Talk:People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran

I have removed the "allegedly" again, as i think it si confirmed that the MKO was organising murders and bombings. The main difficulty is which murders exactly as the article linked to below points out - both the group probably claims many they had nothing to do with, and teh government blames them for a good measure more with which they had nothing to do with either. This probably leaves a fair number left over and is definetely enough to remove the 'allegedly; Refdoc 21:18, 25 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Anon user 81.139.29.189 had this to say in the main article, which I moved here: In less than three month the wikipedia article on the terrorist organization of MKO had been substantially changed.

References to the terrorist nature of a killing machine had been changed and an obviously vicious terrorist cult have been described as a guerrilla organization.

What is happening in Wikipedia. The only explanation is: MKO as a master of political spin succeeded to access Wikipedia or there is a line by the NeoCons?

How can it be explained while U.S. persue terrorists, a terrorist cult that had killed thousands of Iranian civilians and Kurds and was supported by Saddam is being whitewashed by Wikipedia? ClockworkTroll 17:51, 25 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The name "Mujahideen al-Khalq" is neither Persian nor correct Arabic, nor is it used by the organization. So I've moved it to the Persian equivalent. - Mustafaa 23:52, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

I noticed that facts are being changed by Iranian regime for political purposes. For starters this group calls itself People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran. It has done from day one, as can be seen on their website www.mojahedin.org . Iranian regime seems to be running a campaign to demonize its opposition. This should not be tolerated by Wikipedia or else they will lose their credibility which they have earnt as a powerful online encyclopedia.

Don't bullshit man; there are no Iranian regime reps here. The fact is, and you know it, that Iranian people of all walks of life, HATE YOUR GROUP, and I am one of them. You can call me a representative of Iranian regime, but I live in USA, and I have nothing to do with Islamic Regime of Tehran. In fact, it was you bastards who brought this regime to Iran, then you clashed over power struggle. Do you forget that MKO was the main force to support Khomeini?! Your record is out there and everybody knows what hypocrites you losers are. You cooperated with Saddam. You are now cooperating with Washington. You are political prostitues. Even your own family members who are not members of your misguided cult, do not approve of you. Stop changing the article to suit your stupid agenda. Instead, accept the fact that you have been mislead, and there is no future for you in this loser organization. If you can't help your country, at least help yourself.

If that is not POV I don't what is. Whoever this guy is, he clearly has a political agenda and should not be allowed to update a legitimite encylopedia. Obviously he has serious motives. He goes so far as saying that he is one of the people that hates this group (PMOI). Therefore whatever he writes is POV, and it is against the rules of Wikipedia. Opensource encylopedias are very useful, but not when they are tampered with by politically-motivated people.

Genius, I never wrote even one word in this article. But when I noticed you guys are systematically changing the article to suit your lies, I participated in helping revert your version. You will notice in history records of the article that many others have also done this.

You are reverting pages to a false version written prepared by the Iranian regime. You have already that you are biased towards this group. Therefore you should not be changing facts into fiction in this encyclopedia. I suggest everyone see www.iranterror.com, its a new site I found which exposes agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (both their terrorist activities and their attempts to demonize the Iranian opposition. I think it answers many people's questions in there.

Oh Mr, Hanif Jazayery!! very nice name, Hanif!! I have never known an Iranian with that name. Although it's a very common Arabic name. So what do you do at the MKO, do you serve tea to your idols Massoud and Maryam or what? Now that I wrote your IP is from France, you show up with your Wikipedia ID. Nice move Mr. Hanif !! hehe I see that you are calling EVERYBODY who has reverted your bullshit, a "member of the islamic regime's information ministry". Very classy and intelligent of you Mr. Hanif. But you know what? It is a fact that all Iranians hate you bastards. Do you forget that you used to be with Khomeini 100% ?! Did you not then do terrorist acts in Iran killing many people? Did you not then cooperate with Saddam? Don't you now cooperate with Washington? Is it a lie that Iranian PEOPLE (not just the regime) hate your guts? Is it a lie that you are prostitutes who has gone to bed with everybody from the communists, to Khomeini to Saddam to Washington politicians? You are a bunch of losers. Get a life.

