You usually can’t just rescue someone from a cult. The point is that once someone is in a cult, it is very difficult for him /her to leave. This is why it is considered a cult. Therefore, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ the MEK, Cult of Rajavi ) perfectly falls in to the category of being a cult.
Also by definition, a the cult member doesn’t believe that he or she is in a cult. Instead, members have been brainwashed by believing that they have achieved a high status just by having the opportunity to be in the cult which ultimately brings them salvation, for instance members of the Cult of Rajavi are called “unique gems” (Goharan Bibadil). This status is the result of a manipulative system that prevents victims from thinking freely.
What most people don’t know is that mind control can be even more powerful than a gun to the head because the victim believes that the person doing the manipulation is actually a friend, or a lover, or a master, who seems to be caring and honest.
Most of the rank and file of the Cult of Rajavi were deceived in to the establishment by their apparently loving caring recruiters who promised them a prosperous ideal life in a classless society. Once they were recruited they underwent the severe mind control techniques including self-criticism sessions in which peer pressure and suppression was the key tool to destroy their entire individuality.
Studying the survivors of the cult, the experts believe that the golden rule to save a loved one who is stuck in a cult is simple: Do whatever you can to keep the communication channels open with your loved one or friend. This is why the leaders of Rajavi`s Cult try to prevent members from seeing any outsiders. Leaders of the cult of Rajavi panic this rule. So, they establish their own filthy rule, looking for any reason to shut outsiders off their hostages.
The golden rule sounds simple but you can’t do anything later on if you can’t communicate with the one you’re trying to help and the MKO leaders know it well. These days, they are transferring members to the remote Camp Ashraf Three to close the least possibilities for them to have access to the outside world. Members are even forced to sign a commitment paper titled “irrevocable membership” that requires them to admit long life membership in the cult.
Living in an isolated residential camp means that cult members will not be able to have the slightest idea of what`s going on outside the camp and in the free world; they will not be able to see ordinary people on the beaches or to hear the cries of children playing in parks of Tirana. Isolation means total obedience to the absolute power of Rajavi and eventually more severe cases of human rights violations in the Cult of Rajavi.
Definitely, this will result in a human disaster. The Albanian government and the UNHCR should be warned that the MKO’s lobbying campaign in Washington and Europe is an attempt to falsely portray itself as the representative of the Iranian people and the democratic alternative to the Iranian government but the truth –based on many testimonies—is that the MKO is actually a political cult that is endeavoring to survive by maintaining its hegemony over its members with almost no popular support among Iranians. This dirty policy should be stopped.
By Mazda Parsi
