Mr. Karim A. A. Khan QC
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Greetings and Regards
I am Iraj Salehi, a former member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) and one of the plaintiffs against the leaders of this organization. I was involved in this cult for nearly 20 years. In this letter, I would like to let you know about some of the oppressions that the leaders of the Rajavi Cult have imposed on me personally, along with parts of the oppressions that has been inflicted on other members of this cult that I have witnessed. Hopefully, the true inhuman nature of the leaders of the MEK will be revealed to you and the International community so that the likes of Massoud Rajavi can no longer deceive teenagers and young people and ruin their lives.
In the Rajavi Cult, members do not have access to any means of communication such as telephone, post, internet, radio, television, newspapers, etc. Having a pocket radio is prohibited and carries a penalty. Our only source of access to the news was MEK TV, which was selectively broadcast to those who gathered in the public hall for lunch or supper at certain times.
In the Rajavi Cult, we were not allowed to communicate with our family or friends outside the cult. Massoud Rajavi and his wife Maryam had repeatedly announced this ban to us. In 2001 we were gathered in a large hall to witness the trial of a member named “Hossein Mash’ouf”. Massoud Rajavi himself tried him and Maryam accompanied him in this case. Mr. Mash’ouf’s crime was that he had noticed there was a telephone line at the place where the meeting was being held. This was while we were being told that we had no access to the telephone at all. Mr. Mash’ouf secretly went to the room where the phone was and, without informing the cult commanders, called his brother in Germany and asked him for help. Mr. Mash’ouf was charged with making a phone call to his brother. Massoud Rajavi tried him for several days in front of hundreds of members, and finally sentenced him to two years in solitary confinement and then eight years in prison in Abu Quraib.
In the Rajavi Cult, marriage,having a family and having children are forbidden. Even all the members who were married were forced to divorce their spouses on the Rajavi’s order, which is a clear example of genocide. They did not even have mercy on families who had children. At the behest of the organization, all children were forcibly deported from Iraq to other countries and sold to families in order to prevent the children from reconnecting with their parents. The sad story of these children and the crimes committed against them is a separate issue.
The Rajavis later transferred some of these children back to Iraq as teenagers with the trick of visiting family. These children were abused as soldiers in Iraq while they were under 18 years old. Some of these teenagers, such as Alan Mohammadi, who could not bear the horrible pressures of this cult, committed suicide in the camp. Yaser Akbari Nasab set himself on fire.
Recently, one of these children named “Amin Golmarymi” shared his story with “De Zeit” weekly magazine in Germany. Before him, several other children, such as Amir Yaghmaee, had recounted the inhumane acts of Rajavis and the bitter story they were caught in.
Sincerely,
Iraj Salehi, a surviving member of the Rajavi Cult
Iraj Salehi; MEK ex-member