The Mujahedin Khalq Organization failed to function properly as a real opposition group during its controversial so called struggle life.
The group has been struggling to survive rather than opposing the Islamic Republic and through this
After the overthrow of Pahlavi Regime, the MKO turned against the newly established Islamic Republic and put up a violent resistance. Failed in the armed struggle from within the country, it fled to Paris and then to Iraq and sided with the Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein as the Iran-Iraq war escalated in 1981.
Since then the MKO had to use its energy and time to role as Saddam’s Private Army as named truly by Ann Singleton, a former member of the group. Saddam accommodated them in Iraq and provided them with millions of dollars of funds as well as tanks, artillery pieces and other weapons. The MKO in return cooperated with the Iraqi military on intelligence and other warfare affairs. The Mujahedin also aided the Iraqi dictator to crush the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings. By siding with its own nation’s enemy the MKO ended any popular support it had inside Iran. It was also designated as a terrorist organization for conducting terrorist operations in Iran, Iraq and European countries.
Considering its long, black history of violence and terror, the MeK was blacklisted as a terrorist organization first by the US Government in October 1997, and then by the UK in March 2001 and the EU in May 2002. The Mujahedin Khalq Organization spent several years attempting to get itself off terrorist lists. The group spent millions of dollars lobbying politicians, journalists and packing rallies hiring people from different nationalities to participate.
Although the well-funded campaign succeeded in the group’s delisting, they lost their long stayed Camp. The US agreed to delist the group in exchange for leaving Camp Ashraf.
As Camp Ashraf had been a good bastion for the MKO leaders to preserve their cult-like structure and hold members, leaving the camp was a disaster for them. Now Camp Ashraf is evacuated completely and all the members have been transferred to Camp Liberty as a Temporary Transit Location. The manipulation practices cannot be conducted authentically and the cult leaders have difficulty to keep members in. A large number of Camp Liberty residents have managed to escape, despite restricting regulations which are implementing within the Camp Liberty as reported by former U.N. special envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler:
"Hundreds of daily monitoring reports suggest that the lives of Camp Hurriya members are tightly controlled", Reuters reported.
The organization has also difficulty to maintain its cult hegemony over members who have been relocated in third countries. Some 70 out of 159 members have parted ways with the group after being transferred from Iraq to Albania, as PressTV quoted a defected leader of the group.
Thus the MKO delisted in cost of losing members.
The other side of the MKO’s strategic failures is its desperate efforts on hanging on Iranian enemies as it was the case with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and after him allying the US and Israel.
Witnessing the enhanced relations between Iran and the US and the progress in P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear case, the MKO Cult leaders so hastily tried to toss out new accusations on Iran’s nuclear program . However the new allegations were taken seriously neither by International media nor by the politicians and its’ so called previous Iran enemies allies, as Jim White puts:
“Reuters clearly was unmoved by the accusation, as they immediately pointed out that NCRI is biased and politically motivated.”
Failed on distributing false revelations this time the MKO tried to disrupt the talks in Geneva by staging rallies which were prevented by the Swiss police as Iran Interlink reported.
The talks between Iran and six world powers over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions ended on a promising note as CNN quoted the participants:
"For the first time, we had very detailed technical discussions," a senior U.S. State Department official said. A spokesman for the EU’s foreign policy chief called Iran’s presentation "very useful."
The most recent scandal of the group is the propaganda show they instigated on the arrest of Iranian national Ali Mansouri on spying charges in Israel which was counterproductive, as soon was disclosed by several former members as being a veteran high-ranking member of the Mujahedin. Mohammad Razaghi, a former member of the MKO reveals his personal experience with Ali Mansouri:
“Ali Mansouri has been a long serving member of the organisation who acted as a go between for the MEK with Mossad, and who travelled to Iran to gather information for them…. I remember clearly a few times that I was tasked to go to see him to collect some pictures and documents about Mehrabad Airport and Jamaran H.Q. and to bring them to our safe house and hand them over to my commanders. …”
It seems that the sequence of the MKO failed tactics and its futile efforts to wipe them off have no end.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq is a broken group that is reaching its Expiry date.
By: A. Sepinoud
References:
[1] Charbonneau,Louis, U.N. envoy accuses Iran group’s leaders in Iraq of rights abuses, Reuters, July16, 2012
[2] PressTV, 70 more MKO members defect in Albania, October19, 2013
[3]White, Jime, MEK Makes Desperate New Iran Nuclear Accusation, Reuters Yawns, Empty Wheel, October10, 2013
[4] Smith-Spark, Laura and Sciutto, Jim , ‘Substantive’ talks over Iran’s nuclear program, CNN, October 16, 2013
[5] Iran Interlink, Swiss police prevent Mojahedin Khalq disruption in Geneva, October17, 2013
[6] Razaghi,Mohammad, Israel’s Iranian spy belongs to Mojahedin Khalq, Iran Interlink, October18, 2013