Iran Interlink Website

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Biden Dilemma: Iranians Saw Trump As A Mad Man But Blame America For Their Woes

After enduring four years of President Trump’s hostile and belligerent policies and actions – the Muslim travel ban, extreme sanctions, incitement to violence, support for terrorist groups, assassinations of nuclear scientists and of general Qasem Soleimani – the Iranian people are entitled to conclude that America is waging a war against them. And Iran has responded; maximum pressure resulted only in maximum resistance. The sanctions, unfortunate as they have been for Iran’s economy, have not destroyed it. Indeed, evidence is emerging that Iran’s resistance culture itself has led to an entrepreneurial response to overcome the restrictions. Iran’s military opened a trade and security corridor through Syria and Lebanon to the Mediterranean coast. A dedicated port is under construction. The U.S. can no longer control Iran’s finances since it is no longer limited to trading through Dubai. The only way to stop that is using bombs; an actual declaration of war, which puts Israel at risk.

Biden Dilemma Iranians Blame America

Trump and his allies spent four years trying to crush Iran, to force regime change and failing that, threats to bomb the country back fifty years. They failed. The unintended consequence of that failure has been the militarisation of Iran. The Revolutionary Guards have become stronger and their power embedded in the wider region with allies in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. Commemorations to mark the January 3rd anniversary of the assassinations of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis were titled ‘Martyrs Without Borders’ signifying their wider relevance. Although Iraq is in step with Iran to eject American forces from the region, the Trump administration failed to understand that Ayatollah Khamenei’s ‘harsh revenge’ could be achieved as much through regional soft power and international law as military strikes.

Furthermore, the assassination of Soleimani unified Iran in a way that no internal politics could have hoped to achieve as Iranians rallied round their flag. Back in 2016, Iran’s leaders were almost equally divided between western leaning moderates and revolutionary hardliners. Now we hear president Rohani echoing the speeches of Ayatollah Khamenei, and foreign minister Javad Zarif amplifying the role of the Quds Force in Iran’s foreign policy. National unity against the perceived external threat of America has now created grounds for military officials to be allowed to run for president in June’s elections. If the military prevail, it will make conflict more likely, not less. Iran says its missile program is defensive, that it does not want war, but with missiles in Iran and Lebanon trained on U.S. interests in the region, Israel is clearly less safe than before.

President Joe Biden will only have months to make a difference if he wants to pursue a diplomatic route. He must demonstrate through policies and actions that Trump was a hiccup, not the way things will be. Trump was not America. If Biden wants to start talking with Iran he must accept where Iran is now, not what it used to be. Confrontation and containment cannot be the starting point for negotiations; there will have to be more carrots.

Iran experts are focused on re-joining the JCPOA. But this will not be enough on its own to recalibrate relations between the two countries. Not only will Iran expect sanctions to be lifted but will feel entitled to demand compensation for the financial losses suffered under extreme sanctions. People were denied medicine. Iranians saw Trump as a mad man, but they blame America for their woes. The damage done by Trump will take years to redress, but there is no reason why trust building cannot begin straight away. To start with Biden must treat Iran with respect. Acknowledge that assassinations and incitement to violence and terrorism are not how civilized countries behave.

Of course, the new presidency will be hampered by America’s internal problems. Biden inherits a deeply divided country. Yet, the decades long problem of Iran could very well offer a route to a new bipartisan consensus on a way forward. Although Trump has gone, the Adelson family, Neocons and Fox News will still be there; war is still on the agenda. Theirs is not a battle between Democrats and Republicans, but between warmongers and peacemakers. Their agenda doesn’t depend on who is the president. They want to defeat Iran. If Trump couldn’t do it, they will force the Democrats to do it. They want a war at any price. If Biden cannot prevent war, they will have won.

In this respect, this expert would advocate a much easier, cheaper and effective course of action to start with. Biden should immediately restore the Obama administration’s plan to deradicalize the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist cult in Albania. The MEK are, of course, the darlings of both the anti-Iran cabal in the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia, and the hardliners in Iran. Both sides have used the MEK to destroy Iran’s indigenous opposition movement and to control the prevailing narrative on Iran in international politics.

By dismantling and deradicalizing the MEK, Biden can score easy wins in a variety of arenas. In Albania it would free around two thousand members from conditions of modern slavery, allowing them to reintegrate into normal society and be reunited with their families. It would relieve the Albanian government and security services of the headache caused by MEK crime, corruption and impunity in their country. For Iranians who universally regard the MEK with loathing as traitors and cultists, it would send a clear message that America will not tolerate terrorism or human rights abuses in pursuit of its foreign policy aims. Iran’s people would view dismantling this terrorist group as a goodwill gesture; building a modicum of trust that may sway some voters in June to have faith in the efficacy of diplomacy with the west.

But the most significant win for Biden would be to start tackling the corruption inside America which facilitated Trump’s belligerent agenda and that of his backers. Dismantling the MEK would stem one of the hidden conduits for the flow of foreign money and false narratives into America.

