Missions of Nejat Society

Iranian MEK pay John Bolton, Rudy Giuliani; NBC’s Engel

NBC’s Engel Accuses U.S. of Trying to ‘Provoke’ War With Iran

Appearing on MSNBC Monday morning, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel repeatedly accused the Trump administration of trying to “provoke” Iran into some sort of conflict by sending an aircraft carrier group to the region. He and anchors for the liberal cable channel portrayed the U.S. as a bully getting in Iran’s face.
During the 9:00 a.m. ET hour, Engel told host Stephanie Ruhle: “Well, if you look at the political chess board, right? I think what you’re seeing here with this aircraft carrier is just one piece, and it’s quite a troubling picture when you look at it as a whole.” Ruhle urged him on: “Paint it.” Engel continued: “It seems like this administration is trying to paint Iran into a corner, maybe even provoke some sort of conflict with Iran.”
The reporter argued that the U.S. ship deployment was “a very provocative action” and “very threatening” to Iran. Ruhle interjected: “Isn’t that like me going one inch away from your face going, ‘Hit me. Come on, hit me’?” Engel agreed with her school-yard characterization: “More or less, yes.” He reiterated her comments: “…it’s putting your face one inch from Iran and saying, ‘I’m doing this so that if don’t hit me – or if you hit me, I can hit you right back.’”
Referring to increased U.S. economic sanctions against Iran, Engel worried: “You’ve just taken Iran’s ability to earn a living, support itself, by tightening these sanctions.”
Wrapping up the discussion, Ruhle fretted: “On a one to ten scale, you being someone who has covered the Middle East for years, how concerned are you about the recent actions from our administration towards Iran, in terms of creating real conflict?” Engel replied by suggesting Trump would start a war for political benefit ahead of the 2020 election:
I think probably about a five at this stage. There’s a lot of time between now and the next elections, so just under two years we’re looking at. That’s enough time. That’s enough time to find some sort of provocation, go onto a conflict footing, which may have an impact on the political conversation in this country….it’s a troubling picture. I’d put it at a five, but we’ll see.
Appearing again in the 11:00 a.m. ET hour, Engel warned: “So then why is this aircraft group going there? Is it to deal with a specific threat?…Or is it for some other reason? Potentially to provoke Iran.” Fill-in host Yasmin Vossoughian eagerly seized on his comments: “Let’s go with that, let’s go with what you just brought up….this idea that this could be a provocation to provoke Iran, to have Iran walk in – sort of walk into a conflict.”
Engel began noting that Iranians were already seeing it that way, prompting Vossoughian to jump in: “That’s how they’re spinning it.” Engel objected to the term “spinning”: “They are perceiving it, I don’t know if they’re spinning it.” He then proclaimed:
…they think this is a trap that is being set for them. And they are not taking the bait….what they think is happening is that the United States is trying to pick some sort of fight, and is doing a provocative action, floating this flotilla right near Iran with the hopes, according to the Iranian interpretation, that it will incense them and start some kind of shooting conflict.
When the U.S. takes action against one of its enemies, and the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the media still find a way to make Iran look like the victim.

Here is a full transcript of the May 6 exchange with Ruhle:

