Issa Azadeh, a former commander of the Mujahedin Organization (MEK), who currently resides in France, attended the 23rd session of the court investigating the charges against the MEK leaders and expressed his observations of the crimes committed by the leaders of the group.
Isa Azadeh was a high-ranking member of the MEK for over 30 years. He left the group in 2003 after the US army disarmed the group in Iraq.
Taking the stand in the court of hearing on November 19th, he introduced himself as saying:
“I am a former official and commander and executive director of the MEK. What I will testify in this court today is about the painful incident of August 28, 1988 and the killing of President Mohammad Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Dr. Bahonar.”
He testified about the agent of the MEK who detonated the bomb in the Prime Minister’s office. He explained about him: “In terms of character, Baqer was a person who appeared to be completely religious, and the form and method of holding his religious rituals were completely different from ours.”
Baqir used to work in the same unit that Azadeh was working. After a while Baqer disappeared. Isa Azadeh had no news of him. The meeting to coerce members to divorce their spouses have already started. In the lower ranks many members had not divorced their spouses yet. Baqer was one of them.
Isa Azadeh said about Baqer: “Out of curiosity, we always wondered where Baqir was? Until someone told me that Baqir had said in the meetings that he would not divorce his wife because he loved his wife. Rajavi had personally talked to him, but he was not convinced to obey.”
“The ideological revolution” or forced divorce meeting were held with the presence of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. The main topic of such meetings was divorce. “Sometimes there were husbands and wives present,” Azadeh said. “A very offensive language was used between wives and husbands.”
This time the meeting was particularly held to punish Baqer for his disobedience. The eyewitness of the MEK’s trial told the judge what he had seen in the hall:
“Rajavi entered with Maryam Qajar [Rajavi], they sat in the front scene and announced that the hero of the Mujahedin’s Liberation Army, brother of the Mujahedin, Massoud Kashmiri to come over. This was a military order.
As soon as he went to the microphone, the former Baqer and now Massoud Kashmiri, whose real name was revealed there, said: “Forgive me, brother, forgive me! I did not understand, I made a mistake, and other terms that were used in the organization.”
Azadeh recalls that Massoud Rajavi said, “Sisters and brothers! I introduce to you the brother and the hero of the People’s Mujahideen, Massoud Kashmiri, who blew up the Prime Minister’s office.” Maryam Rajavi said, “Did you take the bag?” She said, “Yes, sister.” He said, “Did you put it in the same place where you were told to put?” Baqir said, “Yes, sister.”
Azadeh continued: “That night became known in the organization as Baqer’s Night, because later it was a lever of power in Rajavi’s hands that he could mention when necessary. Now why did Baqir ask Rajavi for forgiveness so much? Because this person had asked to leave the group a few months earlier. Rajavi has never publicly claimed responsibility for the operations of June 27th and August 28th, 1988. Of course, he has made some references from time to time, but he has not publicly stated this explicitly.”
According to Isa Azadeh, “Because in the classification of terrorist acts, the two operations of June 27th and August 28th 1981 are classified as deadly operations that, if exposed and proven, could pose an existential threat to Rajavi’s terrorist organization. The level of such operations in terms of danger and existential threat to the terrorist organization is very high.”
Based on Azadeh’s testimonies, under the order of Massoud Rajavi, a fake passport was prepared for Massoud Kashmiri. He was allegedly sent to England. But from the summer of 1989 to this day, the name of Masoud Kashmiri (Baqer) has not been mentioned in the MEK.