Second announcement by the families of hostages in Camp Ashraf
The following announcement issued by the families of the hostages inside Camp Ashraf is a response to the letter Mrs. Maryam Rajavi has written to the President of United States, Mr. Obama. The families are sitting in front of the garrison in protest. They simply want to know about the fate of their children:
We would like to ask the free thinking people of the world, as well as the politicians involved whether Mrs. Maryam Rajavi isn’t simply trying her best to divert attention away from the real issue and the simple fact that we have been sitting down in protest only for the simple demand and right to visit our children. The Open Letter to the U.S President and the other propaganda she publishes is nothing other than a desperate attempt to divert attention from our simple and basic right.
In her open letter to President Obama she has been begging him to accept his responsibilities in protecting the citizens of Camp Ashraf and to guarantee the security of the camp.
We should ask Mrs. Rajavi, if she means the security and the well-being of our imprisoned children and hostages taken by Mojahedin Khalq, or does she really mean the protection and security of the existence of Mojahedin Khalq from dismantlement and disappearance?
If it is the well-being and security of people inside the camp then:
Our captive children have been under severe physical and psychological pressure for years and have been denied their basic human rights, including freedom of speech, freedom of thought, being allowed to love and be loved and having any emotions for or enjoying relationships with other people. They have been living in this miserable, desperate situation without hope for years and years, to the point that, due to this harsh segregation, there are no children among them. They have been and are still being misused in barbaric ways, including slavery and forced labour. Their souls are also subjected to the most ridiculous and inhuman laws of this cult.
If it is the well-being of our loved ones that she is concerned with, why is it that they are being used as human shields on every occasion, including the last one when they were used as human shields in front of Iraqi loaders and heavy vehicles so that she and other leaders of the cult can cry foul for the dead and the injured, and claim to be those who are suppressed?
Why is it that whenever the existence of the leaders of Mojahedin Khalq is under threat, some unfortunate people have to burn themselves on their command to save the skin of these leaders?
Is it not the case that the lives of the people inside this camp are only valuable in that whenever Massoud Rajavi feels the need, he can send some of them to their deaths?
The truth is that the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation is trying to save Ashraf garrison intact solely because Ashraf camp is the nectar of life for the leaders of this cult and the leaders of this cult have been able to use this to get help from humanitarian organizations throughout the world to continue their disgraceful, but luxurious lives in Europe and the United States for some time more. Our children have to suffer in this forced labour camp so that the leaders of the so-called Mojahedin Khalq Organisation can continue their lavish lifestyles here and there.
Mr. Obama should seriously ask Mrs. Rajavi about the demands of the people who have been sitting in front of the camp for the last three months. Ask her what is it that we want? What is it that we have left our homes, work and livelihoods for and have come here to get? What is it that we are shouting about day and night?
Mr. Obama should ask Mrs. Rajavi; for what reason or with what permission she bought Iranian Prisoners of War from the Iraq–Iran war from Saddam Hussein and transferred them to Ashraf garrison without even letting their families know where they had been transferred to?
He should seriously investigate and ask her about the people who had gone to Turkey from Iran to find work and were kidnapped by the Mojahedin Khalq agents and transferred to Ashraf garrison so that she could give a bigger number to her pay masters. She should be asked why she did not allow these people to call their families even once to say that they are alive.
These families have been left in the dark for years and years with no news about their children.
They have been searching for them in every possible place, including graveyards and hospitals, etc. with no result. Day after day, they have been crying with no closure, with no news until the fall of Saddam Hussein when they found out that their children have been kept in the dark prisons of Rajavi and the commanders of Mojahedin Khalq. In 2003, the families started trying to reach their loved ones and try to meet them. Some succeeded in seeing their children briefly under the severe restrictions imposed by Mojahedin Khalq leaders. The captive children have been signaling to these parents with every possible means that even talking about emotions or complaining about the situation in the camp will only increase the pressure already exerted against them. They have clearly said that no-one is allowed to be alone and everyone is watched 24 hours a day. During these occasions, the prison guards of the Mojahedin camp did not even let the captives accompany their families to the gates of the camp. Some who decided to do so without the consent of the leaders were returned to their sections by force. What is a meeting worth which is under the constant presence and investigation of the garrison guards and in which the prisoner is afraid to say anything?
The only demand of the families sitting in protest in front of the gates of Ashraf garrison is to meet their family members without the presence of the Mojahedin Khalq jailors, outside this garrison so that they can be certain that that these people can choose freely whether they want to continue living in captivity under a regime of humiliation and insult and under the most brutal dictatiorship of Rajavi and his cult in Camp Ashraf, or whether they would like to return to free society and live normally.
Mr. Obama should ask Mrs. Rajavi why she has denied the people inside the camp their right to deciding their own fate and future. What else have the families asked for that is not acceptable for her? And Mr. Obama should ask about the condition of the captives and investigate the reason the families are sitting down and do not leave their picket.
What does she want from the rest of the lives of these people who have lost all their youth, education, families, jobs and everything in service to the devious goals of this cult
Is it not that the families are afraid of another scenario like the one in July 2009 where she sent some of these children to their deaths?
The families have come to save their children so that the remainder of these people inside Ashraf camp would not be used as expendable lives by the devious leaders of the cult.
We would like to bring to the attention of Mr. Obama the published memories and experiences of ex-members of this cult who have managed to escape from this garrison of the Dark Ages. People like Ms. Batool Soltani who has been a member of the Leadership Council of the Mojahedin Khalq cult. People like Mr. Khodabandeh or Mr Sobhani, currently living in European countries.
We, the families would like to bring the attention of Mr. Obama to the report published by RAND, specifically the parts where the report investigates the internal relations of the Mojahedin Khalq and the leaders of this personality cult.
Note:
We ask the management of Iran Interlink and Iran Ghalam Associations and others who have been supporting us during our picket in front of the camp by allowing our voice to reach the outside world to send this letter on our behalf to whoever has received the Open Letter of Mrs. Rajavi to the U.S. President.
With thanks,
Families picketing in front of Camp Ashraf – 29 April 2010