Articles

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Another MKO plot to intimidate critics fails

The failure of MKO plot on November 3, 2005, in Amsterdam

On Thursday, November 3, Ms. Judith Neurink, Dutch journalist, held a press conference in Amsterdam to introduce her new book ‘Misled Martyrs’ which concerns the MKO terrorist activities.

Ms. Neurink had invited the people she wanted by e-mail and had reserved some places for other guests; she had announced that those who want to take part in the conference should give their names and addresses ahead of the event and that their ID cards would be checked so that unauthorized people wouldn’t be allowed to get in.

The Mojahedin thought that they could disrupt the conference by registering too many names and leaving no room for others but since they didn’t want their terrorist IDs and addresses to be revealed they had booked seats with forged names and this was how controllers banned them from entering the place.

Around 20 terrorism supporters (the MKO has no more supporters in Netherlands) who couldn’t get into the hall to disrupt the event stayed behind the doors for more than two hours with contempt and started insulting the participant as they were leaving the place, which reflects high levels of culture of Rajavi. The police, of course, did not ignore this [intimidation].

The MKO considers this (staying the street for more than 2 hours) a ‘victory’. Another victory is that they couldn’t disrupt the program, and the other is that the violent terrorist nature of the MKO was revealed for the Dutch participants. It is also a victory that the accuracy of Ms. Neurink’s book was proved immediately. These, are all the MKO’s victories!

Now the question is: “why does the Mojahedin always give false names and addresses?” Why do they hide behind false identities?

Doesn’t this add to the proof that they’re terrorists? If an organization is not a notorious terrorist group, why should its members hide their identities?

Members of other political groups are proud of their ideology, but the MKO members don’t want to come to the scene with their real IDs. Why do they want to move forward with fake clubs and associations?

The message of this failure for unaware members of the terrorist cult is that you should not let the cult use you as tools. If you want to fight the regime, you should join a group whose membership gives you pride and not shame.

Someday, you’ll certainly join this group’s opponents and then, you’ll be ashamed of the time when you were full of hatred and enmity.

Hadi Shams Haeri – November 10, 2005

November 21, 2005 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Double Standards in UK Criticized

Following discussion of the controversial UK Anti-Terrorism Law by the House of Commons, a prominent Muslim figure criticized double standards of the government in approaching terrorist groups.

This law would enable British law enforcement to keep terrorist suspects under arrest for 90 days. Supporting and encouraging terrorist activities are also considered as crimes.

Some MPs have criticized the content of this law.

Massoud Shajareh, a prominent Muslim leader questioned whether UK police have double standards in approaching the issue of terrorism. Islamic Human Rights Commission, chaired by Shajareh, had earlier asked the UK government to ban a meeting by Iranian opposition group in UK parliament.

National Council of Resistance, political wing of the MKO (listed as terrorist organization in UK, U.S. and EU), held a meeting in UK parliament in which a number of MPs took part.

Shajareh told UPI: “NCRI is the political wing of the Iranian terrorist organization, the MKO which has been banned in the US and Europe. In addition, this council itself has been declared a terrorist group by the US and EU.”

“The Terrorism Act 2000 bans supporting any terrorist organization or an organization whose members have also the membership of a banned organization. The punishment for violating this law can be 10 years in prison.”

He said the police appeared negligent since it didn’t act to arrest the conductors of the meeting according to the law. He said such moves would convince Muslims that such a law has been approved only for political advantages.

“It seems that there are double standards in fighting terrorism. For instance, this question is raised as to why the police ignores the activities of NCRI and allows them to raise money but cracks down on Islamic Freedom Party,” he said.

“Do they allow Al-Qaeda, as they do an Iranian terrorist group, to hold a conference in London on the future of Iraq and Afghanistan?” he asked.

