The documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” is based on the life story of four Swedish citizen whose parents were members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The film was directed by Sara Moien and produced by Linda Mutavi. Since January 31st, it has been screened in two Swedish festivals, Goteborg film festival and Tempo Documentary Festival. It was aired by the Swedish TV channel SVT, on June 17th.
Children of Camp Ashraf is about Amir Yaghmai, Parwin Hosseinnia, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sebdani. They are four of the children of Mujahed parents who ended up in Sweden. Sara Moein’s extremely engaging documentary, presents a rich archive material about the experiences of its protagonists who suffered a traumatized childhood in the MEK’s system. They are trying to reconnect with the group in order to visit their parents, who are now in Albania.
Camp Ashraf, mentioned in the film’s title, was a military camp in the desert of Iraq, near Iranian border. The film depicts how the children lived and grew up there, until they were smuggled to Europe and North America. The parents of these almost 1000 children remained in Camp Ashraf to continue fighting, while their children were displaced. The children in the film were placed with mujahedin sympathizers in Sweden. One of the participants, Amir Yaghmai later returned as a child soldier to Camp Ashraf.