Personal Rights of Members in the MEK

Meeting with an official in the Albanian UNHCR (RAMSA)

In a meeting between the UNHCR in Tirana – Refugee and Migrant Services in Albania – and Sahar Family Foundation, an official spoke about the situation of the families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK aka Rajavi cult) and the former members of the group. He told Sahar that there are currently around 230 MEK members who wish to separate from the organization in Tirana. Some of them are kept in a location in the Port of Dorsa in Albania by the MEK.

These individuals, despite Maryam Rajavi’s threats and promises, refuse to stay with the cult under any circumstances and are determined to gain their freedom no matter what the cost. Maryam Rajavi has threatened that they will not get any allowances once they leave. Clearly the cult wishes to keep them from having any contact, even visual contact, with the current members because it is feared their presence in Tirana living outside the organization would negatively affect the remaining members, leading to more disaffection.

In the meeting, Sahar explained to the official that there are currently some 240 individuals living outside the group for whom the MEK had previously made an agreement with the UNHCR to distribute their allowances. However, some time ago the cult started to cut this allowance for some individuals using various excuses. Now the MEK has told all these individuals that it will no longer pay anything to anyone anymore. This move has provoked strong objections and complaints among the former members. It has also flagged up serious concerns in the government and among the citizens of Tirana who are sensitive to the bizarre behaviour of this group.

The official explained that RAMSA will hold an urgent meeting this month to deal with the situation of the former members and said he was hopeful that positive decisions would be made to support those who had left the MEK in Tirana. The MEK had already informed RAMSA that they will not pay anything to those who have left the organization.

The other matter discussed, which they seemingly knew about, was that some current members of the group, although they have signed loyalty agreements to stay with the MEK, have insisted that they will leave the group if there is any talk about moving to another isolated location similar to Ashraf Garrison in Iraq. The official confessed that the MEK is experiencing a dreadful situation in Tirana and that conditions are getting worse day by day and are becoming unbearable for the members.

Accepting the risk of not being able to return to Paris, Maryam Rajavi made her second trip to Albania to sort out the catastrophic situation of the group and ease the internal tensions and persuade people to move to the remote base.

Everyone who is even slightly familiar with the situation of the Rajavi cult in Albania agrees that the MEK is very rapidly falling apart. Many have witnessed that during the past year more deleterious developments have occurred inside the group than in all those years in Iraq, and many believe that this is due to the efforts made by the families and the former members.

Reports indicate that the recent meeting between Maryam Rajavi and the American senators in Tirana took place because of the recent unexpected deterioration of the organization’s situation in Albania. And that it was also due to pressure from the Albanian government which has complained that the promises made by America previously had not been fulfilled. It is reported that the Senators’ meeting was a kind of impeachment of Maryam Rajavi for not controlling the members and for allowing concerns to be raised throughout Albania.

September 5, 2017 0 comments

Letter of the families of MEK members residing in Albania

To the UNHCR, and the Albanian Ministry of the Interior

With regards

As you are aware, we have waited for many years for the opportunity to visit our loved ones who are held captive inside the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult). We have communicated many, many times with various national and international organizations. But so far, we have had not received any reply indicating that we do have the right to meet with our relatives. Many fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who desired to visit their loved ones have passed away without being able to do so.

With reference to the abusive nature of the Rajavi cult, as evidenced by many former members, and the fact that the members are subject to psychological manipulation, we urge you to respect our basic humanitarian rights and let us visit our loved ones. We also urge you to let our loved ones, held captive inside the cult, know about and benefit from their international and financial rights. You already know that these individuals, who are victims of a destructive mind-control cult, are deprived of their basic rights.

Over the past few years, many members of the Rajavi cult have been able to break through the mental as well as physical boundaries and step back into the normal world and are now living freely in Iran or other countries. These individuals have exposed the brutal relationship inside the cult and have met with international bodies and have written to the press and been active on the internet to talk about this.

This includes members of the Rajavi cult who had been sent into Iran to conduct violent terrorist operations but who changed their minds after being arrested and learned about the nature of their deeds. They have spoken out against the MEK and condemned the group for brainwashing its followers in order to get them to commit crimes. These former members enjoyed amnesty afterwards and went back to normal life.

Officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have stated on many occasions that: “those who did not participate in armed struggle and did not commit murder can freely come back to Iran provided they have rejected the cult”. Over the years, many individuals have left the group and returned to Iran and resumed a normal life and were not prosecuted unless they had committed ordinary small offenses.

The attitude of the Islamic Republic towards the MEK members is that they have been deceived by the cult leaders and are therefore themselves victims, needing help from outside. According to Islamic teachings they must be treated in such a way that they are able to return to normal life with their families.

We, the families of the members captured mentally and physically inside the Rajavi cult, urge you prepare the grounds for our loved ones to be able to have access to their families and to the outside world and to be able to know what is going on in the world and decide freely what they would like to do and to choose their own futures.

Kind Regards,

Families of MEK members

August 29, 2017 0 comments

Albania Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Meeting an official in the Albanian Ministry of Internal Affairs

An official in the Ministry of Internal Affairs in Tirana meeting with Sahar Family Foundation spoke about the situation of the families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) and the former members of the group. He said that currently there are around 240 separated MEK members living outside the organization in Tirana. They are known persons and are in contact with the Ministry and the Police. Since their number is growing rapidly there is growing concern in the current Albanian administration what to do with them.

He said that Albania had been very much against the MEK being transferred from Iraq to Albania as the government was aware that no other country would accept them. At that time, the US administration gave guarantees that their presence in Albania would not cause any problems or difficulties whatsoever. However, it seems that there is now trouble on the way.

This official stated that the MEK has prepared a facility outside Tirana with high walls and strong gates and has urged government officials seven or eight times to move all the members there. This has been rejected. The organization must understand that the situation it imposed on members in Iraq cannot be restored in this country and indeed international observers are quite worried about the internal relations of the group and are eager to learn more about this.

The official emphasized that so far, 15 letters from the families who traveled to Albania to visit their loved ones inside the organization have been delivered to them. But in all these cases the MEK replied that the individuals do not wish to receive the letters. This matter of course raises some concern about what is going on inside the group.

He said that the authorities know the group has adopted a hostile attitude towards the families trying to visit their loved ones inside the group and he has read reports by the police in this regard. He mentioned that the MEK leaders appear to be trying to establish a government-like system, similar to what they practiced in Iraq, which is not acceptable.

The official expressed his hope that the MEK would arrange appointments for the members to visit with their families. He also stated that it was possible that the organization would move to the newly prepared facilities within months, but under conditions that the government has outlined. Their unnatural presence inside the city has raised some trepidation amongst the citizens.

About those former members who tried to leave the country illegally and are now held in custody in neighboring countries such as Bosnia-Herzegovina, he expressed his regret and said that unfortunately it is very difficult to help them since they have committed offenses.

August 27, 2017 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Warning about threats against the families and former MEK members

Ministria e Punëve të Brendshme

Dëshmorët e Kombit Boulevard, Tirana, Albania

Dear Mr Dritan Demiraj,

As you are aware, over 2,000 members of a terrorist cult known as the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, NCR, NLA …) are residing in your country as UN refugees. These individuals are subjected to all kinds of cultic abuses and restrictions, including deprivation of family contact and visits.

To date, some 100 individuals have separated from this cult. They remain in Albania, but under an agreement made between the UNHCR and the MEK leaders, their UN refugee allowances are still paid directly to the Rajavi cult instead of to them as individuals. This diversion of the funds meant to cover their living expenses means that they remain under the control of the cult.

In addition, inside the MEK there are also some 100 individuals who we know want to leave but who are prevented from doing so due to the extreme measures of control imposed on the members. Some of these individuals are even kept in solitary confinement inside the cult.

Recently, Maryam Rajavi – the de facto leader of the cult after Massoud Rajavi’s disappearance – again made a trip to Albania to try to prevent members from leaving. In a meeting, she implicitly threatened those who want to leave. We know that her arrival in and departure from Albania is arranged to avoid her undergoing passport control procedures at the airport. During Rajavi’s visit, Ms Elona Gjebrea, Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs responsible for anti-trafficking, participated in a cult meeting and expressed her full support for the terrorist group.

Lately an article was published in a website associated with the cult which threatens the families of members and the former members with death. Naturally, this caused a great deal of concern amongst them. In this article those who have left the organization and those who wish to visit their loved ones are defined as traitors and therefore, according to the cultic theories of this group, liable to summary execution. The Albanian government’s neglect and appeasement of this terrorist group has given them an open hand and has encouraged them to openly threaten people with death by assassination.

We also learned that the terrorist Rajavi cult has prepared facilities 27 kilometers outside Tirana so that it can move all the members to a remote and isolated place similar to Ashraf garrison in Iraq. There it is planned to hide them from external observation, inspection or intervention and deprive them of their liberty, basic human rights and prevent them from having any access to the outside world.

