Patrick Kennedy Paid $25K To Speak At Rally For Controversial Iranian Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) Group
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... To cheers from the crowd, Kennedy — invoking the memory of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy — compared the MEK’s Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi to South Africa’s first post-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who led a spate of guerrilla sabotage bombings against the Apartheid regime before going to prison and eventually leading the country’s transition. (Mandela admits his guerilla past and his group’s human rights abuses. Rajavi’s MEK often denies having committed any acts of terror over it’s 45 year history and disputes allegations made by Human Rights Watch about abuses against the group’s own members ...
Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)continued terror campain
Ali Gharib and Zaid Jilani, Think Progress, August 30 2011
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2011/08/29/306528/patrick-kennedy-mek/
Former U.S. Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) told ThinkProgress he was paid $25,000 to speak at a rally to remove a controversial Iranian exiled opposition group from the U.S. terrorist rolls after previously not saying if he was paid.
Kennedy wouldn’t tell Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogin whether or not he was paid to speak at the rally to remove the Mujahedeen-e Khalq (MEK) from the State Department list of foreign terror organizations. But asked by ThinkProgress, Kennedy replied that he had been paid $25,000 and that he wouldn’t accept the money if he didn’t believe in the cause:
THINKPROGRESS: Were you paid for this appearance or the other one?
KENNEDY: Yes, I have.
THINKPROGRESS: Do you mind if I ask how much it was?
KENNEDY: Y’know, $25,000.
THINKPROGRESS: By whom?
KENNEDY: By the Iranian-American diaspora. [...] I have no problem with it. I wouldn’t support a group just because I was paid for it if I didn’t believe in them. And the implication of some of these questions is, “Well, if you’re getting paid you must be getting paid for something you don’t agree with.” [...]
The real thing is that the money is being funneled out of Tehran to oppress this group. So let’s be balanced when people start talking about follow the money.
Watch the video:
The MEK has been on the U.S. list of terror groups since 1997, which prevents members from traveling to or raising funds in the U.S. The group, whose leadership is based in Paris while about 3,400 members live in a camp in Iraq, renounced violence in 2001 and was forcibly disarmed by the U.S. in 2003. Critics allege that the group’s renunciation of violence may not be genuine, de-listing them could hurt Iran’s indigenous Green opposition movement, and that the group has no backing inside Iran as a democratic opposition group.
The camp in Iraq, called Ashraf, was under U.S. control until 2009 when the U.S. handed over security control to the Iraqis as part of a larger deal. Since then, residents of Ashraf have accused Iraqi forces of abuses including attacks that reportedly killed dozens of members of the group.
Speaking before a large crowd outside the State Department that included attendees bused-in from afar on all-expenses-paid trips, Kennedy cited one such attack — in April, which reportedly killed 34 Ashraf residents — as having spurred his support for the group.
The campaign to de-list the MEK has drawn attention because of the millions of dollars spent on the effort.
Kennedy joins other former U.S. officials, mostly from conservative circles but including some liberals, such as former-Vermont governor and DNC chairman Howard Dean.
To cheers from the crowd, Kennedy — invoking the memory of his father, the late Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), and his uncle, President John F. Kennedy — compared the MEK’s Paris-based leader Maryam Rajavi to South Africa’s first post-Apartheid leader Nelson Mandela, who led a spate of guerrilla sabotage bombings against the Apartheid regime before going to prison and eventually leading the country’s transition. (Mandela admits his guerilla past and his group’s human rights abuses. Rajavi’s MEK often denies having committed any acts of terror over it’s 45 year history and disputes allegations made by Human Rights Watch about abuses against the group’s own members.)
Kennedy told ThinkProgress his work to de-list the MEK and support for them as a democratic Iranian opposition was in line with his long-standing support of human rights worldwide.
