Mohammad Reza Torabi

Don’t fall for the MEK’s smoke and mirror games

Following the Fox News statement on the support by 150 US lawmakers for the MEK, Former child soldier, Ray Torabi (Mohammad Reza Torabi) addressed the signatories of the resolution on his X account informing them that the MEK is “an outdated cult with no popular support inside Iran who try to stay relevant by spending their laundered money on buying fake support from politicians who have a price tag”.

Torabi wrote an exemplified first-hand account about the hypocritic and fraudulent approach of the MEK leaders since past until now:
Days prior to the 2003 invasion of Iraq by Coalition forces, MEK leader Massoud Rajavi had ordered all forces (approximately 3000 members) to station alongside the Iran-Iraq border. His strategy was that while Coalition forces are occupied with Saddam’s army, at the right time we will attack Iran and overthrow the mullahs’ regime! Yes it was a ridiculous strategy. One that could have led to the slaughter of all MEK forces, once and for all. But Rajavi was serious about it. Luckily the order never came and I live to tell the story. Once it was imminent that Saddam’s army had fallen and his troops had turned their backs on him and abandoned their stations, we began carrying out secret reconnaissance missions into Iraqi Army bases that had been completely abandoned. We were looking for tanks and military equipment, specifically T60s and T72s.

These tanks were then transferred to MEK bases in the dark hours of the night and quickly spray painted with MEK military codes and flags.

The goal wasn’t even to eventually use these tanks, the majority of which had gone through a self-demolition procedure by the crew prior to abandonment, but to show on paper that the MEK owned several thousand tanks. At the time, talks between the US Army and MEK officials had begun and Rajavi knew his army had to give up all of it weapons and surrender.

But it wanted to look strong on paper. And so we did. In a matter of days, we ended up adding several hundred more tanks to the MEK’s arsenal, which was then handed over to the US Army. Many of these tanks weren’t even operational anymore, but counted on paper as the MEK’S firepower. I remember that a few years later, in one of Rajavi’s meetings with all MEK members in Camp Ashraf, where he connected with us via audio, he listed the numbers of tanks and military vehicles and equipment we had handed over to the US Army and bragged that based on the number of tanks we “owned”, we were “the most powerful army in the Middle East”.

Today, it’s the same story. The MEK looks strong on paper. They spend the fortunes they accumulated during the 90s illegally selling Saddam’s oil in black markets on buying worn-out politicians to give paid speeches at their rallies and conferences. They collect signatures from members of Congress and parliamentarians across the world by using the names of fallen Iranian youths like Masha Amini, who had no association with the MEK, and write up fancy statements, but on the ground have no popular support. In fact, they are loathed by the Iranian people for the crimes they committed against their own countrymen during the Iran-Iraq War, where they sided with Saddam and betrayed their country.

They are consisted of some 2500 members around the world with the average age of almost 60. Their Marxist-Islamic ideology no longer sells in Iran and the younger generations don’t even know who they are.
But on paper, Maryam Rajavi is the self proclaimed leader of the “resistance”.

Don’t fall for their smoke and mirror games.

Did you know that in 1998, when I was 16 years old and awaited being sent to Iraq to join MEK ranks as a child soldier, a top NCRI/MEK official took me along with him on a trip to Arkansas, where we collected money (tens of thousands of dollars in cash) from MEK supporters to “purchase night vision goggles” for MEK’s teams infiltrating into Iran and carrying out military operations? It was illegal because at the time, the MEK was still on the US Foreign Terrorist Organizations list.
I don’t want to name him yet but it seems Fox News loves him.

Did you know that me and the other child soldiers who were recruited from Canada and the US in the late 90s by the MEK and sent to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, lived in NCRI headquarters in Washington DC the entire time? That’s where we were indoctrinated and eventually given illegal fake travel documents by MEK/NCRI officials, with which we were smuggled into Iraq.

That’s also where the MEK’s fake charity scheme, through which they laundered money, was being operated and controlled from.

MEK/NCRI leaders and officials talking about freedom and democracy and human rights is a joke. These people are criminals and must be tried in an international tribunal.

March 2, 2025 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Defeat of the MEK agents in another court

Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi, a former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), informed that the complaint of one of the MEK agents against him was defeated in court.

