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Issue Number 60, dated 7/6/98

Mujahedin foundation exposed in Holland (Serial 6007) -excerpts

A charitable foundation run in Holland by the People's MujahedinOrganization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), hascome in for sharp criticism in a Dutch television documentary.

The foundation, known as S.I.M (Solidarity with the IranianPeople, or Solidaritat Iranian Menschen in Dutch), was incorporatedin Amsterdam by Mahmoud Bayat, and operates out of offices rentedfrom a church group in the Dutch capital, the Hague.

[Margin: The MEK is extorting $4 million per year, to pay forMrs. Rajavi's floral arrangements....]

The Dutch television program, which aired on June 28 , allegedthat SIM was serving as a front for MEK fund-raising operations. SIMoperatives raise money on the street by confronting passersby withpictures of torture victims in Iran. The MEK uses similarfund-raising techniques in several European countries, but hasabandoned them in the United States, now that the group has beenlisted as an international terrorist organization by the Departmentof State.

S.I.M claims to be raising money for "poor Iranians and orphans,"according to footage of the fund-raising appeals aired on the show.But former MEK members said the money was regularly diverted tosubsidize the lifestyles of top Mujahedin leaders in Europe andIraq.

Dutch government sources told the television that the foundationraised an average of $4 million from Dutch citizens. The Dutchintelligence service has been investigating S.I.M. and will beproducing a new report on the organization and its MEK ties in thenear future, The Iran Brief has learned. The Dutch Minister ofJustice has been interpolated by members of Parliament on S.I.M. andtold the show's producers that the Ministry would be replying in thenear future with more detailed information on S.I.M.'sactivities.

The Mujahedin have no official presence in Holland, so S.I.M.provides them with a legal foothold they would otherwise lack.

Mujahedin lobbyist: When one of the show's producers calledS.I.M. asking for their comment on the allegations, he was referredto the foundation's spokesman:

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