Masoumeh Ebtekar ; Vice President of Iran for Women and Family Affairs tweeted:
Eve we paid a courtesy visit to the family of two Armenian martyr. The husband and son of Sylvarat Ohanesian were killed by MKO Terrorists in 1981.
A Small sparking Christmas tree had lightened her home.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq keeps about two thousands members inside its cult-like structure in Camp Ashraf 3 in Albania despite the departure of a large number of its members during the two past decades. Each and every of the remaining male and female members of the MEK has a story of their family life. Most of the old members were married and had children when they joined the group. Though, they left family behind when Massoud Rajavi ordered them to divorce their spouses and to send their children out of the group. So there are a lot of heartbreaking stories of families whose destiny was involved in the ambitions of the leaders of the MEK. The stories of certain fathers and daughters have been already published on Nejat Society website. It is time to review the painful stories of some fathers and sons in the MEK.
The most iconic and prominent father and son in the MEK are Massoud Rajavi and his son Mohammad. Mohammad was an infant in the safe house where his mother Ashraf was killed in an armed clash between the MEK agents and the Iranian forces in Tehran. He was then taken to Iraq and then to Europe where he grew up and again back to Iraq. He left Iraq together with other members of the group. In Albania left the group and went to Norway where he goes to university under the supervision of the MEK commanders.
According to the testimonies of former member, Mohammad was a critic of his father’s approach in the group. Some former members even revealed that he had tried to escape the group several times but he did not succeed as far as the group was located in Iraq. As soon as the group was settled in Albania, Mohammad moved to the free world although he is not free from the group’s control.
Nonetheless, not everyone was as lucky as mohammad Rajavi. Majid Hanifsnejad is another example of the sons of the MEK’s high ranking members. Ahmad, Majid’s father is the brother of Mohammad Hanifnejad one of the early founders of the group. Former members confirm that Ahmad is one of the cruelest interrogators of the MEK. He has tortured a lot of his comrades inside the group just because they asked to leave the group. Majid was studying in a college in Europe when his father ordered him to get back to Iraq. He is brought to the group’s propaganda media from time to time to show that he is still dedicated to the cause of the group that his uncle founded.
The experience of Yasser Ezzati tells a lot more about the painful stories of fathers and sons in the MEK. Yasser Ezati was ten-years-old when he was taken away from his parents – together with hundreds of other Mujahedin children. Some went to live with members in the West, and some in children’s homes very similar to an orphanage. Yasser went to both: he spent three years with three different families in Canada, and afterwards stayed in three different children’s homes in Germany. As a child Yasser Ezati often stood in the shopping center of Cologne with the pictures of victims in Iran, collecting money for the MEK. Many members in Europe worked like this, until the governments discovered that the funds did not go to aid organizations, but to buy weapons. [source: Misled Martyrs, Judith Neurink]
The former members of the group state that his father, Hassan, is known to be a torturer in the MEK. ”He even beat me several times after I declared defection,” he said. “Whenever I missed my parents my father would receive me by beating and kicking me.”
“I have not forgotten my past yet because an important part of my life, my childhood, my adolescence were lost for the misguided goal of the MKO”, he told Nejat Society. Finally, Yasser Ezzati could manage to escape the MEK a decade ago.
Like many other children of MEK members, Amir Vafa Yaghmaei was a citizen of Sweden. He was able to leave Ashraf after 2 years with help of Swedish government. His father, Esmaeil Vafa Yaghmaei was so loyal to Mr. Rajavi at NCRI that he ignored several requests by his own son, who was 16 when sent to Iraq, and refused to help him. Amir was abused inside Ashraf and also in US Camp, TIPF, for almost 2 years. However, both Esmaeil and Amir defected the MEK. Unlike the three other cases, Amir was under the coercive indoctrinations of her mother in Camp Ashraf. He cannot forgive his mom for what he underwent under the pressure of the MEK’s cult-like system.