It would be a lot better if you could both a) refrain from personal insults and b) sign your "contributions" Refdoc 09:35, 27 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I also wish to see no personal attacks. It is unfortunate that you attack him personally when you could very easily and more effectively just point out the facts about the hypocricy, deceitfulness and failures of this organization. Ardavan 10:57, 28 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

3 Revert Rule

I have blocked both main articipamnts in teh recent revert war. If this continue I will get the page protected. Refdoc 09:35, 27 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

To be fair I did not personally insult the person who keeps reverting the article to give a false impression of this organization. He said that he hated it. He also accused me and the other guy of being members. He said to the other guy that since he was from france that made him a member of the organization, and that is not true. Well, I too am from France, though it doesn't write my IP here, but that doesn't automatically make me someone who is lying. The realities speak for themselves. The PMOI and the National Council of Resistance of Iran have had considerable support from Parliamentarians in the following countries (the list is from an Editorial in the Washington Times - March 31, 2002):

United States

1992: 219 members of the House of Representatives endorse the NCRI.

1995: 202 members of the House endorse the NCRI.

1997: 225 House members endorse the NCRI while condemning the Iranian regime's record on human rights.

1999: 28 senators call the Mujaheedin "a legitimate resistance movement."

2000: 228 House members call the Mujaheedin "a legitimate resistance movement" and ask the State Department to amend its policies.

Britain

1995: 425 British legislators back NCRI and call for sanctions against Iran.

1999: 330 Members of Parliament endorse Mujaheedin as "a legitimate resistance movement."

2000: 335 MPs (House of Commons) and 61 members of the House of Lords announce their support of NCRI.

2001: 337 MPs and 94 in the House of Lords endorse NCRI.

Other parliaments

1995: 317 Italian deputies endorse NCRI

1995: Majority of Swedish Parliament announce support of NCRI.

1997: 326 Italian deputies announce support of NCRI and call for a new anti-mullah policy.

1997: Majority of Norwegian Parliament call for sanctions against Iran and announce support of NCRI.

1997: Majority of Swiss Parliament call for sanctions against Iran and announce support of NCRI.

1998: Majority of Belgian Parliament endorse NCRI.

1998: Majority of Luxembourg MPs endorse NCRI.

2000: 475 members of the German Bundestag condemn Tehran regime and support NCRI.

2002 and 1999: 150 members French deputies support NCRI.

2002: 300 Italian deputies endorse NCRI.

2002: Majority of Belgian Parliament reaffirms support for NCRI.

The article was from the year 2002 so it doesn't list all the more recent support they have received, including a petition by 2.8 million Iraqis which came out nearly two months ago.

Whoever this guy is that is reverting the pages should be stopped, as the facts speak for themselves. Hanifjazayeri 14:45, 27 May 2005 (GMT+1)

Saddam Hussayn was also "approved" for quite some time, and even directly supported, funded and assisted in many ways. But look at how those same people who once "approved" of him for their political game, dealt with him later. You Mojahedin are the same. You should take a good look at the history of your organization, where you were and where you are now. The person above asked you a number of legitimate questions. You did not answer any of them. Instead, you play the cheap argument of statistics based on some newspaper article. Ardavan 11:04, 28 May 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I would hardly call the support of hundreds of parliamentarians in each of the above cases a "cheap argument of statistics". I don't think the majorities of parliamentarians in the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, and many other supported Saddam Hussein, so don't make comparisons just to demonize the Iranian opposition. It seems to me that if the PMOI have this much support accross the world then there must be some legitimacy in what they stand for. What I also know is that all the countries in the above list class the Iranian regime as the biggest state-sponsor of terrorism. The Iranian regime sponsors terror abroad, but also uses it at home to supress the Iranian people. Over the past 26 years they have executed 120,000 members of the PMOI, a partial list of whose names and particulars can be found at www.iranterror.com . Hanifjazayeri 17:30, 28 May 2005 (GMT+1)

Page is now protected

I suggest a cool down period. I have protected the page on the last version. Please assume good faith and work together to bring in the necessary changes. I will unprotect the page once I have seen some evidence of constructive discussion here on this page Refdoc 09:43, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

But you didnt mention that the USA supported Sadam once, and now they support the NCRI. Some of what you guys say are fact, why dont you write and leave all the crap out of here?? fjulle--212.130.112.17 22:52, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

But you didnt mention that the USA supported Sadam once, and now they support the NCRI. Some of what you guys say are fact, why dont you write and leave all the crap out of here?? fjulle--212.130.112.17 22:53, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Washington, DC, Jun. 04 – A United States lawyer representing members of the main Iranian opposition group, the Iraq-based People’s Mojahedin, censured New York-based Human Rights Watch for a report that alleged the group mistreated its members in a letter to its director.