Unfortunately, we are also witness to brutal behavior by the Albanian government and police towards the families. The families come to Albania to visit their loved ones. Where on earth is visiting loved ones considered a crime so that in your country these suffering families have been interrogated by the police and been treated as criminals after being beaten up by the cult’s mobs?

The separated members of the Rajavi cult in Albania have complained to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and to the UNHCR many times about the misconduct and criminality of the cult toward themselves, the members and others. The response so far, however, is for each to hold the other body responsible for neglecting their legal duty.

Sahar Family Foundation warns against allowing death threats against the families and the separated members and will hold the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police and security forces responsible for the deeds of the cult’s elements and reserves the right to pursue cases through legal assemblies and international organizations.

Respectfully Yours,

Sahar Family Foundation

August 15, 2017 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Brainwashed, threatened, loved, Why people stay in the cult of Rajavi?

Based on testimonies of survivors of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization ( the MKO/ MEK/ the Cult of Rajavi) there have been two ways to get trapped in the cult. First group –mostly joined the cult of Rajavi in the beginning years of its foundation—were inspired by their high ideals which finally lured them into the cult and the second group –most recently recruited—were lured into the group by the fraudulent recruitment methods that promised them a better life, including job, wealth and citizenship of the European countries.

Once the person is surrounded by the oppressive controlling system of the MKO, what restrains him from leaving it? Alex Stein’s “Terror, Love and Brainwashing”, is helpful to realize how cults work. The MKO is one of the cult-like systems that she investigates. Her studies helps her prove that the relationship between a follower and the cult guru is often a “disorganized” attachment. The contradictions is detected between the “apparent kindness” of the cult leader –as it is usually seen in the appearance of Maryam Rajavi— and the confusion and the unhappiness members endure in the oppressive atmosphere of the cult.

According to Alex Stein’s personal experience and her later researches, live-in members of cults like the ones of the MKO cult, who are socially isolated, will lose their family, friends and all attachments of a normal life. She calls these individuals as “total converts”. This causes their unwillingness to leave the cult and its doctrine.

Members of the Cult of Rajavi are not only immersed in the beliefs of the cult but, they are totally immersed in the cult itself. As Alex explains, “Processes of brainwashing rest on the creation of stress or threat with no escape other than the apparent (un)safe haven of the group.” This is exactly the atmosphere ruling the MKO members in the group camps formerly in Iraq and in France and Albania now. Self-criticism meetings, permanent supervising of a hierarchical system, mandatory working schedule, sleep deprivation, forced celibacy are all tools to maintain the stressful, threatening structure.

“This results in a state of terror that causes a dissociative state resulting from a disorganized bond to the leader, or the group as proxy. The hyperobedient and hypercredulous deployable follower existing in this airless world gripped by an iron band of terror can be asked to engage in acts they would not have previously done, nor, once out of the group, would they do in the future,” states Alex Stein.

This way, members are gradually driven to engage in acts they would not have done before their involvement in the totalist system of the cult. For examples, acts of terror, suicide and self-immolation committed by the MKO operatives are numerous in the official history of the group published by different sources including the US State Department, The Human Rights Watch and the RAND Corporation etc.

According to Stein, “A totalist system is formed and controlled by a charismatic authoritarian leader. It is a rigidly bounded, dense, hierarchical and isolating system supported and represented by a total, exclusive ideology. The leader sets in motion processes of brainwashing or coercive persuasion designed to isolate and control followers. As a result followers are able to be exploited, and potentially become deployable agents, demonstrating uncritical obedience to the group, regardless of their own survival needs.”

Alex Stein names Massoud and Maryam Rajavi in the list of totalitarian cult leaders who forbid the formation of any attachments –even imaginary or internal—because they consider it a fundamental threat to the emotionally and disorganizing attachment that they themselves have imposed on members. She writes, “Maryam Rajavi of the Iranian political cult the Mojahedin-e khalq, acted as a kind of front of the leader, Massoud Rajavi, and was known as the group’s “Ideological Mother”.

In Terror, Love and Brainwashing, Stein presents an approach to understanding the profound effect of manipulative processes. Based on her book, it may take even the most courageous and the most intelligent people years to leave or to escape a totalitarian system. That’s why one may find a large number of educated, clever people among the survivors and even currently members of the Cult of Rajavi.

“This goes beyond the idea that simply teaching ‘critical thinking skills’ is enough. While that is, of course, important, we also should be teaching about the specific kinds of mechanisms that interrupt the ability to think critically,” she concludes.