Nejat Society
A very essential question in any discussion and argument about the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO, MEK, PMOI, Cult of Rajavi) has always been about its financial resources. Based on various investigative reports, interviews, testimonies and documents, the question can have a variety of answers based on the timing.
For most, the simplest answer is Saddam Hussein. The answer is quite acceptable. The financial and logistical support that former Iraqi dictator granted to MEK was nothing secret. The group was actually Saddam’s private army during the Iran-Iraq war and the suppression of Iraqi people’s uprisings after the war.
After the fall of Saddam Hussein a video revealed MEK agents receiving boxes of dollars from Iraqi intelligence officers. However, this does not seem to be enough to run a cult of a few thousand rank and files, bribing Western politicians with big sums of speaking fees and funding western far right parties to win the election.
Investigating former members’ testimonies and arguments made by experts, you will reach to a common answer that includes Saudi Arabia as the main sponsor of MEK. Massoud Khodabendeh, a former high-ranking MEK official confirmed long-held suspicions that Saudi Arabia has been financing the MEK since Saddam’s era. In an interview with Jordanian news outlet Al-Bawaba in December 2018, he asserted that he oversaw the transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of materials including gold and Rolex watches. [1]
Massoud Khodabandeh explained that 3 tons of solid gold, a minimum of four suitcases of customized Rolex watches and fabric that had been used to cover the Muslim holy site of Kaaba in Mecca were among the commodities shipped from Saudi Arabia to MEK operatives in Baghdad. From there, the valuables would be sold on the black market in Jordan’s capital, Amman, to Saudi-aligned merchants. [2]
This was confirmed by the well-known historian Ervand IAbrahamian, a professor at the City University of New York and author of the definitive academic work on the group’s history, “The Iranian Mojahedin”.”The money definitely comes from Saudis,”he told Aron Merat of the Guardian.”There is no one else who could be subsidising them with this level of finance.”[3]
Mark Dankoff, radio broadcaster, journalist and former Senate candidate also revealed the MEK’s notorious alliance with the enemies of Iran in an interview with Tasnim news agency.”The New York Times has extensively covered the Neo-Conservative, Zionist politicians who have been on the MEK payroll, and who helped remove them from the American State Department list of Officially Designated Terrorist Organizations,”he said.”The money of the MEK is traceable to Saudi Arabia, and Israeli players in this New Great Game.”[4]
Not surprisingly, the MEK enjoys operational support by the side of the most operative enemy of Islamic Republic in the region, Israel. Connie Brock of The New Yorker writes,”Israel had a relationship with the M.E.K at least since the late nineties, and had supplied a satellite signal for N.C.R.I. broadcasts from Paris into Iran. An Israeli diplomat said:”The M.E.K is useful,”but did not elaborate.”According to the same report, the Israelis provided the MEK with unsubstantiated intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program. [5]
Luisa Hommerich of Spiegel Online, wrote,”Security experts believe that the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel also provide the group with financial support, but there is no proof for that supposition.”[6]
Given that we ignore all the above-mentioned evidences and accept that there may be no proof, the reason is clear: money laundering is taking place in a complicated network coordinated by the sponsors and the MEK agents all over the world. In April 2019, the Spanish Newspaper, El Pais reported that the Spain’s far-right Vox received funds from mujahedin Khalq.
Documents leaked to El Pais revealed that between its founding in December 2013 and the European Parliament elections in May 2014, Vox received almost a million euros from the MEK’s front group, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). It was not as though the financial relationship between Vox and the NCRI began gradually, but right when Vox was founded. Joaquín Gil, a journalist with El Pais, explained:”From the day it was founded in December 2013—the same day that it registered as a political party with the Spanish Ministry of Interior—Vox started to receive Iranian funds”. These funds came from different countries including the United States, Germany, Switzerland, Canada, and Italy in amounts ranging from 60 to 35,000 euros, totaling almost 972,000 euros, from December 2013 to April 2014, right before the 2014 elections. According to Gill, Alejo Vidal-Quadras Roca, former EP president and MEK’s longtime advocate, who was a leading member of Vox,”asked his friends at NCRI … to instruct its followers to make a series of money transfers.”[7]
Actually, for the adversaries of Iranians, traitors are potentially the most reliable people to invest on. Their treasonous attitude finds no boundaries. They are always ready to sell themselves to anyone who pays them.
