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US News Agency BIRN calls Iranian terrorists residing in Albania “dissidents”

Several days ago, the US news agency BIRN, linked with George Soros’ Open Society Foundation, published an article titled ‘Iran Launches Albanian Media to Target Dissident Exiles’. Among other things, the article claims that “Iranian media are opening an online war against an opposition group – some of whose members live in exile in Albania – by launching new websites in English to influence local opinion”.

But unlike ISIS and other Wahhabi terrorist organizations, BIRN treats the Iranian Mojahedin as peaceful and harmless people.

In the article Fatjona Mejdini, BIRN journalist, stated that the newspaper Impact “also publishes video from a YouTube channel called Impact that broadcasts interviews with those who call themselves former members of the MEK. The YouTube channel is connected with an Albanian newspaper, also called Impact, which since last summer has written about the dangers that arise from the MEK presence in Albania.”

Impact newspaper, which has published an interview with former Mojahedin member Anne Singleton, is proud that its journalistic investigations are receiving international fame. Impact Newspaper would be happy if the leader of the Radicalized Iranian MEK jihadists and the Albanian Prime Minister would honor us with a debate on refugee activity and the Iranian Mujahedin in Albania.

The article in full is below:

[The MEK clearly believes that any publicity is better than no publicity and insisted on publishing the BIRN article in full on its own website.]

Iran Launches Albanian Media to Target Dissident Exiles

Iranian media are waging an online war against an opposition group – some whose members live in exile in Albania – launching new websites in Albanian to influence local opinion.

By Fatjona Mejdini

Tirana – An Iranian NGO called the Habilian Association has added a new section in Albanian to its news website, Habilian, aiming to target Iranian opposition activists who have found refuge in Albania in recent years.

“The Habilian Association has launched the first specialised website in the Albanian language providing news, analysis and documents on crimes conducted by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq organisation,” the first post in Albanian on the site on January 29 said.

Habilian is one of a few Iranian media outlets that have recently started publishing in Albanian.

While its decision to publish in the language of a small Balkan country night appear unusual, Habilian is open about the fact that it is targeting members of Mojahedin-e-Khalq, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, who are living in Albania.

While some believe the Iranian government is backing it and other Iranian media that target the MEK, a diplomatic source from the Iranian embassy in Tirana denied this.

Albania agreed take in MEK members in 2013, when the then Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, offered to shelter some Iranians then under the protection of US forces in Iraq.

The People’s Mujahedin of Iran is a controversial resistance group. Founded in 1965 as a left-leaning opposition to the Shah’s regime, it turned against the Islamic Republic following the 1979 Revolution.

The US listed it as a terrorist organisation in 1997 but it was removed from the black list in 2012 after it renounced violence.

The Albanian authorities have declined to give the exact number of MEK members and their families who found refuge in the country, but estimates suggest there are about 2,000.

Online battle

The Habilian Association’s website says that it is “an Iranian human rights NGO established with an aim of elucidating the fact that Iran is one of the biggest victims of terrorism”.

The website says the organisation was founded in 2005 by a group of families of Iranian terror victims killed by organisations like MEK.

“As more than 2,000 members of this dangerous cult were relocated to Albania, Habilian Association’s Albanian website was launched in order to enlighten public opinion in Albania about the true nature of the MEK and make the Albanian people aware of the threats posed to them by this terrorist group,” it reads.

A member of the Habilian Association, Masoud Heidari, told BIRN that the Albanian section of the the website aimed to “warn” Albanians about the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.

“We decided it was our responsibility to warn the Albanian media, politicians and most importantly of all, the Albanian people, of the capacities of this terrorist group to corrupt politicians, [engage in] money-laundering activities, and ultimately their cultish nature,” he said.

The website’s Albanian page is filled with detailed articles and videos that emphasize the alleged dangers of the MEK group.

It also publishes videos from a YouTube channel called Impakt that broadcasts interviews with those who call themselves former MEK members.

The YouTube channel is connected to an Albanian newspaper, also called Impakt, which since last summer has been writing about the alleged risks that the MEK poses to Albania.

Habilian is not the first Iranian media organisation to start publishing in Albanian.

In July 2016, Iran launched the Pars Today news outlet in Albanian, alongside 24 other languages. Pars Today is part of the state-run media corporation Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, IRIB.

On March 3, Pars Today published an article in Albanian entitled “Support for terrorism and Mujahedeen-e-Khalq damage the credibility and interests of the United States”.

The site has several articles about MEK members, who are described as a terrorist group and a cult.

BIRN asked Pars Today to explain their interest in opening an Albanian language section, but got no reply to the time of publication.

The Iranian opposition organisation, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, also has an Albanian section on its official webpage, alongside six other languages.

Disinformation campaign?

Linda Chavez, a former US representative to the UN Human Rights Commission, who visited Albania in late February to see how MEK members in the country are living, told BIRN that the articles published in Albanian were Iranian government propaganda.

Chavez described it as a disinformation campaign intended to make MEK members’ lives more difficult in the country.

“I will hope that it will not resonate with Albanian people because the MEK -which whom I have a long association – oppose the anti-women misogynist regime in Iran that is continuing to oppress their own people,” she said.

“The risk to me is if Iranian propaganda is taken seriously,” she added.

She said the Iranians living in Albania were in the process of obtaining refugee status and had started slowly to integrate into society.

After BIRN contacted the Iranian embassy, a source from the embassy insisted that the Iranian government has nothing to do with the websites.

“We do our job here in accordance with our diplomatic functions/role and good relationship with the government of Albania, and we don’t have any connections with these sites, newspapers or YouTube channel,” the source said.

The MEK in Albania seems to have a strong political support. Albanian politicians and MPs from the ruling majority and opposition participated in the MEK’s “Free Iran” event in Paris on July 2016.

However, on January 14, Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati made the first official visit by a top-rank Albanian diplomat to Tehran, meeting his Iranian counterpart and President Hassan Rouhani.

During his visit, Albania and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to hold regular political talks.

