Hossein Sabet Rostami’s brother, Mohammad Mehdi has been taken as a hostage by the Mujahedin- Khalq for over 40 years.
Hossein attended the sit-in of families of Nejat in front of the ICRC office in Tehran.
Partisan battles are a contact sport in Washington. Few people expect congressmen to reach across the aisle as they did just a couple of decades ago. At first, public perception of politicians decreased. Then, respect for media hemorrhaged as journalists abandoned even the pretense of neutrality and as the line between reporting and editorializing disintegrated.
Increasingly, would-be students and their families question whether higher education is worth it, given the combination of soaring prices and indoctrination under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Corporations also find themselves at the epicenter of competing boycotts as executives realize political virtue signaling has a price.
The FBI and intelligence community, too, allowed themselves to descend the partisan rabbit hole at the expense of their credibility as they allowed political operatives to hijack them and as recent retirees tweeted or signed partisan letters, each of which eroded their decades-earned reputation for neutrality.
As American institutions tore themselves apart or allowed politics to infiltrate everything, the military initially stood apart. Even though a decreasing proportion of people serve or even know those who do, the military’s professionalism and studious efforts to avoid even the appearance of partisanship long enabled the military to stand alone as an institution widely respected across the partisan spectrum.
![US Rajavi lobby](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/US_Rajavi_Lobby.jpg)
Endorsing MEK cult leader for cash by military retirees
One of the most deleterious legacies of the Trump administration, though, was growing efforts to politicize the service. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, erred when he walked with President Donald Trump through Lafayette Square after police used tear gas to clear the area adjacent to the White House of Black Lives Matter protesters. To Milley’s credit, he readily acknowledged the error, but the damage was done.
Nor was Milley alone in his stumble into partisanship. Democratic and Republican organizations gathered retired flag officers to sign letters meant to endorse certain positions or vilify others. Each letter made headlines but became a chip in the credibility of the institution.
Such letters are bad enough, but they are minor compared to the poor judgment of retired flag officers who endorse the Mujahedin al Khalq Organization, or MEK, a cultlike group of Iranian exiles complicit in past terrorism against Americans.
In recent years, the group has collected extensive endorsements, usually in exchange for generous donations or honoraria. Gens. Hugh Shelton and Peter Pace, both former chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Wesley Clark, former supreme allied commander Europe; Gen. Anthony Zinni, former commander of U.S. Central Command; Gen. James Jones, former national security adviser; Gen. James Conway, former commandant of the Marine Corps; and Gen. Jack Keane, a former Army vice chief of staff have each signed onto statements or endorsed MEK leader Maryam Rajavi.
Rather than encourage freedom for Iran or an end to Iranian terror, each sets back the cause due to the hatred ordinary Iranians have for a group that first allied with Ayatollah Khomeini and then defected to the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
As top military retirees endorse a cult leader for cash, not only does the United States lose credibility in the eyes of ordinary Iranians, but the Iranian regime uses the endorsements to rally ordinary Iranians around the nationalist flag.
The damage retired officers do by accepting MEK largesse is not limited to the Iran matter. Taking money from the MEK corrupts the reputation of the U.S. military. Rajavi or the various organizations she controls do not offer honoraria or plane tickets to Shelton and Jones because she respects them or their knowledge of Iran. Rather, she wants to rent associations with the positions they held in the military.
In effect, there is little difference between allowing Rajavi’s organization to ghostwrite op-eds and former national security adviser Michael Flynn turning his pen over to Turkey’s regime. Strictly speaking, it might be legal, but it is deeply unethical and smells like corruption.
Those accepting MEK cash may believe there is no price to pay for an easy reward, but they are wrong: The price extracted from the military’s reputation is huge.
By Michael Rubin – Washington Examiner
The Albanian MCN TV interviewed Aldo Sollulari, the media director of the Association for the Support of Iranians Living in Albania (ASILA). Sollulari, the Albanian journalist and TV host explained how he got to know the Iranian community in Albania including ASILA. He spoke of the needs and the missions of the association.
