Ali Safavi

Ali Safavi is London-based lobbyist for the Mujahedin-e Khalq.

Safavi noted in a recent interview - broadcast in October 2006 - that if there was a fair election in Iran, his organisation the Mujahedin-e Khalq would "without question... get most of the votes." However, this view was contested by Dokhi Fassihian (a former executive director of the National Iranian American Council) who noted that:


 * "The claim that the MeK would actually win any support or win any elections inside Iran is really preposterous. ... In fact they are hated and detested in Iran because of their role in siding with the Iraqis in the very, very long and bloody Iran-Iraq war. And so, I would say that even more so than Iranian Americans, Iranians inside Iran really do hate the MeK and really don't understand why some governments and some officials abroad can support such an undemocratic group and such a violent group."