The MEK paid thousands of dollars for the likes of Rudi Giuliani and John Bolton to attend their rallies in Paris and Tirana to peddle the false narrative that the only way to deal with Iran is confrontation, regime change and war. The Heshmat Alavi scandal which exposed an industry of fake social media messages and accounts and a click farm in Albania, revealed that what had previously been covert activity had, under Trump, become mainstream.

In America, Professor Raymond Tanter has been tasked with creating a bi-partisan group to undermine the work of the new Biden administration. Funding for this project relies on the kind of corruption that has become embedded in the body politic. The example of MEK funding for the extreme right Vox Party in Spain reveals how the MEK use individual and fake association accounts to channel foreign funds into anti-Iran projects.

It is incumbent on the Biden administration to approach relations with Iran on a new page. Purging the old regime need not be as difficult as it first appears. The costs of erasing any traces of the MEK from that page are low, the benefits are great and many.

By Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh,

March 17, 2022 0 comments

Maryam Rajavi

Maryam Rajavi John Bercow – It Takes One to Know One

For those living in the UK, it should come as no surprise that among the many shoddy failures in the Westminster bubble, former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow has been banned from parliament for life after a bullying inquiry found him guilty. In spite of his effectiveness in his role as Speaker, those close to him, professionally and personally, knew him to be a difficult, unpleasant individual. Among the panel’s findings were that he acted as a “serial bully and serial liar”, his behaviour was a ‘marked abuse of power and authority’, and that “there is ‘no doubt’ that victims were telling the truth”.

It should also be no surprise to observers of Maryam Rajavi and her tragic little cult, the MEK, that these are the characteristics her close associates will also recognise as hers: bullying, lying, abuse of power and authority. Also, that her victims are telling the truth. Maryam Rajavi’s vicious screaming hysterics are famous among her inner circle.

, former House of Commons Speaker John Bercow

Maryam Rajavi and John Bercow

What links these two is that the MEK was in the process of grooming Bercow to become the MEK’s lobbying replacement for the late David Amess in the UK parliament. Amess lined up among an anti-Iran cabal that included John Bolton and Rudi Giuliani.

The MEK has a long history of association with some very unsavoury characters. While not all of them share these personal characteristics, most have been forced out of their official positions or had reputations built on years of corruption and sleaze eventually exposed: Rudi Giuliani is only a recent example. After he was voted out as a Member of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras of Spain showed his extreme right-wing views as president of VOX. He channelled finance from the MEK money laundering system into the Vox Party.

The history of the MEK includes many, many of such people. It is true, of course, that Maryam Rajavi cannot pick and choose her associates because decent people will not get involved in her schemes and crimes, not for any amount of money. But certainly the role call of MEK supporters does prove that it takes on to know one as Rajavi’s nasty corruption attracts like-minded people.

March 12, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Deja Vue for MEK Over Bread Shortages in Albania

As the world wakes up to the realisation that more than a quarter of the world’s wheat exports come from Russia and Ukraine, the MEK ( Mujahedin e Khalq ) are in familiar territory. During the MEK’s four decade stay in Iraq (1983-2016), they had to learn how to exist under the various U.S. sanctions on that country. While Albanian media is warning of price rises and shortages of bread due to the current conflict in Ukraine, the MEK will no doubt be quickly scrambling to ensure its own supplies via mafia gangs.

In Iraq, under extreme sanctions, the MEK used its privately sourced bread supply to recruit new members. There is no doubt they will try to use the situation in Albania for the same end. Already the MEK has positioned itself alongside the Albanian police and immigration services to deceptively recruit Iranian, Afghani and other vulnerable asylum seekers as they arrive in Albania. The shortage of bread can only offer even greater leverage.

The fact that the MEK is still trying to recruit new members should sound alarm bells. In spite of the problems the MEK faces due to its ageing and ailing membership, the cult is still actively working with Albanian and Italian mafia gangs. The MEK’s skills in money laundry, military logistics, intelligence and spying and human trafficking could all be utilised during the Ukraine crisis. With its history of mercenary work for Saddam Hussein, Israel, the US and others, the only question is, ‘how much is any side willing to pay?’

March 8, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq 's Terrorism

MEK Mafia Collaboration Panics Europe

Evidence of criminal collaboration between Italy’s notorious ‘Ndrangheta clan and the Albanian based MEK terrorist cult has alarmed European security services. News that two high ranking MEK members had been arrested in July 2021 on charges of smuggling drugs into Italy, along with several other cases of criminal activity by MEK members had previously been suppressed. Media articles were retracted, and prosecutions quelled after intervention by the US embassy in Tirana.

However, news published by Report TV – later retracted but echoed by Lapsi.al and Syri.net – reveals the extent of MEK criminal activity and links to mafia in Italy and Albania as well as alleged links to Middle East smuggling rings. State police provided information that from 2019 to 2021, the MEK have attempted to illegally traffic 400 MEK members from Albania to France. The police also revealed that MEK were involved with Albanian and Greek criminal groups in trafficking 7 Iranian, Kurdish and Syrian asylum seekers along with evidence of drug smuggling.

