Based on the agreements between Albania and US, The Albania government accepted to accommodate 210 members of the MKO in Albania
Mujahedin Khalq Organization
The Majority of Iranian People dynamically care about politics. The recent Iranian Presidential election was the proof to such idea; over 70 percent of the nation participated. Meanwhile, the Russian chess legend Garry Kasparov was leading a virtual voting platform on his website to allegedly give the Iranian people the opportunity to participate what he calls a “free, fair and secure” elections. Although Kasparov’s symbolic virtual voting system missed to involve the aspirations of all Iranians but the results of his “We Choose” campaign demonstrated significant facts about the Iranian’s desire for the future of their country – at least about the aspirations of those 5000 people who had access to voting in that system and also were able to find their favorite candidate there.[1]
According to the results of Kasparov’s survey, Maryam Rajavi won less than 1 percent of the votes, despite the MKO’s active propaganda in the web. The result was not surprising as it was previously widely reported that the MKO does not enjoy the support of the Iranians but it once more proves the MKO’s lack of credibility among Iranians.
Former Pentagon official and a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, Michael Rubin who is the author of the famous article on the history of the MKO ,”Monsters of the Left”, has lately posted a piece on the Commentary Magazine recognizing the MKO as a “Dishonest Cult”. In his new piece, Rubin asserts MKO’s lack of popularity and credibility in its own country. Even though, Rubin’s account of the Iranians’ will is not exactly accurate, it states some sort of truth. Notice how he clarifies MKO isolation among the Iranian community:
“Iranians are politically engaged—even if not within the system—and did not hesitate to talk. Many spoke of their desire for alternatives. Some asked about the son of the late shah, living in exile in the United States. Others would speak more theoretically about a desire for a republic or other alternative. The only thing on which Iranians agreed was their dislike of the Mujahedin al-Khalq Organization (MKO).” [2]
On the other side the group propaganda makes efforts to foist the MKO as the voice of the Iranians. The group’s spokesman Ali Safavi claims that “The world now has attested to the fact that the MEK is a legitimate resistance movement representing the Iranian’s aspirations for democratic change”. they could manage to buy among US officials. ”No longer being considered a terrorist group does not make the MKO democratic,” Rubin believes, “however, as anyone who has ever studied their internal workers can attest." [3]
Referring to the Kyrgyz student Alina Alymkulova’s “interesting diary“ [4] on the MKO’s rent-a-crowd on June 22, Paris, Rubin concludes,” it seems that the MKO leaders must now not only pay speakers to sing their praises, but also the audience members.”[5]
The MKO has so far survived by resorting to such means of misinformation using complicated methods of recruitment and then manipulative mind control system to keep the recruited ones but what about the 76 million Iranians?
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Iranian.com, Results of Kasparov’s "We Choose" Campaign/Iran Free Elections, June 15, 2013
[2] Rubin, Michael, Yes, Mujahedin al-Khalq Is a Dishonest Cult, Commentary Magazine, July 7, 2013
[3]ibid
[4] Alymkulova, Alina, Diary Of an MKO Rent-A-Crowd Demonstrator, Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty, last updated June 30, 1203
[5] Rubin, Michael, Yes, Mujahedin al-Khalq Is a Dishonest Cult, Commentary Magazine, July 7, 2013
Members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI and PMOI) who have been sent from Iraq to Albania in recent months are disobeying the orders of their ringleaders and seeking to defect the group.
In a report today, Didehban Center said that most of the MKO members who have been transferred to Albania from their transit camp in Iraq no more obey their masters and cannot be controlled by their ringleaders.
Didehban Center referred to a recent ceremony in France to celebrate the anniversary of the terrorist group’s armed attack against Iran in 1981, which was broadcast for the MKO members in Albania through video conferencing at a luxurious hotel in Tirana, and said merely 10 people from the 71 MKO members in Albania participated in the ceremony, while others did not show up in a bid to display their opposition to the group’s ringleader Massoud Rajavi and the terrorist group.
Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the group are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly-established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who eventually took the MKO off the US terror list.
The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.
In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.
Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.
++ In a Press Statement, US State Department spokesperson Jan Psaki welcomed the transfer of 30 more Camp Liberty residents to Albania and asked the MEK to cooperate with UNAMI and ICRI interviewers. The statement said, “The United States reaffirms its strong support for the work of UNHCR, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and especially the tireless work of UNAMI Special Representative of the Secretary General Martin Kobler, to assist and resettle Camp Hurriya (aka Liberty) residents”.
