France says it has filed an appeal to an EU court to keep the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) on a list of banned terrorist groups. 
“Our appeal was filed the day before yesterday,”said Foreign Ministry spokesman Frederic Desagneaux Friday.
On Thursday, an EU diplomat said the bloc had decided to remove the anti-Iran group from the EU list of banned terrorist groups.
The source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said EU foreign ministers should approve the consensus before it can be fully implemented.
MKO terrorists, banned by many countries including the US, have claimed responsibility for numerous terror attacks inside Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
The group is also responsible for assisting Saddam in the massacre of thousands of Iraqi civilians.
The EU move to remove the MKO from its banned terrorist group list has provoked widespread condemnations inside Iran as well as among the families of the terror attacks victims.
The French spokesman said Friday that Paris was pressing ahead with the appeal to keep the anti-Iran group on the list.
For or against the regime of Tehran:Iran divides French Parliamentarians
Iran divides French parliamentarians, in their political disagreement, to right as well as left. More than 290 of French deputies have recently singed a call for the support for Mujahedin Khalq Organization of which the leader, Maryam Rajavi is exiled in France Auvers-Sur-Oise. A group called “coordination Parliamentary”, solicited by Jean-Philippe Maurer the deputy of UMP, and Jean-Pierre Brard, the communist representative are working for the removal of the name of the movement from the list of terrorist organizations of the European Union.
These activities that are relied of the recent decision made by a British court in favor of the Mujahedin, count on finding a positive opinion by Nicolas Sarkozy during the French presidency in EU. “We support this Iranian opposition group because it’s the only democratic foundation that struggles against the regime of Iran,” estimated Jean-Philippe Maurer. The deputy of Strasbourg refuses the critics that have been presented against the organization of Maryam Rajavi since 2003. Following a police raid, many militants set themselves on fire. The leaders of National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political cover of these dissidents, are still under investigations. ” Since 2003, this organization has moderated its excessive behavior.” revealed Jean-Philippe Maurer.
Lobbying Activities in Elysée
Among the same ranks of the French Assembly, other deputies of UMP totally disagree.” The parliamentarians who singed this call for support do not know the situation in Iran well.” Says Didier Julia, vice-president of the France-Iran group, “Iran is not such a simple state. It is led by Experts Council and the execution of the laws is performed by three different sources. In my opinion, People’s Mujahedin enjoys a very small support. They are very weak inside Iran. Instead, France should reinforce its relations with Iranian civil society and the Iranian government in order to achieve the public liberty. It’s not the regime change that we should look for. Iran can evolve gradually, like Syria.”
Whose lobby is more effective towards the French Parliament members; The Iranian dissidents or the representatives of the Iranian State? Didier Julia declares that the diplomatic advisor of Nicolas Sarkozy has the same opinion as he has.
Jean – Philippe Maurer thinks that the debates on Iran have not reached a clear position, in Elysée.
VSD.fr by Nathalie Gillot
Dear Mr. Bernard Kushner,
The esteemed Foreign Minister- the Republic of France
I wish to thank you for your recent statement on the Iranian group- PMOI
As you are aware, I have known this group up close for years and continue to monitor its activities on a daily basis.
You are correct in your recent assessment of the terrorist nature of the PMOI. This group has never denounced violence and terrorism in its Persian publications; and indeed continues to endorse and promote them. The recent unclassified reports by the group’s own former members do support our existing knowledge of the group and its nature. PMOI is a dangerous cult that naturally deserves to remain in the EU terror list. NCRI is just an alias for the PMOI under which it continues to operate in the EU. In 2004 the US State Department realised this and banned both entities. I hope that the Republic of France would lead the efforts to do the same for the EU, so that PMOI would not continue to ridicule our democratic values.
