By Pooya Stone
The Iranian Government often likes to portray the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) as highly unpopular inside and outside of Iran, which is an outright lie.
We’ve already covered various topics, including the current Iranian uprising and MEK TV, which show how much support the MEK has within Iran, so this time we will be focusing on how the MEK actually enjoys wide support from politicians and activists in the international community.
The MEK is supported by many people across the world, from monarchs to politicians to human rights activists to military heroes to intelligence directors to Noble Prize winners, with hundreds of thousands of people publically pledging their support for the MEK. This support shows that the MEK is widely recognised by the world as Iran’s government-in-exile, making it far from “insignificant”, and shows that there is great support for change in Iran.
We can see the world’s support for the MEK in many ways, including:
• France allows the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) – a coalition of dissident, democratic groups, including the MEK – to conduct its business, as a government-in-exile, inside France
• Albania is currently sheltering 3,000 MEK refugees, who were under attack from the Government, in Camp Liberty in Iraq
• he US defended the MEK from attack in Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf in Iraq
• The UN declared the MEK in Iraq to be protected persons and should be protected from harm
Of course, one of the most important ways to judge MEK support from the international community, is at the Free Iran Grand Gathering, which is held in Paris each summer, and attended by over 100,000 people.
The Free Iran Gathering
This annual event marks the anniversary of a 1981 MEK demonstration in Tehran, where half a million people protested the mullahs’ rule. Every year, it draws more and more people to express solidarity with the MEK, including many prominent dignitaries from around the world.
The 2018 event was held last weekend, so let’s take a look at some of the biggest names who spoke in favour of the MEK at the Free Iran Gathering.
• Jean-Francois Legaret, Mayor of the 1st district of Paris
• Jérard Deprez, MEP
• Rudy Giuliani, former Mayor of New York City
• Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives
• Bill Richardson, former Governor of New Mexico
• Bernard Kouchner, former Foreign Minister of France
• Philippe Douste-Blazy, former Foreign Minister of France
• General George Casey, Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army (2007 to 2011)
• Louis Freeh, former Director of the FBI
• Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian Senator and presidential candidate
• Frances Townsend, former assistant to the US President for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism
• Pandeli Majko, former Albanian Prime Minister
• Rama Yade, former French Minister of Human Rights
• Ranjana Kumari, Equality movement activist from India
• Maria Candida Almeida, Deputy Attorney General and former Attorney General of Portugal
• Eduard Lintner, former German deputy Interior Minister
• Michael Mukasey, former US Attorney General
• John Baird, former Foreign Minister of Canada
• Stephen Harper, former Prime Minister of Canada
• Sir David Amess, British MP
• Giulio Terzi, former Foreign Minister of Italy
That right there is a veritable who’s who of the best and the brightest leaders in the world and they support the MEK, but they are far from the only people. Indeed, many people in the US Cabinet support the MEK and the belief is that they will encourage Donald Trump to recognise MEK leader Maryam Rajavi as the true president of the Iranian people and advocate a policy of regime change in Iran.