Iranian oppositionists were not mentioned in an Albanian foreign ministry press release that was issued about the discussions.

But Iran’s ambassador to Tirana, Gholamhossein Mohammadnia, said that the issue of what he called the “terrorist cult” was discussed during Bushati’s visit.

Mohammadnia said Iran has been assured that the MEK members have no permission to engage in political activity while living in Albania, the Albanian Daily News website reported.

“Therefore, these people are not allowed to threaten Iran’s security or interests inside or outside Albania,” Mohammadnia added.

 —————————————————–

Gazeta Impakt, Tirana, Albania,

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Michael Ware discovers Mojahedin Khalq hasn’t abandoned belief in armed struggle

Michael Ware meets with high-level representatives of the MEK, a group that wants to overthrow the Iranian government.

[ Iran Interlink: Michael Ware discovers Mojahedin Khalq, MEK hasn’t abandoned belief in armed struggle

Leading MEK members squirm under the knowing gaze of Michael Ware. Watch the shifty looks and glances as the MEK representatives try to lie about their true intentions. They admit to wanting regime change, but claim to be pacifists. Ware asks ‘Why does a political organization still need to have a para-military organization?’ He then cleverly gets them to admit that their while their army is now defunct they do still believe in the use of violence to achieve their regime change goal. No wonder Ware looks puzzled.

[Mohammad Mohaddesin – Head of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) foreign affairs section, Pentagon contact during the Saddam era.

Shahin Ghobadi – Frequently presented as the spokesman for the NCRI, Mojahedin Khalq and or Maryam Rajavi.

Farzin Hashemi – Long serving MEK member, frequently used as translator for Maryam Rajavi as well as behind closed door meetings, at one time the liaison officer with the Saudi agents and Mossad agents in Paris. Served as a commander of Saddam’s Private Army also alleged to be one of the torturers for Saddam’s Mokhaberat.

Sarvenaz Chitsaz – Head of the NCRI Women’s Committee.]

National Geographic,

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Members of the MEK

Iranian Mojahedin member punished for stealing food cans in a Babrru market

MEK member arrested in Tirana Albania. An Iranian citizen, one of the Mojahedin refugees hosted in Albania, ended up as a defendant in the Court of Tirana, reports Panorama.

He was tried for committing theft, an offense which he committed while living at the Mojahedin asylum seekers refuge in Babrru village.

The trial of 47-year-old Mohsen S. ended a few days ago. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 6 months in prison.

He was tried under ‘obligatory appearance’ as a security measure and will not end up in cells. The court suspended his prison sentence for 18 months during which he must not commit any further offence.

The Tirana Court decision clarified that the defendant, Mohsen S., was currently based at the asylum seekers centre located in the capital’s province of Babrru. On August 31, 2016, around 13:30, he was caught by the owner of a market stealing food goods in his shop.

The market in question is a short distance from the center where Mojahedin asylum seekers have been placed. According to the Court decision, the defendant Mohsen S. placed some food stuff into the bag he had with him and tried to leave without paying. His actions were observed by the owner of the supermarket.

The owner prevented the 47-year-old from leaving his shop. In the refugee’s bag he found three cans of fish, a bottle of a carbonated soft drink and a bottle of ketchup. The supermarket owner informed the police.

After his arrest, criminal proceedings on the charge of theft were brought against the Iranian. The defendant admitted to the theft. At the same time, he admitted that he had also stolen goods the day before in the same market but stressed he was unable to pay because he had not yet received any payment from the Mojahedin organization.

Before and during the trial the defendant admitted the offense and showed deep repentance, asking forgiveness from the Court with the promise that he will not commit such an act again. In justification of the suspension of sentence for the defendant, the court emphasized that he posed little social danger, had no previous convictions and the fact that the defendant is seeking asylum in Albania.

Opinion Website (translated by Iran-interlink)

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Albania

Iranian and Albanian News agencies sign cooperation agreement

Agreement of cooperation signed in Tehran between Iranian News Agency (IRNA) and Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA)

The open communication established with counterpart agencies based on a professional point of view has enabled the Albanian Telegraphic Agency to expand its institutional cooperation with news agencies not only in the region but also beyond it. In the framework of this cooperation and a new approach of communication between the two countries, the Iranian News Agency (IRNA) and Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) have signed an agreement of cooperation.

For the Albanian part, the agreement was signed by director general, Gëzim Podgorica, meanwhile for the Iranian part it was signed by director general, Muhammad Khodadi.

Both sides described the signing of agreement as a crucial moment for both countries and a great opportunity to bolster the joint communication. While Iran and Albania are expected to boost their exchanges in trade, tourism and culture, the official information shared via institutional channels will be to the mutual benefit of this cooperation.

At the meeting between the two delegations, director Mohammad Khodadi pointed out that for the agency IRNA any cooperation is of high importance and the signing of this agreement is a concrete and great opportunity to gain new insights into Albania and everything your country offers, but also to give a new boost to communication between the two countries. I believe that the information we are going to exchange will ramp up the media presence of Iran and Albania and vice-versa, however they increase in value due to the timely information items portraying the latest developments in both countries.

For his part, ATA director general Gëzim Podgorica thanked Mr. Muhammad Khodadi for the invitation to visit Iran and the willingness to sign this agreement. Mr. Podgorica went on saying: “Iran, as a country that has witnessed an array of civilizations and empires, has made a great contribution to the world culture. The relations of Albanians with Iran go back a long way in history, suffice it to mention our great national poet, Naim Frashëri, whose first poetry book Tehajula (Dreaming) has been written in Persian. The conference slated for October, this year in Iran in honor of this outstanding personality is a testimony to these relations and a high appreciation of Naim Frasheri as well as a sign of the will to add a civilized dimension to our rapport.