By Mazda Parsi

August 3, 2017 0 comments

Albania

For the attention of former MEK members in Albania: What is to be done?

Where does the UNHCR refugee allowance of individual MEK members go?

One humanitarian issue which the international humanitarian and human rights organizations unfortunately totally ignore, of course for political interests, is the situation of former MEK (Mojahedin-e Khalq,Rajavi Cult) members in Albania.

According to a deal made in Geneva between the UNHCR and the MEK, the entire refugee allowances due to individual MEK members who are resident in Albania is being paid to the MEK leaders to be spent as they wish and not paid to the individual members for their personal support.

During Saddam Hussein’s era in Iraq, Massoud Rajavi used to receive per head allowances from the Iraqi government. Rajavi used to exaggerate the number of individuals in his organization in order to get more money. Even those living in Europe and America or even the dead were included in the list. Members were brought into Iraq for training sessions or meetings and their arrival was registered, but their departure was not and by doing so the numbers for claiming payments was increased.

At the present time, the Rajavi cult has included even those who have defected the organization and those living outside Albania in the list it gives to the UNHCR. In this way, it receives extra refugee payments. It also means that those who have left the organization do not receive the allowance they are entitled to. In the cult’s list, there are some who have left the cult and even gone back to Iran, but the MEK still gets their allowances. It is doubtful that the UNHCR does not know about this.

Before members were transferred to Albania from Iraq, the Rajavi cult insisted that members sign letters asking for their monthly allowance to be paid directly to the MEK instead of to them as individuals. These letters were in English, so most members are unaware of the content of what they signed. And of course, those who have subsequently separated from the MEK are also included in this scheme. Such members were intent on gaining security and freedom and wrote and signed anything so they could escape their current circumstances in Iraq.

By this trick, the Rajavi cult managed to keep control of everyone wishing to leave the organization. What can someone do in an alien country, without any facilities, no job or money and not knowing the language? To those who leave the MEK, the cult only pays half the amount available to them as refugees, which does not cover even their most basic necessities. They are forced to depend on the MEK for housing and food. The allowances of some of these dissenting members have been cut on the false pretext that they contacted their family in Iran which, according to the cult, is equal to contacting the Iranian regime.

The other trick used by the Rajavi cult, which is always used inside the organization for controlling the members, is to place spies everywhere to report the conversations and actions of the others. These individuals in Albania get more allowances than the others even though everyone is entitled to the same amount. The same thing used to be done in the TIPF in Iraq to create differences between the defectors and generate an atmosphere of distrust amongst them.

Lawfully, the UN or the UNHCR have no right to have any direct relationship with organizations. No group can be considered as refugees, in particular if it is a political organization and even worse a terrorist cult. The UN or the ICRC or any other official international organization cannot play the role of benefactor for any organization against a country which is a member of the UN. The use of US gangs today, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq in the past, created from the MEK in which the members are considered individually as refugees is unlawful and against the regulations of the UN.

The UNHCR must deal with each refugee in person. The relationship of the UNHCR with the Rajavi terrorist cult is in contradiction to the UN’s internal regulations and is not acceptable. Of course in the past, in Iraq, the UN and the UNHCR committed this breach of rules both in Ashraf garrison and in Liberty camp. Even if refugees rescind their right to receive the allowance directly and ask for it to be passed to someone else, the UNHCR should not agree to this.

At the present time, regarding the advantage given to the cult by the UN, the members and the former members are alike under the control of the cult. They are all forced to obey the demands of the cult leader.

Maryam Rajavi has told those wishing to leave the organization: “do not suppose our hands are tied here in Albania”. She has emphasized that: “here is the land of the Pentagon and we are part of the Pentagon and our power now is even greater than when we were in Iraq under Saddam Hussein”, and by saying so she wanted to prevent members from leaving the group and tried to cover up her cult’s present weaknesses.

Once again it is worth noting that withholding or reducing a refugee’s allowance by the MEK is against the law, particularly when the cult asks them to spy on others and write and sign whatever is wanted to establish the payments.

The present situation in Albania

For some time now anti-corruption activities have escalated in the country. For some months this year the parliamentary representatives of the Democratic Party refused to attend the assembly and boycotted the parliament. They demanded that the Prime Minister resign before the election since he might cheat. The parliament has appointed its speaker as the new President. He has announced that the election must go ahead but has given no guarantees to the opposition. The ambassadors of the US and western countries say that the elections, with or without the Democrats, must be held on the 18th June.

