Letters

European Union

MKO lies to Court to Save its Skin

January 30, 2006

Letter to:

Court of Justice

Court of First Instance

Rue du Fort Niedergrünewald

L-2925 Luxembourg

To the Judges of the Court of First Instance

At 09:30, on February 7, 2006 in the Second Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, hearing T-228/02 Organisation des Modjahedines du peuple d’Iran v Council (Common foreign and security policy) will take place. http://curia.eu.int/en/actu/calendriers/index.htm

This action against the Council of the European Union was first brought before the Court on 26 July 2002 by the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) – also known as Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

In simple terms we understand that through this action, the MEK wishes to be removed from the European list of terrorist entities.

Some of the main arguments brought by the MEK are that it is:

Conducting legitimate resistance against the Iranian regime

Complying with the fundamental principles of democracy

Complying with the fundamental principles of respect for human rights

Supported by the international community

Never undertaken actions against civilians

The only resistance movement which is now acting within Iran’s borders

Defending peace in the region

In response, and in opposition to this action, the people signatory to this letter all declare themselves willing and able to bear witness to the facts set out in this letter thus:

1 From its inception, the MEK has been the main anti-western force before and during the 1979 revolution in Iran. The MEK killed six Americans in Iran during the 1960s. During the ‘hostage crisis’ in 1980, the MEK advocated killing the American hostages. The MEK openly took up arms against the regime of Iran again only after a failed coup d’état against the new revolutionary government in 1980.

Since then, the MEK has carried out mortar attacks against civilian targets, resulting in the deaths of shopkeepers, passers by. The MEK has bombed factories, schools and residential areas. The MEK received orders from Saddam Hussein to attack targets chosen by his regime and were paid accordingly.

2 The MEK is organized internally as an autocracy, with Massoud Rajavi the sole, self-appointed leader for life. He occupies the role of supreme leader and is above the law. No one has the right to remove or even criticize his leadership. Below him in rank is his wife Maryam Rajavi, also appointed by Massoud Rajavi. He presented her to the National Council of Resistance (NCR) for ‘election’ to the position of ‘president elect’ of the NCR. The ‘election’ took place in an open meeting in which there was no secret ballot, the vote was 100% in her favour. The NCR comprises at least 95% MEK members who only claim to be independent members but who without exception believe in the MEK ideology.

3 There are countless examples of suppression and repressive measures inside the MEK. The MEK has practiced forced marriage and now practices forced divorce, separation of children from parents, gender apartheid, imprisonment for criticizing leaders or even the leaders’ strategy. Victims inside the MEK have been sent to Abu Ghraib prison. Extrajudicial punishments include torture, death under torture, long term imprisonment in solitary confinement and sentencing to execution – not carried out by express order of Massoud Rajavi. The Human Rights Watch report of May 2005 ‘No Exit’, details only a small sample of such human rights abuses carried out systematically inside the Mojahedin. Former members will bear witness that none of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights are practiced inside the MEK organization.

4 The MEK claims to have collected hundreds of signatures from western parliamentarians. However, the names have never been published and no-one has had sight of the signatures. The MEK has a known history of forging signatures. The MEK collects signatures through lies, deception and misinformation. Signatories do not have immediate access to necessary information by which to make balanced judgment about the MEK.

5 There are numerous instances of civilian deaths and injuries caused by the deliberately imprecise methods of armed attack used by the MEK in Iran. The use of mortars, fired in civilian areas, have led to schools, public parks and residential buildings being hit. The largest number of civilians killed by the MEK was in the Eternal Light operation of 1988. In this operation, the organization sent thousands of untrained civilians into battle with Iran’s Revolutionary Guards in Rajavi’s bid to pursue regime change by armed means. Thousands were killed and injured in this abortive operation. Rajavi is culpable for war crimes based on his orders and decisions during this operation.

6 The MEK is not supported inside Iran – most of Iran’s younger generation have never heard of the MEK except as a historical group which betrayed their country by fighting alongside Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. The MEK does not mention its twenty year existence in Iraq and its dependence on Saddam Hussein during that time. No opposition group (inside or outside Iran) has ever accepted the group which is universally regarded as traitors. The lack of support for them outside country by exiled Iranians is a clear indication of how much support they have inside the country. The only beneficiary of the MEK’s existence has been the hardliners of the Iranian government who refuse to accept any other opposition except them because they are known as assassins and traitors to their country. This allows the hardliners to continue a policy of repression against any legitimate opposition.

7 The MEK’s most recent public stance is to support regime change involving war waged against Iran by the USA or Israel. The MEK’s ‘third way’ states clearly that the MEK can bring about regime change only if its forces in Iraq are re-armed.

Since 2002 many things have changed.

"The Mojahedin Khalq Organisation claims that it rejects armed struggle and commits itself only to non-violent means of struggle and therefore asks the relevant authorities to remove it from the lists of terrorist organizations." The MEK claims that in future it will only engage in political, social and cultural activities against the Iranian regime.

