Examine individual changes

'{{Multiple issues| {{NPOV|date=September 2017}} {{Undue weight|date=November 2016}} {{weasel|date=March 2018}} }} {{Infobox political party |name = People's Mojahedin Organization |logo = [[File:Emblem of the People's Mujahedin of Iran.svg|125px]] |colorcode = {{People's Mujahedin of Iran/meta/color}} |leader = [[Maryam Rajavi]] and [[Massoud Rajavi]]{{efn|Since 1993, they are "Co–equal Leader"<ref>{{cite book|title=Iran's Revolutionary Guard: The Threat That Grows While America Sleeps|p=208|publisher=Potomac Books, Inc|year=2012|author1=Steven O'Hern|isbn=1-59797-701-2}}</ref> however [[Massoud Rajavi]] has disappeared in 2003 and leadership of the group has practically passed to his wife Maryam Rajavi.<ref name="hdot">{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Terrorism|p=454|series=Historical Dictionaries of War, Revolution, and Civil Unrest|edition=3|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2009|author1=Stephen Sloan|author2=Sean K. Anderson|isbn=0-8108-6311-1}}</ref>}} |secretary_general = [[Zahra Merrikhi]] |foundation = {{start date and age|1965|9|5|df=y}} |ideology = {{plainlist| * [[Islamic socialism#Islamic Marxism|Islamic Marxism]] * [[Left-wing nationalism|Nationalism]]<ref name="ideology">{{cite book|title=Iranian Intellectuals and the West: The Tormented Triumph of Nativism|author=Mehrzad Boroujerdi|year=1996|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=978-0-8156-0433-4|page=117|quote=...the ideological worldview of Mojahedin rested upon two of the main characteristics of Iranian social thought at the time: nationalism and populism.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bashiriyeh|first1=Hossein|title=The State and Revolution in Iran (RLE Iran D)|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-136-82089-2|pages=74|quote=Thus the Mojahedin's opposition to Western influence and its call for economic freedom from the West led it to reject the system of capitalism and to present a radical interpretation of Islam. This was also true of the radical Islamic nationalist movement as a whole.}}</ref> * [[Left-wing populism|Populism]]<ref name="ideology" /><ref>{{cite book|title=Border Crossings: Toward a Comparative Political Theory|author=Fred Reinhard Dallmayr|year=199|publisher=Lexington Books|isbn=978-0-7391-0043-1|page=136|quote=To provide an Islamic justification for their populist program, Mojahedin often utilized the euphemism coined by Shariati.}}</ref> }} |headquarters = {{plainlist| *[[Manëz]], [[Durrës County|Durrës]], [[Albania]] {{small|(2018-)}}<ref name="Post">{{cite web |url=http://balkanspost.com/article/409/mek-regime-change-albania-training-terrorist-iran|title=Mojahedin Khalq (MEK) terrorist training camp in Albania impacts whole Balkan region|date=January 8, 2018|accessdate=June 24, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Durrës locals protest MEK members’ burial in local cemetery|url=http://www.tiranatimes.com/?p=137041|work=Tirana Times|date=9 May 2018|access-date=29 June 2018}}</ref> * [[Paris]], [[France]] {{small|(1981–1986;<ref name="PSJLIA" /> 2003–)}} * [[Paris]], [[France]] {{small|(1981–1986;<ref name="PSJLIA" /> 2003–)}} * [[Tirana County|Tirana]], [[Albania]] {{small|(2016–)}} * [[Camp Liberty]], [[Iraq]] {{small|(2012–2016)}} * [[Camp Ashraf]], [[Iraq]] {{small|(1986–2013)}} * [[Tehran]], [[Iran]] {{small|(1965–1981)}} }} |website = {{URL|http://www.mojahedin.org/home/en|www.Mojahedin.org}} |country = Iran |abbreviation = MEK, MKO, PMOI |native_name = سازمان مجاهدين خلق |native_name_lang = fa |split = [[Freedom Movement of Iran|Freedom Movement]] | leader1_title = | leader1_name = {{list collapsed|title=Founders<ref name="Iranian Politics">{{cite book |author=Houchang E. Chehabi|title=Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini|publisher=I.B.Tauris|pages=211|date=1990|isbn=1-85043-198-1}}</ref>| * [[Mohammad Hanifnejad]] * [[Saeid Mohsen]] * [[Mohammad Asgarizadeh]] * [[Rasoul Meshkinfam]] * [[Ali-Asghar Badi'zadegan]] * [[Ahmad Rezaei]]}} |wing1_title = Military wing |wing1 = National Liberation Army {{small|(NLA)}} |wing2_title = Political wing |wing2 = [[National Council of Resistance of Iran|National Council of Resistance]] {{small|(NCR)}} |position = [[Left-wing politics|Left-wing]] |colours = {{Color box|{{People's Mujahedin of Iran/meta/color}}|border=darkgray}} Red |religion = [[Shia Islam]] |flag = [[File:Flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran.svg|200px|border]]<br /><br />[[File:Flag of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (Yellow).svg|200px|border]] |newspaper = ''[[Mojahed (newspaper)|Mojahed]]''<ref name="DUP" /> |slogan = {{lang-ar|فَضَّلَ اللَّهُ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ عَلَى الْقَاعِدِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا}} "God Has Preferred The Mujahideen Over Those Who Remain [behind] With A Great Reward." {{Cite quran|4|95}} |membership_year = 2011 |membership = 5,000 to 13,500 ([[United States Department of Defense|DoD]] estimate)<ref name="PSJLIA">{{cite journal|url=http://elibrary.law.psu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1073&context=jlia|title=National Security and the Protection of Constitutional Liberties: How the Foreign Terrorist Organization List Satisfies Procedural Due Process|author=Aaron Schwartz|journal=The Penn State Journal of Law & International Affair|issue=1|volume=3|date=April 2014|issn=2168-7951|pages=293–323}}</ref> }}{{infobox war faction | name = Armed wing of MKO<br />National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA)<ref name="IOONC">{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=97|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> | war = [[Black September]], [[Iranian Revolution]], [[Iran hostage crisis]], [[Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution]], [[Iran–Iraq War]], [[1991 uprisings in Iraq]], [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], [[2011 Camp Ashraf raid]], [[2013 Camp Ashraf attack]], [[Iran–Israel proxy conflict]], [[Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict]] | image = [[File:Ir-nla.gif|border|200px]] | caption = NLA flag used since 1987 | leaders = {{plainlist| * [[Maryam Rajavi]], deputy commander-in-chief<ref name="Mousavian">{{cite book|title=Iran-Europe Relations: Challenges and Opportunities|chapter=Iran-Germany Relations|publisher=Routledge|year=2008|author1=[[Seyyed Hossein Mousavian]]|isbn=1-134-06219-2}}</ref> * [[Mousa Khiabani]], Commander {{small|(1981–1982; [[Killed in Action|KIA]])}}<ref name="CQP">{{cite book|title=Political Handbook of the World 2015|chapter=Iran|publisher=CQ Press|year=2015|author1=Tom Lansford|isbn=1-4833-7155-7}}</ref> * Ali Zarkesh, Commander {{small|(1982–1988; [[Killed in Action|KIA]])}}<ref name="CQP" /> * Ebrahim Zakeri, Head of 'Security and Counter-Terrorism' {{small|(1993–2003)}}<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Honoring a Great Hero for Iran's Freedom, World Peace and Security: Hon. Edolphus Towns of New York in the House of Represetitives, 27 March 2003|title=United States of America Congressional Record|p=7794|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=2003}}</ref>}} | active = 1970<ref name="Vahabzadeh" />–1977<ref>{{cite book|title=Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left|p=191|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|author1=Stephanie Cronin|isbn=1-134-32890-7}}</ref><br />1979<ref name="ri">{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=171–172}}</ref>–''present''<ref>{{cite book |author1=Mary Ann Tétreault|author2=Ronnie D. Lipschutz|title=Global Politics as if People Mattere |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|year=2009|isbn=0-7425-6658-7|pages=97|quote=US. military leaders in Iraq signed a cease-fire agreement with the MKO in April 2003 that allowed it to keep all its weapons, including hundreds of tanks and thousands of light arms, as long as it did not attack US. forces}}</ref><br />{{small|Since 20 June 1987 as NLA}}<ref>{{cite book |author=John H. Lorentz|chapter=Chronology|title=The A to Z of Iran |volume=209|series=The A to Z Guide Series|publisher=Scarecrow Press|pages=June 1978|date=2010|isbn=1-4617-3191-7}}</ref> | strength = [[Brigade]] (at peak)<ref>{{citation|title=Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) Organization in the Imposed War|language=Persian|journal=Negin-e-Iran|volume=41|issue=11|date=Summer 2012|url=http://www.negineiran.ir/article_3209.html|author=Yaghoub Nemati Voroujeni|pages=75–96}}</ref> | area = [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]]<ref name="gs">{{citation|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/para/mek.htm|title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO); National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA); People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI); National Council of Resistance (NCR); National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI); Muslim Iranian Student's Society|access-date=5 November 2016|publisher=Global Security}}</ref> | allies = {{plainlist| * {{flagicon|Iraq|1963}} [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] {{small|(1982–2003)}}<ref>{{citation|title=Terrornomics|editor=David Gold|page=65|isbn=1-317-04590-4|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujahedin-e-Khalq''|author=Mark Edmond Clark}}</ref> * {{flag|Israel}}<ref>* {{cite news|author=[[Seymour M. Hersh]]|url=http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/our-men-in-iran|title=Our Men in Iran?|newspaper=[[The New Yorker]]|date=5 April 2012|accessdate=18 August 2016}} * {{cite news|author=[[Brian Williams]]|url=http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/09/10354553-israel-teams-with-terror-group-to-kill-irans-nuclear-scientists-us-officials-tell-nbc-news|title=Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News|work=[[NBC News]]|date=9 February 2012|accessdate=18 August 2016}} * {{cite news|author=Ismail Salami|url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/mujahedin-khalq-organization-mko-us-israel-sponsored-terrorist-entity-directed-against-iran/5423450|title=Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO): US-Israel Sponsored Terrorist Entity directed against Iran|work=The Centre for Research on Globalization|date=8 January 2015|accessdate=18 August 2016}}{{better source needed|date=January 2018}}</ref> * {{flag|Saudi Arabia}}<ref name="RAND"/><ref name="Mousavian"/><ref>{{cite news|author=Arash Karami|url=http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/mek-palestinian-authority-mahmoud-abbas-maryam-rajavi-saudi.html|title=Were Saudis behind Abbas-MEK meeting?|date=2 August 2016|work=[[Al-Monitor]]|accessdate=18 August 2016}}</ref> }} {{list collapsed|title=Non-state allies| * {{flagicon image|Flag of the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas (Red).svg}} [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] {{small|(1960s–1981)}}<ref name="ic">{{citation|title=Middle Eastern Terrorism|authors=Arie Perliger, William L. Eubank|pages=41–42|isbn=978-1-4381-0719-6|publisher=Infobase Publishing|year=2006|chapter=Terrorism in Iran and Afghanistan: The Seeds of the Global Jihad}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Fatah Flag.svg}} [[Fatah]] {{small|(1969–1970s)}}<ref name="cp">{{cite book|author=United States. Dept. of State. International Information Administration. Documentary Studies Section, United States Information Agency, United States Information Agency. Special Materials Section, United States. International Communication Agency|title=Problems of Communism|volume=29|p=15|publisher=Documentary Studies Section, International Information Administration|year=1980|quote=There is evidence that as earlt as 1969 it received arms and training from the PLO, especially Yasir Arafat's Fatah group. Some of the earliest Mojahedin supporters took part in black september in 1970 in Jordan.}}</ref> * {{flagicon|Palestine}} [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] {{small|(1969–1970s)}}<ref name="cp" /> * {{flagicon image|İran Kürdistanı Demokrat Partisi bayrağı.jpg}} [[Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan]] {{small|(1981–1985)}}<ref name="Kurds" /> }} | opponents = {{plainlist| * {{flagicon|Iran|1964}} [[Pahlavi dynasty|Imperial State of Iran]] {{small|(1965–1979)}} * {{flagicon|Iran}} [[Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Islamic Republic of Iran]] {{small|(Since 1981)}} * {{IRQ}} {{small|(since 2009)}}<ref>https://www.albawaba.com/ar/العراق/مجاهدي-خلق-تتهم-الجيش-العراقي-بالتوغل-في-مخيمها-شمال-بغداد</ref>}} {{list collapsed|title=Non-state opponents| * {{flagicon image|Flag of PUK.png}} [[Patriotic Union of Kurdistan]]<ref name="Kurds">{{citation|title=Terrornomics|editor=David Gold|pages=67–68|isbn=1-317-04590-4|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujahedin-e-Khalq''|author=Mark Edmond Clark}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|ISCI flag.svg}} [[Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq|Islamic Supreme Council]]<ref name="nso">{{citation|title=Iran's Foreign Policy: From Khatami to Ahmadinejad|page=135|isbn=0-86372-415-9|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=2012|authors=Anoushiravan Ehteshami, Mahjoob Zweiri}}</ref> * {{flagicon image|Badr Organisation Military flag.svg}} [[Badr Organization]]<ref name="nso" /> * {{flagicon image|InfoboxHez.PNG}} [[Mukhtar Army]]<ref name="gs" /> }} | battles = [[Operation Forty Stars]]<br />[[Operation Mersad|Operation Eternal Light]] }} The '''People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran''' or the '''Mojahedin-e Khalq''' ({{lang-fa|سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران|Sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān}}, abbreviated '''MEK''', '''PMOI''' or '''MKO''') is an [[Iran]]ian political–[[Private army|militant]] organization<ref name="PSJLIA" /> in exile that advocates the violent overthrow of the [[Government of Islamic Republic of Iran|current government in Iran]], while claiming itself as the replacing [[government in exile]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Terrorism and Homeland Security|author=Jonathan R. White|edition=7|year=2011|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=1-133-17118-4|page=371}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The Counterterrorism Handbook: Tactics, Procedures, and Techniques|edition=4|author=Frank Bolz, Jr., Kenneth J. Dudonis, David P. Schulz|year=2016|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=1-4398-4668-5|page=459|series=Practical Aspects of Criminal and Forensic Investigations|quote=Aims/goals: • MEK aims for the violent overthrow of the Iranian government, with the group's ideology swinging all over the map.}}</ref> Its headquarters have been located in [[France]] (1981–1986), [[Iraq]] (1986–2016) and [[Albania]] (Since 2016). According to [[Ervand Abrahamian]], it was the first Iranian organization to develop systematically a modern revolutionary interpretation of Islam that “differed sharply from both the old conservative Islam of the traditional clergy and the new populist version formulated in the 1970s by Ayatollah Khomeini and his disciples.”<ref name="auto2">{{cite book|title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=1}}</ref> According to James Pizza, EK worked towards the creation, by armed popular struggle, of a society in which ethic, gender, or class discrimination would be obliterated. <ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piazza |first1=James A. |title=The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile |journal=Digest of Middle East Studies |date=October 1994 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=11 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x }}</ref> Despite ideological differences, the People's Mujahedin of Iran, under the leadership of [[Massoud Rajavi]] aligned itself with [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] forces in overthrowing the Shah during the 1979 [[Iranian Revolution]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=100|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref><ref name=":3" /> But After the fall of [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], due to MEK's refusal to take part in constitution referendum of the new government,<ref name=":2">{{cite book|title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=197}}</ref> Khomeini turned against them, preventing [[Massoud Rajavi]] and other MEK members from running office in the new government.<ref name="RAND">{{cite web|authors=Goulka, Jeremiah; Hansell, Lydia; Wilke, Elizabeth; Larson, Judith|url=http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monographs/2009/RAND_MG871.pdf|title=The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: a policy conundrum|publisher=[[RAND Corporation]]|isbn=978-0-8330-4701-4|year=2009}}</ref> MEK declared armed revolt against the Islamic Republic targeting key Iranian official figures, as in [[Hafte Tir bombing|bombing of Islamic Republic Party]] and [[1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing|Prime Minister's office bombing]], attacking low ranking civil servants and members of the [[IRGC|Revolutionary Guards]] and ordinary citizens who supported the new government.<ref name="bdt45cgf11">{{Cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1569788,00.html|title=Iran's Armed Opposition Wins a Battle — In Court|last=Graff|first=James|date=December 14, 2006|work=Time|accessdate=April 13, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428210515/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C1569788%2C00.html|archivedate=April 28, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref><ref name="Rob">{{cite web|url=https://www.newforeignpolicy.scot/the-special-relationahip/|title=The Special Relationship|last1=Somynne|first1=Robert|website=New Foreign Policy|accessdate=27 June 2018}}</ref> As a result, more than 10,000 people were killed in MEK's violent attacks since 1979.<ref name="hrq204" /><ref name=":0">{{cite web|url=https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/eoir/legacy/2014/02/25/Iran.pdf|accessdate=27 June 2018}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last1=Piazza|first1=James A.|date=October 1994|title=The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile|journal=Digest of Middle East Studies|volume=3|issue=4|pages=9–43|doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x}}</ref> In response, the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] raided MEK safe houses killing Massoud Rajavi’s first wife (Ashraf Rabi’i), and Musa Khiabani (MEK’s second in-command at the time).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Piazza |first1=James A. |title=The Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran in Exile |journal=Digest of Middle East Studies |date=October 1994 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=14 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x |accessdate=30 June 2018}}</ref> Later, sheltered in Iraq by [[Saddam Hussein]], MEK assisted his Republican Guard in suppressing the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|1991 nationwide uprisings against Saddam]].<ref name="bdt45cgf113">{{Cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1569788,00.html|title=Iran's Armed Opposition Wins a Battle — In Court|last=Graff|first=James|date=December 14, 2006|work=Time|accessdate=April 13, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428210515/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C1569788%2C00.html|archivedate=April 28, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/03/28/world/after-the-war-iraqi-refugees-tell-us-soldiers-of-brutal-repression-of-rebellion.html|title=AFTER THE WAR; Iraqi Refugees Tell U.S. Soldiers Of Brutal Repression of Rebellion|last=Times|first=John Kifner and Special To the New York|access-date=2018-07-01|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm|title=Behind the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK)|work=|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5io7JDsaA?url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm|archivedate=August 5, 2009|deadurl=yes|accessdate=August 3, 2009|df=mdy}}</ref> MEK is currently designated as a [[List of designated terrorist groups|terrorist organization]] by Iran and [[Iraq]], and was considered a terrorist organization by the [[United Kingdom]] and the [[European Union]] until 2008 and 2009 respectively, and by [[Canada]] and the [[United States]] until 2012. Various scholarly works, media outlets, and the governments of the United States and France have described it as a [[cult]]. The organization has built a [[cult of personality]] around its leaders [[Massoud Rajavi|Massoud]] and [[Maryam Rajavi]]. == Other names == The group had no name until February 1972.<ref name="Vahabzadeh">{{cite book|last1=Vahabzadeh|first1=Peyman|title=Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and the Fadai Period of National Liberation In Iran, 1971–1979|date=2010|publisher=Syracuse University Press|page=100, 167–168}}</ref> The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran is known by a variety of names including: * '''Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization''' (MEK) * The '''National Liberation Army of Iran''' (the group's armed wing) * '''[[National Council of Resistance of Iran]]''' (NCRI)&nbsp;– the MEK is the founding member of a coalition of organizations called the NCRI.<ref name="RAND"/> The organization has the appearance of a broad-based coalition; however, many analysts consider NCRI and MEK to be synonymous<ref name="IOONC" /> and recognize NCRI as only "nominally independent" political wing of MEK.<ref>{{cite book|title=Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Roots of Mistrust|p=198|publisher=Hurst Publishers|year=2006|author1=Ali M. Ansari|isbn=1-85065-809-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Special Plans: The Blogs on Douglas Feith & the Faulty Intelligence That Led to War|p=66|publisher=Franklin, Beedle & Associates, Inc|year=2005|author1=Allison Hantschel|isbn=1-59028-049-0}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Middle East Report|p=55|publisher=Middle East Research & Information Project, JSTOR|year=2005|issue=237–241|isbn=1-59028-049-0}}</ref> * '''[[Munafiq|Monafiqeen]]''' ({{lang-fa|منافقین|lit=the [[hypocrites]]}})&nbsp;– the Iranian government consistently refers to the organization with this derogatory name. The term is derived from [[Quran]], which describes it as people of "two minds" who "say with their mouths what is not in their hearts" and "in their hearts is a disease".<ref>{{cite journal|title=Crushing the Opposition: Adversaries of the Islamic Republic of Iran|author=Haggay Ram|journal=Middle East Journal|volume=46|number=3|year=1992|jstor=4328464|pages=426–439}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.amnesty.at/media/2102/caught-in-a-web-of-repression-iran-s-human-rights-defenders-under-attack.pdf. |title=Caught in the Web of Repression |accessdate=July 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Halliday |first1=Fred |title=Shocked and Awed: How the War on Terror and Jihad Have Changed the English Language |date=2010 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=9781848850316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-qpbmoq53UC&pg=PA164&dq=munafiqin+iran |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hiro |first1=Dilip |title=Iran under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals) |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135043810 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8QwrtpxdMQC&pg=PA178&dq=munafiqin+iran |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> The Iranian authorities constantly refer to the MEK (and people associated with this group) as “hypocrites”. The term was first coined by [[Ruhollah Khomeini]].<ref>{{cite web |title= Caught in the Web of Repression |accessdate= July 1, 2018 |url= https://www.amnesty.at/media/2102/caught-in-a-web-of-repression-iran-s-human-rights-defenders-under-attack.pdf.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=P8QwrtpxdMQC&pg=PA178&dq=munafiqin+iran |title= Iran under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals) |last1=Hiro |first1=Dilip |date=2013 |publisher= Routledge |isbn= 978-1-1350-4381-0 |language=en |accessdate= 29 June 2018}}</ref> * '''The Cult of Rajavi''' or '''Rajavi Cult'''<ref name="Rubin" /> ''Note: The acronym MEK is used throughout this article, as it is commonly used by the media and national governments around the world to refer to the People's Mujahedin.'' ==Suppression by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran== After the 1979 [[Iranian revolution]] that overthrew [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], the People's Mujahedin of Iran refused to participate in the referendum to ratify the constitution where [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] had called upon "all good Muslims to vote ‘yes’."<ref name=":2">{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=197}}</ref> As a result, Khomeini subsequently refused [[Massoud Rajavi]] and PMOI members to run in the [[Iranian presidential election, 1980]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=101|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> By the middle of the year 1980, clerics close to Khomeini were openly referring to the MEK as "''[[Munafiqun|monafeghin]]''", "''[[Kafir|kafer]]''", and "''elteqatigari''". The MEK, instead accused Khomeini of “monopolizing power”, “hijacking the revolution”, “trampling over democratic right”, and “plotting to set up a fascistic one-party dictatorship".<ref name="auto3">{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=206}}</ref> Historian Ervand Abrahamian observed that MEK were “consciously influenced by Marxism, both [[Neo-Marxism|modern]] and [[Classical Marxism|classical]]”, but they always denied being Marxists because they were aware that the term was colloquial to '[[atheistic]] materialism' among Iran's general public. The Iranian regime for the same reason was “eager to pin on the Mojahedin the labels of Islamic-Marxists and Marxist-Muslims.”<ref>{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=100–101}}</ref> By early 1981, Iranian authorities then closed down MEK offices, outlawed their newspapers, prohibited their demonstrations, and issued arrest warrants for the MEK leaders, forcing the organization go underground once again.