++ The MEK have written a letter advising the DoS not to listen to the lies of Martin Kobler and the ICRC because they are agents of the Iranian regime. Commentators have called this a desperate attempt to hide the daily human rights abuses in the camp and delay the release of these hostages. Furthermore, although the US has been instrumental in saving the cult from collapsing from within, and has paid a high price for tarnishing its reputation in this way, at the end of the day the MEK have not been, and will not be, more than a mercenary force whose value cannot rise more than a certain level, and the US cannot expect to have to fight with the UN and ICRC because of them.
++ Sahar Family Association addressed an open letter to Martin Kobler to raise some issues and questions along with some propositions and demands including restoration of contact with the outside world and in particular their families.
++ This week, Mardom TV in Washington had live interviews with two ex-members, Homayoun Kohzadih and Hamid Reza Salmani in France, who explained at length the situation of the MEK who have come to Albania and with whom they have been in regular contact. They also discussed the MEK’s lobbying office in Washington, linking it with the deception surrounding the MEK’s annual celebration of violence and armed struggle on 22 June in Paris.
++ Ex-MEK members were contacted by the new arrivals in Albania. They report that the MEK have dispatched commanders to Albania from Paris headed by Hassan Nayeb Agha, and another, to monitor them and try to pacify them so they don’t run away from the MEK. Except the few known MEK agents among these 30 people from Liberty, the others have not welcomed these two from Paris and have mostly rejected the food and money they brought for them. In this respect Iran Ghalam Association in Germany has urged their families to introduce themselves to international organisations like the UN and ICRC and ask to be connected to their loved ones so they can provide help and support before they become desperate and get misused again by the MEK.
++ Among the 30 new transferees there are three women and Mr Mohammad Eghbal, whose sisters, Atefeh and Eghbat, MEK sympathisers, started a campaign asking the MEK to help people leave Iraq.
++ Long term MEK member Esmail Yaghmai – now married and living in London – demands to know if the mother of his son, Ms Akram Habib Khani, is dead or alive. The MEK responded by swearing at him and calling him an ‘agent of Iranian Ministry of Intelligence’. Many people responded to this on social media with comments and articles saying how disgusted they are with the reaction of Rajavi and the NCRI. On his weblog and in Facebook Yaghmai has said ‘whenever anyone criticises the MEK you bring a member of their family to swear at them, but this time we don’t see her swearing at us. Does this mean she is dead?’ Yaghmai addresses his former wife directly saying, ‘we don’t care what you say against us, but if you can, ask the MEK to allow you to curse us so at least we know you are alive’.
++ A delegation of Faryad-e Azadi Association in Paris – ex members – attended a UNESCO conference in Paris and networked.
++ Mina Assadi, a well known opposition figure, published a short article on her site criticising the MEK and especially the non-Mojahedin members of the NCRI for swearing at Iraj Mesdaghi and using threats and intimidation tactics against people.
++The Iranian government claims it has captured what it calls a “spy ring” working for Israel and Britain which had planned to carry out “sabotage and assassinations” to undermine the impending national elections in the country. Western diplomatic sources maintained the arrests had been stage-managed ahead of the polls for the presidency on 14 June.
++ In an interview for Iran Zanan, Mrs Mir Bagheri describes Rajavi’s desperation and how he has now started sending public audio messages to Iran’s presidential candidates and the Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran. She reminds us that this is the man who, up to a few years ago was fond of saying that a snake will never give birth to a dove, and who, when he went to Iraq, he gave a deadline of six months to topple the regime, but who ever since has had to extend the deadline for yet another six months.
++ An article in French newspaper Figaro says MEK mercenaries are being used in Syria and has quoted an MEP saying there is clear evidence the MEK are working alongside terrorists in Syria and that two of its members were killed two months ago in Allepo in west Syria.
++ There have been many articles exposing Maryam Rajavi’s anniversary celebration of armed struggle in Paris on 22 June. The MEK are trying to buy refugees from any country; Middle East, Asia, Africa, etc. Rajavi has ordered that by whatever means and with an open budget, every association linked to the MEK should bring 1000 people or more – money is not a problem. She has said that ‘the only way we can save Ashraf and take our forces back there is by putting on a good show’.
++ Mehdi Nikbakht from Iran Qalam in Germany has referenced the MEK’s US lobbying office alongside documents detailing the MEK’s murder of Americans and their celebration of 9/11. He points out that the MEK have never said anything against Saddam in all these years, and that they are still part and parcel of the Saddamists. Nikbakht says that lobbying might work to convince those Americans who don’t care about their soldiers being killed, but Iranians and Iraqis know better.
