Mr. Siavosh Rastar declared his defection from the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization in the statement he published.
Siavosh Rastar whose organizational name is Nader Afshar lived in the MKO for 14 years, from 2001 to 2015.
Mr. Rastar left the MKO to protest Massoud Rajavi’s undemocratic approach towards the group members and their families.
“In my idea, the only thing that never exists in Massoud Rajavi’s organization is freedom of speech and thought. In brief, absolute suppression and dictatorship rule it, “Rastar writes. If anyone criticizes Massoud Rajavi, he would be treated violently in various sessions held for this aim.”
Mr. Rastar has witnessed his comrades being tortured or killed by the group. He himself was one of the victims of the MKO’s mal-treatment against the rank and files.
“They didn’t allow me to take proper medical treatment,” he states. “Intentionally they gave me wrong medications. They didn’t let me go to Iraqi hospitals. They didn’t even give me the drugs Iraqi doctors had proscribed for me.”
When the Iraqi doctors finally examine him, they diagnose a serious illness telling that he will not survive over six months. “When the MKO leaders made sure that I would not live so long, they transferred me to Albania,” he reveals.
In Albania, Siavosh finds the chance to leave the group and submit himself to the officials of the UN High Commissioner of Refugees. They aided him to receive proper treatment in hospital.
However, the MKO agents did not give up annoying him. “They put pressure on my family. They called my wife and claimed that I got married and have children in Albania, they also told her that I am drug-addicted,’’ he writes.
In the statement to declare his defection, Siavosh Rastar offers sympathy to his friends who are still held as hostages in the MKO’s cult-like system. He hopes for their release and a free life in the free world.
Nejat Society reporting from Iran Azadi Albania