People's Mujahedin

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People's Mujahedin
Flag of the MEK
Party leader Mariam Rajavi
Secretary General Zohreh Akhyani
founding September 5, 1965
Place of foundation Tehran , Iran
Headquarters Paris , France
Alignment Islamic Marxism

The People's Mojahedin (also Volksmodschahedin , from Persian مجاهدين خلق ايران Modschahedin-e Chalgh-e Iran , DMG moǧāhedīn-e ḫalq-e irān , also English Mojahedin-e-Khalq-Organization - also MKO or MEK , French Organization des moudjahiddines du peuple iranien - OMPI - cf. Arabic Mujahedd ) are a militant Iranian opposition movement . It is part of the National Council of Resistance of Iran , an organization that describes itself as the secular and democratic parliament in exile of the Iranian people. A large number of members of the Mujahideen are in Albania .

A distinction must be made between the People's Mujahedin with Iranian roots (Shiites) and the People's Mujahedin in Afghanistan, who are Sunnis. There is no collaboration between the two.

founding

The People's Mujahedin was founded on September 5, 1965 by six former members of the Iranian Freedom Movement to oppose the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its western orientation. Among the founding members were the former students of Tehran University Mohammad Hanifnedschad, Saied Mohsen, Rasul Meschginfam, Ahmad Rezai and Ali-Asghar Badizadegan.

Iranian Revolution 1979

The People's Mujahedin played a major role in the overthrow of the Shah's regime, but after the Islamic Revolution they lost the dispute over supremacy in Iran. In response to the bloody persecution of their members, the People's Mujahideen carried out attacks on members of the Iranian government:

Iranian postage stamp on the occasion of the June 28, 1981 attack

After the attack in June 1981, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini banned the People's Mujahedin, who then went underground; the ruling elite claimed asylum, mostly in France .

ideology

Previous political orientation

The question of the ideological orientation of the People's Mujahedin led to violent conflicts between the leaders. While Ahmad Rezai advocated a synthesis of Marxism and Islam , known as Islamic Socialism , other leadership cadres , such as Taghi Schahram , favored a strictly Marxist line. After the representatives of the strictly Marxist line prevailed in 1975, dissenters like Majid Sharif Vaghefi , who planned to split off the Islamic wing and found their own organization, were liquidated.

In his publication The Profile of a Muslim, Ahmad Rezai explained the connections between Islam of the Shiite denomination and Marxism-Leninism . From the Koran he deduced that the original society was peaceful and classless. It was only the creation of private property that led to the development of classes and nations . The Koran, Rezai concluded, calls on all Muslims to fight for a classless society . Imam Hossein is a role model . The classless society of the Koran is identical to the society that the Mehdi , the missing 12th Imam, wanted to create after its appearance. In this society there is no more exploitation, everyone makes his contribution according to his abilities and receives what he needs for life. In this society all social, economic and ethnic conflicts have disappeared. In order to build this society, oppression and exploitation, especially the oppressors and exploiters from the USA , must first be eliminated.

The organization rejects the designation “Islamic-Marxist” as a slander against the SAVAK , the Shah's secret police, and claims that its plans to reshape society have always been based on Islamic and Koranic principles.

Political orientation

The People's Mujahedin are considered to be a neo-Stalinist organization that gives itself a democratic look in Europe. "The organization claims to reject violence in the meantime, but has no documents or decisions to show that this can be seen." The leader Maryam Rajawi is called "Sun of the Revolution " and was proclaimed Iranian president-in-exile by the organization. Former members and dissidents of the People's Mujahedin regularly criticize the organization against the background of sect-like conditions and doubt its ability to be democratic. The attempted exit from the organization has serious personal consequences for members, ranging from punitive measures such as forced divorce to public humiliation by comrades. The reprisals often last well after the formal exit.

The People's Mojahedin are financed through donations. When recruiting, the People's Mujahedin address specifically Iranians in asylum seekers' accommodation and, under the guidance of experienced activists, use them for fundraising campaigns. Passers-by are addressed and current photos of often shocking human rights violations by the Iranian government, such as the executions of minors at the time of the crime, are shown.

According to the German Constitutional Protection Report of 2008, the following associations are active camouflage groups in Germany:

  • Human Rights Center for Exile Iranians V. (MEI), Düsseldorf
  • Human Rights Center for Migrants V., Aachen
  • Aid for Human Rights in Iran V. (HMI), Dortmund
  • Association for people and freedom e. V. (VMF), Troisdorf
  • Association for Hope of the Future e. V. (VHdZ), Berlin.

Influencing elections in the EU

Since the entry in the party register in 2013, the right-wing Spanish party Vox has received a total of more than one million euros in donations from the People's Mujahideen.

The election campaign of the Vox party in Spain for the European elections in 2014 was 80 percent financed by the People's Mujahedin with 800,000 euros.

Military operations and terrorist activities

Iran

In the 1970s, the People's Mujahedin began militant actions against the Shah and his supporters. In 1970 an attempt to kidnap the US Ambassador to Iran Douglas MacArthur II failed. The attempt to assassinate US Brigadier General Harold Price, who was head of US MAAG in Iran, failed. On August 9, 1972, the terrorists carried out an explosive attack on the “Forouschgah Kurusch” department store in Tehran. On August 13, 1972, they murdered Said Taheri, the general of the Iranian police. As part of the arrest of the perpetrators, five passers-by were shot by the terrorists, one of whom died from his injuries. Two days later they bombed the NIOC building , killing the porter. In 1973, the People's Mujahedin succeeded in assassinating Lieutenant Colonel Louis Hawkins, a member of the US military mission. In 1975, Lt. Col. Jack Turner was "executed" in the US Air Force. In 1976 three Rockwell International employees , William Cottrell, Donald Smith and Robert Krongard, were murdered. The Iranian secret service SAVAK succeeded in infiltrating the People's Mujahedin organization and arresting many of its leaders, including Masud Radschawi . From 1981, activities of the People's Mujahedin were directed against the Islamic Republic.

Iraq

The military arm of the People's Mujahedin, the "National Freedom Army " (NLA) or Artesch-e Azadibachsch-e Melli-e Iran , was founded in Iraq on June 20, 1987 to fight together with the Iraqi army against Iranian troops in the First Gulf War . The NLA was headed by Massoud Radschawi, Maryam Radschawi became its deputy. In addition to the headquarters, Camp Ashraf , there were the bases “Camp Anzali” near Jalawla, “Camp Faezeh” in Kut , “Camp Habib” in Basra , “Camp Homayoun” in Amara , “Camp Bonyad” near Miqdadiyah and finally " Camp Liberty ".

Operations of the NLA

Destroyed NLA vehicles, 1988
  • March 27, 1988: "Operation Shining Sun": NLA attacks on the northern front.
  • June 1988: "Operation 40 Lights": NLA attacks near Mehran.
  • July 25 to July 28, 1988: "Operation Eternal Light" ( Foruq-e Jawidan ): Seven days after the armistice in the First Gulf War, around 7,000 NLA fighters attacked the city of Kermanshah . 1263 NLA fighters were killed or wounded. The NLA lost in these fights u. a. 612 vehicles and 72 tanks or armored vehicles. The armed struggle against Iranian troops led to the rejection of the People's Mujahedeen in large parts of the Iranian population. Ruhollah Khomeini responded to the NLA's attacks with the mass execution of political prisoners in Iran.

After the First Gulf War, the NLA participated in the bloody suppression of the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in Iraq by the Iraqi army in 1991.

disarmament

In April 2003, while the Iraq war was still in progress , the remaining NLA fighters were disarmed by the 4th US Infantry Division in Camp Ashraf, 115 km northeast of Baghdad , and treated according to the provisions of the Geneva Convention . Around 300 tanks, 250 armored personnel carriers, 250 guns and 10,000 small arms were confiscated. Renegade Camp Ashraf members have been tortured and extended to solitary confinement, according to a report by Human Rights Watch . As of January 1, 2009, Ashraf camp has been under the control of the Iraqi military.

