Brutha News, December 31 2011: ... A security source: thirty members of Mujahedin Khalq escaped camp Ashraf for an unknown place. A number of members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization left their Camp for an unknown place said an informed source in Diyala Province, Iraq. The group members are suffering anxiety and confusion following the decision by Iraqi government to relocate the camp, the source added. The source who is an Iraqi Interior Ministry employee reported the escape of thirty residents on the condition of anonymity. He refused to give further information ... more...
American State Department, December 20 2011: ... QUESTION: Well, I mean, like the North Koreans, are they running around kidnapping people and bringing them to Camp Ashraf? How do you get there involuntarily? How would one get there? AMBASSADOR FRIED: There – well, let me refer you to some of the outside studies that have been written – the Rand Corporation report, for one. Take a look at that, or Human Rights Watch. They’ve described what they think are some of the problems. The MEK denies it. Right now, our concern is humanitarian and getting the people out of Ashraf over to Liberty, and then we’ll deal with the next set of really tough problems, which is repatriation/resettlement of these folks ... more...
Reuters, December 30 2011: ... Martin Kobler, "raised the reported mortar attacks ... with the Iraqi competent authorities, who confirmed that these attacks did indeed take place," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said. The Iraqis "promised to ensure that these attacks cease and to hold the perpetrators accountable," Nesirky said. U.N. officials could not say whether the Iraqi authorities had given any indication of who they believed was responsible for the attacks. In the 1970s the group led a guerrilla campaign against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran but after the 1979 Islamic revolution also turned against Iran's new clerical rulers. It was hosted in Iraq by former leader Saddam Hussein ... more...
Washington Post, December 29 2011: ... The Iraqi government vowed to close Camp Ashraf, home to about 3,400 Iranian exiles, by the end of this year. The exiles, members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, one-time allies of Saddam Hussein in a common fight against Iran, favor the overthrow of the Iranian government. But since the ouster of Saddam they have become an irritant to an Iraqi government that is trying to establish good ties with Iran and sees the group as an affront to Iraqi sovereignty. At least 34 people were killed in April during an Iraqi government raid on the camp. The United Nations on Sunday announced an agreement to move the residents ... more...
BBC, December 28 2011: ... the Government of Iraq and the United Nations have signed a Memorandum of Understanding governing the transfer of members of the PMOI in Camp Ashraf opposition to another place in Iraq as a step toward resettlement outside Iraq. On the other hand, hundreds of Iranians who came from their country to picket at the doors of Camp Ashraf have accused the MKO leadership of detaining their loved ones against their will. They say their relatives wish to leave the organization and the camp... more...
Press TV, Camp Ashraf, Iraq, December 28 2011: ... According to the reports prepared by NGOs and the defected MKO members, the MKO members inside the camp are living in dire conditions and are deprived of their basic rights. “I don't know why the MKO is keeping the people against their will. They are isolating them from the world,” said an Iranian woman who came to see her relative in Camp Ashraf. Iraq, which considers the MKO as a threat to its national security, has agreed to a UN appeal to extend the December 31 deadline to close Camp Ashraf. The MKO is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprising in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds ... more...
Jasmin Ramsey, Lobelog, December 27 2011: ... Under increasing Iraqi pressure to relocate and from human rights organizations urging leader Maryam Rajavi to allow independent access to over 3,000 Iranians at the camp, many feared mass suicide. While that is still a possibility, some progress has been made after the UN convinced Iraq to extend a deadline to expel the members and sign a memorandum of understanding to temporarily resettle them to a former US military base north of Baghdad. The Head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq Martin Kobler said relocation would be voluntary.Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Sunday that the temporary solution had the U.S’s “full support” and ... more...
Faryade Azadi, Paris, December 28 2011: ... We are urging you as a humanitarian organization to condemn the limitations and confinements which the leadership of pmoi has exerted upon the members of this organization and put your international pressure on the leaders of pmoi to respond to the relevant international organizations and Iraqi government requests as well as the families of the Ashraf residents and help the residents of Ashraf to be transferred and conveyed to an appropriate place which they can freely and directly get in touch with relevant humanitarian organizations. We the former members of this notorious and horrifying cult ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, December 27 2011: ... A large number of families of Camp Ashraf residents gathered in front of the Camp, this morning, reported Nejat Society representative. Families of Ashraf prisoners chanted slogans to once more announce their call to visit their loved ones. Local and foreign reporters are present in there in order to broadcast the news of the region. As it was also reported 100 residents of Camp Ashraf are relocated in Camp liberty, a site near Baghdad international airport, today. Families are hopeful to see or at least get news of their children --after years of no news about them-- while they are transferred from Ashraf to Baghdad ... more...
US State Department, December 25 2011: ... We are encouraged by the Iraqi government’s willingness to commit to this plan, and expect it to fulfill all its responsibilities, especially the elements of the MOU that provide for the safety and security of Ashraf’s residents. We welcome the agreement by the Government of Iraq to allow the United Nations to station monitors at this new location around the clock and to observe the move from Ashraf to this new location. In addition, officials from U.S. Embassy Baghdad will visit regularly and frequently. We also welcome the Iraqi government’s willingness to delay the final closure ... more...
Ashraf News, Baghdad, December 27 2011: ... The Deputy Mayor of Khalis said today that 326 members of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist group will be relocated to Camp Liberty near Baghdad Airport in preparation of their deportation from the country.Uday al-Khadran said the operation is scheduled for today, Tuesday December 27.Earlier Mr al-Maliki, Iraq's Prime Minister, announced that the government has agreed with the UNAMI proposal that half of the residents of Camp Ashraf would leave [the UN will remove them from Iraqi land] and the deportation of the rest of them can be delayed for up to four months into 2012 ...more...
ICANA, December 26 2011: ... Top advisor to Speaker of Iraq's Majlis al-Aala Seyyed Mohssen Hakim says that the presence of the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in the country can be defined as an international crime, because the organization is not officially permitted to stay in the country... Parviz Sorouri says no European country is willing to accept the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) because the cost of hosting them will be too high.Sorouri said on Saturday that based on creditable documents, the MKO has committed about 14,000 acts of terror in Iran ... more...
Tony Cartalucci, Landderstroyer, December 26 2011: ... And as moves are being made to get MEK de-listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department so that even more aid can be rendered to this admitted terrorist organization, Seymore Hersh in an NPR interview, also claims that select MEK members have already received training in the US.Quite clearly this reveals that not only is the "War on Terror" an absolute fraud, but so are the politicians, policy wonks, and military "leaders" who have promoted it, pinned medals on their own chests for "fighting" it, and have made immense fortunes and power grabs while burying the American people in unprecedented debt, tyranny, and economic catastrophe in the process ... more...
Aswat al- Iraq, December 26 2011: ... It pointed out that the MOU was signed by the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative in Iraq, Martin Cobler and the Iraqi Council of Ministers' Adviser for National Security Affairs, Faleh al-Fayad. "The United Nation's attention in this issue had stemmed from a mere humanitarian viewpoint, as it had exerted its utmost effort to find out a neutral, peaceful and permanent settlement for the affairs of Ashraf residents conditions," the statement stressed. The statement added that "the MOU respects Iraq's sovereignty and international humanitarian commitments, related to Human Rights, as well as those stemming from ... more...
Press TV, December 26 2011: ... "Two mortars landed on Ashraf Camp and we cannot identify the number of casualties because we are not allowed to enter the camp," said an Iraqi military official Sunday on the condition of anonymity. A statement issued by MKO representatives in the camp confirmed the incident but did not mention any possible casualties. No party has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. The mortar strike comes just days after the Iraqi government agreed to a UN plea to extend by six months a year-end deadline to shut down the headquarters of the anti-Iran terrorist group on its soil ... more...
Joby Warrick,December 26 2011: ... The MEK’s critics are equally forceful. The State Department’s decision to designate the group as terrorists stemmed from a string of attacks in the 1970s, when the MEK established itself as an Islamic-Marxist group that opposed the U.S.-backed rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. After the shah was overthrown, U.S. officials say, MEK leaders supported the taking of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Later, the group split with Iran’s emerging Islamic rulers and went into exile. MEK spokesmen attribute the six American deaths to a splinter group. The MEK was given sanctuary by Hussein and used Iraq ... more...
Alsumaria News, Diyala, Iraq, December 23 2011: ... A security source in Diyala province said on Friday that 10 members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization of Iran (PMOI) had managed to escape from the camp and take refuge in a police station north of Baquba, indicating that the escape was due to their exposure to the "tyranny and injustice" of the leaders of the organization. The source said in an interview for Alsumaria News, "Ten members of the MEK of Iran based in Camp Ashraf or what is known currently as Camp New Iraq... (55 km north of Baquba), escaped today from the camp and took refuge in a police station close by" ... more...
Faryade Azadi, Paris, December 24 2011: ... We know that none of the Ashraf residents have access to the news outside of Ashraf and they do not have any idea about your intent and will and actions which are happening outside of Ashraf garrison for their freedom for that reason the leaders of pmoi can indoctrinate all kind of lies to those stranded members and influence on their thoughts and their decision making. We also know that the pmoi leaders utilize different tricks and deceits to control them ,for that reason we deeply believe that the only way and the only solution to free those captives is to open the gates of Ashraf castle and transfer and convey them to a quiet and calm place which ... more...
Human Rights Watch, December 23, 2011: ... On December 21, 2011,Maliki announced that the closing of Camp Ashraf would be delayed for six months if the MEK agrees to a Memorandum of Understanding for the relocation of the Camp Ashraf residents. However, a December 20 statement from Rajavi, which also agreed to the transfer in principle, set out conditions that have not been agreed upon. Because of the impasse, the prospect still looms that Iraq will stick to its December 31 deadline and use force to close the camp, raising fears for the safety of the approximately 3,200 residents. Human Rights Watch sent letters on December 15 and 16, 2011 ... more...
Press TV, December 23 2011: ... MKO is designated as a terrorist organization under United States law, and has been described by State Department officials as a repressive cult. The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up camp in Diyala Province, near the Iranian border. MKO is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds. The group has also carried out numerous acts of terrorism against Iranian civilians and government officials ... more...
Al Iraqiyah TV, December 21 2011: ... Al-Maliki goes on to say: "We ask some European states why they support them, and, if this falls under the context of a regional conflict, Iraq rejects being a part of any regional conflict." He adds: "That is why we have decided to order the departure of this organization, and we have given them the end of the year as a deadline." With regard to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's request for a six-month extension of the deadline for the departure of MKO from Iraq, starting from November, Al-Maliki said: "We will consider that, but we demand that half of them leave within the deadline, and we will grant the other half the six-month deadline ... more...
Anne Singleton, Middle East Strategy Consultants, December 22 2011: ... While nobody expected the MEK leaders to welcome the families with open arms, and nobody expected the MEK's callous and cynical owners to care for the individual welfare of their gladiators and slaves, it is shocking that even internationally renowned human rights organisations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UNHRC have not uttered a word about this situation. These protectors of human rights may as well have been paid by the Rajavis for their spurious appeals to the Iraqis to 'protect the human rights' the camp's residents. Not one single word of criticism has been said against the Rajavi's blatant and cruel denials of these families' just demands ... more...
Faryade Azadi, Paris, December 22 2011: ... We know for sure that during the past two bloody scuffle between pmoi members and Iraqi forces many of those members got injured and wounded but unfortunately those injured and wounded who some of them were bleeding badly were kept in inappropriate places without enough medical care just because the pmoi leadership wanted to take advantage of them for political and propaganda purposes, and as a result of that some of those injured and wounded members died . For this reason , we who are friends of those stranded members in Ashraf camp and we know them as our family and friends , urge you ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, December22, 2011: Mr. Ambassador of Iraq in Switzerland , My name is Batul Maleki and I am the former member of pmoi( People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran), I am currently living in Switzerland. Mr. Ambassador: There was an anti - monarchy revolution in 1979 in my country, Iran. The people who took over the government then , did not pay attention to the people’s requests and needs so the revolution path was deviated and derailed. At that time the pmoi which its leader became Massoud Rajavi , was eagerly in search of gaining power in the government and as a result of that the pmoi leadership took violent position ...
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BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press, December 21 2011: ... On Wednesday, Iraqi spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the government had worked out a plan to move up to 800 of the residents to a new facility in Baghdad by the end of December. That facility is a former American military base called Camp Liberty. Al-Dabbagh said the rest of the residents would be relocated as soon as possible in January. Once they have all moved, Camp Ashraf would be closed. He said all the camp's residents would then be relocated outside of Iraq by no later than April ... Iraqi guards outside Camp Ashraf say it's the residents, not the security officials, who hurl insults with loudspeakers. They also contend that the residents regularly attack the soldiers with stones ... more...
Josh Rogin, Foreign Policy, December 21 2011: ... Nobody knows how many people are in Camp Ashraf, because nobody can go inside. The residents are also suspected to be well armed. There could be as many as 3,200 people there, according to the State Department. If they are evicted from the camp, some will voluntarily go back to Iran and some will go to other countries. Others still may not actually be MEK members but could be living there for their own reason, making their relocation easier, the official said. The unknown number of "card-carrying members" of the MEK who can't or won't be relocated are the ones who the United Nations and State are trying to move to the new camp ... more...
Jamie Crawford, National Security Producer, CNN, December 21 2011: ... the official said, with that location in "an accessible, not inaccessible part of the country." The plan would be administered by the Iraqi government. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees would process the MEK residents for refugee status, with the U.N. monitoring the entire process from beginning to end. The relocation facility would remain open until all residents are eventually relocated the official said. "It will not in effect be an MEK-run facility, this is an Iraqi facility," the official said, while stressing there would be U.N. monitors present to assure the facility does "not exist in the dark." ... more...
Scott Peterson, Staff writer / December 20, 2011: ... Recent MEK defectors from the camp interviewed by the Monitor say further dramatic acts may take place, as the deadline nears."It's clear to me, [Mr. Rajavi] wants people to get killed, and send it to the media," argues Shahram Heydari, who left the camp two months ago. When the April clashes took place with Iraqi troops, he claims, "I clearly saw they [MEK] were pushing people forward" into the line of fire.Rajavi's "strategy is based on Ashraf," says Mr. Heydari. "He must have the camp to keep power."Several defectors say they believe Rajavi is in the camp. A former member of the MEK leadership council, Maryam Sanjabi, defected ... more...
Ghalam Association, December 20 2011: ... We would like also to mention that all cults need an isolated place with high walls to carry out and implement the brainwashing technique on their members , the Ashraf castle in Iraq and Auvers sur Oise castle in France have provided for such purpose for pmoi terrorist cult . At the end we would like all the French politicians , the former representatives and members of French parliament and the deans of the French universities, according to the pmoi regional and universal threats to pay enough attention to the vital points and facts which mentioned above ... more...
Barbara Slavin, IPS, December 19 2011: ... U.S. officials fear that unless MEK leader Maryam Rajavi gives her approval, there will be a bloodbath at Camp Ashraf, an MEK base 56 kilometres north of Baghdad that Iraqi leaders insist must close by Dec. 31. There are particular concerns that MEK members will clash with Iraqi security forces or commit mass suicide. An Obama administration official who spoke to IPS on condition that he not be named said, "The Iraqi government and U.N. ambassador (to Iraq) Martin Kobler have made significant progress recently" but that MEK leaders have still not signed off on the plan, which would transfer residents in stages to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport ... more...
Fars News, December 20 2011: ... The Egyptian government voiced its strong opposition to a planned meeting of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Cairo and cancelled the convention.The meeting was scheduled to be held this afternoon in Pyramisa Hotel in Cairo, but the terrorist group canceled the meeting after the government of Egypt expressed its strong opposition and did not issue the necessary permission for the meeting. The meeting organized by a number of MKO members in Iraq was aimed at demanding the UN and the international community to urge Baghdad to postpone the deadline for the expulsion of MKO members from Iraqi soil ... more...
Washington Post, December 19 2011: ... the U.S. officials said they were hopeful that if the People’s Mujahedeen agreed to the terms and began to leave Camp Ashraf for the Baghdad location, the Iraqis might extend the closure deadline as a goodwill gesture. The new facility would be under the control of the Iraqi government, unlike Camp Ashraf, but would be under U.N. supervision and residents not wanting to return to Iran or live in third countries to which they have family ties would be able to apply for U.N. refugee status, the officials said. The People’s Mujahedeen has been branded a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, December 19 2011: ... During recent clashes with Iraqi forces, they made us get involved in clashes with Iraqis. They told that the Iraqi soldiers had come there to arrest us and hand us to Iran where we would be certainly tortured and executed. Therefore we thought that we had to fight with Iraqi forces at any cost even our death. Families’ presence in front of the Camp, created hope of a new life in our hearts and the fear of leaving the group and fear of Iraqi forces lowered in our heart. We were relatively assured that outside Ashraf there would be another life. The loudspeakers through which families called their children were our only hope in that prison ... more...
Tehran Times, December 19 2011: ... U.S. officials have announced that the leaders of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) are seeking to put stumbling blocks in the way of efforts by the Iraqi government to close Camp of New Iraq (which was formerly known as Camp Ashraf), the Fars News Agency reported on Sunday. U.S. special adviser on the Camp of New Iraq, Daniel Fried, has said that MKO leaders are trying to prevent the UN envoys from interviewing with the residents of the camp. They are seeking to put obstacles in the process of the expulsion of the MKO from Iraq, Fried added ... more...
Iran Interlink, December 17 2011: ... Three other MEK loyalists have recently left Camp Ashraf and are now somewhere in Europe. The significance of this is that these three individuals are the MEK’s top explosives experts, trained by Saddam Hussein’s army. The three were tracked from Camp Ashraf until they reached Europe where the trail went cold. They are presumably now in one of the MEK’s many European bases. It is known that Massoud Rajavi is still considering whether to launch last ditch attacks on Iraqi and/or Iranian embassies worldwide. Massoud Rajavi is stuck in the bowels of Camp Ashraf. He is ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, December 16 2011: ... The protest rally came one day after Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki rejected a UN appeal for the extension of the year-end deadline to shut down Camp Ashraf, saying that the Iraqi government cannot permit a criminal gang to remain in the country. Baghdad considers Camp Ashraf and its residents as a threat to its national security and insists it is determined to close down the terrorist base by the end of 2011. Camp Ashraf, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) west of the Iranian border, houses some 3,400 MKO members. The terrorist group has carried out numerous acts of terror and violence ... more...
Batul Maleki, Iran Ghalam, Geneva, December 16 2011: ... At this path of digression and metamorphosis,- They caused inter organizational clean up , imprisonment and incarceration and slaying of the dissidents . -The pmoi members were forced to experience the forcible collective divorce. -The children got separated from their parents and they were sent to European and American countries to different families or they were sent to the pmoi different bases. Those children were forced to do forced labor. Pmoi was taking their money ,which was designated to them by the host countries , and they put it in their own pockets ... more...
Ardavon Naimi, NIAC, Washington, December 12 2011: ... But U.S. officials testified before the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee last week that efforts to peacefully resolve the standoff are being rebuffed by MEK leadership. U.S. Special Adviser on Camp Ashraf Daniel Fried said MEK leadership has impeded a refugee resettlement process and interfered with the UN’s ability to conduct interviews with individuals at the encampment. Fried told Congress that the Administration’s efforts have been met “intransigence by Camp Ashraf leadership to agree to any relocation plan other than en masse relocation outside Iraq.” ... more...
Ammar Karim, AFP, December 15 2011: ... And Maliki also said that Iraq's decision to close Camp Ashraf, which is occupied by the opposition People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), is final. "The decision we made is irreversible," Maliki said. He said that a United Nations representative was not permitted to visit Camp Ashraf, and that the PMOI had also refused to implement a UN plan to shut down the camp, saying that this reinforced Iraq's decision. This "means that it (the PMOI) is a criminal gang, and we cannot allow a criminal gang to remain" in Iraq, Maliki said ... more...
Radio Free Europe, December 14 2011: ... Labid Majid Abbawi said the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq will be transferred to another camp until the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) completes the necessary paperwork so that the Iranian refugees "can be sent to any country of their desire." He said they would also have the opportunity to return to Iran. "For those who would like to go back to their own country, to Iran, we have made all the necessary measures -- even an agreement with the Iranian government -- that those people will go on a voluntary basis, will be received, will be pardoned, and there will be no legal action taken against them," ... more...
Washington post, December 14 2011: ... The Obama administration has won Iraqi agreement for a plan that could avoid these outcomes. Overseen by Martin Kobler, the U.N. envoy to Iraq, it calls for the MEK members to be moved to the United States’ former Camp Liberty base, near Baghdad’s international airport, where they would be interviewed and processed by the United Nations’ refugee agency. Interviews would be done individually, allowing each person to state his or her wishes for relocation without intimidation from the group’s leaders. The United Nations would monitor the process to protect against abuses ... more...
International Committee of the Red Cross, December 13 2011: ... The ICRC is prepared to visit anyone from Camp Ashraf whom the Iraqi authorities may detain. We would assess their conditions of detention and treatment, and would help them restore contact with their relatives, through Red Cross messages for instance. The ICRC is already making regular visits to detainees in Iraq, and we would assist any detained persons from Ashraf Camp in the same way. In 2009, the ICRC visited 36 Ashraf residents detained by the Iraqi authorities. In April 2011, the ICRC visited six people arrested in relation with clashes between Iraqi security forces and residents of the camp ... more...
Al- Bayyana, Baghdad, December 12 2011: ... police arrested eleven people on Sunday 11 December in the Khalis district who were of different nationalities, all with fake IDs. They were arrested while in vehicles which were masquerading as governmental vehicles coming out of Camp Ashraf. The source, who declined to be named at this point of time, said that two of the suspects where U.S. citizens and three of them were members of the Mojahedin Khalq, all speaking fluent Arabic. The remaining six were former (Saddamist) Iraqi army officers, all dressed in uniforms of the Iraqi army. The source confirmed that the U.S. embassy had intervened and ... more...
Iran Interlink, Camp Ashraf, Iraq, December 11 2011: ... they are standing beside the grave of their former torturer. Both men were sent to Abu Ghraib political prison by Massoud Rajavi after extensive imprisonment, isolation and torture inside the MEK’s own prisons failed to force them to submit to Rajavi. Rafi’ee Nejad frequently visited them even when they were in Abu Ghraib. They were released during the fall of Saddam in 2003. There were over 50 registered ex-MEK prisoners in Abu Ghraib at that time labelled as a group as ”Mojahedin Deposits”. Remembering the brutality of Rajavi’s torturers and prisons, both victims of Rajavi and Saddam prayed for forgiveness for their torturer ... more...
Dr. Nouri al-Maliki, PM,Washington Post, December 05 2011: ... Iraq will not allow itself to become a source of disruption to friendly countries. The residents of Camp Ashraf have caused a great deal of controversy here and in the United States. I would like to see this complex issue resolved peacefully and with the help of the United Nations. The camp’s residents are classified as a terrorist organization by many countries and thus have no legal basis to remain in Iraq. No country would accept the presence of foreign insurgents on its soil, but we will work hard to find a peaceful solution that upholds the international values of human rights ... more...
Press TV, December 10 2011: ... Hundreds of Iraqis have taken part in a protest rally to demand the expulsion of members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) from their country, Press TV reports. The protesters rallied outside the notorious Camp Ashraf in Diyala Province on Friday where the MKO has been based since the early 1980s, urging the Iraqi government to close the camp and expel its members from Iraq. A number of Iraqi clerics and tribal leaders were also among the protesters who carried banners with anti-MKO slogans and condemned the terrorist group's presence in their country ... more...
Iran Interlink, Camp Ashraf, Iraq, December 09 2011: ... Families of MEK hostages are met with the violent resistance of Rajavi's loyalists as they approach the perimeter fence to try to engage with camp residents. Rajavi's loyalists are dismayed as families read out the testimonies of victims of Rajavi's sexual exploitation. The MEK response is to drown their voices with their own propaganda. Rajavi describes the families as an existential theat to the continuation of his cult. The families only want to find their loved ones after years of separation. Rajavi's only response it to drive them away with violence and hatred ... more...
Press TV, December 08 2011: ... The Iraqi ambassador to Iran says Azerbaijan and a number of other countries have agreed to receive nearly 900 members of the terrorist group of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO).“Necessary measures are being taken through the cooperation of the Red Cross and Iraqi officials to transfer these individuals,” Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh told ISNA on Tuesday.“The decision to expel MKO from Iraq has been taken by the government and this decision is irreversible, and non-extendable,” the Iraqi envoy added. “Unfortunately countries that support these people do not take serious measures to take them in,” he noted ... more...
Fars News, December 08 2011: ... "The sole option for the members of the MKO is to go out of Iraq. They will have no other option," Acting Deputy of Iraqi Foreign Minister Labid Abawi told FNA on Wednesday. "The Iraqi government's decision on the case is definite and the decision has been made based on the country's constitution because based on the law no armed group is allowed to be present on Iraq's soil," Abawi noted. Earlier, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said that Baghdad will definitely expel the terrorist group from Iraq's soil by the near future ... more...
AFP, December 6, 2011: ... “In order to find a durable solution for the camp residents, it is essential that potential third countries indicate their willingness to receive them for resettlement,” Ban said. Iraq’s UN ambassador, Hamid al-Bayati, also called for international help to close the camp. “I would like to assure the Security Council that my government doesn’t want to force anybody to go back to Iran,” he said. But Bayati said the camp residents were preventing Iraqi forces and government officials from entering. “We don’t know exactly what is going on.” “We cannot allow any group inside Iraq which will attack neighboring countries ... more...
Iran Didban, December 05 2011: ... Frustrated of their inability in abuse of the Europe Union, Maryam Rajavi says in this regard: "Hiding behind the "Iraqi sovereignty" to justify the indifference toward crimes of this government against Ashraf absolutely is unacceptable." Now, MeK seek to counter Iraqi government and create conflict at the end of the deadline. From now, MeK leadership is preparing the troops to sacrifice, also he is inducing them that being Ashrafi means that never will we retreat, even one step; and with our deaths, we force the Iraqi government to withdraw. However, until last week, he was promising the desperate forces that the US, the UN, and the EU will protect them ... more...
ADVT, December 05 2011: ... Revealing the sufferings of the families of terrorism victims, Association for Defending Victims of terrorism intends to prevent the innocent men and women from being deceptively recruited by terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Mojahedin-e Khalq. The deplorable situation of 1000 female residents of Ashraf Camp hurts the hearts of all liberals and women’ rights supporters. Therefore, we would like to ask your Excellency to immediately take the necessary steps for returning the imprisoned women of MKO to the bosom of their society and family and avoid their further brain washing by the cruel leaders of Mojahedin-e Khalq cult ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, December 04 2011: ... On Friday December 2nd, 2011, three residents of Ashraf Garrison escaped their headquarters and submitted to Iraqi forces. They then joined the families picketing in front of Camp Ashraf, in Azadi installation. Family members of one of the defectors were among the picketing families. He said that he had heard his sister’s voice via loudspeakers and had recognized her. Thus he was encouraged to endanger his life and ran away. The defectors said that a lot of Ashraf residents are waiting for an opportunity to flee the camp and set themselves free. The names of the new separated members will be soon published if they are willing to ... more...
Iran Didban, December 04 2011: ... But this is the fact that, beyond the warmongers' Interactions with the MEK, there has been a secret and illegitimate agenda in the US diplomacy (Regardless of the factional administrations) to use MeK against Iran. This illegal procedure causes that despite the anti-terrorism laws and consequences of support for a terrorist group, the campaign to support this group carry on its work. The support of persons likes James Woolsey and Porter Goss, former CIA chiefs, or Luis Freeh, former head of the FBI, Indicates the existence of such a policy in the United States government. Their direct reference to such program of course includes ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, December 03 2011: ... Richard Silverstein a journalist and blogger whose articles appear in Haaretz, The LA Times and Al Jazeera, writes “I’ve been able to confirm with enough certainty to feel comfortable publishing the report from Iranian media that Gholam Shakuri, the alleged Iranian revolutionary Guard co-conspirator in the Iran terror plot, is a member of the Mujahedin al-Khalq (MEK/MKO). This is the group which engages in acts of terror within Iran in order to overthrow the regime. It also collaborates with the Mossad in spreading disinformation about the Iranian nuclear program.”[5] Silverstein finds that according to the MKO’s history ... more...
Renee C. Behinfar , American thinker, December 02 2011: ... The camp is currently surrounded by tanks and Iraqi military forces; residents fear another attack prior to the December deadline. But the looming possibility of a full-blown massacre or mass suicide has given Massoud Rajavi yet another opportunity to further his personal agenda.The Iranian community needs to consider making an effort to unshackle the minds of MEK supporters through forgiveness and education about the consequences of thought reform. As a clinical psychologist, I know that no one is immune to the kind of manipulation executed by Massoud Rajavi ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, December 01 2011: ... when a number of hawkish EU member states realized that they cannot sanction Iran's oil due to the opposition of several members and the serious repercussions of such a move on their own and the global economy, they started discussing support for the terrorist MKO to pressure Tehran. The bloc is seeking to rescue the group's members who mostly reside in Northern Iraq. The MKO's main training camp, known as Camp Ashraf, houses about 3,400 MKO terrorists although many of them are dissident members who intend to defect the group and are kept in the camp despite their will ... more...
Europolitics, November 28 2011: ... High Representative Catherine Ashton will urge member states to take in some of the Iranians who are settled in the Ashraf refugee camp in Iraq, according to an EU official. The diplomat said that the EU was looking at ways to take in some of the refugees who have strong ties with member states, as the Iraqi government announced it wanted to close the camp before the end of the year. The camp was established under Saddam Hussein's regime during the Iran-Iraq war for the military training of the main opposition People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) ... more...
Human Rights Watch, November 30, 2011: ... Both sides should allow the more than 3,200 Iranians at Camp Ashraf, in Iraq, to move to a protected location under UN supervision before the Iraqi government’s December 31, 2011 deadline for closing the camp, Human Rights Watch said. And both should allow the UN refugee agency sufficient time to conduct private and confidential interviews with each person to assess their refugee claims. “With each tick of the clock, the danger to camp residents grows,” said Bill Frelick, refugee program director at Human Rights Watch ... more...
Iran Interlink, Baghdad, November 30 2011: ... Massoud Khodabandeh, from Middle East Strategy Consultants th book ‘The Life of Camp Ashraf – Mojahedin-e Khalq Victims of Many Masters’ to the Conference. The book places the MEK in the context of its foreign ownership and concludes that these owners have invested heavily in the MEK’s ability to commit acts of violence and terrorism, and that this is the reason for western resistance to closing the camp. The book particularly highlights the MEK’s refusal to allow residents of the camp to have contact with their immediate families as a fundamental human rights abuse of every person in the camp ...more...
Habilian Association, November 29 2011: ... Judge: "This number is from Belgium and belongs to Mussed, what is your explanation of this?” Mohammad Ali Husseini: "I am in touch with Mohammad Alizade, one of the MKO officials, but it was not proven to me that the number belonged to Mussed. Judge: "You were also contacted by a number from England in 2008 which belongs to Mussed.” Mohammad Ali Husseini: "This number belongs to the MKO.” Judge: "Do you think there is any connection between MKO and Mussed?” Mohammad Ali Husseini: "Yes. This group has been working with Israel for years and it has had wide collaborations with Mussed.” ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, November 29 2011: ... Testimonies made by former MKO members reveal an immense pressure on many residents of Camp Ashraf who want to escape but are afraid and unsure of the future. They say scores of members have recently been killed by the organization and that MKO guards open fire on defectors before they can exit the camp. The MKO is notorious for carrying out numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and officials, and collaborating with Saddam in the bloody repression of the 1991 Shia Muslims in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds in the country's north ... more...
Iran Interlink, Baghdad, November 25 2011: ... Mr Adnan Al-Shahmani, head of the Parliamentary Committee to oversee the expulsion of the MEK announced in the Conference that the deadline would not be extended and that the camp will be closed by the end of the year. He also explained that the Iraqi Judiciary had issued its final verdict that the camp should be closed... Mr Al- Shahmani also criticized the West for its silence toward the crimes committed by the group against civilians, and asked international communities not to remain silent in the case of the abuse of the rights of the families of the victims of the MEK ... more...
Press TV, November 28 2011: ... The United States is mulling over removing the anti-Iranian Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from its terrorist watch list and giving refuge to its members, a move which indicates Washington's support for terrorism. Former CIA directors James Woolsey and Porter Goss together with former FBI director Louis Freeh are among those lobbying President Barack Obama to delist the MKO from the US terrorist list, The New York Times reported. Others include former attorney general Michael Mukasey, President George W. Bush's first homeland security chief Tom Ridge ... more...
Iran Didban, November 28 2011: ... The deadline set by the Iraqi government to close Camp Ashraf by the year end should be respected. On Sep 23, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings, Iraqi FM had a conversation with Mrs. Ashton. In the past 2 months, he has sent 3 letters in this regard to Mrs. Ashton. These letters describe Iraqi government's decision to close the camp by the end of 2011. The international society knows this group as a terrorist organization. According to the constitution of Iraq, MeK presence is illegal ... more...
