News Digest

02-11-05

Yesterday in parliament
Press Association
Iran

"Mr Straw ruled out a policy of regime change against Iran. He told MPs: "I have to say to you that regime change in Iran is not part of the policy of Her Majesty's government, nor do I think it would be wise."
A call for Britain to support the Iranian resistance movement following the country's president's declaration that Israel should be "wiped off the map" was rejected by the government. Although condemning president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's remarks, junior Foreign Office minister Lord Triesman told Labour's Lord Corbett of Castle Vale that the MEK resistance group was banned in the UK as a terrorist organisation."
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/commons/story/0,9061,1606763,00.html

01-10-05

Saddam Hussein Trial implicates MKO
www.mojahedin.ws

The Saudi Arabia paper, Al-Vatan, announced that Saddam Hussein is under investigation for his crimes in the massacre of Iraqi people in an operation called Anfal. In this operation carried out by Saddam,s commend many Iraqi opponents were slaughtered by Baath forces and the investigations seem to have revealed traces of Mojahedin Khalq in the killings. “Through the investigation Saddam watched his own videotaped crimes”, the paper added. A reliable international network had earlier made a documentary entitled “Killing the Kurds” that depicted the killing of Iraqi innocent people with the collaboration of the terrorist MKO. It seems that when Saddam officially stands on trial for his crimes, new, shocking facts about MKO collaboration with the ousted Iraqi dictator will emerge. That is why the organization has stared a novel move of propaganda to deceive Iraqi people to legitimize its stay in Iraq.  

40 Mojahedin to go on trial in Iraq
Voice of Ashena Radio [Iran] in a news program quoted a US official saying that 40 MKO members would go on trial on charges of collaboration in killing Iraqi people. The 40 culprits are in Camp Ashraf at the present. “These members will stand trial in Iraq for inhuman crimes against Iraqi people in collaboration with Saddam”, the official said.

13 more defectors returned home
Voice of Ashena Radio [Iran]
in a news program on 26 Sep. announced that 13 more separated members of MKO returned to Iran. Referring to the MKO’s camp conditions, the radio promised more separations and returning of members to Iran. The 13 returnees were repatriated under the supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and they faced no problem by the Iranian authorities to return to their families. It should be noted that during the past two years a remarkable number of separated members have returned to Iran and the returnees contact with their friends, kept in the US controlled camps, has increased the number of returnees. To stop the growing number of separators, the organization had rumored that the Islamic Republic had tortured many returnees but their friends contact from Iran assured them that MKO had deceived them once more.

14-08-05

BBC Monitoring Quotes from Iranian Press 14 August 2005
Nuclear issue
Jomhuri-ye Eslami [hard-line pro-Khamene'i newspaper]: "There are some points in the Paris agreement that have been breached by the Europeans, eg. the terrorist nature of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO). However the Europeans have decided to adopt a new policy in this regard and forget the terrorist nature of the organization. This is blatant disgrace for the Europeans On the basis of what has been witnessed so far, the ratified resolution against Iran was in fact written by America, and the Europeans only played the role of a postman for the IAEA Supporting terrorism while pretending to combat terrorism is an obvious paradox in the behaviour and stance of the West."

11-07-05

Newsweek
The breakthrough revelation about Iran's nuclear-enrichment program came in August 2002 from the front organization for an Iranian exile group on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). At a press conference in Washington, it exposed the existence of the Natanz uranium-enrichment facility. The group insisted that the tip came from its own sources, but inspectors suspect that the MEK was given the intelligence by an interested government. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Mohamed ElBaradei is among those skeptical about the MEK. "I'm sure this [group] is not the original source of the information," he told NEWSWEEK.

09-04-05

Challenging the MKO Lobby
According to Mehr News Agency , Barbara Slavin, USA Today correspondent, challenged Raymond Tanter about his support for terrorist organization Mojahedin-e Khalq.
Raymond Tanter was speaking at a press conference for the Committee of Policymaking on Iran in which some former senior officials of the US were also present. This Committee supports Mojahedin in reviewing the US alternatives for confronting Iran.
Slavin said that none of the MKO supporters have visited Iran after the revolution. She referred to her recent observations in Iran and said: “None of the Iranians support Mojahedin-e Khalq. So, if the US takes the policy of supporting this group, Iranians will not accept this decision by Washington.”

22-03-05

Iran Opposition Group Wants Militia off UK Terror List
Dow Jones International News
LONDON (AP)--An Iranian opposition group on Tuesday called on the U.K. government to remove the People's Mujahedeen militia from a list of terrorist organizations.
The U.K.'s Foreign Office on Tuesday denied that the status of the Mujahedeen was a negotiating chip between the E.U.-3 and Tehran. A spokesman said that given the group's violent campaign against the government in Tehran, there was nothing to suggest the terrorist label should be lifted.

05-02-05

France cancels MKO's demonstration in Paris
French authorities today cancelled a planned demonstration by the Mojahedin which was to be held on February 10 in Paris. The authorities had agreed to the demonstration in Place Trocadero three weeks ago.
The demonstration which the MKO advertised as "simultaneous with the 26th anniversary of the clerical rule in Iran"  had been widely advertised. Some of those who were to attend had already been brought to France and put up in hotels in the city.