Firstly, this claim has never been made publicly and has only been made in private to the officials involved in this court. Secondly, this is a lie. The MEK has no intention of abandoning armed struggle.

As recently as two months ago the MEK clearly issued death sentences against their critics in European countries. This was broadcast on their clandestine TV program copies of which area available.

The MEK continues to advertise its National Liberation Army (currently disarmed by US forces in Iraq) as the only possible way of achieving regime change in Iran. The MEK openly promotes the use of violence in Iraq, Iran and in western countries.

Information from a source close to the MEK states that the organization is now actively collecting signatures from its members who swear that:

armed struggle is the only possible means to achieve regime change and take power in Iran. (The real meaning of this is the belief that Camp Ashraf in Iraq should be preserved and the combatants re-armed.)

they adhere to every step of the Ideological revolution and pass through it consciously and believe in every part of it. (The real meaning of this is that they accept the conditions of slavery imposed by the MEK’s cult culture.)

they declare total and unswerving loyalty to the ideological leader, who is Massoud Rajavi. (The real meaning of this is that Rajavi will never be removed from leadership of the MEK, thus denying any semblance of a democratic process.)

These three articles, which every member is being asked to affirm and sign to, are exactly the opposite to the conditions necessary to prove their case in this court.

Indeed, the MEK is more committed to these principles than ever in its history as this is the only means by which the organization can be kept intact.

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, reams of evidence has come to light concerning the MEK’s behaviour in Iraq and elsewhere. Examples include: video evidence of payments made by Saddam to the MEK in payment for the assassination of specific people; selling oil illegally for Saddam in the west (under the UN oil for food program); involvement in the suppression of the Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in March 1991 which involved the massacre of civilians.

The MEK have never condemned their fallen benefactor Saddam Hussein and refuse to refer to him as anything less than "the ex president of Iraq". The MEK has not cut its ties with the remnants of Saddam in Iraq and elsewhere, including the Baath Party and tribal leaders loyal to Saddam Hussein. The MEK celebrated the 11 September tragedy in their camps in Iraq. The MEK leaders directly ordered members to commit self-immolation in European cities in June 2003, resulting several disabilities and two deaths.

If the MEK wishes to refute the evidence which led to its inclusion in the terrorist lists of every major western country, it must:

1- publicly and unequivocally renounce violence as a means to achieve political aims – including publicly agreeing to the dismantlement of Camp Ashraf in Iraq

2- abandon the practice of collective living, compulsory divorce, separation of people from their children and families, cutting people off from their finances and stop the use of psychological manipulation to indoctrinate members; the MEK must free its members from conditions of slavery.

3- respect democratic principles by holding real elections for the first time – which allow for the removal and replacement of all its leadership cadre through secret ballot; run the organization as a normal political group.

4- provide answers in public to the issues arising from MEK behavior over the past twenty five years, including; the massacre of Iraqi Shiites and Kurds in 1991; the massacre of thousands of civilians in the Eternal Light operation of 1988; the incarceration of dissidents in its own prisons and in Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison.

Signatories:

Abbass Sadeghi

Akbar Akbari

Ali Akbar Rastgoo

Ali Bashiri

Ali Ghashghavi

Alireza Mir Esmaili

Alireza Mirasgari

Amir Atefe

Amir Kord-Rostamie

Anne Khodabandeh

Aylar Seraji

Batool Ahmadi

Batool Maleki

Behzad Alishahi

Behzad Kazemi

Daryoush Mir Esmaili

Edward Tormado

Elham Kakavand

Faride Barati

Farhad JavaheriYar

Faride Sadri

Farzad Fazinfar

Fatolah Firooz

Ghasem Ghezi

Gholam Mehdioghli

Habib Khorami

Hadi Shams Haeri

Hanif Baghalnejad

Hassan Azizi

Hassan Haghi

Hassan Khalaj

Hassan Mohamadi

Hassan Sadeghian

Homayoon Elahi

Hossein Baghalnejad

Iraj Haghverdi

Jafar Baghalnejad

Jafar Gonjeshki

Jamshid Tahmasbi

Javad Firoozmand

Karim Haghi

Katayoon Mir Esmaili

Kazem Molahosseini

Khaodabakhsh Rudgar

Majid Farahani

Mahboobe Barati

Masoome Behnam

Massoud Jabani

Massoud Khodabandeh

Marjan Malek

Mehdi Baghalnejad

Mehdi Khoshhal

Milad Ariyayi

Mina Vatandoost

Mitra Yoosefi

Mohamed Hossein Sobhani

Mostafa Mohammadi

Mostafa Mostafai

Naser Haghi

Naser Razvani

Nasrin Behboudi

Omid Ahmadi

Parvin Haji

Maryam Jokar

Rassoul Ahmadi Nejad

Reza Haghi

Robabe Shahrokhi

Ronak Mostafai

Roya Roodsaz

Saeed Khodashenas

Samad Alesiad

Sara Baghalnejad

Shafighe Haghi

Shokat Haghverdili

Soheila Behboodi

Yaser Ezati

Zahra Lotfi

…

February 2, 2006 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Open Letter to U.S. Ambassador in Canada