As agencies, today we pave the way for a new communication, which will enable the public of both countries to develop new insights into complex developments, but also into history, traditions, culture, tourism and others. Iran boasts great assets in this direction not only as a big country but also as a country steeped in ancient history. On the other hand, Albania, although a small country geographically, boasts exceptional assets in culture and art. Through an open communication, there will be ample opportunity to turn the spotlight on these assets and this is all that matters – ATA director general Gezim Podgorica said. During the stay in Iran, the ATA delegation has visited a number of important historic and cultural sites.

ATA delegation also toured the venues of IRNA, where they were briefed with the efforts to deal with challenges on media market. The agency IRNA broadcasts in 8 languages and has correspondents and broadcasting centers in 32 countries worldwide. It has a staff of 1300 employees and issues 5 daily newspapers in Persian and English. It has 256 correspondents in different cities across Iran and 36 regional agencies. During the visit to IRNA, the delegation of ATA was also informed on the performance in photo archives and digitalization.

Sonila Mehmeti, ATA, Tirana,

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Iran

Iran, a Major Victim of Terrorism

From the very beginning of the Revolution in 1979, Iran  has suffered many terrorist attacks. One could even say Iran is somehow one of the major victims of terrorism in the world.  If you take a look at the history of countries in the world, you’ll notice that no other country has ever lost such a great number of officials in terrorist acts as Iran has.  Interestingly, those who are claiming to be at war with terrorism provide those responsible for the death of civilians with office and the free rein to work in their countries.

The contradiction sharpens and reaches to the point that one of these terrorist groups rented an office a block away the White House which is the so-called pioneer of war on terror! All these measures prove the fact that terrorism is divided into two forms of "good" and "bad" from the point of view of certain Western countries; since they describe those who are for them as "good terrorists" and those who are against them as "bad terrorists".

That is why each year Iran faces different kinds of labels by the West as well as the usurper Zionist regime.

Below you will find brief accounts of the terrorist attacks carried out against the Iranian people over the last 38 years.

Attacks by Mujahedin-e-Khalq

The People’s Mujahedin of Iran (also called Mujahedin-e-Khalq, MeK or MKO) is a terrorist organization regarded by the Iranian, the U.S. governments, and others as a terrorist organization. This group has publicly accepted the killing and assassination of 17000 innocent Iranians (including both ordinary people and government officials).

On 28 June 1981, bombs set by the MKO killed 70 high-ranking officials of the Islamic Republic Party, including Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti who was the second highest official after Ayatollah Khomeini at the time. Two years after the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the MKO detonated bombs at the headquarters of the now-dissolved Islamic Republic Party. Two months later, the MKO detonated another bomb in the office of the president, killing President Rajai and Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar. Their attacks did not succeed in overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran government.

There is also a deep-seated resentment toward the group in Iraq because of its criminal past. The MKO widely supported Saddam in his brutal crackdown on opponents.

In recent years, attacks carried out by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq include:

Asadollah Lajevardi assassination (1998)

Two members of Mujahedin-e-Khalq assassinated Asadollah Lajevardi, a prosecutor and director of Evin Prison, along with his brother and a bystander on 23 August 1998.

Assassination of Ali Sayad Shirazi (1999)

On April 10, 1999, 6:45 local time Brigadier-General Ali Sayad Shirazi, deputy chief of staff of the regular army of the Islamic Republic and a military adviser to the Supreme Leader of Iran, was assassinated outside his house as he left for work. The People’s Mujahedin of Iran claimed responsibility for the assassination of Sayyad Shirazi.

Attacks by Taliban extremists:

Mashhad bombing (1994)

On June 20, 1994 explosion of a bomb in a prayer hall of Imam Reza shrine in Mashhadthat killed at least 25 people. The Pakistani daily The News International reported on March 27, 1995, "Pakistani investigators have identified a 24-year-old religious fanatic Abdul Shakoor residing in Lyari in Karachi, as an important Pakistani associate of Ramzi Yousef. Abdul Shakoor had intimate contacts with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and was responsible for the June 20, 1994, massive bomb explosion at the shrine Imam Ali Reza in Mashhad".

Mazari Sharif killings (1998)

On August 8, 1998 the Taliban assisted by Al-Qaeda, attacked the Afghan city of Mazari Sharif killing 11 Iranian diplomats and journalists along with thousands of Afghan civilians, in what was considered an attack motivated by takfir against Shia.

The Taliban were also thought to have "secretly" backed anti-Iranian terrorist groups. The group received weapons and support from the Taliban.

The group sought to overthrow what it called the "Shia Iranian government", despite the fact that Iran has always been home to both Shias and Sunnies and has always strived to foster amity and unity amongst all Muslims of different faiths.

Jundallah (since 2003)

Jundallah is a notorious terrorist organization in Balochistan.  It is believed to have to have killed 800 Iranians. The group has been identified as a terrorist organization by Iran and Pakistan and many have confirmed  it is linked to Al-Qaeda. It is also believed to receive support from the US government.

Zahedan bombing (2007)

A car filled with explosives stopped in front of a bus full of Revolutionary Guards in Ahmabad district, Zahedan, Sistan-Baluchestan Province at 6:30 a.m. on 14 February 2007. A few seconds later the bombs exploded, killing 18 Guards.

Jundallah claimed responsibility for the attack on 15 February.

The Iranian government has arrested five suspects, two of whom were carrying camcorders and grenades when they were arrested, while the police killed the main "agent" of the attack.

Tehran attacks (2001)

MKO members fired five rockets at the general command of the Internal Security Forces in Tehran, killing and injuring several, on 7 January 2001. MKO members fired mortar shells at several government buildings, including the Supreme Court, in Tehran on 21 January 2001.

Ahvaz Bombings (2005)

The Ahvaz bombings were a series of bomb explosions that took place mostly in Ahvaz, Iran. The first bombing came ahead of the presidential election on 12 June.

Shiraz bombing (2008)

A terrorist bombing inside a mosque in Shiraz in April 2008 killed 14 people including 10 men, 2 women and 2 children. More than 200 were also injured.