<ref name="auto3"/> Many MEK sympathizers or middle-level organizers were detained and executed after June 1981. The MEK claims that over 100,000 of its members have been killed and 150,000 imprisoned by the regime, but there is no way to independently confirm these figures.<ref name="auto1"/> According to Katzman, the Iranian regime is concerned about MEK activities and are a major target of Iran's internal security apparatus and its campaign as assassinating opponents abroad. The Iranian regime is believed to be responsible for killing NCR representative in 1993, and [[Massoud Rajavi]]'s brother in 1990. The MEK claims that in 1996 a shipment of Iranian mortars was intended for use by Iranian agents against [[Maryam Rajavi]].<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=104 |publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> In 2010, Iranian authorities sentenced to death protesters in Iran confirmed to be part of the MEK.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2010/01/ashoura-protesters-risk-execution-iran-20100108/ |title=Ashoura Protesters Risk Execution in Iran |accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> In 2017, Roghayeh Azizi Mirmahaleh was granted asylum in Canada for fears she would be executed if returned to Iran on account of her connections to the MEK.<ref name="auto5">{{cite web |url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/roghayeh-azizi-mirmahaleh-iranian-montreal-deportation-1.3995281 |title=Iranian Montrealer facing deportation can stay in Canada |accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> In early 2018, [[Hassan Rouhani]] phoned French president [[Emmanuel Macron]] to ask him to act against the MEK, accusing the organization of fomenting the [[2017–18 Iranian protests]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france|title=Rouhani calls on Macron to act over anti-Iran 'terrorists' in France|publisher=|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102215915/https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france/|archivedate=2 January 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> On July 2018, Belgian authorities charged a couple for planning to place a bomb at a rally held by the MEK in Paris where 25,000 people had attended.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://au.news.yahoo.com/belgium-charges-two-attack-plot-iran-opposition-france-134834185--spt.html |title=Belgium charges two for attack plot on Iran opposition in France |publisher= Yahoo News }}</ref> An Iranian diplomat at the Austrian embassy in Vienna, a contact of the couple, was also arrested in Germany.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.afp.com/en/news/23/belgium-charges-two-attack-plot-iran-opposition-france-doc-16z9tc3|title=Belgium charges two for attack plot on Iran opposition in France|publisher= AFP}}</ref> NCRI immediately pointed the finger at Tehran, saying the Iranian regime was behind the alleged plot.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5913321/What-know-plot-bomb-Iran-opposition-Paris.html |title=What do we know about the 'plot' to bomb Iran opposition in Paris? |publisher= Daily Mail}}</ref> Iran's foreign minister implied that the regime's enemies might be behind a "false flag ploy" (meaning a deliberate effort to discredit Iran).<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.france24.com/en/20180703-what-do-we-know-about-plot-bomb-iran-opposition-paris |title=What do we know about the 'plot' to bomb Iran opposition in Paris? |publisher= France24}}</ref> The Iranian authorities constantly refer to the MEK (and people associated with this group) as “hypocrites”. The term was first coined by [[Ruhollah Khomeini]].<ref>{{cite web |urlhttps://www.amnesty.at/media/2102/caught-in-a-web-of-repression-iran-s-human-rights-defenders-under-attack.pdf. |title=Caught in the Web of Repression |accessdate=July 1, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hiro |first1=Dilip |title=Iran under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals) |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135043810 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8QwrtpxdMQC&pg=PA178&dq=munafiqin+iran |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> == Membership == === 1980s === According to George E. Delury, in early 1980 the organization was thought to have 5,000 hard-core members and 50,000 supporters, with the [[Paykar]] faction capable of attracting 10,000 in university areas. In June 1980, at perhaps the height of their popularity, the Mojahedin attracted 150,000 sympathizers to a rally in [[Tehran]].<ref>{{citation|title=World Encyclopedia of Political Systems & Parties: Afghanistan-Mozambique|author=George E. Delury|date=1983|series=World Encyclopedia of Political Systems & Parties|chapter=Iran|volume=1|publisher=Facts on File|isbn=978-0-87196-574-5|page=480}}</ref> Pierre Razoux estimates MEK's maximum strength from 1981–1983 to 1987–1988, about 15,000 fighters with a few tanks and several dozen light artillery pieces, recoilless guns, machine guns, anti-tank missiles and SAM-7s.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Razoux|first1=Pierre|date=2015|title=The Iran-Iraq War|publisher=Hrvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-91571-8|at=Appendix E: Armed Opposition}}</ref> Jeffrey S. Dixon and Meredith Reid Sarkees estimate their prewar strength to be about 2,000, later peaking to 10,000.<ref name="DixonSarkees2015">{{cite book|author1=Jeffrey S. Dixon|author2=Meredith Reid Sarkees|title=A Guide to Intra-state Wars: An Examination of Civil, Regional, and Intercommunal Wars, 1816–2014|date=2015|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-5063-1798-4|pages=384–386|entry=INTRA-STATE WAR #816: Anti-Khomeini Coalition War of 1979 to 1983}}</ref> === Post-2000 === The MEK was believed to have a 5,000–7,000-strong armed [[guerrilla]] group based in Iraq before the 2003 war, but a membership of between 3,000–5,000 is considered more likely.<ref name="au_act">{{cite web |url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm |title=Behind the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK) |accessdate=2007-07-15 |publisher=Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade Group, Parliament of Australia |year=2003 |first=Nigel |last=Brew |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5io7JDsaA?url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm |archivedate=2009-08-05 |df= }}</ref> In 2005, the U.S. think-tank the [[Council on Foreign Relations]] stated that the MEK had 10,000 members, one-third to one-half of whom were fighters.<ref name="cfr1">{{cite web|url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/9158/|title=Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (Iranian rebels)|accessdate=2006-09-05|publisher=Council on Foreign relations|year=2005|deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060927092405/http://www.cfr.org/publication/9158/|archivedate=2006-09-27|df=}}</ref> According to a 2003 article by ''[[The New York Times]]'', the MEK was composed of 5,000 fighters based in Iraq, many of them female.<ref name="Rubin">{{cite web |url=http://bactra.org/sloth/2003-07-15.html|title=The Cult of Rajavi|newspaper=The New York Times |last=Rubin |first=Elizabeth|accessdate=2006-04-21}}</ref> [[BMI Research]]'s 2008 report estimates MEK's armed wing strength 6,000–8,000 and its political wing around 3,000, thus a total 9,000–11,000 membership.<ref>{{citation|title=Iran Defence and Security Report, Including 5-Year Industry Forecasts|publisher=[[BMI Research|Business Monitor International]]|orig-year=Q1|year=2008|url=http://store.bmiresearch.com/iran-defence-security-report.html|url-access= subscription}}</ref> A 2013 article in [[Foreign Policy (magazine)|''Foreign Policy'']] claimed that there were some 2,900 members in Iraq.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/thecable/2013/10/30/meet_the_weird_well_connected_ex_terrorists_threatening_our_relationship_with_iraq#.UnF7tJ867nE.twitter|title=Meet The Weird, Super-Connected Group That's Mucking Up U.S. Talks With Iraq|work=Foreign Policy |last=Dreazen |first=Yochi|accessdate=2013-10-31}}</ref> In 2011, [[United States Department of Defense]] estimated global membership of the organization between 5,000 and 13,500 persons scattered throughout Europe, North America, and Iraq.<ref name="PSJLIA" /> ''[[Asharq Al-Awsat]]'' reported that the MEK's 2016 gathering attracted "over 100,000 Iranian dissidents" in [[Paris]].<ref>{{citation|title=Prince Turki Al Faisal, at the Paris Rally to Free Iran: The Muslim World Supports You both in Heart and Soul|url=https://english.aawsat.com/asharq-al-awsat-english/world-news/prince-turki-alfaisal-paris-rally-free-iran-muslim-world-supports-heart-soul|date=9 July 2016|access-date=25 September 2017|work=Asharq Al-Awsat}}</ref> == History == === Overview === It was founded on 5 September 1965 by six Muslim students who were affiliated with the [[Freedom Movement of Iran]].<ref name="Iranian Politics" /> The organization engaged in armed conflict with the [[Pahlavi dynasty]] in the 1970s and played an active role in [[Iranian Revolution|the downfall of the Shah in 1979]], however in a coup-style ideological transformation, leftist members hijacked the Muslim group and adopted a Marxist platform in 1975.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title =FADĀʾIĀN-E ḴALQ|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=March 28, 2016|orig-year=December 7, 2015|publisher=Bibliotheca Persica Press|url =http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/fadaian-e-khalq|last1=Vahabzadeh|first1=Peyman|editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan|editor-link=Ehsan Yarshater|access-date=August 1, 2016|quote=Lastly, after the coup-style ideological transformation that turned the Muslim group Mojāhedin-e Ḵalq into a Marxist-Leninist group, the OIPFG leadership was approached by the new leadership of Mojāhedin to explore the prospect of unification of the two groups. The OIPFG did not approve of the hijacking of a Muslim group by Marxists; nonetheless Ašraf and Armaḡāni engaged in extensive (audio-recorded) ideological debate with Moḥammad-Taqi Šahrām (1947-1980) and Moḥammad-Jawād Qāʾedi (1952-1983) in the autumn of 1975, but to no avail.}}</ref> The MEK, however, has never described itself as a socialist, communist, Marxist, or ''eshteraki'' ({{literal translation|collective}}) organization.<ref>{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=2}}</ref> They hailed "His Highness [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] as a glorious fighter (''[[Mojahed]]'')" and urged all to remain united behind him against plots by royalists and imperialists.<ref name="ri" /> Following the revolution, they participated in [[Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, March 1979|March 1979 referendum]] and strongly supported the [[Iran hostage crisis]], but boycotted the [[Iranian constitutional referendum, December 1979|Islamic Republic constitutional referendum]] in December 1979, being forced to withdraw their candidate for the [[Iranian presidential election, 1980|Iranian presidential election]] in January 1980 as a result. Furthermore, despite the fact that the organization's top candidate received as much as 531,943 votes in [[Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr (electoral district)|Tehran electoral district]] and had a few candidates in the run-offs, it was unable to win a single seat in the [[Iranian legislative election, 1980|1980 Iranian legislative election]]. Allied with [[President of Iran|President]] [[Abolhassan Banisadr]], the group clashed with the ruling [[Islamic Republican Party]] while avoiding direct and open criticism of Khomeini until June 1981, when they declared war against the [[Government of Islamic Republic of Iran]] and initiated a number of bombings and assassinations targeting the clerical leadership.<ref name="DUP">{{cite book|title=Ideology and Power in the Middle East: Studies in Honor of George Lenczowski|author=Peter J. Chelkowski, Robert J. Pranger|year=1988|publisher=Duke University Press|isbn=0-8223-8150-8|pages=250}}</ref> The organization gained a new life in exile, founding the [[National Council of Resistance of Iran]] and continuing to conduct violent attacks in Iran. In 1983, they sided with [[Saddam Hussein]] against the [[Iranian Armed Forces]] in the [[Iran–Iraq War]], a decision that was viewed as [[treason]] by the vast majority of Iranians and which destroyed the MEK's appeal in its homeland.<ref>{{cite book|title=Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards|author=Afshon Ostovar|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-049170-1|pages=73–74}}</ref> In 1988, a fatwa by Khomeini led to the [[1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners|executions of political prisoners]], including MEK members.<ref name="Lamb">{{cite web|last=Lamb|first=Christina|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/1321090/Khomeini-fatwa-led-to-killing-of-30000-in-Iran.html|title=Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran'|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|date=2001-02-04|accessdate=2017-09-19}}</ref> The group says it renounced violence in 2001.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kroeger |first=Alex |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6172481.stm |title=EU unfreezes Iran group's funds |publisher=BBC|date=2006-12-12 |accessdate=2013-01-05}}</ref> However, the MEK has been accused by numerous commentators of being financed, trained, and armed by Israel to [[Nuclear program of Iran#Attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists|assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists and educators]].<ref name="rockcenter.nbcnews.com">{{cite web|url=http://rockcenter.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/02/08/10354553-israel-teams-with-terror-group-to-kill-irans-nuclear-scientists-us-officials-tell-nbc-news |title=Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran's nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News – Rock Center with Brian Williams |publisher=rockcenter.nbcnews.com|accessdate=2015-02-07}}</ref> While the MEK's leadership has resided in [[Paris]], the group's core members were for many years confined to [[Camp Ashraf]] in Iraq, particularly after the MEK and U.S. forces signed a cease-fire agreement of "mutual understanding and coordination" in 2003.<ref>{{Cite book|title=People's Mojahedin Of Iran- Mission Report|last=|first=|publisher=L'Harmattan|year=September 2005|isbn=2-7475-9381-9|location=|pages=12|quote=|via=}}</ref> The group was later relocated to former U.S. military base [[Camp Liberty]] in Iraq<ref name="NYT 2012">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/22/world/middleeast/iranian-opposition-group-mek-wins-removal-from-us-terrorist-list.html |work=The New York Times|first=Scott|last=Shane|title=Iranian Dissidents Convince U.S. to Drop Terror Label|date=September 21, 2012}}</ref> and eventually to [[Albania]].<ref name="reuters 2016-09-09">{{Cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-iraq-iran-idUSKCN11F2DB |title=Iranian opposition group in Iraq resettled to Albania |date=September 9, 2016 |publisher=Reuters}}</ref> In 2002 the MEK revealed the existence of [[Iran’s nuclear program]]. They have since made various claims about the programme, not all of which have been accurate.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Spector|first1=Leonard|title=Iranian Nuclear Program Remains Major Threat Despite Partial Freeze of Weapons-Relevant Activities Described in New U.S. National Intelligence Estimate|url=http://cns.miis.edu/stories/071206.htm|accessdate=2014-12-17|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140717093423/http://cns.miis.edu/stories/071206.htm|archivedate=2014-07-17|df=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Morello|first1=Carol|title=Exile group accuses Iran of secret nuclear weapons research|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/exile-group-accuses-iran-of-secret-nuclear-weapons-research/2015/02/24/ad8d64d6-bc5a-11e4-8668-4e7ba8439ca6_story.html|publisher=The Washington Post|accessdate=17 September 2015}}</ref> Masoud Banisadr has described the MEK's "metamorphism" as follows:<ref name="Barker">{{cite book|title=Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements|chapter=The Metamorphosis of MEK (Mujahedin e Khalq)|author=Masoud Banisadr|editor=Eileen Barker|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-317-06361-9|page=172–176}}</ref> {| class=wikitable style=text-align:center |- !style="width: 75px;"|Years !Nature !Ideology !Strategy !Tactics !Organization |- ||1965–1978 ||[[Leftist guerrilla groups of Iran|Guerilla]] |rowspan=5|Syncretic, [[Islam]] and [[Marxism]] ||Armed struggle ||Terrorism |rowspan=5|[[Democratic centralism]] |- |rowspan=2|1979–1981 |rowspan=2|[[Political party|Political]] |rowspan=2|Peaceful political ||Recruiting |- ||Street demonstration |- |rowspan=2|1981–1985 |rowspan=2|[[Terrorist]] |rowspan=2|Terrorism ||Terrorism |- ||Lobby abroad |- |rowspan=2|1985–2003 |rowspan=5|[[Terrorist]] [[Cult#Destructive cults|destructive cult]] |rowspan=5|No public utterance after 'ideological revolution', subject to [[Survivalism|Survivalist]] doctrine |rowspan=2|Terrorism / War ||Terrorism |rowspan=5|[[Despotism]] |- ||Activism |- |rowspan=3|2003–2012 |rowspan=3|[[Support for military action against Iran|Provocation for military action against Iran]] |Remain in Iraq |- |Keep members |- |Lobby abroad |} === Before the Revolution (1965–1979) === {{multiple image | width = 100 | image1 = Hanif-nejad.jpg | alt1 = Mohammad Hanifnejad | image2 = Badie-zadegan.jpg | alt2 = Ali-Asghar Badizadegan | footer = Hanifnejad (left) and Badizadegan (right), two of the founders of the organization }} ==== Foundation ==== The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran was founded on 5 September 1965 by six former members of the Liberation or [[Freedom Movement of Iran]], students at Tehran University, including [[Mohammad Hanifnejad]], [[Saied Mohsen]] and [[Ali-Asghar Badizadegan]]. The MEK opposed the rule of Shah, [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi]], considering him corrupt and oppressive, and considered the Liberation Movement too moderate and ineffective.{{Sfn |Abrahamian |1982 |p=489}} They were committed to the [[Ali Shariati]]'s approach to Shiism.<ref name=ostovar>{{cite web|last=Ostovar|first=Afshon P.|title=Guardians of the Islamic Revolution Ideology, Politics, and the Development of Military Power in Iran (1979–2009)|url=http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/64683/afshon_1.pdf;jsessionid=DF7BFA33BF18FF73E9117CB0504F14E1?sequence=1|publisher=University of Michigan|accessdate=2013-07-26|format=PhD Thesis|year=2009}}</ref> Although the MEK are often regarded as devotees of Ali Shariati, in fact their pronouncements preceded Shariati's, and they continued to echo each other throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1989|pp=81–126}} In its first five years, the group primarily engaged in ideological work.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1989|p=88}} According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, their thinking aligned with what was a common tendency in Iran at the time&nbsp;– a kind of [[Political radicalism|radical]], [[political Islam]] based on a [[Marxist]] reading of history and politics. The group's main source of inspiration was the Islamic text ''[[Nahj al-Balagha]]'' (a collection of analyses and aphorisms attributed to [[Imam Ali]]). Despite some describing a Marxist influence, the group never used the terms "socialist" or "communist" to describe themselves,{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=2}} and always called themselves Muslims&nbsp;– arguing along with [[Ali Shariati]], that a true Muslim&nbsp;– especially a true Shia Muslim, that is to say a devoted follower of the Imams Ali and [[Hossein]]&nbsp;– must also by definition, be a revolutionary.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1989|pp=81–126}} However, they generously adopted elements of [[Marxism]] in order to update and modernize their interpretation of radical Islam.<ref>Maziar Behrooz, ''Rebels With A Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran'', page vi</ref> {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-left:1em; float:right;" |+ MEK's central committee members<ref>{{cite book|last1=Vahabzadeh|first1=Peyman|title=Guerrilla Odyssey: Modernization, Secularism, Democracy, and the Fadai Period of National Liberation In Iran, 1971–1979|date=2010|publisher=Syracuse University Press|page=168|quote=The loss of several leaders in a matter of two years allowed the promotion of (covert) Marxist members to the CC. After August 1971, the CC of OIPM included Reza Rezai, Kazem Zolanvar, and Bahram Aram. Zolanvar's arrest in 1972 brought Majid Sharif Vaqefi to the CC, and Rezai's death in 1973 brought in Taqi Shahram}}</ref> |- !1971 !colspan=2|1972 !colspan=2|1973 !1974 !1975 |- |colspan=7|Bahram Aram |- |colspan=4|Reza Rezaei^a||colspan=3|Taghi Shahram |- |colspan=2|Kazem Zolanvar^b||colspan=5|[[Majid Sharif Vaghefi]]^c |- |colspan=7 align=left|^a {{small|Killed in action by [[SAVAK]] in 1973}}<br />^b {{small|Arrested in 1972, executed in 1975}}<br />^c {{small|Killed by Marxist faction in 1975 purge}} |} During August-September 1971, [[SAVAK]] managed to strike a great blow to the MEK, arresting many members and executing the senior members including its co-founders.<ref name="Ḥaqšenās">{{cite encyclopedia|title =COMMUNISM iii. In Persia after 1953|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=27 October 2011|orig-year=15 December 1992|publisher=Bibliotheca Persica Press|location=New York City|url =http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/communism-iii|volume=VI|last1= Ḥaqšenās|first1=Torāb |editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan|editor-link=Ehsan Yarshater|access-date=12 September 2016|series=Fasc. 1|pages=105–112}}</ref> However, the operation failed to destroy the MEK whose surviving members quickly restructured the group by replacing the central cadre with a three-man [[central committee]]. Each of the three central committee members led a separate branch of the organization with their [[Clandestine cell system|cells]] independently storing their own weapons and recruiting new members.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=136}} Two of the original central committee members were replaced in 1972 and 1973, and the replacing members were in charge of leading the organization until the internal purge of 1975.<ref name="Ḥaqšenās" /> The group kept a friendly relationship with the only other major Iranian [[urban guerrilla]] group, the [[Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas]] (OIPFG).{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=491}} ==== Schism ==== [[File:Taghi Shahram.gif|thumb|Taghi Shahram, one of the senior members behind adoption of Marxism<ref name="Ḥaqšenās" />]] In October 1975, the MEK underwent an ideological split. While the remaining primary members of MEK were imprisoned, some of the early members of MEK formed a new organization that followed Marxist, not Islamic, ideals; these members appropriated the MEK name to establish and enhance their own legitimacy.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=137}} This was expressed in a book entitled ''Manifesto on Ideological Issues'', in which the central leadership declared "that after ten years of secret existence, four years of armed struggle, and two years of intense ideological rethinking, they had reached the conclusion that Marxism, not Islam, was the true revolutionary philosophy."{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=493}} The organization saw an internal purge, with two of the three members of the central council who adopted Marxism killing the Muslim one and eradicating those loyal to him. According to Torab Haghshenas, purged members constituted "over 50 percent of the cadres",<ref name="Ḥaqšenās" /> and to Muslim faction's own account only 20 percent of the members sided with it.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Maziar|first1=Behrooz|year=2000|title=Rebels With A Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=1-86064-630-1|page=71}}</ref> Thus after May 1975 there were two rival Mujahedin, each with its own publication, its own organization, and its own activities.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|pp=493–4}} A few months before the Iranian Revolution the majority of the Marxist Mujahedin renamed themselves "[[Peykar]]", on 7 December 1978 (16&nbsp;Azar, 1357); the full name is: Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class. This name was after the "[[League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class]]", which was a left-wing group in Saint Petersburg, founded by [[Vladimir Lenin]] in the autumn of 1895.<ref>Abrahamian, Ervand, ''Tortured Confessions'', University of California Press (1999), p.&nbsp;151</ref> ==== Anti-American campaign ==== On 30 November 1970 a failed attempt was made to kidnap the U.S. Ambassador to Iran, [[Douglas MacArthur II]]. MEK gunmen ambushed MacArthur's limousine while he and his wife were en route their house. Shots were fired at the vehicle and a hatchet was hurled through the rear window, however MacArthur remained unharmed. On 9 February 1979, four of the assailants were sentenced to life imprisonment for acts of terrorism and sixteen other received confinements up to ten years.<ref>{{citation|last=Newton|first=Michael|title=The Encyclopedia of Kidnappings|entry=MacArthur, Douglas II (Intended victim)|date=2002|isbn=9781438129884|series=Facts on File Crime Library|page=178|publisher=Infobase Publishing}}</ref> The kidnapping plan was followed by an assassination attack in May 1972 against [[USAF]] Brig. Gen. Harold Price. Price survived the attack but was wounded.