Mojahedine-E Khalq (MEK) Threat in Albania – Dr Olsi Jazexhi
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Mojahedine-E Khalq (MEK) Threat in Albania – Anne Khodabandeh – Open Minds
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EUReporter,
Below is the debate that was organized at the headquarters of the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium on 10 April 2018, which has terrified the Iranian jihadists of Albania into attacking the participants of this debate in their outlets and their paid for published writing.
The debate below was organized by MEPs Ana Gomes and Patricia Lalonde. European MPs demanded that through this debate, the European Union’s political environment should be alerted to the cultic, terrorist, deceitful and deceptive nature of the Iranian terrorist organization which is sheltering in Albania. In the event, French MP Patricia Lalonde and Portuguese MP Ana Gomes talked about their experiences with this terrorist group in Iraq and Europe and the concern that they have about the penetration of this group into the offices of the European Union.
Dr. Nicola Pedde, director of the Institute for Global Studies in Italy, examined the deceptive and deceiful methods of the Mojahedin group and the Fake News it produces, and the pressures and threats that this group poses for Italy, Italian businesses, Albania and Europe’s relations with Iran.
Dr. Olsi Jazexhi, director of the Free Media Institute, presented the situation of the Iranian Mojahedin in Albania, the threat they pose for media freedom, intellectual freedom, and religious tolerance in Albania. Dr. Jazexhiu showed how the Mojahedin have launched a recruiting campaign of politicians and citizens in Albania, how they commit calls for terrorism, punishable by law in the Republic of Albania, and how they continuously produce Fake News to threaten and terrorize Albanian public opinion. He pointed out that the Mojahedin do not want to integrate into Albanian society as other migrants do, but live instead in paramilitary compounds for jihadist purposes.
Migena Balla, a lawyer based in Tirana, explained her experience with Mojahedin dissociates, people who want to abandon jihad and deradicalize, but who are, unfortunately, not supported by the Albanian state and are labelled and threatened as ‘Iranian agents’ by the MEK terrorist organization if they behave like free citizens or contact their family members in Iran. She showed the psychological pressure and slavery that Mujahideen force on their members who threaten them and keep them isolated from the wider world.
Anne Khodabandeh, director of Open Minds organization and consultant in the field of deradicalization in Great Britain, exposed the cultic and deceptive nature of the Mojahedin and the manipulative methods they are using in Albania and have used before in Iraq, and the threat that the Mojahedin pose for the Albanian public.
The debate was attended by some former Mojahedin who have abandoned jihad and deradicalized, several European journalists and security experts who also participated in the debate. The debate can be followed in the links below. This open debate was attacked by the Mojahedin in their outlets and in some media in Albania, accused of being a prelude to terrorist attacks against the Mojahedin in Albania. However, the Mojahedin failed to intimidate the participants in the debate and to stop their freedom to discuss the aggressive and terrorist nature of the Mojahedin organization:
Gazeta Impakt, Reporting from EU Parliament
The gathering of the Mojahedin was also attended by three Albanian politicians. They were Pandeli Majko, Minister for the Diaspora in the present Albanian government. Majko served as Minister of the Interior during the era of secret CIA renditions in Eastern Europe when Albania was used by the CIA to rendition and torture people. Majko who has never denied his cooperation with the CIA or the existence of secret prisons in Albania, has defended the illegal renditions and torture and has criticized those who spoke against the torture chambers of the CIA.
The second politician was Fatmir Mediu, a former disgraced Minister of Defense, who is blamed in Albania for weapon trafficking to Afghanistan and the Gerdec explosion and killings. The Gerdec explosion which killed 26 Albanians, injured hundreds, and damaged or destroyed over two thousand homes was part of an operation by Fatmir Mediu and American contractors to fake old Albanian ammunition and sell them as new to Afghanistan.
The third politician was Elona Gjebrea, who served as deputy Minister of the Interior for Albania’s infamous Minister of Interior Saimir Tahiri (2013-2017) and is now under investigation for possible links with a notorious Albanian mafia gang known as the Habilaj brothers.