Scientist assassinations (2010 -2012)

Four Iranian nuclear scientists-Masoud Alimohammadi, Majid Shahriari, Darioush Rezaeinejad and Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan-were assassinated between 2010 and 2012, and one further scientist wounded in an attempted assassination. Two of the killings were carried out using magnetic bombs attached to the targets’ cars; Darioush Rezaeinejad was shot dead; and Masoud Alimohammadi was killed in a motorcycle bomb explosion. Israel was behind the killings. In 2011-12, the Iranian authorities arrested a number of Iranians it said had carried out the assassination campaign on behalf of Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service. Western intelligence services and U.S officials are said to have confirmed the Israeli connection. In June 2012, the Iranian government stated that it was confident it had arrested all the assassins.

Moshe Ya’alon, the Israeli defence minister, stated, "We will act in any way and are not willing to tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran."

According to private American intelligence firm Stratfor, a fifth Iranian scientist was poisoned by Mossad in 2007. In January 2015, the Iranian authorities thwarted a further attempt by Mossad to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist.

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Rajavi’s “crocodile tears for oppressed Syrians”

The misleading, deceptive and false propaganda of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/the MEK/the Cult of Rajavi) is plainly clear to a large number of people regardless of their political viewpoint. Ben Davies is an analyst and writer, formerly filming in Syria in 2013 with the primary focus on the Middle East, with an emphasis on Syria, Iraq and Iran. He is an anti-Bashar Assad and so an anti-Iran journalist –although he introduces himself as independent in his website. His emphatic focus on Syria, Iraq and Iran has led him to the case of the MKO. In August 2014 he wrote a probed article on the group and its support for the Syrian opposition titled “Revolt Without Rajavi: Syria’s Opposition Must Not Embrace the MEK”.

Ben Davies describes the efforts of the MKO propaganda to voice its support for “Syrian people”. “The support given to the MEK (or rather, the approval that some anti-Assad activists show in its general direction) is down to the fact that since the start of Syrian revolution against the Assad regime in 2011, the group has spiced up its usual monotonous, anti-Iranian regime rhetoric with anti-Assad rhetoric too,” he writes. It was just a few months later, in December 2014 that Davies posted a perfectly investigated article on how the MKO propaganda system works.

This former writer of Radio Free Syria warns about Maryam Rajavi’s hypocritical rhetoric for the Syrian opposition giving a brief of the MKO’s violent past, its alliance with Saddam Hussein and combat against its own people. “The problem is not with the words”, he writes about Maryam’s “well-worded performance” for Syrian people. “The problem is with who is speaking them. Rajavi is able to so fluently describe the horrors that a sadistic dictatorship puts people through because she runs one herself in the MEK’s base.”

Davies explains the cult-like system ruling the MKO fairly:

“The ways in which the mujahideen work are almost identical to the very regimes they ostensibly despise. Yes, they claim to be strongly opposed to Khamenei’s regime in Iran. Yes, they have a history of fighting against it (to the point of self sacrifice all too often), and yes, they claim to strongly support the Syrian revolution. Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the MEK, even met with former SNC leader Ahmed Jarba, and regularly condemns the Assad regime.

“Maryam and Massoud literally and metaphorically watch over the lives of their followers.

“While it is true that the MEK did indeed start out as an idealistic (and it still is, at the ground level, where many genuinely believe in fighting for Iran) organisation which helped to unseat the repressive regime of the Shah, it degenerated into a dystopic cult, ruled by the two-headed tyranny of the Rajavi couple. Members have been forced into self-criticism sessions in which they are forced to humiliate themselves if they get any thoughts about the opposite sex, men and women have been forced to divorce if they are married (although this didn’t stop Maryam and Massoud from getting together of course), members are taught that they must give themselves over utterly to Maryam and Masoud, dissenting members are imprisoned and killed.”

The journalist also refers to parts of an article written by the prominent journalist of the New York Times, Elizabeth Rubin who was first to label the MKO as “the Cult of Rajavi” in 2003. Rubin’s first-hand account on the life of MKO members in Camp Ashraf was at the time a huge revelation on the oppressive cult-like system the Rajavis run.

 Besides, Ben Davies quotes Rubin’s second article on the MKO in 2011 after she got to know about paid speakers such Rudy Guilliani, Howard Dean and Michael B. Mukasey who spoke on behalf of the MKO in the group’s rallies. “I thought I was watching The Onion News Network. Did Mr. Giuliani know whom he was talking about?”, Writes Rubin who is stunned with the exaggerated compliments of Giuliani for Maryam Rajavi.

Davies blames the then US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for ignoring the warnings of journalists and scholars, delisting the MKO from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations of the US State Department. Thus, he warns the leaders of Syrian opposition on the futile and even destructive fallouts of approaching the Cult of Rajavi:

“I would personally very much like to know what Ahmed Jarba, then head of the Syrian National Coalition, was thinking when he met with Rajavi in May 2014. What was he hoping to achieve? Did he think that such a meeting would give his unpopular, disorganised, and so far ineffective coalition some sort of clout? Did he imagine that he would gain access to their bottomless pits of pecuniary resources? Was he naively trying to establish some perverse form of solidarity with the Iranian people through this organisation? In short, was he as heartless or thoughtless as the group’s western backers seemingly are?

“If he was seeking any of these things, he will be disappointed. Far from bringing him any clout, meeting with the MEK can only earn derision and disdain from the majority of well-informed, sane, non-fraudulent pro-democracy activists, Iranian and otherwise. As one US state department official frankly admitted about the group: “They are the best financed and organized, but they are so despised inside Iran that they have no traction.” Such a meeting only lends ammunition to pro-Khamenei propagandists, which they can use to smear the Syrian opposition by mere association with the Rajavi death cult.

“It isn’t like he could gain any form of useful resources or funding from such a meeting either. All the MEK’s money, when it isn’t being used to enable Maryam to live in luxury far from her suffering followers in the baked Iraqi desert, is used for endless lobbying in the west. Running a PR machine for a Middle Eastern 21st century Marxist cell cum Heaven’s Gate Sect takes up a lot of money, after all. He isn’t going to see a penny of it.