This news [see below] has alarmed European security personnel, not least the Italians. Albanian journalist Gjergji Thanasi was contacted by several Italian media organisations covering this news. Thanasi observed that the collaboration between the military and intelligence trained MEK in Albania and the ‘Ndrangheta in Italy has seriously spooked the security communities of both countries.

MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, who had been based in France, was expelled from Europe in 2018 after she and the MEK were linked to a series of serious security risks. Rajavi took up residence in Albania from where she continued her anti-Iranian propaganda activities under the protection of the American embassy. It is unconscionable that this dangerous organisation with its history of military training, including bomb making and special tactics, intelligence work, money laundry, corruption of officials and its criminal activities, be enabled to re-enter Europe through the back door of organised crime.

It is clear that the unrestrained criminality of the MEK poses a massive threat to Europe and has little to do with any pretended opposition to Iran. Indeed, the secretary of Iran’s Human Rights Office, Kazem Gharibabadi, responded to a EU parliament resolution on the death sentence in Iran, which he characterised as interference in the sovereignty of another country, by pointing out the hypocrisy of EU countries “supporting the MKO terrorist group and referring to such a dangerous group as political opponents”.

MEK Mafia Collaboration Panics Europe

Below, the reports of Lapsi.al and Syri.net based on the Report TV news.

Link to Lapsi.al
Link to Syri.net

Police seize Mujahedin involved in trafficking, but they are released after being ‘protected by embassies’

17/02/2022

Verified Albanian police sources suggest that Mojahedin housed as political refugees in Albania are involved in illegal activities such as drug trafficking and smuggling, but the cases proven against them are blocked for political reasons.

This is the news published today by Report TV, testifying to concrete cases. According to this television channel, the State Police, has provided information that from 2019 to 2021 they have attempted to illegally smuggle to France 400 members of Camp Ashraf 3, where the Mojahedin are housed under an agreement dating back to 2013 and sponsored by the US.

Police documents also mention two senior officers of the MEK militant organisation, who deal with the organisation of illegal activity in co-operation with Albanian criminal groups. The same information made public by Report TV has been followed by Lapsi.al for several weeks.

Police sources have made photo media and videos available to our editorial office which demonstrate the trafficking of illegal drugs and persons, allegedly organised by the MEK organisation, to which the Albanian state has given refuge.

But so far Lapsi.al had not made this information public pending official confirmation. According to our source in the police: ‘Since January 2020, over 100 criminal cases have been filed against MEK members.

Eight of these cases relate to drug trafficking, directly related to ‘Ndrangheta in Italy. There are also 14 cases relating to human trafficking with Greece, he said, adding that the customs and police officers prosecuted for involvement in connection with this, also serves as evidence for this.

In the news made public by Report TV, there is also a letter, through which Albanian police have notified the US Embassy of the criminal activities of members of the MEK protected by it.

While the Lapsi.al source claims that foreign diplomats have directly intervened to close the cases against them.

‘This is a scandal that everyone is silent about. We have also notified the opposition parties and they dare not speak as a result of diplomatic pressure. Even the prosecution does not dare take these cases to the end,’ he said.

The question that arises is, is this also one of the reasons that the international community demanded justice reform? Are they controlling judges and prosecutors to keep quiet about the crimes they committed on our territory, by the militant organisation they support, but which must be self-financed through illegal trafficking and smuggling?

These questions need an answer after an in-depth investigation, because everyone can agree that Albania is a host country for refugees, but hardly anyone can accept that it is turned into a laboratory for criminal experiments.

February 21, 2022 0 comments

Maryam Rajavi

Maryam Rajavi The MEK Cult Leader

In 2003, Maryam Rajavi inherited, or at least became de facto leader of, a political mind control cult, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, after her husband Massoud Rajavi disappeared. Fortunately for her, Massoud Rajavi had already spent over two decades creating the cultic conditions inside this anti-Iranian group that have guaranteed its survival: modern slavery based on misappropriated devotion to an outdated, unachievable cause enforced through a punitive regime of isolation, fear and punishment. Phew. This is certainly outside Maryam Rajavi’s competence. She is neither a charismatic leader, nor a political strategist, nor anything other than a face and name to trigger obedience among Rajavi’s followers. However, she has been able to use his formula and foreign money to keep the MEK going.

Maryam clearly learned from her husband how cultic abuse could keep the MEK members obedient, using lieutenant enforcers, loyal devotees and useful idiots. As part of the lessons she learned, she has, for two decades, used the label ‘agent of the Iranian regime or intelligence services’ to denounce and demonise and thereby frighten her critics; the majority of whom are former members who have spoken out since leaving about the atrocious human rights abuses they suffered and which are still being inflicted on the trapped membership. The label, which also applies to non-Iranian critics such as western journalists, has become so widely spread that it is not only ludicrous to imagine that the current MEK is harbouring ‘agents’ who simply haven’t left yet, but also to imagine that the Iranians are so powerful they can recruit thousands of specifically anti-MEK agents whose only goal is to infiltrate then destroy the MEK by leaving, someday – a claim even more ludicrous considering all the real-world problems Iran faces. And they still haven’t been able to destroy the organisation.