Sollulari got acquainted with ASILA via a friend of his who is the interpreter of the association. He was emotionally motivated to join ASILA after he learned about its activities and goals. Then, he decided to professionally work with it.
He says about ASIA, “Since two years ago, ASILA has worked to integrate the Iranians in the Albanian society and it still has some needs to fulfill. They are aimed to support Iranians pursuing their demands to achieve better social and economic conditions.”
![MCN TV interview with Aldo Sollulari, media director of ASILA](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Aldo-sulollari-MCN-1.jpg)
MCN TV interview with Aldo Sollulari, media director of ASILA
The media director of ASILA also states that these Iranians who have been brought to Albania by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK/ PMOI) and most of them are isolated in a camp in Manez, do not enjoy democracy.
According to him, “A part of residents of the MEK’s camp in Manez who wanted to be free and to enjoy the democracy they thought they would have in Albania, left the group. They founded their social base in Albania and got adapted to the society by turning their passions to careers.”
As the media director of ASILA, Sollulari defines his duty as aiding ASILA to be promoted in media. He continued to speak of the association’s efforts to create interactions between the two countries, Iran and Albania, in particular in the absence of the Iranian embassy in Tirana.
He believes that the Iranian citizens of Albania has not enjoyed the Albanian democracy as they expected before they left the Cult of Rajavi. “Most of those who left the group say in tears that they were not allowed to call their mothers,” he says.
When Aldo Sollulari speaks about mothers of the MEK members who have been awaiting a phone call from their loved child in the group, he talks about Soraya Abdollahi as saying: “I want to introduce a lady called Mother Soraya who has been out many times through conferences and on televisions in Albania, where he asks with tears in his eyes and he says that I have been missing my son’s scent for 30 years.”
Sollulari compares the MEK with narcotic groups that some of them have declared that communication with family is forbidden. According to this Albanian journalist, the restrictions that the MEK has created against emotional relations has exceeded moral boundaries. Restrictions such as prohibition of marriage and having children.”
He notices the fact that MEK leaders have told lies to certain mothers that their children have died because they do not want to leave the slightest hope in the heart of mothers. About his own motivations to cooperate with ASILA, he says, “I personally want to be the voice of those mothers who live in Iran and cannot come here.”
Criticizing the leaders of the MEK he states, “We live in 2023 and technology has advanced. why do some organizations forbid telephone communication? Mr. Rajavi who is the leader of this group, for those who do not know, has forbidden family relationships.”
Media director of ASILA believes that ASILA has been successful in achieving a part of its objectives to integrate the community it represents into economic and social life in the best way.
To: Her Excellency Mrs. Lindita Nikolla
Speaker of the Parliament of the Republic of Albania
From: Ebrahim Khodabandeh
CEO of Nejat Society in Iran
Greetings and Regards
I am Ebrahim Khodabandeh, the CEO of Nejat Society in Iran, and I am writing to you on behalf of the families of the members trapped in the isolated and remote camp of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) in Albania. These families have been unaware of their loved ones for decades, because the Rajavi Cult does not allow its members to communicate with the outside world, especially with family and friends. For years, the Nejat Society has been trying to somehow make this connection between the families and their loved ones in the MEK camp in Albania possible in order to relieve them of their suffering and worries, but no success has been achieved yet.
I have written many times to the Albanian authorities, demanding an end to the severe violation of the most basic human rights of the members in the MEK camp in Manez, in Durres Province, Albania. The families have repeatedly requested some kind of communication with their loved ones, who are living in absolute isolation, in numerous letters over the years, but unfortunately, no response has been received yet. (A number of recent letters to Albanian statesmen are attached).
