NBC News published an article on October 17, which contained several long-disproved claims about the Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Anyone could see that the source for this article is actually the Iranian Regime, but after NBC refused to publish the rebuttal, written by Ali Safavi of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), he decided to publish it.

In the rebuttal, Safavi made seven points which we will address briefly, but you should read it in full.

Safavi began by explaining that the MEK has spent 40 years fighting for democracy against the biggest state sponsor of terrorism in the world and, as a result, has been severely attacked by those who advocate appeasing the mullahs.

He said: “Unable to openly defend the religious dictatorship in Iran, these apologists instead demonize the regime’s democratic alternative to justify appeasing the current regime.”

I've looked through every tweet by Obama's counter-terror chief @Benjamin05055 & haven't found a word against Iranian regime's terrorism. Yet he attacks @realDonaldTrump's 'maximum pressure' campaign & @StateDept's decision to designate Iran's IRGC as a terror org. Wondering why? pic.twitter.com/AlftxsNyCL

— M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) October 20, 2019

Safavi noted that the article quoted former State Department official Daniel Benjamin, who was the main opponent to the MEK’s legal battle against the false terrorist designation levied against it in the 1990s to appease the mullahs.

This is not the first time NBC has sought a quote from Benjamin. Last year, when European law enforcement agencies foiled the regime’s terror plot against the MEK in Paris, NBC echoed Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif by calling the plot a “false flag” and then quoted Benjamin as saying that nothing was simple and shifting the blame to the victims.

Then, Safavi quotes the US State Department’s recent release about the Iranian regime’s malign activities during nuclear negotiations and after the signing of the nuclear agreement as proof of Iran’s evil actions, especially against the MEK.

Safavi wrote: “The dozens of honourable and bipartisan American figures who support the MEK and the Iranian Resistance represent the conscience of humanity against the evils of the theocratic rulers of Iran. Targeting these personalities, including America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who have distinguished careers, is part of the clerical regime’s vilification campaign against the MEK, which is sadly echoed by supporters of appeasement vis-a-vis the regime like Daniel Benjamin.”

Safavi explained that Benjamin had while working as the State Department’s Counterterrorism official “inexplicably” refused to implement the orders of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to delist the MEK, meaning that then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had to do it herself.

Safavi then easily dismissed claims that the MEK has no base in Iran, citing that over 100,000 of its members have been executed, yet they still continue to donate money to the MEK, hang up their posters, and fight for freedom.

Safavi wrote: “Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. Why would an organization that lacks social support become the clerical regime’s main existential problem?… Hours after the publication of the NBC article, the clerical regime’s state-run media outlets, including the Fars news agency tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), embraced it and translated it into Farsi. Serving the godfather of terrorism and arming it with more fodder to suppress the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance is utterly shameful.”

More than 100K of #MEK members &sympathizers have been executed. Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. https://t.co/SXRQDBOIaA #NBC #FakeNewsMedia #WeSupportMEK #FreeIran pic.twitter.com/2w6jykoORH

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) October 20, 2019

Recently, the Iranian regime claimed that the owner of AmadNews, a so-called opposition website, has been arrested in a “professional”, “Intelligent”, and “polyhedral” mission using “new style intelligent work”. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) called this claim stupid, ridiculous, and phony saber-rattling.

The NCRI also mentioned that to spread fear among its own forces, the Iranian regime shoots itself in the foot.

The fake internet and TV alternatives made by the Iranian Regime’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) are run by the regime’s defected forces to prevent joining people to the resistance movement, Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK).

Stand up to the clerical regime and prevent their access to missile programs and any form of arms and equipment. Blacklist the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) and the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in the U.S. and European Union. #FreeIran#Iran pic.twitter.com/0lQH7dQ98T

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) February 8, 2019

Running various media under the title of “opposition” is a well-known and Gestapo style tactic of the Cyber Army of the mullahs.

Hashem Khastar, representative of freedom-loving teachers of Iran said on July 21, 2019: “Farzanegan group (another fake media group) has been created by the regime’s cyber Army to hunt freedom loving activists… I asked my colleagues to stay alert”

Mr. Khastar also said that he was forced to take a position against the MEK; he was arrested again three weeks later.

Running a demonizing campaign against the MEK by the fake and hand-made internet network and media has always served to suppress the MEK supporters and resistance units inside Iran.

Another Example of fake internet media

Following the US State Department’s call to raise questions and demands of Iranian people in social media, using thousands of Tweets under the numerous titles particularly “Restart” from cities of Mashhad, Tabriz, Yazd and Tehran, the Iranian regime’s cyber Armey tried to mobilize its forces running a fake news campaign against the MEK.

Mohammad Hosseini, the owner of Restart, started servicing the Iranian regime beginning with the state-run TV and continued in the United Arab Emirates(UAE), Cyprus, and finally the US.

In an interview with a TV channel stationed in Los Angeles, he acknowledged that the MOIS agents in a meeting in the UAE “kindly” asked him to run a TV station.

The shaky regime resorts to running fake media channels

Spending millions of dollars, the Iranian regime resorts to running fake and phony Internet networks and media channels as well as making hundreds of movies and publishing more than a thousand books in a demonizing campaign against the MEK. Mullahs desperately try to prevent the wave of the Iranian youth and women joining the MEK. The popularity of the MEK is a nightmare for the medieval regime ruling Iran.

#Iran's regime growing ever more concerned about the PMOI/MEK's popularity inside the country.#IranRegimeChangehttps://t.co/YHK29LGvcC

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 16, 2019

The maturity of the population and the activities of the MEK resistance units have left no room for the mullahs to deceive the people.

Staff Writer

This summer’s highly-visible protests and rallies by the Iranian Opposition drew increased attention to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) and the imminent collapse of the mullahs’ regime. The rallies were overwhelmingly successful in achieving their aims and received widespread support from international leaders across the political spectrum, it was therefore anticipated that both the supporters of the policy of appeasement and those who have fallen prey to the regime’s anti-MEK propaganda will give lip-service to the Iranlobby and/or Iran’s notorious Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) .