So, in this context it is interesting that after all this time Maryam Rajavi has suddenly become upset over the description of MEK as a cult and has published on the MEK internet outlets denials and denouncements that the Iranian regime has created this label to destroy the MEK.

But here’s the thing. Since the establishment of the Islamic Republic under Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s rulers and media have consistently referred to the MEK only as Monafeqin, a Quranic phrase which translates as ‘Hypocrites’, i.e. not true Muslims. There is no track record of publicly, persistently accusing the group of being a cult. Something else is going on here.

Could it be that Maryam Rajavi felt so safe in her tick box method of cult leadership – defame every critic as an agent of the regime – that she neglected to listen to what her critics were actually saying and the public impact that has had. For years, former MEK members have explained and exposed the internal dynamics to anyone who would listen. Compelling and consistent evidence has led experts in cultic abuse such as ICSA and FECRIS as well as human rights organisations, to recognise the organisation as a cult. Simply put, that means the members are suffering abuse. Investigative media reporting has reflected this reality. This has now reached legal recognition as a German court has determined that MEK behaviour toward underage members amounted to abuse. This has led to the MEK being recognised as a toxic brand in international parliaments and forums.

A quick look into the MEK’s recent history might explain Maryam Rajavi’s dilemma. While the MEK was based in Iraq just off the border with Iran and had weapons and the military backing of Saddam Hussein, the leaders could ignore labels or criticism. Rajavi had the support – financial and political – of various anti-Iran parties not least Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and John McCain which allowed her to brush off criticism. She had access to parliaments in Europe and North America, she held fancy rallies in which she posed as the saviour of Iran. These have all gone. After its move to Albania, the MEK was reduced to churning out misinformation and false narratives about Iran, swapping guns for clicks, so that the MEK have become the equivalent of porn stars in fuelling the political fantasies of the pundits who consume their political trash.

But the organisation itself is becoming weak and diminished. It is shrinking with deaths and defections, unable to recruit and replenish its ranks. Unable to stop the ageing process of its current members. Unable to hide the obvious fact that after forty years the MEK is no longer a player in the political scene of Iran.

The MEK brand for Maryam also carries an extra burden. She has already appointed her Qajar relatives to leadership roles and sidelined Massoud Rajavi’s family and friends. The continued reference to the MEK as the Rajavi Cult reinforces his name. She needs to have the organisation associated with her family name Azodanlu.

Finally, a home goal by then President Donald Trump – the assassination of general Qassem Soleimani – means that regime change or a colour revolution is completely out of the question. Now with the election of Ebrahim Raisi, Iran is looking East, not West. Raisi’s Iran regards the west as a distraction, not a problem. Russia and China are opportunities for Iran. Now everyone is left with the question, ‘what is the MEK for?’

It’s as though Maryam Rajavi – and or her sponsors – have only recently woken up to this desert of opportunity and paucity of relevance. Her reaction has been to blame everyone except her own cruelty and incompetence.

In the end, the labels and where they originate are not too important. Instead, it is deeds not words which will continue to determine the future of the MEK. As long as it remains on this dysfunctional path the members will suffer. Then they will die. Those who have the power to dismantle the MEK safely and humanely in the short term should choose to do so. If they choose to leave the members to rot and their families to grieve, the reputation of western democracies will be dragged deeper and deeper into the mud. The result will be the same. But just a little hard headed, cost free humanity on the part of western political leaders now would make all the difference.

By Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton)

February 20, 2022 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 308

++ Massoud Khodabandeh was interviewed by Iranic TV. Khodabandeh covered a variety of subjects starting with the source of MEK money – Saddam Hussein, Saudi gold and money laundering. He said the MEK are still involved in money laundering, but now, instead of being alongside military/terrorist activities, they are now being paid for click farm propaganda activity and intelligence work for anyone, including paid work for Zionists against Europeans. Khodabandeh talked about the recent renewed interest in the case of child soldiers, rapes and sexual abuse and women in the MEK. He talked about the assassination of general Soleimani and how this put an end to the west’s hopes for regime change. He concluded by talking about the MEK’s situation in Albania where they act with impunity – as above the law as they were under Saddam Hussein – with the backing of Israel in particular. Khodabandeh stressed that the Albanian authorities are not happy with this situation at all.

++ Exit News in Albania, which previously reported the arrest of two high ranking MEK personnel on charges of drug and human trafficking, is continuing to report on the crackdown on criminal activity in Albania. This time involving unauthorised cryptocurrency labs, fraud and hiding income. Commentators ask in Farsi why the authorities turn a blind eye to the MEK’s criminal behaviour. Why the two arrested MEK officials are not being prosecuted and why the authorities refuse to investigate well-evidenced allegations of modern slavery and human rights abuses in Camp Ashraf 3.

++ The MEK are placing fundraising ads on their TV channel. This is in spite of the fact that everyone knows the MEK is paid for by the anti-Iran coalition (US, Israel, Saudi Arabia and UK). As several commentors pointed out, the MEK’s main job is money laundry for the purposes of propaganda and dissemination of false and misleading information.

