The Brookings Institution in a 2009 policy paper titled, “Which Path to Persia? Options for a New American Strategy Toward Iran” (PDF), under a chapter titled, “Inspiring an Insurgency: Supporting Iranian Minority And Opposition Groups,” would openly admit (emphasis added):

Perhaps the most prominent (and certainly the most controversial) opposition group that has attracted attention as a potential U.S.  proxy  is  the  NCRI  (National  Council of Resistance of  Iran),  the  political  movement  established  by  the  MeK  (Mujahedin-e  Khalq). Critics believe the group to be undemocratic and unpopular, and indeed anti-American.  

 Brookings would concede to MEK’s terrorist background, admitting (emphasis added):

Undeniably, the group has conducted terrorist attacks—often excused by the MeK’s advocates because they are directed against the Iranian government. For example, in 1981, the group bombed the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party, which was then the clerical leadership’s main  political organization, killing an estimated 70 senior officials. More recently, the group has claimed  credit for over a dozen mortar attacks, assassinations, and other assaults on  Iranian civilian and  military targets between 1998 and 2001.

Brookings makes mention of MEK’s attacks on US servicemen and American civilian contractors which earned it its place on the US FTO, noting:

In the 1970s, the group killed three U.S. officers and three civilian contractors in Iran.

And despite MEK’s current depiction as a popular resistance movement in Iran, Brookings would also admit (emphasis added):

The group itself also appears to be undemocratic and enjoys little popularity in Iran itself. It has no  political base in the country, although it appears to have an operational presence. In particular, its  active participation on Saddam Husayn’s side during the bitter Iran-Iraq War made the group widely  loathed. In addition, many aspects of the group are cultish, and its leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, are revered to the point of obsession.  

Brookings would note that despite the obvious reality of MEK, the US could indeed use the terrorist organization as a proxy against Iran, but notes that:

…at the very least, to work more closely with the  group (at least in an overt manner), Washington would need to remove it from the list of foreign  terrorist organizations. 

And from 2009 onward, that is precisely what was done. It is unlikely that the MEK alone facilitated the rehabilitation of its image or exclusively sought its removal from US-European terrorist organization lists – considering the central role MEK terrorists played in US regime change plans versus Iran. 

It is clear in retrospect that the rise of the self-proclaimed “Islamic State” (ISIS), Al Qaeda, Al Nusra, and other extremist fronts in Syria were a result of this US policy. It is also clear that there are many other extremist groups the US has knowingly whitewashed politically and is covertly supporting in terrorism aimed directly at Iran itself.It is just a matter of time before the same denials and cover-ups used to depict Syrian and Libyan terrorists as “freedom fighting rebels” are reused in regards to US-backed violence aimed at Iran. Hopefully, it will not take nearly as long for the rest of the world to see through this game and condemn groups like MEK as the terrorists they always have been, and continue to be today.Also in retrospect, it is clear how US-engineered conflict and regime change has impacted the Middle Eastern region and the world as a whole – one can only imagine the further impact a successful repeat of this violence will have if visited upon Iran directly.

(End)

*** 

link to one of the Mojahedin Khalq songs
advocating terror and killing Americans
(In Persian written and distributed after the Iranian Revolution)

Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) terrorists openly declare support for ISIL, terror acts

Mojahedin Khalq ( MEK, MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) Affiliated Terrorist Ring Disbanded in Southeastern Iran

Grand Controversy as MEK can’t prove leader Massoud Rajavi is dead or alive

Maryam Rajavi — MEK Propaganda Queen — Advertises Her Serives For Iran’s Enemies

BBC: Who are the Iranian dissident group MEK? (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, PMOI, …) 

Iran destroys 4 overseas terror groups, invites Saudi Arabia to be rational

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9638

Former MEK Official Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Covert Funding of Iranian Terror Group (Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult)

Whitney Webb, Mint Press, September 23 2018:… In an interview with Jordan-based news outlet Albawaba News, former MEK head of security Massoud Khodabandeh detailed the covert means through which the Saudis helped fund the group, including regional smuggling networks and black market transactions. According to Khodabandeh, gold and other valuable commodities, such as Rolex watches, were shipped from Saudi Arabia … 

Secret MEK troll factory in Albania uses modern slaves (aka Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, NCRI ,Rajavi cult)

Link to the source

Former MEK Official Exposes Saudi Arabia’s Covert Funding of Iranian Terror Group

According to the Iranian terror group’s former head of security, Saudi intelligence helped fund the group by smuggling valuables like gold and Rolex watches into Iraq and Jordan for sale on the black market.

by Whitney Webb

AMMAN, JORDAN — Though it had been suspected for years, testimony from a former high-ranking official from the Iranian militant opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK) has confirmed that the group had been covertly financed by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For decades, the Gulf Kingdom — known for its general hostility towards Shi’ite Muslims — contributed hundreds of millions of dollars in gold and other valuables to help finance the Iranian Marxist militant group – namely the group’s ultimate goal of instigating violent regime change in Iran and subsequently taking power.

In an interview with Jordan-based news outlet Albawaba News, former MEK head of security Massoud Khodabandeh detailed the covert means through which the Saudis helped fund the group, including regional smuggling networks and black market transactions.

According to Khodabandeh, gold and other valuable commodities, such as Rolex watches, were shipped from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad and then sold on black markets in the Jordanian capital of Amman by Saudi-linked businessmen. The proceeds from those transactions were then placed in offshore accounts tied to the MEK and subsequently used to fund their operations.

Khodabandeh also recounted how the Saudis had even given the group a kiswa – a large drape that adorns the Kaaba shrine in the Islamic holy city of Mecca. Manufactured at a cost of approximately $5 million, kiswas are often worth significantly more than their cost of production given their religious significance.

The former MEK official also told Albawaba that he had personally overseen the transfer of valuables from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad that were then sold in order to fund the group. In one instance, Khodabandeh had smuggled three trucks filled with gold bars from Saudi Arabia to Baghdad along with two Iraqi and two Saudi accomplices. He estimated that the gold contained in the trucks was worth nearly $200 million, all of which eventually found its way into MEK coffers.

Khodabandeh also asserted that Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud, former head of Saudi intelligence, was intimately involved in the smuggling rings used to covertly fund the MEK. Unsurprisingly, bin Faisal has since become a vocal advocate for the group and has spoken at several of the group’s annual conferences hosted in Paris. At the 2017 MEK conference, bin Faisal stated:

Your efforts to confront this regime are legitimate, and your struggle to rescue all sectors of the Iranian society… from the oppression of the Velayat-e Faqih rule, as was said by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, is legitimate and an imperative. Therefore, advance with God’s blessing.”

Khodabandeh went onto to state that, while former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had once been the main patron of the MEK, bin Faisal who had taken over as the main backer of the group in recent years, asserting that the group had become an “organization run by Maryam [Rajavi, current MEK leader] under the patronage of Prince Turki bin Faisal al Saud.” The former MEK official concluded the interview by stating that the MEK had “changed from a terrorist military organization to an intelligence-based propaganda machine.”

Past Saudi Funding An Inconvenient Truth for MEK’s “Moderate” Makeover

Despite their past as a militant organization responsible for the mass murder of Iranian and American citizens, the MEK has sought to change their image in recent years and reinvent itself as a “moderate” Iranian opposition group and government-in-exile. These efforts have grown in recent years despite the fact that the group has next to no support within Iran and has consistently been characterized asboth “cultish” and “authoritarian.”

The MEK’s facelift from terror group to propaganda machine began in the 2000s, kicking into high gear after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had them removed from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations in 2012. The MEK’s propaganda efforts have since kicked into overdrive under the Trump administration, given that President Trump has sought to place “maximum pressure” on Iran with the ultimate goal of regime change. Currently, the Trump administration is stocked with known MEK supporters, including Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton and Elaine Chao, who have received thousands of dollars from the group over the years.

