The second session of the court hearing of the charges of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was held last week on Tuesday, December 28, at the 11th branch of the Criminal Court of Tehran, presided over by Judge Dehghani.
The criminal court of Tehran had previously issued a public announcement to announce that based on the case filed in this court, 104 members of the MEK, as well as the very organization as a legal entity, are supposed to be tried.
According to the case’s indictment, the defendants are accused of breaking Iran’s law, refusing to hand over their weapons to Iranian authorities after the 1979 revolution, illegally infiltrating state organizations, harboring animosity against Iranian people and assassinating thousands of Iranians in acts of terror.
In the first two sessions, the indictments of 19 people out of the 104 defendants were read aloud. Regarding that the first defendant is the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organizatoin as an entity, let’s get to know the second and third defendants of the file:
Massoud Rajavi:
Massoud Rajavi born on August 18, 1948 in Tabas in the Northwest of Iran. He became the leader of the MEK in the late years of the Pahlavi dynasty after the early leaders of the group had been executed and Massoud survived the death sentence that all his comrades received. Due to his “cooperation” with the Shah’s Intelligence, SAVAK, his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.
In 1981 when Massoud Rajavi called his followers to launch an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic. A large number of innocent civilians were killed during the MEK’s acts of violence. His group has claimed responsibility of dozens of attacks during since 1981 until now –the group’s so-called resistance units still commit acts of violence in Iranian cities.
He fled Iran and joined the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was at war with Iran. In Iraq, Rajavi formed the National Liberation Army (NLI) that was logistically and financially sponsored by Saddam Hussein’s Baath Regime. NLA was actually Saddam’s Private Army to suppress Iraqi shiits and kurds’ uprisings.
Sheltered in Iraq, near Iranian border, Massoud Rajavi led numerous cross border operations and terrorist attacks inside Iran. NLA was also an arm of Iraqi military in the suppression of Shiite and Kurdish uprisings inside Iraq in the early 1990s.
Rajavi married to Maryam Qajar Azodanlu (later known as Maryam Rajavi) in 1985, who was already married to one of his close associates Mehdi Abrishamchi and divorced her husband in order to marry Rajavi. The marriage that was called as “ideological” by Massoud, resulted in the transformation of Rajavi as a normal political leader to the leader of a cult of personality.
The Cult of Rajavi required members to obey cult-like regulations that Massoud indoctrinated in the hierarchy of the group. The regulations included forced divorce, forced celibacy, absolute obedience to the leader, Massoud. Rajavi married all women of the group’s Elite Council in a ceremony called “Freedom Dance.”
He disappeared in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it is not known whether he is alive or dead. Rajavi has been wanted by Iraqi government since 2010 for crimes against humanity. He is now the Prime suspect of the Iranian court.
Maryam Rajavi:
Born in December 1953, Tehran, Maryam Qajar Azodanlu (later called Rajavi) was raised in a middle-class family. She joined the MEK after her older sister was killed by the secret Police of the Shah.
Married to Mehdi Abrishamchi, one of the high-ranking members of the group, she had a baby girl when they fled Iran to join Massoud Rajavi in France.
In France, Maryam became the administrator of Massoud’s office. The close relationship between Maryam and Massoud in the office led to their dramatic marriage in 1985 immediately after she divorced Mehdi Abrishamchi. The marriage was celebrated as an ideological revolution in the history of the group. Maryam Rajavi is the co-leader of the MEK.
Following the ideological marriage, Maryam became Massoud’s tool to run his cult of personality. They forced members to divorce their spouses, they ordered forced celibacy, forced hijab and founded Rajavi’s dictatorship. Since then, Maryam Rajavi was announced as the role model for all members of the group to leave their own family life and have Massoud in their minds as their only love.
In 2003, After the American invasion to Iraq, Maryam fled to France. Her headquarter in Auver sur d’oise in the suburb of Paris was raided by the French Police in June 2003. She was placed under arrest together with 160 of the group members and the assets of the MKO were frozen by the French judiciary. The Police seized millions of dollars from the group’s headquarters. The group was accused of preparing to commit or finance acts of terrorism and money laundering.
A dozen of brainwashed supporters of the Cult of Rajavi set themselves on fire to protest the arrest of Maryam. Two women were killed eventually. French Police released the cult leader to stop the horrible scenes of self-immolations in European capitals.
Maryam was the first assistant of her disappeared husband Massoud in his quest for sexual abuse of female members of their cult. She was charged with the responsibility of mental preparation of members of the group’s so-called Elite Council to get naked in front Massoud and consequently get in bed with him.
Today, Maryam Rajavi tries to portrait herself as pro-democracy leader of opposition. She boasts of her so-called ten-point plan for future Iran of which none of the items are fulfilled in her own organization. Inside the Cult of Rajavi there is no right to freely choose for clothing, for religion, for job or studies. Maryam Rajavi is the she-guru of the MEK.
