1 MKO AT A GLANCE A Short Look at History of MKO content 6 History and Ideology 10 Puritanism within 4 12 Massoud Rajavi Works with the SAVAK Massoud Rajavi Escapes to Paris, Flees 14 Tehran The Beginning of an Armed Struggle 16 Against the Government and the People Traveling to Iraq and Working with 18 Saddam Hussein 20 Operation Forough Javidan 22 Ideological Revolution 24 The MEK Exits Iraq 26 From Baghdad to Tirana 28 Why Is the MEK in Albania? History and Ideology Founded in 1965 the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq or more simply the MEK / MKO imagined itself a political-militant movement against the then-authority of the shah of Iran. If the group first presented itself as an advocate of Islamic values and economic socialism in that it wanted to see the ‘people’ inherit the fruits of their labour as opposed to widespread exploitation by a desig- nated elite, the MEK / MKO quickly fell into disfavour with Iranians on account of its violence and its leaders’ blind hunger for power - even if it meant disavowing their philosophical principles. This veritable cult of terror was formulated into existence by Mohammad Hanifnejad1, Saeed Mohsen2 and Abdol-Reza Nikbin Rudsari3 as an extremist Islamic Marxist-based organization which 1 Mohammad Hanifnejad was one of the three people who founded the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the longest standing and most promi- nent Iranian opposition group. Born in 1939 to a working-class family in Tabriz, north- western Iran, Hanifnejad underwent a tough childhood. However, life calamities did not prevent him from following his studies in Tabriz. After earning his diploma, Hanifnejad entered the University of Agriculture of Karaj, about 40 km west of Tehran. During his 6 studies at the university, Hanifnejad continued his political activism. He became ac- quainted with the Mossadeghist National Front and the Freedom Movement of Mehdi Bazargan. At the same time, he took the helm of a student association in the university. In 1963, Hanifnejad obtained his master’s degree in agricultural machinery engineering. During the same period, his political activism caused him trouble with Savak, the Shah’s secret police. He was arrested and imprisoned for seven months in Tehran, where he became acquainted with Ayatollah Mahmoud Taleghani, a cleric that was well-known for his progressive and anti-fundamentalist beliefs. It was there that Hanifnejad be- gan formulating his own ideals, which he documented and sent outside of the prison. Once released, being at the end of his studies, Hanifnejad was drafted into the army, where he earned military skills and got to know the Shah’s dictatorship better through the institutions and internal relations in the army. In 1971, the Savak arrested dozens of the leading MEK members, including Hanifnejad. 2 Saeed Mohsen was born in Zanjan. He studied primary and secondary school in Zanjan and went on to study in Tehran. He got his engineer degree in 1963 from the Fac- ulty of Engineering of the University of Tehran. He was jailed twice for political activities. The first time in November 1961, that he was accused for distributing the tracts and taking part in meetings of the National party, and the second time in January 1962 as a member of the “Students Committee of the Freedom Movement”. His first political-cultural contra- diction was with his family, especially his father who was a cleric, but against Khomeini’s thoughts. But Saeed was interested in Khomeini’s thoughts, and he considered him a re- ligious and political leader. Saeed Mohsen and Hanifnejad were friends and like-minded from the very beginning of their student activities. Differences in the spiritual characteris- tics of Hanifnejad and Saeed were among the important factors for the development and success of the organization. On one hand, the authority and discipline of Hanifnejad and the ability to analyze, affection and individual attraction, and Saeed Mohsen’s cooperative behavior on the other, complemented each other. Although Saeed was not like Muham- mad Hanifnejad in terms of thinking and creativity, but he had a wide range of political, religious and social information. Saeed unlike Muhammad had the power of lecturing. He was the follower of Hanifnejad. He also had a mystic thought. 