Mazda Parsi
Refrences:
[1] Joplin, Ty, Inside the MEK: The Secluded Group Scheduled to Overthrow the Iranian Regime, Abawaba, July 31st, 2018.
[2] ibid
[3] Merrat, Aron,Terrorists, cultists – or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK, The Guardian, November 9th, 2018.
[4] Tasnim, US Favors ‘Regime Change’ Not Diplomacy with Iran: Ex-US Senate Candidate, December 4th, 2019.
[5] Sepahpour-Ulrich, Soraya, Washington’s Infatuation with Iran’s Mujahedin-e Khalq (M.E.K) Terrorist Organization, Global Research, June 30th, 2019.
[6] Hommerich, Luisa, The Cult-Like Group Fighting Iran, Speigel Online, Februray 18th, 2019.
[7] Jannessari, Sohail, & Loucaides, Darren, Spain’s Vox Party Hates Muslims—Except the Ones Who Fund It, April 27th, 2019.
IRGC chief warns US, UK, Israel to stop sedition or see their interests set on fire
Chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says the US, UK, Israel, and the regional regimes must expect to see their interests on fire if they continue stirring sedition in the Islamic Republic.
“I tell you – the leaders of America, Israel, Britain, and the regional enemies who instigate sedition – if you don’t stop sedition, we will set fire on your interests, and this is our last word,” Major General Hossein Salami told a gathering in Rey, south of Tehran.
“We tell our enemies: we will chase you, find you, and take revenge on you,” he warned.
General Salami had earlier said that the enemies were attempting to incite “sedition” in Iran with the goal of “making up for their successive defeats against the Iranian people.”
In remarks on December 4, he said the enemies sought to portray the chaos in Iran as an outcome of “psychological pressure” on Iranians caused by Washington’s so-called maximum pressure campaign.
The Iranian people, however, managed to once again turn the enemy threat into an opportunity as they “were well aware that Iran faces a security risk whenever the enemies infiltrate into the country from abroad.”
The IRGC chief commander says the Iranian nation once again slapped the US and other arrogant powers in the face by nipping foreign-backed riots in the bud.
In mid-November, the Iranian government raised gasoline prices in order to moderate the national consumption rate.
The move prompted protests in a number of cities that went largely peaceful, but turned violent when armed riotous elements took advantage of the situation to vandalize public and state property, and attack civilians and security forces alike.
Iran says many of the rioters were found to have links to the notorious US-backed Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) terror group, royalists and separatists besides members of organized groups trained towards staging acts of sabotage.
US leaders openly supported the rioters, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on them to send him videos of their acts of violence.
‘US troops will soon flee region’
In separate comments on Thursday, a senior military adviser to Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said American troops will soon flee the West Asia region.
“I give you assurance that the US will soon escape the West Asia region,” Major General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said Thursday.
“The Syrian nation will throw American away from their country, and the vigilance of regional nations will bring the United States to defeat,” he added.
Cults make the news when there is a large number of deaths of their victims. Terrorism is also in the news when there is violence or catastrophe, such as numerous acts of terror all over the world by alQaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups. Not all cults are dangerous but there is a risk and likelihood of violence from cult members. As their name implies, terrorists intentionally use violence to achieve their goals, but cult members are always potentially expected to turn into terrorists.
The same person can be identified as a”cult member”or”terrorist”in one society and at the same time welcomed as a”freedom fighter”or”hero”in her or his own group. In case of members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/the Cult of Rajavi),”terrorist”can simply fit the group based on its evident undisputed background of violent acts although it not listed as a terrorist organization by western states.
The group leaders claim that they are”freedom fighters for people”which is the equivalent of the term”Mujahedin_e Khalq”. However, the group is considered as a cult by experts and based on many evidences. Leaders of the Cult of Rajavi have used manipulative techniques to run their cult.
Herd mentality is a behavior pattern in human beings that helps leaders to program the crowd. Once the crowd is programmed, cult leaders indoctrinate them. Members of the MEK have been enduring the state of being programmed for over 40 years –at least since Massoud Rajavi became the leader of the group.
In the late 1979, following the Iranian revolution and the MEK’s breakdown with the newly established Iranian government, the MEK formed its militia. The semi military MEK members included ambitious youth who were recruited by the MEK agents; they were excited and influenced by their leaders and peers to commit certain acts of violence. They were terribly influenced by the leaders of the MEK. The consequence was the loss of thousands of innocent civilians, the arrest and the execution of a large number of the group members by the Iranian government.
This was how herd mentality functioned. When a crowd is led under herd mentality, it adopts some characteristics:
*They lose fear of the consequences so they commit any violent act that they are ordered or indoctrinated to do even if their victims are children and women. The documents on MEK’s homicide or suicide attacks against civilians is the proof.
*They lose moral responsibility; they are no more sensitive to violation of moral, religious or social norms. They are told to boycott their family, to divorce their spouses, to leave their children, to insult them all and they are coerced to accept.
*They enjoy a feeling of invincibility. Thus they are courageous enough to act unethically, immorally and violently. They are ready to set themselves on fire for the release of their leader Maryam Rajavi.
*The act of the crowd is contagious. This is empowered by peer pressure in the cults. In the Cult of Rajavi peer pressure is a tool to keep members under control. Self-criticism sessions are regularly held inside Camp Ashraf 3 in which members have to confess their thoughts in front of their peers and eventually get verbal and physical abused by them.
*The crowd interests are preferred over personal interests. This turns out to be a jargon in the cults that every cult member should follow. In the MEK, the consequences of such a jargon have been a range of human rights abuses including forced labor, sleep deprivation, mandatory celibacy, separation of children from parents and etc.
Even irrational acts become contagious. Self-immolations of a dozen of MEK members in June 2003 to protest the arrest of Maryam Rajavi by the French Police is an example of irrational acts. Agitated by the group’s propaganda and manipulative meetings, certain members were not able to decide over their lives. Herd mentality and eventually cult-like indoctrinations made them choose that catastrophic death.
*Human herding is usually led by a Demagogue. In case of the MEK, Maryam Rajavi tries her best to play the part of a demagogue. Despite the huge violation of human rights that are taking place in her establishment, she always vows for democracy, women rights and freedom in Iran. Although she hardly ever enjoys Iranians’ public support, her claims can be taken as serious by the isolated members inside the cult or at least she wishes to influence them.
Being in a cult, under the rule of a Demagogue, individuals enter a hypnotic-like state mesmerized by the leader. So the leader can influence the crowd. Glorified as”unique gems”who are”freedom fighters”for the Iranian Khalq (people), the MEK member became more and more suggestible. They started to turn Rajavi’s thoughts to acts. This has had a lot of disastrous outcomes in the MEK. To mention one, you can refer to the marriage of Massoud Rajavi with a large number of female members of the group’s Elite Council.
In human societies, herding often involves people using the actions of others as a guide to sensible behavior, instead of independently seeking out high-quality information about the likely outcomes of these actions. It seems that destructive cults such as the MEK go much further misusing this behavior pattern in human beings. The outcome has been numerous acts of violence against the Iranian civilians, Iraqi Kurds and even their own members.
Those who could manage to leave the MEK, before their departure they definitely could take some time and look at what they were following for decades, who they were following and why. They might be surprised by what they found. That was the time they could make a decision by their own. However, most of these people were not lucky enough to find a way to escape the group.
The human rights bodies including the UNHCR must take proper action to help those MEK members who are under the rule of Rajavi’s cult of personality. The threat of a cult herding some thousand rank and file should not be neglected.
