader of a cult is the only person responsible for the crimes committed by the cult and all followers are themselves the prime victims of the brainwashing practiced inside the cult. He explained how followers of a cult are mentally captivated and why they see no way out of their misery. He therefore concluded that the followers must be helped and the leaders of all destructive cults must legally and internationally be prosecuted and brought against justice.

Then Mr Arash Sametipur another former member of the MKO started his speech. He too explained his own experiences within the Rajavi’s Cult. He mentioned that many former members of MKO have organised themselves into an NGO called Nejat (Salvation) Society and their aim is to free the present members held captive in the Ashraf Camp in Iraq.

He emphasised that many families of members who are brainwashed by the MKO are extremely worried about the destiny of their beloved ones and they need urgent help.

In the end Mr Khodabandeh and Mr Sametipur answered the students’ numerous questions. Apparently the topic of the meeting and the speeches had extremely drawn the attention of the students. They demanded that more of such sessions be held in the future. This meeting finished at 1830 hours.

The students were ever so eager to learn more about the methods of brainwashing utilised inside the MKO and hours after the termination of the meeting they had circled around the two former members and asked them various questions. Some students showed interest to be in contact with the Nejat Society. Some reporters and photographers from the media were present in the meeting too.

Nejat Society

December 11, 2007 0 comments

Terrorist groups and the MEK

Inconspicuous Affinity between Al-Qaeda and MKO

A careful and close scrutiny of al-Qaeda and MKO’s organizational infrastructures reveals surprising similarities in their theorizing of terrorist operations. That is much because the two nearly show great interest in the same ideological teachings of terrorism theoreticians. It should be pointed out that these outdated and despised teachings attracts no attention today, but at least in two or three past decades they worked as applicable revolutionary approaches especially for the third world revolutionaries. Following the same line, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization from its very formation in four decades ago adopted militia warfare as the doctrine of its struggle. MKO’s knack to survive out of dire and serious conditions singles it out as a complex terrorist organization that readily adapts itself to global relations because of its ideologically based interest-seeking and pragmatist visions. Thus, it proves to be much harder a task to confront terrorists like MKO compared with al-Qaeda.

The prime problem lies in the fact that MKO cannot be easily compared to and considered as soldiers of fortune, anarchists, or psychopaths who under some melancholic influences engage in violent practices. Mojahedin cannot even be equals to the rebels and insurgents who rise to confront cultural, social, economic, and ethnic discriminations. The problem is that the organization deems it a duty and responsibility when perpetrating atrocious, terrorist operations, and indeed Mojahedin believe in what they do. Here is the proof when they demarcate a rebel from a revolutionary:

A rebel conducts blind insurgency against the ruling regime while a revolutionary element knows well whereto conduct the insurgency. [1]

The main feature that distinguishes MKO from other similar groups is its remarkable potentiality in practice of ideologically justified activities. The revolutionary ideology of the group enables it to develop a revolutionized philosophical world outlook. In an attempt to rationalize the group’s revolutionary ideology, Rajavi in an ideological handbook that represents the main ideological teachings of MKO stated:

Without a revolutionary ideology, it is impossible to have a revolutionary movement, organization and man because ideology works as our source of light and guide to lead us on. I have to assert that ideology is one of the most outstanding manifestations of man’s life. That is to say, man is the only creature that lives with ideology; his life and death relay on a belief and ideology that he is bond to it in all conditions and communes with it. [2]

Forging such a mentality, Mojahedin can not only control their suppressed primitive feelings but also organize them and put them into practice quantitatively and qualitatively whenever and wherever they will. They are ideological terrorists who deliberately parlay democratic approaches to aggravate the tensions and mount obstacles amidst any non-violent dialogue. In theorizing their relation with the world, they divide it into a two-dimensional sphere of black and white, the foes and friends, and develop no comprehension beyond that. Both al-Qaeda and MKO have the opinion that these are inevitable approaches to solve the encountered would-be disputes.

The difference between the two is that al-Qaeda perpetrates its terrorist operations based on the impact of its ostensible ideological inclinations while Mojahedin-e Khalq justify them based on deep interpretation of their ideology. MKO’s methodology before relying on ideology originates from its scientific look at the world. Mojahedin develop the idea that struggle is not necessarily a man-willed drive but is more the result of knowing the laws and evolutionary advance of the history:

To further a successful social revolution one must develop a more optimistic comprehension of the laws governing the general move of the world, society and man which can simply be defined as ideology. [3]

The view point induces that unpredicted parameters and catalysts work as aspects of influential material laws and thus, it is required to advance according to these laws. The practical and fundamental difference between al-Qaeda and Mojahedi-e Khalq is exactly the same difference between a rebel and a revolutionary, that is, to best control, organize and conduct terrorist operations. Parallel to these precepts, Mojahedin, in regulation of their relations with the members, strive to infuse them with ideological teachings rather than engaging them in practical orders. Accordingly, it might be a rightly made claim by Mojahedin that the organization never enforced orders on the members to commit self-immolations in June 2003 following the arrest of Maryam Rajavi in France and they were deliberate actions.

