American Journalist: MKO Not Supported by Iranian Expatriates

TEHRAN (FNA)- Prominent American journalist Laura Goldman, in a report published on her weblog, interviewed with several Iran-born political experts, and concluded that Iranian expatriates do not support the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK and PMOI).




According to a report published by the Habilian Association, a human rights group formed of the families of 17,000 Iranian terror victims, Goldman in a report published on her blog conversed with several Iranian born experts on Iran about the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization and their paid advocates among the US politicians.

Earlier this week, former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell acknowledged that the Treasury Department is investigating speaking fees he accepted to speak in support of MKO.

The American journalist said that all of the experts with whom he spoke are distressed that American politicians are advocating for the MKO, adding, "They also doubt that the money paid to the politicos comes from the Iranian Diaspora because most expatriate Iranians do not support the MKO."

Emphasizing that Mojahedin-e Khalq is a terrorist group, Rasool Nafisi, a Washington based Middle East expert, noted that MKO is a terrible dictatorship, whose culture requires complete worship of its leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.

"The Rajavis require complete subservience and strictly control the thinking, activities and dress of MKO members," Nafisi added. "Members are punished if they try to leave."

Nafisi said, "When the head of the Iraqi Secret Police was interrogated, he confessed that Saddam Hussein was giving the MKO $30 million a month, more than $350 million in total."

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran's new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam's army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The MKO has been in Iraq's Diyala province since the 1980s.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf - about 60km (37 miles) North of Baghdad - in 2009 and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.
Source http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9012152559