Al Quds Al Arabi

November 13, 2005 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Just Say No to the MKO

One of the allegations made by Seymour Hersh in his piece on Iran was that the United States was infiltrating Iran, with the clear implication being that the members of the strange Marxist terrorist (ex-terrorist?) Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization were being used by the United States to gather information on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Doubtless with the MKO in mind, David Kay made the important point yesterday in the Washington Post:

[D]issidents and exiles have their own agenda — regime change — and that before being accepted as truth any "evidence" they might supply concerning Iran’s nuclear program must be tested and confirmed by other sources.

In any case, it’s not clear how effective the MKO can be, anyway, writes Massoud Khodabandeh of the Jamestown Foundation (echoing a point made by the Brooding Persian):

In any event, the notion of sending MKO members inside Iran as secret operatives tasked with undertaking espionage and sabotage operations was always a non-starter. This proposal entirely overlooks the actual state of the organization itself. The average age of the members is over 48 years, with a significant number over 50 years old. And these are people whose bodies have been ravaged by the conditions of constant military training, sleep deprivation and inadequate nutrition. Most have not set foot in Iran for nearly 24 years and would have difficulty now navigating around their own neighborhoods, let alone an unknown nuclear facility. More than this, the psychological state of the members following years of isolation and psychological coercion would not allow them to act independently or intelligently outside their immediate organizational environment – let alone in hostile territory. In short, the U.S. covert operation would need local Iranians not burnt-out ex-patriots. In addition, the MKO has become so heavily infiltrated, and not just by the Iranians, that it is hard to see how such a plan could be even formulated without Iran becoming forewarned of it.

I’m not sure who’s behind the strange US Alliance for Democratic Iran (Brownback?), but it’s worth noting that they support the use of the MEK, as do Daniel Pipes and Patrick Clawson:

Can the MEK be useful? Yes. Western spy agencies are short on "human intelligence" – meaning spies on the ground in Iran, as distinct from eyes in the sky. Coalition military commanders should seek out the MEK for information on the Iranian’ agents in Iraq. The MEK can also supply key information on developments in Iran – where, despite a tendency toward exaggeration, it has had some major scoops. Its information in mid-2002 about Iran’s nuclear program, for example, was better than what the International Atomic Energy Agency knew, thereby leading a shocked U.S. government to kick off an investigation that confirmed just how far advanced the Iranians are toward building a nuclear bomb. […]

…I’ve also seen it regularly alleged in the press that "officials in the Defense Department and Vice President Dick Cheney’s office" support the use of the MEK but haven’t seen any names attached to that. For the record, Dr. Ledeen is officially opposed.

Now here’s the ironic part of the Jamestown piece:

While Iran lined up with the United States to push for the January 30 elections to go ahead, the MKO struck a defiant tone, effectively adopting the same rhetoric as the neo-Baathists, Salafi Islamists and other insurgent forces that are desperate to derail the election process. But despite its vociferous criticism of the elections, the MKO has no power or mandate to influence the outcome of the electoral process. Implausibly, the organization claims a constituency of support among Iraqi Sunni Arab tribal leaders (especially in Diyala Province) which contrasts strangely with its inability to show any meaningful support inside Iran. The emergence of democratic institutions in post-war Iraq will severely undermine the MKO, as it will lend popular legitimacy to calls for their immediate expulsion. In short, the United States will not be able to ignore the wishes of the new elected government as it ignored the wishes of the unelected IGC back in December 2003.

Hmmm.

… one thing I forgot to mention: what Clawson and Pipes want to do (which may or may not be what we are doing at this point) just gives another pretext for a clampdown on regular Iranians. Why would anyone support that?

Comment:

Submitted by Eric Martin on February 9, 2005

"MEK was added to the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist groups in 1997 and to the European Union’s terrorist list in 2002 because its attacks have often killed civilians."

http://www.terrorismanswers.org/groups/mujahedeen.html

Also from the same site:

What major attacks has MEK been responsible for?

The group has targeted Iranian government officials and government facilities in Iran and abroad; during the 1970s, it attacked Americans in Iran. While the group says it does not intentionally target civilians, it has often risked civilian casualties. It routinely aims its attacks at government buildings in crowded cities. MEK terrorism has declined since late 2001. Incidents linked to the group include:

-The series of mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids during 2000 and 2001 against Iranian government buildings; one of these killed Iran’s chief of staff

-The 2000 mortar attack on President Mohammad Khatami’s palace in Tehran

-The February 2000 “Operation Great Bahman,” during which MEK launched 12 attacks against Iran

-The 1999 assassination of the deputy chief of Iran’s armed forces general staff, Ali Sayyad Shirazi

-The 1998 assassination of the director of Iran’s prison system, Asadollah Lajevardi

-The 1992 near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and institutions in 13 countries

-Assistance to Saddam Hussein’s suppression of the 1991 Iraqi Shiite and Kurdish uprisings

-The 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party and of Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei and Bahonar

-Support for the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries

-The 1970s killings of U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran

And this from the State Department’s website:

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2002/html/19991.htm

Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO) a.k.a. The National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA, the militant wing of the MEK), the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), National Council of Resistance (NCR), the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Muslim Iranian Student’s Society (front organization used to garner financial support)

Description

The MEK philosophy mixes Marxism and Islam. Formed in the 1960s, the organization was expelled from Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and its primary support now comes from the Iraqi regime. The MEK’s history is studded with anti-Western attacks as well as terrorist attacks on the interests of the clerical regime in Iran and abroad. The MEK now advocates a secular Iranian regime.

Activities

The worldwide campaign against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and occasionally uses terrorist violence. During the 1970s, the MEK killed US military personnel and US civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran. In 1981, the MEK detonated bombs in the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Premier’s office, killing some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Premier Mohammad-Javad Bahonar. Near the end of the 1980-88 war with Iran, Baghdad armed the MEK with military equipment and sent it into action against Iranian forces. In 1991, it assisted the Government of Iraq in suppressing the Shia and Kurdish uprisings in southern Iraq and the Kurdish uprisings in the north. Since then, the MEK has continued to perform internal security services for the Government of Iraq. In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian Embassies and installations in 13 countries, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. In recent years, the MEK has targeted key military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Armed Forces General Staff in April 1999. In April 2000, the MEK attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters—the interagency board responsible for coordinating policies on Iraq. The normal pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during the “Operation Great Bahman” in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. In 2000 and 2001, the MEK was involved regularly in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military and law-enforcement units and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border, although MEK terrorism in Iran declined throughout the remainder of 2001. Since the end of the Iran-Iraq war, the tactics along the border have garnered almost no military gains and have become commonplace. MEK insurgent activities in Tehran constitute the biggest security concern for the Iranian leadership. In February 2000, for example, the MEK launched a mortar attack against the leadership complex in Tehran that houses the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. Assassinated the Iranian Chief of Staff.

by praktike – February 9, 2005

November 10, 2005 0 comment

USA

Guns and bombs are not speech

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – The United States can designate foreign organizations as terrorist groups and bar Americans from financially backing them, a federal appeals court ruled on Thursday.

"Leaving the determination of whether a group is a ‘foreign terrorist organization’ to the executive branch … is both a reasonable and a constitutional way to make such determinations," Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote for a three-judge panel.

"The Constitution does not forbid Congress from requiring individuals, whether they agree with the executive branch determination or not, to refrain from furnishing material assistance to designated terrorist organizations."

The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was made in a case involving people who raised money in California for Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, an Iranian opposition group designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government since 1997.

The defendants argued the MEK was not a terrorist group and they had First Amendment rights to contribute to the group.

The court disagreed, saying contributing money was not the same as exercising a right to free speech. "Guns and bombs are not speech," Judge Kleinfeld wrote.

The 9th Circuit ruling was a rehearing of the same panel’s decision in June. Both 9th Circuit decisions overturned a district court’s dismissal of the indictment in the case.

The "Committee for Human Rights" had solicited contributions at the Los Angeles International Airport and sent them to the MEK in Turkey.

The Iranian group was formed in the 1960s to overthrow the Iranian government and was involved in taking U.S. Embassy staff in Tehran hostage in 1979. Its members, dissatisfied with the clerical government, later fled Iran, and resettled in Iraq, carrying out attacks with the backing of Saddam Hussein.

The ruling acknowledged geopolitical changes could change the perception about the MEK, but said the U.S. government should be the entity that decides.

"Defendants could be right about the MEK. But that is not for us, or for a jury in defendants’ case, to say," the decision read.

"The sometimes subtle analysis of a foreign organization’s political program to determine whether it is indeed a terrorist threat to the United States is particularly within the expertise of the State Department and the executive branch."

November 10, 2005 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Friends in high places

Western governments classify the People’s Mojahedin as a terrorist group, but it can still boast allies in the US and UK. Dan De Luce charts its history

Western governments describe the People’s Mojahedin as a terrorist organisation, yet the group has allies in the House of Commons and the US Congress.

When one of its leaders was arrested by French police last month, her followers went on hunger strike. Several set themselves alight in front of television cameras, with two later dying.

French security officials claim that the People’s Mojahedin was planning to stage terrorist attacks throughout Europe, but the group says that it advocates secular democracy and women’s rights in Iran.

So who are the People’s Mojahedin, and where did the group come from?

Its origins lie in the 60s, when opponents of the Shah’s regime in Iran looked to socialist ideals and new readings of Islamic texts for inspiration in their campaign against the US-backed monarchy.

Outraged by the Shah’s brutal suppression of dissent, the People’s Mojahedin, or Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (MKO), chose to take up arms.

Bombings and assassinations, including several attacks that claimed the lives of US military officers and contractors, took a serious toll and provoked further repression by the regime.

The MKO’s blend of Marxism and Islam influenced other opposition figures, and made its mark on the clerics who came to rule Iran after the fall of the Shah. However, divisions among the MKO’s ranks became apparent, with some electing to part from an increasingly radical leadership.

As the only armed and organised opposition group during the final years of the Shah’s rule, many historians say that the People’s Mojahedin played an important role in his eventual overthrow in 1979.

During the chaotic days after the Shah had fled amid mass protests, the MKO seized the state television headquarters and other government buildings.

As Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his allies asserted control in what later became known as the "Islamic revolution", the MKO attracted a large following among students, who admired its record of fierce opposition to the Shah’s regime.

Yet the group soon found itself marginalised as Islamic conservatives sought to defeat left-wingers. When the ayatollah demanded that the group disarm, it refused. Violent conflict eventually erupted between the Islamic clerical leadership and the MKO, which had done so much to weaken the Shah.

MKO members resumed the terror tactics practised during the Shah’s era, assassinating senior figures and then speeding away on high-powered motorbikes.

Its underground war against the government reached a peak in June 1981, when a series of bombs exploded in Tehran’s city centre during a major political meeting. The bombing killed 72 people, including chief justice Mohammad Beheshti, a senior figure close to the ayatollah, government ministers, numerous MPs and civil servants.

A month later, the president, Mohammad-Ali Rajei, and the prime minister, Javad Bahonar were killed in a bombing attack.

The government waged a determined campaign against the People’s Mojahedin, using Militant Revolutionary guards and arresting and executing numerous MKO suspects.

In recent years, some journalists have questioned whether all those arrested were proven MKO agents, or whether they were merely rounded up in a sweeping move against all opposition.

Lethal attacks on the clerical leadership failed to bolster the MKO’s position, and civilian casualties cost it support among ordinary Iranians.

"I remember my parents told us we couldn’t go outside because they were afraid of more bombings by the MKO," Mustafa, a computer engineer, recalled.

With western governments backing Iraq in its war against Iran, the MKO decided to link its future with the Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein. The group acted as infiltrators and a source of military intelligence for Baghdad, and Saddam later used the MKO to help crush Kurdish and Shia opponents.

By siding with a regime bombing Iranian cities and killing hundreds of thousands of young Iranians, the MKO became despised in Iran and lost what support it still retained.

"The one thing in which there is common agreement among all political parties here, reformist or conservative, is that the MKO is a black organisation," Amir Mohebian, a conservative academic, said in an interview.

The 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war ended in stalemate, forcing the MKO into permanent exile and subservience to Saddam’s repressive rule. A group that had been born in opposition to one dictatorship became dependent on another.

The recent collapse of Saddam’s government has rendered the MKO homeless. The US bombed MKO bases during its attack on the Iraqi regime, but was slow to negotiate the group’s surrender. Diplomats say that the US coveted intelligence about Iran held by the MKO.

More and more, analysts believe, the MKO may have become a pawn in a bigger contest between Washington and Iran. The George Bush administration sees the MKO as a possible lever in its campaign to restrict Iran’s nuclear programme and force the extradition of al-Qaida suspects in the country.

Although it has staged occasional hit and run raids along the Iran-Iraq border, including mortar attacks, it is the MKO’s skilful public relations effort that has kept it alive outside Iran.

Through its political wing, the National Council for Resistance, articulate spokesmen, fluent in foreign languages, explain the group’s goals in clear terms, delivering user-friendly material to the media. Outsiders already hostile towards Iran’s theocracy respond well to the group’s message.

The MKO’s ability to gain allies in parliaments, and publicity, infuriates Iran, which accuses Washington and other governments of adopting a hypocritical stance in their declared war on terrorism.

The MKO also has managed to raise serious sums of money from exiles and supporters. French police seized some $8m (£4.5m) during a recent raid on the MKO headquarters.

Former members have told horror stories about life inside the organisation, which, they say, resembles a cult. They have accused their former masters of punishing disobedience with torture, or even murder, and allege that the leadership separated some children from their parents.

Ervand Abrahamian, a history professor at Baruch College, in the US, has written a comprehensive history of the MKO. He says that the group has been sustained less by ideology than by a cult of personality surrounding its leader, Massoud Rajavi, and his wife, Maryam.

"If Massoud Rajavi got up tomorrow and said that the world was flat, his members would accept it," he told the New York Times.

Spokesmen for the MKO deny allegations of brainwashing, insisting that the organisation is the target of propaganda by the Iranian government, which it has labelled a "clerical dictatorship".

Whether the People’s Mojahedin is a fanatical cult set on violence or the democratic organisation described by its leaders, its days of influence in Iran faded long ago.

Deprived of a base for its armed resistance, unpopular in its homeland and targeted for investigation by French authorities, it appears to be in terminal decline.

Dan De Luce

November 8, 2005 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

NCRI’s Role in Suppressing Iraqis

At the dawn of a day in early 1991, MKO members armed to the teeth, led by Fatima Tahoori (Zarrin), surrounded the Iraqi border city of Jelula. The town was still asleep when the commander (who was known in the organization as Barabbas for her brutality) broke the early morning silence with her orders. Rajavi forces, backed by Iraqi artillery which targeted Kurdish area, attacked the villages and towns. In this criminal act, some NCRI members were involved:

1. Manoochehr Hezarkhani

2. Karim Ghasim

3. Fariba Hashtroodi

4. Hussein Naghdi

5. Mehdi Same’

6. Rohani, in charge of Nationalities Commission

They wore military uniforms and fired the first bullets towards Jelula to boos the morale of members and say that this is what Sister Maryam expects from us.

A few hours later these very people talked to selected foreign reporters about defending against the aggression of the Iranian regime! Meanwhile, Maryam Rajavi, accompanied by Afsaneh Shahrokhi and Mahboobeh Jamshidi flew over the runaway Iraqis with a helicopter and ordered the massacre of ordinary people. I can exactly remember that in suburbs of Jelula, a number of people were taking their properties out to the deserts and mountains with tractors when Jalil Dezfouli (then, deputy chief commander and currently member of current Council) ordered MKO members to set on fire their properties, confiscate their vehicles and insult them.

