No Comments
Mujahedin Khalq ‘s Terrorism
Annieke Kranen Berg and Janny Groen from the Dutch news paper Focus Grant reported on 15th December 2006
Habib Khorami managed to rescue his son Bahador age 2 years from Mojahedin Khalq Organisation. He managed to bring his son to the Netherlands from Canada where he had been given to a family supporting the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation.
This reunion cost Habib very dearly. The Mojahedin took Habib to court and froze a large portion of his income as compensation.
Habib decided to counter the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation which had unlimited funds. With nothing in his hands he spent a very long time in the courts and legal advice centres.
Mojahedin were intending to make a terrorist from his son but the suspicious father decided to stop the misuse of his son and, facing the danger of imprisonment, he sent his son to his family back in Iran where he was sure he would be out of reach of the Mojahedin and where he could go to school safely.
A report was made by Focus Grant, a national paper, from the court of appeal in the Netherlands on 14 December 2006. In parts we read:
…the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation is known as a terrorist organisation almost globally.
In 2002, a court in the Netherlands condemned Mr. Khorami to two years imprisonment for refusing to hand over his own child to governmental agencies.
The court of appeal was held in Leeuwarden on 14 December 2006.
In a process for establishing custody of his son Bahador, whom the supporters of Mojahedin Khalq Organisation in Canada were claiming, was an unjust straggle for him. The root of this war was really in the Mojahedin’s military camp in Iraq where Mr. Khorami himself was once a member.
…Bahador was born in 1980 when Mr. Khorami had decided to join the Mojahedin in Iraq to topple the regime of Iran
The organisation’s ideology is a mixture of Marxism and Islam. Mr. Khorami had spent 2 years in prison in Iran for supporting the Mojahedin. The Mojahedin claim that Camp Ashraf is for freedom and democracy. Mr. Khorami’s wife was first against joining Mojahedin in Iraq but later accepted to go there. Mr. khorami found out that the organisation, contrary to their claims, is nothing more than a dangerous, destructive cult. The members were under physical and psychological pressure and isolated from the real world. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire.
The organisation’s leaders, Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi, were demanding total submission of the members. Outside contact was impossible and daily brainwashing meetings were held where they had to confess to even their remotest thoughts and dreams…. Khorami remembers Massoud Rajavi pointing at his son and saying "You should give him to me". This was very hard for Mr. Khorami as it was hard to see the organisation serving Saddam Hussein in crushing the Iraqi Kurds and Shiites. When Rajavi announced the forced divorces of all members, Mr. Khorami decided that enough is enough. Mr. Khorami was witnessing a dangerous game. Husbands and wives were forced to spit at each other and denounce their relations. Despite all efforts unfortunately Mr. Khorami lost his wife to the organisation.
At the start of first Gulf war Rajavi took the children away from the camp to Baghdad which was under continuous bombardment. The idea was to convince the parents to accept the transfer of all their children. Of course they would accept a safer place when the children were in such a dangerous situation in Baghdad.
Rajavi smuggled about 800 children to Europe, Canada and the US with the promise that he would bring them back after the war. Judit Neurink in her book "Mislead Martyrs" investigates this action under the title of "The Great Child Kidnapping". Ms. Neurink explains in detail how the children were given to the supporters to raise them to their teenage years, ready to be used in paramilitary operations. Bahador was only two and a half years old.
Mr. Khorami found that his son had been given to a family in Toronto in Canada. My son was taken hostage. They were putting pressure on me not to talk about the kidnapping of children. he said.
Khorami started contacting the family who were supporters of the terrorist organisation. He also started contacting human rights organisations as well as supporting organisations for refugees but without much success. In 1998, when he was granted a Dutch passport, he got a family visit visa for his son and travelled to Canada. Of course he had never signed anything to accept transfer of custody of his son to anyone.
In Canada he came to an agreement with Shafiee and Pira (Mojahedin supporters) to take Bahador to the Netherlands.