Happy New Year
Ahmad Baaraan
ABaaraan@yahoo.fr
The Iraqi government’s holding control of Camp Ashraf may lead to adverse consequences for the cultist group of Mojahedin (also known as MKO, MEK, PMOI) one of which is the fact that they would be forced to weigh anchor from Iraq and drop it in another country in a little while. The news about the U.S. agreeing to take 16 MKO leaders as refugees may confirm this supposition. Where Mojahedin are destined to settle is a matter of uncertainty. Jordan was supposed to be a possible alternative; however, despite the MKO high-rankings’ conferral with Jordanian parliamentarians, its government refused to provide a place of residence for MKO. At any case, Mojahedin are well aware that their settlement in Iraq is temporary and they have to look for settlement in another country.
Undoubtedly, Mojahedin are willing to grow roots in a country where they would ensure the integrity of their cultic relations. At the time being, Auvers-sur-Oise seems to be their first preference since they have managed to turn it into a bastion of terrorist plots. There are many evidences that Mojahedin have constructed a cult-like enclave in France. Much to the surprise of those visiting Auvers-Sur-Oise, Mojahedin have provided modern security systems therein and can survive there for a long time without coming into contact with the world outside. Furthermore, DST has repeatedly stated that Mojahedin are about to turn Auvers-Sur-Oise to another Camp Ashraf in the Europe. It seems that Mojahedin consider France as their potential alternative for abiding after their expulsion from Iraqi soil.
However, it is evident that France can hardly consent to provide a shelter for the organizational body of MKO whose ranking members have already settled there. It has paid considerable cost as for the presence of Mojahedin leaders and their atrocities like that of the case of June 17th, illegal and criminal activities of MKO inside France, cult-like behavior of MKO members (self-immolation in Paris streets) and the like. In addition, it has to be pointed out that before the designation of MKO as a terrorist organization, Mojahedin had claimed to be perpetrators of almost all terrorist operations inside the Iranian soil to give a show of their military potentialities. As reported by DST:
Since 1998, the PMOI, which had been the principal opposition party to the Teheran regime, has lost its political influence. It has radicalised its activity and increased the number of terrorist and military attacks on Iran. On 2 June 1998, the PMOI issued a press release, in French, claiming responsibility for a bombing of the Revolutionary Prosecutor’s Office in Teheran. Ten people were killed or wounded. On 3 June 1998, in another press release, the movement claimed it was responsible for a mortar attack on the Pasdaran Headquarters. Two months later, a dispatch received in the Nicosia Bureau (Cyprus) of Agence France Presse claimed responsibility for the assassination of Assadolah Ladjevardi on 23 August 1998. He had been the warden of Evin Prison in Iran. In 2001, the PMOI claimed authorship of 195 attacks against Iran. The organisation makes many of these claims for actions in Iran from the PMOI’s French base. They are disseminated either by fax or by the organisation’s Website: http:/www.iran.Mojahedin.org. 1
Also, Mojahedin have reportedly resorted to propaganda blitz in order to incite readers to carry out aggressive and terrorist actions against the Iranian leaders visiting France:
Some articles that are particularly violent in tone and call outright for tile physical elimination of the main leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran. These titles show in a concrete and significant way how dangerous the organisation is and the incitement to violence contained in its leaders’ language, published in their newspaper. The tone of these articles shows how its circulation in France constitutes a risk for public order. It incites its readers to murder the Iran’s highest leaders who, in turn, are possible official visitors to France. 2
Other illegal activities pertaining to MKO headquarters in Auvers-sur-Oise are as follows:
We have been able to identify numerous PMOI members recruited and housed in France, making regular trips to Iraq. This is, of course, where the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLAI) camps were: the armed wing of the PMOI. We have also established that these members have been able to use false documents or false identities. They also follow several different routes to Iraq: passing through Jordan, Egypt, or Turkey. They make their connections through different European countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. The clandestine protocols are, of course, designed to avoid any tracing of their travels. Once in Iraq, the militants undergo various levels of political and military training. The NLAI fighters coming from Iraq regularly visit PMOI HQ in Auvers-sur-Oise, while veteran soldiers are installed in France and remain continuously active in promoting the organisation. 3
Accordingly, it would be an act of high risk and cost to establish a refugee camp for Mojahedin. In the political scene, the government inevitably has to reconsider its political relations with Iranian regime and then, other members of the EU have to be convinced why the heart of Europe has to set up a bastion for terrorism. Besides, will French people tolerate a cultic gang living next door? In the recent years, as the reports indicate and the ex-members disclose, the main cause behind separation of several thousand members has been the hegemonic and egocentric rule by the ideological leaders Maryam and Masoud Rajavi. The wife is already running a majestic life in Auvers-Sur-Oise waiting for the husband to join as well as the other rank and file. It all depends on French government.
