CSIS visits B.C. Tory MP after rally for Iran:
Agents accuse exile group of terrorism

A Conservative Member of Parliament says Canadian intelligence agents came knocking at his door after he spoke at a rally in Washington linked to a militant group fighting to overthrow the government of Iran.

Paul Forseth said the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) agents were concerned about the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an Iranian exile group banned by some countries as a terrorist organization.

The agents gave Mr. Forseth a CSIS report that described the history of the MEK and called it a "cult-like" and "militant, Marxist, Islamic movement" whose tactics include assassinations, bombings, hijackings and suicide attacks.

"CSIS came to see me and gave me a background paper, felt that I needed to be aware of all the background stuff, and I read it," Mr. Forseth, MP for New Westminster-Coquitlam-Burnaby, told the National Post.

Mr. Forseth and Liberal MP Colleen Beaumier are co-sponsoring a conference on Parliament Hill next Tuesday with the Canadian Families Foundation of Iranian Mujahedin in Iraq, made up of relatives of Canadians who were living at the MEK's main military base in Iraq when the U.S. Army captured it last year.

He said the CSIS visit was unsolicited and he had likely attracted the agents' attention when he attended a Jan. 24 rally and concert in the U.S. capital that was described as "a night of solidarity with Iran earthquake victims" but which some U.S. lawmakers complained was run by supporters of the MEK.

"I'd been out there publicly. I did go to the Washington, D.C., event and I think they [the CSIS agents] were just doing their duty. And so I said to them, 'Yes, I really appreciate providing what information that they can.' "

Mr. Forseth said the MEK should not be treated as a terrorist group and the CSIS briefing "doesn't reflect the current situation." A section that lists the attacks carried out by the MEK was badly outdated, he said. "Interestingly, it stopped at about five years ago."

Mr. Forseth said he got involved in the issue after he was approached by constituents who had family members in Iran. "I don't want to be naive or used and abused, and so far I believe I am supporting what is legitimate, what is right and what is good."

Froogh Hassani, whose son Ali is among 12 Canadians detained at Camp Ashraf, Iraq, said she was disappointed CSIS agents visited Mr. Forseth, and called it a form of intimidation. "I think it is outrageous," she said.

The incident suggests CSIS is taking an active role in warning Canadian politicians about the organizations with which they associate -- an issue that came to prominence four years ago when Paul Martin, then the minister of finance, attended a dinner hosted by a group CSIS alleged was a front for the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka.

CSIS has likewise named the MEK as one of the targets of its counterterrorism program and said in an April, 2000, report that the group's Canadian branch had been "providing logistical support for terrorist operations."

The MEK, also known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), is not one of the 34 groups outlawed under Canada's new Anti-Terrorism Act, but Ottawa has frozen its assets and it has been a designated terrorist group in the United States since 1997.

The European Union has also outlawed the MEK, but Sara Mirzakhani, who calls herself an MEK supporter and who is one of the sponsors of next week's event on the Hill, said that was "part of a deal" to secure lucrative contracts with Iran.

"I guess CSIS again is doing its job," she said of the visit to Mr. Forseth. "Hopefully, they understand that this is not a terrorist organization. It has never done any violent acts outside Iraq."

But among those who have urged Ottawa to ban the MEK are Mr. Forseth's Conservative colleagues. On Oct. 25, 2002, Stockwell Day, the party's Foreign Affairs critic, issued a news release demanding the government outlaw the MEK, the history of which he said was "studded with anti-Western attacks as well as terrorist attacks."

Conservative MP Ted White likewise took the Liberals to task for not banning the MEK. "For at least a decade the Liberal government has known that the MEK was raising funds in Canada to support the activities of the terrorist National Liberation Army in Iraq," he told the House of Commons on March 17, 2003.

"Yet despite all of the evidence available to the Prime Minister and the fact that the MEK has long been branded as a terrorist organization in the United States, the MEK still does not appear on the latest Canadian list of banned organizations.... Whose interests are the Liberals protecting by refusing to ban the MEK from fundraising for terrorism in Canada?"

Warren Creates, an Ottawa immigration lawyer who represents some of the Canadians at Camp Ashraf, said the MEK is not a terrorist organization and allegations of the type found in the CSIS report given to Mr. Forseth are out of date and inaccurate.

"In Europe and also in the United States, the designation of the group as a terrorist organization has been challenged in the courts," he said. "The problem is, of course, that they never have any opportunity to address these allegations because of the nature of the spy industry, like CSIS and the CIA."

Mr. Forseth said the current regime in Tehran is virulently anti-Western and is also in pursuit of nuclear weapons and missiles. "My purpose is to try to raise awareness of Canadians and Parliament about the real international security concerns about Iran but also on a human side. Canadians have got friends and relatives there and you just cannot remain silent."

WHAT IS THE MEK?

- Name: Mujahedin-e-Khalq, a.k.a. The People's Combatants, Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO), National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA), People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI).

- Description: Worldwide organization of Iranian exiles dedicated to overthrowing the Islamic fundamentalist regime in Iran. It is a designated terrorist organization in the United States and European Union.

- Leadership: Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, husband and wife. CSIS describes the "cult-like" reverence for the Rajavis, which some say explains why several followers immolated themselves last June after Mrs. Rajavi was briefly arrested in France.

- Base: Headquartered at Camp Ashraf, Iraq. Saddam Hussein supported, financed and armed the MEK because they shared a common enemy in Iran.

- Activities: During the 1970s, the MEK assassinated Americans and bombed Western companies, but it later embraced the West and its attacks have since been mostly limited to Iranian regime targets, including embassies in such countries as Canada.

- Strength: There are 4,000 people at Camp Ashraf, which is now under the control of the U.S. Army and which has been disarmed. CSIS estimates the MEK has 13 large and 170 smaller offices worldwide. But CSIS also says the MEK has little popular support within Iran, something the MEK disputes. Sources: Canadian Security Intelligence Service, U.S. State Department