To give legitimacy to the hysteric massacre of people, one of the commanders (Zhila Tolu’, currently member of Leadership Council and NCRI) intentionally deployed 3 of her guards to the ambush of rebel Kurds to be killed by them. Rajavi issued an announcement for the forces: “Your brothers have been attacked sexually and their bodies have been burnt”. This created a wave of hatred toward Kurds in the members so that they demolished villages and buried some people alive.

Then these very democrat members of the Council took part in the operation of cleaning up the region. According to a number of forces (under the command of Farhad Olfat), Mr. Rohani (in charge of Nationalities Commission) saw a wounded man and he immediately shot the “coup de grace”…

TheBlackfile.com

November 8, 2005 0 comment

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Clean Iraq from Terrorist MKO

We used to live in a restricted society in which there was only one voice and maybe that is the reason why we now see everything upside down.

Today, we feel the freedom in Iraq and no one can deny this, except those who have never wanted to accept the truth or those who act maliciously. You can vote and express your ideas freely and whenever you want; what’s it if it’s not freedom? You can get a passport and travel freely in this situation. You can sleep in your own car without being arrested for what’s called “violation of security and social order”. I can well remember a day when I was traveling with my friend on the road of Basra and my friend was rebuked only for sleeping on his seat. The officer acted like Saddam. He took my friend out of the bust and arrested him but he was lucky and later freed, otherwise no one knows what would have happened to him. All this was for being asleep when the car stopped at checkpoint. Do we now fear from being asleep?

I know the meaning of freedom and I know that its definition is wider than what I said; I was just giving an example. Today, we can speak freely in front of employees, teachers and other people of this society. We can criticize ministers and some people even insult them.

We now enjoy freedom and we should preserve it. But freedom is not anarchy; it’s order and fidelity. We should be faithful to Iraq and its people.

On the other hand, the government should also know that freedom is not the same as anarchy and disorder. Free and democratic countries have practical plans and regulations they act according to which. Iraq should not bear big threats and dangers under the name of freedom.

The issue of the settlement of armed paramilitary groups in Iraq is also important. Some paramilitary groups in Iraq have been disarmed but other international terrorist organizations still possess weapons and everyone, familiar with politics, understands how dangerous it is for Iraq.

There’s no doubt that these terrorist groups are linked to each other and there are secret ties and cooperation between terrorist MKO, Al-Qaeda and Zarqawi and other remnants of ousted Saddam regime.

We are all aware of strong ties between Mojahedin-e khalq and Saddam Hussein. Some people try to clean this from the minds of Iraqis. They even hold meetings to do this, which has undesirable consequences.

Cleansing Iraqis soil from paramilitary groups, such as MKO, Zarqawi and Al-Qaeda, is as important as destroying weapons. Freedom and democracy and recognizing the rights for political asylum is not the same as welcoming terrorist groups.

Abbas Sarhan – Al Naba Website

October 31, 2005 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Iran opposition group seeks US legitimacy

Even by the standards of Washington politics it was an unusual spectacle – the veiled leader of a Middle East group banned in the US as a terrorist organisation delivering a speech by live video-link to applauding members of Congress inside the Capitol itself.

But since the organisation is dedicated to the overthrow of Iran’s theocracy, the People’s Mujahideen Organisation and its political co-leader, Maryam Rajavi, are given leeway in the US as they campaign to have the "terrorist" tag removed and to become eligible for US funding of Iranian opposition groups.

In suit and matching headscarf, Mrs Rajavi spoke from France. She thanked six congressmen by name for their support, praised President George W. Bush and called for an end to western "appeasement" of the "engine of Islamic fundamentalism".

The audience – a mix of Iranian-Americans, politicians and staffers filling a conference room in the Capitol last Thursday – gave her a standing ovation. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Democrat congresswoman from Texas, spoke warmly of "sister Maryam".

