Iran-Interlink

++ The Mojahedin Khalq likes to pose to an English speaking audience as a political opposition group, but even a cursory glance into its murky Farsi world reveals the cultic quagmire which more accurately reflects its actual state. One of the major problems for the MEK are its numerous critics. These include what we call ‘internal critics’ who are still enthralled by the MEK but believe they are capable of constructive criticism of the organisation, its leadership and its policies. Several Farsi outlets reported on an appearance by internal MEK critic Iraj Mesdaghi on the Youtubed TV programme Andishe. In answer to his critics Mesdaghi declares “not only do I not regret being with the MEK, but I am proud that I have been and still am a supporter of the MEK.” In response, some people wrote open letters and comments criticising Mesdaghi for supporting a plethora of crimes from the past three decades. They question whether Mesdaghi really is criticising the MEK or in fact working for them to annoy the ex-members.

Iran Interlink as usual published these items with the sources in the Persian section. After a week, Mesdaghi suddenly responded to this on his website (affiliated to the MEK) by swearing at Iran Interlink and specifically saying that this is the website of the Intelligence services of Iran and claiming that Massoud Khodabandeh has planned all the things he has said himself in coordination with the people in Tehran and that they have made a plan to attack me because I write about thirty years ago when I was in prison in Iran. Iran Interlink published the whole of Mesdaghi’s writing as an example of how Mesdaghi answers his critics. After that several people both overtly and indirectly criticised Iran Interlink for even engaging with him as he is notorious for being ‘mentally disturbed’ and because he has ‘nothing better to do than swear at everyone and everything under the sun because he believes he is better than he really is’. Massoud Khodabandeh copied the attacks Mesdaghi used against him on his Facebook with this explanation: the point that every now and then he attacks me for any old reason is because he thinks that if he attacks me he will be attacked less by the Rajavis – which shows he doesn’t know Massoud Rajavi at all. He doesn’t know that contrary to what he believes about himself he is a very weak person and is so afraid of Rajavi that he tries to placate him by attacking me. I pray that all those internal critics who still think there is a chance to stay inside the MEK and criticise Rajavi will one day wake up and join the real world.

++ When Hadi Ta’ali, who was just over sixty years old, died this week in Tirana, Maryam Rajavi was quick to claim him as her martyr and the ‘best of the best’, blaming the Iraqi government and the UN for his death because of lack of medical attention. Each of the authorities in Iraq have repeatedly made it clear that it is the MEK leaders there who don’t allow their critics to have medicine. Over this week at least twenty ex members have written to say that they knew him and that everyone inside the MEK also knows that Ta’ali was actually held captive there and had at various times been taken to the MEK court and subjected to beating and imprisonment. These writers express profound contempt for Maryam Rajavi’s opportunism; after killing him she claims him as her martyr.

++ A two part programme made by BBC Farsi has attracted controversy through its mention of the MEK. Some of the stories featured people who have been in prison in Iran. One of guests was ex member Saeid Shahsavandi. This prompted the MEK to again start attacking the BBC; labelling it “Ayatolllah BBC”. However, another such person is Saleh Kohhansal who is still in prison in Iran. The MEK claim he belongs to them and has published a letter supposedly from him against the BBC. The letter, written with the typical nervous MEK language of hatred, swears at everyone and praises Rajavi, has prompted reactions from internal critics as well as ex members saying that Maryam Rajavi is clearly trying to get him killed, but the point is that no one believes this letter comes from him unless you believe that a prisoner in Iran has access to satellite TV to watch BBC Farsi (satellites are illegal for ordinary citizens), and that he is free to not only write a letter swearing at the highest people in Iran and accuse them of anything he likes, but nobody even stops him sending it. Ironically they point out that nobody inside the MEK can watch satellite and for even getting close to insulting Rajavi you will, as a minimum, be severely beaten up if in Europe and if in Iraq then God help you.

++ The UN has reached an agreement with the MEK to send 203 Camp Liberty residents to Albania. This number is broken up into a group of fifteen or sixteen every week. The individuals in the first two groups have been named by Haghighat Association so that families know their loved ones are in Tirana. The new arrivals have said that the reason only fifteen per week has been negotiated by the MEK is because with this agreement we are seeing the end of Camp Liberty and the MEK sees this clearly as well. Rajavi is afraid that if a larger number come they will all revolt. The MEK is rapidly trying to buy properties in Tirana to disperse these people quietly so it will not look as though they have left all at once.

In English:

++ AlMuraqib alIraqia, Baghdad refers to the testimony of a former member of the MKO, Gorban Ali Hussein Nejad who served as the Arabic interpreter of the group leader, Massoud Rajavi, to expose financial corruption among some political parties in Iraq in relation to the Mojahedin Khalq.

++ Nejat Society in Tehran published an interview with cult expert Ebrahim Khodabandeh in which he describes how the Mojahedin Khalq used deception and psychological manipulation to get him to tell lies to further the cult leader’s agenda.

++ Ali Gharib writes in Lobelog about ‘UANI, Joe Lieberman and the MEK (Mojahedin Khalq)’.

 August 14, 2015

++ The MEK’s publicity outlets have broadcast a message from Massoud Rajavi to the members. Before this, there had not been any video of his speeches since 2003. This time there wasn’t even an audio of Rajavi’s voice and the message was read by someone else. After the usual lengthy rant, the main message is from one side threatening revenge against the Europeans and Americans for doing a deal with Iran. From other side Rajavi ironically claims the deal signals the beginning of the end for Iran because the MEK will resume its terrorist operations and “you will hear about it in Iran; we will launch terrorist attacks soon”. Contrary to the MEK’s mask of peace and democracy in the West, the MEK has announced its resumption of terrorism from its satellite TV in London and its website from Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris. The general interpretation among MEK experts is that this mixed message demonstrates Rajavi’s panic as he sees Iran getting closer to the West and the gap he depends upon to exploit is closing up. On the other hand the absence of audio has introduced more mystery to the question of Rajavi’s whereabouts.

