News in Brief

Former MKO fighter awarded Queen's Medal in Holland

April 29, 2005-06-0

Massoud Jaabaani lost three brothers to violence in Iran. He also bears scars from his own involvement in MKO terrorist activity. Since escaping to the Netherlands he has researched and written extensively against terror and violence. On April 29, he was invited by the Mayor of Groningen to a ceremony in which Mr Jaabaani was awarded the Queen's Medal for achievement, along with a letter of appreciation for his cultural, social and political activities. The Mayor praised Mr Jaabaani's work and asked him to translate from Farsi his latest book 'the psychology of terror and violence' as a contribution to the healthy progress of society.

MKO disrupt court case

May, 2005

The court case against a member of the MKO's intelligence branch has begun in Germany. The defendant is accused of attempting to kidnap Mr Farhad Javaheriyar - a former MKO member and one of the dissidents imprisoned in Abu Ghraib - from the streets of Cologne in Germany. MKO members attended the court in a bid to intimidate Mr Javaheriyar and force him to withdraw his case. Tens of MKO members tried unsuccessfully to disrupt court proceedings and even threatened Mr Javaheriyar's lawyer. The next hearing will be in the month of June.

MKO clash with Danish police

Iran-Interlink, May 15, 2005

After it was reported that the Danish government has decided to expel a supporter of Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization from the country, reports from various Danish media such as Ritswa news agency indicate that “after the Danish government’s decision to deport Behnam Torkzaban from that country, and when he was supposed to leave Copenhagen airport to Iran, about 30 angry supporters of Mojahedin gathered illegally in front of the airport and started protesting so that they caused disruptions at airport and frightened members of the public.
After this violent move by Mojahedin-e Khalq, Danish police interfered and, confronting the lawbreakers, detained 21 of them on charges of violating the laws of Denmark and breaking public order.”
Reports indicate that police used tear gas, clubs and trained dogs and even weapons to confront the violent acts of Mojahedin-e Khalq. Other reports suggest that after the event the police are controlling the MKO's gathering places.

Germany keeps MKO on terrorist list
IRNA, May 18, 2005

The German government has maintained its ban on Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO), keeping the Paris-based organization on the annual terrorist list of Germany's domestic secret service, Verfassungsschutz, IRNA reported from Berlin.
According to the 2004 Verfassungsschutz report, presented Tuesday by German Interior Minister Otto Schily, the MKO is held "responsible for serious terrorist attacks in Iran".
The report also pointed to MKO's European-wide campaign to whitewash its brutal crimes by "portraying itself as a freedom-loving and democratic exile movement".
The European Union and the US have both designated the MKO a terrorist group.

Khodabandeh and Bassam willing to testify against Maryam in French court

Iran-Interlink, May 23, 2005

Two years ago, Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam, former members of Mojahedin-e Khalq, became victims of Rajavi crimes as the MKO used them in its international smuggling program. The two men were arrested just after the US invasion, carrying some of the MKO's stolen property from Iraq to Paris for Maryam Rajavi. Until they were moved to Iran, the MKO denied its involvement and failed to alert international and human rights bodies.
It is now clear that Rajavi’s band denied their arrest for 2 months in order to continue its smuggling program and move another two million dollars which had been stolen from Iraq’s Central Bank. A short time after the Khodabandeh-Bassam arrest in the border of Syria-Iraq, French Police searched the MKO's Paris headquarters and found millions of dollars and other stolen property along with piles of documents. The investigation is ongoing while millions of dollars of stolen property have not yet been accounted for. Maryam Rajavi and other leading cult members, who had bee hiding in Paris, are now awaiting trial.
Today, we were informed that both Mr Khodabandeh and Mr Bassam have announced that they want to take part in the process of investigation and in the trial of Maryam Rajavi in Paris as prosecution witnesses to testify about the contacts between Ashraf Camp in Iraq and the cult’s leaders in Paris, the role of the Mojahedin in Saddam’s security services, their activities in France and other countries and the direct contacts of Saddam's secret services with the cult and Maryam Rajavi in particular. They claim that they can bring evidence to the court which shows that the leadership of the organization directed all the MKO's illegal activities from Auvers-sur-Oise.
Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam have also referred to the evidence from Syria, the report of Syrian police, documents in Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, non-Iranian contacts at the international level and even some non-Iranian witnesses.

Canada adds Mojahedin-e Khalq to terrorist list

Canada Newswire Group, May 25, 2005

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness announces further action against terrorism

OTTAWA, May 24 /CNW Telbec/ - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of

Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, the Honorable Anne McLellan today

announced that the Government of Canada has listed the following entities,

pursuant to the Criminal Code:

The Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) is an Iranian terrorist organization that was

based in Iraq until recently. This group is determined to overthrow the

current regime in Iran and establish a democratic, socialist Islamic republic.

They support the use of physical force, armed struggle or jihad if necessary.

The Government of Canada has determined that these entities knowingly

engaged in terrorist activity. This brings to 38 the number of listed entities

under the Criminal Code.

Further investigations demanded

May 25, 2005   

On 25 May a group of ex-prisoners of MKO in Saddam\s Abu Ghraib prison had a conference in Germany which was attended and covered by media.

The group while welcoming the recent report from HRW demanded an official and international investigation into the allegations of extra judicial imprisonment, torture and execution of disaffected members, carried out on the order of Mr. and Mrs. Rajavi in the MKO's own camps and in Saddam's prisons.

Maryam Rajavi considering her escape route

IRNA, May 26, 2005

Ms. Esmi Khezr, The spokeswoman for the Jordanian Government denied strongly on Thursday that her government has accepted to allow Maryam Rajavi the 3rd wife of Massoud Rajavi the head of the Terrorist organization MEK to go to Jordan.

She said to IRNA that the rumors put out by some media are completely false. 

Mojahedin in Oil-for-Food scandal

The Weekly Standard, May 30, 2005

Republican senator Norm Coleman, is leading one of eight investigations into the corruption and mismanagement of the U.N.'s largest-ever humanitarian relief effort.

The basic outline of the scandal is simple: Saddam Hussein used the Oil-for-Food program to circumvent U.N. sanctions imposed after the Gulf war and to enrich himself and his allies. He did this by bribing leading journalists and diplomats and demanding kickbacks from those who profited from selling Iraqi oil.

...The Coleman-Levin reports base their conclusions on a wide variety of evidence including documents from the Iraqi Oil Ministry and the State Oil Marketing Organization that record the transactions in detail. Investigators also conducted dozens of interviews with senior Iraqi officials, including Aziz and Ramadan, who supported and in many cases expanded upon the documentation.

In early June, the Coleman-Levin committee will make available a ... report on the Iraqi regime's funding of terrorist entities. They will lay out a case study of the allocations provided to the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK), a terrorist group Hussein funded to conduct operations against Iran. Michael Scheuer, former head of the CIA's Osama bin Laden unit and author of Imperial Hubris, described some of the work the MEK did for Hussein in his 2002 book, Through Our Enemies' Eyes. Osama bin Laden "may have trained some fighters in Iraq at camps run by Saddam's anti-Iran force, the Mujahedin e-Khalq (MEK)," Scheuer writes. "The first group of bin Laden's fighters is reported to have been sent to MEK camps in June 1998; MEK cadre were also then providing technical and military training for Taliban forces and running the Taliban's anti-Iran propaganda."