<ref name="Afkhami 2009 398">{{cite book|last=Afkhami|first=Gholam Reza|title=The Life and Times of the Shah|page=398|publisher=University of California Press|year=2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Borowiec|first=Andrew|title=Iran leftists Gun Down Two A.F. Officers|newspaper=Washington Post|date=May 21, 1975}}</ref> According to [[George Cave (CIA agent)|George Cave]], CIA's former Chief of Station in Tehran, MEK [[death squad|hit squad]] members impersonated road workers and buried an [[improvised explosive device]] under the road that Price regularly used. When he was spotted, the operative detonated the bomb, destroying the vehicle and crippling Price for the rest of his life. Cave states that it was the first instance of a remotely detonating that kind of bomb.<ref name="ISM 1">{{cite podcast |url=http://www.spymuseum.org/multimedia/spycast/episode/our-man-in-the-middle-east-part-1/ |title=Our Man in the Middle East (Part 1) |website=www.spymuseum.org |publisher=International Spy Museum |host=Peter Earnest |date=June 21, 2012 |time=34:21-35:07 |access-date=April 1, 2015 |ref={{harvid|Our Man in the Middle East (Part 1)|2012}}}}</ref><ref name="Gibson"/> Hours later after the attack on Price, the MEK had a plan to assassinate [[United States President]] [[Richard Nixon]]. They blasted a bomb at [[Reza Shah's mausoleum]], where Nixon was scheduled to attend a ceremony just 45 minutes after the explosion.<ref name="Gibson">{{citation|last=Gibson|first=Bryan R.|title=Sold Out? US Foreign Policy, Iraq, the Kurds, and the Cold War|date=2016|isbn=9781137517159|series=Facts on File Crime Library|page=136|publisher=Springer}}</ref> In the years between 1973 and 1975, armed operations within the MEK intensified, while primary members of the MEK remained imprisoned.<ref name= Bloomfield>{{cite web|last1=Bloomfield Jr.|first1=Lincoln|title=Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI) and the Search for Ground Truth About its Activities and Nature|url=http://archives.republicans.foreignaffairs.house.gov/112/blo120711.pdf|publisher=The House Committee on Foreign Affairs|accessdate=10 April 2015}}</ref> In 1973 ten major American-owned buildings were bombed including those of the Plan Organization, Pan-American Airlines, Shell Oil Company, Hotel International, and Radio City Cinema.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=141–142}} Lt. Col. [[Louis Lee Hawkins]], a [[U.S. Army]] [[comptroller]], was shot to death in front of his home in Tehran by two men on a motorcycle on June 2, 1973.<ref name="Bill 1989 181">{{cite book|last=Bill|first=James A.|title=The Eagle and the Lion|page=181|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1989}}</ref><ref name="Afkhami 2009 398" />{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=141}} A car carrying U.S. Air Force officers Col. [[Paul R. Shaffer]] and Lt. Col. Jack Turner was trapped between two cars carrying armed men. They told the Iranian driver to lie down and then shot and killed the Americans. Six hours later a woman called reporters to claim the MEK carried out the attack as retaliation for the recent death of prisoners at the hands of Iranian authorities.<ref name="Bill 1989 181" /><ref name="Afkhami 2009 398" />{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=142}} A car carrying three American employees of [[Rockwell International]] was attacked in August 1976. William Cottrell, Donald Smith, and Robert Krongard were killed. They had been working on the Ibex system for gathering intelligence on the neighboring [[USSR]].<ref name="Bill 1989 181" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Iran Kills Man Accused of Slaying of 3 Americans|newspaper=Washington Post|date=November 18, 1976}}</ref> Leading up to the Islamic Revolution, members of the MEK, conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.<ref name="crt">{{cite web|url=https://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82738.htm |title=Chapter 6 – Terrorist Organizations |accessdate=2007-07-15 |publisher=U.S. Department of State |year=2007 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711015754/http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/crt/2006/82738.htm |archivedate=2007-07-11 |df= }}</ref> According to the [[U.S. Department of State]] and the presentation of the MEK by the Foreign Affairs group of the [[Australian Parliament]], the group conducted several assassinations of U.S. military personnel and civilians working in Iran during the 1970s. After the revolution the group actively supported the [[Iran hostage crisis|U.S. embassy takeover]] in Tehran in 1979.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Fisher|first1=Max|title=Here's the Video of Newt Gingrich Bowing to the Leader of an Iranian Terrorist Group|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/07/heres-the-video-of-newt-gingrich-bowing-to-the-leader-of-an-iranian-terrorist-group/259313/|accessdate=12 December 2015|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=2 July 2012}}</ref> MEK supporters have claimed that the assassinations and bombings were carried out by the Marxist leaning splinter group [[Peykar]], who "hijacked" the name of the MEK, and were not under the control of imprisoned leaders such as [[Massoud Rajavi]].<ref name= Bloomfield /> ===== Relations with foreign leftists ===== The MEK found their best friends among secular left-wing groups.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=154}} Its members were trained and armed by the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) and [[Fatah]],<ref name="cp" /> with whom they "fought side by side in Jordan during the events of [[Black September]]".<ref name="ic"/> The [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman]] (PFLO) and [[People's Democratic Republic of Yemen|South Yemen]]'s Marxist state also provided the MEK with radio stations and printing presses.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=154}} The MEK sent five trained members into South Yemen to fight in the [[Dhofar Rebellion]] against Omani and Iranian forces.<ref>{{cite book|author=Sepehr Zabir|title=The Left in Contemporary Iran (RLE Iran D)|date=2012|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=978-1-136-81263-7|page=86}}</ref> === "The political phase" (1979–1981) === The group supported the revolution in its initial phases.<ref name=twquarterly>{{cite journal|last=Sreberny-Mohammadi|first=Annabelle|author2=Ali Mohammadi|title=Post-Revolutionary Iranian Exiles: A Study in Impotence|journal=Third World Quarterly|date=January 1987|volume=9|issue=1|pages=108–129|jstor=3991849|doi=10.1080/01436598708419964}}</ref> MEK launched an unsuccessful campaign supporting total abolition of Iran's standing military, [[Islamic Republic of Iran Army]], in order to prevent a [[coup d'état]] against the system. They also claimed credit for infiltration against the [[Nojeh coup plot]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Zabir|first1=Sepehr|title=The Iranian military in revolution and war|date=2011|publisher=Routledge|page=125|isbn=978-0-415-61785-7}}</ref> It participated in the referendum held in March 1979.<ref name=twquarterly /> Its candidate for the head of the newly founded [[Council of Experts|council of experts]] was [[Masoud Rajavi]] in the election of August 1979.<ref name=twquarterly /> However, he lost the election.<ref name=twquarterly /> The group also supported for [[Iran hostage crisis|the occupation the US embassy]] in Tehran in November 1979.<ref name=twquarterly /> Later the People's Mujahedin of Iran refused to participate in the referendum to ratify the constitution where [[Ruhollah Khomeini]] had called upon "all good Muslims to vote ‘yes’."<ref name=":2" /> As a result, Khomeini subsequently refused [[Massoud Rajavi]] and PMOI members to run in the [[Iranian presidential election, 1980]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|author1=Kenneth Katzman|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2001|isbn=1-56072-954-6|editor=Albert V. Benliot|p=101|chapter=Iran: The organization of Iran}}</ref> By the middle of the year 1980, clerics close to Khomeini were openly referring to the MEK as "''[[Munafiqun|monafeghin]]''", "''[[Kafir|kafer]]''", and "''elteqatigari''". The MEK, instead accused Khomeini of “monopolizing power”, “hijacking the revolution”, “trampling over democratic right”, and “plotting to set up a fascistic one-party dictatorship".<ref name="auto3">{{cite book|title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=206}}</ref> According to MEK narrative, in February 1980, concentrated attacks by Hezbollahi members began on their meeting places, bookstores, and newsstands of Mujahideen and other leftists, driving the left underground in Iran. MEK claims that Hundreds of their supporters and members were killed from 1979 to 1981, and some 3,000 were arrested. Ultimately, according to the same narrative, the organization called for a massive half-a-million-strong demonstration under the banner of Islam on June 20, 1981, to protest Iran's new leadership, which was also attacked. Following the June 20 protests, Massoud Rajavi formed the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in Tehran.<ref>{{cite web|title=Significance of June in the calendar of the Iranian Resistance|url=http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/251-iran-freedom-rally-2015/18502-significance-of-june-in-the-calendar-of-the-iranian-resistance|publisher=National Council of Resistance of Iran|accessdate=30 June 2015}}</ref>{{Self-published inline|date=July 2016}} In the immediate aftermath of the [[1979 Islamic Revolution]], the MEK was suppressed by Khomeini's revolutionary organizations and harassed by the [[Hezbollah of Iran|Hezbollahi]], who attacked meeting places, bookstores, and kiosks of the Mujahideen.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bakhash|first1=Saul|title=The reign of the ayatollahs|date=1990|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=0-465-06890-1|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b-7CAAAAIAAJ|accessdate=2014-12-17}}</ref> Toward the end of 1981, several PMOI members and supporters went into exile. Their principal refuge was in France.<ref name="Final Judgment">{{cite web|title=PROSCRIBED ORGANISATIONS APPEAL COMMISSION|url=https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/PC022006-PMOI-FINAL-JUDGMENT.pdf|publisher=Judicial Office UK|accessdate=9 March 2016}}</ref> By early 1981, Iranian authorities then closed down MEK offices, outlawed their newspapers, prohibited their demonstrations, and issued arrest warrants for the MEK leaders, forcing the organization go underground once again.<ref name="auto3" /> ==== Electoral history ==== {| class=wikitable style=text-align:center |- !Year !Election/referendum !Seats won/policy !References |- |rowspan="3"|1979 || [[Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, March 1979|Islamic Republic referendum]] || Vote 'Yes' || <ref name="DUP" /> |- || [[Iranian Constitutional Convention election, 1979|Assembly of Experts election]] | {{Composition bar|0|73|hex=red|per=1}} ||<ref name="riea">{{citation|author=Ervand Abrahamian|title=Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin|publisher=I.B.Tauris|date=1989|isbn=978-1-85043-077-3|volume=3|series=Society and culture in the modern Middle East|at=pp. 195–205}}</ref> |- || [[Iranian constitutional referendum, December 1979|Constitutional referendum]] || style="background-color:#C66"|''Boycott'' || <ref name="DUP" /> |- |rowspan="2"|1980 || [[Iranian presidential election, 1980|Presidential election]] || Vote, no candidate || <ref name="DUP" /> |- || [[Iranian legislative election, 1980|Parliamentary elections]] | {{Composition bar|0|270|hex=red|per=1}} ||<ref name="riea" /> |} === Armed conflict with the Islamic Republic government (1981–1988) === [[File:Protests against the Ayatollah Khomeini government (20 June 1981).jpg|thumb|Protests against the leadership of [[Ayatollah Khomeini]] (20 June 1981)]] {{Further information|Hafte Tir bombing|1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing|Casualties of the Iranian Revolution|Consolidation of the Iranian Revolution|Iran–Iraq War}} By the middle of the year 1980, clerics close to Khomeini were openly referring to the MEK as "''[[Munafiqun|monafeghin]]''", "''[[Kafir|kafer]]''", and "''elteqatigari''". The MEK, instead accused Khomeini of “monopolizing power”, “hijacking the revolution”, “trampling over democratic right”, and “plotting to set up a fascistic one-party dictatorship".<ref name="auto3" /> In February 1980 concentrated attacks by ''hezbollahi'' pro-Khomeini militia began on the meeting places, bookstores and newsstands of Mujahideen and other leftists<ref>Bakhash, ''The Reign of the Ayatollahs'' (1984) p.&nbsp;123.</ref> driving the Left underground in Iran. Hundreds of MEK supporters and members were killed from 1979 to 1981, and some 3,000 were arrested.<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.tkb.org/Group.jsp?groupID=3632|title=TKB}}</ref> On 30 August a bomb was detonated killing the popularly elected President [[Mohammad-Ali Rajai|Rajai]] and Premier [[Mohammad Javad Bahonar]]. An active member of the Mujahedin, [[Massoud Keshmiri]], was identified as the perpetrator.<ref>{{cite book|author=Michael Newton|title=Famous Assassinations in World History: An Encyclopedia|volume=1|date=2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-286-1|pages=28}}</ref> The reaction to both bombings was intense with many arrests and executions of Mujahedin and other leftist groups, but "assassinations of leading officials and active supporters of the government by the Mujahedin were to continue for the next year or two."{{Sfn|Moin|2001|p=243}} Following the [[Iraqi invasion of Iran]] in 1980, MEK called [[Saddam Hussein]] an "aggressor" and a "[[dictator]]".<ref name="Barker" /> In 1981, the MEK formed the [[National Council of Resistance of Iran]] (NCRI) with the stated goal of uniting the opposition to the Iranian government under one [[umbrella organization]]. The MEK says that in the past 25 years, the NCRI has evolved into a 540-member parliament-in-exile, with a specific platform that emphasizes [[free elections]], [[gender equality]] and equal rights for ethnic and religious minorities. The MEK claims that it also advocates a free-market economy and supports peace in the Middle East. However, the [[FBI]] claims that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the [MEK] at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK, rather than vice versa. Although the MEK is today the main organization of the NCRI, the latter previously hosted other organizations, such as the [[Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran]].<ref name="RAND"/> Many MEK sympathizers or middle-level organizers were detained and executed after June 1981. The MEK claims that over 100,000 of its members have been killed and 150,000 imprisoned by the regime, but there is no way to independently confirm these figures.<ref name="auto1" /> According to Katzman, the Iranian regime is concerned about MEK activities and are a major target of Iran's internal security apparatus and its campaign as assassinating opponents abroad. The Iranian regime is believed to be responsible for killing NCR representative in 1993, and [[Massoud Rajavi]]'s brother in 1990. The MEK claims that in 1996 a shipment of Iranian mortars was intended for use by Iranian agents against [[Maryam Rajavi]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|author1=Kenneth Katzman|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|isbn=1-56072-954-6|editor=Albert V. Benliot|p=104|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran}}</ref> Ambassador Lincoln Bloomfield describes this period in an article in The National Interest Magazine “when confronted with growing resistance in the spring of 1981 to the restrictive new order that culminated in massive pro-democracy demonstrations across the country invoked by MEK leader Massoud Rajavi on June 20, Khomeini's reign was secured at gunpoint with brute force, driving Iran's first and only freely elected president, Abolhassan Bani-Sadr, underground and into permanent exile. This fateful episode was described by Ervand Abrahamian as a "reign of terror"; Marvin Zonis called it "a campaign of mass slaughter."<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://nationalinterest.org/feature/what-washington-doesnt-get-about-iran-16411?page=show|title=What Washington Doesn't Get about Iran|last=Sepehrrad|first=Lincoln P. Bloomfield Jr., Ramesh|newspaper=The National Interest|access-date=2017-01-02}}</ref> Eventually, the majority of the MEK leadership and members fled to France, where it operated until 1985. In June 1986, France, then seeking to improve relations with Iran, expelled the MEK and the organization relocated to Iraq. MEK representatives contend that their organization had little alternative to moving to Iraq considering its aim of toppling the Iranian clerical government.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=101-102|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> ==== Operation ''Eternal Light'' and 1988 executions ==== {{Further information|Operation Mersad|1988 executions of Iranian political prisoners}} [[File:Saddam Hussein..jpg|thumb|Rajavi shaking hands with [[Saddam Hussein]]]] In 1986, after French Prime Minister [[Jacques Chirac]] struck a deal with Tehran for the release of French hostages held prisoners by the Hezbollah in Lebanon, the MEK was forced to leave France and relocated to Iraq. Investigative journalist [[Dominique Lorentz]] has related the 1986 capture of French hostages to an alleged blackmail of France by Tehran concerning the [[Iranian nuclear program|nuclear program]].<ref>{{citation |author1-link=Dominique Lorentz|last1=Lorentz |first1=Dominique |first2=Carr-Brown |last2=David |title=La République atomique |trans-title=The Atomic Republic |date=November 14, 2001 |language=French |publisher=[[Arte TV]]}}</ref> The MEK transferred its headquarters to Iraq. Near the end of the [[Iran–Iraq War|1980–88 war between Iraq and Iran]], a military force of 7,000 members of the MEK, armed and equipped by Saddam's Iraq and calling itself the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA), went into action. On July 26, 1988, six days after the Ayatollah Khomeini had announced his acceptance of the UN brokered ceasefire resolution, the NLA advanced under heavy Iraqi air cover, crossing the Iranian border from Iraq. It seized and razed to the ground the Iranian town of [[Islamabad-e Gharb]]. As it advanced further into Iran, Iraq ceased its air support and Iranian forces cut off NLA supply lines and counterattacked under cover of fighter planes and helicopter gunships. On July 29 the NLA announced a voluntary withdrawal back to Iraq. The MEK claims it lost 1,400 dead or missing and the Islamic Republic sustained 55,000 casualties (either IRGC, Basij forces, or the army). The Islamic Republic claims to have killed 4,500 NLA during the operation.<ref>Hiro, Dilip, ''The Longest War'' (1999), pp.&nbsp;246–7</ref> The operation was called ''Foroughe Javidan'' (Eternal Light) by the MEK and the counterattack [[Operation Mersad]] by the Iranian forces. Following the operation, a large number of prisoners from the MEK, and a lesser number from other leftist opposition groups [[1988 executions of Iranian prisoners|were executed]]. The number of those executed remains a point of contention, with the numbers ranging between 1,400 and 30,000. The executions ordered by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and carried out by several high-ranking members of Iran's current government.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2001/02/04/wiran04.xml |title=Khomeini fatwa 'led to killing of 30,000 in Iran' |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]] |date=February 2, 2001}}</ref> According to ''[[The Economist]]'', "Iranians of all stripes tend to regard the group as traitors" for its alliance with Saddam during the Iran–Iraq War.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.economist.com/world/mideast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13447429|title=Where will they all go?|publisher=The Economist|date=March 8, 2009}}</ref> Massoud Rajavi personally identified Iranian military targets for Iraq to attack, an act the New York Times describes as betrayal.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/magazine/the-cult-of-rajavi.html|title=The Cult of Rajavi|first=Elizabeth|last=Rubin|date=13 July 2003|publisher=|via=NYTimes.com}}</ref> === Post-war Saddam era (1988–2003) === {{See also|1991 uprisings in Iraq}} In the following years the MEK conducted several high-profile assassinations of political and military figures inside Iran, including [[Asadollah Lajevardi]], the former warden of the Evin prison, in 1998, and deputy chief of the [[Iranian Armed Forces]] [[General Staff]] [[Brigadier General]] [[Ali Sayyad Shirazi]], who was assassinated on the doorsteps of his house on April 10, 1999.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Combs|first1=Cindy C.|last2=Slann|first2=Martin|title=Encyclopedia of terrorism|date=2002|publisher=Facts On File|location=New York, NY|isbn=0-8160-4455-4|page=188|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H7fT0BQxwDsC&pg=PA188&lpg=PA188|accessdate=29 October 2015}}</ref> In April 1992, the MEK attacked 10 embassies, including the Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York. Some of the attackers were armed with knives, firebombs, metal bars, sticks, and other weapons. In the various attacks, they took hostages, burned cars and buildings, and injured multiple Iranian ambassadors and embassy employees. There were additional injuries, including to police, in other locations. The MEK also caused major property damage. There were dozens of arrests.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/04/06/world/iran-rebels-hit-missions-in-10-nations.html |title=Iran Rebels Hit Missions in 10 Nations |last=Mcfadden |first=Robert D. |date=April 6, 1992 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> The Iranian [[Ministry of Intelligence (Iran)|Ministry of Intelligence]] (MOIS) cracked down on MEK activity, carrying out what a US [[Federal Research Division]], Library of Congress Report referred to as "psychological warfare."<ref>"Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security: A Profile." A Report Prepared by the Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington, December 2012. pp. 26–28 [https://fas.org/irp/world/iran/mois-loc.pdf]</ref> According to Katzman, many analysts believe that the MEK lacks sufficient strength or support to seriously challenge the Iranian government's grip on power; however the government is concerned about MEK activities such that the latter are a major target of Iran's internal security apparatus and its campaign of assassinating opponents abroad. The Iranian government is believed to be responsible for killing MEK members, [[Kazem Rajavi]] on 24 April 1990 and Mohammad-Hossein Naghdi, a NCRI representative on 6 March 1993. According to the [[United States Department of State]] and the Foreign Affairs group of the [[Parliament of Australia]], MEK, sheltered in Iraq by Saddam Hussein, assisted the Republican Guard in brutally suppressing the 1991 nationwide uprisings against Baathist regime.<ref name="bdt45cgf112">{{Cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1569788,00.html|title=Iran's Armed Opposition Wins a Battle — In Court|last=Graff|first=James|date=December 14, 2006|work=Time|accessdate=April 13, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428210515/http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0%2C8599%2C1569788%2C00.html|archivedate=April 28, 2011|deadurl=no|df=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm|title=Behind the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK)|work=|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5io7JDsaA?url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm|archivedate=August 5, 2009|deadurl=yes|accessdate=August 3, 2009|df=mdy}}</ref> [[Maryam Rajavi]] has been reported by former MEK members as having said, "Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Iranian Revolutionary Guards]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/sloth/2003-07-15.html|title=The Cult of Rajavi|work=|archiveurl=https://www.webcitation.org/5io7JmBgv?url=http://cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/sloth/2003-07-15.html|archivedate=August 5, 2009|deadurl=no|accessdate=August 3, 2009|df=mdy}}</ref> ==== 2003 French arrests ==== In June 2003 French police raided the MEK's properties, including its base in [[Auvers-sur-Oise]], under the orders of anti-terrorist magistrate [[Jean-Louis Bruguière]], after suspicions that it was trying to shift its base of operations there. 160 suspected MEK members were then arrested. In response, 40 supporters began [[hunger strike]]s to protest the arrests, and ten [[Self-immolation|immolated]] themselves in various European capitals. French Interior Minister [[Nicolas Sarkozy]] declared that the MEK "recently wanted to make France its support base, notably after the intervention in Iraq", while [[:fr:Pierre de Bousquet de Florian|Pierre de Bousquet de Florian]], head of France's domestic intelligence service, claimed that the group was "transforming its [[Val d'Oise]] centre [near Paris]... into an international terrorist base".<ref>{{cite news |title=France investigates Iran exiles |publisher=BBC News|date=June 22, 2003|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3010422.stm |accessdate=January 3, 2010}}</ref> Police found plenty of cash in their offices, $1.38 million in [[United States one hundred-dollar bill|$100 notes]] and 150,000 euros.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1103567.html|title=France: Police Arrest Members Of Iran's Armed Opposition, But Why Now?|author=Charles Recknagel|date=18 June 2003|access-date=11 July 2017|work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> U.S. Senator [[Sam Brownback]], a Republican from Kansas and chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on South Asia, then accused the French of doing "the Iranian government's dirty work". Along with other members of [[United States Congress|Congress]], he wrote a letter of protest to President [[Jacques Chirac]], while longtime MEK supporters such as [[Sheila Jackson-Lee]], a Democrat from Texas, criticized Maryam Radjavi's arrest.<ref name="Rubin" /> Following orders from MEK and in protest to the arrests, about ten members including [[Neda Hassani]], [[Self-immolation|set themselves on fire]] in front of French embassies abroad and two of them died. French authorities released MEK members as a result.