++ Some ex-members have exposed a plot by the financial section of the MEK in Europe. Using documentation, they show that Shirin Moini and Babak NikTale’an, who were brought to Tirana from Iraq, first defected in Albania and got married and were then re-recruited by the MEK not as members but as mules for money laundry. While in Tirana they were given a house and a car and other facilities to establish a smuggling business there. But recently they travelled to Germany where they were arrested at the airport and the large sums of money they were carrying were confiscated. The MEK instructed them to try to find someone not connected to the MEK to claim the money is theirs and return it to the MEK. Knowing that anyone who claims such a large sum will be investigated, the MEK has tried to set up some of its enemies and get them implicated. They advised the couple to find ex-members and trap them in this scheme and engage them with the police. The couple have been revealed to be connected directly to the head of the MEK’s money laundry section called Mohammad Tariqat Monfared, who uses the pseudonym Yasser and who uses various passports, one of which is Lolachian which is the name of some of the MEK’s bank accounts. The ex-members who have exposed this scheme have identified similar cases that have happened before and concluded that the MEK regard this couple as expendable mules since they already defected from the cult. The MEK know they will forever be under scrutiny and are no longer of any use. But before giving them up the MEK is trying to get its money back and set up its enemies.

++ On the anniversary of Forough Javidan many people have written memories of how Rajavi knowingly sent people to their deaths and used their blood to revive the MEK, describing it as his “insurance” for his future. Hamed Sarrafpour in particular has written a detailed memoir of all the people he knew from the highest ranks to the ordinary members telling their individual stories along with pictures of the event.

In English:

++ Nedaye Haghighat website reported that two groups of fifteen individuals were transferred from Camp Liberty to Albania in the past two weeks. The process of relocation to third countries by the UN was scheduled to take only six months after the transfer to the temporary transit camp in Iraq, but obstruction by the MEK leaders has slowed the process. Also last week, Mojtaba Bidaqi managed to leave Camp Liberty after 31 years of membership in the destructive Rajavi cult by handing himself over to the UN officials in charge of the camp. His brother Amir had defected from the group last year after being relocated in Albania.

++ Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers introduces the testimony of Manijeh Habashi who is a former sympathizer and member of the MKO. She gives first hand witness to Rajavi’s over-estimated Eternal Light invasion of Iran in 1988. In her detailed description she tries to portray the scenes she perceived, without judging or analysing the events. She believes that her expressive article is significant enough to enlighten the mind of her audience.

++ Following the nuclear deal, Daniel McAdams in Global Research writes a scathing criticism of neocon Bill Kristol saying at one point: “And Kristol’s objection to foreigners with American blood on their hands is highly selective. The Marxist-jihadist death cult Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MeK) has plenty of American blood on its hands, but Kristol’s own magazine joined other neocon voices in urging the US to remove the terrorists from the US list of terror organizations. Why? Because they are Kristol’s kind of terrorists: they infiltrate Iran to assassinate civilians and foment unrest, while passing off laptops with Mossad-fabricated data made to look like Iranian nuclear weapons activity.”

++ In a meeting with Elisabeth Guigou, the visiting head of the French National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee, Alaeddin Boroujerdi, who chairs the Iranian Parliament’s (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, criticized the European Union (EU) for removing the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations and urged the French government to reconsider its position. Boroujerdi said “the EU decision has enabled the terrorist group, which has the blood of thousands of innocent Iranians on its hands, to “freely operate” in European countries”.

July 31, 2015

++ Three days after the nuclear agreement and the MEK has still made no comment. Instead, the cult is busy translating every comment and article published which swears at President Obama and publishing them on its own websites. The Farsi Commentariat, whether for the agreement or against it, all agree that the biggest loser has been the MEK. For twelve years since 2003, the MEK’s job has been to act as a tool to disrupt or prevent any nuclear agreement. Now whatever happens next, they are redundant. Obviously, they were banking on war with Iran and that has gone out of the window as well. Some have interpreted their silence as Massoud Rajavi having had a heart attack!

++ Mostafa Mohammadi and Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad went to Auvers-sur-Oise and picketed outside the town hall and distributed leaflets around town. The following day travelled to Auvers-sur-Oise again for a meeting when their car was rammed by the MEK’s so-called security patrol. Mohammadi and his daughter were slightly injured, but Hossein Nejad was more seriously injured after being beaten by the MEK in the street. They were all rescued by the local police and taken to the police station where they each registered a complaint. Ironically the Rajavis issued a statement claiming they had been arrested and deported from the area. In order to expose the fallacy of this the two fathers published the documents from the police showing what really happened. Hossein Nejad added, “How can we be “deported” from the area when we don’t live there? You say I was afraid. Of course I was. Why would I be afraid of you if you weren’t beating me up? You are showing yourselves by this action.” Interestingly, the MEK is adding to its legal file with the French Judiciary every day by doing these things, until it has come to the attention of the government. French authorities are now raising the issue that ‘how can we have this going on in France? This is not Iraq nor the era of Saddam Hussein.’

In English:

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers writes about the MEK’s futile efforts derail to the nuclear agreement. “For the past weeks, the propaganda arm of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) has resorted to every means to derail the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the world powers. The MKO is not alone in its crisis mongering policy. It is widely supported by American Neo-cons, Israel and Saudi Arabia. The MKO’s consensus with enemies of the Iranian nation and government is mainly seen in its regime change policy which is the dream of Israel, American warmongers and even Saudi Arabia. Their ultimate ambition is Bombing Iran.”

++ Under the title ‘Let’s stand up together and free our children from Rajavi and the MEK’, Iran Interlink has published a video of the activities two fathers have undertaken to highlight their long struggle to free their daughters from the MEK. The film shows their recent visit to Auvers-sur-Oise to picket and leaflet the local citizens and tourists informing them of the MEK’s illegal hold on their children.

