Patrick Kennedy on the MEK: I am an Ashrafi

Hundreds of supporters of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) movement converged on the State Department on Friday to hear former U.S. congressmen and senior officials call for the U.S. government to take the MEK off its list of foreign terrorist organizations.

Former Rep. Patrick Kennedy (D-RI) emceed the rally in front of the State Department headquarters. The event also featured speeches by former Gov. Ed Rendell (D-PA), former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former CIA Deputy Director of Clandestine Operations John Sano.

“One of the greatest moments was when my uncle, President [John F.] Kennedy, stood in Berlin and uttered the immortal words ‘Ich bin ein Berliner,'” Kennedy exclaimed. “Today, I’m honored to repeat my uncle’s words, by saying [translated from Farsi] ‘I am an Iranian,’ ‘I am an Ashrafi.”

The crowd erupted in cheers and applause and began chanting, “MEK yes, mullahs no! They are terrorists, they must go!”

Kennedy advocated taking the MEK off the terrorist list, which it has been on since 1997, and accused the Iraqi government of committing war crimes by killing innocent members of the MEK at Camp Ashraf. 3,400 MEK members live in the desert camp in Iraq under restrictive conditions.

“To my friends in the State Department behind us, who continue to hold fast to an old policy that is supported by Tehran, you are on the wrong side of history,” Kennedy shouted. “To [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nouri al-Maliki, your brutal and deadly assault on Camp Ashraf will land you in the International Criminal Court, where you will be held accountable.”

“I love you,” Kennedy told the crowd. “If you take the MEK off the list, you will unshackle a group that will help take out the mullahs in Iran.”

Next up was Rendell, who called on the international community to militarily intervene in Camp Ashraf, comparing it to Muammar al-Qaddafi’s assault on Benghazi earlier this year.

“The international community conducted a military intervention in Libya to protect innocent civilians. We should do the same thing to protect the innocent people in Camp Ashraf,” Rendell said.

MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, who lives in Paris with her husband Massoud Rajavi (who hasn’t been seen in public since 2003), is banned from traveling to the United States. But she spoke to the rally via a video message on a big screen, and accused the State Department of giving implicit permission to the Iranian and Iraqi governments to kill children.

“The terror listing in the U.S. is openly used as a justification to legitimize such bloodletting, by both the cruel mullahs as well as their proxy government in Iraqi,” she said. “Therefore, the Iranian people are asking the United States, ‘Why are you not annulling the license to kill our children?'”

The Cable’s informal headcount put the number of attendees at about 1,000 to 1,500, with long lines of young Iranian-Americans wearing shirts with photos of dead MEK members imprinted on them. Some attendees had photos of the Rajavis on their shirts. Add to that flags, confetti, and a full drum line.

We asked Kennedy if he had been paid for his appearance at the rally, but he refused to answer. Ali Safavi, president of a pro-MEK group Near East Policy Research, said the speakers were paid through a speakers bureau, which receives money from wealthy Iranian-Americans in the United States. He also said those Iranian-Americans work with the law firm DLA Piper, but he denied the allegation that DLA and these individuals help funnel money from the MEK to the former U.S. officials.

In a crowd made up of people who were mostly of Middle Eastern origin, a group of African-American attendees wearing MEK gear stood out. One man, who would only identify himself as “The Great Lonnell,” was holding a “Delist the MEK” banner while wearing a shirt that said, “Behold the Great Beast.”

“We are here representing on behalf of the Iranian community. This vicious dictator who is calling himself a president is murdering these people, he’s slaying them, and nothing is getting done,” the Great Lonnell said. “And they are here rallying to get the attention of a government that has deaf ears.”

The Great Lonnell came to Washington from Staten Island, NY — along with 200 people from a church he attends — to support the MEK’s struggle for human rights. He and his group have been attending MEK rallies for several months, he said.

The Great Lonnell then pulled your humble Cable guy aside and asked to pitch Foreign Policy another story.

“Do you want to write my own story?” he asked. “I am the Beast that will come to the earth, from Revelations in the Old Testament. I am that person.”

The Cable was not able to confirm that The Great Lonnell was in fact the Beast from Revelations.

UPDATE: Zaid Jilani and Ali Gharib from ThinkProgress interviewed attendees at the rally, many who had tenuous if any links to the MEK and little understanding of why there were there. Many had traveled from far away on fully funded trips.  Some appeared to be homeless. Watch the video here: