The 29th court session examining the charges against 104 members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) as well as the organization’s nature as a legal entity, was held on February 18 in branch 11 of the Criminal Court of Tehran Province, presided over by Judge Amir Reza Dehghani.
The judge announced the opening of the court saying: Given the presence of the prosecutor’s representative, the lawyers of the plaintiffs and defendants, and some of the plaintiffs in the session, and the formality and openness of the court, in compliance with all the formalities of the Criminal Procedure Code, especially Articles 2, 3, 5, 7, and Articles 296, 297, 315, and 382 of this law, we will begin the continuation of the first session by declaring it official and public.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Masoud Maddah, said: “Regarding the terrorist crimes of the MEK, in the previous session we applied the legal dimensions of this issue to the crime of leading a criminal group and its organization with engineering operations.
In this session, I will apply the examples and material elements of the crime of leading a criminal group, the subject of Article 130 of the Islamic Penal Code, to one of the most pivotal crimes that the MEK committed, which was the discussion of team houses and repeated assassinations and torture.”
According to lawyer Maddah, it is not necessarily the case that the leaders of the MEK themselves are directly involved in criminal operations. It is not the case that in the bombings, assassinations, and tortures, need to be present in the crimes and carry them out.
Presenting some examples of the MEK crimes, the lawyer said, “At one point in time, the MEK took actions such as assassinating civilians to demonstrate its existence, as I presented the confessions of a MEK member named Mehran Asadeghi in the previous session. He stated that the organization ordered us to carry out these terrorist acts if 30 out of every 50 people were ordinary people so that the organization would survive and demonstrate its existence. They reproduce numerous pamphlets and distribute them among their members in team houses.”
Massoud Khodabandeh, a defected member of the MEK who had been a member of the group for 16 years, appeared on the stand and swore to tell nothing but the truth in court.
Khodabandeh said in court: “I became acquainted with the organization a few years before the revolution, and then I went to England and became a member of the organization, and I was in Iranian Kurdistan for 2 years. After that, I went to Iraq with Massoud Rajavi. I traveled to Iraq and Europe. I took Maryam Rajavi from Iraq to France. In France, I decided to leave the organization. I had 2 passports, which I handed in and went to London, and I have been in contact with the MEK since 1998. With the help of my wife, I wrote 3 books about the MEK. During this time, I also participated in a court as a witness. I appeared in this court today. I confirm all the books and pamphlets introduced in the court.”
The former member of the MEK, said: “I was in the organization for 15 years. I was present in England as a supporter. We established the Committee to Support the People’s Mojahedin in London with the help of Dr. Reza Raisi. Then I went to prison. After my release, I went to Paris. I was assigned to take Radio Mojahedin to the Sardasht region, where I was in this region for 2 years. After that, I went to Iraq and Paris. In Paris, I was responsible for protecting Bani Sadr’s daughter. After Massoud Rajavi’s divorce from Bani Sadr’s daughter, I was with Maryam Rajavi. I was on the team to take over Camp Ashraf and develop it. Sometime later, I left the organization and since then I have been collecting materials related to the Mojahedin.”
Massoud Khodabandeh said: “The process of producing a person who straps a bomb to himself and detonates it is already in his book. They named people as leaders, they tortured these people and ordered others to torture them. I took Mehdi Abrishamchi and took him to Kurdistan. When this person came, he was different from the person who tortured him later, just like Massoud Rajavi, whom we saw earlier, was different from the Rajavi who went to Saddam. Ugliness gradually happens and an ordinary person cannot suddenly become a torturer.”
He said: “In meetings, men were forced to curse their wives and divorce their wives. One of these people, named Commander Kamal, was in that meeting and refused to accept it, so they took him out and half an hour later they said he had set himself on fire. In fact, Massoud and his apparatus claimed that they were doing these things against me and that these people should be eliminated in a way that their voices would not be heard. There is a voice of Massoud in a meeting saying how much money to take and carry out a terrorist act.”
Khodabandeh continued: “During Saddam’s era, if I wanted to implement a project, they would pay for it, but this has not happened for years and they cannot invite someone from, for example, Canada, pay for his accommodation and other expenses to participate in the MKO gatherings, so they use people from within the same country. An American senator told me that when someone is attacking the Islamic Republic, we do not become enemies with him.”
The judge asked: When did these statements come from?
Khodabandeh replied: “Four or five years ago. Currently, the MKO has changed shape. At one time, this organization, centered on Saddam and Massoud Rajavi, only carried out military terrorist operations. This military terrorist apparatus became an information and propaganda apparatus after Turki Faisal (who announced Massoud Rajavi’s death without coordination). The core of this organization was also entrusted to Turki Faisal and Maryam Rajavi. After Saddam’s death, there was no place for Massoud Rajavi in this organization, so he had to be put aside, dead or alive. I tried many times to speak in the Brussels court, but they did not allow me to do so.”
