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8/14/2019 Nejat Newsletter - ISSUE 3
1/8
October 12,2006
BBC reports thatBritish ForeignSecretary Mar-garet Beckett, inher first exclu-sive meetingwith the for-eign press inthe UK, re-
sponded to aquestion onthe MKO and,about why thegroup was stillactive in Iraqsaid: "Britainconsiders MKO aterrorist organi-zation and op-
p o s e s t h i s
group. However,banning the ac-tivities of thisgroup in Iraq isup to the Iraqigovernment andthe US as thecommander ofcoalition forcesin Iraq."
BBC also re-ported that Brit-ish Foreign Sec-retary MargaretBeckett said onWednesday in
London that the
Beckett: MKO is a Terrorist Group
NEJAT SOCIETY
Nejat Society is aiming torescue the members of the
MKO who are still captive
in Ashraf Camp in Iraq.
Nejat Society is in con-stant contact with the
families of members of
MKO, trying to connectthem to their beloved
ones.
Nejat Society is trying to
build a good international
support for its cause tosave the MKO members
from cultic relationships.
Nejat Society is organis-
ing meetings and confer-ences for the members
and the families in order
to bring them together
and ease their grieves.
Nejat Society is willing to
use all means possible toreach its goals and there-
fore seeks and needs your
support
2006-10-01
Mojahedin took me
to Iraq and taught
me to kill.
In l992 they asked
me if I'd like to go to
Iraq for some mili-
tary training. I knewas a member of an
"armed struggle"
this might be re-
quired, so I didn't
resist, although I
knew I could
never kill any-
one. I learnedhow to drive a
truck, march andshoot a gun, but I
clearly wasn't sol-
dier material. I loved
the camp and the
irresponsibility - I
obeyed orders and it
felt liberating. I
had this childlike
feeling that if Iput myself in
their hand, Id beOK, . . .
(Full article on
pages 4 and 5)
VOLUME 1, ISSUE 3
OCTOBER 15, 2006
MKO is a TerroristGroup
1
Anne Singleton talksto the Independent
1
MKO Human RightsVictims
2
Interview in Paris 3
Press Conference inParis
3
Interview with theIndependent
4&5
Kids sent to MKOCamps in Iraq
8
US Citizen helped
the Terrorist MKO7
British House of
Lords Debate6
MKO supporter
helps Al-Qaeda
6
INSIDE THIS ISSUE:
Nejat Newsletter
BRIEFING PERIODICAL OF NEJAT SOCIETY
UK governmentstill believes theMKO is a terror-ist organization.
"This group isbanned andthere have beenno changes inits status," she
said.
She addedthat there wasno relationship
between Lon-don and thisterrorist or-ganization, de-
claring that thefinal fate of theMKO elementsin Iraq shouldbe determinedby the Iraqi
government.
Anne Singleton talks tothe Independent
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 2
PARIS, Sept. 19 /U.S.
Newswire/ -- Followingis a statement of IranInterlink on captives inIraq:
For three years U.S. forceshave protected a terroristgroup in Iraq even thoughmost of them want to re-turn home totheir families.
M o j a h e d i nKhalq combat-ants are beingheld againsttheir will inCamp Ashrafsay former members whohave returned home in thepast two years.
Now, a sevenmember dele-
gation from theIranian NGO,Nejat Associa-tion, has ar-rived in Paris toalert publicopinion to thesituation of 3,000 men andwomen held against theirwill in an Iraqi base of theIranian Moja-hedin Khalq
under the lead-e r s h i p o f Maryam Rajavi.
U.S. forces saythey cannotintervene in-side the camp,leaving residents unable toaccess humanitarian helpfrom the ICRC and theUNHCR.
Several cases of retentionby force have been con-firmed by personal testi-
mony from former captivesin the MKO camp who saythat basic human rights arebeing violated daily. Signifi-
cant amongthese cases areIranian prison-
ers of war(POWs) cap-tured by theIraqi forcesduring theeight yearIran-Iraq war
and who were then deliv-ered by Saddam Hussein to
the Mojahedinto boost num-bers.
Nejat Associa-tion comprisesformer mem-bers and fami-lies of theCamp Ashrafcaptives. They
demand the immediate andfull implementation of UNProtected Persons status so
that they can
have free andunfettered con-tact with theirrelatives insidethe camp.
Arash Sameti-pour, a former
combatant of the MKO whospent several years in Evinprison says: "We know thatthe majority of people
Captives of Maryam Rajavi's Mojahedin Khalq in I raqAre Human Rights Victims
trapped inside Camp
Ashraf would like toleave. We hear this fromthose who have recentlyescaped the group. Whatwe are asking is for the
international community toimplement all the condi-tions of the Fourth GenevaConvention so that the resi-dents of Camp Ashraf canget help from their fami-lies."
Nejat Association says thisis a grave humanitarian cri-sis and that Camp Ashraf
residents should not beused as pawns in politicalwrangles between westerngovernments and Iran.
The Iraqi government hasannounced that Camp Ash-raf must be dismantled andthe residents removed fromIraqi territory. Responsibil-ity for the safety and well-being of these individuals
now rests with westerngovernments and interna-tional humanitarian agen-cies.
Captive in Ashraf Camp
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 3
Interview by Massoud
Khodabandeh.
Paris, September 27, 2006
Participating:
Mr. Babak Amin, head ofthe Nejat delegation inParis. Amin was recruitedby the MKO while a studentin Austria and trained in itsterrorist camps in Iraq. He
carried out over 10 terroristoperations in Iran beforebeing arrested by the Ira-nian securityforces. He wassentenced to tenyears imprison-ment in Evinprison. He served 5years and was re-leased after serv-ing half his sen-
tence. Amin is nowcontinuing his ITdegree in the University ofTehran and working parttime in an IT consultancy
company.
Mr. Arash Sametipour,recruited as a teenager bythe MKO inWashington DCthrough theiragent in the USA,Alireza Jafar-zadeh. Sameti-pour was trainedin the MKO's ter-rorist camps inIraq before beingsent to perform an armedoperation in Tehran. He
tried to kill himselfat the time of hisarrest by takinghis cyanide pilland exploding agrenade. He sur-vived but lost hisright hand. Heserved 4.5 yearsof his sentence in
Evin prison and isnow continuing his
study as well as working asa language teacher.Sametipour was recently
etys activities towards help-
ing the families of the vic-
tims of Rajavis Terrorist
Cult. He also explained theweek long ac-
tivities of the
delegation in
Paris including
official meet-
i n g s w i t hFrench govern-
mental and non-
governmental authorities as
well as visiting human rights
bodies and the media.Gentlemen Arash Sameti-
pour, Ali Moradi, Ali Asghar
Nejat Press Release Sept. 23
Nejat Society hold a Press
Conference in Paris on Fri-
day Sept. 22 at 10am.The seven member delega-
tion sent to Paris by the Soci-
ety described the situation of
those captured in MKO
camp in Iraq.
The Press Conference was
opened by Mr AlainChevalerias the Director of
French Anti-terrorism Re-
search Institute. Then MrBabak Amin, head of the
delegation, gave a brief
background about the Soci-
Nejat Association Interview in Paris
Press Conference in Paris on Friday Sept. 22
Torabi, and ladies Zahra Bo-
zorganfar, Massoumeh Rezai
and Nasrin Dadkhah por-
trayed to the audience theobstacles on the
way of rescuing
the captives held
in Ashraf Camp.
The representa-
tives of Nejat So-
ciety in this con-
ference emphasized that their
international official trip was
regarded successful and the
Society intends to occasion-ally send more delegations to
Western countries.
married.
Mr. Ali Moradi, a sergeantin the Iranian military, he
was captured byIraqi forces at thestart of the Iran-Iraq war. Givento the MKO bySaddam afterserving 9 yearsas a POW, Moradinever acceptedthe MKO and
eventually took refuge fromthe MKO with the Americanarmy after the invasion ofIraq. He was recently mar-ried and is self-employedas a trader and cab driver.Moradi is also the head ofNejat Association in Lore-stan province.
The interview was carriedout in Bastille, Paris as thedelegation emerged fromone meeting on their wayto catch the next one at thestart of their intensive twoweek schedule.
Babak Amin (right) and
Arash Sametipour (left)
Ali Moradi
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 4
Excerpt from The British
daily The Independent:
Published: 01 October 2006
Anne Singleton, 48,
was recruited into
the mujahedin at
university, and was
active for seven
years. She left theorganisation in 1996
and now campaigns
to warn others
Interview by Lynne Wallis
Manchester University in the
early 1980s was very politi-
cal. My then boyfriend Ali,an Iranian, was interested inthe mujahedin, and I became
interested in them and Islam.
I have never been religious,
but the structured life Islam
offered made sense to me.
The mujahedin seemed to be
the only group who were do-
ing anything, fighting theregime of the Ayatollah
Khomeini in Iran after the
revolution. I went to so manymeetings that I neglected my
studies and flunked my ex-
ams (I completed my degree
at Sheffield poly). Their reli-
gious role-modelling was
intense, and their behaviour
so righteous. They were will-
ing to sacrifice their own in-terests for that of their soci-
ety. I worshipped them.
In l985 the mujahedin leader
Massoud Rajavi took over
and married a woman called
Maryam whose role was toencourage women to break
away from male control. As
a feminist, this appealed to
me. They
had used
bombers
from theearly 1980s. They said they
wanted to break the atmos-
phere of terror by killingtheir oppressors, and it
seemed noble.
I spent allmy spare
time with
the move-ment, car-ing for
members'
children,
cooking
and moni-
toring me-
dia re-
ports. Ifthey asked
me for al0 dona-
tion I'd give l00 to impress
them with my commitment.
They flattered me, and then
would make me feel guilty,
pushing for more so I'd feel
worthy enough to be re-
cruited. I got totally hooked.
I did temporary jobs and
lived frugally in bedsits, mywalls covered with posters of
their martyrs - suicide bomb-
Personal Column: The former Islamic militant
ers and women with guns. I
felt part of something veryright. Everyone else had
posters of Che Guevara who
was part of an armed strug-
gle. I was just supporting a
different revolution. We saw
fighting films and listened toheroic po-
etry and
revolution-
ary music.
I had had
such a boring childhood, this
was what I had been looking
for. My working-class family
was quite political but never
did anything except watchtelly.
There was-
n't much
debate, so I
grew upseeing lifeas black
and white.
I moved to
London in
1989 and
f o u n d
some ac-
tivists at asafe house
in Finchley
who treated me as a trustedsupporter. The UN Human
Rights Rapporteur visited
Iran in l990 and we wanted
to put pressure on him to ask
about all the mujahedin pris-
oners so we went on hunger
strike.
After five days I felt high as
a kite. My perceptions
changed, and I felt I had
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 5
transcended normal human-
ity. I had so much energyand felt as if I were walking
in a bubble. Food depriva-
tion is a classic recruitment
technique used to weaken
resistance.
I quit my job as a computer
programmer and became afull-time worker for the mu-
jahedin. I didn't question athing, even the violence,
which they inure people to
so cleverly. I was shown a
film of a female suicide
bomber blowing up an aya-
tollah in Iran. It was horrific,
and very shocking, at first,
but I was shown the filmmany times, and each time
was less distressed. Then
they put it on over dinnerand I didn't bat an eyelid. Ibelieved she had a duty to
perform, this brave, wonder-
ful martyr.
I barely saw my parents, I'd
ditched all my friends, and
I'd publicly burnt the diaries
I'd kept since childhood, in-
sisting "my past means noth-ing", but it wasn't enough. I
still wasn't seen as 100 per
cent obedient.
In l992 they asked me if I'd
like to go to Iraq for some
military training. I knew as a
member of an "armed strug-
gle" this might be required,
so I didn't resist, although I
knew I could never kill any-one. I learned how to drive a
truck, march and shoot a
gun, but I clearly wasn't sol-
dier material. I loved the
camp and the irresponsibility- I obeyed orders and it felt
liberating. I had this child-
like feeling that if I put my-
self in their hands, I'd be
OK.
Then they decided marriage
was banned. I couldn't agreeas I wanted marriage and
kids. I was punished andthey put huge pressure on me
to conform. I returned to
London, telling myself I'd
sort my head out then returnrefreshed to the movement,
but it wasn't to be.
In l993 I met my husband,another disillusioned mem-
ber, and we were drawn to
each other. I resisted con-
stant pressure to be re-
recruited and we broke away
for good in l996. We actedas counsellors to each other,
de-programming ourselves
from the horrific abuse we
Personal Column: The former Islamic militant (cont.)
had endured. But we didn't
recover properly until 1999,when we read literature from
the Cult Information Centre.
I was furious when I learned
that everything we'd been
t h r o u g h w a s o n a
"recruitment techniques" list!The anger and betrayal I felt
was enormous, but I felt re-
lief that it wasn't my fault,
and I could put a name to it -
psychological coercion. It
didn't mean you were weak,
evil or stupid.
We believed we had reached
the pinnacle of human exis-
tence, that the worst thing in
life was to be ordinary. Well,we're ordinary now and it's
wonderful. We had a son in
2000 and live in a three-bedroom semi in Leeds. Alife where we make our own
decisions is amazing.
I still think of myself as
Muslim, I still think it is agood belief system, but I eat
pork and drink like a fish.
Spreading the word about the
dangers of cults is my newcause. When people are re-
cruited into these groups
they have no critical ability.
It can happen to anyone, any
time. If you're lucky you end
up with a timeshare. If you're
unlucky you end up blowing
people up on the Tube.
For more information con-tact: iran-interlink.org orkhodabandeh.org; cultinfor-
mation.org.uk
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 6
Date: 2006-10-03
Friday afternoon,Iraqi and US jointforces rushed tothe house of Ad-nan Al-Dulaimi,one of MKO's bigsupporters whohas wide secretties with thisgroup and hasbeen elected due to the finan-
cial aids of the group, andfound a number of bombedcars and a large cache of explo-sives in his house.
In this regard, Baha al-Din Al- A'raji, senior member of Iraqiparliament, said: "Baathists andterrorist had plotted for a coupin the past two days."
"Those behind the issue werewell aware that they couldn't
change the current situation
with a coup. With the formationof the govern-ment and theMinistry of De-fence, a coup isnot and won'tbe possible inIraq," he added.
Referring to thebombed carsand the explo-
sives found in Dulaimi's house,
Al-A'raji said: "it's not possibleto execute the proposal of Na-tional Reconcilia-tion unless thegovernment itselfand the parlia-ment are cleanedof terrorists,Baathists andtheir agents."
He also asked forthe removal oflegal immunity of
Government:
What is their responseto the declaration con-
cerning the recognitionof the legal and politi-cal status of the Peo-ple's Mujahedin of Iranagreed at the congressof Iraqi people held inAshraf City on 17 June.
Lord Triesman
(Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Foreign &Commonwealth Office)Hansard source
H O U S E O FL O R D S
I R A N : P E O P L E ' SM U J A H E D I N
Hansard: Written An-swers
Monday, October 9,2006
Baroness Gould ofPotternewton
(Labour) Hansard
source
asked Her Majesty's
Revealed: MKO Political Supporter Helps Al-Qaeda
MEK STATUS IN IRAQ FOR IRAQI GOVERNMENT TO DECIDE -LORD TRIESMAN (UK)
Any statements ordeclarations made byIraqi nationals in Iraqabout the legal and
political status of the"People's MojahedinOrganisation of Iran",also known as the Mo- jahedin-e Khalq (MEK)inside Iraq, are a mat-ter for the Governmentof Iraq.