You may be aware that the MEK is preparing for its annual gathering in Albania. In this regard, a committee has been formed under the responsibility of Behzad Saffari one of the officials of the organization in Albania, which is in charge of communicating and meeting and inviting Albanian personalities to participate in the ceremony. For this purpose, invitations have been sent to the members of the Albanian parliament and meetings have been held. Some representatives have responded positively to this invitation and are going to participate in this gathering and support this terrorist cult.
It should be noted that participating in this program and supporting this cult means confirming the performance of this organization against the Iranian nation, against the Iraqi nation in the past, and against its own members. According to the testimony of the members separated from this organization, which are now living outside and inside Albania, this organization, by directing the terrorist cells known as rebel centers inside the country from its headquarters in Albania in a section called the Internal Headquarters, is responsible for targeting the security of Iran. Also, by creating a cyber army and troll farm in the headquarters and using the Albanian Internet network, MEK is engaged in psychological warfare against the Iranian nation. At the same time, His Excellency Mr. Edvin Rama, the honorable Prime Minister, has emphasized on several occasions that this group was accepted in Albania for humanitarian reasons and has no right to engage in political activity against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The information obtained indicates that recently this organization has adopted strong defensive measures in its headquarters. The organization has purchased a considerable number of drones from a Turkish company and has also been equipped with anti-drone equipment. Inside the headquarters of this organization, which no Albanian official has the right to enter, bunkers and shelters have been created. Also, super strong cameras have been prepared that can read car numbers from a very long distance.
Recently, one of the security officials of the MEK, named Mehdi Baraii, alias Ahmad Vaqef, has stated inside the camp that they must be fully prepared for any eventuality and has publicly announced that the organization strongly feels threatened and endangered.
In her recent statements, Maryam Rajavi has announced that a new revolutionary storm is coming in Iran and the rebel centers are going to take extensive measures. Also, the officials of the organization have said that they should have a series of offensive operations inside the country before the annual gathering so that they can appear with strength in this meeting. In news, it is stated that about 100 members of the MEK in Albania, including Maryam Rajavi, are planning to go to Paris.
I have been a full-time official of the MEK for 23 years, and based on my knowledge of the mentality of the leaders of the organization, I have no doubt that these defensive and protective measures that are currently taking place inside their headquarters are for the purpose that the organization plans to carry out extensive terrorist activities, which are directed from Albania, inside Iran and prepares itself in advance for possible retaliatory measures.
Also, it is worthy knowing that the members of this organization, especially the officials and leaders, did not enter Albania with their real names and have fake identity documents. Maryam Rajavi and other officials of this organization frequently travel outside of Albania with fake identities and are politically active.
The kind of relationship that the government of Albania wishes to establish with the government of Iran, and the extent it wants to leave the hands of this organization open in the war with the nation and the government of Iran, and the degree it aims entering into this battle for pursuing any interests in this regard is not the subject of discussion for the families. What worries the families is that supporting this organization will be an incentive to suppress its own members and continue the suffering of the families. This organization, under the full support of the Albanian government, has been able to keep its members in complete isolation and cut them off from the outside world, especially their families. Therefore, from this point of view, my request on behalf of the families is to end the all-round and unhesitating support of this organization and force the leaders to recognize the human rights of their members, including the right to communicate with their families.
Respects
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
CEO of Nejat Society in Iran
Copy to:
Representatives in the Albanian Parliament
Albanian government officials
Security institutions and police
Media
Inside this Issue:
– Illegal expulsion of former members into Greece by the MEK
According to this news, the police arrested the Albanian driver of a van near the border while he was hiding 10 illegal immigrants in his vehicle
– MEK, no friend of democracy in Iran: Canadian academics
Paid hefty fees by the Mujahedin-e Khalq, lobbyists of the group have been actively working to advocate its cause as “a democratic alternative” to the Islamic Republic. The cult-like MEK with …
– The question of the Albanians: When will justice come to the Kareç Camp?
on St. George’s Day, the ASILA association distributed brochures to the residents of “May 5” street. The brochures had such a content that the people who read them understood that many injustices were committed against the 6 Iranians imprisoned in the Kareç camp and are still being commit ted in the Mujahideen camps.
