User:NickRovinsky/sandbox

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran or the Mojahedin-e Khalq (Persian: سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران‎,  translit.  Sāzmān-e mojāhedin-e khalq-e irān‎, abbreviated MEK, PMOI or MKO) is known as a political organization and the main opposition to the ruling theocracy in Iran. MEK/PMOI has lost tens of thousands of its supporters and activists in pursue of a secular democratic state. However the organization has suffered and is still suffering a lot from a disinformation campaign initiated by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security of Iran (MOIS).

It was founded on 5 September 1965 by six Muslim students who were affiliated with the Freedom Movement of Iran; however in a coup-style ideological transformation, leftist members hijacked the Muslim group and adopted a Marxist platform in 1975.

The organization engaged in armed conflict with the Pahlavi dynasty in the 1970s and played an active role in the downfall of the Shah in 1979. 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. Following the revolution, they participated in March 1979 referendum and strongly supported the Iran hostage crisis, but boycotted the Islamic Republic constitutional referendum in December 1979, being forced to withdraw their candidate for the Iranian presidential election in January 1980 as a result. Furthermore, the organization was unable to win a single seat in the 1980 Iranian legislative election. Allied with 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.

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.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001. However, the MEK has been accused by numerous commentators of being financed, trained, and armed by Israel to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists and educators.

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. The group was later relocated to former U.S. military base Camp Liberty in Iraq and eventually to Albania.

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.

Disinformation Campaign:

Since mid-1981, and immediately after the June 20, 1981 demonstration of nearly ½ million MEK supporters in Tehran, the Islamic Republic cracked down on PMOI/MEK. Mass arrests and executions of the opposition started. At least 120,000 of PMOI/MEK activists and supporters of other political movements are reported to have been executed since.

Failing to annihilate the PMOI/MEK, Iran's Intelligence Ministry(MOIS) from its inception aggressively targeted the PMOI/MEK in order to discredit Iran’s main opposition through a vast campaign of disinformation. An assessment shared by the intelligence agencies in Netherlands and Germany, reveal “long-running and sophisticated information campaign against the PMOI with the aim of tarnishing the organization within Iran, and more importantly, in the international community."

The General Intelligence and Security Service (GISS) of the Netherlands in it's 2010 annual report stated " The Iranians (Intelligence service) collected information about opposition figures and used a variety of means – among them websites, press conferences, congresses, books and magazines – to accuse their movements of violent crimes, human rights abuses and so on. Where possible, the AIVD informed those being targeted to make them aware of the true nature of this improper and covert campaign. "

In a consequent report the Netherlands Intelligence and Security Service of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, it specifically describes attempts by the MOIS agents to try to demonize the MEK, using the Media and politicians in Western countries. It states that "In a campaign coordinated and financed by the Iranian intelligence services, the media and a number of politicians and other public servants were approached with a view to portraying the MEK in a highly negative light." Page 23

The Dutch intelligence Services that has also monitored MOIS activities directed against the People's Mojahedin for a long time, in a May 2002 report, the agency stated the PMOI was the main opposition group of interest for the MOIS, which sought to:''“...exert pressure on Western countries to condemn and ban this group [PMOI]. The Intelligence Ministry tries to gather information on the People’s Mohahedin Organization. They are trying therefore, to destabilize the organization and demonize the Mojahedin(MEK/PMOI) in the host country and thus end their political and social activities.”''

German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Bundesamt fur Verfassungsschutz – BFV) has also tracked MOIS activities in Europe. In It's 2000 Annual report, it said:

"The exiled Iranian opposition in Germany continues to remain in the focus of the reconnaissance activities of the Iranian Intelligence Services, VEVAK.  As in the past years, the Iranian Intelligence Service tries to recruit active or former members of opposition groups.  In many cases, this effort is accompanied by intimidation to put pressure on the person or on his relatives who live in Iran...."

The activities of the MOIS had also been covered by the Media. The Guardian described how using former resistance members, the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) has been spreading false information about the PMOI/MEK in order to completely shut down its main adversary. It boosted its output of publications and articles attacking the PMOI and sent thousands of anti-Mojahedin letters to government officials accusing the resistance group of terrorism and murder of innocent civilians. The Guardian writes: "In reality far too much attention has been paid to disinformation disseminated by Tehran and its lobbyists in an effort to make the western countries conclude that there is no viable opposition and no chance of change from within – leaving the west to choose between making concessions to Iran or going to war, both very unpleasant choices.

The disinformation initiated by the MOIS, includes calling the MEK a “cult”, a “Marxist” group, while alleging them to be involved in terrorist activities and in the killing of Americans in the early 70s, and/or in 1979 hostage taking of the American embassy in Tehran, and even in having the group black listed in the West as a positive gesture to the ruling elite in Iran.

Former Senator Robert Torricelli, who had been involved in the delisting process of the PMOI and a knowledgeable personality about the PMOI/MEK calls the notion of name calling of the PMOI /MEK as a violent organization, an illusion of American reconciliation with the mullahs. He said: “In 1997, a group at State succeeded in convincing President Bill Clinton to place the MEK on the State Department list of terrorist organizations. Some claimed at the time that this decision was mainly intended as a goodwill gesture to Iran. The State Department gave as its reasons the MEK’s long record of violence, but I can tell you that as a member of the Foreign Relation Committee, I reviewed the State Department file on the MEK and found no evidence, no testimony and no reason for the designation except placating Tehran.”