01.02.2024
The People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran (MEK/PMOI) is a paramilitary organization that began its activities in Iran in 1966. After the victory of the Iranian Islamic Revolution in 1979, this organization claimed falsely that the Islamic Revolution of Iran took place for the efforts of this group. The People’s Mujahedin of Iran did not come to power in this government, so they began waging conflicts against the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1981 and killed more than 17 thousand people in its own country. They did not stop there and fled to Iraq to continue their criminal activities with the support of Saddam, in just a mission in Iraq they killed more than 4 thousand Iraqi Kurds among them were women and children.
After about 25 years of presence in Iraq, this organization was expelled from this country at the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule over Iraq and settled in Albania with the financial support of some Arab countries and the direct support of the Americans. Therefore, whenever the name of the People’s Mojahedin Khalq organization is heard in a country, criminal actions, money laundering, terrorist actions, and subversive activities are also heard. A clear example of this can be seen in France’s experience of the presence of the People’s Mojahedin Organization over the past years.
The story started when the French anti-terrorist police attacked 13 bases of the organization and arrested Maryam Rajavi and 165 top members of the organization on June 17, 2003, who were in charge of controlling their major centers and bases in Europe and America. This act thwarted the prepared plans of Masoud Rajavi’s wife in Europe. After that, the “Figaro” newspaper revealed the objectives of the People’s Mojahedin in Europe and the plan to assassinate 25 of their separatists.
The commanders of the organization were monitored; money-laundering methods were exposed and traced. Crisis-making by attacking Iranian embassies was canceled, the transportation of the organization’s leadership and the transfer of documents were canceled, and defeat after defeat happened for this terrorist group. The news of police operations and the criminal activities of MEK was revealed fast and the media covered it and analyzed its cause.
The “New York Times” newspaper expressed the French government’s motivation for this action “preventing the transfer of the political-operational center of the People’s Mojahedin Khalq Organization from Iraq to France.” In an interview with the newspaper, Pierre Dubusquet, the head of the French intelligence agency, said that since last fall, the French intelligence agencies noticed the increasing number of the People’s Mujahideen and after the Iraq war, they noticed the arrival of a large number of MEK soldiers in France…
The People’s Mojahedin rented a paint factory in the city of “Saint-Quentin Lamont” and while setting up a television studio and installing satellite dishes, they were turning it into a communication center…
Mojahedin had planned to attack Iranian embassies and other interests of this country in Europe and assassinate 25 of its former members… This organization was not a political or a democratic movement in any way. This group is not preparing itself for the restoration of democracy in Iran. They are a completely extremist group. A radical cult, without any democratic system; cult-like behavior in following the leader.
Following this unexpected strike and widespread negative reactions, a group of separated members of the organization – whose names were on the list of planned assassinations of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi – issued a notice under the legal title of “Political-Cultural Association of Iran Peyvand” and continued legal and lawful actions against this organization and its leaders. In this announcement, after explaining the news of the arrest and revealing the plan to kill opponents of the organization by the world’s famous media, it is stated:
We, a number of dissidents and separated members of the Mujahedin who are residing in European countries, had been informed many times about the killing of Mujahideen opponents by the leaders of the organization (Masoud and Maryam Rajavi).
The disaffected members who fled from the Mojahedin organization earlier or months before have admitted that Masoud and Maryam Rajavi encouraged and ordered their members to kill disaffected members and opponents of Mojahedin policies who reside in Western countries in various meetings.
We…by knowing the true nature of the Mojahedin and their ideology of hatred and revenge, we have repeatedly pointed out the matter…, we warn all the members separated from the Mojahedin again to prevent and prosecute the terrorist plans of the Mujahideen by referring to the legal authorities of the countries where they reside.
We warn the police forces, human rights organizations, and political activists about the terrorist plans of the Mujahideen in Europe and we consider the European police responsible for protecting the lives and safety of political refugees and Iranian citizens.
The French incident made the heads of the organization confused. The uncertainty of the court’s decision and verdict, the possibility of extraditing Maryam Rajavi and some other arrested members to Iran, and most importantly the messing up of the carefully designed arrangements and preparations, made the organization think that it should react according to its sectarian nature.
Ten members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization committed self-immolation in protest against the arrest of Maryam Rajavi and a group of her companions!
The first result was the death of 3 people named Ali Malek, Marzieh Babakhani, and Neda Hasani, and severe burns to the others. The idea of the leadership of the organization was that this terrible action would influence public opinion in Europe and America and would force the French government to reconsider. One of the heads of the organization announced on the “Iran Liberty” website: “Hundreds of people have put themselves on the self-immolation list and if the French government does not end its joint conspiracies with the regime (Iran government), they are determined to set themselves on fire.”
According to “Le Parisien” newspaper, before and after the self-immolation, Mujahideen members called several journalists on their mobile phones, and the foreign relations spokesman of the “National Council of Resistance” (NCRI) (Mohammed Seyed Al-Muhaddesin) announced the name of the self-immolator.
Some of the separatists of the organization in Iraq have also provided clues and evidence that indicate: after the arrest of Maryam Rajavi and her group members in Paris, according to the duties of the officials and commanders of the organization in “Ashraf Base” in Iraq – which are under the control of American military forces – Each commander forced the members to write a “voluntary” request for self-immolation that they can do the propaganda with those letters”.
When this action had the opposite result and contrary to the predictions and suspicions of the leaders of the organization, the public opinion and the people of Europe and other countries reacted negatively and a wave of disgust, hatred, and surprise was aroused, the organization and its leader claimed that these movements were spontaneous and it happened voluntarily and their members did not commit self-immolation by order of the organization!
This bitter experience for France shows that the presence of a terrorist organization, whose entire history has been terrorist activities from beginning to end, on the soil of a country like France, which considers itself the origin of democracy in the world, is a dangerous and unreliable presence. The actions and political activities of these groups in Albania and France should be countered and stopped. What the People’s Mojahedin Organization is pursuing in Albania and France, its ultimate and final result is repeating the events and bitter experiences that France has experienced in recent years. This is a warning for Albania that history is repeating in your country.