MKO former members
On the wedding of Ebrahim Khodabandeh and Atefeh Naadalian in Tehran
MKO former members
An Urgent Appeal, for Actions and Initiatives on behalf of Iranians in limbo in Iraq; in Defense of Human Rights and the Right to Asylum
Tragedy is too often the stuff of literature. The majority of people worldwide, try to avoid persons and situations that are shaped by too great a tragedy, concentrating instead on that which is simple and promises some easy resolution
Yet activists are literary figures. They concentrate on human tragedies, not shying away from multi-dimensional problems and readily working towards difficult solutions.
In a region increasingly marked with tragedy , perhaps no story is more tragic than that of the former members of the Iranian Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), who wish to leave their state of limbo in war ravaged Iraq, can not return to Iran and hope for safety, and have not yet managed to gain asylum to any other corner of this earth.
The Iranian poet Shamlou – in his poem “Public Love” – talks of the dead of the year 1953 being the most loving of the living. And we have often repeated this when talking of those who have given their lives in any given year in the still ongoing struggle for freedom and human rights in Iran.
And yet one group of men and women, driven away by the unmet promise of the Iranian people’s revolution and told that if they loved their country and people well enough, they would give up everything and take up arms for just six short months, sought to prove this love by doing just this.
Security, jobs and children even were left behind, as these often young men and women – and some teenagers – left for Iraq , from where this struggle was to take shape.
Yet, each six month term was to be followed up with another, and they who had sought an alternative to two dictatorships within their own country, became victims of their leader’s power fantasies (which with time went as far as forcing all to divorce their partners and ban all other love – except the love for the one power – out of their very hearts) , Saddam Hossein’s war games , and the mind control, punishment routine , beatings and torture by their comrades!
And as the report released in 2005 by Human Rights Watch noted, there was “NO EXIT”![1] They were denied even the freedom to defect or leave. And so they were kept at Camp Ashraf in Iraq until this was turned into Camp “TIPF” , under the charge of US American forces. As hard at conditions were at Camp “TIPF”, with its recent closing the situation of these individuals became even more desperate.
Today, understanding the great and multi-faceted tragedy of these lives held in limbo and under extremely harsh and inhumane conditions , we deem it our responsibility to come to the defense of these fellow Iranians as well as to the defense of the legitimate rights of all political asylum seekers in Iraq. And we call upon all activists and defenders of human rights as well as political organs and organizations to familiarize themselves with this tragedy and – with us – to attempt to bring about a humane solution..
Iran National front – Europe (Germany); Summer 2008
The Following is a list of some of these former MKO members who are now in a state of limbo in Iraq, following the very recent closing of camp “TIPF”. Of these, 35 have been able to leave Iraq and are yet still in search of a destination.
Ebrahim Bolochi
Ebrahim Rahimi
Abolfazl Dehnamaki
Ahad Omidvar
Ahmad Soleimani
Ahmad Shahbazi
Ahmad Sehat
Ahmad Gharamohammadi
Ahmad Minai
Ahmad (pseudo name: Mehdi Ranjbar)
Ardeshir Baghbani
Arash Ahmadian
Esfandiyar Bakhshi
Esmail Momeni
Esmail Hooshyar
Afshin Gharatapeh
Iraj Golalipour
Iraj Mousavi
Parviz Derakshan
Parviz Ranjbar
Parviz Farahmand
Parviz Mousavi
Tohid
Jaber Tai Samirami
Jamal Azimi
Javad Assadi
Hamed Sarafpour
Hojatollah Rostampour
Hojatollah Kafai
Hassan Piransar
Hassan Nemati (Safar)
Hossein Bakhshalizadeh
Hossein Bazrpour
Hossein Borojani
Hossein Rezai
Hossein Zendegi
Hossein Mehravar
Hamzeh Tomari
Hamidreza Sistani
Hamidreza Karimi
Hamid Abdolghafari
Hamid Fellahat
Hamid Mohebi
Hamid Naji
Khosrow Dehani
Davoud Razavi
Dormohammad Dehani
Rayan Petrosian
Rahim Khodagholi
Reza Azmodeh
Reza Zand
Reza Mohammadi (Mehrtash)
Ramezan Ghorbanzadeh
Ramezan Mohammadinasab
Rouzbeh Kurdi
Soleiman Kheyri
Siavash Biyabani
Siavash Saidnia
Seyed Abbas Moussavi
Cyrus Taefi
Cyrus Vafa
Shokrollah Mohammadi
Shahab Ekhtiyari
Shirin Masratbakhsh
Sadegh Khorshidi
Sadegh Zohouri
Abedin Janbaz
Adel Kheyri
Adel Matlabi
Abdolamir Sayahi
Abdolsatar Jahangiri
Abdolkarim Mohammadtaghinejad
Abdollah Nikbakht Tabrizi
Ali Ahmadi
Aliakbare Bojari
Ali Bakhsh-afarinande (Reza Gooran)
