++ More has been written about the start of the MEK’s armed struggle in 1981 when they began killing people in Iran and also the 17th June 2003 self-immolations. One of the MEK’s regular writers called Alireza Khaloukakai wrote an open letter to Hamid Orefah, one of the self-immolation victims from London who was badly disfigured as a result. In response to this, Mirbagher Sedaghi in Switzerland wrote an article lashing him, saying ‘as years go by you get nastier and nastier. I know you and Orefah. I know why you are writing and why he did it. He performed the self-immolation on their order and then they wrote things on his behalf, including an interview in a local newspaper in London with the famous irrelevant quote that ‘I burned myself because people in Iran don’t have football’. After that we got news that Orefah could have had operations to save his legs from disability and disfigurement, but since the treatment wasn’t available free on the NHS the MEK refused to pay for private treatment in spite of Maryam Rajavi having so much money.’
++ Nejat Society has started a series of articles about the mothers of MEK hostages. Last week was the story of Soraya Abdullahi and this week was about Roghiyeh Farazian (or Nedai). Both have sons in the MEK with whom they are denied contact by the MEK leader. One son was a POW during the eight-year Iran-Iraq war. The other had gone to Turkey to find work but was deceived by MEK recruiters into going to Iraq where he was then trapped. More stories are to follow.
++ Mohammad Razaghi’s short article on his weblog is titled ‘Where is this place?’ The pictures show the huge apartment blocks in Tirana to which the MEK have been transferred. What is most interesting is the external aspect. The residents are not allowed to open a single curtain, and the fear of those guarding it is obvious. Razaghi comments, ‘If you look at this, it looks like a girls’ dormitory in a restricted Islamic country or a prison camp or a place created to hide and protect some very important officials. But this is just the MEK hiding the people brought from Iraq, keeping them in same conditions as Camp Liberty without their consent. This is nothing less than a continuation of the slavery which has been going on for three decades. And of course, this is happening in collusion with their backers.’
++ After a long disappearance, Manouchehr Hezarkhani from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has returned to write for Rajavi again. This time interestingly he has been barking at Mehdi Bazargan – Ayatollah Khomeini’s first Prime Minister – labelling him a traitor and claiming that Rajavi is the only person for the people of Iran. In response, Iran Fanous Association published an article clarifying several points. One is ‘how and why’ Hezarkhani disappeared in the first place. The dispute, apparently, has nothing to do with his ideas but is purely about money. Why? Because this Council doesn’t have to worry about answering or persuading ‘the people’ in its writing. No. Quite simply, if the MEK simply cuts their money for any length of time, they are forced to come back and write for them. Another question is ‘Why suddenly attack someone who died many years ago?’ Well, Bazargan left Iran for a short time for medical reasons. At that time Rajavi was trying to deceive and buy anybody he could (such as the singer Shahjarian, etc) and so sent people to try to recruit him to join the resistance. Bazargan wrote back saying ‘I love my country and I love my wife, and above all, I don’t have a daughter you can marry, so I can’t join your resistance!’ (In other words, I won’t be used like Mehdi Abrishamchi nor taken in like Abol Hassan Bani Sadr). The article concludes that not long ago, Hezarkhani used to sit and eat with Saddamists. ‘If you sit near him you can still smell the food they ate together. How dare somebody like that speak out at all. He was a slave to Rajavi and Rajavi was a slave to Saddam.’
In English:
++ History of Iran website re-published Chapter Two of the book ‘Saddam’s Private Army How Rajavi changed Iran’s Mojahedin from armed revolutionaries to an armed cult’ by Anne Singleton (Khodabandeh). The chapter deals with the events surrounding Massoud Rajavi’s first bid for power in 1981.
++ Several articles and open letters have been written to various officials regarding the transfer of MEK residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq to a new closed base in Tirana, Albania. Families are demanding the right to have contact with their loved ones in spite of Rajavi’s efforts to deny this.
June 24, 2016