Ray Torabi: Happy father’s day to the father I never had
Children of the MEK are victims of enormous traumas. Six years after his defection, Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi, a defector of the group and the son of Ghorban Ali Torabi, a victim of the group lives in Germany.
– Cries of mother of Azadeh Saboor in front of ICRC office in Tehran
Fatemeh Mohabati at tended the sit-in in front of the office of the International Com mittee of Red Cross in Tehran. She is the mother of Azadeh Saboor, a member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/ PMOI). Fatemeh Mohabati has not seen her daughter for over 20 years.
– The message of the CEO of Nejat Society to the statesmen of Albania
The CEO of Nejat Society, Ebrahim Khodabandeh, sent a message to the respected Albanian statesmen and made it available to the Albanian authorities and media through the Association for the Support of Iranians Living in Albania( ASILA), for information and possibly appropriate measures.
– What Nejat Families want on the Int. Red Cross Day
Members of Nejat Society used the occasion of May 8th, the International Day of Red Cross to call on the world for the release of their loved ones. Families of hostages of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi)
– Parents of MKO members ask ICRC to help them see loved ones
World Red Cross Day is observed every year on May 8. A number of parents of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist group have taken the opportunity to attract attentions to the fact that they have not been able to visit their loved ones for a very long time.
– MEK: terrorists who jail dissidents
The Iran that the West likes is called MEK: terrorists who jail dissidents. The Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist group, known as MEK, which was listed as a terrorist organization from 1997 to 2012 and has a criminal record of killing 17,000 people, is now presented as a purely political group and engaged in human rights advocacy from anti-Iranian satellite channels, such as Iran International.
– Ali Hajari was released
The Association for the Support of Iranians Living in Albania (ASILA) issued a statement Mr. Ali Hajari was released unconditionally today, Friday, May 26, 2023. He was detained in the Karrec camp for more than months, and during all this time, the Albanian government and police never announced the reason for this detention and did not bring any charges against him.
Honorable Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania
His Excellency Mr. Edvin Rama
Greetings and Regards
I am Ebrahim Khodabandeh, the CEO of Nejat Society in Iran. I have written to you and other statesmen and officials of the Republic of Albania many times, but unfortunately, I have not received any response so far. Therefore, with your permission, I am providing the content of this letter to the Albanian authorities, parliament representatives, and media to record it in history, so that it is clear what has been said many times.
I would like to point out the history of friendship and deep cultural commonalities between the two nations of Albania and Iran and to remind you the fact that these two countries have not had the slightest conflict and disagreement in their historical records, until the presence of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) in Albania.
In previous correspondence, I have written in detail about the restrictions that are applied to the families of the members trapped in the isolated and remote camp of the MEK in Albania in order to communicate with their loved ones, but so far the least attention has been paid to this clear violation of the most basic human rights by an organization that has been brought to Albania under the responsibility of your government.
I must clarify that the support and cooperation of the Albanian government with the MEK is absolutely certain and is not hidden from anyone. Under the guise of humanitarian action, as you mentioned in the interview with the New York Times, your government brought the MEK to Albania, while according to you, Iraq and no other country was willing to accept them, and you pointed out that it was supposed that no political activities be done, but you admitted that in practice the opposite happened.
But on the other hand, all kinds of restrictions are applied against the former members of this organization, which are organized within the framework of the Association for the Support of Iranians Living in Albania (ASILA), which can be explained in details. These people are refugees who left their homeland hoping to bring freedom and prosperity to their people, and then they were deceived by a terrorist cult and were forcibly brought to Albania. From preventing them from opening a bank account and refusing to give identification cards and work permits to not giving them travel documents or visas to their families to visit them, as well as imprisoning some of them in the Karrec camp for no reason, are among the restrictions that is applied against these people.