Bahador came to the Netherlands in 1998. His father started the process of getting permanent residency for his son in the Netherlands.
In 1999, Shafiee and Pira filed a complaint against Mr. Khorami accusing him of kidnapping Bahador and claimed that Bahador is in their custody. They did not have any evidence, but a social worker in Canada had written a letter to allow the child to go to school and the court accepted that custody belongs to the supporters of the Mojahedin. The social worker knew the situation but had written the letter in order to facilitate the situation of the child and allow him to enjoy the support of governmental subsidies. The social worker admitted this later on. The Canadian court later overruled the verdict, but the court in the Netherlands still referred to that verdict. The Judge ruled that Mr. Khorami has to give back his son to Shafiee and Pira and in refusing to do so, he will have to pay 5000 Guilder for each day…
Khorami says, "this ruling put me in a desperate situation. Every day I received reports and news about the children who were sent back to the camp in Iraq. In September the National Post revealed the transfer of children and teenagers to Ashraf camp. Boys and girls were being smuggled to Iraq to train for suicide missions". Khorami decided to keep his child away and send him to his brother in Iranian Kurdistan.
Khorami had to pay the financial penalties and could not afford to pursue the legal process in Canada. His lawyer forgot to ask for an appeal and Mr. Khorami was sent to prison, losing his job as a social worker.
The most bitter part of the story is when no judge was willing to listen to the circumstances. The Judge said: "we are not talking about politics in here". He only would take the official versions of custody into consideration.
The Mojahedin Khalq Organisation is now in the list of terrorist organisations and human rights organisation including Human Rights Watch have revealed evidence. Last year HRW published a report titled "NO EXIT" in which it explained the abuse of human rights inside the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation. It said the members who criticised the leadership or the ones who wanted to leave the organisation were imprisoned and tortured.
According to HRW, we are talking about severe brainwashing. The members are provoked to write reports about each other and even torture each other. Mojahedin accuse their critics of connection with the secret services of Iran. Khorami has also been accused by them. So has Ms. Farah Karimi the Member of Parliament who confessed her involvement with the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation as a member. In her view this is no more than a criminal cult.
Khorami puts all his hope on the testimonies given by Shafiee and Pira. The testimonies explode like a bomb, very controversial. There is no doubt that they are from Mojahedin Khalq Organisation and have been involved in other cases of child kidnapping. But Khorami has his eyes on the testimonies given by his son.
Bahador was supposed to come to Amsterdam from Tehran to attend the court. Unfortunately he could not and this was unfortunate for his father who has not seen his son for the last 8 years. The Iranians have decided that his visa is not correct. Bahador wanted to talk about how he was treated in Canada. How he was being prepared to join Mojahedin and about his father, the Netherlands and Iran. Mr. Nooitgedagt has no doubt his client will win.
Mr.Khorami was expected to give up his son to a known international terrorist organisation. He says, "I am proud of myself for supporting and rescuing my child. I wouldn’t want to live and see my Bahadoor in the hands of Mojahedin Khalq terrorists. I hope this time the judges wiill see that I have done nothing wrong except rescuing my child. A report by Rahaee Association, Netherlands, December 22, 2006
Re: Case T-228/02
Esteemed Judges of the Court,
We noted with interest your Judgement in Case T-228/02.
After reading press release No 97/06, there are several issues which we wish to bring to your attention.
Firstly, we must express our disappointment at the apparent level of evidence on which your ruling has been based. The press release asserts as facts details which are clearly in error.
For example: “In the past, it [MKO] has had an armed branch operating inside Iran.” There is absolutely no doubt that for the past twenty years the Mojahedin operated all its armed personnel exclusively from inside Iraq as part of the Iraqi military apparatus and only made armed incursions into Iran with the permission of Saddam Hussein’s generals. The remains of this ‘armed branch’ are of course currently detained in Camp Ashraf 60 km north of Baghdad.