03-02-05

US Unmasks MKO’s Financial Tricks
US Department of State
U.S. Assistant Treasury Secretary Juan Zarate, referring to the fact that terrorist financing is an "evolving" threat, said that “MEK [Iranian terrorist group Mujahideen-e-Khalq] hold fundraising events, where like-minded individuals are invited to contribute funds ultimately meant for terrorist activities.”
“Terrorist financiers are constantly adapting to international anti-crime efforts and finding new ways to bankroll their activities,” he added.
He declared that “the U.S. government is working to provide better information to the global financial community in the campaign to eliminate terrorist organizations' money supply.”
Zarate also added: “In this realm, we know that terrorist groups of all stripes use a variety of mechanisms to raise and move money. Every day it becomes more apparent that following dirty money and attacking its illicit sources is an essential part of winning the financial war on terrorism. If we scatter the terrorists, deny them cash, and smother their attempts to funnel their ill-gotten gains through the international financial system, we can make their lives all the more miserable, and their despicable efforts all the more powerless.”

31-01-05

Election-day security hailed in Iraq
Despite hundreds of attacks, voters persevered
By Karl Vick, Washington Post

...the striking success of election security was the talk of Baghdad on Monday.
...The emphasis this time, however, was on the Iraqi forces. About 100,000 recently trained Iraqi soldiers and police officers were on duty over the weekend, supplementing the 150,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. And while the Americans held the streets and stood primed to help, it was Iraqi forces who stood guard at the nation's 5,000 polling sites.
...As a final touch, Iraq's new army rolled out its armor. On election day, Soviet-era T-55 tanks and armored personnel carriers were stationed on squares in Baghdad. Apparently the only bits of Iraqi armor not destroyed in the invasion, a U.S. official said, were reclaimed from the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, an Iranian opposition militia that Hussein had armed and used as a surrogate force inside Iraq.

20-01-05

Dozens rejected at U.S. borders, airports
Suspected links to terrorism
By JIM BRONSKILL
OTTAWA (CP) - Dozens of people from Canada have been turned back at the American border or prevented from boarding U.S.-bound airplanes in recent months because of suspected links to terrorism, newly obtained memos show.
The cases include individuals on a U.S. "no-fly" list and others who showed up on the State Department's Tipoff watch list, which contains the names of more than 100,000 possible terrorists. The incidents are detailed in a series of daily briefs published between September 2004 and this month by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's operations centre.
Copies of the memos were posted on the Cryptome website, a New York-based resource dedicated to shedding light on the workings of the security world.
Among the cases:
-U.S. officers at Alexandria Bay, N.Y., denied entry to 25 Canadians with possible links to the terrorist group Mujahedin e-Khalq en route Nov. 19 to a protest rally in Washington sponsored by the Council for Freedom and Democracy in Iran.

Dozens rejected at Canada-U.S. borders over terror links
Associated Press -- OTTAWA - Dozens of people from Canada have been turned back at the U.S. border or prevented from boarding U.S.-bound airplanes in recent months because of suspected links to terrorism, sensitive U.S. government documents show.
The incidents are detailed in a series of daily briefs published between September and this month by the Department of Homeland Security's operations center. They contain no classified information but are generally intended to remain secret.
The briefs reveal details of numerous individual cases and provide insight into the close co-operation between Canadian authorities and the U.S. security department...
...25 Canadians with possible links to Iran's opposition Mujahedin e-Khalq military force were stopped November 19 while trying to attend a Washington D.C. protest rally. The State Department has classified the group as a terrorist organization.

13-01-05

Penitent members of terrorist MKO return home
Tehran, Jan 12, IRNA -- Some 13 penitent members of the terrorist (Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) returned home on Wednesday.
They arrived at Mehrabad International Airport under supervision of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Talking to IRNA reporter at the airport, the group, including a woman, voiced delight with their return to Iran.
They will join their families after medical tests which may last five to seven days, said a security official at Mehrabad International Airport.
Another 28 members of the terrorist MKO came home on December 25, 2004 under the ICRC coordination.

12-01-05

12 More MKO to return to Iran
Twelve MKO members, who have been released from the clutch of terrorist cult, will enter Tehran on Wednesday.
According to the political correspondent of Fars News agency, 28 other members of MKO had returned to Iran in the previous weeks by the assistance of Red Cross.
They were transferred from Iraq to Iran by Red Cross’s airplane.
According to Mehr News Agency, an official of Nejat Association said: “some other separated members of MKO will return to Iran as soon as possible.”
“The exact number of them is not sill clear but one of them has called his brother in Iran and has informed him,” he added.
He said: “by pursuing the case through official channels, we confirmed the validity of this event and these MKO members are supposed to enter Iran officially.”
After Iraq was occupied by US forces, a large number of MKO members asked to leave the group. Some of them have returned to the country and their family by the efforts of Iranian authorities.
 