“If he was seeking to establish solidarity with the Iranian people, then he’d come to the wrong place altogether. Iranians despise the MEK; not only did it fight against their young men in the Iran-Iraq war and kill so many of its fellow Iranians, but it deliberately fed Saddam Hussein’s regime intelligence on Iranian targets to bomb, costing the lives of thousands more. The MEK has also teamed up with Israel to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.”

Although Davies announces his disdain for the Islamic Republic and Bashar Assad constantly, he is reasonable to denounce the MKO as a treasonous force. “Syrian revolution activists, freedom advocates and opposition members should think carefully when it comes to the MEK,” he write. “Yes it claims to support you in its finely crafted words and rhetoric, yes it does fill its websites with news of the resistance fighters’ military successes, and yet it has a history of fighting the regime in Tehran… By killing and fighting against its own people.”

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Trump cupboard choose paid by ‘cult-like’ Iranian exile group

An official in U.S. President Donald Trump’s cupboard and no less than considered one of his advisers gave paid speeches for an Iranian exile group that killed Individuals earlier than the 1979 Islamic Revolution, ran donation scams and noticed its members set themselves on fireplace over the arrest of their chief.

Elaine Chao, confirmed this week as Trump’s transportation secretary, obtained $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, beforehand known as a “cult-like” terrorist group by the U.S. State Division.

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani additionally was paid an unknown sum to speak to the group, generally known as the MEK.

Greater than two dozen former U.S. officers, each Republican and Democratic, have spoken earlier than the MEK, together with former Home Speaker and Trump adviser Newt Gingrich. Some have publicly acknowledged being paid, however others haven’t.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence seems over at Elaine Chao shortly earlier than her swearing-in as transportation secretary on Jan. 31. Chao obtained $50,000 in 2015 for a five-minute speech to the political wing of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, categorised within the U.S. as a terrorist group till 2012. (Susan Walsh/Related Press)

Whereas nothing would have prohibited the paid speeches, they elevate questions on what affect the exiles could have within the new administration.

Already, a gaggle of former U.S. officers, together with Giuliani, wrote a letter to Trump final month encouraging him to “set up a dialogue” with the MEK’s political arm. With Trump’s ban on Iranians getting into the U.S., his administration’s name this week to place Iran “on discover” and the imposition of latest sanctions on Friday, the exile group could discover his administration extra welcoming than any earlier than.

Uncovered particulars of Iran nuclear program

A possible alliance with the MEK would hyperlink the U.S. to a gaggle with a controversial historical past that has gone in opposition to American pursuits up to now by supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolution and the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran. After fleeing Iran, the MEK joined forces with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It later uncovered particulars of the clandestine nuclear program run by Iran, which views the MEK as its sworn enemy.

“The Mujahedeen have backed the profitable horse. They’re going to have some no less than entree into the administration,” mentioned Ervand Abrahamian, a professor on the Metropolis College of New York who wrote a ebook on the MEK. “I believe it weakens the U.S. as a result of the extra they’ve entry to the administration, the extra individuals in Iran are going to be petrified of something the U.S. does.”

The MEK lengthy has cultivated a roster of former U.S. and European officers to attend its occasions opposing Iran’s clerically run authorities. It pays for the looks of many.

Chao, the spouse of Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, spoke earlier than an MEK convention in 2015 in Paris. She additionally had a seat subsequent to Maryam Rajavi, the “president-elect” of the Nationwide Council of Resistance of Iran, the political arm of the MEK.

Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani speaks at a pro-democracy rally on Sept. 24, 2013 in entrance of portraits of deceased members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. The group blamed Iraqi safety forces for killing 52 of its members on Sept. 1, 2013 in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. (Mariko Tama/Getty Pictures)

Chao obtained a $50,000 honorarium from the MEK-associated Alliance for Public Consciousness, in keeping with a report she filed with the U.S. Workplace of Authorities Ethics. Chao obtained one other $17,500 honorarium for March 2016 speech she gave to the Iranian-American Cultural Affiliation of Missouri, which MEK opponents additionally hyperlink to the exile group.

The Division of Transportation mentioned in a press release that Chao has a “robust document of talking out in help of democracy and girls’s rights within the Center East,” however “has not spoken to MEK occasions.”

It added that her speeches have been delivered alongside bipartisan members of Congress, governors, prime ministers, ambassadors, generals, former FBI Administrators and “many different influential voices.”

Giuliani has acknowledged being paid for his appearances at MEK occasions. Nonetheless, he hasn’t filed a authorities disclosure type since his failed 2008 Republican presidential bid, so it is unclear how a lot the MEK has paid him in whole. Giuliani didn’t reply to an AP request for remark despatched by way of his aides.

Gingrich has additionally spoken to the MEK earlier than, together with at a gala in 2016, though it isn’t clear whether or not or how a lot he was paid. Gingrich couldn’t be reached for remark. The White Home additionally didn’t remark.

    ‘The core of the coverage that we’re advocating is to be powerful with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes in opposition to the Iranian individuals.’ – Mohammad Mohaddessin of MEK political wing

The MEK welcomes the incoming Trump authorities, as “some individuals inside this administration” plan to alter American insurance policies towards Iran, mentioned Mohammad Mohaddessin, the chairman of the international affairs committee of its political arm.

“The core of the coverage that we’re advocating is to be powerful with the Iranian regime, to not ignore its crimes in opposition to the Iranian individuals,” he mentioned.

The White Home had no remark.

The MEK shaped in 1965. They embraced each Marxism and the concept of an Islamic authorities after the violent overthrow of the American-backed shah who dominated Iran on the time. Their title, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, means “the Folks’s Holy Warriors.”

Marxist splinter faction blamed for U.S. deaths

They carried out a string of focused assassinations hitting Iranian officers, in addition to Individuals. Nonetheless, the MEK at this time blames a Marxist splinter faction of the group for killing the Individuals.

The MEK fled Iran and later discovered refuge from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Closely armed by Saddam, MEK forces launched cross-border raids into Iran throughout its with battle with Iraq, additional alienating the group from common Iranians. The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001.