Ali Barzegar
Ali Jahanifard
Ali Khademan
Alireza Shahmoradiyan
Ali Abdollahi
Ali Mohammad Baloch
Ali Moghadas
Ali Mirahmadi
Ali Miri
Alireaz Goyande
Alireza Mozenzade Tabrizi
Omad Bagheri
Gholamreza Asghari
Gholamreza Rezai
Gholamreza Kermani
Farzin Fasihi
Farshid Farsat
Farhad Bazrafshan
Firooz Karegar
Kambiz Taghipour
Kaveh Pourhamadani
Karam Eslami
Kamal Mousavi
Kiakavoos Amirahmadi
Keyvan Rastbin
Michael Petrosian
Majid Rouhi
Majid Shabani
Mohsen Abdolkhani
Mohsen Abdollahi
Mohammad Ebrahim Rahimi
Mohammad Amir Raisi
Mohammad Taghi Ansari
Mohamad Tehrani
Mohammad Hossein Yousefi
Mohmmad Dadjou
Mohammad Dostdar
Mohammad Razaghi
Mohammad Reza Hosseini
Mohammad Saadooni
Mohammad Sahebi
Mohammad Ali Ahmadi
Mohammad Ghale-joghi
Mohammad Karami
Mohammad Yousef Charezahi
Mahmoud Bayat
Mahmoud Khaleghi
Mahmoud Eynaki
Morteza Mohajer
Masoud Zarghami
Moustafa Heydari
Moustafa Shafiie
Mansour Asari
Mansour Keshmiri
Manouchehr Khodadadi
Mehdi Barjeste Garmaroudi
Mehdi Abbaszadeh
Mehdi Fazollahi
Mehdi Nikbakht
Mehrdad Abdolvand
Mehrdad Fathi
Mehrdad Vosoghi
Mousa Marzban
Mirbagher Sedaghati
Nader Keshtkar
Nader Naderi
Nadali Rahimi
Nasrollah Azari
Norouz Tavakol
Hadi Afshar (pseudo name: Said Jamali)
Hashem Ostovar
Homayou Kaviani
Vahid Karami
Younes Hassanpour
List compiled on 15.08.2008
[1]For more information please read: http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/mena/iran0505/1.htm
The letter of the 8 recent survivors of Rajavi cult who have managed to get themselves out of Iraq and into Europe
On Tuesday July 22, 2008, eight survivors of the Rajavi cult, who have managed to get themselves out of Iraq and into Europe, attended a meeting in the US embassy in Paris and presented a letter in support of the people who are left back in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The names of the newly arrived survivors of the Mojahedin Khalq Organisation terrorist training camp in Iraq – who are protected by the US administration against the will of the Iraqi government – will be kept in confidence at the request of their lawyers and the French police because of fears for their safety.
Rahai Association of Netherlands is proud to announce that the association was involved in helping the new arrivals of the camp and joined them in the meeting.
The names and the stories of every individual will be announced in future along with the stories about the inhuman way the Mojahedin Khalq (Rajavi cult) has tried to control and suppress them during their stay inside the camp.
Rahai
July 24, 2008
Address: prinsesseweg 44-1
9717 BK Groningen
Netherlands
Telefoon: 0031624236194
Fax: 0031505798923
Email: info@rahai.nl
————–
Ambassador Craig Roberts Stapleton
US Embassy in France
2, avenue Gabriel
75382 Paris Cedex 08
France
Your Excellency,
In our introduction we must first express our gratitude to members of the American armed forces in Iraq who helped us to escape from the clutches of the Iranian terrorist cult, Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), after the group was disarmed in 2003.
We are representing people who want to leave Camp Ashraf, individuals like ourselves who are desperate to get out of the MeK as a terrorist organisation.
We have now reached the safety of Europe after enduring a difficult struggle to get here. We are disappointed that while American forces did nothing to hinder our eventual freedom, nothing was done in any way to help us get to safety and return to normal life.
It is because of this situation that we promised our friends that once we were safe we would speak on behalf of those yet to escape. As the personal representative of President George Bush, we appeal to you to take our message to the heart of your government.
We were greatly disappointed by the closure of the TIPF at Camp Ashraf, Iraq in May this year. This has made it almost impossible for anyone else to leave the MeK and turn their back on terrorism and violence. The US government makes bold statements about the ‘war on terror’. What happens when those involved desperately want to turn their back on terrorism and return to normal life? Does the Administration have no responsibility toward them when they are under your protection?
Instead of helping those who abandon violence as a way of life, American forces are deliberately protecting the infrastructure of the MeK terror group in Iraq. Your government is fully aware of the conditions inside Camp Ashraf. The incidences of unrest, violence and suicides speak of desperate dissatisfaction among those trapped inside the MeK’s hegemony. Yet, for five years your soldiers have been giving protection to both the environment and the individuals which perpetuate this suffering.