The MEK is proscribed
in the United Kingdomunder the TerrorismAct 2000.
MPs involved in the issue and
said: "Some of the MPs takeadvantage of this immunity forterrorist operations".
It should be noted that Adnan Al-Dulaim has had close tieswith the MKO in Iraq. Also,Iraqi PM's earlier comments onthe MKO's interferences in Iraqiaffairs proved that MKO was intouch with the head of Iraqi Accord Front and that thegroup tried, through propagan-
distic and financialsupport, to sendhim to the parlia-ment.
Al-Dulaimi is theonly one who sup-ports the illegalpresence of ter-rorist MKO in Iraq,
which is alongwith Saddam poli-cies against Iran.
Al-Dulaimi is the only
one who supports the
illegal presence of
terrorist MKO in Iraq.
Saddam-Rajavi embracing
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NEJAT NEWSLETTER PAG E 7
NBC, Los Angeles,Oct 1, 2006
LOS ANGELES -- A natu-ralized U.S. citizen fromIran who was found in Iraqwas indicted Friday oncharges of providing sup-port to a terrorist organiza-tion that seeks to over-throw the current Iranian
regime, federal prosecutorssaid.
Zeinab Taleb-Jedi, 51, thena resident of Herndon, Va.,went to Iraq in 1999 to at-tend a trainingcamp run bythe Mujahedin-e Khalq, orMEK, the U.S.attorney's of-fice in Los An-geles said in astatement.
"During Operation IraqiFreedom, Taleb-Jedi wasdiscovered by coalitionforces in an MEK trainingcamp called Ashraf Base,"about 40 miles northwestof Baghdad, the statementsaid.
She was among severalMEK members who werecaught and detained bythe military, said ThomMrozek, a spokesman forthe U.S. attorney's office.He said she was in Iraqfrom August 1999 untilthis past March, but hedid not know when shewas caught.
Taleb-Jedi was indicted bya federal grand jury inBrooklyn, N.Y., on one
count of providing materialsupport to a foreign terror-ist organization. She facesup to 15 yearsi n f e d e r a lprison if con-victed.
An arraignmentdate has notbeen set, Mro-zek said. She
was assigned afederal public defender inNew York and was releasedon bond
Taleb-Jedi was being prose-cuted in NewYork becauseher planelanded at JohnF. KennedyInternational
Airport onMarch 31upon her re-turn from
Iraq. The case was beinghandled by Los Angeles-based prosecutors whohave been involved in MEK-related investigations sincethe 1990s.
Taleb-Jedi immigrated tothe United States from Iranin 1978 and became a
naturalizedU.S. citizen in1996, thegovernmentsaid. Her ali-ases includeNayer Taleb-Jedi or NireT a l e b - J e d i ,according to
the two-page indictment.
The U.S. attorney's officedid not release any infor-mation on the woman's oc-cupation.
MEK, also known as thePeople's Mujahedin of Iran,and its affiliates weredeemed foreign terrorist
organizations by the U.S.State Department in 1997when it created a list of ter-ror groups that included al-Qaida. The designations baranyone in the United Statesfrom providing materialsupport.
The State Department saysthe MEK groups werefunded by Saddam Hus-
sein, supported the sei-zure of the U.S. Embassyin Tehran in 1979 and areresponsible for the deathsof Americans in the 1970s.
But there have been at-tempts in recent years bysome members of Con-gress advocating thegroup's removal from thelist because of its stanceagainst the Iranian regimeand because it doesn'tpose a direct threat to theU.S.