In the next few weeks some demonstrations and even street conflicts are expected in Albania since the Democrats have been ignored by the west but they have popular support and it seems there might even be violent clashes. The latest news is that the government and the opponents have reached an agreement but they did not reveal its contents. There is a possibility that they postpone the elections in order to sort things out beforehand.

One internal problem in Albania is corruption. The Albanian deputy interior minister Elona Gjebrea is an MEK lobbyist who is also devoted to the Neocons in the US. She has recently visited the UK in her role as the Albanian anti-trafficking coordinator. She was invited to the US before that and she follows US policy in this regard. Even the Albanian media is dissatisfied with her and question whether she is a deputy minister in the Albanian government or the MEK lobby, in particular when the elections are ahead.

A link to one example of protest against the deputy interior minister of Albania, who even says “I am a Mojahed-e Khalq”, can be read below.

A po fusin terroristët e njohur si “muxhahedinë” deputetë në parlamentin shqiptar?

The American paper Huffington Post has also written about Elona Gjebrea – responsible for countering slavery in Albania – giving support to Maryam Rajavi’s modern slavery. This has also been covered by the Albanian media. This article can be read in the link below.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/albanias-anti-trafficking-coordinator-elona-gjebrea_us_591c7b35e4b0da7850311cc8?ncid=engmodushpmg00000004

The translation of the above mentioned article in the Albanian press can be reached in the link below.

Elona Gjebrea përgëzon Marjam Raxhavin për mbajtjen e skllevërve modernë në Tiranë

When the Albanian government of Edi Rama agreed to host the MEK, an agreement was reached that no cost and no problem would ensue for the country and that everything would be under the supervision of the UNHCR. The agreement indicates that responsibility for all the members is with the UN and there should be no burden left on the shoulders of the people of Albania. The US promised the Albanian government that the MEK members transferred to Albania would all be under control.

What to be done?

One of the things can be done is that the former members show in different ways that they are not controlled by the cult and they are free. By doing this the promise made by the US to the Albanian government that everyone transferred into the country is under the control of the MEK and there is no need for direct involvement of Americans and Albanians, is broken. The same thing happened in Iraq and the US had to establish TIPF for the separated members with separate costs.

The former members in Albania do recognize that although the cult has taken away their UNHCR allowances, but at the same time it is very afraid of their freedom of action, particularly interviewing the press. They would even pay more if there is a chance of media coverage on these issues. Therefore, the formers can be encouraged to adopt a more active role instead of their present passive part.

The Rajavi cult has given letters to some former members stating that their allowances would be cut on the excuse that they have contact with the Iranian regime and has even published these letters in the cult’s websites. These are documents which could be used against the MEK and the UNHCR and even the Albanian government which must be held responsible for it. The Rajavi cult has exploited these individuals for their whole life and now refuses to pay them their minimum rights. The MEK should not be the intermediary for this payment.

The will of the former members is that a center under the supervision of the UNHCR and the Albanian government be established to deal with the refugees individually and not as a group. This wish must find its way into the media in the country. The former members can approach the UNHCR in Tirana and ask them why there is a breach of law and why their affairs have been left for the cult to deal with. They can give the result of their activities to the media to inform Albanian public opinion.

Any media pressure by the former members in English or Albanian on the UNHCR – which has illegally given their allowances to the MEK – and on the Albanian government, particularly the interior ministry which has become a lobby for the cult, will be useful and would have an effect on the elections.

The Rajavi terrorist cult has a pressure lever called the UN allowances, and of course the former members have an even more useful lever which is the public opinion and the special situation of the cult in Albania before the elections which can help them to gain their rights from the MEK.

Please let us know your opinions.

saharfamily@yahoo.com

May 29, 2017 0 comments

Albania

Letter to the Head of the UN High Commissioner

Dear Mr. Filippo Grandi,

I am Mohammadvali Gholizadeh. I am the father of Ali. I ask your Excellency to help our dear children who are under the severe mental and physical control of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult.

The Cult’s leaders have denied us to have a visit or even have a short contact with each other now for long years.

After the MKO members relocated to Albania, the UNHCR entitled a monthly payment for each MKO member. However the MKO Cult put our children under pressure and do not give them the money they are entitled to. They put our children under severe pressure and give them a very small amount of that financial support in order that they do not be able to leave the group and repatriate to Iran.

I beg you to consider our plea and compliant. I ask you to facilitate a condition that the financial support be given directly to our children in order not to be used as a pressure tool against them by the MKO cult leaders. Please help our children to be able to decide for their own fate freely.