3 Abdul Reza Nikbin-Rudsari, known as Abdi Nik-Bin or Abdi, was born in Mashhad. aim was to bring imperialism to its knees - especially that expressed by the United States and the Pahlavi regime1 - an agent to its western ‘overlords’. The three founders shared a history of political activism within the religious-nationalist movement and its affiliated Islamic Students Associations. They believed that opposition forces against the Pahlavi government lacked a cohesive ideology and required revolutionary lead- ership. They reasoned that peaceful resistance against the government was fruitless, and that only a revolutionary armed struggle could dislodge the monarchy. The organization’s founding trio focused their initial thrust on creating a revolutionary ideology based on their interpretation of Islam that could fuel an armed struggle by persuading masses of people to rise up against the government. This ideology relied heavily on an interpretation of Islam as a revolutionary message compatible with modern revolutionary ideologies, particularly Marxism. Initially, the founding members recruited some twenty like-minded friends to form a discussion group. Their first meeting, on September 6, 1965, in Tehran, is considered the genesis of the MEK / MKO. The group’s discussions centered on intense study of religion, history and revolutionary theory. In addition to religious texts, the group also studied Marxist theory at length. For its first three years, the group held regular secret meetings. By 1968, these discussions led to the 7 creation of a Central Committee “to work out a revolutionary strategy” and an Ideological Team “to provide the group with its own theoretical handbooks.” An inherently violent group, the MEK / MKO believed that only through an armed struggle, patterned on those guerilla outfits and paramilitary groups which, through the decades had risen across several continents in resistance to various regimes, would it After graduating from elementary and secondary school in Mashhad, he studied mathe- matics at the Faculty of Science of the University of Tehran. From the beginning of his at- tending the university, he turned to political activities. Also, along with Torab Haghshenas, Lotfollah Meysami, and …, by sending a letter to Ayatollah Milani in Mashhad, they sup- ported and defended the holy goals of the clergymen and the leadership of Imam Kho- meini. Abdi also got familiar with Hanifnejad, Saeed Mohsen and the like, and gradually, in political activities, got closer to them. Abdi was also associated with people such as Ayatollah Taleghani, Motahari and Bazargan and participated in their meetings. But his confrontation was more in political and social affairs. “Abdi was a great ideological and educated force”, Meysami said. His friendship with Mohsen and Hanifnejad led to the establishment of the MEK and his collaboration with the organization continued until 1968. But due to epilepsy, on one hand, and his opposition to focusing on the theoretical work in the organization on, he resigned from the MEK and married a year after. 1 Pahlavi dynasty was the ruling house of the Imperial state of Iran from 1925 until 1979, when the 2500 years of continuous Persian monarchy was overthrown and abolished as a result of the Iranian Revolution. The dynasty was founded by Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1925, a former brigadier-general of the Persian Cossack Brigade, whose reign lasted until 1941 when he was forced to abdicate by the Allies after the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran. He was succeeded by his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, the last monarch of Iran. reach victory. Committed to military action, the MEK / MKO always dismissed diplomacy as a waste of time. To attract militants to its rank the MEK / MKO, since its inception, led a deceptive recruitment campaign throughout Iran, tailoring its philosophy according to its audience. When speaking to the religious class, the group appealed to clerics’ desire to see rise a system of governance in tune with Islamic principles, while at the same time preaching communist sympathisers the benefits of secularism. But if the MEK/ MKO’s rhetoric moved with the needs of the days its ambition was always to ensnare young revolutionaries to its ranks to consolidate its reach within Iran. By targeting the youth aggressively the MEK / MKO hoped to impart its worldview onto the next generation, and thus assure continuity. Because the MEK / MKO was able to map its narrative according to its audience, essentially telling people exactly what they wanted to hear, the terror group was able to attract great many people to kits cause - beginning with intellectuals, clerics and various scholars. Through a clever game of manipulations the outfit merged core Islamic principles with Marxist economic principles, thus broadening its base. If the MEK / MKO fancied itself a new school of thought, its rejection of all criticism to its rule and its unbending desire to break all people to its way of thinking betrayed its latent dogmatism. It needs to be said that the extreme Islamic-Marxist attitude fronted by 8 many groups today stem back from the MEK / MKO early days. A sworn enemy of all who disagreed with its ideology, the MEK / MKO called death1 upon its detractors - an attitude shared by so many terror groups throughout history. Prior to carrying out any armed activities, the group planned to focus on developing its ideology and training its new recruits. However, this strategy was thwarted by the emergence of a competing Marxist guerilla group, the Fadaian Khalq Organization.