" D u r i n g O p e r at i o n
I raq i Freedom , Ta leb -
Jed i w as d i scovered by
coa l i t i on f o rces i n an
MEK t ra i n i ng camp
ca l led Ashraf Base,"
MEK, also know n as
the Peop le ' s Mu jahed in
o f I r an , and i t s a f f i l ia tes
w e re deem ed fo re i gn
te r ro r i s t o rgan i za t i ons
by t he U.S.
Former Va. Resident Found In Iraq Accused Of HelpingTerrorist Mojahedin Khlaq Organisation
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network raised money,
staged protests against
Iran and lobbied poli-
ticians, but it also re-cruited underage
youths to travel to a
desolate guerrilla out-post near the Iran-Iraqborder called Camp
Ashraf.
Former MEK activists
said the Canadian base
worked closely with a
similar U.S. outfit in
Sleepy Hollow, Va.,
called the Pirayesh.
The Post was able to
view videos of recruit-ing sessions conductedthere.
A Toronto man who
spent five years at
Camp Ashraf, begin-ning when he was 16,
said in an interview he
underwent military
training but was im-
prisoned when he
asked to return home.The account is consis-
tent with a recent re-
port by New York-
based Human RightsWatch, which said the
MEK had detained,
tortured and killed
"defectors" who had
tried to leave the
camp.
A Toronto human
rights group, the Cen-
tre for Thought, Dia-
logue and HumanRights in Iran, says ithas documented nine
other cases in which
Saturday,
September 23, 2006
Stewart Bell
CanWest News Ser-
vice
CREDIT:
National Post
Somayeh Moham-
mady, shown in 1998,the year she dropped
out of Grade 10 and
left Canada for a guer-
rilla training camp in
Iraq.
TORONTO - An Ira-nian terrorist group
recruited teenaged
children out of Canada
and sent them to a
guerrilla camp in Iraq,
an investigation by the
National Post has
found.
The Mujahedin-e
Khalq sent recruiters
to Toronto to enticeyouths of Iranian heri-
tage into joining an
armed resistance cam-
paign aimed at over-
throwing the Iranian
government.A banned terrorist or-
ganization under Ca-
nadian law since 2005,
the MEK worked outof a base in residential
homes in Toronto,former members of
the group said in inter-
views.
While the bases
looked like ordinary
households from the
outside, inside every-
one wore military uni-
forms and the wallswere decorated with
MEK flags and por-
traits of guerrilla lead-
ers, they said.
The Canadian MEK
children under the age
of 18 were sent to
Ashraf from Canada.
They include youthsfrom Toronto, Mont-
real and Ottawa.
Among them isSomayeh Moham-mady, who was a 17-
year-old Grade 10 stu-
dent at Etobicoke Col-
legiate Institute when
she was recruited into
the MEK in 1998.
In a letter sent to the
Canadian embassy in
Jordan, she asked for
the government's helpgetting back to To-ronto but she has since
said she wants to stay
with her fellow "holy
warriors".
An immigration tribu-
nal that looked into
Mohamaddy case
ruled this week that
she had gone to the
guerrilla camp "with
her parents' consent"
and that she is a
"committed member."
The family's story is
told in a five-part se-
ries that begins today
in the National Post.
Camp Ashraf was cap-tured and disarmed by
the U.S. military fol-
lowing the 2003 inva-
sion of Iraq. But mostof the "children of the
resistance" remain
there, either unwillingor unable to leave.
Of the roughly 4,000
MEK guerrillas at the
camp, about 300 have
returned to Iran and
200 have "defected" to
an American-run
camp called the Tem-
porary InternationalPresence Facility.
Iranian-Canadian kids sent to guerrilla camps in Iraq
N ejat Society
AddressE.mail: [email protected]
P.O.Box 14395/679, TehranFax: 88 96 10 31
Briefing Periodical ofNejat Society
We are on the Web!
www.nejatngo.com
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ingtheUnitedStates