{"id":250513,"date":"2021-11-09T11:03:14","date_gmt":"2021-11-09T16:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=250513"},"modified":"2025-09-20T17:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T16:28:04","slug":"rehashing-the-iran-regimes-stale-debunked-anti-mek-smears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/demonization-articles-analyses\/rehashing-the-iran-regimes-stale-debunked-anti-mek-smears\/","title":{"rendered":"Rehashing the Iran Regime\u2019s Stale, Debunked Anti-MEK Smears\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-249932\" title=\"Free-Iran-Summit-2021\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021.jpg\" alt=\"Free-Iran-Summit-2021\" width=\"1000\" height=\"562\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021-150x84.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Free-Iran-Summit-2021-696x391.jpg 696w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">By Ali\u00a0Safavi<\/span><\/i><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Bryan Metzger\u2019s\u00a0tabloid article\u00a0in Business Insider\u00a0against the main\u00a0Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e\u00a0Khalq\u00a0(<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/blog\/middle-east-watch\/making-sense-mek-65496\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">MEK<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">) is pathetically unoriginal and comical.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The young graduate may proudly pat himself in the back for finally exposing the MEK, but the clich\u00e9d and run-of-the-mill\u00a0propaganda claims hastily copied and pasted from the Internet are the result of a late-night and last-minute Google search.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Friendly advice:<\/span><\/b><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0Lifting sensationalist conspiracies off the Internet to promote clicks is not precisely the start of a credible\u00a0career in journalism.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Indeed, Metzger&#8217;s Muck Rack profile shows that he wrote and published seven articles in less than 48 hours, meaning that he only googles and already knows what to write and gathers facts to support his preconceived ideas. There is no\u00a0objectivity, no impartiality, no serious in-depth research, no talking to both sides of the divide, nothing.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">This story&#8217;s click-bait title comically downgrades Vice President\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=AJFOkvfBgJQ&amp;t=27s\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Mike Pence&#8217;s<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0expression of admiration for leading opposition figure Maryam Rajavi as praise for &#8220;the group that forbids members from sexual thoughts.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What are the facts? The MEK is an all-women-led organization. Women are in key leadership positions, including the general secretariat of the organization. Their enemies, the extremist\u00a0clerics ruling Iran, are defined by misogyny and enmity towards women. So, the mullahs are in a serious bind. What can they do to stop suppressed women from being inspired by brave female MEK leaders from three generations who have courageously stood up to one of the most ruthless and evil regimes in the world?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"lyte-wrapper\" title=\"Iran&amp;#039;s disinformation campaign against the MEK via &amp;#039;friendly journalists&amp;#039;\" style=\"width:853px;max-width:100%;margin:5px;\"><div class=\"lyMe\" id=\"WYL_AsxtNqIMoG4\" itemprop=\"video\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/VideoObject\"><div><meta itemprop=\"thumbnailUrl\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FAsxtNqIMoG4%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" \/><meta itemprop=\"embedURL\" content=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/AsxtNqIMoG4\" \/><meta itemprop=\"duration\" content=\"PT16M7S\" \/><meta itemprop=\"uploadDate\" content=\"2020-09-09T15:32:21Z\" \/><\/div><div id=\"lyte_AsxtNqIMoG4\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FAsxtNqIMoG4%2Fhqdefault.jpg\" class=\"pL\"><div class=\"tC\"><div class=\"tT\" itemprop=\"name\">Iran&#039;s disinformation campaign against the MEK via &#039;friendly journalists&#039;<\/div><\/div><div class=\"play\"><\/div><div class=\"ctrl\"><div class=\"Lctrl\"><\/div><div class=\"Rctrl\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><noscript><a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/AsxtNqIMoG4\" rel=\"nofollow\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/plugins\/wp-youtube-lyte\/lyteCache.php?origThumbUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FAsxtNqIMoG4%2F0.jpg\" alt=\"Iran&amp;#039;s disinformation campaign against the MEK via &amp;#039;friendly journalists&amp;#039;\" width=\"853\" height=\"460\" \/><br \/>Watch this video on YouTube<\/a><\/noscript><meta itemprop=\"description\" content=\"On June 25, 2020, a German court ruled in favor of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in a case challenging the content of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) article purporting to describe the situation of PMOI\/MEK members in Ashraf-3 in Albania, which houses members of the People\u2019s Mojahedin Organization of Iran(PMOI-MEK). Both the compound, Ashraf 3, and the MEK have been targets of extensive disinformation campaigns by the Iranian regime. The same court ordered a similar case for another news publication, Der Spiegel, in March 2019. That publication, too, published an article that conveyed similar allegations against the MEK in general, and Ashraf-3 in Albania in particular. Both Der Spiegel and FAZ provided a platform for individuals who presented themselves as former MEK members and portrayed themselves as having fled their Albanian residence in the wake of mistreatment at the hands of MEK leadership in Albania. But the NCRI\u2019s legal challenge identified the originators of these allegations as operatives for, or collaborators with, Iran\u2019s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). In the past two years, similar allegations from the same sources have been published in Britain\u2019s Channel 4, Al-Jazeera English, BBC, and The New York Times. This has been an organized campaign by the Iranian regime to demonize and discredit the MEK BUT WHY? While the Iranian regime\u2019s constantly been engaging in spreading misinformation about the Iranian opposition, these efforts took on a new scale as popular protests began emerging across Iran at the end of 2017, in which were chanted MEK slogans such as \u201cdeath to the dictator.\u201d These slogans gained popular support in Iran despite the regime\u2019s disinformation campaign against MEK &amp; NCRI. The Regime Change message of the 2018 uprising reflected the MEK\u2019s platform, while its spontaneous spread reflected a high level of organization that is only possible in the presence of a well-developed network of MEK activists. This is what the regime fears most and why it goes to great lengths to distract people from joining the resistance. In January 2018, the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly accused the MEK of planning and facilitating the 2018 uprising. That in turn set the stage for another nationwide protest in November 2019, which once again showcased MEK leadership and explicit calls for regime change. Having no way out of crises, the Iranian regime sees no other way out of its current dilemma than engaging in a reprehensible campaign of demonization of the MEK. The goals are: - Discrediting a viable alternative to the ruling theocracy that has succeeded both in organizing protests within Iran, and in disrupting the Iranian regime\u2019s terrorist activities and destructive policies. - Preparing the ground for terrorist attacks justified by such propaganda. The flip side of this coin is the forced televised confessions of prisoners to discredit the resistance against the regime. The Associated Press in a report published on June 25, 2020, wrote: \u201cstate television has broadcast the suspected coerced confessions of at least 355 people over the last decade as a means to both suppress dissent and frighten activists in the Islamic Republic on behalf of security services.\u201d In a nutshell, terrified of the enthusiasm exhibited by young people towards the MEK and the cause of regime change, and International support for the resistance, the regime desperately needs to either eliminate or isolate the democratic resistance movement, by fake news and demonizing campaign. #Iran #MEK #PMOI #NCRI #Rajavi #Mojahedin #Mujahedeen #Ashraf-3 #Ashraf #Albania Read More: https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/IranNCR\/ https:\/\/twitter.com\/iran_policy Subscribe to NCRI weekly newsletter t.ly\/MybJ\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"lL\" style=\"max-width:100%;width:853px;margin:5px;\"><\/div><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The answer is simple. Virtually every day, the misogynist mullahs, who control all the media in Iran, fabricate stories and conspiracies about the MEK to undermine their moral superiority. For example, the state-run Mashreq daily\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mashreghnews.ir\/news\/887431\/%D8%A7%D8%B2-%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%AF%DA%AF%DB%8C-%D8%AC%D9%86%D8%B3%DB%8C-%D8%AA%D8%A7-%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%AC-%DA%A9%D8%B1%D8%AF%D9%86-%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%85-%D8%B2%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%AF%D8%B1-%DB%8C%DA%A9-%D8%B3%D8%A7%25D\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">published<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0an extensive propaganda piece in 2018 that is genuinely unfettered by reality and facts. The entire piece talks about &#8220;sexual exploitation&#8221; and even the &#8220;sterilization&#8221; of women in the MEK.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The regime&#8217;s motives are clear: To dissuade Iranian women fed up with the misogynist and fundamentalist rulers from supporting the MEK. Nevertheless, it is clearly not working.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Currently, the regime is even more desperate to undermine the MEK&#8217;s popularity and international recognition because its recently installed president, Ebrahim\u00a0Raisi, was a key player in the\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/iran-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners\/the-1988-massacre-of-political-prisoners-in-iran-eyewitness-accounts\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">massacre<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0of 30,000 MEK political prisoners in 1988. One of the henchmen is currently on trial in Sweden, and most of the witnesses are MEK activists who survived the massacre. When there was even the talk of Ebrahim\u00a0Raisi\u00a0attending the COP26 climate summit in Scotland, he faced a lawsuit for his role in the 1988 massacre and decided it was not worth taking the risk.