++ On Monday 6th July, 2015 members of Iran-Zanan [Women’s] Association met Ms Julia Klöckner; the German politician and member of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany or CDU. Ms Batul Soltani and Ms Homeyra Mohammadnejad from Iran-Zanan Association met Ms Klockner in the “Landtag” building. During the meeting Iran-Zanan Association talked about the expansion of the MEK in European countries, the cultic manipulation techniques used to brainwash members, the MEK’s efforts to establish and expand bases in Albania and the cult’s techniques for deceptively recruiting individuals living in refugee camps. They also mentioned the ruthless efforts of the MKO cult towards the disassociated members in order to silence them and prevent them from exposing the cult. Finally Iran-Zanan Association referred to the group leader Maryam Rajavi’s intrinsic belief in armed struggle.”

 July 17, 2015

++ Hatem Estanboli writing for Palestinian newspaper Al Manar comments about Villepinte. He says “this is an example of low level propaganda typical of the Israeli. Less than 10% attending the rally were Iranian. This is smoke and mirrors to disguise reality.”

++ In Tehran, analyst Dr Mohammad Sadegh Kushki was interviewed. In it he is asked about the MEK. He described the history of the cult and how they changed, explaining that their belief system and belief in violence forced them to become like this. The interview is titled ‘In the beginning they chose armed struggle to defeat Imperialism’.

++ In an apparent panic, the MEK bringing many members onto its TV to talk against their families. This involves the loved ones of families who are actively seeking to make contact with these members and rescue them. In response the MEK get them to hysterically swear at and denounce their families. These families ask “is this supposed to make us go away? We can see they are forced.” Commentators ask ‘where are the human rights organisations to protect these people who are obviously hostages and who are being forced to denounce their own families?’ Some comment, ‘are we not human unless we are attached to the nuclear issue? Otherwise our human rights don’t matter?’

In English:

++ As attention has focused on the progress of the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran, two articles in English have identified the role of the MEK in the all-out attempt to prevent an agreement.

Anti War.com published an article by Mohammad Sahimi titled ‘Demonizing Iran To Prevent the Nuclear Agreement’. He says “A forth way of demonizing Iran is by claiming that Iran is similar to the Islamic State and “1000 times worse” and “bigger.” …In advancing this narrative, Netanyahu has been helped by the Mujahedin-e Khalgh Organization (MEK, also known as MKO) and its lobby in the United States. The MEK is an Iranian armed opposition cult that sided with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and acted as his internal security forces against his regime’s opponents. Up until September 2011 it was on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organization. The MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has made the same claims as Netanyahu’s, calling the Islamic Republic the IS’ “Godfather.” She even testified via satellite before a congressional subcommittee, repeating the same nonsense.

“Parallel to Israel, and perhaps even coordinated with it, the MEK lobbyists in the United States have been making the same type of claims, advocating that the US should help the MEK to topple the regime in Tehran, even though the cult is universally despised in Iran. Ken Blackwell, former Ohio secretary of state and a fellow at the conservative Family Research Council, Clare Lopez, a former CA operative and senior Vice President at CSP, and Raymond Tanter, a cofounder of the defunct Iran Policy Committee that advocated military confrontation with Iran, have been advocating this narrative.”

In Tehran, Fars News reported that member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Javad Jahangirzadeh cautioned against the MEK’s efforts to prevent a deal. He said the MEK had “paid cash to Cal Thomas, the columnist of the Washington Times newspaper to write an article to allege that Iran cannot be trusted for striking a final agreement with the world powers. Thomas wrote in his recent article in Washington Times that Iran has always maintained that it is seeking nuclear power for peaceful purposes; “if that were true, there would be no need for negotiations, how do you negotiate with someone who has lied from the start and is told in the Quran that lying to infidels is permissible in pursuit of the Islamic goals?””

 July 10, 2015

++ Tehran hosted an International Conference on Terrorism this week with the theme ’Terrorism – from the Mojahedin Khalq to Daesh’. One of the panel was Abu Aref, representative of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Party whose head is Al Hakim. Aref gave a documented talk on the activities of Daesh and the MEK in Iraq. He said the basis of both phenomenon lies in the use of ideological belief to justify their actions. Another member of panel, Ebrahim Khodabandeh, argued that both entities come from the same root. Both believe they are superior and that they are the reference point for everyone and everything else. They accept no guide but themselves. This is why they are able to do whatever they like and according to this belief, there is no law to stop them. Khodabandeh gave the example of the MEK which, over forty years, changed from anti-Imperialist to pro-America, from anti-Israel to pro-Israel.

++ In the same conference an interview with Ebrahim Khodabandeh was published by IRNA. In it he explains how the MEK have become the tool to wreck the nuclear issue. He says that when MOSSAD approached Iranian monarchists to reveal its intelligence on Iran’s nuclear programme in 2003, they refused to play a part saying they could not do that against their own country. But when they then went to Rajavi, he accepted to be the Iranian voice of MOSSAD. The problem was that MOSSAD only wanted to use the MEK once and had no intention of the group coming out every year with false information which both America and Israel were then forced to reject. The MEK have ruined the game.

++ This week Mohammad Sahimi a known historian and analyst published a Farsi article in Western media titled ‘A Comparison of Two Points of View – Non-Violent Opposition and Violent Opposition’. In it he challenges Iranians who call for regime change but disingenuously do not explain how this is to come about. He says that ironically their main activity is to attack and criticise the non-violent opposition in the West which at least have some roots and some audience in Iran. Sahimi refers to the MEK as typical of this type of regime change pundit, but his criticism spreads to other groups, Farsi media and personalities. All of them, he points out, live in the West. He challenges them to come clean and say that they want America to bomb Iran. But he explains “When I talk with them about armed struggle only some say they want America to bomb Iran. Others say Iranians themselves have to take up arms and destroy the Islamic Republic. But when I ask any of these people ‘why are you in London then? They say, ‘oh you want us to get killed in Iran by the ayatollahs!’ as though it’s my fault that they are pro-armed struggle. When they say no to America bombing Iran they are either lying or the other conclusion we have to draw is that they believe the non-violent opposition should take up arms to fight on their behalf.”

++ A documentary made by Morteza Ghaderi, called ‘The Seven Unforgivable Sins’ has been broadcast in Iran. Based on the concept that all religions have a number of unforgivable sins, the programme shows how the MEK have committed all seven sins to the maximum. Documents reveal the MEK’s relation with Saddam Hussein, the murder of its own members and allying itself with Israel as examples.