9:12 AM ET
STEPHANIE RUHLE: Now we need to head overseas. The U.S. sending an aircraft carrier, warships, and fighter jets to the Middle East as a, quote, “unmistakable message to Iran’s regime.” But so far the White House is not saying exactly what prompted the move. Here’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talking about it overnight on a flight to Finland.
MIKE POMPEO: It’s something we’ve been working on for a little while. It is absolutely the case that we’ve seen escalatory actions from the Iranians and it is equally the case we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests.
RUHLE: Richard Engel, NBC’s chief foreign correspondent, my lucky day, joins me here in New York. Richard, I’m so glad you’re here because this means a lot. What exactly is the White House doing?
RICHARD ENGEL: Well, if you look at the political chess board, right? I think what you’re seeing here with this aircraft carrier is just one piece, and it’s quite a troubling picture when you look at it as a whole.
RUHLE: Paint it.
ENGEL: It seems like this administration is trying to paint Iran into a corner, maybe even provoke some sort of conflict with Iran. So take it one piece at a time. So you’re seeing this aircraft carrier floating near Iran. That’s a very provocative action. If you’re in Iran, that’s a very threatening thing. Then, why –
RUHLE: Isn’t that like me going one inch away from your face going, “Hit me. Come on, hit me”?
ENGEL: More or less, yes. And then, the reason the White House is saying it, and anonymous defense officials, is that they say this is to prevent Iran from carrying out an attack. So to go back to your analogy, it’s putting your face one inch from Iran and saying, “I’m doing this so that if don’t hit me – or if you hit me, I can hit you right back.”
Then look at another piece on the chess board. The U.S. just increased sanctions on Iran, tightened sanctions on Iran, denying Iran to really sell its oil around the world, threatening Turkey, India, China with sanctions if they do any business with Iran. So you’re floating this aircraft carrier in front with the threat that, “Should anything happen to American interests in the region, we’re gonna whack you.” You’ve just taken Iran’s ability to earn a living, support itself, by tightening these sanctions. Even though the rest of the world says that Iran is complying with the old nuclear deal.
Then another chess piece. Look at the timing. This come right after the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu got reelected by the skin of his teeth. And the Saudis would like this and the Saudis are very close to the Trump administration. Bolton is an Iran hawk, who was giving speeches for the MEK –
RUHLE: Okay, stay on this for a moment. Help me understand John Bolton as he relates to Iran.
ENGEL: So there are several Iran hawks, people in this administration who have for years been speaking about, been advocating for a hard line against Iran, if not direct violence against Iran and regime change in Iran. Rudy Giuliani has been one of them. John Bolton has been another. And they have spoken at gatherings sponsored by the MEK. The MEK used to be a terrorist organization, it was taken off the terrorist list. Iran certainly considers it a terrorist organization. And you go to these speeches, generally the MEK gives you money to appear at these speeches, and you talk about regime change in Iran. And Bolton and Rudy Giuliani have both been deeply tied into the MEK, and both have said that they don’t – have not disclosed how much they’ve ever taken in financial remunerations from the group.
RUHLE: On a one to ten scale, you being someone who has covered the Middle East for years, how concerned are you about the recent actions from our administration towards Iran, in terms of creating real conflict?
ENGEL: I think probably about a five at this stage. There’s a lot of time between now and the next elections, so just under two years we’re looking at. That’s enough time. That’s enough time to find some sort of provocation, go onto a conflict footing, which may have an impact on the political conversation in this country. But if you look at this administration, which is so close to President Trump personally, so close to Israel, so close to Saudi Arabia, Bolton and others in the inner circle, this warship going there, tightening sanctions on Iran even though the rest of the region – the rest of the world said Iran didn’t do it, it’s a troubling picture. I’d put it at a five, but we’ll see.
RUHLE: Putting it at a five, a troubling picture. Again, we’re so fortunate that the expert is here, Richard Engel.

Newsbusters.org

May 8, 2019 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

The great gathering of Nejat families

Families gathered together at the invitation of Nejat Society office of Tehran branch and the “Mothers, Forgotten Victims” association on the occasion of New Iranian year.
Mr. Ebrahim Khodabande welcomed the families. The executive director of Nejat Society defined the establishment of “Mothers, Forgotten Victims” association. He also outlined the agendas of the Nejat Society for the New Year.
Ms. Soraya Abdollahi whose son is captivated by the cult of MKO and Mr. Bakhshali alizade – former member of the cult answered the families’ questions and defined the situation of MKO members in Albania.

Nejat Society meeting - Tehran

April 23, 2019 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

A three-day Meeting of Nejat Families

The grand gathering of families held at the Nejat Society office of Azerbaijan Province on Wednesday March 6 to March 8, 2019.
Former members of the MKO Cult also attended the meeting, giving answer to the families’ questions on the group’s situation at Albania and how they can help their beloveds getting themselves free.
Mr. Saadollah Seifi and Mr. Bakhshali Alizade who defected the group in Albania as well as Mr. Ali Ekrami who separated the group in Iraq were among the defectors who attended the meeting.
The families also talked to Mr. Parviz Heidarzade. Mr. Heidarzade is among the MKO defectors who defected the group in Albania and lives there.
The attendees cheered as the defection news of a new member in Albania was declared.
The families decided to get their complaints to the UN and Red Crescents’ office in Tehran.

March 12, 2019 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Handling Of Iran Is Juvenile. MEK the darling of Trump Admin

While we have been focused on domestic politics, some of what this Administration has been doing abroad poses serious risks. The Administration has been trying to make Iran the devil behind everything we don’t like and threats have been flying back and forth. That has many of us concerned about where we are going.

The MEK has been the darling of the Administration as a potential successor to the mullahs because they both dislike the Iranian regime. Never mind that the MEK objected when Khomeini decided to release the hostages, that it has been a terrorist organization and killed Americans. Never mind that it has no support in Iran because it backed Iraq against Iran in a war that left 300,000 Iranians dead, and never mind that human rights organizations have documented its abuses. Never mind that Iranians despise the MEK’s version of Islam because it is “worse than the current mullahs.” But it is apparently enough that it dislikes the mullahs regardless of what might happen if they actually tried to take power in Iran, mirroring the tragedy of the second Bush war with Iraq.