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Therefore, it is no surprise that the religious dictatorship in Iran has stepped up its propaganda against the MEK. It is using its\u00a0Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to spread lies and falsehoods against the organization, planting stories through &#8220;friendly journalists&#8221; in an attempt to soothe its pains and to compensate for its defeats.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Also read:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/an-idea-that-connects-hearts-in-iran-and-beyond\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">An Idea That Connects Hearts in Iran and Beyond<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/iran-resistance\/misrepresenting-facts-about-the-main-iranian-opposition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Misrepresenting Facts About the Main Iranian Opposition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/english.mojahedin.org\/i\/iran-demonization-mek-ncri-free-iran-20200723\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Tehran\u2019s demonization of MEK proves the Iranian opposition\u2019s legitimacy<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">If the article is accurate and the MEK is a &#8220;fringe group,&#8221; why should the regime worry so much? Why is the state-run press riddled with anti-MEK rants almost daily, with officials warning about the MEK&#8217;s growing appeal among young Iranians? How could one characterize a movement as a &#8220;fringe group&#8221; that resembles a &#8220;cult&#8221; despite hundreds of senior current and former officials, lawmakers, human rights advocates, and journalists have visited its MEK&#8217;s offices worldwide and its new home, Ashraf-3, in Albania?\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Some of these figures include Reps. Eliot Engel (D-NY), Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX), the late Senator John McCain, and senators John Cornyn, Roy Blount, and Tom Tillis. In\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/specials\/iran-freedom-within-reach\/\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">July 2019<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, more than 350 personalities from 47 countries visited Ashraf-3. Similarly, dozens of journalists from the United States, the UK, France, Germany, and Belgium, have visited Ashraf-3 and spoken to the residents privately.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">When another MOIS &#8220;friendly journalist&#8221; regurgitated a handful of similar smears in the German publication, Der Spiegel, in February 2019, a court in\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/middle-east-iran-courts-state-courts-hamburg-3f52a313e71e47ecae57cfe7d3e26f24\"><span data-contrast=\"none\">Hamburg<\/span><\/a><span data-contrast=\"auto\">\u00a0voted to censure the magazine, forcing it to remove the said allegations.\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Having failed to physically eliminate the MEK despite more than 120,000 executions and countless acts of terrorism, the regime has for years disseminated lies in the hopes of discrediting the MEK\u00a0politically. But as Abraham Lincoln once said: &#8220;You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><b><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-52345 alignleft\" title=\"Ali-Safavi-100\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/Ali-Safavi-100.jpg\" alt=\"Ali-Safavi-100\" width=\"100\" height=\"115\" \/>Safavi (@amsafavi) is a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)<\/span><\/i><\/b><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stats.sender.net\/forms\/dGYVLa\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\"> <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-246866 aligncenter\" title=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png\" alt=\"Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1\" width=\"250\" height=\"83\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1.png 250w, https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Weekly-Signe-up-logo-1-150x50.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 250px) 100vw, 250px\" \/><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ali&nbsp;Safavi&nbsp; Bryan Metzger&rsquo;s&nbsp;tabloid article&nbsp;in Business Insider&nbsp;against the main&nbsp;Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e&nbsp;Khalq&nbsp;(MEK) is pathetically unoriginal and comical.&nbsp;&nbsp; The young graduate may proudly pat himself in the back for finally exposing the [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":249932,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[188,845,5493],"tags":[142,197,218],"class_list":{"0":"post-250513","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-op-ed","8":"category-demonizing-mek","9":"category-demonization-articles-analyses","10":"tag-1988-massacre","11":"tag-mek-iran","12":"tag-demonizing-mek"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rehashing the Iran Regime\u2019s Stale, Debunked Anti-MEK Smears\u00a0\u00a0 - NCRI<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By Ali\u00a0Safavi\u00a0 Bryan Metzger\u2019s\u00a0tabloid article\u00a0in Business Insider\u00a0against the main\u00a0Iranian opposition Mujahedin-e\u00a0Khalq\u00a0(MEK) is pathetically 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