The death of Mahsa Amini sparked protests and demonstrations. I do not want to go into the legitimacy of these protests but I am struck by the news of October 1 which said that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has presented a report according to which terrorist groups have incited the protests. According to news agency reports, 49 members of the Mojahedin-e-Khalq group, considered terrorist by Tehran and other states, were arrested, spreading propaganda to incite riots and providing incendiary material to demonstrators, following orders from members of the group in Albania.
The Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka PMOI, MEK, MKO) is responsible for the murder of about 12,000 Iranians in the last 40 years. The organization, founded in the 1960s by a group of radical students who mixed Marxism and Islam, waged the first armed struggle against Shah Reza Pahlavi. After the 1979 Islamic revolution, the leader of the MEK, Masoud Rajavi, started fighting the fledgling Islamic Republic of Iran. In 1981, the MEK launched a series of attacks against leaders of the Islamic Republic which led to the murder of 70 officials, including President Mohammad Ali Rajayei, Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar and Chief Justice Dr. Beheshti. The Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, was also seriously injured and lost one of his arm’s functioning.
Later, the MEK members took refuge in Paris, where they found their "political umbrella". In 1986, when President Mitterrand initiated a dialogue with Iran to release the French hostages held in Beirut, France expelled Masoud Rajavi. Meanwhile, the group - already deployed alongside the Iraqi army during the war against Iran (1980-1988) - flees to Iraq, supporting Saddam Hussein in suppressing the country's Shiite and Kurdish communities.
Elizabeth Rubin visited Camp Ashraf in Iraq (Diyala province) in 2003 and provided a description in New York Times of the military base and the cult-like characteristics of the group. Rubin says she has seen "an artificial world of worker bees" - about half of the MEK members are women - and all, dressed in khaki uniforms and scarlet veils. They practice using weapons, driving pick-ups and military vehicles. Since the 1980s, MEK adherents have had to take a vow of eternal celibacy, those who are married must divorce, those who are not must swear not to. Although born from a Marxist-Islamist ideology, over the years, the group has assumed the characteristics of a cult centered on the role of females led by Maryam Rajavi (Masoud’s wife). Women are taught that joining the cult is "a journey towards self-empowerment and the enlightenment inspired by the light and wisdom of Maryam Rajavi". Thinking about the Ismaili sect of the Assassins is not really a coincidence!
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the US-backed MEK has received training from the Joint Special Operation Command (JSOC) in the Nevada desert (communication techniques, cryptography, assault and guerrilla techniques, etc.). In 2012, two officials of the Obama administration denounced the assassination of five Iranian nuclear scientists (in 2007) which was committed by the MEK in collaboration with Mossad and US intelligence support.
The US removed the MEK from the list of terrorist organizations in September 2012. They were listed in 1997 by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright as an opening towards the reformist Iranian president Khatami. The removal from the terrorist list was supported by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton who held a confidential meeting with the congress on the matter and allowed the group to do business and other activities under US jurisdiction. In September 2012, the MEK left Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and went to Albania.
With the Trump administration and the appointment of senior officials such as Mike Pompeo and John Bolton, a new attempt was being made to destabilize Iran. This strategy envisages the accreditation of the MEK group in Washington as a "legitimate opposition" to the Islamic Republic of Iran. There are several US political figures who seem "won over" by the MEK’s cause; the former mayor of New York, Rudy Giuliani during the annual MEK conference in Paris (June 2018) openly called for regime change in Tehran; National Security Advisor John Bolton regularly attends their conferences. On the other hand, heavy lobbying is well known in US politics.
Today, the MEK publicly professes values of secularism and democracy and preaches emancipation of women in Iran. Ironically, members within the group have no access to newspapers, radio or television and no one can criticize the leader. They also intend to overthrow the Iranian government and create a government headed by Maryam Rajavi, already self-appointed as future president. Members are periodically subjected to self-criticism sessions in which they are filmed admitting to having behaved contrary to the laws of the group (the films can later be used against them).
Human Rights organizations have extensively documented abuses within the group, and the Iranian population itself does not recognize them as a legitimate group. Indeed, there is a profound hostility towards the MEK for the support they provided for Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war. Veil or not, it is difficult for Iranians to forget the trail of blood laid by the MEK.