In the name of God the most compassionate and merciful.
I am Ghadir Atighi, the father of Bahman Atighi, who had been forcefully kept in Camp Ashraf as a hostage of Massoud Rajavi for over 15 years.
| MEK using unburied bodies as a bargaining tool |
I would like to inform the Iraqi committee in charge of Camp Ashraf and the judicial authorities in Iraq and Amnesty International and the Red Cross, the ministry of human rights in Iraq and all the international community that:
15 years ago in 1376 (1997), my son, Bahman Atighi was deceived by the operatives under the command of Massoud Rajavi to be taken to European countries for work. He was taken to the Iraqi camp, Camp Ashraf, allegedly to provide him with the appropriate European visa; a visa which, of course, was never provided.
He was forced to stay in this camp for 15 years during which time he was deprived from making even a simple telephone call or writing a simple letter to his family. During his 15 years of captivity, he did not have the privileges of an ordinary prisoner; political prisoners, murderers, or any other kinds of prisoners are allowed a 5 minute telephone conversation with their family once a year.
Massoud Rajavi admitted himself (by issuing statements in western media outlets) that my other son Siavosh Atighi has been picketing in front of the gates of Ashraf camp for the last 12 months and they [the MEK] have refused him the simple basic right of visit during this time. One year of picketing and Massoud Rajavi refused to show the smallest sign of humanity in himself, and refused to even show Bahman to his brother for 5 minutes from a 20 meter distance.
You! The ones that now insult our family members (in Western paid media). Have you even felt any humanitarian feeling ever in yourselves? Do you not think of anything except killing people?
God curse you who have kidnapped and kept our young son in the camp under the harshest possible situation for over 15 years. And now have admitted it yourself that his brother has been sitting outside only asking to have a short visit.
Now you hit Bahman from the back and now you killed him. Did I not or do I not have any right as the father of my son?
Your own TV channel announced on 24 Ordibehesht (May 14) that on 19 Farvardin (April 08) Bahman Atighi was shot from behind in his spinal cord and killed and you have been keeping silent ever since.
But your same TV channel announced on 04 Ordibehesht (April 24), that Bahman is in the hospital. On 22 Farvardin (April 10) you brought Bahman to within about 50 metres from the gates of Ashraf with minders and prison guards where his brother recognised him. Now after 15 days they are saying that Bahman has been shot by the Iraqi forces and then the Iraqis have arrested him and due to his injuries they took him to Baquba hospital and he died there!!
Again in another part, again in the same TV Channel, they claim that he died in the hospital inside Camp Ashraf due to insufficient medical attendance.
None of their words make sense. Not one of their sentences matches the next sentence.
As a father I claim all the rights belonging to Bahman. We claim the right for this case to be investigated. We claim that if there is any truth in this and if there exist any corpse belonging to Bahman, then it should be given a post mortem examination and the case should be examined so it becomes clear who has committed this crime. I believe that there is no one else except themselves [the MEK] who have committed this murder.
When they found out that Siavash has been sitting by the gates and insisting on visiting his brother so as to ask him if he wants to come with him, they resorted to this devious tactic to first hide him and then to physically eliminate him as they did.
I, as the father of Bahman Atighi and the father of Siavash Atighi, return Massoud Rajavi’s insults to himself and ask all the authorities, lawyers, the International Committee of the Red Cross in Iraq and in other parts of the world to help and investigate in this murder case. I ask for the rights of my son and myself to be respected. Siavash, my son, is appointed by me to follow the case as far as possible.
In the end I would like to say that I want the body of Bahman to be returned to me to take to Iran (for burial) …
Transcript from Video file by Iran Interlink
Link to the original Video file