++ Maryam Rajavi was delighted to pose with some non-Iranian former politicians and personalities presumably in a bid to win over the hearts and minds of Iranians. It was deliberately unclear whether these photo ops were made Albania or France, though Rajavi is trying hard to pretend she is living in France. Responses pointed out that the Rajavi Cult is more and more irrelevant to Iran and that observers expect the group to morph into the Cult of Qajar in Paris headed by Maryam’s daughter and her niece (her brother’s daughter) who are both French citizens by birth.

++ Hackers managed to hack an Iranian TV channel for a few seconds last week, placing photos (over 30-year-old) of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi on screen. This prompted a hashtag storm with # down with MEK in Farsi from everywhere. Social media found the stunt ridiculous. Nobody cares about MEK and those who did simply laughed at how desperate MEK is to prove it actually exists at all.

In English
++ Gjergji Thanasi wrote about the trafficking activities of MEK being revealed in Greece which are a repeat of the drug and human trafficking which led to the arrest of two high ranking members in Albania. Thanasi wrote that Greek police and journalists have raised concerns about the long term activities of Mehdi Mazloomi and Bahman Rahimi, both MEK members, in Greece. The fear is that MEK is causing problems in the EU and in NATO countries. Thanasi suggests that the US embassy should help Albania to end the Rajavi cult.

++ In a joint broadcast between ASILA in Albania and Nejat Society in Iran, Albanian journalist Gjergji Thanasi told families of the entrapped MEK members that things are changing for the better. According to the Albanians there is now an alternative for the inmates, to have a normal life in Tirana; Thanasi stressed that new legislation allows them to find a job. He said everyone should work together to help the MEK members as the alternative could be that they die of COVID 19 due to negligence.
++ Nejat Society published the story of Mahvash Jahanbanian whose husband Ali Ebrahimi was taken as a PoW during the Iran-Iraq while serving as an officer in the Iranian army. In spite of being registered with the ICRC, Ebrahimi’s letters stopped in 1989 and his wife had no news of him until an anonymous note revealed he was with the MEK. After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003 Jahanbanian, with other families, visited Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty four times to find her husband. They had rocks thrown at them. Later, former MEK members who knew him told her that he refused to comply with MEK demands that he denounce his wife as an agent of Iranian Intelligence and was punished for this. Jahanbanian is continuing her efforts to contact her husband and called on the Albanian authorities to help. Meanwhile, she sent a direct message to him on her video with Mardom TV: “Ali! I still love you and respect you the same as I did the day you left. We will warmly welcome you whenever you come back home.”

February 04 2022

February 5, 2022 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 307

++ News emerged that a data leak in Albania led the Rama government to sign a memorandum of understanding with an American company to “strengthen cyber security and increase the digital infrastructure”. The company, Jones Group International, is led by General James Logan Jones Jr, “a four-star General of the United States Navy Corps, former National Security Adviser, Commander of the Marine Corps, Commander of the US European Command, Supreme Allied Commander Europe”. This is the same General Jones who in November 2019 visited Maryam Rajavi in Ashraf 3 in Manez to support her regime change agenda. This knowledge led to a series of comments from Albanians who wonder how private their personal details will be once Jones gets hold of them.

The MEK, of course, is not in Albania to directly oppose the Iranian regime – that would be a ludicrous conclusion for anyone to make. Instead, it acts as a propaganda and intelligence tool for the anti-Iran coalition which includes the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The MEK is well known as a conduit for Mossad intelligence – a two-way street. With Jones’ company embedded in the security infrastructure and the corrupting, criminal MEK acting with impunity in Albania, who knows what real threat there may be to national security in that country.

What guarantee does Albania have that general Jones will not share Albania’s sensitive information with the Iranian mojaheden? pic.twitter.com/OSP2wqo4rE

— Olsi Jazexhi (@OlsiJ) January 11, 2022

++ Saber from Tabriz answered an article by Iran-Efshagar, an MEK website built to attack critics and ex-members. The article claims that the name ‘Rajavi Cult’ was invented by Iranian intelligence to discredit Rajavi and is not true. Saber accepts that this name should not be used. Instead, he says, the name ‘Rajavi’s Destructive Cult’ is the correct terminology. He explains that only destructive cults do what Rajavi does – destroy their members.

++ Hamed Sarafpour, Iran-Interlink, wrote about MEK Money Laundering after Rajavi announced the “week of financial support”, a week when members are supposed to go all out to collect financial support for her cult. Every year she does this so that she can claim that the MEK is financed through people’s money. Sarafpour exposes the history of money laundry by the MEK from the deceptive Iran Aid bogus charity to the 3 tons of gold and food for oil, etc to the payments made to John Bolton, the Vox Party, and more. He also publishes the amount of money Maryam spends on makeup and shoes and decoration for her meetings and compares this with the situation of ordinary members – referring to modern slavery to explain why the money does not reach the members.