The people who commit these loathsome acts are no doubt the byproducts of MKO’s adopted ideology. Explicitly putting in the words, they are slaves of a deeply imbued ideology that can be put into practice even in the absence of the leaders. As stated by Rajavi when drawing the organization’s ideological principles:

Everybody has to be a legist and interpreter of the given principal cues of principles. [4]

Also asserted in Nechayev’s The Revolutionary Catechism, revolutionary ideology draws the border-line between a rebel and a revolutionary:

The revolutionary is a dedicated man. He has no interests of his own, no affairs, no feelings, no attachments, no belongings, not even a name. Everything in him is absorbed by a single exclusive interest, a single thought, a single passion – the revolution… Hard towards himself, he must be hard towards others also. All the tender and effeminate emotions of kinship, friendship, love, gratitude and even honor must be stifled in him by a cold and single-minded passion for the revolutionary cause. There exists for him only one delight, one consolation, one reward and one gratification – the success of the revolution. Night and day he must have but one thought, one aim – merciless destruction. In cold-blooded and tireless pursuit of this aim, he must be prepared both to die himself and to destroy with his own hands everything that stands in the way of its achievement.[5]

As indicated by Rajavi, al-Qaeda has a formalistic understanding of ideology. Mojahedin believe that although al-Qaeda is on the front line of launching daring operations, but fails to have a good understanding of their impacts and the aftermath essential calculations. Structural similarities between al-Qaeda and MKO regardless of minor differences well expose the global threat of Mojahedin-e Khalq far beyond the potentialities of al-Qaeda. If there are still optimistic people who foster hope that Mojahedin would undergo a radically ideological and structural change, they are under the spell of some ignorance they have to break before it is too late.

Sources:

Lectures of Mahdi Abrishamchi on the Ideological Revolution in MKO. (1985). Taleghani Publication.

Explining the world -the rules and the concept of evolution: the ideological teachings of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, vol. II, 5.

Lectures of Mahdi Abrishamchi on the Ideological Revolution in MKO. (1985). Taleghani Publication.

Explining the world -the rules and the concept of evolution: the ideological teachings of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, vol. II, pp.5-7.

Nechayev; The Revolutionary Catechism

http://spectrum332034.tripod.com/Texte/1.htm

September 12, 2007 0 comments

Iran

Iran will be the first to benefit from peace and security in Iraq.

Araghchi: Massoud Rajavi is either in Iraq or somewhere in western countries

Press TV, August 03, 2007

link to the full interview:

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=18372&sectionid=3510302

Iran will be the first to benefit from peace and security in Iraq.

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 20:02:40

By Gareth Smyth, Financial Times

Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi

The following is the transcript of an interview that Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for legal and international affairs, Abbas Araghchi, has given to UK’s Financial Times.

Financial Times: What is the big obstacle to Iran and the US talking to each other?

Abbas Araghchi: We had no plan to do so, although the Americans were obviously interested ,We didn’t think the theatrical behavior would help with this very complicated situation, and the difficult relationship between the two sides “ We need understanding of each other, and understanding of the situation in Iraq. If the US wants to solve their problems in Iraq, they should understand their mistakes so far.

Their invasion was a disaster – let there not be a double disaster with a disastrous withdrawal. If they have the good will to solve problems, they should introduce an exist strategy, and then there can be a face-saving withdrawal.

FT: So Iraq is the first step to wider progress?

AA: We want to bring stability back to Iraq – this is very important. We are interested in the peace and security of Iraq, its unity, its territorial integrity, that it be at peace with its neighbors. We consider peace and security in Iraq [to be] our own peace and security.

It is very important for us to see that the Iraqi government and Prime Minister [Nouri] Maliki are successful, because â€¦the only alternative is absolute chaos, maybe a civil war or the breaking of Iraq into different pieces.

Iran would be the first to benefit from the return of peace and security in Iraq.

( … )

FT: What do you know about the Americans’ relationship with Pejak, the so-called Iranian wing of the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party)?

AA: We have some information, and some indication, that contrary to what the Americans claim, there has been some contact with some terrorist groups.

This is why I talked about good will at the beginning. One of the bad policies of the United States is this double standard towards terrorism, to divide terrorists into good and bad terrorists. This is the source of so many problems.

