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Iran Interlink, November 20 2021:… According to observers in Albania, the situation is “chaotic” as one witness was dismissed by the judge because he suffers dementia. Another MEK member claims they witnessed the “massacre of 30,000 people”. Certainly the legal teams on both sides will have a lot of work to sort out fact from fiction in this case. The MEK witnesses are led by the MEK’s legal representative, Behzad Safari, a man who defrauded his own father of $30,000 and who studied dentistry in London before joining MEK in the 1980s.. MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Swedish Court In Albania Grinds On
MEK Witness Suffers Dementia – Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – Nov 19, 2021
++ Albanian media has reported on the arrival of the Swedish court in Durres to take witness testimony from MEK members in the trial of Iranian national Hamid Nouri for alleged crimes against humanity in 1988. Swedish prosecutors invoked “the principle of ‘universal jurisdiction’ by which a state can assert jurisdiction over an accused person regardless of their citizenship, residence or where the alleged crimes took place.”
According to observers in Albania, the situation is “chaotic” as one witness was dismissed by the judge because he suffers dementia. Another MEK member claims they witnessed the “massacre of 30,000 people”. Certainly the legal teams on both sides will have a lot of work to sort out fact from fiction in this case. The MEK witnesses are led by the MEK’s legal representative, Behzad Safari, a man who defrauded his own father of $30,000 and who studied dentistry in London before joining MEK in the 1980s.
This, as much as anything, signals that not a lot of legal principle is involved in pursuing this case. Ironically, simultaneous to this trial, Iran’s judiciary is pursuing the MEK leaders through the International Criminal Court in The Hague to seek redress for 42 former MEK members who, it was found, were subjected to human rights abuses while members of the organisation. A petition raised by families of MEK members exposes why the Swedish prosecutors have had to travel to Albania: “At present, about 2,000 members of the MEK are living in the organization’s forced labor camp in Albania under the control of a destructive mind control cult and in modern slavery situation, and have no right to have any contact with the outside world, especially family and friends.”
++ Zeit Online in Germany has published another lengthy and informative piece by Louisa Hommerich. Last week the MEK exploded with anger at publication of her interview with a former MEK member and child soldier who has now returned to Germany. He accepted to be named and he talked in some depth about the abuses committed against the children of MEK members like himself. This led to the MEK issuing defamatory rants and death threats against Hommerich. This week’s article exposes activities linked to the MEK’s Berlin headquarters. Speaking to former MEK members, Hommerich has pieced together the ways MEK controls its members through psychological manipulation and what essentially amounts to captivity. She also writes about how and why German politicians have been advocating for the MEK for years. Delving into the history of the MEK, Hommerich elicits a damning picture of the extreme cultic abuse used by Rajavi to control and exploit the members. In Germany, former members describe their activities as fundraising through deception and computer work. They describe how politicians who were persuaded to support the MEK were victims of this deception.
Iranian Mojahedin Khalq – Struggle For Freedom Using Cultic Methods
“You only need one or two famous names,” a former member of the People’s Mojahedin explains of its lobbying strategy. You have to invest a lot of energy in the first contact person. You have to shower the person with attention and compliments, give them gifts – and give them the feeling of being committed to a meaningful, noble cause. In the second step, one would then slowly introduce the idea that the person could establish an association or a society that advocates for the People’s Mojahedin. ‘It’s a psychological trick: when you ask someone for a favour after so much flattery, people think they owe you something and can hardly say no.’ With a single respected politician, you can attract many more prominent supporters.”
Although the former members speak of historical events, Hommerich leaves us in no doubt that these practices are still ongoing and that from the inside of the MEK “many things look different with the People’s Mojahedin or Iranian Mojahedin Khalq than from the outside.”
++ A protest in Isfahan attracted around half a million citizens who asked for changes to the water management which causes the Zayanderud river to dry up. Anti-Iran media and commentators were quick to jump on the event to either claim it was an entirely government created event or that an uprising was imminent. When it became clear that this was a genuine, peaceful demonstration concerning a genuine grievance of ordinary citizens, several outlets withdrew their posts. Hilariously, the protest breathed life back into the long-dead Massoud Rajavi, who announced his support for “toppling the regime” in Esfahan and essentially claiming he had organised it. This prompted a flurry of social media posts ridiculing both Massoud and Maryam Rajavi for supporting the Esfahan protest.
Hundreds of people in the central Iranian city of Isfahan have joined farmers on the dried-up riverbed of Zayandehrud to demand that the government release water into the river.
State broadcaster reports that First VP Mokhber will address the protesters on live TV today. pic.twitter.com/Q1jQhPu2gA
— Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) November 19, 2021
In English:
++ A right-wing British newspaper reported on the Home Office’s openly racist attempts to remove ‘illegal’ asylum seekers before their claims are considered by flying them to Albania. According to a source close to the MEK in Durres, Maryam Rajavi is very unhappy about this influx of brown migrants. She believes this will lower public tolerance of ‘foreigners’, ‘dilute’ the attention paid to her and undermine her monopoly on corrupt government collusion. This comes on top of previous reports that America will send Afghan refugees to Albania for processing before accepting them in the US. No wonder the prospects for EU membership are diminishingly small.