Open Letter to U.S. Ambassador in Canada and Canadian Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

Dear David H. Wilkins, U.S. Ambassador in Canada The Embassy of the United States of America 490 Sussex Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1N 1G8 Canada Dear Joe Volpe, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration 6th floor, 400 University Avenue Toronto, Ontario M7A 2R9

The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK), who are in U.S. Department of State Foreign Terrorist Organization list group, are forming a protest on Thursday January 19, 2006 in Washington D.C. in front of the White House. They try to gather Iranians from all over the world. In some cases, some of the Mojahedin-e- Khalq’s members enter into U.S. illegally by using fake identification. The MEK also perform this protest gathering under different names titles for their deceiving political activity protection such as:

The National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA)

The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)

National Council of Resistance (NCR)

National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

Muslim Iranian Student’s Society (MISS)

Description:

The MEK philosophy mixes Marxism and Islam. Formed in the 1960s, the organization was expelled from after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and its primary support came from the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein starting in the late 1980s. The MEK conducted anti-Western attacks prior to the Islamic Revolution. Since then, it has conducted terrorist attacks against the interests of the clerical regime in and abroad. The MEK advocates the overthrow of the Iranian regime and its replacement with the group’s own leadership.

Activities:

Believing in violence and terrorist activities, the group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and uses of terrorism. During the 1970s, the MEK killed US military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran and supported the takeover in 1979 of the American 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 1980-1988 war with Iraq, Baghdad armed the MEK with military equipment and sent it into action against Iranian forces. In 1991, the MEK assisted the Government of Iraq in suppressing the Shia uprisings in southern Iraq and the Kurdish uprisings in the north. 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 April 1999, the MEK targeted key military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff. In April 2000, the MEK attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters, Tehran’s interagency board responsible for coordinating policies. The normal pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during "Operation Great Bahman" in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. One of those attacks included a mortar attack against the leadership complex in Tehran that housed the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President. 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 toward the end of 2001. After Coalition aircraft bombed MEK bases at the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the MEK leadership ordered its members not to resist Coalition forces, and a formal cease-fire arrangement was reached in May 2003.

About 3,000 MEK members are currently confined to Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s main compound north of Baghdad , where they remain under the Geneva Convention’s "protected person" status and Coalition control. As a condition of the cease-fire agreement, the group relinquished its weapons, including tanks, armored vehicles, and heavy artillery. A significant number of MEK personnel have "defected" from the Ashraf group, and several dozen of them have been voluntarily repatriated to Iran.

Location/Area of Operation:

In the 1980s, the MEK’s leaders were forced by Iranian security forces to flee to France. On resettling in Iraq in 1987, almost all of its armed units were stationed in fortified bases near the border with Iran. Since Operation Iraqi Freedom, the bulk of the group is limited to Camp Ashraf, although an overseas support structure remains with associates and supporters scattered throughout Europe and North America.

External Aid:

Before Operation Iraqi Freedom, the group received all of its military assistance, and most of its financial support, from the former Iraqi regime. The MEK invested enough money during the present of Saddam’s regime, so they are still surviving on that investment.

Unfortunately, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) skip all the above crime and are active to gain power under different names and titles while they do not have support in Iran. We strongly believe that Mojahedin still believes in violence and terrorism and are not a good choice over the present regime in Iran. However, the Mojahedin-e-Khalq are taking an advantage of the present situation in Iran and with the support of neo conservatives in the U.S. are trying to make the Pentagon, Congressmen and the Senate believe that the only way to stop the regime from attaining nuclear weapons is to refer Iran’s nuclear file to the Security Council. We would like to stop and condemn this action because by referring the nuclear file to the Security Council, which means to put Iran into a economic sanction, is not the best way to change the regime in Iran because this choice (sanctions and/or military action) will make the regime in Iran even more violent and will help the regime stay in power even longer.

We, Iranians aboard, would like to ask the Secretary for State in the U.S. to stop the Mojahedin-e- Khalq’s misleading protest gathering on Thursday January, 19, 2006 in Washington D.C. in front of the White House, and also to support the youth of Iran to change the present situation from the inside of Iran.

Sincerely,

Victims of the Mojahedin-e- Khalq

Pars-Iran

Saeed Hazrati

January 16, 2006

Saeed Hazrati, Pars-Iran, January 16, 2006

January 20, 2006 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

Letter to Charles Falconer

Ali Akbar Rastgoo, Awaa Association, January 6, 2006 The Rt Hon Lord Falconer of Thoroton QC Secretary of State Constitutional Affairs Selborne House 54-60 Victoria Street London SW1E 6QW England

At the meeting on 13th December 2005 held in the British Parliament there was a discussion about “the Mojahedin Khalgh Organization, (an Iranian organization which is settled in Iraq). At the same day a web site called “Iran focus” (that is associated to the “Mojahedin Khalgh Organization”), published allegations stipulating that Lord Tony Clark affirmed that 405 Members of the British Parliament are in support of this group, but no names were mentioned.