++ On the subject of the Paris gathering, Mohammad Razaghi has published an article explaining how the MEK spend hundreds of dollars to bring lobbyists to praise Maryam Rajavi, but that it has been a long time since they stopped trying to pretend to Iranians. He reminds Rajavi that ‘your money may be used by American lobbyists but your fate is coming nearer every day as the hostages are transferred to third countries like Albania’.
Edvard Termador from Avaa Association published an article entitled ’20th June 1981, start of deadlock in MEK’s struggle’. He explains how the MEK started going wrong and getting weaker and weaker and becoming more and more irrelevant after staging a failed coup d’etat and taking up arms. After that the MEK became cult and joined with the Americans and Israel against Iran.
++ Iran Setaregan in Switzerland has also commented on Rajavi’s annual show in Paris as a celebration of the start of terrorism. It says it is difficult to distinguish between Rajavi paying the likes of John Bolton and Rudi Giuliani as lobbyists from one point of view, while seeing Maryam Rajavi act like a jester or clown to amuse the Israeli lobby in Washington.
++ Mr Ali Jahani has written an open letter to the retired general Phillips, an MEK lobbyist, and reminds us how he was recruited by the MEK even when he was running the TIPF adjacent to Ashraf camp. How he tried his best to make life hell for the residents so they would not leave the MEK.
++ Mohammad Reza Rowhani and Karim Ghassim, two heads of the so-called Commissions of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) published a joint resignation statement. They say they do not want to go into detail, however they have listed a long list of human rights abuses and political mistakes – which are already well documented everywhere else. Apparently they do not want to bring internal affairs into the open but felt compelled to mention a few things they simply couldn’t bear any more. Commentators responded by pointing out that these two individuals represented the last remaining ‘non-MEK’ members of the NCRI and that now there is no way for the MEK’s Washington lobby office to pretend that it does not belong to the MEK.
++ Several articles welcomed the resignation of Rowhani and Ghassim from the NCRI but say they have not explained enough about what is going on inside the cult. In particular Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejat (Rajavi’s former translator, now in France) has said they need to become more involved in rescuing others who they now acknowledge are hostages in Iraq.
++ Ms Nasrin Ebrahimi published an article comparing the life of women in camps Ashraf and Liberty with the way Maryam Rajavi lives in Paris. She publishes pictures which do not need explanation as they vividly contrast the life of the two. She also showed some pictures of herself in the camp and now in Switzerland and has titled it ‘In Your Face Maryam Rajavi!’
++ Mr Maziar Ezzat Panah published his article in the well known opposition site Akhbar-e Ruz (Daily News) titled ‘A look at the psychology of the Internal Revolution in the MEK’ which gives a long detailed explanation of the MEK’s cult practices.
++ Adel Azami a young ex-member, who is a painter and poet, published a personal account called ‘Militia’. He describes one of the brainwashing sessions involving a young recruit who had been separated from his MEK family from childhood and raised by other families and in orphanages and then brought back to Ashraf from a western country. The recruit was being beaten, spat at and sworn at by hundreds of people in a salon for daring to ask his commander for more time to sleep. Azami says that when he saw him the following day he asked ‘they swore at you, accusing you one minute of being a child and the next minute of not being a child anymore. And at one point you smiled and your punishment got even worse. What were you thinking!? The young man replied, ‘I wasn’t trying to annoy anyone, but I suddenly remembered that yesterday was my birthday and I forgot where I was as my mind filled with memories of getting presents and eating cake with my family.
Mohammad Reza Rowhani and Karim Ghassim, two heads of the so-called Commissions of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) published a joint resignation statement.
They say they do not want to go into detail; however they have listed a long list of human rights abuses and political mistakes – which are already well documented everywhere else.
Apparently they do not want to bring internal affairs into the open but felt compelled to mention a few things they simply couldn’t bear any more.
Commentators responded by pointing out that these two individuals represented the last remaining ‘non-MEK’ members of the NCRI and that now there is no way for the MEK’s Washington lobby office to pretend that it does not belong to the MEK.
Several articles welcomed the resignation of Rowhani and Ghassim from the NCRI but say they have not explained enough about what is going on inside the cult.
In particular Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejat (Rajavi’s former translator, now in France) has said they need to become more involved in rescuing others who they now acknowledge are hostages in Iraq.
In an interview with Javan daily, Persian language Iran-based newspaper, Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad reiterated that the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, also known as MKO and NCRI) has been limited and the US and the European countries are interacting with the terrorist group and providing them with unsparing supports.