<ref name="Barker" /> === Post-US invasion of Iraq (2003–2016) === During the [[Iraq war]], the [[Multi-National Force – Iraq|coalition forces]] bombed MEK bases and forced them to surrender in May 2003.<ref>{{cite book|title=The A to Z of Middle Eastern Intelligence|isbn=978-0-8108-7070-3|authors=Ephraim Kahana, Muhammad Suwaed |year=2009|publisher=Scarecrow Press|page=208}}</ref> U.S. troops later posted guards at its bases.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.cfr.org/publication/9158/ |title=Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK) |first=Holly |last=Fletcher |date=April 8, 2008 |publisher=CFR |accessdate=2013-01-05 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606084954/http://www.cfr.org/publication/9158/ |archivedate=June 6, 2010 |df= }}</ref> The U.S. military also protected and gave logistical support to the MEK as U.S. officials viewed the group as a high value source of intelligence on Iran.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZB9F74tiE-kC&pg=PA79&lpg=PA79&dq=saddam+hussein+mek#v=onepage&q=saddam%20hussein%20mek&f=false |title=The United States and Iran: Sanctions, wars and the policy of dual containment |isbn=978-0-415-77396-6 |author=Fayazmanesh |first=Sasan |year=2008}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=December 2016}} After the [[2003 invasion of Iraq]], MEK camps were bombed by the U.S., resulting in at least 50 deaths. It was later revealed that the U.S. bombings were part of an agreement between the Iranian government and Washington. In the agreement Tehran offered to oust some al-Qaeda suspects if the U.S. came down on the MEK.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mojtahedzadeh|first1=Hajar|title=The Real Face of Realpolitik: Camp Ashraf and the U.S. FTO|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hajar-mojtahedzadeh/the-real-face-of-realpoli_b_892469.html|website=Huffingtonpost.com|publisher=The World Post|accessdate=1 July 2015}}</ref> In the operation, the U.S. reportedly captured 6,000 MEK soldiers and over 2,000 pieces of military equipment, including 19 British-made Chieftain tanks.<ref name=Sullivan>{{citation |title=Armed Iranian exiles surrender; 6,000-member unit accepts U.S. terms |first=John |last=Sullivan |publisher=Knight Ridder |newspaper=The Record |place=Bergen County, NJ |date=May 11, 2003 |page=A.17}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated1">{{citation |publisher=US DoD |type=news briefing |title=M2 Presswire |place=Coventry |date=June 19, 2003 |page=1}}</ref> The [[MEK Compound (Fallujah, Iraq)|MEK compound]] outside Fallujah became known as Camp Fallujah and sits adjacent to the other major base in Fallujah, Forward Operating Base [[Dreamland, Iraq|Dreamland]]. Captured MEK members were kept at Camp Ashraf, about 100 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad.<ref>{{cite web|first =John |last=Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/camp-ashraf.htm |title="Camp Ashraf" ''US Military Occupation Facilities'' |publisher=Global security |accessdate=2013-01-05}}</ref> Secretary of Defense [[Donald Rumsfeld]] declared MEK personnel in Ashraf [[protected person]]s under the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]]. They were placed under the guard of the [[U.S. Military]]. Defectors from this group are housed separately in a refugee camp within [[Camp Ashraf]], and protected by U.S. Army military police (2003–current){{outdated inline|date=January 2017}}, U.S. Marines (2005–07), and the [[Bulgarian Army]] (2006–current){{outdated inline|date=January 2017}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=75484 |title=Bulgaria: Bulgaria Sends New Unit to Iraq |publisher=Novinite |date=2007-01-17 |accessdate=2013-01-05}}</ref> On 19 August 2003, MEK bombed the [[United Nations]] compound in Iraq, prompting UN withdrawal from the country.<ref name="RAND"/> In 2010, Iranian authorities sentenced to death five members of the MEK who were arrested during [[2009 Iranian presidential election protests]] .<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2010/01/ashoura-protesters-risk-execution-iran-20100108/ |title=Ashoura Protesters Risk Execution in Iran |accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> In July 2010, the [[Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal]] issued an arrest warrant for 39 MEK members, including Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, for [[crimes against humanity]] committed while suppressing the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq]].<ref name="cah">{{cite web|author=Muhanad Mohammed|editor=Rania El Gamal; David Stamp|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLDE66A0A0|title=Iraqi court seeks arrest of Iranian exiles|date=11 July 2010|access-date=28 December 2016|publisher=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> In 2010, Iranian authorities sentenced to death protesters in Iran confirmed to be part of the MEK.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2010/01/ashoura-protesters-risk-execution-iran-20100108/|title=Ashoura Protesters Risk Execution in Iran|accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> In 2017, Roghayeh Azizi Mirmahaleh was granted asylum in Canada for fears she would be executed if returned to Iran on account of her connections to the MEK.<ref name="auto5">{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/roghayeh-azizi-mirmahaleh-iranian-montreal-deportation-1.3995281|title=Iranian Montrealer facing deportation can stay in Canada|accessdate=June 27, 2018}}</ref> In early 2018, [[Hassan Rouhani]] phoned French president [[Emmanuel Macron]] to ask him to act against the MEK, accusing the organization of fomenting the [[2017–18 Iranian protests]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france|title=Rouhani calls on Macron to act over anti-Iran 'terrorists' in France|publisher=|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102215915/https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france/|archivedate=2 January 2018|deadurl=no|df=dmy-all}}</ref> ==== Iraqi government's 2009 crackdown ==== {{See also|2011 Camp Ashraf raid|2013 Camp Ashraf attack}} On 23 January 2009, and while on a visit to Tehran, Iraqi National Security Advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie reiterated the Iraqi Prime Minister's earlier announcement that the MEK organisation would no longer be able to base itself on Iraqi soil and stated that the members of the organisation would have to make a choice, either to go back to Iran or to go to a third country, adding that these measures would be implemented over the next two months.<ref>{{cite web|publisher=Al-Jazeera |url=http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/09F45E44-4EA9-41F5-9190-BE6B6CE7B7C5.htm |script-title=ar:العراق يقرر طرد أعضاء مجاهدي خلق من أراضيه |trans-title=Iraq Decides to Expel MEK Members from its Territory |date=January 24, 2009 |accessdate= 2011-12-07|language=Arabic }}</ref> On 29 July 2009, eleven Iranians were killed and over 500 were injured in a raid by Iraqi security on the MEK [[Camp Ashraf]] in Diyala province of Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=33654 |title=Iranian Exiles' White House Hunger Strike Continues |first=Alicia M |last=Cohn |date=September 23, 2009 |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> U.S. officials had long opposed a violent takeover of the camp northeast of Baghdad, and the raid is thought to symbolize the declining American influence in Iraq.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/29/AR2009072901005.html |title=Iraq Raids Camp of Exiles From Iran |first1=Ernesto |last1=Londoño |first2=Greg |last2=Jaffe |work=Washington Post |date=July 29, 2009 |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> After the raid, the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, stated the issue was "completely within [the Iraqi government's] purview."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1913399,00.html |title=Iraq Cracks Down on Iranian Exiles at Camp Ashraf |work=Time |first=Rania |last=Abouzeid |date=July 29, 2009 |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref> In the course of attack, 36 Iranian dissidents were arrested and removed from the camp to a prison in a town named Khalis, where the arrestees went on hunger strike for 72 days, 7 of which was dry hunger strike. Finally the dissidents were released when they were in an extremely critical condition and on the verge of death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iranliberty.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=963:36-ashraf-residents-hostages-released-on-72nd-day-of-hunger-strike&catid=33:ashraf&Itemid=81 |title=36 Ashraf Residents Hostages Released on 72nd Day of Hunger Strike |publisher=Iran Liberty Association |accessdate=2011-12-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2009/08/25/PMOI-on-hunger-strike/UPI-38171251234356/ |title=PMOI on hunger strike |publisher=UPI |date=August 25, 2009|accessdate= 2012-09-29}}</ref> ==== Iran's nuclear programme ==== {{Main|Nuclear program of Iran|Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists}} {{See also|Iran–Israel proxy conflict}} The MEK and the NCRI revealed the existence of [[Nuclear program of Iran|Iran's nuclear program]] in a press conference held on 14 August 2002 in Washington DC. MEK representative [[Alireza Jafarzadeh]] stated that Iran is running two top-secret projects, one in the city of [[Natanz]] and another in [[IR-40|a facility located in Arak]], which was later confirmed by the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]].<ref name="nuc">{{citation|authors=Sasan Fayazmanesh|series=Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics|title=The United States and Iran: Sanctions, Wars and the Policy of Dual Containment|year=2008|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-97687-3|pages=120–123}}</ref> Journalists [[Seymour Hersh]] and [[Connie Bruck]] have written that the information was given to the MEK by Israel. Among others, it was described by a senior IAEA official and a monarchist advisor to [[Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran|Reza Pahlavi]], who said before MEK they were offered to reveal the information, but they refused because it would be seen negatively by the people of Iran.<ref>{{Cite book|author=Seymour Hersh|title=Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib|publisher=HarperCollins|year=2004|isbn=0-06-019591-6|page=349}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2006/03/06/exiles-6|title=Exiles: How Iran's Expatriates are Gaming the Nuclear Threat|author=Connie Bruck|publisher=The New Yorker|date=6 March 2006|page=48}}</ref> Similar accounts could be found elsewhere by others, including comments made by US officials.<ref name="nuc" /> However, all of their subsequent claims turned out to be false. For instance, on 18 November 2004, MEK representative Mohammad Mohaddessin used satellite images to falsely state that a new facility exists in northeast [[Tehran]], named "Center for the Development of Advanced Defence Technology".<ref name="nuc" /> In late 2005, they held a conference and announced that Iran was digging tunnels for missile and atomic work at 14 sites, including an underground complex near [[Qom]]. Commenting on the allegations, [[Mohamed ElBaradei]], then head of the [[International Atomic Energy Agency]], said “We followed whatever they came up with... And a lot of it was bogus.” Frank Pabian, a senior adviser at [[Los Alamos National Laboratory]], however said “they’re right 90 percent of the time... That doesn’t mean they’re perfect, but 90 percent is a pretty good record.”<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/world/middleeast/06sanctions.html|title=Iran Shielding Its Nuclear Efforts in Maze of Tunnels|last=Broad|first=William J.|date=2010-01-05|newspaper=The New York Times|issn=0362-4331|access-date=2016-12-25}}</ref> In 2010 the NCRI claimed to have uncovered a secret nuclear facility in Iran. These claims were dismissed by US officials, who did not believe the facilities to be nuclear. In 2013, the NCRI again claimed to have discovered a secret underground nuclear site.<ref name="reuters">{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/11/us-nuclear-iran-exiles-idUSBRE96A0KZ20130711 |title=Exiled dissidents claim Iran building new nuclear site &#124; Reuters |author=Nicholas Vinocur and Fredrik Dahl|publisher=reuters.com|accessdate=2015-02-07}}</ref> In 2012, the MEK were accused by the Iranian government and US officials, who spoke to [[NBC News]] on condition of anonymity, of being financed, trained, and armed by [[Mossad|Israel's secret service]] to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.<ref name="rockcenter.nbcnews.com" /><ref>{{cite news|title=Israel's Mossad Trained Assassins of Iran Nuclear Scientists, Report Says|url=http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-s-mossad-trained-assassins-of-iran-nuclear-scientists-report-says-1.411945|accessdate=18 November 2015|work=[[Haaretz]]|date=9 February 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last1=Cockburn|first1=Patrick|title=Just who has been killing Iran's nuclear scientists?|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/just-who-has-been-killing-irans-nuclear-scientists-8861232.html|accessdate=18 November 2015|work=[[The Independent]]|date=5 October 2013}}</ref> Former CIA [[case officer]] in the Middle East, [[Robert Baer]] argued that MEK agents trained by Israel were the only plausible perpetrators for such assassinations.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Borger|first1=Julian|title=Who is responsible for the Iran nuclear scientists attacks?|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/12/iran-nuclear-scientists-attacks|accessdate=18 November 2015|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=12 January 2012}}</ref> In 2015, MEK again falsely claimed to have found a secret nuclear facility they called "Lavizan-3". The site was revealed to be operated by a firm which produces identification documents for Iranian government.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Bibbins Sedaca|first1=Nicole|title=That Secret Iranian ‘Nuclear Facility’ You Just Found? Not So Much. |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2015/03/03/that-secret-iranian-nuclear-facility-you-just-found-not-so-much/|accessdate=18 November 2015|work=[[Foreign Policy]]|date=3 March 2015}}</ref> ==== Alleged involvement in Syrian Civil War ==== {{See also|Iran–Saudi Arabia proxy conflict}} According to the official ''[[Iran (newspaper)|Iran]]'' newspaper, in August 2012, a number of MEK members detained by the Syrian government confessed that the MEK is training militants on Turkish soil near the border with Syria. The report also said they cooperate foreign-backed militants in Syria through the Jordanian borders and are stationed at a base called ‘Hanif’, which is "disguised as a hospital".<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.iran-daily.com/1392/2/15/MainPaper/4498/Page/2/MainPaper_4498_2.pdf|title=MKO in Syria Under Guise of Medics|number=4498|date=May 5, 2013|page=2|newspaper=[[Iran (newspaper)|Iran daily]]}}</ref> On 30 May 2013, Georges Malbrunot of ''[[Le Figaro]]'' wrote that two members of the organization were found dead in [[Idlib]], citing a "European parliamentarian in contact with the [[Syrian opposition|anti-government rebels]]".<ref>{{citation|author=Georges Malbrunot|url=http://blog.lefigaro.fr/malbrunot/2013/05/des-moudjahidines-du-peuple-an.html|title=Des moudjahidines du peuple anti-iranien combattent en Syrie|date=30 May 2013|newspaper=[[Le Figaro]]|language=French|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> In August 2013, [[Qasim al-Araji]], a member of the Security Commission in the [[Council of Representatives of Iraq|Iraqi Parliament]], stated that the organization is engaged in [[Syrian Civil War]] against Bashar al-Assad's government.<ref>{{citation|url=http://breakingnews.sy/en/article/23712.html|title=Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) Organization fights in Syria|date=19 August 2013|access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> In June 2014, when [[Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant]] (ISIL) took [[Mosul]], MEK website gave a triumphalist account of the conquest, referring to ISIS as “revolutionary forces”. However in April 2015, it called the former an “extremist group” and asked the United States to fight ISIL by [[regime change]] in Iran.<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/cult-leader-will-tell-congress-fight-isis-regime-change-iran/|work=The Nation|title= Cult Leader Will Tell Congress: Fight ISIS by Regime Change in Iran|date=28 April 2015|access-date=15 September 2016}}</ref> ==== Relocation from Iraq ==== On January 1, 2009 the U.S. military transferred control of [[Camp Ashraf]] to the Iraqi government. On the same day, Prime Minister [[Nuri al-Maliki]] announced that the militant group would not be allowed to base its operations from Iraqi soil.<ref>{{cite news|first=Abigail |last=Hauslohner |title=Iranian Resistance Group a Source of Contention in Iraq |work=Time Magazine |date=January 5, 2008 |url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1869532,00.html |accessdate=2008-01-05}}</ref> In 2012 MEK moved from Camp Ashraf to [[Camp Hurriya]] in [[Baghdad]] (a onetime U.S. base formerly known as [[Camp Liberty]]). A rocket and mortar attack killed 5 and injured 50 others at Camp Hurriya on February 9, 2013. MEK residents of the facility and their representatives and lawyers appealed to the [[UN Secretary-General]] and U.S. officials to let them return to Ashraf, which they say has concrete buildings and shelters that offer more protection. The United States has been working with the [[UN High Commissioner for Refugees]] on the resettlement project.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2013/02/09/world/meast/iraq-camp-attack/?hpt=hp_t3 |title=Attack kills 5 at Iranian exile camp in Iraq |publisher=CNN |date=Feb 9, 2013}}</ref> ==== Settlement in Albania ==== In 2013, the United States pushed to MEK to relocate to [[Albania]], but the organization rejected the offer.<ref>{{citation|author= Ashish Kumar Sen|title=U.S. pushes Iranian dissidents to accept Albanian asylum offer|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/18/us-iranian-dissidents-accept-albanian-asylum-offer/|work=Washington Times|date=18 March 2013|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> The MEK eventually accepted to move about 3,000 members to Albania, and the U.S. donated $20 million to the U.N. refugee agency to help them resettle.<ref>{{citation|author=Pamela Dockins|title=US Praises Albania for MEK Resettlement|url=https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/mar/18/us-iranian-dissidents-accept-albanian-asylum-offer/|work=VOA|date=14 February 2016|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> On 9 September 2016, the more than 280 MEK members remaining were relocated to Albania.<ref name="reuters 2016-09-09" /> In May 2018, [[MSNBC]] aired never-before-seen footage of the MEK's secret base in Albania, described as a "massive military-style complex".<ref>{{citation|title=On Assignment with Richard Engel|url=https://twitter.com/OARichardEngel/status/1000162744518217733|publisher=MSNBC|date=25 May 2018|access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref> The installation is located in [[Manëz]], [[Durrës County]], where they have been protested by the locals.<ref>{{citation|title=Durrës locals protest MEK members’ burial in local cemetery|url=http://www.tiranatimes.com/?p=137041|work=Tirana Times|date=9 May 2018|access-date=15 June 2018}}</ref> In 2017, the year before [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]] became President Trump's National Security Adviser, he addressed members of the MEK and said that they would celebrate in Tehran before 2019.<ref>{{citation|author=Robert Mackey|title=Here’s John Bolton Promising Regime Change in Iran by the End of 2018|url=https://theintercept.com/2018/03/23/heres-john-bolton-promising-regime-change-iran-end-2018/|work=[[The Intercept]]|date=23 March 2018|access-date=27 April 2018}}</ref> In January 2018, Iranian president [[Hassan Rouhani]] phoned French president [[Emmanuel Macron]], asking him to order kicking the MEK out of its base in [[Auvers-sur-Oise]], alleging that the MEK stirred up the [[2017–18 Iranian protests]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france|title=Rouhani calls on Macron to act over anti-Iran 'terrorists' in France|publisher=|deadurl=no|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180102215915/https://www.timesofisrael.com/rouhani-calls-on-macron-to-act-over-anti-iran-terrorists-in-france/|archivedate=2 January 2018|df=dmy-all}}</ref> As of 2018, MEK operatives are believed to be still conducting [[covert operation]]s inside Iran.<ref>{{citation|title=The MEK's man inside the White House|url=https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/the-mek-s-man-inside-the-white-house-1242310723567?playlist=associated|series=On Assignment with Richard Engel|work=MSNBC|date=25 May 2018|access-date=26 May 2018|author=Richard Engel}}</ref> [[Islamic Republic News Agency|Iranian official news agency]] reported in January that four members of a [[Clandestine cell system|sleeper cell]] were arrested in [[Boroujerd]], one of them wounded in the clash with security forces.<ref>{{citation|title=Iran busts MKO terrorist sleeper cell|url=http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82786499|work=IRNA|id= 82786499 (6330887)|date=5 January 2018|access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref> Another member was detained in [[Mashhad]] in May.<ref>{{citation|title=MKO member arrested in eastern Iran|url=http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82906339|work=IRNA|id=82906339 (6490639)|date=6 May 2018|access-date=27 May 2018}}</ref> ==Islamic Republic of Iran views on the MEK == Iranian authorities commonly refer to the MEK as '''''Munafiqin''''' ("hypocrites").<ref>{{cite book |title=Imam Khomeini: Life, Thought and Legacy |date=2009 |publisher=The Other Press |isbn=9789675062254 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HMd5C4KaOgkC&pg=PA54&dq=sazmane+munafiqin |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Halliday |first1=Fred |title=Shocked and Awed: How the War on Terror and Jihad Have Changed the English Language |date=2010 |publisher=I. B. Tauris |isbn=9781848850316 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5-qpbmoq53UC&pg=PA164&dq=munafiqin+iran |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hiro |first1=Dilip |title=Iran under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals) |date=2013 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781135043810 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P8QwrtpxdMQC&pg=PA178&dq=munafiqin+iran |accessdate=29 June 2018 |language=en}}</ref> According reports by SAVAK and the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps]] , the organization orignally consisted of a group of young religious activists with an [[anti-Imperialist]] and [[anti-Zionist]] cause who had ties with clerical opposition to the Shah and the [[Freedom Movement of Iran]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://ketabnak.com/redirect.php?dlid=31670|title=سازمان مجاهدین خلق: پیدایی تا فرجام (۱۳۴۴-۱۳۸۴)|last=|first=|publisher=مؤسسه مطالعات و پژوهش‌های سیاسی|year=|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=275–290|trans-title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization: Origin to Fate (1345-1384)}}</ref> But by 1975, the organization went through a change in leadership and a total break from Islam to Atheist Marxism<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://ketabnak.com/redirect.php?dlid=31670|title=سازمان مجاهدین خلق: پیدایی تا فرجام (۱۳۴۴-۱۳۸۴)|last=|first=|publisher=مؤسسه مطالعات و پژوهش‌های سیاسی|year=|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=593–560|trans-title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization: Origin to Fate (1345-1384)}}</ref> which was followed by bloody purge of the Muslim members of the organization<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://ketabnak.com/redirect.php?dlid=31670|title=سازمان مجاهدین خلق: پیدایی تا فرجام (۱۳۴۴-۱۳۸۴)|last=|first=|publisher=مؤسسه مطالعات و پژوهش‌های سیاسی|year=|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=584, 617|trans-title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization: Origin to Fate (1345-1384)}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=http://ketabnak.com/redirect.php?dlid=31670|title=سازمان مجاهدین خلق: پیدایی تا فرجام (۱۳۴۴-۱۳۸۴)|last=|first=|publisher=مؤسسه مطالعات و پژوهش‌های سیاسی|year=|isbn=|volume=2|location=|pages=1–20, 153–160|trans-title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization: Origin to Fate (1345-1384)}}</ref> and termination of its clerical and popular support.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://ketabnak.com/redirect.php?dlid=31670|title=سازمان مجاهدین خلق: پیدایی تا فرجام (۱۳۴۴-۱۳۸۴)|last=|first=|publisher=مؤسسه مطالعات و پژوهش‌های سیاسی|year=|isbn=|volume=1|location=|pages=641|trans-title=Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization: Origin to Fate (1345-1384)}}</ref> According to the official ''[[Irhan (newspaper)|Iran]]'' newspaper, in August 2012, a number of MEK members detained by the Syrian government confessed that the MEK is training militants on Turkish soil near the border with Syria. The report also said they cooperate foreign-backed militants in Syria through the Jordanian borders and are stationed at a base called ‘Hanif’, which is "disguised as a hospital".<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.iran-daily.com/1392/2/15/MainPaper/4498/Page/2/MainPaper_4498_2.pdf|title=MKO in Syria Under Guise of Medics|number=4498|date=May 5, 2013|page=2|newspaper=[[Iran (newspaper)|Iran daily]]}}</ref> == Ideology == According to Masoud Banisadr, "[l]ooking at the original official ideology of the group, one notices some sort of [[Political opportunism|ideological opportunism]] within their 'mix and match' set of beliefs".