Iran

Secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Council Mohammad Javad Larijani rapped the West’s double-standard policies and stances on human rights issues, saying that western states shelter terrorist groups like the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and award them in the name of defending human rights.

"Our people are familiar with the West’s discriminatory and hostile attitude towards the Islamic Republic of Iran," Larijani said in a meeting with Head of Iran-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group Bijan Jirsarayee in Tehran on Wednesday.

Larijani rapped the double-standard polices and behavior of the western states towards the human rights issues in Iran.

On one hand, the western states shelter and support terrorist groups like the MKO (also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) and the PJAK terrorist group and cooperate with the US in imposing unilateral sanctions against Iran which have inflicted great losses on the Iranian people and is a blatant violation of human rights, and on the other hand, they suddenly emerge as advocates of human rights and grant awards to culprits in Iran as if they are defenders of human rights, he added.

The European Parliament announced that this year’s winners of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought are two Iranian culprits, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film director Jafar Panahi. Sotoudeh is now imprisoned in Iran for security crimes and Panahi is a fugitive living outside Iran.

Also after the EU delisted the MKO from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, the US in September 2012 adopted the same measure. The decision made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

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

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

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

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

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

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 33 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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

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

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

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

In recent years, MKO ringleaders have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.

The MKO spent huge sums of money over years lobbying for removal from the US terror list, holding rallies in European capitals and elsewhere that featured luminaries like former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge from the administration of George W. Bush. Former House Speaker and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was among those recently welcomed by the MKO to Paris.

The MKO is responsible for carrying out numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian officials and civilians as well as the people of Iraq.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move.

Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi condemned the removal of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) from the US list of terrorist group, and said Tehran has detailed information about the various types of the western states’ support for the terrorist group.

"At present, we have precise information displaying that the US and sometimes European countries provide Monafeqin (hypocrites as they are called in Iran) with abundant facilities and equipments," Moslehi told reporters in Tehran on Monday, adding that Iran has envisaged and implemented plans to confront such supports and plots.

He said that the inimical stance shows that the arrogant powers are feeling desperate in their confrontation against the Iranian nation.

"These supports are meant to prevent annihilation of Monafeqin," the Iranian intelligence minister added.

The US State Department last Friday removed the MKO from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The decision made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement on Friday.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry last week condemned the US administration for striking the MKO (also known as MEK, NCR and PMOI) off the list of terrorist groups, saying the move displays Washington’s double standard policies.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry in a statement accused Washington of applying double standards in dealing with terrorism, reminding that the terrorist MKO is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Iranian civilians.

The delisting of MKO was "a violation of America’s legal and international obligations" that could threaten US interests. The decision "will bring US responsibility for past, present and future terrorist operations by this group," the statement said.

The MKO is blacklisted by much of the international community.

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

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

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

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

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

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

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

The U.S. today is facing political bankruptcy, Ali Akbar Velayati, the Foreign Policy adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said, ISNA reported.

The adviser was commenting on the US administration’s intention to exclude the MKO terrorist outfit from the enlisted terrorist groups.

"This is a sign of political failure," Velayati said.

The United States has removed the Iranian exile group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MKO or MEK) from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The State Department said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the decision, effective September 28, in view of the MKO’s public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the group for more than a decade, and their cooperation in the closure of their paramilitary base in Iraq.

The move means Washington will no longer block the group’s property and interests in property in the United States and that U.S. entities may engage in transactions with the MKO without obtaining a license.

The adviser also underscored that any change in the Iran-U.S. relations must be announced by the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei himself.

"Islamic Republic’s general policy towards the U.S. remains as it was, and it will not change unless it is declared so by the Supreme Leader," Velayati said.

Nearly a week ago, Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad while in NY, named the reasons how the relations between the U.S. and Iran can improve.

Ahmadinejad said that Iran’s nuclear issue will be solved if the U.S. withdraws from its position against Iran.

"The U.S. has chosen confrontation policy against Iran since Islamic Revolution occurred in 1979," Ahmadinejad said. "However, if American leaders pursued friendly policy towards Iran, then both sides would gain benefits from good relations."
Trend, Azerbaijan, September 29 2012
http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/2071067.html

Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 29 /Trend S.Isayev, T. Jafarov/

A senior Iranian legislator reiterated that the visits and collaboration between the ringleaders and members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCR and PMOI) and the so-called Free Syrian Army display the real face and goals of insurgents in Syria.

"The invitation of the deputy commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army, the armed forces who are opposed to the Damascus government, to the terrorist Monafeqin (hypocrites as MKO members are called in Iran) grouplet shows that they themselves are terrorists," member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ebrahim Aqa-Mohammadi said on Saturday.

He added that the invitation of the Syrian group to the MKO to visit Damascus displays that the terrorist MKO is a role model for the Syrian insurgents.

In related remarks earlier this month, a commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army (FSA) also described the terrorist MKO as a role model for Syrian insurgents.

"Mojahedin-e Khalq is our role model, and we inform them that all doors of our houses are open to them," Malek al-Kurdi, a deputy commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army, said, addressing a joint meeting of the MKO and the ringleaders of the anti-Assad armed rebel groups.

According to the Habilian Association – a human rights group formed of the families of 17,000 Iranian terror victims – his comments came just days after a highly-placed security source told Arabic language Ur news agency that hundreds of terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq members have entered Syria to back the so-called Free Syrian Army.

Another senior official with the insurgent group thanked the MKO terrorist group for its support and solidarity with armed rebels in Syria.

Earlier reports from Syria said security forces have arrested five MKO terrorists along with 35 armed insurgents.

Informed security sources in Syria said that 40 armed elements had been arrested along the country’s borders when they were trying to infiltrate into Syria.

"It has been revealed after interrogations that five of these armed people are members of the MKO," the source said on the condition of the anonymity.

The MKO members also confessed that the terrorist group is training Syrian terrorists on Turkey’s soil and under the support of some Arab and western states.

A Saudi colonel recently apprehended by the Syrian security forces disclosed that the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization has played a major role in the recent conflicts in Syria.

According to the colonel, a number of 20,000 terrorists, among them a number of MKO members, were due to attack Damascus from four directions and occupy the city after the explosion inside the Syrian national security headquarters in the capital on June 18.

Also, the MKO terrorist group announced earlier this month that it had hosted a number of Syrian dissidents at the headquarters of its ringleader Massoud Rajavi in France.

The attack on Damascus was foiled by the Syrian troops, but the colonel did not have any further details as he had been arrested in the midst of the attack.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since March 2011 with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

Hundreds of people, including members of the security forces, have been killed, when some protest rallies turned into armed clashes.

The government blames outlaws, saboteurs, and armed terrorist groups for the deaths, stressing that the unrest is being orchestrated from abroad.

In October 2011, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but Israel, the US and its Arab allies are seeking hard to bring the country into chaos through any possible means. Tel Aviv, Washington and some Arab capitals have been staging various plots in the hope of increasing unrests in Syria.