References:
1. Gessler, Antoine, Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, chapter 14, DST report on MKO.
2. ibid
3. ibid
In June 2003, police arrested 167 people in the Paris suburb of Auvers-sur-Oise where the MKO is based. Of those arrested, 17 were placed under formal investigation, including Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the MKO’s political wing on suspicion of "associating with wrongdoers in relation with a terrorist undertaking".
Now it is five years since Jean-Louis Bruguière, the then the anti-terrorism investigative magistrate, first targeted Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), officially regarded as terrorists by the US and the European Union, and issued warrant for the arrest of Maryam Rajavi and a number of her accomplices for a multitude of terrorist charges. The officials in DST, French counter-intelligence, were well aware of the group’s terrorist nature when its HQs were raided. But hardly anybody surmised that the group would engage in immediate cult-like reactions against the arrest of its she-guru through widespread self-immolations consequently leading to two deaths to perturb the consequent effectiveness of any order and mostly to affect the process of the investigation. Now, on the anniversary of the cult-like self-burnings, the group pays tribute to the burned bodies which explicitly implies glorification of such anti-social feats for similar political accomplishments.
It is said that French justice moves slowly particularly in dealing with terror cases, but it seems that through all these years authorities in charge of investigating terrorist activities have been much inactive. Five years is too lengthy for investigating into the case of the terrorists that are freely roaming the streets of Paris and whose threats might cause greater social shock. Furthermore, the slow-moving process of the case has given the group the impression that French justice system is under legal restriction to issue the final order.
In spite of the delay, anti-terrorism experts have made a determined effort to curb the group’s terrorist threat by keeping the case open. After and beyond the allegations that initiated the case in June 2003, the group has been exposed to new charges that makes the case much more complicated to deal with. Not only has the group failed to present evidences to acquit itself of the charges, dissemination of new evidences such as reports of abusing its own insiders, repeated assertion of its re-designation in the US and the EU terror lists, threatening tone of the group against its defectors and reported instances of attacking them, its lobbying efforts to be removed from the terrorist lists, its description as a cult of personality, legal complaints of defectors and families to prosecute the organization for its anti-human activities against the members, the espionage activities to escalate tension in international affairs and between the countries and much more make it hard to believe that it will ever escape a just trial.
But the question still remains that multitude of such undeniable evidences being presented, why the case process is still on a slow-moving path? And on what justice system measures can it be justified? Unfortunately, it is MKO that, through its propaganda machine, is benefiting the most out of the delay. Evident as it is at the present, the June 17 and its aftermath has turned into a juncture for MKO to enjoy a cult-like victorious jubilance over the case and pulling mugs at French government and other concerned judicial and social bodies. Indirectly it says that any final judgment causing a frustration would provoke a bigger mob of human torches to run in the streets of Paris to lacerate public sentiments. In fact, it was in part through utilizing self-immolations of the June 17 that the organization could draw public attention and give rise to a public sympathy that in general may question long-lasted democratic achievements of France.
Incorporated in Massoud Rajavi’s message delivered from his hideout on July 3, 2007, the West and legal bodies as well as the group’s dissidents are unequivocally warned of a violent backlash. Believing himself to be above all laws, he also addresses the French government concerning the June 17 case saying: “The French government and judiciary should suspend the shameful dossier of June 17. This dossier is known to be the blackest smear in the European’s counter-terrorism moves in an attempt to appease the Iranian dictatorial theocracy”. It happened at a time when the group was facing new charges alongside the already met allegations.