<ref>{{cite book|title=Revisionism and Diversification in New Religious Movements|author=Eileen Barker|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-317-06361-9|page=174}}</ref> Historian Ervand Abrahamian observed that MEK were “consciously influenced by Marxism, both [[Neo-Marxism|modern]] and [[Classical Marxism|classical]]”, but they always denied being Marxists because they were aware that the term was colloquial to '[[atheistic]] materialism' among Iran's general public. The Iranian regime for the same reason was “eager to pin on the Mojahedin the labels of Islamic-Marxists and Marxist-Muslims.”<ref>{{cite book|title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin|last=Abrahamian|first=Ervand|publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=100–101}}</ref> === Before the revolution === According to Katzman, the MEK’s early ideology is a matter of dispute, while scholars generally describe the MEK's ideology as an attempt to combine "[[Islam]] with revolutionary [[Marxism]]", today the organization claims that it has always emphasized Islam, and that Marxism and Islam are incompatible. Katzman writes that their ideology “espoused the creation of a [[classless society]] that would combat world [[imperialism]], international [[Zionism]], [[colonialism]], exploitation, racism, and multinational corporations.” <ref name="Katzman99"/> According to Ervan Abrahamian, it constituted a “combination of Muslim themes; Shii notions of martyrdom; [[Classical Marxism|classical Marxist]] theories of class struggle and historical determinism; and [[Neo-Marxism|neo-Marxist]] concepts of armed struggle, guerilla warfare and revolutionary heroism.”<ref>{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=1-85043-077-2|pages=100}}</ref> The MEK, however, claim that this misrepresents their ideology in that Marxism and Islam are incompatible, and that the MEK has always emphasized Islam.(Katzman p.99) The MEK's ideology of revolutionary [[Twelver|Shiaism]] is based on an interpretation of Islam so similar to that of [[Ali Shariati]] that "many concluded" they were inspired by him. According to historian Ervand Abrahamian, it is clear that "in later years" that Shariati and "his prolific works" had "indirectly helped the Mujahedin."{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=490}} In the group's "first major ideological work," ''Nahzat-i Husseini'' or [[Husayn ibn Ali|Hussein]]'s Movement, authored by one of the group's founders, Ahmad Reza'i, it was argued that ''Nezam-i Towhid'' (monotheistic order) sought by the prophet Muhammad, was a commonwealth fully united not only in its worship of one God but in a classless society that strives for the common good. "Shiism, particularly Hussein's historic act of martyrdom and resistance, has both a revolutionary message and a special place in our popular culture."{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=491}} As described by Abrahamian, one Mojahedin ideologist argued <blockquote>"Reza'i further argued that the banner of revolt raised by the Shi'i [[Imamate (Twelver doctrine)|Imams]], especially [[Ali]], [[Hasan ibn Ali|Hassan]], and [[Husayn ibn Ali|Hussein]], was aimed against feudal landlords and exploiting merchant capitalists as well as against usurping [[Rashidun Caliphate|Caliphs]] who betrayed the ''Nezam-i-Towhid''. For Reza'i and the Mujahidin it was the duty of all muslims to continue this struggle to create a '[[classless society]]' and destroy all forms of [[capitalism]], [[despotism]], and [[imperialism]]. The Mujahidin summed up their attitude towards religion in these words: 'After years of extensive study into Islamic history and Shi'i ideology, our organization has reached the firm conclusion that Islam, especially Shi'ism, will play a major role in inspiring the masses to join the revolution. It will do so because Shi'ism, particularly [[Husayn ibn Ali|Hussein]]'s historic act of resistance, has both a revolutionary message and a special place in our popular culture."<ref>Keddle, Nikki R. ''Modern Iran: Roots and Results of Revolution'', First Edition. New Haven Connecticut: Yale University Press, 2006. 220–221.</ref></blockquote> === After the revolution === The MEK claims to have disassociated itself from its former revolutionary ideology in favor of liberal democratic values, however they fail to "present any track record to substantiate a capability or intention to be democratic".<ref name="Terrornomics73">{{citation|title=Terrornomics|editor=David Gold|page=73|isbn=1-317-04590-4|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujahedin-e-Khalq''|author=Mark Edmond Clark}}</ref> According to Kenneth Katzman, the organization publicly espouses principles that include "democracy, human rights protections, free market economics, and Middle East peace", however, some analysts dispute that are genuinely committed to what they state.<ref name="Katzman99">{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=99|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> A 2009 [[U.S. Department of State]] annual report states that their ideology is a blend of [[Marxism]], [[Islamism]] and [[feminism]].<ref name="auto4">{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|chapter=Advertising: The People's Mujahideen e Khalq|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=170}}</ref> === View on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict === {{See also|Black September#Iranian guerillas}} In the beginning, MEK used to criticize the [[Pahlavi dynasty]] for allying with [[Israel]] and [[Apartheid]] South Africa,{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=98}} even calling them racist states and demanding cancellation of all political and economic agreements with them.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=185}} MEK opposed [[Israeli–Palestinian peace process]]<ref>{{citation|author=Dennis Piszkiewicz|series=Praeger Security International|title=Terrorism's War with America: A History|year=2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-97952-2|page=168}}</ref> and was [[anti-Zionist]].<ref name="Barker" /> The Central Cadre established contact with the [[Palestinian Liberation Organization]] (PLO), by sending emissaries to Paris, Dubai, and Qatar to meet PLO officials. In one occasion, seven leading members of MEK spent several months in the PLO camps in Jordan and Lebanon.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=127}} On 3 August 1972, they bombed the Jordanian embassy as a means to revenge [[King Hussein]]'s unleashing his troops on the PLO in 1970.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=140}} After their exile, the MEK changed into an 'ally' of [[Israel]] in pursuit of its ideological [[Political opportunism|opportunism]].<ref name="Barker" /><ref>{{citation|authors=Thomas Juneau, Sam Razavi|series=Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics|title=Iranian Foreign Policy Since 2001: Alone in the World|year=2013|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-135-01389-9|page=124}}</ref> MEK leader [[Maryam Rajavi]] publicly met with the [[President of the State of Palestine]], [[Mahmoud Abbas]] on 30 July 2016 in Paris, France.<ref>{{cite news|title=Why Abbas-MEK meeting made waves everywhere but Palestine|url=http://al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/meeting-abbas-iran-opposition-rajavi.html|author=Marian Houk|date=9 August 2016|access-date=5 December 2016|publisher=Al-Monitor}}</ref> === View on the United States === Before their exile, the MEK preached "[[anti-imperialism]]" both before and after revolution. The Mojahedin Organization praised writers such as [[Jalal Al-e-Ahmad|Al-e Ahmad]], [[Gholam-Hossein Sa'edi|Saedi]] and [[Shariati]] for being "anti-imperialist".{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=229}} Rajavi in his presidential campaign after revolution used to warn against what he called the "imperialist danger".{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=197}} The matter was so fundamental to MEK that it criticized the Iranian government on that basis, accusing the Islamic Republic of "capitulation to imperialism" and being disloyal to democracy that according to [[Massoud Rajavi|Rajavi]] was the only means to "safeguard from American imperialism".{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=209}} However, after exile, Rajavi toned down the issues of [[imperialism]], [[social revolution]], and [[classless society]]. Instead he stressed on human rights and respect for "[[personal property]]"{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=245}} ''(as opposed to "[[private property]]", which [[capitalists]] consider to be identical to "personal property" while Marxists do not)''. Following the [[September 11 attacks]], the organization publicly condemned the event but its members at the camps reportedly rejoiced and called it "God's revenge on America".<ref>{{citation|author=[[Elaine Sciolino]]|title=Iranian Opposition Movement's Many Faces|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/30/world/iranian-opposition-movement-s-many-faces.html|date=30 June 2003|access-date=25 June 2017|work=[[The New York Times]]}}</ref> === The 'ideological revolution' and the issue of women's rights === On 27 January 1985, [[Rajavi]] appointed [[Maryam Rajavi|Maryam Azodanlu]] as his co-equal leader. The announcement, stated that this would give women equal say within the organization and thereby 'would launch a great ideological revolution within Mojahedin, the Iranian public and the whole Muslim World'. At the time Maryam Azodanlu was known as only the younger sister of a veteran member, and the wife of [[Mehdi Abrishamchi]]. According to the announcement, Maryam Azodanlu and Mehdi Abrishamchi had recently divorced in order to facilitate this 'great revolution'. As a result, the marriage further isolated the Mojahedin and also upset some members of the organization. This was mainly because, the middle class would look at this marriage as an indecent act which to them resembled [[wife-swapping]]. (especially when Abrishamchi declared his own marriage to [[Musa Khiabani]]'s younger sister). The fact that it involved women with young children and the wives of close friends was considered a taboo in traditional Iranian culture. The effect of this incident on secularists and modern intelligentsia was equally outrageous as it dragged a private matter into the public arena. Many criticized Maryam Azodanlu's giving up her own maiden name (something most Iranian women did not do and she herself had not done in her previous marriage). They would question whether this was in line with her claims of being a staunch feminist.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=251–253}} According to Iranian-Armenian historian [[Ervand Abrahamian]], "the Mojahedin, despite contrary claims did not give women equal representation within their own hierarchy. The book of martyrs indicates that women formed 15 percent of the organization's rank-and-file, but only 9 percent of its leadership. To rectify this, the Mojahedin posthumously revealed some of the rank and file women martyrs especially those related to prominent figures, into leadership positions."{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1982|p=233–234}} According to [[Country Reports on Terrorism]], in 1990 the second phase of the 'ideological revolution' was announced during which all married members were ordered to [[divorce]] and remain celibate, undertaking a vow of "eternal divorce", with the exception of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. Shortly thereafter, all children (about 800)<ref name="Barker" /> were separated from their parents and sent abroad to be adopted by members of the group in Europe or North America.<ref name="Barker" /><ref>{{citation|title=Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Regional Nuclear Arms Race?|series=Praeger Security International Series|authors=Anthony H. Cordesman, Adam C. Seitz|publisher=ABC-LIO|year=2009|isbn=978-0-313-38088-4|pages=325–326}}</ref> In 1994, "self-divorce" was declared as the further phase of the 'ideological revolution'. During this process all members were forced to surrender their [[individuality]] to the organization and change into "[[ant]]-like human beings", i.e. following orders by their [[instinct]].<ref name="Barker" /> == Propaganda campaign == From the very beginning, the MEK pursued a dual strategy of using armed struggle and [[propaganda]] to achieve its goals,<ref>{{Citation|last1=Buchta|first1=Wilfried|title= Who rules Iran?: the structure of power in the Islamic Republic|publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung| place=Washington DC|year=2000|isbn=0-944029-39-6|page=112}}</ref> and its "prolific" international propaganda machine has been successful in misleading a considerable portion of the Western media since the 1980s.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Buchta|first1=Wilfried|title=Who rules Iran?: the structure of power in the Islamic Republic|publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung|place=Washington DC|year=2000|isbn=0-944029-39-6|page=114}}</ref> In the 1980s and the 1990s, their propaganda was mainly targeted against the officials in the establishment.<ref name="BOP166">{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|chapter=Advertising: The People's Mujahideen e Khalq|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=166}}</ref> According to [[Anthony H. Cordesman]], by 1999 the campaign occasionally used "terrorist violence".<ref>{{Citation|editor-last1=Cordesman|editor-first1=Anthony H.|title=Iraq and the War of Sanctions: Conventional Threats and Weapons of Mass Destruction|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=1999|isbn=978-0-275-96528-0|page=160|quote=The MEK directs a worldwide campaign against the Iranian government that stresses propaganda and occasionally uses terrorist violence.}}</ref> The organization has made its propaganda campaign global since the beginning of the 21st century, using its "extensive overseas support structure".<ref>{{Citation|editor-last1=Ciment|editor-first1=James|title=World Terrorism: An Encyclopedia of Political Violence from Ancient Times to the Post-9/11 Era|chapter=Directory of Terrorist Groups and Individuals: Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|isbn=978-1-317-45152-5|page=859|quote=Aside from its operations inside Iran, MEK has run a global propaganda campaign since 2000. MEK has an extensive overseas support structure.}}</ref> Ivan Sascha Sheehan conducted a [[content analysis]] research on [[opinion piece]]s of major news publications between 2003 and 2012, examining how the group promoted its [[Framing (social sciences)|framing]] in the media, concluding that "even marginalized actors who persist and strategically nurture small opportunities [e.g. MEK] can exert influence and expand the discourse".<ref>{{citation|author=Ivan Sascha Sheehan|title=Challenging a Terrorist Tag in the Media: Framing the Politics of Resistance and an Iranian Opposition Group|journal=Digest of Middle East Studies|publisher=Policy Studies Organization, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.|volume=22|number=2|pages=229–261|year=Fall 2013|doi=10.1111/dome.12033}}</ref> [[Christopher C. Harmon]] and Randall G. Bowdish, in a [[case study]] on the MEK's propaganda campaign published by the [[Brookings Institution Press]] in 2018, argue that today the organization spends an unspecified but considerable amount of their money –estimated to be in millions of Euros– annually on propaganda, in order to influence officials in various countries and "focuses its propaganda more upon audiences outside Iran than in, despite their dream of liberating that country from the current government".<ref>{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|chapter=Advertising: The People's Mujahideen e Khalq|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=165–167}}</ref> A [[U.S. State Department]] work summarizes the MEK "propaganda line" roughly as follows: "[T]he Iranian government is bad, the PMOI is against the Iranian government, the Iranian government represses the PMOI, therefore, the PMOI and its leader Rajavi are good and worth of support."<ref>{{citation|editors=Lisa Parks, Shanti Kumar|title=Planet TV: A Global Television Reader|publisher=New York University Press|year=2003|isbn=978-0-8147-6691-0|page=387}}</ref> Their propaganda aims to present them as a "democratic alternative" to the current Iranian government which defends [[Western world|Western]] values such as [[secularism]] and [[women's rights]]. It also to tries erase its history of [[anti-Zionism]] and [[anti-Americanism]], as well as [[totalitarian]] ideology and terrorist practices. As part of its public propaganda campaign, the MEK distributes numerous publications, reports, books, bulletins, and open letters to influence the media and Western parliamentarians.<ref>{{Citation|last1=Buchta|first1=Wilfried|title=Who rules Iran?: the structure of power in the Islamic Republic|publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung| place=Washington DC|year=2000|isbn=0-944029-39-6|pages=114–115, 218}}</ref> "Like so many politically successful violent organizations, MEK ranges widely in its public relations work", by shipping books, brochures, CDs and T-shirts with their leaders' photos to influential offices around the world they have made themselves known to newspaper offices, parliamentarians, lobbyists and government experts.<ref>{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|chapter=Advertising: The People's Mujahideen e Khalq|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=167}}</ref> A portion of the campaign is also targeted against the MEK defectors and critics of the Rajavis inside the organization, making [[personal attacks]] against them and spreading false [[rumors]] that they collaborated with the intelligence apparatus of Iranian government.<ref>{{citation|author=Masoud Kazemzadeh|title=Islamic Fundamentalism, Feminism, and Gender Inequality in Iran Under Khomeini|publisher=University Press of America|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7618-2388-9|page=63|quote=When the democratic and progressive members of the opposition made the smallest criticisms of Rajavi, the whole PMOI propaganda machinery would commence vicious personal attacks against them and spread false rumors that they were collaborating with the fundamentalist regime's Ministry of Intelligence.}}</ref> === Media activity === The organization owns a free-to-air satellite [[television network]] named ''Vision of Freedom'' ([[Simaye Azadi|Sima-ye-Azadi]]), launched in 2003 in England.<ref>{{citation|author=Mehdi Semati|title=Media, Culture and Society in Iran: Living with Globalization and the Islamic State|volume=5|series= Iranian Studies|pages=99–100|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=978-1-135-98156-3}}</ref> It previously operated ''Vision of Resistance'' analogue television in Iraq in the 1990s, accessible in western provinces of Iran.<ref>{{citation|title=Summary of World Broadcasts (SWB)|chapter=Part 4: The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America|page=E-1|publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation. Monitoring Service|year=1993}}</ref> They also had a radio station, ''Radio Iran Zamin'', that was closed down in June 1998.<ref name="BIP">{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=8–9, 12, 14}}</ref> In order to buy legitimacy, MEK sometimes combines the features of the leaflet and the extended interview with purchasing usually full page, thus expensive ad space for their propaganda in major-circulation newspapers such as the ''[[New York Times]]'', the ''[[Washington Post]]'', and the ''[[Washington Times]]''. Harmon and Bowdish describe the advertisements as "well-designed" and "distinctive".<ref name="BIP" /> ==== Social media ==== The organization is active on social media, most notably [[Twitter]]. It runs an isolated cluster of apparently "full-time activists" and [[spambot]]s, which interact only with each other.<ref name="ssrn" /><ref name="sm" /> The cluster makes efforts to position itself as an organisation of [[human rights defender]]s. However, these efforts are rarely reciprocated, signaling their insularity.<ref name="ssrn" /> According to digital research by the UK-based ''Small Media Foundation'', the cluster's "dependence on [[spambot|automated bots]] to disseminate information demonstrates that although the MEK is taking social media sites seriously as a platform for broadcasting news and propaganda, they lack the supporter network necessary to make a significant impact within the Iranian Twittersphere. As a result, the MEK is making use of automated bots to artificially inflate its follower count, and create an illusion of influence amongst Iranian [[Twitter]] users".<ref name="sm">{{citation|title=Ashton Talks, and the MEK Spams – Social Media Monitoring|publisher=Small Media Foundation|url=https://storify.com/smallmedia/ashton-talks-mek-spams|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161208135503/https://storify.com/smallmedia/ashton-talks-mek-spams|dead-url=yes|archive-date=8 December 2016|date=24 March 2013|access-date=15 November 2016}}</ref> ''National Council of Resistance of Iran'', ''Mohajedin.org'', ''Maryam-Rajavi.com'', ''Hambastegi Meli'', ''Iran News Update'' and ''Iran Efshagari'' are among accounts openly affiliated with the group.<ref name="ssrn">{{citation|authors=James Marchant, Amin Sabeti, Kyle Bowen, John Kelly, Rebekah Heacock Jones |title=#Iranvotes: Political Discourse on Iranian Twitter During the 2016 Parliamentary Elections|pages=27–33|publisher=[[Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society]]|url=https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=656004084115001024072118010024008071023008077017062005096023076096117110106003069000024056016012056112062066119067096115006096105083064042055002023082070024125079093030023086092017122118083002065079112025031093065031031028094006108075118015097118085&EXT=pdf|date=June 2016|number=Publication No. 2016-10}}</ref> === Crowd renting === [[File:Gathering 3.jpg|thumb|MEK demonstrators carrying [[Lion and Sun]] flags and those of 'National Liberation Army of Iran']] According to [[Kenneth R. Timmerman]], the group regularly organizes rent-a-crowd protests worldwide and hires [[heckler]]s.<ref>* {{citation|title=Hired Hecklers (MEK)|url=http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1487713/posts|work=[[Free Republic]]|date=19 September 2005|access-date=24 November 2016}} * {{citation|title=No Second Marriages in Iran|url=http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=27348|work=[[FrontPage Magazine]]|date=13 July 2007|access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref> Zaid Jilani and [[Paul R. Pillar]] have also cited similar observations.<ref>{{citation|author=Zaid Jilani|title=Attendees Bused Into MEK Rally, Some Of Whom ‘Don’t Really Understand What The MEK Is’|url=https://thinkprogress.org/attendees-bused-into-mek-rally-some-of-whom-dont-really-understand-what-the-mek-is-6eac902e8892|work=[[ThinkProgress]]|date=26 August 2011|access-date=24 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Paul R. Pillar|title=The Lobbying that Shouldn't be Happening|url=http://nationalinterest.org/blog/paul-pillar/lobbying-shouldn't-be-happening-5812|work=[[The National Interest]]|date=27 August 2011|access-date=24 December 2016}}</ref> [[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] has published diaries of a Kyrgyz student based in Prague who was recruited to travel to Paris for a MEK rally, in which most of the "protesters" were like her.<ref>{{citation|title=Diary Of An MKO Rent-A-Crowd Demonstrator|url=http://www.rferl.org/a/iran-mko-ncri-rally-diary/25029410.html|work=[[RFE/RL]]|date=30 June 2013|access-date=24 November 2016}}</ref> [[Michael Rubin]] has described the story as indicative of a lack of support for the MEK.<ref name="Michael Rubin">{{citation|author=Michael Rubin|title=Yes, Mujahedin al-Khalq Is a Dishonest Cult|url=https://dev.commentarymagazine.com/foreign-policy/middle-east/iran/yes-mujahedin-al-khalq-is-a-dishonest-cult/|work=[[Commentary (magazine)|Commentary]]|date=7 July 2013|access-date=24 December 2016}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> However according to [[Cheryl Benard]] ''et al'', despite impressiveness of the group's financial and logistical abilities, such mobilizations are unlikely and implausible because all demonstrators cannot be bought in exchange for exhausting rallies and public figures attending may face "vituperation" for supporting the group.<ref>{{cite book|authors=Cheryl Benard, Austin Long, Angel Rabasa and Eli Sugarman|title=Breaking the Stalemate: The Case for Engaging the Iranian Opposition|year=2015|publisher=Metis Analytics|page=115|isbn=978-0-692-39937-8|quote=Third, the organization is able to mobilize substantial support internationally. Its annual rally in Paris attracts thousands of participants every year, including major public figures. Its detractors explain this attendance through the financial incentives it alleges the participants receive and the expensive machinery of preparation (multiple bus convoys ferrying attendees from other European cities and countries, rent of a huge hall, perfect choreography of the day-long event and glamorous speakers) but even assuming this is correct, this hardly diminishes the impressiveness of the group’s financial and logistical abilities, both of which are critical to effective political action. Moreover, it is unlikely that such large numbers of people would attend the rather exhausting day-long rally if they did not feel sincerely supportive of the group, or that all of the highly distinguished American and European dignitaries would compromise their reputations and subject themselves to the borderline slanderous vituperation of their critics if their support of the MEK cause were not sincerely meant. Given their biographies, positions and financial success in life, the accusation that all of these people can be bought for an airline ticket to Paris and a speaker’s honorarium seems implausible}}</ref> === Indoctrination === Upon entry into the group, new members are [[indoctrinate]]d in ideology and a [[Historical revisionism (negationism)|revisionist history]] of Iran. All members are required to participate in weekly "ideologic cleansings".<ref>{{citation|title=Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Regional Nuclear Arms Race?