Sporting events and international competitions never fail to attract public attention for a variety of reasons. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide attentively follow sports competitions through the public media or as spectators. It is an accepted fact that international competitions have always eclipsed any prevailing political issues and it is also accepted that, because of their focal importance, any number of opportunist political movements, and even terrorist groups, take advantage of this circumstance to accomplish their sectarian or political objectives. The plotted acts, from both the militant and political point of view, bear repercussions long after the event itself and the subsequent propaganda blitz can engross public opinion. The 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, for instance, had an appalling, long-standing effect on people’s minds because of an armed, terrorist group’s hostage-taking. It ended after the hostages and terrorists were killed and history recalls it as the bloody Olympic Games.
Now nearly 34 years after that incident, Germany will again host the World Cup. The ongoing security measures indicate that Germans are alert to the possibility of any threats, and precautions are being made to neutralize even minute suspicious moves to prevent any repetition of the past nightmare; that is to say, learning from the past can come in handy today.
It cannot be altogether ignored that the Mojahedin Khalq Organization, MKO, are historical imitators of other armed, terrorist organizations, and should be listed among the first on Germany’s watch-list. Although the group has recently inaugurated a new policy of denying its past terrorist misdeeds, perpetuation of its ill-will and hostile propaganda minimizes the effects of its claims. At present, the group is doing its best to focus on public opinion to distract attention. The methods it utilizes are in some cases too horrible and violent to forget them easily. For instance, the scattered self-immolations in European countries after Maryam Rajavi’s arrest by French police coerced the French judiciary to release her to cease the practice of these barbaric, sect-like acts.
The Mojahedin are real experts in the practice of psychological warfare. The world should not dismiss doubts about the ability of its sympathizers to show vigorous agitation over Iranian attendance in international assemblies or wherever the nations come together on certain occasions. Among these, the World Cup games are the Mojahedin’s best opportunity. To refresh our minds, let us go through the details of Mojahedin’s activities during the course of the 1998 World Cup in France; made into a sensitive, full-attention grabbing sporting event by the presence of Iran’s national team.
Utilizing its usual mafia-like methods, the Mojahedin obtained a pile of tickets sold for the play offs of the Iranian team and distributed them freely among its sympathizers so that they would be in position to disturb the peace during the games. There is evidence that several of these pseudo-fans were arrested by French police on the allegations of causing disruption. Mahmoud Malek Afzali, son of an old, Iranian singer serving the Mojahedin, was seriously traumatized by Mojahedin agents during the
Iran-America game because of his objection to his mother’s association with the Mojahedin:
Mahmoud Malek Afzali, a dissident to Mojahedin and son of a famous Iranian singer who cooperates with the Mojahedin, was seriously injured in the face by Mojahedin agents during Iran-America play. [1]
Malek Afzali further disclosed that he and his companions, a number of Iranian singers residing in the US, who had come to watch Iran play, had to recurrently change their accommodation in Paris to escape Mojahedin’s persecution. [2]
A French daily also reported the apprehension of four Mojahedin sympathizers:
Four Mojaheds are in custody on charges of burning a flag and provoking people. According to AFP, four Iranian political refugees arrested on Saturday are still in custody. According to a French judiciary official, one of them, a Dutch citizen, is alleged to have burned the Iranian flag and the other three, coming from Canada and the US, were provoking people into acts of violence. [3]
In another report we read:
French police had banned people from carrying any banners and portraits except for Iranian national flags for the Iran-America game. The question is how they had smuggled the Mojahedin’s arms and portraits of Massoud and Maryam into the stadium.
No doubt they were carrying them under their clothes. An eye witness confirmed that once a French police asked the portrait bearers whose portrait they were carrying and they slyly answered they were Iranian football players! So the police let them carry the portraits. [4]
Also in New York, the Mojahedin caused disruption during the Iran-America wrestling competitions:
The US police arrested a Mojahedin sympathizer on charges of disturbing the Iran-America wrestling competitions last Sunday. The intruder had the competition halted for a few minutes. [5]
These events dispel any doubts that the Mojahedin will stay idle during the days when the Iranian team plays in Germany this year. The group has already orchestrated a vast psychological blitz opposing Iran’s presence in the World Cup, but it was hushed-up before making things worse for proposing so absurd, preposterous a demand. Structurally, the Mojahedin is an extremist, violent organization that ideologically believes in armed struggle. It masterminds violent measures with the provided professional expertise. Such operations are commonly followed by exaggerated maneuvering over the accomplished feat which fuels its propaganda machine for long afterward to be the focus of the public opinion.
Reports indicate that the Mojahedin is kicking off preliminaries to play its role in Germany. It is obtaining and purchasing bundles of tickets to distribute among its sympathizers and whoever consents to cooperate with them. It is a golden opportunity for the organization to bypass the political standstill it is mired in especially for the time being. The absence of Massoud Rajavi, revoking the asylum status of some members in Germany, its uncertain future and increasing number of defectors in Iraq, terrorist charges in France, and a lot more are all the crises the group is facing at the moment.
German authorities should be cautious about the threat of the Mojahedin. A terrorist group that has betrayed its own people, hardly ever respects the interests of other nations. Plotted turbulence and disorder, even on a small scale, may call into question Germany’s security capabilities followed by a backlash from public opinion that it does not trust Germany to host any other International competition. It is a responsibility for Germany, and whoever believes in peace, to maintain security during the World Cup football matches to squelch politically motivated moves that disturb the peaceful atmosphere of the internationally organized games.
Notes:
1- Nimrooz, No. 479, 30 June 1998, 3.
2- ibid.
3- Nimrooz, No. 478, 26 June 1998, 3.
4- ibid.
5- Nimrooz, No. 488, 31 July 1998, 4.
mojahedin.ws – Bahar Irani – April 12, 2006