Despite its record of killing innocent civilians, Western media cited MEK spokespeople and members in its reporting on the Iran protests earlier this year as “proof” that the Iranian people support regime change and the MEK, ignoring the massive pro-government ralliesthat coincided with the protests. Little mention was made of the fact that MEK fighters have been trained by the U.S. military in the past and share connections with Israeli Mossad. The recent revelations of the group’s connections to Saudi Arabia have also unsurprisingly slipped under the media’s radar.

Top Photo | Saudi women look at jewelry at a gold fair in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. (AP/Hassan Ammar)

Whitney Webb is a staff writer for MintPress News and a contributor to Ben Swann’s Truth in Media. Her work has appeared on Global Research, the Ron Paul Institute and 21st Century Wire, among others. She has also made radio and TV appearances on RT and Sputnik. She currently lives with her family in southern Chile.

(End)

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MEK brings American bomber L. Todd Wood to Albania to show that it is not a terrorist organization but is a baker’s organization

False Flag Op In Albania Would Drive A Wedge Between The EU And Iran

Albania: MEK rebrands by assassinating unwanted members

Saddam’s Private Army
How Rajavi changed Iran’s Mojahedin from Armed Revolutionaries to an Armed Cult

The Life of Camp Ashraf
Mojahedin-e Khalq – Victims of Many Masters
By Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton)  and Massoud Khodabandeh

Tehran Was Always America’s And Thus The ISIS Final Destination (Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, Rajavi cult a proxy)

https://youtu.be/cML2aJVpFeA

Remember.Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) was one of the excuses of US attacking Iraq

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9585

Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) keyboard warriors target journalists, Academics, activists

The Listening Post, Aljazeera, September 16 2018:…”Our orders would tell us the hashtags to use in our tweets in order to make them more active,” says Hassan Shahbaz, another former MEK member. “It was our job to provide coverage of these protests by seeking out, tweeting and re-tweeting videos while adding our own comments.”MEK keyboard warriors would also target journalists, … 

The shadowy cult Trump advisors tout as an alternative to the Iranian government

Link to the source

Faking the online debate on Iran

How keyboard warriors target journalists, academics and activists who favour dialogue instead of war with Iran.
15 Sep 2018 15:27 GMT

Last month, Google, Facebook and Twitter announced the shutdown of pages and accounts they say were linked to Iran. While the effectiveness of Iran’s online disinformation networks is far from established, the Islamic Republic has now joined Russia in the popular consciousness as another government using the internet to destabilise its adversaries.

Meanwhile, a widespread campaign of social media manipulation by actors who are opposed to the government in Tehran has had many analysts eyeing Iran’s enemies for clues to who might be behind the project.

“The turning point was really [Donald] Trump’s election,” says journalist and New America fellow Azadeh Moaveni. “Once it became clear that there would be heightened hostility with Iran, there was a profusion of new accounts, anonymous accounts who were single-mindedly and purposefully going after people who wrote about, talked about Iran with nuance.”

While Twitter did not respond directly to questions about the methodology it used to detect organised manipulation of its platform, lecturer in Middle East history at Exeter University, Marc Owen Jones, shared with us how he uses freely available Twitter metadata to detect the presence of bots.

“If you want to use bots to be effective you need a lot of accounts, which means you might create a lot of accounts on a specific day or week or month,” explains Jones. “The majority of the accounts tweeting on the #FreeIran and #Iran_Regime_Change hashtag from late December up to May, were created within about a four-month window. What that would suggest is that a lot of the activity on those hashtags came from bots.”

Most of the accounts identified had only a few dozen or a few hundred followers and used generic profile pictures. The vast majority tweet almost exclusively in opposition to the Islamic Republic with many exhibiting sympathies with an exiled Iranian dissident group, the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK).

The MEK was instrumental in Iran’s 1979 revolution but turned to violent attacks on civilian targets after being sidelined by Ayatollah Khomeini. A violent backlash forced the group into Iraqwhere they allied with Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war.

In 2013, the MEK moved to Albania at the behest of the United States. The group has long lobbied for policies to overthrow Iran’s government.

The MEK declined our request for an interview citing, “terrorist threats of Iranian regime and mobilising the agents of Iranian Ministry of Intelligence under the guise of journalist”.

However, former MEK members still stranded in the Albanian capital, Tirana, having left the group, described how the MEK uses thousands of fake Twitter accounts to both promote their organisation and to boost online calls for regime change.

“Overall I would say that several thousand accounts are managed by about 1,000-1,500 MEK members,” former MEK member, Hassan Heyrani, told The Listening Post. “It was all very well organised and there were clear instructions about what needed to be done.”

The MEK online unit was especially active during several weeks of protests beginning in December 2017. Members were ordered to emphasise the anti-regime character of the demonstrations.

“Our orders would tell us the hashtags to use in our tweets in order to make them more active,” says Hassan Shahbaz, another former MEK member. “It was our job to provide coverage of these protests by seeking out, tweeting and re-tweeting videos while adding our own comments.”

MEK keyboard warriors would also target journalists, academics and activists who favour dialogue rather than confrontation with Iran.

“Because of my platform, I have received a significant amount of Twitter attacks of this kind, but I am nowhere near being alone,” Trita Parsi, author of, Losing an Enemy: Obama, Iran, and the Triumph of Diplomacy, said. “This is actually a very pervasive phenomena, the big victim of this is that we don’t have a rational conversation about policy towards Iran.”

Since access to Iran for journalists is restricted, social media can become a proxy for where the debate is going, leaving open the possibility that both state and non-state actors can use platforms like Twitter to create and manipulate trends in ways that suit their agenda.

“It’s not like what happens on social media stays there any more,” Marc Owen Jones said. “It filters its way into mainstream media. There is so much propaganda, so much fake news that it would take very little to create a wave of what looks like popular Iranian opinion against the government that’s not necessarily real.”

Contributors

Trita Parsi – Author, Losing an Enemy – Obama, Iran and the Triumph of Diplomacy’
Azadeh Moaveni – Fellow, New America
Marc Owen Jones – Lecturer in Middle East History, Exeter University
Hassan Heyrani – Former MEK member
Hassan Shahbaz – Former MEK member

***

The MEK’s man inside the White House (Maryam Rajavi cult, Mojahedin Khalq)

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9505

The Most Dangerous Cult In Albania (Albania for Albanians. Not for Terrorist MEK) 

Euro Timers, August 28 2018:… Behzad Saffari from Isfahan went to the UK to study dentistry He was recruited by MEK and sent to Iraq after Rajavi moved there. He was injured in operation Eternal Light (Forough Javidan) in 1988 and brought back to London to recover before being sent back to Iraq. Witnesses allege that Behzad was involved in beatings in MEK prisons. Behzad cheated his family out of … 

The MEK’s dirty past includes the anti-Imperialist inspired murder of six Americans in pre-revolution Iran which it later celebrated in songs and publications

Link to the source

The Most Dangerous Cult In Albania

Albania for Albanians not for terrorist MEK

Albania for Albanians not for Rajavi Terrorists

*** 

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Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, Rajavi cult in Iraq No more
اتمام قائله مجاهدین خلق، فرقه رجوی در عراق
The End of the Path – Teaser 1
پایان یک راه – تیزر اول

Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, Rajavi cult in Iraq No more
اتمام قائله مجاهدین خلق، فرقه رجوی در عراق
The End of the Path – Teaser ۲
پایان یک راه – تیزر دوم 

https://youtu.be/yt-rXbs8014 

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9418

Albanian Police No Match For MEK Commanders Trained By Saddam’s Mukhabarat

Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, August 09 2018:… A family drama playing out in Albania has caught the attention of media and public opinion. But this is no ordinary drama. It is the story of Iranian born Mostafa and Mahboubeh Mohammadi, who are Canadian citizens and their twenty-one-year struggle to rescue their daughter from a dangerous terrorist cult. In 1997, Somayeh and … 

Mojahedin / The father rejected, the mother’s writes to her daughter: Come out and meet me, I want to see you before I die 

US Forces Albania To Take IS Fighters After Hosting MEK

Link to the source

Albanian Police No Match For MEK Commanders Trained By Saddam’s Mukhabarat

Massoud Khodabandeh

Afamily drama playing out in Albania has caught the attention of media and public opinion. But this is no ordinary drama. It is the story of Iranian born Mostafa and Mahboubeh Mohammadi, who are Canadian citizens and their twenty-one-year struggle to rescue their daughter from a dangerous terrorist cult.

In 1997, Somayeh and her brother Mohammad, were deceptively recruited into the violent extremist group, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Somayeh was seventeen. They travelled to Iraq for a two week visit to the MEK training camp, and never returned home. Their parents were supporters of MEK and at first simply appealed directly to the group’s leaders for their children’s return to their studies and family. MEK ignored their requests.

It wasn’t until the fall of Saddam’s regime in 2003 that Mostafa was able to travel to Iraq independently of MEK and reach out to his children. He managed to rescue Mohammad and bring him back to Canada. But Somayeh was under constant supervision by MEK commanders who used coercive control to confuse and intimidate the girl. She was afraid to leave, even though she had written several times to the US Marines guarding the camp asking for help.

Somayeh and Mohammad Mohammadi in Camp Ashraf Iraq

Her parents made repeated attempts to meet freely with Somayeh, so they could reassure her of her future with them in Canada. MEK closed all doors to them and in doing so, alienated a whole family which had been ardent supporters. Mostafa had even volunteered to take part in the MEK orchestrated self-immolations in 2003 to protest the arrest in Paris of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi. He was only saved when a friend snatched the lighter from his hand after Mostafa had doused himself in petrol. Now, instead of returning Somayeh to Canada and having a family of active supporters for their cause, MEK has destroyed the life of a young woman and broken the hearts of her family.

Mostafa and Mahboubeh Mohammadi interviewed by Albanian media

Somayeh was brought to Albania with another 3,000 MEK after Iraq expelled the terrorist group. From their first arrival in Tirana in 2013, MEK members frightened ordinary citizens with their intimidatory behaviour. Intense and forceful but somehow disengaged, MEK members swept through the capital like a plague. In place of a de-radicalization programme, the Americans in charge of them allowed them to retreat behind the closed walls of a purpose-built terrorist training camp in a rural town, Manez in the district of Durres. In spite of this, over four hundred have managed to escape the group and are willing to endure hardship rather than continue to associate with MEK. One recent escapee described conditions inside MEK as “slavery”.

In this context, Mostafa and Mahboubeh are now in Tirana making another attempt to meet their daughter. This time, without the presence of MEK minders. They have appealed to the Albanian authorities to help them. They refused.

Instead, MEK has been allowed to go berserk, instigating a campaign of propaganda and intimidation that has created a real crisis for the country; for its citizens, its government and its security and law enforcement services.

Albanian media presents this as a family dispute. But there is no equivalence between the ordinary parents from Canada and the people who are surrounding Somayeh. These are people whose background reveals how dangerous they are. So that when the Albanian police are called to an incidence of public disorder, they are not expecting nor are they quipped through training or resources to deal with radicalised violent extremists trained by Saddam Hussein’s Republican Guards, many with blood on their hands. Yet this is what the government has imposed on them. Even the security and intelligence services of Albania are inadequately prepared to deal with the criminal unpredictability and unaccountability of MEK.

The MEK commanders and agents involved in delivering MEK’s version of Somayeh’s story are as follows:

The female commander, Jila Deyhim, was recruited as a student at Manchester University in the UK at the time of Iran’s 1979 Revolution. Her husband Ahmad Shadbakhti was killed in an armed clash with security forces in Tehran. Jila left their daughter in the UK to be raised by her brother Khosro Deyhim (aka Haji) in Newcastle Upon Tyne while she went to join MEK in Iraq.

Jila is the head of MEK Operations in Tirana. As well as being present when two MEK operatives publicly assaulted Mostafa in a street in Tirana, she organised for over 60 MEK to surround Police Station 4 in Tirana while two arrested MEK members were being questioned by police. Afterwards, JIla sent the 60 MEK to spread through the city to hunt down and intimidate and beat up ex-MEK members. (Local police officers, used to dealing with ordinary crimes and criminals, were so shocked by the MEK behaviour that they wrote to the Interior Ministry saying they are not equipped to deal with sixty potential suicide bombers and to ask that the security forces in charge of MEK make sure the police will not have to deal with these ‘guests of the state’ again.)

Historically, Jila served as a commander during the Kurdish massacres – Operation Morvarid (Pearl) in 1991 – as well as many other operations. Witnesses have given further testimony of her torturing and killing disaffected members in MEK/Saddam Hussein prisons in Camp Ashraf. Jila ‘graduated’ as a highly trained intelligence officer under Saddam Hussein’s security service. In addition, she undertook field training, tank driving, basic combat and SWAT command.

Jila Deyhim in Iraq and in Albania

Homayoun Deyhim – in the pink shirt assaulting Mostafa Mohammadi – is a brother of Jila. He studied Electrical Engineering in Newcastle University in the UK just before the Revolution. During the Revolution he went to India to study for an MSC. In India he worked for MEK, but was later recruited by Jila to go to Iraq.

Homayoun never achieved any significant rank, working mostly in the technical and repair departments. But he is famous inside MEK for agreeing to do anything to get promoted. Hence, on many occasions he was involved in punitive beating and humiliating of other members in Camp Ashraf. Homayoun undertook basic military training and Republican Guards operations training.

In Police Station 4 in Tirana after his arrest for assaulting Mostafa, Jila instructed Homayoun to claim that Mostafa had attacked him. They did not know at that time that there was videoed evidence from the scene which shows what actually happened.

Homayoun Deyhim in Iraq and Albania

Behzad Saffari from Isfahan went to the UK to study dentistry He was recruited by MEK and sent to Iraq after Rajavi moved there. He was injured in operation Eternal Light (Forough Javidan) in 1988 and brought back to London to recover before being sent back to Iraq. Witnesses allege that Behzad was involved in beatings in MEK prisons. Behzad cheated his family out of their life savings – which he gave to MEK – by falsely claiming to have left the organisation. His father sent money to family members in Canada, but it ended up in MEK accounts in the UK.

Behzad was involved in liaising with the UNHCR during the transfer process from Iraq to Albania. Former members recount how the UNHCR gave each individual 100 USD for the journey and after their arrival. When the members arrived in Tirana airport, Behzad took the $100 from each one of them and gave them one hundred Albanian LEK as local currency (around one US dollar).

Behzad is currently involved with the teams harassing ex-members and journalists in Tirana. Behzad Saffari is liaising with the MEK lawyer and answers to Jila Deyhim.

Behzad Saffari in Iraq and Albania

Ahmad Taba (aka Akbar), was a student in UMIST (Manchester) at the time of the Iranian Revolution in 1979. He was recruited by MEK to work in London and was then transferred to Iraq after Massoud Rajavi went there.

Ahmad was trained as a helicopter pilot by the Iraqi Army. He graduated from training by Saddam’s Republican Guards, which included guerrilla war and SWAT tactics. He also underwent a 9-month course with Saddam’s Mukhabarat, from which he graduated as an Intelligence officer. He killed many civilians in the Kurdish attacks and there are witnesses connecting him to the torture of prisoners in Camp Ashraf.

Ahmad Taba in Albania and Iraq

Somayeh Mohammadi herself has not left the MEK camps in Iraq or Albania for twenty-one years. She has no idea about what is happening in the outside world. It is incomprehensible that a woman who claims to be freely pursuing a political struggle for violent regime change against Iran is incapable of meeting alone with her parents to tell them face to face of her decision. Her parents, who know her so well, say it is clear she is afraid and not acting freely when she speaks out against them. Surrounded by the above MEK characters, it is clear that she is under control and is unable to speak or act for herself in any meaningful way. This is not a family dispute, Somayeh is a hostage.