|series=Praeger Security International Series|authors=Anthony H. Cordesman, Adam C. Seitz|publisher=ABC-LIO|year=2009|isbn=978-0-313-38088-4|pages=334}}</ref> Members who [[defected]] from the MEK and some experts say that these [[Self-criticism#Communist states|Mao-style self-criticism]] sessions are intended to enforce control over sex and marriage in the organization as a [[total institution]].<ref name="auto4"/> === Paid advocacy === MEK is known for its long-term [[lobbying]] effort, especially in the [[Lobbying in the United States|United States]],<ref name="hdot" /> where it competes against the [[National Iranian American Council]].<ref name="adr" /> It spent heavily to remove itself from the list of [[United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations|Foreign Terrorist Organizations]], having paid high-profile officials upwards of $50,000 for each appearance to give speeches calling for delisting.<ref name="adr">{{citation|title=The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity: National Contexts, Global Issues|series=Routledge Advances in Sociology|authors=Andrew Dawson|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|isbn=978-1-317-64864-2|pages=162–163}}</ref> [[Victoria Toensing|DiGenova & Toensing]] and [[Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld]] are among the advocacy groups paid by the organization.<ref>{{citation|title=Iranian Terrorist Group M.E.K. Pays Big to Make History Go Away|url=https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/07/06/iranian-terrorist-group-mek-pays-big-to-make-history-go-away-iranian-group-mek-lobbies-hard-pledges-peace-as-it-pleads-case-to-be-delisted-dc-listening-terror-group-pays-to-make-history-go-awayseries|author=Elizabeth Flock|publisher=U.S. News & World Report L.P.|date=6 July 2012|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> The actual sum paid is vague, but the total could be in the millions of dollars.<ref name="ibtimes" /><ref name="NYT" /> The propaganda campaign used for delisting the MEK as an FTO has been described as "unique" among similar organizations.<ref name="BOP166" /> According to [[Investigative journalism|investigative]] work by [[Scott Peterson (writer)|Scott Peterson]] and acknowledged by [[Scott Shane]], [[Glenn Greenwald]] and [[Joby Warrick]], some prominent US officials from both political parties have received substantial sums of cash to give speeches in favor of MEK, and have become vocal advocates for the group, specifically for removing them from the terrorist list. They include Democrats [[Howard Dean]], [[Ed Rendell]], [[Wesley Clark]], [[Bill Richardson]], and [[Lee H. Hamilton|Lee Hamilton]], and Republicans [[Elaine Chao]], [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]], [[Rudy Giuliani]], [[Fran Townsend]], [[Tom Ridge]], [[Michael Mukasey]], and [[Andrew Card]]. There are also advocates outside the government, such as [[Alan Dershowitz]] and [[Elie Wiesel]].<ref name="NYT">{{citation|title=For Obscure Iranian Exile Group, Broad Support in U.S. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/27/us/politics/lobbying-support-for-iranian-exile-group-crosses-party-lines.html|authors=Joby Warrick and Julie Tate|work=The New York Times |date=26 November 2011|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Iranian group's big-money push to get off US terrorist list |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2011/0808/Iranian-group-s-big-money-push-to-get-off-US-terrorist-list|author=Scott Peterson|work=Christian Science Monitor|date=8 August 2011 |access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Five lessons from the de-listing of MEK as a terrorist group |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/sep/23/iran-usa |author= Glenn Greenwald |work= The Guardian |date= 23 September 2012 |access-date= 1 December 2016}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=High-priced advocacy raises questions for supporters of Iranian exile group|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/high-priced-advocacy-raises-questions-for-supporters-of-iranian-exile-group/2012/07/05/gJQABoacQW_story.html |authors=Joby Warrick and Julie Tate|work=The Washington Post|date=5 July 2012|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> Among them, Hamilton and Rendell have themselves admitted being paid to support the MEK.<ref>{{citation|title=U.S. Supporters of Iranian Group Face Scrutiny|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/13/us/us-supporters-of-iranian-group-mek-face-scrutiny.html|author=Scott Shane|work=The New York Times|date=13 March 2012|access-date=1 March 2018|quote=Mr. Rendell, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, said he had given seven or eight speeches since July calling for the M.E.K. to be taken off the terrorist list and estimated that he had been paid a total of $150,000 or $160,000. Mr. Rendell said he had been told that his fees came from Iranian-American supporters of the M.E.K., not from the group itself.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=US: Iranian “Terrorist” Group Courts Friends in High Places|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/03/us-iranian-terrorist-group-courts-friends-in-high-places/|author=Barbara Slavin|work=Inter Press Service|date=1 March 2011|access-date=1 March 2018|quote=Hamilton, a former chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee who headed the prestigious Woodrow Wilson Center for 12 years until last fall, told IPS that he had also been paid “a substantial amount” to appear on a panel Feb. 19 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington.}}</ref> In February 2015, ''[[The Intercept]]'' published a study disclosing that [[Bob Menendez]], [[John McCain]], [[Judy Chu]], [[Dana Rohrabacher]] and [[Robert Torricelli]] were paid by the MEK.<ref>{{citation|url=https://theintercept.com/2015/02/26/long-march-yellow/|title=Long March of the Yellow Jackets: How a One-Time Terrorist Group Prevailed on Capitol Hill|work=The Intercept|author=Ali Gharib, Eli Clifton|date=26 February 2015|access-date=30 March 2018}}</ref> In May 2018, [[Daniel Benjamin]] who held office as the [[Coordinator for Counterterrorism]] between 2009 and 2012, told ''[[The New York Times]]'' that the MEK offered him money in exchange for his support, as they try "to buy pretty much anyone".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/07/world/middleeast/john-bolton-regime-change-iran.html|title=M.E.K.: The Group John Bolton Wants to Rule Iran|work=The New York Times|author=Nilo Tabrizy|date=7 May 2018|access-date=20 May 2018|quote=The amusing thing is that the MEK will try to buy pretty much anyone, you know. I was approached to do events in support of the MEK. I know a number of other former government officials who found them truly detestable also were approached. You know, it's really something to have someone on the phone offering you 15,000$ of 20,000$ to appear at a panel discussion, because that doesn't happen for former diplomats everyday.}}</ref> == Human rights record == [[Ministry of Justice (Iraq)|Iraqi Ministry of Justice]] maintains that the MEK had committed human right abuses in the 1990s against Iraqi dissidents.<ref>{{citation|title=Iraq's Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict|author=Anthony H. Cordesman, Emma R. Davies|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2008|isbn=978-0-313-35001-6|volume=2|series=Iraq’s Insurgency and the Road to Civil Conflict|page=635|contribution=Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington, D.C.)}}</ref> In a 2004 public release, [[Amnesty International]] stated it continues to receive reports of human rights violations carried out by the MEK against its own members.<ref>{{citation|title=Further Information on UA 318/03 (EUR 44/025/2003, 5 November 2003) "Disappearance" / fear for safety /forcible return New concern: fear of execution/unfair trial|publisher=[[Amnesty International]]|date=20 August 2004|url=https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/96000/mde130322004en.pdf|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> In May 2005, [[Human Rights Watch]] (HRW) issued a report named "No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps", describing [[prison]] camps run by the MEK and severe [[human rights violations]] committed by the group against its members, ranging from prolonged incommunicado and [[solitary confinement]] to beatings, [[verbal abuse|verbal]] and [[psychological abuse]], [[Forced confession|coerced confessions]], threats of [[execution]], and [[torture]] that in two cases led to death.<ref>{{citation|title=No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=May 2005|url=https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/iran0505.pdf|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> The report prompted a response by the MEK and four [[Members of the European Parliament|European MPs]] named "Friends of a Free Iran" (FOFI), who published a counter-report in September 2005.<ref name="fofi">{{cite web|url=http://ncr-iran.org/images/stories/advertising/ep%20report-with%20cover.pdf|format=PDF|title=People's Mojahedin of Iran – Mission report|accessdate=2006-08-29|publisher=Friends of Free Iran – European Parliament|year=2005|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100620060931/http://ncr-iran.org/images/stories/advertising/ep%20report-with%20cover.pdf|archivedate=2010-06-20|df=}}</ref> They stated that HRW had "relied only on 12 hours [sic] interviews with 12 suspicious individuals", and stated that "a delegation of MEPs visited Camp Ashraf in Iraq" and "conducted impromptu inspections of the sites of alleged abuses." [[Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca]] ([[People's Party (Spain)|PP]]), one of the [[Vice-President of the European Parliament|Vice-Presidents of the European Parliament]], alleged that Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) was the source of the evidence against the MEK.<ref name="fofi" /> In a letter of May 2005 to HRW, the senior US military police commander responsible for the Camp Ashraf area, Brigadier General David Phillips, who had been in charge during 2004 for the protective custody of the MEK members in the camp, disputed the alleged human rights violations.<ref>{{citation|author=Tahar Boumedra|year=2013|title=The United Nations and Human Rights in Iraq, The Untold Story of Camp Ashraf|publisher=New Generation Publishing|isbn=978-1-909740-64-8|pages=pp. 16–23.|quote=I directed my subordinate units to investigate each allegation. In many cases I personally led inspection teams on unannounced visits to the MEK facilities where the alleged abuses were reported to occur. At no time over the 12 month period did we ever discover any credible evidence supporting the allegations raised in your recent report. (...) Each report of torture, kidnapping and psychological depravation turned out to be unsubstantiated.}}</ref> Human Rights Watch released a statement in February 2006, stating "We have investigated with care the criticisms we received concerning the substance and methodology of the [No Exit] report, and find those criticisms to be unwarranted". It provided responses to the FOFI document, whose findings "have no relevance" to the HRW report.<ref>{{citation|title=Statement on Responses to Human Rights Watch Report on Abuses by the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO)|publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]|date=14 February 2006|access-date=11 June 2017|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2006/02/14/statement-responses-human-rights-watch-report-abuses-mojahedin-e-khalq-organization?_ga=2.29931135.1513883160.1500019089-1666524046.1479911309}}</ref> In July 2013, the [[United Nations]] special envoy to Iraq, [[Martin Kobler]], accused the leaders the group of [[human rights abuses]], an allegation the MEK dismissed as "baseless" and "[[cover-up]]". The United Nations spokesperson defended Kobler and his allegations, stating "We regret that MEK and its supporters continue to focus on public distortions of the U.N.'s efforts to promote a peaceful, humanitarian solution on [[Camp Ashraf]] and, in particular, its highly personalized attacks on the U.N. envoy for Iraq".<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/iran-iraq-dissidents-idUSL1N0FM1UI20130716|title=U.N. envoy accuses Iran group's leaders in Iraq of rights abuses|date=16 July 2013|access-date=11 June 2017|publisher=Reuters|author=Louis Charbonneau|editor=Mohammad Zargham}}</ref> Hyeran Jo, in her work examining humanitarian violations of rebel groups to international law, states that MEK has not accepted [[International Committee of the Red Cross]] (ICRC) visits to its detention centers.<ref>{{cite book|author=Hyeran Jo|year=2015|title=Compliant Rebels: Rebel Groups and International Law in World Politics|isbn=978-1-107-11004-5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=288}}</ref> == Fraud and money laundering == Other than funds provided by foreign states (such as [[Saudi Arabia]] and [[Ba'athist Iraq|Iraq]] under [[Saddam Hussein]]), the organization raises money through [[fraud]] and [[money laundering]].<ref name="RAND"/> According to a [[RAND Corporation]] policy conundrum, MEK supporters seek donations at public places, often showing "gruesome pictures" of [[Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran|human rights victims in Iran]] and claiming to raise money for them but funnelling it to MEK.<ref name="RAND"/> A 2004 report by [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) states that the organization is engaged "through a complex international money laundering operation that uses accounts in Turkey, Germany, France, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates".<ref name="FBI2004" /> === French case === In 2003, [[French judiciary courts|French judiciary]] charged twenty four members of the group including [[Maryam Rajavi]] for "associating with wrongdoers in relation with a terrorist undertaking", lifting the probes in 2006 except for nine members still investigated for possible money laundering. All charges including money laundering were dropped in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|author=John Irish and Chine Labbe|editor=Ralph Boulton|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-iran-ncri-idUSKBN0HC1OR20140917|title=France drops case against Iranian dissidents after 11-year probe|date=17 September 2014|access-date=28 December 2016|publisher=[[Reuters]]}}</ref> === Germany === In [[Germany]], a sham charity was used by the MEK to support "asylum seekers and refugees" but the money went to MEK. Another front organization collected funds for "children whose parents had been killed in Iran" in sealed and stamped boxes placed in city centers, each taking [[Deutsche Mark|DM]] 600–700 a day with 30 to 40 people used in each city for the operation. In 1988, the Nuremberg MEK front organization was uncovered by [[Federal Police (Germany)|police]], and the tactic was exposed. Initially, [[Alliance '90/The Greens|The Greens]] supported these organizations while it was unaware of their purpose.<ref>{{citation|title=Terrornomics|editor=David Gold|page=73–74|isbn=1-317-04590-4|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujahedin-e-Khalq''|author=Mark Edmond Clark}}</ref> In December 2001, a joint FBI-[[Cologne]] police operation discovered what a 2004 report calls "a complex fraud scheme involving children and social benefits", involving the sister of [[Maryam Rajavi]].<ref name="FBI2004">{{citation|url=https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/FBI%20-%20REPORT.pdf|title=2004 MUJAHEDIN—E KHALQ (MEK) CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION|date=29 November 2004|access-date=20 December 2016|work=Federal Bureau of Investigation}}</ref> The [[High Court]] ruled to close several MEK compounds after investigations revealed that the organization fraudulently collected between [[United States dollar|$]]5 million and $10 million in [[Welfare in Germany|social welfare benefits for children]] of its members sent to Europe.<ref name="RAND"/> === United Kingdom === It operated a [[United Kingdom|UK]]-based sham charity, namely ''Iran Aid'', which "claimed to raise money for Iranian refugees persecuted by the Islamic regime" and was later revealed to be a [[Front organization|front]] for its military wing.<ref name="Terrornomics73"/><ref name="ibtimes">{{cite web|author=Daniel Tovrov|url=http://www.ibtimes.com/mek-pays-us-officials-where-do-iranian-exiles-get-their-money-214388|title=MEK Pays US Officials, But Where Do The Iranian Exiles Get Their Money?|date=29 March 2012|access-date=28 September 2016|publisher=[[International Business Times]]}}</ref> In 2001, [[Charity Commission for England and Wales]] closed it down<ref>{{cite web|author=David Leigh|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/may/31/iran.usa|title='Tank girl' army accused of torture|date=30 May 2005|access-date=28 September 2016|publisher=[[The Guardian]]}}</ref> after finding no “verifiable links between the money donated by the British public [approximately [[Pound sterling|£]]5 million annually] and charitable work in Iran.”<ref name="RAND"/> === United States === Seven supporters were detained by [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] (FBI) for funnelling more than [[United States dollar|$]]1 million to the organization through another sham charity, ''Committee for Human Rights in Iran''.<ref name="RAND"/><ref>{{citation|title=Money Laundering, Financing Terrorism and Suspicious Activities|page=53|isbn=978-1-60021-387-8|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2007|author=Benton E. Gup}}</ref> They were later charged in a 59-count indictment with "providing and [[Conspiracy (criminal)|conspiring]] to provide material support or resources to a [[Foreign Terrorist Organization]]".<ref name="Terrornomics73"/> On 19 November 2004, two front organizations called the “Iranian–American Community of Northern Virginia” and the “Union Against Fundamentalism” organized demonstrations in front of the [[United States Capitol|Capitol building]] in [[Washington, DC]] and transferred funds for the demonstration, some [[United States dollar|$]]9,000 to the account of a Texas MEK member. Congress and the bank in question were not aware of that the demonstrators were actually providing material support to the MEK.<ref name="Terrornomics73"/> == Assassinations == {{See also|Assassination and terrorism in Iran#Attacks by Mujahedin-e-Khalq|1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing|Hafte Tir bombing}} {{For|a list of people assassinated by the MEK with a Wikipedia article|Category:People assassinated by the People's Mujahedin of Iran}} [[File:8shahrivar1360.jpg|thumb|Bomb debris after assassination of President [[Mohammad-Ali Rajaei]] and Prime Minister [[Mohammad-Javad Bahonar]] in 1981]] More than 16,000 people have been killed in violent attacks conducted by MEK since 1979.<ref name="hrq204">{{Citation|first1=Hamid Reza|last1=Qasemi|title=Eradicating Terrorism from the Middle East|series=Policy and Administrative Approaches|chapter=Chapter 12: Iran and Its Policy Against Terrorism|volume=17|editor=Alexander R. Dawoody|isbn=978-3-319-31018-3|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-31018-3|year=2016|publisher=Springer International Publishing Switzerland|page=201}}</ref> From 26 August 1981 to December 1982, it orchestrated 336 attacks.<ref>{{Citation|first1=Hamid Reza|last1=Qasemi|title=Eradicating Terrorism from the Middle East|series=Policy and Administrative Approaches|chapter=Chapter 12: Iran and Its Policy Against Terrorism|volume=17|editor=Alexander R. Dawoody|isbn=978-3-319-31018-3|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-31018-3|year=2016|publisher=Springer International Publishing Switzerland|page=204}}</ref> During the fall of 1981 alone more than 1,000 officials were assassinated to take revenge, including [[Shahrbani|police]] officers, judges and clerics. Their most notorious assassination was the [[Hafte Tir bombing]] in June 1981. Later, many low ranking civil servants and members of the [[Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps|Revolutionary Guards]] were also targeted. It also failed to assassinate some key figures, including Iran's current leader [[Ali Khameni]]. When the security measures around officials improved, MEK started to target thousands of ordinary citizens who supported the government and ''Hezbollahi''s.<ref>{{citation|title=Terrornomics|editor=David Gold|page=67|isbn=1-317-04590-4|publisher=Routledge|year=2016|chapter=An Analysis of the Role of the Iranian Diaspora in the Financial Support System of the ''Mujahedin-e-Khalq''|author=Mark Edmond Clark}}</ref> The organization has claimed responsibility for the following assassinations, among others: * Lt. Gen. [[Ali Sayad Shirazi]], deputy chief of [[General Staff of Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran|Iran's armed forces general staff]] (1999)<ref name="Revolutionary Iran">{{Citation|first1=Michael|last1=Axworthy|title=Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2013|pages=214, 374}}</ref> * [[Asadollah Lajevardi]], director of Iran's prison system (1998)<ref name="Revolutionary Iran" /> * [[Mohammad-Ali Rajaei]], President of Iran (1981)<ref name="Revolutionary Iran" /> * [[Mohammad-Javad Bahonar]], Prime Minister of Iran (1981)<ref name="Revolutionary Iran" /> * [[Mohammad Beheshti]], Chief Justice of Iran (1981)<ref>{{Citation|first1=Siamak|last1=Khatami|title=Iran, a View from Within: Political Analyses|publisher=Janus Publishing Company Ltd|year=2004|pages=74–75}}</ref> === Timeline of assassinations === {| style="text-align:center; float:right; font-size:85%; margin-left:2em; margin:auto;" class="wikitable" |+ Political figures who were considered as assassinated by MEK<ref>{{citation|title=The Middle East: Abstracts and index|year=2004|contribution=Library Information and Research Service|publisher=Northumberland Press|page=132|quote=During their campaign, the group assassinated a chief justice, five cabinet ministers, 19 MPs, a president, a prime minister and scores of thinkers and ulama.}}</ref><ref name="hrq204" /> !Position !! Number |- ![[President of Iran|President]] |1 |- ![[Prime Minister of Iran|Prime Minister]] |1 |- ![[Chief Justice of Iran|Chief Justice]] |1 |- ![[Ministries of Iran|Ministers]] |5 |- ![[Ministries of Iran|Vice Ministers]] |10 |- ![[Parliament of Iran|Members of Parliament]] |46 |- ![[Chief of police]] |1 |} {{Dynamic list}} * August 1972: Tehran's chief of [[Shahrbani|police]] assassinated.<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1973: Assassination of U.S. Army Lt. Col. Lewis L. Hawkins.<ref name="RAND"/> * March 1975: General Zandipour,<ref name="OHW" /> a warden assassinated at the [[Towhid Prison|Anti-sabotage Joint Committee]] prison.<ref name="RAND"/> * 5 May 1975: Part of a purge, central cadre member [[Majid Sharif Vaghefi]] was shot dead by fellow MEK members and his body was burnt in order not to be identified.<ref name="OHW">{{cite journal|translator=Mohammad Karimi|url=http://ohwm.ir/en/showfeuilleton.php?id=137|journal=Oral History Weekly|number=137|date=30 October 2013|title=Ahmad Ahmad Memoirs (54)|editor=Mohsen Kazemi|quote=Soureh Mehr Publishing Company (Original Text in Persian, 2000)}}</ref> * 21 May 1975: Assassinations of two U.S. Army officers, Col. Paul Shaffer and Lt. Col. Jack Turner,<ref name="GPO" /> as well as an [[Imperial Iranian Air Force]] officer.<ref name="RAND"/> * 3 July 1975: Iranian employee at [[Embassy of the United States, Tehran]] was killed.<ref name="RAND"/> * 28 August 1976: Three U.S. civilian contractors of [[Rockwell International]] named Robert R. Krongrad, William C. Cottrell, Jr., and Donald G. Smith<ref name="RAND"/> assassinated by four gunmen on their way to [[Doshan Tappeh Air Base]] to work on [[Project Dark Gene|Project IBEX]].<ref name="GPO">{{cite book|authors=Monica L. Belmonte, Edward Coltrin Keefer|title=Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, V. XXVII, Iran, Iraq, 1973–1976|publisher=Government Printing Office|year=2013|isbn=978-0-16-090256-7|page=560}}</ref> * 11 September 1980: Ayatollah [[Mir Asadollah Madani|Asadollah Madani]] assassinated in [[Tabriz]] during Friday prayers.<ref name="fpi">{{cite encyclopedia|title=EMĀM-E JOMʿA|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]|date=December 13, 2011|orig-year=December 15, 1998|publisher=Bibliotheca Persica Press|url =http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/emam-e-joma|last1=Algar|first1=Hamid |author-link=Hamid Algar|editor-last=Yarshater|editor-first=Ehsan|editor-link=Ehsan Yarshater|access-date=August 1, 2016|volume=VIII|pages=386–391}}</ref> * 28 June 1981: A bomb detonated at the [[Islamic Republican Party]] headquarters in [[Tehran]] killed 73, including the party's secretary-general, 4 [[Cabinet of Iran|cabinet ministers]], 10 vice ministers and 27 members of the [[Parliament of Iran]].<ref name="hrq204" /><ref name="Chronologies">{{Citation|authors=Barry Rubin, Judith Colp Rubin|title=Chronologies of Modern Terrorism|publisher=Routledge|year=2015|page=246}}</ref> * 1 July 1981: A prison guard shouting MEK slogans killed governor of [[Evin Prison]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hiro|first1=Dilip|title=Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=1-135-04381-7|page=190}}</ref> * 6 July 1981: Chief prosecutor of [[Gilan Province]] assassinated.<ref name="RAND"/> * 5 August 1981: MP [[Hassan Ayat]] assassinated by gunmen in [[Tehran]].<ref name="RAND"/> * 30 August 1981: A [[1981 Iranian Prime Minister's office bombing|bombing]] killed five, including the incumbent [[President of Iran|president]], [[Prime Minister of Iran|prime minister]] and chief of [[Shahrbani|national police]].<ref name="Chronologies" /> * 29 September 1981: MP [[Syyed Abdul Karim Hashemi Nejad|Abdulkarim Hasheminejad]] killed in a grenade explosion in [[Mashhad]].<ref>{{cite web|title=A New Slaying, More Executions in Iran|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/09/30/world/a-new-slaying-more-executions-in-iran.html|date=30 September 1981|work=Reuters|publisher=The New York Times|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> * 11 December 1981: Ayatollah Abdulhossein Dastgheib and several others killed in a [[suicide attack]] in [[Shiraz]] during Friday prayers.<ref name="fpi" /><ref name="RAND"/> * 28 December 1981: MP Mohammad Taqi Besharat assassinated.