Ali Akbar Rastgoo, Aawa Assosiation, Germany, November 28 2011: ... To prevent such a bloodshed we are convinced, that it is necessary to offer the Ashraf residents the contact to their families and the “real world” outside the organization and the gates of Camp Ashraf, to reveal them alternatives to the violent fight for Camp Ashraf, which they presumably do not beware of because of the PMOI propaganda and indoctrination. We want to give the people in Camp Ashraf the possibility to recognize, that they can decide on themselves, if they want to get back home to their families, or try to get asylum ... more...
Scott Shane, New York Times, November 27 2011: ... Ali Safavi, who runs a pro-M.E.K. group in Washington called Near East Policy Research, says the money comes from wealthy Iranian expatriates in the United States and Europe. Because “material support” to a designated terrorist group is a crime, advocates insist that the money goes only to sympathizers and not to the M.E.K. itself. Congress has taken note of the campaign. A House resolution for dropping the terrorist listing has 97 co-sponsors, including the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, November26 2011: ...Members of the MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where they enjoyed the support of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up Camp Ashraf in Diyala near the Iranian border.Conference participants criticized the US for its failure to help put an end to the presence of the terrorist group in Iraq. “Unfortunately the American forces have failed to dismantle this camp and have left it on the hands of the Iraqi government. I thank the Iraqi government for their patience; I thank the Iraqi people for their patience,” said head of the Middle East Strategic Delegation Massoud Khodabandeh ... more...
Iran Interlink, Diyala, Iraq, November 23 2011: ... Massoud Khodabandeh heading the delegation thanked the Government of Iraq and asked the Governor of Diyala and the General to help inform the people trapped inside about their rights and to counter the lies given to them by the hostage takers and cult leaders. Ms Abdollahi on behalf of the families asked for help and for care to be taken when dismantling the camp to institute particular safeguards to protect the relatives of the picketing families. Ms Sanjabi, (formerly a member of the MEK Leadership Council), who managed to escape some months ago, explained ...more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, November 19 2011: ... In a conference organized by the Iraqi Center for Media Development, a number of Iraqi officials and ordinary people came together in capital Baghdad to talk about the issue. The expulsion of the MKO members as scheduled was the main point the attendees agreed on. According to the latest statement of the government, Iraq will not host them and the expulsion will be completed by the end of 2011. The head of the Iraqi Center for Media Development said the withdrawal is a must to prevent security deterioration across the country ... more...
AFP, November 20 2011: ... Iraqi authorities have decided to close the camp by the end of 2011. "The primary and overall responsibility to deal with the situation in Camp Ashraf lies with the government of Iraq within its sovereignty," Martin Kobler, the UN secretary general's special representative for Iraq, told AFP on Friday. "In agreement with the government, we are in continuous contact with all parties, including the residents of the camp and the members of the international community to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution," Kobler said. "In this, I count on the full cooperation of the government of Iraq, the Camp Ashraf residents and the international community ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, November18 2011: ... A number of defected MKO members were among the Iranian families, they stated that they have been living in dire conditions and deprived of their rights. During the protest the Iraqi officials urged the government to expel the MKO members from Iraq as scheduled, saying any delay in doing so may give members of the group enough time to launch attacks against the civilians living near their camp. Many here are concerned about the possibility of interference by the UN to keep the MKO in the country. The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community ... more...
Paul shedon Foote, November 14 2011: ... In return for providing military camps and arms in Iraq, Saddam Hussein required the MEK to kill Iraqis. While Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guard forces trained by killing and eating innocent Iraqis, the MEK trained by killing and eating wild dogs. The MEK killed large numbers of unarmed Iraqi Kurd and Shiite civilians after the 1991 Gulf War. America did not attack MEK bases in Iraq. The West offered to move the MEK to Azerbaijan or to Pakistan. In 2001, Massoud Rajavi rejoiced at the destruction of the World Trade Center. At the start of the Iraq War, American and coalition forces killed some of the MEK. However ...more...
Will Rahn, Daily caller, November 16 2011: ... Rubin, a scholar at the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, told TheDC. “Because if you assume he was endorsing the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, that’s problematic to start with. But if at the same time he was referring to the Green Movement as insurgents, he fundamentally misunderstands the Green Movement.”Most of the activists who populate the Green Movement are reformists who still embrace the idea of an Islamic republic, Rubin noted. “They don’t want a change of the system … They might be the loyal opposition, even if they’re on the ropes. But they’re not insurgents.” ... more...
Paul Joseph Watson, Infowars.com, November 11, 2011: ... Iran has irrefutable evidence that exposes the official involvement of the United States government in anti-Iran planning and the dispatching of elements to conduct acts of sabotage and terror in Iran and other regional countries,” secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili said last week, promising to send evidence of “US state-sponsored terrorism” to the United Nations. “We possess one hundred pieces of irrefutable evidence that reveal the US role in directing terrorists for conducting acts of terror in Iran and the region ... more...
Edalat Association, Tehran, November 08 2011: ... "The members of Camp Ashraf have been deprived of their most basic human rights which have been recognized by all the world countries and the international bodies," the rights group said in a letter to the representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq, Martin Kobler. The letter underlined that the members of the MKO who are imprisoned in Camp Ashraf are being brainwashed by the ringleaders of the group on a daily basis, are obliged to divorce their spouses and cut relations with their friends and family members ... more...
Fars News, November 06 2011: ... "Iran's ambassador to the UN will in a formal letter ask the UN Secretary-General to provide other countries with the documents on the United States' management and financial backup for terrorists and put the judicial prosecution of the US administration on (the UN) agenda based on conventions," Jalili said. "The United States has formally used its forces for terror and sabotage against Iran and other countries and as the Supreme Leader has said we have documents to discredit the United States ...more...
Radio Free Europe, November 05, 2011: ... Tehran has sent a letter to the United Nations complaining about U.S. accusations Iran was behind a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington. Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said the letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon charges the plot is part of a multi-pronged U.S. strategy to smear Tehran. Iran's official Press TV reported that the letter says the man whom U.S. prosecutors have identified as an Iranian military official in the alleged plot is actually a member of the exiled Iranian rebel group Mujahideen Khalq Organisation ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, November 04 2011: ... In a press conference held at the Iraq Cabinet building with the presence of the representative of the UN's Secretary General Mr. Martin Coupler and a number of International Human Rights organizations and ambassadors, the Iraqi Prime Minister's advisor stated that the Iraqi government will not allow the MKO members to remain in Iraq after 2011. During the press conference, the Iraqi Prime Minister's Advisor stressed that the Iraqi constitution is not permitting such terrorist organization to remain in Iraq. The United Nations stated that the Iraqi government is acting according to the International standards and the Iraqi constitution ... more...
Iraqi al Qanun news, Khalis, Iraq, November 02 2011: ... Director of the greater Khalis region, Abdul-Jabbar Ahmed al-Obeidi, said many victims of MEK terrorism have filed complaints with Iraq’s Judiciary. Secretary General of the Association of Justice to defend the victims of Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq, Dr. Nafie Isa, described how the MEK used occupied land to attack Iraq’s citizens. He said the media should expose the MEK’s crimes and interference in the internal affairs of Iraq and support the efforts of the government to expel the MEK by the end of 2011. The Mayor of Khalis, Uday Alkhaddran, described how the MEK launch false accusations and create anonymous groups on the Internet which have no reality ... more...
ANDREW E. KRAMER, New York Times, November 01 2011: ... “We do not have space in our government for those plotting against our government.” He denied that the arrests were singling out political opponents, saying they were a “nonsectarian operation.” As proof, he pointed to Baathist conspirators who had been detained in the predominantly Shiite areas of southern and central Iraq and included Shiites. He said legal processes were respected and arrest warrants obtained. “We should differentiate between the Baathists who work in departments and institutions of the state, who harmonized with the political process and who fought terror, and the Saddamist Baathists, who cooperate with Al Qaeda ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, October 31 2011: ... Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says Baghdad is determined to close down camp Ashraf, which hosts members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), by the end of the year. "We have already made it clear about closing ... Camp Ashraf before. The decision will be implemented by the end of this year," Zebari said. "The government insists on completing this mission ... There is no government that would agree to an organization staying against its (authorities') will, laws and sovereignty," he added. The Iraqi Foreign Minister's remarks came one day after country's Minister of Human Rights ... more...
Ministary of Human Rights, Baghdad, October 30, 2011: ... With regard to the issue of Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf), the Minister said "that the Iraqi government is seriously engaged in closing this file during the rest of the year, through the Committee, headed by the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and members of the Ministries of Justice, Human Rights and Defense for the purpose of reaching a solution and a legal way out for these people. He added "that the ministry was able to successfully repatriate a large number of members of the Mojahedin organization between 2004 and 2005 who were subsequently visited in inside Iran ... more...
Iran Interlink, October 30 2011: ... With the arrest of 615 Saddamist Baathists in the middle and south of Iraq charged with activities that threatened the safety and security of the state, it may be that the dots are finally being joined up. Up until yesterday the MEK’s websites and media were forcefully promoting the views of several Iraqi politicians who are among those arrested. Today their names have been carefully expunged from the site. Also among the prominent names which have been removed are Heydar Molla, and Saleh Mutlaq. Interestingly, articles promoting the position of Struan Stevenson and Alejo Vidal Quadras still feature on the MEK site ... more...
Paul R. Pillar, The National Interest, October 29 2011: ... The record extends from the days it was killing Americans while opposing the shah, through when it was in league with the clerical regime and supporting further anti-American terrorism such as the hostage-taking at the U.S. embassy in Tehran, through the long period during which it was working for the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein. The record is not based just on what is said by the State Department or an intelligence agency or any governmental component with a policy to support, much less on anything the Iranian regime might say. If you want a recent independently reported portrait of the group, see, for example, this article by Elizabeth Rubin. ... more...
Fars News, October 27 2011: ... Salehi said there are 150 names similar to the one requested by Interpol for the alleged plot to kill the Saudi envoy to Washington. "There are 150 Gholam Shakuris (in Iran). Interpol sent us a question about this name, and our investigation showed a certain Gholam Shakuri who lives in the United States and is a member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO)," Salehi was quoted by Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat as saying in Saudi Arabia. The United States alleges Gholam Shakuri co-conspired with an Iranian-American car salesman, Manssor Arbabsiar, to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington ... more...
Anne Singleton, Middle East Strategy Consultants, October 25 2011: ... Families wish first and foremost to remind you that they are part of the solution, not the problem. You have demonstrated your particular interest in this issue by appointing Mr Jean De Ruyt, a former Belgian ambassador to the EU, as your advisor on Camp Ashraf. He will no doubt be investigating and examining whatever approaches are available to resolve the situation. By situation I refer to the standoff between the constitutional and legal demand of the elected government of the sovereign nation of Iraq, and the illegal and irrational demands of a cult leader as the hostage taker who represents nobody but his own interests and who is prepared to kill others to this end ...more...
AP, Washington DC, October 24 2011: ... The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran's clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001. Ridge and Rendell said the MEK has not been linked to any terrorist attacks since that time. They pointed out that the European Union and the United Kingdom have concluded that the MEK is not a terrorist organization and called on Obama to reach the same decision. Critics of the MEK say it has cult-like characteristics and that delisting it would be seen even by moderate Iranians as an endorsement by the U.S. of terrorism ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, October 23 2011: ... On Wednesday, October 19th, a number of family members of Ashraf residents from Gilan joined other families picketing in front of Camp Ashraf in the hope of visiting their loved ones kept by force in the camp, in a free atmosphere without the presence of the cult officials. Nejat Society Gilan branch wishes good luck for these people who have long been waiting for such an opportunity, particularly on the threshold deadline to expel Mujahedin khalq from Iraqi territory ... more...
Emily Cadei, The New Republican, October 15 2011: ... One expert on Iran—who declined to be quoted on the record given the heated nature of the current debate—told me that MEK lobbying efforts had managed only to produce “a distraction.”Indeed, MEK supporters—including current and former U.S. government officials—often refer to the group as “the Iranian opposition,” or a symbol of “an uprising for the freedom of the Iranian people,” to quote recent statements by lawmakers, but that’s a very questionable assumption. And it prompts a set of policies that, however much they benefit the MEK, are at odds with what many experts say can best help the people of Iran ... more...
Iran Didban, October 22 2011: ... One of the reasons that reveal the role of terrorist group MeK in this story is their great efforts to make it believable. Yesterday, Alireza Jafarzadeh, MeK spokesman in Washington, attended among supporters of this terrorist group in National Press Club in Washington to make a journalistic scenario about arrangement of the Qods Force. But the main purpose of this meeting was trying to make believable the so-called "Iranian terror plot". Obviously, Rajavi remnants are extremely nervous and cluttered of rational questions of scholars, writers, journalists and intellectuals in America and around the world about accuracy of this scenario ... more...
Mark Dankof's America, October 22 2011: .... Outsiders who have heard the allegations are at one level incredulous, yet uncommitted because of the cultic history of the Rajavis chronicled by Ed Blanche of The Middle East and other internationally credible sources.One thing is crystal clear: Mrs. Tanter is taking her allegations to The New York Times and other outlets who have already covered the MEK’s activities up to this point. Her allegations are buttressed by a thick file of papers, diary notes, photostatically reproduced copies of Iran Policy Committee documents, and a complete list of the Iran Policy Committee’s e-mail contacts by name and accompanying e-mail addresses ...more...
Tikun Olam, October 20 2011: ... Today, the official MEK leadership has denied that Shakuri is a member and the U.S. has also denied the charge. But in fact, a former high-ranking MEK leader, Massoud Khodabandeh (he has allowed me to use his name), writing in the Gulf2000 listserv, confirmed that Shakuri is in fact an MEK member. He cautions that there may be more than one Gholam Shakuri, and the one who is the MEK member may not be the same Shakuri the U.S. has named. While this may be true, this new development moves Shakuri a lot closer to being MEK ... more...
SCOTT SHANE, New york Times, October 20 2011: ... Obama administration officials on Wednesday denied Iranian news reports that a man charged in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States is actually an agent of an exiled Iranian opposition group.“We note that these reports originate solely with Iranian state media sources, which have a documented history of fabricating news stories,” said Rhonda H. Shore, a State Department spokeswoman. American officials said they are sure that the man, Gholam Shakuri, is an officer of the Quds Force, the foreign operations arm of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, as asserted in the criminal complaint unveiled last week by the Justice Department ... more...
Richard Silverstein, Eurasia Review, October 19, 2011: ... I’ve been able to confirm with enough certainty to feel comfortable publishing the report from Iranian media that Gholam Shakuri, the alleged Iranian Revolutionary Guard co-conspirator in the Iran terror plot, is a member of the Mujahadeen al-Khalq (MEK). This is the group which engages in acts of terror within Iran in order to overthrow the regime. It also collaborates with the Mossad in spreading disinformation about the Iranian nuclear program. MEK has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in speaker and consulting fees to U.S. political figures like Howard Dean, in a so far vain attempt to get the group removed from the Treasury Department list of recognized terror groups ... more...
Jason Ditz, Anti War, October 18, 2011: ... Fresh off Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s statement to the United Nations insisting that Mujahedin e-Khalq (MeK)’s Camp Ashraf should be closed by year’s end has sprung the State Department-listed Foreign Terrorist Organization into action, with a series of condemnations from both them and their supporters.A gathering of hundreds of MeK supporters rallied in Brussels, today, with former US Senator Howard Dean condemning the idea of closing the camp and demanding that the US force Iraq to postpone the closure before ending the occupation. “The US remains morally responsible for the people of Ashraf,” Dean insisted ... more...
Saeed Kamali Dehghan, Guaridan, October 19 2011: ... Shakuri was described by the US as a member of Iran's Quds Force, a special unit of the country's elite Revolutionary Guards, tasked with overseas operations. But Mehr said Interpol "has found new evidence" that suggests Shakuri is associated with the MEK and "was last seen in Washington and Camp Ashraf in Iraq where [MEK] members are based".The MEK, which is based in Paris, remains unpopular inside Iran because of its support for the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein, during the Iran-Iraq war but is also designated as terrorist organisation by the US and Canada, though not by the European Union ... more...
Press TV October 20 2011: ... Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi says the Islamic Republic is immune to all terror threats, praising the watchfulness of the Iranian intelligence apparatuses. “People be assured that they [terrorists] cannot do any harm to the security of the country,” IRNA quoted the minister as saying in Iran's western province of Kermanshah late on Wednesday. He said strict security precautions in place in border areas had left no room for concern about potential hazards to internal security across the country. “There are terrorist groups, but, thanks to the strong intelligence service, they have been stripped ... more...
IRNA, Tehran, October 19 2011: ... “The American administration crimes against Occupy Wall Street movement activists, its support for crimes committed by US puppet regimes in the Muslim countries including Egypt and in the meantime advocating the crimes against Iranian nation committed by terrorist Mujahedeen Khalq Organization as well as Washington's crimes against Iranian revolutionaries before 1979 Islamic Revolution should be pursued and indicted,” Ayatollah Larijani said. Iran has been the victim of terrorism and US has always supported terrorist operations by MKO and other terrorist groups against the Islamic Republic of Iran ... more...
Rick Gladstone, New York Times, October 19 2011: ... The defendant, Gholam Shakuri, identified by the Justice Department as an operative of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps, is actually a “key member” of the Mujahedeen Khalq, Iran’s Mehr News Agency reported. Mr. Shakuri, who is at large, had last been seen in Washington and in Camp Ashraf, the group’s enclave in Iraq. “The person in question has been traveling to different countries under the names of Ali Shakuri/Gholam Shakuri/Gholam-Hussein Shakuri by using fake passports including forged Iranian passports,” American officials did not immediately comment ... more...
Fars News, October 19 2011: ... It said Shakuri, who is at large, had last been seen in Washington and in MKO's main training center in Iraq, Camp Ashraf. "The person in question has been traveling to different countries under the names of Ali Shakuri/Gholam Shakuri/Gholam-Hussein Shakuri by using fake passports including forged Iranian passports," the report said. The MKO, also known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and MEK, is regarded by Iran as a violent insurgent organization with a history of assassinations and sabotage aimed at overthrowing the Islamic government that took power in 1979. While the group claims to have renounced violence a decade ago, it is still ... more...
Esam Al-Amin, Global Research, Canada, October 19, 2011: ... There is no history of such behavior even when the country was militarily much weaker and politically unstable. Thus, to best answer the question is to identify those who would benefit the most from a confrontation between the U.S. and Iran. Clearly those who have the most to gain from such a clash are Israel and the Iranian opposition, particularly the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO)... It is not beyond the realm of possibilities that the Israeli Mossad or the MKO were able to recruit an idiot or his cousin or both in a plot that involved assassinating the Saudi Ambassador, while leaving a trove of evidence behind to be found in order to implicate the Iranian government ... more...
Mark Dankof, former US Senate candidate, Press TV, October 18 2011: ... The other thing that comes up in all of this of course is that we are seeing attention diverted from what the United States and Israel are clearly doing in conjunction with groups like the Iran Policy Committee; to work with the Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iran to facilitate the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and to be involved in other black intelligence operations within Iran that are clearly both illegal and counterproductive. Raymond Tanter who is the head of the Iran Policy Committee - Raymond Tanter of Georgetown University has all kinds of provable links with Israeli intelligence and Israeli ... more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, October 17 2011: ... The Government of Iraq is very clear that it is dealing with the phenomenon of a dangerous, destructive mind control cult. Unfortunately, Western agencies do not appear to have got to grips with this fundamental aspect of the group and as such continue to fall under the spell of the MEK leaders and their unearthly and insatiable demands. It would be unfortunate in the extreme if the UNHCR did not understand during all its negotiations with the group’s front personnel that Massoud Rajavi does not represent anyone but himself and his own interests. Cult experts warn that the MEK are not seriously offering to allow the UNHCR ... more...
Tehran times, October 17 2011: ... Interpol has found new evidence showing that the number two suspect in connection with the alleged Iranian government’s involvement in a plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to Washington is a key member of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO). Gholam Shakuri was last seen in Washington and Camp Ashraf in Iraq where MKO members are based. The person in question has been travelling to different countries under the names of Ali Shakuri/Gholam Shakuri/Gholam-Hossein Shakuri by using fake passports including forged Iranian passports. One passport used by the person was issued on 30/11/2006 in Washington. The passport number was K10295631 ...more...
IRNA, October 17 2011: ... Chief of Iraqi foreign policy commission Sheikh Humam Hammudi in a meeting on Monday with the Secretariat of Habilian institute said inhabitants of Ashraf camp sought refugee status from Europe and Australia.He told Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad (Head of Habilian Association in Iran) that inhabitants of the camp have embarked on high profile interaction with European and Australian ambassadors to Baghdad seeking refugee status from them. Hammudi reiterated that Iraqi state and nation unanimously want to expel MKO members from Iraq or at least to remove them from Iran-Iraq border line ... more...
IRNA, October 17 2011: ... In a letter to the EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, the advocacy group said that 'the international community has a duty to help members of terrorist organizations around the world including members of Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO) to be liberated and find their human dignity.' 'The appointment of Ambassador De Ruyt and continued violation of human rights in Camp Ashraf is the reason for sending the letter,' it said. The letter underlined that although since 2003 and subsequent MKO disarmament, MKO tries to show its peaceful face defying the fact that ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, Baghda, October 16 2011: ... Premier Nouri al-Maliki discussed with the new UN representative to Iraq the necessity of evacuating Iranian Ashraf camp by the end of this year, according to a Premiership statement. Both sides discussed joint matters, especially the evacuation of Ashraf camp and the necessity to implement Iraqi Cabinet resolution on this matter. Iraqi government issued a final resolution to end the presence of Iranian opposition Mujahidi Khalq be the end of this year, because it is a terrorist organization that participated in killing the Iraqi people. Mujahidi Khalq are stationed in Ashraf camp in Diala province since it moved its headquarters in 1985... more...
Iran Interlink, October 15 2011: ... in this alleged plot the MEK could have posed as a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and other agents to trap or implicate various parties in an essentially fictitious plot? Considering that the MEK has been backed by the Israeli lobby to demonise and otherwise act against Iran it is no surprise that the stated expectation of the MEK immediately after the announcement of the so-called failed terror attack that they should be now removed from the US terrorism list. Isn’t this the clearest indication yet that this whole debacle has been planned by the Israeli lobby and carried out by their favourite terror group ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, October 15, 2011: ... Iranian Pen Club, Geneva: Fortunately we got informed that UNHCR finally accepted to review the refuge and asylum request of the stranded members of the most dangerous religious cult in the whole Middle East which carries the name of pmoi ,individually and not collectively which is based on the manifest published on 13 September 2011 , this organization, UNHCR, has begun the procedure and reviewing of their political refugee cases which they demanded. We the human rights activists who have been pursuing and following the freedom and well being of those stranded members for years ...more...
Alsumaria News, Baghdad, October 14 2011: ... The statement said "he met with the British parliamentary group chaired by Baroness Nicholson, who in turn welcomed the President and members of the Iraqi delegation, expressing her delight with this meeting" and noting that "the British parliamentary delegation raised several questions including the issue of the Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI) and Camp Ashraf." The statement added that Najifi, "said the House of Representatives supports the Iraqi government's decision to evacuate the MKO to a third country," adding that "the British parliamentary group demanded that the Iraqi parliament intervene with the Iraqi government to agree to a British parliamentary delegation visit to Camp Ashraf.” ...more...
Iran Didban, October 13 2011: ... Significant changes that we will see in near future are managed changes that will be provided only in the context of MeK leadership Turbulence, pertinacity and conflict after George Bush's presidency and U.S political change in the region. Hypocritical, contradictory and opportunistic approach of MeK leadership often causes them to lose Opportunity from the developments. Each time they have accepted the new conditions and requirements, they have engaged to Imaginative theorizing about victory. When MEK leadership, night and day, was ... more...
Press TV, October 12 2011: ... EU and the US supported the MKO to help the group carry out acts of terror in Iran, and argued that the terrorist organization has turned into a “political tool” for the West. The fact that the EU has repeatedly listed and delisted the MKO as a terrorist organization throws doubt on Brussels' position on the MKO, the legislator pointed out. Members of the MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where they enjoyed the support of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up Camp Ashraf. The group has carried out numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials. The terror organization is also ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, October 11 2011: ... The real problem here is not the future of the MKO, who are beefing up their media campaign to legitimize themselves by burying their terrorist background, but the future of the individual residents. The group of MKO members, are in fact being held hostage at Camp Ashraf by the cult leaders, and certainly they deserve pity. The international community should be concerned about their fate because according to a 2007 RAND Corporation study on the MKO, up to 70 percent of the group’s members are held in the Camp against their wills.[9] What the international community needs to do is decide the fate of the criminal cult leaders, because ... more...
Iran Didban, October 09 2011: ... Entry of international organizations to this issue will provide arrangements and conditions for adjudication of Ashraf residents' personal rights, the matter that is strongly opposed by MEK leadership, so he will try all his efforts to abrogate it... it was proven once again that Mujahedeen should Adopt civilized behavior, also they should stop medieval and sectarian relations, even for survival of themselves. Note this statement of Mr. Struan Stevenson, a Scottish conservative in the European parliament: I hope that individual requests for refugee status would lead to resettlement of Ashraf residents in the European Union and in third countries ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, October 09 2011: ... She claims that “Camp Ashraf and its residents” are “ the center of gravity for the aspiration of the Iranian people”(!!!) while, the majority of members imprisoned in Ashraf are thinking of a plan to escape ,according to the reports and revelations made by recently defected members. Also, international bodies and Iraqi government are trying to find a solution to help remove camp Ashraf from Iraqi territory. Thus the MKO’s entire activities focus on this issue. A large part of her interview was about the debate on the terrorist designation of the MKO and the shutdown of Camp Ashraf. So ... more...
Radio Free Europe, October 08, 2011: ... In a wide-ranging interview, Eyre, who is a fluent Farsi speaker, also said that he didn’t know when the U.S. will announce its decision regarding the terrorist designation of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin Khalq organization (MKO). “It’s not like I know and wouldn’t tell you, I don’t know it myself,” said Eyre. When asked whether the U.S. consider MKO a viable opposition group, he said: "No. The U.S. considers the Mujahedin Khalq a terrorist organization. That’s it.“Regarding the sanctions against Iran over its sensitive nuclear work ... more...
Asawin Suebsaeng, Motherjones.com, October 06 2011: ... Brown Lloyd James, a US-British company that specializes in government relations (i.e., lobbying), advertising, and "reputation management," handles the accounts of Al Jazeera English, the government of Qatar, Forbes, and even the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. But some of its clients are decidedly less savory. In fact, helping MEK supporters isn't necessarily the most controversial thing Brown Lloyd James has done recently: This year, the firm made news for doing business with the Qaddafi regime in Libya and the Assad dictatorship in Syria—in the latter case, $5,000-per-month work that included landing a fawning Vogue profile of Syrian ... more...
Iraqi media, October 05 2011: ... "The government rejects the existence of any organization on its territory which works against the neighbouring countries, including the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, which stained its hands with the blood of the people," stressing that "the Government was exerting pressure such as to remove the organization from the country."The Government of Iraq changed the name of Ashraf camp to Camp New Iraq after taking over responsibility from U.S. troops for the garrison which was established by the Mojahedin-e Khalq during the era of the former regime in the eighties and during the first Gulf War ... more...
Iran Didban, October 03 2011: ... As was expected, despite the propaganda by Rajavi's terrorist gang about statement of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, And despite the misuse of the term "refugee", Since UNHCR's action is based on the recognition of individuals and depends on interviewing them, Propaganda maneuvering, Masood Rajavi has began disrupting it. In this regard, in its last announcement, MeK has referred to the Maryam Rajavi's warning on solo interviews: Any sending out of residents from the camp, Under Any title, for registration, or interview, is unacceptable, except by helicopter and with full ...more...
Roy Gutman, McClatchy Newspapers, October 03 2011: ... Until recently, the MEK had insisted on group refugee status, but it shifted its stance in late August following talks between Struan Stevenson, a Scottish conservative in the European parliament, and UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres in Geneva. Stevenson said he hoped that individual requests for refugee status would lead to resettlement of Ashraf residents in the European Union and in third countries. “They have long since given up any pretense of being a military force and they have long abandoned any idea of remaining together,” he told McClatchy by email. The U.S. government has characterized MEK as a cult and ... more...
Fars news, Tehran, October 03 2011: ... "This cult accompanied the executed Iraqi criminal (Saddam) in all his policies and did everything to put Saddam's orders in action," Chalabi said in a meeting with Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad, the secretary-general of Iran's Habilian Association - a human rights group formed by the families of 17,000 terror victims in Iran. He said Saddam and his regime extended all-out support to the MKO. "For instance, they were bribed with $60mln payments that they received from Saddam each month." He noted that he has already cautioned Iraq's political and religious leaders against the continued presence of the MKO on Iraq's soil, and ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, October 03 2011: ... We wonder why international organizations including the UN are silent about the case. The UNAMI team in Baghdad invites the Iraqi government to respect the principals of human rights in relation to Camp Ashraf, but no one is trying to learn what Rajavi is doing to his own people inside the Camp. The inside of the Camp has never been searched or inspected. As everyone is warning against a human catastrophe by the leaders, some international officials continue with Rajavi’s game and do not take the alerts seriously. We urge you to meet representatives of Sahar Family Foundation whenever you come to Baghdad and ... more...
Fars News, October 01 2011: ... A senior advisor to the Iraqi prime minister blasted the US and Europe's staunch support for the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), and said the terrorist group should be expelled from Iraq."Legally speaking, the presence of the MKO in Iraq under any title is against the law and they should be expelled from the country," Abdulhalim al-Zahiri said in a meeting with Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad. Stressing that the US and Europe consider the MKO as a terrorist group, he said that they support the group ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Geneva, September 30 2011: ... Mojahedin will resort to every possible means to throw a spanner in the works of the UNHCR. Now Maryam Rajavi the wife of the leader of the Mojahedin has issued the following clear statement from her HQ in France: “ … we will not allow the line of the mercenaries Maliki and Barezani and the strategy of their masters, the Iranian regime, to prevail under the pretext of interviewing people one by one and …” and she continues “… all the Mojahedin members should only be taken for interviews using helicopters …” and this of course means that in order to interview the people trapped in the camp she expects over seven thousand sorties to take place and ... more...
Barbara Slavin, IPS, September 28 2011: ... In the past, the MEK leadership has refused to allow most residents of Camp Ashraf to apply for refugee status or to speak with UNHCR representatives without MEK officials present. Former members of the group, who contend that the MEK is a cult that fosters blind obedience to its leaders, say that many Ashraf inhabitants have been held against their will and would eagerly leave the camp if they could. There have been fears that the leaders would order members to commit suicide en masse rather than let them go. The agreement with UNHCR is a necessary first step to close the camp – something the Iraqi government has long sought – but ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, September 28 2011: ... Extremism is harmful, and the MKO are extremists who rely on Iran-haters to support their cause. Hate and anger are merely traits that encourage predatory type recruitment by the MKO, with delicious financial perks for the particularly intelligent, famous or well-connected “sponsors” who shamelessly offer speeches promoting, softening, and trying to legitimize the group. Georgetown Law School professor, David Cole asserts that agreeing to the speaking offer –let alone receiving speaking fees – violates the law that bars material support for terrorism. Thus MKO advocates are overtly committing a crime ...more...
Mehr News, September 26 2011: ... Jaafari announced that judicial rulings have been issued for a number of members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), who are based in Iraq. “Lawsuits have been filed against a number of the members of the terrorist MKO group, and rulings have been issued for them. And it has been emphasized that their presence in Iraq is illegal,” he stated. On September 20, Iraqi Finance Minister Baqir Jabr Alzubaidi said that Baghdad will put the criminal leaders of the terrorist group on trial before expelling them. The Iraqi people will never overlook the atrocities that the members of this group have committed ... more...
ISNA, September 26 2011: ... As to Camp Ashraf, he continued, “We discussed the issue with the UN and Americans. We will never let the group continue its violation.” He added, “Iraqi government is under pressure by the European Union for not practicing its decision on ousting the MKO members from the country, but we will move in line with our objectives.” He said, “The main problem with the members of the terrorist group is that they do not behave as refugees inside the country but as armed forces that reject requests for talks. They do not allow the Iraqi forces, authorities and police to enter the camp to inspect the situation.” ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, September 25 2011: ... Families of the two MKO defectors were really moved by visiting their loved ones after years of separation. Mr. Shaabani and Mr. Eskardi also expressed their pleasure for their return to their families reminding others that their loved children in Camp Ashraf seriously need their support and help in order that they can release themselves from Ashraf “prison”. They also briefly described the horrible situation and mental pressure their ex-comrades at Camp Ashraf were trapped in. The two defectors requested the families of Nejat to make efforts to help release their loved ones before the deadline Iraqi authorities have assigned for MKO departure ... more...
Iraq Foreign Ministry, September 25 2011: ... The Minister expressed the reservation and objection of the Iraqi government to the request of the European Commission to designate a special representative to Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) but stressed that the government of Iraq has consistently appealed to and asked European countries and other countries to receive and resettle residents of the camp in their countries. He also stressed that the government is committed to close the camp by the end of the year and it will take necessary measures to complete the plan while observing international humanitarian law in dealing with the inhabitants of the camp ... more...