Under the pressure of coercive control, experts can easily recognise in Somayeh a victim who, in the hands of MEK, has been forced to the edge of a cliff over which she may be pushed or fall. If it is subsequently reported that she has disappeared, committed suicide, drowned in a reservoir or otherwise come to harm, there can be no doubt that the government of Albania must be held accountable. She cannot save herself from harm, yet the possibility of MEK harming her is very high. She is in great danger.

Albania may be a failed state, but it is not a rogue state like Saddam’s Iraq. It is a state with pretensions to joining the European Union. The government can and should be held accountable for whatever happens to Somayeh Mohammadi. The way to prevent such an outcome is to step in and separate her from her captors.

(End)
***

Albanian Translation:

Policia shqiptare nuk matet dot me komandantët e MEK-ut të stërvitur nga muhabaratët e Sadamit

Nga

Gazeta ImpakT

 –

August 9, 2018

Albanian report

http://www.newsbomb.al/paralajmerimi-nga-irani-policia-shqiptare-e-paafte-muxhahedinet-te-trajnuar-nga-garda-e-saddamit-130548

PARALAJMËRIMI NGA IRANI: POLICIA SHQIPTARE E PAAFTË, MUXHAHEDINËT TË TRAJNUAR NGA GARDA E SADDAMIT
Publikuar tek: AKTUALITET, më 20:11 08-08-2018

Prej disa ditësh në mediat shqiptare qarkullon historia e një gruaje muxhahedine me banim në Shqipëri, e cila refuzon të bashkohet me prindërit e mbërritur nga Kanadaja në Tiranë.
Somayeh i quan prindërit e saj “agjentë iranianë”, ndërsa i ka bërë disa herë thirrje publike shtetit shqiptar t’i vijë në ndihmë.

Nga ana tjetër, prindërit Mostafa dhe Mahboubeh Mohammadi thonë se vajza e tyre është pjesë e një kulti të rrezikshëm terroristësh, MEK apo Mojahedin-e Khalq.

Faqja “online” iranian.com tregon versionin tjetër të historisë dhe ngre alarmin për rrezikshmërinë që paraqesin muxhahedinët që strehohen në Shqipëri.

“Iranian” identifikon disa prej muxhahedinëve për të cilët thotë se janë trajnuar nga Garda e diktatorit Saddam Hussein me taktika lufte të avancuara. Në artikull thuhet se ata dhunojnë dhe intimidojnë muxhahedinët që braktisin kampin në Shqipëri.

“Në rast mosbindje apo revlotë”, policia shqiptare por edhe shërbimet inteligjente shqiptare “janë të paafta përballë këtij rreziku të madh që i kanoset”, shkruhen ndër të tjera në artikull.

***

The Iran Protests, Regime Change, And The MEK

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9120

Albania: MEK rebrands by assassinating unwanted members 

Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh, Balkans Post, June 22 2018:… The mysterious disappearance of a member of the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) terrorist group in Albania has once again drawn attention to this controversial group. Malek Sharaee, 47, originally from Khuzestan Province in Iran, was reportedly drowned in the Rrotull village irrigation water reservoir. After three days, divers have not found his body even though the … 

Link to the source

Albania: MEK rebrands by assassinating unwanted members

Massoud Keshmiri: Killed Iran’s PM and President – last seen in Germany after escaping MEK

The mysterious disappearance of a member of the Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) terrorist group in Albania has once again drawn attention to this controversial group. Malek Sharaee, 47, originally from Khuzestan Province in Iran, was reportedly drowned in the Rrotull village irrigation water reservoir. After three days, divers have not found his body even though the water channel is only 3.5 meters deep. However, a MEK representative and three MEK witnesses say his clothes were found at the water’s edge. Police are now investigating this as a possible criminal offense. Even so, unless they gain access to Camp Ashraf Three, the MEK’s purpose-built training camp in Manez, they are unlikely to unearth the truth – MEK impunity is far greater than this small country can deal with or penetrate.

MEK (aka Saddam’s Private Army) was unknown in Albania until they arrived after 2013. Their bizarre behavior and controversial activitiessoon became the focus of media attention.

But the MEK’s dark history began long before this. Along with well-publicised military-style terrorist attacks on Iran since the 1980s, the MEK was also trained by Saddam Hussein’s Mukhaberat (Secret Services) and later by Israel’s MOSSAD, in intelligence gathering and secret operations. As a result, MEK has also conducted many covert terror acts and assassinations over the years. Several of these were deliberately staged to make it look like Iran was involved. Such as the 1994 bombing of the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. In spite of extensive investigation, the primary evidence linking Iran came from four high ranking intelligence officers from MEK.  In 2011, a man connected to Mexican drug dealers was arrested for the attempted murder of the Saudi Ambassadorto America. The US quickly accused Iran, but after two weeks the perpetrator was linked to MEK. In 2013, Israel arrested a Swedish Iranian man, Ali Mansouri, who ‘confessed’ to be spying for Iran in Tel Aviv. He turned out to be a MEK member.

The underlying pattern behind these events is of deception and callous, cynical murder. These examples are not unique. MEK has a long history of highly sophisticated and brutal undercover activity. However, the reported death of Malek Sharaee in Albania this week also points to a new phase in MEK covert activity. This time individual MEK members who were previously involved in known acts of violence are now themselves becoming victims of their own organization.

Internal assassinations are not new – Commander Ali Zarkesh was deliberately killedduring a military operation in 1988 because he had become critical of the leadership. There have been hundreds of reports of suspicious deaths and actual murders over the last three decades committed against critics and rivals.

In 2013, former MEK member Massoud Dalili was identified as the 53rd victim of a massacre at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. MEK only acknowledged his death when the Iraqi authorities formally identified him via his DNA. Dalili’s body had been deliberately disfigured (his face and hands burned) to hide his identity. Massoud Dalili had been one of the personal security personnel for leader Massoud Rajavi. He had undergone training with Saddam’s Republican Guards and the MEK’s own specialist training. Before coming to Iraq, Dalili had headed a small MEK team in Gilan Province where he was responsible for scores of deaths, including civilians.

Massoud Dalili: Wanted for terrorism in Gilan Province – killed in Camp Ashraf, Iraq

 

Another victim killed during the same attack was Zohreh Ghaemi, She had commanded the assassination of General Sayad Shirazi in 1999. Of the other victims that day, at least ten are known to have participated in known acts of violence for MEK. No one claimed responsibility for the attack on Camp Ashraf.

In 2015, in the Netherlands, Mohamad Reza Kolahi was killed by a criminal gang on the order of MEK. Investigators confirmed that Kolahi was responsible for the 1981 bombing of the headquarters of the Islamic Republic Party in Tehran in which 72 high-ranking politicians and party members were killed.

Another MEK member, Massoud Keshmiri, responsible for the bombing which killed PM Bahonar and President Rajai in 1981, was last seen with MEK in Germany some years ago. He has since vanished and could be dead. Although these deaths cannot be said to be directly linked, there is a common thread whose purpose becomes clear when we remember 2016 when Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi Intelligence chief, announced the death of MEK leader Massoud Rajavi. It is clear from this that MEK is being purged from top to bottom of all the individuals who have had involvement or are associated with its violent past – rebranding by assassination to make the group legally acceptable.