Our handling of Iran is both juvenile and dangerous.
We, in this country, are very upset that Russia may have interfered in our elections. Yet we behave dismissively about the American engineered coup d’etat that removed the democratically selected prime minister of Iran and brought the Shah back.
That was a while ago but it led directly to the taking of hostages 26 years later. Everyone in Iran knew that American staff inside the Embassy had reorganized a failed coup d’etat, ended democratic government and brought monarchy back. So yes, the Iranians violated international norms by storming and seizing the Embassy, but would we do less if we believed that Russia was organizing a coup in their Washington embassy? Or would it have been our patriotic duty to stop it by any means necessary?
Yet all the enmity between Iran and the US stems from those two events and we don’t seem to be able to get past it. Iran tried on several occasions to reestablish a decent relationship with the US. It offered to negotiate the full panoply of differences between us. But no president before Obama was willing to deal with them. It was considered unpatriotic even to talk with Iran.
We changed the balance of power in the Middle East by defeating Iraq, leaving Iran the sole major local power and target because power in the region had become unbalanced. This country then worked to complete their local isolation, refusing to include them in regional meetings and arrangements. Their relationship with Israel had been fine and productive until we tried to squeeze them out. Like Germany in NATO, Iran could easily have been included in regional security arrangements. It could and would have become a much better friend than the likes of the Saudis.
But we got furious at every step, shaking fists, making threats, even threatening war, instead of using our heads to create a peaceful Middle East. It’s been much like a fight between kids in a sandbox except that all the kids have powerful weapons. Some presidents need to grow up, for the sake of our fellow citizens.
Tyrants want enemies to vilify in order to unite the country behind them instead of against them. It’s also a distraction from the embarrassments of domestic politics. But warlike behavior can get out of hand, leading some young men to their deaths and families to become refugees. Getting people to unite behind an unpopular president is a sick reason for people to go to their deaths.

Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
Stephen Gottlieb, WAMC, Morning Edition,

January 31, 2019 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Iranian families of terror victims condemn Denmark’s support for terrorists

TEHRAN – Iranian families of terror victims denounced Danish government’s support for terrorist and separatist groups in an open letter to the Ambassador of Denmark in Tehran.

Danish government’s sheltering of some anti-Iran terrorist groups including Khuzestan separatists was strongly condemned in this letter.

Read the full text of the letter below:
December 18, 2018
His Excellency Ambassador Danny Annan,
The Embassy of Denmark,
You’re Excellency,

On behalf of families of Iranian victims of terrorism, we are writing to you on the occasion of the dreadful terrorist attack in Ahvaz on September 22, 2018, which led to the death and injury of nearly 100 Iranian citizens.

Since the victory of the Iranian Revolution in 1979, our country has been a victim of high volume of subversive acts and terrorist operations in which more than 17,000 citizens have been killed and thousands of others have faced permanent injury, in addition to the destruction of the country’s infrastructure.

With the government’s all-round combat with terrorist groups in the early years after the Revolution, part of them were destroyed and another part were weakened. So, with the support from some regional and Western governments, these groups began relocation of their headquarters to those counties and from there, they started planning to commit terrorist operations in our country; an action that unfortunately still continues.

Among the European countries that put their territories at the disposal of these violent and terrorist groups, Denmark is also existed.

Dear Honorable Ambassador,

Unfortunately, your country has a bad record in harbouring Iranian terrorists, dating back to a few decades ago when you sheltered the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, a.k.a MEK, NCRI, PMOI, etc.), a group that was designated as a terrorist organization by some Western countries and the European Union. To this, one could add the hosting of Khuzestan’s separatist groups.

In addition to separatist acts, these criminal groups have also carried out massive terrorist operations; a measure that further clarifies the depth of the catastrophe of Copenhagen’s support for them.

The attack on the Iranian Embassy in London and the hostage taking of embassy staff; bombings in Ahvaz, Abadan and Dezful Governorates; bombings in Ahvaz’s Management and Planning Organization; bombings in Housing and Urban Development Organization of ; bombing Sugarcane Development Company of Khuzestan; Explosion of Abadan oil pipelines; bombing of the Khuzestan Natural Resources Directorate; bombing in Naderi avenue of Ahvaz; bombing of Saman Bank, Kian Pars district of Ahvaz; and armed attack on the tourist buses in Khouzestan province named ‘Rahyane Noor’, are parts of the terrorist crimes of separatist groups living in Denmark such as the ” Harakat al-Nazal al-Arabi li-Tahrir al-Ahwaz”.

To these you should add meetings and planning measures for sabotage and assassination inside Iran, the last of which, till this moment, has been the above-mentioned terrorist attack in Ahvaz on September 22, 2018, which these groups have claimed responsibility for.
Clearly without the Danish support for these groups, they could never freely operate and engage in planning terrorist and subversive acts. Therefore, this is the right of families of people who have fallen victim to the terror attacks and violence carried out by these groups, to point the finger at the Danish government.

Regardless of the terrorist history of these groups, your country has put its territory at the disposal of them; an issue that implies Denmark’s support for their actions in the killing of hundreds of Iranian citizens.

Your Excellency,

Our question to you is that if the terrorist attack on the parade of the armed forces of Iran on September 22 was carried out against the citizens of your country, what kind of actions would you put into your agenda? Would you still deal with the elements of that terrorist group with negligence? Basically, what types of actions would your government put on its agenda? Public opinion in Iran is looking forward to hearing your answer.