Nejat Society, consisting of the families of the Rajavi Cult members, decided to help these helpless people who were unwillingly brought to your country by the MEK. The members of ASILA have decided to expose the cultic nature of the MEK to everyone so that no one else falls into their trap, and apparently this is bothering some in Albania.
In previous messages, I gave information about the activities of the MEK, which apparently is not supposed to do any political activities. In addition to them, for the information of your Excellency and other statesmen and security officials of the Republic of Albania, I should mention that according to the media of the MEK, the annual ceremony of this organization is scheduled to be held in the form of a demonstration in Paris on July 1st of this year, with the speech of Maryam Rajavi. It has been decided that Maryam Rajavi and many officials of this organization will go to France from Albania to participate in this ceremony. These traffics are carried out in coordination with the authorities of the Albanian government. These people travel with passports other than their real names. For example, Mehdi Abrishamchi, who is known by the name Sharif inside the MEK, travels with a passport in the name of Bahman Tehrani.
It should be noted that Maryam Rajavi traveled to Brussels on the 25th and 26th of May to lobby for the project of preventing the return of the Iranian diplomat, with the coordination of the Albanian authorities, using a passport with a different name, and returned to Albania again. This is contrary to the claims of preventing the political activities of the MEK against the Islamic Republic. An issue between the two countries of Iran and Belgium was being resolved. What can this issue have to do with Maryam Rajavi and her sponsor, the Albanian government?
Your security officials have repeatedly reminded our friends in Albania that Albania is not a war zone of the MEK and its former members. Who ignited the fire of this war? Who accepted the responsibility of the MEK in the war with Iran and allowed it to threaten Iran’s security?
Either the Albanian government knowingly supports the MEK and restricts its former members for the benefit of this organization, or the MEK is abusing the Albanian government and some executive and security officials of this country. In any case, considering the fact that this organization has a history and performance and nature of terrorism, it can be considered a threat to national security.
Recently, after the hacking of the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iran, which I mentioned in the previous message, the website of the presidency was also hacked by showing the pictures of the leaders of this organization, and the MEK immediately accepted the responsibility in a statement and republished it many times.
https://www.timesofisrael.com/hackers-post-photos-of-iranian-opposition-leaders-on-government-websites
Hackers post photos of Iranian opposition leaders on government websites
Pictures of Massoud Rajavi, the long-missing leader of the MEK exile group, and his wife go up on several sites
By JON GAMBRELL
The working method adopted by the Albanian government, which means accepting the MEK in its territory without the least restrictions and providing all kinds of facilities to act against the security of the Iranian people, and in contrast to restricting its former members in various ways, definitely cannot be in line with the best national interests of this country.
In my opinion, Albania is at a special and important historical moment, where it is necessary to make the right decision. From the beginning of its presence in Albania, the MEK tried to disrupt the relations between the two countries and put the two countries against each other, thus consolidating its own position. Giving a free hand to the MEK for travel and any practical action and tightening ASILA’s hands and limiting it will definitely not help the current difficult situation.
I hereby request that the legal issues of ASILA members and especially the possibility of their families traveling to Albania or the possibility of their traveling to outside of Albania be provided. Arrangements should also be made so that families can communicate with their loved ones in the MEK camp in Albania.
Respects
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
Copy to:
Albanian government officials
Members of Parliament of Albania
Security and police officials
Media
The story of children of the Mujahedin Khalq is very similar to that of children in Residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada. The schools existed from the 17th century until the late 1990s. During the 19th and 20th centuries, a formal system for the residential schooling of Indigenous children was established and expanded throughout Canada.
The residential school system harmed Indigenous children significantly by removing them from their families, depriving them of their ancestral languages, and exposing many of them to physical and sexual abuse. Conditions in the schools led to student malnutrition, starvation, and disease. And, the children of Mujahed parents were separated from their parents under the order of Massoud Rajavi following the first Gulf war in 1991. the MEK’s children were removed from their families in Camp Ashraf, Iraq and were smuggled to European and North American countries.