++ Massoud Khodabandeh concluded the 9th hour-long podcast interviews with Bakhshali Alizadeh, a former MEK member now living in Iran with his family. In the series, Alizadeh describes how he went to the front line in the Iran-Iraq war as a conscript and was captured and imprisoned as a POW in Saddam’s camps. He talks about conditions in the camp and how he and others were given to Rajavi contrary to international law. He describes the situation of the MEK camps – forced marriages, forced divorces, the fall of Saddam, the Americans disarming the MEK, and the approach of the new Iraqi government. Alizadeh talks about internal conflicts inside the camp, why Rajavi resisted leaving Camp Ashraf, the transfer to Camp Liberty and how UNAMI behaved inside Liberty. Alizadeh was among those members transferred to Albania. Once there he had the opportunity to leave the MEK. This began another journey – from Albania to Germany where he was granted refugee status. He explains why he gave this up and returned to Iran where he got married and had a baby. In the concluding podcast Alizadeh touched on the importance of family in restoring his life – his father had previously travelled to the camp in Iraq to try to contact his son. He explains that in order to leave point A you need a point B to go to. The MEK cult, protected by benefactors, is denying people the point B, i.e. contact with family and society to prevent them leaving.

++ Ex members broadcast a touching video on YouTube of former MEK member Parviz Heydarian saying farewell to his friends as he returns to Iran from Albania. Heydarian was supported by the recently established ASILA association. The film shows Heydarian with other former members, who all look happy, healthy and relaxed in their new lives. The MEK have been on overdrive to denounce them all as agents of the Iranian regime. The reality is that both ASILA in Albania and Nejat Society in Iran are legally registered in their respective countries where they pay taxes and obey the laws. Unlike the MEK which has never registered anywhere, does not pay any taxes and certainly does not obey any laws.

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi for Nejat Society writes about the MEK’s constant and futile habit of labelling all its critics as ‘agents of the Intelligence Ministry of Iran’. Parsi identifies three main groups which the MEK regards as enemies: former members, families of members and the child soldiers made to join MEK’s army in Iraq. The common characteristics linking these groups is their scathing criticism of the MEK and revelations of horrendous abuses and crimes. The MEK also singles out ASILA in Albania and Nejat Society in Iran to attack as agents. The simple reason is that these organisations effectively and persistently help and support all those groups.

++ Nejat Society reveals that the MEK’s policy of recruiting child soldiers has been known about in western political circles for some time. In a report on Iran published by the UK Home Office Border and Immigration Agency, it is stated: “According to the Child Soldiers Global Report 2004 ‘The MeK reportedly recruited members from the USA, Europe and Iraqi prisoner of war camps and jails. Children were said to be among MeK members in Ashraf camp, including 17-year-old Majid Amini who ‘was recruited to join the MeK in Tehran with promises of completing two school grades in one year and gaining a place in college’, according to his parents. There were reports that the MeK recruited children from Sweden.”

++ A Letter was sent from Nejat Society CEO Ebrahim Khodabandeh to the ASILA President outlining the problem that families have in gaining visas to visit Albania and seek out contact with their loved ones incarcerated in camp Ashraf 3 in Manez as modern slaves. The letter asks ASILA to petition the authorities to ignore Maryam Rajavi’s deceptive lies and grant the human rights of MEK members and their families.

++ Habilian Association in Iran published a second volume of its book ‘Mujahedin-e Khalq Uncovered 2, The Terrorist Group in the Eyes of International Media’. After Trump’s presidency ended, Habilian compiled media reports to update the latest narrative from western media viz a viz the MEK. “The book, published in 830 pages, vividly demonstrates that the MEK is still a highly dubious and notorious group in the West and despite the efforts to present a different image of itself among Westerners, it has not attained much success.”

++ Anne Khodabandeh in Iran-Interlink exposes the MEK’s deceptive recruitment of vulnerable Iranian asylum seekers arriving in Albania. The MEK has imposed its personnel on the police by offering to identify the Iranians among the refugees. Once recruited, they are taken to MEK camps and detained there as modern slaves. According to Khodabandeh, this practice of deceptively exploiting Iranian refugees has been going on for decades. This time, however, the Albanian authorities have a duty to detect and prevent it rather than facilitate it.

++ Geopolitica published an interview Jack Turner made with Dr Haniyeh Tarkian, an Italian Islamic-Studies researcher and geopolitical analyst, about different aspects of the MEK’s activities. Interestingly, the conversation continually returned to the issue of western double standards and hypocrisy in relation to the MEK over every issue.

++ Atefeh Nadilian, human rights lawyer, writing for Nejat Society reveals that the MEK’s sensitivity toward families has become worse in recent times. The MEK has tried to depict the families as dangerous agents of the Iranian regime. But this has backfired as most observers and analysts have realised that the MEK’s main enemy are elderly parents and siblings of the entrapped members languishing in Camp Ashraf 3.

