..as the MKO or the so called PMOI members, our mind didn’t work tactically. We couldn’t understand it…Now that I see, I figure out that the operation was a failure from the beginning. Moving in a line on tanks in an asphalted road had no possibility to success but nobody knew that at the time…Afshin who liked colt very much took out his colt and killed all of th captives..
(An interview with Batool Soltani on MKO self-immolations – Part 8 ).. Of course, what she said was another interpretation of Massoud Rajavi’s message stating that we had to make use of all our facilities and potentialities wherever we were to set Maryam free. He would say any Mojahed breathing on this planet had to be ready to sincerely sacrifice and set on fire whatever he had for the sake of Maryam. Thus, it all began in the echelon of the Leadership Council and the enthusiast slid down to the lower layers. It is also the same with other issues. Consider, for instance, they want to elect a first secretary.
Following his return, a lot of families who are members of Nejat Society in Gilan office, contact the office in order that they can get news about the health of their beloved ones in Camp Ashraf. To facilitate Mr. Hajipour’s visit with Nejat families, Gilan office held a meeting where the families welcomed Mr. Hajipour and asked about the condition of their children who are still captured in Camp Ashraf.
(Memoirs of Ms. Batoul Soltani-Part 19)..Being a good speaker or having executive skills was prior to ideological competence to be selected as a member of leadership council in MKO/PMOI/MEK..When the members started their compliments, Maryam and Masud Rajavi waited for their words to be listened completely and the atmosphere of the hall be influenced by the compliments. Then they apparently complained that they were not glad with such a compliment.
(An interview with Batool Soltani on MKO self-immolations – Part seven)..Members in Camp Ashraf are on alert of committing mass suicide on the grounds that there are many blind spots round the camp through which outsiders might easily infiltrate to either kidnap the members of the Leadership Council and use them as hostages or kill them. The possible reaction to these threats could be a mass suicide of the insiders.
using the word “life” is considered as a big sin in the MKO. They always told us:”You chose your path the first day, so you have to stay until the regime is overthrown”. Of course they don’t have the power to overthrow the regime so the membership in the group is long-life..When Rajavi considers arm as his most cherished thing saying that “we cannot survive in our organizational form without arms”, do you think that such an organization can leave armed struggle.
(Memoirs of Ms. Batoul Soltani – Part 18 )..To choose the members of the leadership Council, the main criterion for Rajavi was how much they are devoted. There is a formula in MKO discussions:They ask:”why Maryam” and then they answer: “because Masud”.It means that Maryam is the first woman linked with Masud..They tried to confirm that such devotion needs an extraordinary super-natural capacity..Maryam Rajavi said that we should love Masud instead of our husbands..
(An interview with Batool Soltani on MKO self-immolations – Part six).. how the organization and Rajavi in particular draw the red-line between the word and theory for carrying out these operations. Second, we have to see to what extent the words are actually practical, and third, what is the position of the leadership ..When Rajavi plotted assassination of people he knew well that killing was an inseparable part of a planned operation which could never be fulfilled unless through homicide.
(An interview with Batool Soltani on MKO self-immolations – Part five). It had turned to be a big concern especially after the 9/11 terrorist attack when counter-terrorist police had a free hand to arrest and interrogate whoever they came to suspect. It was a hinder for members travelling in Europe.the information stated were of the nature a member of the organization had instructions to deface before engaging in self-destroying. ..The members had to be divided into small groups and drove on different buses at non-fixed intervals
The operation teams who came to Iran for armed operation, for instance, carried some related information, or it was the same with members residing in other European countries out of the headquarters in Auver-sur-Oise. They knew details about the location of the camps, the members and their responsibilities .. As a result, the organization[MKO/MEK/PMOi] emphatically required the teams about to embark on operations to swallow their cyanide capsules as soon as they felt a risk of arrest.