Giuliani told to the Mojahedin that the US and the Albanian government see them as the only future for Iran, and the necessary thing to do at this moment is regime change. Pandeli Majko, the Minister of Diaspora in the Edi Rama’s government supported Giuliani’s claim and told the Mojahedin that his dream is to return to Tehran with the Mojahedin. Elona Gjebrea and Fatmir Mediu did the same. They supported the Mojahedin in their violent mission for regime change in Iran. Rudi Giuliani emboldened the Mojahedin by telling them that changes are coming to Washington. John Bolton, their fierce supporter is going to become President Trump’s National Security Advisor and he wants a regime change in Iran.
The threats of Giuliani against Iran have been instrumentalized in recent months with mass surveillance and attacks on Iranian and Shiia Muslim institutions in Albania and Kosovo. The Israelis are very vigilant against the Iranian influence in the Balkans too. They instruct their Albanian partners to target Iran and its institutions, even though Iran has never had any problem with any Balkan country. With the arrival of the Mojahedin in Albania, the anti-Iran and anti-Shiia hysteria is becoming more and more public. The Mojahedin, who act as a proxy army for the US and Israel, claim that Iran is very influential in Albania and is working with its agents to discredit their fight for regime change. In recent months they have launched a number of smear attacks against Iranian institutions and the embassy in Tirana. On March 15 they attacked a group of Albanian intellectuals headed by the ex-president of Albania, Rexhep Mejdani who participated in a scientific conference in Tehran, claiming that they were part of a plot by Tehran to discredit them. The Mojahedin, who are having many of their members abandon the organization in Albania, attack the defectors by insulting them as Iranian agents and threaten to assassinate them. The UNHCR which is supposed to help all war refugees has sided with the Mojahedin and refuses to support the defectors financially and asks them to go back to their Mojahedin camp if they want to get financial support. When local Albanian TV stations dare to present the claims of the defectors who show how they are abused, enslaved and radicalized by MEK, the Mojahedin attack the Albanian media claiming that they have been bought by Iran.
In face of the threats that MEK makes against Albanian intellectuals, media and its defectors, the Albanian government keeps silent, even though a recent police report claims that the Mojahedin might assassinate some of the defectors who have abandoned the organization. While the Albanian government and its courts are very vigilant to jail any Albanian Salafi as a terrorist if they make calls for regime change in Syria or praise ISIS, so far no actions have been taken against the Iranian Mojahedin, Albanian or US politicians who support the MEK jihad and make calls for regime change in Iran, even though the Albanian the criminal code punishes such calls with imprisonment from four up to ten years. The Albanian government and its courts have not taken any action even against those Mojahedin who have threatened to assassinate their defectors in Albania.
The Albanian government who is ordered by people like John Bolton, John McCain and Rudy Giuliani to do all they can to support the Mojahedin, have finally started to attack even Shiia and Sufi religious institutions in Albania. On March 22, 2018 the anti-terror police disrupted the ceremony of Novruz that the World Headquarters of Bektashism organized in Tirana. The ceremony of the liberal Muslim Sufi sect was disrupted when anti-terrorism police detained two retired Iranian journalists and an Iraqi-German citizen who were celebrating the Novruz in the Grand Sufi Teqe. The invitees were officially invited to the ceremony by Baba Mondi, the Grand Dervish of the Bektashis. However the Albanian anti-terror units who take note of complains by MEK about Iranian influence and conspiracy against them, detained and interrogated as terrorists for 7 hours the two retired Iranian journalists who were covering the Bektashi festival. Even though the journalists were later released, this event shocked the Bektashi community and the Iranian cultural NGO-s who operate in Albania.
The attacks that the Mojahedin are launching against local Muslim communities, academics and intellectuals, journalists and media are shocking the Albanian public. Until now they have seen the Mojahedin as some foreign terrorist leftovers that the USA wanted to dump in Albania after they were expelled from Iraq. However, the recent media and police attacks are showing to the Albanian public that the Mojahedin are a threat not only to Iran, but to Albania too. On the other hand, the calls from US senators like Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton and John McCain on the Mojahedin who are based in Albania to go and wage jihad in Iran, make many Albanians worried and upset. Many ask: if the USA wants to use the Mojahedin to fight Iran, why don’t they host them in the USA instead of Albania? The Albanian public has not and has never had any problem with Iran. Why is the American government blackmailing Albania and using it as a launchpad for its next terrorist war against another Middle Eastern country? Was it not enough for the US administration to allow the Saudis to radicalize the Muslim youths in the Balkans and send them to Syria for jihad, but now they are creating another jihad and the Muslims of the Balkans are again to pay the price?
