Following the revelations that have been recently made by former child soldiers of the Mujahedin Khalq (the MKO/ MEk/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi) on forced recruitment in the group’s military force, cult-like suppressions and sexual harassment and abuse by MEK commanders, other defectors spoke out to reveal evidences on child abuse cases they witnessed in the group.
Davood Baghervand is a former high-ranking member of the MEK who had previously written about child abuse in the MEK but he never stated the names of the abused child soldiers until last December that they began to speak out about their traumatic life inside the Cult of Rajavi. In order to confirm their words, Baghervand exposed the names of at least two MEK members who committed child abuse in various situations during their serving time in Massoud Rajavi’s cult of personality.
As the then commander of the group, Baghervand reported what he knew about child abuse cases to the higher ranks but the perpetrators were never punished. Instead, they were granted higher positions in the hierarchy of the Cult of Rajavi. The perpetrators, such as Esmail Mortezai (nicknamed Javad Khorasan) eventually turned into the most notorious torturers of the MEK. Read Baghervand’s account about him:
MEK member Esmaeil Mortezaei aka Javad Khorasan; the group’s torturer living in Albania
Javad Khorasan from child perpetrator to torturer
After the MEK leader Massoud Rajavi fled to Iraq, Esmail Mortezai was in charge of transferring MEK members living in Khorasan, Iran, to Pakistan. So, he was called Javad Khorasan in the group. Then, he became the head of many MEK operational teams to launch terrorist attacks across the Iranian borders during the 1980s and 1990s.
When MEK sympathizers and members were smuggled from Iran to Iraq, Javad Khorasan assisted a Mujahed mother named Ebrahimipour and her two teenage daughters to settle in Pakistan in a safe house shared with him.
At the time, Baghervad was responsible for organizing the affairs of MEK agents in Pakistan. The other day, Ebrahimipour opened up to him weeping tears. She told baghervand that Javad Khorasan sexually harassed her daughters at nights and he should be executed by the group leader.
In response, Baghervand changed the safe house of the mother and her two daughters and reported sexual misconduct of Javad to the leaders in Iraq. Nothing happened after the report was sent.
After their relocation in Camp Ashraf Iraq, once more Baghervaned pursued the case of Javad Khorasan. Again, there was no feed back and Javad Khorasan was still escalating up the hierarchy.
Today Javad Khorasan is considered as one of the most violent commanders of the MEK. His name is repeatedly stated by former members as a suppressive commander of the cult in the daily self-confession and brainwashing sessions held inside the MEK base to manipulate the minds of the rank and file.
Baghervand asserts, “It is clear that Massoud Rajavi was informed of every sexual case and child abuse that were committed in the group but he used these crimes to leverage the person in order to take him completely under his control.”