Former MEP: “The Key Task of MOIS Is to Identify and Eliminate Opponents of The Regime, The MEK”

In their August 29th edition, Newsweek published an article entitled “Iran’s Opposition Groups are Preparing for the Regime’s Collapse. Is Anyone Ready?” The article noted that “something is different now” and that the prospect of the “collapse of the Tehran regime has raised the question of what kind of Iranian government might come next.” This is an excellent question, but Newsweek missed the mark in answering it, claiming that the mullahs’ regime should be preserved and appeased.

 

The regime is indeed faltering and close to collapse, and the article correctly states that the MEK “is the oldest, best organized and best known of several Iranian opposition movements.” The author falls victim to regime propaganda on a number of counts, though, doubting the MEK’s base of popular support and using a number of discredited and unnamed sources to support an anti-MEK stance that largely arises from political opposition to current U.S. policy towards Iran.

 

It is important to note that inside Iran, it is deadly to speak in support of the MEK. The regime has murdered more than 120,000 MEK members and supporters since 1981, and those who continue to support the MEK do so at great personal risk. Despite this, regime leaders and state media express daily concerns about their fear of the MEK’s growing influence in the country. The measure of the MEK’s popular base of support can best be measured by the words of those who fear it.

EDITORIAL: Powerless Against the #Iran'ian Resistance's Advances, the Mullahs' Admit to the #MEK's Popularity and Influence in Iranian Householdshttps://t.co/fJJPQhi06I pic.twitter.com/3N3Ifmoufg

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 15, 2019

Mr. Broder was invited to the Ashraf-3, the MEK’s headquarters in Albania, to speak to members and ask questions before writing his article, but he declined. Dozens of other journalists have accepted this offer and painted a different picture of the MEK.

Video: Tsarizm Editor-in-Chief Visits MEK Compound In Albaniahttps://t.co/BFLNbAK2Zr

— L Todd Wood (@LToddWood) September 20, 2018

If Mr. Broder had visited Ashraf-3, he might have learned the following facts, which were incorrectly stated in his article and rebutted by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI):

Regime Scientists Were Not Murdered

The MEK did not murder Iranian regime, nuclear scientists. In a September 28, 2012 background briefing, two senior State Department officials officially stated, “The United States Government has not claimed that the MEK was involved in the assassination of scientists in Iran.”

MEK Was Not Delisted as Act of Charity

Newsweek contradicted its own reporting on the blacklisting of the MEK. In September 2002, Newsweek reported that the terrorist listing was an act of political goodwill by the Clinton administration. The magazine printed a 1997 quote from Martin Indyk, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, which said, “[There] was White House interest in opening up a dialogue with the Iranian government. At the time, President Khatami had recently been elected and was seen as a moderate. Top Administration officials saw cracking down on the [MEK], which the Iranians had made clear they saw as a menace, as one way to do so,”

The MEK’s delisting was not an act of charity, as claimed in the article. Secretary Clinton was forced to remove the MEK from the FTO list after being ordered to do so by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the nation’s second highest court. The unanimous ruling found no evidence that the MEK was involved in terrorism. 100 members of Congress from both sides of the aisle also urged the State Department to delist the MEK.

Court Rulings

MEK Was Not Involved in Embassy Takeover

The assertion that the MEK “support[ed] the takeover of the U.S. embassy” and broke “with Khomeini over his decision to release the American hostages” is patently false. The hostage crisis was an attempt by Khomeini to create anti-American sentiment in Iran in order to ensure the passage of the newly-drafted constitution, which was based on the principle of absolute clerical rule. The MEK strongly opposed the new constitution, and Khomeini sought to marginalize any opposition to his rule. On the sixth anniversary of the takeover, then-Chief Justice Abdol Karim Moussavi Ardabili admitted the motivation for the crime in a Friday Prayer sermon: “[The embassy takeover] brought about the fall of the Provisional Government, the isolation of the liberals and the confusion of left-wing groups and the Monafeqin (the MEK) and exposed their real faces. As Imam Khomeini said, this revolutionary move was greater than the first revolution.”

1988 Massacre Was Not Linked to War

The Iranian regime began executing MEK members and supporters after a peaceful demonstration in Tehran on June 20, 1981, during which the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) opened fire on the crowd of 500,000 protesters, killing thousands on the spot. The 30,000 political prisoners in Iran who were executed during the 1988 Massacre were not associated with the MEK’s incursion into western Iran, as has been explicitly stated by Amnesty International and the late Ayatollah Hossein-Ali Montazeri, Khomeini’s would-be successor, who was deposed for his opposition to the executions. The regime has long used the war as a justification for the massacre of 30,000 of its own citizens, including teenagers, pregnant women, and the elderly.

.@amnesty press conference revealing new report on Iran now showing video about the thousands of prisoners who were forcibly disappeared & secretly killed in 1988 and their families who continue to suffer today https://t.co/UJdAIBovB9 #TruthAndJusticeNow

— Amnesty Iran (@AmnestyIran) December 4, 2018

HRW Report Was Not Reliable

The author of the 14-year-old Human Rights Watch Report was paid by an Iranian regime lobbying group operating out of Washington, D.C. Retired Brigadier General David Phillips (then an active Colonel), the commander of the U.S. 89th MP Brigade that protected the MEK’s Camp Ashraf in 2004-2005, wrote a letter to HRW Executive Director Kenneth Roth in response to the report, stating:

“I believe that your recent report was based on unsubstantiated information from individuals without firsthand knowledge or for reasons of person gain. I have spoken to large groups of MEK/PMOI members and have also had one on one private conversations with individual members. At no time did any member, ranging from young male and females to the very senior leadership, ever report any of the type of conduct outlined in your recent report.”

Staff writer

 

The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Committee on Security and Counterterrorism released a new report on Thursday detailing the cyber campaign against the MEK by the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Security and Intelligence (MOIS).

Iran MOIS’ Futile and Disgraceful Ploys Targeting Iran Resistance
Crazed acts of Iran’s cyber war machine to counter Resistance’s international campaignhttps://t.co/ehWUXarf8d pic.twitter.com/ACvKbw4eEa

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) August 14, 2019

According to the report, the regime is reeling from the effects of this summer’s Free Iran rallies in numerous world capitals and the five-day conference held at Ashraf-3, the MEK’s headquarters in Albania, which was attended by more than 350 prominent political figures and human rights activists from 47 countries. These events, combined with increasing resistance activity within Iran and tightening sanctions on Iran’s petrochemical industry and regime leaders and entities, have led the clerical dictatorship to the brink of collapse.