MEK has become the pattern for how other defeated terrorist groupings can be reinvigorated, rebranded and reused. The controversy following the Bulgarian PM’s announcement that “Albania will become a coordination center for fighters returning from ISIS to the Balkans” may die down soon – Prime Minister Rama later dismissed this as fantasy, but he is not convincing.Instead, the history of the MEK in Albania indicates that the same scenario will be repeated. As ISIS fighters arrive and settle, the process will start just as it did with MEK. Expect more mysterious murders, suicides, disappearances, bizarre interventions to prevent investigations. And, of course, the involvement of Albanian citizens, politicians, and personalities for and against. Plus, not only abandoning any hope of joining the EU, but suffering more restrictions on the borders with the EU and Balkan countries.

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MASSOUD AND ANNE KHODABANDEH

Massoud Khodabandeh is the Director of Middle East Strategy Consultants and has worked long-term with the authorities in Iraq to bring about a peaceful solution to the impasse at Camp Liberty and help rescue other victims of the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult. Khodabandeh co-authored the book ‘The Life of Camp Ashraf – Victims of Many Masters’ with his wife Anne Singleton.

(End)

*** 

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=9052

Albania’s Modern Slavery Problem Alienates Europe 

Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffpost, November 21 2017:… But a more sinister turn of events is taking place right now. The MEK is moving over 2,500 members to a remote camp in the north of Albania far away from any local communities. This desperate act serves several purposes. One is to recreate the isolation the cult enjoyed in Iraq where coercion and brainwashing were a daily occurrence – the new camp is called ‘Ashraf Three’…

Dr Olsi Jazexhi: Double standards in Albania’s fight against terrorism 

The MEK’s dirty past includes the anti-Imperialist inspired murder of six Americans in pre-revolution Iran which it later celebrated in songs and publications

Link to the source

Albania’s Modern Slavery Problem Alienates Europe

11/20/2017 10:30 am ET

PHOTO: ANNE KHODABANDEH (SINGLETON)

A UK report on modern slavery identifies its various manifestations – sexual exploitation, labour exploitation and domestic servitude – concluding that increased awareness results in an increase in detection and reporting. But, with trafficking at the root of much modern slavery it is clearly a worldwide phenomenon, not limited to the west or to any particular country.

Modern Slavery is usually a hidden phenomenon, it goes on behind closed doors and can be hard to detect. Victims are often isolated individuals – domestic servants or cannabis ‘farmers’ – locked away behind closed doors. Nobody knows of their existence because they have been illegally trafficked. Even those more openly kept in brothels for sexual exploitation are unable to escape for fear of reprisals against themselves and their families back home.

But there is another form of slavery hidden in plain sight: political slavery. This is not difficult to detect because the kinds of groups which practice it actively seek publicity and influence over worldwide politics. The exiled Iranian Mojahedin Khalq organisation (MEK aka MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) is one such group. It describes itself as a democratic political organisation, the main opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the life of the members speaks of a very different story.

A year ago, the last of nearly three thousand MEK members were finally expelled from Iraq where they had been operating under the patronage of Saddam Hussein. America paid millions of dollars to the UN and the Albanian government to have the group to settle there. Part of the deal was to establish a de-radicalization programme to return the members to normal life. This did not happen.

Instead, the group closed ranks and over the past year, several high-profile US politicians and former officials opportunistically visited Albania to heap praise on the MEK for its anti-Iran stance. John Bolton, Senator John McCain, among others have unabashedly promoted the group by meeting its leader Maryam Rajavi there.

Of greater concern was that during this same period the families of these MEK members in Albania complained to the UNHCR and the Albanian government about the treatment of their loved ones. They said that many, perhaps the majority of MEK members want to leave the group but have nothing – no money, no place to go, no officially recognised status and no language skills – to help them do so. They are effectively being held in a state of modern slavery.

A report by an Albanian lawyer (acting for MEK members who managed to separate from the group) after meeting with the UNHCR in Tirana reveals that under a secret agreement struck between the Americans, the government of Albania and the MEK leader, the UNHCR supervised the transfer of approximately 3,000 MEK from Iraq to Albania not as refugees but on a ‘humanitarian basis’. In other words, they have no official status in the country.

According to this agreement, all the expenses for the MEK members are to be doled out by the MEK itself. This means that members are totally dependent on the MEK leadership for their subsistence. Those who have expressed their desire to separate from the group, for whatever reason, must continue to obey MEK rules and restrictions, they must accept MEK imposed conditions so that they are given accommodation and food.

As such, they are forced to pay lip service to a belief system they no longer believe in. They are forced to give allegiance to a pseudo-political terrorist entity. Under these conditions, they are modern political slaves, trapped in plain sight in a circle of fear, coercion and isolation.

PHOTO: ANNE KHODABANDEH (SINGLETON)

The stories of those who do escape are harrowing. (See videos below.) In the MEK, any word of dissent is punished. How? By public humiliation, beatings, solitary confinement and ultimately death. More poignantly, in the MEK contact with your family is a punishable sin against the leader. Your devotion must solely focus on Maryam Rajavi to the exclusion of all others. This is a disturbing addition to the ways and reasons that individuals are enslaved. It is known as cultic abuse because of the involvement of a belief system. The MEK are political pawns whose minds have been hijacked for a cause most of them no longer believe in. Urgent action is needed to rescue them. But at present there is little hope of that. Even Albania’s deputy anti-trafficking coordinator, Dr Elona Gjebrea, who is also the deputy minister of the interior, has bowed down in the Court of Maryam Rajavi.

When counter-terrorism expert Anne Khodabandeh visited Tirana on 5-7 November to investigate the plight of former members, several media interviews she gave were pulled from broadcast due to MEK and Albanian Mafia intimidation when she revealed that the MEK are actively recruiting Albanian youth to their cause.

But a more sinister turn of events is taking place right now. The MEK is moving over 2,500 members to a remote camp in the north of Albania far away from any local communities. This desperate act serves several purposes. One is to recreate the isolation the cult enjoyed in Iraq where coercion and brainwashing were a daily occurrence – the new camp is called ‘Ashraf Three’. Another reason is to prevent families from reaching their loved ones and prevent members from escaping. The other is to empty the old university buildings in Tirana to make way for a new round of political slaves to take up residence. This time, families of Daesh fighters who have fled Iraq and Syria are rumoured to be ready to move to Albania on ‘humanitarian grounds’.

While America turns a blind eye to political slavery, the European Union takes a very different view. Not only have Albania’s efforts to accede to the EU been completely stymied by the MEK’s activities there, the group’s alignment with the Albanian Mafia and the threat of a new wave of political slaves means Albania is now regarded as a security threat on the border of Europe rather than a potential partner country.

IMPAKT 97: Jihad 2.0? What are the Iranian Jihadis (MKO, Rajavi cult) doing in Albania? (part 1)

https://youtu.be/WYEGkiTvyJc

IMPAKT 97: Jihad 2.0? What are the Iranian Jihadis (MKO, Rajavi cult) doing in Albania? (part 2)

https://youtu.be/9tWjpDHPktE

(END)

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Albanian Translation
http://gazetaimpakt.com/problemi-i-skllaverise-moderne-ne-shqiperi-armiqeson-evropen/

Problemi i skllavërisë moderne në Shqipëri poshtëron Evropën

gazeta impakt

November 21, 2017

nga Massoud Khodabandeh.

Një raport i Britanisë së Madhe mbi skllavërinë moderne identifikon raste nga m të ndryshmit si shfrytëzimi seksual, shfrytëzimi në punë dhe robërimi në vend, duke dalë në përfundimin se rritja e ndërgjegjësimit rezulton në rritjen e zbulimeve dhe raportimeve të rasteve. Por trafikimi njerëzor si pjesë e skllavërisë moderne është një fenomen mbarëbotëror, i cili nuk mund të kufizohet në perëndim apo në ndonjë vend tjetër.