Known by its acronyms MKO and MEK, the group led by Mrs Rajavi and her husband Massoud, was outlawed by the US for its killing of Americans before the 1979 Iranian revolution; alleged collaboration with Saddam Hussein’s genocidal campaigns against Iraqi Kurds; and attacks on civilians inside Iran.

The MKO denies the charges of terrorism, saying it was banned by then-president Bill Clinton in an attempt to engage the Iranian government.

Despite its attraction to the US – and particularly to some Pentagon planners – as an armed force inside Iraq ready in opposition, analysts in Washington doubt the group will regain legitimacy.

Nonetheless, its lobbying reflects the ferment inside the Bush administration as it grapples with producing a coherent policy towards Iran, working out – in the words of one European diplomat – whether to "engage, isolate or disrupt".

Stephen Hadley, national security adviser, commissioned 10 briefing papers exploring various options. A National Security Council meeting was cancelled this month after one of the papers, which proposed expanding diplomatic contacts with Iran, was leaked to the Wall Street Journal. Some officials suspect that someone senior wanted to sabotage the idea.

Diplomats and two US officials said the latest review was prompted by the conclusion reached by Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state, and others that an effective sanctions option did not exist, and that they had been misled by the predictions of neoconservatives who saw the Iranian regime ripe for overthrow by a restless populace.

Recent statements by Ms Rice point to an effort to broaden diplomatic contacts with Iran.

Diplomats also say there is a new effort to find a settlement, negotiated through European allies, to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear programme. But officials say any such pragmatic tendencies would be tempered by the conviction that the Bush administration should do nothing that would be seen to confer legitimacy on the regime while actively supporting the democratic aspirations of Iranians.

Iranian-American sympathisers of the MKO, who are active donors to US politicians, remain hopeful their group will be de-listed

By Guy Dinmore in Washington

October 31, 2005 0 comment

The MEK; Baath Party Accomplice

Saddam Hussein’s Links with International Terrorism

Group to Hold Press Conference on Saddam Hussein’s Links with International Terrorism,

To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor

Contact: Mahrukh Haji of Pars-Iran, 613-829-9598 or 613-261-2550 (cell)

News Advisory:

WHAT: Press conference on Saddam Hussein’s links with international terrorism

WHEN: Monday, Oct. 24 at 12 p.m.

WHERE: National Press Club (First Amendment Lounge), 529 14th Street NW, Washington DC

—

The following is a statement released by Pars-Iran:

The trial of Saddam Hussein is scheduled to start this week.

We demand that his closest ally, Massoud Rajavi, whose hands have been dirtied by many of Saddam’s crimes, also be brought to justice.

The toppled regime of Saddam Hussein actively supported international terrorism, and the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation, led by Massoud Rajavi, was at the top of the list of these terrorist organisations.

— The Mojahedin as part of Saddam’s military played a decisive role in the suppression of the internal uprisings in Iraq in 1991, and are responsible for the massacre of many Iraqi Shiites and Kurds who opposed Saddam. The best documented of these being the massacre of the Kurds in their uprising in March 1991.

— The Mojahedin acting as ‘Saddam’s Private Army’ have actively participated in the war which Saddam Hussein waged against Iran between 1980 and 1988, engaging themselves in intelligence gathering for the Iraqi army as well as participating in joint operations with them.

— Each and every military and terrorist operation carried out by the Mojahedin in Iran has been ordered directly by Saddam Hussein and his intelligence and secret services in Iraq.

On Monday, October 24, a press conference will be held in Washington, DC. The program includes:

— A documentary film exposing the Mojahedin’s role in the suppression of the uprising of the Iraqi people in 1991.

— Video evidence, secretly filmed by Saddam’s own security services, showing the financial and spying relationship between the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation and Saddam’s regime.

— A three member panel (TBA) will speak on this issue.

— Former members will be available to answer questions on the MEK.

October 24, 2005 0 comment

Massoud Rajavi

MKO dissidents demnands Rajavi be put on Trial

PARIS, 19 Oct. (IPS) On the eve of the trial of the toppled Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, some former members of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organsation (MKO) demanded that the leader of the outlawed Organisation and some of his close associates be also tried for “crimes against both the Iraqi and Iranian peoples”.

“The toppled regime of Saddam Hussein actively supported international terrorism and committed crimes against Iraqi and Iranian peoples and the Mojaheedin Khalq Organisation, led by Mas’oud Rajavi, were at the top of the list of these terrorist organizations”, Behzad Alishahi, a former member of the group said in a press conference held in Paris on Tuesday 18 October 2005.

Created in the sixties, the MKO, a mix of radical Islam and Stalinism, took an active part in operations against the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and is suspected to have assassinated at least six American military advisors.

Mr. Rajavi sided with Grand Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, but was declared outlaw after he attempted a coup against the leader of the Revolution and along with Mr. Abolhasan Banisadr, the first president of the Islamic Republic, fled to Paris.

In 1886 and at the height of Iran-Iraq War, Mr. Rajavi and his Organisation left France for Baghdad, where he started an active cooperation with the Iraqi army and intelligence not only against Iran, but also the Kurds and the Sh’ias.

“The Mojahedeen, as part of Saddam’s military establishment, played a decisive role in the suppression of the internal uprisings in Iraq in 1991, and are responsible for the massacre of many Iraqi Shi’ites and Kurds who opposed Saddam. The best documented of these being the massacre of the Kurds in their uprising in March 1991”, the dissident claimed.

Mr. Alishahi said he is in possession of some of the “crimes” the MKO committed against both the Kurds and the Shi’ites, adding that he had sent the documents to Mr. Jalal Talabani, the former leader of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) who is now the President of Iraq.

“Acting as Saddam’s Private Army, the Mojahedeen have actively participated in the war which Saddam Hussein waged against Iran between 1980 and 1988, engaging themselves in intelligence gathering for the Iraqi army as well as participating in joint operations with them”, the former MKO members said.

“On direct orders from Hasan al-Majid, better known as Ali the Chemical, (then Governor of the province of Basra and latter Saddam’s Representative in Kuwait after the occupation of the oil-rich country by Iraqi forces), we organised military maneuvers in Basra and paraded with tanks for days just to frighten the Shi’a population of the town, known for their hate of Saddam”, Mr. Alishahi recalled.

“Each and every military and terrorist operation carried out by the Mojahedeen in Iran has been ordered directly by Saddam Hussein and his intelligence and secret services in Iraq”, he went on, adding that on occasions, the Organisation would carry espionage operations in Iran, mostly from Ahvaz, the capital city of the oil-rich Iranian province of Khouzestan.

“On orders from the Iraqis and against receiving a monthly sum of 27 million US Dollars, not only we would fight, kill and arrest the Kurds and the Shi’a insurgents, but any ordinary Iraqi suspected of opposing Saddam and hand them to Iraqi intelligence, of which the MKO was a special unit. We would even arrest Iraqi soldiers who would desert the army”, another dissident told reporters.

Accusing Mr. Rajavi of “murdering” several members of the group suspected of “not sharing his views”, Mr. Alishahi said of the 3.000 to 4.000 mojahedeens now living in the Shraf Camp near Baghdad, “all except a very few would leave in a plane from the International Red Cross would land there”.

An anchorman of the MKO’s television that would broadcast from both Baghdad and Basra, Mr. Alishahi said had been jailed for five months and tortured on orders from Mr. Rajavi some eleven years ago, but was latter pardoned and stayed with the group until the Americans toppled the Iraqi regime.

As the MKO dissidents were talking to correspondents and showing films about Mr. and Mrs Rajavi, the so-called “co-leaders” of the MKO, Afshin Molavi, a spokesman for the Organisation sent e-mails, describing Mr. Alishahi as “a member of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry”. ENDS MKO TRIAL 191005

By Safa Haeri

October 24, 2005 0 comment

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