12-01-05

IRNA - MKO Supporters must leave US
Four Iranian brothers, linked to the terrorist MKO, who have been in Jail in the US for more than three years will probably be released and be deported to a third-country.
Mohsen, Mojtaba, Mohammed and Mostafa Mir Mehdi had been once detained earlier for lying in their asylum applications but they were released on bail in 1999. Once again, they were arrested in October 2001 for violating immigration laws and having links to the terrorist organization of Mojahedin-e khalq.
Mojahedin terrorist organization has been on US terror list since 1997.
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman of State Department, said in a press conference that “the status of Mojahedin-e khalq has not changed and is still considered a terrorist organization and we treat them as a foreign terrorist organization.”
Los Angeles Times, in a detailed report on the status of these four Iranian brothers, wrote: “Federal government considers these people (who are opponents of Islamic Republic) as national threat and links them to terrorism and is going to deport them.”
According to the Times, Homeland Security have ordered their deportation due to their links to a terrorist organization and according to two articles of nationalism law.
According to this report, a Judge has given the government February 20th to release the brothers.
The paper writes: “the stance of government toward these people is important since the group which brothers are linked to is Mojahedin-e khalq. MKO, despite being on terrorist list of US State
Department, enjoys wide support from some people in the Congress.”
Los Angeles Times says two judges had ruled that brothers are not entitled to receive political asylum since they had lied.
“The only solution for the government is to find a third-country which will accept them. But immigration experts believe that thanks to their links with terrorists, no country will accept them.”

16-12-04

United States Department of Defence Briefings - December 16, 2004
Presenter: General George W. Casey, Jr., Commander, Multi-National Force Iraq

Q:  …And would you also address down in the south, it's my understand you all are still holding some number of Mujahideen-e-khalq at a camp down near Kuwait.  What's their status?  How many are there?  And what's going to finally happen to them?  And when?
GEN. CASEY:  Last part first.  That's more up north.  There are -- my last recollection is that there was about 3,000 MEK folks still there at a camp, that we are working their process with the Red Cross. I do not have a timeline of when that process will be completed.
Q:  So what will happen to them? 
GEN. CASEY:  Their ultimate disposition, where they -- 
Q:  Where are they going to go? 
GEN. CASEY:  Almost every one of them has a different story, so it's a variety of different places.

08-12-04

Violence not necessary for change in Iran
The Seatle Times reports that a new US campaign against Iran could bring together Iranian dissidents, human-rights advocates and nongovernmental organizations to put pressure on Iran. This approach would push aside the terrorist MEK and promote the genuine democratic opposition bodies which have been neglected in recent years by those who have advocated regime change by violent means.
Extracts from The Seatle Times article:
"...Officials in the White House and the Defense Department are developing plans to increase public criticism of Iran's human-rights record, offer stronger backing to exiles and other opponents of Iran's repressive theocratic government and collect better intelligence on Iran, according to U.S. officials, congressional aides and others."
"...However, with the U.S. military now stretched thin by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the new campaign may be intended not to build support for military action against Iran, but to pressure Iran to change its behavior so military action isn't necessary."
"...The administration was never able to agree on an Iran policy during Bush's first term. The State Department favored engagement and international action, while officials in the Defense Department and Vice President Dick Cheney's office proposed backing the MEK and considering military action against Iran's nuclear facilities."
[the Iraq-based Mojahedin Khalq (MEK), remains on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups]

"
...But while many Iranians, particularly the young, are fed up with their rulers and even pro-American, they're also deeply suspicious of foreign meddling in Iranian politics."
"...The spending bill passed by Congress last month includes a provision, sponsored by Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., for $3 million to promote democracy in Iran.
Some of the money could be used to stage a U.S. conference of Iranian dissidents, human-rights advocates and nongovernmental organizations."
Read the full article.

06-12-04

Mojahedin will be Tried
Fars News Agency (translated by Irandidban) -- Iraqi interior minister announced that his country won’t let Mojahedin- which has committed crimes Iran and Iraq- to use its soil as a base for acting against Iran.
Fallah Al-Naqib, interior minister of Iraqi interim government, in an interview with Al-Alam news network said: “We said to our brothers in Iran that no one will be allowed to act against Iran from Iraq.”
He added: “Mojahedin-e khalq is now being restricted and it does nothing against iran.”
He noted that, regarding the issue of crime and criminal acts, MKO members will be tried. “We believe that anyone who commits a crime should be tried.”
Al-Naqib expressed hope that Mojahedin will leave Iraq.

06-12-04

Iran-Egypt cooperation over terrorism - MKO
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Iran has secretly handed over to Egypt prominent militant Mustafa Hamza, leader of the Gama'a al-Islamiya group that tried to overthrow the Egyptian government in the 1990s, a London-based activist said on Sunday.
Hani el-Sibai, who runs the Maqrizi Centre for Historical Studies, told Reuters that Iran sent Hamza back to Egypt in October in exchange for information about members of the Iranian opposition Mujahideen Khalq group living in Egypt.