On July 28, 2009, the Ashraf camp, which at that time was inhabited by 3,500 people's Mujahedin, was stormed by Iraqi security forces. At least 400 people were injured. The Iraqi government said that eight people were killed when the camp was stormed, two police officers and six residents.

Support from the CIA

As part of covert operations , the United States Department of Defense, through the CIA, is to provide increased support to the People's Mujahedin to destabilize Iran by offering intelligence assistance for targeted terrorist attacks in Iran or by training members. The “usual secret service activities. Install sensors to monitor the Iranian nuclear program. Mark targets for the Air Force. Maybe also set up secret camps and monitor the stationing of troops. And a little sabotage. […] The People's Mujahideen are ready to do things that we should be ashamed of and about which we would prefer to remain silent. But that's exactly what we use them for such tasks. "

Albania

When Iraqi militias attacked Camp Liberty during the fight against the terrorist Islamic State (IS) in July 2016, 1,100 members of the People's Mujahedin were still living there. Meanwhile, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the mujahideen were gradually resettled to Albania by the beginning of September 2016 . Three quarters live in Albania and a quarter in other third countries. A large new headquarters, called Ashraf 3 , was built near the village of Manza .

Classification as a terrorist organization

According to Buchta (2000), the People's Mujahedin and its civilian offshoots had a network of companies in Europe and Africa with currency reserves of US $ 500 million .

European Council (2001-2009)

In December 2001, the People's Mujahedin was added to the “ EU terror list ” through an EU Council Regulation . The People's Mujahideen then appealed against the freezing of their accounts at the European Court of Justice , and these were released in the first instance on December 12, 2006. The court based its decision on the fact that the right to be heard was not granted in relation to the council's decision to keep the organization on the list, which is to be renewed every six months. The Iranian Interior Minister Mohammad Ali Hosseini protested against the decision of the European Court, referring to Resolution 1373 of the UN Security Council to combat terrorism.

On January 30, 2007, the Council unanimously decided to continue to include the People's Mujahedin as a terrorist organization on the “EU terrorist list” and to remedy the formal error through a prior hearing. In a decision taken on June 28, 2007, the EU Council confirmed the classification of the People's Mujahedin, including its NLA, its military arm, which was disarmed in 2003, as a terrorist organization.

In June 2008, the People's Mujahedin was removed from the British list of terrorist organizations on the basis of a supreme court decision . The European Union removed the People's Mujahedin from its list of terrorist organizations on January 26, 2009 at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels. After that, the EU also had to release the organization's frozen assets.

USA Terrorist List (1997-2012)