I ask you to help me as an ailing, aged father who has suffered a lot waiting to see his dear son once more.

Sincerely Yours,

May 28, 2017 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The MKO, a destructive cult of confession

You might have heard about or have seen the pictures of mass suicide of cult members in the United States like Jamestown and Davidians or you might see the news of suicide bombers of Taliban and ISIS in the Middle East every day. The victim-attackers of such incidents are all grown up under certain systems with same criteria. The system is considered a cult. Typical characteristics of cults are based on true accounts taken from testimonies of their victims, carefully studied by cult experts. The result of studies has ended with the crucial conclusion that the Mujahedin khalq Organization fits all criteria of a destructive cult.

Based on numerous evidences, the MKO was one of the first groups to commit suicidal terror acts against civilians. Besides, several group members committed self-immolations in European capitals to protest the arrest of their co-leader Maryam Rajavi by the French police, in June 2003. Two of the self-immolators died and the others became paralyzed forever. But, what is going on in the cult “milieu” that leads its followers to commit such violent acts against themselves and others?

Robert Jay Lifton is an American psychiatrist and author of a book titled “Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism”. Dr. Lifton conducted a thorough study of American returned POWs to discover the process used to reform their thinking. Though his focus was on prisoners of war the criteria carry over to the cult mind control model executed in other cult-like systems including the Mujahedin Khalq that is better to be called “the Cult of Rajavi”.

Coincidently, some of the Iranian POWs of the Iran-Iraq war were deceived by the recruiters of Cult of Rajavi. They were not released even after the exchange of POWs following the end of the war .At first, newly recruited ones saw the leaders of the MKO as friendly and supportive compared with Iraqi officials. It took them a while to find out that they got trapped in a horrible controlling system.

This is what Dr. Lifton calls Milieu Control. Milieu is the environment in which we live. It includes all our interactions on a daily basis. It includes the information we take in and the information we give out. It includes the people, places, events, and ideas that pass through our daily life. For a member of the Cult of Rajavi the milieu is restricted to their superior authorities in an hierarchy on top of which the Rajavis rule and their peers who are not reliable ones but they are rivals who have to watch you, spy you and report your deeds. The place, events and ideas are all those that the Rajavis define for members. This milieu implies isolation and solidity of thought that according to Lifton paves the way for “a thought reform milieu”. Actually, “thought reform” is an academic equivalent term for brainwashing.

Lifton suggests, “Through this milieu control the totalist environment seeks to establish domain over not only the individual’s communication with the outside (all that he sees and hears, reads or writes, experiences, and expresses), but also – in its penetration of his inner life – over what we may speak of as his communication with himself.”

He seems to be describing the milieu of Camp Ashraf, Camp Liberty, the MKO headquarters in Paris and even its current base in Albania. The most recently defected member of the Cult of Rajavi Karim Aliyari was a POW of Iran-Iraq war. According to Nejat Society, “his name along with some other prisoners’ names were not registered on the Red Cross list. So as, after the war ended and an agreement signed between Iran and Iraq and RC to exchange POWs of both countries, the Baath Regime didn’t register their names on the exchange list of RC.” He was handed over to the MKO by the Baath officials.

Karim had had no contact with his family since he was captured during Iran-Iraq War in 1986. Finally Karim managed to liberate himself from the mental and physical barriers of the MKO cult in Albania and contact his family after more than thirty years. Some other members of the MKO who had been recruited while they were POW in Iraq, left the group after years of suppression. Immediately after their release, they began revelations against the Cult of Rajavi.

Dashtestani was a 16-year old teenager when he was captured by Iraqi forces in his way from Abadan to Mahshahr [two towns in SouthWestern part of Iran where Iraq invaded in 1979].In 1988, after ten years of imprisonment in Iraqi prisons when Mujahedin offered him help return to Iran, he accepted their offer. He was deceived by MKO due to two reasons .First because he was not informed enough and second was MKO’s dirty recruitment tactics and the mind control system that enhanced and abused them due to lack of sufficient information.

