A letter written by the CEO of the Iranian Nejat Society addressed to awakened human consciences has been sent to international and humanitarian organizations, such as different bodies of the UN, ICRC, AI, and HRW, as well as different institutes of the EU and EP, and also to international media. The text of the letter is as follows:
To awakened human consciences
I address you on behalf of thousands of suffering families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, better known as the Rajavi cult) residing in a remote isolated camp in Albania, about the severe abuses of basic human rights there.
The MEK finished the process of transferring from Iraq to Albania in 2016. This relocation was done in the manner of a group movement under an agreement made in Geneva between the USA, the Albanian government, the UNHCR and the MEK. It was agreed that the UNHCR be responsible for the transfer and the USA pay the expenses.
Later it was discovered that this relocation was not carried out under the UN refugee regulations which specify that people should seek asylum individually, but rather as the transfer of an organization belonging to the leaders of the MEK. The consequence was that the individual members have no legal status and are therefore considered “stateless”.
The MEK operates as a destructive, mind control cult. The organization forbids love, familial relationships, voluntary exit, and contact with the outside world in particular with friends and families, having privacy of thoughts and lifestyle, criticism of the leader, and denies many other basic human rights to its members.
I have thousands of letters from the families of the members. They just want to have a simple contact with their loved ones trapped inside the cult. The cult leaders have denied them this right and the Albanian government and other related bodies do not show any cooperation. How should I answer these families, what should I say in response to them?
A considerable number of MEK members have left the cult and since they have no clear legal status and do not hold official ID documentation, they are left in a very tight situation in Albania. The UNHCR and the interior ministry of the Albanian government will not do anything for them since they do not recognize their presence in Albania as individuals and have accepted them as part of a group.
These individuals are forced to depend on the MEK for their subsistence, and of course the cult only pays their monthly aid provided they do not reveal the abuse of human rights inside the organization and the cult’s crimes and corruption. They take the freedom of these former members away and make any support conditional on them performing tasks, such as spying on others.
Is there anybody within the vast number of international and humanitarian organizations who will pay a little attention to these extreme violations of human rights? Is there anyone who will have something to say to these aged mothers and fathers to relieve their pain? Is there anything humane beyond the international policies and mutual interests or conflict of interests of different parties raised?
I am anxiously looking forward to your response and thank you in advance.
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
Nejat Society CEO
Tehran, Iran