In diplomatic relations the names of the supporter must be published to confirm the legitimacy of such allegations, therefore this announcement was counterfeit and supported by substantial evidence. Similar actions from the here above mentioned group happened many times before, for instance the counterfeited letters that were published on behalf of the pervious Member of Parliament “Win Griffith”.

The “Mojahedin Khalgh Organization” was recognized as a terrorist group by the United States of America once again in October 2005. This organization also uses several fictitious names such as: “National Freedom Army”, “Muslim Student Association and National Resistance Organization” to distract the attention of the western world. However, all of the above names were added to the official terrorism list. Your government along with the European Union emphasizes to continue on fighting against terrorism.

Dear Sir

My questions are hereby as followed:

How were your name and your parliament member’s names used for the support of terrorism and why did you not show any reaction to that effect?

Do you support the “Mojahein Khalgh Organization” and their actions?

Do you support the war against the present government of Iran?

Do you agree with forming a Totalitarian government by the name of Islamic Democratic Republic?

I would be greatly appreciative to receive a response letter on your behalf Mr. Lord Falconer

Sincerely,

Ali-Akbar Rastgou

Cologne-Germany

January 16, 2006 0 comments

Open letter to the leaders of the main political Parties of Britain

Open letter from Mr. Mohammad Hossein Sobhani to the leaders of the main political Parties of Britain

January 6, 2006

Rt. Honourable Tony Blair

Rt. Honourable David Cameron

Rt. Honourable Charles Kennedy

The document published by the US Department of State on October 11, 2005 emphasised that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (aka MEK, MKO, NCR, NLA, …) has been assigned to the permanent list of terrorist organisations. As you are aware, the British government and the European Union have also continued to acknowledge the Mojahedin organisation as a terrorist entity.

This, on one side, should be celebrated as yet another victory for peace and for non-violent means to achieve political aims, and from the other side as a defeat for violence, terrorism and the “strategy of armed struggle” of the Mojahedin organisation. It is noticeable that inclusion of the Mojahedin in the lists of terrorist entities has been a decisive factor in preventing this organisation from pursuing its armed, violent activities, at least on the surface; although it is clear that they still believe in violent, armed struggle and would follow this path in the future.

Honourable leaders of the three major political parties of Great Britain.

On the 5th January 2006, some of the websites dependent on the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation issued a statement in Persian claiming it to be a “joint statement by members of both Houses of Parliament” (websites Iran Liberty and Hambastegimeli).

The writing, as well as the culture behind the writing, shows no respect for the usual political standards associated with the members of the British parliament. For me, as an ex member of the Central Committee of the Mojahedin who has had close association with this organisation for more than 30 years, there is no doubt that this so called “statement” has been fabricated (or at best meddled with) by the organisation.

It is worth noting that the statement has no date and no name or signatures with it.

Why?

Could we accept that a member of parliament would not actually sign a statement when they claim to support it? If not, then why would such statement not have any names, date or signatures?

Of course this is only one of many reasons which indicate clearly that the statement has been fabricated by the Mojahedin Khalq organisation. And of course, this is one of the reasons I am writing this letter to your good selves as there are no names to respond to.

Dear leaders of the major political parties of Great Britain,

During the time since the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime and the forced disarmament of the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation by the American army, the Mojahedin have been trying to put a mask on their violent, terrorist faces in Europe and America in a bid to remove the organisation from the list of terrorist entities in US, EU and Canada and ….

But due to pressure from the political and diplomatic activities of disaffected members of Mojahedin and also the report ‘No Exit’ published on 18 May 2005 by Human Rights Watch on human rights abuses inside the Mojahedin, the efforts of the Mojahedin cult to be removed from the lists, faced stiff resistance. In fact, the main reason the Mojahedin started their new wave of attacks and intimidation against ex members was more than anything, the publication of the ‘No Exit’ report by Human Rights Watch, partly based on the testimony of these victims.

After the fall of Saddam and the forced disarmament of the Mojahedin, it was clear for the leaders of the organisation that they would have to cover up their strategy of “arms and terrorism” and slogans such as “Long Live the National Liberation Army”. Instead, they would have to adopt a mask and hide behind slogans like “democratic change” and/or “the third way” in front of western personalities and members of western parliaments, as well as western governments, if their bid to come out of the lists were to have any chance of success. It is not an exaggeration to say that they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars and have dedicated all their human resources in the cult to this issue and have still, fortunately, not been successful.