++ Irandidban and other Farsi sources have published a document from Wikkileaks. A 2011 letter from the Intelligence service of Saudi Arabia to the then foreign minister, Saud Al Faisal refers to a pro-Baath politician in Iraq trying to mediate on behalf of the MEK in an effort to make a meeting between the Saudi foreign minister and Maryam Rajavi. The Intelligence service letter is the reply to that mediation. It rejects the proposal for two reasons. One is that “the MEK are hated in Iran and have no popular support”. Second, “the MEK has been infiltrated to the highest levels by Iran’s Intelligence services, hence such a meeting cannot be beneficial to us”.

In English:

++ Nejat Bloggers published Ebrahim Khodabandeh’s brief on the MEK, Inside Out. In it he briefly reviews the MEK’s history and concludes that “The organization has absolutely no popular support in Iran since it committed the most public act of betrayal; cooperating with the enemy at war against the homeland. The MEK leaders are aware of this fact more than anyone else. At the present time the organization is striving to find an alternative for the deposed Saddam Hussein, this time in the west, since it has lost its hope to gain any backing inside Iran. They are making contact with all and any enemies of Iran, including terrorist entities such as ISIL. The MEK is currently re-creating its Iraqi terrorist bases in Albania with property and facilities it has purchased close to Tirana. The Iraqis have always considered them as the worst heritage left by Saddam Hussein for their country and have tried to expel them from their country since the fall of the dictator. The MEK participated in suppressing Iraqis in the past and have caused many national security difficulties for the nation at the present time.”

++ Press TV reported on a speech by Ayatollah Khamenei used the anniversary of the MEK’s terrorist attack on the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party (IRP), in which tens of Iranian officials, including then Head of Supreme Judicial Council Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, were killed, to warn Iranians of the dangers of American support for regime change. ““Those who want to cover up the evil enmity of the US and some of its followers through media and propaganda ploys are in fact betraying the nation and state,” the Leader said. “The Iranian nation should, through awareness of the extent of the enemy’s hostility, be prepared to confront and counter [its plots] in the soft war arena, such as in cultural, political and social spheres,” the Leader said.

++ Nejat Bloggers reports that defections from the MEK are increasing. In Iraq, in three months four residents of Camp Liberty managed to escape the camp and were taken to Hotel Mohajer in Baghdad. The MEK prevents members from meeting their families in a bid to prevent defection. Despite this around 17 have escaped the camp in the last year. In Albania over 120 members have left the group. This has caused the MEK leaders to hold the latest arrivals in Tirana “in quarantine”, according to ex-member website reports.

++ Former MEK member Masoud Bani Sadr spoke at a meeting in London on the subject ‘Cults, Racism, Doublespeak and the Search for Justice’ in support of the Jeremiah Duggan campaign.

++ Daniel Larison, writing for The American Conservative, slams Senator John McCain for his “long record of backing unsavory and vicious people that happen to support regime change or that share his hostility to certain other governments… McCain doesn’t discriminate when it comes to choosing allies of convenience in pursuing unwise and reckless goals, so it was probably just a matter of time before he started associating with the MEK.”

++ Mazda Parsi in Nejat Bloggers reviews the revealing article by Dutch journalist Judit Neurink. Iraqi newspaper Assabah Aljadeed cites sources in Paris who claim that the MEK’s plans to create a terrorist camp in Albania are leading to a political storm in Tirana. “The Albanian government fears that the camp will turn into something like Camp Ashraf in Iraq, which was previously the base for military training, planning and preparation for military operations in Iran and abroad,” the Assabah Al Jadeed reported. Croatian writer, N. Babic of Alter Mainstream Info.com has looked at the numbers of MEK leaving Iraq and asks where they are. He “cites from the British Daily Telegraph that on December 30, 2013 published the news of an agreement between the US administration and Romanian authorities to relocate the 3000 Liberty residents to the Romanian city Craiova on the border with Bulgaria. The news was leaked from the conversation of two employees of the Romanian Foreign Ministry, who said that “the United States and the Romanian government are negotiating on the deployment of 3,000 members of the” former “terrorist organization Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) on the territory of Romania… Is it possible that between 1 000- 2000 militants MEK finally arrived in Romania, as the government in Bucharest totally dependent on Washington and seldom dared to oppose the then request?’’ Babic asks.”

July 3, 2015

++ Two weeks after the Villepinte event the Farsi Commentariat is still writing about it. The common theme is that Israel has paid for this in order to put an Iranian face on their anti-Iran agenda. But, as each year passes it becomes clearer and clearer it’s a waste of money, and Israel could spend the money better elsewhere.

++ After being hospitalised by MEK thugs in Auvers-sur-Oise, many people have written in support of Mostafa Mohammadi and have criticised the French government for allowing this to happen. Mostafa has written a letter directed at Rajavi saying “My lawyer, who accompanied me, suggested I come to make a last request before taking legal action. He explained this is a legal procedure to give the person one last chance to respond. That was your response. You beat up me, my daughter Hooriyeh and the lawyer for no apparent reason. This shows your true face. Somayeh Mohammadi’s mother, Mahboubeh Hamzeh Mohammadi has written an open letter to her daughter saying “I know this will never reach her because they won’t allow it, but I had to write it”. The letter is titled, ‘Dear Somayeh, they beat Hooriyeh nearly to death and your father is paying the price of love with his life’.

++ This week, the family of former MEK member Karim Gholami found him again after 25 years. The family recognised Karim from his writing on the internet along with his picture. He had published this to find his family. It worked and they are all now reunited.

++ Massoud Rajavi’s response to the discovery of 170 corpses of Iranian divers from the 1980-88 war who had been handcuffed and buried alive, was revealing. Commenting on special ceremony in Iran to bury them as martyrs because they were buried alive, Rajavi ridiculed it and called it the Carnival of Bones. Many people commented that “he wants to make hatred, as though the people of Iran don’t hate him enough already”. Nader Naderi published his recollections of the time this happened – it was an operation called Karbala 4. Naderi was there and says that at that time Rajavi was at the forefront of the situation and had been working against Iran’s forces for Saddam Hussein giving intelligence which led to the defeat of Iran in this operation. He was complicit in this mass murder and that these 170 divers were buried alive. It is not, therefore, surprising that this is his reaction.

