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Different levels of service |
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Monday, 21 November 2005 |
 Those who are actively in the service of mullahs’ propaganda
and espionage campaign against Iranian dissidents and the PMOI abroad
can be classified into three categories, according to their background
and their effectiveness. The common denominator is that they are now
working for the MOIS.
The first group consists of those who have been agents of the MOIS or
the Revolutionary Guards’ Qods Force and were sent to Iraq on a
specific assignment to infiltrate the Mojahedin and the National
Liberation Army of Iran. Many of these agents have been arrested and
later released by the PMOI after the completion of investigation into
their cases; they returned to where they came from.
After these agents returned to Iran, the MOIS dispatched some of them
on new missions abroad. This time they introduced themselves as former
members of the Mojahedin who were subjected to torture and persecution
and then forced back to Iran. They now claim to have fled Iran and are
applying for asylum in other countries. They claim that they are being
threatened by both the Iranian regime and the Mojahedin.
The second group are those who were at one time within the ranks of the
Resistance and left the Resistance for personal reasons. A very small
percentage of these persons were then recruited by the Intelligence
Ministry. To put things into perspective, one must note that the PMOI,
during the four decades of struggle against two dictatorships in Iran,
has had hundreds of thousands of members and active supporters.
According to officials of the clerical regime, half a million persons
were recruited by the Mojahedin Organization in Iran in the early
1980s. In the course of such a struggle where 120,000 have been
executed, it is natural that some individuals would opt out because,
for any number of reasons, they cannot find the motivation or the
strength to continue along this demanding path.
Over the years many people left the ranks of resistance to lead an
ordinary life. The vast majority of these people remained supportive of
the resistance movement and continue to back it. Many of them have
reacted to the Intelligence Ministry’s propaganda against the Mojahedin
and have even published books in response to false information spread
against the Mojahedin, in particular on the alleged mistreatment of
former members. But some of them were recruited to the MOIS through
threats or enticement.
In a book entitled “Iran: State of Terror” (published by the British
Parliamentary Human Rights Group), Lord Eric Avebury wrote on the
results of an extensive investigation he personally conducted into the
allegations made by such individuals:
Another method (used by the Iranian intelligence service) is using the
small number of defectors who had at one stage cooperated with
opposition organizations and individuals. These persons, due to their
low or non-existent motivation to continue the struggle and maintain
their principles, allowed themselves to be bought by the regime at a
later stage. Such people have so far provided the regime’s terrorists
in Europe with the most extensive intelligence and political services.
In addition to providing information on the assassination targets to
the regime, they prepare the political grounds for the murders of the
dissidents by spreading propaganda against the individuals or
organizations they had previously cooperated with, defaming them and
accusing them of being worse than the ruling regime.
Mullah Dori Najafabadi, Khatami's first Minister of Intelligence, said
on this issue: "The Intelligence Ministry provides support for
Mojahedin defectors."
The third group are those who have never been in the Mojahedin
Organization. For example, a man by the name of Bahman Rastgou,
residing in Germany, has been serving the MOIS as “a former member of
the Mojahedin,” but he has never been even an active supporter of the
Mojahedin.
Taken from "Enemies of the Ayatollahs" by Mohammad Mohaddessin
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