Professor Steven M. Schneebaum of Greenberg Traurig Law, who served on the Board of Directors of the International Human Rights Law Group, wrote, “I must confess that I have never before had to censure a human rights organization for procedural flaws and substantively incorrect results in its work. But I cannot conceive of how either the procedures used, or the conclusions reached, in the report on the PMOI can be justified. And the fact that something similar occurred in 1994, when Human Rights Watch last reported on the PMOI, makes me suspicious that there is a hidden agenda”.

Professor Schneebaum, who is also chairman of executive committee of the British-American Project, said that the ruling regime in Tehran had made the PMOI the target of a massive disinformation campaign. Despite this fact, he said, “no effort was exerted by your investigators, or by he authors or editors of the report, to contact PMOI members or representatives in the United States or in Paris, much less in Camp Ashraf. No effort was made to interview U.S. military officials who oversaw operations at Ashraf over months at a time, and who had looked into rumors about abuses at the Camp, and found not a shred of evidence to support the very charges that Human Rights Watch makes. Apparently, no effort was made even to conduct face-to-face interviews with the individuals who claimed that they were held by the PMOI when they wanted to leave, and who made serious allegations of mistreatment”. Schneebaum made particular note of HRW’s own admission that it relied on telephone interviews as the sole basis for its 28-page report.

“I myself visited Camp Ashraf in early 2004. What I saw was nearly 4,000 people living at a very high level of commitment and discipline. I spoke freely with many of them. I do not pretend to have expertise in interrogation, nor was that part of my mission, but I certainly observed nothing that implied to me that anyone was at Ashraf against his or her will”, he added.

Schneebaum cautioned that the HRW served two purposes, one being the Iranian regime’s justifications of its repressive policies towards the PMOI and dissidents general, and the second being to keep the PMOI and its affiliated organisations on the terrorist lists.

On the latter, he said that HRW had not conducted an investigation concluding that the PMOI was a terrorist organisation, thus he had found especially unsettling an HRW press release in which Joe Stork, Director of the Middle East and North Africa branch of HRW, stated, “The Iranian government has a dreadful record on human rights, but it would be a huge mistake to promote an opposition group that is responsible for human rights abuses”.

Schneebaum said that he was deeply troubled that HRW made such an announcement which he said was impossible to read into “anything other than advice to the United States Department of State to retain the PMOI’s terrorist designation and to ensure that no federal money might be allocated to Iranian opposition movements finds its way to that Organization”.

He said that such statement were not part of HRW’s mandate, summing up that “the timing of the report supports the inference that a political objective, not a human rights one, was in play”.

Hehe hehe hehe hehe are you people really so stupid or you always assume others are stupid?! You quote your own hired attorney in support of yourselves?! This is really funny. That shyster would not have accepted you losers as a client if he had an ounce of integrity in him. One look at your record is enough. And nothing is more repulsive to Iranian people that you terrorists claiming to be the voice of Iranian "people" and representing them. You are the same bastards who were 100% behind Khomeini and helped him all the way until he decided that it was time for you losers to go. Your group has ALWAYS been small and unpopular and Iranian people have ALWAYS disliked you (both before and after revolution) and you can ask ANY Iranian how they feel about you. You know this better than anyone that all Iranians HATE you -- especially after you losers moved to Iraq and became Saddam's Mujahedin. You used to kill Americans in Iran, what happened? You love Americans now? You used to love Khomeini. What happened? Now you cringe at hearing his name? You used to be leftist. What happened? You are not lefist anymore? Get out of here and get a life.

VEVAK tries to censor the truth

One other fact that I thought would be useful for everyone to know, is that the Iranian regime has to date executed over 120,000 political prisoners of the PMOI and have acknowledged this themselves. A partial list of the names and particulars of those executed can be found at www.iranterror.com . Ayatollah Montazeri, Khomeini’s right hand man wrote in his memoirs a few years ago (as published in the Sunday Times) that the regime executed over 30,000 PMOI members in a matter of a few weeks in 1988. Khomeini's henchmen, many of whom today live abroad and try to demonize the Iranian opposition, also tortured over half a million PMOI supporters inside Iran's prisons.