Bahman Kalbasi, BBC, September 25 2011: ... many blame the leadership of the MEK for the predicament facing the residents of Camp Ashraf. In 2005 a Human Rights Watch Report reported that 70% of Ashraf residents were held there against their will, and accused the MEK of torturing its own members. Ali Safavi, a member of the political wing of the MEK, has admitted to the BBC that all the members in the camp have ended their marriages and are staying celibate.Opponents of the MEK warn of the possible fallout if the group is de-listed.Iran's "Green" opposition figures in the US see the possible de-listing as a propaganda gift to the Iranian regime ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, September 24, 2011: ... The families of residents held in camp Ashraf, Iraq, left Tehran to join the others picketing at the Camp gates. Facing the gloomy atmosphere of the camp they are determined to bring hope, love and emotions back to humiliated hearts of their loved ones held as hostages by the Cult of Rajavi. The Beheshtis have lost one of their sons, Morteza in the MKO. They urge to visit their other beloved son Mostafa who is kept in the Camp but the Cult leaders who consider themselves as the owners of the members’ lives, haven’t allowed Mostafa to visit his family and they have imposed sever psychological pressure on him ... more...
Thai News Service, September 22 2011: ... "Expulsion of the MKO from Iraq's soil and termination of its presence which has lasted for several years is a definite decision," Iraqi Government Spokesman Ali Al-Dabbaq told FNA in April, adding, "The MKO will be expelled from Iraq by the end of the current year." "The only option for the members of the MKO is leaving Iraq and they have no other choice," he reiterated. Reminding the black record of the terrorist group and its crimes against the Iraqi people, Dabbaq said, "Collaboration with the former Iraqi dictator and massacre of thousands of our people is just part of their crimes." ... more...
Fars News, September 21 2011: ... 800 Iraqis enter Camp Ashraf (now the camp of New Iraq), everyday, but a majority of them are al-Qaeda members and receive military and terrorist trainings in the camp," Nafeh Eisa told FNA on Tuesday. He added that the terrorist group has put pictures and portraits of al-Qaeda leader on the walls of the camp, respecting them as "heroes of Islam". Earlier in May, an Iran-based right group said that it has obtained authentic documents proving that the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization has long had tight cooperation with Al-Qaeda ... more...
Mohammad Reza Yazdanpanah, insideiran.org, September 20 2011: ... the MEK’s leaders have attempted to affiliate themselves with the Green Movement, the largest protest movement against the Islamic Republic since the Revolution. However, the majority of Green Movement activists and supporters aligned with Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi completely believe in a nonviolent and civil struggle to achieve their goals. Hence, the effort by MEK to affiliate itself with the Green Movement has angered the Greens. Recalling the old memories of the organization’s involvement in the Iran-Iraq War, in which they sided with Saddam Hussein ... more...
Iraq Centre for Studies website, September 19, 2011: ... A statement issued by the Ministry quotes him as saying, "Iraq's position stems from its commitment to the rules of international law and humanitarian law. Iraq is ready to cooperate with the [UNHCR] Representative to find realistic and humanitarian solutions for the inhabitants of the camp". Concerning Camp Ashraf, Abawi said, "The [Mojahedin] organization is a terrorist organization as classified by the United States and Europe, as it is here also because of its crimes against the Iraqi people through its cooperation with the former dictatorial regime," the statement said ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, September 19, 2011: ... the MEK’s ideology – a blend of Marxism, feminism, and Islamism – was at odds with the post-revolutionary government, and its original leadership was soon executed by the Khomeini regime. In 1981, the group was driven from its bases on the Iran-Iraq border and resettled in Paris, where it began supporting Iraq in its eight-year war against Khomeini’s Iran. In 1986, after France recognized the Iranian regime, the MEK moved its headquarters to Iraq, which facilitated its terrorist activities in Iran. Since 2003, roughly 3,400 MEK members have been encamped at Camp Ashraf ... more...
Edalat Association, Paris, September 19 2011: ... Participants in the 7th International Congress of the Victims of Terrorism in Paris strongly condemned the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) for its crimes against the Iranian people and the nationals of other countries. Also the Iranian delegation inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with their Spanish, French, Italian, Moroccan, Algerian and US counterparts on the prohibition of any instrumental use of terrorism. The Iranian participants also proposed that the 9th International Congress of the Victims of Terrorism be held in Tehran in 2013... more...
Fars News, Tehran, September 19, 2011: ... Prominent Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr strongly condemned the crimes committed by the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) against the Iranian and Iraqi nations, and underlined his country's strong resolve to expel the terrorist group from Iraq. "This terrorist group has committed more crimes and oppressions against us than the crimes it has committed against the Iranian nation since the number of martyrs in Iraq is twice the number in Iran. "Therefore, we have a very deep motivation for expelling these criminals from our country," Sadr underscored ... more...
Iranian.com, September18 2011: ... Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have ordered all the leaders of the MEK to arrange meetings for everybody and give the order to them that “We will go along with the American army to the point that there is no physical interaction but when it comes to the Iraqi government we will become physical and we will make them pay the highest price.”Considering what the Rajavis have said, although we believe that the imposition of Iraqi sovereignty over this illegally occupied territory at this time is an indisputable right of the government of Iraq, we urge the government ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, September 18 2011: ... In these sessions, Massoud Rajavi clearly announced that leaving the organization and attempting to escape from Ashraf is a political offense and betrayal and the penalty for just trying is death. He admitted that discontentment is mounting in his cult and that the internal situation of Ashraf is explosive. Rajavi specified in these meetings that not only losing Ashraf garrison is passing a red line, but also escaping is also an un-crossable line and if one managed to flee, all the commanders and residents of Ashraf are responsible. In many cases when one succeeds in escaping, all commanders and members of the person’s unit are penalized ... more...
Ramin Mazaheri, Press TV, Paris, September 17 2011: ... “We've got like 16,000 victims of terrorism and we have got a lot of experiences to be shared,” said Ganji. “Unfortunately most of the other countries don't know anything about Iran and the terrorist activities in Iran. Unfortunately, opposition groups are trying to show themselves as freedom seekers in other countries, but this is not true.” Iran's delegation to Paris included seven people to the list of IVTC speakers, all with sad stories to tell. “My brother was 28 and he was killed by the MKO just because he wore a beard, was a Muslim and worked as a French teacher,” said Mahmoud Navab, a journalist ... more...
IRNA, Qum, September 16 2011: ... Hakim told a group of reporters on the sidelines of his meetings with a group of top Iranian clergymen that the MKO have betrayed the Islamic Republic of Iran and certain other countries by their terrorist acts; so this leaves no room for their presence in Iraq. He said anyone of the MKO can return to their country if they wish and the Islamic Republic of Iran too has announced that 100 of them, that against whom files are open, should go to court if they return. Also pointing to presence of occupiers in Iraq, Hakim said the occupiers should leave Iraq by end of this year and “we will not allow anyone of them to remain in the country.” ... more...
Press TV, Paris, September 16 2011: ... The International Victims of Terrorism Conference in Paris is largely a forum for nations to make others aware of terrorist efforts to subvert their state. This year family members of people killed by the People's Mojaheddin Organization of Iran, known as the MKO, were invited to testify about the suffering wrought by a group that aims to overthrow the Islamic Republic of Iran. The MKO are almost universally denounced by Iranians around the world and are regarded as a terrorist group by Iranian, American and other national and international governments. The group's headquarters are in Ashraf, Iraq, where they aided Saddam Hussein ... more...
Voice Of America - Persian section, (Translated by Nejat Association) September 15 2011: ... I am a scholar. I don’t have political idea or goal. I’m not paid by anyone. And I don’t pay anyone either. I am morally concerned about the MKO as a guilty, imprudent organization that simply plays with people’s lives. In the infamous case of “Forough-e Javidan”, 600 foreign passports were found. MKO was basically established on political –military basis. It has a military ideology although it claims to be democratic. Furthermore, the problem about the MKO is that it [has held] a large number of Iranian youth in a country which was Iran’s enemy. The MKO sided with Saddam Hossein in a very very sensitive time, when he wanted to occupy Iranian soil ... more...
Iran Ghalam, September 13, 2011: ... pmoi operatives are trying their best to stay in Iraq on purpose and their desire is to keep their organization intact , in this regard they have begun deceiving the public opinion to show themselves as innocent people to prevent their stranded members from reaching to their desires which is freedom and justice. Recently the Guardian Newspaper wrote that ¨ the pmoi operatives had given money to the former American officials for their participation and speech in pmoi rallies¨, and in this regard the Voice of America quoted by Huffington Post reported that ¨ propaganda in favor of pmoi is a good source for the US former politicians to fill their pockets ... more...
Jamal Abdi, CNN, September 13, 2011: ... Kaleme, a publication closely associated with Iran's true "main opposition," the Green Movement, warned last week that delisting the MEK would be devastating to Iran's democracy and human rights movement. Such a move would bring back "bitter memories of anti-Iran policies, such as the 1953 coup" that toppled Iran's first democratically elected prime minister. A U.S. delisting of the MEK would also send a signal that we have turned our backs on the nonviolent democratic movement in order to back a violent group.Many fear that a delisted MEK would help the regime taint the Green Movement while ... more...
Fars News, reporting from Ayandegan weblog (Nader Naderi), September 12, 2011: ... A defected member of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization unveiled that MKO ringleaders had issued an order to assassinate Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and former Head of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq Ayatollah Seyed Mohammad Baqir al-Hakim. the defected MKO member said that the ringleaders of the terrorist group, specially Massoud Rajavi, had called on the members to be ready to assassinate the two renowned Iraqi opposition figures 18 years ago. The defected member also revealed that the MKO leaders hired a number of spies to chase the defected members and find their living place to assassinate them as well ... more...
Press TV, September 12, 2011: ... “Considering that fighting terrorism was the excuse for the US invasion of Iraq, it was expected that terrorist elements, including MKO forces, would be confronted. But not only was there no confrontation, but they were also supported, and even now that the Iraqi government is determined to expel the MKO from the country, the US and Western countries are trying to hinder the move,” Hejazi added. The MKO -- listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community -- has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranian officials and civilians as well as the people of Iraq ... more...
NIAC, September 10, 2011: ... “A defector from Camp Ashraf, home to the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MeK) in Iraq, says the group's leadership at Camp Ashraf is prepared to order residents to kill themselves to protest any arrests of Ashraf residents”“They claim to have turned over all their arms to U.S. forces in 2003, and their camp 60 miles from Baghdad looks more like a relatively affluent Iraqi village than a military garrison. However, until the end of 2008, residents wore military-style uniforms and flew pre-revolution Iranian flags, and U.S. forces stationed at Forward Operating Base (FOB) Grizzly on the periphery of the camp report that they continue to practice small unit military tactics and maneuvers under cover of darkness.” ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, September 09 2011: ... The MEK leaders know full well that contrary to their claim, to be or not to be in the list does not strategically make much difference in their destiny since they are already in a fatal deadlock and they have no way out of it. The use of propaganda and publicity over the list of FTO is to retain the disappointed members both inside Ashraf garrison and those in the western countries, and to keep them busy. The struggle to be removed from the FTO list has no strategic value and is only a pastime for the members. After not succeeding in being de-proscribed in the USA, which the MEK badly needed in order to impose control over the unhappy members, a new... more...
All Iraq News, Baghdad, September 09, 2011: ... that the presence of an Iranian opposition group in Iraqi territory is in contradiction to the terms of the Iraqi constitution and most political communities, but that some in the United Nations and the European Union and U.S. forces are demanding the survival of the organization and provide support and stability to it. "After clashes earlier between Iraqi security forces and members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka PMOI) led to the injury of a number of employees of the Iraqi security forces, the Iraqi government decided to close the camp by the end of this year and called on the Iranian government to issue amnesty for the members of this organization." ... more...
Justin Elliott, Salon.com, September 07 2011: ... "This is clearly an invitation to provide a service to a designated group. This would be a clear violation of the law," says Cole, who last year argued a major material support case before the Supreme Court. The material support law bars providing not only money and weapons to a foreign terrorist organization, but also "service," defined by the government as anything of benefit to the group performed in coordination with or at the direction of the group.Cole adds that Swarts is "committing a crime because she's providing a service to NCRI by arranging for this."Reached by phone Tuesday ... more...
Ari Siletz, Iranian.com, September 07 2011: ... it [MEK 1979 manifesto] recommended that Iran cancel all agreements with "racist" state of Israel. 6. 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. 7. The very day that 400 university students overtook the U.S. embassy, the Mojahedin issued a proclamation headlined, "After the Shah, it's America's turn." ... more...
Iran Fanous, Germany, September 06 2011: ... You are saying in this interview that you do not have any desire to know anything about the internal structure and problems of pmoi! And the only thing which is important for you is that pmoi is trying its best to finish and terminate the breach of human rights which is happening horribly in Iran by the mullahs ! But you do not answer why is not important for you the internal problems and structure of such organization? And it is more interesting that you do not want to know or hear anything about their internal problems and structure consequently it is very questionable ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, September 06 2011: ... The MKO is a terrorist group and has been blacklisted by the Department of State since the list was first created in 1997. Since then the MKO has persisted with a campaign to get itself removed from that list. And this time they have stooped to new lows: hiring the needy and desperate to do their dirty work, enlisting what seems like a busload of homeless to turn out in grand numbers for a spurious representation of support. It was purely a show of spectacular exploitation—the latest and greatest example of the MKO’s multi-million dollar effort to build support among Washington political elite, according to *The Cable* ... more...
Reza Nasri, Iranian.com, September 04 2011: ... The Secretary of State should bear in mind though that in its present miserable form, the MEK is one of the staunchest forces against peace and non-violent resistance among all other Iranian political groups. Not yet delisted, the MEK is perhaps devoting as much time and resource combatting and weakening the voices of non-violence within the Iranian opposition– such as the indigenous Green movement - as it is “fighting” the Iranian regime. It suffices to take a quick look at the MEK’s online media, TV programs and propaganda machine to see the level of hatred and resentment that this group spurs toward the very notion of “non-violence” and ... more...
Nooshabeh Amiri, Roos online, September 04 2011: ... · In the first years of the 1979 revolution, young members of the MKO had instructions not to engage with members and affiliates of other political groups. Was this true and is there a similar policy today? · If delisted, does the MKO plan to change its structure and make it similar to other political organizations and be subject to the regulations governing such parties? · Does the MKO see itself responsible to respond to questions such as its cooperation with Saddam Hossein in attacking and invading Iran? · Under what strategy and goal were inexperienced youth asked to respond to the Mersad Operation inside Iran? · Is internal criticism allowed within MKO and can it be reflected outside the organization? ... more...
Jasmin Ramsey, Lobbloge, September 03 2011: ... Over the years the FBI, Human Rights Watch, the Rand Corporation and several U.S. mainstream news outlets have produced in-depth investigations detailing the group’s past and present, some revealing the absurdly high “speaking fees” it provides to prominent figures who have appeared at its events. But even with a steady flow of damning information available, it is still spreading non-factual claims through its lobbying representatives. One way it does this is by issuing regular press releases through PR Newswire (a well-known online marketing tool) which are then reproduced as articles on news websites (see here and here for one example) ... more...
Ali Lakani, Iranian.com, August 27, 2011: ... One attendee who spoke with ThinkProgress, Melvin Santiago, 23, a homeless man living in shelters in Staten Island, New York, said he’d found out about the protest from a friend he’d come with. They made the trip along with about 100 other people in four rented coach buses. “He saw [a flier] yesterday passing by the church,” said Santiago of his friend. “He usually goes there for the food pantry.”On a day’s notice, Santiago said he hadn’t had a chance to learn too much about the MEK — he thought the group was called “Ashraff,” which is the name of the camp in Iraq where 3,400 members currently live." ... more...
IRIB, Tehran, September 01 2011: ... A strong napalm bomb blasted at 3 o’clock on the Sunday’s afternoon 8 Shahrivar, and martyred president Mohammad Ali Rajaii and the prime minister Hoj. Dr. Bahonar and some others were left injured. This explosion occurred while the National Security Council’s meeting was being held in the presence of the president, the Prime Minister, and the military authorities. Besides these faithful friends of Imam, Mr. Daftarian, the prime ministry’s authority, was also martyred. Forthwith after the explosion, the guards, fire brigade, the police and emergency services arrived and ... more...
Press TV, August 30 2011: ... “Considering that fighting terrorism was the excuse for the US invasion of Iraq, it was expected that terrorist elements, including MKO forces, would be confronted. But not only was there no confrontation, but they were also supported, and even now that the Iraqi government is determined to expel the MKO from the country, the US and Western countries are trying to hinder the move,” Hejazi added. The MKO -- listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community -- has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranian officials and civilians as well as the people of Iraq ... more...
Ali Gharib and Zaid Jilani, Think Progress, August 30 2011: ... To cheers from the crowd, Kennedy — invoking the memory of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy — compared the MEK’s Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi to South Africa’s first post-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who led a spate of guerrilla sabotage bombings against the Apartheid regime before going to prison and eventually leading the country’s transition. (Mandela admits his guerilla past and his group’s human rights abuses. Rajavi’s MEK often denies having committed any acts of terror over it’s 45 year history and disputes allegations made by Human Rights Watch about abuses against the group’s own members ...more...
Press TV, Tehran, August 30 2011: ... the enemies of the Islamic Republic, particularly the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), are backed by the colonialist powers.The MKO carried out several terrorist acts in Iran with the goal of crippling the Islamic Revolution, but their efforts have always been futile, and “they will take their ambitions to the grave,” he stated. The MKO assassinated Iranian President Mohammad Ali Rajaee and Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar in 1981. They were killed in an explosion on August 30, 1981, about two months after Chief Justice Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti was killed along with 72 state officials and lawmakers in another MKO bombing in Tehran ... more...
Washington Post (AP) August 29 2011: ... At issue is a group of several thousand Iranian exiles who live at the remote Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province. The Ashraf residents were formally allied with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in resisting Tehran’s clerical regime, and have been a thorn in al-Maliki’s side as he bolsters ties with Iran. A deadly April raid on the camp by Iraqi forces drew international criticism of Baghdad’s treatment of the group, and al-Maliki responded by pledging to deport the Ashraf residents by the end of the year. U.N. monitors have been among the only people the Iraqi government has allowed to go inside the camp since ... more...
Golnaz Esfandiari, Hossein Aryan, Radi Free Europe, August 26, 2011: ... Several of them told RFE/RL they had little or no knowledge about the MKO. "We've come for Iranian people," said one African-American.When asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally, the woman first said yes, but then retracted her statement at the man's behest.Another MKO supporter said describing the group as a cult is a label by intelligence agencies, which he said do not understand the nature of the group. In response to a question about the whereabouts of MKO leader Massoud Rajavi, who hasn't been seen for years, he said his location should be kept secret for his personal safety ... more...
Paul R. Pillar, National interest , August 27, 2011: ... Those who have sold their advocacy for big bucks deserve shame; those who have done so for a meal or two maybe deserve our pity. Those who have gotten mixed up in the campaign through a crude belief that Iran is an enemy and the enemy of my enemy is my friend need to realize that being an enemy's enemy does not make one a friend. Those who have some notion that the MEK can serve as a force for opposing authoritarianism in Iran are badly mistaken about the nature of the group—a good description of which is in a recent piece by Elizabeth Rubin in the New York Times. The most ... more...
The Associated Press, August 26 2011: ... Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and former Rhode Island Rep. Patrick Kennedy were among those speaking in support of the Mujahedin-e Khalq. The midday crowd filled a a street outside the State Department for a rally with confetti and doves released into the air. The U.S. declared the group a terrorist body in 1997. But a court last year ordered the State Department to reconsider the designation. The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations in Iran in the 1980s, and fought alongside Saddam's forces in the Iran-Iraq war. The group says it renounced violence in 2001 ... more...
All Iraq News, Baghdad, August 23, 2011: ... Mr Nafee-Issa said that "the Committee is working to collect a large number of facts that show the crimes of this organization and what caused the killings of civilians in Iraq since 1986 till 2003." He added that "organized crime continued after 2003 as a result of political interference in the affairs of Iraq by creating sectarian strife between Iraq’s people and in addition working to destabilise the security situation in the province of Diyala and the country in general." Camp Ashraf, or as it is now known camp New Iraq, houses thousands of Iranian fighters of the MKO ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, August 25 2011: ... Friday is also the day of Quds annual rally – a day of protest against illegal occupation of Palestinian land and the city of Qods (Jerusalem) by Israel. As the new patron of Mujahedin Khalq the Israel lobby has employed the MKO agents to bring over 5000 people to a counter rally against the Qods rally, according to Iran-Interlink. An insider of the National Council of Resistance has told Iran-Interlink that some operatives of the group have already arrived in Washington to prepare the ground for the arrival of the other thousands.[4] the MKO’s gathering on Friday will serve the needs of their new Zionist friends besides what it will bring to their own agenda ... more...
MJ Rosenberg, Huffington Post, August 24, 2011: ... It is not hard to imagine how Americans would react if they learned that Al Qaeda had hired top lobbyists to help promote its agenda in Congress. Or if they heard that influential active and retired government officials were being paid to attest to Hezbollah's good character. They would be appalled. But, amazingly, a group similar to Al Qaeda and Hezbollah is doing just that. It is the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group that is on the Department of State's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations alongside other more prominent groups such Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, and Al-Shabaab ... more...
BBC, August 24 2011: ... BBC "be ebarat digar" (a version of Hard Talk) interviews Lord Corbett (head lobbyist of Mojahedin Khalq terrorists in U.K.). Lord Corbett defends his support for terrorism for his regime change plan for Iran and accuses America and Iraq of working for Iran's mullahs. Corbett claims he is not interested in the internal suppresssion and human rights violations inside the MEK. He doesn't care that the MEK will not cooperate with any other Iranian opposition groups. Corbett claims to know what the Iranian people want ... more...
Reza Nasri, Iranian.com, August 23, 2011: ... Of course, no one denies that an unconventional political group, a paramilitary or any other non-state actor could potentially moderate itself if it is engaged in a conventional political process. But the conversion from an eccentric actor to a rational one is not automatic. And not every group is capable of it. It requires a minimum of rationality and reasonableness amongst the group’s leadership. It takes some element of moderation – eventually represented by a faction within the group - that can be enhanced and boosted through engagement and recognition. But with the MEK, we’re talking about a senseless monolithic cult - with absolutely ... more...
John Limbert, The Daily Star, Lebanon, August 23 2011: ... Except for the MEK’s hired mouthpieces, everyone can see this obvious solution that removes a major irritant to all parties. Once again, however, the two sides’ historic inability to “get to yes” at the same time has played havoc with rational policy. The crux of the problem is this: Any deal one side accepts or proposes is, by definition, seen as bad for the other. Each is convinced that the other’s purpose in life is to annoy and mislead “our side.” Therefore – in this curious universe – both sides assume that anything the other proposes or accepts contains a hidden motive to deceive. The Iraq impasse is ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, August 21, 2011: ... During the conference the organizers and the attendees stated that they have sent a request to Iraqi government to expel the MKO saying that they launched a campaign to collect one million signatures to be attached to the request. They also reminded the Iraqi policy makers of what they called the crimes committed by MKO against the Iraqi citizens under Saddam regime. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops disarmed MKO members based at the training base of the terrorist group at Camp Ashraf -- about 60km north of Baghdad. There are many in Iraq saying that despite the disarment, the US and its allies delay evacuation of the camp ... more...
U.S. State Departmemnt, August2011: ... MUJAHADIN-E KHALQ ORGANIZATION. aka MEK; MKO; Mujahadin-e Khalq; Muslim Iranian Students’ Society; National Council of Resistance; NCR; Organization of the People’s Holy Warriors of Iran; the National Liberation Army of Iran; NLA; People’s Mujahadin Organization of Iran; PMOI; National Council of Resistance of Iran; NCRI; Sazeman-e Mujahadin-e Khalq-e Iran. Description: The Mujahadin-E Khalq Organization (MEK) was originally designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on October 8, 1997. The MEK is a Marxist-Islamic Organization that seeks the overthrow of the Iranian regime through its military wing, the National Liberation Army (NLA), and its political front, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) ... more...
Iran Interlink, August 18 2011: ... The Mojahedin Khalq started its terror campaign with the assassination of 6 Americans in Tehran and have, since then over 16000 Iranians, 25000 Iraqis and scores of individuals of American, European, Pakistani, African and even Chinese descent. While we do not expect or even find the American government capable of intervening and halt the influx of Mojahedin Khalq operatives into their capital city, we warn the countries officials against any failure to prevent harm the critics of the terrorist group in the US, particularly the genuine Iranian opposition groups (under the umbrella of the green movement) who have been vocal against the neoconservative and Zionist use of terrorist groups ... more...
Abbas Milani, National interest, August 18, 2011: ... When American forces attacked Iraq, according to Iraqi documents captured and declassified by the U.S. military, Rajavi met with Saddam’s top intelligence operatives and agreed to use MEK forces against insurgents, freeing the Republican Guard to fight the Americans. The report of the meeting was sent directly to Saddam’s son, Odey. It is little wonder that the current Iraqi regime is opposed to the MEK—a stance constantly fueled by the Iranian regime. Throughout this bloody history, replete with tactical and strategic blunders, Rajavi and Maryam have remained the absolute leaders of MEK ... more...
CBC Radio, Canada, August 18, 2011: ... A banned Iranian Terrorist group has been mounting a persistent and expensive lobbying campaign in both Canada and the United States to have its ban lifted. The Mujahideen-e-Khalq has a violent past. Some describe the group as an authoritarian cult. But the group has supporters, including high profile current and former politicians who see MEK as a possible instrument of regime change in Iran ... more...
Kaleme, August 18 2011: ... In the modern history of Iran, there is no organization, no party and no cult more infamous than the MEK amongst the Iranian nation. The Iranian people are yet to forget how their beloved children were terrorized and martyred in the worst ways possible. And, thousands of family members and children of those murdered are still alive and witnesses to these crimes. The Iranian nation does not forget how this organization, along with Saddam Hussein, craved for the lives and honor of Iranians and assisted him in the suppression and massacre of the people of Iran and Iraq. Iranians are proud of the years they stood against the MEK and Saddam and ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, August 18 2011: ... as former members of the MKO and families of those residents held as hostages at Camp Ashraf, Iraq, we urgently request that you respond the wave of criticism against MEK delisting and some US officials’ advocacy for the group. We severely warn about the risk of the removal of Mujahedin from the black list since it still maintains the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts, according to FBI report. Besides its terrorist substance, MEK is a cult of personality, according to the very report published by the State Department on patterns of global terrorism and the group’s former members’ testimonies in HRW report, No Exit ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, August 17, 2011: ... The Iranian regime has sought to paint its pro-democracy Green Movement as both a tool of the Western power and as affiliated with the MEK, in an attempt to discredit its political opponents with the Iranian population at large. So a US step in the direction of friendlier relations with the MEK would almost certainly be pointed to as evidence that the US – which has praised the Greens and called for political reform inside Iran – is actually working to install an MEK regime in Tehran. (Mrs. Rajavi already styles herself Iran's "president-elect.") That would both complicate any US efforts to support the Green movement, while ... more...
Ali Jahani, Iran Pen, Germany, August 17 2011: ... In your recent interview with the news network, Al alam , you mentioned that some of the western countries have supported this organization financially consequently you want to make a complaint against those countries. Your decision is very great and admirable and I believe the main criminal in this issue is United States of America because of its support of this terrorist organization on Iraq soil without consideration of the will of Iraqi people and their honorable and popular government. I, the former member of this organization, am fully ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, August 17 2011: ... It’s now time to take action against the group’s deceitful propaganda in the U.S. Fortunately,the MKO is seriously getting hammered in US media. And, as people who suffered the worst experience within the cult of Rajavi, we call all freedom lovers from all over the world to leave their comments on US State Department website to prevent the removal of the MKO from the black list. Let’s illuminate the minds of US authorities about the true substance of this destructive cult. Link of the related page on the US State Department Website: ... You may want to leave your comment under the topic of “U.S. Foreign Policy “and Subject of “Stop delisting the MEK” ... more...
Eli Clifton, Think Progress, August 17 2011: ... That the three conservative officials-turned-pundits would make disingenuous attacks on Obama is no surprise. Their skewed perspective absolving the MEK of its role in blocking solutions to its predicament might also be easy enough to explain, though: Freeh, Mukasey and Ridge are among a coterie of top former U.S. officials who have been paid by groups that support the MEK, advocate for removing them from the U.S. terror list, and in some cases urge U.S. support and recognition as an Iranian government in exile despite the lack of any meaningful MEK political constituency within Iran ... more...
Trita Parsi, Huffington Post, August 17 2011: ... The MEK has a radically different agenda, and like some of its neoconservative counterparts, wants to silence independent voices opposing their pro-war agenda. The MEK and these neo-conservatives sought hard to hide the true source and reasons for the attacks against prominent Iranian Americans and NIAC. The MEK knows very well how despised they are in the Iranian-American community. More often than not, their attack dogs pretend to be Monarchists or of some other denomination. Few, if any, admit their ties to the MEK. And these neo-conservatives know that the attacks will appear more credible if they have an Iranian face ... more...
RIA Novosti, Moscow, August 16 2011: ... Moscow and Tehran will cooperate in ensuring their national security, Russian Security Council head Nikolai Patrushev said on Tuesday. "We have agreed on cooperation between our Security Council staffs," Patrushev said in Tehran. "This involves new threats such as international terrorism, drug trafficking and others." One important line in strengthening regional security is cooperation via the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, which shows "good prospects," he said. "We have addressed regional cooperation and intend to consolidate regional security mainly under the aegis of the United Nations ... more...
Hooshang Amirahmadi, Guardian, August 16 2011: ... Opponents of delisting rightly remind us that the MEK has been involved in acts of violence against Americans, Iranians and even its own members, and that the group is a cult-like and anti-democratic force. Founding members of the MEK murdered several Americans in Iran in the 1970s, and the group actively supported taking Americans hostage in Tehran in 1980. The MEK supported Saddam Hussein's war against Iran in 1980. That war, in which Iraq also used chemical weapons, left some 500,000 Iranians dead and maimed, destroyed about 120 Iranian cities and towns, and ... more...
Michael Weiss, The Telegraph, August 16 2011: ... MEK terrorists murdered seven Americans (both soldiers and civilians) working on defence projects in Iran throughout the 1970s, before helping the Khomeinists storm the US embassy in Tehran, leading to the 444 day-long hostage crisis. After the mullahs assumed complete control of the state and purged all of their erstwhile Communist and Marxist helpers, what remained of the MEK was led by the husband-and-wife team of Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, who now turned their violent attention to the new bearded bosses. The MEK took to assassinating Iranian officials, trying to bomb the presidential palace, and ... more...
Bronwyn Adcock, New Matilda, August 16, 2011: ... Investigations by Financial Times journalist Anna Fifield have revealed that dozens of these former officials have been paid handsomely for their appearances. Fifield reports "a sliding pay scale of $20,000 to $100,000 per speech, plus travel costs, and that four-speech packages were common". A former Pennsylvanian Governor Ed Rendell told Fifield he was paid $20,000 for an 11 minute speech. The message delivered at these events follows a consistent narrative; it says that Iran is developing a nuclear weapons program and is an imminent threat to the United States, that dialogue with the Iranian regime is futile, and the only solution is to delist and support the MEK ...more...
Fars News, August 15, 2011: ... The list of American luminaries doing a paid dance with the MKO is long and contains former top officials of both parties. For example, on the Democratic side of the aisle, former presidential candidate and Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, and former Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana have given short and highly compensated speeches before the group. On the Republican side, former Homeland Security chief and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former presidential candidate and New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Bush chief of staff Andrew Card, and ... more...
ELIZABETH RUBIN, New York Times, August 13, 2011: ... Mr. Dean’s speech stunned me. But then came Rudolph W. Giuliani saying virtually the same thing. At a conference in Paris last December, an emotional Mr. Giuliani told Ms. Rajavi, “These are the most important yearnings of the human soul that you support, and for your organization to be described as a terrorist organization is just simply a disgrace.” I thought I was watching The Onion News Network. Did Mr. Giuliani know whom he was talking about? Evidently not. In fact, an unlikely chorus of the group’s backers — some of whom have received speaking fees, others of whom are inspired by their conviction that ... more...
Milad Ariyaei, Iran Pen association, August 14, 2011: ... Pmoi does not have the character , relations, formation or establishment and the leadership of an organization or a democratic party. This organization believes in the spiritual leader or in the Arabic expression , Amirol Momenin. Massoud Rajavi is the permanent spiritual leader of this current and has connection with the 12th imam (Imam Zaman, The 12th imam of Shiites who is absent and will emerge someday in the current world ) . The spiritual leader of this organization with this way of thinking and ideology never believes in democratic election within its organization and for this reason till he lives he will be the permanent leader and the owner ... more...
Dan Murphy, Cristian Science Monitor, August 13, 2011: ... The Iranian regime has sought to paint its pro-democracy Green Movement as both a tool of the Western power and as affiliated with the MEK, in an attempt to discredit its political opponents with the Iranian population at large. So a US step in the direction of friendlier relations with the MEK would almost certainly be pointed to as evidence that the US – which has praised the Greens and called for political reform inside Iran – is actually working to install an MEK regime in Tehran. (Mrs. Rajavi already styles herself Iran's "president-elect.") That would both complicate any US efforts to support the Green movement, while ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, August 13 2011: ... a number of Iraqi officials and ordinary people came together in capital Baghdad to talk about the MKO presence in Iraq . he attendees stated that the brutality of the MKO members against the Iraqis in the 1991remind them of the bloody era of the dictator Saddam which lasted more than thirty five years. The organizers said that the Iraqi government has decided to give the MKO members six months time to leave the country. Many others showed frustration toward the intervention of the US government in this issue, saying that the US forces are putting pressures on the Iraqi officials to keep the MKO in Iraq ... more...