The goal of Indian residential schools was to assimilate Indians into society. The Canadian government operated Indian residential schools in partnership with the Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches, among others. However, the goal of Massoud Rajavi was to draw the maximum loyalty and love of Mujahed parents to his own personality.
![children in Residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/Indian-Children-Canada-1.jpg)
children in Residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada
The recent discoveries of more than 1,300 unmarked graves at the sites of four former residential schools in western Canada have shocked and horrified Canadians. Indigenous peoples, whose families and lives have been haunted by the legacy of Canada’s Indian residential school system, have long expected such revelations. This is while, a few of the MEK’s former child soldiers dared to speak out about what they have endured in the Cult of Rajavi.
Residential school survivor testimony has long been filled with stories of students digging graves for their classmates, of unmarked burials on school grounds, and of children who disappeared in suspicious circumstances. Many of these stories were heard by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), which was formed in 2008 and collected testimonies from over 6,750 survivors. The TRC’s 2015 Final Report made it quite clear that further recoveries of unmarked graves at the schools were inevitable.
Children between the ages of 4-16 attended Indian residential school while children of the MEK were between 2 months old to 14 years old when they were separated from their parents. Out of over 700 children, 300 were transferred back to Camp Ashraf Iraq, after they were coerced and officially recruited as soldiers of the MEK’s army. They were given military uniforms and they received military trainings at the age of 13 to 17.
![MEK Militia](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MKO_Militia-1.jpg)
MEK Child Soldiers
Although there are some testimonies given by certain former child soldiers of the MEK, no international foundation or human rights body like Truth and Reconciliation Commission has been established to collect the testimonies.
Amin Golmaryami’s stories was first published in the German newspaper, Die Ziet. His account of being a child soldier of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi’s army was then approved and contributed by other child soldiers of the group including Ray Torabi, Zhina Hossein Nezhad and Amir Yaghmai. They presented their testimonies on child abuse in the MEK cult in Club House platform. They spoke out about MEK’s team houses and foster houses for the children in Europe and North America. They are living eyewitnesses of sexual abuse, forced labor, mental and physical torture against children by the group commanders.
Together with several other former child soldiers, they stayed by the side of Amin Golamaryami when the MEK filed an appeal against Die Ziet magazine. Amin and Luisa Hommerich, the journalist who had interviewed him, won the court against the MEK.
However, their testimonies were not echoed by other news media. The crucial fact is that in modern age, hundreds of MEK children were subjected to modern slavery, child abuse and forced labor. At least two of them, named Yasser Akbarinasab and Alan Mohammadi were killed in the MEK’s child army. Alan was the first love of Amin Golmaryami. He noticed the news of Alan’s death in the MEK’s bulletin in Camp Ashraf when they were both child soldiers of the MEK.
The atrocities of the MEK leaders against the children of their own members should be considered as important as victims of Residential schools for Indigenous children in Canada. The MEK leaders who ordered the separation and the MEK commanders who harassed the children both in team houses and Camp Ashraf should be tried in a fair international court.
By Mazda Parsi
United Nations Human Rights
Office of the High Commissioner
Prof. Tomoya Obokata
Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery
Greetings and Regards
This is Ebrahim Khodabandeh, the CEO of Nejat Society in Iran. Nejat Society belongs to the families of the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) lead by Maryam Rajavi. The group is now living in a remote and closed camp in Albania isolated from the outside world.
MEK is a mind control destructive cult. They had their bases in Iraq under Saddam Hussein and were active during the Iran-Iraq war on the side of the enemy. Their main base was Ashraf Garrison. They were fully armed and financed and supported by Iraqi Ba’ath Regime.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein, many MEK members managed to flee from Ashraf and reported lots of atrocities against the members including physical and mental pressure, solitary confinement, torture, and even execution. Those who tried to escape ended up in Abu-Ghraib prison.