Skllavëria Moderne është zakonisht një fenomen i fshehur i cili ndodh prapa dyerve dhe është i vështirë për t’u zbuluar. Viktimat shpesh janë individë të izoluar, shërbyes shtëpish ose fermerë kanabisi të cilët qëndrojnë të mbyllur padrejtësisht mbrapa dyerve të kycura. Askush nuk di për ekzistencën e tyre, sepse ata janë të trafikuar ilegalisht. Edhe ata që mbahen më hapur nëpër shtëpi publike për shfrytëzim seksual, nuk janë në gjendje të shpëtojnë nga frika që kanë prej hakmarrjes dhe dëmtimit që mund tu shkaktohet familjeve të tyre.

Por ekziston edhe një formë skllavërie e fshehur nga syri normal: skllavëria politike. Kjo nuk është e vështirë për t’u zbuluar, sepse grupet që e praktikojnë atë në mënyrë aktive kërkojnë publicitet dhe ndikim mbi politikat mbarëbotërore. Organizata iraniane në mërgim, Mojahedin Khalq (MEK aka MKO, NCRI, kulti Raxhavi) është një grup i tillë. Ai e përshkruan veten si një organizatë politike demokratike, opozita kryesore e Republikës Islamike të Iranit. Por jeta reale e anëtarëve tregon një histori shumë më ndryshme.

Një vit më parë, pjesa e mbetur e rreth tre mijë anëtarëve të MEK u dëbuan nga Iraku ku ata kishin vepruar nën patronazhin e Sadam Huseinit. Amerika pagoi miliona dollarë për OKB-në dhe qeverinë shqiptare për ta vendosur grupin në Shqipëri. Një pjesë e marrëveshjes mbi dërgimin në Shqiperi ishte krijimi i një programi de-radikalizues për ti kthyer anëtarët në jetën normale. Kjo nuk ndodhi.

Në vend të kësaj, grupi i mbylli radhët dhe u izolua edhe më tej. Gjatë vitit të kaluar, shumë politikanë të nivelit të lartë amerikan vizituan Shqipërinë për të falenderuar dhe përgëzuar MEK-un për qëndrimin e tij kundër Iranit. John Bolton dhe Senatori John McCain e kanë promovuar pa masë grupin duke u takuar edhe me udhëheqësen e tij Merjem Raxhavin.

Një shqetësim më i madh gjatë kësaj periudhe ishte se familjarët e anëtarëve të MEK-ut u ankuan në UNHCR dhe tek qeveria shqiptare për trajtimin e të afërmve të tyre. Ata thanë se shumë prej tyre, ndoshta edhe shumica e anëtarëve të MEK duan të largohen nga grupi, por nuk munden sepse nuk kanë asgjë, as para, as vend ku të shkojnë, as status të njohur zyrtarisht dhe nuk kanë edhe aftësi gjuhësore për t’i ndihmuar që të largohen. Ata në këtë mënyrë po mbahen në një gjendje të skllavërisë moderne.

Një raport i një avokati shqiptar (që vepron për anëtarët e ndarë të MEK) pas takimit me UNHCR-në në Tiranë zbuloi se në marrëveshjen sekrete të arritur mes amerikanëve, qeverisë shqiptare dhe udhëheqësit të MEK, UNHCR do mbikëqyrte transferimin e rreth 3,000 anëtarëve të MEK nga Iraku për në Shqipëri, por jo si refugjatët e zakonshëm por si persona të klasifikuar në ‘baza humanitare’. Me fjalë të tjera, ata nuk kanë asnjë status zyrtar në këtë vend.

Sipas kësaj marrëveshjeje, të gjitha shpenzimet për anëtarët e MEK-ut duhet të përcaktohen nga vetë MEK-u. Kjo do të thotë se anëtarët janë krejtësisht të varur nga udhëheqja e MEK-ut për jetesën e tyre. Ata që kanë shprehur dëshirën e tyre për t’u ndarë nga grupi, për çfarëdo arsye, duhet të vazhdojnë t’i binden rregullave dhe kufizimeve të MEK-ut. Ata duhet të pranojnë kushtet e vendosura nga MEK në mënyrë që t’u jepet strehimi dhe ushqimi.

Prandaj, ata janë të detyruar ti ofrojnë shërbimin e tyre një sistem besimi të cilin ata nuk e besojnë më. Ata janë të detyruar ti japin besnikëri një entiteti terrorist pseudo-politik. Në këto kushte, ata janë bërë skllevërit modernë politikë, të bllokuar nga syri i lirë, të rrethuar nga frika, forca dhe izolimi.

Tregimet e atyre që janë arratisur janë tronditëse. (Shih videot më poshtë.) Në MEK, çdo fjalë kundërshtuese dënohet. Si? Me poshtërim publik, rrahje, izolim dhe vdekje. Më shumë prekës në këtë histori është se kontaktimi me familjen konsiderohet një mëkat i dënueshëm që i bëhet liderit. Përkushtimi duhet të përqëndrohet vetëm tek Merjem Raxhavi duke përjashtuar cdo njeri tjetër. Kjo është dicka shqetësuese për mënyrat dhe arsyet se si këta individë janë skllavëruar. Kjo njihet si abuzimi i kultit për shkak të përfshirjes në një sistem besimi. Njerzit e MEK janë pengje politikë, mendjet e të cilëve janë rrëmbyer për një kauzë që shumica e tyre tani nuk po e besojnë më. Urgjentisht nevojitet ndihmë për t’i shpëtuar këta njerëz. Por aktualisht nuk ka shumë shpresë për këtë gjë. Madje zëvendës koordinatorja e antitrafikimit në Shqipëri, Dr Elona Gjebrea, e cila është gjithashtu zëvendës ministre e brendëshme, i është gjunjëzuar Merjem Raxhavit.

Ekspertja e anti terrorizmit, Anne Khodabandeh vizitoi Tiranën në datat 5 dhe 7 nëntor për të hetuar gjendjen e vështirë të ish-anëtarëve. Disa intervista që ajo dha për mediat shqiptare u tërhoqën nga transmetimi për shkak të kërcënimit nga MEK dhe nga mafia shqiptare pasi ajo zbuloi se MEK ishte duke rekrutuar në mënyrë aktive të rinjtë shqiptarë.

Por kthesa më e keqe e ngjarjeve po ndodh tani. MEK po transferon 2,500 anëtarë të saj në një kamp të largët në veri të Shqipërisë, larg nga çdo komunitet vendas. Ky akt i dëshpëruar shërben për disa qëllime. Njëra është rikrijimi i izolimit që kulti ka pasur dhe gëzuar në Irak ku imponimi dhe lavazhi i trurit ishin dukuri e përditshme. Kampi i ri quhet ‘Ashraf tre’. Një arsye tjetër është parandalimi i familjeve nga vizitat e të afërmve të tyre dhe parandalimi i arratisjes së anëtarëve. Arsyeja tjetër është që të boshatisin ndërtesat e vjetra universitare në Tiranë për ti hapur rrugën një raundi të ri të skllevërve politikë për tu siguruar atyre akomodim të ri. Këtë herë thuhet se familjet e luftëtarëve të ISIS-it që janë larguar nga Iraku dhe Siria janë gati që të lëvizin në Shqipëri për ‘arsye humanitare’.

Ndërkohë që Amerika bën një sy qorr ndaj skllavërisë politike, Bashkimi Evropian po mban një qëndrim krejt ndryshe. Jo vetëm që përpjekjet e Shqipërisë për të hyrë në BE janë pezulluar tërësisht si pasoje e aktiviteteve të MEK-ut, por përafrimi i grupit Mek me mafian shqiptare dhe kërcënimi nga vala e re e skllevërve politikë nënkupton se Shqipëria tani po konsiderohet më shumë si një kërcënim për sigurinë e kufijve të Evropës sesa një vend partner potencial.

