Iran grants amnesty to members of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) - envoy
Iran grants amnesty to members of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) - envoy
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... In an interview with ISNA, Iran's ambassador to Iraq Hasan Dana'ifar said that "except for nearly one hundred individuals, against whole cases have been filed at the judiciary, other residents of the camp can return to our dear Iran or travel anywhere else they prefer." Dana'ifar also said: "Most of those who are at Asharf camp are veteran [members] and [MKO] has not recruited any new member in the past six years; the most recently joined members have been from Europe and Iran." Elsewhere in his remarks, Dana'ifar dismissed the idea that the Mojahidin are refugees in Iraq and said ...
Iran will grant amnesty to the residents of the Ashraf Camp which belongs to the opposition group MKO (Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization) in Iraq, ISNA reported on 30 April.
In an interview with ISNA, Iran's ambassador to Iraq Hasan Dana'ifar said that "except for nearly one hundred individuals, against whole cases have been filed at the judiciary, other residents of the camp can return to our dear Iran or travel anywhere else they prefer."
Dana'ifar also said: "Most of those who are at Asharf camp are veteran [members] and [MKO] has not recruited any new member in the past six years; the most recently joined members have been from Europe and Iran."
Elsewhere in his remarks, Dana'ifar dismissed the idea that the Mojahidin are refugees in Iraq and said: "The Monafeqin [hypocrites, reference to MKO] is a registered organization. Who has granted them asylum? There must be some evidence for such claims and there in none. [Iraq's former leader] Saddam had just let them into Iraq [presumably without any legal procedure]."
Source: ISNA website, Tehran, in Persian 0622 gmt 30 Apr 11
Will Giuliani invite MEK “freedom fighters” to relocate in Manhattan?
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
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... The MEK issued a statement late last week that not only casts serious doubt on their claims to have renounced terrorism but demands that they be allowed to come to the U.S. The group cites a disarmament deal they negotiated with the U.S. as the basis for the demand:The Ashraf residents, in their two-day negotiations with (former Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq) General Odierno on 9 and 10 May 2003, announced that after their disarmament, upon conditions that the US is incapable of giving them protection in Iraq, they are ready to go to the US. The referenced deal, negotiated after the toppling of the MEK’s chief patron Saddam Hussein, apparently ...
The group cites a disarmament deal they negotiated with the U.S. as the basis for the demand:
The Ashraf residents, in their two-day negotiations with (former Commanding General of U.S. Forces in Iraq) General Odierno on 9 and 10 May 2003, announced that after their disarmament, upon conditions that the US is incapable of giving them protection in Iraq, they are ready to go to the US.
The referenced deal, negotiated after the toppling of the MEK’s chief patron Saddam Hussein, apparently requires the United States to relocate MEK members in Iraq to the U.S. or E.U.:
…it is up to the US, in return to [sic] their disarmament and in accordance with the agreement signed with each of the residents, to transfer every one of them without exception to the US or European Union member States.
The fact that the MEK is designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization would prevent them from legally coming to the U.S., but an assortment of prominent U.S. politicians, lobbyists, and consulting firms are working to reverse that terror designation. However, the MEK statement also raises new questions about whether the group has truly renounced terrorism as they have claimed:
Hence, if in the future similar to the past, the goal of establishing various committees in Iraq’s Prime Ministry is for the sole purpose of the residents’ repression, killing and closing down Ashraf, there will be no choice left for Iran’s freedom fighters other than resistance at any price.
So now that the MEK is threatening “resistance at any price” and demanding relocation to the U.S., the question is: will U.S. officials supporting MEK, some of whom have acknowledged receiving “substantial amount” of cash, invite these “freedom fighters” into their own backyards?
Perhaps Rudy Giuliani, who told an MEK conference in Paris last year that “the United States should not just be on your side…it should be enthusiastically on your side,” knows of a good place in Lower Manhattan to relocate the group. Never mind that MEK leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi reportedly celebrated September 11th by broadcasting the attacks at Camp Ashraf. Rudy apparently has no problem with the Rajavis’ declarations following September 11th that, “if (Al Qaeda) could do such a sophisticated military operation we must be able to do so in a much better manner,” and, “wait and see the fruits of our revolutionary Islam!”
