People's Mujahedin of Iran

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The People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران) is an Iranian opposition group . Other names for it include Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) and Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK). The government of the Islamic Republic officially refers to the organization as the Monafeqeen (Hypocrites). Its armed wing is called the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA).

According to reports and documents of the U.S. Department of State, the philosophy of the MEK is a combination of Marxism and Islam. Formed in 1965 against the Shah's authoritarian government, the organization was expelled from Iran after the Islamic Revolution in 1979, and its primary support came from the former Iraqi government of Saddam Hussein starting in the late 1980s . The MEK conducted anti-Western attacks prior to the Islamic Revolution. Since then, it has conducted terrorist attacks against the interests of the cleric-dominated governmental system in Iran and abroad . The MEK advocates the overthrow of the Iranian government and its replacement with the group's own leadership .

Before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the group received all of its military assistance, and most of its financial support, from the former Iraqi government. The MEK also has used front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities .The PMOI has been officially designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the United States and is proscribed by the European Union (EU)Council Decision, Council of the European Union, December 21, 2005, though the movement itself claims to be a "patriotic, Muslim and democratic organization." It also describes itself as secular. The listing, as acknowledged by senior US administration officicals, including then-Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Martin Indyk, and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, was seen as a goodwill gesture to the newly-elected moderate President, Mohammad Khatami (who has been replaced by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad since August 2005).

The MEK has now lost three appeals (1999, 2001 and 2003) to the US Government to be removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and its terrorist status was reaffirmed each time. The MEK has continued to protest worldwide against its listing, with the overt support of some US political figures.

History

The People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran was founded by middle class students at Tehran University, Mohammad Hanifnejad, Saied Mohsen and Abdi Nikbin in 1965. The PMOI opposed to the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi because it considered it corrupt and oppressive. In its first five years, the group primarily engaged in ideological work, rejecting both the regressive fundamentalist interpreation of Islam and Marxist philosophy and historical materialism. Before carrying out any military operations against the Shah's regime, a sweeping raid by the Shah's secret police, SAVAK, arrested the entire leadership and 90 percent of its cadres. All of the leaders, except one were executed. Others,remained incarcerated for many years, with the last group, including Massoud Rajavi, being released just before Khomeini arrived in Tehran in January 1979. According to several official sources (including U.S. Department of State, and Foreign Affairs group of the Australian Parliament) the MEK conducted several assassinations of U.S. military personnel and civilians working in Iran during the 1970's and also actively supported the U.S. embassy takover in Tehran in 1979 . However the MEK itself denies these reports and claims that it has had no role in the killing of US servicemen in the early 1970s or the US embassy takeover from November 4, 1979 to January 20, 1981.

After playing a key role in the 1979 Iranian Revolution because of its Muslim identity and the ability to mobilise hundreds of thousands of workers, students, and most importantly, many younger army officers, the PMOI emerged as the largest opposition group in the country. Its daily publication, Mojahed, had a circulation of 600,000 copies. The newly established regime of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran began to feel threatened by the MEK and started to launch a fierce campaign to crush it. Hundreds of PMOI supporters and members were killed from 1979 to 1981 and some 3,000 were arrested . Ultimately, the organization called for a massive demonstration on June 20, 1981, to protest against the new dictatorship under the banner of Islam. Khomeini ordered its guards to open fire of the protesters. Hundreds were killed and many more wounded. That night, hundreds were summarily executed in the notorious Evin Prison and elsewhere, some without their identities ever being established. This was considered one of the most severe human rights violations in the history of the Islamic Republic. Eventually, PMOI relocated to France, where it operated until 1986.

To bring the opposition to the regime under one umbrella group, the PMOI formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The MEK claims that in the past 25 years, the NCRI has evolved into a 540-member parliament-in-exile, with a specific platform that emphasizes free elections, gender equality and equal rights for ethnic and religious minorities. The MEK claims that it also advocates a free market economy and supported peace in the Middle East. Obviously most of these claims are rejected by some governments which officially recognize the group as a terrorist organization. The FBI claims that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the MEK at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK rather than vice versa. DC Court of Appeals Rules Against NCRI Petition for Review of "Foreign Terrorist Organization" Designation, July 9, 2004, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia

In 1986, after then French Prime Minister Jacques Chirac struck a deal with Tehran for the release of French hostages held prisoners by the Hezbollah in Lebanon, PMOI was forced to leave France and relocated in Iraq, where they received all of their military support and most of their financial support from the Iraqi regime until the 2003 American invasion of Iraq

According to some reports, near the end of the 1980-1988 war with Iran, Baghdad armed the MEK with military equipment and sent it into action against Iranian forces. Many believe that MKO's decision to move its headquarters to Iraq in the middle of the war, caused the MKO to lose most of its supporters in Iran, regardless of their views towards the Iranian government. For example the NIAC (National Iranian American Council) claims: "As a result [of their alliance with Saddam during the war], they are viewed as traitors by the overwhelming majority of Iranians and Iranian Americans.". . Another report by the Foreign Affairs group of the Australian Parliament says "[The MEK] is believed to have lost much of its popular support within Iran since siding with Iraq" .The MKO however, claims it has always maintained its independence from its Iraqi host and denies "siding with Iraq" during the Iran-Iraq War.

According to some official sources (including U.S. Department of State, and Foreign Affairs group of the Australian Parliament) the MEK has been widely accused of assisting Saddam's Iraqi National Guard in supressing the Kurdish and Shiites uprisings of Iraq after the 1991 Persian Gulf War . However the MEK has always denied this accusation.

Maryam Rajavi, who assumed the leadership role of the MEK after a series of years as co-leader alongside her husband Massoud Rajavi, had the following to say during a moral-boosting speech to an audience of MEK troops: "Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards".

