The appalling meeting with broken down prisoners in Tehran
Meeting with broken down prisoners and exploiting them for political purposes, an unfortunate step taken by Ms. Beer and her colleagues is wholly incongruent with democratic principles.
One of the deplorable steps taken by Ms. Beer and those accompanying her was to meet with broken down prisoners who have repented and now cooperate with the regime’s torturers and henchmen.
The appalling meeting with broken down prisoners in Tehran
One of the deplorable steps taken by Ms. Beer and those accompanying her was to meet with broken down prisoners who have repented and now cooperate with the regime’s torturers and henchmen.
State-run websites wrote in this regard, “Ms. Beer met with Messrs. Abrahim Khodabandeh and Jamil Bassam, former members of the political branch of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), who spoke about their experiences with regards to the organization’s activities in Western countries.” Another broken down prisoner with whom Ms. Beer and her delegation spoke was Houra Shalchi.
According to state-run websites, Shalchi “talked in detail about the association’s activities. She brought up the subject of the families of PMOI members in camp Ashraf Iraq, and stated that they have no contact with their loved ones. She requested that the MEPs do everything possible to ensure that the families can have safe and private meetings with their loved ones in the PMOI.”
Nejat Society, Tehran, December 12, 2007:
“Angelika Beer: We spoke with four former PMOI members who had returned to, and currently live in, Iran
The head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Affairs Committee’s foreign relations office referred to the meetings of a European parliamentary delegation with the members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. He expressed gratitude for the constructive views and opinions expressed by the European delegation during the meetings, and said, ‘We will certainly utilize the constructive and excellent views of Ms. Beer and her colleagues for our activities.’ Angelika Beer voiced her satisfaction about her trip as well as her negotiations with Iranian authorities, saying, ‘…During this trip I had the opportunity to speak with four former PMOI members who had returned to, and currently live in, Iran. It is important for us that we cannot invite members of terrorist organizations under whatever pretext to the European Parliament or any other democratic institution, and this is the European parliamentary delegation’s stance” (Aftab website, December 10, 2007).
Even amateur or inexperienced politicians would understand the goal of such phony meetings arranged by the Iranian regime, which try to demonize the main Iranian opposition. But, unfortunately, so as to curry favor with the mullahs in line with the policy of appeasement, Ms. Beer agreed to this deplorable act under the deceitful and fallacious pretext of meeting with “representatives of civic organizations in Iran.” However, through their coverage of these meetings, the Iranian state-run media pointed to the mullahs’ real intentions:
“Nejat Society, Tehran, December 12, 2007
EP delegation met with Nejat Society in Iran
On Sunday December 9, 2007, a European parliamentary delegation in Tehran met with members and associates of the Nejat Society in its office in Tehran. The delegation headed by Ms. Angelika Beer, MEP from Germany (and chairwoman of the delegation for relations with Iran at the European Parliament), included 24 MEPs from various parties and countries…
The delegation also expressed its displeasure at Maryam Rajavi’s visit to the European Parliament, and stressed that such individuals, like other cults, never announce their true identity and attempt to deceive others for their own purposes. At the end of the meeting, Ms. Beer thanked Nejat Society for providing her with information about the People’s Mojahedin Organization. Documents and information about the PMOI were handed to each member of the delegation.”
Nejat, Edalat, and Habilian, are groups which have been set up by the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to demonize and vilify the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance.
In July 2007, in his statement to the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission (POAC) in London, Mr. Win Griffiths, a former British MP, testified about the Nejat Society’s links to the mullahs’ regime, stating,
“Whenever a Member of Parliament expresses support for the goals of freedom and a secular democracy for Iran, as espoused by the NCRI and PMOI, they are immediately bombarded with misinformation about Iran’s main opposition from a variety of sources. Sometimes MPs and Peers are contacted directly by the Iranian Embassy in London, which tries to convince Parliamentarians that they have misunderstood the Iranian regime and been deceived about the true nature of the NCRI and PMOI. On other occasions, disaffected former members of the PMOI who have been recruited by the Iranian regime to spread misinformation against the PMOI approach Parliamentarians. Lord Avebury, who has extensively researched and written about the Iranian regime’s misinformation campaigns against the PMOI said about these individuals in his book ‘Iran: State of Terror’,
"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 most extensive intelligence and political services."
On other occasions, Parliamentarians are approached by organisations that claim to be human rights organisations/NGOs who want to save PMOI members from the organisation. These front organisations for the Iranian regime include Nejat Society, Peyvand and Aawa Association.”
Mr. Griffiths, who had traveled to Iran in 2004 under similar circumstances, testified to POAC that,
“Between 14 and 17 June 2004, I visited Iran on a humanitarian trip to meet two NCRI members who had been kidnapped in Syria and forcibly, and in breach of international law, sent to Iran. One of these individuals was Abrahim Khodabandeh and the other was Jamil Bassam. They were both being kept in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.
On arriving at the prison, I expected to be taken to meet Abrahim and Jamil privately (while Teddy Taylor, MP, looked at some other parts of the prison). I was surprised however to be taken into a large room where some PMOI members/sympathisers who had been captured in Iran had just begun to make “confessions” before a TV crew. Whilst listening to the “confessions” of these PMOI members/sympathisers, I asked Abrahim quietly whether he felt the “confessions” were true and whether he had been prevented from meeting members of his family or being restricted on what he read or watched on television in the UK. He replied that they were not true and he had not been prevented from seeing his family, reading newspapers or watching television. I was expecting this answer because from conversations we had had previously in the UK, he had told me about taking a month off from NCRI activities while his mother had visited the UK.
I understand that some time after my visit, Abrahim and Jamil made similar “confessions” to the ones I heard in Evin prison from PMOI members/sympathisers.”
A European parliamentary delegation, which visited Ashraf City in the summer of 2005, privately met and spoke with three sisters of Houra Shalchi. They stressed that their sister, Houra, who has repented to the Iranian regime, is being exploited by the regime’s MOIS, which uses her to break the spirit of other political prisoners. What shocked the EP delegation was that Houra Shalchi had even pressured her own father in prison to take a stance against the PMOI. Mr. Shalchi, Houra’s father, is 70 years old and has spent years in prison for supporting the PMOI.
Meeting with broken down prisoners and exploiting them for political purposes, an unfortunate step taken by Ms. Beer and her colleagues is wholly incongruent with democratic principles. Several years ago when the BBC’s Persian service, disliked in the Iranian community for its strong support for the mullahs, conducted an interview with a broken down prisoner, which led to its condemnation by the European Parliament.
Photo: On Sunday December 9, 2007, a European parliamentary delegation headed by Angelika Beer, MEP from Germany in Nejat Society in Tehran. Nejat, Edalat, and Habilian, are groups which have been set up by the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) to demonize and vilify the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance.
To be continued
Iran: Mullahs’ pathetic appeasers in the European Parliament – Part I
Iran: Mullahs’ pathetic appeasers in the European Parliament – Part II
Iran: Mullahs’ pathetic appeasers in the European Parliament – Part III