Or who knows, maybe the MEK’s U.S. supporters will be given pause by these new revelations, not to mention previous findings of torture and cult-like practices at Camp Ashraf. Maybe they will be convinced to focus not on legitimizing the MEK’s leaders but instead on the estimated seventy percent of Camp Ashraf residents that RAND estimates were brought there against their will and would leave MEK if given the chance.
But don’t hold your breath. If officials are being paid “substantial” amounts of money to advocate on behalf of MEK and have a change of heart, they might have to give the money back.
Ex-Officials Say They Were Paid To Attend Pro- Mojahedin Khalq (MEK, MKO, NCRI, Rajavi cult) Events
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... Hamilton, who once chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, told reporter Barbara Slavin he was paid "a substantial amount" to appear at a panel in Washington D.C. in February. Zinni, who spoke at a similar event in January, said he had been paid his "standard fee," without detailing what that is. According to Slavin, both men said they were unaware of the cultish elements attributed to the MEK. The State Department's 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, for example, reported the following:In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics. Upon entry into the group, new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and ...
(Washington backed Maryam Rajavi in terrorist cult's HQ in Paris)
Former Rep. Lee Hamilton (D-IN) and retired Gen. Anthony Zinni
Former Indiana Congressman Lee Hamilton (D) and former CENTCOM Commander Anthony Zinni told the Inter Press Service that they were paid to appear at recent events supporting the MEK, an Iranian opposition group currently considered a terrorist organization by the State Department.
Hamilton and Zinni are among the many big time former government officials and military leaders who have appeared at recent pro-MEK events sponsored by a group called Executive Action, LLC. (The events true organizers remain unclear, Executive Action's CEO Neil Livingstone would only tell TPM they included Iranian American groups.) Speakers at the events have portrayed the MEK as critical to any chance of regime change in Iran.
Hamilton, who once chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, told reporter Barbara Slavin he was paid "a substantial amount" to appear at a panel in Washington D.C. in February. Zinni, who spoke at a similar event in January, said he had been paid his "standard fee," without detailing what that is.
According to Slavin, both men said they were unaware of the cultish elements attributed to the MEK. The State Department's 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, for example, reported the following:
In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics.
Upon entry into the group, new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and revisionist Iranian history. Members are also required to undertake a vow of "eternal divorce" and participate in weekly "ideological cleansings." Additionally, children are reportedly separated from parents at a young age. MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has established a "cult of personality." She claims to emulate the Prophet Muhammad and is viewed by members as the "Iranian President in exile."
"They presented me with a platform that was thoroughly democratic," Hamilton told Slavin. "Were they misleading me? You always can be misled."
Zinni was firmer:
"De-listing ought to be done much the way we handled the PLO and the IRA," Zinni said in an interview.
[...]
Zinni, who famously inveighed against the U.S. invasion of Iraq and was a fierce opponent of Iraqi exile Ahmad Chalabi, seemed to have no similar compunctions about Iranian exiles.
"The Iranian community outside Iran has much more influence inside than the Chalabis of the world that we ended up supporting in Iraq," he said.
Over the years, the Iranian government has arrested and executed thousands of MEK members. Still, experts say that the group actually has very little support in Iran, where people remember how it fought for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war. Iranian studies scholar Ahmad Sadri told TPM in February that U.S. support for the MEK would anger ordinary Iranians.
Although it was put on the U.S. terror list in 1997, the MEK has a history of support in Congress. While it originally blended elements of Islam and Marxism, the group and its supporters say it has renounced violence and now advocates for a secular and democratic Iran. After the fall of Hussein, who armed and funded the group for many years, about 3,400 MEK members were consolidated at Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad. MEK backers also insist that U.S. forces should be permanently stationed at Ashraf, for protection. (Camp residents have been subject to attacks they blame on the Iraqi and Iranian governments.)
On Tuesday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, where several lawmakers urged her to delist the MEK. Clinton said that the State Department is reviewing the MEK's designation in accordance with a Washington D.C. District Court of Appeal's recent ruling, after a suit brought by the MEK.
"You know it's proceeding," Clinton said. "These are very important considerations and reviews and you know as soon as we can we will make such a decision."
TPM reached out to both Zinni and Hamilton for comment.
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.” ...
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.