++ The same right-wing British newspaper, The Daily Mail, picked up on another controversy this week as Jordan’s FA alleged that the Iranian women’s team goalkeeper is actually a man. In addition to Zohreh Koudaei’s own retort that this is bullying from Jordan, this prompted an angry response from Iranians who accused Jordan of being sore losers. Some pointed out that the Jordanian mindset is so backward that they can’t conceive of a woman saving goals and therefore conclude that she must be a man. Several commentators remarked that Maryam Rajavi said absolutely nothing about this situation because she will never waste her breath unless she is being paid for it. And that since she never supports women or Iranians, she herself is neither Iranian nor a feminist.
Zohreh Koudaei
MEK Witness Suffers Dementia – Iran Interlink Weekly Digest – Nov 19, 2021
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Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/in-albania-shedding-light-on-bizarre-behaviour-of-mek-cult/
In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult
Shaun Walker in Tirana, The Guardian, July 16 2019:… For example, you would have to say: ‘I saw a girl on television and I got an erection,’ or ‘This morning I masturbated,’” said Hassan Heyrani, one of the defectors. He said there was no specific punishment for such admissions except scolding and embarrassment. “If you admit to it too often they will get angry and say: ‘How do you want to create freedom for the Iranian people if you have an erection every day? In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult .
The shadowy cult Trump advisors tout as an alternative to the Iranian government
In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult
Trump allies’ visit throws light on secretive Iranian opposition group
MEK operates out of compound in rural Albania and has been described as having cult-like attributes
The gates to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) compound, situated on a gently inclined hillside in rural Albania, are usually firmly closed, guarded by two sculpted lions atop stone pedestals and a large team of Albanian security guards. Unannounced visitors are not welcome at the fenced-off, secretive site, where more than 2,000 MEK members live.
The history of the MEK, or the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, is long and complicated. Critics and many of those who have left the group in recent years describe it as a shadowy outfit with little support inside Iran and many cult-like attributes, condemned to die out at the obscure base in Albania because of its enforced celibacy rules.
But for its backers, which include many politicians and, notably, members ofDonald Trump’s inner circle, the MEK are tireless fighters for a free and democratic Iran who could potentially become the country’s next government.
This was highlighted over the weekend when the group held a gathering of international backers attended by, among others, Trump’s personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani. Other visitors included the former Democratic senator Joe Lieberman and the British Conservative MP Matthew Offord.
Giuliani described the MEK as a “government in exile” and suggested it was also a government in waiting after potential regime change in Iran. “It gives us confidence that if we make those efforts to overthrow that horrible regime, sooner rather than later, we will not only save lives but will be able to entrust the transition of Iran to a very responsible group of people,” he said to cheers from the assembled audience.
Giuliani has been a regular visitor to MEK events for several years, as has the US national security adviser, John Bolton. While they have been predicting an MEK government in Tehran for years, the fact that these officials now have positions in the Trump administration, combined with the increasingly fraught geopolitical situation around Iran, makes their support for the MEK matter more than ever.
Originally a Marxist-Islamist group that played a leading role in the 1979Iranian revolution, the MEK ended up exiled and fighting against the Iranian regime from a base in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. In the process, the MEK lost a lot of support inside Iran.
The group was only removed from the US terror list in 2012 and the Obama administration later helped negotiate its relocation to Albania as the situation in post-Saddam Iraq became perilous. There, in the countryside, it has constructed a vast compound where men and women lead segregated existences.
Last month, the Guardian spoke with about a dozen men in Tirana who had fled the MEK compound over the past two years. With no passports or other documents, they remain in limbo, unable either to work or to leave the country. The picture they painted of life inside the compound was of a cult-like atmosphere in which mobile phones and contact with relatives were banned, all interactions between men and women were prohibited, and days were spent sitting at computers firing out tweets and other online messages in support of the MEK.
Each evening, the men had to gather in small groups with their commanders for “ideological training” as well as a confessional about any sexual thoughts they might have had that day.
“For example, you would have to say: ‘I saw a girl on television and I got an erection,’ or ‘This morning I masturbated,’” said Hassan Heyrani, one of the defectors. He said there was no specific punishment for such admissions except scolding and embarrassment. “If you admit to it too often they will get angry and say: ‘How do you want to create freedom for the Iranian people if you have an erection every day?’”
An investigation by the Intercept recently found that an anti-regime Iranian activist, who had written extensive media columns about Iran, appeared, in fact, to be an invented persona created by MEK trolls.