In 2017, after 18 years of membership in the MEK, Mohammad Reza Torabi left it and a while later, along with a number of other MEK children, shed light on his experience within the cult-like and violent nature of the group. They speak out about the atrocities of the MEK leaders against their own members.

On January 31, 2025, he announced on his account on the X social network that the complaint of one of the MEK supporters against him in a court in Germany was declared closed:
Some time ago, I announced that the MEK filed a legal complaint against me in an attempt to silence me. Today, the prosecutor declared the case closed due to the lack of necessary evidence from the plaintiff. This complaint was filed very cleverly by an MEK sympathizer in Germany. He had stated that I had publicly “slandered” him and declared him as “an MEK sympathizer”, when in fact he was not and the MEK is a “terrorist organization.” Therefore, the German police and prosecutors were obliged to seriously pursue the case. However, with a little searching, it became clear that this foolish supporter had forgotten that he himself had declared on his official account that “I am a Mujahed”. His real name, which was only revealed to me after the police received his official complaint, was also among one of the signatories of some MEK statements and declarations. With my submission of these documents, the entire case was declared closed in less than a month.

Mohammad Reza Torabi, who had previously received death threats from MEK agents, had firmly declared in a video to the leaders of the group that the more they threatened him, the more he would raise his voice and was willing to sacrifice his life for the truth so that the true nature of the MEK would be revealed to the Iranian people. He also announced in the continuation of this complaint that he would continue to fight against Massoud Rajavi’s cult:

But now it is my turn to file a complaint. Because he officially lied to the police in his complaint, and this is considered a serious crime in Germany. The irony of the matter is that he himself had used the hashtag #Please_Court in his tweet!

In his recent post, Torabi also explained the hypocritical tactics that MEK agents use on social media to attract users:
Finally, I will say from experience that someone swearing at the MEK and even calling them “terrorists” is not fundamentally proof that he is not a Mujahed or a supporter of the group. The MEK and their supporters are very hypocritical and far-fetched.

February 11, 2025 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Former MEK child soldier recounts the bitter story of his aunt

Maryam Banoo Torabi is a member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), which is known mostly through her brothers. She is the younger sister of Ghorban Ali Torabi and Nade Ali Torabi. Ghorban Ali was a dissident member of the People’s Mujahideen who was killed under the torture of the commanders of the organization, and Nade Ali is a member of the Nejat Society who has been appealing the blood of his brother and the release of his sisters from the bars of the Cult of Rajavi. But today, Maryam Banoo’s heart-breaking story is narrated through her nephew, Mohammad Reza Torabi.

Mohammad Reza Torabi, the son of Gurban Ali Torabi, the former child soldier of the MEK learned about the death of his father under the torture by his Mujahed comrades only after he left the group in 2017 and stepped into the free world. His life story has been recently welcomed by his audience on social networks.

In a thread of detailed tweets, Mohammad Reza Torabi tries to write an honest account of his personal experience with the MEK including his childhood, his father and mother during their involvement in the MEK cult. He writes about the killing of his father during the interrogation, imprisonment and torture within Rajavi’s cult in the years 1994 and 1995 in the headquarters of the group, in Iraq.

In the meantime, he made another revelation in response to a user’s question whether his aunts are still in the group’s headquarters in Albania:
Yes, unfortunately they still are. The story of one of my aunts is very heart-breaking. In fact, my younger aunt. During the interrogations of the MEK in Ashraf in 1995, she was also tortured a lot. And especially after hearing the news of my father’s death, she suffered from mental illness and trauma. During the time when I was in the MEK, my older aunt was always careful not to tell me anything about my father. She was not even allowed to talk to me about my father, that is, her elder brother. Curse the Mujahedin! My aunt was very kind and loving. She loved me much more than Zahra.”
Stating “Zahra”, Mohammad Reza Torabi means his mother. Zahra Seraj is his mother, who called him a traitor because of his revelations about the MEK’s violent and cult-like nature. Masoumeh Torabi is the older aunt of Mohammad Reza, who, along with Zahra Seraj, has repeated the lies of the MEK about the death of his father during all the years of Mohammad Reza’s presence in the group.