“In their mind control system they had to prevent the members’ minds getting into sexual or emotional thoughts. If you think of your ex-wife, you should write it and then read your confessions in the brainwashing meetings where your comrades will attack you, insult you saying that”you are wrong”,”damn you”.”That woman is not your wife any more”.”She is your ideological sister”.”She belongs to the leader”, says Mahmoud Dashtestani in one of his interviews after his release. [https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3309]

According to Dashtestani and many other defectors of the Cult of Rajavi, The weekly brainwashing meetings are obligatory. You must confess a sin -a sexual one. It will be even worse if you do not confess anything. They take you to a place called Bengali where they talk to you for several days, putting you under too much pressure. They say that you definitely have some sexual thoughts that you are concealing. “Their arguments and sometimes quarrels in the meetings were justified as”human science”! What a human science! They call it monotheist”Anthropology”in which they use peer pressure as weapon. They say peer pressure is just like the leader,” he says. []

Dr. lifton labels the destructive cults like the MKO as “Cult of Confession”. The Closely related criteria of a destructive cult is confession. Not legitimate confession to God, but improper confessions. Any personal weakness, bad thought, failure to give 100% to the group, must be confessed. Even wrongs not committed can be confessed to help the leader achieve the utmost authority over members. Confession can have a purifying effect on the person confessing. It can also provide leverage to use on the person in the future as often happens in cult-like systems. Open confession sessions can create a sense in the group of personal uncertainty. If a seemingly strong person is confessing the weaker followers will feel less sure of their own purity. Public confessions can eliminate the sense of boundaries you need to maintain your individuality. Thus, gradually your individuality is ruined.

Good news is that those who returned usually quickly returned to the worldview and value system in which they were raised. In other words, brainwashing does not last if it is not maintained. Therefore, helping the MKO hostages get released from the bars of the cult should be a vital agenda for human rights bodies and international communities.

By Mazda Parsi

March 18, 2017 0 comments

Albania

Open letter to the Minister of Interior of Albania, Saimir Tahiri

Mr. Saimir Tahiri, Greetings,

We are the members of women association in Germany and we are activists against sectarianism and each one of us has the experience of being deceived by Rajavi cult which is known as national council of resistance and they are trying their best to infiltrate and impose themselves in human rights organizations.

Since the improvement of relations between Iran and Albania and the opening of your embassy in Iran and vice versa , there has been lots of incidents for the members of the Rajavi cult, in their internal affairs ,who have entered in your country as refugee . The members who are willing to separate from this notorious cult, are confronted with lots of psychological pressure and false propaganda just to be forced to stay in this inhumane cult. Recently we have been informed that the leader of this notorious cult, Mr. Massoud Rajavi, which his death news was announced by the Saudi Arabia prince and the former minister of intelligence, has sent a message to the members of this cult in your country which shows that the internal situation in this notorious cult is very critical and chaotic. According to the news from Albania , the next day after the wave of happiness among the members of this notorious cult because of new relations between Iran and Albania , the leader of this cult , Massoud Rajavi has sent a message to the members of this cult in Albania and in this message he said what has happened to each one of you?……. nothing has happened …………, this is just a regime political game , but for Albania it is just financial subject …………we are trying our best with our political friends in Albania not to allow such a political agreement happen between these two country……………. In this message, the leader of this cult has mentioned that if your families come to visit you , you should not go to see them by no means …………. Whereas each one of us , has a loved-one in that notorious cult , Mrs . Zahra Moeini has three cousin in that notorious cult who one of them is very sick , Mr. Akbar Moeini is suffering from cancer and there is no way to get in touch with him . Mrs. Homeyra Mohammad Nejad has a cousin in that inhumane cult and she does not have any news about his well being whatsoever, she just knows that his cousin is very sick . Mrs. Batul Soltani , her husband is in this cult and she has been informed that her husband is suffering from his heart and she does not have any news regarding his well being whatsoever . We would like to visit our loved-ones in this cult in your country and we urge you not to allow the leaders and operatives of this cult to use your country for repression and suppression of those stranded and stuck members like they did in Ashraf and liberty garrisons in Iraq and take away tranquility and peace from your people and your country. We have urged you many times not to allow the leaders and the operatives of this notorious cult to speak for those stuck and stranded members , we are urging you to accommodate them as individual figures in your country . We are ready to inform you more about the exploitation and slavery methods in this notorious cult

All The Best

Women Association in Germany

Mrs . Zahra Moeini, Mrs. Homeyra Mohammad Nejad, Mrs. Batul Soltani

February 4, 2017 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

MKO dissident members at Abu Quraib Prison!

Mr. Mohammad Hossein Sobhani ; former high ranking member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult wrote an enlightening article- in persian on the occasion of the release of 50 MKO dissident members from the Abu Quraib – the Iraqi Baath regime prison.

