A former member of terrorist group of Mojahedin-e Khalq said the visit of Maryam Rajavi, one of the leaders of the group, to the senate of Belgium lacked political importance and that it proved Europe’s desperation in its nuclear negotiations with Iran.
Massoud Khodabandeh, former senior member of MKO who now runs "Iran-Interlink" in the UK, said to IRNA on Thursday:
"Some Belgian politicians use isolated elements to press Iran and to get what the West wants from Iran."
Khodabandeh said the visit of MKO’s self-claimed president to Belgium Senate by the informal invitation of some minor politicians in that country was a propagandistic effort from unimportant groups in that country that are seeking fame.
Iran-Interlink official said this old method (using propagandistic meetings of MKO officials with European politicians) is unimportant and inefficient, adding: "Iran’s strong response to this meeting and summoning Belgian and Finnish ambassadors to the Iranian Foreign Ministry was due to the terrorist and murderous history of this terrorist cult and it didn’t meant that Iran is afraid of this group or the group is important at all.
"There are still some people who want to frighten Iran by using the remnants of MKO, but the fact is that the MKO should have been dismantled long time ago if it wasn’t for the US’s policies," Khodabandeh said.
"If the MKO was able to change the regime in Iran, it could have done that when it possessed tanks and weapons backed by Saddam Hussein and not now, when it’s wandering in Iraq’s desert without any clear future," he added.
According to this Iran-Interlink official, "immediately after the fall of Baathist regime in Iraq, Americans wanted to keep Camp Ashraf for a rainy day and to put pressure on Iran, but now they keep it to have the exclusive honor of dismantling it on the right time".
Khodabandeh believes that despite the past when there were restrictions for the residents of MKO’s terrorist camp in Iraq, now Americans support the group and in the case of cutting this support and opening the doors of the camp no one will stay in MKO’s prison.
He then rejected MKO’s propaganda that Maryam Rajavi’s charges have been dropped and said that her case in French judiciary is still open and the time will soon come for her to stand for trial.
He stressed that lifting bans on Rajavi’s movement is only because the investigations have finished and it doesn’t mean that she has been cleared of charges.
Also, on former members’ efforts to bring to justice Massoud Rajavi, the main leader of the group, for terrorist activities and his cooperation with Saddam Hussein, Khodabandeh said that Massoud Rajavi is now under the custody of coalition forces and a big case has been prepared against him.
He said copies of the case have been sent to American, European and Iraqi officials but he stressed that the main issue in trial of Massoud Rajavi is finding the country where he should be tried.
European Union and the US have officially designated the MKO as a terrorist organization, banning its activities.
However, the cover organization for this group (NCRI) is allowed to act in some countries and a number of European and American officials are in touch with the group’s leader under this cover.
Iran-Interlink in the UK is comprised of a number of former MKO members who try to save other members of this terrorist cult.
IRNA, October 27, 2006