And: “that it [MKO] has expressly renounced all military activity since June 2001”. The Mojahedin Khalq and its leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have never at any time announced that the MKO has renounced violence. It has been revealed, however, that a statement indicating that it had renounced violence had been made privately by the MKO to the Court through its lawyers. The Court of First Instance apparently took this statement at face value. There is clear evidence to show that MKO military activity continued right up to the allied invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Even right now they are openly promoting terrorism and threatening their critics in the EU and US. These critics have been “condemned to death” by the MKO’s Revolutionary Court pending the execution of their sentences in Europe and the USA.
But our main reason for writing to you – of course we recognise that your ruling concerns procedural issues and not issues of European security – is to alert you to the humanitarian crisis which lies behind the façade which Mojahedin-e Khalq shows western audiences and which remains unchallenged by this judgement.
Mojahedin Khalq is not a political party, it is a destructive cult which uses psychological coercion to exert control over its members. Since the autumn of 2003, the members trapped in Camp Ashraf, Iraq – the ‘armed branch’ – have been held incommunicado and have no access to humanitarian help, contact with their families or information. They do not have ‘contracts of employment’ and are living in conditions which can only be described as modern slavery. There is much evidence freely available which confirms this above assertion, and the Human Rights Watch report ‘No Exit’ from May 2005 serves as a useful introduction to the dire human rights situation which pertains inside the MKO.
What is of concern for our organisation, Iran-Interlink, is that the delicate and ongoing efforts of the UNHCR, ICRC, HRW, AI and many smaller organisations to rescue victims of the MKO headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi in Iraq have been jeopardized by this judgement by the Court of First Instance.
Although we believe your judgement will not have any material effect on the terrorist status of the Mojahedin Khalq, you should know that it has been immediately misrepresented by leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi to the members. The day after your ruling, Massoud Rajavi, who is wanted by Interpol for war crimes and crimes against humanity, emerged after three years of silence, to tell his commanders in Iraq they will soon get their arms back and they can resume their armed activity. How does this square with the claim to have renounced military activity?
In the last few years Iran-Interlink and other agencies have been successful in helping people leave the Rajavi cult and re-integrate into normal society. Many of the survivors are resident in western countries including most of Europe and the UK, Scandinavia and Canada.
The main victims of this court ruling then are the individual cult members interred in Camp Ashraf. They are now unable to leave the cult. Unable to make contact with their families and unable to return to their homes, the MKO will now tell those members trapped in Camp Ashraf that their armed struggle is being supported by western democracies. It gives them an open hand to increase psychological coercion on the remaining hostages in Camp Ashraf.
Your judgement is also a gift to the Islamic Republic of Iran which will use it to accuse the west of double standards. Mojahedin military activity has resulted in the deaths of 16,000 Iranians, most of whom were civilians. The Mojahedin has also imprisoned and tortured hundreds of its own members resulting in several deaths.
For over two decades, Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi have been promising to achieve victory through armed struggle. They are still promising the same. Nothing they have done or said so far would lead anyone to believe either that they have changed this violent approach or that they provide value for money for anyone who backs them in their attempt to achieve power in this way.
Yours sincerely,
Anne Singleton
Iran-Interlink
PO Box 148
Leeds LS16 5YJ
Anne Singleton, December 20, 2006
A legal judgement of the Court of First Instance of the European Court of Justice on 12 December will have no substantial effect. According to various foreign office officials, the Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation (MKO) remains on Europe-wide terror lists. But the judgement has seriously undermined humanitarian efforts to help victims of the MKO, which is acknowledged by experts to be a destructive cult. Basic flaws in the basis for the judgement has left it open to misinterpretation and misuse by the opportunist Mojahedin-e Khalq, also known as the Rajavi cult. Critics say the Court ruling was politically motivated.
Following announcement of its judgement, Iran-Interlink wrote to the Court expressing disappointment at the level of evidence on which the ruling was based.
The letter said in part: “The delicate and ongoing humanitarian effort of the UNHCR, ICRC, HRW, AI and many smaller organisations to rescue victims of the MKO headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi in Iraq has been jeopardized by this decision.