Dear friends,

The MEK claims that a few members of British parliament together with Mr. Paolo Casaca (MEP from Portugal) who are all core supporters of the organisation travelled to Iraq in the second half of 2005 in order to ‘prove’ to HRW that during 1990 to 2002 there have been no prisons and or torture chambers in the Mojahedin organisation.

In the so called “joint statement by the members of both Houses of Parliament” on their websites, the MEK have claimed that:

“… The report by HRW has failed to acknowledge the fact that the American officials in Camp Ashraf have rejected any claim that people are being forced not to leave the camp. On March 19, 2005, the Night Ridder news agency reported from Ashraf that : ‘the American army has investigated allegations that the Mojahedin are preventing people from leaving the camp and has not found any strong evidence.’ The same news agency also quotes from a high ranking official of the American army that: ‘they are not prisoners. They are physically and logically free to leave the place…’.”

Another part of the so called “statement” quotes members of the British Parliament:

“… on August 2002 the Mojahedin revealed a confidential document from the intelligence ministry of Iran that shows that one of the key witnesses used in the HRW report, Mohammed Hussein Sobhani is a team leader and a long serving agent of the intelligence ministry of Iran. It has also been shown that most of the people interviewed by HRW have been sent to Europe with the specific aim of making an evil image for the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation…”

Dear leaders of the main political parties in Britain,

Considering the abovementioned points, may I put forward the following points for your and your colleagues’ information.

The witnesses interviewed by HRW, including myself who spent over 8 years in solitary confinement in Mojahedin prisons, have never claimed that we were imprisoned after the fall of Saddam or at any time during 2002 and 2005, but have testified that during the years 1990 and 2002 we have been variously imprisoned in Mojahedin as well as in Abu Ghraib prisons in Iraq.

Why is it that the “statement” published by the MEK under the title “joint statement by members of both Houses of Parliament” is trying to prove that after the intervention of the US Armed Forces, the Mojahedin have no prisons in Camp Ashraf? Are they trying to dismiss the HRW report with this argument?

It is clear that any dictator or torturer, including the Rajavis, after the fall of Saddam brought a new wind of freedom, had the experience and sense to strategically change the use of their prisons and torture chambers.

A month after the fall of Saddam many who had been in these prisons from one month up to 8 years raised the alarm that Rajavi is changing the use of these places. I should say that the Mojahedin’s supporters were perhaps a little bit tardy in coming to camp Ashraf!

All the MEK’s supporters should be reminded that the victims interviewed by HRW are available in Europe and are ready to testify to and be examined by them. Why did they have to go to Iraq?

I should remind you that the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organization claims to have daily meetings in the buildings of the Houses of Parliament in Britain. Putting aside the exaggerations and propaganda for which the MEK is famous, are you, as leaders of the main political parties, aware of the presence of this terrorist organisation in the Houses of Parliament?

I ask you for the sake of peace and rejection of violence to interfere and stop admitting this terrorist organisation into the British Parliament.

Myself and my other colleagues are always ready to present ourselves to Parliament and/or your Party offices to inform about the serious human rights abuses inside the Mojahedin during the years of cooperation between Rajavi and Saddam Hussein,

Mohammad Hossein Sobhani

January 16, 2006 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Letter to Mr. Tunne Kelam, MEP

Dear Mr. Tunne Kelam, MEP from Estonia According to Mojahed Journal No. 775 (Nov. 18, 2005), in “Iran’s Nuclear Case Referral to UN Security Council seminar in European Parliament, you had said that National Council of Resistance is the best alternative and that their demonstration, in which you had participated, was very illuminative for you!!

We inform you that Demonstrations under the name of NCRI are in fact organized by the terrorist group of the MKO (Mojahedin-e Khalq organization), which has no popular support for its cooperation with Saddam Hussein and enjoying his financial, logistical and intelligence assistance. You can verify the accuracy of this by referring to diplomatic and independent sources.

Isn’t it better for you to support the whole opposition instead of concentrating your support on the MKO, which believes in violent activities? We believe that supporting the MKO would cause irreparable damage to your political fame.

In and out of Iran, the MKO is known as a religious sect that has ordered its members not to marry in their lives. Isn’t this clearly depriving human beings from their basic rights? So, how this organization claims to be struggling to establish democracy in Iran while it ignores democratic rights of its own members? This sectarian factor sheds doubt on the claims of this group.

In June 2003, Maryam Rajavi, who was hiding in Paris, was arrested by the order of French Interior Minister. She ordered her members to set themselves on fire [to force the government to free her]. More than 10 people set themselves on fire. Aren’t these brutal acts, which remind of Middle Ages, signs of a religious sect that resorts to political pressure in the soil of Europe?

We believe that your support for the NCRI and participating in its demonstration show that you have not enough information on the Iranian opposition. Awaa Club, formed by former member of the MKO, based in Germany, can give you more information about the past of this organization and its future plans.