Jason Ditz, Anti War, August 13, 2011: ... Fresh off of hawkish British MP David Amess lauding the group on TheHill.com yesterday, his US equivalent, Rep. Ted Poe (R – TX) is in TheHill.com today cheering the group as a ticket to regime change in Iran.Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of the Amess and Poe pieces are not their differences, but their massive similarities. Both seem to be working off the same script, using the same list of talking points. Both praise the group as the only “real” opposition in Iran, while lashing the existing political opposition movement and and accusing all critics of the MeK of a “policy of appeasement.” ... more...
Anna Fifield, Financial Times, Washington, August 12 2011: ... “Removing the MEK from the foreign terrorist organisation list and misconstruing its lack of democratic bona fides and support inside Iran will have harmful consequences on the legitimate, indigenous Iranian opposition,” the 37 experts say in the letter. “By attempting to claim credit for Iran’s democracy movement, the MEK has aided the Iranian government’s attempts to discredit the green movement and justify its crackdown on peaceful protesters by associating them with this widely detested group.” The signatories include ... more...
Jasmin Ramsey, Lobelog, August 11, 2011: ... Rajavi refuses to allow human rights organizations full access to the inhabitants so they can assess the situation clearly. She also won’t allow the members to accept refugee status so they can be relocated elsewhere. Once armed to the teeth by Saddam Hussein’s regime, the inhabitants are now living in a country that does not want them, near the border of a government that they have been at war with for most of their existence. They are in a political no man’s land, but ... more...
Murtaza Hussain, Salon, August 11 2011: ... Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) is an organization with a history of violent terrorism against Americans and others, and was a key strategic asset of Saddam Hussein during his brutal crackdown on Iraqi Kurds in the early 90’s. Despite being implicated in the deaths of numerous American and Iranian civilians, (and being designated as a terrorist organization by countries around the world for its actions) U.S. political figures such as Ed Rendell, Andrew Card and John Bolton are openly advocating for MEK and are in many cases receiving significant sums ... more...
Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, August 09, 2011: ... Maziar Bahari, who was jailed in Iran amid the unrest that followed the country's contentious 2009 presidential election, believes the move could have damaging implications. "Despite the historical mistakes the U.S. government committed -- from the 1959 coup d'etat to its full support for the shah's regime -- many Iranians still believe the U.S. can be their potential ally in their fight for freedom," Bahari says. "The delisting of the MKO would send the wrong signal ... more...
By Scott Peterson, Cristian Sience Monitor, August 8, 2011: ... But the delisting of the MEK, Iran experts say, could benefit Iran's hard-line rulers by giving them more reason to brutally clamp down on Iran's internal, nonviolent opposition. The Green Movement – which led street protests in 2009 – steadfastly rejects the MEK as an anti-democratic and violent force."The people who are saying [the MEK] are no longer terrorists are also saying they are democratic," says John Limbert, a former US hostage in Iran from 1979-1981, who was US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran until last year ... more...
Christina Wilkie, Huffington Post, August 08, 2011: ... MEK supported Saddam Hussein in his war against their former countrymen, a conflict which resulted in massive casualties on both sides -- further fueled by U.S. financial support for Iraq. As a result of their actions in the war, the group is reviled today within Iran by major segments of the pro-democracy Green Movement and by those loyal to the ayatollahs. In post-Saddam Iraq, the MEK is best known for having allegedly carried out attacks on Kurds and Shiite Iraqis ... more...
Dump Bachmann, August 08 2011: ... The irony is Bachmannn herself supports a real terrorist group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq(MEK/PMOI) See Wednesday's post "Larry Klayman, Bradlee Dean's Lawyer Appeared With Michele Bachmann at Presser in Support of Terrorist Group". There's an article today in Al Jazeera about all the support the MEK is getting in Washington from politicians like Bachmann: Known for its cult-like behavior, the MEK (also known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, PMOI or MKO) fought alongside Saddam ... more...
Aswat al-Iraq, Baghdad, August 07 2011: ... told Aswat al-Iraq news agency last Tuesday that “more than 400 persons had demonstrated inside the city, 15 km to the north of Baaquba, demanding to restore their agricultural land, which they said that the anti-Tehran Mojahedin-E-Khalq Organization had captured during Iraq’s former Baath regime, calling on the Iraqi government to restore their agricultural lands, which they said had covered 36,000 donums, along with paying compensations for their losses, caused due to that.” ... more...
Daniel Larison, American conservative, August 07, 2011: ... Bahari, speaking at a conference in Washington on Thursday sponsored by the National Iranian American Council, a non-partisan group that advocates for Iranian Americans and opposes the MEK, expressed sympathy for MEK members but said it would be a mistake to take the group off the State Department list at this time. Jasmin Ramsey wrote a long article on the push to de-list the MEK, and she explains why it is wrong to link the issues of de-listing ... more...
Barbara Slavin, IPS, Washington, August 05, 2011: ... In recent months, MEK supporters have engaged in an aggressive lobbying campaign in Washington that has included a number of events at which former senior U.S. officials have received hefty sums to speak. Among them: ex-FBI chief Louis Freeh, former attorney general Michael Mukasey and former Central Command head Anthony Zinni. The MEK has scant support within Iran because it sided with Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Former members say the organisation is a cult fixated on leader Maryam Rajavi and her husband, Massoud, whose whereabouts are unknown ... more...
Niac, Washington, August 05,2011: ... Human rights defender and filmmaker Maziar Bahari explained that delisting the MEK would have serious negative implications for Iran's peaceful democratic movement. "The MEK, with its violent history, is exactly what the Iranian regime needs to legitimate its violence against the peaceful opposition," stated Bahari. He said that, by delisting the group, the U.S. would send a message to young Iranians who have embraced nonviolence in their struggle for democracy that they are wrong. Center for American Progress national security expert Brian Katulis agreed that support for MEK would contradict the Obama Administration's support ... more...
Jasmin Ramsey, Aljazeera, August 05, 2011: ... Something strange is happening in Washington. In August, the Obama administration is expected to announce whether it will keep the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an exiled Iranian group that killed American civilians and officials in the 1970s, on its foreign terrorist organisations (FTO) list. Known for its cult-like behavior, the MEK (also known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran, PMOI or MKO) fought alongside Saddam Hussein's regime against its own country during the bloody Iran-Iraq war. This is one reason why it has almost no Iranian support, even if it refers to itself as ... more...
Daniel Larison August 3rd, 2011:... The response from some of the people tied to these MEK payments is a curious one. Some of them seem to think that it is all right to be paid to speak on behalf of the MEK because they genuinely support the group, as it that made everything all right. Here is one example: None would disclose how much they had been paid but Ed Rendell, the former Pennsylvania governor, said he received $20,000 for an 11-minute speech. “But even if I was paid $50,000, I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t believe in it,” he said. Is it supposed to be a consolation that the people the MEK has been paying aren’t just advocating ... more...
Shawn Amoei, Foreign policy writer, Huffington post, August 04, 2011: ... One of the leading experts on the organization is a former member of the MEK by the name of Massoud Khodabandeh. Regarding Daioleslam he wrote: I can say without doubt that Hassan Daioleslam is a member of what I call for accuracy 'the Rajavi cult' [referring to MEK leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi]. In this respect he is obedient to the Rajavi leadership and would not act in a way inconsistent with their requirements and certainly not without their knowledge or consent (if not to say actual order). The term 'membership' describes his relationship to the Rajavis. The MEK, just like Al Qaida, does not have 'membership cards'. But ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, August 04, 2011: ... Sheikh Ali al-Zahiri, head of the support council of the Iraqi city of Khalis, said on Tuesday that the Diyala Province court has ordered the terrorist group to return 5,000 hectares of land located inside Camp Ashraf, where the MKO terrorists are located, to the Iraqi owners, IRIB reported. The outlawed MKO fled to Iraq in the 1980s, where it enjoyed the support of executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and set up Camp Ashraf in the northeastern town of Khalis, Diyala. The court ruling also required the MKO to pay compensation to 150 Iraqi families for the terrorist group's illegitimate use of the land over the past three decades ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, August 04 2011: ... Terror has always been a hallmark of MEK’s strategy for assuming power. Through much of its past, the party exulted violence as a heroic expression of legitimate dissent. One of the central precepts of the party is that a highly-dedicated group of militants could spark a mass revolution by bravely confronting superior power of the state and assaulting its authority. Once, the masses observe that the state is vulnerable to violence, than they will shed their inhibitions and join the protest, thus sparking the larger revolution. Thus, the most suitable means of affecting political change is necessarily violence ... more...
Daniel Larison, American Conservative, August 03, 2011: ... Massoud Khodabandeh, a former senior high-ranking MEK member, said: “People aren’t allowed to get married. Some there haven’t heard or seen a child for 25 years. There are no phones, no internet, no postal services, nothing..” Mr Khodabandeh runs an organisation helping those trying to quit the MEK, and believes many at Camp Ashraf want to leave but are effectively held hostage by the Rajavis. “Those caught trying to run away get severely punished,” he said in a telephone interview from Leeds, England, on Sunday. One of the most detailed studies of the MEK was conducted in 2005 by Human Rights Watch ... more...
Laurie Bennett, Muckety.com, August 02 2011: ... The Iranian American Community of Northern California has paid Akin Gump $100,000 in the past two months. Former congressmen Vic Fazio and Bill Paxon are among the Akin Gump advisers working on the campaign. Another group, Iranian-American Community of North Texas, hired diGenova & Toensing in February. The lobby shop has been paid $100,000 this year. The State Department describes Mujahedin, also known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), as “the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group,” with a history of anti-western activity ... more...
Kourosh Ziabari, Press TV, August 01 2011: ... The overt and ostentatious relationship of MKO with the United States and European countries, especially over the recent years has been always a source of disappointment and regret for the Iranian people and the families of the victims of MKO terror attacks in the 1980s. The West's financial and political support for MKO has been frequently protested and condemned by the Iranian officials and even conscious, independent Western thinkers who are aware of the nature of MKO's brutal and atrocious activities; however, the US and its EU friends have never heeded these calls and prolonged their support for MKO and ... more...
Fars News, August 01, 2011: ... The ringleaders of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization are preparing a plan to use dissident members of the group for an upcoming assault on the Iraqi forces guarding the MKO's main camp in Northern Iraq, a rights group revealed on Sunday. According to the rights group, the MKO gang leaders have prepared plans to coax a number of members into escaping from the camp to shoot them from behind and also persuade dozens of others to carry out self-immolation - by using fuel bottles which have already been prepared - and commit suicide in front of TV cameras ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, July 31, 2011: ... "Iraq will sue those governments that support the MKO in order to harm Baghdad," Maliki said at a Saturday press conference, Al-Alam news network reported. "The Western states put the MKO on the list of terrorist groups for its crimes against Iraqi people, but they support it now," he noted. Maliki was referring to a recent decision by a Spanish court to summon the Iraqi premier regarding the incidents in Camp Ashraf -- where the MKO terrorists are currently located ... more...
Press TV, July 30, 2011: ... Several people familiar with MKO's offers said that the pay scale ranged from $20,000 to $100,000 per speech, plus travel expenses. Ed Rendell, the former Pennsylvania governor, said he received $20,000 for an 11-minute speech while a former US official said he was offered $30,000 plus first-class air fare to show up at an MKO-linked event in Europe. The group has also hired Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, a lobbying firm, to persuade members of US Congress to support the terrorist ... more...
Financial Times, July 29, 2011: ... Luminaries lobby for ‘Washington’s favourite terrorists’ to be removed from a list of foreign terrorist organisations. An Iranian exile group is spending millions of dollars in a lobbying effort to be removed from the US’s list of foreign terrorist organisations, recruiting a group of US national security luminaries to be its advocates. Dozens of former officials across the political spectrum – from conservative John Bolton to liberal Howard Dean – have been paid tens of thousands of dollars to support Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or People’s Mujahedin ...more...
Matt Potter, Suniego reader, July 27, 2011: ... Total transportation expenses, including first class commercial airfare, were given as $4203.77. Total lodging expenses were said to be $2385.85. No separate meal or drink costs were listed. In response to a section of the form that reads, “Explain why participation in the trip is connected to your individual official or representational duties,” the disclosure reads, “Advocate Iranian Human Rights.” An accompanying “Private Sponsor Travel Certification Form” was signed by Tim Mehdi Ghaemi of “Colorado’s Iranian American Community.” ... more...
Brian Beyer, Anti war, July 26, 2011: ... Not only can MEK not be trusted as an objective source of information, but the violence carried out against Americans in the past by this terrorist group should give great pause to anyone, especially members of government, considering supporting this group. Additionally, the bipolar nature of American-MEK relations, from the worst of enemies to best of friends and back again, gives absolutely zero assurance that this group would be conducive to American interests even in the near future ... more...
ISNA, July28 2011: ... "Iraqi nation and establishment do not want existence of any organization inside its soil which uses the country for operations against neighboring states, particularly against Iran." "Iraqi government preferred the issued (expulsion of MKO from Iraq) be settled through a trilateral committee by Iran, Iraq and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). We had called for the EU to host these people and distribute them in different states. The group has no position inside Iraq." ... more...
Michael Theodoulou, The National, July 26 2011: ... Massoud Khodabandeh, a former senior high-ranking MEK member, said: "People aren't allowed to get married. Some there haven't heard or seen a child for 25 years. There are no phones, no internet, no postal services, nothing.." Mr Khodabandeh runs an organisation helping those trying to quit the MEK, and believes many at Camp Ashraf want to leave but are effectively held hostage by the Rajavis. "Those caught trying to run away get severely punished," he said in a ... more...
Congressman Dennis J. Kucinich, July 26, 2011: ... MEK has spent millions of dollars on lobbyists, PR agents an communications firms to build up pressure on Secretary Hillary Clinton to take the group off the terrorist list. In Horder, the Department of Justice, under both your direction and that of Attorny General Mukasey, argued that it was felony to file an amicus brief on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization, or to engate in pblic advocacy on belahf of such an organization ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, July 24, 2011: ... "The Iranian nation with more than 17,000 martyrs is the biggest victim of terrorism in the world,"... He lambasted the western countries for their support for terrorist groups despite their hues and cries about campaign against terrorism, and said the world arrogant powers equipped terrorist groups against the Islamic Republic on the early days after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, and they are now also striving to save the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) ... more...
By TIM ARANGO, New York Times, July 24, 2011: ... After a half-dozen such sessions, he has made little progress in getting the group to agree to leave the camp before Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki’s government follows through on its promise to shut it down by the end of the year. Adding to his difficulties, the group has a formidable and well-financed communications machine. It has attracted political figures like Howard Dean and Wesley K. Clark, the retired Army general, by paying them to make speeches in support of ... more...
by Garibaldi, Spencer Watch, July 19, 2011: ... The surreal world of anti-Muslim Islamophobia knows no bounds. Islamophobes and the political class that panders to them have been caught with their pants down–figuratively for once. Since 9/11, these traffickers in hate have profited from the development of an industry of “terror expert professionals,” consisting of so-called: “ex-terrorists,” “ex-Muslims,” “scholars,” “think tank gurus,” pontificating on the incompatibility of Islam and Democracy, the danger of a growing Muslim populace in the West, the need to be suspicious of Muslims, Muslims’ susceptibility to terrorism, etc ... more...
Jamal Abdi, Huffingtonpost, July 22, 2011: ... Instead, the only damage the MEK would inflict would be on Iran's peaceful democracy movement. The rejection of violence has been critical to the democracy movement because it shifts the arena of competition with the Iranian government to a theatre where the opposition enjoys a significant comparative advantage. Rejecting violence provides the opposition the moral upper hand against Iran's hardliners. Hence, by confronting the regime where it is weak and where the opposition is strong, the nonviolent opposition also has the tactical upper hand ... more...
Carlton Purvis, Security Management, July 21, 2011: ... The State Department “looks not only at the actual terrorist attacks that a group has carried out, but also at whether the group has engaged in planning and preparations for possible future acts of terrorism or retains the capability and intent to carry out such acts,” a statement on its Web site says.And in 2004 MEK was still actively involved in planning and executing attacks according to FBI investigation documents released in May under the Freedom of Information Act. A joint investigation between Los Angeles-based agents and German police recorded phone calls where MEK members discussed operations. The report tells of a scheme by MEK ... more...
ISNA, July 20, 2011: ... Iraqi Sunni al-Ezzah tribe Chief Sheikh Mazen Habib al-Kheizaran said his tribe supports Iraqi government's decision to expel MKO members from the country. "I respect constitution of my country and norms of my tribe. The constitution of my country does not allow Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist cell to stay inside Iraq anymore and I will support my country and the decision of the government in deporting the group. We call for expulsion of this group from Iraq and will back any decision made by the government, but we believe that this issue is better to be solved by Human Rights Group," ... more...
Press TV, July 19 2011: ... They have existed throughout those regions for a number of reasons: one is strong American support. Even though the American government denies it, it's been reported by Seymour Hirsch in The New Yorker; it's been reported by Laura Rosen in the War and Peace Blog. They can deny it all they want, but we do strongly support it -- independent journalists have gone through the region and videotaped all these communist terrorist groups and they all admit they are working with the American government. They also of course have strong support from Israel. What the American media doesn't bother to report is ... more...
Demotix, July 20 2011: ... While the meeting, where Iranians seemed vastly outnumbered by non-Iranian nationals, was attended by an impressive number of people, the criticisms, aimed at previous such events, remain. It appeared that a lot of effort had gone into attracting people to the carefully orchestrated, family, race and gender-friendly event, in order to validate the coveted "Largest gathering of Iranians" claim. Strategically positioned cheerleaders, careful video editing, proliferation of flags, placards and vests all seemed choreographed for a spectacle. As expected, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the NCRI, made all the right noises in her speech ... more...
Daniel Larison July 19th, 2011: ... Despite its activism in Western capitals, the MEK commands very little support within Iran. Its alliance with Saddam and its cult-like dispositions have alienated even the radical segments of intelligentsia that once found its ideological template attractive. The main opposition force in Iran remains the Green Movement that features not just liberal activists but clerical dissidents, and middle class elements chaffing under the theocracy’s repressive rule. The Iranian populace is seeking ways of liberalizing its society and not embracing yet another ideological movement with totalitarian tendencies ... more...
Press TV, July 19, 2011: ... go back to January 1981 the so-called Algiers Accord when the US committed itself to never intervening or interfering again in the internal affairs of Iran. Obviously when you look at what's happened in the last 30 years we (US) have trampled all over the Algiers Accord and our support for PJAK; our support for the Mujahidin-e Khalq; and our support for Jundallah is clearly evidence of the fact that we are perpetually intervening in Iran's business engaging in acts of terror and cross border incursions that are absolutely illegal and reprehensible. It's a simple contra indication of everything the American government claims to stand for ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, July 19 2011: ... He was wearing a military uniform, sitting on his knees. This was the first picture I saw of Ali Safavi after I was keenly aroused to know him and his agenda. I had noticed his name as the author of an article in favor of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI) some years ago. After a quick Google search, I came across with his photograph in military uniform. Another photo portrayed him in a visit between Maryam Rajavi and the Israeli Rabbi Daniel Zucker. Shockingly, on the Huffington Post, Safavi is introduced as a member of Iran’s parliament in Exile which is the elegant, polished title for NCR. According to the US State Department NCR is an alias for the MKO ... more...
Shadi Sadr, Huffingtonpost, July 19, 2011: ... The tragedy is that while the Western ban on the MEK has negatively impacted the lives of ordinary people like Ashraf, it has left the leadership and high-level members of the MEK, who openly participated in terrorist acts, largely untouched. Far from struggling in refugee purgatory, high-ranking MEK officials today live comfortably in France and the US.Now there is an opportunity to change all that -- soon, the US government will decide whether or not to take the MEK off its terrorist list. There is strong support to declassify the MEK -- and equally strong opposition to block the move. The outcome could make all the difference for people like Ashraf ... more...
ISNA, July 18, 2011: ... Members of Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) should completely leave Iraq by the end of 2011, said Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) representative in Tehran, Majed Ghamas. "MKO members should leave Iraq and Ashraf Camp based on Iraqi government's official stance and there should be no trace of them inside Iraq by the end of 2011. There are minority of people who are against withdrawal of the group from Iraq, but Kurds, Shiites and overwhelming majority of Sunnis are against presence of MKO members inside Iraq," he told ISNA. Ghamas then added, "the US forces took control of Ashraf Camp after Saddam's collapse and ... more...
Court of Justice of the European Union, July 14, 2011: ... the Advocate General, nevertheless, does not find France’s position unreasonable. In strict accordance with the General Court’s Rules of Procedure it was not possible for that Court to offer the Council any assurance that the confidential information would not, at some point, have to be communicated to PMOI. As a result Advocate General Sharpston suggests that changes be made to the Rules of Procedure and principles be outlined so as to allow the use of such confidential information where necessary to combat terrorism whilst simultaneously ensuring respect of the rights of defence and the right to effective judicial protection ... more...
Alyona show,Russia Today, July 16 2011: ... Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money (aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult) . The Alyona Show on RT – Russian English –Language news Channel suggests the US media focus on the “Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money”, on July 9th. The show criticizes US officials’ hypocrisy and double-standard sell the cause of terrorists. Comparing MEK with Al-Qaida the show poses the question that how a terrorist designated organization can be debated in a hearing held in the US congress ... more...
Ali Fatemi and Karim Pakravan, Truthout, July 15 2011: ... John Bolton, the former ambassador to the UN under President Bush, reiterated his calls for military action against Iran and openly expressed his support for the MEK. Weeks later, former Bush attorney general Michael Mukasey appeared before the Oversight and Investigation Subcommittee and called for the US to delist the MEK. Mukasey was even photographed prior to the hearing receiving counsel from the leadership of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the MEK's political wing, which is also designated as a terrorist organization.Bolton and Mukasey are not alone in their avowed public support for this known terrorist group ... more...
Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, July 14, 2011: ... Both are terrorist and they're proud of it. Both are a blight on Iran. Both call each other sister and brother. Both are religious extremists. Both are ready [to die for their leaders]. Both are used to taking orders rather than thinking for themselves. Both have participated in the killings of innocent people in this country. Both believe the domination and leadership of Iran is their genetic right. Both groups enjoy massive wealth. Both are an obstacle to freedom in Iran. I will soon write about their differences, but without any doubt a Basij member is more honorable ... more...
IRNA, July 13 2011: ... The ambassador said that the Iraqi government has also raised the issue with the European Union. Al-Sheikh said that the terrorist MKO refugees were given a camp under the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein when they were serving under the then Iraqi army command to crack down Iraqi opposition in southern Iraq. 'So, the new Iraqi government set a deadline for them to leave Iraq. “The Iraqi leaders have consulted with EU over the MKO refugees and maintained that Iraq can not tolerate presence of the terrorists in the Iraqi territory,” the ambassador said. “We also discussed the subject with Iran and the Red Crescent ... more...
NIAC, July 11, 2011: ... But Rohrabacher was adamant in his support for MEK. “I will have to admit the thing that attracts me to this movement is that it is willing to fight," he responded. “It won’t just be pacifists," Rohrabacher said, referring dismissively to the Green Movement, "it will be people with courage and people who stand up.” Mukasey, in addition to calling for the MEK to be removed from the terrorism list, urged that MEK members be allowed to resettle in the United States. Mukasey acknowledged that members of terrorist organizations are legally barred from entering the U.S., and suggested legislation be introduced to change the law for MEK members ... more...
IRIB, Vienna, July 13, 2011: ... Asked about the Western governments' double-standard about Iranian nuclear program while Iran is a signatory to nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) while the Zionist regime of Israel possesses stockpiles of 200 warheads, the Austrian foreign minister said: 'We insisted on a disarmament and freeing the Middle East from weapons of mass destruction in the NPT Review Conference in New York. Answering a question about the European bid to drop terrorist Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) from the list of terrorist groups, Spindelegger said that Austria is opposing all terrorist activities ...more...
Foreing Affairs Subcommittee, July 07 2011: ... All this is not to suggest that Iran-Iraqi relations will ever degenerate into the hostility and tensions of Saddam's period, but nevertheless, a competitive relations is more likely than an alliance of unequals. The one issue that has brought Tehran and Baghdad together is their mutual antipathy to the MEK presence in Iraq. As mentioned, the roots of Iraqi regime's hostility to MEK stem from its intimate ties with Saddam's regime. In essence, the Iraqi government has its own legitimate reasons for seeking to evict the MEK from their sanctuary. To be sure, such an act would garner Iraq further Iranian goodwill, but the core motivation for the conduct of Baghdad lies in MEK's own checkered history within Iraq ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, July 11 2011: ... Former spokesman of, National Council of Resistance in London – member of parliament in exile according to the Huffingtonpost – has posted 19 articles on the Huffingtonpost since February 2010. Reading through the whole articles, I looked for the salient features. Surprisingly I came across with a common pattern in them that might lead the audience to wonder if Safavi, was pushing the idea of the Foreign Terrorist designated entity, Mujahedin Khalq (MKO/MEK/PMOI) for which NCR is an alias, according to the State Department. The essence of Ali Safavi’s writings ... more...
Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi, Hudson New York, July 10, 2011: ... if Iran's grip were as powerful as Fisk claims, the MEK would have been completely removed from Camp Ashraf years ago. Yet the MEK still has its base there: Iraq's politicians are divided as to what should be the Iraqi government's stance towards the MEK. Although many Shi'a and Kurdish politicians want to remove the MEK, their reason for doing so is not to placate Iran. Rather, the desire to get rid of the MEK is rooted in the fact that the group is strongly disliked by many Iraqis for its alleged role in the Baathist suppression of the Shi'i and Kurdish uprisings during and after the First Gulf War ... more...
NIAC, Washington DC, July 07 2011: ... Sometime in August, Secretary Clinton will decide whether to keep the Mujahedin-e Khalq on the US’s terrorist list. This is a decision that will have significant implications for the Iranian-American community, the United States and the people of Iran. Members of NIAC have urged us to speak out, because delisting the Mujahedin would undermine the peaceful Iranian pro-democracy movement and strengthen the regime in Tehran. It would threaten the free voices of the Iranian-American community in the US. And it would allow the Mujahedin to receive US funding ... more...
Press TV, July 07 2011: ... Rajavi said the US was responsible to protect MKO members in Camp Ashraf and called for the formation of a permanent monitoring team backed by the United States and the European Union to ensure the safety of the terrorist group. In April, the MKO members clashed with the Iraqi security forces who were involved in an operation to reclaim land from the camp and return it to local farmers. The MKO claimed that the Iraqi forces killed 34 of its members in the clashes. But Iraqi officials refuted the allegation, saying the camp residents were killed by the MKO organization itself ... more...
Jasmin Ramsey, Lobelog, July 07, 2011: ... But that doesn’t seem to matter to the likes of Rudy Giuliani, Tom Ridge, John Bolton and other neoconservatives, far right-wingers and their European counterparts (ever heard of Lord Corbett of Castle Vale?). In Iraq the MEK assisted Saddam Hussein’s government in suppressing Shias and Kurds and performed “security services” for the Iraqi government until Hussein’s government was overthrown by the US. The MEK did not resist the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. At present the MEK is mainly supported by pro-Israel advocates and/or those who ...more...
Daniel Larison, American Conservative, July 07, 2011: ... And let’s not forget, the MEK suppresses and holds captive its own members – more than 70 percent of the MEK members in Camp Ashraf in Iraq are held there against their own wishes, according to a RAND Corporation study. I have marveled at the willingness of numerous former government officials, retired military officers, and elected representatives to embrace the MEK. There’s no question that they are motivated by their loathing of the Iranian government, but their hostility to the regime had led them to endorse a group that most Iranians loathe. Michael Rubin has been sharply critical of MEK boosters here in the U.S. for some time now, and ... more...
Muhammad Sahimi , Anti war, July 06, 2011: ... The MEK has also set up several front organizations. The National Council of Resistance(NCR), its political arm, is not listed as a terrorist organization. Near East Policy Research and Strategic Policy Consulting, two“consulting companies” headed by longtime MEK members and spokesmen, lobby for the MEK. The Council for Democratic Change in Iranprovides cover for political figures to support the MEK without being directly associated with it. It invites politicians to speak at its gatherings without telling them that they are an MEK front group, and it pays the speakers honoraria so large that ... more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, July 05 2011: ... The problem is not the name of Camp Ashraf or the name MEK. The Rajavi’s cannot simply re-name, re-brand or even relocate their group for political expediency and expect the ‘members’ to continue as their slaves. To solve this problem (before the question of whether they want to work for or against anyone) the residents must be given access to the outside world, to their families, to media, communications, get paid for their work and have access to the post office, cinema, marriage registry, birth registry, police station, legal aid, courts and legal bodies of the country they are living in etc. Nine years after the fall of Saddam ... more...
Michael Rubin, Commentary Magazine, July 04, 2011: ... I also welcome the debate on whether the MKO is a terrorist group or not (I believe it is), there are certain incontrovertible facts: (1) the MKO has targeted Americans in past terrorist attacks; (2) they have embraced Saddam; (3) they operate as a cult which remains hostile to freedom, liberty, and democracy; and (4), they have very little if any support among Iranians in Iran. However, support for the MKO is the best way to preserve the Islamic Republic. Iranians recognize while what they have is bad, embrace of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi’s cult would be analogous to embrace of Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge ...more...
ROY GUTMAN, McClatchy Newspapers, July 04, 2011: ... Ambassador James Jeffrey said Saturday that the U.S. was working with the United Nations to move the 3,000-plus Iranians "to a place that is a bit safer, a bit further from Iran," but they would have to disband and allow themselves to be registered as refugees by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees. But the Paris-based leadership of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran rejected the idea as a "non-starter" and said the Iranians would prefer to die where they now live, a location known as Camp Ashraf, than to relocate within Iraq. Mohammad Mohaddessin, the official representative abroad of Ashraf, called Jeffrey's proposal for relocation "shocking and questionable." ... more...
Edalat Association, Tehran, July 03 2011: ... In this statement, the enormous terrorist acts of Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization and murder of 12000 Iranians and also the crimes of Jundullah against Iranian people were reminded. According to the Jundullah ringleader’s confessions and the MKO-related documents, US has supported these terrorist groups; now the question is that what is the relation between fighting against terrorism and at the same time, taking the side of terrorist groups? Commemorating all the martyrs of terrorism and especially the victims of Iran Air Flight 655 who were victimized by the brutality of the US leaders, we condemn any double political approach ... more...
Noel Brinkerhoff, Allgov.com, July 02, 2011: ... MEK has been on the State Department’s terrorist list since 1997, although even prior to that it was accused of killing Americans in Iran in the 1970s and supporting the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.One of Washington’s top lobbying firms, Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, has been hired by MEK supporters (the Iranian American Community of Northern California) to remove the organization from the Foreign Terrorist Organizations list. Lobbyists working on behalf of MEK include former congressman Vic Fazio (D-California) and Hal Shapiro, a former senior adviser to President Bill Clinton, whose State Department originally put MEK on the list ... more...
Iran Interlink, July 01, 2011: ... According to the FBI. A recently disclosed FBI report from 2004 reveals Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) continued to plan terrorist acts years after they claimed to renounce terrorism. The State Department has documented the MEK's disturbing record: killing Americans and Iranians in terrorist attacks; fighting for Saddam Hussein against Iran and assisting Saddam's brutal campaign against Iraq's Kurds and Shia; its "cult-like" behavior; the abuses and even torture it commits against its own members; and its support for the U.S. embassy takeover and calls for executing the hostages ... more...
BUSHRA JUHI, Associated Press, July 01, 2011: ... An Iraqi official claimed Thursday that 58 people have fled from an Iranian exiles' camp northeast of Baghdad and promised the government would help them immigrate into another country. The claim by Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed al-Askari is the latest in the saga of several thousand Iranian exiles living in Camp Ashraf, where an April 8 raid by the Iraqi army killed dozens or residents. The camp is run by the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, a resistance group to Tehran's clerical regime that has been a harsh critic of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The group is considered a terrorist organization by the United States ... more...
Trita Parsi, Huffington post, June 30, 2011: ... No one should be surprised -- not even DC's "unwitting members of Congress" -- as the FBI calls the group's supporters on Capitol Hill. The State Department has documented the MEK's disturbing record: killing Americans and Iranians in terrorist attacks; fighting for Saddam Hussein against Iran and assisting Saddam's brutal campaign against Iraq's Kurds and Shia; its "cult-like" behavior; the abuses and even torture it commits against its own members; and its support for the U.S. embassy takeover and calls for executing the hostages. And let's not forget, the MEK suppresses and holds captive its own members - more than ... more...