IMPAKT 97: Xhihadi 2.0? Cfarë po bëjnë xhihadistët iranianë (MKO, kulti Raxhavi) në Shqipëri? (Pjesa 1)

https://youtu.be/WYEGkiTvyJc

IMPAKT 97: Xhihadi 2.0? Cfarë po bëjnë xhihadistët iranianë (MKO, kulti Raxhavi) në Shqipëri? (Pjesa 2)

https://youtu.be/9tWjpDHPktE

burimi:huffingtonpost/ Gazeta Impakt

***

The MEK’s dirty past includes the anti-Imperialist inspired murder of six Americans in pre-revolution Iran which it later celebrated in songs and publications

Radicalisation Awareness (Presentation at the ICSA Conference, Bordeaux, July 2017)

Which occasion is Maryam Rajavi celebrating in Paris? (letter to Emmanuel Macron)

grooming Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, Rajavi cult) in Tirana part of bigger agenda for Albania

The Enemy of My Enemy is NOT Always My Friend…

***

Also read:
https://iran-interlink.org/wordpress/?p=7471

Maryam Rajavi — MEK Propaganda Queen — Advertises Her Services For Iran’s Enemies 

Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, July 08 2016:… Clearly this message is not aimed at Iranians. The clamour for regime change in Iran does not emanate from inside the country in spite of its many social, civic and political problems. Who then is Maryam Rajavi’s constituency? From whom is she hoping to garner support?Many constituencies outside Iran wish fervently for its destruction. It is enlightening that Maryam Rajavi’s … 

What does it mean when we say ISIS operates as a mind control cult?

Link to the source

Maryam Rajavi — MEK Propaganda Queen — Advertises Her Services For Iran’s Enemies

Co-authored by Anne Khodabandeh

The Middle East is in turmoil. Deaths and destruction are a daily occurrence throughout the region. Families flee their homes in fear, forced into an uncertain future. No end is in sight. Yet into this calamitous scenario a slick, sophisticated terrorist recruiter’s advert has popped up which ISIS itself could learn from.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) website carries a glamorous advertising campaign for a Grand Gathering. Surrounded by glitzy pictures of flag-waving youth, the central focus of this gathering is ‘Our pledge: regime change’.

Well, we all know what that means. Don’t we? Apparently not. Because this advertising doesn’t reflect the destruction wrought in Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Here is no promise of jihad and the caliphate. It looks very much like a carnival. Which is exactly what it is – a show. So, what is meant by the promise of regime change?

The first port of call is to understand that the NCRI is just another name for the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) which was also known as the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA).

Back in 1994, MEK leader Massoud Rajavi tasked his wife Maryam to leave Iraq for America in order to regain political recognition of the Mojahedin Khalq as ‘the’ Iranian opposition which had been lost when he refused to abandon Saddam Hussein during the First Gulf war.

Refused entry to the USA as the leader of a terrorist entity Maryam instead took up residence in France as a refugee. But instead of meeting politicians to talk about how the MEK could overthrow the Iranian regime, she discovered she could simply create the illusion of support by paying both audience and speakers. She discovered a talent for dressing up, holding fancy dinner parties and talking about her cult ideology.

To create the appearance of a willing audience for her views, she recruited a rag-tag following of Iranian economic refugees who would happily turn up when paid for their services. She paid for feminists from North America, Europe and Scandinavia to visit Auvers-sur-Oise and attend dinner parties. She posed in her hijab to speak about her version of feminism to these western women; carefully spelling it out for them that they would never really understand what feminism is until they understood her husband Massoud Rajavi.

When Massoud recalled her to Iraq in 1997 she had spent a third of the total MEK budget and had no political support to show for it. She had lost around half the loyal MEK members who had defected whilst in Europe. With morale at an all-time low, Maryam was forced to retreat to Iraq with what remained of her personnel and leave the western bases in the hands of largely uneducated paid ‘supporters’.

When allied forces next invaded Iraq in 2003 Maryam Rajavi again fled to France. This time, as luck would have it, western politics was focused on curtailing Iran’s nuclear programme which it insisted was aimed at creating a nuclear weapon. The MEK’s services as propaganda experts were just what was needed, ensuring the MEK’s ostensible survival as an opposition group.

But in reality the MEK was already in terminal decline. Its fighting forces, disarmed in 2003, are currently being transferred from Iraq to Albania by the UNHCR to begin a process of de-radicalisation and reintegration back into normal society. Nobody expects veterans with an average age of sixty to wage the terrorism of thirty years ago. Disarmament also allowed American experts to investigate years of complaints about human rights and cultic abuses inside the MEK. As long as the MEK was being used to muddy the waters of the nuclear negotiations, such details could be glossed over. But since last year when agreement was reached, the MEK’s murky past can no longer be dismissed.

The main reason, of course, is that the new theme for challenging Iran in the international community is based on the country’s dismal human rights record. But Maryam Rajavi has her own well documented human rights abuse dossier to answer for. The MEK, under whatever name it is used, is simply the wrong tool to use to demonise Iran.

Beyond this, the MEK is not the popular opposition its own advertising claims it to be. The group is almost universally despised among Iranians both inside the country and in the diaspora. Not only did the MEK fight alongside Saddam Hussein’s army during the devastating eight-year Iran-Iraq war, but the MEK’s anti-Iran role in the nuclear negotiations hit a nerve with most ordinary Iranians who regarded support for their country’s right to nuclear technology as an issue ofnationalism rather than politics.

Maryam Rajavi cannot get support from Iranians unless it is paid for. Nor can Maryam Rajavi deign to share a platform with any other Iranian opposition personality. So this year Maryam Rajavi will again do what she does best; pay audience and speakers alike to give the illusion of support.

So, back to the recent advertising campaign. Any publicity campaign will be successful if it is newsworthy. Maryam, however, simply churns out the same scenario ad infinitum. Starting with describing a terrible situation in Iran – based on news items that can be gleaned from any serious reporting outlet – she then proposes a ten-point plan for Iran, approved this year by Italian parliamentarians. And then she promises regime change.

Clearly this message is not aimed at Iranians. The clamour for regime change in Iran does not emanate from inside the country in spite of its many social, civic and political problems. Who then is Maryam Rajavi’s constituency? From whom is she hoping to garner support?

Many constituencies outside Iran wish fervently for its destruction. It is enlightening that Maryam Rajavi’s websites are home to a bizarre mixture of anti-Shia, anti-Iran, anti-Syria, items which reflect very closely the views of neocons, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Maryam Rajavi is not promising regime change, she is advertising her services as a propaganda queen.

Follow Massoud Khodabandeh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ma_khodabandeh

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Also read:

• 2017/07/24 Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) presence in Albania highlights security risks for Europe

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Balkans Post, July 23 2017:… Although the MEK are experts at intimidation and propaganda, in reality the expulsion of the MEK from Europe should be neither controversial nor unexpected. No government in Europe supports the presence of extremists in their midst and the MEK has a long history of extremist behaviour and messaging. The self-immolations in western capitals are an example of their actual behaviour …

  2017/07/08 Radicalisation Awareness (Presentation at the ICSA Conference, Bordeaux, July 2017)

  Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Open minds, July 08 2017:… Anne Khodabandeh. After twenty years in the terrorist cult Mojahedin-e Khalq, Anne (with her husband Massoud Khodabandeh) established the English language www.iran-interlink.org website in 2001 to expose the group as a cult and support former members. Anne works with families of MEK campaigning to rescue their loved ones. Anne has written extensively …

  2017/06/28 MEP Gérard Deprez claims 265 parliamentarians support Rajavi’s MEK. Really?

