In order to determine whether a person is in a cult or not, one should study the group`s behavior rather than the group`s beliefs. Destructive cults can claim that they believe in spiritual issues or democracy or many other sublime notions but their genuine practices indicate that their main objective is the promotion of the leader’s ambitions that can be purely physical and somatic. Experts on cults advise that parents or family members whose child or other loved one is involved in a destructive cult should remember that this is not the person’s real personality but it is a mimic dictated by the cult leader so they should let the cult members know that they are loved and cared regardless.
However, once the members are is stuck in an isolating cult such as the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO / MEK/ the Cult of Rajavi) their family have no more access to the members to show them their love and care .
Families of the hostages taken in the Cult of Rajavi know about the mind control mechanism which rules the cult and prevents them from leaving the cult. However, they have tried their best to voice their love, for their children and the pains and sufferings they have endured as the result of this separation.
After being away from their loved ones for many years, they are very anxious to see them once more.
When the MKO was located in Iraq, rather close to the Iranian border, the families traveled to Iraq, Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty respectively several times. They picketed at the gates of the camps for long hours but the cult authorities did not allow them to visit their loved ones accusing them of being the agents of the Islamic Republic.
Families gathering in front of the MKO camps were replied by violence. The MKO authorities had dictated the rank and file to throw rocks at the families offending them and using abusive language which usually ended up in fierce clashes between them. But the families were so eager to visit their loved ones that could endure all the offensive treatment by the side of the group asking, “At least send us a new photo of our beloveds”.
Today, loved ones of these families are much farther from their hometown, residing in Albania. They have been recently resettled in a new base outside Tirana. According to the Albanian TV show Fiks Fare on Top Channel “In October 2017,the National Land Council approved a construction permit for the special camp, which had already begun construction in Manzë in Durres. The transfer of Mojahedin to the new premises is already well underway. This camp is being built by ‘FARA’ association.”
“Fiks Fare approached the Court of Tirana to inquire about this association which turns out to have been registered by court decision No. 5538 on 08.02.2017,” the show reported. “The Fiks Fare show has managed to find some former members of this organization – 3 of the 200 defectors from MEK. All three respondents claim that the Mojahedin hiding in Manzë camp are warriors very well-prepared for battle.”
The show also reveals the totalitarian structure of the MKO that restricts members so as they are not able to have any contact with their families. ”According to them, the MEK imposes very stringent conditions on members, whereby any communication with families is strictly forbidden. Today the three live in some UNCHR-paid flats, but they will soon reach a crossroads because they do not have any identification documents, neither migrant status nor political refugee status.”
Considering the vague condition of members of the MKO in Albanian territory where they do not have any official identity, the support of their family will be very helpful for them in order to get deradicalized and adopt more moderate position so they can get back to a normal life in the free world.
By Mazda Parsi