01-12-04

Cooperation between Mossad and Mojahedin revealed in book
'Chain of Command' by Seymour M. Hersh, Pulitzer Prize Winner
A high ranking official in the IAEA confirmed that the original source of intelligence related to Iran's nuclear activities which the Mojahedin revealed has been Israel's intelligence service.
The Israeli spies have close relations with the MKO and through this gave their intelligence to the National Council of Resistance. An official of IAEA told me (Seymour Hersh) that the agency is aware that the information given out about Iran's nuclear activities has been fed to the NCRI by Israel. He didn't explain how the IAEA knew about this.
An Israeli diplomat in Washington talking about these revelations has referred to this Council as a 'Mickey Mouse'.

21-11-04

Draft statement for Sharm Al-Sheikh conference ready
Emine Kart, The Turkish Daily News, November 21, 2004
...Terrorist threats directed at Iraq's neighbouring countries from Iraqi land, such as the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Mujahedin-e Khalq, are to be mentioned in a final statement of an international conference on Iraq that is to take place in Egypt next week.
..."The threats directed at neighbouring countries from Iraqi land -- such as the PKK and the Mujahedin-e Khalq -- must be halted," says the draft final statement.
The fact that these terrorist threats would be articulated on an international platform is very important, an official said.

01-11-04

Mohammed Delbah/Al-Wasat newspaper
Washington: a US official reported the possibility of trying 40 members of Mojahedin-e khalq in the US.
Ashraf camp, located in north of Baghdad, hosts 3800 MKO members. These members are concerned about their future.
This newspaper quotes the US official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, as saying: "it seems that the trial for these members would be held in Iraq. Some of its members will be tried for committing crimes against humanity and assisting Saddam Hussein in suppressing the Kurds and Shiites in 1991."
He also added that 4-6 of them will be taken to the US to be tried there for the terrorist actions they have done.
Meanwhile, some conservatives in the US, as well as the officials of the State Department, argue that arresting the members of this group and disarming them in Iraq is not enough and that the US should look at them as bargaining chips. They believe the US should return them to Iranian officials according to a deal with this country.

31-10-04

IRNA - The European Union will continue efforts to try and establish fruitful relations with Iran, according to European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy.
Speaking at a debate on Iran in the European Parliament in Strasbourg Thursday evening, Lamy said, "It is crucial, and I am convinced that many members here will agree with me on this, to continue to try and establish fruitful and normal relations between the EU and Iran."
In reply to a call by the Portugese MEP, Paulo Casaca, to remove the MKO grouplet from the EU terrorist list, Lamy said the list has been drawn up by the EU Council of Ministers and the commission has no say in the matter.

 

25-10-04

Seven more MKO welcomed back in Iran
Frances Harrison, BBC World News reported from a hotel in Tehran where seven MKO members were reunited with their families. The seven had recently escaped from an American base in Iraq where they were being held with around 500 others who had also expressed their wish to separate from the MKO and return home to Iran.
One of the returnees said the US army was hand in hand with the MKO. He complained of mistreatment at the hands of US forces in this context.

17-10-04

Three MKO escaped back to Iran
A Baztab correspondent reported that 3 Iranian youths who had been deceived by Mojahedin-e khalq, have succeeded in escaping from MKO's camp in Iraq.
According to the report, three Iranians (one aged at 30 and two others under 30) had been deceived by Mojahedin's agents in Iran and were recruited by this terrorist group after the Persian Gulf War.
Baztab's correspondent adds that "these three men, who had escaped from Camp Ashraf, were living in the American's camp near Baghdad."
They had visited Iran's embassy in Baghdad and had asked to be returned to their country.
Eventually, they were returned and they're now with their families.

30-09-04

Irandidban - Mohammed Seyed al-Mohaddessin, an MKO member in France, announced that the French Judiciary has arrested an MKO agent in connection with the case of June 17th and the illegal financial activities of this organization.
The person arrested is allegedly the "MKO's Cashier".
Currently the French Judiciary is investigating several MKO-linked cases in France.
Lawyers of this group, while accepting the allegations, try to stop the prosecution by resorting to a law which means that the French government can't investigate a person who has committed a crime outside the country.
But illegal financial acts (such as money laundering) have been conducted by this group inside France and the Judiciary can pursue them. It seems that the detention of this man is in line with this investigation.

30-07-04

TEHRAN, July 30: During a landmark two-day visit by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey and Iran signed a security agreement here on Thursday pledging to jointly combat Turkish Kurd rebels and anti- Iranian fighters, but failed to resolve a series of bitter trade disputes.
"Both Iran and Turkey have decided to brand the PKK and MKO as terrorist groups, and what was signed today stated that even if they continue to operate under different names, they will continue to be dealt with as terrorist groups," said Iran's
Combined dispatches and staff reports.
ty interior minister for security affairs, Ali Asghar Ahmadi. (AFP)

28-07-04

IRAN  Protected status for guerrillas faulted
The Washington Times, Combined dispatches and staff reports.
    TEHRAN — Iran responded angrily yesterday to the U.S. decision to grant protected status to the Iraq-based People's Mojahedin, the main Iranian armed opposition group, saying it proved Washington's war on terrorism is a sham.
    "The United States is using its fight against terrorism as a tool, and we knew from the beginning that this fight is void and they are not serious," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi as saying.
    "Using the Geneva Convention to protect this terrorist group is naive and unacceptable," he said. The United States confirmed Monday it had granted protected status to nearly 4,000 members of the People's Mojahedin, now confined to a military-run camp in western Iraq.
    The U.S. State Department stressed, however, that the move had no effect on the "foreign terrorist organization" designation of the group, also known as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq.

