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People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran: Difference between revisions

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The MEK attacked the Iran regime for "disrupting rallies and meetings, banning newspapers and burning down bookstores, rigging elections and closing down Universities; kidnapping imprisoning, and torturing political activists".<ref name="Abrahamian 1989 208"/><ref name="auto1"/><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><ref name="auto25">{{cite book|title=Understanding Iran's National Security Doctrine|p=88|publisher=Troubador Publishers|year=2013|author=Manshour Varasteh |isbn= 978-1780885575}}</ref><ref name="auto21">{{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=978-1-56072-954-9}}</ref><ref name="auto22">{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/mar/26/iransresistance |title=Iran's resistance |work=The Guardian}}</ref> 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=9–43 |doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x }}</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 that destroyed the MEK's appeal in its homeland.<ref name="auto11">{{cite book|title=Vanguard of the Imam: Religion, Politics, and Iran's Revolutionary Guards|author=Afshon Ostovar|year=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-049170-3|pages=73–74}}</ref> In 1986 the [[Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran|IRI]] requested France to expel the MEK from Paris,<ref name="auto23">{{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><ref name="auto24">{{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=19–20|pages=9–43|doi=10.1111/j.1949-3606.1994.tb00535.x}}</ref> so it took base in Iraq where it [[Operation Mersad|fought against Iran]] during the [[Iran–Iraq War]] alongside the Saddam Hussein's army,<ref name="Saeed Kamali">{{Cite news |last1=Dehghan |first1=Saeed Kamali |title=Who is the Iranian group targeted by bombers and beloved of Trump allies? |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/02/iran-mek-cult-terrorist-trump-allies-john-bolton-rudy-giuliani |newspaper=The Guardian |date=2 July 2018 |quote="...by then sheltered in camps in Iraq, fought against Iran alongside the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein..."}}</ref><ref name="Farrokh 03">{{cite book|last=Farrokh|first=Kaveh|title=Iran at War: 1500–1988|publisher=Osprey Publishing|location=Oxford|isbn=978-1-78096-221-4|date=2011-12-20}}</ref> and assisted Saddam's Republican Guard in suppressing the [[1991 uprisings in Iraq|1991 nationwide uprisings against Saddam]].<ref name="bdt45cgf112"/><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}}</ref><ref name="aph.gov.au">{{cite web|url=http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2002-03/03rn43.htm|title=Behind the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK)|website=|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><ref name="Abrahamian 1989 208">{{cite book |first=Ervand |last=Abrahamian |title=Radical Islam: The Iranian Mojahedin |publisher=I.B. Tauris|year=1989|isbn=978-1-85043-077-3|pages=208}}</ref> In 2002, the MEK was a source for claims about Iran’s [[Nuclear program of Iran|clandestine nuclear program]].<ref name="auto20">{{cite book|chapter=Iran: The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran|title=Iran: Outlaw, Outcast, Or Normal Country?|p=105|publisher=Nova Publishers|year=2001|author1=Kenneth Katzman|editor=Albert V. Benliot|isbn=978-1-56072-954-9}}</ref> Following the occupation of Iraq by U.S. and coalition forces in 2003, the MEK signed a ceasefire agreement with the U.S. and put down their arms in Camp Ashraf.<ref name="auto9">{{cite book|title=Understanding Iran's National Security Doctrine|p=89|publisher=Troubador Publishers|year=2013|author=Manshour Varasteh |isbn= 978-1780885575}}</ref>
 
The European Union, Canada and the United States formerly listed the MEK as a terrorist organization. This designation has since been lifted, first by the [[Council of the European Union]] on 26 January 2009,<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|access-date=2012-09-29}}</ref><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=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> by the U.S. government on 21 September 2012, and lastly by the Canadian government on 20 December 2012.<ref name="auto5">{{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|access-date=2014-12-17}}</ref> The MEK is designated as a [[List of designated terrorist groups|terrorist organization]] by [[Iran]] and [[Iraq]].<ref name="bdt45cgf112"/> In June 2004, the U.S. had designated members of the MEK as ‘protected persons’ under the [[Geneva Convention]] IV relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=de Boer |first1=T. |last2=Zieck |first2=M. |date=2014 |title=From internment to resettlement of refugees: on US obligations towards MEK defectors in Iraq |url= http://dare.uva.nl/search?identifier=dfdae841-88ed-4c31-af6b-cfef836ec3ca|journal=Melbourne Journal of International Law |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=3 |doi= |access-date= }}</ref> which expired in 2009 after full sovereignty of Iraq.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mujahadeen-e-khalq-mek|title=Mujahadeen-e-Khalq (MEK)|last=|first=|date=|website=|access-date=}}</ref> Many experts,<ref name="FiDe">{{cite news |last1=Filkins |first1=Dexter |title=John Bolton on the Warpath |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/05/06/john-bolton-on-the-warpath |access-date=1 May 2019 |date=29 April 2019 }}</ref> various scholarly works, media outlets, UNHCR, HRW and the governments of the United States and France have described it as a [[cult]] built around its leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
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