Extremely frustrated by the interviews given by a number of separated members in Paris, the MKO in the editorial of its publication Mojahed issue 902, threatened the separated members with physical retribution. It is typical of the MKO to threaten its dissidents and ex-members to physical harassment and even liquidation. Massoud Rajavi, the MKO’s guru and leader who lives in hiding, has repeatedly and unequivocally warned dissidents of a violent backlash. The editorial, too, refers to Massoud Rajavi’s message delivered from his hideout on July 3 saying:
"I will to remind you, wherever you are, of the standards, bench-marks, red-lines and national demarcations, and the necessity of guarding them. In relation to individuals, if they respect the same demarcations and red-lines, they are welcome and give your life for them. But if they, whoever they might have been, with any rank and responsibility, fail to hold the red-lines in confrontation with the evil regime and walk in the same line with it through shedding even a drop of blood, blocking a step or breaking a pen, they are mean traitors who have to be avoided. He has to be forsaken, repulsed and boycotted. He will be an outcast who can no longer bear the trust entrusted to him by the martyred."
The red line Rajavi delineates to distinguish between a sympathizer and an opponent is not the Iranian regime but the extent to which a person rejects or submits to his hegemony. Massoud Rajavi’s message clearly presents the MKO’s belligerent attitude adopted for the control of opponents and former members. The Mojahedin in an attempt to maintain its hegemonic control over opponents and critics applies a variety of instruments and levers such as launching aggressive attacks against dissidents’ gatherings, spreading disinformation, and even indulges in acts of labelling, harassment and intimidation.