Anne Khodabandeh, political activist, says the practice of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI and NCRI) terrorist group to pay huge amounts of money to former officials to speak at their conference proves that it has no support even among countries hostile to Iran.
In an interview with FNA, Ms. Khodabandeh said, “The MKO has been forced to create audiences by paying for students and refugees to attend these conferences. These individuals have no links to Iran and no interest in the issues presented.”
Anne Khodabandeh Singleton is a British expert in cultic abuse and terrorism. She was formerly an MKO member, leaving the terrorist group in 1996.
Ann Singleton
Below is the full text of the interview:
Q: How do you interpret MKO’s practice of having former officials of different country’s deliver speeches in the terror group’s annual conferences?
A: Every year, the MKO holds a lavish and gaudy conference to advertise its leader Maryam Rajavi and its agenda. This is because the MKO exists, particularly now, as a propaganda outfit rather than as a normal opposition movement. Over the years, because it has no support among Iranians – whether inside or outside Iran – the MKO has been forced to create audiences by paying for students and refugees to attend these conferences. These individuals have no links to Iran and no interest in the issues presented. This year of course the event was held online, so this issue was not particularly prominent. However, it remains the case that the MKO is also forced to pay for a variety of political and other officials to deliver speeches which replicate the MKO’s core message of regime change against Iran. The significance of this is that Maryam Rajavi has proven incapable of winning support even among the most strident of Iran’s enemies. It does not matter whether the speakers are of the calibre and prominence of individuals like John Bolton or Rudy Giuliani or are second-rate retired officials that nobody has heard of it is not authentic genuine support, it is paid for. The real problem for Rajavi, however, is that she cannot share the stage with any other Iranian. This is partly due to the toxicity of her bloody and treacherous past, but also due to her role as the sole leader of a mind control cult. She simply cannot be seen by her own followers to be allied to other Iranian opposition groups or personalities. In subtle ways then, these rallies are an admission of Rajavi’s weaknesses and desperation rather than the magnificent advertisements she thinks they are.
Q: MKO hires lobbying groups, pays tens of thousands of dollars to the speakers at their annual meetings, and pays to have meetings with officials of different countries. How is MKO funded?
A: The MKO has gained a reputation among media and political commentators for spending huge amounts of money to stage events like their annual conference and to fund their lobbying activities among western politicians. While this has raised questions about the source of these funds, a glance at the beneficiaries of the MKO’s anti-Iran activities should give a clear enough answer to these questions – America, Europe and the UK and of course Saudi Arabia and Israel are all linked to the MKO’s anti-Iran agenda and activities. But since the MKO have apparently failed year on year to fulfil the promise of regime change, we should perhaps ask not who but why? The MKO of course was notoriously funded by Saddam Hussein for two decades up to 2003 in return for terrorist, intelligence and propaganda services. As a purely mercenary force, the MKO has currently been reduced to providing intelligence and propaganda services for its paymasters. Around 2,000 of Maryam Rajavi’s followers are imprisoned as modern slaves in a closed camp in Albania. Their role is to work in the click farm producing propaganda, misinformation and lies in relation to Iran. This is what Rajavi is paid for. But although this might appear to be the only purpose of the camp, there is a more sinister element to this mercenary group. The MKO members are mostly elderly, and many are sick and dying. But, as the saying goes, where is the best place to hide a book: a library – so it is possible to hide a small number of actively trained suicide terrorists among the 2,000 camp residents.
Q: As a Briton, do you believe attendance of ex-UK Parliament Speaker at the MKO conference would actually attract Britons and their politicians?
A: It would be an understandable mistake to believe that the flashy staging of Maryam Rajavi’s rallies and events might attract the equivalent media attention. But any actual audience for Rajavi’s shows is so small and narrowly drawn that in spite of employing a lobbying firm in America to advertise the event, it is almost certain that apart from the paid media and people whose jobs it is to keep an eye on such groups – intelligence officials and researchers – nobody else in the world paid any attention whatsoever except her own followers and supporters. As for Britain, we had a football match to watch.