Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

454 • MUJAHIDEENthe Iraqi regime, and its pattern of internal authoritarian rule over itsfollowers and the personality cult of Masud Rajavi. These actions undermined,but did not end, the long-term lobbying effort by the MKOto gain U.S. backing in its campaign against the Iranian regime.In September 1997 Iranian jets bombed two MKO bases in Iraqin response to intensified cross-border attacks by the MKO andincreased bombings within Tehran, and on 3 June 1998 the UnitedStates condemned two bombings carried out by the MKO in Tehranin which three people were killed. On 23 August 1998 the MKO assassinateda former prosecutor, Asadollah Lajavardi, but the assassinwas apprehended and later executed on 14 March 1999. On 13 September1998 MKO sharpshooters attempted to assassinate MuhsinRafiqdust, the former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps commanderwho had been appointed by Supreme Religious Leader AyatollahAli Khamene’i to head the Foundation for the War-Stricken.On 31 January 1999 the MKO claimed responsibility for a mortarattack on the headquarters of the Intelligence Ministry in Tehran.Following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the MKO withinIraq formally surrendered to coalition forces on 15 April 2003. U.S.Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld held that the MKO fighterswere not enemy combatants but rather civilians enjoying the statusof protected persons. This special treatment of a group designated asa Foreign Terrorist Organization reinforced the Iranian government’slong-held belief that the MKO was, and remains, a U.S. pawn inits dealings with Tehran. On 11 May 2003 U.S. forces occupiedthe MKO bases and seized its weapons. Masud Rajavi disappearedshortly after the U.S.-led invasion, and leadership of the group passedto his wife Maryam. In late June 2003 French police raided theMKO headquarters in the Auvers-sur-Oise suburb of Paris, arrestingMaryam Rajavi and 16 others, to prevent the MKO from planning andconducting terrorist operations from French territory. This led to protestsby MKO members through Europe involving hunger strikes and10 cases of protestors immolating themselves. Despite the designationof the MKO as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, the group continuesto lobby U.S. lawmakers through its front group, the National Councilof Resistance, which allegedly has provided the U.S. governmentwith intelligence data regarding Iran’s uranium-enrichment facilityat Natanz. The fate of Masud Rajavi remains unknown, and he ispresumed to be dead or in hiding.