++ In the lead up to Maryam Rajavi’s propaganda event on Saturday, many MEK formers have gathered together in Paris to alert both the public and participants about the MEK’s deceptive practices. Every day over the past week they have been distributing leaflets and holding pickets in various locations around Paris, including in Auvers-sur-Oise. This was particularly welcomed by neighbours of the closed MEK base in that village. The residents complained to the formers that “we are as sick of them as you are. They constantly interfere in our local affairs and use money to bribe and mollify various people”. At the same time as this activism, many people have written open letters addressed to the MEK’s advocates asking them not to participate just because of money. There is a moral responsibility too. The MEK are glorifying terrorism.
++ Nejat Society has published the fourth interview for the Mothers: The Forgotten Victims series. This time Mrs Mahmonir Jalali, whose son Shahab Firouzmandeh is in Camp Liberty, talked about her son and how he has no contact with his family because it is forbidden by the MEK.
++ The Mojahedin, predictably, embarked on a burst of anti-former propaganda last week. One example is the paid Youtube TV channel called Rang-a Rang. The person they have brought to character assassinate formers is called Abedin Janbaz. Majid Rouhi has written an article published in Iran-Interlink exposing this person using documentary evidence. He says “while in the MEK this man was known to everyone as a torturer and enforcer. He ‘escaped’ from Camp Ashraf and took up residence in the American TIPF. But while there he went on working as a spy for the MEK, reporting on the ex-members. When he got to Europe he continued doing the same thing.” Janbaz is used in a really nasty way. Rouhi says “the fact that the MEK would rather use even this notorious character to attack the formers than use their own outlets which are much more widespread, serves to demonstrate just how dirty their own outlets are.”
++ Following the recent attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq, 103 formers and human rights activists and families wrote open letters of condemnation. Families in particular expressed worry about their loved ones. Fortunately this time there were no casualties. Nevertheless the concern is justified. All those writing have one thing in common. They are suspicious that this attack, like all the others, occurred at a time advantageous for the MEK – this time just before the Paris meeting. Other attacks were similarly significantly linked to other MEK events. The writers believe the attacks create food for the MEK propaganda machine (in other words, they are done by the MEK themselves). All the writers also acknowledge that while asking the Iraqis to try their best, in war-torn Iraq it is impossible to fully secure this place. The point is that the only person who insists they stay there in Camp Liberty is Rajavi. If it wasn’t for him, all the residents would have left Iraq before now.
In English:
++ Nejat Society reported that 40 more Camp Liberty residents have been successfully transferred to Tirana in Albania. The names of the two groups of twenty each were published for the benefit of their families. A total number of 294 Camp Liberty residents have been transferred to Albania in the last 16 groups of relocations since January 2016.
++ Jason Ditz in AntiWar.com wrote about the attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq. “At least 40 people were wounded today when rocket fire landed at Camp Liberty, a base of operations of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), with the attacks causing considerable destruction and leaving several large craters in the camp.” The report concludes “The UN has been trying to relocate the MeK out of Iraq, but has only managed to remove about a third of them as of the most recent reports. That leaves nearly 2,000 still stuck at Camp Liberty.”
++ Several articles and letters focus on Maryam Rajavis ‘grand gathering’ on 9 July. Some ask the MEK paid advocates to think again about what it is they are involved in. An article by Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh exposes the shallow extent of Maryam Rajavi’s ‘offer’. She is merely a propaganda queen who has discovered a talent for dressing up and putting on events to give the illusion of support.
July 8, 2016