The U.s. State Division has described the MEK as having “cult-like traits.” When French police arrested Rajavi in 2003 as a part of a terrorism investigation, MEK members responded by lighting themselves. A minimum of two individuals died.

Through the years, the MEK has mentioned their group receives cash from Iranians to fund their operations. Nonetheless, the group has been focused by a collection of investigations around the globe for operating charity scams.

Mohaddessin blames the investigations on a concerted misinformation marketing campaign carried out by Iran.

MEK despatched letter to Trump for dialogue

The MEK’s success in getting former U.S. officers behind them might be seen in a letter dated Jan. 9 despatched to Trump simply earlier than his inauguration.

“We repeat the decision for the U.S. authorities to determine a dialogue with Iran’s exile resistance,” learn the letter signed by Giuliani and others.

Whether or not Trump’s administration kinds nearer ties to the MEK is but to be seen. Nonetheless, exile teams have not at all times been confirmed to be dependable American allies within the Center East. Exiled politician Ahmad Chalabi closely lobbied the administration of President George W. Bush to invade Iraq by pushing false allegations of weapons of mass destruction and hyperlinks to al-Qaeda.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations didn’t reply to a request for remark.

However whereas the MEK continues to pay former U.S. officers for his or her time, the household of the American lieutenant colonel killed in Iran in 1975 has filed a $35-million federal lawsuit in Colorado in opposition to the group and Iran.

The explanation for the lawsuit, Jack Turner’s household says, is easy: “In contrast to the U.S. hostages, our father by no means had the prospect to come back residence.”

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Keeping Iran a bogeyman to further destabilise the region

During his presidential election campaign, Donald Trump proclaimed long and loudly that he sees Iran as Washington’s regional enemy.

He pledged to “tear up” the agreement providing for the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for the lifting of sanctions, reached in 2015 by Iran and six world powers.

Aware that the other five signatories of the deal would not accept a unilateral US abrogation, he has since retreated by saying he would actively “police” the deal, to force Iran to abide by its commitments.

Ironically, it is the US, rather than Iran, that failed to honour its obligations by obstructing sanctions relief, particularly in the banking sector.

Last weekend, US House of Representatives Speaker Paul Ryan, a Republican, admitted that the US is in no position to roll back the nuclear agreement.

He said it is not possible to “reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were put in place” to compel Iran to confine its nuclear programme to providing fuel for power plants and medical isotopes.

Iran ended research on bomb making without making any device in 2003, and there is no evidence that it has resumed this effort.

Trump needlessly and heedlessly included Iran in the group of seven Muslim countries when imposing his hasty, poorly prepared and ill-conceived ban on US entry on citizens from these countries holding visas.

The largest number of people excluded are Iranians, as they are citizens of the largest and most populous country of the seven, the others being Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Libya, Somalia and Sudan.

Although federal judges issued restraining orders, temporarily rescinding Trump’s ban, Iranians are upset and confused by this measure, as it is meant to apply to citizens of countries involved in “terrorist” incidents in the US.

There have, in fact, been no attacks by Iranians on US citizens in the US and only one in Iran itself.

This took place in 1975, when two air force officers were killed en route to an air base. This was before the 1979 overthrow of Washington’s ally, the shah, by the Islamic Revolution.

The family of Lt. Col. Jack Turner, one of the victims, filed a lawsuit, arguing his death was in revenge for the killing by the shah’s intelligence agency, Savak, which was supported by the US and Israel, of nine anti-shah elements fleeing arrest.

The commander and members of this group, the Mujahedin e-Khalq, were executed in 1976.

It does not make sense that the Turner family is suing Savak, which is long gone, or the Mujahedin, an enemy of the current Iranian regime and the friend of some senior members of the Trump administration.

The administration threatened to put Iran “on notice” for test firing a medium-range ballistic missile at a time US, British, French and Australian naval manoeuvres were taking place in the Gulf, just off the Iranian coast.

Both the missile launch and the exercises were provocative, intended to generate a verbal response.

Tehran contended the test did not violate the nuclear deal or US Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorses the nuclear accord and calls on Iran not to launch ballistic missiles “capable of delivering nuclear weapons”.

Prior to the Trump-era test, Iran had carried out 11 tests since the signing of the deal. The US and other sponsors did not respond.

Trump ordered sanctions to be imposed on 25 individuals and entities said to be identified with the missile programme, a slap on the wrist for propaganda purposes.

Trump keeps beating the war drums to maintain the myth that Iran is the major destabilising force in this region and the world’s “biggest state sponsor of terrorism”, although neither allegation is true.

This region is being threatened and destabilised by Sunni takfiris associated with Daesh and Al Qaeda, who are the main instigators of terrorism here and abroad, rather than by Shiite Iran.

The US also contends that the Houthi tribal rebels fighting Saudi-sponsored forces in Yemen are “proxies” of Iran.

This is a blatant lie. Iran has given verbal support to the rebels, but is not financing, arming or advising their forces as it is doing for the Syrian army in its fight against an array of mainly takfiri insurgent groups, including Daesh and Al Qaeda.

Dan De Luce and Paul Mcleary, writing in Foreign Policy, say: “Trump’s aides see Yemen as an important battleground to signal US resolve against Iran and to break with what they consider the previous administration’s failure to confront Tehran’s growing power in the region.”

They argue that this approach could trigger Iranian retaliation against the US in Iraq and Syria or, fancifully, war with Iran.

Tehran is not committed to the Houthis as it is to the survival of the Assad government in Syria and to the Shiite fundamentalist-dominated government in Iraq.

The Republicans have simply refused to come to terms with the fact that George W. Bush installed the current pro-Iranian regime in Baghdad.

By handing over secular Iraq to this regime, the US provoked the Sunni takfiri backlash that the US is now trying to contain.

Russia and Iran have shouldered this responsibility by deploying forces in both Syria and Iraq. Consequently, Washington should consider joining Moscow and Tehran in this endeavour, instead of suggesting cooperation with Russia and whipping up tensions with Iran.

