++ This week saw many letters of complaint from families, ex-members and their supporters to the Albanian authorities about the abuse and misuse of human rights as the families are banned from access to their loved ones. The letters ultimately boil down to a question \u201cAre you an independent country; do you not have your own laws that you follow?\u201d The writers point out, \u201cYou are the only country, after Saddam, which is providing a closed, extrajudicial piece of land for a terrorist organisation in which to keep our family members as slaves\u201d.<\/p>\n
++ This week another MEK member, Hassan Shahbaz, separated from the cult. His main message is that \u201cwe have been living as slaves for decades. Nobody would help us, and we had no access to anything. We were totally at the mercy of the internal laws of MEK.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Other writing in Farsi is about the meeting on Sunday in which Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will address Iranian-Americans. One writer, Alireza Nasrollahi, stresses \u2018ignoring all your promotion of terrorism, please, please, I urge and beg you, as an American do not talk about human rights when you meet with anyone. I\u2019m not saying this because of world issues, but because I have witnessed your support for slavery in the Mojahedin in Iraq and in Albania\u2019. Other writers say, \u2018you inspire the hatred of Iranian people for you by supporting MEK and then say you are on the side of Iranian people\u2019.<\/p>\n
In English:<\/p>\n
++ Iran Interlink published a piece from Gazeta Impakt condensing a critique by Albanian student Samet Vata of a summer school organized by the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) as part of the NATO Summit in London. The article is Google translated into English. Vata contradicts a speech by interim American ambassador in Albania, David Muniz who blames Iran for \u2018exporting radicalism which scares Europe and the Balkans\u2019. Vata explains that US foreign policy \u201cforced\u201d Albania to host 3000 Mojahedin Khalq terrorist extremists, thus imposing a direct security risk on Albania. Thus, Albania should accept that MEK is a problem for Albania\u2019s relations with Iran because MEK threatens the Islamic Republic of Iran. Vata then questions how 6000 ISIS terrorists would be treated when they arrive in Albania, asking \u201cwill they be left alone and given a camp as we have done with MEK?\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Tony Cartalucci in New Eastern Outlook, \u2018Who are Washington\u2019s \u201cRevolutionaries\u201d in Iran?\u2019 demonstrates how the US is using terrorist organizations to attack and undermine the Iranian state, as it has with Libya and Syria ; portraying the MEK as the voice of Iran\u2019s opposition. Cartalucci goes on to say that \u201cMEK and its NCRI political wing will never rule a functional and unified Iranian nation-state, just as US-backed terrorists in Libya preside \u2013 and only tenuously so \u2013 over fractions of Libya\u2019s territory and resources. This further exposes what the US intends to do regarding Iran, and that it has nothing to do with improving the lives or prospects of the Iranian people \u2013 especially considering Iran\u2019s collective plight is owed not to Iran\u2019s current leadership, but to America\u2019s decades-long policy to encircle, contain, undermine, and overthrow Iran\u2019s institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Dr Ron Paul and Daniel McAdams invited guest Patrick Henningsen on their Liberty Report to discuss Washington\u2019s renewed effort to destabilize Iran (video) with the tag line \u201cThis week we learned how US national security establishment and its neocon conclave have anointed a shady terrorist organization, the notorious MEK, to assume the reigns [sic] of power in Iran after the CIA overthrows its current government. What could possibly go wrong\u2026?\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Another article exposing paid American support for MEK comes from Christopher A. Preble in National Interest, \u2018Meet the Organization Pushing Regime Change in Iran\u2014and Its Willing American Accomplices\u2019. Preble reviews \u2018the usual suspects\u2019 and likens the current circumstances with the US political establishment\u2019s embrace of Ahmed Chalabi to justify the invasion of Iraq and criticises a \u2018too-credulous media\u2019 for also being duped. He concludes. \u201cAmericans must wait to see which direction the U.S. news media will go in 2018, but I hope that they will be more like John Walcott, Jonathan Landay, Warren Strobel, and Joe Galloway, and less like Judith Miller.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Iran Front Page published the results of a poll among the Iranian diaspora in Canada. The results are not unexpected: \u201cnearly 100 percent of Iranian diaspora in Canada maintain that Ottawa officials shouldn\u2019t have taken part in the annual gathering of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an anti-Iran terrorist group, which was recently held in Paris.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to the survey conducted by the Iranian-Canadian Congress, 98.90 percent of 1,551 Iranian diaspora in Canada who took part in the online survey said they were against the presence of Ottawa officials in the Paris annual gathering.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response to a question whether or not the MKO represent you when it comes to Iran-related issues and Canada\u2019s policies towards the country, 99.48 percent said the terroristgroup doesn\u2019t represent them at all, a report by Alef news website said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMeanwhile, 94.13 percent said they are against a decision by the former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper to remove the MKO from the list of terrorist organizations in 2012. They also described Harper\u2019s decision as a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ There appears to be no answer to the question, but it keeps being asked:\u00a0 Ashton Hashemipour in The Gate questions \u2018The Baffling Relationship between American Politicians and the MEK\u2019. In particular \u201cpoliticians have decried the lack of human rights in Iran, the lack of democracy, and the suffering of the Iranian people. Given this context, the relationship between some American politicians and the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, is baffling.\u201d Perhaps Hashemipour does have answers, or at least suggestions, even though they run up against the usual brick wall\u2026 \u201cAlthough supporting the MEK provides a way for American politicians to ostensibly advocate for a democratic revolution in Iran, the costs of supporting a terrorist group far outweigh any benefits. To weaken the Iranian government and gain the support of the Iranian people, the United States should attempt to act as a friend to the Iranian people, instead of supporting a terrorist organization, banning Iranians from entering the country, and putting crippling sanctions on Iran, which hurt civilians more than the government. But given the immense amount of lobbying from anti-Iran groups\u2014from America-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD)\u2014it is highly unlikely that such a change in the mindset of American politicians will occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
++ Nahal Toosi in Politico, a statement from Jamal Abdi, NIAC and Trita Parsi in the New York Review of Books all point out the obvious: Secretary of State Pompeo will have a hard time persuading Iranians to vote to bomb their own country on Sunday. His even harder task will be to persuade any Iranians that supporting MEK is \u2018a good thing\u2019.<\/p>\n
In Albania:<\/p>\n
Iran Interlink: An Iranian father and mother, trying to get contact with their MEK-held daughter visited the Interior Ministry in Tirana to ask for help. Shockingly, three notorious MEK commanders strolled by and breezing through security went on to attend what are clearly frequent visits to brief Albanian government officials what they should do (MEK are always boasting their CIA links). The parents were denied a meeting with anyone, even though they were accompanied by their lawyer. This footage captured the moment when Albania sided with terrorists.<\/p>\n
++ Gazetta Impakt, broadcast a moving interview with Mostafa and Mahboubeh Mohammadi (see above) who are in Albania trying to rescue their daughter from MEK. Tears were shed.<\/p>\n
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