Mohammad Reza’s words about his younger aunt, Maryam Banoo, were previously said by another former member of the MEK. Maryam Sanjabi, one of the activists of Nejat Society, who herself experienced torture and interrogations in 1994 and 1995 in the MEK’s prison, writes about Maryam Banoo:
“During the months that I was in the MEK’s prisons located in Camp Ashraf, I continuously heard the screams of the tortured and imprisoned men and women, and I witnessed the double torture of Maryam Torabi. This lady was imprisoned in a solitary room for months. At night, she moaned, screamed and screamed until the morning because of the terrible pressure they put on her.”

Sanjabi continues her comments about Torabi family: “The evil leaders of the Cult of Rajavi have managed to force Masoumeh Torabi and Zahra Seraj to remain silent. But because of the violent acts that they committed against this oppressed lady (Maryam), She was psychologically damaged and became psychotic in the same year. Humiliation, insults and abuses of the cult officials against Maryam banoo Torabi did not end even after the end of the projects. She was constantly under control in the cult and was unable to do anything due to his physical disability caused by torture, but they forced her to do activities.”

Although Mohammad Reza Torabi has no connection with Nejat Society and probably with Maryam Sanjabi, the common point of these two people’s testimonies about Maryam Banoo Torabi is the suffering of an innocent woman who lost all her youth, prosperity, fertility and vitality in the clutches of the fences of the destructive cult of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi. There are many such testimonies that confirm each other from different aspects.

The story of Maryam Banoo Torabi is just one of thousands of unpleasant stories of people who were in some way connected with the MEK cult. With the help of media and social networks, these testimonies are multiplying and confirming each other. Awareness about the nature of the MEK is increasing day by day, and the testimonies and evidence are getting richer over time in order to be able to be presented in international forums.

By Mazda Parsi

May 26, 2024 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

Where is Massoud Rajavi?

Many people ask me about Masoud Rajavi. Mostly whether he is still alive or not. First, I must emphasize that my writings about Mujahedin (MEK) are based on my personal observations and experiences. If I have not seen or heard anything, I will not express it under the title of observation.

Talking about where Rajavi is in the MEK is prohibited. They told us that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence is looking for this information and anyone who talks about this issue is in line with the Ministry. This issue was a “red border” and we should not have approached it. My writing about this will surely make Rajavi’s dogs rabid.

First, a memory from my childhood, which shows a part of the brainwashing of children at that time. When I was 8 years old and I was with my parents at Camp Ashraf, my mother once asked me:
My son, who do you love more, mom and dad or uncle Masoud and aunt Maryam (the Rajavi couple)? I said, “uncle and aunt”.

My mother was happy to hear this and said congratulations. In later years, when I returned to Ashraf as a teenager, she told me this memory several times and said that she was proud of me at the time. Yes, the brainwashed Zahra wanted me to like her ideologic leader more than anything else.

My first contact with Rajavi was in 1999. When I went to Ashraf and my mother said that my father died. Then she said that from now on consider Rajavi as your father and send him the gold watch [The souvenir that he had brought his father from the United States]. I did the same. A month later, when I was in the reception section of the camp, Rajavi sent me a gift in response.

A colored glass with the Koran verse engraved on it. If you know the story of Aya Kowsar, you will understand the depth of Rajavi’s deception. He tortured and killed my father and then with this verse he told me that it is okay that you lost him, instead I gave you Maryam Rajavi and her ideological revolution. Damn Rajavi!

From 1999 to 2003, I met Rajavi in several meetings. We, the new members, were allowed to kiss him several times. In this video, I had just joined Ashraf, and in a meeting, Rajavi gave all the new members an icon and put it around our necks.
The last time I saw Rajavi was in March 2001. It was the days of Ashura [a religious ceremony] and, as always, there were ideological mass meetings. It was clear that America was going to invade Iraq and Rajavi had planned to attack Iran if the war started. I will write more about the 2003 war and the relationship with America later.

The war started and after the agreement between the US and the MEK was signed, all the members were gathered at Camp Ashraf. When the war started, Rajavi disappeared. To this day, he has not shown up publicly anywhere. But in the years after the war, every year we had some meetings with Rajavi, which were held in audio or written form.

In one of these meetings, Rajavi announced, with photos and videos, the unsuccessful missile attack of the coalition forces on his headquarters and even his bed. There were many speculations and rumors about Rajavi’s whereabouts in those years. Some said that he was in a hidden place in Ashraf. Some said that he was in an Arab country.