Yet, there is however someone who keeps vandalising the text, changing facts and even writing unsubstantiated lies. The person, whom I suspect of being an agent of the Iranian regime, also vandalises the page about the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), again deleting factual texts and writing lies.

When I added the 120,000 figure in the page about the Mojahedin, the regime's guy removed it, and again started to say that such a thing was a lie. This is how VEVAK tries to demonize the Iranian opposition.

It does not surprise me that agents on the payroll of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (VEVAK) abroad try to white-wash their own crimes and pretend that the Iranian opposition are the "criminal", since I know that VEVAK are actively pursuing a campaign to demonize the Iranian opposition in the West. (If you read the talk section and edit sections of the Maryam Rajavi page and the Mojahedin-e Khalq page you will undoubtedly see that the guy continuously calls me and my friend "Terrorists" without even the slightest idea of who I am or who he is) What does however disappoint me is Wikipedia's inability to combat such abuse. Despite the service being an extremely valuable one, Wikipedia seems unable to control vandalism on its encyclopaedia.

The other problem is that this guy is continuously offensive and uses offending language, as one would expect from agents who are there to defend a corrupt dictatorship.--RezaKia 16:58, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Don't waste Wikipedia's database with repeats. You don't need to post your whine in a zillion places, just post if in one place and put links to it elsewhere. Anyway, you can call me a VEVAK member. The truth is I had never even heard the term VEVAK until your "and your friend!! hehe" wrote it here in Wikipedia. I have answered your rubbish here and I don't need to repeat it on this page. Just crawl back to your cave in the deserts of Iraq. Bye loser.

For everyone to see the truth

I have no intention of arguing with someone who is obviously not interested in the truth and who makes accusations without providing any proof, but for the interest of other readers and to prove that the regime lies and is running a demonization campaign against the Iranian opposition, I would like to answer the accusations.

Please, everyone reading this bear in mind that I am not myself a member of the PMOI, thus the answers I give would probably not be up to the standards of the organisation.

In response to “Didn't your organization use to kill Americans in Iran during the previous regime?”

The PMOI, (not my organisation) has never killed Americans in Iran. I understand that some 5 of 6 Americans were killed in Iran at the time of the Shah and then attributed to the Iranian opposition, however at the time the PMOI issued a statement denouncing the acts, which were later discovered to be the work of a splinter organisation, PEYKAR, who after the revolution joined Khomeini’s forces in suppressing the Iranian PMOI members, but today they are non-existent in Iran.

In response to “Were you guys not the ones who helped Khomeini come to power?”

The PMOI, (again not my organisation) fought an underground resistance against the Shah’s regime so as to free the Iranian people from tyranny. At the time Khomeini was living in France. By the time of the 1979 revolution, the entire PMOI leadership was in the Shah’s prisons, thus Khomeini was able to steal the revolution as his own and then introduced his brand of Islamic fundamentalism to suppress the Iranian people far more than the Shah did. Of course Khomeini knew that the PMOI could not be negotiated with if he were to suppress the people since they sacrificed their lives for the peoples’ freedom. Therefore most of Khomeini’s violence was directed at the PMOI, and even his number 2 man, Ayatollah Montazeri has admitted in his memoirs that in the span of only a few weeks in the summer of 1988 more than 30,000 PMOI members were executed in Khomeini’s prisons. To date Khomeini’s regime has executed over 120,000 members of the PMOI. So, I hope everyone now understands that it was not the PMOI would brought Khomeini to power. They were in prison, and when the revolution broke out Khomeini stole the momentum and pronounced himself leader, whereas before he was living in France.

In response to “Were you not involved in the takeover of the American embassy in Tehran and taking hostages?”

The PMOI never supported the regime when it took hostages in the American embassy. They gave at least a dozen statements during the 444 days denouncing the action, which in fact gave Khomeini a chance to label the Mojahedin “pro-American” and get his henchmen to attack members and supporters of the organisation.

In response to “Did you not cooperate with Saddam Hussein?”