It seems that the heavier MKO’s offences and felonies become, the bolder it becomes to get engaged in a vast propaganda blitz to press social and international institutions. Through the past five years MKO has frequently criticized and badmouthed the French authorities as it is typical of the group when it is pinned down and its potentiality for violence is curbed. In fact, although France is known to be the only country in Europe which has centralized the investigation, prosecution and judgment of terrorist related cases, suspension of MKO’s dossier is dearly welcome by the group and the leaders promulgate it as “the Resistance’s great victory over futile June 17 coup” proclaiming that the case is void of reliable evidences and, thus, it has to be put off. For whatever reason the judgment of the case is deferred, however, it fails to be a matter of ongoing forever; it is the final judgment that matters and proves the efficiency of French legal system.
Mojahedin.ws – June 28, 2008
‘ mso-fareast-font-family:”>Letter of the Iranian Pen Club to the The President of the French Republic President Nicolas Sarkozy As you may well be aware the MKO is considered as a terrorist cult by many governments and establishments around the world. This organisation is utilising psychological techniques to mentally manipulate its own members in order to make them commit deeds they would not perform in normal status. For example in 2003 when the co-leader of the MKO, Maryam Rajavi was arrested for few days in France, eleven members of the organization set themselves on fire in front of the French embassies in several countries and two of them were killed as a result. It has come to our attention that some EU parliamentarians have called for the removal of PMOI ( MKO, NCRI, etc.) from the EU terror list. It would be an awful blunder to yield to such irresponsible calls. We think Contrary to its private statements, PMOI has not denounced violence and terrorism publicly. In fact the group’s glorification of violence and terrorism remains as a major security threat to our EU citizens.Therefore, Combating terrorism requires close monitoring of terrorist groups like PMOI ( MKO, NCRI etc.). Is it not wise to surrender to the deceptive tactics such groups employ in order to abuse your legal and legislative systems? We have known this Terorist cult for many years up close in Iraq and European countries . we request and urge that you and the EU Council to not yield to calls for leniency toward terror groups like MKO or PMOI. With many thanks and regards The Iranian Pen Club Postfach 90 06 63 51116 Köln Germany iran-ghalam@hotmail.com 00491759726840 00491639087523 Ghalam (Pen) Association, Germany, June 21, 2008
France says Iran sect are ‘fanatical’
In Paris on Sunday 15 June [2003], a judge ordered detention of the leader of MKO and a number of her followers to face trial for possible links with terrorism. The following is what the Observer reported of the French police raid to arrest the suspects and the aftermath.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>The leafy rue des Gords in this little market town north of Paris hardly lives up to its reputation as a new world capital of terrorism.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>It was here that hundreds of police smashed open the doors of suburban houses in a dawn raid which the French claimed had pre-empted worldwide strikes by the militant Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahideen.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>About 20 members of the organisation were on hunger strike on the pavement this weekend, watched by riot police and comforted by neighbours who had lived alongside the exiled Mujahideen for 22 years. The operation, involving 1,300 police, concentrated on 21 rue des Gords, home of Maryam Radjavi, the most visible leader of what has been dismissed as a violent Marxist-Islamic sect.
Around the building a permanent encampment for followers had been set up. But police blocked attempts by residents – all political refugees – to return and collect their belongings as they continued to search cellars and attics.