Mr. Rudy Giuliani! Mr. John Bolton! Can you please take your Mojahedin to the USA and from there do anything you want! We do not want to fight another Middle Eastern war for you. Leave us alone, please!
Olsi Jazexhi, Global research
The following is a police or Albanian Information Service report published in Fax Web English on March 23, 2018. This report shows the specific number of Iranian jihadists in Albania, the problems they have with each other, the conflicts and killings against each other in the past, and the history of this terrorist organization. The report highlights the violent attacks and threats of murder that the MEK is making against the defectors who have decided to abandon jihad and deradicalize in Albania, and who the MEK accuse of acting as agents of Iran. Albanian police and SHISH are taking the threats that MEK is making against these deradicalized jihadists in Albania seriously and has placed them under protection from the possibility of assassination by Maryam Rajavi’s extremists.
The Iranian jihadist organization, known as Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), Rajavi Cult or the National Council of Resistance of Iran, has been present in Albania since 2013, from where it is constantly calling for violent terrorist attacks against Iran, thus breaking Albanian laws; the Albanian criminal code imposes prison sentences for the promotion of war and terrorism. Since the MEK was brought to Albania by the US Intelligence services and used as a diversionary and terrorist organization against Iran and is protected by US-based Senators such as John Bolton and John McCain, the MEK’s violations of Albanian laws are ignored by the Albanian authorities. Kosovo ignored the presence of takfiri jihadists in Albania who called for jihad against Syria in 2011 to 2013 and then joined terrorist organizations like ISIS or Jabhat al-Nusra.
Below is the report published on Fax Web which shows the situation of MEK in Albania:
SITUATION
To date, 2745 Iranian nationals have been given refuge in the territory of the Republic of Albania over several years.
These residents are members of the MEK organization otherwise known as the Iranian opposition.
The arrival in our country of Iranian asylum seekers from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran could pose implications to our internal security, as these individuals are deeply indoctrinated, have been part of military structures, and have participated in fighting a war and in acts of terror.
The Mojahedin Khalq or the Iranian Mojahedin organization, otherwise known as MEK and PMOI, is a revolutionary Marxist-Islamic group founded in 1965.
According to information gathered so far it turns out that:
On 06.01.2018, an Iranian national (Hassan Bidi), a former member of the MEK (dissociated), resident in Tirana, made a complaint to Police Station No.1 after having his life threatened by some members of the MEK.
On 09.02.2018 three Iranian nationals (Bahman Azami, Sadollah Seyfi, Manouchehr Abdi) former members of the MEK (dissociated), resident in Tirana, have complained that their lives have been threatened by some members of the MEK.
On 12.02.2018, Top Channel television broadcast interviews of three Iranian nationals (dissociated MEK) on Top Channel TV, who expressed their opinions against the ideology of the MEK organization and have alleged that threats against their lives MEK are serious.
From operationally acquired data regarding these situations it has been learned that:
Earlier in Iraq the MEK have murdered former members who dissociated from this organization because they publicly stood in opposition to the organization’s activities with the aim of damaging its cause.
From the above, and the interviews given by Iranian nationals on the Fiks Fare show of 12.02.2018, as well as the reports of the police commissariat of these situations, the timings, the course of action and their behavior, are similar to the ‘Modus Operandi’ that occurred earlier in Iraq.
Following indications of the actions and behaviors of the Iranian nationals in question who are currently disconnected from this organization, there are reasonable grounds for suspicion that this situation is the same as before in Iraq which resulted in murder.
The MEK was active during the Iranian Islamic revolution, but state institutions established after the revolution regarded it as a threat. In order to survive, the group was forced to abandon legality and in 1981 the leader of this organization, Massoud Rajavi, fled to France, where he also created the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
In Iraq in 1986, the MEK created the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) and fought against Iran alongside Saddam Hussein.
In 1990, MEK had numerous training camps in Iraq and undertook numerous attacks against Iran.
In 1997, MEK was listed by the US as a terrorist organization and was then placed on the European and Canadian lists.
Following the attacks of September 11, 2001, MEK changed strategy and progressively abandoned its attacks. In 2003, after the American invasion of Iraq, the MEK announced it had abandoned armed attacks and kept control only of ‘Camp Ashraf’.
