Latest news with #Mujahideen-e-Khalq
Malay Mail
2 days ago
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Iran executes two opposition members accused of attacks; Amnesty alleges torture, unfair trial
DUBAI, July 27 — Iran executed two members of the banned Mujahideen-e-Khalq group for attacking civilian infrastructure with homemade projectiles, the judiciary news outlet Mizan said today, amid criticism from Amnesty International over a 'grossly unfair' trial. Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo, identified as 'operational elements' of the MEK, were sentenced to death in September 2024 — a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court, which denied their request for a retrial, Mizan said. 'The terrorists, in coordination with MEK leaders, had built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres,' the report said. The defendants were indicted with 'moharebeh' — an Islamic term meaning waging war against God — destroying public property and 'membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security.' Amnesty International said that Ehsani-Eslamloo and Hassani were arrested in 2022 and maintained their innocence during a trial which the rights group called 'grossly unfair and marred by allegations of torture and forced confessions.' 'According to informed sources, agents interrogated them without lawyers present and subjected them to torture and other ill-treatment, including beatings and prolonged solitary confinement, to extract self-incriminating statements,' it said in January. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the number of people executed in Iran rose to at least 901 in 2024, the highest number since 2015. The MEK, known in English as People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, was a powerful leftist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since then, the MEK has opposed the Islamic Republic and its leadership in exile has been Paris-based. The group was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union until 2012. — Reuters
Indian Express
2 days ago
- Politics
- Indian Express
Iran executes 2 members of Marxist-Islamist group: Who are the MEK, what are its ties with the US?
Iran has executed two members of the banned Marxist-Islamist outfit, Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), or the People's Mujahideen, for targeting civilian infrastructure on Sunday. Designated as 'operational elements' of the MEK, Mehdi Hassani and Behrouzi Ehsani-Eslamloo were sentenced to death, and the verdict was upheld by the Supreme Court, news outlet Mizan reported. The defendants were indicted on grounds of 'moharebeh', an Islamic legal term in Iran meaning 'waging war against God', and 'membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security.' 'The terrorists, in coordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK,' Reuters reported, quoting Mizan. Eslamloo had been arrested in 2022 following an explosion at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology claimed by the MEK. MEK, also known as the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, are a Marxist-Islamist organisation, founded in the early 1960s by student activists to oppose the government of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. Known for their notoriety and widespread appeal, the group engaged in guerilla warfare and bombing campaigns against the US-backed Shah government through the '60s and '70s, seeking to overthrow the monarchy. Notably, it participated in the 1979 Iranian Revolution, backing Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, and the attack of the US Embassy in Tehran, where 66 Americans, including diplomats and other civilian personnel, were taken hostage, according to the US Library of Congress. After the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the group fell out of favour with the Supreme Leader, who saw them as an existential threat owing to an ideological clash. After a series of brutal crackdowns and mass executions, the group and its founder, Massoud Rajavi, were exiled. After briefly basing its operations out of Paris, Rajavi and the MEK relocated to Iraq in 1986, where it found support from Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime amid the Iran–Iraq War (1980–88), according to the US State Department. The support for the group within Iran diluted during the war, after it helped Saddam quash the Kurdish uprising in the north and Shia unrest in the south (1991). Nevertheless, it demonstrated a global outreach in April 1992, with coordinated raids on diplomatic missions in ten countries, including one at the Iranian Mission to the United Nations in New York. In 1997, the group was put on the US's list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), which includes more than 50 groups like al-Qaeda and Hezbollah, for these actions and the killing of six Americans in the 1970s. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the MEK struck a cease-fire deal with the US and temporarily confined its operations to Camp Ashraf in the Gulf country's northeast. The US has since then viewed the MEK's members as 'noncombatants' and 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions. In September 2012, under the Obama administration, the group struck a deal with then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and had itself removed from the FTO, unfreezing its assets. Notably, the group's political arm, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which purportedly acts as a government-in-exile, opened its office in Washington DC in April 2013.
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Politics
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Iran Executes Two Members of Mujahideen-e-Khalq Group
Iran executed two members of the banned Mujahideen-e-Khalq group for attacking civilian infrastructure with homemade projectiles, the judiciary news outlet Mizan said on Sunday. Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo, identified as "operational elements" of the MEK, were sentenced to death in September 2024 - a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court, which denied their request for a retrial, Mizan said. "The terrorists, in coordination with MEK leaders, had built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centers," the report said. The defendants were indicted with destroying public property and "membership in a terrorist organization with the aim of disrupting national security." The MEK, known in English as People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, was a powerful leftist-militant group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Since then, the MEK has opposed Iran and its leadership in exile has been Paris-based. The group was listed as a terrorist organization by the US and the European Union until 2012.
West Australian
2 days ago
- Politics
- West Australian
Iran executes two members of banned opposition group
Iran has executed two members of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq opposition group for targeting civilian infrastructure with homemade projectiles. Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo, "operational elements" of the MEK, were sentenced to death in a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court, judiciary news outlet Mizan reported on Sunday. "The terrorists, in co-ordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK," the report said. The defendants were indicted with "moharebeh", an Islamic term meaning waging war against God, destroying public property and "membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security". Semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday that Ehsani-Eslamloo had been arrested in 2022 following an explosion at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology claimed by the MEK. The MEK, known in English as People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, was a powerful leftist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since then, the MEK has opposed the Islamic Republic and its leadership in exile has been Paris-based. The group was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union until 2012.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Politics
- Perth Now
Iran executes two members of banned opposition group
Iran has executed two members of the outlawed Mujahideen-e-Khalq opposition group for targeting civilian infrastructure with homemade projectiles. Mehdi Hassani and Behrouz Ehsani-Eslamloo, "operational elements" of the MEK, were sentenced to death in a verdict upheld by the Supreme Court, judiciary news outlet Mizan reported on Sunday. "The terrorists, in co-ordination with MEK leaders, had set up a team house in Tehran, where they built launchers and hand-held mortars in line with the group's goals, fired projectiles heedlessly at citizens, homes, service and administrative facilities, educational and charity centres, and also carried out propaganda and information-gathering activities in support of the MEK," the report said. The defendants were indicted with "moharebeh", an Islamic term meaning waging war against God, destroying public property and "membership in a terrorist organisation with the aim of disrupting national security". Semi-official Mehr news agency reported on Sunday that Ehsani-Eslamloo had been arrested in 2022 following an explosion at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology claimed by the MEK. The MEK, known in English as People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran, was a powerful leftist-Islamist group that staged bombing campaigns against the shah's government and US targets in the 1970s but ultimately fell out with the other factions of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Since then, the MEK has opposed the Islamic Republic and its leadership in exile has been Paris-based. The group was listed as a terrorist organisation by the US and the European Union until 2012.