January 22, 2022

January 23, 2022 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

Deceptive Recruitment in Albania – MEK Treachery Against Iranians Continues

Reports continue to emerge about malign behaviour by the MEK in Albania. In December 2021 two leading members were arrested for human trafficking and drug smuggling. The removal of an article from Alice Taylor for Exit News which reported the arrests highlighted MEK interference in Albania’s media as well as other state bodies. Exit News further reported that a foreign diplomat was notified about the case by a senior police official, but that the embassy involved failed to respond to media questions and that subsequently no prosecutions resulted. Under such conditions of foreign protection, whoever ordered the reinstatement of the Exit News article should be applauded. However, vigilance must be maintained to prevent further misdemeanours by this cultic group.

Recently it has been reported that MEK members are helping Albanian police identify Iranians among migrants arriving in the country. On the surface, this might appear a benign form of help. But deeper inspection reveals a sinister treachery.

Working with the police in itself throws up questions. Migrants seeking asylum from repressive countries have no need or benefit in lying about their origins. What role do the MEK personnel play in seeking out fraudsters? Who lies about their origins? Do the police employ the MEK members in some official capacity or are they simply there as ‘volunteers’? In this scenario, do the police ‘employ’ other ethnicities to identify their own? Once such individuals are identified, what purpose does this serve? Are the MEK personnel used as translators? Are the individuals informed that these are members of MEK? These questions should in themselves raise alarm bells about the involvement of this unethical, criminal group in a highly sensitive arena involving extremely vulnerable asylum seekers.

However, there is growing evidence that MEK are able to exploit this scenario for recruitment purposes. They will tell the migrant in Farsi that they will almost certainly be deported back to Iran unless they accept help from them. That help will be framed as facilitating their forward travel to Germany or France or the UK, etc, and that only they can prevent deportation. In this case, the target will need to stay in Camp Ashraf 3 to ensure their safety until travel arrangements can be made. In reality, no such arrangements will be made and these duped victims will be trapped inside Camp Ashraf 3 with no recourse to help or saviour.

This is exactly how MEK has behaved in the past. During the Iran Iraq war 1880-88, the MEK would visit Iranian Prisoners of War in Iraqi camps. They would promise to remove them from the appalling conditions of the camps where death, violence, torture and malnutrition were a daily risk. The PoW would be taken to Camp Ashraf and from there, the MEK would promise to facilitate their return to Iran, often via Europe. Of course, that never happened, and tens of these PoWs are still trapped in the MEK camp in Albania after three decades.

Later, as Iranians fled from the post-war revolutionary conditions imposed on them in Iran, including financial hardship, the MEK set up a recruitment department in Turkey to lure would be victims with similar deceptive promises of help. All the migrants needed to do, they were told, was come to Iraq for a while until arrangements could be made to transfer them to Europe of North America. Again, this was a deceptive trap, and these individuals were never freed from either Iraq or now Albania unless they made their own escape.

The MEK needs to recruit now in particular. From the 3800 members detained in Iraq by the US army in 2003, only around 1600 or fewer remain in Albania. The attrition of members has come about from various causes. Most are defections – tens of hundreds of people who simply could continue as members of a cult that daily destroys them and so fled the clutches of MEK. Some have died – from old age, illness, murder and suicide and of course, COVID-19. Of those who remain, the great majority are old, sick or disabled – from war and disease and neglect.

Whatever the reason, the number of members has diminished and deteriorated so much that the MEK’s sponsors and masters are beginning to find them a burden rather than an asset. Certainly, even slaves need feeding, housing and clothing if they are to perform valuable tasks. The return for this contract is barely worth it. Rajavi sells her organisation’s members for various tasks – to organise and participate in glitzy propaganda rallies, to act as click farm operatives and perhaps most sinister, to be the hiding place for several dangerous persons skilled in terrorism and prepared for suicide missions. As long as these services are in demand, Rajavi has a need for more younger healthier members. But there is a fine balance as to how necessary and cost effective this particular group is in the west’s calculations.

Whether or not the anti-Iran coalition continues to fund and exploit the MEK in its current manifestation – a slave camp in Albania – the authorities there should consider the national interests of Albania now and what its presence there means to the future of the country. There are, of course, multiple steps that can be taken toward dismantling the group. Certainly, this should start with preventing further recruitment into the camp and into slavery.

By Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh,

January 11, 2022 0 comments

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest

Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – 306

++ Saudi media outlet Iran International reported on a speech by Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, to academics and scientists. Eslami advised that Iran’s nuclear programme is important for developing talented young people in this and other fields. He also stressed that Iran plans to build two more reactors with Russian help in order to reduce the use of fossil fuels. Iran International added that the original nuclear programme started in 1950 with US help, but in 2002 the MEK ‘exposed’ secret facilities, including Natanz, which led to the 2015 JCPOA agreement to curb all Iran’s nuclear activities. The piece framed this as an economic setback for Iran without mentioning that the US has imposed extreme punishing sanctions on the country. Interestingly, the Saudi outlet “Iran International” referred to the MEK as ‘the opposition’, in a way that suggests they want to use the MEK but not be seen to support them. On the other hand, Iran International also ran a piece on Mohammad Marandi, who is acting as an unofficial PR interpreter for the JCPOA talks in Vienna. The piece is an attempt to cast doubt on Marandi’s past and present motives and legitimacy as a member of the establishment. Farsi commentators have said this looks more like hysteria over the possible success of the JCPOA talks.