<ref name="ppori" /> * 21 January 1982: MP Mojtaba Esteki assassinated.<ref name="ppori">{{cite book|last1=Baktiari|first1=Bahman|title=Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics|publisher=[[University Press of Florida]]|year=1996|page=79|isbn=978-0-8130-1461-6}}</ref> * 26 February 1982: Assassination of a senior cleric in Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> * 7 March 1982: Chief of [[Shahrbani|national police]] assassinated.<ref name="RAND"/> * 2 July 1982: Ayatollah Mohammad Saduqi assassinated in [[Yazd]] during Friday prayer.<ref name="fpi" /> * 15 October 1982: Ayatollah [[Ata'ollah Ashrafi Esfahani]] assassinated in [[Kermanshah]] during Friday prayers.<ref name="fpi" /> * December 1993: The MEK admitted it killed a Turkish diplomat in [[Baghdad]], Iraq, claiming he was mistaken for an Iranian official.<ref name="PGT93">{{Citation|authors=United States. Department of State. Office of the Secretary of State, United States. Department of State. Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism|title=Patterns of Global Terrorism 1993|publisher=Department of State publication|year=1994|page=22}}</ref> * 20 February 1996: Two former members assassinated by MEK in [[Istanbul]].<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1998: A senior cleric assassinated in [[Najaf]], Iraq.<ref name="RAND"/> * 1 May 2000: A senior IRGC commander assassinated in Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> ;Failed attempts and other attacks * November 1970: The group [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]] an airplane flying from [[Dubai]] to [[Bandar Abbas]], because British-controlled [[Bahrain]] extradited six members to Iran.<ref name="Vahabzadeh" /> * October 1971: In the group's first operation, they failed to kidnap son of [[Ashraf Pahlavi]] and the Shah's nephew Shahram Shafiq.<ref name="Vahabzadeh" /> * May 1972: U.S. Air Force General Harold price was wounded in attempted assassination. Attacks on Tehran [[Shahrbani|police]] station, ''In Hafteh'' (This Week) journal, U.S. Information Office, Hotel International, Iran-American Society, the [[Reza Shah's mausoleum|mausoleum of Reza Shah]], and offices of General Motors, Pepsi Cola, and the Marine Oil Company.<ref name="RAND"/> * 3 August 1972: Bombing of Jordanian embassy in Tehran<ref name="RAND"/> during [[King Hussein]]'s state visit.{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1992|p=140}} * September 1972: Bombings of Civil Defense Organization Center, Imperial Club, Municipal Department Store, Dept. of Military Industries exhibition hall, and police armory in [[Qom]].<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1973: Bombing of facilities of Pan-Am Airlines, Shell Oil, Radio City Cinema, Hotel International, and an export company.<ref name="RAND"/> * February 1974: Attack on [[Shahrbani|police]] station in [[Isfahan]].<ref name="RAND"/> * April 1974: Bombing of offices of Oman Bank and Pan-American Oil and of gates of [[Embassy of the United Kingdom, Tehran|British embassy]]; attempted bombing of SAVAK center at Tehran University.<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1974: Bombing of [[Iranian Gendarmerie|gendarmerie]] post in Tehran and offices of U.S. company ITT.<ref name="RAND"/> * February 1975: Bombing of [[Iranian Gendarmerie|gendarmerie]] post in [[Lahijan]].<ref name="RAND"/> * 5 May 1975: MEK member Morteza Samadiyeh-Labbaf was injured in attempted assassination by fellow MEK members, taken to hospital, arrested by [[SAVAK]] and eventually executed on 24 January 1976.<ref name="OHW" /> * June 1975: Failed to assassinate an American diplomat in Tehran.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Maziar |first1=Behrooz|year=2000|title=Rebels With A Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=1-86064-630-1|page=174}}</ref> * 22 June 1981: A bomb blast at [[Qom railway station]] killed eight and injured twenty-three.<ref name="dh189">{{cite book|last1=Hiro|first1=Dilip|title=Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=1-135-04381-7|page=189}}</ref> * 1 July 1981: MEK plan to blow up the [[Iranian Parliament|Parliament]] building was foiled.<ref name="dh189" /> * 20 July 1981: MEK gunmen failed to kill MP [[Habibollah Asgaroladi]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hiro|first1=Dilip|title=Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=1-135-04381-7|page=191}}</ref> * 2 August 1981: Two explosions in [[Kermanshah]] and [[Tehran]] killed twenty.<ref name="dh192">{{cite book|last1=Hiro|first1=Dilip|title=Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=1-135-04381-7|page=192}}</ref> * 12 August 1981: An attack on IRGC headquarters in Tehran with machine guns and rockets.<ref name="dh192" /> * 21 August 1981: Twelve people died in a Tehran IRGC contingent skirmish.<ref name="dh192" /> * 27 September 1981: Hundreds of MEK members clashed with IRGC near [[University of Tehran]] campus. It left seventeen killed and forty wounded.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Hiro|first1=Dilip|title=Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)|publisher=Routledge|year=2013|isbn=1-135-04381-7|page=196}}</ref> * 15 April 1982: Attack on during Friday prayers on an Imam in [[Rasht]].<ref name="RAND"/> * 18 February 1983: Assassination attempt on a Khomeini representative in [[Khorasan province]].<ref name="RAND"/> * 2 July 1987: Iranian diplomat in [[Madrid]], Spain, survived a [[car bomb]], as well as an injured bystander.<ref name="RAND"/> * April 1992: Bombing at a Tehran public building killed two children.<ref>{{cite book|title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of Terrorism, Second Edition|last=Martin|first=Gus|page=405|year=2011|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4129-8016-6}}</ref> * 16 July 1992: Iran's FM [[Ali Akbar Velayati]] who was visiting [[Potsdam]], Germany was attacked by MEK.<ref name="CRS1992">{{cite book|last1=Katzman|first1=Kenneth|title=The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|publisher=Library of Congress|type=[[Congressional Research Service reports]]|place=Washington DC|year=November 1992|at=Doc. call no.: M-U 42953-1 no.92-824F|url=http://congressional.proquest.com/congressional/docview/t21.d22.crs-1992-fnd-0139?accountid=10422}}</ref> * 20 August 1992: A MP from [[Kuhdasht]] survived grenade explosion at his house.<ref name="CRS1992" /> * 11 October 1992: Destruction of six IRGC vehicles in [[Qom]]; bombing of gas station and office of [[27th Mohammad Rasulullah Division|Tehran IRGC]] commander.<ref name="RAND"/> * 12 October 1992: Bomb exploded at the [[mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini]].<ref name="CRS1992" /> * May 1993: Two guards were killed in the attack on communications facility of the [[National Iranian Oil Company]] in [[Kermanshah]].<ref name="PGT93" /> * 2 November 1994: An Iranian diplomat on mission in [[Denmark]] attacked.<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1995: Bombed oil refineries and other sites in west and south Iran.<ref name="CRS1992" /> * 7 May 1998: Attack on Iran's deputy FM in [[Austria]].<ref name="RAND"/> * June 1998: Mortar attack on [[Defense Industries Organization]]; bombing of Revolutionary Prosecutor’s office and [[Islamic Revolutionary Court]] in Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> * July 1998: Bombing of [[Islamic Revolutionary Court]] in Tehran; armed attack on Iranian official in [[Rome]], Italy.<ref name="RAND"/> * 14 September 1998: Attempt to kill Gen. [[Mohsen Rafighdoost]] failed.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Alaolmolki|first1=Nozar|title=Life After the Soviet Union: The Newly Independent Republics of the Transcaucasus and Central Asia|publisher=SUNY Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-7914-5138-0|page=122}}</ref> * January 1999: Ali Razini, head of Tehran's judiciary, was wounded after motorcyclist hurled a hand grenade at his car. The explosion killed one and injured three.<ref>{{cite web|title=Grenade attack against Iran judge|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/249250.stm|date=5 January 1999|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> Mortar attack on Ministry of Intelligence in Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> * 25 November 1999: Mortar attack at [[Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz]].<ref name="RAND"/> * 5 February 2000: President [[Mohammad Khatami]] was unharmed in [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] attack on his residency in [[Pasteur Street]], which reportedly killed a print shop worker and injured five others.<ref>{{cite web|title=Khatami survives mortar attack |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/632218.stm|date=5 February 2000|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> * March 2000: Mortar attack on residential housing complex; cross-border mortar attack on Iranian territory; attack on Iranian military forces near border.<ref name="RAND"/> * April 2000: Attempt to assassinate the commander of Nasr Headquarters, interagency board responsible for coordinating Iran's policies on Iraq.<ref>{{citation|title=Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction: The Birth of a Regional Nuclear Arms Race?|series=Praeger Security International Series|authors=Anthony H. Cordesman, Adam C. Seitz|publisher=ABC-LIO|year=2009|isbn=978-0-313-38088-4|page=326}}</ref> * May 2000: In several powerful explosions in [[Kermanshah]], MEK claimed "dozens of agents had been killed or wounded".<ref>{{cite web|title=Blast rocks Iranian town |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/747608.stm|date=14 May 2000|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> Six people were injured in a mortar attack near Tehran's [[Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran|police]] headquarters.<ref>{{cite web|title=Tehran struck by mortar attacks|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/984375.stm|date=22 October 2000|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> * June 2000: Plot to assassinate [[Ali Akbar Velayati]] was foiled.<ref name="hoc" /> Rocket attack on [[Ministry of Defense (Iran)|Ministry of Defense]].<ref name="RAND"/> * October 2000: A mortar attack targeting the command centre of [[Iranian Police Special Units|special anti-riot forces]] in northern Tehran, left no casualties.<ref>{{cite web|title=Iranian Mujahideen mortar attacks|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/984651.stm|date=23 October 2000|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> * August 2000: Mortar attack on city of [[Mehran, Ilam|Mehran]]; rockets fired near [[Salehabad, Khuzestan|Salehabad]] and [[Khoramshahr]].<ref name="RAND"/> * November 2000: Mortar attack near [[Musian]] and on [[Kermanshah]].<ref name="RAND"/> * January 2001: Gen. [[Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf]] survived a [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] attack on the headquarters of [[Law Enforcement Force of Islamic Republic of Iran|Law Enforcement Force]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Explosions rock Tehran|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1105000/1105387.stm|date=7 January 2001|work=BBC|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> Five rockets fired at IRGC base in Tehran; mortar attack on [[Supreme Court of Iran|Supreme Court]] and other government buildings in Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> * March 2001: Rocket attack on Iranian security forces headquarters in Tehran and regional office in [[Shahr-e ziba]], Tehran.<ref name="RAND"/> * 19 August 2003: MEK bombed the [[United Nations]] compound in Iraq, prompting UN withdrawal from the country.<ref name="RAND"/> == Status among Iranian opposition == According to Abrahamian, by 1989 many foreign diplomats considered MEK to be "the largest, the best disciplined, and the most heavily armed of all the opposition organizations".<ref name="auto2"/> A 2009 report published by the [[Brookings Institution]], concludes that the organization appears to be undemocratic and lacking popularity but maintains an operational presence in Iran, acting as a [[proxy war|proxy]] against Tehran.<ref>{{cite book|title=Which Path to Persia?: Options for a New American Strategy toward Iran|chapter=Toppling Tehran|authors=Kenneth M. Pollack, Daniel L. Byman, Martin S. Indyk, Suzanne Maloney|year=2009|publisher=Brookings Institution|isbn=978-0-8157-0379-2|page=164|quote=The group itself also appears to be undemocratic and enjoys little popularity in Iran itself. It has no political base in the country, although it appears to have an operational presence.}}</ref> Rival exiled groups question the organizations's claim that it would hold free elections after taking power in Iran, pointing to its designation of a "[[president-elect]]" as an evidence of neglecting Iranian people.<ref name="opposition" /> Kenneth Katzman wrote in 2001 that the MEK is "Iran's most active opposition group".<ref name="auto6">{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=97|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> === Public opinion === A wide range of sources state that the MEK has little or no popular support among Iranian people. The most frequent reason cited for it, is that their alliance with [[Saddam Hussein]] during [[Iran–Iraq War]], and attacking Iranian conscripted soldiers and civilians, is viewed as [[treason]] or [[betrayal]] within the homeland. These sources include journalism,<ref>{{citation|author=Yeganeh Torbati|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-trump-iran-opposition-idUSL1N1F610K|title=Former U.S. officials urge Trump to talk with Iranian MEK group|date=16 January 2017|access-date=20 July 2017|agency=Reuters|quote=The MEK’s supporters present the group as a viable alternative to Iran’s theocracy, though analysts say it is unpopular among Iranians for its past alignment with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and attacks on Iranian soldiers and civilians.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|author=Saeed Kamali Dehghan|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/iran-blog/2014/apr/22/iranian-prison-guards-beat-up-inmates-letter-says|title=Iranian prisoners allegedly forced to run gauntlet of armed guards|quote=The MEK, which is based in Paris, remains unpopular in Iran because of its support for the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the Iran–Iraq war.|work=The Guardian|date=22 April 2014|access-date=15 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.economist.com/node/13447429|title=Iranian dissidents in Iraq: Where will they all go?|work=The Economist|date=11 April 2009|access-date=15 June 2018|quote=In return, the PMOI made attacks on Iran itself, which is why Iranians of all stripes tend to regard the group as traitors.}}</ref> academic works,<ref>{{cite book|title=Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards|author=Afshon Ostovar|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=0-19-049170-1|pages=73–74|quote=Unsurprisingly, the decision to fight alongside Saddam was viewed as traitorous by the vast majority of Iranians and destroyed the MKO's standing in its homeland.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Magdalena Kirchner|title=Western Foreign Policy and the Middle East|chapter=‘A good investment?’ State sponsorship of terrorism as an instrument of Iraqi foreign policy (1979–1991)|editors=Christian Kaunert, Sarah Leonard, Lars Berger, Gaynor Johnson|year=2017|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317499701|page=36–37|quote=With regard to weakening the Iranian regime domestically, MEK failed to establish itself as a political alternative, its goals and violent activities were strongly opposed by the Iranian population–even more so its alignment with Iraq.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|title=Terrorism and Homeland Security|author=Jonathan R. White|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2016|isbn=978-1-305-63377-3|page=239|quote=The group is not popular in Iran because of its alliance with Saddam Hussein and Iran–Iraq war.}}</ref> as well as those written by analysts working for the government and think-tanks. A 2011 [[U.S. Department of State]] document entitled 'Iranian Popular Attitudes towards the MEK' says Iranians unanimously dislike the organization: {{quote|Showing a unanimity rare among Iranians, [[Anecdotal evidence|anecdotal]] information gleaned from both ordinary Iranians living inside Iran and abroad and from Iran analysts strongly indicates that the 'Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) opposition group has no significant popular support inside Iran. To the extent that Iranian respondents are familiar with the MEK they express severe dislike for this group, primarily due to its alliance with Saddam Hussein during the eight-year Iran–Iraq war.<ref>{{citation|url=http://iran.org/news/2010_05_25-10MEKdocs-DOC10.pdf|title=Iranian Popular Attitudes towards the MEK|publisher=U.S. Department of State|date=May 2011|via=Foundation for Democracy in Iran}}</ref>}} The [[RAND Corporation]] policy conundrum on the group, suggests that between 1979 and 1981 it was the most popular dissident group in Iran, however the former reputation is diminished to the extent that it is now "the only entity less popular" than the Iranian government.<ref name="RAND" /> A 2013 survey of [[Iranian-Americans]] conducted by [[George Mason University]]'s Center for Social Science Research found that 79% of respondents did not support any Iranian opposition groups or figures. Of the 15% that did, only 5% supported the MEK (totally about 0.75% of the respondents).<ref>{{citation|url=http://paaia.org/CMS/Data/Sites/1/PDFs/survey-of-iranian-americans-2013.pdf|title=National Public Opinion Survey of Iranian Americans|publisher=[[Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans]] (PAAIA), Center for Social Science Research, George Mason University|page=10|year=2013|access-date=11 June 2017}}</ref> === Relationship with other Iranian opposition groups === An October 1994 report by the [[U.S. Department of State]] notes that other Iranian opposition groups do not cooperate with the organization because they view it as "undemocratic" and "tightly controlled" by its leaders.<ref name="opposition">{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=104–105|publisher=Nova Science Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=1-56072-954-6}}</ref> Due to its anti-[[Mohammad Reza Shah|Shah]] stance before the revolution, the MEK is not close to [[Monarchism in Iran|monarchist opposition]] groups and [[Reza Pahlavi, Crown Prince of Iran|Reza Pahlavi]], Iran's deposed crown prince.<ref name="opposition" /> Commenting on MEK, Pahlavi said in an interview: "I cannot imagine Iranians ever forgiving their behavior at that time [siding with Saddam Hussein's Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war]... If the choice is between this regime and the MEK, they will mostly likely say the mullahs."<ref>{{citation|title=The Late Shah's Son Wants a Democratic Revolution in Iran|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-06-19/iran-s-ex-prince-pahlavi-wants-a-democratic-revolution|work=Bloomberg|date=19 June 2018|access-date=20 June 2018|author=Eli Lake}}</ref> Iran's deposed [[President of Iran|president]], [[Abolhassan Banisadr]], ended his alliance with the group in 1984, denouncing its stance during the [[Iran–Iraq War]].<ref name="opposition" /> The [[National Resistance Movement of Iran]] (NAMIR), led by [[Shapour Bakhtiar]], never maintained a friendly relationship with the MEK. In July 1981, NAMIR rejected any notion of cooperation between the two organizations and publicly condemned them in a communiqué issued following the meeting between Iraqi Foreign Minister, [[Tareq Aziz]] and Rajavi in January 1983, as well as the "Holy and Revolutionary" nature of Rajavis in April 1984.<ref name="Khonsari">{{cite thesis|last=Khonsari|first=Mehrdad|date=1995|title=The National Movement of the Iranian Resistance 1979–1991: The role of a banned opposition movement in international politics|type=Ph.D. thesis|publisher=[[London School of Economics and Political Science]]|url=http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/2837/|page=289–293}}</ref> == Designation as a cult == The [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|U.N. Refugee Agency]] (UNHCR) has identified the MEK as having cult-like characteristics.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Mujahedeen-e Khalq Controversy|url=http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2011/feb/22/mujahedeen-e-khalq-controversy|work=The Iran Primer|author=Omid Memarian|date=22 February 2011|accessdate=9 March 2016}}</ref> Among governments of sovereign states, [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development (France)|French Ministry of Foreign Affairs]]<ref>* {{citation|url=http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/dossiers-pays/iran/la-france-et-l-iran/evenements-4581/article/iran-organisation-des|title=Iran – Organisation des moudjahidines du peuple d’Iran (Q&R- Extrait du point de presse du 26 juin 2014)|language=French|publisher=Ministère des Affaires étrangères et du Développement international|date=24 June 2016|access-date=1 July 2017}} * {{citation|url=http://www.ambafrance-ir.org/%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AE-%D8%B3%D8%AE%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%88%DB%8C-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%87-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%87-%D8%A8%D9%87|title=پاسخ سخنگوي وزارت امورخارجه فرانسه به سوالي در مورد سازمان مجاهدين خلق در کنفرانس مطبوعاتي 13 ژوييه 2016|trans-title=Spokesperson of French Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Answer To A Question About People's Mojahedin Organization In The 13 July 2016 Press Conference|language=Persian|publisher=Embassy of France in Tehran, Iran|date=13 July 2016|access-date=1 August 2016|deadurl=yes|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160716010642/http://www.ambafrance-ir.org/%D9%BE%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AE-%D8%B3%D8%AE%D9%86%DA%AF%D9%88%DB%8C-%D9%88%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AA-%D8%A7%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B1%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%87-%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%B3%D9%87-%D8%A8%D9%87|archivedate=16 July 2016|df=}}</ref> and [[Federal government of the United States]]<ref>{{cite web|title=An Iranian mystery: Just who are the MEK?|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-17615065|publisher=BBC News|date=15 April 2012|accessdate=9 March 2016|author=Owen Bennett Jones}}</ref> have officially described the MEK as a cult. Iraq's ambassador to the U.S., [[Samir Sumaidaie]], said in 2011 that the MEK was "nothing more than a cult".<ref>{{citation|last=Rogin|first=Josh|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/08/25/mek-rally-planned-for-friday-at-state-department/|title=MEK rally planned for Friday at State Department|work=Foreign Policy|date=25 August 2011|access-date=25 March 2018}}</ref> Allegations of cult-like characteristics in the MEK have been made not only by former members who have [[Defection|defected]] from the organization (including Massoud Khodabandeh<ref>{{cite journal|last=Khodabandeh|first=Massoud|title=The Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and Its Media Strategy: Methods of Information Manufacture|journal=Asian Politics & Policy|publisher=Policy Studies Organization|issn=1943-0787|volume=7|issue=1|year=January 2015|doi=10.1111/aspp.12164|pages=173–177}}</ref> and Masoud Banisadr<ref>{{cite journal|last=Banisadr|first=Masoud|title=Terrorist Organizations Are Cults|journal=Cultic Studies Review|publisher=International Cultic Studies Association|volume=8|issue=2|year=2009|pages=156–186|url=http://www.pdf.ridc.info/Terrorist%20orgAreCult.pdf}}</ref> among others), but also by journalists, including [[Reese Erlich]],<ref name="Iran Agenda">{{cite book|title=Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis|author=Reese Erlich, Robert Scheer|year=2016|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1-317-25737-5|pages=99–100}}</ref> [[Robert Scheer]],<ref name="Iran Agenda" /> and [[Elizabeth Rubin]]<ref>{{cite web|title=The Cult of Rajavi|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/13/magazine/13MUJAHADEEN.html|publisher=The New York Times|date=13 July 2003|accessdate=9 March 2016|author=Elizabeth Rubin}}</ref> among others, who visited its military camps in Iraq. === Scholarly views === A policy conundrum published by [[RAND Corporation]], investigating "Application of Cult Theory to the MEK", describes authoritarian and charismatic leadership, [[psychological manipulation]], intense ideological exploitation and isolation, sexual control, emotional isolation, degrading [[peer pressure]], deceptive recruitments, [[forced labor]], [[sleep deprivation]], [[physical abuse]], and lack of exit options within the group as cultic tendencies.<ref name="RAND"/> Academics specializing in a wide variety of the social sciences believe that the MEK is an example of a [[cult]]. Such scholars include the following: * [[Ervand Abrahamian]], Iranian-born historian{{Sfn|Abrahamian|1989|pp=260-261}} * Alexandra Stein, South African social psychologist<ref>{{cite book|last=Stein|first=Alexandra|year=2016|title=Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-19450-7|page=85, 90}}</ref> * Stephanie Cronin, British historian<ref>{{cite book|last=Cronin|first=Stephanie|year=2013|title=Reformers and Revolutionaries in Modern Iran: New Perspectives on the Iranian Left|series=Routledge/BIPS Persian Studies Series|isbn=1-134-32890-7|publisher=Routledge|pages=274}}</ref> * Wilfried Buchta, German scholar of Islamic studies<ref>{{Citation|last1=Buchta|first1=Wilfried|title= Who rules Iran?: the structure of power in the Islamic Republic|publisher=The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, The Konrad Adenauer Stiftung| place=Washington DC|year=2000|isbn=0-944029-39-6|pages=144}}</ref> * [[Rick Alan Ross]], American deprogrammer and cult specialist<ref>{{citation|url=http://en.mehrnews.com/news/123369/MEK-fits-well-into-definition-of-cult|id=3900518|title=MEK fits well into definition of cult|date=8 February 2017|access-date=20 March 2018|publisher=Mehr News Agency}}</ref> * John Andrew Morrow, Canadian scholar of Islamic studies<ref>{{cite book|title=Religion and Revolution: Spiritual and Political Isl?m in Ernesto Cardenal|author=John Andrew Morrow|year=2012|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-3833-7|page=177}}</ref> * [[Michael Axworthy]], British historian<ref>{{cite book|last=Axworthy|first=Michael|year=2008|title=Empire of the Mind: A History of Iran|publisher=Hachette Books|isbn=978-0-465-01920-5|quote=...the MKO kept up its opposition and its violent attacks, but dwindled over time to take on the character of a paramilitary cult, largely subordinated to the interests of the Baathist regime in Iraq.|page=272}}</ref> * Masoud Kazemzadeh, Iranian political scientist<ref>{{cite book|title=Islamic Fundamentalism, Feminism, and Gender Inequality in Iran Under Khomeini|author=Masoud Kazemzadeh|year=2002|publisher=University Press of America|isbn=0-7618-2388-3|page=63}}</ref> * [[Ahmad Sadri]], Iranian-born sociologist<ref>{{citation|title=US: Iranian “Terrorist” Group Courts Friends in High Places|url=http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/03/us-iranian-terrorist-group-courts-friends-in-high-places/|author=Barbara Slavin|work=Inter Press Service|date=1 March 2011|access-date=1 March 2018}}</ref> * [[Karim Sadjadpour]], of the [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]]<ref>{{citation|last=Dreazen|first=Yochi|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2013/10/30/meet-the-weird-super-connected-group-thats-mucking-up-u-s-talks-with-iraq/|title=Meet The Weird, Super-Connected Group That’s Mucking Up U.S. Talks With Iraq|work=Foreign Policy|date=30 October 2013|access-date=25 March 2018}}</ref> * Mahan Abedin, of the [[Jamestown Foundation]]<ref>{{cite journal|last=Abedin|first=Mahan|url=https://jamestown.org/program/mojahedin-e-khalq-saddams-iranian-allies-2/|title=Mojahedin-e-khalq: Saddam’s Iranian Allies|journal=Terrorism Monitor|publisher=Jamestown Foundation|volume=1|issue=8|year=December 2003}}</ref> * [[Mehdi Khalaji]], of the [[Washington Institute for Near East Policy]]<ref>{{citation|last=Khalaji|first=Mehdi|url=http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/on-saudi-arabia-and-iran-tread-lightly|title=On Saudi Arabia and Iran: Tread Lightly|date=4 October 2016|access-date=30 March 2018|publisher=Washington Institute for Near East Policy}}</ref> * Ariane Tabatabai, of the [[Center for Strategic and International Studies]]<ref>{{citation|last=Tabatabai|first=Ariane|url=http://nationalinterest.org/feature/beware-the-mek-11118|title=Beware of the MEK|date=22 August 2014|access-date=30 March 2018|publisher=The National Interest}}</ref> * [[Michael Rubin]], of the [[American Enterprise Institute]]<ref name="Michael Rubin" /> == Designation as a terrorist organization == The countries and organizations below have officially listed MEK as a terrorist organization: {|class="wikitable" style="text-align:left" |- |- |rowspan=2|Currently listed by |{{flag|Iran}} |Designated by the current government<ref>{{cite news|quote=The MEK, dedicated to overthrowing Iran's Islamic regime and considered a terrorist group by Iran ...|first=Michael |last=Theodoulou |url=http://www.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/us-move-to-delist-mek-as-terror-group-worries-irans-opposition |title=US move to delist MEK as terror group worries Iran's opposition |newspaper=[[The National (Abu Dhabi)]] |publisher=[[Abu Dhabi Media]] |date=2011-07-26 |accessdate=2013-12-26 }}</ref> since 1981, also during [[Pahlavi dynasty]]<ref>{{cite news|quote=the three civilian victims were killed by members of the same self-styled “Islamic Marxist” anti-Government terrorist group that was officially blamed for the assassination of two American colonels in Teheran last year|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/08/29/archives/three-us-civilians-slain-by-guerrillas-in-teheran-employees-of.html|title=Three US Civilians Slain By Guerrillas in Teheran|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=29 August 1976|page=1}}</ref> until 1979 |- |{{flag|Iraq}} |Designated by the post-2003 government<ref name="cah" /><ref>{{citation|url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1869532,00.html|title=Iranian Group a Source of Contention in Iraq|date=5 January 2009|access-date=5 December 2016|author=Abigail Hauslohner|work=Time|quote=But when the US military formally transferred control of Camp Ashraf back to the Iraqi government on Jan. 1, the MEK's fate suddenly became an issue. The group is a source of contention for Iran and the US, Iraq's two biggest allies, who are increasingly vying for influence as Baghdad's post–Saddam Hussein Shi'ite government asserts its independence. All three countries label the MEK a terrorist organization.}}</ref><ref>{{citation|url=http://www.irdiplomacy.ir/en/page/1898231/Americans+Want+to+Keep+the+MEK+in+Iraq.html|title=Americans Want to Keep the MEK in Iraq: Interview with Hassan Danaeifar, Iran's ambassador to Iraq, on the saga of Mojahedin-e Khalgh terrorist group|date=22 February 2012|access-date=5 December 2016|work=Iranian Diplomacy|quote=What the government of Iraq is seeking is sovereignty over its entire territory. Camp Ashraf is an impediment against their goal. Plus, the Iraqi government acknowledges the MEK as a terrorist group and insists on their leaving of Iraq.}}</ref> |- |rowspan=4|Formerly listed by | style="width:20%;" |{{flag|United States}} |Designated on 8 July 1997, delisted on 28 September 2012<ref name="hoc" /> |- |{{flag|United Kingdom}} |Designated on 28 March 2001,<ref name="hoc" /> delisted on 24 June 2008<ref name="hoc" /> |- |{{flag|European Union}} |Designated in May 2002,<ref name="hoc" /> delisted on 26 January 2009<ref name="hoc">{{citation|author=Ben Smith|title=BRIEFING PAPER Number CBP 5020: The People's Mujahiddeen of Iran (PMOI)|url=http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN05020/SN05020.pdf|date=7 March 2016|access-date=5 December 2016|publisher=The House of Commons Library research service}}</ref> |- |{{flag|Canada}} |Designated on 24 May 2005,<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.rferl.org/a/1143407.html|title=CANADA LISTS IRANIAN OPPOSITION ORGANIZATION AS TERRORIST ENTITY|date=26 May 2005 |access-date=5 December 2016|work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty}}</ref> delisted on 20 December 2012<ref>{{citation|url=http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/ottawa-drops-saddam-hussein-linked-iranian-group-from-terror-list-in-bid-to-ramp-up-pressure-against-tehran|title=Ottawa drops Saddam Hussein-linked Iranian group from terror list in bid to ramp up pressure against Tehran|date=20 December 2012|access-date=5 December 2016|work=National Post}}</ref> |- |rowspan=2|Other designations |{{flag|Australia}} |Not designated as terrorist but added to the ‘Consolidated List’ subject to the [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 1373]] on 21 December 2001<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2012/December/Delisting_the_MujahideeneKhalq_MeK|title=Delisting the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK)|date=5 December 2012|access-date=5 December 2016|work=FlagPost|author=Nigel Brew}}</ref> |- |{{flag|United Nations}} |The group is described as "involved in terrorist activities" by the [[United Nations Convention against Torture#Committee against Torture|United Nations Committee against Torture]] in 2008<ref>{{citation|author=United Nations Committee against Torture|editor=[[Jose Antonio Ocampo]]|volume=1|title=Selected Decisions of the Committee Against Torture: Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment|publisher=United Nations Publications|year=2008|at=p. 212, Communication N 2582004 section 7.2|isbn=9789211541854|quote=The MEK has been involved in terrorist activities and is therefore a less legitimate replacement for the current regime.|id=E 08 XIV4; HR/CAT/PUB/1}}</ref> |} The United States put the MEK on the [[U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations]] in 1997. However, since 2004 the United States also considered the group as "noncombatants" and "protected persons" under the [[Geneva Conventions]] because most members had been living in a refugee camp in Iraq for more than 25 years.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/28/politics/mek-terror-delisting/ |title=Iranian exile group removed from U.S. terror list |publisher=CNN |date=September 28, 2012}}</ref> In 2002 the European Union, pressured by Washington, added MEK to its terrorist list.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/amir-taheri-france-paints-an-abstract-picture-to-please-iran-1.359636 |first=Amir |last=Taheri |title=France paints an abstract picture to please Iran |newspaper=[[Gulf News]] |date=June 25, 2003}}</ref> MEK leaders then began a lobbying campaign to be removed from the list by promoting itself as a viable opposition to the mullahs in Tehran. In 2008 the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice denied MEK its request to be delisted despite its lobbying.<ref name=UPI2009 /> In 2011, several former senior U.S. officials, including Homeland Security Secretary [[Tom Ridge]], three former chairmen of the U.S. [[Joint Chiefs of Staff]], two former directors of the [[CIA]], former commander of [[NATO]] [[Wesley Clark]], two former [[United States Ambassador to the United Nations|U.S. Ambassadors to the United Nations]], the former [[United States Attorney General|U.S. Attorney General]] [[Michael Mukasey]], a former [[White House Chief of Staff]], a former commander of the [[United States Marine Corps]], former U.S. [[National Security Advisor (United States)|National Security Advisor]] [[Frances Townsend]], and U.S. President [[Barack Obama]]'s retired National Security Adviser General [[James L. Jones]] called for the MEK to be removed from its official State Department foreign terrorist listing on the grounds that they constituted a viable opposition to the [[Politics of Iran|Iranian government]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/09/12/freeh.corbett.waddington.mek/ |title=Take Iran opponent MEK off terror list|publisher=CNN|date=September 12, 2011}}</ref> In April 2012, [[Seymour Hersh]] reported that the U.S. [[Joint Special Operations Command]] had trained MEK operatives at a secret site in [[Nevada]] from 2005 to 2009. According to Hersh, MEK members were trained in intercepting communications, cryptography, weaponry and small unit tactics at the Nevada site until President Barack Obama took office in 2009.<ref name=hersh>{{cite web |url=http://www.alternet.org/world/154938/seymour_hersh%3A_us_training_iranian_terrorists_in_nevada|title=Seymour Hersh: U.S. Training Iranian Terrorists in Nevada|publisher=[[AlterNet]]|first=Amy |last=Goodman |author-link=Amy Goodman |date=April 10, 2012}}</ref> Hersh also reported additional names of former U.S. officials paid to speak in support of MEK, including former CIA directors [[James Woolsey]] and [[Porter Goss]]; New York City Mayor [[Rudolph Giuliani]]; former Vermont Governor [[Howard Dean]]; former [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation]] [[Louis Freeh]] and former U.N. Ambassador [[John R. Bolton|John Bolton]].<ref name =hersh /> The [[National Council of Resistance of Iran]] has rejected allegations of Hersh.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/mekpmois-national-council-on-resistance-in-irans-response-to-sherwood-ross-and-seymour-hersh/article18236.html|title=MEK/PMOI’s National Council on Resistance in Iran’s Response to Sherwood Ross and Seymour Hersh {{!}} UK Progressive|website=www.ukprogressive.co.uk|access-date=2016-12-26}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=December 2016}}<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/msnbc/sections/news/MEK_Response.pdf|last=|first=|date=|title=MEK Response|publisher=MSNBCMedia|access-date=}}</ref> According to [[Alex Carlile, Baron Carlile of Berriew|Lord Alex Carlile]], the organization was put on the terrorist list "solely because the mullahs insisted on such action if there was to be any dialogue between Washington and Tehran".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/oct/12/iran-protest-mek|title=Iran fears the MEK's influence, as its protests over terror delisting show|last=Carlile|first=Alex|date=12 October 2012|website=The Guardian|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> [[National Iranian American Council]] rejects the idea, citing that the organization was listed since the [[United States State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations]] was established in 1997 and it was also listed on [[Patterns of Global Terrorism]] report prior to 1997.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.niacouncil.org/site/DocServer/MEK_Factsheet.pdf|title=MEK Factsheet|work=National Iranian American Council|access-date=21 July 2017}}</ref> === Removal of the designation === The United Kingdom lifted the MEK's designation as a terrorist group in June 2008,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/proscribed-terror-groups-or-organisations--2 |title=Proscribed terrorist groups or organisations |date=15 July 2016 |publisher=[[Home Office]] |format=PDF |access-date=27 September 2016 |quote=The Mujaheddin e Khalq (MeK) also known as the Peoples’ Mujaheddin of Iran (PMOI) was removed from the list of proscribed groups in June 2008 as a result of judgments of the [[List of tribunals in the United Kingdom#Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission|POAC]] and the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales|Court of Appeal]].}}</ref> followed by the [[Council of the European Union]] on January 26, 2009, after what the group called a "seven-year-long legal and political battle."<ref name=UPI2009>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/01/26/EU_removes_PMOI_from_terrorist_list/UPI-44751232989491/ |title=EU removes PMOI from terrorist list|publisher=UPI|date=January 26, 2009|accessdate=2012-09-29}}</ref><ref name=Runner>{{cite web|last=Runner|first=Philippa |url=http://euobserver.com/9/27472|title=EU ministers drop Iran group from terror list |publisher=Euobserver|accessdate=2012-09-29}}</ref><ref name=Reuters2009>{{cite news|url=http://uk.reuters.com/article/asiaCrisis/idUKLQ200287 |agency=Reuters|first=Mark|last=John|title=EU takes Iran opposition group off terror list|date=January 26, 2009}}</ref> It was also lifted in the United States following a decision by U.S. Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton]]<ref name="NYT 2012" /> on September 21, 2012 and lastly in Canada on December 20, 2012.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Sen|first1=Ashish Kumar|title=U.S. takes Iranian dissident group MeK off terrorist list|url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/28/us-takes-iran-dissident-group-mek-terrorist-list/?page=all|publisher=Washington Times|accessdate=2014-12-17}}</ref> The Council of the European Union removed the group's terrorist designation following the [[Court of Justice of the European Union]]'s 2008 censure of France for failing to disclose new alleged evidence of the MEK's terrorism threat.<ref name=Runner /> Delisting allowed MEK to pursue tens of millions of dollars in frozen assets<ref name=Reuters2009 /> and lobby in Europe for more funds. It also removed the terrorist label from MEK members at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.<ref name=UPI2009 /> On 28 September 2012 the U.S. State Department formally removed MEK from its official list of terrorist organizations, beating an October 1 deadline in an MEK lawsuit.<ref name="NYT 2012" /><ref name="gpo.gov">{{cite web|url=http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-10-04/pdf/2012-24505.pdf|date=4 October 2012|title=Federal Register /Vol. 77, No. 193 /Thursday, October 4, 2012 /Notices 60741 10 17 CFR 200.30–3(a)(12)|accessdate=2015-02-07}}</ref> Secretary of State Clinton said in a statement that the decision was made because the MEK had renounced violence and had cooperated in closing their Iraqi paramilitary base. An official denied that lobbying by well-known figures influenced the decision.<ref>{{cite news |first=Andrew |last=Quinn |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/28/iraq-iran-mek-idUSL1E8KSF3B20120928?type=marketsNews |title=US drops Iranian MEK dissident group from terrorism list |agency=[[Reuters]] |date=September 28, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq|url=https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/09/198443.htm|publisher=U.S. Department of State|accessdate=20 October 2015}}</ref> 37 individuals including [[Ervand Abrahamian]], [[Shaul Bakhash]], [[Juan Cole]] and [[Gary Sick]] among others, published "Joint Experts’ Statement on the Mujahedin-e Khalq" on ''[[Financial Times]]'' voicing their concerns regarding MEK delisting.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/563a29aa-c378-11e0-b163-00144feabdc0|title=Joint Experts’ Statement on the Mujahedin-e Khalq|newspaper=[[Financial Times]] |date=August 10, 2011}}</ref> The [[National Iranian American Council]] denounced the decision, stating it "opens the door to Congressional funding of the M.E.K. to conduct terrorist attacks in Iran" and "makes war with Iran far more likely."<ref name="NYT 2012" /> Iran state television also condemned the delisting of the group, saying that the U.S. considers MEK to be "good terrorists because the U.S. is using them against Iran."<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/29/iran-condemns-us-mek-terror-delisting |title=Iran condemns US for 'double standards' over MEK terror de-listing |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=September 29, 2012}}</ref> Some former U.S. officials vehemently reject the new status and believe the MEK has not changed its ways.<ref name="THS">{{citation|title=Terrorism and Homeland Security|author=Jonathan R. White|publisher=Cengage Learning|year=2016|isbn=978-1-305-63377-3|page=239}}</ref> == In the media == === Documentary films === * ''A Cult That Would Be an Army: Cult of the Chameleon'': 2007 [[Al Jazeera]] documentary directed by [[Maziar Bahari]]<ref>{{citation|authors=Christopher C. Harmon, Randall G. Bowdish|title=The Terrorist Argument: Modern Advocacy and Propaganda|publisher=Brookings Institution Press|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8157-3219-8|page=300}}</ref> * ''The Wolves'' ({{lang-fa|گرگ‌ها|Gorg-ha}}): four-part eight hour documentary series initially released in 2007 and reissued in 2013 as a 90-minutes documentary, aired by the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting]]. It includes footage from [[Ba'athist Iraq]] archives of confidential top-level meetings.<ref name="WP">{{Citation|authors=David Lesch, Mark L. Haas|title=The Arab Spring: The Hope and Reality of the Uprisings|publisher=Westview Press|year=2016|isbn=978-0-8133-4974-9|pages=187}}</ref> * ''The Strange World of the People's Mujahedin'': 2012 [[BBC World Service]] documentary directed by [[Owen Bennett-Jones]] and produced by Wisebuddah company.<ref>{{citation|title=The Strange World Of The People's Mujahedin|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/15/mujahedin200312|publisher=[[BBC World Service]]|date=8 April 2012|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> It won New York Festivals award for Best Investigative Report in 2013.<ref>{{citation|title=Ian Burrell: It's time for the BBC to give independent radio a break|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2012/15/mujahedin200312|publisher=[[The Independent]]|date=7 July 2013|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> * ''[[:fa:فیلم ناتمامی برای دخترم سمیه|An Unfinished Film for My Daughter, Somayeh]]'' ({{lang-fa|فیلم ناتمامی برای دخترم سمیه}}): 2014 documentary directed by Morteza Payeshenas, aired by the [[Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting]].<ref name="WP" /> * ''Comrades in Arms (Ashraf Camp in Iraq turned into a harem for leader)'': 2014 [[Press TV]] documentary * ''The Secrets Behind Auvers-sur-Oise'': 2016 [[Press TV]] documentary === Fictional films featuring MEK members and actions === * ''[[:fa:سیانور (فیلم)|Cyanide]]'' ({{lang-fa|سیانور|Siyanor}}): 2016 feature film directed by Behrouz Shoaibi which portrays the organization during the 1970s.<ref>{{citation|title=“Cyanide” about MKO story premieres in Tehran|url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/407443/Cyanide-about-MKO-story-premieres-in-Tehran|publisher=[[Tehran Times]]|date=18 October 2016|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> The cast includes [[Babak Hamidian]], [[Behnoosh Tabatabaei]], [[Hanieh Tavassoli]], [[Atila Pesyani]], [[Mehdi Hashemi (actor)|Mehdi Hashemi]] and [[Hamed Komeili]].<ref>{{citation|title=‘Cyanide’ intl. screening kicks off in Canada|url=http://en.mehrnews.com/news/121431/Cyanide-intl-screening-kicks-off-in-Canada|publisher=[[Mehr News Agency]]|date=19 November 2016|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> * ''[[:fa:امکان مینا|Mina’s Choice]]'' ({{lang-fa|امکان مینا|Emkan-e Mina}}): 2016 drama about happy marriage of couple Mina and Mehran which tears apart. According to the director [[Kamal Tabrizi]] and producer [[Manouchehr Mohammadi]], the film intends to “give warnings to families” about MEK.<ref>{{citation|title=“Mina’s Choice” gives warnings to families about danger of Daesh: director|url=http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/252812/Mina-s-Choice-gives-warnings-to-families-about-danger-of-Daesh|publisher=[[Tehran Times]]|date=7 February 2016|access-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> * ''[[:fa:ماجرای نیمروز (فیلم ۱۳۹۵)|The Midday Event]]'' ({{lang-fa|ماجرای نیمروز}}): 2017 political drama directed by Mohammad-Hossein Mahdavian, it features MEK during the 1980s and was named the best film in the 35th [[Fajr International Film Festival]].<ref>{{citation|title=Political drama ‘Midday Event’ named best at Fajr Film Festival|url=http://en.mehrnews.com/news/123477/Political-drama-Midday-Event-named-best-at-Fajr-Film-Festival|publisher=[[Mehr News Agency]]|date=11 February 2017|access-date=13 February 2017}}</ref> === Fictional series featuring MEK members and actions === * ''[[:fa:ارمغان تاریکی|The Gift of Darkness]]'' ({{lang-fa|ارمغان تاریکی|Armaghan-e Tariki}}): 2011 drama series directed by Jalil Saman features MEK during the 1980s.<ref name="Saman">{{citation|title=“Nafas” amusement drama which has something to say|url=https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1396/03/08/1422724/%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B3-%D8%B3%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%B1%D9%85-%DA%A9%D9%86%D9%86%D8%AF%D9%87-%D8%A7%DB%8C-%DA%A9%D9%87-%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%81-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AF|language=Persian|publisher=[[Tasnim News Agency]]|date=29 May 2017|access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref> * ''[[:fa:پروانه (مجموعه تلویزیونی)|Parvaneh]]'' ({{lang-fa|پروانه}}): 2013 drama series directed by Jalil Saman about MEK during the 1970s.<ref name="Saman" /> * ''[[:fa:نفس (مجموعه تلویزیونی)|Nafas]]'' ({{lang-fa|نفس}}): 2017 drama series directed by Jalil Saman features 1970s.<ref name="Saman" /><ref>{{citation|title=Iran TV uses green screen to bypass headscarf rules|url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-4558258/Iran-TV-uses-green-screen-bypass-headscarf-rules.html|publisher=[[Mail Online]]|date=31 May 2017|access-date=13 June 2017}}</ref> == See also == {{Portal|Iran|Terrorism|Politics}} * [[Guerrilla groups of Iran]] * [[Organizations of the Iranian Revolution]] * [[Governmental lists of cults and sects]] * [[List of designated terrorist groups]] * [[Order of battle during the Iran–Iraq War]] * [[List of armed groups in the Syrian Civil War]] ;Splinter groups * [[Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization]] (Islamist only) * [[Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class]] (Marxist only) ;Installations * [[MEK Compound]] * [[Camp Ashraf]] * [[Camp Liberty]] == References == ;Notes {{Notelist}} ;Citations {{Reflist|30em}} == External links == {{Commons category}} {{Wikiquote}} * {{official|url=https://www.mojahedin.org/home/en}} {{Iranian exiled parties|state=collapsed}} {{Iran–Iraq War|state=collapsed}} {{DEFAULTSORT:People's Mojahedin of Iran}} [[Category:People's Mujahedin of Iran| ]] [[Category:1965 establishments in Iran]] [[Category:Banned political parties in Iran]] [[Category:Iranian nationalism]] [[Category:Populism in Iran]] [[Category:Islamic political parties in Iran]] [[Category:Islamic socialism]] [[Category:Left-wing nationalist parties]] [[Category:Left-wing populism]] [[Category:Left-wing militant groups]] [[Category:Guerrilla organizations]] [[Category:Private armies]] [[Category:Paramilitary organizations based in Iran]] [[Category:Marxist organizations]] [[Category:Political parties established in 1965]] [[Category:Political parties of the Iranian Revolution]] [[Category:Saddam Hussein]] [[Category:Socialist parties in Iran]] [[Category:Syncretic political movements]] [[Category:Terrorism in Iran]] [[Category:Foreign relations during the Iran–Iraq War]] [[Category:Iran hostage crisis]] [[Category:Military units and formations of the Iraq War]] [[Category:Anti-government factions of the Syrian Civil War]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist in Asia]] [[Category:Organisations designated as terrorist by Iran]] [[Category:Organizations designated as terrorist by Iraq]] [[Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist by the United States]] [[Category:Organisations formerly designated as terrorist by the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist by the European Union]] [[Category:Organizations formerly designated as terrorist by Canada]] [[Category:Entities added to the Consolidated List by Australia]] [[Category:Cults of personality]] [[Category:Iranian fraudsters]] [[Category:Iranian money launderers]] [[Category:Militant opposition to the Pahlavi dynasty]] [[Category:Militant opposition to the Islamic Republic of Iran]] [[Category:Iran–Iraq relations]] [[Category:Iran–Israel relations]] [[Category:France–Iran relations]] [[Category:Iran–United States relations]] [[Category:Iran–Saudi Arabia relations]] [[Category:Political organizations in France]]'