++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad published an open letter titled, ‘A word with the critics of Rajavi’. Ghorban Ali names every one of the internal critics of Rajavi and the MEK who has recently spoken out – Iraj Mesdaghi, Karim Ghassim, Mohammad Reza Rowhani, Esmail Vafa Yaghmai and Mohammad Jafaari aka Hamneshin Bahar. He says, “I know you, and you know me, and it is mind boggling for me why you don’t react to what happened to Mostafa Mohamamdi and his daughter. This happened right before your eyes but you don’t react. Why criticise Rajavi at all in that case.”

In English:

++ Press TV – Citing Western support for the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq organisation, Iran “rejected the anti-Iran accusations in the annual global terrorism report by the US Department of State, censuring Washington for adopting a double-standard approach in dealing with the issue of terrorism. Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said a politically-motivated stance on terrorism further complicates the issue. “The growing and complicated scourge of terrorism is rooted in applying double standards and a political approach toward this evil and inhumane phenomenon,” Afkham said.”

++ Nejat Bloggers reported that a large number of former MEK members staged a picket in Paris at the same time as Villepinte to bring to the attention of French public opinion the actions of the cult in their country. “They declared their support for about 2000 people who are kept as hostages by the group in Camp Liberty, Iraq. They offered sympathy to families of Liberty residents who are picketing in front of the camp but have no access to their loved ones imprisoned in the camp. As former members of the cult of Rajavi stated in their slogans, the Villepinte masquerade of the NCR/MKO elements has just one goal: maintaining the group victims in Iraqi critical situation in order to prevent the cult from collapse.”

++ Nejat Society, Albania – Siavosh Rastar, nickname Nader Afshar, spent 14 years with the MKO from 2001 to 2015. He was in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, Iraq before his relocation to Tirana, Albania. He announced his defection from the MEK in a statement protesting Massoud Rajavi’s undemocratic approach towards the group members and their families. “In my idea, the only thing that never exists in Massoud Rajavi’s organization is freedom of speech and thought. In brief, absolute suppression and dictatorship rule it, “Rastar writes. If anyone criticizes Massoud Rajavi, he would be treated violently in various sessions held for this aim…” Rastar was denied life-saving medicine in Iraq by the MEK and was transferred to Albania to die. Once there he asked the UNHCR for help to escape the MEK. Even then the MEK continued to harass him. “They put pressure on my family. They called my wife and claimed that I got married and have children in Albania, they also told her that I am drug-addicted,’’ he writes.

++ Nejat Society Paris – Nader Keshtkar spoke about his disassociation from the MKO during an interview at the defectors’ rally in Paris to protest the MKO’s propaganda show in Villepinte, on June 13th. “I attended this action, together with my friends in order to officially state my separation from the MKO. Now that I am in the free world, liberated from the prejudiced ideas, dogmatism and Machiavellian thoughts of the MKO, I feel relieved,” he said. He continued, “The ambitions, treasonous activities and lack of courage of Massoud Rajavi prevented him from reviewing his strategic mistakes and that led him and the MKO to turn into the operative agent of Israel and Saudi Arabia.”

++ An article by Dutch journalist Judit Neurink based in Erbil and published in Rudaw warns of the MEK plans to build a new terrorist training camp in Tirana, Albania to which it will eventually transfer up to 2000 residents currently based in Camp Liberty near Baghdad. Quoting Massoud Khodabandeh the article said, “The MKO will make a new enclave there that is outside the law, where they will be rearmed and invite people in for training”. Part of the deal arranged by Clinton was the removal of MKO from the US list of terrorist organisations. Now, with politics changing after the nuclear deal between Iran and the US, the MKO is scrambling to find new friends, according to Khodabandeh. He said there have been reports that the MKO even offered the Saudis to help fight against the Shiites in Yemen. Khodabandeh said that while various routes to Turkey, Syria and Iraq are under scrutiny, “terrorist commanders from any mercenary group can slip beneath the radar and seek training and logistical support in Tirana… What better location to establish a clandestine terrorist training camp than in Albania? It is in Europe, but not in the EU and therefore not so open to scrutiny by the international community. It is a Muslim country but is also notorious for corruption and mafia-like gangs,” he said. “The message is [that] the MKO have branched out and are open to do business with any terrorist group.”

++ Daniel Larison’s article in The American Conservative criticised ‘The Washington Times’ Pro-MEK Propaganda’. Pointing out that the MEK has no support in any Iranian community, Larison said not only had “many current and former American politicians, officials, and retired military officers disgraced themselves with their cheerleading for the totalitarian cult but The Washington Times has now reproduced the speeches the MEK’s American supporters gave in a special “regime change” report, which also includes the remarks made by the cult’s leader, Maryam Rajavi. The remarks, he said, “went from the merely ridiculous … to the truly delusional… It should go without saying that anyone that participated in the MEK’s latest rally should never be taken seriously on any issue relating to Iran… If this were any other organization with a similar history of terrorism and collusion with Saddam Hussein, it is unlikely any of these people would be caught dead at such a gathering, but because it seeks regime change in Iran these hawks are only too glad to lend their support.”

++ Iran Interlink summarised two Arabic articles published by Iraqi newspaper Alsabah Aljadid which reveal the Mojahedin Khalq’s support for Daesh with which it finds common cause in attacking Iran. And the MEK’s plans to replace its former terrorist training camps in Iraq with a new camp in Albania. This base would be open to any terrorist group for military training and planning and preparation for terrorist operations in Iran and abroad according to what is required.

June 26 2015

++ On Friday 12 June, a day before the Villepinte show and following years of fruitless efforts to meet his daughter Somayeh who is still in Camp Liberty, Mostafa Mohammadi, his daughter Hooriyeh and their lawyer went to Maryam Rajavi’s MEK HQ in Paris to demand talk with someone about this issue. In response around 20 MEK thugs emerged from the secretive enclave and started beating all three of them up. Police intervened, arrested two MEK members and took them into custody. Mohammadi was hospitalised overnight with serious head injuries. He later had a meeting with Bernard Poignant, advisor to President Holland. Poignant assured Mohammadi that he recognised the seriousness of this case and it will be followed. He has passed the details to the judge of the ongoing court case against the MEK in the Judiciary. In Farsi there was much reaction from a variety of opposition personalities condemning the MEK’s inhumane behaviour. Mohammad Razaghi – a former MEK member – wrote exposing other recent attacks on people in Paris which he contrasts with Maryam Rajavi’s claims about human rights in Iran. “On Friday she sends thugs to attack and on Saturday morning becomes a humanitarian person in Villepinte” he writes.

++ Following the defection of high ranking long term MEK member Siavosh Rastar in Albania, the MEK have launched their customary campaign of character assassination and intimidation to try to silence him. Rastar writes in Farsi to expose the MEK’s activities in Albania. He is published on a new website called http://www.iran-azadi-albania.com/.

++ On June 13, the same day as Villepinte, tens of ex-MEK members held a picket in Paris which was well received and reported in France. At the picket, Nader Koshtar publicly announced his separation from the MEK and gave interviews to newspaper reporters.

++ Kayhan London, the most prominent Farsi language opposition newspaper – printed in London, published an interview with Mr Shabanpour from the families outside Camp Liberty, with Mr Ehsan Bidi about the situation in Albania and Mr Massoud Khodabandeh about the real message of Villepinte. Kayhan London’s article spawned several other articles in Farsi which discussed these hot topics. Commentators welcomed the fact that real Iranian opposition personalities are getting involved and not keeping quiet about the MEK.

++ Reactions to Villepinte in Farsi mostly highlight the fact that, as usual, nothing came out of it for Rajavi except paid-for coverage, so it wasn’t worth the money. Some pointed out that all that money could be used to bring everyone out of Iraq instead. On top of that, the Commentariat agreed that this was openly and plainly an Israeli funded and organised event against Iranians. The Israelis tried to put an Iranian face on it by attaching it to the MEK but failed miserably because even Israeli media didn’t want to touch it.

++ Nejat, writing about Camp Liberty in Farsi, published information about resident Abdul Hassan Ahangar, whose daughter is outside camp and hasn’t seen her father for over thirty years. Recent escapees from the MEK confirm that he being there by force against his will. They say he wants to leave and that’s why the MEK don’t let him see his daughter.

++ Fifteen Camp Ashraf residents arrived in Albania, but the ex-member website there reports that they are being held “in quarantine” and not allowed contact with anyone, not even loyal members. No contact has been established with them at all from outside.

++ June 17 marked the anniversary of the 2003 self-immolations and remind us how dangerous this cult can be say many analysts. Some presented documented evidence which reveals that the two women who died – Neda Hassani and Sediqe Mojaveri – had been drugged and that once they were alight no attempt was made to save them by MEK by-standers.

++ Sahar published a report about the Camp Liberty families’ activities and the officials they met. Outside the camp their numbers have doubled and they managed to stay one night. They told Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights they would be satisfied even to see their loved ones and talk to them at a distance of 10 metres and then they will leave. The Minister did intervene on their behalf and the MEK have again rejected it. From that time, less than 48 hours, the MEK has published five statements against the Minister and the families with contradictory messages and in several languages and are trying to push this into the media by doing ‘Google wars’ to tarnish this demand in some way in order to stop it.

In English:

++ Nejat Bloggers reported that Abbas Mohammadpur defected from the MEK after he arrived in Albania in 2014. On June 15 he returned to his family in Iran after 27 years absence. Mohammadpur had been imprisoned in Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War in 1988 and spent the intervening years in the MEK camps.

++ Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh published a lengthy article in Iranian.com analysing ‘Villepinte – the real message behind Maryam Rajavi’s anti-Iran speech’.

In brief: Iranians inside and outside Iran have achieved immunity from this destructive mind control cult and collectively shun the group. Iranians want to be oppositionists not terrorists.

The same can’t be said for western political communities who still believe that violent regime change should be forced on Iranians.

In order to keep the cult alive and earn money to finance their ‘mini-Iran’ over which they preside as ‘spiritual leader’ and ‘president’, the Rajavis are creating a terrorist training camp in Tirana, Albania as an education centre for other mercenary forces in the psychology of terrorism and to provide logistical help.

June 19 2015

++ Fifteen residents of Camp Liberty have been transferred to Albania. MEK commander Habibeh Thavali has accompanied the other residents in order to keep control of them and prevent them leaving the cult. In Tirana this week, Siavosh Sattar – nicknamed Nader Afshar – who was a long serving, high ranking member, left the MEK and joined with the other ex-members in Albania.

++ Several families of residents being held hostage in Camp Liberty by the Rajavis, have established a permanent picket just outside the entrance to the camp. They have emphasised to officials and media that their single demand is to meet with their loved ones, and then they will leave. The MEK has reacted hysterically in Farsi, swearing at them and begging America for help saying “they have come to kill us”. The MEK is angry because the families are shouting out the names of their loved ones and sending out messages of love and concern. Camp Liberty is much smaller than Camp Ashraf and the residents can hear these families all over the camp. The presence of the families has proven to have a dramatic effect on the morale of those inside and MEK commanders are as vulnerable to this effect as the rank and file.

++ In the lead up to Saturday’s rally at Villepinte, Paris, to celebrate the MEK’s belief in violent regime change, an article has appeared in the Washington Times advertising for Maryam Rajavi. In it Rajavi criticises the Obama administration on behalf of the pro-war lobby. Without naming Daesh but referring to them as “Sunnis”, she is asking that they be used alongside the MEK against Iran. A year ago Rajavi was more open about her support for Daesh and referred to them then as “Revolutionary Sunni Tribes”. Her message is exactly the same as Al Douri (before he was killed) and the remains of the Saddamists, who also want to be used alongside Daesh against Iran. Nobody listened to them and nobody is listening to Rajavi. The article has been styled as an interview. Neither Maryam Rajavi nor her fugitive husband has ever spoken with the media unless given control of what is published. This uncharacteristic outpouring in this newspaper signifies that she wants to show she is not hiding. But the event at Villepinte tells us differently. There is no other Iranian speaker and no Iranian in the audience except brainwashed MEK members. However, Rajavi has brought out of mothballs in Norway two grown offspring of an MEK family called Gharari – their uncle is a ‘thug’ in the MEK. Their only claim is that their father was executed in Iran thirty years ago. Rajavi has brought them alongside herself to show there are Iranians at Villepinte. But she would never stand next to another Iranian who actually had something to say for themselves.