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=10607
Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult) Supporters Rally To Call For U.S. Delisting
(Some Participants in the rally had no Knowledge about Mojahedin Khalq)
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... Several of them told RFE/RL they had little or no knowledge about the MKO. "We've come for Iranian people," said one African-American.When asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally, the woman first said yes, but then retracted her statement at the man's behest.Another MKO supporter said describing the group as a cult is a label by intelligence agencies, which he said do not understand the nature of the group. In response to a question about the whereabouts of MKO leader Massoud Rajavi, who hasn't been seen for years, he said his location should be kept secret for his personal safety ...
(Saddam used Rajavi in the massacar of Iraqi Kurds)
Golnaz Esfandiari, Hossein Aryan, Radi Free Europe, August 26, 2011
http://www.rferl.org/content/persian_letters
_mko_rally_for_delisting/24309438.html
Several hundred supporters of the Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, aka MEK and People's Mujahedin) gathered on August 26 in front of the State Department in Washington, D.C., to urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to remove the group from the United States' list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The participants, who were wearing yellow vests with pictures of the leaders of the group, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, chanted, "We want justice, we want peace, we want MEK off the list" and also "Iran, Rajavi, Rajavi, Iran."
The State Department is reviewing the status of the MKO, which it put on the list of terrorist organizations in 1999. The group, which has been described by former members as a Marxist/Islamist cult, is also designated as a terrorist organization by Iran.
The MKO, which was involved in a series of attacks in Iran in the 1980s, says it has renounced violence and is working for democracy in Iran. The group sided with Iraq during the bloody Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s, and more than 3,000 members are still based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
Today's event included speeches by several former U.S. officials and congressmen, including former Representative Patrick Kennedy (Rhode Island-Republican) who said in Persian, " I am Iranian, I am an Ashrafi," referring to the camp in Iraq. He also warned Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that he will be put on trial in the International Criminal Court for attacking Camp Ashraf.
Organizers said the event was broadcast live for Camp Ashraf members. Several rally participants told RFE/RL they have family members in Ashraf.
One of the organizers, who identified herself as Shirin, told RFE/RL the removal of MKO from the list of foreign terrorist organizations would allow MKO members in Ashraf to move to other countries.
Shirin -- who said she had been jailed in Iran in 1981 for 2 1/2 years and tortured -- said the MKO's removal from the list would allow those who are "hesitant" because of this status to join the opposition group.
Rally participants also included a number of non-Iranian-Americans. Several of them told RFE/RL they had little or no knowledge about the MKO. "We've come for Iranian people," said one African-American.
When asked whether he and his female companion received money to attend the rally, the woman first said yes, but then retracted her statement at the man's behest.
Another MKO supporter said describing the group as a cult is a label by intelligence agencies, which he said do not understand the nature of the group. In response to a question about the whereabouts of MKO leader Massoud Rajavi, who hasn't been seen for years, he said his location should be kept secret for his personal safety.
Today's rally was the latest event in a series the MKO has held in recent months in Washington to push for its delisting. Western media have reported that former U.S. officials have received substantial financial contributions to speak at MKO events and express support for the delisting of the group.
Members and supporters of Iran's opposition Green Movement, on the other hand, have warned about the removal of the group from the U.S. terror list.
Tehran-based political analyst Nejat Bahrami told RFE/RL earlier this month the delisting of the MKO would make average Iranians frustrated with the United States.
"The messages [U.S. President Barack] Obama has sent to the Iranian people on several occasions, including for Norouz, have been very encouraging," he said. "But I think [the delisting of the MKO] would neutralize those positive statements. And it might lead to frustration with U.S. policies and even hatred."
-- Golnaz Esfandiari, Hossein Aryan
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/index.php?mod=view&id=10594
Chairman of the Committee for the defense of Iraqi victims of Mojahedin Khalq working to collect signatures to expel MKO (MEK, Rajavi cult) from Diyala, Iraq
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... Mr Nafee-Issa said that "the Committee is working to collect a large number of facts that show the crimes of this organization and what caused the killings of civilians in Iraq since 1986 till 2003." He added that "organized crime continued after 2003 as a result of political interference in the affairs of Iraq by creating sectarian strife between Iraq’s people and in addition working to destabilise the security situation in the province of Diyala and the country in general." Camp Ashraf, or as it is now known camp New Iraq, houses thousands of Iranian fighters of the MKO ...
(Rajavi cult or MKO aslo known as Saddam's Private Army)
All Iraq News, Baghdad, August 23, 2011
Translated by Iran Interlink
Link to the original report (Arabic)
http://www.alliraqnews.com/index.php?option=com
_content&view=article&id=10610:2011-08-23-09-30
-56&catid=41:2011-04-08-17-27-21&Itemid=86
The head of the Special Committee to defend the victims of the crimes of Mojahedin Khalq, Mr Nafee-Issa, said the Committee is working to collect signatures for the expulsion of the Mojahedin from the province of Diyala, and from Iraq.
In a statement to All-Iraq News Agency on Tuesday, Mr Nafee-Issa said that "the Committee is working to collect a large number of facts that show the crimes of this organization and what caused the killings of civilians in Iraq since 1986 till 2003."
He added that "organized crime continued after 2003 as a result of political interference in the affairs of Iraq by creating sectarian strife between Iraq’s people and in addition working to destabilise the security situation in the province of Diyala and the country in general."
Camp Ashraf, or as it is now known camp New Iraq, houses thousands of Iranian fighters of the MKO, an Iranian opposition faction, which based the headquarters for its Chairman at the camp nearly three decades ago.
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رئيس اللجنة الخاصة بالدفاع عن ضحايا العراق :العمل على جمع تواقيع لطرد منظمة خلق من ديالى والعراق
الثلاثاء, 23 آب/أغسطس 2011 12:30
[بغداد-أين]
اكد رئيس اللجنة الخاصة بالدفاع عن ضحايا العراق من جرائم منظمة خلق نافع العيسى ان اللجنة تعمل على جمع تواقيع لطرد منظمة خلق من محافظة ديالى ثم من العراق
وقال العيسى في تصريح لوكالة كل العراق [أين] اليوم الثلاثاء ان" اللجنة تعمل على جمع عدد كبير من الحقائق التي تبين جرائم هذه المنظمة وما سببته من اعمال قتل بحق المدنيين في العراق منذ عام 1986 ولغاية عام 2003 "
واضاف ان" جرائم المنظمة استمرت بعد عام 2003 نتيجة لتدخلها بالشأن السياسي في العراق من خلال خلق الفتنة الطائفية بين ابنائه الى جانب العمل على عدم استقرار الاوضاع الامنية في ديالى وعموم المحافظات "
يذكر أن معسكر اشرف أو ما يعرف بمخيم العراق الجديد يضم ما يزيد على [3] الاف إيراني معارض يمثلون منظمة خلق، كبرى فصائل المعارضة الإيرانية التي تتخذ المعسكر مقرا رئيسا لها منذ نحو ثلاثة عقود تقريبا.انتهى9
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Daniel Zucker, Maryam Rajavi and ALi Safavi
Jafarzadeh representing terrorist organisation NCRI
(Picture form MKO/ NCRI clandestine television)
(Jafarzadeh's suicide note published in Mojahedin Khalq paper)
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Iraqis continue to protest MKO camp
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=10292
New U.S. approach to Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO, MEK) in Camp Ashraf overlooks the victims’ human rights
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... The problem is not the name of Camp Ashraf or the name MEK. The Rajavi’s cannot simply re-name, re-brand or even relocate their group for political expediency and expect the ‘members’ to continue as their slaves. To solve this problem (before the question of whether they want to work for or against anyone) the residents must be given access to the outside world, to their families, to media, communications, get paid for their work and have access to the post office, cinema, marriage registry, birth registry, police station, legal aid, courts and legal bodies of the country they are living in etc. Nine years after the fall of Saddam ...