21-05-04

Although the world media focus on Iraq shows a place in which killings, torture and civil unrest are order of the day, the Mojahedin have apparently decided it is the safest place in the world for them. The Iraq Governing Council voted to expel the Mojahedin because of "the black history of this terrorist organization and for the crimes it had committed against our people and our neighbours."
According to the Associated Press the organization claims its members would face "torture and execution if they were extradited to Iran". Some MKO members have citizenship or residency rights in other countries, but as yet none has been able to leave Iraq for safety.
As the need to resolve the Mojahedin's status before the June 30 transfer of sovereignty arrives, Britain's Foreign Office said "people at the camp were being screened and identified". Of course it is important to weed out those who are culpable for crimes against humanity such as Massoud Rajavi and his henchmen.
Yet UK MP Win Griffiths says he is worried the coalition would "wash their hands of the matter" following the handover. This is a very real concern since many people in Iraq might take the law into their own hands and massacre the MKO in revenge for their crimes committed on behalf of Saddam Hussein.

12-05-04

After a period of absolute silence, the Mojahedin have again ventured into English language broadcasts. This time it comes from Washington, DC in the USA.
The National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates is a front name for the Mojahedin. The website is clearly trying to disguise this fact. This confirms that efforts are being made to re-invent themselves and evade accountability for their past.

23-04-04

Mahan Abedin (Lebanese Daily Star, 'Iran and Moqtada al-Sadr: the limits of cooperation') wrote: "Sadr, for his part, made Iran a dizzying offer of security-related cooperation. In particular he proposed a daring and audacious plan to attack the remnants of the Iranian opposition Mujahideen Khalq's (MKO) quarantined forces at Camp Ashraf in Iraq. This amateurish plan was rejected outright, not least because Iranian intelligence was keen to protect its own assets in Ashraf.
"Despite their misgivings with Sadr, the Iranians treated him and his entourage to a tour of the regional headquarters of the Quds Brigades in Ahvaz. The complex has served as a coordination center for all covert activities in Iraq since March 1991. Furthermore, and despite objections from the highest Iranian echelons, a limited form of covert cooperation was initiated with the Sadrists. This essentially revolved around the assassination of ex-Iraqi Baathists, particularly those who had handled liaison with the MKO and had been involved in covert operations against Iran. The Sadrists' nascent security apparatus was also tasked with keeping MKO members under surveillance - for despite its disarmament by American forces, the MKO continues to enjoy freedom of movement in Iraq.
"This limited form of cooperation was brought to an abrupt halt in November 2003, after a Sadrist security unit ambushed a car carrying four Europe-based MKO cadres traveling from the Jordanian border to Camp Ashraf as part of a morale-boosting trip. The four occupants of the car were killed outright. Reportedly, one of them was an Iranian intelligence asset who had been infiltrated into the Netherlands station of the MKO. The Iranians were incensed by the unauthorized ambush and immediately terminated the intelligence relationship with Sadr."

Comment: For twenty years the MKO has suffered infiltration in their bases in Iraq, European countries and the US. This infiltration has sometimes reached the media because of interference by police in some countries. Before Gulf War II the MKO had stopped sending terrorist teams over the border into Iran because every single one was being detained just over the border by Iran. The MKO never commented about these infiltrations but it is common knowledge that the main cause of it was the organisation's conversion into a cult which anyone and everyone could infiltrate by pretending to be a devoted follower of Rajavi and his wife. It is ironic that although the MKO has accused over 700 people who have been openly critical of them, including over seventy well-known personalities, of working for the intelligence ministry of Iran, Rajavi has never commented about the endemic infiltration inside his own organisation.

The exponential growth of infiltration of the MKO from every possible source begs the question: Massoud Rajavi, is anyone still working for YOU anymore?

20-04-04

MKO Will Be Expelled From Iraq by June: Iraqi Immigration Minister
BAGHDAD (Mehr News Agency) –- Speaking at a mourning observance for the assassinated Iranian diplomat, Khalil Na’imi, at the Iranian embassy, the Iraqi Immigration Minister, Mohamed Jasim Khazir said on Monday that members of the Mojahedin-Khalq Organization will be expelled from Iraq by June 30.
Khazir stated that although pressure has been put on the Iraqi interim administration by some international organizations not to expel MKO members, the expulsions will be carried out by June 30, the Central News Bureau reported.
The MKO, known as Monafeqin in Iran, have committed many terrorist acts in this country. The organization has been branded as a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and the European Union.
Khazir said terrorists kill sincere figures with the aim of creating anarchy in Iraq.
Unknown assailants killed Na’imi, the first secretary of Iranian Embassy in Baghdad, last Thursday outside the embassy.

