<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ Several MEK survivors have published accounts of recentevents, in particular Mohammad Azim Mishmast and Gholamali Mirzaei. The news isabout the people who have left MEK but are still paid by the group on conditionthey remain silent and do not speak about the group. This week when they wentto collect their MEK money they were shown photographs of Mishmast, Mirzaei andsome others alongside their families and children who are not in Albania. MEKtold them, \u2018If you talk to these people you will get no money\u2019. They were thenbriefed on behalf of Maryam Rajavi that \u2018the enemy\u2019 are the ex-members. Theyare the forefront and we are keeping our bullets for them. The writing of thesurvivors say it is obvious that even their supporters in America no longergive a damn about them, so in order to keep people on board they threaten themlike this to divert attention from the main issue which is that even as amercenary force they are not needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ Zahra Mirbagheri from Nejat Association\nhas published a screen shot from an MEK site which shows Maryam Rajavi, Struan\nStevenson and a couple of other permanent lobbyists, with the title \u2018They meet\neach other, they take pictures and they pretend it\u2019s a discussion\u2019. Mirbagheri\ngives links to every one of these people who have openly lobbied for MEK for\nyears and who each head different organizations which have been created by MEK.\nMirbagheri goes on to say that this is the level they have been reduced to\nafter they have achieved nothing. They have even lost the actual support of the\nlikes of McCain and Bolton etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ A week-long Exhibition and introductory\nSpeakers panel were held at the Press Club in Brussels this week, organised by\nAawa Association of Germany. The panel was chaired by Reza Jabelli, Service\nEtat Civil et Population. Panellists were Anne Khodabandeh, Open Minds,\nDe-Radicalization Consultant, and two female MEK survivors, Batoul Soltani and\nHomeira Mohammad Nejad. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In English:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ Arron Merat\u2019s Long Read article for The\nGuardian \u2018Terrorists, cultists \u2013 or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild\nwild story of the MEK\u2019 was released as a podcast. The article says MEK are\npromoted by Trump White House hardliners as tools for regime change, but ex\nmembers accuse Maryam Rajavi of coordinating routine sexual abuse inside the\ncult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ After Sokol Balla, a presenter on Vision\nPlus TV in Albania, was taken to the camp in Manez by the MEK, several people\nwrote objecting to his report. The writers accused Balla of taking part in a\nwhitewash of MEK history and gave accounts of their own experience inside the\nMEK. One said, \u201cI suggest that the next time you want to report about the MEK,\nit would be better to ask them about their past, about forced divorces, working\nwith Saddam Hussein, and imprisonment and torture inside Camp Ashraf. And in\naddition, invite investigative delegations to establish the truth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers writes about the interview by Der Spiegel with MEK survivor Gholam Reza Shekari who left thegroup in Albania in 2017. Parsi refers to the 2005 Human Rights Watch report\u2018No Exit\u2019 which detailed torture and murder of internal dissidents in the MEK.Shekari is one of those victims who can now recount his experience andknowledge of what the MEK did at that time. \u201cShekari spent 27 years of his lifein the cult-like MKO. He was only 20 years old and willing to find a good jobin Europe when he was recruited by the MKO in Iraq. The MKO agents promised tohelp him get the European visa only if he stayed in their camp for a fewmonths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As soon as he entered the organization, they\nconfiscated his ID documents and never gave him back. \u2018whenever I asked for my\nID, they would say that they had no idea where it was\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus, Shekari had no way out of the MKO camp\nbut he frequently used to ask the leaders when he could leave the cult. This\nquestion was considered a sin by the leaders. Departure from the MKO was\nforbidden and showing your willingness for leaving the group would be faced\nwith suppression, imprisonment and torture. So he was imprisoned in solitary\nconfinement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
++ James Carden with Dr. Trita Parsi, The\nNation, \u2018The Trump Administration Rattles the Saber at Iran\u2019 This is a Q&A\nwith Dr. Trita Parsi, author of Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph\nof Diplomacy. Parsi analyses current US policy toward Iran, saying he believes\nTrump does not want war or regime change, but wants \u2018regime collapse\u2019 in which\nIran is plunged into chaos but America is not responsible for creating an\nalternative government. According to Parsi, MEK\u2019s role in this scenario is\nthus: \u201cWhereas the MeK is of little use if the objective is regime change, due\nto their immense unpopularity in Iran, the Trump administration seems to\nbelieve that they can be helpful for regime collapse and a potential Civil War,\nmindful of this terrorist organization\u2019s extensive experience in sabotage,\nterrorism, assassinations, and even regular warfare.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n