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, July 05 2011
http://mesconsult.com
Attitudes are slowly crystallising and shifting over what should be done about the MEK, with the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq James Jeffrey introducing a new and positive approach in U.S. dealings with the group in Iraq. But the July 4 Miami Herald article ‘Iranian dissidents in Iraq want refuge in 3rd country’ , also highlights the danger that various elements are still trying to derive their own benefits from the MEK even though the demise of Camp Ashraf has become inevitable. Of course you would need to ask those involved what they each hope to get out of such a defunct group.
Ambassador James Jeffrey, addressing only MEK leaders, has urged them to “‘dissolve’ their paramilitary organization and become refugees someplace else in Iraq”. In its turn the MEK itself has already threatened to massacre its own members if any external body interferes in the camp. Jeffrey added that the group "really believe that the U.N. and the United States will protect them forever." Well, they have good reason to believe that to be so.
Trita Parsi’s timely article Washington's Favorite Terrorists exposed U.S. hypocrisy in dealing with the MEK in Washington. But we may very well see a similar level of support continuing in Iraq. The obvious way this would manifest would be for the MEK to be taken (en masse) inside a U.S. military base and held there until further notice. This would protect the group from Iraqi attempts to expel them from the country, and also obviate the need for the U.N. to enter Camp Ashraf and rescue the individual residents from their enforced imprisonment by the MEK leadership.
The wholesale transfer of the residents of Camp Ashraf would truly be a human rights disaster. The sooner it is acknowledged that Rajavi is nobody’s representative but his own, the sooner the victims of the MEK will be helped.
From the hardliners in Iran who want to keep their dangerous foreign backed enemy, to the neoconservatives in the U.S. who want to keep the hatred between Iran and the west (as the neocon version of Holocaust denial, the fact that the MEK has killed so many Iranians is what feeds this hatred), to Iraqi internal factions which want to use the MEK for attacking other factions, to Europeans who still believe the MEK are a useful bargaining chip with Iran or can be used to influence the internal affairs of Iraq. All these have an interest in keeping the MEK intact. None wants the dissolution of the camp or the organisation. They all want to stop the camp being disbanded because they are using the MEK for their own various agendas.
The problem is that without taking the necessary action to access the individual residents of the camp they are essentially being left in the ownership of the Rajavis and their backers. In this respect where are the human rights organisations which should be directly involved in helping these victims? What attempts have the U.N. made to actually get inside the camp and have free access to the residents? Human Rights Watch published its ‘No Exit’ report in 2005 which was laudable, but what have they done since then? Amnesty International still prefers to think of the MEK as an entity and ignore the existence of the individuals in the camp. What has AI said about the internal problems of the residents; the daily violations and abuses of their basic human rights?
The problem is not the name of Camp Ashraf or the name MEK. The Rajavi’s cannot simply re-name, re-brand or even relocate their group for political expediency and expect the ‘members’ to continue as their slaves. To solve this problem (before the question of whether they want to work for or against anyone) the residents must be given access to the outside world, to their families, to media, communications, get paid for their work and have access to the post office, cinema, marriage registry, birth registry, police station, legal aid, courts and legal bodies of the country they are living in etc.
Nine years after the fall of Saddam and the disappearance of the cult leader it is not acceptable for a U.S. official to simply try to move the group from one part of the world to the other part without the slightest concern about the human rights of the captives there.
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also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=10235
Camp Ashraf and the Mojahedin Khalq
Iran Interlink Third Report from Baghdad
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... Iran-Interlink representative Anne Singleton travelled to Iraq mid April at the invitation of the Baghdad based human rights NGO Baladiyeh Foundation, officials of the Government of Iraq and other NGOs involved in the Camp Ashraf problem. The Baladiyeh Foundation, headed by Mrs Ahlam al-Maliki, provides humanitarian assistance to a wide range of deprived sectors of Iraqi society arising directly from the invasion and occupation of Iraq by allied forces in 2003. Baladiyeh Foundation is concerned by the humanitarian crisis at Camp Ashraf caused by the group’s leaders who are refusing to allow access to human rights organisations to verify the wellbeing of all of the camp’s residents ...