++ Some ex members from Yaran Association in Paris have gone to Villepinte this week and distributed leaflets in the vicinity exposing who Rajavi is and that her rally is about armed struggle. They received a surprisingly warm welcome among the residents and passers-by. [Perhaps due to the Charlie Hebdo effect, French citizens now reject having terrorists foisted on them in their own country – ed.]

++ There have been many articles about Villepinte. The most interesting was by Ali Keshgar a well-known opposition personality. In his short explanation he delves into the heart of what Villepinte is about and names the people behind it and their connections to Israel. He demonstrates that Rajavi’s rally is nothing more than make-up on the face of the Israeli war lobby to make it look like Farsi. It has nothing to do with Iranian opposition politics and in fact the MEK are purely mercenary. Another article by Mohammad Razaghi, a human rights activist and ex member in Paris, emphasises the zero support for the MEK inside Iran and outside Iran. Nobody wants to get near them. They are universally hated because of their treachery, cultic abuses and mercenary acts. He refers to the President of Albania who agreed to be a paid speaker at the event. Razaghi says “even if you bring another forty-five presidents from all over the world, it will make no difference because you (Rajavi) lack the fundamental element – the support of Iranians”.

In English:

++ Nejat Bloggers: “Half a century after the foundation of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization as an armed militant group against the Shah of Iran, the group’s critics including its defectors analyse the path that ended in the decline of the group and its transformation from an armed political organization to a cult of personality. Mr. Sirous Ghazanfari, an ex- member of the MKO describes how Massoud Rajavi’s leadership brought about the collapse of the group. Ghazanfari was interviewed by Nejat Society, Eastern Azarbayjan office.”

++ Habilian Association, Iran: “Dr. Jang Ji-Hyang, policy advisor on Middle East issues to South Korean foreign minister and director of the Center for Regional Studies at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, pointed out the similarity between Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, MEK, NCRI,) and Al-Qaida affiliated groups like ISIS in an interview with the 2nd International Congress of 17000 Iranian Terror Victims’ correspondent. Regarding the fact that thousands of people in the Middle East have fallen victim to terrorist operations mainly conducted by terrorist groups such as MKO and Al-Qaida affiliated groups like ISIS, Dr. Jang Ji-Hyang said: “Mujahedin-e Khalq organization and Al-Qaida affiliated groups are similar in the sense that they try to gain publicity and international attention trying to maximize the demonstrative effects.” She also pointed out that both Shia and Sunni Muslims are victims of such terrorist incidents.”

++ Mazda Parsi writing for Nejat Bloggers says the MEK is looking for a new landlord. Following the downfall of Saddam Hussein – who Massoud Rajavi called ‘the landlord’ – the MEK has faced eviction from Iraq. Even the services it offered the West were not enough to prevent the closure of the MEK’s military base Camp Ashraf. Now, “Inviting the President of Albania to speak at the MKO’s yearly propaganda show in Villepint, Paris, is the proof that the MKO leaders are counting on Albania as the new landlord. This time, the group leaders launch [a] new propaganda tactic to run their agenda… Massoud Rajavi was proud of his history of terror and violence in Saddam’s era; he used the whole capacity of his group to work with [the] Iraqi Baath regime. But today he has to conceal his violent past under the cover of fraudulent slogans of democracy so as to decrease the speed of its declining fate.”

++ Reviving the Iran-North Korea Axis – More MEK Fabrications, John Feffer, Lobelog. “What about the very specific details of Iranian delegations visiting North Korea? The source of this information is Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), the Iranian resistance group that resembles a cult more than a collection of dissidents and has received a “terrorist” designation from the U.S. government. MEK has proven quite unreliable in the past, for instance in its assertion in 2010 of a secret nuclear site near the Iranian city of Qazvin. More recently, MEK supplied equally detailed revelations about a secret centrifuge facility underneath a Tehran suburb. In his debunking of the claims, Jeffrey Lewis concluded in Foreign Policy that:

The MEK highlights Iran’s nuclear programs — real, imagined, and downright fabricated — as a way to build support for regime change in Tehran. Hemming in the Iranian nuclear program through diplomacy removes one of the MEK’s most effective talking points in favor of bombing Iran. They won’t go down without a fight.

To continue the fight, MEK has brought in a heavy: North Korea. But note that the reports describe a North Korean delegation that includes experts in both nuclear warhead design and ballistic missiles. If such a delegation has visited, they may well have focused entirely on ballistic missiles. After all, although the North Korean government has claimed to have mastered the miniaturization necessary to put a nuclear warhead on a missile, the jury is still out on whether these claims are true…

In any case, the State Department responded immediately to the most recent allegations of Iran-North Korean nuclear cooperation that “we don’t have any information at this time that would lead us to believe that these allegations impact our ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.””

June 12, 2015

++ The MEK’s annual celebration of the start of its armed struggle in 1981 represents the pinnacle of its yearly activity. In the lead up to the show at Villepinte on 13 June this year, the MEK is on overdrive to do what they can to make the most of this expensive event. As well as bussing in its paid audience and advertising its list of paid speakers, the cult has tried to grab peripheral publicity to prevent it being ignored. The problem is that the volume of ranting against Iran has become so loud – Israel and Saudi Arabia met recently to discuss their mutual concerns on this issue – that nobody notices the MEK. To combat this, last week Reuters news agency reported yet another MEK nuclear revelation. Unfortunately for Rajavi, everybody ignored it apart from a terse retort from the Iranian embassy in Paris which dismissed the Reuters report as suspiciously akin to playing its part in the game of trying to stop the nuclear talks. Another MEK ploy which went unremarked was the fabrication of a letter supposedly from the European Parliament purporting to have been signed by 220 MEPs. The Farsi Commentariat ridiculed this as typical MEK propaganda material with no whiff of truth or consequence. Only IRNA reported it in English. When Iran Interlink enquired of Federica Mogherini’s office about the letter they had no knowledge of it.