Jay Solomon, Wall Street Journal, June 29, 2011: ...Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, voiced his support for Iran's call to shut a military camp in central Iraq that has served as a base for an Iranian insurgent group, the Mujahedin e-Khalq, or MeK. Washington, while designating the MeK as an international terrorist organization, has pressured Iraq to continue to provide sanctuary to some 3,400 MeK fighters over fears they would be persecuted if they returned to Iran. Mr. Talabani said in a speech to the terrorism conference Saturday that his government's patience with the MeK had worn thin. The MeK camp "will be shut down by the end of the year," Mr. Talabani said ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, June 27 2011: ... The relationship between the Mujahedin –e- khalq (MEK/MKO) and Israel is getting weirdly closer as the group’s large-scale campaign to get removed from FTO list of the State Department grows. It’s not a coincidence that the MKO adoring supporters among American neoconservatives – these days largely responsible for the push toward war in the Middle East- seem also caring to Israel and the Zionist lobby in the US, AIPAC. Having begun with an anti Zionism—even anti Jews-- and anti-imperialism agenda, the MKO's role to run the super powers' policy is considered controversial by experts. [1] In a series of interviews with PBS, Keith Weisman former senior official of AIPAC shows his concern over a possible war that may be pushed by Israeli lobbies against Iran. He reveals ... more...
Iran Interlink, April 2011: ... Iran-Interlink representative Anne Singleton travelled to Iraq mid April at the invitation of the Baghdad based human rights NGO Baladiyeh Foundation, officials of the Government of Iraq and other NGOs involved in the Camp Ashraf problem. The Baladiyeh Foundation, headed by Mrs Ahlam al-Maliki, provides humanitarian assistance to a wide range of deprived sectors of Iraqi society arising directly from the invasion and occupation of Iraq by allied forces in 2003. Baladiyeh Foundation is concerned by the humanitarian crisis at Camp Ashraf caused by the group’s leaders who are refusing to allow access ... more...
Press TV, Tehran, June 25, 2011: ... Iraq's President Jalal Talabani says a committee has been formed to shut down a camp belonging to the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO). “The government of Iraq will do all it can to prevent terrorism. We should attempt to close down MKO terrorists' Ashraf Camp and we shall remove all those people. Those who are willing will go back to Iran. Others will go wherever they want to,” Talabani said in a speech during an anti-terrorism conference in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Saturday. Talabani pointed out that the committee was formed by Iran, Iraq and the International Red Cross, reiterating that the camp would be closed by the end of 2011 ... more...
Iran Interlink, June 24, 2011: ... A U.S. State Department document released in May 2011 under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act says the MEK has no popular support inside Iran and “to the extent Iranians know about this group they are far more likely to oppose it than support it.” It added, “Any U.S. support for MEK would extremely damage its reputation amongst Iranians and would increase anti-American sentiments in Iran.” The State Department cables quoted defectors as describing MEK as a cult that punishes former members. The cables said the MEK leadership ordered the execution of all attempted defectors ...more...
Aswat al-Iraq, Baghdad, June 23, 2011: ... The Iraqi government’s position towards the ‘terrorist’ Mojahedin E-Khalq Organization is very clear, and the Ashraf Camp, used by that group as its headquarters must close by the end of the current year, 2011,Baghdad had called on International Organizations to help it in this issue.We have proposed the formation of a special committee, to comprise representatives of the Iranian and Iraqi sides, along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and the Committee is scheduled to convene in the nearest possible time. the Western states must present help in this respect, including the acceptance of persons, belonging to ... more...
Sheda Vasseghi, World Tribune, June 22, 2011: ... It is unclear whether Mr. Brian Binley is actually ignorant of the facts, in denial, or simply trapped in the British colonial mentality in rejecting that times have changed!
Recently, Mr. Binley wrote an article entitled “Binley: Obama must support Iranian democracy movement,” published in the Washington Times in support of the Islamo-Marxist cult the People’s Mojahedin (PMOI) as a viable alternative for the Iranian people. The PMOI is a cult that is still listed as a terrorist group by the U.S. State Department. It has been enjoying the millions of dollars that Saddam Hussein poured into their bank accounts during the 1980’s ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, June 22, 2011: ... The committee "will discuss the requests of the members who live in Camp Ashraf, particularly those who seek to return to Iran without any pressure or difficulty," Zebari said. Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf in 2009 and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group. The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq. "We have asked international organizations and European parliaments to encourage the (group's) members to leave Iraq, and to facilitate (the movement of) those members who seek to go to those countries," ... more...
ISNA, June 21, 2011: ... Zabari also said a committee is to be formed in Baghdad soon to determine ways for MKO members' exit. As to Iraq-US Security Pact, Zebari said, "the US troops need to leave Iraqi soil by the end of 2011." The MKO is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community. Founded in the 1960s, the group has masterminded many terrorist operations in Iran and Iraq. The group is especially notorious in Iran for having sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. The MKO has been in Iraq's Diyala province since the 1980s ... more...
Nakhel News, Baghdad, June 20, 2011: ... The Iraqi government summoned the French ambassador to Baghdad to protest at Paris for hosting a conference of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) where the terrorist group raised unfounded allegations against Baghdad. "To affect the international community and attract international support, the MKO has claimed that the Iraqi government has killed 35 members of the group and injured 350 others," the Iraqi government said on Monday. "But, this is a sheer lie and Baghdad has not carried out such an action," the statement added. The Iraqi people have announced their opposition to the presence of the MKO members ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Tikrit, June 20, 2011: ... In a conference in Tikrit in northwest of Baghdad, attended by a number of local officials, tribal leaders, the Iraqis called on the government to put pressure on the organization to leave the country as early as possible. The participants called the presence of the MKO camp on Iraq soil unconstitutional stressing that the crimes against the Iraqi people by the MKO members are unforgettable. Many here in this conference are of the opinion that Iraq will never see stability as long as MKO members are in the country. The MKO is listed as a terrorist group by much of the international community ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, May 17, 2011: ... This infatuation with the PMOI also diverts our energy and attention away from the civil society movement known as the ‘green movement’ whose leaders have rejected any link with the PMOI. The PMOI lost all its credibility with the Iranian people when they formed an alliance with the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The only actor inside Iran who nowadays accords any importance to the group is the Iranian government: they have accused some of the arrested protestors from the demonstrations since the Presidential elections of 2009 of collaborating with the PMOI in order to discredit the pro-democracy movement ... more...
Philip Giraldi, American Conservative, June 16, 2011: ... An Iraqi government spokesman responded that Iraq would pay not “a cent” and the Foreign Ministry then demanded that the delegation leave Iraq. The Iranians in question are members of the Mujaheddin e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian terrorist group that found shelter in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. It has been listed as a terrorist organization by the US government for the past ten years and has been implicated in the killing of Americans. It seems that Rohrabacher and some fellow wingnuts to include Ileana Ros Lehtinen, the committee chairman, have a soft spot in their hearts for MEK because ... more...
Danielle Pletka,The American, June 15, 2011: ... If this is an enemy/enemy/friend thing, let’s consider whether we wish to replace the creepy, Islamist, dictatorial mullahs with the creepy, Islamist, dictatorial cult. Seems a bad trade to me. The United States should be supporting democracy in Iran, not a one-for-one swap among murderers and thugs. And here’s another question: Where’s the FBI and the Justice Department? A terrorist group is lobbying in the United States. It’s paying top political fixers to make its case. It’s paying speaking fees to former government officials. Where’s the money from? How’s it being transferred? And would it be okay for Hezbollah to do this? Al Qaeda? ... more...
Mohammed A Salih, Rudaw, Baghdad, June 15, 2011: ... The delegation reportedly told Maliki that a US congressional committee is investigating violence between Iraqi forces and members of the Iranian dissident group Mojahedi-e-Khalq Organization that killed 34 people and injured 200 at Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad. Following the comments, the Iraqi government told the US Embassy that the delegation was no longer welcome in Iraq, government spokesman Ali al-Dabagh said. “This is the stance of a sovereign state towards the unacceptable attitude of those congressmen,” he said. “Iraq is not an American colony where such insulting statements ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, June 15 2011: ... Rajavi’s dream didn’t come true and today thirty years after declaration of armed struggle Rajavi is disappeared and his organization is stuck in a cul-de-sac because it has to renounce violence in order to get removed from the list of foreign terrorist organizations of US State Department. June 20, actually signifies the start of MKO’s political isolation because their armed act against their own people while they were under the protection of their enemy Saddam Hussein was condemned as a treason by Iranians. Despite the disastrous failure of June 1981, Rajavi the leader of MKO Cult of personality never ... more...
Wafaa Amer, Al Sabbah, Baghdad, June 14, 2011 :... ... Under Secretary Hussein Zuhairi, who headed the Iraqi delegation, responded to the statement of a foreign organization [MEK lobbyists] in the Council Human Rights in which she referred to allegations launched by MKO, which live in Camp Ashraf (Camp New Iraq) in order to discredit the Iraqi government in international forums... Zuhairi stressed that the government had decided to end the Organization's presence in the territory of the country. He also stressed that, “whoever backs the false allegations of the organization should know that Camp New Iraq is part of the territory of Iraq and is subject to Iraqi sovereignty...” more...
By Kevin Bogardus, The Hill, June 12, 2011: ... As Kevine Bogardus reports that "One of Washington's top lobby firms is working to remove an Iranian group from the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations", ROY GUTMAN from McClatchy Newspapers writes "The U.S. Embassy in Iraq sought Saturday to distance itself from a highly contentious “fact-finding mission” to Baghdad led by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California Republican, that prompted Iraq to demand that the entire congressional delegation leave the country..The U.S. Embassy issued a statement explaining that Congress is a separate branch of government whose members often disagree with the executive branch ... more...
Fars news, June 12, 2011: ... 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 ... more...
Radio Nawa, Baghdad, June 11, 2011: ... The Chairman of the Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defense, revealed Thursday, that his committee had agreed with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to form a committee to follow up the file of the MKO. He also agreed to raise the financial budget of the military institutions. Said Hassan Sanead, told the Kurdish news agency that the Parliamentary Commission on Security and Defense met with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki as a leader of the armed forces and discussed with him the three major security files of the country. Sanead added Maliki agreed to set up a committee to follow up Mujahideen file ... more...
Almada News, Baghdad, June 11, 2011: ... Members of Congress who had been in Baghdad on an official visit were expelled from Iraq on Friday. According to reliable sources the government decided to expel a delegation, chaired by [Rep. R-Calif.] Dana Rohrabacher, as undesirable elements. The U.S. Congress called on the Iraqi government to pay compensation for losses to the U.S. army in Iraq, pointing out that the U.S. government cannot afford to incur huge amounts of financial expenditure in light of the current economic hardship. A member of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Congress and head of the delegation that visited Iraq, Dana Rohrabacher, during a press conference held at the headquarters of the U.S. ... more...
Nathan Hodge, Wall Street Journal, June 10, 2011: ... Supporters of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, a controversial Iranian resistance movement that was once allied with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, took up a couple of rows in the Dirksen Senate office building hearing room. They were wearing matching day-glow yellow T-shirts and vests that read, “Protect Camp Ashraf” and “Delist MEK.” Also in the audience was a smaller contingent from Code Pink, the antiwar group. Code Pink members, wearing their signature pink shirts, silently held up signs in the aisle opposite the MEK. Their signs read, “End war – rebuild America”; “Bring our war $ home”’; and “Diplomacy not war!!” ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, June 09, 2011: ... The images you see below show the eastern part of Ashraf Cultic garrison. Every day at this part, some of the brainwashed members of the “ destructive mind-control Cult of Rajavi”, covering their faces ; target the suffering families -who are awaiting their beloved ones’ visit eagerly – by strings and catapults. On these photos one can see the families trying to invite the brainwashed elements to talk friendly instead of throwing stones. Although the only way the MKO cultic system is acquainted with is: “violence” no matter against whom. It is said that some of these people are Iraqi mercenaries who are stationed inside the camp through ...more...
Aria Iran, June 08 2011: ... He was sentenced to pay penalty and publish an apology letter in three French newspapers. He was required by the court to mention in the letter of apology that his book:” Vevak at Ayatollahs service” was written under the orders of Mujahedin Khalq Organization. He also had to pay a 3000 – euro penalty. Following the publication of the distorted announcement regarding Bonnet’s Court, plaintiffs of the court complained to french judiciary .Yves Bonnet’s attorneys, to respond the court judge, denied the announcement published on MKO official websites and declared that they didn’t compose or publish any announcement regarding Yves Bonnet’s court ... more...
Press TV, June 08, 2011: ... Ayatollah Larijani noted that the US and its Western allies, in contradiction to their claims of human rights, support a number of regional regimes that have no regard for human rights and democracy in their countries. The Iranian Judiciary chief also criticized the West's support for certain terrorist groups such as Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) “that clearly violated human rights and killed many people.”The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community. The Iraq-based group is also known to have cooperated with executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in suppressing 1991 uprisings ... more...
Amir Movassaqi, Iran Sabz, Germay, June 07 2011: ... As a former member of this terrorist group who had been deceived by the group’s reactionary system, and now is living in Germany, I warn all European states and security bodies that today they nurture a group which is more dangerous than Al-Qaida. The terrorist cult of Rajavi abuses social and international liberty to achieve their horrible, ominous objectives. The group has even no pity for its own forces and make them die simply to reach its goals. European states and security organizations should seriously watch their nations so that their youth don’t get in the trap of these dangerous groups ... more...
Thai News Service, June 07, 2011: ... 22- Luis Freeh, former CIA Chief, for violation of human rights, complicity in the torturing of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq 23- Robert Muller, former CIA Chief, for violation of human rights, complicity in the torturing of prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq 24- Gen. Games Jons, former US president national security advisor, for his support for terrorism, specially his support for the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), and providing aid for terrorist groups in Afghanistan and Iraq 25- Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker, former chief of staff of the US Army in 2007, for his role in the massacre of the civilians, torturing of prisoners ... more...
Milaz info, Jun 06, 2011: ... U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated Jundallah as a Foreign Terrorist Group last year because of the organization’s terrorist activities. "This is not the first designation of an Iranian group opposed to the Iranian government; we designated the Mujahadin-e-Khalq Organization (MEK) in 1997 as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and in 2001 under Executive Order 13224; and the Free Life Party of Kurdistan (PJAK) in 2009 under Executive Order 13224," the official said. Mujahadin-e-Khalq is responsible for killing a large number of Iranian officials and civilians and was designated as a terrorist organization ...more...
Australian Associated Press General News, AAP, June 01, 2011: ... Mr Thompson called for the UN to take over the security of Ashraf, and ensure observers and peacekeepers were in place. Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran member Stephen Pitt Walker said Ashraf's community was emblematic of the democratic movement and highly educated, which is probably why Iran was so threatened by them. (Thus correcting that Mr Pitt Walker is not (not) a representative of Amnesty) ...more...
World Tribune, May02, 2011: ... The State Department has concluded that the Mujahadeen Khalq, or MEK, was holding Iranian exiles against their will in Iraq's Camp Ashraf. The department, in cables sent to Washington over the last 20 years, asserted that Mujahadeen set a policy of killing suspected defectors from the movement supported by the former Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq. Wikipedia said the group which played a major role with the leftist Tudeh Party in the overthrow of the Shah in 1979, was more "religious, radical, anti-American" than the earlier generation of Iranian leftists ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, June 02, 2011: ... On May11, Struan Stevenson apparently proposed a plan to European Parliament for the removal of Camp Ashraf residents from Iraq. His plan contains 5 conditions to be met. [4] Mr. Stevenson proposal is unilateral because the rights of Iraqi nation as the owner of its territory are totally ignored in it. The entire plan implies that Iraqi government is offensive and Mujahedin are offended. However, there is still ambiguity about the truth of what exactly happened on April 8th2011 at Camp Ashraf. He never notices that MKO leaders do not allow the residents to choose whether to leave or to stay ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, May 29 2011: ... Keith Johnson, Jay Salamon and Scott Greenberg, disclosed in the WSJ article that American supporters of MKO were paid high fees to speak at the group’s events to advocate for its cause. The article also suggested that the campagne for delisting MKO is the result of a fact that was revealed by anti-secrecy group Wikileaks which reported that the then-secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a 2009 internal cable:”The most powerful myth the MEK has been able to lodge in minds of most supporters is that they are the democratic alternative to the current regime in Tehran.” She also referred to the MEK’s “terrorism and Cult-like repression of its members.” ... more...
Fars News from The Institute of World Politics, May 28, 2011: ... Hasty also warned about the MKO members' severe sexual misconducts, abuse and deviations and cultic tendencies, and said they have committed many crimes against the Iranian and Iraqi nations and the people of these two countries hate them all. A defected member of the MKO recently unveiled that the ringleaders of the group are using every means within their reach to control their dissident members, including life threats, to keep members in the group's main stronghold in Northern Iraq. "Massoud Rajavi has announced many times that if anybody wants to escape ... more...
Bonny Symons-Brown, AAP, May 26, 2011: ... Mr Thompson, who has written to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling for American action on the issue, said it was time the PMOI was declassified as a terrorist organisation. "An exhaustive investigation of all the residents of Ashraf in 2003 and 2004 found that not one could be charged with any crime let alone a charge of terrorist activity," he said.Mr Thompson called for the UN to take over the security of Ashraf, and ensure observers and peacekeepers were in place. Amnesty spokesman Stephen Pitt Walker said Ashraf's community was emblematic of the democratic movement and highly educated, which is probably why Iran was so threatened by them ... more...
Iran-Interlink, May 26, 2011: ... What Rajavi is really threatening is that the MEK leaders will massacre their own people if any external agency should attempt to interfere with the MEK’s totalitarian control over the camp’s residents. Her real message is that the residents of Camp Ashraf are being held as hostages and the MEK leaders will kill them if anyone tries to rescue them. It must be understood that the threat is real. The MEK leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have a history of shedding the blood of ordinary MEK members for political gain. In 2003 two MEK members died in Paris and London after setting themselves on fire ... more...
ISNA, May 26, 2011: ... Iranian and Iraqi foreign ministers stressed Iraqi government should pursue withdrawal of terrorist Mujahidin Khalq Organization (MKO) from its soil. During the meeting Zebari referred to his upcoming trip to Tehran for further talks and pursuit of bilateral agreements and said, "Iraqi government is pursuing withdrawal of MKO members from its soil." The two sides then discussed recent Middle Eastern issues including Bahrain, Libya and Yemen and criticized the US dual-track strategy on the developments. Iran and Iraq also highlighted necessity of further mutual consultations to ... more...
Associated Press, May 25, 2011: ... has been detained in south Lebanon on suspicion of collaborating with Israel. The official said Tuesday that Mohammad Ali al-Husseini was detained Saturday. He says the cleric will be referred to military court if the charges are confirmed. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Lebanon and Israel technically remain at war, and more than 100 people have been arrested in Lebanon since 2009 on suspicion of spying. The detention marks a rare instance of a clergyman's suspected involvement in a spying case. Al-Husseini is ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, May 24 2011: ... Mr. Darius Balafkandeh (Ghaffar) could bravely manage to escape Camp Ashraf where he was imprisoned for ten years. He dared to break physical and mental bars the cult of Rajavi had imposed on their life for years. He is now tasting freedom among his family especially his beloved old mother who had been awaiting his return for years. Nejat Society congratulates Mr. Balafkandeh‘s family on salvation of their beloved son from terrorist destructive cult of MKO... more...
Press TV, May 24, 2011: ... The staff at Press TV Ltd have been intimidated and threatened by members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group in London. Yet, the British government has turned a blind eye to such incidents and may have even facilitated them as the MKO are continuing their threats. Some British right-wing media, including a pro-Zionist newspaper, plan to aid Ofcom to mount pressure on Press TV, in line with the UK government's measures against the Iranian English-language news channel. Media giant Rupert Murdoch's newspaper, The Sunday Times, is among the media supporting Ofcom plan to put more pressure on Press TV ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, May 24 2011: ... "This question has remained in the minds of the people that if Americans really wanted to fight terrorism, then why they cooperated with those terrorist moves which targeted the regional people," Mehman-Parast asked. Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so. A May 2005 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 ... more...
Trend, May 23, 2011: ... "Unfortunately, this camp has been fully backed by Americans and Israelis and the hated [former] Iraqi regime [of Saddam Hussein]; thus, in case the [current] Iraqi government gets the required authority over that compound, it will soon shut down the place that houses little demons," said the top general. "We expect international organizations and circles, as well as all those that claim to advocate human rights, to seriously deal with crimes committed by these terrorists and mete out the punishment that fits their crimes," he noted ... more...
FNA reporting from Habilian, May 22, 2011: ... Established in February 2005, the Iran Policy Committee (IPC) is comprised of former officials from the White House, State Department, Pentagon, intelligence agencies, and experts from think-tanks and universities. Members of the IPC, a nonprofit and bipartisan organization based in Washington DC, include R. Bruce McColm; Lt. General Thomas McInerney USAF (ret.); Captain Charles T. "Chuck" Nash, USN (ret.); Lt. General Edward Rowny, USA (ret.); Professor Raymond Tanter; Major General Paul E. Vallely, USA (ret.). Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while ... more...
Tehran Times Political Desk, May 22, 2011: ... Iranian Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi has not confirmed news reports claiming that Masoud Rajavi, the ringleader of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization, has been killed. “We have not yet come to the conclusion that he has been killed,” Moslehi told reporters in Tehran on Saturday. Commenting on the situation of the MKO members based at Camp Ashraf, Moslehi stated that the United States and its allies are making attempts to save the MKO, but the members of this terrorist organization must be aware that they have no place in Iraq. The Iraqi government has decided to expel all MKO members within six months ... more...
Fars News, May 21, 2011: ... "We have evidence and documents which prove that they had carried out this action" the families and relatives of the victims said. According to the US Department of State and the Foreign Affairs group of the Parliament of Australia, the Iraq-based MKO is accused of having assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard in brutally suppressing the Shiites and Kurds' uprisings in 1991. Maryam Rajavi, who assumed the leadership role of the MKO after a series of years as co-leader alongside her husband Massoud Rajavi, has been reported by former members of the MKO as having said, "Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps." ... more...
Batoul Maleki, Iran Pen, May 20, 2011: ... Pmoi has incarcerated and tortured many of my comrades even they killed some of them. Some of my comrades had been sent to the Iraqi notorious prison , Abu ghorib, and later those comrades were exchanged with the Iraqi soldiers who were prisoner of war in Iran in a transaction with Iranian regime , meaning , the PMOI dissident members who were incarcerated in Abu ghorib were exchanged with the Iraqi soldiers who were prisoners of war in Iran .PMOI by the direct order of Saddam Hussein also participated in killing of many Iraqi Shea and Kurds ... more...
Alhorra Television, Baghdad, May 19, 2011: ... Zebari in Baghdad on Thursday met with EU ambassadors to Iraq, and discussed the joint relations and the political situation in Iraq and Arab countries. During Minister Zebari reviewed his government's plans and programs during the next stage. He also addressed the issue of Camp Ashraf, which houses members of the People's Mojahedin Organization. Zebari said that the authorities are in full control have taken a series of measures to ensure the provision of humanitarian services, health care and food to residents of the camp ...more...
Burathanews, Baghdad, May 19, 2011:... Three leaders of the MKO in Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad have escaped and surrendered themselves to Iraqi security forces. A source, who asked not to be named, said in a press statement on Wednesday that, "the three leaders were able to escape from Camp Ashraf", noting that one of the three defectors from the organization is a high ranking member. The source pointed out that "there is information from the Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) which have been confirmed stating the existence of many numbers of those resident in the camp who are trying to get out".The source said that "dozens of them managed to escape from the camp ... more...
The Green Voice of Freedom, May 18, 2011: ... In their most recent statement, the MEPs called for a fair trial for the fifty people in the camp wanted by the Iraqi authorities for alleged “crimes against humanity.” “Instead of boosting the PMOI, with all its criminal activities, we should urge the High Representative and the member states to help to find a humanitarian solution for the remaining camp residents (screening by the UNHCR and individual resettlement) and a fair trial for the approximately 50 persons in the camp wanted by the Iraqi authorities for alleged crimes against humanity.” The letter was signed by members from the parliament’s ... more...
ROY GUTMAN, Miami herald, May 17, 2011: ... An MEK supporter, Struan Stevenson, a British Conservative Party member of the European Parliament, said relocating the MEK away from Camp Ashraf, which is 35 miles north of Baghdad, was "not an acceptable alternative," because it would cost the group the attention it currently receives and make it easier for the Iraqis to send them back to Iran or to conduct other attacks on the camp. Speaking by phone from Hanoi, Stevenson said he's hopeful the European Union and other friendly states will agree to take in the Ashraf residents.The U.S. agrees that ...more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, May17, 2011: ... It is thought that up to 200 MEK members loyal to Massoud Rajavi took part in the violence. It is not known how many of the 3400 residents at the camp continue as members of the terrorist group. Singleton visited the camp at the start of a week of meetings with Iraqi officials to demand that the organisational infrastructure of the group be dismantled, and that the leaders are prosecuted under Iraqi and international law. The remaining residents should be enabled to determine their own futures without pressure from the MEK leaders. Their families should be involved to help in this process. Over 1000 Camp New Iraq (Formerly Ashraf) residents have residency or citizenship rights in Europe and North America ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, May 17, 2011: ... The Iraqi lawmakers from Sadr Movement have condemned US intervention in their country's internal affairs. They believe the US is trying to keep these terrorists in Iraq to use them against neighbouring countries. The spokesperson of the Iraqi government said the Iraqi government cannot accept to be under such burden and urged the International community to help the Iraqi government in the process of MKO expulsion from Iraq. The members of the Iraqi national Alliance have also stressed on the importance of bringing an end to such interference. The members in the State of Law Coalition said such behavior will have negative effect on the political process in Iraq and ... more...
Mohammad Karami, Paris, May 17, 2011: ... Although the reports of DOS on MEK in 2005 and 2006 are not complete, they offer a few examples of numerous cult-like approaches of MEK. Today, considering valuable information on MEK published by DOS and DOD, including RAND report, the terrorist cult of MEK must not be allowed to spread lies and feed American politicians with its disinformation campaign. MEK’s re-designation as a foreign terrorist organization will disappoint the group and its propaganda machine. You may want to take a look at the group’s latest request made by its spokesman Ali Reza Jaafarzadeh to find out how its deceptive propaganda machine works ... more...
Transcript from Video file by Iran Interlink, May 16, 2011: ... As a father I claim all the rights belonging to Bahman. We claim the right for this case to be investigated. We claim that if there is any truth in this and if there exist any corpse belonging to Bahman, then it should given be a post mortem examination and the case should be examined so it becomes clear who has committed this crime. I believe that there is no one else except themselves [the MEK] who have committed this murder. I ask all the authorities, lawyers, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Iraq and in other parts of the world to help and investigate in this murder case. I ask for the rights of my son and myself to be respected ... more...
Press TV, May 15, 2011: ... Islamic Republic would welcome the return of MKO members, and would treat them according to the country's law. Earlier in May, Iran's Ambassador to Iraq Hassan Danaeifar said that Tehran has pardoned all the residents of the Camp Ashraf except for less than 100 individuals who have criminal records. The Iraq-based group is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials. The MKO is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds ... more...
Matt Duss, The work room, May 13, 2011: ... Green movement spokesmen Mohsen Kadivar and Ahmad Sadri wrote in March that de-listing the MEK “promises to spell disaster for the pro-democracy movement in Iran, and will be a devastating setback in the country’s attempts to move forward.” As I noted at the time, members of the Green movement rarely comment on specific aspects of U.S. policy on Iran. The fact that Kadivar and Sadri chose to do so should indicate how serious an issue MEK is for Iran’s democratic opposition. The Washington Post ad was paid for by the National Association of Iranian Scholars in Britain, which is listed as one of a number of MEK aliases by the Iran Interlink website ... more...
Tehran Times, May 15, 2011: ... The Iraqi government does not allow foreigners who violate its laws to stay in the country, he added. Thousands of Iraqis recently held demonstrations in front of Camp Ashraf, in which they demanded that the Iraqi government deport all the MKO members residing in the country, Nahrainnet reported. Meanwhile, the police of Iraq’s Diyala province has released documents showing that MKO members have been holding secret meetings where they discuss plots to undermine the security of the province. The documents also revealed that Al-Qaeda members have held many meetings with MKO members and provided financial support to the MKO ... more...
Wall Street Jurnal, May 13, 2011: ... These officials, and others including former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former heads of the military Joint Chiefs of Staff, have taken the podium to praise the group. The speakers wouldn't disclose their speaking fees, but many of them charge between $25,000 and $40,000 per appearance."We should take the MeK off the [terror] list and recognize them for what they are, which is the legitimate government of the Republic of Iran," former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean said at a recent event in London. Mr. Dean said he has made both paid and unpaid speeches for MeK ... more...
Fox News and Press TV, May 12, 2011: ... France has dropped charges against two dozen members of the notorious Mujahidin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) that were arrested and charged back in 2003. In June 2003, French anti-terrorist police rounded up 165 MKO members in and around Paris for associating with criminal elements in connection with committing terrorist acts. French investigators announced on Thursday they have decided to drop terror charges against 24 of the detainees, the Associated Press reported. However, judiciary officials said that nine members remained under investigation for financial crimes, including financing terrorist groups ... more...
Thai News Service, May 12, 2011: ... Earlier this month, an Iraq-based right group unveiled that ringleaders of the MKO have resorted to various forms of mass killing in a bid to exercise control over the group members and also to bring the group out of the current impasse in Iraq. According to a report by Iraqi daily Motamar, also published by Edalat (Justice) Society web site - an organ of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism - the Iraqi right group has sent serious warnings to civil society and human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi government about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the MKO's main training camp in Northern Iraq. The Sahar Family Foundation also said ...more...
Nejat Bloggers, May 11 2011: ... about 1000 defectors of MKO could manage to live a free life in European countries as well as Iran and no judicial obstacle was on their way. They should allow the members to decide whether to leave the group or stay in the cult, with their own free will. Then they will see that there will be no more residents to move to another Iraqi area. The US and EU countries that support MKO Cult looking for a decision to make for future of the cult, can make their mind within the deadline Iraqi government has assigned for MKO expulsion. The American plan is actually a solution to preserve the cult of Rajavi that Nejat families do not approve ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, May 11, 2011: ... Minister Ashton said " the European Union is keen to develop and activate its relations with Iraq according to the agreement signed between the two sides, which reached its final stages for ratification". "The EU is keen to cooperate in the fields of oil and gas", Ashton added in the statement. Zebari expressed the stand and decision of the Iraqi government "to close the camp by the end of this year" and to demand from European countries "to accept the residents of the camp in their countries." "The Iraqi government will abide by its humanistic obligations towards the inhabitants of the camp," Zebari added ... more...
CBS News, May 11 2011:... The group was given sanctuary by the Saddam Hussein, then protected by the American forces after the regime fell, and now falls under the jurisdiction of the Iraqi government... The residents who were killed on April 8 have not yet been buried, according to Ali Safavi, a member ... "Iraqi forces need to leave Camp Ashraf so that those who were killed can be buried," Safavi said. "In addition, wounded residents must get treatment; families and international delegations must be allowed to visit the camp, and all sides have to resolve the issue peacefully. Unless those conditions are met, the threat of another attack is very real." ... more...
European Parliament, May 11, 2011: This infatuation with the PMOI also diverts our energy and attention away from the civil society movement known as the ‘green movement’ whose leaders have rejected any link with the PMOI. The PMOI lost all its credibility with the Iranian people when they formed an alliance with the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. The only actor inside Iran who nowadays accords any importance to the group is the Iranian government: they have accused some of the arrested protestors from the demonstrations since the Presidential elections of 2009 of collaborating with the PMOI in order to discredit the pro-democracy movement ... more...
BBC Monitoring, May 10, 2011: ... " we urge the Americans to honour their obligations," Ramin Mehmanparast said at his weekly news conference on 10 May which was broadcast live by Iran's state news channel (IRINN). "Any support for terrorist groups is a violation of international agreements, and the hypocrites' group [referring to the MKO] has an absolutely clear case in the issue of terrorism," he said. "The fact that Western countries intend to support terrorist activities in various ways and make their own countries a safe haven for their presence and activities is strongly condemned by world public opinion," ... more...
Habilian Association, May 09, 2011: ... On Friday, a group of Iraqi people gathered outside the MKO's main training camp in Iraq, and called for the expulsion of the terrorist group from the country's soil. The demonstrators gather outside the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) in Iraq's northern province of Diyala on Friday and demanded that the terrorist group be removed from their country. The Baghdad government has assured the Iraqi people that it is determined to expel the MKO from Iraq by the end of 2011. Meantime, media report said that the US is trying to convince Iraqi officials to relocate MKO members within Iraq ... more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, May 08, 2011: ... Mojahedin-e Khalq loyalists are also refusing to bury the dead unless the land where their cemetery is located is given back and that the Iraqis leave this land without conducting any further investigations. The Iraqis are apparently already investigating some unmarked graves and have discovered some hidden caches of arms and ammunitions in that part of the camp which they reclaimed from the group. Iraqi officials responding to appeals by the families of the dead for humanitarian consideration have accepted that the bodies can be buried in the original MEK cemetery, but have again said that the land will not be given back as ... more...
Fars News, May 08, 2011: ... The report also said that the 200 members were those who attacked the Iraqi security forces in the April 8 conflict in the Camp Ashraf, while others refrained from entering the conflict to defend the terrorist haven. Earlier, a defected member of the MKO had unveiled that the ringleaders of the group are using every means within their reach to control their dissident members, including life threats, to keep members in the group's main stronghold in Northern Iraq. "Massoud Rajavi has announced many times that if anybody wants to escape from (the camp) Ashraf (in Iraq), he/she will be killed or executed," Abdollatif Chahardari said ... more...