Major Operations

In 28 June 1981, two years after the Islamic Revolution of Iran, the MEK detonated bombs in the office of the Premier of Iran's newly established regime, during a meeting of the now dissolved Islamic Republic Party. Around 70 high ranking officials including President Rajai, Premier Mohammad Javad Bahonar and Chief Justice Mohammad Beheshti were killed. Cooperative Research This is considered the most important attack in the history of the MEK against the Iranian government.

In the following years the MEK conducted several assassinations of political and military figures of the Islamic Republic, including deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, Brigadier General Ali Sayyaad Shirazi, which was assassinated on the doorsteps of his house on April 10 1999.

In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and installations in 13 countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount large-scale operations overseas.

After the invasion of Iraq

After the 2003 American invasion of Iraq PMOI camps were bombed by coalition forces as part of a quid pro quo with Tehran. PMOI entered into a ceasefire agreement with the coalition, and voluntarily handed over its weaponry to the US military. Then 4th ID commander, General Ray Ordierno, concluded the agreement with the PMOI and said its terrorist designation must be reviewed by the US government. After a 16-month investigation by several US agencies, including the State Department, the US government formally declared that it had found no basis to charge any member of the group with the violation of American law or links to terrorism. Subsequently, the coalition recognized the status of PMOI as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In recognition for its work against the Iranian government, the movement has enjoyed long periods of freedom and, not uncommonly, public support within the Western world. The world wide headquarters was for many years in Paris, France and even after moving to Iraq during the early 1980's the base in Paris remained large and active. Similarly its operatives were – legally or at least well tolerated – active in Germany, Denmark and many other countries of the European Union. The NCRI maintained an Information Office in Washington DC, USA until August 2003, when US secretary of state Colin Powell issued an order to shut down the offices in hopes of securing Iranian cooperation in the handover of Al-Qaeda fugitives in Iran. This designation has never been accepted unanimously. In 2002, 150 members of the United States Congress signed a letter calling for the lifting of this designation. Similarly, the activities in France were allowed to continue long after the official proscription in the EU. It was only in June 2003 that the group had some of its French properties raided, after suspicions that it was trying to shift its base of operations there. . Many believe the French action against the NCRI was payment on the part of the French government to secure lucrative business deals with Tehran worth hundreds of billions of dollars. The MEK claims that after three years, there is nothing in the files that would implicate the NCRI and Mrs. Rajavi in any wrong doing and the case has essentially died. Maryam Rajavi remains freely living in Paris and the PMOI maintains its web presence without any obvious difficulties. Official website (in Farsi, French and Arabic)

Alleged MEK Activity In Iran

News reports have linked the MEK with US threats to attack Iran. According to the accusations, the MEK may be in use to "prepare the battlefield" for eventual action against Iran.

According to the news organisation Rawstory, an intelligence official said that following the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, "We [the US] disarmed [the MEK] of major weapons, but not small arms. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was pushing to use them as a military special ops team, but there was infighting between Rumsfeld's camp and then National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, but she was able to fight them off for a while". According to another intelligence source, the policy infighting ended last year when Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, under pressure from Vice President Dick Cheney, came up with a plan to "convert" the MEK by having them simply quit their organization." "These guys are nuts," the intelligence source said. Undersecretary of Defense Intelligence "Stephen Cambone and those guys made MEK members swear an oath to Democracy and resign from the MEK and then our guys incorporated them into their unit and trained them" for action in Iran. A UN source close to the United Nations Security Council, again according to Rawstory, said in April 2006 that "the clandestine war had been going on for roughly a year".[1]

According to a former Iranian ambassador and UPI, "The Iranian accusations are true, but it is being done on such a small scale - a series of pinpricks - it would seem to have no strategic value at all." [2]

Ideology and Influence

Ideologically, the MKO is difficult to describe. Originally being based on a syncretic amalgamation of Marxist and Islamic ideas, the MKO was subject to a number of rapid ideological shifts (each allegedly accompanied by severe internal purges) and has developed a strong sense of veneration for its leading couple, Masoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi, which some have described as a personality cult. It describes itself as a secular organization. There have been allegations that the MKO were running prison camps within Iraq and were committing severe human rights violations . But the MEK claims a European Parliament delegation visited Camp Ashraf and after conducting interviews with many PMOI members in Iraq, published a 93-page document responding to these allegations .

Support from outside sources

In the late 1980's the MKO transferred its headquarters to Iraq. According to official sources the MEK received all of its military support and most of its financial assistance from Saddam's regime until the 2003 Invasion of Iraq . But the MEK denies these accusations and insists that it had always remained independent of Iraq.

Saddam Hussein used to secretly tape everything and this videotape was captured by the Americans after they took control of Saddam's possessions. The tape was later "leaked out" as evidence that Saddam supported terrorists and was connected to terrorist groups. The MEK claims that one of the tapes alleged by PMOI detractors as evidence of PMOI complicity in mischief in Iraq is actually a tape of a meeting that officials of the movement regularly held with officials of the incumbent government of Iraq and that this was nothing out of the ordinary, as the movement's officials met officials from many other governments as well. The video in Realaudio format, on Iran-interlink.org website The video in Windows Media Player format on Flag of Freedom Organization of Iran, which appears to be a rival organization from the PMO founded at least 17 years ago.

Another key source of support for the MKO has included members of the U.S. Congress, including former Attorney General John Ashcroft, "who became involved with the MKO while a Republican senator from Missouri."Michael Isikoff, "Ashcroft's Baghdad Connection: Why the attorney general and others in Washington have backed a terror group with ties to Iraq," Newsweek (26 September 2002). In 2000, 200 U.S. Congressmembers signed a statement endorsing the organization.Michael Isikoff and Mark Hosenball, "Shades of Gray," Newsweek (17 October 2004).