November 27, 2005

Awaa Club

December 3, 2005 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

calling for adequate protection for journalists

Open Letter to the Home Secretary, The Right Honourable Charles Clarke, MP,

calling for adequate protection for journalists reporting on the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation.

Dear Mr Clarke,

I am writing to alert you again to the on-going activities of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO or PMOI) in the United Kingdom.

My wife and I head a small pressure group based in Leeds called Iran-Interlink. For the past three years we have been engaged in publishing information about the real nature of the terrorist Mojahedin organisation as a religious/personality cult, as well as exposing the Mojahedin’s abuse of its members’ fundamental human rights. In addition, we provide a point of contact for families and friends of members of the MKO, and support victims of the organisation, which include many former members.

On November 10, we held a press conference in London with the title ‘Saddam’s links with international terrorism’. The press conference showed evidence of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’s involvement in the violent suppression of Iraqi Kurds in the Spring of 1991. Film was also shown of Rajavi taking orders from officers of Saddam’s secret services.

Massoud and Maryam Rajavi are the self-appointed, self-styled leaders of the Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation of Iran which also uses the names National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA). It has been dubbed Saddam’s private army because the MKO enjoyed the patronage of Saddam Hussein for twenty years.

We were aware that supporters of the MKO and Massoud Rajavi would try to disrupt our press conference. As a precaution, we informed the police in advance that MKO agents might possibly perform some act of violence and intimidation in order to prevent revelations about Massoud Rajavi’s war crimes in Iraq becoming public.

The police presence was vital to prevent around twelve agents of the MKO from forcing themselves into the hotel and breaking into our meeting. Thanks to the police presence, the meeting passed off peacefully and the journalists who attended were able to watch the films and listen to the speakers.

Unfortunately, in spite of the good understanding and cooperation of the police, it was not possible to prevent one incident of intimidation in which one of the reporters was attacked by an MKO agent as she left the hotel building. The reporter, the representative of Voice of America in London, is a well known personality in the Iranian community, and as an analyst on Iranian issues has been invited to speak many times on British radio and television programs. The police immediately escorted the reporter back to the building, visibly shaken by her ordeal. The police were then obliged to call for reinforcements in order to provide security for all the organisers and participants to leave the building and travel safely to their destinations. The BBC Persian Service published a report of the incident on both its website and its radio broadcasting channel, which reported that the Mojahedin’s supporters at the meeting "insulted the journalists and called them the agents of the Iranian regime". Iran-Interlink apologises to all the participants, in particular the Voice of America and BBC reporters, who suffered this abuse at while attending our press conference.

Dear Mr Clarke,

On September 26, 2005 a letter was sent to you, signed by more than eighty affected people, issuing a warning and asking for your help. The letter was titled "MKO assassination teams activated in Europe" and a copy was sent to all European Interior Ministers. On September 29, 2005, I raised the issue again in an interview with the BBC Persian Service asking for help. The letter highlighted the danger posed by an influx of Mojahedin forces into Europe in 2003 from its terrorist training camps in Iraq. These forces have the same training as Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard and therefore have the same capability of the Iraqi leader’s elite Fedayeen. These forces have now regrouped in Europe and have been recently activated to target critics of the Mojahedin and Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

The MKO’s agents in the UK, who have been working overtly for Saddam Hussein’s services in Britain for the last two decades, are not unknown to your law enforcement agencies throughout the country. The organiser of the attempted intimidation on November 10, was Dowlat Nowrouzi, an agent of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi and member of Saddam’s private army, who is now working under the name of the National Council of Resistance of Iran from her office situated not far from your own office in Westminster.

Activities organised by terrorists linked with Saddam Hussein and based in London are not confined to this. Massoud Rajavi’s agents continue to misuse the democratic institutions of the UK, in particular the democratic traditions of both Houses of Parliament. They have launched and run websites in London under the names of National Council of Resistance http://www.ncr-iran.org/ and Iran-Focus http://www.iranfocus.com/. The purpose of these sites is to coordinate a campaign of character assassination and intimidation against anyone who criticises the MKO, in particular people who are involved in press conferences such as ours – including the professional reporters who attend – by labelling them as agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence. The Mojahedin’s lies and slander have no limit. The names and integrity of prominent British politicians, French and British journalists and researchers and international human rights organisations have also been smeared by agents of the Mojahedin, including Dowlat Nowrouzi and her minions in the UK.

The Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation, using the name NCRI (listed as a terrorist entity in the USA as an alias for the Mojahedin), has gone to the extent of fabricating lies under the name of Mr Win Griffiths, former Member of Parliament for Bridgend, Wales. Mr Griffiths kindly arranged for my niece to obtain a visa from the Iranian Embassy in London last year so that she could visit her father – my brother Ebrahim Khodabandeh – who is in Evin prison in Iran on charges relating to smuggling for the MKO. I believe that Mr Griffiths was at that time engaged in dialogue with the Iranians for a possible reconciliation and an amnesty for the heads of the MKO. (The Iranian government has since issued an amnesty to MKO members, but not to the leaders of the group.)

