Australia is not isolated from the reach of the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI). In November 2023, members of the Australian Committee of Democracy Supporters in Iran, conference co-chaired by Mr Peter Murphy of Iran Freedom Network, held a conference with Australian Members of Parliament and Senators in the halls of Parliament House to promote a free Iran. NCRI President-elect Ms Rajavi was provided a platform to convey her message (via pre-recorded video) of her 10-point plan.
Australia’s former Senator the Honourable Eric Abetz, Mike Pompeo 70th Secretary of State, Rudy Giuliani former New York Mayor and 2008 Presidential hopeful, John Bolton former National Security Advisor, Mike Pence former Vice President had spoken at MEK camps or directly with Ms Rajavi. Pompeo, Giuliani, Bolton and Pence appear to have forgotten the American citizens killed by the MEK in 1997, don’t care or the money was too good to pass up.
The organisation Ms Rajavi represents opposed the modernisation program of Iran during 1960-1979, killed Iranians within its sovereign borders and abroad between 1961 to 1998 and maintains a Marxist-Islamic ideology which is contrary to western values and more importantly contrary to the aspirations of Iranians in Iran.
But that was the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) or People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), you may say? Then Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the 2001 National Council of Resistance v Department of State, NCRI, PMOI, MEK “are one in the same organisation”.
Ms Maryam Rajavi (formerly Ms Maryam Azodanlu married Masoud Rajavi in 1985) was the Joint-Leader of MEK between the period 1985 to 1989, Secretary General of MEK between 1989 to 1993 and is currently President-elect of the NCRI since 1993.
During Ms Rajavi’s leadership of MEK:
- 1986 the French expelled MEK
- 1987-88 Iraq welcomed MEK – Baghdad armed MEK with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of MEK fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces.
- 1991 MEK assisted the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shia and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime
- 1992 attacks on Iranian embassies and consular missions in 13 countries, including against the Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York
In 2002 United States v Rahmani determined MEK undertook fraudulent fundraising activities for the then Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) in 1997. In 2003 Clive Williams (then the Director of Terrorism Studies at the Australian National University) described MEK as ‘basically a fundraising arm’.
The MEK is no longer a FTO in the United Kingdom (delisted 2008), Europe (delisted 2009), or the United States of America (delisted 2012). Its decision to delist has been influenced by Courts ruling between the period 2006 to 2011. Australia did not relisted MEK on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade “Consolidated List” after its expiration on 25 November 2013, potentially due to court rulings and mounting pressures from the UK, EU and the US delisting the organisation.
Leading to the FTO delisting, Colorado’s Iranian American Community Saeid Ghaemi paid $900,000 to DLA Piper and his brother Mehdi paid $14,000 to Congressman Bob Filner to Paris to attend the MEKs rally. Other groups associated in donations to Congressmen and paying for lobbists to remove the MEK from the FTO list include, The Iranian American Society of Texas, The American Community of Northern California and The Iranian Society of South Florida.
It is apparent the organisation is well organised, as they should. They have been operating in some form for near 64 years under two leaders. MEK has become increasingly adept at crafting and promoting its image as a democratic organisation within the confines of the military-style base in Tirana, Albania. Their resettlement to Albania came after the fall of Saddam in 2003 and a financial support of $20m by the US through UNHCR between then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Prime Minister of Albania, Sali Berisha.
The late Senator John McCain, then the leader of the Republicans in the House of Representatives, met with MEK leaders on April 28, 2015, in Tirana. US Secretary of State John Kerry stated on September 12, 2016, that the US, with the help of Germany, Norway, Italy, Great Britain, Finland, and Albania, had successfully transferred all MEK members to Albania.
In June 2023, Albanian authorities raided the MEK camp and seized computer devices under court order. The MEK sheltering agreement in 2013, was based on the organisation not engaging in political activities and obey by Albania’s laws.
On the surface, NCRI have changed their image; but their sketchy past, current leaderships foundational ideology and recent encounters with their host nation Albania suggest the contrary. Ask any Iranian, NCRIs audience is the foreign leaders.
The silent movement festering in Albania, the US and Europe may continue to gain momentum beyond the influence or opposition of the Iranian diaspora, as we have seen in recent events at US universities. Non-Iranians, left wing sympathisers, the “Woke” are candidates prime for consumption of Islamo-Marxists propaganda.
Considering the political arm NCRI and its fundraising arm MEK, the obvious case for Ms Rajavi is to garner foreign support on the back of spilt blood of the Iranian youth. Her cross hairs are lined up to strike just before the eventual fall of the Islamic Republic of Iran and steal the nation from Iranians once more.
The scenario of a united ‘Sepah’ and Ms Rajavi leading to and during a transition may be absurd, but it has happened before in a similar form. Vigilance, education, campaigning, activism and unity behind the only person transparent and consistent over the last 45 years must continue to be promoted for the democratic secular Iran we will achieve.
– END