  Massoud Khodabandeh,, Huffpost, June 28 2017:…  Like many statements and petitions over the years which mention the MEK this looks like fake news. Anyway, it would have been much easier to pass this off as genuine if Deprez had also published the names of the 265 signatories. As parliamentarians, it is doubtful they would feel endangered by publicly announcing their views in this way. Unless, of course, they had spotted the …

  2017/06/27 Under President Macron, France can play a pivotal role in Western relations with Iran

  Massoud Khodabandeh,  Huffpost, June 27 2017:… Perhaps the time is finally ripe for a new appraisal of what zero tolerance means for France. The MEK’s messages promoting violent regime change should no longer be tolerated. President Emmanuel Macron’s new centrist movement has won a large majority in the French parliament giving him a strong hand to play. He already revealed himself to be a shrewd and …

  2017/06/20 ISIS Drew On MEK Expertise For Terror Attacks On Tehran (Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult)

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Iranian.com, June 20 2017:… The following piece has been written by somebody I know well. He does not want his real name to be used because that would jeopardize the sensitive nature of his current work in counter terrorism in Europe – Massoud Khodabandeh… As a former member of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organization (MEK), I followed the news of terrorist attacks on Tehran with shame, guilt and anger. My shame and guilt stem …

  2017/06/02 Debate in the European Parliament ‘What is to be done about the Iranian Mojahedin Khalq (MEK)?’

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffpost, June 02 2017:… The meeting was organised by Ana Gomes, SND (Portugal) and seconded by Marietje Schaake, ALDE (Netherlands) and Michael Gahler, Christian Democrats (Germany). Two expert speakers were invited to address the meeting: Nicola Pedde, Director Institute for Global Studies, Italy and Massoud Khodabandeh, Director Middle East Strategy Consultants, UK. …

  2017/05/18 Albania’s Anti-Trafficking Coordinator Elona Gjebrea praises Maryam Rajavi for keeping modern slaves in Tirana

  Massoud and Anne Khodabandeh, Huffpost, May 18 2017:… In Albania, Elona Gjebrea also has close ties to the United States on the issue of people trafficking and slavery. The US embassy in Tirana, Albania acknowledged the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons report in June 2016 by saying, “The United States appreciates the close cooperation with the Government of Albania, civil society and especially National …

  2017/05/08 MEK’s Maryam Rajavi blackmails Albania to become the new ‘Saddam regime’ for them.

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Top topic, May 08 2017:…  Rajavi then publishes these alongside letters signed by American personalities in support of the MEK. The letters from the Americans are addressed to the Albanian Prime Minister and bear the familiar hallmark of MEK authorship. (One letter published by the MEK is signed in blue ink. We can only speculate how the MEK obtained the original letter which should have been sent directly from the Americans to the Albanian PM!) …

  2017/03/04 Michael Ware discovers Mojahedin Khalq, MEK hasn’t abandoned belief in armed struggle

  National Geographic, March 04 2017:… Leading MEK members squirm under the knowing gaze of Michael Ware. Watch the shifty looks and glances as the MEK representatives try to lie about their true intentions. They admit to wanting regime change, but claim to be pacifists. Ware asks ‘Why does a political organization still need to have a para-military organization?’ He then cleverly gets them to …

  2017/02/16 Clarification: Trump-Iranian Exiles story (Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult)

  Associated Press, February 16 2017:… The group at one point successfully infiltrated the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, according to a State Department report. And a series of bombings attributed to the MEK accompanied visits by presidents Richard Nixon and Jimmy Carter to Iran, including one to target an American cultural center. In 1973, MEK assailants wearing motorcycle helmets shot dead U.S. Army Lt. …

  2017/02/15 Fake News, Alternative Facts and Opinions – MEK succumbs to the American disease of hysteria

  Iran Interlink, February 15 2017:… The following OpEd by MEK advocate Col. Wes Martin was published first in The Hill, followed by Mojahedin Khalq’s “Iran Probe” and the “NCRI” websites. Iran Interlink has published it here as indication of how hysteria has become the new normal in American published writing. A form of madness appears to have infected US politics and now all and sundry are dancing …

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  2017/02/07 Trump’s MEK version of events won’t secure victory against Iran, lets ISIS off the hook

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, February 07 2017:… He also signals that his war is not with ISIS but with the country Iran. Donald Trump rose to victory in part on the promise to take on ISIS and defeat the group. Yet ISIS cannot be defeated except by a coalition of forces that includes Iran. The facts on the ground in Syria and Iraq demonstrate unequivocally that ISIS forces in Aleppo and Mosul have been defeated largely due to the involvement

  2017/01/01 Albania: John Kerry brought terrorists (Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, Rajavi cult), John Brennan warns of their risk

  Gazeta Impakt, Albania, Translated by Iran Interlink,  January 01 2017:… According to Fatos Klosi, former director of the National Intelligence Service, the American CIA chief has warned Albania that Donald Trump will renounce support for the MEK terrorists and it will be the Albanian Government itself which must deal with internal security and must confront a group trained militarily from the time of Saddam Hussein …

  2016/12/24 Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, Rajavi cult)’s Fake Intelligence On Aleppo Only Hinders Fact-finding Bodies Finding The Truth

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, December 24 2016:… That can only happen if journalists and investigatory bodies (human rights, nuclear experts, war crimes, etc) are able to base their work on facts and not the fake and fictionalised fantasies of stooges like the MEK, which are clearly designed to misinform on these issues. The information laundry cycle is not difficult to follow – the Washington Times takes its report …

  2016/11/12 National Security: Could Maryam Rajavi (Mojahedin Khalq) blackmail her friends in high places – Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, November 12 2016:… In particular, Rudi Giuliani, John Bolton and Newt Gingrich. Putting aside their weak personalities as well as their individual neoconservative agendas, the common thread which links these names together is their decade long support for the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation (also known as Saddam’s Private Army or Rajavi cult). It is certain that … .

  2016/10/30 Albania: Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) using slave labour to profit from business

   Iran Interlink, October 30 2016:… Local observers in Tirana are reporting that the Mojahedin Khalq cultic terror group (MEK) is buying and creating several sandwich and kebab shops in the city and is using the MEK members to work in these fast-food businesses. On the surface this may look like a positive move. In an article titled ‘Albania: What would a de-radicalization program for the Mojahedin Khalq involve’, it was …

  2016/10/16 Albania: What would a de-radicalization program for the Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) involve

  Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh, Iran Interlink, October 16 2016:… In spite of American promises, no de-radicalisation programme is in place to deal with over 2500 members of the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist group who have relocated to Tirana from Iraq. The MEK has a long history of violent and criminal activity. This has not stopped now they are in Tirana. Unless the Albanian government introduces its own programme, it must accept …

  2016/10/09 Albanian citizens fearful of radicalised Mojahedin Khalq neighbours deserve more information

  Anne and Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington post (and Top Topic), October 09 2016:… For the local citizens, mystery surrounds their arrival and their lifestyle. Should these secretive and covert neighbours be treated with suspicion or kindness? At a local level, the first thing neighbouring families need to be aware of is that among all MEK members, sexual relations have been banned for over 25 years. This means there are no marriages or children or young people in the organisation. More troubling …

  2016/07/14 Grand Controversy as MEK can’t prove leader Massoud Rajavi is dead or alive

  Massoud & Anne Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, July 14 2016:… Whether Rajavi is already dead or now killable is not known – only he can answer this – but he and his whole organisation are certainly now, body and soul, in the capable hands of the Saudi Prince. If he is still alive, Rajavi’s only role is to act as go-between to instruct his wife what she must do on behalf of the Saudis. If he is dead

  2016/07/08 Maryam Rajavi — MEK Propaganda Queen — Advertises Her Services For Iran’s Enemies

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Huffington Post, July 08 2016:… Clearly this message is not aimed at Iranians. The clamour for regime change in Iran does not emanate from inside the country in spite of its many social, civic and political problems. Who then is Maryam Rajavi’s constituency? Fro

  2016/07/03 Maryam Rajavi – MEK propaganda queen – puts out again for Iran’s enemies

  Massoud Khodabandeh, Toptopic, July 03 2016:… So, back to the recent advertising campaign. Any publicity campaign will be successful if it is newsworthy. Maryam, however, simply churns out the same scenario ad infinitum. Starting with describing a terrible situation in Iran – based on news items that can be gleaned from any serious report