Sir,

More shocking is the presence of agents this group under the protection of Lord Corbett in the House of Lords. This gentleman, whether he is aware of it or not, has appeared in the MKO’s publications under the Mojahedin’s logo of Kalashnikov and red star an average of three times a year for the past fifteen years, apparently condoning violence against the victims of this military cult. Public opinion is no doubt shocked that on the same day as the terrible London bombings on July 7, speeches by terrorist leader Maryam Rajavi were broadcast into the heart of parliament during a meeting hosted by Lord Corbett.

Dear Mr Clarke,

The free movement of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation in London, including running an office in Westminster in direct communication with Maryam Rajavi (currently awaiting trial in France on terrorism charges), and Mohammed Sani (currently operational head of the Mojahedin’s intelligence section for Europe based in Cologne, and one of the Mojahedin’s Fedayeen who committed self-immolation following the arrest of Maryam Rajavi in Paris in June 2003), cannot be regarded as anything less than shocking.

At a time when the whole country has been following the debate on the number of days the British police will be able to detain terror suspects, I would again ask for your intervention to instigate a meaningful investigation into the activities of the known agents and terrorists linked with Saddam Hussein’s brutal regime who are active in London under whatever assumed name or logo. As was requested by the letter of September 26 this year, please take this threat seriously before it is too late.

Although I have no doubt about the amount of information already available to the law enforcement agencies of this country, I and my friends remain at your disposal for any information relating to this matter.

I should add that while we regard the leaders of this terrorist cult with abhorrence, we at Iran-Interlink regard the ordinary followers of the Rajavi’s with the kind of sympathy which must be extended to the subjects of psychological manipulation in any cult. Iran-Interlink is willing to assist victims of Rajavi’s cult who have managed to escape it.

Yours sincerely,

Massoud Khodabandeh

Iran-Interlink

November 15, 2005

November 21, 2005 0 comments

USA

An Open Letter to US President

Mr. George Bush, the President of the United States

At the 4th anniversary of 9/11 events, I’d like to have your attention to the following important notes.

1. As a former member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq, Iranian terrorist group based in Iraq, I have always lived in fear since I’ve left the group; fear from being assassinated or kidnapped by the MKO because I and others left the group in response to its terrorist activities. 9/11 events proved that terrorists are cruel. Since then, we have always felt that we should do something, not only for our own lives but also for the lives of innocent people who’ve been kept there in the MKO and their only fault is that they’re human beings.

Although the 9/11 wasn’t the only day on which the people of the world felt deeply the danger of terrorism, but it was one of the most horrible days. 9/11 proved that terrorism, in its wildest forms, has the capacity to cross the power lines and choose its victims by creating new methods, without being concerned about inhuman consequences of such attacks. Deep fear made by such terrorist attacks is worse than the damage.

9/11 events stressed this fact that the idea of getting to political aims by terrorism, anywhere in world with any justification, only helps its expansion. These attacks once again attracted world’s attention to terrorism and exposed the uniform nature of all terrorists. These attacks and its aftermath directed public attention towards Bin Laden and Taliban (as the most dangerous terrorists).

However, we should not forget that terrorism is not limited to Taliban and Bin Laden. The word “terrorism” reminds Europeans of Afghanistan. They may pass a number of terrorists each day while walking in a park in London or in New York, or while buying books in Ottawa or in Berlin, without knowing that. They barely believe that some of these terrorists are more dangerous than Bin Laden.

These terrorists may not issue “Fatwa” for killing westerners as Bin Laden does; their faces may comply with the standards of developed nations; these acceptable faces may talk about the concepts of freedom, democracy and human rights even more than US and European statesmen but their presence is as hazourdas for human civilization as the presence of Bin Laden.

They may appear in the streets of the cities of the West, under the name of charities for children and hungry people, but the reality is that “terrorism is what terrorism does”.

2. Since 1987, MKO has all major aspects of a cult:

– Lifelong leader who’s called “Imam”

– Strict hierarchy in which the orders come from above and all should obey unquestionably (Stalinist system).

– No one has the right to form family live, except the leader.

– All members should live in ghettos

– The group believes in armed struggle as an ideological principle and it has never quit it.

Such an organization has high potential to eradicate security and democracy in the West. They’re like time bombs, ticking in the Western society, which would explode in the case they’re not defused. The first victims of such an event would be the innocent people of the West. The religious cult of the MKO started with killing US officers in Iran and continued with self-immolations in June 2003 in Europe, showing abhorrent aspect of its ideological abilities. More like a political chantage, these recent shameful acts’ message to the West was that MKO would do anything to get to its goals even if the cost is the elimination of human beings. We can even expect that a member of this organization takes bomb and explodes himself in US or Europe in the near future.

