The Committee of Anglo-Iranian Lawyers (CAIL) issues a statement, condemning the Guardian, for publishing a hit piece on the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK)
The Committee of Anglo-Iranian Lawyers (CAIL) issued a statement today condemning the decision from the British newspaper, the Guardian, to publish a hit piece on the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK).
The legal organization called the regime’s campaign of vilification against the MEK “unprecedented” and denounced its decision to orchestrate terror plots, arrest MEK members inside Iran and use what CAIL calls, “friendly journalists” to spread malicious lies about the opposition group.
Relaying the Slanders of the Regime
The lawyers’ statement accused the Guardian of relaying “the slanders of the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS)”.
The MOIS has been actively attempting to discredit and demonize the MEK for the last four decades. Its most recent campaign saw the use of 770 regime-affiliated Twitter accounts posting anti-MEK material online under the guise of foreign citizens and journalists. Twitter has since closed the accounts and removed the material.
However, recent attempts have intensified. In 2018, the regime has increased its terror activities designed to target the MEK.
Foiled terror attacks in Albania and France narrowly averted bloodshed. Another likely plot was unravelled in the early stages in the US as two regime agents were detained for engaging in espionage against MEK members on American soil.
The Regime Sees MEK as an Existential Threat
Part of the intensification of attacks on the MEK’s credibility and physical threats to MEK members can be explained by the MEK’s surging popularity within Iran.
In Iran, CAIL says, “civil society is exploding, and the regime is exhausted and helpless”. Strikes rack the country weekly, spreading across key demographics, including teachers and logistics workers.
The MEK-organised protests are bringing Iran to its knees.
The mullahs are also finding themselves increasingly isolated on the international stage. Earlier this year, President Hassan Rouhani spoke to his French counterpart and urged him to crack down on MEK activities on French soil. French President Emmanuel Macron resolutely refused.
The demonization campaign and Arron Merat’s article in the Guardian are the regime’s way of legitimizing attacks on MEK members. “The task of a ‘friendly journalist’”, CAIL says, “is to give the impression that the PMOI [MEK] has no popular support in Iran, that it is undemocratic, and that there is no viable alternative in Iran, so it would be only wise for the international community to hold onto the current barbaric regime”.
The International Community Will Not Be Fooled
The situation the ‘friendly journalists’, like Arron Merat, describe could not be further from the truth. The Iranian people have supported the MEK for 53 years, with many joining its ranks and making generous donations of wealth to the cause.
The international community will not be fooled. Arron Merat is nothing more than a mouthpiece for the Iranian regime. His close ties to the MOIS and the regime leadership has been well-documented in his previous articles and Tweets.
His piece is littered with factual inaccuracies designed to absolve the mullahs of their atrocities and vilify the Iranian opposition.
For example, Merat claims it was the MEK that accused the clerical regime of plotting the foiled terror attack at the MEK’s annual Grand Gathering this summer. He writes that “one day after the conference, the MEK accused Tehran of plotting a bomb attack against the event”.
In reality, the accusations made against Tehran came not one, but two days after the Grand Gathering event. It also was not the MEK that levied the accusations, but the Belgian General prosecutor and the Federal Police following the arrest of a Belgian-Iranian couple traveling to the event in a car laden with explosives.
In another example, Merat tells the story of Ms. Somayeh Mohammadi, a 38-year-old member of the MEK. The regime has often touted lies about Somayeh’s position in the MEK, asserting that she is being held at the group’s compound in Albania against her will.
Merat interviewed Somayeh’s parents, who serve the regime’s interests and disseminate the same lies. In reality, Somayeh has been a voluntary member of the MEK for many years. She even wrote a book entitled, “An End to a Conspiracy” in which she describes how she is not being held against her will and expresses her sadness at seeing the regime use her parents in their campaign to demonize the Iranian opposition.
Merat’s article is littered with many more factual inaccuracies, mistruths, and outright lies.
CAIL’s statement concludes with a defiant and determined challenge to the regime. “We are ready to prove this in any court of law”, adding, “not even a single one of these lies is new to us Iranians”.
The MEK and their allies are well-versed in the lies of the regime. It has the necessary evidence to debunk these allegations and is will relish the chance to expose these lies to the world.