But I have never seen any concrete evidence in this regard. I only knew that he was alive. After I left the MEK, I followed the news of the MEK for a long time. Rajavi’s meetings with members continue. Yes, the evidence suggests that he is alive. On this year’s New Year, an audio message from him was broadcast on the MEK’s TV channel.

I will not put the link here, but if you search the following sentence on YouTube, you will find the video:
“Masoud Rajavi’s Nowruz Message 1403”

It is clear from his voice that he is very old and sick. But in my opinion, yes, it is his own voice.

I wish Rajavi will be alive and one day will be tried in an international court. In my opinion, he and Mujahedin have been dead for years. Maybe not physically, but politically and socially. Today, they are a rotten cult that shakes its tail every day for this and that and buys foreign support with money. But they are definitely over.

Ray Torabi’s account on X

May 5, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

My life experience with the Mujahedin-e Khalq

Mohammad Reza Torabi nicknamed “Ray”, former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) has recently published a thread in his personal account on X social network on his life experience with the group. He was a member of the MEK’s army for 18 years. He left the group after it was relocated in Albania.

Ray’s father Ghorbani Ali Torabi was killed under torture in the MEK’s prison. His mother Zahra Seraj is still a member of the Cult of Rajavi. She is not willing to contact Ray because she considers him a traitor who has left the group and speaks out against it.

Ray Torabi’s thread on X published on April 28th, 2024

This is Ray Torabi’s thread on X published on April 28th, 2024:
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the fate of some 1000 MEK children who were separated from their parents during the Gulf War and sent to European and American countries. As one of those children, I want to clarify some facts.

These children came to Iraq with their parents in the 1980s, specifically after the establishment of the National Liberation Army (MEK’s armed wing). Their parents joined MEK military units and the children were kept in daycares and boarding houses in Camp Ashraf.

During the week the children were kept in daycare and the parents received military training in separate units. Parents picked up their kids from the boarding house on Friday and stayed with them in housing units until Sunday morning when they were dropped off again.

With the start of MEK’s internal “ideological revolution” and after the implementation of mandatory divorces within its ranks, families were separated. The father would get the child one weekend and the mother the next.

With the start of the Gulf War and upon Massoud Rajavi’s orders, the children were separated from their parents and moved to Jordan. We were kept in different hotels until MEK found families for us abroad. Many of the children were moved to families of MEK supporters.

Some went to MEK boarding houses in European countries. These boarding houses had terrible conditions such as lack of food and physical abuse by MEK caretakers. Most of the children were smuggled into these countries illegally. I was 9 when I was smuggled to Canada.

Many, like myself, later faced complicated legal issues for immigration status because of this. I want to note that there was little to no supervision from MEK and many of us children were subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse in the families where we were placed.

In some cases MEK tried to cover up these crimes and silence the children. In the late 90s MEK emotionally manipulated and made hollow promises to some of the children, including myself, to move back to Iraq to be with our parents again. I will also write about this later.

It’s not easy to talk about the pain and suffering we’ve experienced. Hence you don’t hear from the others. Many of the children started new chapters in their lives, forgot their past, and moved on. Most of them don’t want anyone to know they were affiliated with the MEK.

Do you know how difficult it is for me to publicly say I was sexually abused in my childhood in Camp Ashraf and then in MEK headquarters in Canada by an MEK members/supporters? The other children don’t want to talk about these things and I respect their right not to.

There are very few of us who speak openly. I’ve overcome my past. I don’t feel guilty for what happened to me. I hold the MEK responsible. I found the courage to speak up and share the truth about my past openly and confidently.
The people of Iran must understand the crimes, deception, and evilness of the MEK. I have learned in the past 7 years, since leaving the MEK, that people only have a shallow understanding of this cult. I will do my best to reveal their lies, deception and evil.

I’m not afraid to speak up because I only speak the truth. Those who read my words will feel it with their hearts. And I am willing to testify every word I write in any court.

April 29, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

MEK threatened former child soldier to death

Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi was threatened to death by agents of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

Ray Torabi is a former child soldier of the MEK who defected the group in 2018 after 18 years of membership in the group. As a former child soldier whose right has been violated by the MEK leaders, he is a serious critic of the group and eventually he is often offended by the MEK’s agents.

On March 8th, sharing a video on his Facebook and Instagram accounts, Ray announced that he has been threatened to death several times:
Since days, MEK supporters are threatening me and my family. Today, another one of them called me for the second time and threatened me and my family in front of my wife and child. Luckily we recorded this one and have notified the police.