Mazda Parsi
Inside This Issue:
– MEK, and protests against fuel price in Iran
– MEK Terrorist Cult Members In Albania Who Mustn’t Think About Sex
– MEK may conduct terror attacks in Europe
– Iranian Protests And MEK Absence Inside Iran
– Albanian MEK Ashraf Camp Is a Prison
US Favors ‘Regime Change’ Not Diplomacy with Iran: Ex-US Senate Candidate
Mark Dankof, a former US Senate candidate, said the US administration is interested in “regime change” not diplomacy with respect to Iran.
“They are obviously interested in ‘regime change,’ not diplomacy, with the interests of Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Central Banks, Oil-Gas Consortiums, and Armament Manufacturers being paramount,” Dankof told Tasnim.
Mark Dankof is a broadcaster for The Ugly Truth Podcast. Born in Wiesbaden, Germany, the son of a United States Air Force Colonel, he graduated from Valparaiso University in 1977 and from Chicago’s Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in 1983. In recent years, he has pursued post-graduate work in systematic theology and theological German at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. Formerly the 36th District Chairman of the Republican Party in King County/Seattle and later an elected delegate to Texas State Republican Conventions in 1994 and 1996, he entered the United States Senate race in Delaware in 2000 as the nominated candidate of the Constitution Party against Democratic candidate Thomas Carper and Republican incumbent William Roth.
Following is the full text of the interview.
Tasnim: In an interview with BBC Persian on Nov. 21, the US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, said Washington is “very pleased” with protests over a fuel price hike in Iran, adding that the maximum pressure against Iran will continue. US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also took to Twitter to express support for the protesters. Open support for rioters has just reinvigorated the Islamic Republic’s official narrative that the real goal the United States pursues through maximum pressure is not to bring Iran to the negotiating table but to cause “regime change” in the country. What do you think? What is behind this kind of US policy?
Dankof: It is clear that “regime change” in Iran is the goal of the Neo-Conservative, Zionist foreign policy of the Trump Administration. As I stated in an interview on the Republic Broadcasting Network this afternoon, and on UK EuroFolkRadio yesterday morning, the situation in Iran must be understood not only in light of what the CIA and British intelligence did in Tehran with Operation Ajax in 1953, but in contemporary terms in the 4 decades since the overthrow of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979 with ongoing American and Israeli subversion in various cities and provinces of Iran, along with the current American Empire machinations in Ukraine, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Bolivia, Venezuela, and now Hong Kong among others. Pompeo’s recent announcement giving Israel the green light to steal the West Bank along with solidifying their theft of East Jerusalem (al-Quds) must also be added to this demonic mix and overview. Jewish settlement in Hebron (al-Khalil) alone has now tripled, as but one example of the ramifications. The American backed horrors in Gaza and Yemen amplify a very blood-soaked picture.
Tasnim: Reports by Iranian intelligence services say that the US and its allies in the region meddled to stoke recent unrest in Iran. They say clues have been found proving that they intervened to create the turmoil. Bahman Reyhani, a military commander in Kermanshah, said “the rioters belonged to anti-revolutionary groups and America’s intelligence services”. What are your thoughts on this?
Dankof: All of the published reports over time indicate that the Saudi-backed terror groups are involved in (Sistan and) Balouchestan Province terrorist operations coming across the Pakistani-Iranian border. In Khuzestan Province, where unofficial reports indicate Iran has discovered a new potential deposit of oil in southwestern Iran, both groups and the nefarious Muhajedeen-e-Khalq (MEK-MKO) are apparently involved in the ignition of violent incidents. The MEK is clearly involved in the troubles in Tehran, and in Golestan Province and Iranian Azerbaijan.
The MEK headquarters in Tirana, Albania, has been regularly entertaining leading American Neo-Conservatives and Zionists in public photo-ops. The New York Times has extensively covered the Neo-Conservative, Zionist politicians who have been on the MEK payroll, and who helped remove them from the American State Department list of Officially Designated Terrorist Organizations. The money of the MEK is traceable to Saudi Arabia, and Israeli players in this New Great Game. It is fascinating to note the absolute silence over the recent Albanian earthquake and the report of the Balkans Post and Iran Interlink that the MEK headquarters there was devastated. I’m fishing for more information on this report, and what the damage and casualties there might mean to this key asset in the American-Israeli-Saudi war on Iran.