Massoud Khodabandeh, spokesman for Iran-Interlink said, “This ruling contains glaringly obvious errors, which were simple to verify. Its main effect has been to further victimise the cult members and remove from them near hope for rescue.”
In its press release No. 97/06, the Court, which is based in Luxembourg, states “In the past, it [MKO] has had an armed branch operating inside Iran.” This is demonstrably erroneous. The Mojahedin operated all its armed personnel exclusively from inside Iraq as part of the Iraqi military apparatus and only made armed incursions into Iran with the permission of the Saddam’s military. The remains of this ‘armed branch’ are of course currently detained in Camp Ashraf 60 km north of Baghdad.
The court ruling also states “that it [MKO] has expressly renounced all military activity since June 2001”. Massoud Khodabandeh explained ‘this was a privately expressed statement by the MKO. The Court apparently took them at their word. Yet there is clear evidence to show that MKO military activity continued right up to the allied invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Even right now they are openly promoting terrorism and threatening their critics in the EU and US. These critics have been “condemned to death” by MKO’s Revolutionary Court pending the execution of their sentences in Europe and the USA.”
The Iran-Interlink letter continues: “The day after your ruling, Massoud Rajavi who is wanted by Interpol for war crimes and crimes against humanity, emerged after three years of silence, to tell his commanders in Iraq they will soon get their arms back and they can resume their armed activity. How does this square with the claim to have renounced military activity?”
In the last few years Iran-Interlink and other agencies have been successful in helping people leave the Rajavi cult and re-integrate into normal society. Many of the survivors are resident in western countries including most of Europe and the UK, Scandinavia and Canada. Mojahedin military activity has resulted in the deaths of 16,000 Iranians, most of whom were civilians. The Mojahedin has also imprisoned and tortured hundreds of its own members resulting in several deaths.
Mr Khodabandeh stressed that the Court judgement reinforces the false image of the MKO as a political entity. “The main victims of this court ruling are the individual cult members interred in Camp Ashraf. They are now unable to leave the cult. Unable to make contact with their families and unable to return to their homes, the MKO will now tell those members trapped in Camp Ashraf that their armed struggle is being supported by western democracies. It gives them an open hand to increase psychological coercion on the remaining hostages in Camp Ashraf.”
Iran-Interlink’s letter to the Court of First Instance points out that the ruling “is a gift to the Islamic Republic of Iran which will use it to accuse the west of double standards”.
Massoud Rajavi in his message to Camp Ashraf, a day after the court ruling, has openly announced that he wants the MKO to be financed by the west, but the only foreseeable use for the MKO is to be re-armed and help the insurgents in Iraq. For over two decades Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi have been promising to achieve victory through armed struggle. They are still promising the same. Yet, nothing they have achieved so far would lead anyone to believe they provide value for money.
ENDS
Contact
Anne Singleton, Iran-Interlink
Tel +44 278 0503
info@iran-interlink.org
http://www.iran-interlink.org/
Iran-Interlink
PO Box 148
Leeds LS16 5YJ
UK
Newswire, Washington, December 14, 2006
http://releases.usnewswire.com/GetRelease.asp?id=77552
Nejat Society Letter to The Court of First Instance of the European Communities
Nejat Society
P.O. Box 14395/679,
Tehran, Iran
Fax: 88 96 10 31
nejat_en@nejatngo.org
December 16th 2006
Court of First Instance of the European Communities
Luxembourg
Dear Sir/Madam
With regards, we would like to require your consideration on a matter concerning your latest judgment to annul the EU Council’s decision ordering the freezing of the funds of the Mojahedin-é Khalq Organisation (MKO) in the fight against terrorism. Initially it is worth mentioning that Nejat Society consists of those defected members of Mojahedin-é Khalq Organisation (MKO) who have managed to rescue themselves from the boundaries of the Organisation, and find themselves obliged to strive to help and rescue the members who are still mentally or even physically captive inside the Organisation.