++ Connected to the Villepinte show is the issue of the Albanian President, Bujar Nishani. Last week Iran Interlink received information from a source close to the MEK in America that Nishani had clandestinely agreed a fee to speak at Villepinte. It was also disclosed that Maryam Rajavi’s keynote speech will focus on her demand that America re-arm the group so it can pursue regime change in Iran. Iran Interlink has previously revealed that the MEK has bought land and property in Albania, where over four hundred residents of Camp Liberty have already been transferred. This can only be interpreted as the MEK’s intention to reconstruct the cult’s militarised Iraqi bases in Europe from which to train terrorists to attack Iran or elsewhere. The President of Albania’s role will be to advertise this camp so that groups such as AQ and IS become attracted because of its position and the lack of international scrutiny. If he does appear at Villepinte, Nishani will be the only governmental representative in the world, except Saddam Hussein, to publicly give his support to the MEK in its entire history.

++ Al Bayane from Iraq conducted an extensive interview with Maryam Sanjabi in Baghdad. Sanjabi is a former member of the Leadership Council of the MEK and since her escape from the cult has been active in trying to rescue other residents trapped inside the MEK’s Iraq base. Her interview went into detail about the MEK’s role in Iraq, about the residents in Camp Liberty and their psychological and physical conditions and about the future of the MEK in Iraq.

In English:

++ After twelve years, an article by James Dorsey published in Huffington Post was the first time a prominent writer in English has said that Massoud Rajavi is dead.

++ Fars News reported “MKO Leader Maryam Rajavi in a meeting with Saudi Ambassador to Paris Mohammad Al Sheikh said that the grouplet is willing to cooperate with Riyadh to carry out its attacks against the Yemeni nation. She reiterated that whenever Saudi Arabia asks MKO for help, the grouplet will immediately provide assistance to the Al Saud regime. Rajavi and Al Sheikh have met several times in Paris so far and Rajavi has thanked the Al Saud regime for its support and financial assistance over the past years.”

 June 5, 2015

++ Several Iraqi news agencies published news that Maryam Rajavi met with the Saudi ambassador to France. According to sources at the Saudi embassy Rajavi has asked for the MEK to be used in Yemen to fight the Houthis on behalf of the Saudis and has presented the MEK’s CV from the time of Saddam to advertise her cult. [Editor’s note: The average age of MEK members is over 55.]

++ The MEK will hold its annual celebration of armed struggle on 13 June at Villepinte near Paris. Evidence is emerging as before that the MEK is compiling hired speakers and a paid audience. Each year the MEK pays hundreds of students and needy people to travel to Paris where they can enjoy a cheap weekend break on condition they spend two or three hours at the rally clapping and waving flags. The Villepinte show will also act to launch the book by long term MEK lobbyist Struan Stevenson. The book is an attempt to whitewash his support for the MEK by spinning it as a humanitarian gesture. While the MEK prepares in Villepinte to pretend it is a peaceful, democratic opposition, the MEK’s Farsi websites and media are on overdrive in support of ISIS in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, referring to these vicious, lawless killers as “tribal leaders”. In its papers, the MEK viciously attacks the government of Iraq for re-taking Ramadi.

++ After MEK operative Mehran Kakavand attacked Mansour Nazari in Paris last week, many commentators said they recognised him from photographs and knew him personally inside the MEK. Such witnesses explained that Kakavand had undergone specialist training with Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard to learn to kill people with his bare hands. In this respect they point out that he failed in his mission this time because of public scrutiny (French police were at the picket). Complaints were addressed to the French government asking why Saddam-trained killers are operating there.

++ The Investigative judge in the case of the MEK and Mehdi Abrishamchi added a new claim of violent activity, defamation and intimidation of witnesses to the charges. This new case was brought by Mohammad Karami who presented his evidence to the judge. In the previous week a similar, evidenced case brought by Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad was added when he showed defamatory leaflets to the judge and described MEK threats to kill him if he gave evidence.

++ This week marks the anniversary of 4th Khordad – when the founders of the MEK were executed by the Shah. Farsi sites published articles with two distinct views. One view is that the current MEK and Rajavi have no connection to the original aims and ideals of the MEK. Another view is that because it was founded with the belief of pursuing political aims through violence, it has ended up exactly where it always would have regardless, with MOSSAD and ISIS and etc.

++ On the nuclear issue – some commentators ask why the National Council of Resistance of Iran has a website with six or seven languages but nothing in Farsi. What relevance does the NCRI have to Iranians in that case?

In English:

++ Anne Khodabandeh of Iran Interlink attended the FECRIS Conference in Marseille as a representative of a UK charity, The Family Survival Trust. She reported a highly successful Conference to which she contributed by briefing Serge Blisko, head of Miviludes, on the possibility of analysing and confronting terrorism without falling into the false debate about religion.

(FECRIS is the Europe wide Federation of Centres of Research and Information on Cults and Sects. FECRIS operates at an international level with representation at the UN.)

++ Mazda Parsi of Nejat Bloggers says ‘Mrs Rajavi, Your Propaganda Just Doesn’t Work Well’. The article uses an article by Eldar Mamedov of the European Parliament to pick apart the MEK’s failed attempt to interfere with parliamentary business through undue influence.

++ Iran Interlink gave an analysis of what might be behind the publication of a book by long term MEK lobbyist Struan Stevenson. From the pre-sales blurb, the book, titled ‘Self-Sacrifice’ appears to be Stevenson’s attempt to re-frame his support for the MEK as a humanitarian gesture in spite of being, by his own admission, being warned off by the UK government and MI5. Iran Interlink suggested the MEK’s motive behind publication of this book is that it provides (perhaps unbeknown to Stevenson) fabricated ‘ammunition’ for its regime change agenda which it can use to attack Iran.