18-04-04

MKO Banned from Human Rights Commission
On April 7, The United Nations Human Rights Commission banned Mojahedin-e Khalq members from entering its session which was being held in Geneva and announced that the reason is that the Mojahedin is a terrorist organization.
MKO members, in an interview with a Swedish newspaper, said that they have complained to the UN Chief in New York and Geneva about not being allowed to participate in the meeting session of the Human Rights Commission.
The United Nations is well aware that the Mojahedin, using false information, tries to affect the works of the Human Rights Commission.

14-04-04

Iraq moves to remove Mojahedin
Following the agreement with Turkey to return 13,000 Turkish refugees, Iraqi Minister of Immigration Mohammad Jassim Khudhair is in talks with the Iranian government to reach a similar agreement that allows the return of the Iranian refugees from the Mojahedin-e Khalq.
He emphasized that if the Iranian government refused to give guarantees other than the pardon it issued, Iraq would submit the case to the United Nations to take necessary actions.
Source: Xinhua

13-04-04

Sweden targeted as site for Massoud Rajavi's cult HQ
The Swedish government is reportedly happy to accept back into the country several hundred MKO members with previous ties to Sweden who are currently being held in Iraq as terrorists.
The Mojahedin has persuaded some Iranian refugees in Scandinavia to falsely claim that MKO members in Iraq are their relatives. Many forged documents have already been circulated and these people are being rehearsed for interviews with immigration officials.

05-04-04

Family members denied visits
After the Mojahedin accused Nejat Association of ties with the Iranian regime, several families traveled independently from Iran to visit their relatives in Ashraf camp in Iraq. In spite of this they were denied access to visit their family members in the camp. After protests, one family was granted an interview with their relative. The meeting was terminated after only ten minutes by Mojahedin officials who were supervising the meeting when the member began to ask for help from his family. There is now concern for the welfare of this member.

03-03-04

MKO-Israel Intelligence ties
In an article about nuclear programs of Iran and Pakistan, Seymour M. Hersh wrote:
"The most recent revelations about the nuclear black market were triggered by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a now defunct opposition group that has served as the political wing of the People’s Mujahideen Khalq, a group that has been on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations since 1997. The National Council lobbied in Washington for decades, and offered information—not always accurate—about Iran…
… On a trip to the Middle East last month, I was told that a number of years ago the Israeli signals-intelligence agency, known as Unit 8200, broke a sophisticated Iranian code and began monitoring communications that included talk between Iran and Pakistan about Iran’s burgeoning nuclear-weapons program. The Israeli intelligence community has many covert contacts inside Iran, stemming from the strong ties it had there before the overthrow of the Shah, in 1979; some of these ties still exist. Israeli intelligence also maintained close contact with many Iranian opposition groups, such as the National Council. A connection was made—directly or indirectly—and the Israeli intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program reached the National Council. A senior I.A.E.A. official subsequently told me that he knew that the Council’s information had originated with Israeli intelligence, but he refused to say where he had learned that fact. (An Israeli diplomat in Washington, asked to comment, said, “Why would we work with a Mickey Mouse outlet like the Council?”)"

Intelligence Review
The first of the leading neo-con manipulators of the Bush Presidency is out, with the forced resignation of Richard Perle—sometime "Prince of Darkness," now under a very bright light of exposure and investigation—from the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board which he headed until last year.
Let's not diminish the significance of Perle himself, and bringing him to justice. How is this neo-con power broker of Washington and Tel Aviv corrupt? Let us count the ways. For 25 years, Richard Perle has seemed to survive against impossible odds, whenever he was caught in shady business dealings, and webs of intrigue and espionage. Only the most recent:
Perle consorted with State Department-listed terrorists, the Mujahideen E-Khalq (MEK) organization, at a Jan. 24 fundraising event. Perle would not say how much he was paid, and said that he didn't know the sponsor was really the MEK—although he's a self-described terrorism expert; and although Rep. Bob Ney (R-Oh.) had publically asked the Justice Department to shut down the Jan. 24 event. The Washington Post reported on Jan. 29, "FBI agents attended [the rally] and as part of a continuing investigation, the Treasury Dept. on Monday froze the assets of the event's prime organizer."

25-02-04

Conservatives want to use the MKO
T
he San Francisco Chronicle reported a push by conservatives to harden US policy toward Iran by supporting the terrorist MKO. The report said: 'There is even pressure to support the Mujahedeen Khalq, an anti-Tehran guerrilla group that has had off-again-on-again relations with the United States over many years and now is on the State Department's list of terrorist organizations.'
Efforts to remove the MKO from the list of terrorist entities are led by Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., a member of the House International Relations Committee. He told
the Chronicle: "There should be aggressive support for opposition parties inside Iran and dissident groups outside Iran." He cited the MKO as the leading example.
Shireen Hunter, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington put forward a different view. "Frankly, there's not much that the United States is going to do," she told the Chronicle. "I think there will be a cooling-off period, but the United States will be willing to continue dialogue," probably using the Europeans as proxies, she said. "There is no reason to expect a big revolt by the Iranian people in the near future."