Influence at Home and Abroad

Regime leaders are now openly voicing their concerns about the MEK’s power and influence both inside Iran and abroad. On August 8th, the Kayhan daily newspaper wrote that the MEK “has penetrated deeply into our homes and its impact is being felt.”

 

In a July 29th interview on state-run television, IRGC Brigadier General Assadollah Nasseh said: “We must know that everything that takes place in the world against us is the result of their [MEK’s] lobbying effort somewhere or a price that they have paid… On the issue of missiles, we witness that it was based on the information that they provided to the Americans. Regarding human rights, they makeup dossiers and files and provide them to Europeans and they put pressure on us in this way. They use every leverage against us.”

Influence on Social Media

Regime officials have also expressed alarm at the MEK’s presence on social media.

#IRGC Commander: Second is the danger of #MEK infiltration inside the regime, which is the main obstacle in confronting them.”
Read more here:https://t.co/EC7i7g9XNr #FreeIran #WeSupportMEK @USAdarFarsi pic.twitter.com/C7Sm71qQJu

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) August 14, 2019

In a July 28th interview with the state-run ISNA, IRGC Brigadier General Gholamreza Jalali, who heads the regime’s civil defense forces, said: “Their [MEK] fingerprint is on many of the controversies that we face. Many of the news cycles in cyberspace that are orientated against the state and the revolution are their psychological warfare [read: expose our crimes] against us… [MEK] incite people to rise up… During last year’s events,… They try to influence public opinion and perception in society negatively, and to instill despair, disappointment and a sense of failure of the Islamic Republic.”

On August 2nd, Brigadier General Abolghassem Forootan told the state-run Mizan news agency, “This time they [MEK] want to harm the values of our nation and system through the use of cyberspace and soft power.”

The NCRI report cites the growing alarm by the Iranian regime as a reason for its escalating cyber campaign against the MEK. According to the report, “the MOIS, IRGC, and Qods Force have embarked on a futile campaign to counter the growing resistance to the regime by using their propaganda and cyberwarfare machine.”

Cyber attacks against the MEK

The NCRI report lists a number of specific examples of online attacks against the MEK and the Iranian Resistance by the regime.

 

1. The English language website Iran Front Page (IFP) claimed that it had access to a “private meeting of the MEK in Albania.” As evidence for this false claim, the site posted a two-minute clip featuring the voice of Mr. Mehdi Abrishamchi reviewing the policies of past US administrations in appeasing the clerical regime. The clip in question was taken from a public meeting with Iranians after the annual NCRI gathering in Paris on July 1, 2017. The two-minute segment was not private, did not pertain to Albania, was not new, and was taken out of context. The website has been registered to an owner in Tehran since 2014.
2. The MOIS claimed to have access to a second audio clip of Mr. Abrishamchi in another internal meeting in Albania, which they published on a website called Mozahemin.org [Nuisances]. The audio clip featured a photograph of Mr. Abrishamchi in a public meeting in Paris over the voice of a woman saying, “In 2013 a message announced that the regime would be overthrown in six months…” Neither the photo or the voice (which has not been verified) have any connection to Albania. The website is openly owned by and registered to the MOIS.
3. The state-run Khorasan daily ran an article on June 3, 2019, acknowledging the regime’s inability to counter the MEK within Iran. The article published transcripts from an audio recording of “a secret internal meeting of the MEK in January 2018 in which Mehdi Abrishamchi, second in command of the group, explicitly revealing the terrorists’ role [dragetory for MEK] in the riots of December 2017.” The article quotes Mehdi Abrishamchi stressing the importance of activating 1,000 Ashraf bases, or resistance units, to inflame the uprisings taking place in cities across Iran. The regime has spent 40 years publicly denying that the MEK is an existential threat while spending millions to try to eliminate the group. The days of denying the threat of the MEK are over.
   

   Time to Support MEK, in Its Quest for Freedom

4. On August 8, the Daily Beast wrote, “American intelligence officials are monitoring a social media disinformation campaign that attempted to falsely implicate the White House National Security Adviser in a global money laundering and drug trafficking operation. On Monday, a Twitter user claiming to be a high-ranking Canadian law enforcement official posted records supposedly showing a $350,000 wire transfer from a Canadian children’s apparel company to a Swiss bank account owned by National Security Adviser John Bolton’s daughter…   Twitter suspended the fake Belanger account and Toronto Police Service spokesman Alex Li confirmed to The Daily Beast that it was ‘a fraudulent’ persona. The real police official the account had impersonated has never had a Twitter account. A U.S. official familiar with the apparent disinformation campaign said intelligence community officials were aware of the effort. And Lee Foster, an information operations intelligence analyst at the cybersecurity firm FireEye, told The Daily Beast that the hoax’s techniques are ‘consistent with what we’ve seen with previous pro-Iranian influence operations.’ Bolton is among the Trump administration’s most aggressive critics of the Iranian regime. The U.S. official, while not commenting on this week’s disinformation campaign specifically, said Bolton has been the target of state-sponsored influence operations designed to weaken his standing in the administration.  Though Twitter quickly removed the tweet on Monday and suspended the account, it had already been picked up and covered by a handful of websites with editorial positions sympathetic to the Iranian government. News outlets such as Iran Front Page blared ‘Belanger’s’ claims that a Canadian business had supposedly transferred the funds at issue had been caught smuggling ‘a significant amount of opium” and “has close ties with the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group.’”
5. In July, the MOIS began using fake email accounts to send messages to supporters of the Iranian Resistance. The accounts are either similar to emails of well-known Resistance figures, or they carry the names of those people. The messages are used to disseminate false and misleading information about the Resistance.
6. In July, the regime’s cyber army used a fake telegram account, @SetareganZamini, to contact friends of the Iranian Resistance in order to request financial support for resistance units in Iran.
7. In July, the regime’s cyber army used the name and email of MEK supporter Zahra Asl Rousta (Zahra.aslerousta@gmail.com) to send a message with a pdf attachment containing a series of questions. The pdf contained a virus that would give the hackers access to recipients stored data if opened.
8. In April and May, a woman who introduced herself as Arezoo, an official with the MEK, contacted a number of MEK supporters, claiming that she would be busy with demonstrations and was going to be replaced by a person named Homa. Homa was an MOIS agent who repeatedly asked for information about the Resistance. For example, she wrote, “I want to know whether you know anyone in Iran who you can introduce and with whom I can speak? Let us know about anyone, anywhere, who you think could be in touch with us or give us any news or carry out even a small task. I would be very grateful.”
9. In April, the regime sent a pdf file through the email account ashraf3.albani@gmail.com with the title “a visual report on the residents of Ashraf in Albania.” The file contained a virus.
10. In April, a regime cyber agent used a fake email account bearing the name of a Resistance official to send messages to a number of Resistance members claiming that his/her emails were hacked. One of these messages read, “Hi, I would like to inform you that email of——has been hacked. If he/she sends you an email, don’t click on it because it is a virus and will infect your computer and cellphone. Please let all friends know.” Shortly thereafter, the agent sent messages asking recipients to contact a different email and requesting personal information, such as phone numbers, saying that it had been lost.
11. In April, a regime cyber agent sent a series of false reports about “infiltrators” to the group. He copied a text which had previously been sent to MEK supporters and added, “The collection of these issues in recent days speaks to the presence of infiltrators among the ranks of PMOI supporters and the PMOI itself, which only adds to the need for awareness about those around us and about drawing lines and being vigilant.” He also included a number of false reports about regime agents posing as MEK members asking for donations. The MEK does not collect donations in this manner.
12. A man received a Telegram message from his brother in Iran asking him to travel abroad to visit. After following up on the message, the man discovered that his brother had been arrested and that the regime had sent the messages from his brother’s account in order to lure him to Iran.
13. A regime cyber agent used the email account h_meli896@gmail.com, which is similar to Hambastegi Meli’s email, to spread disinformation about the MEK and the Iranian Resistance. Meli’s actual email address is hmeli896@gmail.com.
14. MOIS agents used two accounts, toufan2019@gmail.com, and emzamahfoz@gmail.com to email MEK supporters and Iranians, posing as dissidents. The emails would start with a series of questions and then progress to anti-MEK propaganda.
15. Regime cyber agents used a Skype account that was similar to one that was used by a member of the Resistance to obtain information from MEK supporters.
16. The MOIS sent threatening messages to MEK members on Telegram. One such message by “didban fazaye majazi” reads, “Dear telegram user, you have joined the telegram group nationwide uprising, which belongs to the PMOI. So far your membership appears to be out of ignorance. If you continue to be a member, it would be perceived as deliberate membership and would have legal repercussions for you.”
17. Over the past few months, regime intelligence agents have used the telephone number 3-393-750-2075 to call Iranian Resistance supporters in France in order to steal their Facebook and email account information.
18. An MOIS agent recently attempted to procure an interview with a MEK supporter by using an email account similar to the one used by a U.S. journalist. The agent copied the journalist’s picture and information and sent a dangerous virus to the MEK’s supporter’s computer in an attempt to hack his computer. The attempt was unsuccessful on all counts.

Avoid Unknown Contacts and Emails

The NCRI’s Committee on Security and Counterterrorism calls on all supporters and friends to expose the regime’s cyber campaigns. It further urges all supporters to be cautious in responding to emails or social media contacts, including Telegram, WhatsApp, and Skype. Do not respond to an unknown or suspicious email or social media requests, and report suspicious cases to NCRI representative offices or PMOI chapters in different countries.

Staff writer

The Hill TV interviewed former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield about the MEK as part of its series on Iran this May. In his interview, Ambassador Bloomfield addressed propaganda concerning the MEK and discussed Iran’s future.

Highlights from the interview included:

Interviewer: What are the most serious of the Iranian opposition groups? Is the MEK the strongest one in opposing the Iranian regime?

Bloomfield: I can’t speak for the 80 million people in Iran, and neither can anyone else because if you say anything favorable about the MEK or the National Council of Resistance of Iran, you could face imprisonment, amputation, execution, or if the religious judge likes you, exile…They are very well organized. They are very competent. And what people don’t realize is it’s a women-led organization, almost at every level.

For those who want to know the type of support #MEK has in #Iran, this is the 4th mass demonstration after #FreeIran rally in #Brussels,#Washington D.C.&#Berlin voicing the #IranProtests &calling 4 #IranRegimeChange #IStandWithMaryamRajavi #WeSupportMEK pic.twitter.com/ylFdyJkmMa

— Ka Veh (@kaveh20092009) July 23, 2019

Interviewer: Congressman Brad Sherman recognized the critical role the MEK played in revealing Iran’s nuclear weapons program in 2002. What can you tell us about that?

Bloomfield: President Bush also acknowledged that an opposition group had come up with this information. There were certain sites that were unknown until they revealed by the opposition. This is when the U.S. and the European Union were negotiating with Iran on their nuclear program…When it turned out the Iranians were dealing in bad faith, something that President Rouhani bragged about, later on, that’s when the U.N. put very strict sanctions on Iran in 2009.

Interviewer: What can you tell us about the reality of the terrorism accusations against the MEK and have they ever been listed as a terrorist group?

Bloomfield: They’ve been listed as a terrorist group, from 1996 to 2012, and the story that needs to be told is that they have never been terrorists. There have been four major court cases, including in the U.S., that led Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to take them off the list because they couldn’t come up with any credible evidence that they had been terrorists…Not one member of this group in 54 years has ever been prosecuted as a terrorist by a country ruled by the rule of law under due process.

Interviewer: There are also critics of the MEK who say that it operates like a cult. What are they referring to?

Bloomfield: They are referring to the intense loyalty that the supporters have for each other. They have a level of trust which spooks some people. But if you realize that tens of thousands of their relatives have been jailed, tortured, and murdered over the years…all of these survivors stick together, and they probably don’t trust anyone else…They are basically being chased…They are not a cult.

Interviewer: How effective and how widespread are the Iranian regime’s anti-MEK propaganda efforts?

Bloomfield: They’ve been extremely effective… They’ve repeated things so often that people in Washington have come to believe it…If I were a correspondent and wanted a visa to Tehran and wanted to come back in one piece and wanted an interview with Foreign Minister Zarif, I would never say a word about this group. The minute you say something about the MEK or NCRI that’s real, you’re never going to Iran again, you’re never getting another interview.

Stevenson describes the ways in which the Iranian regime has stepped up its campaign of disinformation against the #MEK (#PMOI) since the massive uprising in #Iran beginning in December of last year. https://t.co/8NLlO8aVou

— MEKIran (@MEK_Iran) May 2, 2018

Interviewer: You have been working on Mideast issues and national security issues for a long time. What should the United States’ approach be going forward with the MEK be?

Bloomfield: My points have nothing to do with military confrontation. I think that would unite the Iranian people behind their own government. I think that’s a natural reaction. I think what we really should be doing is showing what the people in this regime have been guilty of…I would put war crimes dossiers together, and I would take senior leaders of the Iranian regime to The Hague and prosecute them for war crimes. To get that information, someone needs to talk to the NCRI.

Staff writer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Statement from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirming that the French diplomat’s identity has been subject to misuse.Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian opposition, rejected the lies by IRGC, News Agency regarding an illusionary visit to Israel and considered “it a show of regime’s desperation and need for fake news against the Iranian resistance.”

Lies by IRGC News Agency regarding my illusionary visit to Israel shows regime’s desperation and need for fake news against Iranian resistance. #Iran

— Maryam Rajavi (@Maryam_Rajavi) July 23, 2019

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs released an official statement this week in response to the recent scandal over a series of tweets that were sent from a fake account controlled by the regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).

The statement declared, “The head of the French consulate in Jerusalem is the target of an identity theft act on Twitter. The French consulate wants Internet users to be alert.”

 

Roots of the Scandal

The scandal arose after the five-day Free Iran Conference at Ashraf 3 in Albania this month. The event drew worldwide media attention and effectively countered forty years of regime propaganda against the MEK. In addition, this summer’s Free Iran rallies in world capitals have attracted thousands of supporters and challenged the regime’s narrative that the MEK does not have the support of the Iranian people.

Absurdities reflecting mullahs’ wrath and desperation in dealing with popular uprisings in Iran, five days of Resistance gatherings in Albania and protests by tens of thousands of Iranians in Brussels, Washington, Berlin, and Stockholm. #Iran #FreeIran @francediplo_EN

— Mohammad Mohaddessin (@Mohaddessin) July 23, 2019

The mullahs were enraged by these events and tried to launch a new disinformation campaign. On July 23rd, the IRGC news agency reported that Pierre Cochard,” a French diplomat resident in Israel,” tweeted that Mrs. Maryam Rajavi was traveling to Israel with the purpose of “meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the head of the Mossad spy agency.” The report also falsely stated: “The trip, carried out with the help of Giuliani and in coordination with Israel’s ambassador to Albania Boaz Rodkin, has direct ties with the MEK and the Israeli intelligence agency (Mossad).”

Oddly enough, the Iran lobby and the advocates of the Iranian regime tried using the fake news as a new item to use to demonize the MEK. The social media was filled with posts trying to make use of the disinformation. Here are a few that were debunked by other journalists or users exposing the propaganda and the mal-intentions behind it.

The French #IranLobby &a die-hard supporter of #Iran's dictatorship,@Malbrunot relays crude #FakeNews from the #Iranian terrorist regime:read here:
La honte:le journaliste anti-israélien Malbrunot relaye une grossière fake news du régime terroriste iranien https://t.co/KwGSsikxB5

— Ka Veh (@kaveh20092009) July 24, 2019

A good example of how #Iranlobby, regime advocates &affiliates spread lies and rumors about #Iran's main opposition.
A fake account impersonating Pierre Cochard, quoting #FakeNews from"a former colleague in Tehran" Tweeted by Esfandiari like below⬇️. pic.twitter.com/0FKqtsBZbU

— Ka Veh (@kaveh20092009) July 23, 2019

Fake Tweets

The tweets referred to in the false news report were posted on July 17th by a person claiming to be a French consul general in Jerusalem. The details of the non-existent trip were described in five tweets. In his first tweet, however, he wrote, “I received the news from a former colleague who I worked with him in Tehran.” This was a fairly obvious hint that the “French diplomat” was in actuality an MOIS agent.

 

Twitter shut down “Pierre Cochard’s” account within a matter of hours, after which they discovered that the MOIS has controlled the Twitter handle since 2013.

Statement from the French Consulate

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued an official statement from the French consulate in Jerusalem entitled “The fake Twitter account on behalf of the French Consulate in Jerusalem.” It read, in part: “The Consul General of France in Jerusalem, Mr. Pierre Cochard, has been subjected to identity theft on the social network Twitter.”

“Mr. Pierre Cochard only communicates on Twitter, as well as other social networks, through the official accounts of the Consulate General of France in Jerusalem.”

Statement from the NCRI

The Security and Counter-Terrorism Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued its own statement on Wednesday in response to the scandal.

The statement said: “The lies of the Revolutionary Guards’ news agency about an illusionary travel by Mrs. Rajavi show the regime’s desperation and its severe need for the fake intelligence and fake news against the Iranian Resistance.”

It emphasized once again that the mullahs must be evicted from the Internet and social networks. The IRGC and the mullahs’ intelligence use the Internet to disseminate lies, propaganda, and disinformation, and to set the stage for terrorist activities.

Staff writer

The MEK hosted the second day of an international conference on Friday at Ashraf-3, the home of the Iranian Resistance’s headquarters in Albania. The conference, entitled “120 years of struggle of the Iranian people for freedom,” was attended by thousands of MEK members and prominent politicians and dignitaries from around the world.

The conference’s focus was to condemn the Iranian regime for its suppressive and inhuman actions at home and its terrorist activities abroad and to call on the international community to end the policy of appeasement that allowed the regime to act without consequences.

Speakers at the conference also emphasized that the international community must recognize the MEK and NCRI as the democratic alternative to the mullahs’ regime in order to bring peace and stability to the region.

The following are some of the highlights from the speeches at Friday’s event:

Maryam Rajavi

President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)

From Mrs. Rajavi’s keynote address:

“One of the missing links in previous movements of the Iranian people was a coherent organization and an organized struggle, coupled with a determined and battle-hardened force prepared to make any sacrifice necessary. As a result, the people’s previous struggles did not succeed despite all their sacrifices,” she said in reference to the failure of past uprisings.

Mrs. Rajavi also spoke about the many crimes perpetrated against the MEK by the mullahs’ regime.

“Despite all the crimes and massacres he committed, Khomeini failed to extinguish the flames of freedom. Over the past 40 years, 120,000 persons have given their lives for the cause of freedom. That includes the 30,000 people who were massacred in 1988 for insisting on their political identity as a member of the Mojahedin. Another half-a-million people were arrested and viciously tortured,” she said.

“The mullahs continued their crimes against Ashraf and Liberty by setting 22 deadlines in 10 years, through a medical blockade, through psychological torture using over 300 loudspeakers blaring into Ashraf for two years, and through 29 ground and aerial attacks, using armored vehicles and missile launchers, including the commission of seven bloodbaths and massacres,” she continued.

Mrs. Rajavi concluded on a hopeful note, saying, “But today, we have reached a historic turning point. An Ashraf which has once again risen up, proud and powerful, shining bright at the zenith of this Resistance. This Ashraf has been replicated 1000 times in the form of resistance units all over Iran. And a volatile society which is no longer willing to put up with the mullahs, yearning to overthrow them.”

Suda

MEK member and resident at Ashraf-3

“I grew up in Sweden and was about to travel to France to study, but a video that I’d seen couldn’t leave my mind; a video of someone being stoned to death in Iran. I saw myself at a crossroads. I could live my own life and fulfil my dreams or I could put everything aside and fulfil my people’s dreams. That’s why I joined the MEK, to live for others. I thank all of you for being with us,” she said.

French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt tells Iran's democratic opposition: “I’m proud of what you've achieved in Ashraf 3. As a woman I feel very proud of standing w/ you since there's no other org like the MEK that gives women this power” #FreeIran #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/99C823z9w7

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019

Ingrid Betancourt

Former Colombian Senator and Presidential candidate

“It’s just amazing what the MEK has done to transform this place since the last time I visited. I am proud to be your friend,” said Ms. Betancourt. “Your decision to confront the tyranny and pay the highest price. This sacrifice today is bearing its fruit. I see that here in Ashraf 3. It’s a miracle. I have been with you for a couple of years and I am amazed by your support and your political savviness. As a woman, I feel very proud and that in the world there is no organization like the MEK that gives women this power.”

“We are making history today,” she added. “Your victory is our victory and we will be very soon with you in Tehran!” Ms. Betancourt proclaimed.

Rudy Giuliani

"We could have prevented the Holocaust. We can't now. We can just learn from it. But we can prevent the murder and slaughter going on in Iran. An alternative exists to the theocracy in Iran. It's our responsibility to support it" – @RudyGiuliani #FreeIran #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/MNvv2h5xQP

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019

Former New York City Mayor

“There is an alternative to the theocracy and dictatorship in Iran. It is a government-in-exile, and it gives us the confidence that if we help overthrow the Iranian regime, there will be prosperity and democracy in Iran,” said the former mayor.

Giuliani referred to the numerous terrorist plots against the MEK by the Iranian regime in 2018, saying, “They tried to bomb us in the US. They tried to bomb us here in Tirana a year and a half ago. They tried to bomb us in Paris a year ago. They’re the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and we let them sit in the UN and talk to them like they’re decent people.”

“I thank Madam Maryam Rajavi for letting me be part of this, and this is something that I am proud of and probably my children will be proud of…I wish to have this meeting in Tehran before I die,” Giuliani said.

Giuliani encouraged the MEK to continue their struggle for freedom. “You keep trying and you fail, you keep trying and you fail, and then the Berlin Wall comes down. It will happen eventually, but let’s make it happen now before another 100,000 deaths,” he said.

"The museum in Ashraf 3 is an echo of the Holocaust" – @JoeLieberman at the conference on the Iranian people's struggle for freedom in Iran, today in Ashraf-3, Albania. #FreeIran #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/02Jh6mr5Cu

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019

Senator Joseph Lieberman

Former U.S. Senator and Vice-Presidential candidate

“You in the NCRI have given us the opportunity to be true to our national principles. When I’m here I feel that I’m representing the spirit of my great friend, the late Senator John McCain, who was warned by the establishment to stay away from this organization, but he spent time learning about it. He came to Ashraf 3, believing in this organization and its cause,” said Lieberman.

“Ashraf 3 has become something magnificent. Coming here and seeing this magnificent community that you’ve built is miraculous. It teaches us lessons,” he continued.

Lieberman praised the Ashrafis for their perseverance, saying, “The citizens of Ashraf never gave up despite the atrocities they faced imposed by the Iranian regime.”

He also talked about the exhibition of the history of MEK members who have been killed and persecuted by the Iranian regime that he and other speakers viewed before the conference began: “This exhibition, despite the mourning, is inspiring. And the whole story of the Ashrafis is inspiring,” he said.

“With the kind of leadership that the MEK and Maryam Rajavi are giving and will give in Iran; with the support of people from around the world who are represented here and with the resistance of the Iranian people inside of Iran, we will have a meeting some day in Iran and come together and have a great party,” Lieberman concluded.

Michèle Alliot-Marie

MEP; former French Foreign, Defense, Justice and Interior Minister

Alliot-Marie referenced the MEK memorial, saying, “I have to say that I’m very moved. What a contrast between the dramatic, horrifying images that we saw a few minutes ago. To be in contact with men and women who have given their lives for such a cause. To see what you have been able to achieve. You wish to give so much to the Iranian people.”

“You have people who have been tortured yet you still pave the path for freedom. This visit to Ashraf 3 was very moving for us,” she continued.

“I have the privilege of being able to speak and think freely. Yet I also know that today this liberty is not available everywhere across the globe,” Alliot-Marie said.

“We are also obliged to all people who are being subjugated to dictators around the world, and in Iran. We are here today, Mrs. Rajavi, to tell you that you are not alone,” she said.

“We have to give the Iranian people courage and the help they need so they can get their future back,” Alliot-Marie concluded.

“Maryam Rajavi's 10-point plan for a future #FreeIran is what we want for all Iranians” – former French Foreign Minister @MAlliotMarie at today's Iran conference in Ashraf-3 in Albania with members of Iran’s democratic opposition, the MEK. #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/fSuXflnhyE

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019

Matthew Offord

MP (United Kingdom)

“You are the proof of a proud brave nation that will never succumb to the atrocities of the regime,” Offord said, addressing the MEK members at the conference.

“We have always argued that decoupling the regime’s human rights violations from the nuclear deal was a mistake,” he said.

“We have been proven right that there is no moderate faction inside the Iranian regime.” he added.

“There are two issues that we continue to raise in our debates,” Offord said:

1. “We need to hold the Iranian regime accountable for its atrocities in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners.”
2. “The U.K. government needs to blacklist the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) and all its subsidiary as a terrorist organization.”

“This measure will signal to the Iranian people that they are not forgotten and we stand with them,” he emphasized.

Offord added, “We want to recognize the right of the Iranian people and the resistance led by Madame Maryam Rajavi to establish a democratic and free republic in Iran.”

“Iran’s current regime is not just a threat to the Iranian people but to the peace around the world,” he concluded.

General James Conway

Former Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps

“I participated in a policy panel in Ashraf 3 and we were invited to dinner with the ladies of Ashraf 3. And some of them shared with me their stories of sacrifice and suffering. What I saw last night in terms of the ability to endure loss and yet move on was the sense of unit cohesion and dedication to each other that was the same as you see in the military. The sense of mission and dedication to accomplish it, said General Conway.

“I’m absolutely confident that with those ladies, you will make your country free someday,” he added.

“@RudyGiuliani was correct that the solution to Iran is not appeasement but regime change. Throughout history there are always tyrants & for a while they seem invincible. But they all fall at the end. Always” Mojgan Parsaie, ex PMOI (MEK) Sec Gen #FreeIran #IStandWithMaryamRajavi pic.twitter.com/WfUdmjosdO

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) July 12, 2019

Ms. Mojgan Parsaie

Former MEK Secretary General

“The story of the supporters of Ashraf who helped rescue the MEK members is the story of honorable people,” said Ms. Parsaie.

“Time has shown that you stand on the right side of history. The future will show more appreciation,” she added.

“Mayor Giuliani was correct that the solution to Iran is not appeasement but regime change. Throughout history there are always tyrants and for a period they seem invincible. However, they all fall at the end. Always.” Ms. Parsaie concluded.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), spoke to MEK supporters and members of the Iranian diaspora at June 15, 2019, Free Iran rally and march in Brussels. He was one of more than a dozen prominent dignitaries who delivered remarks in support of the Iranian Resistance on Saturday. Mohaddessin touched on a number of topics, which are summarized below:

The Final Days of the Iranian Regime

“Today, the inhuman mullah regime ruling Iran is in its final phase, and the Iranian people and their Resistance are determined to topple this regime and establish a popular and democratic government in our shackled country,” Mohaddessin began.

@Mohaddessin : "You have chanted Down with Khamenei, Long live Rajavi for over 40 years, in winter and summer, and never surrendered your call for a #FreeIran." pic.twitter.com/1CPXtbAvzF

— NCRIWomen'sCommittee (@womenncri) June 15, 2019

Mohaddessin then praised the MEK’s Resistance Units, saying that they are on the “front lines of our battle with the regime” and calling them “the organizers of the Iranian people’s uprising.”

End the Era of Appeasement

Mohaddessin then turned his attention to the recent attacks in the Persian Gulf.

“The Iranian regime is engulfed by the escalating outrage of the people. Fearing the end of the appeasement era, the regime tries to regain its stability by increasing oppression, attacking ships and launching missiles and drones. But these actions will only expedite its downfall,” he said.

.

“The recent attack on oil tankers while Khamenei met with the Japanese Prime Minister once again showed that negotiations and placating the regime will achieve nothing and will have opposite results,” Mohaddessin added.

 

Mohaddessin stressed that the “only solution is the overthrow of this regime; this is an absolute need for peace and security in the Middle East and across the world.”

.@Mohaddessin at #FreeIran rally in Brussels: “The recent attack by Iran's regime on oil tankers as Khamenei met with Japan’s PM once again shows that negotiations & placating the mullahs will achieve nothing and have opposite results. "#IStandWithMaryamRajavi @eu_eeas @StateDept pic.twitter.com/unO8kz8sYt

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 15, 2019

“Let me remind the EU that the regime’s time is up. Do not tie your destiny to this regime. Put an end to appeasement. Do not fuel this regime’s terror and war machine,” he emphasized.

A Dead End for the Regime

Mohaddessin explained that the regime is in an unsustainable position.

“Every day the mullahs’ regime further sinks into the swamp of collapse; after 40 years of murder and crimes, it is now stuck in a dead-end,” he said.

 

“The regime doesn’t have the capacity to back down in its confrontation with the U.S., because if it does, the Iranian people, with the Resistance Units leading the way, will overthrow the regime. In addition, the regime has no power to confront the U.S. Therefore, this regime has to choose between ‘worse’ and ‘worst,’” he added.

Propaganda against the MEK

Mohaddessin concluded his speech by discussing the mullahs’ efforts to discredit the MEK through a demonization campaign.

“The regime sends forth its agents and mercenaries inside Iran to spread propaganda against the PMOI [MEK]. And it spends huge sums to hire well-known agents abroad to demonize the Iranian Resistance. The goal is to say that Iran has no alternative and the world must cope with the mullahs’ regime,” he said.

“The antidote to the demonization campaign is in your hands. Your active presence will prove to the world that the choice of the Iranian people is the PMOI [MEK] and the NCRI,” he concluded.

Staff Writer

Several weeks ago, members of the Iranian resistance group, the People’s Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (MEK), noticed an individual acting strangely near their compound. The stranger was Eskil Engdal a “journalist” working for Norwegian newspaper Dagens Næringsliv.

The journalist was in Albania with Gjergji Thanasi, a regime-affiliate with ties to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS). The pair were lurking around the residential settlement, taking photos of the entrance gate and ignoring signs stating that photo and video recording on the premises was prohibited. When approached by the Albanian security team, the pair refused to stop taking photos.

The Letter of NCRI Representative to #Norway's Justice Ministerhttps://t.co/Y0YuE14c9b #PMOI #MEK #Iran pic.twitter.com/OYDhzGEGSy

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 4, 2019

A History of Terror

To understand the inherent danger and suspicion in the pairs’ activities, we have to look to 2018. Over the course of the 18 months, the regime has aggressively hunted MEK members, planning terror attacks and assassinations against their ranks.

Last year, during the Persian New Year celebrations, the Albanian authorities thwarted a regime-sponsored terror attack on the MEK compound. Just a few months later, the regime again sought to carry out a terror attack against the MEK, this time in Paris at the group’s annual Grand Gathering.

Albanian President Expresses Support for Expulsion of Iranian Regime Diplomats

The Iranian regime has pursued and attacked the MEK at every turn. Its members have been the target of plots and assassinations in the US, and the EU.

Aiding and Abetting the Regime’s Terror Agenda

This suspicious behavior prompted the MEK’s legal team in Ashraf 3 (MEK’s residence in Albania) to write to the editor-in-chief of the paper. It read: “We would respectfully ask you not to allow your newspaper and journalist to become unwantedly tools of the Mullah’s regimes to enhance its objectives and prepare the grounds for assassinations of the Iranian refugees in Albania”.

Additionally, representatives from the MEK’s umbrella organization, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), penned a letter to the Norwegian Justice Minister on May 27^th.

If the reporter had wanted to gain access to the compound and produce an impartial, unbiased story about the Iranian opposition group, why did Eskil Engdal not contact the organization? Why would he arrive in the country with an MOIS agent?

Religious Fascism Against #Iran'ian Resistance Under Cover of Journalism https://t.co/tdunE08E23

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) June 5, 2019

If he had contacted the MEK, he would have been able to gather source material that disproved the lies fed to him by MOIS agents. He would have been made aware of the relentless demonization campaigns against the MEK that the Iranian regime carries out each year. He would have been aware of the slaughter of MEK members that have taken place within Iran, including the summer of 1988 when the regime killed more than 30,000 MEK members across the country.

Even if he did not wish to reach out to the MEK, he could have spoken to impartial authorities in the UK or Europe. Instead, he spoke to known regime affiliates and lobbyists. He could have referred to the North Rhine Westfalen State office for the Protection of the Constitution in Germany, which concluded in 2017: “These agents conduct espionage, disseminate false information, and recruit new spies. In the last four years, in particular, they have been spying on members of the Iranian opposition who have been transferred from Iraq to Europe as part of a humanitarian project.”

A Mouthpiece for Regime Lies

The fact that Eskil Engdal did none of these things suggests the work of a regime mouthpiece designed to spout the regime’s poisonous and violent ideology and promote its political objectives in the international media.

In publishing propaganda and lies, Eskil Engdal could become an active participant in the regime’s demonization campaign, paving the way for further terror attacks and legitimizing violence against MEK members.

The international media must learn that to publish the regime’s lies without scrutiny or due diligence is not only an affront to the principles of a free, independent media, but it emboldens the regime to continue to carry out terror attacks against an already persecuted Iranian opposition.

Staff writer

On Friday, May 24th, the National Council of Resistance (NCRI) released a letter written by Behzad Saffari, legal advisor for the MEK in Albania, to Amund Djuve, the Editor-in-Chief of the Dagens Næringsliv newspaper on April 1, 2019.

"We would respectfully ask you not to allow your newspaper and journalist to become unwantedly tools of the Mullah's regimes to enhance its objectives and prepare the grounds for assassinations of the Iranian refugees in Albania."#PMOI #MEKhttps://t.co/vCNbGrpJnc

— People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) (@Mojahedineng) May 25, 2019

The letter referred to an incident on March 27, 2019 in which a journalist from the newspaper, later identified as Eskil Engdal, accompanied by a regime Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) agent from the Iranian regime’s Embassy in Albania, Gjergji Thanasi, photographed the MEK compound in Albania. The compound, which houses MEK members who have been repeatedly targeted by terrorist attacks from the Iranian regime, explicitly prohibits photography at its entrances because of security concerns. The photographer and MOIS agent ignored the clearly posted signs and continued to aggressively take photographs even after they were asked to stop by Albanian security guards.

Continuous Terrorist Threats

 

The letter explained that the MEK has been subject to continuous terrorist threats by the Iranian regime, who see the opposition movement as an existential threat to their rule. In March 2018, Albanian authorities foiled a terrorist plot to bomb a Nowruz celebration at the MEK compound. An investigation resulted in the expulsion of two Iranian regime terrorists, the Iranian ambassador, and a high-ranking regime diplomat from Albania.

 

Saffari also referred to the foiled terrorist attack on the annual gathering of the MEK in June 2018 and the arrest of two MOIS agents in the United States in August 2018 for spying on MEK members.

Prior Espionage Activities

 

Saffari’s letter described Gjergji Thanasi’s prior espionage activities against MEK members in Albania, noting that he has posed as a journalist, chauffeur, and interpreter in order to get close to the MEK compound to film and collect information about security systems that have been put in place to protect residents from attack from regime terrorists.

 

Saffari questioned the newspaper journalist’s association with an Iranian regime agent, calling it “an increasing disturbing matter.” He also noted that the MEK had become aware that Engdal had met with MOIS agents claiming to be former members of the MEK who are on the payroll of the Iranian regime’s embassy in Albania.

False Claims against the MEK

Saffari contradicted false claims that the MEK compound is isolated and closed to outsiders, stating that since the group moved to Albania in 2018, “dozens of Albanian and International reporters and US and European personalities including Albanian Ministers have freely visited the compound.” He went on to add that “Albanian citizens in large and small groups come to the compound to visit their friends.”

A German Delegation Visits the MEK Compound in Albania

Saffari included documentation regarding the false and inflammatory article published by Der Spiegel magazine about the MEK. In March 2019, a German court ordered the magazine to remove false allegations against the MEK or pay a fine of up to €250,000 or face a six month prison sentence if the fine was not paid.

Saffari concluded his letter by respectfully asking

Dagens Næringsliv and Eskil Engdal not to unknowingly become tools of the mullahs’ regime used to “enhance its objectives and prepare the grounds for assassinations of the Iranian refugees in Albania.”

Staff writer