Press TV, May 06, 2011: ... Some important figures turned out for the protest including tribal leaders, clerics and local government officials. Protesters shouted: "leave our country", and carried placards with anti-MKO slogans to express their intolerance towards the presence of a terrorist group that they say has caused so much trouble in their country. Tribal leaders also want the authorities to accept public demands and expel the MKO once and for all. Some local officials accuse western nations of pressing the Iraqi government to let the MKO stay in Iraq. The MKO has been in Iraq's Diyala province since the 1980s. It has been blacklisted as a terrorist group by many countries in the world ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, Diala, May 06, 2011: ... Hundreds of Diala residents staged on Friday a massive protest in front of Ashraf Camp demanding to deport members of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) out of the province, Khales mayor said. “The protestors called for deporting the members of the organization for their involvement in supporting armed groups and destabilizing the security condition in Diala,” Uday al-Khadran told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.The members of the organization live in a fenced-off camp in Diala, north of Baghdad. The MKO, which began as part of the Iranian resistance to Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s rule in the mid-1960s ... more...
Edalat, Tehran, May 06, 2011: ... would like to ask you that whether the time has not arrived to administer justice against terrorists who have committed crimes several times more than Bin Laden and his terrorist group? Can we celebrate a day in which the killers of our dearest family members have been tried by justice? Indeed, how long can we live with a feeling of insecurity and threat by some terrorists who are not different from Al-Qaeda or Bin Laden? The terrorist leaders of the MKO are trying to remove the name of their organization from the FTO list of your country and unfortunately some officials are helping them in achieving their illegal inhuman demand and ... more...
CNN, May 06, 2011: ... Under the U.S. plan, the approximately 3,400 residents of Ashraf would be temporarily relocated within Iraq, farther from the border with Iran, the official said. The camp houses followers and members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK). The United States considers it to be a terrorist organization. The group was used by Hussein as part of his security forces and has a tense relationship with many Iraqis, especially Shias and Kurds. The relocation would be temporary, the official said, with final settlement of the inhabitants in other countries. That would not include the United States, the official said ...
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Sotaliraq, May 04, 2011: ... Though Shi'i, these people are very popular with the Iraqi 'Sunnis', particularly with the Ba'thists, who abhor everything Iranian, except for the 'Mojahedin-e Khalq' organization, to whom the Ashraf City dwellers belong, owing to the close alliance this organization used to maintain with the former Iraqi regime. On the other hand, these Ashraf City dwellers are deeply hated by pro-Iranian Iraqi 'Shi'is', basically on account of their alleged role in quelling the 1991 Iraqi Shi'i uprising... a sin for which they have never been forgiven by the Shi'i political parties running the show in Iraq today ... more...
Fars News, May 04, 2011: ... "Our special sources have informed that the MKO, based in Camp Ashraf in the North of Khales, has played a covert role in insecurities and instability in the Diyala province and it has had extraordinary political, military and social activities in the form of regular conferences and gatherings in Camp Ashraf," the US-Iraq joint coordination force said in the document. "There are clear indications about participation of al-Qaeda top figures and cells in these meetings. " the document says. The document further reveals that the terrorist group has helped the Al-Qaeda mount heavy canons ... more...
BBC Monitoring Middle East, May 03, 2011: ... Commenting on presence of the Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO)members in Iraq's Ashraf Camp, the Iraqi envoy to Tehran, Muhammad Majid al-Shaykh has said: "It was decided in the new government not to let Monafeqin [hypocrites, referring to MKO members] to stay in Iraq," Islamic Republic News Agency's (IRNA) reporter on 3 May. According to IRNA, al-Shaykh added: "The Iraqi government does not let the residents of Ashraf Camp to have any activities, and they are not allowed to conduct operations against any country, particularly against the Islamic Republic of Iran." ... more...
United Nations, May 03, 2011: ... The Secretary-General stressed that the UN would continue to lead the global campaign against terrorism, drawing from the counter-terrorism strategy adopted by the General Assembly. His remarks were echoed by General Assembly President Joseph Deiss, who said that the UN’s fight against terrorism is “undertaken in the name of all victims. Terrorists must know that there will be no impunity for their barbaric and cowardly deeds.” Mr. Deiss stressed that terrorism remains unacceptable, regardless of what form or purpose it takes. Ambassador Gérard Araud of France, which holds the rotating Security Council presidency this month, read out ... more...
Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, Tehran, May 01, 2011: ... The violation of the human rights of the laborers is not limited to the assassinations; The MKO illegally transfers many workers who are seeking for a job in foreign countries, to Iraq and MKO’s military base there. After confiscating their identity documents, these laborers receive compulsory military and terrorist trainings and also are exposed to forced labor. On one hand, based on the ‘freedom of the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work’, mentioned in Article 23 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights this issue is the violation of human rights ... more...
Mehdi Khoshal, Iran Pen, May 02, 2011: ... You should not allow this terrorist cult ,which utilizes the slogans such as freedom and democracy to cover its real entity , to take advantage of those popular uprisings. In their internal cultic relations the story is completely different than their slogans. This cultic organization with its bloody past ,full of violence and with its unlawful presence on Iraqi soil has concealed itself behind the popular uprisings in other countries . You should not allow such a terrorist cultic organization with such a terrifying past utilizes those popular slogans ,freedom and democracy ... more...
Eric Lach, TPM, April 6, 2011:... Safavi rejected the label of the MEK as a violent group. The group says it has renounced violence, and it turned over its large supply of weapons, which included tanks, to the U.S. after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.In 1986, the MEK fled to Iraq, after being kicked out of France. The State Department says that the MEK then relied on Saddam Hussein for "basing, financial support, and training," and the group fought on the Iraqi side in the closing years of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-1988). Safavi said the decision to go to Iraq was only made because the group had no other options."You need a base, a land to operate from," he said. "And so ... more...
BBC Monitoring, May 01, 2011: ... In an interview with ISNA, Iran's ambassador to Iraq Hasan Dana'ifar said that "except for nearly one hundred individuals, against whole cases have been filed at the judiciary, other residents of the camp can return to our dear Iran or travel anywhere else they prefer." Dana'ifar also said: "Most of those who are at Asharf camp are veteran [members] and [MKO] has not recruited any new member in the past six years; the most recently joined members have been from Europe and Iran." Elsewhere in his remarks, Dana'ifar dismissed the idea that the Mojahidin are refugees in Iraq and said ... more...
Press TV, Baghdad, May 01, 2011: ... According to the organization's defected members, since 2003 the leaders of the camp have been training the members on how to launch attacks against Iraqi forces if they tried to enter the camp. “When the Iraqi government decided to set up a police station inside the camp, the situation got complex and the organization decided to fight back by preventing its members from communicating with the outside world,” Sanjabi added. Former members have described life at the MKO's Camp Ashraf as miserable, saying the organization has been brainwashing its members for the last two decades ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, April 30, 2011: ... "Operating as a political-military sect, based on a cult of personality, the people's Mojahedin of Iran requires total obedience from their true believers. The hierarchy is very structured and very strict, demanding blind obedience to the leadership. Their methods are reminiscent of Stalin's. They include the notorious model of the Moscow show trials overwhelming their internal critics with insults, mudslinging lies, accusations of treason, selling out or being enemy agents.“Yet, after almost thirty years of struggle, the PMOI and its National Liberation army have little to show for their efforts. They have squandered all their achievements of the Seventies and Eighties largely ... more...
Camelia Entekhabifard, Al Arabiya, April 29, 2011: ... I was at primary school at the time; the father of one of my classmates, Mr. Akbari, was one of those killed in the bombing. After the Iran-Iraq War, the MEK faded from the scene, only to regain prominence when the US invaded Iraq. Thousands of MEK members, most of them middle-aged, were residing in the Ashraf camp when it was taken over by the Americans in 2003. Iran wondered what their fate might be. Eight years later, still nothing has happened to them. Iran won’t have them back and they’re struggling to stay in Iraq. Who’s going to offer a safe haven to 3,500 MEK members, all on the US terrorist list? ... more...
International Committee of the Red Cross , April 28,2011: ... the ICRC provided dressing materials for Baquba Hospital, where casualties have been taken, and we remain in close contact with the hospital management. Should there be further needs, we are ready to assist. After hearing that six people had been arrested and taken to Khalis Police Station, ICRC delegates visited the facility on 13 April to assess conditions of detention and the treatment of people being held there, and to give detainees the opportunity to contact their families. The ICRC has visited Camp Ashraf in the past in order to meet the residents and, in particular, to offer to help them contact their families in Iran and elsewhere ... more...
NIAC Insight, April 25, 2011: ... The MEK issued a statement late last week that not only casts serious doubt on their claims to have renounced terrorism but demands that they be allowed to come to the U.S. The group cites a disarmament deal they negotiated with the U.S. as the basis for the demand:The Ashraf residents, in their two-day negotiations with (former Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq) General Odierno on 9 and 10 May 2003, announced that after their disarmament, upon conditions that the US is incapable of giving them protection in Iraq, they are ready to go to the US. The referenced deal, negotiated after the toppling of the MEK’s chief patron Saddam Hussein, apparently ... more...
Farokh Negahdar, April 15, 2011: ... Today, the MKO is active in toppling both regimes ruling Iran and Iraq. On the other hand, the governments of Iran and Iraq are closely cooperating with each other. In recent months, some very influential politicians and political circles in the US have been actively supporting Mrs. Rajavi – as president – and strive to use the force at Ashraf Camp to change the Iranian regime. During the last three months alone, six important conferences were held in this regard and all six looked at this force as the agent of change in Iran... As these conferences began and progressed, it was clear that the Iranian and Iraqi regimes would not tolerate General Jones’s proposals ... more...
Tehran Times Political Desk, April 27, 2011: ... The Iraqi National Coalition and other political groups in Iraq as well as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maleki and President Jalal Talebani are seeking the expulsion of the MKO members. On April 13, the Iranian ambassador to Baghdad announced that Camp Ashraf residents can return to Iran under certain conditions. “These persons can travel to Iran or any other country if they are willing to do so and if no criminal case has been filed against them in Iran or Iraq. They will also be given passports,” Danaiifar stated at the time ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, April 27 2011: ... To be fair, the Iraqi government has given enough notice to the group, and now, by the end of hostilities in the country, this democratically elected government wants them to leave its country. Those states that criticize the GOI for human rights violation against Ashraf residents can solve the issue simply by granting asylum to them. While Iraq has made clear that it intends to shut down the camp by the end of the year, members of the cult-like organization refuse to leave and other countries are reluctant to take them, according to the Christian Science Monitor ... more...
Press TV, April 27, 2011: ... Maryam Sanjabi told Press TV on Tuesday that MKO members have no freedom and are not allowed to decide whether to stay with the organization or leave it. She said, “According to the organization's regulations, members must follow orders and have no rights to ask any questions or make any comments,” she explained, adding, “Inside Ashraf, there is no access to the free world. Members are not allowed to read newspapers, use the internet or telephone, or meet their families.” Sanjabi recently defected from the MKO and surrendered herself to Iraqi forces. She says that anyone who wants to defect from the group faces the death penalty ... more...
Stephen Magagnini, Sacbee.com, April 20, 2011: ... MEK is considered controversial, and is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Until MEK surrendered its weapons in 2003, it had a long history of terrorist attacks on Iranian officials dating back to the fall of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1979, including the 1981 assassinations of the prime minister and former president. MEK sided with Saddam Hussein in his victorious war against Iran. Saddam allegedly used MEK troops as security against dissidents throughout the country, including the Kurdish independence movement ... "When that regime fell, there was no place to go – nobody wanted them," Milani said ... more...
Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun April 22, 2011: ... But the Baghdad government says the rest were shot by the Camp Ashraf guards themselves. This plays to widely circulated reports that the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), which controls the 3,400 people in the camp, has become a cult. Former members and human rights organizations have reported the leadership bans anyone leaving on pain of death and maintains prisons where torture is frequently used. Some escaped PMOI camp inmates claim the organization recruits young people from overseas Iranian communities, including Canada. In 2004, Canadian officials visited the camp ... more...
Al-Mostanseriah University Baghdad, April 2011: ... Singleton explained that while there is no doubt in anybody’s mind that the MEK must be removed from Iraq by the end of 2011 - as three successive democratically elected governments have demanded since December 2003, as the Iraqi constitution demands and as the status of forces agreement (SOFA) dictates - it is becoming clear that the MEK is a unique phenomenon which cannot be treated as a normal political or military entity and therefore its removal will not be a straightforward mission. Evidence of this has already been seen in the violent resistance to attempts by Iraqi security forces to bring the MEK into line with Iraqi law both in July 2009 and on April 8 this year ... more...
Al-Masar television, April 2011: ... Dr. Qeis al-Atwani described the problems caused by having this foreign terrorist group left in Iraq after the removal of the group’s former mentor Saddam Hussein in 2003. Anne Singleton replied to viewers’ concerns that the group must be removed immediately. She told viewers they must step aside from their understandable anger and allow their government to take actions which will reflect well on their new democratic government. Rather than looking for quick political solutions which would inevitably involve more bloodshed – because this is what Mojahedin leader Massoud Rajavi wants – the government should involve groups like Iran-Interlink and the Baladiyeh Foundation to provide an effective and humanitarian outcome ... more...
Press TV, April 24, 2011: ... The Iraqi justice minister says Baghdad is determined to expel members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Camp Ashraf. Hassan al-Shammari made the remarks on the sidelines of a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Morteza Bakhtiari in Tehran on Saturday, IRNA reported. The Iraqi justice minister noted that the decision was made in line with the Iraqi Constitution, which prohibits the presence of any militia group in Iraqi territory. He went on to say that the parliament has voiced support for the move, and at a cabinet meeting, it was decided that the prime minister would oversee the process ... more...
Aawa Association, Germany, April 2011: ... As for Mujaheddins, they are not just a group of gunmen. In addition to the National Liberation Army of Iran, there are also political structures responsible for the ties with the West. The political wing of the organization is headquartered in Paris. The shadow parliament is also located in the French capital. The parliament consists of 570 members representing various Iranian parties and factions including members of the Communist Party of Iran, the People's Party (Tudeh), Fedayeen-e-Khalk and Howeyyat. MEK is also represented in the USA, Germany, Italy and Canada. The leaders of the organization are Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, who live between Washington, Paris and Baghdad ... more...
German Human Rights Commissioner, April 23, 2011: ... I appeal to the leaders of Camp Ashraf to forego violence and to grant an independent investigation commission full access to the camp. The leaders of Camp Ashraf must enable all of the injured to receive medical care, and must ensure full protection of the rights of the camp’s inhabitants. This includes the right to leave the camp.” Some 3500 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MKO) and their family members currently live in Camp Ashraf. During the Iran-Iraq War, the MKO fought under Saddam Hussein against Iran. They are viewed as a strictly hierarchical organization which has never distanced itself from terrorist violence. It has often ... more...
Tehran Times, April 23, 2011: ... “The U.S. had better not make a further mockery of its hollow slogan of supporting human rights by pressuring Iraq over its clampdown on the members of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO),” Larijani stated at the open session of the Majlis on Sunday. On April 8, following orders of the government and in line with the new Iraqi Constitution, the Iraqi army tried to dismantle the terrorist group’s residential area, called Camp Ashraf, but the MKO members residing in the camp clashed with the Iraqi soldiers. The Iraqi government has also set a deadline for Camp Ashraf residents to leave the country ... more...
Laurel Bowman ,VOA, April 21, 2011: ... Founded by Iranian students in the mid-1960’s, the People’s Mujahedin mixed Marxist, left-wing and Islamic ideology. In those early days they fought against the then-Shah Mohamed Reza Pahlavi, then briefly sided with the country’s new rulers after the Islamic Revolution of 1979. According to the U.S. State Department, the Mujahedin were linked to the killing of at least six U.S. military and civilian personnel in Iran before the revolution and were involved in the invasion of the U.S. Embassy and the capture of U.S. diplomats as hostages in the months that followed. The State Department put the group on its list of foreign terrorists in the 1990s and it remains on the list to this day ... more...
Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, April 21, 2011: ... Persian Letters: Why do you think the MKO wants to keep people in Camp Ashraf? Why don't they let those who don't want to be there go? Shadvari: It's obvious. If people [leave Ashraf], the organization will fall apart, there won't be any Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization anymore. Persian Letters: Are you married? Shadvari: No. I was 15 when I joined the organization. Now I'm 40. Persian Letters: Why didn't you get married? Was it your choice? Shadvari: Getting married is banned in Camp Ashraf. Not only getting married, but talking to women is banned ... more...
Iran interlink, April 21, 2011: ... Saddamists in Europe have published a statement signed by their employed terrorist group NCRI (aka;Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult). The reaction is again the threadbare allegation of attaching everyone to Iran. Reminding us of what Saddam Hussein used to say, that the Persians and Jews should be wiped off the face of the earth. The reaction of the Saddamists comes after Anne Singleton produced evidence in Baghdad that the camp is the last untouched part of the Saddam regime’s suppressive infrastructure and that it is used to train, plan and support terrorist activities across Iraq ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, April 21, 2011: ... Haider Adel is an Iraqi policeman who was wounded by MKO forces on Friday. "We were at a checkpoint to provide protection for them (Ashraf residents), but all of the sudden they attacked us with stones and iron bars," he said.[4] The comments from Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh came shortly after a United Nations Spokesman in New York said 34 people were killed in April8 raid on Camp Ashraf.[5]"Our security forces believe that this (the deaths) has been done by their (the PMOI) guards killing those who were willing to escape from the camp", Dabbagh said ... more...
Iran Interlink, Baghdad, April 21, 2011: ... Anne Singleton, a leading expert in the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist group, exposed the involvement of the MEK in disrupting this process. Since 2003, Iraq has held three free and fair democratic elections said Singleton, but the MEK is backed by elements in the US and Israel which want to impose their own agenda on Iraq. For this reason, the MEK, which occupies the only remaining untouched infrastructure of the former Saddam regime, has been active in training terrorist groups such as Al Qaida at its base in Diyala province, Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf). The MEK has also groomed and facilitated loyalists of the former Saddam regime to ... more...
Mohammad Karami, Paris, April 21 2011: ... I was seriously beaten and tortured in MKO because I criticized the organization several times. I was imprisoned in camp Ashraf prisons where I was terribly tortured both physically and psychologically. I felt so terrible that the so-called doctor of the prison prescribed forbidden medicines for my mental problems. The scars left by torture are evidences of my words. However, Iraqi officials have documents on MKO’s human right violation cases. MKO’s propaganda presents itself as human rights advocate but in fact its leaders treat their dissident members so violently. To check the accuracy of my work, you may want to send a delegation ... more...
Iran Interlink, Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf), April 2011: ... Anne Singleton of Iran-Interlink, representing the individual members inside Camp Ashraf, visits the camp in a fact-finding mission in the wake of violent conflict between Iraqi military tasked with protecting the camp from external attack and ensuring Iraqi law is obeyed inside the camp, and loyalists of Massoud Rajavi. The residents are hostages to Rajavi's cult activities. Singleton is speaking with former members of the cult who have come to rescue victims who are still trapped inside the MEK headquarters, held incommunicado by Rajavi and his 200 loyalists ... more...
Press TV, April 20, 2011: ... The spokesperson of the Iraqi defense ministry, General Mohammed al-Askari, said in a Tuesday press conference in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that the three former MKO members escaped from Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group's headquarters in Iraq, and surrendered to the Iraqi security forces, a Press TV correspondent reported. The official said that the defected members have provided the Iraqi government with the evidence required to shut down the camp according to the international laws. The former members of the terrorist group say the residents of Camp Ashraf are completely cut off from the outside world, and are tortured and traumatized, but are also afraid to escape ... more...
Almasar TV, Baghdad, April 18 2011: ... Mrs Ahlam Al-Maliki Head of Iraq's Baladiyeh Foundation NGO and Anne Singleton from the UK Iran-Interlink discuss the humanitarian issues involved in removing the Rajavi cult from Iraq. Iran-Interlink represents the views of the disaffected MEK members trapped inside the camp by leader Massoud Rajavi. Singleton explains the only legitimate human rights position is to demand the organisational disbandment of the MEK ... more...
Radio Free Europe, April 19, 2011: ... The Iraqi Constitution prohibits the presence of mujahedin or any other militia groups from neighboring countries, whether it's the PKK [Kurdistan Workers Party], whether it's the PJAK [Party for a Free Life in Kurdistan], or whoever to have presence on Iraqi territory and to launch attacks against our neighbors. Constitutionally, this is not allowed and the mujahedin or the MEK member [Mujahedin-e Khalq] of the Ashraf camp have to respect Iraqi law. Iraq has a commitment not to extradite any of its members to Iran. Iraq has a commitment also to observe international humanitarian law and to have access by international organizations to them ... more...
Sergei Balmasov, Pravda.Ru, April 18, 2011: ... As for Mujaheddins, they are not just a group of gunmen. In addition to the National Liberation Army of Iran, there are also political structures responsible for the ties with the West. The political wing of the organization is headquartered in Paris. The shadow parliament is also located in the French capital. The parliament consists of 570 members representing various Iranian parties and factions including members of the Communist Party of Iran, the People's Party (Tudeh), Fedayeen-e-Khalk and Howeyyat. MEK is also represented in the USA, Germany, Italy and Canada. The leaders of the organization are Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, who live between Washington, Paris and Baghdad ... more...
Press TV, April 18, 2011: ... “I worked with the organization for 25 years… during these years I could not contact my family… using the phone, cell-phone, Internet, other mass media and even listening to the radio is forbidden in the organization,” Abdullatif Shadvari, a former MKO members said. Shadvari escaped Camp Ashraf two month ago and surrendered himself to Iraqi forces. “The punishment of those who try to escape from Camp Ashraf… is death and execution,” Shadvari explained. Shadvari added that the only way of exiting Camp Ashraf is through escaping, “and escaping requires three or four months of preparation… if you are arrested ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, Baghdad, April 18, 2011: ... “UNAMI has been on continuous contact with the Iraqi authorities regarding the incidents in Camp Ashraf on April 7-8,” according to a UNAMI press release as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency. The statement reiterated the need to continue helping the Iraqi government find a solution to the issue based on the international human rights law. It noted that UNAMI had over and again demanded the Iraqi government to refrain from using force, hoping that a fact-finding committee formed by the Iraqi government would be independent and start its work immediately. UNAMI also expressed readiness to furnish accurate information about the outcome of its visit to Camp Ashraf and to continue helping the Iraqi government ... more...
Iran Interlink, Baghdad, April 17, 2011: ... It is thought that up to 200 MEK members loyal to Massoud Rajavi took part in the violence. It is not known how many of the 3400 residents at the camp continue as members of the terrorist group. Singleton visited the camp at the start of a week of meetings with Iraqi officials to demand that the organisational infrastructure of the group be dismantled, and that the leaders are prosecuted under Iraqi and international law. The remaining residents should be enabled to determine their own futures without pressure from the MEK leaders. Their families should be involved to help in this process. Over 1000 Camp New Iraq (Formerly Ashraf) residents have residency or citizenship rights in Europe and North America ... more...
Fars news, April 17, 2011: ... The decision was first adopted by the Baghdad government last year but the country's state officials reiterated this week that they are resolved to accelerate implementation of the decision after the terrorist group started an armed conflict with the Iraqi security forces responsible for guarding the MKO's main training camp in Iraq, the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf). Zeinab al-Taei, a member of Ahrar Party at the Iraqi parliament, told the Iraqi Kurdistan New Agency, AKnews, that the bloc supports expulsion of MKO members, and expressed the hope that the decision would be put into effect soon in future ... more...
Interview with Mark Dankof, Press TV, April 17, 2011: ... A classic example of this is when you look at the American and Israeli support of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, which was killing Americans in Iran back in the 1970's during the Pahlavi era. But it has certainly become convenient for the United States and Israel to have an alliance with this so-called Marxist terrorist organization as long as these people are doing their bidding in Iran and committing a series of acts which by any definition are criminal, and which have the fingerprints of the American and Israeli intelligence communities all over them. It is also noteworthy that the Saudi Arabian regime has been helping to bankroll this Mujahedin-e-Khalq or MEK ... more...
Iranian Pen Club, Germany, April 16, 2011: ... Iraq has ordered the exiled Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedeen of Iran to leave the country by the end of this year after a deadly weekend assault at its Camp Ashraf base. "We're prepared to help the government of Iraq develop and execute a negotiated plan -- and the emphasis on 'negotiated' -- that addresses the future of Camp Ashraf," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. The People's Mujahedeen of Iran set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when the regime of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with the Islamic republic -- as a base to operate against Tehran. It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 ...more...
Time, April 16, 2011: ... Although the camp was disarmed in 2003 by the U.S. military, both Baghdad and Washington consider the MEK a terrorist organization. Washington has blacklisted the group for its attacks against U.S. interests in the 1970s and '80s. Iraqi officials have frequently said the Iranian exiles are "illegal aliens" with no legal right to remain in the country and that they must travel to either Iran or another country. They have repeatedly warned that they will close the camp, which was under U.S. military protection until 2009, when responsibility was transferred to Iraq under a comprehensive bilateral agreement. Deadlines for closing Camp Ashraf have come and gone. This week Iraq said the group must leave the country by the end of the year ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, April 16, 2011: ... Abdolmalek Rigi, the ringleader of the terrorist group, confessed after his arrest in February 2010 that his group was assisted and supported by the US and disclosed that he was on route to Bishkek to meet a high-ranking US official at a nearby military base when he was arrested by Iranian security forces. Rigi also said that he and the US official were going to discuss new terrorist attacks on Iranian territory. Rigi on June 2 admitted receiving assistance from the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), but relations between the two anti-Iran terrorist groups had surfaced a long time ago when US started plans to coordinate anti-Islamic Republic moves ... more...
Agence France Presse, April 15, 2011: ... Deaths resulting from an Iraqi army raid on an Iranian opposition camp on its soil were caused by the camp's own guards firing on residents attempting to escape, an Iraqi spokesman said Thursday. The comments from Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh came shortly after a United Nations spokesman in New York said 34 people were killed in the April 8 raid on Camp Ashraf, the residence of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), in Diyala province north of Baghdad. "Our Iraqi security forces believe that this (the deaths) has been done by their (the PMOI) guards killing those who were willing to escape from the camp," Dabbagh said in a text message to AFP, adding that the government was investigating the issue ... more...
MUHAMMAD SAHIMI, Los Angeles, PBS org, April 15, 2011: ... Some objected. Zarkesh, the commander of the MKO forces in Iran, was opposed to the "ideological revolution." He was thus wooed to Paris and, upon arrival, immediately demoted to a low-ranking fighter. Despite his opposition, Zarkesh remained loyal to the MKO and was killed during one of the group's operations (see below). Parviz Yaghoubi, who was married to the late Ashraf Rajavi's sister, objected to the "revolution." He faced a "trial," very similar to an Islamic Republic show trial, presided over by Rajavi, and was "convicted" of not supporting the "revolution." There are many such horror stories about what happened to those who objected to the "ideological revolution." ... more...
Fars News, April 14, 2011: ... Adnan al-Seraj underlined that Baghdad is resolved to expel the terrorist group from the country, but it has faced tough Washington opposition to the move. "Washington is supporting and defending the group (MKO) in Iraq and its support for the group is aimed at imposing pressure on Iran." "The Iraqi government's decision for the expulsion of the MKO is very obvious and clear and the group should leave the country by the end of the current year." The Iraqi lawmaker said that Baghdad is trying to find diplomatic ways to expel the group, and added, "If the US stops interfering in the expulsion process, the Iraqi government knows several peaceful ways to expel the group." ...more...
AFP, April 13 2011: ... Iraq has ordered the exiled Iranian opposition group People's Mujahedeen of Iran to leave the country by the end of this year after a deadly weekend assault at its Camp Ashraf base. "We're prepared to help the government of Iraq develop and execute a negotiated plan -- and the emphasis on 'negotiated' -- that addresses the future of Camp Ashraf," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. The People's Mujahedeen of Iran set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when the regime of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with the Islamic republic -- as a base to operate against Tehran. It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 ... more...
Reuters, April 13, 2011: ... “This makes us believe that it was a pre-orchestrated operation,” he said. “Are these killings done by some elements from inside the camp? Are these previous deaths or even deaths that happened after the event?” “All these questions will be answered by the investigation.” In an emailed statement, Mohammed Mohaddessin of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the PMOI’s political wing, called Askari’s comments “worthless lies ... the final episode of a ridiculous scenario by the Iraqi government that initially claimed that in the attack no violence was used.” Iraqi officials have said the three residents who died were run over by military vehicles ... more...
ISNA, Tehran, April 13, 2011: ... Iran called for the European Union (EU) to reform its approach towards terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO). "We expect all international organizations and countries, which claim they back human rights, to condemn terrorist acts without resorting to any dual-track political behavior," said Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast on Tuesday in his weekly briefing session with reporters. His remarks came after the EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton released a statement on Ashraf Camp events in Iraq and in favor of the members of MKO terrorist group. Mehmanparast called for the EU to avoid providing shelter for terrorists ... more...
Iraqi Govenment anouncement, April 11, 2011: ... The Iraqi government has set a year-end deadline for residents of an Iranian dissident camp to leave the country, a government spokesman said on Monday. "This organisation must be removed from Iraqi territory by all means, including political and diplomatic, with the cooperation of the U.N. and international organisations," Dabbagh said in a statement.Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh called the PMOI a "terrorist organisation" and said the government would enforce a previous decision to close the camp, giving residents until the end of December to leave Iraq. Saddam Hussein gave it shelter in Iraq and some of its guerrillas fought with him against Iran. The group surrendered its weapons to U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam ... more...
Alsumaria News, Diyala, April 11, 2011: ... the role of the Mojahedin-e Khalq "was and remains negative in the security landscape through its support for acts of violence and abuse of Iraqis over three consecutive decades”, adding that a clause in the Iraqi constitution, which was voted for by the millions, "indicates that to clearly ensure the state does not allow the presence of any terrorist organization inside Iraqi territory, it is necessary for federal government to expel the Iranian MKO known as terrorists at the regional and global level." Tamimi said that Camp Ashraf, which is the headquarters of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, (55 km north of Baquba), "has the great advantage of being a strategic location ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, April 10, 2011: ... “The six MEK members were arrested by Iraqi forces in accordance with Article 413 of the law after they were suspected of involvement in recent incidents in the camp that left dozens of its inhabitant and Iraqi security forces killed or wounded,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. He did not elaborate on the nature of charges that will be pressed against them. Iraqi security forces had said on Friday that three Iranian MEK refugees in Camp Ashraf in were killed while the Iraqi security forces were trying to set up a security point inside the camp. “The Iranian group clashed with the Iraqi forces, prompting the Iraqi security to open fire on them, killing three MEK refugees,” an Iraqi security source said ... more...
Fars News, April 10, 2011: ... Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so. A May 2005 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 ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Diyala, April 09, 2011: ... The Iraqi soldiers who were wounded in the clashes say the MKO members had been hurling stones at them for the last two days, and that the attacks against them were unprovoked. The original owners of the lands had been urging the Iraqi government for some time now to get rid of the camp and its residents and to return the lands back to its rightful owners. The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, and is responsible for numerous terrorist acts against both Iranian and Iraqi civilians. Iraqis have repeatedly called on the government to expel the group, but as observers say, the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government ... more...
Alsumaria TV, April 09 2011: ... the channel conducts a telephone interview with Ali al-Dabbagh, state minister and spokesman for the Iraqi Government, to comment on the Camp Ashraf incident. Al-Dabbagh says that the government is working to forbid terrorist organizations from operating in Iraq. Ali al-Musawi, media adviser to the prime minister, says that the Iraqi forces were executing a judicial decree to return 50 square kilometres around the camp [Ashraf] to their owners. Al-Musawi described the [Iranian] Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization as a terrorist organization that cannot force an independent country such as Iraq to approve its existence on its territories ... more...
Aswat al Iraq, Baghdad, April 08, 2011: ... Earlier on Friday, an Iraqi military source said three MEK refugees were killed and 13 more wounded by Iraqi forces inside Camp Ashraf in Diala. “Three Iranians were killed when Iraqi forces from the 5th Division tried to set up a checkpoint inside Camp Ashraf,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The Iranian group clashed with the Iraqi forces, prompting the Iraqi security to open fire on them,” he explained. “Two Iranians set themselves alight in front of the Iraqi forces prior to the clashes, while others pelted the Iraqi soldiers with stones, injuring six of them,” he added ... more...
Nedaye Enghelab News, April 06 2011: ... The MKO ringleaders are reportedly using torture and pressure on their own dissident members, barring the dissident members from leaving the organization and joining their families. An Iraq-based right group unveiled in a December report that ringleaders of the MKO resorted to various forms of mass killing in a bid to bring the group out of the current impasse in Iraq. According to a report by Iraqi daily Motamar, also published by Edalat (Justice) Society web site - an organ of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism - the Iraqi right group has sent serious warnings to civil society and human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi government about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the MKO's main training camp in Northern Iraq ... more...