23-02-04

Iraq's Oil Company is finalizing its review of the finance and other rewards that Saddam gave to various groups and personalities.
Dr. Ibrahim Bahr Al-Oloom, Iraq's Oil Minister said this is very important issue for the IGC and that the Ministry is now managing the final lists and information. He added: after the information is gathered, the Ministry will hand it to the IGC so that it can make decisions based on it. We are very sharp in reviewing the relation of Saddam with these groups and personalities and companies.
The Mojahedin is a group which received a lot of money from Saddam via its bank accounts in the UK.
He said the Oil Ministry will give its evidence to the IGC to prove its claims. The Council will then decide on the issue.

17-02-04

Berlin, IRNA, 17 Feb -- German Federal Border Police intercepted 11 MKO terrorists at Frankfurt`s Rhein-Main Airport as they tried to enter the country following their flight from Amman, Jordan, the daily Die Tageszeitung said Tuesday.
Police also confiscated the passports of the MKO terrorists and the group is reportedly facing immediate deportation proceedings. Some of the 11 MKO terrorists who are allegedly recognized asylum-seekers in Germany, might also have their asylum status
repealed by German authorities.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by Germany`s domestic secret service, Verfassungsschutz.
The German media reported earlier that hundreds of MKO terrorists who are still trapped in Iraq, have been trying to sneak back into Europe via Jordan.
2051/AH/210
End

11-02-04

George Tenet, head of the CIA, referred in speeches made in George Town University, Washington, to US intelligence which rendered void the Israel-MKO joint game about Iran's nuclear activities.
He said: It is flat wrong to say that we were surprised by reports from the Iranian opposition last year!
The MKO used satellite pictures which they got from Israel to introduce Natanz as a nuclear site. The IAEA denied this.
The discredited intelligence was revealed by the Mojahedin's US spokesman, Alireza Jafarzadeh, who is currently trying to evade deportation from the US.

08-02-04

Following articles published by Justin Raimondo on the Antiwar.com website about the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq, members of the group began running a campaign of violent insults against him …

Pay attention to the following example:
"To us Iranians who are waiting to liberate our country from your masters, terrorist mullahs, you are a sick terrorist collaborator and a sorry excuse for a human being. You should be charged by the international criminal court of justice for your blatant collaboration with the terrorist regime in Iran. And I, as an Iranian promise you when your terrorist friends in Iran are toppled, I will make it my life mission to do everything possible to make sure you are prosecuted along with your terrorist friends for crimes against Iranian people.
I am sure you know, and if you don't you can search in history books, what happened to those reporters or writers that collaborated with Hitler and Nazis.
Their fate should be a lesson to you and other brain dead writers like you. You are nothing but a cheap puppet in the hands of terrorist mullahs in Iran and I am sure when they have no more use for you, they will throw you to the garbage can, where you belong.
I am appalled that Antiwar.com allows you to misuse its site by writing garbage articles." ~ Mahmoud Tab

Justin Raimondo replies:
That sounds like a threat to me. But
it wasn't for nothing that the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, which you support, was put on the US government's official list of terrorist organizations.

"I think you owe the Iranian people an apology. Please read the following article and tell me who you are supporting: 'British politicians against expulsion of Iran's Mujahedeen from Iraq.'" ~ Moe Mehdi
[Refer to Iran-Interlink's Brief 14 for more information.]

Justin Raimondo replies:
I have gotten about a dozen of the same zombie-like letters, all reiterating the same garbage: if you don't support the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, then you must support the mullahs.
No way, Jose – it doesn't work that way. And you and your comrades don't do your cause any good by writing letters that sound so alike in their robotic sameness. Ease up on the Kool-Aid.

29-01-04

Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), in a letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft, identified Alireza Jafarzadeh as the head of an Iranian exile group that the U.S. government lists as a terrorist organization, the Mojahedin-e Khalq. Jafarzadeh is now working as a commentator on Middle Eastern affairs for Fox News.
"I watch Fox News, I like Fox News, but I was shocked to see him on there," the congressman told The Washington Post. Ney has demanded that the network inform viewers about Jafarzadeh's background. He told The Washington Post, "I don't think they're fair and balanced on this issue."
In August, officials from Justice, Treasury and State shut Jafarzadeh's Washington office, where he worked as the U.S. representative for the National Council of Resistance of Iran. According to State Department officials, that group is an alias for MEK.
The Justice Department is reviewing Ney's letter.

See: Terrorist employed in US media

22-01-04

Attempts to rescue cult victims in Iraq
A number of former Mojahedin members, who have separated from the group, visited the MKO headquarters in the Andalus district in Baghdad. The camp, known as "Andalus Camp", had been the meeting place for the MKO's leader with his henchmen.
The ten member Committee which entered Iraq officially wants to pave the way for the freedom of other MKO members.
A number of members, who were deceived by the cult, couldn't leave due to the Mojahedin's internal regulations.
The Committee met with a number of tribesmen, media and social-political activists in Iraq.