According to the cultic rules and regulations of the MEK, the followings are forbidden inside the cult and the wrongdoers are liable for punishment.
– Marriage and forming a family,
– Trying to leave the cult,
– Criticizing the leader and the cult,
– Contacting the outside world particularity family and friends,
– Having private thoughts and belongings
The MEK moved to Albania in 2016 and they established the same remote and closed camp in Manëz in the province of Durrës, also isolated from the outside world with the same Cultic rules and regulations.
The MEK members are suffering from modern slavery. They have no way out and they have been subject to mind manipulation and brain washing for decades away from society and their families.
The families of these members expect you as a UN official to intervene into the matter via the Albanian government to arrange for the families to have access to their loved ones inside the camp in order to be in touch with them. Some of these families have had no contact with their relatives for decades.
I am anxiously looking forward to hearing from you
Regards
Ebrahim Khodabandeh, CEO of the Nejat Society
P.S.
Some references for further information:
Destructive and Terrorist Cults: A New Kind of Slavery: Leader, Followers, and Mind Manipulation Paperback – September 15, 2014
By Masoud Banisadr (Author), Prof Janja Lalich (Author), & 3 more
The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq
A Policy Conundrum
By RAND, Jeremiah Goulka, Lydia Hansell, Elizabeth Wilke, Judith Larson
https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG871.html
No Exit
Human Rights Abuses inside the Mojahedin Khalq Camps
By Human Rights Watch (HRW), May 2005
https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MEK/ PMOI) has picked armed struggle as its method of bringing freedom for the Iranian people for over half a century. During its entire existence the MEK leaders have beaten on war drums. They are still proud of “standing by” their strategy. The propaganda media of the group is the proof.
Although the MEK, for only a short period of time claimed that it has denounced violence to run its lobbies for delisting from the US and EU’s list of terrorist organizations, it never gave up violence literally and practically. The group’s websites and TV channels broadcast the news of violent acts by the so-called MEK’s resistance units on daily basis. The news stories are supplemented with videos and photos of explosion and fire in different locations all around Iranian cities.
Since the beginning of “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran, the MEK’s content producers have enhanced their activities working with a mix of words, images, videos, and other media using keywords including “armed struggle”, “explosion”, “invasion”, “fire” to create content for the group’s websites, TV channels and social media pages.
![The MEK Rebel Unit](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MEK-Rebel-Unit-2.jpg)
The MEK Rebel Unit
A lot of articles written, in Persian, by MEK writers emphasize on the necessity of using violence to fight the Iranian government. Their fallacy is supplemented with the news pics attributed to resistance units. In some photos and videos, the agents of resistance units even carry weapons boasting of fighting the Islamic Republic. A very quick review on the MEK-run media demonstrate that violent act is a part of the group’s functions.
According to the Geneva Convention IV, all measures of intimidation and terrorism are prohibited. The international community generally admits that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations is one of the most serious threats to peace and security in human communities. Every terrorist operation, regardless of its motive, time, place and perpetrators, is considered a crime.
Therefore, the MEK leaders who arrogantly announce that they and their followers are still standing by their violent strategy must be brought into justice for over five decades of committing numerous acts of violence against civilians killing thousands of them.
By Mazda Parsi
Families of members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/ PMOI) believe that their loved ones are taken as hostages by the group leaders. They are not allowed to contact them. They are isolated from the outside world and they are under a manipulative ruling structure that coerces them to stay in the group. Qassem Salehi is a defector of the MEK whose story gives a comprehensive account of how a recruited young boy turns into the hostage of Maryam and Massoud Rajavi’s cult.
Qassem Salehi was so determined to escape the Cult of Rajavi that he would kill the man who was his teammate in the terrorist operation that they were supposed to launch in Iran. Salehi was interviewed by Victor Charbonnier, the author of “The people’s Mojahedin of Iran: A struggle for what?”, published in 2003.
