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.

As Ramadan Ends, So Must Falsely Labeled 'Jihad'

Another horrifying trait of extremists is their attempt to discredit moral, humanitarian and Islamic principles as they grapple for power. Before becoming the leader of Iran, Khomeini in his book titled The Islamic State deemed as permissible mass killings in order to ensure the survival of the state or, as he put it, in order to “uproot many of the corrupt races that are harmful to society.”

Is it not true that monotheistic religions were revealed in order to imbue human beings with moral codes and humanitarian principles? Were the Ten Commandments of Moses or everything that Jesus and Mohammad said not intended to contain the aggressive, greedy and oppressive tendencies of human beings in order to inaugurate a path toward freedom?

It brings me deep sorrow that extremists of all stripes portray themselves as defenders of Islamic and moral standards. In order to implement unjustified violence, which they falsely describe as “Islamic punishments,” they have amputated limbs, gouged out eyes and stoned women to death with indescribable barbarity......http://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2016/07/10/as-ramadan-ends-so-must-falsely-labeled-jihad/2/#23b120f72ef7

دکتر نجات السعید: آیا وقت آن رسیده است که اپوزیسیون ایران را حمایت کنیم

دکتر نجات السعید طی مقاله‌یی که در السوسنه (اردن) درج شده خواهان حمایت کشورهای 

عربی از مقاومت ایران شد

وی در این مقاله با عنوان ”درگیری عربی ایرانی: آیا وقت آن رسیده است که اپوزیسیون ایران را حمایت کنیم“ نوشت: «برگزاری کنفرانس اپوزیسیون ایران در پاریس و تمرکز روی حضور امیر ترکی فیصل به‌رغم حضور مقامها از نقاط مختلف جهان، خشم هیستریک رژیم ایران را برانگیخت. رژیم ایران نسبت به پیام شرکت سعودی هر چند غیررسمی بود نگران است. به‌خصوص که این حضور این نکته را القاء می‌کند که در روش سیاسی عربستان و کشورهای عربی به‌طور عام تغییری حاصل شده و آنها روش مقابله را در پیش گرفته‌اند.

زمانی که کنفرانس مقاومت ایران پایان یافت و پس از انعکاس بزرگی که ایجاد کرد به‌ویژه بخاطر حضور امیر ترکی فیصل و سخنرانی قوی او که رژیم ایران را خشمگین کرد، رژیم ایران حمله دیوانه‌واری علیه مردم ایران را شروع کرد. بر اساس آنچه دبیرخانه شورای ملی مقاومت ایراندر پاریس اعلام کرد، از تاریخ 11 تا 17 ژوئیه 30 زندانی در شهرهای مختلف ایران حلق‌آویز شده‌اند 

http://bit.ly/2ah4A91

Hanging with the People's Mujahadeen of Iran, MEK - by Michael J. Totten

London, 22 Jul - Michael J. Totten writes in World Affairs: 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.

He points out that 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 the MEK terrorists and convinced Bill Clinton to do so as well.

They’re based in France now. The MEK 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, says Totten.

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://iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=30660:hanging-with-the-people-s-mujahadeen-of-iran-mek-by-michael-j-totten&catid=4:iran-general&Itemid=109

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