Up to 500 ex-members of MKO have managed to return home to their families since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Nejat Society of course played a vital role with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Iranian Red Crescent, and other international and domestic bodies as well as the families themselves to safeguard their homecoming.
Around 300 of those who have managed to flee the Organisation are kept in a nearby component under the supervision of “Temporary International Presence Facility (TIPF)”. And evidently there are some 3000 members still left in Ashraf Camp inside Iraq. These people need to be rescued out urgently.
Several members of MKO have left their families and relatives many years ago to join the MKO ranks with the hope of bringing prosperity and welfare to the Iranians. But on the contrary they were themselves caught up with a dreadful cult that managed to control their minds and lives all together through the years in the boundaries of Ashraf Camp in Iraq.
They practically became part of Saddam Hussein’s Army in the war against Iran. They were misused by the MKO leaders to risk their lives for terrorist activities against their own people for the interest of then ruling Iraqi dictator. Nejat Society is aiming to end these unfortunate people’s misery.
The members and authorities of Nejat Society are well aware that they are facing a fierce tackle. The Mojahedin-é Khalq Organisation of course has adopted a hostile attitude against the Society and has never stopped its intense propaganda aggravation in order to stop the Society helping the MKO members.
All cults, typically try to intimidate their critics and opponents, particularly those who try to help the discontented members out. MKO is no exception. They have a long record of suppressing their despondent members and they have used all forms of mental and physical methods in order to make their followers yield.
Nejat Society has been the subject of all sorts of accusations by the MKO officials because it tries to make the contact of the members with their families possible, something the Organisation is truly terrified of. Nejat Society tries to help the defected members in Iraq who reside in “Temporary International Presence Facility (TIPF)”. This of course is an unforgivable sin from the Organisation’s point of view. Therefore they even try to subject TIPF into harassment. In one word Nejat Society is to save the elements caught up in the MKO and let them live.
We were therefore astonished to learn that the Court of First Instance of EC has annulled the EU Council’s decision and has risked its status and have become the advocates of MKO in order to whitewash its dreadful deeds in the past and even at the present time. It has happened many times before that MKO has tried to misuse official and independent sources to gain credibility to counter its past accounts. This has evidently damaged the reputation of those establishments severely. We are well aware that the Organisation, like many cults of the same sort, is prepared to use enormous pressure and influence to reach its goals.
While an EU spokeswoman declined immediate comment on the ruling, saying legal experts were studying the judgment, the Mojahedin’s TV suspended all its regular programs beating a jubilant tom-tom calling it a great victory. Nothing has changed. Its funds being frozen or unfrozen, MKO remains a proscribed terrorist organization. Soon after the verdict was out the leader of MKO Massoud Rajavi gave out a statement declaring that MKO should be given a free hand in Iraq as well as Europe and America to do whatever they wish without being monitored.
You might be interested to know that MKO openly supports using violence and aggression as means to reach political objectives. One dreadful example was on the case of the most horrifying terrorist act of the century on September 11th 2001 incident which the Organisation celebrated the occasion in Ashraf Camp in Iraq just after the outbreak of the news.
Here we also wish to draw your attention to the latest report executed by the Human Rights Watch on MKO. The report which is called No Exit was issued on May 2005:
No Exit: Human Rights Abuses inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps
Iran: Exiled Armed Group Abuses Dissident Members
Opposition Group Seeks Recognition and Support in Western Capitals
“Members who try to leave the MKO pay a very heavy price,”
Finally we wish to call for your attention to the very fact that MKO is already interpreting the verdict as a political victory and is obviously encouraged to put more pressure on its discontented members who are captive in Ashraf Camp in Iraq. All cults need this sort of approvals to whitewash their misdeeds. They also use them to manipulate their members by showing them false victories.
With many regards and thankfulness
Nejat Society
www.nejatngo.com
Copy to:
Council of the European Union
Commissionaire of the European Union
European Parliament
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the European Countries
Events and developments indicate that the idea of Salafis’ Wahabism, backed and promoted by Saudis and Wahabis in Persian Gulf region, is one of the main forces behind terrorism in the world.