On 01.01.2009, Camp Ashraf with a surface area of 36 km2 was placed under the control of Iraqi forces.
On 26 January 2009, after lobbying in Great Britain, the MEK managed to be removed from the European list of terrorist organizations.
On 28 July 2009, Iraqi security forces entered Camp Ashraf to install a police station, but the Mojahedin put up violent resistance, forcing the Iraqis to use force. As a result, 8 people were killed, dozens were injured and 36 Mojahedin were arrested.
On December 15, 2009, Iraqi forces again tried to get Ashraf residents out of the camp, but in the face of the oppositional attitude of the Mujahideen, and the decision not to use violence, Iraqi forces were forced to retreat.
On April 8, 2011, Iraqi forces attempted to take part of Camp Ashraf. As a result of clashes, 34 people died and about 300 were injured.
After many negotiations, the MEK accepted that the Mojahedin members would transfer from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty.
These Iranian nationals have been given refuge and accommodated in our country under an agreement with the UNHCR; mainly in the Vores area, Shato Linza complex and other rented residences in the districts of Tirana and Durres.
According to the latest information it is apparent that so far around 1500 MEK members have been transferred to Manez, Durres where a complex is being built, and accommodated in tents and other customized facilities. The area purchased is 32 hectares.
Also, according to updated information, the number of MEK members by place and status is as follows:
There are about 2745 MEK members in our country.
11 members have died.
80 have left our country with regular papers.
65 were illegally removed.
Mojahedin who continue to be full members of MEK and follow their rules for living as members are 2621.
Mojahedin dissociated from MEK are 124 people.
Since taking up residence in our country, around 124 members of the MEK have dissociated from the organization because they are against the ideology of this sectarian movement.
Recently, several members who have left the organization have been subjected to MEK threats which labels them as traitors and spies in the service of the Iranian Embassy in Tirana.
GazetaInpact, Tirana,Albania
On the eve of the Iranian New Year, it is worth looking back at the MEK conduct in the past one year. The group leaders took mean actions to cope with their declining phase during the past year. Weather they were successful or not, the international community should be vigilant about the threats by the side of the MKO as a destructive cult.
Once they were completely relocated in Albania, the MKO authorities had to reconstruct the regulations of their cult-like organization because of the increasing rate of defection in the new community which was not as isolated as it was in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, Iraq.
The group authorities established a new base in a remote region outside Tirana and named it “Ashraf 3” in order to impose more limitations on members and to launch their cult-like practices more easily. Members were made to sign an engagement letter before being resettled in the new camp according to which they were committed to stay in the group until the overthrow of the Islamic Republic. The group leaders even confiscated the members’ properties that were given to them by the UNHCR.
Being isolated in the new camp, far from the normal life of the civil society and having signed the so-called engagement letter, members of the MKO are literally taken as hostages by their leaders. Fortunately, the UNHCR finally agreed to pay the monthly payments of those who defect the MKO independently. However, those who are still in the MKO camp do not know that they have the right to use the UN facilities once they leave the MKO because they are always told by the leaders that their defection from the group results in their homelessness and poverty. The UNHCR authorities should inform the members on their rights of living in a free community after their departure from the cult otherwise they are intimidated about living independently by the cult leaders.
The past year was also a challenge for the MKO leaders in their foreign relations. They had to enhance their lobbying efforts inviting American congressmen to their Tirana base where Maryam Rajavi received them in a huge propaganda show. The group’s members were made celebrate the reception of American lawmakers as if it was a big victory –they did not dare to ask their leaders what happened to the anti-Imperialist and anti-Zionist slogans of the MKO.
On the other hand, the US politicians have spent a large amount of money of the US taxpayers for the relocation and residence of the MKO in Albania contributing the Albanian government and the UN High Commissioners of Refugees. Regarding the MKO’s history of terrorist acts, suicidal operations and cult-like behaviors such as self-immolations, sooner or later the West will come to the conclusion that the Cult of Rajavi has more disadvantages than advantages for the West as they experienced it with Al-Qaida and ISIS. The terrorist extremist groups will often turn back to haunt their promoters someday.
