Following the execution of Reihaneh Jabbari the Iranian girl convicted of murdering a man Morteza Sarbandari, Maryam Rajavi called for an independent international probe into her execution. This was not the first reaction of the MKO propaganda on the case of Reyhaneh. The group’s media had launched a wide propaganda about her trial. However, their propaganda pushed her towards execution.
Abdusamad Khoramshahi Reyhaneh’s attorney told Radio BBC Persian that the media’s intervention in Reyhaneh’s process of trial was an effective drive for her death. Media’s propaganda including the MKO’s turned out to be an obstacle for Sarbandari family to forgive the murderer of their father. According to the MKO’s propaganda Sarbandari was a former Intelligence agent who wanted to rape Reyhaneh. Reyhaneh admitted that she had killed her victim with Knife.
Furthermore, it cannot be said simply that Reyhaneh deserved death penalty or not due to the complexity of her case. In addition, people have different ideas about Capital Punishment.
The main contradiction in Maryam Rajavi’s propaganda about Reyhaneh’s death sentence should be closely investigated in her organization’s record of cases of torture, murder, and execution. Numerous cases of disappearance and abusive conduct against dissident members can be simply found in the testimonies of former members.
As former member of the MKO’s so-called Council of Leadership (Elite Council), Mrs. Batoul Soltani recounts the horrible fate of at least three women who were murdered by the group authorities. According to memoires of Mrs. Soltani, Minou Fathali was a member of the Elite Council who opposed the mass marriage and sexual relationship of elite members with Massoud Rajavi the leader of the cult. She did not attend Salvation Dance Ceremony. Batoul writes: “Minou left the meeting while she was crying”. I heard her telling to Maryam Rajavi, “I don’t want. I hate it.”
Minou was under severe pressure by Maryam Rajavi and other high-ranking officials of the cult but she was never convinced to dance undressed in front of Mssoud Rajavi. She was degraded in the cult hierarchy, separated from her comrades and then her death was announced in the group’s Journal. Soltani reveals that Minou was then killed by the Batoul Rajaiee, a notorious figure of the MKO Elite Council. However, after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the name of Minou was declared as a martyr of the American bombs.
Mehri Mousavi was another member of the cult of Rajavi who was mysteriously murdered in Camp Ashraf. Batoul Soltani wrote an article in the memorial of Mehri. She remembers the day she found a report written by Mozhgan Parsaiee about Mehri. “She has problem with Salvation Dance and relationship with Christ,”Soltani cites from the report. Christ is the pseudonym of Masoud Rajavi among high-ranking members.
Mehri became a subject of the groups’ peer pressure meetings. Massoud rajavi personally beat her and kicked her out of the meeting, based on memoires of Batoul Soltani. Mehri Mousavi was then found suffocated by her scarf in her dorm. She was also announced as a martyr of bombardments by American forces.
Among many other victims of the MKO’s efforts to wipe out internal dissidents one can definitely see the name of Maasoumeh Gheibipour. According to Batoul Soltani, Maasoumeh was not observing religious rules well so she was under severe peer pressure in the cult. She was all the time suppressed by the cult officials for her careless covering or for her not performing prayers – despite Maryam Rajavi’s claims of seeking and advocating a secular democratic government in Iran.
During brainwashing sessions Maasoumeh dared to criticize the organization and its leaders’ attitudes and decisions but she was labeled as a “traitor”. Maasoumeh was no more seen in the group’s meetings!
The three above-mentioned cases are examples of dozens of people who were killed in the MKO’s cult-like system just because their absolute obedience was doubted and questioned by the leaders. The list of Masoud Rajavi’s victims inside the group includes male and female members of whom one can only find the name of Parviz Ahmadi in the report of the Human Rights Watch on abuses in the MKO, “No Exit”, published in 2005. According to HRW’s report, Parviz Ahmadi was killed after he was tortured in the group’s prison in Camp Ashraf.
Therefore, Independent International Probe is certainly needed for murders and mysterious deaths in MKO camps. Maryam Rajavi and her disappeared husband should be brought to justice for unspeakable human rights abuses they have committed for over three decades.
Reyhaneh Jabbari who had actually killed a man might not deserve to be executed but how about Minou, Mehri, Maasomeh and many other individuals who lost their lives for criticizing the cult? Did they deserve to be executed?
Mazda Parsi
