{"id":14707,"date":"2023-01-01T10:57:08","date_gmt":"2023-01-01T07:27:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/?p=14707"},"modified":"2023-01-01T10:57:08","modified_gmt":"2023-01-01T07:27:08","slug":"michael-rubin-mek-is-anything-but-dedicated-to-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/posts\/14707","title":{"rendered":"Michael Rubin: MEK is anything but dedicated to freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAudit the Mujahedin-e-Khalq\u201d is the title of Michael Rubin\u2019s recent article on the group\u2019s criminal background and its current shallow claims for democracy and freedom in Iran propagating in its well-heeled lobbies in the US government. \u201cWhile the group describes itself as dedicated to freedom in Iran, it is anything but,\u201d Rubin states in the first lines of his article.<\/p>\n

As a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin has previously authored several articles on the MEK, its violent history and its well-funded lobbying campaign among the US\u2019s corrupt politicians. He starts his article suggesting, \u201cThe Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) is a barometer of Washington corruption.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rubin gives a brief of the MEK\u2019s background:
\n\u201cWhile the group describes itself as dedicated to freedom in Iran, it is anything but. Its roots lie in a combination of Islamism and Marxism. In the run-up to the 1979 Islamic Revolution, the group both allied with Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and conducted terrorism against Americans and American companies.
\n\u201c[Ayatollah]Khomeini back-stabbed his MKO allies. In an episode their spokesman buries and the MKO purges from their website, the group allied itself with Saddam Hussein, killing not only regime officials but also Kurdish dissidents and ordinary Iranians.\u201d<\/p>\n

Iranians march for freedom and democracy, not for a cult whose leader still veils and who runs the organization as an autocracy<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to Rubin, the MEK has not changed and today it has nothing to do with the Iranians\u2019 aspirations for freedom and democracy:
\n\u201cToday, they are not much better: The ongoing Iranian revolution shows the emptiness of previous MKO claims. Iranians march for freedom and democracy, not for a cult whose leader still veils and who runs the organization as an autocracy.\u201d
\nCriticizing the American politicians who receive MEK\u2019s hefty amounts of dollars, he warns them about the MEK\u2019s unpopularity among the Iranian public opinion:
\n\u201cSome American politicians may feel they do no harm by taking MKO cash in exchange for peppering a short gala speech with MKO talking points, but they are wrong. Endorsing the MKO is a gift to the Islamic Republic. It plays into the ayatollahs\u2019 propaganda that the West hates Iranians rather than respects them. The MKO, of course, rejects such reality. They embrace the big lie. MKO spokesmen claim popularity and grass roots support, and castigate anyone who criticizes them as part of some broad pro-Islamic Republic conspiracy, no matter how ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MEK

MKO Terrorist Group Hires Top US Lobbying Firm BGR<\/p><\/div>\n

Regarding the MEK\u2019s lavish propaganda campaigns in the West, Rubin calls for investigations on the group\u2019s financial resources. \u201cWhile their galas are glitzy and seek to project an aura of popularity, their finances are opaque,\u201d he writes.<\/p>\n

He continues:
\n\u201cIf the MKO truly was anything more than a political Ponzi scheme, they would open their books to audit. They would explain the murky origins of the money they channel through shell organizations to gain the endorsement of American and European politicians. They would explain how Maryam Rajavi lives a life of luxury, as apparently do the few prominent spokesmen whom the group allows to speak to outsiders.<\/p>\n

Every non-profit in the U.S. must file tax returns and explain their income and spending. The MKO and its subsidiaries may not be non-profits, nor is its headquarters in the U.S., but there is no reason the group cannot voluntarily provide the minimum information expected and provided by thousands of American nonprofits.
\nAt the very least, Alireza Jafarzadeh, who often acts as the group\u2019s mouthpiece in the U.S., might release his tax returns just as American politicians do. It would be telling if he lives in luxury while many MKO members live in group homes and apparently donate the vast majority of their earnings to the group.
\nThe reality, of course, is that the MKO will make every excuse not to open their books. They will bluster, but they will never hire a neutral auditor to confirm the legitimacy of their organization. To do so would be to expose the image they seek to project as an illusion carefully crafted for greedy or na\u00efve outsiders.\u201d<\/p>\n

He asks the US American and European politicians to \u201csteer clear of the MKO, and redirect any money offered by the group to the protesters actually fighting for freedom in Iran rather than simply seeking to profit from it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAudit the Mujahedin-e-Khalq\u201d is the title of Michael Rubin\u2019s recent article on the group\u2019s criminal background and its current shallow claims for democracy and freedom in Iran propagating in its…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[376],"tags":[642,20],"module":[81],"ctype":[17],"blog":[109],"class_list":["post-14707","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mujahedin-khalq-organization","tag-paid-advocacy-for-mko","tag-third-view-mek","module-article","ctype-story","blog-western-bloggers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14707"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14707\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"module","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/module?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"ctype","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ctype?post=14707"},{"taxonomy":"blog","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nejatngo.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog?post=14707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}