Iran Interlink, January 02 2014:…
++ The Mojahedin Khalq released a statement this week exclusively in Farsi language. The statement, purporting to be from the MEK spokesman in Oslo, Norway, consisted swearing at everybody concerned with the situation in Iraq. The Americans, along with the United Nations and the government of Iraq, were attacked for “working for Iran”. In particular American Jane Holl Lute who heads the UNAMI effort to expel the MEK from Iraq, was named in the statement as working for Iran. The US and UN were lashed for not providing sufficient security for the residents of Camp Liberty [who the MEK do not allow to leave the camp], and demands the return of ten percent of the arms that were taken from the MEK in 2003 when the group surrendered to US troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In the same statement the MEK lashed the US, Iran and Iraq for fighting against ISIS, saying the group belongs to the country of Iraq.
++ The MEK statement from Oslo attracted many different reactions, to the extent that the MEK was forced to issue denials of their support for ISIS in various third class English language media. Many comments in Farsi simply criticised the MEK’s support for ISIS. Others took a more ironic line, saying that even were the arms returned to them, the residents of Camp Liberty are incapable of using them. In more detailed comments people point to the number of former combatants at the time of Saddam Hussein which numbered around 4,000, and the list of arms which the US army took from them – the MEK claimed 20,000 items of heavy and light armoury were surrendered, of which 5,000 were heavy armaments. These figures simply point to the falsity of the MEK’s position say commentators, whereby 4,000 combatants had 5,000 heavy weapons – certainly they were incapable even then of using them all. Other critics say that this demand is an attempt by Massoud Rajavi to muddy the waters in order to create conditions for the residents to be killed one way or another – an attack from ISIS or Iraqi forces for example. Families of Camp Liberty residents have expressed their deep concern at this turn of events and have written extensively to the UNHCR asking to be allowed to rescue their relatives and loved ones themselves.
++ Another statement issued by the MEK this week came out in support of a criminal gang in Iran who were involved in a shoot-out with police. The armed thieves were ludicrously described as revolutionaries by the MEK.
++ An MEK website this week published an article advertising a resolution passed in the British Parliament in support of Maryam Rajavi and her views – as usual without names. Official sources in the parliamentary press office confirmed that no such resolution has been registered let alone voted on or ratified.
++ An article by Ebrahim Khodabandeh titled ‘The Cult and the Families’ goes into detail about cultish activities and compares Rajavi’s cult with others. The article reveals that such cults are very much afraid of the members’ families and examines why this is so.
++ Secretary General of Habilian Society, Hashemi Nejad, whose father, a prominent religious leader, was assassinated by the MEK, gave an interview which was reported in various Iranian media. Hashemi Nejad used documents to criticise the “financial, intelligence and political backers of the murderers of our people”. Now, he says, these same people are pretending to be human rights activists and want something from us as well.
In English:
++ Press TV reported that the MEK has spoken out in support of ISIS. “The anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has openly expressed support for the ISIL militants and their acts of terror in a clear indication of its wrath over Iran-Iraq cooperation against the Takfiri group. In a statement on Saturday, the MKO said any measure against ISIL would be a blatant violation of the UN Security Council’s agreements.”
++ An article by Ken Silverstein in The Intercept is an attack on former high-level U.S. officials, former CIA director George Tenet and former FBI director Louis Freeh, “who helped pave the way for the over decade-long “war on terror,” which has been a near complete catastrophe”. The article points out that “Freeh is one of many former U.S. officials who got paid big speaking fees (reportedly up to $50,000 a pop) by a creepy Iranian group called the People’s Mujahedin, also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq, or MEK, to successfully advocate for its removal from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. He also opened up a consulting firm whose clients have included Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar, who the U.S. Department of Justice accused of taking massive bribes from a British defense contractor. That’s right, Freeh represented a prince from America’s old pal Saudi Arabia, home to fifteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers, and whose export of Wahhabism is credited with giving rising to the Islamic State.”
++ The sister of one Camp Liberty resident, Azar Hossein Nejad from Tehran, Iran, wrote an open letter to the UNHCR asking for them to facilitate the transfer of her sister out of Camp Liberty.
January 2, 2014