This is the price of telling the truth about an evil cult that poses as a legitimate Iranian opposition group, where in fact they are fundamentally no different from the Islamic republic and even worse. I hereby announce that my family and I hold the MEK and specifically Maryam Rajavi accountable and responsible for any harm done to me.

And to the MEK I say: you will not threaten and scare me into silence. I will raise my voice louder.
The time when you tortured, murdered and banished your critics in Iraq is long gone. This is Europe and your actions have legal consequences. Justice will be served.
Ray Torabi lost his father under the rule of the very MEK that he was serving in. However, he did not know about how his father died until after he left the group and other defectors of the group told him about the heart-braking fate of his father.

According to former members, Ghorban Ali Torabi refused to obey Massoud Rajavi’s order for forced divorce and other cult-like regulations of the group. During the 1994 to 1995, hundreds of members of the group were jailed, interrogated, tortured and killed because of their dissent against the rule of Rajavi.

His mother is still under the cult-like system of the MEK. The son of Ghorban Ali Torabi and Zahra Siraj, says that his mother gave him the label of being a mercenary of the Islamic Republic. Ray believes that his mother has been so brainwashed and deprived of human values by the destructive cult of Rajavi that she denies the love of her son.

In the MEK, the right to dissent is never respected and viewed as a healthy expression of democracy and freedom despite all the pro-democracy and pro-freedom gestures the group leaders take.

March 12, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Ray Torabi: People of Iran should hate the MEK more!

Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi, a former child soldier of the People’s Mujahedin Organization (PMOI/ MEK), once again spoke about his distressing experiences of captivity in this cult to inform Iranian people.

Having spent the best part of his youth, from the age of 16 to 35, in what he calls the “evil cult,” he lost his father under the torture by the cult’s leaders, and now he speaks of a mother who is has been terribly brainwashed by Masoud and Maryam Rajavi.

Ray Torabi, the son of Ghorban Ali Torabi and Zahra Siraj, says that his mother gave him the label of being a mercenary of the Islamic Republic. With a bitter smile, he calls his mother “the follower of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi” who has been so brainwashed and deprived of human values by their destructive cult that she seeks denies the love of her son.

Ray’s reaction to this difficult situation and the unpleasant news that his friend brought him from Albania, is reflected in his video message on hi8s Facebook account with a sense of sadness or resignation. His self-confidence helps him with the unkind words by the side of his mother.

As a matter of fact, he regards MEK leaders the criminals who have drained all human values from the hearts and minds of their members. He calls Maryam Rajavi “dishonorable” and “traitor” and not only considers her claims about human rights and democracy false, but also finds her deserving of trial and prison for her crimes against her members.

In the end, Torabi calls on the people of Iran to have a deeper understanding of the MEK and eventually hate this destructive cult more than before.

September 17, 2023 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Former child soldier of the MEK slam Maryam Rajavi

Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, slammed Maryam Rajavi over the likely victimization of his relatives in the group’s camp. The MEK’s headquarters in Albania was raided by the Police over charges of fraud, organized crimes and human rights abuse.
Ray Torabi whose father was also a member of the MEK and was killed by the group’s torturers is now concerned over the life of his mother and aunts who are still taken as hostages in the group, under the rule of Maryam Rajavi.

During the raid by the anti-terrorism and anti-corruption Police of Albania on Camp Ashraf 3 on June 20th 2023, camp residents clashed with police forces. Albanian state police entered the camp in accordance with the warrant of investigation issued by the Albanian Judiciary. They seized dozens of computers throughout the raid although they were violently confronted by the residents.
Following the clashes that led to injuries for both sides, Ray Torabi posted a video on social media to warn about the threat by the side of the MEK leaders and commanders against their own members. He criticized those who consider the Police’s legal action as human rights violation. “Exactly because it is a human rights case, MEK supporters should stop advocating this group,” he said.

As a former member of the MEK, Ray is completely aware of the atmosphere of the group’s camps. “The Mujaheds have no image of the outside world,” he says. “They are coerced to stand against the Police. This is what happened in Iraq too. The group commanders sent us to clash with Police forces. The pushed us toward Iraqi soldiers. We told them, ‘They are shooting us!’, but they replied, ‘they are practice bullets.’” In July 2009 and in April 2011, dozens of MEK members were killed, paralyzed and wounded because of the same scenario.
Ray asserts that he is more worried over the health of Ashraf residents than anyone else because his mother and his aunts (a sister of his mother and two sisters of his deceased father) are in the camp. “I feel pity for them very much because I know what is going on inside the camp.”

He declares that he wants to be the voice of MEK members against commanders and leaders of the group. “Maryam Rajavi! I consider you responsible for the blood and the life of Mujahedin!” he addresses the leader of the MEK.

He also warns the MEK’s sympathizers. He tells them, “Come to your senses! The scene is the same scene. The country and the continent have changed but the MEK is the same MEK as it was in Iraq. It is the same MEK with the same rotten ideology, with the same leaders and commanders who do not value the lives of their members.”
“They even seek more blood and bloodshed in order to find a bargaining chip at their negotiation table with the West,” former child soldier of the MEK states.

June 28, 2023 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Ray Torabi: Happy father’s day to the father I never had

Children of the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK/ PMOI) are victims of enormous traumas. Six years after his defection, Mohammad Reza (Ray) Torabi, a defector of the group and the son of GhorbanAli Torabi, a victim of the group lives in Germany. On May 18th, on the occasion of Father’s Day in Germany, Mohammad Reza published a post on his Facebook account and recounted his heart-breaking memoirs about his father who died under torture by the MEK commanders.

Mohammad Reza Torabi never got to know his father, Ghorban, while he was still alive. “Destiny separated me from him at a very young age,” he writes. “When I was 1 month old, my parents were arrested and imprisoned by the Islamic republic for opposing the regime and trying to flee Iran.”

He did not see his father during the first 7 years of his life but after the release of his father from prison a long period of separation started again, this time in the very organization that his parents were fighting for. He writes, “My parents decided to leave Iran and go to Iraq and join the MEK (a religious cult that then portrayed itself as an Iranian opposition organization fighting the regime).”

Mohammad Reza Torabi

Although Mohammad Reza has understandably strong feelings against the government of Iran, he confirms that he and his family are victims of the destructive Cult of Rajavi in which they experienced cult-like violence, military life and destruction of their family center.

“After the first 6 months in MEK camps in Iraq, where I only saw my parents on the weekends, the cult leader ordered all couples to divorce,” He recalls. “From then on, I never saw my parents together again. Once every couple of weeks I would visit Baba’s military unit and he’d show me around the tanks and artillery.”

Ghorbanali Torabi

This is the journey of the young Mohammad Reza under the rule of “criminal” Massoud Rajavi, in the MEK:
“When the first Gulf War began in 1991, Rajavi, the cult leader, ordered all the parents to send their kids away. The last memory I have of Baba is the last night we spent together alone without any electricity and under a candle light. (I love candle lights. To this day, I can stare into one for hours and get lost in my mind and memories). Neither of us knew it would be our last night together. Maybe he guessed it. But I thought I was going on a trip with the other kids and coming back.

“The last image of Baba in my mind is of him with a fake smile waving goodbye to the bus I was sitting in while tears were running down his face. I know now it was a fake smile because over the years I also learned to wear the same fake smile on my face.

“I was sent to Canada and for the first 2 years, Baba wrote me one letter every year. But then the letters stopped. Deep down I knew he was gone. I just felt it. I asked the foster family I was living with many times about news of him but each time received different answers. “Baba’s in a secret mission in Iran and he can’t write you letters”, they told me.
“But the truth was that in 1995, the MEK arrested Baba, my mom and around 200 other members of its own cult and accused them of spying for the regime. It interrogated and tortured them to sign a confession statement. Baba never gave in. For a week straight they took Baba every night for interrogations and tortured him until morning hours. His cellmates say that the last morning they brought him back to the cell, his face wasn’t recognizable from the bruises and swelling and his body was covered with blood. That day Baba hanged himself with a blanket in the shower of their cell so that he wouldn’t have to bear the torture anymore. After all, he was trapped in a MEK camp in the middle of a desert in Iraq and no one could hear his voice. MEK cowards took his body and buried him in an unknown location without a tombstone. He was 39 years old. 2 years younger than me now.

“Baba suffered a lot of pain and hardships throughout his short life. But he left something behind that will carry on his name and legacy. Me. People who knew him tell me how much I resemble him. And the more I get to know him, the more I realize how much I’m like him in character as well.

