Mainstream media parroting mullahs’ lies against the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK

Mainstream media parroting mullahs’ lies against the Iranian opposition PMOI/MEK

Fake news is a shameful practice

Reporting by PMO/MEK

Iran, October 21, 2019—As the Iranian regime is engulfed with domestic and foreign crises across the board, especially with escalating protests in Iraq and Lebanon threatening its influence, various mainstream media outlets are quite conveniently seen parroting shameless lies about the Iranian opposition,the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) to somehow provide any possible life support for the murderous mullahs’ regime ruling Iran.

These outlets are mainly pro-engagement and pro-appeasement vis-à-vis the fascist mullahs’ in Tehran despite this regime’s atrocious human rights record with the world’s highest number of executions per capita; being recognized as the central banker of international terrorism as billions of Dollars annually go to prop the Assad regime in Syria and terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Houthis and Iraqi militias; and the Iranian regime’s ongoing nuclear weapons ambitions in parallel to its relentless effort to advance its ballistic missile program that poses a threat to the Middle East and beyond.

The following article, originally published in the website of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), is a confutation of a NBC News article published on October 17, 2019, rehashing baseless and long-debunked allegations against the PMOI/MEK, and the support this organization enjoys among prominent American dignitaries.

The article (NBC, October 17, 2019) is the latest in a series of pieces that have rehashed stale and universally debunked allegations against the main Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Any fair-minded person can effortlessly discover that the main source of these allegations is the religious fascism ruling Iran.

Regrettably, NBC has refused to publish the MEK’s rebuttals to such false allegations in the past. To set the record straight, the following points need to be reiterated.

NCRI-FAC

✔@iran_policy

Rebuttal to @NBCNews Hit Piece Against #MEK and Its Popular Support in #Iran http://ncr-iran.org/en/9-uncategorised/26778-rebuttal-to-nbc-news-article-hit-piece-against-mek-and-its-popular-support-in-iran …#FakeNews #NBC #IranRegimeChange #WeSupportMEK

168

5:10 PM - Oct 20, 2019

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NCRI-FAC

✔@iran_policy

 · Oct 20, 2019

Pathetic claims that #MEK has no popular base in #Iran are too outlandish 2deserve a response. It is unclear which scientific poll #NBC &Benjamin rely on 2make such a claim W/respect to a country that is the record holder of per capita executions.#FakeNews https://mek-iran.com/category/pmoi-mek/ …

NCRI-FAC

✔@iran_policy

More than 100K of #MEK members &sympathizers have been executed. Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. https://www.ncr-iran.org/en/9-uncategorised/26778-rebuttal-to-nbc-news-article-hit-piece-against-mek-and-its-popular-support-in-iran … #NBC #FakeNewsMedia #WeSupportMEK #FreeIran

