The Iranian Regimes Agents in France:

Behzad Alishahi

The Association In Defense of Victims of Fundamentalism Autumn 2007

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi Behzad Alishahi is an agent of the Iranian regimes Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS). He was sent abroad by the MOIS in the summer of 2005 in order to help conduct spying operations on Iranian refugees and dissidents, and participate in the campaign to tarnish the image of the Iranian Resistance. Behzad Alishahi was staying at Ashraf City in Iraq until July 4, 2004. Since he lacked the resolve and strength to continue the struggle against the mullahs regime, and subsequent to the PMOI residents at Ashraf City receiving the protected persons status under the Fourth Geneva Convention, Alishahi went to the American-controlled TIF facilities. On February 28, 2005, as per his own request, he crossed the Iraq border into Iran through the Khosravi entry point accompanied by a delegation under the supervision of the International Red Cross. He was later recruited by the mullahs MOIS. Behzad Alishahis name has been recorded in the list of individuals who entered Iran through Khosravi on February 28, 2005 (See Figure 1).

Figure 1 A list of individuals who entered Iran, which was sent to Tehran from Kermanshah province. Behzad Alishahi's name appears on the 7th row.

During his stay with the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) in Iraq, Alishahi wrote about his weaknesses to carry on the struggle against the mullahs regime as well as his willingness to leave on a number of occasions. In one of his letters, he wrote, 1

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi My wrong doings in the organization knew no boundaries; I tainted every precious value, ignored responsibilities, teased anything I could think of, and ran away from my duties What can the organization do with me except practice its right and expel me into Iran. But, Ive experienced myself inside Khomeinis Iran: I was battered and crushed by a filthy and pitiful life; I shattered all principles Or even outside of Iran, like all the rest of the defectors I can start to spread lies. Now I can understand what the organization means by this phrase; It means trying to associate an organization with things that only the individual himself is worthy of.

Immediately after his arrival in Iran in February 2005, Alishahi started to cooperate with the regimes MOIS. For 6 months, he carried out various tasks against the PMOI inside Iran. As one of these assignments, he referred to the families and relatives of PMOI members and members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), accompanied by armed MOIS agents, and threatened and pressured them to force their loved ones to leave the ranks of the Iranian Resistance. Another one of Alishahis fixed assignments was participation in meetings organized by the Nejat Association (which belongs to MOIS) in Kermanshah province in order to coordinate the meetings and relay the mullahs propaganda against the Resistance. The aim was to pressure and take advantage of Resistance members families and relatives, who had been made to participate in these meetings by the MOIS. After Alishahi was sent abroad by the MOIS in the summer of 2005, his first destination was Germany. Later he was sent to France to carry out a number of new tasks against the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. Before he was sent to Europe, MOIS had instructed Alishahi to inform his family that he would be going abroad for an assignment, and that they will not hear from him for approximately 6 months. With the help of its employees and lobbyists in France, the MOIS resolved Alishahis refugee and legal status, and after gaining assurances that all is well in these regards, Alishahi started to carry out his assignments against political refugees and the regimes main dissidents. Communication Liaison between Other Agents and MOIS One of Alishahis first assignments after his arrival in France was to establish contact with the regimes agents residing in TIF (where those who have left the PMOI are kept in a camp

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi controlled by the Coalition Forces in Iraq). Through its contacts, the MOIS gave assurance to individuals and pledges to send them abroad. In this manner, it aimed to recruit new agents from TIF. One of those recruited was Majid Roohi, who had written in a letter to Alishahi, Hi Behzad, Today they gave us the results from the UN interviews and I was accepted. Be sure to inform our friends about this, and especially be sure to announce it on Friday. Our friends here and I are waiting for your next initiatives. Be sure to stress our work. We are waiting to see what decision the UN would take about us. Behzad, Im sure what you do outside would have positive results for us, and many of our friends are waiting to see what you do. Thanks