“Until the day I’m alive, Baba’s legacy will live on. I too, like Baba will fight for the freedom of my country Iran. But I will also fight for justice. Those within the MEK responsible for his death will one day face justice in a criminal court. I will not forgive, and I will not forget.

“There’s still a lot that I don’t know about my Baba. But one thing I’m certain of is that he was a great man with a beautiful heart that I’m incredibly proud of.”

Mohammad Reza Torabi is only one of the hundreds of MEK children who lost their parent, family life and eventually family support due to Rajavi’s criminal cult. There are also a large number of former child soldiers and young orphans whose parents are still alive but isolated in the MEK’s camp in Albania. They are not allowed by the group leaders to contact their parents. Besides, parents will be punished by the group leaders if they try to contact them. There are also dozens of children of Mujahed parents who are taken as hostages inside the Cult of Rajavi. Unlike Mohammad Reza, they have not succeeded to leave the group.

Human rights organizations should notice the stories of these children. They are victims of violence of the Cult of Rajavi. Violation of human rights should be stopped in Camp Ashraf 3 in the village of Manez, Albania.

May 29, 2023 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Ray Torabi’s message on the occasion of his 40th birthday

Ray (Mohammad Reza) Torabi, former child soldier of the Mojahedin-e Khalq shared a post on his Facebook account on the occasion of his 40th birthday:

Mohammad Reza Torabi

“When I was 17, after 8 years of separation from my parents, I finally met my biological mother. Unfortunately, the condition of our meeting was that I had to leave Canada and go to Iraq to meet her, where she was a member of an Iranian opposition organization (turned out to be a religious cult). She told me that my father had passed away some years before as a result of a heart attack, which he suffered in his sleep. He was 39 at the time of his death.
I ended up staying in this organization for many years, and oh the stories…
But in all those years, I always believed that I, like my father, would one day die of a heart problem while in my bed. Although I was literally in the middle of war with so many life-threatening situations, nothing scared me quite like the idea of dying in my bed before even turning 40.
I wouldn’t be lying if I said that I thought about it hundreds of times over the years.
But the years went by and as is the rule of life, the truth surfaced and I realized that my biological mother had lied to me regarding the facts surrounding my father’s death and that he didn’t die of a heart attack and that he was murdered by the same organization he sacrificed his life for. That’s a story for another day.
But I turned 40 today. A year older than my father. And although life hasn’t been so kind to me, I’m grateful for every day of it. With all its ups and downs, sweet and bitter moments, pains and sufferings and the challenges that turned me into the resilient, humble, compassionate, forgiving, kind… Human that I am.”

Mohammad Reza Torabi in his youth

Mohammad Reza, nicknamed Ray, is a former child soldier of the MEK who left the group four years ago after 18 years of enduring the cult-like system of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. He did not know that his father was a victim of torture in that very organization until he left the group. Ray Torabi is one of the several former child soldiers of the MEK who are speaking out against the group’s brainwashing structure. In response to Ray’s questions about the death of his father, the MEK propaganda made his biological mother and his aunt write against him labeling him as agent of the Iranian government. However, Ray did not give up and continued speaking out about his experience of involvement with the Cult of Rajavi.

Amir Vafa Yaghmaee

His Facebook post on the occasion of his birthday was warmly welcomed by his audience. He was widely encouraged by former members of the MEK and his current friends to bravely share his stories. Amir Yaghmai, another former child soldier of Rajavi’s army addressed Ray by writing:
You are one of the most humble guys I’ve met. Our background could have turned us into strange personalities with the lack of social adaptation. Fortunately, most of us made it quite well and we became good souls.

Amir Nematollahi

Among the numerous comments on Ray’s post, the one from Amir Nematollahi, former operative agent of the MEK is also remarkable:
Life has thrown its fair share of obstacles in your way from a young age, before our paths even crossed, and I have only been able to witness the strength you carry for a short amount of time. But in those three years, you have managed to inspire more than any quote, self-help book, or words of wisdom could ever do, because you get out of bed every morning, face life and all of its challenges head on, while still managing to keep your head up, and live life to the fullest. I am truly grateful to know you and your life story inspired me in many ways stay strong and I assure you that your father would have been so proud of what you become and who you are…by the way happy birthday.

May 28, 2022 0 comments

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