Al-Qaeda, Taliban, followers of Zarqawi and suicide bombers in Iraq and all over the world are all the outcomes of this terrorist thought. If we deny this fact how can we interpret the terrorist operations of Wahabis in mosques and markets, particularly in Shiite districts?
If we search the world from the East to the West, we won’t be able to find anyone who backs the idea of performing terrorist operations in Shiite areas except Wahabis themselves who believe that killing Shiites is necessary and holy act! Extremist Wahabis consider all Shiites, without any exception, as unbelievers, hypocrites and evil the killing of whom is necessary in their religion. Leaders of Wahabism believe that Shiites are apostates and that they should be killed before Jihad is declared against other unbelievers. There’s no doubt that the enemies of Islam back this idea so as to prevent the spread of Islam in the world and to ruin the face of Islam.
Evil Coalition
So, the Zionists and Mosad would probably use these irrational people to conduct bombings and operations in Iraq. Zionists have an old enmity towards Shiites, who forced them t experience the taste of failure in the war on Hizballah.
Presence of Zionist analysts in Al-Jazeera TV channel and their stances against Shiites and insisting on getting rid of them is not surprising because the Zionists and Wahabis are on one side together.
The coalition of Zionists, Wahabis and Baathists and a number of Arab leaders is to destroy Shittes and push them to the sidelines.
This coalition is not new since according to the reports, Baathists came to power by Americans the history of this coalition returns back to a time before Shiites taking power in Iraq, the victory of Hizballah and Iran’s nuclear developments.
The role of mercenaries of Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization also should be considered. This treacherous group, ready to sell itself, is angry from Iraqis, Shiites and Kurds and works hard alongside Wahabis and Baathists to promote terrorism. This group is a tool in the hand of Mossad and America.
Sotaliraq/Osama al-Najafi
2006/12/12
Following the Iraqi officials’ revelation on MKO’s active role in terrorist activities and its interferences in Iraqi internal affairs, remnants of Rajavi’s gang formally acknowledged it.
Iraqi PM’s Security Advisor Shirvan Vaeli said in an interview with Al-Forat TV: "Mojahedin-e Khalq has made alliance with Al-Qaeda in Dyalah province; it’s conducting terrorist activities in this province."
Vaeli said he had documents proving the existence of link between the MKO and some MPs who try to ruin the government.
Independent TV channel "Almasar" also quoted Dyalah’s governor that "The MKO supports terrorist groups".
On the other hand, General Hassan Shati, in an interview with Al-Hayat newspaper, reported that MKO forces cooperate with terrorist teams in Dyalah.
Following this revelation, remnants of Rajavi hurriedly expressed their stance. Accepting and acknowledging their interferences in Iraq’s affairs (particularly in Dyalah province), MKO remnants announced that they have formed "National Front for Saving Dyalah" with Saddam loyalists!
Irandidban – 2006/12/04
Open Letter to Norway’s Prime Minister
To: Office of the Prime Minister
Akersget 42
PO Box 8001 Dep
0030 Oslo
Dear Jens Stoltenberg,
According to Arabic website nahrainnet.net (see the report below) Maryam Rajavi handed over to some Norwegian MPs a list of MKO members in Camp Ashraf Iraq whom she wants to be given asylum in the west.
It is remarkable that the more Maryam Rajavi comes out of her base in Auvers sur Oise and the more she meets with politicians and media, the more gaffes she gives. For this reason, we wholeheartedly welcome more such meetings and visits.
In this particular case, during her trip to Norway on the private invitation of some non Rajavi-cult members in the Norwegian parliament, Mrs Rajavi apparently handed over a list of individuals who are currently in Camp Ashraf to at least one MP.
Realising that her terrorist base Camp Ashraf will be dismantled in a matter of months if not weeks, Rajavi’s mission is now to retain her most useful, loyal cult members by bringing them to the west. She has tasked some Norwegian MPs with abusing their country’s immigration system in order to import a group of terrorists into Norway and to grant them political asylum.
Clearly, any list of valued members concocted by Maryam Rajavi certainly comprises a list of ‘most wanted’ terrorists for western governments. It is equivalent to a leading member of Hizb ut Tahrir giving a list of Osama bin Laden’s most trusted lieutenants to the UK government and asking for them to be given asylum there. The first thing the Norwegian MP should do is to hand this list not to Norway’s immigration service but to Interpol so that these individuals can be added to the list of MKO members wanted for crimes against humanity and for war crimes.
Members of Parliament should ask why Maryam Rajavi wants these particular people and not others and why she left them in Iraq in 2003 when she and around 300 others escaped the country.
The answer is straightforward if anyone is honest enough to acknowledge it. These precious members whom Rajavi is now trying to rescue from Iraq were her most ruthless repressive agents in Camp Ashraf. It is they who, for three and a half years, have imposed absolute control over the members using Rajavi’s infamous system of psychological coercion, extrajudicial punishments and a constant bombardment of lies, deception and misinformation under conditions of isolation and enslavement.
Does the west want to offer these individuals political asylum?
Yours Sincerely
Massoud Khodabandeh
Iran-Interlink.org
cc
Norwegian Immigration Service
Interpol
November 28, 2006
Article from nahrainnet.net:
A number of press sources in Norway revealed that during her recent visit to Oslo, Maryam Rajavi held two rounds of meetings with Israeli diplomats.
There’s no word on the content of these secret meetings, which were held under tight security measures but some of observers say that Iran’s nuclear program has been possibly on the agenda.
Sources add that in her meeting with a number of Norwegian MPs, Maryam Rajavi asked parliamentarians to pave the way for accepting Iraqi-based MKO members in Norway as refugees.
Observers believe that Rajavi’s visit to Norway was conducted with the green light by the US and it seems that the US has allowed Maryam Rajavi to start efforts to win the support of European countries after they (Americans) couldn’t find a solution for the presence of this group in Iraq.
The only commonality between the US and the MKO (listed by the US as a terrorist organization) is group’s opposition to Iran’s Islamic republic.
MKO was the ally of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Saddam supported them by all means and gave them money, weapons and land… and even equipped them with heavy weaponries such as tanks and artillery to conduct operations against Iranians.
Members of this organization believe in a mixture of Islam and Marxism. They are militants who were trained to work with light and heavy weapons. They have operated against Iran by wide military operation in 1988 and by assassinating Iranian religious and political figures during 90s. Members of this organization had an active role in suppressing iraqis’ Sha’banieh uprising in 1991 along with Saddam’s Republican Guards.
MKO is currently under the protection of US forces in Camp Ashraf; the protection is against possible attacks by Iraqis.
Meanwhile, there are undeniable evidences indicating continued cooperation between senior US officers and MKO members in Iraq. A representative from the group contacts US embassy in Iraq on daily basis in order to solve the problems of the group and meet their needs.
Most of MKO members speak fluently in local Arabic (of Iraq) and this helps them cover their Iranian identity from Iraqi people. As stated by Iraqi Prime Minister Mr. Nuri al-Maliki, this group interferes in Iraq’s internal affairs. In his speech on June 19, Mr. al-Maliki asked for the expulsion of MKO members from Iraq.
In a press conference at that time, Maliki said: "Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, trying to overthrow the Iranian regime, is widely interfering in Iraq’s political and social affairs."
Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek correspondent in Iran, in an article published in blog.washingtonpost under the title of “An Iranian Dissects U.S.-Iran Talks” states that both the US and Iran have lost opportunities to get engaged in a dialog about issues of interest that matter to both countries. He believes that “There are four issues Americans can start having a dialog about with Iran to get the ball rolling”, the first of which is “Disbanding the Iraqi-based Iranian terrorist group PMOI (People’s Mujaheddin of Iran aka MKO aka NCRI)”.
He further elucidates facts about the terrorist nature of the group and the terrorist atrocities its members perpetrated in Iran and the Iraq under Saddam.