You named one of those groups. We may name others as well – the MKO [the Mujahedin-e Khalq], for example, which is based in Iraq under the protection of the Americans. They are terrorists, recognized by the European Union, by the United States, and they should be sent to trial.

FT: Where do you think [Massoud] Rajavi [the MKO leader] is?

AA: I don’t know. He is either in Iraq or somewhere in western countries, I don’t know, I have no information, no intelligence. But the kind of MKO terrorists we know are either in Iraq or in European countries, and in the US This is very bad. We see that they are doing whatever they want in European countries, in Britain, in France, in Germany. Of course, under the cover of different names, but everyone knows they are the same group.

They killed Americans before the Revolution in Iran, they have killed so many Iranian officials after the Revolution, Iranian people, and they are proud of that. Then they went to Iraq, helping Saddam Hussein in fighting with Iran during the war, then fighting with Shias and Kurds during the 1991 uprising, giving Saddam Hussein intelligence and every assistance. Now they are in Iraq. A good number of them have already been transferred to Europe, but some foot-soldiers – worthless in the current situation – have remained in camp Ashraf.

We have tried hard – from a humanitarian point of view – to help those people in Ashraf camp. We have given them an amnesty if they return to Iran. A group – 500 all together – has already returned to Iran, and they have joined their families. The Red Cross has their records, they know they have started a new life â€¦

If they come back to Iran, they are welcomed by their families â€¦ If they have committed a crime inside Iran, they should be sent to trial, but we know that most of them have done nothing â€¦.

FT: Do the Americans have relationships with other groups that have carried out violent acts in Iran – Baluchi groups, or Arab groups in Ahvaz?

AA: Well, we have some indications. Our intelligence ministry has said they have some indications of contacts between both American and British soldiers in Iraq with this kind of group “

FT: Have you made any estimation of the amount of arms that have come in Iran from Iraq since the 2003 invasion?

AA: I don’t have any figures, but the number is high, as you can see by reading the page of incidents [crime page] of Iranian newspapers â€¦ in almost all of them where a person has killed someone, he says he bought the gun from Iraq â€¦it was so cheap, I got one.

So we have a problem with the number of individuals who buy guns from Iraq.. Terrorist groups as well as criminals see Iraq as an opportunity.

FT: The Americans accuse Iran of supplying weapons to insurgents in Iraq, particular kinds of weapons [amour-piercing explosive devices]. Why don’t you counter that by pointing out the amount of weapons coming the other way?

AA: Their claim that Iran is sending arms to Iraq is baseless. They have never been able to present any acceptable documents, valid proof that Iran has sent arms to Iraq. Even some of their own officials have questioned publicly the validity of these claims. The only things they have presented so far is that some arms and munitions they have found in Iraq are manufactured in Iran. This cannot prove anything, it cannot prove the involvement of any agency from Iran.

If governments were to be held responsible for the use by terrorists of all the weapons manufactured in their country, the Americans should be blamed first.

They haven’t been able to provide any valid proof – and there is also no reason. Why should we help them? Why should we arm them? We are suffering from the same problem, terrorism.

Both us and other groups [countries] such as Turkey. This is why in the statement of the Sharm el-Sheikh meeting [paragraph 4], it is said that the transit of arms to and from Iraq should be stopped. This recognizes that there is a problem for neighboring countries, which arms are coming into their countries from Iraq as well.

( … )

August 4, 2007 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

The Emergence of a Second Al-Qaeda

The horrible nightmare of 9/11’s al-Qaeda attack never seems to be leaving the dreams of American citizens. The consequent decision of declaring a global war on terrorism promised a peaceful world with no vacant place for the terrorist operatives. Now, nearly after six years after the world has unanimously approved the decisive combat against terrorism and it is legally put into practice in many countries, certain terrorist groups, especially those on the world’s terror lists, are jeopardizing people’s security where the chaos is at zenith under the pretext of war against terrorism. Furthermore, not only we see no instances of a terrorist group being uprooted but we hear news of the new ones emerging.

Jeffrey Steinberg in a recently published article in mathaba.net discloses efforts made to create a new terrorist network that some U.S. intelligence officials brand as "al-Qaeda II". The danger of the network appears to be much greater than that of the Bin Laden’s since it is designed to be a source of promoting sectarian conflicts as well as accomplishing warmongering ambitions of people like Cheney. As Mr. Steinberg reveals:

Saudi Arabia, through Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Cheney’s chief ally and the purported national security advisor to King Abdullah, has been pouring money and weapons into Sunni tribes in western Iraq, who have now emerged as what some U.S. intelligence officials brand "al-Qaeda II." These Iraqi Wahabi networks, distinct from the bin Laden/Zawaheri "al-Qaeda in Iraq" apparatus of largely foreign fighters, have emerged in recent months as a significant element within the overall insurgency. According to these sources, "al-Qaeda II" is part of Cheney’s scheme—designed in London by the likes of Dr. Bernard Lewis—to promote a permanent Sunni versus Shi’ite conflict in the region.

Evidences indicate that MKO might be part of this new network since the group is receiving financial aids from the sponsors of the network. Of course, the group’s mission is to carry operations inside Iran:

This Cheney-Bandar effort, the sources warn, is one of the driving factors, provoking Iran, and fuelling the prospects of a near-term explosion. Earlier in July 2007, an emissary of Prince Bandar delivered $750,000 to the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group that formerly worked for Saddam Hussein, and which is on the U.S. State Department’s international terrorist organizations (ITO) list, for having assassinated American military officers in Iran. The MEK is actively engaged in sabotage and assassination operations inside Iran—with the enthusiastic support of Washington neo-cons, typified by Daniel Pipes, who recently attended the MEK gathering outside of Paris where the Bandar money was delivered.

Cheney’s warmongering stance and his efforts to sponsor terrorist groups, even if the main purpose is to wage war on Iran, is a plan that backfires, as did the al-Qaeda. There are also good news that the “U.S. Department of Justice is already investigating Prince Bandar for his role in the BAE Systems scandal, involving the $100 billion offshore covert operations fund”. As the assets are kept in Bandar’s bank accounts in the United States, and according to adopted counter-terrorist laws it is banned to provide financial aid to blacklisted terrorist groups, the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of law is a crucial measure, something that does not escape Mr. Steinberg attention: “One question that Justice Department investigators should take up is whether some of those funds are now going to the MEK to fuel Dick Cheney’s Iran war schemes”.

Mailed by Lira Arshia, Mojahedin.ws, July 30, 2007

August 1, 2007 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Let’s know a religious cult

Update issues on Iran

Mujahedin Khalq (MKO) in the name of an Iranian Opposition group. They were based in Iraq under the rule of Saddam Hussein and cooperated with the dictator closely. Now that they have to leave that country, they are trying to settle down in Oslo.

Ibrahim Khodabandeh talks about the group disappointedly. . Maryam Rajavi, the Cult leader was recently received in Norwegian parliament. (we should inform the readers that Ibrahim Khodabande was arrested while he was taking two million dollars out of Iraq, he is accused of working with an Iranian dissident group)

Ibrahim was arrested with two million dollars in Iraq- Syria border; Iraq without Saddam Hussein was not safe for MKO and the money had to be transferred to a safe place; at first he was detained in Syrian prison, ‘’the situation there was really bad” he says, before he was transferred to Evin Prison where “is not so bad” and he was allowed to read books on religious cults and cultures. During his research he found out that MKO is also a religious cult.

“MKO as a Religious Cult”

“In high ranks of MKO only the women can be leaders” Khodabande says. It is also said that because the women have always been under pressure now MKO wants to compensate. But in fact the reason is that Masud Rajavi, the real leader and Maryam’s husband, is afraid of making rivals; he thinks that women do not try to compete there fore their growth is allowed. He has forbidden the authority for male rivals and created the women hegemony. Masud Rajavi considers it as a part of ideological revolution.

Maryam was before the wife of one of the MKO leaders [ Mehdi Abrishamchi] he was imposed to declare his great happiness since he could help the “ ideological alliance” between his wife and Masud Rajavi.

In Ibrahim’s opinion it is one of the characteristics of a religious cult that the leader is able to marry the wife of another leader of the organization.

Another aspect of MKO, as a religious cult is that the members have always to obey and follow the leaders.( he says) the leader is everything and everyone has to follow his needs. Maryam Rajavi says:”you can doubt about God but not about Masud, because you can doubt what you don’t see but not what you see.” Nobody in the organization is allowed to doubt about Masud.

“Leader and Objective” are above every thing, Ibrahim says. “Your family and children prevent you from them”. So Masud decided to send the MKO members’ children to other countries where they could be adopted or trained. the members are not allowed to contact their children . The slogan was:” everything for the leader”.

We ask:” what happened to the children?”

Nobody wants to talk about it. Some members were affected by mental problems. Some returned to Iraq to join MKO. The total number is about 1000.

“In Iran you can easily be an opponent to regime.” He says. He himself doesn’t support the Islamic Republic regime but he thinks that he was deceived by MKO cult.

“MKO enjoys the whole criteria of a religious cult. It has a self-proclaimed leader. It enjoys an absolute monarchy structure. The leader has complete control over members’ lives.

Salt Journal – May2007

July 10, 2007 0 comments

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