Mazda Parsi
At the AFET Committee – Debriefing on mission to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iran
Ana Gomes, S&D Member of the European Parliament, participated at a joint AFET/DRO (Committee of Foreign Affairs and Sub-Committee of Human Rights) to Iran, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait from 11-15 February 2018. At the last AFET Committee meeting, Ana Gomes debriefed the members on the outcomes of the mission.
To download the video file click here
From 5:17 minutes…
“I just want to end with one matter, our responsibility in the parliament. I met with relatives of the victims of the terrorist organisation called MEK, Mojahedin of the people, National Council of whatever, revolutionary Iran. And they used to be a tool of Saddam Hussein. They are now in Albania. They are creating trouble in Albania, trouble that will come to haunt us. And we cannot continue to allow some members in this parliament out of, possibly out of naivety, to continue to abet some of the members of this organisation. Which are keeping people hostage, namely in Albania. Now I met with relatives in Iran of those people that cannot establish contact with their children, with their relatives because of this sect (cult) preventing that. We in the parliament cannot continue to turn a blind eye on our responsibility.
also:
Albanian based MEK terrorists threat to security of EUP says Ana Gomes MEP
MKO former member meets EUP representative in Brussels
Fiks Fare addresses the problem of 200 members who escaped from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI aka MEK, Rajavi cult), three thousands of whom were transferred here from Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq.
These Mojahedin, disillusioned with their organization, have left the camp and now live without any economic aid or social support. Without immigration status, without any ID and no income, they cannot return to their country or to the MEK camp.
With their testimony to Fiks Fare, they shed light on what is actually happening in the Mojahedin camp, which is being built in Manzë in Durres under a decision by the National Land Council.
to download the video file click here
Albania accommodated about 3,000 Iranian Mojahedin in Albania between March 2013 until September 2016, when the last 280 arrived from Camp Liberty in Iraq.
In September 2014, Prime Minister Rama met with Secretary of State John Kerry at the NATO Summit in Wales and discussed the hosting of the Mojahedin. In April 2015, this issue was revised again in Washington between Bushati and Secretary Kerry.
At the beginning of 2016, Prime Minister Rama agreed to accommodate all of the 1,970 Mojahedin still in Baghdad. This agreement was made during the visit of Secretary of State John Kerry to Albania in February 2016. On 10 September 2016, the UN said it had completed the transfer of all Mojahedin from Iraq to Albania. At that time, US Senator John McCain welcomed completion of the mission to transfer the Mojahedin to Albania.
In the agreement it was decided that the Iranian Mojahedin would be housed in a special camp built by the Albanian government in co-operation with the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
Initially, the Mojahedin were given residences in two areas of Kashar.
They were seen together for the first time in March 2017, when a super organization of three thousand members of the Iranian opposition MEK, under conditions of total secrecy, celebrated the Persian New Year, otherwise known as Nowruz, at the Palace of Congresses in Tirana.
The leader of the Iranian resistance, Maryam Rajavi, who lives in France, was engaged in this organizational activity. She stayed in Albania for several days, where she met with not only her supporters, but also with some Albanian politicians.
In October 2017, the National Land Council approved a construction permit for the special camp, which had already begun construction in Manzë in Durres. The transfer of Mojahedin to the new premises is already well underway. This camp is being built by ‘FARA’ association.
Fiks Fare approached the Court of Tirana to inquire about this association which turns out to have been registered by court decision No. 5538 on 08.02.2017.
What is the Mojahedin organisation?
The Iranian Mojahedin is an opposition movement in exile, aimed at overthrowing the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is also known as MEK. The movement was founded in 1965 by a group of left-wing students and the goal was to overthrow the Shah of Iran. When the Shah fell, another clash began: between the Mojahedin and fundamentalist supporters of Ayatollah Khomeini, who took power.
By the end of 1981, many of its members and supporters fled abroad and their main location of residence was France.
In 1986, the movement moved its base of operations to eastern Iraq, but the situation changed with the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. US forces attacked them as targets but reached a ceasefire agreement with them and afterwards came disarmament. It was decided the MEK would be held in Camp Ashraf, the former Iraqi military base.
But after the American withdrawal from Camp Ashraf in 2011, acts of violence erupted between the MEK and Iraqi soldiers. Then later that year they were moved to Camp Liberty, outside Baghdad. Because of lack of security for the MEK, the need for their relocation from Iraq to other countries, including Albania, was born.
