Hanging with the People's Mujahadeen of Iran

In 1997, US President Bill Clinton added Iran’s People’s Mujahadeen (Mujahideen Khalq in Persian, or MEK) to the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and in 2012 his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took them off.

One of them erred and erred badly.

The MEK fought hard against the Shah Reza Pahlavi before and during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Afterward, when the Islamist faction led by Ayatollah Khomeini emerged the strong horse in the ensuing struggle for power, they fought the new government alongside Iran’s leftist movements and lost.

Iran’s government insists on calling them terrorists and convinced Bill Clinton to do so as well.

They’re based in France now. They have to base themselves somewhere outside Iran because they’ll be tortured and executed if they go home. And they’ve formed a larger umbrella organization that includes other opposition movements called the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Every year they hold a huge rally in Paris that’s broadcast live on television (via satellite, of course) into Iran.

They invited me this year, so I went.............http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/hanging-peoples-mujahadeen-iran

Recommended read: Michael Totten's account of the MEK

A recommended read for anyone wanting to know a little more about the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI or MEK), is Michael J. Totten's account of the MEK in his article 'Hanging with the People's Mujahadeen of Iran', published in World Affairs.

Totten, a contributing editor for World Affairs, writes: "In 1997, US President Bill Clinton added Iran’s People’s Mujahadeen (Mujahideen Khalq in Persian, or MEK) to the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and in 2012 his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took them off."

"One of them erred and erred badly."

In addition to giving a bit of background on the MEK, Totten writes about his personal experience of attending an MEK rally in Paris just this month. The rally was called "Free Iran."

It included speeches from the former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia), former Vermont Governor Howard Dean (Democrat), former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (Democrat), former Congressman Patrick Kennedy (D-Rhode Island.), former Senator Robert Torricelli (D-New Jersey), and former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge (Republican). Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (Republican) was also scheduled to be there, but couldn’t make it.

The keynote speaker was Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the main opposition coalition which includes the MEK. Rajavi, Totten says, is Iran’s Daenerys Targaryen, an exiled woman who wishes to overthrow an illegitimate government by rallying forces around her from abroad.

The account in World Affairs goes on to point out the Iranian opposition's 10-point political platform for a future Iran which includes:

1.                  A republic based on universal suffrage.

2.                  Individual freedoms, including free expression and a free press.

3.                  The abolition of the death penalty.

4.                  Separation of mosque and state.

5.                  Gender equality.

6.                  The rule of law.

7.                  The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

8.                  Private property and a market economy.

9.                  A foreign policy based on peaceful coexistence.

10.              A non-nuclear Iran.

تلویزیون رنگارنگ برنامه آقای محمود سرابی- قسمت سوم مصاحبه با محمدمهدی نوری

من ۲۰-۸۰ امروز را اختصاص دادم به همین هفته گذشته،۹ جولای شنبه، بعد ازگردهمایی بزرگ سازمان مجاهدین خلق و شورای ملی مقاومت درپاریس با حضور بیش از ۱۰۰ هزار نفربه یکباره تمام قورباغه خبرهای رژیم،پریدند و شرو ع کردندفضا درست کردن .

خیلی جالب است، سایت درست کردند بعنوان، سازمان مجاهدین خلق، آرم درست کردند، برنامه ریزی کردند، گرد همایی گذاشتند،تحت عنوان رهبر من کجاست؟ این که این گروه اینگونه وار عمل میشود یک بحث است، نوع عملکردشان که خیلی به نظر من مشخص است برای کسانی که ابتدایی ترین مسایل سیاسی را دنبال میکنند این خط را خوب میشناسند.

  این که تمام توجه که رژیم هم خیلی پشت اش هست، حضور و یا عدم حضور آقای مسعود رجوی بود، قضیه را خیلی خنده دار کرده. یعنی رژیمی مانند جمهوری اسلامی با آن اتاق فکرش، و این همه عواملی که دارد به دنبال یک حرف، راه می افتد.

