The BBC Radio 4 and the World Service broadcasted a bias and unsubstantiated report about the Iranian resistance and the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI-MEK).

The report is based on the accounts and interviews of the so-called “former members of MEK”. It is well known that for many years the Iranian regime has been pursuing its demonizing campaign and terrorist activities against the MEK through so-called “former members”

“The mudslinging by the current functionaries of the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), disguising themselves as PMOI’s “former members,” have repeatedly been exposed by irrefutable documents and evidence, and condemned, as was the case in a German court’s ruling against Der Spiegel for regurgitating similar smears. The repetitive scheme by the MOIS to tarnish the image of the PMOI in Albania is intended to set the stage for more terrorist acts against the Iranian Resistance,” The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), Security and Counter-terrorism Committee’s (NCRICT) statement reads. 

The main purpose of the demonization campaign of the Iranian regime against its main opposition is to pursue terrorist plots against them. “On October 23, 2019, the Albanian Police exposed the details of the clerical regime’s terrorist plots against the PMOI members in Albania through the services of “former members.” In her report, however, the BBC journalist makes no reference to this development, the most important news in Albania regarding the PMOI in recent weeks and months, because she attempts to balance her story with comments from the Iranian regime’s operatives. Last year, Albania expelled the Iranian regime’s ambassador and the MOIS station chief in Tirana for espionage and terrorist activities.” NCRICT statement reads. 

The report also portrays if the Iranian resistance and MEK members are kept in a remote area in an autocracy country and no outsider has any access to them, while they are in Europe and hundreds of international dignitaries visit their home, and the same reporter was there for over 5 hours and was offered to stay there as long as she wanted, privately talk to anyone and visit anywhere she so desired.

“Last summer, some 350 dignitaries from 47 countries spent five days at Ashraf-3, the home of PMOI members in Albania, and saw everything up close and personal. Thus, the absurdities rehashed by the BBC, such as brainwashing, lack of access to the Internet, the denial of freedom of choice to PMOI members, and the defection of 300 or 400 members from the organization in Albania are utterly false and designed to mollify the criminal mullahs ruling Iran,”

“In her report, the BBC’s Linda Pressly says that the PMOI refused to be interviewed for her program. She has deliberately chosen not to report that she and another BBC colleague were the guests of the PMOI at their home, Ashraf-3, for five-and-a-half hours. During the meeting, the PMOI representatives told her that she could stay at Ashraf-3 as long as she wanted, privately talk to anyone and visit anywhere she so desired. The PMOI representatives also told her not to expect the PMOI to be part of a program that was wittingly or unwittingly based on an MOIS script. They also told her that they should not be expected to be part of a program that also included individuals whose objective and mission is collecting intelligence and assisting the Iranian regime to conduct terrorist operations against the PMOI. No one would have criticized German, British, French, and American freedom fighters and patriots for refusing to appear alongside Nazi collaborators.” NCRICT statement reads. 

It is shameful that BBC by its fake news is helping the Iranian regime to turn a security threat into political dissidents, and demonize them in a well-known method of the Iranian regime. No wonder why Iranian people call BBC as Ayatollah BBC, but the question is why they are doing this now, and why the regime needs this propaganda and fake news at this moment.

“The continuing uprisings in Iraq and Lebanon have undermined the strategic depth and one of the strategic pillars of the ruling theocracy ruling Iran. Intensifying international sanctions, in particular against the regime’s supreme leader and his inner circle, coupled with the rise in the Iranian people’s protests and the Resistance Units’ activities not only highlight the reality that time is rapidly running out on the religious fascism ruling Iran, but also pose an unprecedented challenge to its survival.

Under such circumstances, the mullahs have stepped up their terrorist activities and stepped up their campaign of demonization against the Iranian Resistance and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in order to make it appears as though that there is no alternative to their regime and that the West is better served by continuing the policy of appeasement. The religious dictatorship’s desperation cloaked under the disgraced banner of “former PMOI members,” this time through Radio BBC 4 and the World Service, represents one such effort. “

MSNBC’s coverage of recent protests in Iran lacked the objectivity necessary to provide its audience with accurate, factual evidence on the situation in Iran. On the 25^th of May, the network broadcasted its “On Assignment” program. The program, narrated by Richard Engel, repeated the Iranian regime’s false narrative on the protests, even going as far as to include a notorious agent of the regime as a key witness.

The coverage presented unfounded allegations about the Iranian opposition movement, the MEK, including that it carries out acts of torture. It also framed the prospect of change in Iran as a purely American adventure, overlooking the many protests that have racked the country in recent months, and continue to rack the country on a daily basis.

Omission of Facts

The report was forthcoming in allegations against the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK) and the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), however, it failed to mention many important facts. It tried to depict the activists involved in the resistance movement as violent brutes but declined to mention that the NCRI and particularly the MEK are the prominent victims of the violence in Iran, with the regime executing as many as 30,000 of its members in the single summer of 1988.

In total, as many as 120,000 members of the MEK have been arbitrarily executed at the hands of the regime. Many more have been imprisoned on jumped up charges and face harassment from the regime on a daily basis.

Pushing Trump Towards War

The program went on suggest that the Trump administration is careering towards a war with Iran, driven on by the NCRI’s encouragement. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth. The MEK and the Iranian opposition has asserted time and time again that it does not want war. The leaders of the movement, including Maryam Rajavi, have publicly appealed against military intervention.

The Death of US Military Personnel in Iran

The “On Assignment” program also claimed that the MEK was involved in the death of six American military personnel and contractors that occurred in the 70s in Iran, also claimed that MEK was involved in the hostage-taking after the 1979 revolution. These claims were discredited in 2006 in an independent study from the Iran Policy Committee.

Based on the independent study, The MEK leaders and most of its members were in Shah’s prisons when the assassinations took place by a separatist group that had taken over the organization in the absence of all its leaders who were in Prison at the time. They had hijacked the name of the organization, changed its ideology to Marxism and even murdered some of the members who resisted their take over. MEK had no role in the alleged assassinations.

The Iran Policy Committee also found that the MEK had no part in the embassy takeover. In reality, the whole incident was orchestrated by the clerical regime to turn public opinion against, and then suppress, the Iranian opposition.

This reassessment of the circumstances around the 1979 embassy takeover led the State Department to revoke its designation of the MEK in 2012 after it found no evidence of terrorism carried out by the MEK or the NCRI. Instead, it acknowledged the MEK as a legitimate resistance movement.

Had MSNBC consulted members of the House and Senate, it would have quickly discovered that rather than a violent and aggressive organization, the MEK is a peaceful and legitimate resistance movement. Hordes of scholars and writers have publicly debunked the falsehoods and misinformation disseminated by the clerical regime about the MEK. Conducting basic research would have exposed much of MSNBC’s assertion as false.

Staff Writer

On Saturday, May 26th, the National Council of Resistance of Iran U.S. Representative Office (NCRIUS) published a rebuttal to the outrageous allegations made in a program that aired on MSNBC on May 25th. The program in question was Richard Engel’s “On Assignment”, included a number of old and debunked allegations about the MEK, which is the largest member of the NCRI.

 

The program relied on claims made by Masoud Khodabandeh, a long-standing known operative of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). Khodabandeh has been used repeatedly by the Iranian regime to further its demonization campaign against the MEK, and his allegations have been proven false repeatedly.

 

The recent uprising and continuing protests by the Iranian people have made it clear that they want regime change and that they support the resistance movement, which includes the MEK, as its backbone. The regime finds itself in a desperate position and has increased its efforts to delegitimize the MEK and stave off the revolution. Part of this effort to demonize the MEK includes planting false narratives in Western media about the MEK and its goals, in an attempt to frighten away potential allies of the resistance. These falsehoods have all been debunked in the past. In addition, it is important to note that the MEK does not desire U.S. military involvement in toppling the Iranian regime. The organization is capable of this without outside intervention. The NCRIUS responded to the false allegations made on MSNBC point by point.

 

On claims by Masoud Khodabandeh that the MEK is a “destructive cult” that receives money and gold from Saudi Arabia:

 

It has been established by numerous sources (including a report commissioned by the Library of Congress) that Masoud Khodabandeh and his wife, Anne Singleton, are MOIS agents working for the Iranian regime. Witnesses have seen Ms. Singleton doing the work of the regime on several occasions.

 

The MEK flatly denies allegations that it has taken money from Saudi Arabia or any other foreign government. The MEK relies on its members to finance its activities and challenges anyone to prove otherwise.

 

On claims that the MEK was responsible for the deaths of six American military personnel and Pentagon contractors in the early 1970s in Iran:

 

According to a 2013 independent study by the University of Baltimore and a 2014 Council on Foreign Relations backgrounder, the MEK was not in any way involved in the deaths of U.S. service members in Iran. In fact, the assassins responsible for the U.S. deaths also assassinated several MEK leaders. These assassins later confessed to these crimes and were executed by the Shah’s regime.

 

The MEK members at Camp Ashraf in Iraq were later designated as “protected persons” under the Geneva Convention, a status that could not be conferred to members of an organization that had participated in terrorist acts. According to the New York Times, “Senior American officials said extensive interviews by officials of the State Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation had not come up with any basis to bring charges against any members of the group [MEK].”

 

On claims that the MEK participated in the takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979:

Iran’s Supreme Leader after the 1979 revolution, Ruhollah Khomeini, engineered the hostage crisis in order to consolidate power and crush the MEK. Masoumeh Ebtekar was a Spokesperson for the hostage-takers and is now a member of President Rouhani’s cabinet. She confirmed that the MEK had no role in the hostage crisis.

 

On Engel’s claim that the MEK paid large sums of money to former U.S. officials as speaking fees:

The MEK denies making payments to Americans, and an investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department confirmed this. The 2012 investigation concluded that Iranian-Americans exercised their First Amendment rights in organizing events where U.S. officials spoke and broke no laws in doing so.

On claims by Daniel Benjamin, former Coordinator of Counterterrorism, that the MEK is a terrorist organization, despite being delisted:

 

The MEK was originally listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) as a “goodwill gesture,” which was intended to appease the Iranian regime. The Clinton Administration later officially confirmed that this was their reasoning in adding the MEK to the terror list. In 1998, a letter from the House Majority described the designation as a “wrong-headed policy,” that would only embolden the regime, and characterized the MEK as “a legitimate resistance movement.”

In 2010 the MEK filed the first of many court cases to challenge its inclusion on the terror list, and court after court ruled in favor of the organization. In a final ruling, a federal court found no evidence that the MEK was involved in terrorist activities and gave the Secretary of State a deadline to issue a new decision. Otherwise, the court stated that it would delist the organization itself. The State Department refused to comply with the court order. In response, the MEK filed the first successful writ of mandamus since 1803, which forced the State Department to delist the organization in 2012.

The MSNBC piece was based on falsehoods that have been propagated by the regime and its surrogates for many years, despite being easily disproved by the public record. The regime hopes that by continuing to demonize the MEK they can prevent the inevitable downfall of their oppressive reign. But after the uprising that began last year and spread to 140 cities across Iran, it is obvious that this strategy will not be successful, despite their efforts to spread propaganda in the Western world.