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A charitable foundation run in Holland by the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), has come in for sharp criticism in a Dutch television documentary.
The foundation, known as S.I.M (Solidarity with the Iranian People, or Solidaritat Iranian Menschen in Dutch), was incorporated in Amsterdam by Mahmoud Bayat, and operates out of offices rented from a church group in the Dutch capital, the Hague.
[Margin: The MEK is extorting $4 million per year, to pay for Mrs. Rajavi's floral arrangements....]
The Dutch television program, which aired on June 28 , alleged that SIM was serving as a front for MEK fund-raising operations. SIM operatives raise money on the street by confronting passersby with pictures of torture victims in Iran. The MEK uses similar fund-raising techniques in several European countries, but has abandoned them in the United States, now that the group has been listed as an international terrorist organization by the Department of 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 to subsidize the lifestyles of top Mujahedin leaders in Europe and Iraq.
Dutch government sources told the television that the foundation raised an average of $4 million from Dutch citizens. The Dutch intelligence service has been investigating S.I.M. and will be producing a new report on the organization and its MEK ties in the near future, The Iran Brief has learned. The Dutch Minister of Justice has been interpolated by members of Parliament on S.I.M. and told the show's producers that the Ministry would be replying in the near future with more detailed information on S.I.M.'s activities.
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 called S.I.M. asking for their comment on the allegations, he was referred to the foundation's spokesman:
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