++ The anniversary of the assassination of generals Qassem Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Mohandes in Iraq by the Trump administration has prompted speeches and commemoration ceremonies not only in Iran but in other countries. It was and remains an event which uniquely united the people of Iran against foreign interference and the malicious anti-Iran coalition which includes the MEK. Both Iranians and Iraqis have continued their claims for justice. In 2019 Maryam Rajavi said this: “From December 2017 to November 2019, and throughout the past year, it became crystal clear that the strategy of ‘uprising and overthrow’ devised by the commander of the Liberation Army is going to be victorious. And it will successfully lead all anti-regime fighting forces towards their great destination.” After Soleiman’s assassination Massoud Khodabandeh wrote that his death guaranteed that there will be no regime change in Tehran. Maryam Rajavi will need to re-visit her predictions in 2022.

++ Albanian journalist Gjergji Thanasi wrote in Gazeta Impakt that the US and its allies must control MEK crimes in Albania. The piece follows the arrest of two leading members of MEK on charges of human and drug trafficking. It appears that the US embassy intervened and arranged a media blackout of the arrests and the alleged crimes committed by MEK members. Thanasi gives an example of a MEK member now living illegally in Vienna. Thanasi asks as an Albanian journalist and patriot that the Americans keep the criminal activity of MEK under control and the members on a tight leash.

++ Iran Interlink commented on recent events which exposed Maryam Rajavi’s increasingly tenuous situation. Rajavi’s appearance in a church in Paris was promoted by MEK sites as a great example of her embrace by the west. In fact it reminded everyone that Maryam Rajavi has been expelled from the EU and her appearance was engineered, probably by Israel of its allies, to poke Iran in the eye. Thus revealing not only how desperate Rajavi is for publicity, but how empty the anti-Iran tool box is for the west. A second example of push back against the Rajavi regime came with the reappearance of the media article about the arrest of two leading MEK members. Iran Interlink concluded “it appears that this message has got through to the right people in the country. The EXIT article has been restored. Some honest, patriotic elements in the Albanian establishment have gained control and the MEK and its mafia collaborators are being pushed further and further back.”

Dec 31, 2021

January 2, 2022 0 comments

Maryam Rajavi

Push Back Against Maryam Rajavi Succeeding

America’s failure to bully Iran into submission in Vienna during the JCPOA talks has enraged the Israeli government, which is now threatening some kind of biblical annihilation in revenge. A futile threat. Instead, small grubby gesture politics has had to suffice. One of the anti-Iran coalition’s more irrational beliefs is that if it shakes the stick labelled ‘the MEK’ at Iran, the Iranian leaders will lose their minds and cave in to all kinds of demands. Thus we discover that the MEK’s de facto leader, Maryam Rajavi, was chosen as the face of this gesture politics when she was sent to Paris last week to visit a church – the kind of move which appears inspired by the need to annoy Iran. Rajavi, of course, was deported from the EU in 2018 and has not been allowed back in until now. And now, the anti-Iran coalition has presumably put enough pressure on the French government to partake in a charade that suits the Israelis’ and Rajavi’s agendas.

Rajavi has her own reasons to partake in this show. Always ready to prostrate herself in the service of empty gestures and symbolic acts if it gives her the kind of publicity that proves to the MEK members that she has the support of the west, Rajavi would have no hesitation in paying a smirking visit to a church at Christmas. Since her deportation Rajavi has been desperate to find a way to get back into the EU. What she doesn’t understand is that smirking in a church does not equate to political leadership or an actual policy move.
At the start of December, we revealed that Maryam Rajavi had pretended to her Farsi speaking audience – such as it is – that she had visited the French Senate to make a speech. This was a lie. She tried to pretend in her Farsi sites that she had actually been there, but the English sites could not disguise the fact that she had addressed the rally from Albania.

This time Rajavi was allowed into France only to visit the church (not Paris), and then return to Albania. It doesn’t matter, however, that she shows her face. What is important is that she is not allowed to remain or work in the EU. She cannot undertake any activity there which might be construed as political. Her appearance in a church in Paris is a purely face-saving exercise. A show of weakness not of strength.

Another example of the push back against the MEK is the sudden reappearance of a damning article in the Albanian media outlet EXIT. On 4th December, the article reported that two high ranking MEK members had been arrested in Albania on charges of human and drug trafficking. However, the article was quickly removed from the site giving an Error 404 notice. Apparently the MEK don’t like having their crimes exposed. At that time, Iran-Interlink wrote that the MEK’s mafia like behaviour in Albania dates back to its arrival in that country. Intimidation and bribery of media owners and editors was not new. Indeed, the MEK have a pattern of criminality that encompasses not only the media but includes the police, security services, judiciary and politicians from all parties.

However, it appears that this message has got through to the right people in the country. The EXIT article has been restored. Some honest, patriotic elements in the Albanian establishment have gained control and the MEK and its mafia collaborators are being pushed further and further back. Perhaps it’s only a matter of months until the organisation finally collapses like a hollow chocolate Christmas confection.

December 29, 2021 0 comments

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