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In official settings, Iranian authorities persist in using the term “hypocrites” to refer to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq organization (MEK/PMOI). However, there is a noticeable shift in public discourse. Across social media, news commentary, conferences, media reporting, and films intended for domestic audiences, the term “Mujahedin-e Khalq” is increasingly, and some would argue, unprecedentedly, being employed with equal frequency.
While the regime’s stance on an organization it has considered a primary adversary for the past 44 years remains unchanged, the shift is observable within Iranian society. Four decades of political suppression, social discrimination, economic corruption, and violent suppression of numerous uprisings have driven people’s inclination towards a name that the ruling establishment has always tied with a fierce fight against the state. Therefore, public search for information, both offline and online about the MEK counteracts the regime’s four-decade-long propaganda, necessitating a change in the regime’s media strategy.
Despite the Iranian regime’s record of harsh suppression and systematic vilification against the organization inside Iran, the Judiciary finds it necessary to conduct formal court proceedings against the leaders of the MEK. A weekly trial takes place in Tehran every Tuesday, where state officials discuss what they label as the MEK’s crimes, present fabricated documentaries, and disseminate propaganda material to all state-controlled media outlets, irrespective of their political leanings.
A straightforward search in the Persian language reveals that the term Mujahedin-e-Khalq often equals the word Monafeqin (Arabic for hypocrites) in terms of online results in state media outlets. The regime has also taken its aggressive stance against the MEK beyond its borders, with officials explicitly stating their demand for the expulsion or, at the very least, the restriction of organization activities in discussions with foreign delegations.
Over the years, the Iranian regime has actively manipulated and distorted content related to the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) or the MEK across all social networks, websites, and even Wikipedia pages through its cyber army.
Former MOIS Interrogator Warns Against #MEK Influence in #Iran, Calls for Internet Restrictionshttps://t.co/FKQS8AGR8F
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 10, 2024
On January 7, The Times exposed how the Iranian regime manipulates information on Wikipedia to tarnish the image of the MEK. The Times also reported, “Online misinformation is also a key tool for the regime. In 2019, Open Democracy revealed key differences in the reporting of Iranian affairs on Persian Wikipedia compared to its English counterpart.”
“Now manipulation appears to have been carried out on the English-language Wikipedia. Many of the Iran edits concerned a page for the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an exiled opposition group that backs the overthrow of the Islamic Republic,” Times adds.
However, inside the country, these activities continue with even greater intensity.
On Saturday, January 13, a session was held in Tehran involving several experts and film consultants to discuss the movie Zed, Persian for the antagonist. This film, among hundreds produced by intelligence agencies, aims to present a distorted and terrorist image of the MEK by narrating the history and activities of the organization in the 1980s. Interestingly, according to a report by the state-run site “IBNA,” the invited experts themselves acknowledge that this film is a tailored propaganda piece intended to tarnish the image of the MEK and is filled with distortions of events.
Specifically, Mohammad Rahmani, introduced as a cinema history researcher by IBNA, states that the conversations in the film of MEK members are presented in a mafia-like manner, depicting elderly individuals, while in reality, the Mujahedin were young in the 1980s, and their communication was based on Islamic principles. According to him, the MEK never confessed under torture, contrary to what the film portrays.
A website specializing in disseminating derogatory content and offensive propaganda against the organization, Raheno has recently released a report disparaging the 28th telethon conducted by Simay-e Azadi, a 24-hour satellite network associated with the Iranian Resistance. The report strongly expresses outrage against the notion that the financial independence of the Iranian Resistance and its media is thereby acknowledged by Iranian society.
What stands out is the apparent obsession of the article’s author or authors with denigrating the MEK, overshadowing a crucial point. Despite the 20 years since the fall of the former Iraqi government and the consistent implementation of hostile policies by Western countries against the Iranian Resistance over the past six decades, readers are prompted to question the credibility of the claim that the MEK is somehow linked to the former Iraqi government, Saudi Arabia, Israel, the United States, or France.
The MEK’s Growing Influence Sparks Iran Regime’s Fear and Desperationhttps://t.co/2cUTDRbhXp
— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) May 23, 2023
Considering the diversity of these countries, their conflicting strategic interests, and their evolving policies towards the Iranian regime, along with electoral priorities that shift with each administration, it raises the question of how the MEK has managed to uphold a consistent strategy and ideology.
For decades, the Iranian regime’s strategy against the MEK has involved disseminating an overwhelming amount of falsehoods, aiming to intoxicate and mislead minds, fostering if not outright enmity, at the very least sowing seeds of uncertainty and distance toward the organization.
However, the sheer volume of lies has resulted in numerous conflicting narratives, leaving the audience confused about their authenticity. Despite this, what has most significantly weakened the impact of the regime’s 44 years of falsehoods against the MEK is the exposure of the regime’s atrocities on one hand, and on the other, the organization’s enduring resistance and its consistent portrayal as being the regime’s main adversary.