One common charge the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (VEVAK) spreads about the PMOI is that the organisation cooperated with Saddam Hussein. After Khomeini’s regime executed tens of thousands of Mojahedin members and their supporters, the PMOI would their base to Iran-Iraq border. The Iran-Iraq war lasted from 1980-88. At the beginning, when Iraqi forces invaded Iran, the Mojahedin fought them, (ironically, while they were fighting Iraq, regime’s forces also shot at them from behind, so they really had to defend against both fronts). However in 1982, Iraq pulled its troops out of Iran, and declared a ceasefire. The Mojahedin promptly accepted a ceasefire on the grounds that over 100,000 Iranians and Iraqis had been killed in the war, however Khomeini chose not to accept the ceasefire and instead made the slogan “Capture Jerusalem through Baghdad” and continued the war for a further six years, at the end of which more than a million people were left dead. In 1986 Mojahedin set up base on the Iraqi side of the Iran-Iraq border, with the ceasefire they signed in effect. One of VEVAK’s usual claims is that PMOI cooperated with Iraq because it maintained an office in Baghdad throughout the years, however the reality is that Britain, France, Germany, Russia … all had and continue to have an embassy in Iraq, (even the Iranian regime has one there now). It makes perfect sense for an organisation on Iraqi soil to have a press office in Baghdad, and it doesn’t automatically mean that they cooperate with the regime.

In response to “Are you not cooperating with Washington now?” The PMOI were never enemies with the United States to begin with, their only enemy is the Iranian regime which has killed over 120,000 political prisoners and tortured over 500,000. During the U.S.-led war on Iraq, the PMOI neither assisted the Americans nor the Iraqis, thus they are now protected under the 4th Geneva Convention. The other thing the PMOI have done that is really hard to swallow for the regime is that they revealed its clandestine nuclear weapons sites. The regime had not declared these to the IAEA until the Iranian opposition revealed that, and these are not my words; these are the words of the IAEA officials and George Bush who clarified it during a recent a press conference. If this person is criticizing the PMOI for revealing to the world that the regime was secretly making nuclear weapons, then I would seriously suggest that this person’s motives are extremely suspect!

In response to “Do Iranian people like you and support you?” As an Iranian I would say the Mojahedin are supported by the vast majority of Iranians inside and outside Iran, and that is why they have so much international support too.

As I wrote in my previous post, this guy is continuously offensive and uses offending language, as one would expect from likely VEVAK agents who are there to defend a corrupt dictatorship.

Now, everyone can see that the charges this person levels are unsubstantiated and his motives are extremely suspect. For anyone wanting to learn more about the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (VEVAK) and their campaign to demonize the Iranian opposition, please take a look at this site: www.iranterror.com --RezaKia 18:34, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

From your answers there are three things that are immediately obvious to the reader:

One, that you don't lie.
Two, (and this one is glaringly obvious) that you are NOT a member of the MKO.
And three, that your are impressively intelligent (for example: "The PMOI, (again not my organisation)" -- ha ha ha ha ... this one is too funny).

And again, do not fill up several wikipedia pages with the repeat of the same long post, just post it in one place and put links to it in other places. How hard is this for you to understand, mujahed?

Usually when regime's agents blow their cover. At first their responses make no sence, and later they start to repeat all their previous lies. Just reading the note written by this "anonymous" guy, he doesn't seem to be able to reply in a way that makes sence. For other readers, I wanted to state that the reason you will find this post twice, is because this person is vandalizing two pages. (Mojahedin-e Khalq and Maryam Rajavi pages)(Note: pretty soon, I suspect, he will start to call me a terrorist again, as he has done in the past.)

Everyone cn see that this guy is empty, and is just here to demonize the Iranian opposition. He makes no constructive arguments and just levels baseless accusations of which all have been answered above.--RezaKia 08:42, 10 Jun 2005 (UTC)

What about mojAhedin-e Khalgh?

This article is very accurate.

What about mojAhedin-e Khalgh? http://www.ghandchi.com/187-mojAhedin.htm

For over thirty years, I have written many critics of MojAhedin-e Khalgh Organization, from the time of Hanif-Nejad to the present. Before the Revolution, I wrote critics of the works of mojAhedin's founders, works like ShenAkht (Theory of Knowledge) and eghtesAd (Economics) but I also condemned that part of MojAhedin M.L., who committed atrocities against Sharif Vaghefi and others.