In this part of the book, titled “the day I turned my gun against my fellow- soldiers”, Qassem proves that families of the MEK members are right to be extremely concerned over the fate of their loved ones who are banned behind the bars of Camp Ashraf 3, in Manez, Albania.
![Camp Ashraf 3 in Albania](https://www.nejatngo.org/en/wp-content/uploads/MKO-Albania-70.jpg)
Camp Ashraf 3,Manza,albania
Read the story of Qassem Salehi’s involvement with the MEK:
Now 30, Qassim Salehi was recruited to the organization by a relative. He recalls “I had just finished my military service. I was 24 and I had no money. I was trying to find my bearings. A member of my family suggested that I join the movement in Iraq. He held out the possibility that they would help me find work in Europe or the Gulf States.”
A native of Masjid Suleiman, in Khuzistan (Southern Iran), the young man, with two others, illegally crossed the border into Iraq. Now under Mojahedin command, he began to see their hidden side: “Before becoming an official member, the candidate goes through an initiation period which can last several weeks. Isolated in a locked room, all his outside contacts are kept to an absolute minimum. to keep him busy, they order him to fill in forms which he must give a detailed account of his whole life. during this period, the organization’s members based in Iran investigate his past. The leaders are afraid of taking in spies from the Iranian regime.”
The second stage is accepting the movement’s ideology. This can last from one month to one year. The candidate learns the movement’s basic philosophy by stuffing the writings of its wo leaders: Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. Trained instructors provide additional explanations.
The third stage is military training.
Two phenomena fascinated this candidate Mojahed. First, most of the movement’s leaders are women. Second, throughout his training, organization members spoke to him constantly of Maryam Rajavi, even reciting poems in her praise. He explains: “this was to test my revolutionary commitment”.
Qassem Salehi quickly understood that the organization was based on lies and double-talk. He recalls:” They repeated over and over again that the power structure in Iran was religious and despotic. It barred all opposing opinions, even points of review somewhat different from the regime’s.
But inside the organization, we were no better off. We were forced to give up any personal ideas, to melt completely into the group and to stop asking any questions. Is there any dictatorship worse than that?”
you came here by your own free will, but you cannot leave by your own free will
Qassem remembers Hassan Rezai, a man in his fifties who had immigrated to the United in 1974. He joined the movement in Iraq in 1997. shocked by what he saw in the camps, He asked to return to the United States. They replied: “you came here by your own free will, but you cannot leave by your own free will.” he told them: “you tell us that the Iranian regime puts school boys on the front line. But you are not better. You attract young people to the organization, turn them into terrorists and send them off to be massacred. what’s the difference between you and the regime you claim to fight”?
They answered:” you are crazy because you can’t control your sexual instincts and they gave him a public beating. Most troublemakers were treated the same way.
To avoid the bullying, the punishments and prison, Qassim Salehi was outwardly submissive and obedient. He wrote daily reports in which he described his heroic fight against his sexual drives, avoided discussions with his comrades and worked so hard that he almost fainted from fatigue. But he was waiting to make his move.
In September 2000, he was ordered, along with three other fighters (an Iranian and two Iraqis) to kill a local official. As soon as he was on Iranian soil, near Abadan, the Mojahed turned his gun on his three fellow soldiers, killing the Iranian. He explains, without the slightest remorse: “Anyhow, he would have killed me. he had the same intentions”. He also wounded the two Iraqis before running away and turning himself into the Iranian authorities.
Qassem Salehi spent 25 days in jail. He told all he knew about the organization to Iranian intelligence: names, places, ties to Iraq, etc. once freed, he started his life over again. Married, he is the father of a baby: Amir Mohamamd.
The people’s Mojahedin of Iran: A struggle for what?
Victor Charbonnier
Translated by dr. Thomas R. Forstenzer. RSA