Dear Mr. Ambassador,

Families of victims of terror attacks committed by terrorist groups residing in Denmark, especially the survivors of the recent incident in Ahvaz, with the help of a number of lawyers, have filed lawsuits against the perpetrators of the incident, and the relating judicial process will begin shortly.

The Iranian people have always sympathized with European citizens in all the terrorist incidents that have taken place in Europe by extremist terrorist nodes in recent years and have condemned terrorism anywhere in the world to anyone. Mutually, they expect your government to respond to this sympathy with the flower branch, not with the support of the terrorists.

Your Excellency,

In the end, we would like to remind you that the failure of the European countries to deal seriously with the ISIL terrorists has led to a large number of terrorist operations in European cities. Terrorism knows neither ideology nor geography. The terrorists who attack innocent people with their psychological problems have the capability to use them anywhere in the world. Therefore, we recommend that you learn from the experience of ISIS operations in Europe and prevent these terror groups from operating in your country.

Sincerely yours,
Habilian Association (Families of Iranian victims of terrorism)

December 27, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

why the MKO has taken your love and family

The family of Mr. Valireza Akbari who is captivated behind the bars of the Rajavis’ cult for many years are the active members of Nejat Society Gilan Branch.

Valireza’s brother wrote a letter to his dear brother. Some parts of the letter reads:

My dear brother,

… my dear Valireza, have you ever thought why the MKO has taken your love, your father, your mother , your spouse and your life?! They want to keep you completely in their own control. They want to make you live as they want… their only wish is to gain power in Iran. They make you believe their lies.

December 2, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Meet MEK: the Terrorist Cult Supported by Trump Administration

Back in 2016 I wrote a piece on this weblog entitled US Politicians Should Stop Embracing the Authoritarian Terrorist Group, MEK, in which I attempted to warn US politicians of being close to People’s Mujahedin of Iran, an extremist Islamist-Marxist group. Since then, two developments have moved to revisit this subject: (1) The US government has gotten much closer to this group and (2) I’ve read a book which has made me realize that they were far worse than what I imagined in my worst nightmares.

In my 2016 piece, I first briefly introduced the group:

What do Americans hate the most? It seems to be Islamic terror group and armed Marxists. The Islamists are the focus of the war on terror now and generally considered the greatest threat to US’s interests, and communists were the big enemy during the Cold War. Also, Saddam Hussein seems to be a great enemy of the US, considering how they went to two wars against him. Then why, one really needs to ask, US politicians who frequently warn against the dangers of Islamic and leftist extremism, endorse an authoritarian terrorist group that are Islamist and leftist militants at the same time, and fought loyally for Saddam Hussein? […] I’m talking about MEK of course. Their name means People’s Mujahedin of Iran. This group has an ideology which mixes radical Islamism and radical leftism. […] This group is worse than the Islamic Republic. It’s worse than radical extremist and conservative elements of the regime, let alone reformists and moderates. They’re much more authoritarian, theocratic, and repressive than any regime in our entire history.

I stand by the assessment that they are worse even than the worse elements of the Islamic Republic. Now, I think they are as bad North Korea’s regime or Pol Pot’s, as bad as Taliban and IS. The reason that my assessment of them has soured this much is a book called Masoud’s Organization, written by Mohsen Zaal, a liberal belonging to the moderate Muslim movement, revealing the repugnant nature of this group. This book is only available in Persian, and it’s entirely based on memos and observations by the former members who have fled it.

In my previous blogpost about the books, I mentioned the things that are bad about this group:

They torture and kidnap their own members to force them to remain and not leave the group. They work in absolute secrecy and have zero transparency. They engage in a Stalinist-level cult of personality for their leaders. They have engaged in many political assassinations and terrorist bombings, one of which killed a group of American citizens. Their media is complete lies, propaganda which rivals the Nazi’s. Not only it’s cult of the personality, it spreads completely fabricated lies. […] When Iran-Iraq War was happening, they defected Iran, joined forces with Saddam Hussein, and even helped him oppress the Kurdish people.

All of this is true, but what I missed was the terrifying proportion of how actually evil this group was. Let us take a look at things mentioned by Zaal in his book about the atrocities committed by them:All individuality is killed among members.

All value is given to following the leader, and not anything else. You should be completely and thoroughly committed to the leader. Your value is not determined based on your rank in the previous iterations of the group or your history of revolutionary struggles, but merely based on how loyal and close to the leaders you are.

No criticism or disagreement with the leadership is allowed, only absolute obedience. If you criticize the leadership, other members will curse at you or beat you up. As you have no individuality outside the leadership, no personal attribute is tolerated. One member, for examples, disfigures his face with a utility knife because his handsomeness is considered an obstacle to true devotion to the leader. Children receive no education except being indoctrinated to the cult’s ideology. Members were completely cut off from the outside world with no phones, internet, or TV, and even reading books is frowned upon.