And after the Revolution and particularly after the 30th of Khordad of 1360, I have written extensive critics of mojAhedin's move to Iraq, state ownership in their program, the "Islamic" tag of the ideal republic in their program, the cult-like practices of their organization, and all other aspects of the program they have been advocating for future of Iran in the last 20 years :

http://www.ghandchi.com/index-Page14.html

I am not writing this article as another critic of mojAhedin, and here I would like to look objectively at what the reality of mojAhedin is today, to express my view as to how I think the Iranian opposition should deal with mojAhedin *today*.

Please see the Postscript (P.S.) of this article to see a summary of my own views on various topics, because I know there are dishonest people who would quickly label me monarchist or MKO or Zionist or whatever they can think of, when they do not like what I write, and the noted sources attached are for anyone to read for themselves, to see my standpoint on the relevant political topics.

Now let's go back to the topic of MojAhedin-e Khalgh Organization. We all know of the grave mistakes of mojAhedin after the Revolution. We all know of their sudden action of taking arms on 30th of Khodad of 1360 in meydoone Ferdowsi in Tehran, without informing other forces of opposition, and how their action caused members of many other democratic groups to get killed. We all know mojAhedin's gravest mistake of going to Iraq and staying there during all those years of Iran-Iraq War. And we know about their cultish organizational practices and their statist program which caused the failure of NCRI.

Then the question is why mojAhedin did not collapse after these many years, and after all these grave mistakes and after all the critics levied at them and why mojAhedin is still the strongest organization of Iranian opposition. In fact, outside of Kurdestan, mojAhedin is the only real organization of opposition in Iran, and if IRI was going to collapse tomorrow, they are the only force that can take power. And yes, one may wonder why?

The reality is that all these years, only two forces relentlessly raised the flag of overthrowing the Islamic Republic. The first one was mojAhedin and the second one was the Monarchists. The latter was unable to attract the kind of people who are willing to give up all they have to achieve the goal of overthrowing the regime. So basically mojAhedin organization became the only place for those who were the most serious about sacrificing all they have for the goal of overthrowing the regime.

I think the above is a reality that is missed in all critics of mojAhedin. Those who joined mojAhedin did not join it to go and work for Saddam Hossein. They joined it because they wanted to overthrow IRI. They were the people who wanted to sacrifice their money, well-being, and life to achieve their goal of regime change in Iran.

Another related question that nobody asks is that why Khomeini decided to break up with mojAhedin and call them monAafegh to wipe them out? It was not because of them being pro working class or because of being radical, although they did not hesitate to fight to achieve even smallest gains in power from the first day after the Revolution.

Nonetheless, basically there was not much of a difference between the program of Khomeini and that of mojAhedin, and it is important to note that mojAhedin were not the ones who broke the relation. I think the answer to why is very simple. Before the Revolution, Khomeini counted on mojAhedin a lot more than the clergy because the main part of clergy still was with the Shah. But after the Revolution, Khomeini had to choose between two organizations.

One organization was the traditional organization of Shi'a clergy ,with all its emAm jome's (Friday Prayer Clergy Leads), to run every city and village, and the second organization was the non-traditional organization of mojAhedin which rapidly grew in the first two years after the Revolution. Thus it was obvious that just like the Shah, Khomeini saw the former traditional organization of clergy as a proven structure to run, and with VelAyate Faghih approved, he took the role of the Shah but sitting on top of AstAne Ghodse Razavi, Feyzieh, and all the network of mosques and other traditional Shi'a organizations to run the country, and thus Mojahdein's *organization* became a competitor of that traditional organization and Khomeini made his choice to suppress mojAhedin.

Here is how on one hand traditional organization of Shi'a became the embodiment of state in Iran, and ironically by its intention to uproot mojAhedin, IRI made Mojahdein the focus for all those who wanted the overthrow of IRI. And this IRI versus Mojahdein defined the main battle of Iran for over 20 years.

Today most of the IRI opposition has reached the conclusion that Islamic Republic is not reformable and must go. As noted, this is what monarchists and mojAhedin have been saying during all these years, and mojAhedin have been sacrificing their lives to achieve this goal. I do not think even 5 percent of the people in other groups of Iranian opposition are as much dedicated to this goal, as the members of mojAhedin, in their commitment to the elimination of Islamic Republic, and when faced with a brutal Mediaeval regime, the final answer is how many people are really willing to sacrifice their lives and wellbeing to achieve a regime change, when facing a regime which is not going to leave on its own, and is ready to kill to the last of opposition to stay in power.

