Filner under fire over MKO-funded Paris tour

The 35th and current mayor of San Diego is facing criticism after it emerged that he took a free trip funded by the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCRI and PMOI) to Paris. The U-T San Diego reported that Bob Filner declined on Thursday to answer questions about his travel and those who funded it. He briefly told reporters at a news conference that the trip was not a “junket,” but a “business trip which is to get jobs to San Diego.” The event, organized by the MKO, is intended to celebrate the anniversary of MKO’s armed struggle against Iranian civilians in June 1981. The grouplet claims that tens of thousands of Iranians attend the Villepinte gathering from across Europe, but only 900 showed up in the last MKO gathering in Europe. “My first question is who is paying for all this?” Councilman Scott Sherman said. “I don’t get why a mayor of the city of San Diego would need to be there. I think he was beating feet as quick as he could to get out of town because of all the negative news media.” Filner came under fire before his travel to Paris for his scuffle with the City Attorney Jan Goldsmith’s top lawyer and having tossed the lawyer by police from a closed-session meeting with the San Diego City Council. This was not the first time Filner attended rallies in support of the MKO terrorists. Back in June 2011, when he was a congressman, Filner took a similar 5-day free trip to the MKO’s Paris rally. His trip cost $6,589 was paid for by a group tied to the MKO. In a recent report, Didehabn Center said the MKO ceremony in France to celebrate the anniversary of its armed attack against Iran in 1981 was broadcast for the MKO members in Albania through video conferencing at a luxurious hotel in Tirana, and merely 10 people from the 71 MKO members in Albania participated in the ceremony, while others did not show up in a bid to display their opposition to the group\'s ringleader Massoud Rajavi and the terrorist group. Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the grouplet are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so. A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations. According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms. The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets. The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly-established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran\'s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981. The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country. The terrorist group joined Saddam\'s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran. Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who eventually took the MKO off the US terror list. The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time. In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq\'s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport. Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.