Fars News, April 04 2011: ... "Nobody dares to make any obstacles on the way of American vehicles' arrival at camp Ashraf and they easily enter the camp without being questioned. So, they take the MKO members out of the camp for terrorist operation and then carry them back to the camp when they are finished," Sheikh Al-Jabouri continued. He underlined that the MKO (also known as the MEK, PMOI, NCRI, the Rajavi Cult) terrorist group has never abandoned its terrorist operations, and stated, "We have suffered many losses since the arrival of the Americans in our country and continuation and spread of terrorist operations in Iraq is among them." "We have devoted numerous martyrs in the way of defending our country, but ...more...
Agence France Press, April 04, 2011: ... "It's a replacement of forces, not a new deployment," Brigadier Tarek Azzawi, chief of military operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, told AFP. "The Fifth Division in Diyala has replaced the Ninth Division that protects Ashraf, and we have not advanced even one metre (yard)," he said. "There were no clashes," he added. The People's Mujahedeen, a left-wing and Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran. The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s -- when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's regime was at war with the Islamic republic. It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of 2003 ... more...
Habilian Association, April 03 2011: ... Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah Al- jabouri also added: “nobody dares to make any obstacles on the way of American vehicles’ arrival at camp Ashraf and they easily enter the camp without being questioned. Then they would take MKO members out of the camp for terrorist operation and then would carry them back to the camp when they are finished. we have suffered many losses since the arrival of Americans in our country that the continuation and expansion of terrorist operations in Iraq is among them. He said: "We have devoted numerous martyrs in the way of defending our country; but we would do our best to expel terrorist groups, Mujahedin-e Khalq in particular, from our country and ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, April 03 2011: ... On February 16, 2011, the *New York Times* agreed to run a full page advertisement for the terrorist group and cult who are self-labeled the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK/MKO). [1] In an atmosphere of free speech, the MEK, even though they are a terrorist organization, has every right to run an ad to promote their cause. Surprisingly, so far no one has stood up to oppose it, as it was done in a similar situation in Seattle, when an ad was submitted by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (a group who is not affiliated with terrorism or terrorist organizations) to run on a METRO bus ... more...
AK News, Arbil, Kurdistan, April 02, 2011: ... Anfal (literally means spoils of war) refers to systematic massacre campaigns against Kurdish and Shias in Iraq. Tens of thousands were killed in the campaigns during Saddam Hussein regime. The next of kins of the victims are striving to live in poverty. Tarq Sadiq the director for Martyrs and Anfal in Garmiyan area said 477 houses will be constructed for Anfal families in Kalar, 220 in Kfri, 396 in Tuz Khurmatu, and 42 in Darbandikhan. He added besides the Kurdish government has promised to construct some 75 more houses in Garmiyan area for the Kurdish Anfal families who are originally from the area but are displaced due to ... more...
Edalat Association, Tehran, April 02, 2011: ... The aggravation of MKO efforts in removing its name from FTO lists of the world takes place while the Iraqi people and government are seriously objecting this terrorist cult’s presence in Ashraf garrison inside Iraqi soil. Therefore the MKO agents are trying their best to decrease the international pressures for defecting Ashraf camp and hold their power over the lands they have seized from Iraqi people. The MKO terrorist cult has adopted many various ways ( like extensive lobbies with American authorities especially those who are famous for their anti-Iran approaches or taking human rights gestures or ... more...
Iran Interlink, March 31 2011: ... the report of course continues describing "Mojahedin Khalq Organization" by pointing out: - The assassination of US military and civilian personnel in Iran during 1970s, - Stressing the ability and the will of MKO members and leadership to conduct terrorist operations across the world, - Introducing the MKO as one of the most violent political groups, established during 60s, - Emphasizing the fact that MKO was disliked by Iranians, following the Islamic Revolution, - Underlining the fact that for more than 3 decades, MKO used its bases in Iraq and Europe to conduct terror attacks ... more...
Matthew Duss, American Progress, March 29, 2011: ... Indeed, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other regime figures have attempted to cast the Green movement—the collective name for Iran’s pro-democracy and civil rights coalition—as MEK allies since the Greens first arose in the wake of Iran’s controversial 2009 presidential elections. Green movement leader Zahra Rahnavard defiantly responded at the time that “the Green Movement is a people's movement that is alive and dynamic and holds a wall between itself and the MEK.”Green movement spokesmen Mohsen Kadivar and Ahmad Sadri ... more...
Press TV, March 29, 2011: ... The committee also announced in a statement that the numerous crimes committed by the terrorist group should be investigated through legal channels. Addressing the elders of nomadic tribes, the representatives of NGOs and anti-MKO campaigners, the committee reiterated that it will voluntarily and without being forced by the government follow the crimes committed at the hands of MKO terrorists. The committee emphasized that it will stand up for the rights of not only the martyrs but also all the individuals wounded or maimed as a result of MKO's terrorist acts, adding that it will file a lawsuit to ... more...
Samira Mandy, Radio Free Iraq (Radio Free Europe in Arabic), March 28, 2011: ... The Iraqi government decided last year to transfer residents of Camp Ashraf to another province but the government adviser Saad Muttalibi stressed that all local governments refused to receive Iranian refugees in the provinces. Muttalibi said the government will continue its contacts with international organizations concerned with the subject of processing Iranian refugees, but he stressed that such organizations do not cooperate with the Iraqi government because the opinion of these organizations is linked to higher political-parties which are trying to keep these refugees in Iraq ... more...
By Mohsen Kadivar and Ahmad Sadri, March 27, 2011: ... First and foremost among such groups is Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), an organization that has been designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). But despite its obvious threat to global security, the MEK could be taken off the State Department's Terror List within the next week. If this happens, it promises to spell disaster for the pro-democracy movement in Iran, and will be a devastating setback in the country's attempts to move forward... It is highly unlikely that other U.S.-designated FTOs, such as al-Qaida, would enjoy this astonishing degree of latitude in the corridors of the U.S. military, and within its executive and legislative branches ... more...
UK Parliament, March 23, 2011: ... We are aware of reports that loudspeakers are being used outside the Camp Ashraf entrance. The Government of Iraq have publicly stated that the purpose of the loudspeakers is to allow family members to communicate with residents inside Camp Ashraf, as they have apparently been forbidden any contact by the camp's leadership. Ashraf Committee is composed of members from the Prime Minister's Office, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Immigration and Displaced People. The Ashraf Committee reports directly to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki ... more...
AK News, March 19, 2011: ... The Iraqi parliament has officially recognized the chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 as genocide.Halabja . The decision came during a parliamentary session on Thursday where the proposal was put to vote and was approved by the majority of the parliament. Halabja, situated 81km south east of Sulaimaniyah and 364 km north east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was subjected to an airborne chemical weapon attack in March 1988 by the former Iraqi regime. The death toll was widely estimated at 5,000, with more than 10,000 injuries ... more...
Aawa Association, Germay, March 19, 2011: ... The session was held on March 10 after three individuals who were named in a fake book as elements of the Iranian regime filed a complaint. The first session of the court had been held on December 17-18, 2009, during which Yves Bonnet, the former Member of the French National Assembly and Director of the DST, and MKO's ringleaders as well as head of the publication that published the fake book were found guilty. Yves Bonnet had paid several visits to MKO's main training camp, the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) in Iraq's Northern province of Diyala ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, March 19 2011: ... Former congressman, Lee Hamilton is one of those prominent figures who admitted having received a "substantial amount" to appear on the panel in favor of MEK last month. He told the journalists that he was not aware of the cult-like nature of the group, according to Barbara Slavin of IPS. "They presented me with a platform that was thoroughly democratic" Hamilton said. "Were they misleading me? You always can be misled."[2] For those US policy makers who make efforts to invest on MKO as a tool against Islamic Republic, the group seems to be a potential means to advance US policy regarding Iran ... more...
Paul Pillar, National Interest, March 16, 2011: ... To think of the MEK as some kind of policy tool to use against Tehran is both foolish and bizarre. Any positive move toward the group would do absolutely nothing to advance any conceivable U.S. objective regarding Iran. The MEK has virtually no support within Iran, mostly because of its operating on behalf of Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq War and not just because of the terrorist attacks it has conducted within Iran since the war. The Green Movement—the resistance front opposing the regime in Tehran—publicly denounces the MEK. Opposition leader Mehdi Karroubi goes so far as to suggest that the Iranian regime welcomes a revival of the MEK as a way of undermining the Green Movement ... more...
Fars News, March 16, 2011: ... 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 also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list ... more...
Report from Camp Ashraf – March 2011: ... One young woman in a white ‘Chanel’ headscarf weeps for her lost father. He has been, she explains, in Camp Ashraf for23 years. He was captured as a POW in Iraq 25 years ago and after two years was among those transferred to the MEK camp where he has been ever since. She hasn’t seen him for 25 years. She wants him to come home with her, and, she says, she will not leave until she can take him out of the camp. Still the families wait and call out to their long-lost relatives in the hope of reaching them. Although the gates of Camp Ashraf are now open, there is still no access to the people held hostage inside. The MEK have simply withdrawn into a smaller circle ... more...
The Iranian Pen Club, Translated by Nejat Society, March 14 2011: ... A group of human rights activists and separated members of MKO, Mr. Ebrahimi ,Mr. Sepehri ,Mr. Naseri and Mr. Kohzadi attended the meeting where they were congratulated for their release form Camp Ashraf prison. During the meeting that lasted a few hours, MKO former members, spoke of human rights violations and various psychological pressures imposed on MKO members in Camp Ashraf. The attendees discussed possible approaches to contribute their ex-comrades captured in Ashraf in order to get released from the notorious cult of Rajavi. They confirmed that families' presence in front of Ashraf gates ... more...
Fars News, March 13, 2011: ... The session was held on March 10 after three individuals who were named in a fake book as elements of the Iranian regime filed a complaint. The first session of the court had been held on December 17-18, 2009, during which Yves Bonnet, the former Member of the French National Assembly and Director of the DST, and MKO's ringleaders as well as head of the publication that published the fake book were found guilty. Yves Bonnet had paid several visits to MKO's main training camp, the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) in Iraq's Northern province of Diyala ... more...
The Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, March 12, 2011: ... The support made by some international bodies and governments for the terrorist groups can be regarded as one of the problems in the course of the global fight against terrorism. In spite of the existence of anti-terrorism laws and Security Council and UN General Assembly Resolutions on suppressing this plight, we witness the support of some governmental officials of the activities of the terrorist groups. Such terrorist groups are included in the list of the terrorist organizations of many countries and the international documents have also emphasized on their terrorist nature ... more...
The Economist online, March 10 2011: ... A New York Times correspondent in Iraq, Elizabeth Rubin, who visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s base in Iraq, and wrote an exhaustively researched article on it published on July 13th 2003, quoted Mariam Rajavi making the statement denied in the letter (published above) from the MEK’s supporters. She also wrote: “Everyone I spoke to—Iraq intelligence officers, Kurdish commanders and human rights groups—said that in 1991 Hussein used the Mujahideen and its tanks as advance forces to crush the Kurdish uprisings in the north and the Shia uprisings in the south.” In her book ''Why does the west forget?'', Baroness Nicholson includes further testimony ... more...
Seyyed Ammar Hakim, the Head of the Supreme Islamic Council of Iraq, March 11, 2011: ... We should bear in mind that Saddam Hussein hired mercenaries from terrorist groups, particularly from the MEK, those who were hired to kill, torture and harass the Iraqi people and who settled in prosperous military townships. Unfortunately, they are still in Iraq even 8 years after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, for no specific reason, living in the townships of Saddam Hussein who prepared them for their use. No one seems to ask why members of the group that attacked Iraqis and tortured people remain under a protective umbrella in the Ashraf camp, and are responsible for nothing ... more...
Eric Lach, TPM, March 10, 2011: ... On behalf of the Iranian-American Community of North Texas, diGenova and Toensing's firm has registered to lobby for the removal of the MEK, an Iranian opposition group, from the State Department's Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list, and for the protection of the 3,400 MEK members who currently live at Camp Ashraf, in Iraq, where they have been subject to attacks and other privations. "The government can produce no evidence to one act of violence post 2003," Toensing said in an interview with TPM ... more...
Edalat Association, Tehran, March 09, 2011: ... Based on international reports and documents and the confessions of Mojahedin-e Khalq’s (MKO/MEK/PMOI) defected members, this terrorist cult is one of the worst violator of women’s rights. In international documents including the Human Rights Watch report of May 2005, the RAND report of October 2008, the report of the German Federal Office for the Protection of constitution and the US Congress report in 1994, as well as the annual reports of the US Department of State, the violation of human rights especially women’s rights by this sect have been asserted. This cult is considered a threat for the global security in all these documents ... more...
Fars News, March 09, 2011: ... A May 2005 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 fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd ... more...
Translated by Nejat Society, March 08 2011: ... I'm Mahmoud Sepahi. In 2000, when I was residing in UAE in hope of immigration to the United States, I was deceived by MKO recruiters and taken to Iraq. When I asked for leaving Ashraf I was threatened to be imprisoned in Ashraf for two years and then I would be handed to Iraqi forces who would in turn jail me in Abu Quraib for eight years and finally I would be exchanged with Iraqi prisoners of war and would be delivered to Iranian government. Thus I remained in damned Camp Ashraf for nine years. At last they kicked me out of Ashraf because according to them I had "problems of woman and life" and ... more...
Press TV, March 07, 2011: ... “With regards to Mr. Mousavi until Election Day [in Iran on June 12, 2009], there was openness. He had his rallies. But the fact remains that after the election, he led riots on the streets of Tehran. And he also had the - he quietly acknowledged the backing of terrorist organizations like the dreaded Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MKO), which openly support him now. He's never distanced himself from them,” said Mohammad Marandi, a Tehran University professor, in an interview with CNN. “Mr. Mousavi hasn't played his cards correctly. And he's lost a lot of credibility among those people who did vote for him,” Marandi further said in his interview with CNN's In the Arena program ... more...
Fars News, March 07, 2011: ... The former member of the MKO also revealed that nearly 70% of the female members of the terrorist group are single and have not been allowed to marry anyone in or outside the group. And only a total of 10% of the married members have been allowed to have children, he added.The defected member mentioned that since 1989 the MKO has deprived its male and female members of the right of marriage, meaning that they are not allowed to form a family and the children of those members who had married before 1989 were taken away from their parents and sent to the European countries. The MKO ringleaders are also reported to be using torture and ... more...
Press TV, Tehran, March 06, 2011: ... “Such blatant support for terrorist organizations and groups is in contradiction with the West's humanitarian claims,”. Boroujerdi added that even though the door for negotiations with the P5+1 is open, but the EU should clarify its stance regarding terrorist groups, where after Iran will decide about the resumption of talks. The European Parliament, which removed the MKO from its blacklist in 2009, issued a declaration in 2010 and urged the US to take the group off its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The MKO, which has been on the US terror list since 1997, filed a petition against the blacklisting in 2008 ... more...
Barbara Slavin, Anti War, March 02, 2011: ... “The government has been trying to taint the Green Movement as connected to the Mujahedin knowing that they have a bad reputation in Iran,” said Ahmad Sadri, an Iran scholar at Lake Forest College in Illinois. Sadri added that the MEK is a “personality cult” built around its leader, whose whereabouts are unknown, and his wife, Maryam, who is based outside Paris. MEK members are obliged to remain celibate and subjected to intensive brainwashing, according to former members this reporter has interviewed. Some have alleged that they were kept at Camp Ashraf for years against their will ... more...
Eric Lach, TPM, March 04, 2011: ... Hamilton, who once chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, told reporter Barbara Slavin he was paid "a substantial amount" to appear at a panel in Washington D.C. in February. Zinni, who spoke at a similar event in January, said he had been paid his "standard fee," without detailing what that is. According to Slavin, both men said they were unaware of the cultish elements attributed to the MEK. The State Department's 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, for example, reported the following:In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics. Upon entry into the group, new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and ... more...
Tony Karon, Time, March 04 2011: ... But the problem with Washington's new MEK fantasy is that -- like its fascination with the Iraqi exile Ahmed Chalabi who nine years ago convinced American leaders that their troops would be greeted by Iraqis with "sweets and flowers" -- it is failing to notice the obvious: Just as the CIA used to joke that Chalabi was far more influential along the Potomac than he was along the Tigris, so are the new crowd of MEK converts ignoring the fact that the MEK is detested not only by Iran's regime, but also by the very opposition movement that has challenged the regime in the streets ... more...
Daniel Larison, The american Conservative, March 03, 2011: ... I agree entirely with Rezaian’s assessment, and I would add that the idea of working with the MEK is part of an effort to prevent real diplomacy from ever taking place and to make sure that animosity between the U.S. and Iran remains and increases. The main problem isn’t that some of the people promoting this idea are misinformed about the degree of support the MEK has in Iran, but that the MEK’s support in Iran or lack of it doesn’t matter to them. What matters to these pro-MEK Americans is that the MEK is hostile to the government in Tehran, which matches up with their hostility to the Iranian government ... more...
NIAC, Washington, March 03 2011: ... Several House Representatives also questioned Clinton regarding the MEK, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) since the inception of the terrorist list in 1997. Top Democrat on the Terrorism subcommittee, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), was among several Representatives who endorsed removing the group from the list. Sherman has previously said the MEK, which enjoys little support among Iranians because of attacks its carried out against civilians and its allegiance with Saddam Hussein, should not be considered a terrorist organization because “they are enemies of enemies of the United States ... more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, U.K. March 02, 2011: ... Sadly, no one could have been in any doubt, including – perhaps especially - the MEK’s backers, that people would disappear from the streets once terrorists backed by foreign powers were thrown into the pot. And it is not only in Iran but in demonstrations held in London, Paris, Brussels and Washington that this phenomenon shows itself. The destruction of Iran’s internal opposition, the so-called Green Movement’ simply cannot be all blamed on the IRI. It should be clear that those who greedily and imprudently contribute the fatal ingredients to the mix are more than any culpable of poisoning the Ash ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin.ws, March 2, 2011: ... To know that MKO was no weight to play any role for the presence of the dissidents in the streets it should be asserted that, through all the past thirty years, Rajavi on different occasions has issued messages and called Iranian people to come into the streets and voice protest through mass demonstrations, none of which have ever been heeded to so far. At least we have seen no evidence of a positive answer to his calls in any media but some baseless claims in the organization’s own websites made on accounts of some irrelevant gatherings or meetings of different nature and demands ... more...
Translated by Nejat Society, March 02, 2011:... In April 1996, I was taken to Camp Ashraf where I received military training. Day after day, the conditions were deteriorating for me. You had to attend brainwashing meetings where you were verbally abused and you couldn’t say a word to defend yourself. You were forced to work hard in the very hot weather of Iraq… Briefly, I'd say that You have no power to think in Camp Ashraf. You have to do anything Maryam and Massoud say. You are like a slave. You are just given food and you have no other advantages, no access to free world and no contact with your family ... more...
Brendan Stone is cochair, Hamilton Coalition To Stop The War, The Spce, March 01, 2011: ... MEK’s international reach extends to Canada. On April 5, 1992, Iran’s Ottawa embassy was stormed by a group of Iranian exiles linked to MEK. The mob ransacked much of the interior and broke the ambassador’s arm. It was part of a co-ordinated series of actions that saw Iranian embassies attacked in Europe that same day. MEK has no popular base in any country. It relies totally on foreign sponsorship. During the 1980-88 war against Iran launched by Iraq’s late dictator, Saddam Hussein, which was funded partly by the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Gulf states, MEK was allowed to set up a military base, Camp Ashraf, inside Iraq. Its own country under attack ... more...
Mark Dankof, March 02, 2011: ... In this 2007 essay, I warned of the False Flag Incident of the Century. I sound that warning again in early 2011. Israel’s machinations for preemptive war with Iran have reached new heights and depths with their employment of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) to undertake a series of terrorist actions in that country, which includes the internationally publicized cases of the assassinations of Iranian scientists in the last two years, and other acts of violence in Tehran, and Azerbaijan/Diyala/and Balochistan Provinces. The recent spread of revolutionary fervor throughout the Middle East, chiefly aimed at sleazy regimes in league with Israel and its Neo-Conservative agents for war ... more...
Fars News, March 01, 2011: ... The Karroubi and Mousavi-led unrests originally started after President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected as the next president of the country with over 62% percent of the votes cast in Iran's 10th presidential election in 2009. Both Karroubi and Mousavi have been top officials of the Islamic Republic for year. Yet, both opposition figures have repeatedly underlined their hatred and disapproval of the MKO. Disguised as discontent officials of the Islamic Republic, the MKO agents claimed that the Tehran government has arrested Karroubi and Mousavi. Minutes later an Iranian judicial official rejected the claim ... more...
Translated by Nejat Society, March 01, 2011: ... I want to warn others about the trap I was captured in. I want to warn them about false propaganda of MKO. When I arrived in MKO; I thought I could leave it whenever I wanted but in fact nobody dares to say a single word about leaving. If you express your defection, they will mobilize the whole members to insult or even beat you in their so-called meetings. They threaten you with two years of jail in Camp Ashraf and eight years in Abu Quraib … I myself witnessed a lot of examples of such maltreatments. Today I'm really happy for my life in a free world and I can offer my experiences to those who are at risk of being caught in Rajavi's trap ... more...
Iran Interlink, February 28, 2011: ... infamous mercenaries Abolghasem Rezaee (aka Mohsen) and Bijan Rahimi (aka Khosro) who are now running the intelligence services of the Rajavi cult from Paris, have been using a telephone network system known as ‘DO-NABSH’ (two sided). Claiming that they are officials inside Iran, they go on to claim that they are supporters of the internal opposition of the Iranian government. Using this system they have managed to push false information, including the claim that the heads of the internal opposition inside Iran (Mr. Mousavi and Mr. Karoubi) have been arrested ... more...
The Economist, February 27, 2011: ... but he did have a series of concentric circles of supporters loyal to him because of the patronage he extended them (special-forces units and tribes). He had tied their interests to his survival so successfully that they could not risk defecting. In the same way that Mr Qaddafi has turned to foreigh mercenaries, he could also rely on his own foreign legion, the Mojahid-e-Khalq organisation whose divisions were used to fight both against the Kurds and the Shia down south (Mariam Rajavi, one of the group's leaders, famously said "take the Kurds under your tanks and save your bullets for the Islamic Guard") ... more...
Michael Rubin, Commentray Magazine, February 26, 2011: ... The enemy of my enemy is not always a friend: Iranian attitudes toward the MKO are analogous to Americans’ views toward American Taliban John Walker Lindh. Iranians despise the MKO for siding with Saddam Hussein as he murdered Iranians. After liberation, the MKO embraced America not because it loves liberty and apple pie but rather because it is an ideological chameleon. Only fools would believe that the MKO is sincere in its pro-American rhetoric. While the MKO claims credit for intelligence coups, more often than not it is either a conduit for other countries to launder their own collections or the MKO simply makes it up ... more...
Karim Parkravan, Huffington post, February 26, 2011: ... The movement amplified into a broad movement of revulsion against the oppressive theocratic regime, unifying the different strands of opposition under the umbrella of the Green Wave (Mowj-e-Sabz), a genuinely popular and national democratic movement which has captured the the hopes of millions of freedom-loving Iranians and the imagination of the world. The MKO has not been a factor in Iranian politics, has not been a part of this movement. The Iranian pro-democracy movement has of course nothing to do with this treasonous terrorist cult. In fact, the MKO has been a convenient scapegoat for the Ahmadinejad government ... more...
IRIB, Tehran, February 25, 2011: ... Heidar Moslehi told IRIB Thursday night that the nabbed individual was recruiting agents besides his routine plans. Moslehi noted that the individual was an Iranian national and the ministry has kept an eye on him since months ago. The minister said another individual has been arrested by the ministry in connection to the killings of two Iranian citizens during the riots. The individual is an agent of the terrorist MKO group and the group has exhausted its possibilities to help him to exit Iran, according to the minister, who added that the MKO agent has provided god information to the ministry concerning his cooperation with the group ... more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, 24 February, 2011: ... Fourth Geneva Convention Protected Persons’ status was wrongfully applied in 2004 by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. He gave ‘Pentagon protection’ to his terrorists in Iraq while the UN and ICRC expressed their concern over the issue and argued (fruitlessly) that the MEK is a paramilitary group, not a civilian population and this designation had no legal basis. But in any case the status would not apply after 2006, a year after the first elections in Iraq – a fact repeatedly corroborated by British, European and American officials. A document produced by the Library of the UK’s House ... more...
Omid Pouya, Mojahedin.ws, February 24, 2011: ... While the organization has for long adopted a policy of keeping silent over the Israeli crimes in Gaza, a new turn is seen to be forming in taking side with Israel. A new move in MKO’s attitude can be noticed in a series of articles penned by Hassan Dai-Aslam, penning for MKO in his personal website, in an attempt to acquit Israel of its crimes against Gaza people. What pleases Israel is what is he doing to identify the region and Iran’s anti-Zionism attitudes with a general anti-Semitism and thus, he tries to reduce Israel's crimes to a mere issue of religious discord and criticizing Iran as fanning the fire of the discordance ... more...
Hmid Reza Bikas, Darband, February 24, 2011 (Persian): ... an example of how the Mojahedin-e Khalq are using Facebook and Twitter to introduce violence into the popular protests in Iran. Eghbal was born Tehran and arrested as an MEK member. She survived but her husband and brother were executed. After escaping Iran and spending some time in Iraq during the 1980s, Eghbal was sent to Europe as a passive member. She became active again with the MEK when Maryam Rajavi returned to France in 1994. The page explains how to make an incendiary device (petrol bomb). Followed by comment by an MEK agent who says he used such devices ... more...
Press TV, February 23, 2011: ... Jalleh, a Tehran University student, was assassinated by members of the anti-Iran terrorist group, Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), during an illegal rally in the Iranian capital on February 14. The intelligence minister further pointed out that Jalleh's assassination was part of a pre-planned scheme by the MKO, adding “they had identified their victim in advance and had planned to assassinate him.” Supporters of the defeated candidates in Iran's 2009 presidential election, Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and terrorist MKO members gathered in small numbers in a few parts of the Iranian capital ... more...
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, Race for Iran, February 23, 2011: ... We have told every Obama Administration official and member of Congress with whom we have discussed the matter that it is hard to imagine a dumber, more counter-productive change in America’s already deeply dysfunctional Iran policy than to lift the MEK’s designation as a foreign terrorist organization and start supporting it as the “vanguard” of some mythical expatriate Iranian opposition. This would make the reliance of the Clinton Administration and the George W. Bush Administration on Ahmad Chalabi and his Iraqi National Congress as the keys to successful “regime change” in Iraq look enlightened by comparison ... more...
Arabia Deserta, February 23, 2011: ... Now they have the support of extreme right-wing Republicans in the U.S. Congress. The MEK (or MKO) have also come full circle with the Arab potentates on the Gulf. They were in good standing during the Iran-Iraq War because they supported Saddam, but after the (Persian) Gulf War in 1990 they were out of favor around the Gulf. Now, with the “wrong” government in Baghdad, the MEK are back in favor among the Gulf oligarchies: their media is calling for their camp to remain in Iraq, near the Iranian border (but they wouldn’t want them in ‘their’ territory). A full circle: but that is the way it is with exile politics, they often create strange bedfellows ... more...
Omid Pouya, Mojahedin.ws, February 22, 2011: ... Mr. Pouya correctly claims that Saddam is gone now for eight years but he forgets to say that he was the organization’s undeniable patron for almost 16 years. To calculate the huge sum of money MKO received in all those years, it is enough to multiply its annual allowance in 16. And he deliberately shuns mentioning wherein and under what coverage all this huge sum of money, earned for a variety of espionage and mercenary deeds, has been invested and that, much of the organization’s budget and expenses are still provided through the return of the interests. He claims neither the organization receives any money from any government nor ...more...
Fars News, Tehran, February 20, 2011: ... The seditionists, including antirevolutionary elements from the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and monarchist groups, were forced to flee the scene after thousands of people overwhelmed the streets in support of the government. Earlier reports said that a number of MKO members have infiltrated the country in a bid to start illegal gatherings to open fire on the public in a move to bring the country into chaos. During riots in western Tehran on Monday afternoon, the MKO teams opened fire at the public and police troops, killing one university student on the scene and wounding 9 more ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, February 20 2011: ... "In this terrorist operation which took place in Tehran's Qasroddasht neighborhood on Monday February 14, the Basiji student, Saneh Zhaleh, was martyred and four others were severely wounded," it added. "A student activist in France disclosed that over 350 members of the MKO had been sent from several European and Asian countries to Tehran and other major Iranian cities, based on plan drawn by the main ringleader of the MKO, Massoud Rajavi," the Habilian website said. The website said the MKO teams intended to start riots, set fire on garbage cans, destroy public amenities and private properties and shoot and kill ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Diyala, February 19, 2011: ... Iraqis describe the MKO's presence in their country as a chronic disease. Some important figures turned out for the protest including tribal leaders, clerics and local government officials. Protesters shouted, "leave our country", and carried placards with anti-MKO slogans to express their intolerance towards the presence of a terrorist group that they say has caused so much trouble in their country. The tribal leaders want the government to respect public demands and expel the MKO once and for all. Some Local officials accuse the west of influencing the Iraqi government to let the MKO stay in Iraq ... more...
Alsumaria News, Diyala, Iraq, February 19 2011: ... Thousands of citizens of Diyala Province, Iraq, called for expulsion of Mujahedin Khalq Organization from Iraq. They also called on trial for the group leaders. A protestor who was one of the organizers of the demonstration, Habar Al Amuri told Al Sumaria News: "this morning, thousands of Diyala citizens protested against presence of MKO in their territory. They gathered in front of gates of Camp of New Iraq (formerly Ashraf),the organization's base in Iraq. They asked the government to expel the organization from Iraqi soil." He notified that the group was the source of a lot of grieves and violence against Diyala citizens ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, February 19 2011: ... Andrew Belonsky a human rights blogger and journalist recently wrote an article about the MKO and their American supporters for Death and Taxes. In his critique he stresses that “most Republicans would do anything to take down Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his Iranian regime. And for Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin, that means embracing a ‘terrorist group’ and Wikileaks, respectively. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, yes, but the only winner here remains Iran.” [6] Belonsky furthers that the “regime’s defiance proves so tenacious and irksome, Western leaders end up grasping at straws, leaving Ahmadinejad to laugh ... more...
Press TV, February 18, 2011: ... “Today, you are seeking the extradition of a terrorist named Cesare Battisti from Brazil over the murder of four of your fellow countrymen 30 years ago. This is while the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group has martyred 14,000 of Iranians and yet you have removed it from your list of terrorist groups. This is an instance of sponsoring terrorism,” he said. “We vehemently condemn this move by the European Union,” Boroujerdi was quoted by IRIB as saying on Friday. Boroujerdi further criticized the West for degrading women through materialistic means and said ... more...
Farkhondeh Farahmand, Mojahedin.ws, February 16, 2011: ... There are evidences of a possible change in the policy and position of America towards Mojahedin Khalq [MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR, NLA]. Regardless of the enthusiastic support of people like John Bolton, and the representatives of two American ruling parties, the supports for Mojahedin is believed to be an attempt to end the deadlock in the West’s negotiations with Iran over the nuclear issue. Fox News TV that covered the reports of a conference held in Washington quoted ... more...
Fars News, February 15, 2011: ... A senior Iraqi legislator called on the Baghdad government to put the ringleaders of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) on trial due to the revelation of new documents proving their involvement in terrorist attacks against the Iraqi people. "There have been recently revealed some documents proving the terrorist organization's involvement in terrorist activities against the Iraqi people and its collaboration with the former regime in repressing the Sha'baniyeh Intifada in 1991," Abdolhossein Abtan said on Monday ... more...
ILNA, Tehran, February 15, 2011: ... Speaking on Tuesday Parliament session Larijani noted US failure in Egypt and Tunisia ‘’ Feb14 protests was aimed for supporting Egypt and Tunisia however all Iranian nation supported Egypt revolution on Feb 11 but this diverted movement supported by some failed politicians, a doomed prince and US Israeli media.’’ Parliament speaker stressed this anti revolutionary movement is the result of US anger from Iran support of free movement in region ‘’ such moves are not new they follow the same direction since Islamic revolution.’’ ... more...
Press TV, February 15, 2011: ... In the Iranian capital Tehran, anti-government groups, including members of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), have staged riots, killing one person. The rioters opened fire on bystanders on Monday, leaving several other people injured as well, Fars news agency reported. Iranian Deputy Police Chief Brigadier-General Ahmad Reza Radan told reporters on Tuesday that nine security forces were among the injured. He went on to say that several people were also arrested in the Monday riots. This came as small groups of supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi gathered in parts of the Iranian capital ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, February 14, 2011: ... Massoud Rajavi and the heads of his cult have a huge file in the Iraqi judiciary which is truly bigger than the one of Saddam Hussein and his aides. But the trial of the leaders of the cult has had the same fate as Maryam Rajavi’s file in Paris – she was arrested and charged with attempting terrorist activities against defectors and fraud and money laundry more than seven and a half years ago and she is still waiting trial – since for the time being she has been hired by the Americans and the Israelis ... more...
Jalal Haqqi, Mojahedin.ws, February 13, 2011: ... Majority of people who are familiar with MKO assert the secrete relations of the organization with Mossad agents conducted through the embassy of Israel in Cairo, in Egypt, under the full awareness of Mubark’s regime; as there was once news of transferring Ashraf residents to Egypt to establish a base for Rajavi’s militiamen therein. Not going far, nobody can deny the historical fact of MKO’s collaboration with Saddam’s regime who had granted it the present Camp Ashraf ... more...