یا یکی آمده است یک بازی کرده، یکی از چهره های اطلاعاتی اش،گفته نه، این را خود مجاهدین شایع کرده اند که، حاشیه درست کنند، بخواهند افکار عمومی راگول بزنند. خیلی جالب است که مجاهدین بیایند مثلا بگویند، آقای مسعود رجوی فوت کرده که شایعه و هیاهو درست کنند که چه اتفاقی بیفتد؟ حرفهای رژیم خیلی مسخره و آبکی است. ازآنطرف همانها که میروند پشت قضیه رهبر من کجاست؟ میروند. اگر یادتان باشد من برنامه ای درست کردم که مسعود رجوی کجاست ؟و این ضجه ها را درآنجا نشان دادم. در بی بی سی، درصدای امریکا، دربرنامه نوریزاده و چهره هایی که تلاش میکردند آقای رجوی کجاست؟ را دنبال کنند، حالا این تبدیل شده است به رهبر من کجاست؟

http://bit.ly/2a6YYes

الصراع العربي الإيراني: هل حان أوان دعم المعارضة الإيرانية

بقلم: د. نجاة السعيد

    يعكس الغضب الهستيري الذي انتاب النظام الإيراني من الصدى الذي رافق مؤتمر المعارضة الإيرانية في باريس، والتركيز الهام على مشاركة الأمير تركي الفيصل رغم حضور مسؤولين وسياسيين وناشطين من مختلف أنحاء العالم، قلقا في طهران من الرسالة التي حملتها المشاركة السعودية، وإن كانت غير رسمية، والتي تنبئ بأن هناك بتغيير في طريقة السعودية والعربية عموما مع السياسة الإيرانية ومساع لتدراك الأخطاء التي ساعدت على استشراء التهديد الإيراني بدل كبحه.

طبول الحرب العلنية تدق من اليمن

منذ أن انتهى مؤتمر المعارضة الإيرانية في باريس في 9 يوليو وبعد الصدى الكبير الذي كان له، خصوصا بحضور الأمير تركي الفيصل وكلمته القوية التي أثارت غضب نظام الملالي، بدأت طهران بحملة مسعورة ضد الشعب الإيراني.

وحسب ما ورد من أمانة المجلس الوطني للمقاومة الإيرانية في باريس في الفترة من 11 إلى 17 يوليو تم شنق 30 سجينا في مختلف المدن الإيرانية وشنق 5 سجناء في السجن المركزي في أراك وإعدام سجين في مراغه بعد 8 سنوات من الحبس. وفي الفترة نفسها تمت جرائم أخرى اقترفها النظام من إعدام وتعذيب.

وتم في 13 يوليو إعدام جماعي لـ6 سجناء في سجن جوهردشت في كرج، وفي 16 يوليو تم إعدام سجينين آخرين في السجن المركزي في “لاكان” بمدينة رشت. وفي يوم الأحد 17 يوليو تم شنق 16 من الضحايا بينهم امرأة في إعدام جماعي في مدينتي كرج وبيرجند

http://bit.ly/2agP8wC

Hanging with the People's Mujahadeen of Iran

In 1997, US President Bill Clinton added Iran’s People’s Mujahadeen (Mujahideen Khalq in Persian, or MEK) to the list of designated foreign terrorist organizations, and in 2012 his wife Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took them off.
One of them erred and erred badly.
The MEK fought hard against the Shah Reza Pahlavi before and during the Iranian Revolution in 1979. Afterward, when the Islamist faction led by Ayatollah Khomeini emerged the strong horse in the ensuing struggle for power, they fought the new government alongside Iran’s leftist movements and lost.
Iran’s government insists on calling them terrorists and convinced Bill Clinton to do so as well.
They’re based in France now. They have to base themselves somewhere outside Iran because they’ll be tortured and executed if they go home. And they’ve formed a larger umbrella organization that includes other opposition movements called the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Every year they hold a huge rally in Paris that’s broadcast live on television (via satellite, of course) into Iran.
They invited me this year, so I went.
I was a little bit skeptical at the outset. Hillary Clinton only took them off the terrorist list a couple of years ago. Their roots are quasi-Marxist and Islamist. Their most strident critics insist that the MEK is some kind of a cult and that nobody inside Iran likes them. But I went anyway because…why not? I don’t work for them or answer to them. I can write whatever I want. I could denounce them as a gaggle of hysterical charlatans and propagandists and nothing bad would happen to me..........http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/blog/michael-j-totten/hanging-peoples-mujahadeen-iran