When leading political figures came to visit, the rank-and-file MEK members were told to do everything to make sure their high-level guests felt appreciated. Heyrani remembered a visit by John McCain in 2017, who was greeted by a chanting crowd of MEK members. “We had to cheer and clap. One of the commanders told us: ‘You speak English. Please tell him he is the best of democracy,’” he said.
For the MEK leadership, the election of Trump in 2016 was a godsend. Those who have left the camp since recalled that in the run-up to the election the group often prayed for a Trump victory and the defeat of Hillary Clinton.
One person who left the compound in 2018 said: “Everything changed when Obama left and Trump came to power. The leaders came from France to talk to us. They said you must wait a few months and suffer the conditions here and then soon we’ll be in power.”
The MEK did not respond to several requests for comment sent to a Paris-based spokesman, nor to a request left with the security guards outside its compound in Albania.
In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult
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Also read:
Massoud Khodabandeh, Lobe Log, June 18 2019:… This is the tip of the iceberg. MEK interference in the internal affairs of America goes well beyond online attacks on Iran. In 2016, the Organization of Iranian American Communities in the US—a front for the MEK—announced a “General Elections Mobilization Effort,” publicly urging its members to “fulfill their civic duty through active… Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Aljazeera News, June 17 2019:… As the Trump administration continues with its hawkish talk on Iran, we need to look at how that story is being crafted and by whom: Heshmat Alavi was once cited by the White House as a credible commentator on Iran. Shame he doesn’t exist. It turns out he is a fictional persona reportedly created by the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK),… Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Caitlin Johnstone, Consortum News, June 16 2019:… This would be the same John Bolton who has been paid exorbitant speaking fees by the pro-regime change MEK terror cult, promising the cult in a 2017 speech that they’d be celebrating regime change in Tehran together before 2019. This would also be the same John Bolton who once threatened to murder an… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK CultFormer MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Helen Buyniski, Russia Today, June 14 2019:… Heshmat Alavi, a virulently anti-Iranian columnist promoted by the Trump administration and published in Forbes, the Hill, and several other outlets, was unmasked as a propaganda construct operated by the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK), a controversial Iranian exile group often called a cult that has only recently lobbied its way off the US’ terror… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
The Young Turks, June 13 2019:… “Heshmat Alavi” is a front propaganda efforts of the People’s Jihadis (Mojahedin-e Khalq or MEK). The MEK has committed numerous acts of terrorism in Iran and then collaborated with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. It was listed as a terrorist organization the the US until a few years ago and it is mysterious why it… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Negar Mortazavi and Borzou Daragahi , Independent, June 11 2019:…The “Heshmat Alavi” persona had a strong presence on Twitter and harassed Iranian journalists, academics, and activists who are critical of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq organisation, a one-time armed guerilla group now holed up in Albania. There is no known link between the Iran Disinfo programme and the fake persona. At least one… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Jason Rezaian, Washinton Post, June 11 2019:… After the report, Twitter appears to have suspended the account. But the MEK, the organization that “Team Heshmat Alavi” represents, has a nasty history. It was on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations for years before being removed in 2012. These days, it has no discernible popular support in Iran and… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Murtaza Hussain, The Intercept, June 10 2019:… Alavi’s articles also mixed criticisms of Iran and U.S. policy with overt advocacy for the MEK. His pieces in the Daily Caller, The Hill, and other outlets — though less numerous than his contributions to Forbes — employed a similar mix of advocacy against the Iranian regime and praise for the MEK. Though… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Tony Cartalucci, Global Research, June 09 2019:… MEK is described by Council on Foreign Relations Senior Fellow Ray Takeyh as a “cult-like organization” with “totalitarian tendencies.” While Takeyh fails to expand on what he meant by “cult-like” and “totalitarian,” an interview with US State Department-run Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty reported that a MEK Camp Ashraf escapee claimed the terrorist organization bans marriage, using radios, the Internet, and holds many members… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Iran Interlink , June 07 2019:.. Several people have written that the French government has prevented MEK from holding its annual rally to celebrate armed struggle in Villepinte, Paris this year. Some have added that the authorities have denied the MEK permission even to stage a public demonstration. This has forced MEK to stage a demonstration in Brussels instead. MEK… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Ali Breland, Mother Jones, June 06 2019:… Many of the accounts also frequently voice their support for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK), a militant opposition group that some have called a terrorist organization, and its leader Maryam Rajavi. The accounts also frequently criticize the National Iranian American Council (NIAC)—a non-profit representing Iranians in the U.S.—claiming it advocates in support… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
Press TV, June 06 2019:… The #B_Team’s boy who cries wolf is crying once again: this time Mossad is fabricating intelligence about Iran’s involvement in sabotage in Fujairah. I’ve warned of “accidents” and false flags—we know what happens when you believe their lies. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? Mossad MEK and Fujairah False Flag . Zarif: Mossad fabricating intel… In Albania Shedding Light on Bizarre Behaviour of MEK Cult Former MEK in Albania Expose MEK Stupid Lies MEK Witness Suffers Dementia