The members have absolutely no privacy. They’re constantly monitored, even in showers and toilets, and their lockers have no locks. If you don’t have a picture of the leader in your locker, the cult will be suspicious of you. Everything one writes is monitored. Upon joining the cult, all your personal documents (e.g. passport) are confiscated. Members avoid talking to each other, because every word can be used against you later.

Martyrdom is encouraged, and all martyrs are valued because they gave up their lives for the leaders (not the cause). All members are encouraged to commit suicide, whether if they are arrested by the police (Iranian, Iraqi, or European police), or as a part of protests (self-immolation to protest the arrest of Maryam Rajavi). All of these show that they don’t consider human life valuable in the slightest.

All sexuality is oppressed. Uniforms are mandatory, and women’s uniforms include hijab. All cosmetics and accessories are banned. Actions such as combing your hair, removing facial hair for women, wearing loose shoes, rolling your sleeves for women, and having a hand in the pockets of one’s pants are considered “indecent” and “immodest” and punished. Even when it comes to uniforms, wearing new uniforms instead of old tattered ones is considered “bourgeois” and is frowned upon.

Men and women are not allowed to shake hands. They are also not allowed to have eye contact when speaking to each other. Men are not allowed to ever sit next to a woman, especially in a car. MEK’s paranoia regarding sexuality goes to ridiculous extremes: If a woman is sitting on a chair, no man is allowed to sit on the same chair after her unless some time passes and her body’s warmth leaves the chair.

Of course, these limits are not enforced upon Masoud Rajavi, the leader. All MEK women are “his wives”, and he has sex with many of them. These acts are called “salvation dance” and they are defined not as sexual but spiritual and religious acts.

One way to enforce this culture is “confession”, sessions where people gather and lament their own lack of commitment to the leadership and the idea of revolution. In these sessions people humiliate themselves and others, crying and stating that they deserve to be executed. If you don’t come up with an adequate thing to confess, you will be verbally and at times physically attacked by others, who think you are hiding your sins.

Being a religious cult, prayers and fasting are mandatory, and men are required to have mustaches. More importantly, gradually the leaders are elevated to the level of holy figures in the Shia religion. It seems that in recent years he has gone a step further and has called himself the 12th imam, the Islamic messiah, and that is why he has disappeared from the public since 2003 (if the real is not that he’s dead, at least).

Not even the slightest of infractions are tolerated. Even an anti-Rajavi graffiti on the toilet wall is investigated by comparing it to the handwriting of people and imprisonment and torture.

This culture results in an event where all married couples are forced to divorce, because the love of a spouse lessens from the love of their leader and they should have only one love, the leader, no other. The next logical step is also taken: all children are taken away from their parents because parental love dilutes the love pf the leader. When a woman cries as her infant child is being taken away, she is punished for her lack of obedience and exhibiting sadness at the order of the leader.

Likewise, having friends is frowned upon and people are discouraged from befriending each other. People are used to spy on one another and this leads to an atmosphere where everyone is suspicious of every body else. Even having pictures of loved ones is considered bad, and members are encouraged to trade in the pictures of their family for pictures of the Rajavis.

Disobedient members are punished in the most gruesome ways. Imprisonment and torture is rampant, members are tortured by being beaten down or whipped. Some people are kicked on the head with boots. Sleep deprivation, mock executions, and rape threats are also another torture method. One woman was forced, under torture, to confess in public that she was raped by the Iranian police, and then to confess that she wants to have sex with men. When Masoud Rajavi was consolidating his leadership position, he tortured one of the other leaders by cutting off one of his fingers, and then killed him.

If you are accused of a crime, denying it is fruitless because you are just assumed to be guilty, and you will be tortured and put under solitary confinement under metal shelter buildings. You will not be freed unless you confess. Some people were kept there for eight years. There are information of about three people who were killed under torture. Some prisoners were handed to Saddam’s regime. Sometimes people were taken to the border with Iran and were told they can return to Iran, but once they began leaving they were shot in the back and killed.

I hope that you can now understand why the idea of MEK being propped up by the US regime to destabilize Iran is so scary to me as an Iranian, and I hope you can see why I’d never even consider supporting them, because they are worse than even the worst elements of the Islamic Republic, let alone its moderates and reformists.

MEK has always been supported by the US, but it has never been so close to an administration as it is now close to the Trump’s regime. Among people who were very close to the MEK, one, John Bolton, is now Trump’s National Security Advisor, one, Mike Pompeo, is Secretary of State, and one, Rudy Giuliani, is the president’s personal lawyer. These officials have not been shy about flaunting their alliance with the MEK, as Pompeo addressed them, and Giuliani spat on a copy of the Iran Deal in their conference.

Trita Parsi summarizes the closeness of the MEK and US administrations:

Given the MEK’s long record of terrorism, human rights abuses, and murder of US citizens, one would think that senior American officials like Giuliani, Pompeo, and Bolton wouldn’t go near the MEK, let alone fraternize with its members or take its fees. But when it comes to Iran, the usual rules don’t apply.

Even when the MEK was on the terrorist list, the group operated freely in Washington. Its office was in the National Press Club building, its Norooz receptions on Capitol Hill were well attended by lawmakers and Hill staff alike, and plenty of congressmen and women from both parties spoke up regularly in the MEK’s favor. In the early 2000s, in a move that defied both logic and irony, Fox News even hired a senior MEK lobbyist as an on-air terrorism commentator.

Al-Qaeda may treat its members better, but rest assured, neither al-Qaeda nor ISIS has ever rented office space in Washington, held fundraisers with lawmakers, or offered US officials speaking fees to appear at their gatherings. […] At the heart of this improbable-seeming affinity lies a sense of common interest between these anti-Iran fundamentalist, pro-war elements in Washington and Rajavi’s terrorist militia. The US hawks have no problem with the MEK’s terrorist capacities because the group’s utility is beyond dispute—after all, NBC reported that Israel’s spy agency, the Mossad, relied on MEK operatives to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists during Iran and Israel’s secret dirty war between 2010 and 2012.

It’s time for US liberals, progressives, and anyone who supports the idea of human rights to demand action against this terrorist group. The real reason that the Trump regime has been able to freely paternalize with MEK is the fact that there is radio silence in western media regarding them. It’s time to protest and demand the US to stop sponsoring this dangerous cult.

by Kaveh Mousavi, Patheos.com

November 24, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

IRAN BLOG: Bully boy Trump mocks Iranians with ‘GoT’ economic winter meme

Game of Thrones producer HBO responded to Trump’s use of its imagery by saying it”would prefer our trademark not be misappropriated for political purposes”.

Some things require little analysis. Let’s just ask what kind of a jerk would take pleasure in mimicking a Game of Thrones advertising campaign—“Sanctions Are Coming, November 5”—in a way that will have the effect of menacing ordinary Iranians with the prospect of more economic misery.

And let’s be done with it, for the plain fact is that on November 2, without giving any guarantees for supplies of basic foods and medicine, Donald J. Trump announced that in three days’ time all US sanctions removed under the 2015 nuclear deal would be reimposed on Iran.

The referencing of the fantasy TV series’ meme—“Winter Is Coming”—which the HBO TV network and stars of the hit show immediately objected to occurred as the US president warned the Islamic Republic was about to face”the toughest sanctions regime ever imposed on Iran”with the existing sanctions targeting to be expanded to include the country’s oil, gas, petrochemicals, shipping and banking sectors.

The one concession was that eight countries—which various news agency reports said would include Turkey, India, Italy, Japan and South Korea—would not be penalised by the US for continuing to import Iranian oil, although they would be expected to gradually reduce shipments to zero.

According to the IMF, the US sanctions campaign has already plunged Iran into recession, and one might think that a civilised nation would need to form some kind of international consensus before subjecting a country of 81mn people to such distress. But Washington, aside from the vocal support it receives from a few allies such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, is going it alone. The other five major powers that signed the nuclear accord that is supposed to shield Iran from crippling sanctions—France, Germany, the UK, Russia and China—have stayed in the agreement, pointing out that the Iranians remain in full compliance with its measures restricting the Iranian nuclear development programme.

Perhaps, just perhaps, the Trump administration might ease up on Iran a little when the campaigning fever dissolves after the November 6 US midterm elections, but don’t count with it. On November 2, it also emerged that European governments have so far failed to persuade the White House to ensure Iran will remain able to take delivery of basic foods and medicine after the imposition of the blanket sanctions.

“Thousands of patients… at risk”

“There’s no doubt that the lives of thousands of patients will be at risk,” Ahmad Ghavideh of Iran’s haemophilia society told the Guardian by phone from Tehran after the newspaper discovered that the UK, French and German ambassadors to the US made joint visits to the American Treasury and State Departments in September in an unsuccessful effort to persuade the administration to produce a “white list”. Such a list would give clear guidelines on what channels European banks and companies should follow to conduct legitimate transactions with Iran without fear of future penalties.

Humanitarian supplies are officially exempted from the sanctions, but risk-averse foreign banks and companies have in the past steered clear of all transactions with Iran for fear of being penalised. Severe shortages of life-saving medicines and food staples were experienced by the country in the years preceding the 2015 agreement endorsed by Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama.

“We are expecting our American friends to make some gestures on humanitarian goods,” Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to Washington was quoted by the newspaper report as saying. “Of course humanitarian goods are not sanctioned. But the fact is the banks are so terrified of sanctions that they don’t want to do anything with Iran. It means that in a few months, there is a strong risk that there will be shortage of medicine in Iran if we don’t do something positive.”

Official line

The official line from the Trump administration is that this toughest ever sanctions assault has not been engineered to deliver regime change in Iran, but it’s common knowledge among diplomats that White House National Security Advisor and uber-hawk John Bolton believes the regime will collapse.