As far as Kermanshah, (military commander) Bahman Reyhani’s initial report may later lead to more information publicly on these “anti-revolutionary” groups, in terms of specific identification of the organizations involved. Dr. Philip Giraldi has already confirmed to your agency (Tasnim) that American, Israeli, and Saudi fingerprints are all over these operations. I concur.
Tasnim: Last Wednesday, the director-general of the anti-espionage department of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry said a number of elements that were seeking to collect information on the riots and transfer it to foreign countries were identified and arrested before they could carry out their mission. “These elements that had received CIA-funded training in various countries to gather information under the guise of citizen-journalists had been monitored for quite a long time,” the official said. How much do you think the CIA, Mossad and Saudi spy agency were involved in the riots?
Dankof: As I have already indicated, I believe it to be logically indisputable that the CIA, Mossad, and Saudi are involved in funding these subversives and provocateurs, and providing legends and covers for those operationally active in these incidents. The use of “citizen-journalists” and fake NGO “human-rights” activist profiles is a regular feature of these “spontaneous” uprisings and “color revolutions.” One presumes the interrogations of those apprehended yielded all kinds of additional information and evidence for Iranian intelligence and the internal security apparatus.
Tasnim: Iranian officials have repeatedly said that US sanctions against Tehran have dealt a blow to the prospects of talks between Washington and Tehran. It seems that Trump administration has closed the door to diplomacy. Do you share the opinion that the White House is not interested in diplomacy when it comes to Iran?
Dankof: They are obviously interested in “regime change,” not diplomacy, with the interests of Israel, Saudi Arabia, the Central Banks, Oil-Gas Consortiums, and Armament Manufacturers being paramount. Trump unilaterally and illegitimately abrogated the multilateral JCPOA, P5+1 nuclear treaty being adhered to by Iran. The Treasury and State Department have instituted economic sanctions on Iran that are a literal declaration of war on Iran by other means. This has led to predictable political unrest in Iran, exacerbated by the wartime gasoline rationing designed by the Iranian government to bring national consumption of gasoline down from 110 million liters to 70 million annually. Once the economic distress led to more publicly expressed political dissatisfaction and unrest, American, Israeli, and Saudi intelligence began unleashing the MEK/MKO terrorists and subversives within the country, with an assist from the Saudi Wahhabist groups, depending on the region and location involved. It is as simple as that.
But it may get worse. The economic sanctions and deployment of terrorists and provocateurs in cities and provinces must be seen as the last stage in “regime change” endeavors short of an overt military attack on Iran.
The endgame may well be a False Flag event somewhere, falsely and deliberately attributed to Iran, that would provide the cover for such an attack. This is how evil and ruthless these people are.
A recent report by BBC once more revealed facts on the world inside the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ Cult of Rajavi). The investigated report describes members of the MEK as those”who mustn’t think about sex“. Although the BBC correspondents were not allowed to enter the group’s headquarters in Tirana’s countryside, they could interview former members of the group. Not surprisingly former members are accused by the MEK of being agents of the Iranian regime.
Meanwhile, the report quotes the group’s longtime sponsor Rudy Guilliani as saying:”If you think this is a cult, then there’s something wrong with you”
“These are people who are dedicated to freedom,”he said, referring to the uniformly dressed and gender-segregated MEK members present in the hall. [1]
However, testimonies of the former members including Hassan Heyrani and Gholam Mirzai interviewed by BBC, confirms numerous testimonies made by other ex-members of the group. The entire evidences prove that the Mujahedin Khalq is a cult-like group if not a cult. However, many cult experts argue that the MEK is a cult in which lives of members are under daily threat and the cult itself is a threat for the outside world. Rick Alan Ross an American deprogrammer, founder and executive director of the nonprofit Cult Education Institute asserts:”The MEK fits well into the definition of cult”. [2] Here are reasons why the MEK should be considered a destructive cult listed by Rick Ross and confirmed by the testimonies of former members and journalists’ accounts of the group of which just a few examples are stated:
Mind Control (undue Influence): Manipulation by use of coercive persuasion or behavior modification techniques without informed consent. Hassan Heyrany told BBC of the leadership’s oppressive control of his private life inside the MEK.