The article reads:” January 21st reminds me and others – who were prisoners of Abu Quraib, of the bitter as well as sweet memoirs of our freedom from that gruesome prison. In January 21, 2002 a number of 50 MKO dissident members whom were handed over to the Iraqi former dictator; Saddam Hussein by Massoud Rajavi, got released by the help of international organizations.

Honoring this day, I want to remind Massoud Rajavi and Mujahein-e Khalq that we do not let their treasons and crimes be forgotten….it is very bitter and regrettable to see an organization which claims to be after freedom, equality, justice, democracy and monotheistic classless society But imprisons dissent members and those who were no more willing to cooperate with the organization in solitary confinements for years and then hand them over to Saddam Hussein; the Iraqi former dictator. Saddam relatively imprisoned them at Abu Guraib prison under the name of “Mujahedin’s loan “[ Amanat-e Mojahedin ]. We, MKO dissident members, had committed no crime… “

Mr. Sobhani, went to Iraq as a member of the Mojahedin-e Khalq in the early 1980s. In 1992, Mr. Sobhani declared his doubt and dissatisfaction with the group leader – Massoud Rajavi’s strategies. Since then he underwent a prolonged period of imprisonment .

Mr. Sobhani is one among hundreds of individuals who victimized by the MKO leaders.

The 28-page report, "No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps," examines how dissatisfied MKO members were tortured and held in solitary confinement. The report is based on the direct testimonies of a dozen former MKO members, including five who were turned over to Iraqi security forces and held in Abu Ghraib prison under Saddam Hussein.

Mr. Sobhani is one of these five witnesses:

” Mohammad Hussein Sobhani spent eight-and-a-half years in solitary confinement inside the MKO’s main camp in Iraq, Camp Ashraf, from September 1992 to January 2001. He was subsequently held in Abu Ghraib prison and left Iraq in 2002.

Sobhani first came in contact with the MKO in 1977, a year before the anti-monarchy revolution. By 1979, he was working “professionally and full time” with the organization. When the headquarters of the armed wing of the organization relocated inside Iraq, he followed suit. By 1991, he had risen in the ranks of the organization and had become a member of the Central Committee. However, ever since the “ideological revolution,” when divorces were mandated, he became uncomfortable with the path pursued by the leadership. His differences with the leadership of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi and other members of the Central Committee reached a climax in 1992. Masoud Rajavi argued for remaining in Iraq regardless of the end of the Iran-Iraq war and Saddam Hussein’s defeat in the first Gulf War in 1991, he said. Rajavi still hoped that fighting between Iran and Iraq would resume, and based the organization’s strategy on such a development. Sobhani says he found the possibility of a new war highly unlikely given the dismal state of Iraq’s armed forces. Other members of the Central Committee saw his arguments as a challenge to the Rajavis’ leadership:

As long as my criticisms were mild, I was left alone. But as soon as I persevered in my questioning, their behavior changed dramatically. In the beginning, I discussed my concerns personally with the leadership, Maryam and Masoud Rajavi. I also brought up my concerns with other members of the Central Committee. These discussions reached a dead-end. Once they became certain that I didn’t share their views, on August 28, 1992, they convened a meeting (neshast taiin taklif) to determine my faith and to decide if I was staying with the organization or not. The process began with intimidation, verbal abuse, and beatings. Of course, since I was a high ranking official I was treated better than ordinary members. I was told that my criticisms and questions were just an excuse to quit the struggle. Their conclusion was that I was a quitter (borideh) and didn’t have the strength to continue the struggle any longer.50

On August 31, 1992, Sobhani was moved to a prison and kept under solitary confinement for the next eight-and-a-half years.

After the first two months in prison, all of my beliefs in the organization fell apart. Up to that point I considered my differences with them as a matter of divergent political views; I wasn’t questioning the MKO’s underlying essence. I used to mark my prison walls each time I was subjected to severe beatings. There were many occasions of lesser beatings, but on eleven occasions I was beaten mercilessly using wooden sticks and thick leather belts.51

Sobhani was handed over to Iraqi officials in January 2001. He spent one month in mukhabarat prison and then transferred to Abu Ghraib. He was held in Abu Ghraib until January 21, 2002, when he was repatriated to Iran in exchange for Iraqi POWs. In Iran, he was detained and interrogated by the Iranian government. After three days, he escaped from a low security detention center and fled Iran. He is currently living in Europe.

Joe Stork, HRW’s Washington director said:” Members who try to leave the MKO pay a very heavy price,"… These testimonies paint a grim picture of what happened to members who criticized the group’s leaders."

January 24, 2017 0 comments

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