The Hanif Bali is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party and a former board member of the party whose life experience with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was documented by an Iranian-Swedish filmmaker in the documentary, Children of Camp Ashraf.
As one of the four case studies of Sara Moein’s new documentary, Hanif Bali arrived in Sweden when he was three years old. He spoke of his several moms in an interview with Manoto TV in 2016. “When I was told “Your mom”, I had to ask “Which mom?” because I had several moms,” he told Manoto.
He was one of the 120 children of MEK parents who were smuggled from Camp Ashraf, Iraq to Sweden. He was then moved between eight different foster families until he turned 18. He is a Swedish politician now because he is one of those few lucky MEK children who was not returned as a child soldier to Camp Ashraf to receive military training.
Hanif recounted the heartbreaking stories of his childhood as an orphan in a foreign country, in the interview. About his biological parents, he said, “Mothers were allowed to call their children only once a year. My father has called me only twice in my entire life.”
Children of Camp Ashraf narrates the story of the environmental scientist Amir, the actress Parvin, the politician Hanif and the influencer Atefeh who are four of over 700 children of MEK parents who were separated from their parents and smuggled from Iraq to Western countries under the order of the group’s leader Massoud Rajavi.