To stiffen Trump’s resolve to deal harshly with Iran, the Republican-majority Congress has begin drawing up legislation empowering him to wage “pre-emptive war” on Iran, at any time he chooses, without seeking authorisation from the legislature.

The stated aim of such a war would be to prevent Iran from manufacturing nuclear weapon, although, under the nuclear deal, Tehran has dismantled most of its nuclear programme and would need many months to build nuclear devices.

Therefore, the declared objective of such a bill would be to mount a war based on lies, like the disastrous 2003 war waged against Iraq by the previous Republican president.

Make no mistake. A war on Iran would not be limited to strikes against the country’s well-protected nuclear facilities. The US would have to destroy Iranian Revolutionary Guard bases and naval installations to prevent retaliation against US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as against Israel and Gulf Cooperation Council countries.

The flow of oil from the Gulf to Europe and Asia would stop. Iran’s Lebanese partner Hizbollah could strike Israel. Russia could supply Iran with high-tech weaponry and munitions, turning a US war on Iran into a regional and international conflagration, and plunging the fragile world economy into a fresh recession or even a major depression.

By Michael Jansen, Jordantimes.com

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Trump’s Immigration Ban Undermined by Failed Logistics

As someone living in France, a country subjected to multiple Islamic terrorist attacks over the past couple of years, I’d be the last to criticize the spirit of President Trump’s initiative to secure American borders through extreme vetting. I’ve witnessed firsthand the result of creeping insecurity and cultural disintegration directly attributable to Europe’s insistence on treating its borders as mere suggestions rather than enforceable boundaries. If Trump fails to get a handle on the situation, America will look a lot like Europe.

The problem isn’t limited to dangerous radicals who might commit terrorist atrocities — it also expands to include those communities hiding these individuals from authorities, protecting them, harboring them via a code of silence. Police sources have told me that these areas are, in essence, no-go zones where the police are at high risk of attack. This is the endgame of a national immigration policy that fails to take into account security and cultural compatibility.

Entering America is a privilege, not a right. Every country that has succeeded in maintaining its cultural identity has a selective system in place that rejects or approves entrants based on country of origin.

The civil rights crowd that whines about arbitrary screening should welcome reliable vetting. Anything less would subject immigrants to ongoing suspicion. The problem for civil rights advocates, however, is that proper government vetting requires intelligence work, which these proponents typically reject in favor of personal privacy protections.

Proper vetting is also impossible without reforming the intelligence community. We’re talking about the same intelligence community that issued student visas to dead terrorists in the wake of the September 11 attacks; the same intelligence community that can’t confirm or deny when a key terror suspect is reportedly killed via drone strike. If they can’t confirm whether the terrorists they’re pursuing are alive or dead, how can they reliably vet the average joe coming into the U.S. from the same region?

Finally, Trump should keep in mind the lesson of Napoleon Bonaparte. A grand strategist, Napoleon nonetheless failed in 1812 to pay attention to the logistics of forcing his foot soldiers to rely on the sparse Russian landscape for food and water (rather than supply wagons) during the attempted conquest of the country. This defeat was instrumental in his downfall and eventual exile. As the old adage goes, amateurs talk about strategy, professionals talk about logistics.

And talking about logistics, whoever implemented Trump’s order to temporarily ban "immigrants and nonimmigrants" from seven Muslim-majority countries — Iraq, Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen — from entering the U.S., should be drop-kicked into a black hole. The logistical implementation of Trump’s executive order was just about as effective as Napoleon’s Russian Campaign, minus the frostbite and starvation.

On Saturday morning, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani told Fox News: "(Trump) said put a commission together, show me the right way to do it legally. I put a commission together … and what we did was we focused on, instead of religion, danger — the areas of the world that create danger for us."

If we’re talking about terror-sponsoring nations, why are Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Pakistan and other nations omitted? Moreover, what act of terrorism has Iran committed or sponsored against the United States?

The selection of the seven countries is interesting unto itself. So is the fact that Giuliani attended the 2012 Paris rally of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian dissident group that was on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The MEK and the Islamic State share a common sponsor — Saudi Arabia. In 2007, the Associated Press reported that Saudi Arabia was one of "Giuliani’s law and lobbying clients…" Is that why they were not targeted?

The ban has caused needless chaos for law-abiding travelers worldwide. Legal permanent residents of the United States were detained at airports, not sure if they would be allowed to return home, dual passport holders were confused as to whether the directive applied to them and international airlines employing foreign cabin crew, already vetted six ways from Sunday, scrambled mid-flight. There’s no excuse for this. It smacks of a Keystone-Kop-style bumbling.

To put it in terms that Trump the real estate magnate might understand: You asked someone to build you a sleek new skyscraper and provided them the overall vision. But someone didn’t check the angles, and what you got back was the Leaning Tower of Pisa. That leaning monstrosity, like this administration, now has your name on it.

And the buck stops with you.

Rachel Marsden,Townhall.com

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Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Trump threatens N-deal

It is time to reboot Hands Off the People of Iran, argues Yassamine Mather

Iran in his sights?

You would have thought that the peoples of the Middle East, who have suffered so much this millennium under the Bush and Obama administrations, might be spared more destruction and devastation, but unfortunately things do not look good. With the new Trump administration it is very likely that, in addition to the existing war zones – Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain … – we will see new areas of conflict and new attempts at regime change from above.

Millions of civilians throughout the Middle East, but especially in Iran, are wary of the dangers ahead, and anxious about the close relationship between the US president and the Israeli prime minister. A number of events in the last few weeks have given rise to this anxiety.

A week before Trump’s inauguration, two of his closest allies – former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and former US representative to UN John Bolton – joined two dozen ex-officials in signing a letter to Trump urging him to start talks with the Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), and its front organisation, the National Council of Resistance.

For those who do not know much about the MEK, let me assure you it is one of the most discredited exile groups – nowadays more a religious cult, with practices similar to the Moonies (in recent years we have seen enforced mass divorce, enforced mass remarriage, worship of the married couple who are the cult’s leaders, a switch from supporting Saddam Hussein to becoming paid lackeys of Saudi Arabia …). The very fact that these close allies of Donald Trump could envisage such talks is proof once more that the US has learnt nothing from the Iraq war or attempts at regime change in Syria. If there is one way of making sure the Islamic rulers of Iran stay in power in Tehran, it would be to start a dialogue with the Mujahedin as a possible replacement. The Iranian people hate the MEK and their lunatic practices so much, one can envisage Iran’s rulers hoping the Giuliani-Bolton letter succeeds in its aim.

After this came Trump’s comments two days before his inauguration: the US should have seized Iraq’s oil in 2003. Now, anyone with even limited knowledge of the matter knows there were good reasons why Bush did not contemplate such lunacy. Had the administration done so, it would have been violating decades of international practice, including the Geneva conventions. But maybe we should not expect anything else from the man who supports waterboarding prisoners of war.

So, if the signs were ominous before the inauguration, what has happened since is even more worrying.

On January 21, Binyamin Netanyahu sent a ‘message to the Iranian people’. The Jerusalem Post published the entire text of Netanyahu’s letter, including the following:

I hope this message reaches every Iranian – young and old, religious and secular, man and woman …

I know you’d prefer to live without fear. I know you’d want to be able to speak freely, to love who you want without the fear of being tortured or hung from a crane. I know you’d like to surf the web freely and not have to see videos like this one using a virtual private network to circumvent censorship …

By calling daily for Israel’s destruction, the regime hopes to instil hostility between us. This is wrong. We are your friend, not your enemy. We’ve always distinguished between the Iranian people and the Iranian regime.

The regime is cruel – the people are not; the regime is aggressive – the people are warm. I yearn for the day when Israelis and Iranians can once again visit each other freely in Tehran and Esfahan, in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

Both in Tehran and throughout the Middle East the message was interpreted as a threat – an attempt to justify imminent plans for air attacks, now that the restraints imposed by the Obama administration on the more adventurous policies of the Zionist regime have been lifted. This message was followed by a phone conversation with the US president, where by all accounts the Iran nuclear deal was discussed.

The Israeli premier will be amongst the first world leaders to visit Washington and the Iranian people are justifiably worried about what the combination of neoconservative, pro-MEK advisors and Trump’s pro-Zionist stance will bring for the region.

Iran’s rulers have mixed feeling about the new administration. On the one hand, they are happy he is not a fan of Saudi Arabia and Trump’s comments about Russia have received positive coverage in Tehran. On the other hand, with allies and advisors such as Giuliani and Bolton, it is likely that Trump would not act to stop an Israeli attack on Iran, even if his declared priority is to defeat Iran’s main enemies in the region, Islamic State and Al Nusra.

As for the reformist faction of the Iranian regime, it is concerned about the impact of Trump’s presidency on the nuclear agreement signed last year. Trump has said on many occasions that he considers this to be “one of the worst deals ever made”. The more conservative factions of the regime, just like the ‘regime change from above’ opposition groups, are hoping Trump will tear it up.

Left

With all the controversy over the new president’s racist, sexist and anti-gay remarks, amongst other things, sections of pro-west Iranian opposition in exile have been forced to change their tune. For most of the last two or three decades they have told us that Iran’s rulers were backward because they had failed to promote anti-sexist, pro-LGBT policies. But now those rulers are no longer the only misogynists in town. No doubt the supreme leader, ayatollah Ali Khamenei, approved of one of Trump’s first initiatives – taking down references to LGBT equality from the White House website on his first day as president.

And by January 23 Trump was trying to outdo Khamenei on abortion. He signed an executive order blocking foreign aid and federal budget funding for international non-governmental organisations that provide or “promote” abortions. The new vice-president, Mike Pence, is of like mind: he facilitated the passage of several laws restricting abortions, when he was governor of Indiana.

As I write, Trump is expected to announce restrictions on US entry for citizens of seven predominantly Muslim countries, including Iran. Unlike the Israeli premier, Trump is not after winning hearts and minds in Iran (or elsewhere in the Middle East), yet he has fans amongst deluded sections of the Iranian opposition, including the MEK, who are convinced that sooner rather than later he will go for a full-scale military attack on Iran, or else give Netanyahu the nod to knock out its military and nuclear installations (while the US concentrates on ‘fighting al Qa’eda’ in Iraq and Syria!). Both scenarios are clearly frightening, yet in these uncertain times they cannot be ruled out.

All this coincides with a time when Iran’s rulers are facing considerable internal opposition from the working class. Strikes and protests in and around some the country’s major industrial sites are occurring daily, while retired teachers and civil servants, whose real income is falling daily because of inflation and the fall in the value of the Iranian currency, have organised demonstrations. While Iranians are using every opportunity to protest, the left is not only weak and divided, but have mostly lost all credibility – having, for example, accepted funds from US neoconservatives. Many former leftwing groups are now nothing more than single-issue campaigns (for women’s or LGBT rights, supporting Kurdish or Arab nationalism …), because it was easier to get funding from the west that way. Gradually that funding affected their politics. It was no longer fashionable to talk of imperialism and capitalism. Now they were against ‘backward Islamists’ and for ‘progress’.

Many such groups have had a hard time of it after the nuclear deal and so they were hoping a Clinton presidency would revive their fortunes. Unfortunately for them, it looks like under Trump their financial situation will not improve.

In the absence of a principled organised left, the voice of the Iranian working class – a class whose struggles continue, day in, day out, a class destined to play a significant role in the struggles ahead – is not being heard. Outside Iran we are not in a position to do much, but we must become the voice of our own class in Iran, theworking class. We must publicise the struggles against the Islamic government and its corrupt, capitalist backers, while remaining vigilant about the danger of new imperialist wars and aggression in the region.

That is why we will need to reboot Hands Off the People of Iran.

Weeklyworker.co.uk

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