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5:57 PM - Oct 20, 2019

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1. For the past 40 years, the MEK has proudly waged a campaign for democracy against the foremost state sponsor of terrorism in the world, for which it has been the victim of false allegations by advocates of appeasement in the US, such as Daniel Benjamin. Unable to openly defend the religious dictatorship in Iran, these apologists instead demonize the regime’s democratic alternative to justify appeasing the current regime.
2. This is not the first time that NBC has quoted Daniel Benjamin, a former State Department official and the MEK’s chief antagonist in its legal challenge to the terrorist designation seven years ago. After French, German and Belgian law enforcement agencies foiled a terror plot by the Iranian regime’s terrorists, including a senior diplomat, to bomb the Iranian Resistance’s gathering in Paris on June 2018, while parroting the regime Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, NBC reported that this may have been a false flag operation and that the regime may not have been involved. It also quoted Benjamin as saying, “There are no simple stories in this patch." Ignoring that a senior so-called diplomat of the regime had been arrested in this terrorist operation, Benjamin tried to shift the blame from the entirety of the regime by suggesting that the plot could have been a “rogue operation.” A few weeks later, the French government and subsequently the European Union declared that the highest levels of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry had been involved in the plot and placed the Ministry’s Internal Security Directorate and a senior official on their terrorist lists for their role. However, NBC never corrected its story nor did Benjamin retract his comments. This leaves no doubt regarding NBC’s biased coverage on this topic.
3. On October 17, the State Department chronicled the Iranian regime's malign activities during nuclear negotiations and even after the signing of the nuclear agreement. The release states: "During the period of JCPOA negotiations, Iran continued to provide arms, financing, training, and the facilitation of Shia fighters to the Assad regime” in Syria. It goes on to say: "On September 1, 2013, an attack by Iranian proxies Kata’ib Hezbollah (KH) and Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH) on Camp Ashraf in Iraq, led to the deaths of 50 members of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq, or MEK.  Press reports claim members of the QF not only planned the attack but also played a direct combat role in it. The QF, along with KH and AAH members, also abducted seven MEK members and smuggled them back to Iran, according to the press.  The missing seven members haven’t been seen or heard from since the attack."
4. The dozens of honorable and bipartisan American figures who support the MEK and the Iranian Resistance represent the conscience of humanity against the evils of the theocratic rulers of Iran. Targeting these personalities, including America’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who have distinguished careers, is part of the clerical regime’s vilification campaign against the MEK, which is sadly echoed by supporters of appeasement vis-a-vis the regime like Daniel Benjamin. The latter’s hostility towards the MEK is matched by that of the religious tyrants in Iran - no doubt due to the resounding defeat he suffered when trying to prevent the removal of the unjust terrorist designation against the MEK. When he worked as the State Department’s Counterterrorism official, he inexplicably refused to implement the July 2010 orders of America’s second-highest court, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. The writ of mandamus on June 1, 2012, compelled the Secretary of State to delist the MEK in four months. Having no other options, the Secretary delisted the MEK on September 28, 2012, in the final days of the Court-mandated period.
5. The pathetic claims that the MEK has no popular base in Iran are too outlandish to deserve a response. It is unclear which scientific poll the author of the article and Benjamin rely on to make such a claim with respect to a country that is the record holder of per capita executions in the world. The MEK is a movement that has been fighting against two dictatorships for 54 years. More than 100,000 of its members and sympathizers have been executed. It continues to confront terrorism, all sorts of regional and international deals, and dedicated regime apologists like Benjamin. Such a movement could not have survived, much less continuously expand, for more than five decades without an extensive popular base. Why would an organization that lacks social support become the clerical regime’s main existential problem? The reason the unqualified minds of the likes of Benjamin describe the MEK’s financial sources as a “big question” and “mysterious” is that they intentionally reject the support of the people of Iran for the MEK, which supplies their funding.
6. The Islamic-Marxist label against the MEK is an accusation concocted by the Shah and later borrowed by the mullahs in a bid to stop the growing popularity of the MEK. The same goes for the false accusations of a “bloody past” and murder of American citizens in the 1970s, which have all been tested and failed in dozens of court sessions in the US, Europe, and the UK. The MEK’s delisting was the result of judicial rulings, not favors curried from this or that politician, nor an act of charity by any government.
7. Hours after the publication of the NBC article, the clerical regime’s state-run media outlets, including the Fars news agency tied to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), embraced it and translated it into Farsi. Serving the godfather of terrorism and arming it with more fodder to suppress the Iranian people and the Iranian Resistance is utterly shameful.

Iran’s poverty line surpasses the 80 million rial mark

Iran’s poverty line surpasses the 80 million rial mark

Poverty in Iran- A man searching for food among garbage bags

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, October 9, 2019—State-run media outlets reported on Tuesday, October 8, that the country’s food basket, or more commonly known as the poverty line, has surpassed the 80 million rial mark (equal to around $690 according to the street exchange rates).

According to these reports, the baseline paycheck of most workers in Iran was approved at 15 million rials per month by the regime’s High Council of Labor back in March 2019. Back then, Iranian regime officials claimed they had raised workers’ wages to half the poverty line. In less than six months, however, this amount dropped to less than one-fifth of the poverty line index and the people’s purchasing power decreased at a similar rate.

And to further plunder the Iranian people from their share of the country’s wealth, the Iranian regime has decreased the average number of members in each family from four to 3.3. Based on these numbers, the average amount of money allocated to each individual in line with the standard food basket actually increases from 100,428 rials to 215,327 per month. This artificial 100% increase is a method to deceive the Iranian public.

All the while, Iranian regime Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and the mullahs’ President Hassan Rouhani have time and again in their speeches talked about controlling the status quo and the inflation rate. Based on this monthly status report, however, the increase in the price of daily goods, parallel to a significant decrease in the people’s purchasing power, has constantly continued from March to September of this year, and the pace remains steadfast as we speak. As a result, poverty and hunger are on the rise across Iran.

It has become common knowledge amongst Iranians that the mullahs’ regime provides for its budget deficits through increasing the costs of goods and imposing even further pressure on the Iranian people. All the while, more reports surface of regime officials and insiders resorting to embezzlements cases skyrocketing into the millions and even billions of dollars.

This includes the October 6 case of Alireza Bigi, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament), acknowledging the plundering of $27 billion dollars and 60 tons gold by members of the regime’s own factions.

With the purchasing power of most Iranians standing at merely one fifth of the poverty line, there is no doubt that the mullahs’ regime will be facing more challenges from the “army of hungry people” across the country.

In a July article, Keyhan, the news outlet that reflects the views of the Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei, acknowledged the country's unsolvable housing crisis. "A person who could live in an 80-meter house with an 800-million-rial bond and 4-million-rial monthly rent last year must pay 12 million rials to rent the same house this year," Keyhan wrote on July 1.

Maryam Rajavi

✔@Maryam_Rajavi

Replying to @Maryam_Rajavi

You might have heard claims that if the mullahs were to be overthrown, #Iran would experience chaos, disasters and destitution. But aren’t Iranian women living in conditions even worse than war-torn countries? Aren’t they suffering from poverty, unemployment and homelessness?