The nadir of Heyrany’s life with the MEK an evening meeting he was obliged to attend, according to BBC. [3]
“We had a little notebook, and if we had any sexual moments we should write them down. For example, ‘Today, in the morning, I had an erection.'”[4]
Romantic relationships and marriage are prohibited by the MEK. It was not always like that – parents and their children used to join the Mujahideen. But after the bloody defeat of one MEK offensive by the Iranians, the leadership argued it had happened because the Mujahideen were distracted by personal relationships. Mass divorce followed. Children were sent away – often to foster homes in Europe – and single MEK members pledged to stay that way. [5]
Charismatic Leadership: Claiming divinity or special knowledge and demanding un-questioning obedience with power and privilege. Leadership may consist of one individual or a small core of leaders. In the MEK, the couple Masoud and Maryam Rajavi are the core of MEK’s cult of personality. Their leadership is so undisputed that no one dares to ask about the whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi who has been disappeared since 2003 and even his death was declared by Saudi prince Turkie Faisal in the group’s gathering in Paris.
“Rajavi and his wife are the defining role of authoritarian charismatic leadership that has become the focus, defining element and driving force of MEK,”Rick Ross says.”There are no checks and balances to their power, meaningful accountability or transparency.”[6]
Deception: Recruiting and fundraising with hidden objectives and without full disclosure of the use of mind controlling techniques; and the use of”front groups.”
MEK recruiters had their fraudulent techniques to recruit young Iranians looking for a better life outside Iran. They were promised to be granted European passports but their own ID cards were confiscated by the MEK as soon as they entered the group.
Once they are in the group, members are bombarded with fake news and propaganda about the outside world particularly Iran. They are constantly promised by the group leaders that the overthrow of the Iranian government is close. They are so isolated from the reality that cannot believe their eyes when they see an Albanian child talking on a mobile phone. According to the BBC report, Gholam Mirzai was astonished that even children had mobile phones. [6]
Moreover, several charity associations that in fact were front group of the MEK have been delegitimized by European states.
Exclusivity: Secretiveness or vagueness by followers regarding activities and beliefs. The MEK’s internal relations were secret to the outside world until the early 2000s when a large number of members started defecting the group. The increasing process of defection resulted in huge revelations on the mysterious issues inside the MEK. Elizabeth Rubin of the New York Times Magazine, described the group’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq as “fictional world of female worker bees.” [7]
Alienation: Separation from family, friends and society, including a change in values and substitution of the cult as the new”family;”evidence of the subtle or abrupt personality changes. The latest example of an alienated member who was interviewed by BBC is Gholam Mirzai who has not seen his family for almost 40 years.”When Mirzai left to go to war against Iraq in 1980, he had a one-month-old son,”BBC reports.”After the Iran/Iraq war ended, his wife and other members of his family came to the MEK camp in Iraq to look for Mirzai. But the MEK sent them away, and told him nothing about their visit. This 60-year-old man never knew he was a much-missed father and husband until he made that first call home after 37 years.”[8]
“They didn’t tell me that my family came searching for me in Iraq,”he told BBC.”They didn’t tell me anything about my wife and son. All of these years I thought about my wife and son. Maybe they died in the war… I just didn’t know.”[9]
Exploitation: Can be financial, physical, or psychological; pressure to give money, to spend a great deal on courses or give excessively to special projects and to engage in inappropriate sexual activities, even child abuse. According to RAND report sponsored by the US Defense Department, members of the MEK are subjected to forced labor, sleep deprivation, mandatory celibacy. [10]
BBC’s account on the exploitation in the MEK states:
“Romantic relationships and marriage are prohibited by the MEK. It was not always like that – parents and their children used to join the Mujahideen. But after the bloody defeat of one MEK offensive by the Iranians, the leadership argued it had happened because the Mujahideen were distracted by personal relationships. Mass divorce followed. Children were sent away – often to foster homes in Europe – and single MEK members pledged to stay that way.”[11]
However, the most shocking issue on human rights abuses in the MEK is polygamy. Massoud Rajavi married dozens of female members of what is called the Elite Council in the MEK. He had sex with a large number of these women. The Guardian reported the horrible story of female victims of the MEK. Batul Soltani was sexually abused by Massoud Rajavi before she left the group. [12]
Besides, Female defectors Zahra Mirbagheri, Batul Soltani and Nasrin Ebrahimi revealed the list of a hundred women who underwent forced hysterectomy surgeries. They became barren under the order of the Rajavis. [13]
Totalitarian Worldview (we/they syndrome): Effecting dependence, promoting goals of the group over the individual and approving unethical behavior while claiming goodness. That’s why all defectors of the MEK are labeled as traitors and agents of the Islamic Republic. The group leaders indoctrinate the rank and file that”anyone who is not with us is against us”.
Hassan Heyrani, Gholam Mirzai and other defectors of the MEK –who live in Albania or any other side of the world speaking to the media about what they underwent in the cult-like system of the group—are accused of being spies of the Iranian Intelligence. [14]
“Now he scrapes by in the city, full of regrets and accused by his former Mujahideen comrades of spying for their sworn enemy, the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,”BBC write about Gholam Mirzai, the 60 year old former cult member. [15]
Rajavi’s totalitarian character allows him to have sex with dozens of female members of the group but members mustn’t even think about it.
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[2] MEK fits well into definition of cult, Mehr News Agency, February 8th, 2017
[3] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[4]ibid
[5] MEK fits well into definition of cult, Mehr News Agency, February 8th, 2017
[6] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[7] Rubin, Elizabeth, The Cult of Rajavi, The New York Times Magazine, July 13th, 2003.
[8] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[9] ibid
[10] Goulka, Jeremiah & Hansell, Lydia & Wilke, Elizabeth & Larson, Judith, The Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq, A Policy Conundrum, National Defense Research Institute, August 4th, 2009.
[11] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[12] Merat, Aron, Terrorists, cultists – or champions of Iranian democracy? The wild wild story of the MEK, The Guardian, November 9th, 2018.
[13] ibid
[14] Pressly, Linda & Kasapi, Albana, The Iranian opposition fighters who mustn’t think about sex, BBC News, November 11th, 2019.
[15] ibid
My name is Mohamamd Turang, I am from Qeshm Island.
Follow my story:
A delegation of former members of the Mujahedin Khalq attended a conference in the European Parliament.
On Thursday, November 21, a delegation of MEK defectors including Ghorban Ali Hosseinnejad, Isa Azadeh, Mohammad Karami, Reza Sadeghi Jebeli and Ali Akbar Rastgou attended the conference “Shrinking spaces: Policing humanitarianism and human rights defenders” held by the Greens in the European Parliament, Brussels.
The conference addressed how the criminalisation affects the rights of citizens and discuss ways to protect NGOs and human rights defenders. The speakers of the panels included a number of Greens MEPs and guest speakers such as experts and authorities of the Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.
Socializing with other participants, MEK defectors tried to describe the conditions of refugees who are behind the bars of the cult-like MEK establishment in Albania. They stated that the Cult of Rajavi (MEK/MKO) has deprived its members of their basic rights.
The defectors clarified that the MEK members do not enjoy the right of education, marriage, having family, contacting the outside world; they have no access to modern communication tools.
The audience were impressed by the human right violations that take place in the MEK. Responding to their questions, defectors informed them of the most recent conditions of dissident members who are inside the MEK camps and defectors who have left the group.