Iran Interlink, Cairo, February 12, 2011: ... Along with the closure of the Israeli embassy, the constant movement of foreign secret service offices in Cairo, a safe house and a dormitory of the Mojahedin-e Khalq in Cairo has been deserted and the personnel have been rushed to one of their bases in Jordan. According to our source (an Egyptian official who has now joined the people) the MEK base in Cairo has been left abandoned with all the belongings left in place. Apparently the Jordanian authorities are not happybut ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, February 12 2011: ... A number of Gilani families join others picketing at Ashraf Gate on February 9th,2011 set off for Iraqi Camp Ashraf chanting their motto " Open the doors of Ashraf" in order to visit their beloved ones captured by the cult of Rajavi. The 30-people group of family members of Ashraf residents are determined to tolerate all difficulties on their path to achieve their human, legal requests. They also called on humanitarian communities and the Red Cross to aid them to visit their brainwashed children ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin.ws, February 10, 2011: ... Remarks of Mr. Bani-Sadr are opening a new chapter on the subject of sexual relations among the cult leaders, and Rajavi in particular, and the reasons behind such unorthodox behaviors. This is a serious approach through which researchers can bring the subject onto the academic scene to study it from a variety of angles and to enlighten the public opinion about the cults’ threats. The taboo of avoiding such overwhelming plight among the societies must be broken as ...more...
Edalat Society, Tehran, February 10, 2011: ... delisting MKO from FTO lists is the recent project which has been taken seriously by the criminal leaders of this terrorist group. The depth of such an effort and the nature of the MKO can be better understood by taking a look at the Human Rights Watch report of May 2005, the RAND report of 2009 and the report of German Federal office for the Protection of Constitution as well. According to all of these reports, MKO along with Al-Qaeda is the only organization with sect-like nature whose members can commit any inhuman act for achieving their goals. The self-immolations ... more...
Fars News, Tehran, February 09, 2011: ... Referring to the dark record of the MKO, the letter reminded that the terrorist group is one of the most hated terrorist organizations in the Middle-East, specially among the Iranian, Iraqi and Kuwaiti people.The letter described assassination of seven American attaches and counselors and thousands of other innocent people as well as bomb attacks, plane hijack, aggression, armed robbery and money-laundering as among the other crimes committed by the terrorist group. The MKO has been in Iraq's northern Diyala province since the 1980s ... more...
Eric Lach | February 7, 2011: ... Sadri, who moved from Iran to the U.S. in the mid-1970s to attend a Ph.D program at The New School, said he visited Iran once every year or two until the 2009 election, and "never heard a positive word uttered" about the MEK. According to Sadri, many Iranians have never gotten over the group accepting safe haven and patronage from Saddam Hussein, and then fighting on his behalf in the Iran-Iraq war. MEK supporters maintain that they had nowhere else to turn in 1986, when Saddam took them in ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin.ws, February 7, 2011: ... It is now for months that he is bedridden like a piece of meat getting weaker and weaker. He is no more than a hollow-eyed man with black rings around them and hardly able to move his limbs. The past weeks were a grueling battle of death and life, a monotony of looking at his pale face in the mirror and the lengthened silence of his room made it more intolerable. The daylight filled him with delight although it ended with a sad nightfall, but the worse was...more...
Arash Rezaiee, Nejat Bloggers, February 06 2011: ... The editor of Daily Telegraph added," a increasing concern is forming in the Middle East; Jordan is one of those countries. Jordan is now ruled by a very autocratic government which is largely corrupt." A glance at popular movements in Arabic nations and the recent events signifies the depth of corruption and power abuse by the authorities and their undemocratic, inhumane substance. Mujahedin are now losing their supporters who are demolished by people protests one after anther. MKO leaders and his gang are in a terrible situation. They have resorted to US and the West but the recent events have caused a dilemma to western authorities. Their vague position toward the issue notifies their tangled situation. Needless to say that following the uprisings of Arabic nations, the west will definitely lose into hope to use terrorists ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, February 06, 2011: ... Honorable MPs, We have to inform you that the presence of this organization in our territory is highly undesirable since this organization has committed grave atrocities against the Iraqi people. After this latest wicked act by the MKO, the civil organizations and tribe leaders demanded that the Iraqi government, parliament and also the Iraqi Criminal Court should prosecute the leaders of the organization for the crimes they committed against the Iraqi people in the past. There are several documents showing that members of the MKO have been involved in terrorist activities inside Iraq. As a support committee we have handed over these documents to international organizations and the UN and we hereby inform world public opinion of the secrets behind the presence of this organization in our country. The question is, ‘would the countries which back this organization wish to allow them to stay in their own country as refugees’? ... more...
Eric Lach, TPM, February 01, 2011: ... Ridge was referring to the 3,400 or so MEK members who currently live at Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, and who were recently attacked. But the State Department says the Geneva Convention claim is wrong. "MEK members are not 'protected persons' under the Fourth Geneva Convention," a State Department official in the Counterterrorism Office told TPM in an email. "After the end of the occupation of Iraq, the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) continued to treat the MEK as 'protected persons' as a matter of policy, not as a matter of legal obligation, until MNF-I's UN mandate expired at the end of 2008." ... more...
Wisam al-Bayati, Press TV, Baghdad, January 29, 2011: ... In this gathering organized by the Iraqi Tribal Council, many Iraqi officials, tribal leaders and ordinary people voiced their support for the tribes that are calling for expulsion of the organization from their country. They also reminded the Iraqi policy makers of what they called the crimes committed by MKO against the Iraqi citizens under Saddam regime. After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops disarmed MKO members based at the training base of the terrorist group at Camp Ashraf -- about 60km north of Baghdad. There are many in Iraq saying that despite the disbarment, the US and its allies delay evacuation of the camp ... more...
William Beeman, January 30, 2011: ... Not only that, but they are aging, and not recruiting new supporters. This is a bankrupt group that is not going to do what the Right Wing neo-con dead-enders in Washington hope they will do. It is sad and pitiful for anyone to be hitching their horse to this group. I only wonder who is paying the lobbyists and others trying to gin up their empty cause. It is also sad that Washington politicians waste their energy on cockamamie schemes such as getting this group off the terrorist list so that we can throw millions of taxpayer dollars down their rat hole in the utterly vain hope that they will bring about regime change in Iran ... more...
Iran Interlink, January 29, 2011: ... Zionist-backed Mojahedin-e Khalq revert to type. The families of MEK cult members held hostage in Camp Ashraf are subjected to violent attacks by Massoud Rajavi’s Special Guard. The cult enclave is surrounded by the families of the people inside who are asking to have contact with their loved ones. The worst fear of Rajavi is for his cult members to have contact with the outside world. Rajavi has introduced an extra security system to try to force them back. Undaunted the families continue to approach the fence and engage with the MEK’s security force ... more...
Eric Lach, TPMMuckraker, January 28, 2011: ... MEK support is not new in Washington. When the MEK's leader Maryam Rajavi was arrested in France in 2003, Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX) were among those who protested publicly. ''There is a move afoot among Pentagon hard-liners to use them as an opposition in the future," an anonymous Bush Administration official told The New York Times at the time. And in 2009, 120 House members backed a resolution calling on President Obama to prevent the relocation of MEK members from Camp Ashraf in Iraq ... more...
Iran Interlink, January 28, 2011: ... The MEK have introduced extra lookout posts around the perimeter mounted on trucks. There are also mobile patrols which travel the perimeter road watching for the families. When the patrols discover the families approaching, the MEK security forces are mobilised. These forces are organised. They do not engage with the families but are immediately hostile. They quickly escalate the encounter from aggressively shouting at the families to go away and swearing at them, to throwing stones and using catapults to launch missiles (some of them made of metal scraps). This is not a spontaneous reaction but is a deliberate action to ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, January 27, 2011: ... Regarding your personality you will realize the truth sooner or later.The mirage world is actually made by Massoud Rajavi and that’s the near overthrow of Islamic Republic. He first used this tactic in 1980. Forces who had joined MKO were mostly honest Idealists who trusted the organization, so they were simply manipulated by Rajavi. They accepted all his analysis and theories. They never hesitated to think about them. However, such mechanism had limits. The more members waited for the overthrow of regime, the less they trusted the leader. So they began doubting the promises of their leader ... more...
Fars news, January 26, 2011: ... Addressing a conference, dubbed "In Search of Justice, European Committee for De-listing the MKO" held in 2008, Cassese said the terrorist group should benefit from judiciary immunity, Fars news agency reported on Sunday. Cassese is expected to issue a verdict at the STL -- created two years after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and more than 20 others with him in Beirut on February 2005. The tribunal, supported by the US, has sparked tension and plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since 2008. The MKO is especially notorious in Iran for having sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed was on Iran ... more...
Aria Iran, January 26, 2011: ... Mojahedin Khalq terrorist forces inside Ashraf garrison have organised a provocative demonstration during which they have attacked the Iraqi military forces stationed inside the camp resulting in the injury of several of the Iraqi forces. They shouted slogans at the Iraqis saying “I will kill, I will kill, the one who killed my brother” while attacking the Iraqis in charge of the security of the camp. They were apparently trying to overcome the Iraqi security forces in a bid to reach the families who have been picketing in front of the camp for the last 12 months demanding visiting rights to their loved ones taken hostage by the Rajavi cult inside Ashraf garrison ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Camp Ashraf, January 25, 2011: ... Massoud Rajavi the cult leader has realised that the pressure put on the families who have been picketing in front of the Camp Ashraf for the last 12 months demanding their right to visit relative, has not worked and he has now has started a new criminal campaign against them. He has ordered his henchmen to make missiles with whatever they can find and to launch them at the mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, who have been sitting in the Iraqi desert with only the hope of seeing their loved ones taken hostage by Rajavi cult inside the infamous camp ... more...
Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett, January 25, 2011: ... History, Mark Twain allegedly observed, doesn’t repeat itself—but it does sometimes rhyme. We are struck by how much the ongoing campaign to rehabilitate the MEK in Washington, as part of a broader, regime-change-in-Iran strategy, “rhymes” with a similar campaign in the 1990s and early 2000s to promote Ahmad Chalabi’s expatriate Iraqi National Congress (INC) to overthrow the Iraqi government. That campaign featured high-profile Washington lobbyists, lawyers, and public relations specialists, extensive use of media, and the recruitment of high-profile political figures and former U.S. Government officials ... more...
Nejat Bloggers, January 24 2011: ... Nejat Society official in Tehran described the presence of families at Ashraf gates as effective and positive to encourage captured members to escape the cult of Rajavi. They also notified that other families of Nejat Society are so eager to join their peer at Ashraf gates. The defectors who had been captured by MKO dictatorship for more than twenty years assured the families that families strike at Ashraf gates is like a message of love and hope for captives of Camp Ashraf. Families, for their part, shared their memoirs of their loved ones with dissociated members ... more...
Justice Society, Tehran, January 24, 2011: ... We would like to pose this question that whether removing the name of this organization from the FTO list of US State Department and providing the necessary background for fund raising and collecting money for a terrorist group which has committed money-laundering and used that money for buying equipments and arms, is not violation of human rights? MKO has claimed responsibility for the assassination of seven American counselors and 12000 Iranian innocent people. Don’t you believe that delisting a terrorist group merely for some political excuses would pose security threats for the American citizens? Following the tragic event of September 11, when ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Bloggers, January 24, 2011: ... They implied that the MKO was on the list in the first place because of a US political move made to ease relations with Iran. Following the European Union’s lead, Mukasey and his neo-con gang propose to actually delist the MKO. They have been vigorously backing the MKO and have petitioned members of congress to do the same, bragging that “more than 100 members of Congress have supported a resolution to undo this designation.” [7] The article is a perfect example of shallow rhetoric designed to convince the public to soften its stance on seemingly non-violent Muslim groups, while promoting an idea that Iran is the enemy ... more...
Press TV, January 24, 2011: ... The two terrorists, Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Haj Aqaei, were hanged on Monday for distributing placards and photos of the terrorist group, making videos and images during the post-election unrest in Iran in 2009 and chanting slogans in favor of the MKO, IRNA reported. The MKO is especially notorious in Iran for having sided with executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran. It has also claimed responsibility for numerous terrorist attacks and the assassination of significant figures and ordinary civilians in Iran over the past three decades ... more...
Aswat al-Irq, Khalis, January 23, 2011: ... "Twenty-four judicial cases have been raised till Saturday by Diala citizens against members of Mujahedin E-Khalq Organization, who are using Ashraf Camp in Diala's Udheim township as their headquarters, among their control on broad areas of agricultural lands, belonging to Diala citizens, along with involvement of the Organization's members in the assassination of a number of the Province's citizens and having supported security elements of Iraq's former regime in detaining large numbers of innocent people and throwing them in jails," Mayor Uday al-Khidran told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. Northeast Diala's Ashraf Camp, carrying the name of (Iraq Camp) by the Iraqi government comprises ... more...
Press TV, January 23, 2011: ... Addressing a conference, dubbed "In Search of Justice, European Committee for De-listing the MKO" held in 2008, Cassese said the terrorist group should benefit from judiciary immunity, Fars news agency reported on Sunday. Cassese is expected to issue a verdict at the STL -- created two years after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and more than 20 others with him in Beirut on February 2005. The tribunal, supported by the US, has sparked tension and plunged Lebanon into its worst political crisis since 2008. The MKO is especially notorious in Iran for having sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed was on Iran ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin,ws, January 22, 2011: ... What the outsiders are not generally aware of is the methods and ploys Rajavi has developed to control the members’ lives. The watching and controlling measures that monitor the members even in their privacy never permit any risk of leaving a member alone with an outsider, be it a health caretaker or a member of his/her own family. That is why Rajavi objects to letting the member out of the camp or meeting their families alone and unsupervised. He knows well that the thought-reform atmosphere within the camp that is reinforced by a collective modeling behavior of the members prevents insiders from challenging his system, but ... more...
RFI, Radio France Internationale, January 2011: ... Imagine the Iranian community seeing the group directly and clearly backed by people like Mr. Mukasey who was secretary of DOJ while Iran Gate scandal or John Bolton, a neo-con who attended another MKO conference to support the group. They are told by these prominent people,"Remove the current regime and replace it by this obviously dependent group[MKO]!" I'm not surprised if the above- mentioned American figures do not know Iranian people and are not aware of the situation in Iran. This means that such behaviors by these people just stabilize the Iranian regime but not weaken it. Fighting against dictatorship is not feasible by publicly supporting groups like Mr. Rajavi's group ... more...
Sasan Fayazmanesh, Payvand News, January 20, 2011: ... MEK has worked closely with the Israelis in the past, often acting as a conduit for them. Indeed, the most important and the only correct piece of information that this organization has ever made public-namely, the August 14, 2002 announcement that Iran has been building two nuclear facilities-was supplied to them by the Israelis. The organization has also posted on the web, on a number of occasions, the names and addresses of some university professors or nuclear scientists in Iran, including Drs. Fereydoon Abbasi Davani and Mohsen Fakhrizadeh-Mahabadi. For instance, on November 19, 2004, the website "Iran Focus" posted a piece under "Verbatim: Opposition cites new intelligence on Iranian laser enrichment." ... more...
Al-Sharq al-Awsat, London, January 19, 2011: ... What about the issue of the Iranian opposition Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization [MKO]? Zebari: I have explained that the Iraqi Constitution includes a clear and explicit paragraph according to which no foreign armed group is allowed to operate on Iraqi territories, or to launch attacks on neighbouring countries. Therefore the MKO attacks were taking place during the era of the previous regime. We have stressed that this is no longer allowed. However, we have humanitarian commitments to the MKO members in Ashraf Camp, but we do not allow any transgressions so that they become a state within the state, and their presence is subject to controls and laws ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin,ws, January 18, 2011: ... The second group surviving pre-revolutionary armed warfare was Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR, NLA). Mujahedin insisted to continue their armed strategy and rejected new rules as they had their own interpretation and analysis of the post-revolution era. They refused to deliver their weapons over to the newly formed regime and instead opened a front of controversy that led them to pursue their goals through violent means that eventually culminated to terrorism. The role of Pahlavi’s authoritarian and repressive regime for the birth of the two challenging groups, among many other armed groups, was inevitable ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, January 18, 2011: ... Two years ago, Mr. Abdi had declared his defection to the group leaders and had insisted on his departure for the last ten months but the cult leaders had told him: "since families are at Ashraf gates now, your departure signifies a red line. You are not a Mujahed anymore and not a member of the organization but you have to be present in our relations and attend our gatherings. The situation is not appropriate now because of Iraqi election. If we send you out right now, your name will be used as a political trump against us." Ali Abdi notified for SFF, "families presence at Ashraf gates has enormously impressed members ... more...
Fars News, January 17, 2011: ... the MKO ringleaders have provided financial and structural support for the establishment of over 20 publications and sociopolitical groups in Iraq in recent years in a bid to see their desired government in power. The report said that the investment was vital for the terrorist group considering that MKO ringleaders tried hard to make Nouri Maliki face failure in his bid for becoming Iraq's new Prime Minister. Also, the soft war funding was an urgent necessity for the MKO since its affiliated publications and groups could support the MKO under the pretext of human rights against the Iraqi people and political groups who are growingly demanding MKO's expulsion ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, January 16, 2011: ... In the afternoon of January 10th, 2011, Mr. Ahmad Jaafari, from Haji Abad , Iran escaped Camp Ashraf where he was captured by Rajavi's cult for twenty-one years. Immediately after his successful flee, Mr. Jaafari joined families and other defectors settled near Ashraf gates. Having found himself in free world he enjoyed talking with families and his ex-comrade for hours. Sahar Family Foundation plans to interview with Mr. Jaafari which will consequently publish in near future ... more...
Omid Pouya. Mojahedin.ws, January 16, 2011: ... Rajavi knows well that today assuming responsibility for terrorist acts has lost its effectiveness and the international community condemns these activities in any form. Facing a universal restriction, MKO like some other similar terrorist groups made a change in its profile that faces the world at large and has decreased much of its activities done under its old emblem specifically when issuing statements for terrorist perpetrations. Opening new branches under a variety of charity, humanitarian, women’s rights and other aliases, MKO began a new phase of bulwarking and feeding its main military structure ... more...
Sahar Family Foundation, Baghdad, January 16, 2011:... When you are in MKO, You are never allowed to write a letter or to make a phone call to your family. If there is any contact, it should be along with the organization's political or financial benefits. Rajavi wants everything for his own interest. He cites from Lenin that he is able to wear skirt in order to achieve his goals. He actually believes in the logic, "The Ends Justify the Means." I'm thankful to God for my release from Rajavi's prison. Now I am able to realize what is really going on in the world. It's true that Rajavi stole 25 years of my life and now I'm not young anymore but I can use my experience ... more...
Daniel Larison, the American consrvative, January 13, 2011: ... it attacked Americans in Iran. While the group says it does not intentionally target civilians, it has often risked civilian casualties. It routinely aims its attacks at government buildings in crowded cities. MEK terrorism has declined since late 2001. the 1979 takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Iranian revolutionaries. the killings of U.S.military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran in the 1970s.This is hardly secret information. Prior to the invasion of Iraq, MEK was a group that operated against Iran from inside Iraq. MEK was practically the only terrorist group that Saddam Hussein’s regime did support ... more...
IRIB, Baghdad, January 13, 2011: ...An official in Iraqi government said that the Iraqi government has done necessary measures to expel Mojahedin khalq grouplet by the end of 2011. He said that the Monafeqin grouplet will be expelled from Iraq because of their enmity towards the Islamic Republic of Iran and their crimes against Iraqi people including innocent people of the Kurdistan region. The Iraqi people had gathered around Ashraf Camp and called on the Iraqi government to deport the MKO. The official said that the American officials opposed deport of MKO grouplet and put the Iraqi government under the pressure to allow MKO stay in Iraq ... more...
Sattar Orangi, Mojahedin.ws, January 11, 2011: ... We do not know if those in the symposium were paid well or had a mission to accomplish, but they, for sure, and we know that the great challenge the world faces today is terrorism and Mojahedin has so far failed to prove any commitment to democracy. Consider that Obama’s Administration put trust in Tom Ridge’s urge to “delist MKO and show the world the United States is committed to its own values of freedom”. But, can he guarantee that MKO will also dedicate itself to democratic avenues that contradict its ideologically leftist inclination? ... more...
Three articles, Gawker.com, January 2011: ... The group, known as Mujaheddin-e Khalq or MEK, is a militant group that's been violently fighting the Iranian government since the 1960s. It has ties to the regime of Saddam Hussein, which trained and outfitted the MEK and for whom the MEK fought in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s. According to the State Department, which declared the group a terrorist organization in 1997, the group's philosophy is a combination of "Marxism, Islam, and feminism."Giuliani and the others told the cheering crowd that the Obama administration should take a stronger hand against Iranian leaders. Townsend scoffed at the use of negotiations and sanctions, without suggesting a tactic that she believes could work ... more...
Iran Interlink, Gates of Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf), January 07, 2011: ... thousands of Iraqi people including prominent Iraqi dignitaries, heads of tribes, reporters and journalists gathered in front of the gates of camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) to protest the presence of the military garrison of Rajavi cult (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI). This popular gathering showed the anger of the people of Iraq against the presence of the terrorist cult backed by the US forces still present in the country. The gathering came under attack by the brainwashed members of the Mojahedin Khalq who threw stones using specially made equipment for launching them. The act resulted in the injury of some of the participants including Dr. Nafe the head of ... more...
Fars News, January 10, 2011: ... A member of the Iraqi parliament on Monday described the US as the stumbling block to the expulsion of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from his country, stressing that Washington strives to block any move made by the Baghdad government to this end. "The presence of Monafeqin (the hypocrites, as they are called in Iran) on Iraq's soil violates the country's constitution and the US is the main impediment to the expulsion of the terrorist group from Iraq's soil," Ali Alaq told FNA. He also underlined that the US is the key supporter and sponsor of the MKO. The Iraqi government has several times adopted measures to expel the Monafeqin grouplet from Iraq's soil ... more...
Justin Raimondo, Anti war, January 10, 2011: ... MEK has attacked US military and diplomatic personnel, and has been described by former members as a cult: ideologically, the MEK started out as a far leftist group, but like the neocons who have taken up its cause, has traveled to the other end of the political spectrum, offering itself up to the US ... MEK’s American supporters want to use it as a battering ram against the Iranian regime, what support they had inside Iran evaporated when they fled to Iraq and took up with Saddam Hussein, whose government succored and armed them. MEK fought in the Iran-Iraq war – on the Iraqi side. That hasn’t stopped American neocons from riding this particular hobbyhorse ... more...
Matthew Partridge, Guardian, January 09 2011: ... there is a strong credibility gap between the group's rhetoric and its past actions, especially its associations with Saddam between 1986 and 2003.According to the Council on Foreign Relations, MEK directly participated in the savage reprisals against those who rose up against the Iraqi tyrant in 1991. Indeed, the extent to which it functioned as an effective arm of Saddam's totalitarian regime is demonstrated by the fact that, when it surrendered to US forces in 2003, it had "2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery pieces".Ironically, before its split with Ayatollah Khomeini, its leaders worked closely with Iran's theocratic government, directly participating in the 1979 takeover of the US embassy in Tehran ... more...
Fars News, January 09 2011: ... Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Baghdad with Salehi on Wednesday, Zebari said that he and his Iranian counterpart have discussed expulsion of MKO from Iraq at their meeting. He expressed the hope that Baghdad would expel the anti-Iran terrorist MKO from Iraq soon in future. Asked about the fate of the MKO, Zebari said the two sides "hope to find a way to close the MKO's case in Iraq as soon as possible". "There are some humanitarian commitments to which our government is loyal, but fulfilling these undertakings should not harm Iraq's national sovereignty," he said. The MKO has been in Iraq's Diyala province since the 1980s ... more...
Reuters, January 08 2011: ... The greatest concern says the Open Letter is for current victims inside Camp Ashraf because "MEK leader Massoud Rajavi is denying seriously ill members from accessing life-saving medical treatment because he benefits from the publicity surrounding their deaths..." Former MEK members say there is "urgent need for independent human rights investigators to be given free and unfettered access ...". The letter concludes, "it is only fair to ask Europe and America, where we have witnessed extensive favours toward the group, to take and house the remaining aging people trapped in this camp." ... more...
Press TV, January 08 2011: ... The Iranian relatives of some MKO members also joined the protesters, to ask for the release of their family members who are said to be held inside the camp against their will. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the group puts defectors under torture or in jail. In response to the protest, the MKO members gathered behind the safety of barbed wire, hurling stones and insults at the protesters.Iraqis accuse the organization of involvement in the killing of their compatriots during the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein ...more...
Massoud Khodabandeh, January 08, 2011: ... We are now increasingly aware that MEK leader Massoud Rajavi is denying seriously ill members from accessing life-saving medical treatment because he benefits from the publicity surrounding their deaths ... As the people of Iran and Iraq are the most affected by the crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Massoud Rajavi and his wife and lieutenant Maryam Rajavi, it is very difficult to see how they can be pardoned in these countries (considering the social problems which come with bloodshed). Therefore it is only fair to ask Europe and America, where we have witnessed extensive favours toward the group, to take and house the remaining aging people trapped in this camp ...more...
SSF, Baghdad, January 8, 2011: ... thousands of Iraqi people including prominent Iraqi dignitaries, heads of tribes, reporters and journalists gathered in front of the gates of camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) to protest the presence of the military garrison of Rajavi cult (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI). This popular gathering showed the anger of the people of Iraq against the presence of the terrorist cult backed by the US forces still present in the country. The gathering came under attack by the brainwashed members of the Mojahedin Khalq who threw stones using specially made equipment for launching them. The act resulted in the injury of some of the participants including Dr. Nafe the head of ... more...
Bahar Irani, Mojahedin.ws, January 8, 2011: ... In her words “Today, we need not discuss the substance of this label” Maryam Rajavi simply prefers, instead of arguing and defending terrorist charges against the group, to question the inclusion of the group in the terrorist lists; a ploy that has so far failed to convince the State Department to remove the organization from its terrorist list. This is while many American supporters of MKO present in the conference have insisted on this point that the inclusion of its name on the list of terrorist organizations has its roots in political engagements and instrumental use of the list for political purposes, a move that ... more...
Alsumaria News / Diyala, January 07, 2011: ... For his part, Vice-Chairman of the Diyala Provincial Council, Sadiq al-Husseini, said in an interview for Alsumaria News that "the popular demonstration which was attended by hundreds of people from the province in front of Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf earlier), 55 km north of Baquba, came to express the popular demand which calls for removal of the MKO from the country." Mr. al-Husseini, a leader in the Islamic Supreme Council which is headed by Ammar al-Hakim, called on "the central government to listen to the demands of protesters and meet them," describing the MKO as a "nightmare ...more...
Press TV, Baghdad, January 07, 2011: ... Iraqi protesters in the north of the country have called for the expulsion of anti-Iranian terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq. The demonstrators gathered outside MKO's Camp Ashraf in Iraq's northern Diyala province and demanded that the terrorist group be removed from their country. Iranian relatives of some MKO members also joined the protesters, calling for the release of their family members who are said to be held inside the camp against their will. MKO leaders are reported to be using torture and pressure on their own dissident members ... more...
Hanlon's Razor, January 06, 2011: ... The Supreme Court has ruled that any “advocacy performed in coordination with, or at the direction of, a foreign terrorist organization” is a crime.Keep in mind we’re not talking about “terrorist group” like the bunch of old ladies sitting around eating cookies that Michael Moore talked with in Fahrenheit 9/11. These are “helped murder civilians and take over a US embassy” terrorists. Actually, scratch that. Look at the shit they’ve been up to, even recently. They were allied with Saddam since the 1980s, got bombed by coalition forces in 2003, a couple thousand were captured, and ... more...
Interview with former US Senate candidate Mark Dankof, Press TV, January 06 2011: ... The Mojahedin Khalq or MKO, which is a terrorist organization despite the attempts of many in the American government and in the European Union to say it is not, has been doing a series of things in your country in conjunction with this Jundollah group, which is absolutely reprehensible and frankly, as Mr. Giraldi, Mr. McGovern and Mr. Paul Craig Roberts have been covering these things. It becomes clear that there is an American and Israeli intelligence connection to the MKO and to the Jundollah and to many of these individual atrocities that this group has been committing within Iranian borders. So, I think sovereignty is an issue and ... more...
Alsumaria News, Baghdad, 05 January 2011: ... saying that "the Iraqi Constitution does not allow the existence of any armed organization on our land to exercise acts against another country. Zebari said that "the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization is like many other armed terrorist organizations," adding that "the government is determined to impose its sovereignty and not allow any party to impose its policy orientations." The civil society organizations from different provinces of Iraq, had organized a demonstration on 11 December last, in front of Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3400 members of the PMOI in Diyala, demanding the Iraqi government to develop mechanisms to remove members of the organization from Iraq ... more...
Matt Duss, Wonk room, January 05, 2011: ... In November, Rep. Michelle Bachmann, by way of advocating that “the Islamic regime of fraudulently-elected President Ahmadinejad must be removed now, before it is too late,” called on the Obama administration to support the MKO, lamenting, “We have shackled this freedom-seeking group which has the ability to help Iranians rise up against that tyrannical regime.” In my view, it shouldn’t be illegal to suggest such things, it should just be recognized as extraordinarily dumb. (Is it really that hard to understand why an Iraq-based organization backed by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war might not be embraced by Iranians as tribunes of freedom?) But it is curious why Tanter, Bachmann and other MKO supporters ... more...
Glenn Greenwald, Salon.com, January 05, 2011: ... Rudy Giuliani and former Bush officials Michael Mukasey, Tom Ridge, and Fran Townsend -- did exactly that. In Paris, of all places, they appeared at a forum organized by supporters of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) -- a group declared by the U.S. since 1997 to be "terrorist organization" -- and expressed wholesale support for that group. Worse -- on foreign soil -- they vehemently criticized their own country's opposition to these Terrorists and specifically "demanded that Obama instead take the [] group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran." In other words ... more...
George Washington blogspot, January 04, 2011: ... And as the New York Times, Washington Post and others are reporting, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, former national security adviser Fran Townsend and former Attorney General Michael Mukasey - who all said that the terrorists were going to get us if we didn't jettison the liberties granted under the Bill of Rights - are now supporting terrorists in Iran. If you've forgotten how shrill these folks were, here's some background ... Does American exceptionalism mean that terrorism is okay when we promote it? Some in government have been acting as if they believe so ... more...
Mazda Parsi, Nejat Society, January 04 2011: ... Since MKO agents are more active in Scandinavian countries, their propaganda and fund raising champagnes have a network of front organizations in those countries to lead the group's tactics. Following the earthquake in Haiti Swedish people were among the top donators to contribute Haiti earthquake victims but the fraudulent groups like MKO were ready to manipulate people's emotional feelings. Thus, the Swedish government body, Council of funds raised by volunteer charity organization of Sweden (FRII) ( Frivilligorganisationernas Insamlingsråd ) published a list ... more...
Iran Interlink, January 03, 2011: ... Massoud Rajavi was on the stage and while he had his hands on his waist he began a war cry against the USA, and in his admiration for Osama Ben Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, he said, ”This was fanatical Islam which trembled and shacked the basis of US Imperialism and they destroyed the twin towers which were the symbol of their power, and successfully reduced it to rubble through their successful mission”. Then he (Massoud Rajavi) with a smile on his face continued his war cry and said, ”What will happen to the USA if revolutionary Islam with our Ideology and Maryam’s leadership comes to power, then this paper tiger (the USA) will be destroyed as a whole.” ... more...
Nakhel news, Baghdad, January 02, 2011: ... In addition to the torture of the MKO members, cult leader Rajavi initiated the anti-humanitarian act …to deny families who have gathered at the camp gates from seeing their children, and on the other hand to prevent the families from checking the health of their loved ones. Iraqi police intervened last week through inspection of the [MKO] hospital, which is part of the sovereignty of Iraq, to provide medicine and doctors. But the MKO leaders took the initiative to send members to injure themselves to prevent the entry of Iraqi police to the hospital. In this way, the MKO aims to accuse the Iraqi forces of beating its members so as to create ... more...
Fars news. January 01, 2011: ... According to a report by Iraqi daily Motamar, also published by Edalat (Justice) Society web site - an organ of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism - Iraq's right groups have sent serious warnings to civil society and human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi government about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the MKO's main training camp in Northern Iraq. Also, Sahar Family Foundation reported that the MKO's ringleaders are forcing the dissident members of the group to commit suicide, and if they refuse to do so, the leaders massacre defectors themselves ... more...
Charles Davis , Change org. December 30, 2010: ... the group fled Iran in the 1980s and sought refuge in Iraq, where it worked on behalf of the Iraqi dictator to stage suicide attacks against their own countrymen. So while terrorists, they're useful terrorists when it comes to furthering U.S. policy goals for the Middle East, or at least that's the thinking. Led by Maryam Rajavi, the self-appointed “President Elect” of Iran (you think the 2009 Iranian election was rigged...), the group combines a strange personality cult with a mishmash of Marxist doctrine. And like the Afghan mujahadeen before it – those lovely folks who later formed the Taliban and al-Qaeda – there are plenty of high-profile U.S. politicians, Republican and Democrat alike, willing to lend the group their support ... more...
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