That, however, is highly debatable. US officials spend a lot of time making the case that the Iranian people are biding their time awaiting outside assistance that will enable the toppling of the powers that be. But if great swathes of the population are so deeply unhappy with the system—a parliamentary democracy vetted and supervised by a theocracy headed by an unelected supreme leader—why is it that the Iranians show such immense enthusiasm come general election time (in the May 2017 poll, centrist and pragmatic President Hassan Rouhani was re-elected with a landslide on a turnout of more than 70%)?

Indeed, so out of touch with the feelings of ordinary Iranians is the Trump regime (apologies for that slip of the key) that its Iran strategy has even included aligning with the cult-like Islamic-Socialist Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK). The MeK has no support of significance in Iran. It is a fringe group which lost out on the spoils after the 1979 Islamic Revolution and achieved deep unpopularity among the Iranian people by taking Iraq’s side in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-88. The last most people had heard of it before Trump’s surrogates started appearing at its rallies was that it had gone into exile in Albania.

Whipping boy

But why dwell on such distractions? One thing is clear right now and that is that Iran has become America’s number one whipping boy (the egregious sins of other players in the Middle East, such as Israel and Saudi Arabia, be damned) and it has a bully pulpit list of 12 demands from US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that it must comply with—or else.

The list—which is in fact by design clearly a non-starter for Iran—includes tighter restrictions on nuclear and ballistic missile development and the reversal of decades of foreign policy underpinned by financial and logistical support for US-designated terrorist groups and regional allies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Shiite militias instrumental in defeating ISIS in Iraq, Houthi rebels in Yemen and President Bashar Assad in Syria.

In Washington’s eyes, even though Iran is in the Middle East it is not allowed to defend its interests in the Middle East. Perhaps it should start taking more of an interest in Venezuela? “They are maximalist demands and no Iranian government would be willing or able to accept them,” Robert Einhorn, a former US official now at the Brookings Institution, told Reuters on November 1.

Trump wants Iran’s government to capitulate or collapse, Einhorn reportedly added, saying: “They are not going to knuckle under. But if the administration began to signal some flexibility … it’s possible the Iranian regime would agree to enter into talks.”

EU’s collective resolve “unwavering”

On November 2, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini issued a joint statement with the British, French and German foreign ministers in which they stated how they “deeply regret” the reimposition of the US sanctions and would continue working on ways of keeping legitimate trade with Iran going.

“Our collective resolve to complete this work is unwavering,” the statement added.

President Rouhani, while pledging that Iran will show resilience, patriotic spirit and ingenuity in resisting the US economic attack, has also spent the past couple of days bracing Iranians for hard times. The Iranian lira has already collapsed and runaway inflation is taking hold. “I cannot even buy rice to feed my children or pay my rent,” elementary school teacher Pejman Sarafnejad, 43, a father of three in Tehran, was quoted by Reuters as saying on November 2.

Unmistakably, the immediate horizon looks perilous for Iran, but while Trump may have the whip-hand at this moment in time, analysts question whether, longer term, the US will emerge the victor having shown such disparaging disdain for multilateralism.

The sanctions, runs the theory, have potentially opened the way for a historic change in the global financial system. If Europe succeeds in creating a financial mechanism for trade with Iran that is separate from the US dollar, other states can start using euros for trade with the Iranians, dealing a blow to US domination of global markets.

Not only that, but Trump’s scorning of international agreements such as the painstakingly negotiated nuclear deal might prompt a shift in international power politics, with other major nations moving for a switch from an American-led system to a multi-polar world. Trump might end up laughing on the other side of his face. At that point, of course, he should be presented with a courtesy copy of Game of Thrones for Dummies.

By Will Conroy in Prague ,intellinews.com

November 3, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Open letter to European Commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs and citizenship

Honorable Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos,

My name is Reza Jebelli. I am a former member of mek and a human rights activist living in Brussels. On June 1981, I was shoot and later arrested by Iranian security service and spent about five years in prison including of two years in solitary confinement. I was working in the financial section of mek in Canada and united states and spent many years in mek Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

I have followed the EU-Western Balkans Ministerial Forum on Justice and Home Affairs in Tirana on October 5th, which have raised a few very important issues.

The Ministers acknowledged that terrorism and radicalization continue to be a common challenge for the European Union and the Western Balkans region.

Considering the mek past forty years records of assassinations and terrorist activities in Iran, Iraq and Europe and as a former member, I must emphasize that mek presence in Tirana and Balkans region is and will be one of the greatest threats to the European Union.

in 2003, French anti-terrorism officers raided a dozen locations northwest of Paris in Auvers-Sur-Oise, the mek headquarter, classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Iran (1997-2012) and initially detained 165 people along with mek leader Maryam Rajavi who right after ordered few members to self-immolation in the street of Europe. ‘The attempts at self-immolation to protest against the arrest of Radjavi are proof of a fanaticism and terrorist group that not respect our laws and our values.

