An Iran-based rights group voiced deep concern about severe violation of human rights in Camp Ashraf, the main stronghold of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iraq, and
urged the UN to rescue the female members of the group who have long been held captive by their ringleaders.
"We, the Association for Defending the Victims of Terrorism (ADVT) in the Middle-East, believe we are required to draw the attention of the authorities of the international bodies to the catastrophes which take place for women in the MKO cult," the ADVT said in a letter to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet on Sunday.
The letter further mentioned that women in the MKO stronghold in Iraq are deprived of their most basic rights like marriage, pregnancy and even hairdressing.
It also revealed that the MKO ringleaders even force married women to divorce and force them to have hysterectomy in a bid to avoid pregnancies.
A defected member of the MKO revealed in March that the female members of the group had been living in captivity for more than 25 years and were not even allowed to appear in public places alone.
"It can be firmly said that 95% of the women in Camp Ashraf (the terrorist group’s resort in Iraq) have not even been allowed to step in Iraq’s public and recreational places alone all throughout the last 25 years," the defected member said.
The former member of the MKO also revealed that nearly 70% of the female members of the terrorist group are single and have not been allowed to marry anyone in or outside the group.
And only a total of 10% of the married members have been allowed to have children, he added..
The defected member mentioned that since 1989 the MKO has deprived its male and female members of the right of marriage, meaning that they are not allowed to form a family and the children of those members who had married before 1989 were taken away from their parents and sent to the European countries.
Also in December, Makki Rafi’ee, another defected member of the MKO, had revealed that the ringleaders of the group have ordered their agents to torture dissidents in a bid to dissuade defection.
Rafi’ee disclosed that agents of the MKO resorted to various types of torture and pressure against him during the last 15 years, and that he had been jailed in the notorious Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq all these years.
"After 15 years of imprisonment in Camp Ashraf and tolerating various tortures by the agents of the grouplet, I managed to escape from the Camp and surrender myself to the Iraqi security forces," he added.
Also, a November 2010 report by the Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, said that under the direct order of MKO’s Ringleader Maryam Rajavi, the ranking members of the terrorist group in the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) do not allow members to receive medical aid and treatment, healthcare and other services unless they provide the group’s leaders with given levels of cooperation.
Based on the order, the dissident members are deprived of medicine and other medical services or, at least, face much hardship and difficulty in procuring their necessary medicines.
The rights group added that the new measure came after protests remarkably increased inside the group, specially in the camp. Right groups are gravely concerned that a large number of MKO members may lose their lives soon if UN, human rights and Iraqi officials do not force the group leaders to end their tortures and pressures against the dissident members.
In relevant development, a report revealed in November that Ahmad Razzani, a veteran member of the MKO, had been killed inside the Camp.
According to an August 2010 report by the Habilian Association, the MKO leaders have increased their pressures and control over the members of the terrorist group to prevent possible defection and escape by unsatisfied members.
Reports also said that all exit and entry doors have been locked and none of the members, even those suffering from acute diseases and illnesses, are allowed to leave the camp.
MKO ringleaders have ordered the camp guards to stage snap inspections of the group’s members and their personal belongings under the pretext of finding the lost weapons.
Such behaviors have sparked discontent among a number of MKO members and made them escape the camp and return to their anguished families.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a letter last year in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.
FNA – 2011-12-04