What follows is a rough translation of the interview:
Javan: After MKO’s relocation to Camp Liberty and the way the group was treated during the transfer procedure, it seems the United States government has somehow agreed with more limitation of the group. On the other side we see the MKO is delisted in the United States and practically, provided with a series of new services! So a contradictory behavior is witnessed here. Recently, countries like Albania have received a number of the MKO members and this is also in contrast with the initial signs of the terrorist group’s limitation. What’s your evaluation of the situation?
Hasheminejad: We should consider many facts here. The MKO was first listed in 1997, but we know that the group’s social activities were never limited by the US or the European countries. For example, while the MKO was still on the list of terrorist organizations, the leaders of the group used to gather some poor and helpless people who were desperate for some money, and organized meetings and gatherings in the Paris suburbs on the anniversary of their armed conflict with the Islamic republic by paying huge amounts of money. There were also some American and European figures who used to participate in those meetings and supported the very same group they had placed on the list of terrorist organizations! They also used to provide the MKO with a lot of financial resources.
This is a fact that has been confirmed by many American and European jurists. The MKO has faced no limits since 1997 whether during or after the Saddam era. I have personally witnessed their activities in some European countries. Their activities are well coordinated in the United States and Europe. Such a situation has been continued from the day they escaped the country, up to right no without any changes.
Javan: What was the reason of MKO’s listing?
Hasheminejad: Listing of the MKO in a specific period of time, was mentioned as a good will gesture towards Iran by the U.S. politicians, which was practically useless. So the MKO was delisted in a similar procedure. Nothing especial took place neither when the group was listed nor when it was delisted. A review on the reports published by FBI, the U.S intelligence agencies and also the French Police, could prove the MKO’s record is filled with various violations of law in the European countries, while not even a single member of the MKO was arrested. I mean the European countries and the United States had provided the MKO exactly the same social freedom that Saddam had provided them to let them continue their criminal acts. The MKO members would easily go into the European Parliament and recruited people to lobby for them. As it was mentioned in the RAND report, I think the US government tried to keep the MKO in Iraq for specific situations and also for acts of sabotage in the country. Even the US Defense Department had released a report before the MKO was delisted, in which the group’s horrible crimes were listed. These documents reveal that MKO has been listed or delisted just to benefit the US interests. The US government doesn’t want to receive the MKO for two reasons: first one is to be able to use the MKO’s terrorist potential in Iraq and the second is that the Americans are well aware that the MKO members are dangerous.
Javan: What is the reason behind the fact that some western governments suddenly changed their minds and started to receive the MKO members in their countries?
Hasheminejad: The United States and the West had no other ways but to act legally following the Iraqi government’s legal pressures during a several year long procedure. So the United Nations was forced to sign an agreement with the Iraqi government and the Europeans let the MKO members in their countries. The informal relocation of MKO members to the European countries had started since their announcement of armed conflict and they have offices in most of those countries. FBI has even announced the MKO has 36 specific places for its activities in the United States. But for being formally relocated, the group needed a legal procedure to be delisted. From one point of view, this is a good thing but from other points of view it is a negative measure. If the plan is to disintegrate the MKO, it should not be delisted. The relocation has got a special legal process. The UN Commissioner for Refugees has defined the relocation process: the terrorist person or organization should be delisted with enough guarantees and the Red Crescent must also guarantee that they won’t return to their terrorist activities and after that, a third country is negotiated to receive them. It is not even necessary to completely delist the whole terrorist group. It is a positive measure since it leads to the MKO’s disintegration but we also condemn their illegal works.
Javan: Don’t you think the MKO was delisted in order to be spread all over the world and have more freedom to do their works?
Hasheminejad:The MKO is free to do anything even right now and this decision is not going to have much impact. Mrs. Clinton cleared this point out in her recent announcement and practically showed how much freedom the MKO has got. She said: From now on, the MKO can transfer their money freely! This show that the MKO was limited only regarding to its money transferring. Of course the MKO used to transfer its money before, too. But it was mainly under money laundering efforts.
Javan: At the moment, how unified do you think the MKO is?
Hasheminejad: It seems they are disintegrating. Some 100 persons have escaped the MKO since 2 or 3 years ago. These defections are moving from the body of the MKO to its leadership level. Out of the 70 women who were members of the MKO’s leadership council and Rajavi deeply trusted them, 3 have defected. Massoud Rajavi’s main translator has also escaped. All of these show that the MKO is on the verge of collapse and its disintegration has accelerated. It was clear from the beginning that this would be their end.
