++ Fars News ran a disturbing report on the MEK in Iraq. According to the news agency, “Over 70 members of the grouplet sought to escape from the hospital where they were treated after going on a forced hunger strike, but they didn’t succeed,” a physician at one of Baghdad’s hospitals wrote in a letter to Iraq’s human rights ministry. The Iraqi physician wrote in his letter that these people have told him that they were forced by the MKO ringleaders to go on hunger strike, and have given letters to the Iraqi medics to be submitted to human rights organizations in order inform the relevant authorities of vitally bad conditions.
++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers described the P5+1 nuclear agreement with Iran as “a horrible nightmare for the pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the Mujahedin Khalq terror cult that have been lobbying members of Congress to keep the pressure on Iran. Attempting to make them pass extra sanctions against Islamic Republic their ultimate aim is definitely a violent regime change in Tehran.” In spite of efforts by AIPAC and the MEK to promote a bill to increase sanctions against Iran, the deal appears is working. “The U.S. Treasury said hours following news of the Iranian move that it has suspended sanctions on foreigners engaged in transactions related to Iran’s oil exports, and some trade in gold and precious metals”, wrote Parsi.
++ American based attempts by Israel and the MEK to scupper the nuclear deal have been the focus of many English language items this week. Anti-War website and Habilian have reported efforts by the MEK and its lobbyists and backers to push forward bills to increase sanctions in violation of the terms of the agreement and in addition an emergency bill H.R.3707 which demands protection of the MEK in Camp Liberty in Iraq. Based on the MEK’s propaganda version of events at the camp, the bill ignores facts and promulgates a misleading and impossible demand – that the MEK be brought to the US. [No individual with links, past or present, to any terrorist entity will be given succour in the US.]
++ Kourosh Ziabari, Press TV, also cautions the US not to sabotage diplomacy with Iran. His article concludes, “But the hawkish, extremist figures in the U.S. political sphere, whether in the government, the Congress or the media, should carefully note that the door for diplomacy would not always remain open, and the chances to reach for a categorical, definite resolution of the decade-long nuclear controversy are limited.
“They should pay attention to the fact that President Rouhani’s administration has embarked on a very sensitive endeavor for directly talking to the United States, which many people inside Iran don’t think of positively. Any new sanctions against Iran under any baseless pretext would mean a violation of the Geneva agreement, the termination of its implementation and possibly an end to the long-sought talks. A peaceful and diplomatic resolution of the nuclear controversy would be beneficial to all parties, and will immensely contribute to regional peace and security. These pro-Israeli Senators who are certainly fueled and empowered by Tel Aviv should come to the understanding that pleasing Netanyahu and Shimon Peres at the expense of the interests of their own people and the people of the world is not a logical or relevant decision. Somebody should ask them not to kill the unprecedented chances that have emerged for a peaceful and viable diplomacy with Iran.”
++ Edaalat Association published an article comparing the luxury lives of the leaders of the MEK, illustrated with pictures of their houses and cars, etc. with the lives of the ordinary members who do not get paid and own only a bag of personal belongings [checked by the MEK to remove photographs of family, writing or other emotional mementos, etc], after decades of working for the MEK.
++ Abbas Moussavi of Habilian has referred to the numbers and statistics the MEK come up with and ridicules their claims. The latest claim is that 2 million Iraqis, 3,000 heads of tribes, 40,000 doctors and engineers and 25,000 Iraqi writers and over 200 thousand women over the age of 18 have signed a petition supporting the MEK. Moussavi reminds us that the number of tribes in Iraq could not be more than a fraction of this number and the number of writers cannot be as many as this. He then reminds us of their past claims and puts this down to the fact the MEK leaders have mistaken normal people for their brainwashed members.
++ UNAMI’s report on the human rights situation in Iraq in the first half of 2013 prompted articles from the MEK’s supporters asking the leaders to answer and respond to these claims. The MEK has remained silent.
++ There have been further articles about the few remaining members of the NCRI who had attended the latest meeting in Paris and sat without any objection to what Rajavi is doing to the members in Iraq. Many ex members have referred to this statement alongside the UNAMI Human Rights report and the American State Department’s report as a proof of what ex members have always claimed about the abuses of human rights inside the MEK.
++ In Iraq, Al Moragheb newspaper reported that MEK representatives have been to Israel and attended the funeral of Sharon as well as having direct talks with the secret services there. Iraqi Noon News Agency reported on the role of the MEK in Syria, saying that although it is not certain if they are participating in insurgencies alongside Al Qaeda, it is now clear that they are part of the training force for the terrorists in Syria and Iraq in the border region of the two countries. Turkish Anazol News reports that the Syrian Free Army are working with the MEK to open a new permanent base on the border of Lebanon and Syria to counter Hezbollah. If accepted by its Western backers, the MEK’s fighting force will be moved there to continue its mercenary activities, this time against Lebanon and Syria. Iraqi paper Al Bayene Al Jadidah reported a meeting between MEK representatives, the remains of Saddam and some Iraqi political figures in Jordan. According to the report, the MEK has promised to back the candidates during the upcoming election in Iraq in return for giving an open hand to the MEK and the Saddamists, and support for them to stay in Iraq. The MEK have been giving presentations showing documents which advertise their successful infiltration of US and EU political circles and the ways they have been pushing their favourite people into those parliaments and then having their favours returned.
++ Edward Termado wrote an article about the visit of some British MPs to Paris to read from the written pages given to them in front of Maryam Rajavi, followed by the usual claim that “the majority of British MPs support the MEK”! He reminds them that by getting paid to support the ongoing human rights abuses in the cult, they are certainly complicit in these acts and cannot play ignorant of what has been and is happening to people. He also reminds them that they have the power to transfer at least some of the residents of Camp Liberty to their own country, but they, and similar paid lobbyists in America, talk for money but never intend to help bring people out. He reminds them that they should be ashamed of themselves supporting terrorism and human rights abuse when the UN has just published its report about the MEK and their role in keeping people hostage in Iraq.
++ Open letters and private attempts by families and survivors have been continuing this week asking the UNHCR and UNAMI to announce the names of the injured people in Iraq.
++ Kame Amin the Iraqi Human rights minister this week again welcomed the efforts of the UN to expedite the expulsion of the MEK from Iraq, but announced his reservations as some western powers are trying to keep this mercenary force as a terrorist threat in Iraq for as long as possible. Iraqi PM, Noori Al Maliki, also announced that the GOI will pay half a million dollars to the UN fund toward the expenses of transferring the MEK out of the country.
++ This week Ms Nasrin Ebrahimi, Mr Mir Bagher Sedaghi and Mr Mehdi Nikbakht of Setaregan Association in Switzerland held a series of meetings with officials of the UNHCR and some concerned Swiss MPs in Geneva and Bern. The representatives of Setaregan (Stars) Association, who themselves are survivors of Mojahedin Khalq camps in Iraq, have reported the success of these meetings in raising the awareness of officials about the misuse of democratic institutions by the Mojahedin Khalq in western countries. Documents and supporting material were handed over during the meetings.
++ Yaser Ezzati, who was born into the MEK cult and who later managed to escape its clutches, describes how he was convinced to take part in the MEK’s terrorist activities when the MEK showed him a faked will purportedly written by his mother (who was killed in a terrorist operation) which exhorted him to take up arms. Ezzati said his father is known to be a torturer in the MKO. “He even beat me several times after I declared my defection! … “Whenever I missed my parents, my father would receive me by beating and kicking me.”