The suicide attempts by fire in Paris, London, Rome and Berne focused attention on the movement without clarifying why France chose last week to turn on the Mujahideen, given refuge here after falling out with Tehran’s Islamic leadership.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>Labelled as Maoist when it was founded in 1965, the Mujahideen worked alongside Ayotallah Khomeini when he planned the overthrow of the Shah in 1979. But the allies soon fell out and thousands of Mujahideen refugees sought sanctuary in France in 1981. They campaigned against oppression in Tehran, where their members were tortured and hanged in public.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>
Radjavi was still being held by police among more than 160 people taken into custody. The DST, the French equivalent of MI5, claimed that she and her husband, Massoud, were ready to turn Auvers into their terrorist headquarters.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>Referring to allegations by Iran that the Mujahideen were responsible for at least 500 murderous attacks inside the country, Pierre de Bousquet, the DST’s director, said the organisation could no longer claim that its aim was to defend human rights and bring about democracy.
‘ font-size: 10pt”>’The attempts at self-immolation to protest against the arrest of Madame Radjavi are proof of a new fanaticism,’ he said. ‘Auvers was to become the Mujahideen’s world headquarters after the loss of bases in Iraq.’
France is already preparing for its EU Presidency which is scheduled for July-December 2008. For sure, France has identified a number of key policy areas on which to focus when it assumes the presidency. The first issue that is of great importance for the country members of the EU is security and preventive measures against terrorism and its global threat, a responsibility all the countries have a share to fulfill. The first measure is to identify any group that may pose even a minimum of threat and the sensible precautionary measure is not to unleash those already under the control.
Residing long in France, the blacklisted MKO has proven how dangerous it will be if granted a bit of freedom. France never forgets the group’s cult-like self-immolation operations in June 2003 with the case of terrorist allegation still open and investigated in French courts. The recently held seminar in Strasburg organized by the terrorist MKO was not merely an attempt to gather support for the removal of its terrorist tag. MKO’s she-guru Maryam Rajavi anticipated that there are signs that France has adopted a firm policy against Iran, particularly on the nuclear issue. As a result, it has fostered hope in her that France will show more leniency toward Iranian opposition.
Even if France for any reason has adopted a hard policy against Iran, it does not necessarily mean that it consents to the rule of terrorism and prescribes it for another country as a trusted means to establish democracy. No doubt, the French presidency of the EU from 1 July will not be a backsliding to the appeasement of terrorism particularly one of the most notorious ones that France is well acquainted with its nature.
Mojahedin.ws – April 27, 2008
But, MKO never consents to be dispossessed of its organizational identity and individual transfer of the members but the option of the wholesale relocation. Many assume that since some key ranking figures, including the leading cadre and its president-elect, are already situated in France and the organization is engaged in an extensive campaign aimed at winning support from among the politicians there, then, France might be the next appropriate option. However, there are evidences that corroborate unfeasibility of such a formed theory some of which are mentioned below:
1- The organization is not acquitted of its allegations of June 17 and French judicial system is still making inquiry about its file.
2- There are countless indications of alleged civil disturbances and violations against citizens and refugees, like the incident in which agents of MKO assaulted an association of Iranians in Paris and wounded 13, that makes French police and authorities to be seriously concerned about the hostile nature of the organization.
3- Organizationally instigated cult-like operations like the June 17 self-immolations with two deaths have been serious warning for repetition of similar acts; two members recently went on trial before a French court for allegedly helping a third member burn herself to death.
4- There are also corroborated evidences that led to the expulsion of Rajavi and his gang from France in 1985 that led to his alliance with Saddam and its flight to Iraq.
5- There exists a widespread public panic regarding MKO’s cult-like makeup and its potential threats against the French citizen.
From the very first days of the group’s refuge in France, strict measures were taken by French authorities to have it under surveillance. However, on occasions it found opportunities to engage in illegal activities and violation of regulations concerning refugees’ status. Although the leaders had already agreed not to engage in any form of political activities in France, its clandestine activities were juxtaposed to a snake’s progress:
Paris had required that the Iranian refugee leaders sign a written statement, containing the routine text promising to avoid all political activity on French soil. This would be respected for exactly two weeks. [1]
Following the coalition forces attack against Iraq and fall of Saddam, MKO started to move the headquarters to France again. According to the French intelligence services, the Mojahedin’s aim was to move their”world operational centre”- previously based in Baghdad – to the Val d’Oise. The head of France’s Direction for the Surveillance of the Territory (DST), Pierre de Bousquet confirmed the danger posed by the group beyond that of a campaigning political group:
The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) has, for a long time, been going over to a terrorist logic. Despite the organisation’s rhetoric, which claims only to be fighting against a regime, it should be noted that their attacks have usually struck many civilian victims. As to the claims of the PMOI that it wants to bring democracy to Iran, this must be understood within the paradigm of the movement’s extraordinary autocracy, where a radical cult of personality is enforced. Its members must be blindly devoted to Massoud Rajavi and his wife. The slightest criticism is severely punished. The PMOI can be considered as having followed a sectarian detour which is obvious in the fanatical behaviour of it militants: the dramatic immolations of recent days show the sad truth about them. [2]
Based on confidential reports that proved the organization was engaged in terrorist and clandestine activities, produced two weeks before 17 June 2003, DST undertook a major operation against the group under the code named”Theo”. Following the operation, the Figaro could obtain and publish what was believed to be the first-hand information on MKO and was enough to spread panic among the nation:
The PMOI has carried out a number of activities on French soil that are clandestine, sectarian, delinquent, and even seriously criminal. In France, tile organisation has two or three hundred militants and sympathisers. Its ‘hard nucleus’ is made up of a few dozen militants. [3]
Even before relocation of its headquarters from Iraq to France, the organization had started expansion of its residence sites in France as a preparation to establish a second base similar to Ashraf. A report by DST asserts that:
The construction company, Algeco, was called in by the Mojahedin to add bungalows in their camp on rue Gordes. Several hundreds of square meters of housing space have been rented by the organisation in the Val d’Oise in its reorganisation on French soil”. [4]
Accordingly, the wholesome transfer of Camp Ashraf to France seems to be out of question. In respect to Germany, MKO’s situation there is not better than in France. Its trespass of law as well as financial scandals in Germany has sounded the alarm for the authorities there to keep a watchful eye on the organization’s activities. Exploitation of members’ children, after separating them from the parents forcefully, for illegal fund-raising activities was among its most noted outrageous and immoral actions there. Referring to uncovered scandals of MKO by German authorities, Anne Singleton has said:
In Germany, the government uncovered the Mojahedin’s financial activities. After a two year investigation, the German High Court on 21st December 2001 closed the Mojahedin ‘shop’ – twenty-five houses and bases – after evidence was found of misuse of Social Security and fraud. Disturbingly, the Mojahedin had used the members’ children who had been evacuated during the Gulf War of 1991. These children, whilst they lived in the Mojahedin’s bases in Germany, were required to undertake work in the base and take part in fund-raising activities, collecting money in the street. At the same time, the Mojahedin were abusing every possible avenue of Social Security in Germany in order to claim benefits for these children. Documents in Germany showed that ten to twelve million Marks had been used by the Mojahedin to buy weapons. Considering that a Social Security claim of 130 – 260 Marks could be made per child per day, this is a conservative figure of the amount that the Mojahedin collected on account of these children. [5]
Of course, MKO’s situation in other European countries is just the same. Its proscription as a terrorist group in England makes it even worse and erects impassable barrier since England, as a member of European Union, has adopted strict rules against terrorist threats under its enacted Terrorism Act. Besides, any asylum granted to MKO by the European countries raises suspicions on their claim of their engage in war against terrorism. Then, will the US welcome the opposition that might be exploited against Iran? Let’s discuss it. References: [1]. Antoine Gessler; Autopsy of an Ideological Drift, Translated by Thomas R. Forstenzer, 2004, p. 103.
[2]. Ibid, 93
[3]. Ibid, 95
[4]. Ibid, 100
[5]. Anne Singleton; Saddam’s Private Army, Iran-Interlink, 2003.
Bahar Irani,December 31, 2007