The Iraqi-based PMOI is a terrorist organization that killed an American citizen in the 1970’s and helped Saddam to massacre the Kurds after the First Gulf War. If you think Al Qaeda or Hezbollah came up with the idea of suicide bombing you should know that PMOI pioneered suicide bombing in Iran in the early 80’s when they killed a number of Iranian senior officials as well as innocent people. PMOI was in turn ruthlessly punished by the Iranian government. In the mid-80’s PMOI moved to Saddam’s Iraq and became part of his army. Since then they have been regarded as traitors and lost any sympathy inside Iran. But through a powerful public relations campaign and focused lobbying in Washington they managed to present themselves as a viable alternative to the "regime of mullahs." PMOI was put on the American government’s list of foreign terrorist organizations in 1997. But the neo-cons thought that following their success in Iraq they could conquer Tehran with the help of PMOI. As a result the U.S. government gave the members of the terrorist group protection.
As things stand today PMOI members in their base north of Baghdad became more of liability than help to the American forces in Iraq. These days the Kurdish president of Iraq, Jalal Talibani, whose people were killed by the PMOI want them out of there and the Shia Prime Minister of Iraq, Nouri Al Maliki, last September asked PMOI to find a new base within six months. It’s difficult to prescribe to anything to do with three and something thousand Shia Iranians stuck in the middle of Sunni Triangle but it’s time to at least start talking to Iran about the fate of PMOI members. If not for political reasons at least for humanitarian reasons.
Maziar Bahari’s conclusion is a fact that all Western supporters of MKO should pay some attention to; Mojahedin are most detested both in Iran and Iraq regardless of their public relations potentiality to establish close identification with mavericks and intransigents.
The Iraqi people, especially the Kurdish people, in no wise forget Mojahedin’s collaboration with the ousted Saddam against the innocent Iraqi people, neither do the world. Dr. Amir Matin in his comment on Mr. Bahari’s article expounds that:
PMOI exemplifies terrorism. They acted as professional militia in Iraq to help Saddam massacre Kurdish innocent people. They killed civilian Kurds on large scales in most brutal ways possible. An ex-member of PMOI reported that they used tanks to overrun bodies of old Kurdish villagers and could hear their scream while they were being crushed! There is a tape of Massud Rajavi reporting on these massacres. With pride, in a meeting with Iraqi officials, he was describing it as only fulfilling his duties and also saying "your enemies are my enemies".
Besides, the issue of those members who reside in Camp Ashraf in Iraq should be taken into consideration as a humanitarian issue rather than political. Nearly 3000 members are living under harsh conditions in the camp while the group’s leaders are concerned about the refugee state and insisting to stay in Iraq. No body cares the less about these members as individuals who have rights to decide for their own destiny.
The international bodies should act before it is too late because Mojahedin, as a terrorist cult, do not exempt their own insiders from the innate violence to pave the way towards the fulfillment of the goals.
A. Afshar – Mojahedin.ws – November 28, 2006
According to MKO’s TV, INTV, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale in an interview reiterated that 330 British MPs and 160 members of the House of Lords emphasized the political refugee status of MKO in Iraq. The interview came after his addressing participants in the sit-in outside the UNHCR headquarters which has been going on for just over 100 days since August.
The sit-in is an implement to coerce the UNHCR to reaffirm the refugee status of the MKO members in Iraq. The UNHCR has so far resisted the organization’s demands for certain reasons and since the residents of Camp Ashraf are victims of human rights abuses. MKO has refused to allow the international humanitarian bodies help the residents and has rejected recognition of their rights under Article 116 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states:
Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible. As far as is possible, internees shall be permitted to visit their homes in urgent cases, particularly in cases of death or serious illness of relatives.
If Lord Corbett and his colleagues are really concerned about the safety of the residents of Camp Ashraf, they should call to guarantee the full implementation of the residents’ legal rights rather than campaigning for securing MKO’s political refugee status.
mojahedin.ws – 25/11/2006