Iran Interlink, April 2011
www.iran-interlink.org
Further information can be found at www.camp-ashraf.com .
First Report (February 2008) - (PDF version)
Second Report (September 2009) - (PDF version)
Third Report (April 2011) - (PDF version)
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=10352
RT: Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
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... The Alyona Show on RT – Russian English –Language news Channel suggests the US media focus on the “Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money”, on July 9th. The show criticizes US officials’ hypocrisy and double-standard sell the cause of terrorists. Comparing MEK with Al-Qaida the show poses the question that how a terrorist designated organization can be debated in a hearing held in the US congress ...
Alyona show, Russia Today, July 16 2011
http://rt.com/programs/alyona-show/
us-jobs-pentagon-paychecks/
Link to the full program on RT
http://rt.com/programs/alyona-show
/us-jobs-pentagon-paychecks/
same video on you tube (Alyona Show)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7DqMK4Ehjs
Royals V. MEK
The Alyona Show on RT – Russian English –Language news Channel suggests the US media focus on the “Lobbyist in Capital Hill with pockets stuffed with MEK’s money”, on July 9th. The show criticizes US officials’ hypocrisy and double-standard sell the cause of terrorists. Comparing MEK with Al-Qaida the show poses the question that how a terrorist designated organization can be debated in a hearing held in the US congress.
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=9216
Wondering at those Americans who stand under the flag of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) only to LOBBY for the murderers of their servicemen
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... Massoud Rajavi was on the stage and while he had his hands on his waist he began a war cry against the USA, and in his admiration for Osama Ben Laden and his organization, Al Qaeda, he said, ”This was fanatical Islam which trembled and shacked the basis of US Imperialism and they destroyed the twin towers which were the symbol of their power, and successfully reduced it to rubble through their successful mission”. Then he (Massoud Rajavi) with a smile on his face continued his war cry and said, ”What will happen to the USA if revolutionary Islam with our Ideology and Maryam’s leadership comes to power, then this paper tiger (the USA) will be destroyed as a whole.” ...
(Alejo Vidal-Quadras , Mojahedin Khalq logo, Struan stevenson )
Iran Interlink, January 03, 2011
http://www.iran-interlink.org
A documentary about Washington backed Mojahedin Khalq terrorists
Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult terrorism in Iran and Iraq
link to download the video file
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Also read:
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=7264
Silent Cry
Press TV, November 23, 2009
www.presstv.com
This documentary takes us beneath the surface of acts of terror against Iran and shows how Iranians have been targeted by various terrorist groups, some of which enjoying the support of human right organizations.
(part one)
(part two)
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link to one of the Mojahedin Khalq songs advocating killing Americans (In Persian)
Captain Lewis Lee Hawkins
(Photograph courtesy Annette Hawkins)
Lets create another Vietnam for America(pdf).
(Mojahedin English language paper April 1980)
Letter to Imam (Khomeini) (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper April 1980)
Some questions unanswered regarding the US military invasion of Iran (pdf).
(Mojahedin English Language paper June 1980)
(Alejo Vidal-Quadras , Mojahedin Khalq logo, Struan stevenson )
(Izzat Ebrahim and Massoud Rajavi still at large)
(Washington backed Maryam Rajavi in terrorist cult's HQ in Paris)
(British Lord!! Corbett promoting terrorism under the Logo of MKO for the past 25 years)
(In the streets of London with Lord Corbett!!)
(MKO members in European Countries 2003)
(massacre of Kurdish people)
(Abdolmalek Rigi on Voice of America, presented as a democratic alternative)
(Mojahedin's Maryam Rajavi and Jondollah's Abdolmalek Rigi)
Jafarzadeh representing terrorist organisation NCRI
(Picture form MKO/ NCRI clandestine television)
(Daniel Zucker, Maryam Rajavi and ALi Safavi)
(Ali Safavi as the commander of Saddam's Private Army in Iraq)