In a letter sent from Turkey, an individual who had spent some time at TIF, revealed a fraction of the MOIS activities in TIF. He has also referred to Alishahis phone calls to TIF from Iran to recruit new agents for the MOIS. Parts of the letter are as follows: Hello - I apologize that due to security concerns, and since some of the issues concerning my refugee status are not yet resolved, I am unable to reveal my full name. However, I am ready to provide a witness statement to any court in Europe or the United States. What the MOIS is doing has left no room for silence anymore. I was at the American-controlled TIF exit facility myself. In fact, TIF has become a feeding ground for MOIS. They do not care that these individuals [in TIF] have left the PMOI and do not want to continue the struggle. MOIS simply wants to turn everyone there into an agent, a Firouzmand, or an Alishahi. At TIF, everyone has heard of Mohammad Razzaghi (aka Malicious Mohammad), or Nader Naderi (aka Nader the spy). 3

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi

Mohammad Razzaghi, Nader Naderi, and Mohammad Karami, were constantly on the phone with Tehran. Away from guards and translators, they sit at a quiet corner and easily talk to and receive instructions from the other side. Behzad Alishahi frequently talked to MOIS as well. TIFs cellular phone is the most important communication tool for the MOIS and its agents at TIF. Behzad Alishahi and Sirous Ghazanfari used to call TIF on a regular basis. Behzad Alishahi was inseparable from Mohammad Razzaghi and Nader Naderi, and they all worked together. [From Tehran] Behzad Alishahi used to call for an individual named Alimorad. He told him that his [Alimorads] wife and child in Iran were hostages. For example, he would say: They dont have anybody here; they are in a bad situation and under a lot of pressure At first Alimorad refused. But, after Alishahi called him twice more, Alimorad gradually lost his mental stability. He would cry and say, I must go to Iran. This is just a sample of whats going on there, and there is a lot more to say. I will write more as soon as I get the opportunity in the future. Goodbye. A Disgraceful and Repeated Scenario After arriving in Europe from Iran, Behzad Alishahi, in a bid to remove from his image the stain of being an MOIS agent, said in an interview with the Voice of America radio on October 18, 2005, I escaped from Ashraf camp, and since I realized that it is not possible to escape from the American-controlled [TIF] camp, I traveled with an International Red Cross delegation to Iran. In Iran, I was mistreated by the [regimes] Basij militias for being a traitor to the country. So, I first escaped from Iran to Turkey, and then to France. The escape story is a repeated and ridiculous assertion. Shortly before Alishahi, several other MOIS agents, attempted to veil their links to the mullahs Gestapo abroad, using the same ludicrous escape scenario. The MOIS designed this story for Mohmmad-Hossein Sobhani, Adham Tayyebi, Jamshid Tahmasebi, Javaheri Yar, Edward Termadoyan, and a number of other agents. Given that the instances of prison escapes, or escapes from MOIS, during the past quarter century of the mullahs rule have been extremely rare, it remains to be unclear how every single one of these agents, in a short time span and one after another, under the same scenario, escaped the regime and took refuge abroad. Additionally, they did all this not to oppose the regime, but rather all of them have come abroad to wage a struggle against the main opposition to the mullahs, i.e. the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance.