On December 12, 2017, when Maryam Rajavi the leader of mek was in the European parliament, two former mek members who were invited for a conference in the parliament were attacked and injured by Rajavi’s bodyguards when they tried to kidnap Mr. Khoshal and Ebrahimi right front of EU parliament.

At least two of these bodyguards came from Albania with fake documents, which their name has been given to the Belgium police and authorities.

Every day in the street of Tirana, the former members are being harassed by mek in order to prevent them to reveal the true face of this cult. Just recently, an Iranian Canadian national Mr. Mostafa and his wife Mrs. Mahbubeh Mohammadi who travel from Canada to see their daughter Somayeh were beaten by mek in Tirana.

Furthermore, every years mek smuggles many refugees from different camp all over Europe and Balkans region and take them to Paris for their anniversary of arm struggle against Iranian.

Dear Sir,

The Ministers underlined the key importance of the respect of rule of law and the threat of terrorism and here we have this terrorist cult smuggling people throughout European cities.

Despite Mojahedin assertions that the group has abandoned its extreme ideology and now favors a liberal democracy, you could see mek’s action towards its own member which has been disconnected from free world and even they not allowed to see their parents.

Moreover, the Mojahedin’s 40-year record of behavior does not substantiate its capability or intention to be democratic. Internally, the Mojahedin run their organization autocratically, suppressing dissent and eschewing tolerance of differing viewpoints. Rajavi, who heads the Mojahedin’s political and military wings, has fostered a cult of personality around herself. These characteristics have alienated most Iranian expatriates, who assert they do not want to replace one objectionable regime for another.

Let’s not forget, In the period leading up to the revolution and its immediate aftermath, the Mojahedin carried out their strategy of armed struggle. The results included the murder of Americans, support for the seizure of the U.S. embassy, and opposition to the release of U.S. hostages. The Mojahedin are known to have assassinated the following Americans in Iran during the 1970s:

Lt. Colonel Lewis L. Hawkins Killed: June 2, 1973

Air Force Colonel Paul Schaeffer Killed: May 21, 1975

Air Force Lt. Colonel Jack Turner Killed: May 21, 1975

Donald G. Smith Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976

Robert R. Krongrad, Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976

William C. Cottrell Rockwell International Killed: August 28, 1976

In 1981, mek started their armed struggle once again with seven suicide attack among them a fourteen years old girl named Adab Avaz Gohar-.

Reza Jabali Sadeghi, Payvand Rahaee,

October 25, 2018 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Canadian family asks Top Channel’s “Fiks Fare for help: “MEK mujahedeens took our daughter”

For the past 20 years, an Iranian family of Canadian citizenship have been trying to meet with their daughter, who joined the MEK when she was 16.

Today she is 38, but the parents still cannot meet her, although they have tried very hard and went through a lot of dangers to find her.

Mustafa Mohamadi and his wife addressed Fiks Fare for help regarding the situation that they are facing for the past two decades. They think that their daughter has been forced to become part of the organization.

“I and my family we haven’t been able to see Somaieh for the past 20 years. We have been living in Canada and our daughter lived with us until she was 16”, he said.

“We immigrated to Canada in 1994. The mujahedeens brainwashed her. She went to the Ashraf camp to fight the Iranian government. The mujahedeens had told us that my wife’s sister had been executed. My daughter had a very special connection to her aunt. When we were in Canada we used to help the Mujahedeen. We used to collect money for them every weekend. We knocked on doors asking for money to help them. Two years later, when my daughter was 16, a woman came to us in Canada. She was a member of MEK. She spoke to my daughter and told her she had met her aunt. She said she knew about the special relation they had. My daughter had tears in her eyes. She was invited to go to Iraq, to see where her aunt was staying. The mujahedeen member bought two tickets for two weeks. I agreed that she could go for two weeks”, says her father, Mustafa Mohammadi.

According to him, his daughter never came back after this. He and his wife have been asking for help for the past years, but no state institution has helped them.

They even say they received letters, signed by their daughter, asking US troops to intervene in Iraq and let her join her family. Those letters were sent to the Canadian embassy in Jordan, which sent them to Canada.

After this report, Fiks Fare made an inquiry at the MEK organization through an official e-mail. They asked information if Somaihe was at the Manza camp, in Albania. They also requested a meeting with the girl.

The journalists didn’t receive any official answer. They went to the Manza camp to try and meet the MEK representatives. After many attempts, MEK finally responded with an open letter, declaring that Fiks Fare had threatened Somaihe and the members of the Manza Camp. But Fiks Fare has recorded the entire conversation, which makes it clear that the journalists are asking for official information, based on the law.

Fiks Fare asked for an interview, after obtaining the letters signed by Somaihe Mohammadi, who has demanded to meet with her family in Canada on October 17th, 2014.

Today, in a press release, Somaihe refused to meet her parents and called them agents of the Iranian regime. She also confirmed that she was staying with MEK on her free will.

Albania Top Channel TV

September 6, 2018 0 comments

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