MKO's Fraudulent Fundraising Event Exposed
The Mojahedin (MEK, MKO), listing its own pseudo-organizations as sponsors alongside other legitimate organizations, has begun its predicted exploitation of Bam's earthquake and its victims by announcing a 'fundraising' event.
According to 'The Hill' publication: "Of the 23 organizations listed as sponsors for the event, 17 are known MEK front groups or linked to prominent MEK members and activists. None appears to be registered with the Internal Revenue Service or state agencies as legitimate businesses or charities."
The Hill went on to report: "At least one group that is not affiliated with the MEK – Loyola University of Chicago — says it was fraudulently listed as a sponsor."
Tim Mehdi Ghaemi, a spokesman for one of the Mojahedin's front organizations told The Denver Post "the fundraiser is to support 'regime change' in Iran as well as quake victims, but MEK is not the beneficiary".
Observers who have studied the MKO's tactics for years say that this is shorthand for 'fundraising for the MKO' and state that not a dime will find its way to the earthquake victims in Iran.

19-01-04

Damning evidence of Rajavi's co-operation with Saddam regime
December 31, 2003 Al Jazeera network broadcast a secretly filmed meeting between Rajavi's Mojahedin and the Iraqi Intelligence Service.
According to the former head of Iraq's Intelligence Service, the Iraqi regime gave tens of millions of dollars to the Rajavi's Mojahedin over a period of time. The film, taken by the hidden camera of Estekhbarat, shows Rajavi's group getting money from the Intelligence Service and discussion about Rajavi's activities with them.
Another film shows a meeting between former Head of Iraq's Intelligence Service, General Taher Jalil Haboosh, and Massoud Rajavi. In this film, he delivers documents gifting 25 Chieftain Tanks to Rajavi's Liberation Army. As well as Rajavi, Mehdi Abrishamchi (currently in Europe), Mehdi Barayee and Ahmad Afshar participated in accepting money and weapons from the former Iraqi regime.

9-01-04

Austria Refuses MKO
The Press Section of Austria's Foreign Ministry, in an interview with Mehr News Agency, announced that Mojahedin-e Khalq members will not be given asylum in Austria.
According to Mehr, in response to the report of some news on the transfer of MKO activities to Austria, it also told Mehr: after the necessary talks and discussions with experts and officials, Austria's Foreign Ministry will announce formally that this group is a terrorist one all over Europe.

MKO cult reaction
MKO lawyer Warren Creates in Canada is
seeking the protection of 17 MKO members with Canadian citizenship under the Geneva conventions as 'civilian noncombatants' even though they were members of the National Liberation Army of Iran; funded, uniformed and armed by Saddam Hussein.
Creates said: "I am told by my clients that the Canadians will not leave Iraq until they are given credible assurances that their compatriots from Iran who have no status in third countries receive the kind of international protection they deserve and are entitled to."
Which means that the world community is expected to wed itself to 'the organisation, the whole organisation and nothing but the organisation 'till death do us part!'
Iran-Interlink warns that the MKO will inevitably threaten mass suicide once they face dissolution of the organisation. 

No Refuge for MKO in France
TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) — “France will under no circumstances allow members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization to enter the country,” the French ambassador to Iran, Francois Nicoullaud, said here on Wednesday.
The French ambassador strongly rejected reports that France would grant asylum to members of the terrorist MKO and said that his country has not and would never offer members of the group asylum.
Francois Nicoullaud stressed that only MKO members who are French citizens would be allowed to enter France since it would not be possible to bar its own nationals.

 

4-01-2004

News continues to emerge that hundreds of disaffected members have been beaten up in Ashraf camp, which remains intact as the military base of the MKO under American protection. Many are said to be under threat of continuous torture. US forces are obeying orders not to interfere in the internal problems of the camp. Inevitably this has resulted in the mistreatment and even death of many who have expressed a desire to leave the MKO. Reports state that even where people have managed to run away, they have been captured and returned to the MKO leaders. Just as the facts have emerged about Rajavi's prisoners in Iraq's notorious Abu Ghraib political prison, it has not been possible to suppress this latest news. In this case it appears the Americans, not the Iraqi's, will be directly responsible for any mistreatment or deaths. US forces are clearly following instructions to preserve the framework and the leaders of the MKO which the US State Department have designated as terrorists.

Ali Reza Jafarzadeh
Mr Ali Reza Jafarzadeh, former Mojahedin spokesman in the USA, has publicly renounced his past and has left the Mojahedin and National Council of Resistance of Iran. Mr Jafarzadeh, who worked for the Mojahedin for over twenty years, has been aided by the FOX NEWS television company which has employed him as their analyst on Iran issues.

150 MKO defect from the group
A leading Arabic newspaper reports the defection of many MKO members in Iraq. One hundred and fifty of these members have been separated from Ashraf camp, which is under US control, and are now being assessed as individuals. The former members have complained of severe beatings and mistreatment because of their commitment to leave the MKO group.

IGC expulsion decision confirmed
The MKO have been given an extended deadline to leave Iraq by the Iraqi Governing Council. The move came after the Americans announced security issues in processing all 3,800 captives in time for the 31 December deadline. This has now been extended by 20 days by which time the MKO must have been removed completely from Iraqi land. The MKO captives will be transferred to third countries. No news is currently available as to their possible destinations.

Families of MKO members again denied access
Families of MKO captives in Ashraf camp have travelled to Baghdad to meet their relatives. Following a previous attempt to arrange visits, the MKO leadership again denied the families free access to meet their relatives, and scuffled with some of the visitors who protested this move.