Posted on 07/01/2006 6:10:39 PM PDT by markedmannerf
LE BOURGET, France, July 1 — Thousands of Iranians from across Europe gathered here today in support of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its leader, Maryam Rajavi, who was recently freed from French judicial restrictions that limited her movement. Ms. Rajavi's message to the assembled crowd of 10,000 or more was that Iran needed neither nuclear weapons nor nuclear power but secular democracy, presumably led by Ms. Rajavi herself — or her husband, Massoud Rajavi, who is now presumed to be in hiding in Iraq.
But the meeting's deeper message was that the Rajavi organization is still alive and biding its time.
The National Council, which Ms. Rajavi heads, has been declared a terrorist organization by the United States because of the violent tactics of its military arm. Washington and and the European Union have made the same declaration about the council's dominant military arm, the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Holy Warriors.
Its militia in Iraq has been disarmed and confined to a camp north of Baghdad since May 2003. Ms. Rajavi's freedom to travel was restricted after a raid that July on the group's headquarters near Paris.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Maryam Rajavi or NCRI == MEK.
She's a terrorist and has no support inside of Iran
The MEK is a designated "Foreign Terrorist Organization" (FTO). From the State Department's website at http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/2450.htm:
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK or MKO)
a.k.a. The National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA, the militant wing of the MEK), the People's Mujahidin of Iran (PMOI), National Council of Resistance (NCR), Muslim Iranian Student's Society (front organization used to garner financial support)
Description
Formed in the 1960s by the college-educated children of Iranian merchants, the MEK sought to counter what it perceived as excessive Western influence in the Shah's regime. Following a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam, has developed into the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group. Its history is studded with anti-Western activity, and, most recently, attacks on the interests of the clerical regime in Iran and abroad.Activities
Worldwide campaign against the Iranian Government stresses propaganda and occasionally uses terrorist violence. During the 1970s the MEK staged terrorist attacks inside Iran and killed several US military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran. Supported the takeover in 1979 of the US Embassy in Tehran. In April 1992 conducted attacks on Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating the group's ability to mount large-scale operations overseas. The normal pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during the "Operation Great Bahman" in February 2000, when the group claimed it launched a dozen attacks against Iran. During the remainder of the year, the MEK regularly claimed that its members were involved in mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids on Iranian military, law enforcement units, and government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border. The MEK also claimed six mortar attacks on civilian government and military buildings in Tehran.Strength
Several thousand fighters based in Iraq with an extensive overseas support structure. Most of the fighters are organized in the MEK's National Liberation Army (NLA).Location/Area of Operation
In the 1980s the MEK's leaders were forced by Iranian security forces to flee to France. Most resettled in Iraq by 1987. In the mid-1980s the group did not mount terrorist operations in Iran at a level similar to its activities in the 1970s. In the 1990s, however, the MEK claimed credit for an increasing number of operations in Iran.External Aid
Beyond support from Iraq, the MEK uses front organizations to solicit contributions from expatriate Iranian communities.
Also from the same web page:
The designations [FTOs] carry legal consequences:
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