Camp Ashraf

The director of the documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” in an interview with Keyhan London raises a question that simply challenges the claim of democracy and freedom of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

Sara Moin, the director of the controversial documentary about the children of Camp Ashraf, was interviewed by Ahmad Rafat of Kayhan London. She was asked about the protests of the MEK sympathizers against the Goteborg Film Festival before the release of her film. “Despite the fact that the film had not been seen so far, they sent a series of emails to the festival,” Moien said. “They wanted to stop the release of the movie. I don’t know the reason…and a few days before the festival, they requested a demonstration. I don’t know why they want a movie that has not been seen to be stopped in a democratic country?”

Sara Moien   insists on announcing that her film deals with a very human issue about 4 Swedish citizens. She finds the life story of the four heroes of her film interesting because despite their success in life in Sweden today, they have gone through a strange fate and a painful childhood.

The director of the documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf”, who is basically a journalist, is trying to draw the audience’s attention to a human tragedy without political bias by taking advantage of the freedom of expression that governs the country where the four protagonists live. According to Sara Moin, although there are a revolution and three wars in the life story of the characters of this film, which can involve the audience with all kinds of views and political biases, she aims to draw the attention of the audience to the painful story of about 800 to 1000 children from Mujahed parents who paid a heavy price for their parents’ political choice.

Sara Moien accurately believes that the contents related to the children of MEK are very few compared with the contents about the very organization. He pointed to the article written by the German journalist Luisa Hommerich a few years ago about former child soldiers of the MEK in De Zeit magazine, as one of the pioneering materials in raising the issue of these children. It should be mentioned that Luisa Hommerich also recommended watching the movie to the residents of Sweden before its release.

According to Hanif Heydaranjad, a journalist and former member of the MEK, more than 120 of the hundreds of children of the group who were trafficked from Iraq to Europe and North America were settled in Sweden in foster families. Therefore, it seems that Sara Moin had more options to choose her heroes, but why she went to Amir Vafa Yaghmai, Parvin Hosseinnia, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sabdani, is an important point.

In response to this question about the number of children of the MEK, she says that compared to these four people, they were not successful people, they suffered bitter fates and even committed suicide. (Perhaps you have heard the names of Yaser Akbari Nasab and Alan Mohammadi.)

Certainly, there are former child soldiers who could be considered as witnesses of the violation of children’s rights in the structure of the Cult of Rajavi, and certainly today in various countries of the world, including Sweden, there are former children who have lived in the families of sympathizers of the MEK without the supervision of European governments. They have experienced the same pain that Atefeh Sabdani suffered.

Howeever, as Sara Moin says, these people with fragile spirits caused by sufferings and with their damaged self-confidence, do not have the courage to appear in front of the camera. A camera that intends to depict a bitter human story in a European democracy.

The screening of the documentary about the children of Camp Ashraf has just started. This controversial film will soon be shown at Tempo Film Festival in Sweden and other festivals around the world. Public opinion will watch only one part of the record of crimes of the MEK leaders, the part that demostrates the innermost corners inside the group.

As Sara Moin emphasizes, in the future screenings of her film in Stockholm, the MEK can demonstrate within the framework of democracy and freedom of speech. But you should ask them: “Isn’t it better to watch the movie first and then protest?”

Mazda Parsi