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4:59 PM - Jul 14, 2019

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The housing problem has become so critical that some of Iran's people have foregone buying or renting homes and have resorted to living in tents.

The state-run Resalat newspaper wrote on July 2, "More than 40 percent of the Iranian population is under the line of poverty. The rich are becoming richer and the poor poorer. The tax system is in total service of the rich. The banking system has put 70 percent of its wealth into the hands of 2.5 percent of the society."

Abrar-e Eqtesadi newspaper wrote on July 3, "The price of some food items has increased by 300 percent."

Ironically, before coming to Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the mullahs' regime, had promised to build homes and give free water, electricity and transportation to Iranians. However, after 40 years, his regime has only achieved poverty and misery for the people of Iran.

At the end of 2017, people in more than 140 cities across Iran poured into the streets despite the heavy presence of security forces and the regime's brutal suppressive measures. Many of them were fed up with the corruption and mismanagement of regime officials, which has driven their lives into poverty, inflation, and unemployment.

The protests, which continue to this day, blame the regime and its destructive domestic and foreign policies for the current economic conditions in Iran.

The protesters are regularly chanting:

"Let go of Syria, think about us!"

"One less embezzlement and our problems will be solved"

"Death to dictator"

A look at child labor in Iran

A look at child labor in Iran

Children gathering trash in Iran in order to sell and make ends meet

Analysis by PMOI/MEK

Iran, September 26, 2019—The new school year in Iran began on September 23. At this time of the year across the globe, scenes of children rushing to schools, smiling and laughing, bring joy not only to their parents, but also to those wishing to provide the very best for their country’s future generation.

In Iran under the mullahs’ regime, however, the right to education, considered one of the main fundamental rights of children throughout the world by UNICEF, is becoming an unattainable dream.

Based on numbers published by state-run media in Iran, the number of children involved child labor is increasing and those actually in schools are unfortunately decreasing with each passing year. More children are joining the “army” of child labor, selling goods and roaming the streets of large cities checkered across Iran.

Despite the fact that regime officials go the distance in publishing doctored reports to place the blame of this social catastrophe on any source but the regime, the footprints of this phenomenon can be traced back to its actual cause through remarks made by authorities.

The main reason lies in the unprecedented and ever-increasing poverty that is spreading across Iran like a plague resulting from the regime’s unpopular policies that are plundering the Iranian people. Millions of families are in such dire conditions that they literally cannot even adequately feed their children, let alone provide for the fees of sending their children to school.

As a result, Iran’s younger generation, the future of this country, have no choice but to roam the streets and work in dangerous workshops in a desperate attempt to help their families make ends meet.

“Currently, there are 3.5 million children out of school across the country,” said Hafizollah Fazeli, a regime insider, to the Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the regime’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) Quds Force.

The state-run Hamdeli newspaper acknowledged the fact that economic poverty is one of the main reasons of families not being able to send their children to school.

“The economic poverty engulfing families is creating a major obstacle in advancing education. One of the most important results is children forced into labor outside of their houses, preventing them from going to school,” the September 22 piece reads in part.

While carefully avoiding any mention of the role of regime officials on this matter, the Hamdeli article sheds light on the fact that the cost of public education is becoming a heavy burden for Iranian families.

“Education is becoming more of a purchased good these days than a service and this is the most important reason why children drop out of schools and enter the labor force… Education is now considered a purchased good and is provided only if a family has the ability to purchase it… As a result, only those affording the costs will be able to have access to education,” the read adds.

All the while, the main concern of this and other state-run outlets lies not in the fact that Iran’s children are deprived of education. In fact, they consider this phenomenon a “time bomb” threatening the regime’s security. Regime officials are concerned about poverty evolving into a source of dissent and social unrest.

“The truth is that children who drop out of schools have the potential of acting as a time bomb that can explode any day and any moment. Such an explosion that can not only destroy themselves, but also inflict damage to others and the society,” the Hamdeli piece concludes, reflecting the dire concerns of the ruling regime in Iran.

Furthermore, incompetent officials in the regime’s Education Ministry and associated department in provinces and cities across the country on one hand, and allocating a very dismal budget for one of the most important ministries on the other are adding to this crisis and resulting in more children dropping out of schools.

When the Education Ministry refuses to provide paychecks to hardworking Iranian teachers and has neglected the issue of a shortage in classrooms for 40 years now, it is quite obvious that the mullahs’ regime is neither able nor willing to prevent the catastrophe of young children dropping out of schools.

All the while, daily reports are published in Iranian media of regime officials running off stealing millions, and at times billions of dollars, while tens of millions of people are barely providing a single meal for their families.

There is no doubt that with each passing day public hatred of the mullahs’ regime is escalating as we speak. All dilemmas in Iran under the mullahs’ regime can only be resolved by targeting the root of these crises, being the very regime ruling this country for over four decades now.

Daily protests and demonstrations, and repeating anti-regime protests, are a signal of how the Iranian people have realized this undeniable reality and are joining the organized resistance bent on bringing an end to the mullahs’ corrupt rule.