Testimony: MEK is an organization comprising many highly trained war-ready soldiers
The Fiks Fare show has managed to find some former members of this organization – 3 of the 200 defectors from MEK. All three respondents claim that the Mojahedin hiding in Manzë camp are warriors very well-prepared for battle.
According to them, the MEK imposes very stringent conditions on members, whereby any communication with families is strictly forbidden. Today the three live in some UNCHR-paid flats, but they will soon reach a crossroads because they do not have any identification documents, neither migrant status nor political refugee status.
Interview with Sadollah Seifi, former MEK member, who left the organization 8 months ago
I am Sadollah Seifi, I was born in Iran in 1969. I become part of the Mojahedin organization aged 21.
Why did you become part of this organization?
When I lived in Iran there were many problems in the country, especially economic problems. For this reason, I joined this organization hoping to bring a better future for my people.
How did you become acquainted with this organization?
They have a radio and spread propaganda in Iran. I heard on the radio that they had some bases in other countries such as Turkey and that they were preparing to fight against Iran. I connected with this base in Turkey and went there.
When you were part of the MEK, what happened inside?
In the early days when I was there, they talked about freeing the people, about freedom. But then I realized that everything was a lie.
Why do you think they were lies?
Because they are a frightening organization, they have a lot of agents who force you to do what they want. And you have to do what they say. I went there of my own free will, but they forced me to do what they said.
Did you receive ideological lessons and what was said to you?
We were constantly undergoing ideological teaching. ‘You should not create a family. You do not have a family. You must do what the leader of your organization says’.
When you came here to Tirana, how long did you stay in the organization and when did you leave?
I’ve been here for 8 months and it’s been three months since I left the organization.
Why did you decide to leave the organization?
Because they told us only lies, and when we were in Iraq I was not able to leave. It was just like a prison there.
Is Manzë similar to Camp Ashraf?
From what others have told me it is like in Ashraf. When I came here I thought here is my chance for freedom and I was gone from there.
With what money do you live here?
During these three months some friends have helped me live and my family sent me money.
Your friends are with the Mojahedin?
No, they have left the organization.
You do not get the [MEK] money?
No, they have never given me any since they accused me of having links with other defectors and they have called me a traitor.
Where you live now?
The UNHCR pays for the house where I live and gives me a food package per month. Here there is no future for us, all is darkness. The MEK, the Albanian government, UNHCR and the US government brought us here on the basis of an agreement, but we have no status. We do not have residence permits, the right to work. I’ve been to many of your country’s organizations, but no one helped me because they told me you have no status here and we do not accept refugees here. I do not know what I can do here …
Are there many who left this organization?
As far as I know, there are about 200 people who have left. If you are part of this organization, they impose some rules to keep people inside. Here in Albania, the rules changed so they cannot force people as they did in Iraq. But there are some rules that make it difficult for people to leave. One is this situation, that if you leave you do not have money to live, since you have no status here, you cannot work. So, the situation is such that people find it difficult to escape.
Do you fear for the future? What are you going to do here? You have no documents and have no status.
I want to leave this place, but I cannot get any documents to escape. Here I have no future. Your Government, the Interior Ministry, does not give us any opportunity for me to stay here. When I’m in the street, the police can stop me and ask, ‘who you are?’ During these three months, I tried to get a residency permit, but your government tells us that they lost our documents. While only a few days ago they said they were going to create our documents to give us residential citizenship, but we have not received anything so far. Our demands are at least to allow our families to come here to help us.
Interview with Ehsan Bidi, former member of the MEK
There was war between Iran and Iraq. The MEK gave information about Iran to the Iraqi government and the government of Saudi Arabia. They are paid by them. They worked for Saddam Hussein’s intelligence and Saudi Arabia.
Do you have family, wife, children?
No, I do not. It was not my choice but because this organization is a sect (cult). When you are their victim you cannot have a wife, you cannot have children, you have to be alone.
Why did you make this sacrifice?
It was not my choice and it was not my sacrifice because they forced me to choose between life and death. If I wanted to be alive I had to give up everything, it was not my choice. During all these 15 years I was a victim. I was not allowed to have contact with my family and call them. Everything was forbidden to us.
At what age did you join this organization and why did you become part of it?
At age 24. I was a long-time sympathizer in Iran. When I realized that they were lying to me and that they were terrorists, I didn’t want any further connection to them. I left and started working as a mechanic in a private business. They sent some sympathizers to visit me who told me that ‘the government is asking after you, many of your friends are in prison. You have to leave the country immediately because the Iranian government will kill or imprison you’. I left, not for myself but for my family and I went with this organization. After I left Iran I went to Turkey; I did not have a passport to travel with. The organization took me in and gave me a fake document to go to Iraq.
What role did you have in this organization?
I did not give them any kind of information after I realized they were lying to me. They did not lie to me alone, but they lied to everyone. Many people were in Turkey. They came and told us you have to go back to Iraq and stay for 3 months, and then we will take you to whatever place they want in Europe. But everything was a lie because you see that everyone is now in Albania. If you go to that organization with their documents, you are as a prisoner because you have no other choice, no way to leave.
How does this organization work?
We have lived armed. We are separated into groups and classes to take theoretical ideological lessons. They told us how we were better than the Iranian government.
You have an Albanian driving license, but do not have a passport?
Yes, but it is in the process. First. I will be given an identity card then the passport. This organization has made this place a prison for us. No one supports us.
What did you do in practice, who ordered you to do attacks?
The Organization. It created special groups and sent them into Iran to attack by setting off bombs.
In the organization I learned everything about weapons and how to kill people. Many of these people that you see here are not people, they are war machines.
Interview with Manouchehr Abdi, expelled by the MEK
When I was 42 I became part of this organization and I’m now 55 years old. So, I’ve been a victim of this organization for 13 consecutive years. When I was living in my country of Iran, there were many problems and the situation was not good in both the political as well as the economic sense. I had many dreams about the freedom of my country and I joined this organization. But then I realized that this organization was a big lie. They lied to us, they are a sect (cult), I could not immerse myself in it.
What did you do in the camp, did you learn to use weapons, did you have military training?
At the beginning, we did ordinary work just as all people do. During those years Iran had many problems, especially economic. The MEK organization had many cells and sympathizers in Iran and they promised many young people that if they went to Iraq and became part of it they would benefit from a lot of money.
Was it hard to escape from the MEK?
Yes, it was very difficult. Because we had no connection with the life outside. We did not know anything about it. We had no phone or internet knowledge, we had no contact with our family. I came here afterwards with this organization because it had an agreement between the government of Albania and the US government. The UNHCR brought me here and now for 8 months I’m out of the MEK and live alone.
Why did you decide to leave when you came here?
Because when I was in Iraq I tried to make contact with my daughter, but they did not allow me to. There were many families who came to Camp Ashraf to meet their family members, but this organization forced the members to reject being their children and actually attacked those families.
Is the camp in Albania the same as in Iraq?
They are creating something similar.
I asked to see my daughter, but they have made an agreement with your government not to allow our families to come and see us. So, if you are a part of this organization you cannot have any connection with your family, it is forbidden to you.
Here some groups of MEK are linked to people, with young people in Iran, via the internet, social media, and they teach them how to fight, how to kill others in Iran.
When I was part of the organization I was part of a group that virtually connected with a group of young people in Iran and taught them how to fight. Because you should know that everyone in this organization knows how to fight to kill. So, we are prepared militarily, we know everything about weapons. We teach young people in Iran through Skype. I did not need to undertake military training because before I joined the organization I had been in the Iranian army.
You do not have any status here, you are not allowed to work. On what income do you live now?
Some friends, who have also escaped from this organization, help me. Many of them receive money from the organization. I did not because they declared me an agent of Iran [because I contacted my family and they expelled me]. But others receive money based on an agreement between your government and the organization so that whoever leaves the organization, the latter pays for them to live in Albania.
Maryam Rajavi, the leader of this organization, lives in France and often comes here and holds meetings. At one of these meetings, she said those who have left the organization in Albania are traitors and they should be killed.
What will you do now?
I cannot do anything. I do not have a passport because this organization does not allow your government to give us one. I have no status. It’s just like a prison. For the past three months I have lived in an apartment paid for by the UNHCR. So, I came here to tell you about this situation. My family cannot send money because they are under economic hardship. My friends do not have the means to help me. This is not just my problem. Even the people who received the MEK money already have been contacted and told that if you leave, we will pay you for three months and then you have to sign a document to say that you agree to refund the money again and that you no longer need any money. This is the problem for all those who leave.