Even at the time of the Shah, contrary to the fairy tales around, the regime fell by those who sacrificed themselves in front of the army guns. I personally remember the riots in Yazd and Kashan almost a year before the Revolution when the Shah's soldiers were shooting at people and the demonstrators from the Mosque were still going forward while being shot. This is at the time of the chehellehs (40-day sequential anniversaries starting with Ghom).

Now today, can we see any other force that has among its followers that many dedicated people willing to go in front of the gun. Of course, forces like Jebhe Democratic of Tabarzadi are sincere forces that have come out of the Students Movement of recent years, but they are still a very small organization in comparison to mojAhedin, and frankly others including all the monarchist, jebhe melli, and leftists are nothing organizationally, to be able to take power in Iran, or to hold power in Iran after the regime change.

I believe this is the reality of mojAhedin's strength. Now in this article I did not repeat my critics of mojAhedin, which I have written enough when I even suggested dissolving mojAhedin organization to open the way for progress of Iranian movement, because unfortunately so many of the most sincere and most dedicated Iranians of the opposition are with mojAhedin, whereas the current structure and program of mojAhedin at best can make a Baathist alternative for Iran, a Baathi regime with more Islamic elements than the Baath of Iraq or Syria.

Such a future is not what Iranian people desire for and it would be another outcome like the Islamic Revolution, where the plans of those who were the most dedicated to the regime change, was not a plan of democracy and progress, and was a retrogressive plan. Then what can be done about this situation short of dissolving mojAhedin, and definitely the current top brass of mojAhedin would resist any true liquidation.

I think the alternative is to start a reform movement in mojAhedin. I think the only way to get mojAhedin to become an effective force in the Iran' upcoming change of regime, is to start a reform program inside mojAhedin, and push for it from both inside and outside. I think other forces of opposition, should set up human rights conditions, as a requirement for any cooperation with mojAhedin.

I think those inside mojAhedin who see the same needs, should become sincere reformers inside mojAhedin, and those outside, should even push mojAhedin's leadership, to open its prisons and let international and Iranian observers to visit its camps in Iraq and elsewhere. Progressive groups should ask to review the practices and processes within mojAhedin as a condition for any cultural cooperation or for any common action in demonstrations, rallies, etc. All parts of UDHR should be reviewed in interviews with their members and direct access must be demanded.

I also think the democratic Western governments should use human rights conditions as a requirement for establishing relations with mojAhedin. MojAhedin have a very strong interest to be recognized by the Western states. I think this is an opportunity to ask them for human rights condition, and it can be of mutual benefit. There is nothing achieved by calling them a terrorist organization, or punishing them for their actions against the U.S., which belong to the Shah's time. MojAhedin are the main force of Iranian opposition and it is best to help this force to go towards reform and democracy than constantly banning them.

On one side mojAhedin is the biggest organization of Iranian opposition, and on the other hand it is a legitimate concern for the rest of the opposition to see them commit to democracy, secularism, and human rights, By allowing independent observers to check their processes and their sites, mojAhedin will help themselves and others. For example, Islamic cover for women must be checked thoroughly and independently rather than getting the verdict of their leadership which says that all those women wearing the scarf do it on their choice. A complete check list with similar items should be developed to monitor reform within mojAhedin.

I do not think just writing critics of mojAhedin will answer the needs of today's IRI alternative. The same way that just negh-zadan (nagging) about IRI is not enough anymore. The goal must be *taking power* by progressive forces committed to democracy and human rights and 90% of mojAhedin are people who want democracy, secularism and human rights and want the end to the Islamic Republic.

So I think it is now time to set conditions for reform of mojAhedin. This is also to the benefit of those in mojAhedin's leadership who care for democracy and human rights, because those of them who believe on a modern 21st Century democratic organization can show their belief by internally leading the way for reform of mojAhedin and hopefully the reformers in mojAhedin's leadership will be more sincere than the so-called reformers of IRI government, who after these many years, still think democracy means democracy for the Islamists, and even non-Islamic groups that collaborate with them from abroad, cannot have their own offices in Iran and do not have their own representatives in IRI's parliament, and their papers cannot be published inside the country, where their own so-called reformist president has been ruling for six years!

Sam Ghandchi, Publisher IRANSCOPE http://www.IRANSCOPE.com February 20, 2003