Mr. President,

With the issues mentioned above it’s natural that your respected government- and governments of Canada, Australia and many other Western countries- recognized imminent threat of the MKO and put it on the terror list. This is appreciated and we expect no changes this year in the status of the MKO. We, former members of the MKO, are ready to cooperate on this.

But what has surprised me is practical measures of that government towards the list. According to US law, the properties of the organizations on the list should be confiscated and the activities of the groups should be banned.

MKO has political-financial activities in the US regardless of the law. MKO holds meetings, press conferences and demonstrations in different cities of the US (the last of which was held on November 20, 2004 in Washington). They’re planning for another demonstration on September 14th to protest to Iranian president’s visit to New York.

I ask you as the president of the United States:

1. Isn’t the MKO on your government’s list of terrorist organizations? If yes, then why is it treated with laxity?

2. Why isn’t it banned from political-financial activities?

3. Your security organizations know that the MKO is active under forged and unreal names, don’t they? So, why have you closed your eyes on them?

4. It should be kept in mind as an example that compromising with Taliban and tactic cooperation with that group has had horrible consequences for the people of Afghanistan and then the people of the US.

The fear is that this idea would be spread that the US is going to experience the same disaster, this time by using the MKO.

September 13, 2005 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Open Letter to Human Rights Watch

With regards and thanks,

I read the long overdue, very brief but nevertheless justice seeking report on the inhuman behaviour of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation (MKO) after it was published. I preferred to wait to see the consequences of the report as well as the reaction which would follow before writing this letter.

Any crime can have four distinguishing characteristics. The first is totally related to the criminals and the others are based on that. The second is related to the victim of the criminals, the third relates to the defenders of human rights who have taken on the task and duty of exposing the crimes of these criminals, and the fourth relates to international public opinion and the international conscience to judge according to the findings and the reports produced by the defenders of these victims of crimes. The politicians and the men in power do not usually have a pivotal role in this part as their interests always come before their logic.

For years the MKO committed crimes on the regional level (Iran and Iraq) under the authority of Saddam Hussein. On the internal level also the MKO changed the organisation into an ‘ideological military cult’ using brainwashing techniques, and practiced a range of crimes to the extent that by putting every one under it’s sword, it tried to achieve a situation in which "no one would be left unless they have passed the process of internal revolution". On the international level, the MKO did not spare any action to get support and logistics for its crimes and to legitimise it for its forces, it called this "bridging".

In September 1995, when a number of survivors of the Mojahedin cult got together in Geneva to put their complains against Mr. and Mrs. Rajavi to the United Nation’s Special Rapporter to Iran, the MKO in a hysterical offensive, which revealed its anger at facing exposure of its crimes, shouted that the international and humanitarian bodies are all employed by the "mullahs’ regime" working against the "Iranian Resistance" and started a coordinated offensive against them. (Iran Zamin, [Mojahedin newspaper] number 9.)

Since then, whoever takes an stance against the Mojahedin, will first be categorised as being part of the ruling regime in Iran and then subjected to all sorts of attacks. This practice of course comes from the way of thinking that believes: "if you are not with us, you are against us, and if you are against us, you are with the Iranian regime, and to shed the blood of whoever is with the regime is of course legitimate".

Human Rights Watch, in a researched report about the MKO, has only looked at the crimes which have been committed against the members after they have distanced themselves from the organisation and maybe this is why the report has been titled "No Exit". But if we look at the psychological operations carried out by the MKO on its forces with a critical eye to the extent that the organisation is forced to stop using these psychological methods, it is clear that no one except a handful of losers would not stay there. Therefore it may be logical to ask you as an international body with the respected credibility that you have, to investigate into the brainwashing techniques used by the organisation and perhaps produce a second report in line with informing the victims as well as their families. In the next stage, it would be appropriate that all the victims of MKO terrorism, and the survivors of the MKO’s operations, and the families of the ones who have lost their lives, as well as the ones who have been disabled for life, would be invited to produce a report so that the few people in some parliaments who still insist on supporting this cult know the degree of crimes they are willing to ignore. Crimes as evident as firing mortars in the streets of Iran and publishing the reports of their disgusting activities in their newspapers.

And the third subject on which Human Rights Watch could perhaps work and produce a report, would be an investigation and a report about the systematic and planned crimes with the logistical, intelligence and military backing of the toppled Iraqi regime against Iranian soldiers, as well as the forces of the National Liberation Army of the Mojahedin which by any standard would be considered as war crimes.

The few backers and the huge number of critics of the MKO should know that respecting the human rights of every individual, irrelevant of their way of life, thoughts and political beliefs, is a basic which should not be allowed to be influenced by these offensive measures employed by the Mojahedin and we should not allow them to wear democratic clothing to hide their cult nature.

Maryam Khoshnevis

Ex member of MKO

3rd July 2005

cc:

Human Rights Committee in European Parliament

International Committee of the Red Cross

Amnesty International

July 20, 2005 0 comments

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