Following the publication of the investigative report of the German Zeit Magazine on the life of a child soldier of the Mujahedin Khalq, Amin Golmaryami, the propaganda of the group reacted by accusing the author of the article, Luisa Hommerich and Amin Golmaryami of working for the Iranian Intelligence. The group’s propaganda claimed that Amin’s testimonies were false and launched a propaganda against him.
However, the group’s propaganda in the social media was responded by other former child soldiers who supported Amin and confirmed his testimonies. Even, Mohammad Rajavi, the son of the group’s leader Massoud Rajavi approved the evidences presented by Amin, in his Facebook account.
Furthermore, a room was formed in Club House under the topic “Accounts by former child soldiers of the Mujahedin Khalq”, on December 12th, in which several former child soldiers, including Amin Golmaryami participated. Confirming Amin’s testimonies, the room members revealed other cases of human rights violations including child abuse, harassment and forced military trainings against children in the MEK.
The host of the room was Amir Vafa Yaghmai who has several times spoken of his horrible experience as a 14-year-old soldier in the MEK’s camps. Among speakers –mostly former child soldiers and so friends of each other—Ray, 39, was one of those who stated horrible facts about his own experience of living in the MEK as a child and then as a child soldier. He said that is determined to reveal the realities about the MEK’s attitude against children and teens because Amin is his best friend who is attacked by the MEK propaganda.
Ray who finds it his absolute right to speak out on what he endured in the MEK is the son of Mujahed parents. He was in camp Ashraf Iraq until he was nine years old. In 1991, he was smuggled to Europe and then to Canada to live in the MEK bases or with foster parents. He was then returned to Iraq when he was 16.
Ray who plans to publish his autobiography, promised to speak of details on what was going on the child soldiers in the MEK. “I left the group four years ago,” he said. “I was there for 18 years. I was recruited by Sedighe Hosseini in Canada. I am an eye witness of the story of child soldiers… this is my right to tell my story to the world.”
About his childhood in the MEK he said, “It was a terrible life there. I was in Ashraf until I was eight or nine. In Camp Ashraf or in the MEK’s bases in the West, I was sexually abused by the MEK sympathizers and members. I was then given to a family that was very bad. I was constantly beaten by them. I was mentally abused.”
Ray is a mature man right now. He is proud of himself because of his bravery to expose facts about his life. “I am a strong man who can stand up to tell the true story of my past life,” he said.
Ray who is going to get married next year, believes that it is time to denounce the MEK leaders. “No one has the right to deprive me from the right to tell my story,” he said.
As the MEK propaganda has published the so-called documents about Amin Golmaryami in order to claim that he was not forced to fight for the MEK and he joined it voluntarily, Ray states that the group’s cult-like structure coerces members to admit what the leader wants. “We were under severe pressure,” he says. “We had no choice except to write and sign what they told us. In the meetings, we were dictated by Massoud Rajavi to write word by word of the commitment letters and we had to sign them and put fingerprints on them. The MEK can not use such a paper as evidence against us.”
Other speakers of the room also exposed details on what they went through under the cult-like oppressive system of the MEK. To read more about them stay tuned.
Mazda Parsi