Iraj Mesdaaghi, who has worked in support of the MEK for many years in Europe, published a 230 page open letter to Massoud Rajavi. He asks Rajavi to address this issue of internal dissatisfaction. He has gone into detail about many specific reactions Rajavi has had against current members as well as ex-members like Batul Soltani, Zahra Mir Bagheri and Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad. Rajavi has threatened current members that he has embarrassing information about them and will expose them. Although this 230 page letter falls short of understanding a cult leader, and is still written by someone who is trying to save the soul of Rajavi, but it represents a significant development as the dissent from within is expanding.
After this letter, Rajavi issued a statement in name of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). After swearing at Mesdaaghi and linking him with the ‘agents of the Iranian regime’, Rajavi has banned every member from talking to any media or site which has made any criticism of him (he means independent mainstream media such as the BBC). It is clear to everyone that Rajavi wants to cut such people off and stop the spread of the ‘disease’ of dissent which is already rampant in the MEK and has got out of his control.
Iran Interlink Weekly Digest
MKO fabricates to stop any final solution for resettlement out of Iraq (aka Mojahedin Khalq MEK Rajavi cult)
When Albanian Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, made the humanitarian offer to take about 210 members of MKO residing in a transit camp near Baghdad, many began to consider it a promising sign that could be the beginning of an end to the residents’ sufferings and torments and a miraculous escape from the thralldom of the Rajavis cult. It could be the beginning to promote cooperation of other countries and to pave the way to take more refugees. Alas! No soon had it been announced than was rejected by the Rajavies. In an attempt to provide compelling justification, the group announced it could not accept an offer of asylum for only a small portion of the group. A direct rejection would seem more acceptable than such flimsy excuse as such a transfer is more a mirage than near to reality. The rejection well indicates that MKO never aims to leave Iraq nor is looking for a final solution for resettlement of the members long enslaved physically and psychologically. It seems more a tactic to buy time to impede the gradual dissociation of the organization.
Taken as a typical of MKO, the group did not hesitate to put the blame of a deliberate rejection on others. In a statement issued by MKO in March under ‘Martin Kobler’s disgraceful lies in Security Council’, MKO accused Martin Kobler of deflecting attentions from the main issue, the security of the residents to say, and brazenly claimed to have been the first to come up with the transfer of its members to Albania more than a year ago:
“Kobler misused the humanitarian act of the Albanian government in accepting 210 of the residents for his own propaganda purposes in order to avoid the urgent security crisis and to divert attention from his own destructive role in forcefully evicting the residents and transferring them from Ashraf to the Liberty killing field. This is while the issue of residents’ transfer to Albania has been on the table for more than a year, and the government of Albania had agreed on the transfer of 210 residents in November 2012. At that time, the residents gave the government, the UNHCR and the United States a number 1 priority list of patients and residents who should be transferred first, and have been waiting and are still waiting for their rapid transfer. On March 21, on yet another occasion, the residents’ representative sent the same number 1 priority list to the UNHCR for transfer to Albania. In January, envoys of the Iranian resistance met with senior officials of Albania in Tirana, accepted all the expenses and urged their government to increase the number of residents going to Albania.”
However, it did not take long to see MKO’s lies being exposed. After ending his trip to Iraq, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, made remarks concerning the outright refusal of MKO to accept the offer of resettlement in Albania:
“We had worked out an arrangement with the Albanians to take about 250 people, but then the people in the camp themselves declined to go. So we’re trapped in a kind of round robin.”
However, MKO waged a total media blackout on such disclosures when covering John Kerry’s trip. MKO’s duplicitous behavior is not unknown to those familiar with the rooted hypocrisy in the group. The conduction of disinformation campaign, even if it works on the insiders, undermines public trust in its truthfulness of claiming a democratic resistance. Although it has abused freedom, democracy and its insiders’ devotion for a total organizational hegemony, it will have no other way but to submit under a universal pressure and when it feels it has failed to shape public opinion in its own favor.
A recent survey of Iranian Americans found that only 5 percent support the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, a.k.a. MEK and NCRI).
According to Habilian Association, the survey released late last week by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans (PAAIA), reveals that only 5 percent of a total of 15 percent of Iranian Americans who support opposition groups or figures in Iran support MKO.
The results of this survey truly represent the lack of support for the terrorist MKO group among Iranian patriots who are aware of the MKO’s treasonable acts against the Iranian people and the government of Islamic Republic, including siding with the invader of Iran, Saddam Hussein, during the 1980s and killing and injuring thousands of Iranian innocent civilians.
The extremely long list of MKO’s treasons did not finish in the past decades, but they are actively engaged in anti-Iran struggles.
As Paul Sheldon Foote, Professor at California state university, put it in an interview with Habilian Association, terrorist MKO group is a useful tool for the Israelis “by promoting hatred of Iran, by telling lies about Iran, and by conducting terrorist operations in Iran.”