Of 10 August 1997 to 28 September 2012 was the organization on the list of foreign terrorist organizations of the State Department of the United States . US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton struck the People's Mujahedin from the list of terrorist organizations. This also paved the way for the 3200 fighters who had once come to Iraq as guests and allies of the dictator Saddam Hussein to join the United States. The decision was awaited after a US court in June 2012 ordered Secretary of State Clinton to decide on the status of the People's Mujahedin by the end of September.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Ervand Abrahamian: Iran Between Two Revolutions . Princeton University Press, 1982, p. 489.
  2. Moaseseh Motaleat va Pajouhesh hayeh Siasi (Institute for political Studies and Research): Sazman Mojahedin Khalgh Paydai ta Farjam. (1344-1384) Vol 2. 3. ed. Tehran 1386.
  3. a b Gholam Reza Afkhami: The life and times of the Shah . University of California Press, 2008, p. 398.
  4. Erreur de calcul sur l'Iran , website of the National Islamic Council of Resistance (in French), February 12, 2006.
  5. ^ Die Zeit online from August 5, 2010
  6. Telepolis: The Sect of Camp Ashraf ... and the American preparations for a change of power in Iran , May 24, 2005
  7. nzz.ch Former Iranian People's Mujahideen in Iraq with no way out
  8. The one with the black folders. Do you really want to sign for the People's Mujahideen? , taz of December 13, 2006
  9. ^ Constitutional Protection Report 2008. Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2009, p. 299.
  10. Joaquín Gil y José María Irujo: "Vox se fundó con un millon de euros del exilio iraní" El País, January 21, 2019
  11. An Iranian exile movement financed 80% of the Vox campaign in 2014. Joaquín Gil y José María Irujo: "El exilio iraní financió el 80% de la campaña de Vox de 2014" El País, January 13, 2019
  12. Iranian opponents of the regime sponsored Vox party: 971,890 euros for Spain's far right , by Raniah Salloum and Christoph Sydow, Der Spiegel January 23, 2019
  13. Ettelaat of May 19, 1351
  14. Ettelaat of May 24, 1351
  15. Manuchehr Irani : The King of the Black Robed. Short story (original edition 1990: Shāh-i Siyāh Pushān), from Persian by Zana Nimadi, Suhrkamp, ​​Frankfurt am Main 1998, pp. 35 ff. And 92
  16. a b c Country of Origin Research and Information (CORI) : Information on the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) . Retrieved February 20, 2011
  17. globalsecurity.org National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA) (accessed February 28, 2011)
  18. iran-e-azad.org NLA Losses (accessed March 1, 2011)
  19. Ervand Abrahamian: Tortured Confessions , University of California Press, 1999, pp 218th
  20. Bahman Nirumand: The one with the black folders
  21. Press release of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gfbv.de
  22. European Parliament Meetingdocs
  23. The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2006 Strange Bedfellows
  24. hrw.org of May 17, 2005 Armed organization in exile tortures critics
  25. [1]  ( Page no longer available , search in web archivesInfo: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. aknews.com dated June 26, 2010@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.aknews.com  
  26. Iraq storms camp of Iranian exiles on tagesspiegel.de on July 30, 2010
  27. Larisa Alexandrovna: CIA running black propaganda operation against Iran, Syria and Lebanon . In: The Raw Story. June 4, 2007
  28. Seymour M. Hersh : Our Men in Iran? In: The New Yorker . April 6, 2012
  29. Bahman Nirumand : The one with the black folders . In: The daily newspaper . December 13, 2006
  30. The last of the People's Mujahideen leave the Iraqi camp. In: The time . Retrieved September 10, 2016 .
  31. Iranian People's Mujahedin in Albania. In: dw.com.de. Deutsche Welle , accessed on September 10, 2016 .
  32. ^ Ashraf 3: The Headquarter of MEK. In: Supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK / PMOI). October 1, 2019, accessed October 29, 2019 .
  33. ^ Wilfried Buchta: Who Rules Iran? The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic. Washington Inst., 2000, ISBN 978-0-944029-36-7 , p. 104.
  34. Regulation (EC) No. 2580/2001 of the Council of December 27, 2001 on specific restrictive measures aimed at certain persons and organizations in order to combat terrorism . In: Official Journal of the European Union . L, No. 344, 2001, p. 70.
  35. Case Nº 97/2006, T-228/02
  36. UN-SR 1373
  37. Constitutional Protection Report 2007. Page 245
  38. People's Mujahiddin of Iran (PMOI) or Mujahiddin e Khalq (MEK): An update Standard Note: SN / IA / 05020 June 23, 2008
  39. Summer 2008 Parliamentary Records: British Policy On Iran
  40. Tagesschau.de of January 26, 2009 EU removes Iranian People's Mujahedin from terrorist list (accessed on August 3, 2011)
  41. ^ State.gov Foreign Terrorist Organizations (accessed June 30, 2013)
  42. People's Mujahedin no longer terrorists , dw.de September 28, 2012