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi

The reason the regimes agents, who have been sent abroad from Iran, resort to such a disgraced scenario is that the mullahs are so discredited in the eyes of the international community that their official propaganda against the opposition and the Iranian Resistance is worthless and ineffective. Therefore, they attempt to mask their agents as members of the opposition, or set up front associations and organizations to spread misinformation against the PMOI and the Resistance. They thus try to give the impression that such misinformation against the PMOI has nothing to do with the mullahs regime or its MOIS, in order to sell the propaganda better. This is a regime which has executed 120,000 PMOI members, sympathizers, and Iranian people, and tortured 500,000 more. Accordingly, it has been condemned on 53 different occasions by various United Nations bodies. Such a bleak human rights record, along with winning designations such as the biggest state sponsor of terrorism, make it impossible for the regime to disseminate its propaganda against the Iranian Resistance through its official channels. Therefore, the MOIS sends its agents under the guise of opposition, and sets up so-called independent associations and websites, publishes stacks of periodicals, brochures, colourful books, etc., and organizes meetings and conferences through these agents and front organizations, in order to execute its plots and political agenda against the Iranian Resistance in these countries. Those agents who deny their true identity and links with the MOIS instead present themselves as former PMOI members and officials, who are still opposing the regime. But, such fabricated stories of escape do not fool anyone. Therefore, agents such as Alishahi have to remain evasive in the face of numerous questions, and avoid spending too much time explaining their fabricated stories. During an interview with Radio Farda (Radio Free Europe/Radio Libertys Farsi programming) on October 19, 2005, in response to such questions, Alishahi was forced to say, OK, so maybe the MOIS has sent me. But, I still have these documents with me as evidence Since the inhumane nature of the religious tyranny ruling Iran has been exposed, and since it is now facing increasing isolation as the heart of exporting terrorism and fundamentalism and because of its drive to acquire a nuclear weapon, the desperate mullahs are increasingly resorting to the suppression of their main opposition in order to break away from an austere fate. This is because the mullahs know that at the end of the day, their main existential threat remains to be the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. For this reason, the regime is doing its utmost, especially in the international arena, to use its embassies and MOIS agents like Behzad Alishahi and tens of others like him under the guise of former PMOI members and front associations, to go to parliamentarians, political circles, and human rights organizations, especially those which sympathize with the Iranian Resistance, and disseminate misinformation against the Resistance in order to tarnish its image. One of the components of the regimes misinformation campaign is to associate the PMOI and its internal structure with the very crimes the mullahs themselves commit (such as torture, executions, suppression, etc.) in a bid to encourage the addressees to oppose the regimes main opposition movement. The regimes goal from such campaigns is to do anything in its power to provide European governments with an excuse to pressure and impose more restrictions on the Iranian Resistance. At the same time, it wants to give a legitimate face to the suppression of its opposition.

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi Intelligence reports from various European countries clearly prove some of the regimes plots to carry out a misinformation campaign against the Iranian Resistance. Annual reports from the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BFV) reiterate that the MOISs main target abroad is the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) and the PMOI. The MOIS attempts to employ former members of these organizations for intelligence gathering and conducting of misinformation against the PMOI in order to weaken and discredit the organization. The Dutch Security Services (AIVD) wrote in its 1998 report that, It is still being noted that Iranian intelligence services are active in the Netherlands. Iranian agents are determined to identify members of opposition groups in order to destabilize their organizations. The current and former members of the MEK [i.e. PMOI] are especially monitored by Irans intelligence services. Irans MOIS intimidates Iranians to coerce them into cooperation. A year later, AIVD also reported that, The MEK was the most important Iranian opposition movement, and has representation in the Netherlands ... In the West, the MEK restricts its activities to organizing protests and providing written or oral information. Parliamentarians and others, who have faced the mullah Gestapos tactics, have on numerous occasions taken firm and instructive stances, condemning Irans religious tyranny and the agents it sends abroad. Winston Griffiths, a former British Member of Parliament, revealed in a witness statement to POAC court: I am aware, through personal experience and the experience of many former colleagues in Parliament that 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. The extent of the mullah regimes intelligence operations against the Iranian Resistance is such that according to European Council resolutions, all EU member states have committed to coordinated action when it comes to the expulsion of and blocking of Irans intelligence and security personnels entry into the EU member states. Behzad Alishahis main assignment in recent years has been to contact those Parliamentarians and European personalities who have supported the Iranian Resistance and taken a stance against the Iranian regime. By spreading misinformation against the Iranian Resistance, he attempts to prevent representatives of various countries from supporting the

The Iranian Regimes Agents in France: Behzad Alishahi Resistance. This assignment is carried out with the help of the mullah regimes embassy in France, and its foreign supporters and lobbies in pertinent countries. Behzad Alishahi, like other regime agents, has conducted numerous travels to various European countries, participating in planned sessions organized by the regime against the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. Travel costs, including airfare and train tickets, personal expenses, and costs relating to the organization of meetings, are paid in full by the MOIS.