Why are you in Fiks Fare today?
You know that every political refugee has that status in every country in the world. We do not. We are simply residing in Albania without status. We have all been brought here with no documents or status. I have suffered a lot as a victim of this organization. Now that I have left, do I not have the right as a human being to live like everyone else. I cannot work. This is the problem for all of us.
Top Channel TV, Translated by Iran Interlink
RIDC website published a three-part PDF survey by Massoud Banisadr on the destructive cults under the title:” What is a destructive cult? How can we recognize it?”
The writer examines the cult characteristics referring to the cult experts’ views and studies, to name some: Margaret Thaler Singer, Lifton , Dr. Olsson … .
In part two and three the writer gives us interesting examples of cults specifying part three entirely to the Mujahedin – e Khlaq cult.
Mr. Massoud Banisadr who spent 17 years within the MKO Cult says:” Although I was member of MEK for almost 17 years and in my memoirs[ Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel], I have described MEK in detail and in length; but at this point I prefer to cite their story from an independent expert; Professor Ervand Abrahamianii, especially as the material taken from his book has not been totally challenged by the organisation itself.”
What is a destructive cult? How can we recognize it? – Part one
What is a destructive cult? How can we recognize it? – Part two
What is a destructive cult? How can we recognize it? – Part three
A training manual, which has already been used to train teachers in the country, will also be used in schools to educate children. The manual, published by the Center Against Violent Extremism, warns against the threat to society posed by Mojahedin Khalq organization.
AlbanianTema TV, Albania
Terrorism is neither unexplainable nor unpredictable. Terrorists and Extremists in the Middle East are considered as murderous and frightful by the West although they themselves are in fact sponsoring them. Paradoxically, Western sponsored terrorists are growing stronger fueled by the alleged retaliation logics of the West in the so-called “war on terror”.
Life-threatening politicians in the West are taking hostage entire societies by promoting the rhetoric that leads them to self-harming actions. In case of Iran, a group of neocons are calling on Trump to support the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/MEK/PMOI/the Cult of Rajavi) as a viable alternative to the Islamic Republic, despite the fact that the State Department designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization from 1997 to 2012 for its “past acts of terrorism, including its involvement in the killing of US citizens in Iran in the 1970s and an attack on US soil in 1992.”Certain MKO-paid former US officials have sought to convince the US administration to aid the MKO in its alleged agenda to overthrow the Iranian government.
Moreover, the recent protests in Iran provided an opportunity for fueling the US-backed MKO to foment riots inside Iran. The MKO-led violence in Iranian cities was then covered by Western media. However, unbiased media criticized the western-sponsored violence in Iran and warned about the catastrophic outcome of such sponsorship.
“Regardless of how unrealistic it is to imagine the MEK having the means to topple Iran’s regime, any effort to trigger the Islamic Republic’s collapse could fuel a major escalation of violence throughout the Middle East,” asserted Khalid Al-Jaber and Giorgio Cafiero in an article titled “Trump should not embrace the MEK” in Peninsula Qatar. “In light of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s assertion in May 2017 that any military confrontation between Riyadh and Tehran would take place “inside Iran, not in Saudi Arabia”, coupled with Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud’s endorsement of the MEK two months later, tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached a dangerously high level that would likely impact Tehran’s response to any foreign-sponsored efforts to topple the regime.” [1]
In fact the cycle of violence is not geographically restricted to the Middle East. Isis-claimed acts of violence that took place in different European countries is the proof that the monster of extremism can turn back to entangle its inventers. “In any event, support for the MEK, a group that carries much baggage in Iran for its history of collaborating with Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war, would almost inevitably fuel greater opposition and anger towards Trump and the US on the part of both Iranians who are supportive of their regime and those calling for Iran to transition away from the Islamic Republic nearly four decades after its establishment,” wrote correspondents of Peninsula Qatar. [2]
“Like cancer, these groups have a tendency to grow uncontrollably, and then later turn on the US and Europe, when and if the latter starts to pull funding or divorce themselves from the Court of public opinion through plausible denial”, According to Ceylon Today. “This is exactly how ISIS grew into a formidable fighting force, and eventually turned on its creators, much like the Frankenstein monster in the Mary Shelley novels.” [3]
Mazda Parsi
Sources:
[1] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/7855
[2]ibid
[3] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/7867