American soldiers essentially washed their hands of us once removing us from TIPF. It has been through good fortune and our own efforts that a number of us have reached Europe and gained our freedom. Your government has failed in a moral responsibility to aid those who turn their backs on terrorism.
What will you do now to help others who want to leave the MeK?
The Iraqi government has repeatedly demanded the removal of all foreign terrorist groups from their country. In this respect, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has recently discovered that Iran will no longer accept any ex-MeK from Iraq. Those who protest loudly that the people in Camp Ashraf are in imminent danger of being expelled to Iran and rounded up and executed are plainly wrong. There is no way they can return to their families, even if they want to. This is because your government has failed to dismantle the group over five years and give everyone in the camp the minimum of freedom to decide their own fate.
If you had, we are sure you would have no more than a few hundred loyal terrorists on your hands at this time. Instead, you are forced to remove 3,300 unformed combatants which since 1997 your government has designated as terrorists, from Camp Ashraf under utmost secrecy and maximum security to an unknown location.
There are tens of hundreds who would willingly leave the MeK if they had a minimum of help. We ask you in the name of their families, in the name of human rights and in the name of morality to give them that help.
Yours sincerely
On behalf of our friends in Camp Ashraf, Iraq
Rahai Association, July 24, 2008
rahai.nl
TEHRAN (FNA)- Nejat (Rescue) Association – formed of the former members of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization – praised the decision by the Baghdad government to take control of the MKO headquarters in Iraq.
“This decision is supported by Nejat Association because once it is materialized, family members of those in the base can meet them and members of this group can make a decision (about their future) independently and away from the psychological pressures imposed on them by the Monafeqin (hypocrites) leaders,” Secretary of the Association Arash Sammeti told FNA here on Tuesday.
Iranians call the MKO as hypocrites since they turned their back to their country and joined Saddam Hossein in the 1980-1988 Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Recent reports say that the number of those splitting up with the MKO has been on the increase and the terrorist group’s leaders have, thus, tightened up members’ access to the media and information and banned meetings with family members in a bid to reduce the number of defectors through their intensified brainwashing efforts.
The number of defectors of the MKO has been on the increase, specially after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
After the US invasion of Iraq, members of the group were moved to a camp in northeastern Baghdad – known as Ashraf base – where they live under US-led forces’ protection.
“The decision by the Iraqi government to take control of the Ashraf base has faced Americans, who allege to be a fervent supporter of human rights and campaign against terrorism, with a new test” Sammeti stressed, adding that US action vis-à-vis Baghdad’s decision would illustrate how much Washington is loyal to its claims.”
“Hundreds of MKO family members and defectors have recently filed a complaint with the Iraqi government (to force the group leaders to allow them to have meetings with their family members). Officials in Baghdad have vowed to take action on the basis of the complaint,” Sammeti said, and voiced pleasure with the Iraqi government’s decision.
The Iraqi parliament is set to decide on the fate of the terrorist group amid calls for their expulsion.
“Regarding the presence of the MKO in Iraq, the Iraqi national assembly, the cabinet and the president have made the same decision,” Sheikh Humam Hamoudi, a senior Iraqi lawmaker told press tv last Thursday.
Iraqi parliamentarians and officials have called for the expulsion of MKO members, saying the terrorist group meddles in the country’s internal affairs.
In a recent statement, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s Cabinet has also announced that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization interferes in Iraq’s internal affairs and supports anti-government activities.
The government has formerly banned any deal with the members of the group and called on the US to stop supporting them in Iraq.
Many analysts believe that the government should have expelled the group long time ago in a bid to save many Iraqi lives.
They said the decision would help improve the security situation in the war-torn country.
The MKO has been involved in the killing of many Iraqis under Saddam Hussein’s regime.
Several lawmakers described the group as a threat to Iraq’s national security as it trains anti-government elements and is involved in backing insurgents.
The MKO has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many countries.
The group is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization.
Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization has committed innumerable terrorist acts against the Iranian people and top government officials.
Formed in the 1960s in opposition to the rule of US-backed shah, the MKO took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution to take control of Iran, but soon changed course and turned into the main armed opposition to the Islamic Republic and has, ever since, assassinated scores of people and officials.
The then President Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister Mohammad Javad Bahonar and Judiciary Chief Mohammad Hossein Beheshti were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The MKO was an ally of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran in the 1980s.
Participation of Anjomane Solh in seminar “Post Bush US Foreign Policy”
Oslo, June 20, 2008 (Friday) — Anjomane Solh Norway participated in the Seminar “Post Bush US Foreign Policy” addressed by US prominent politician, Bill Richardson. Richardson spoke about different countries including Iran
The Seminar was organized by NUPI, the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs with collaboration of Ministry of Foreign Affair at Nobel Institute Oslo. A number of intellectuals, writers and academic personalities attended the seminar. Beside the participation, Anjomane Solh also briefly talked to Bill Richardson at the sideline of the seminar.
Bill Richard, the Governor of New Mexico is one of the important US Democratic Party Politicians.
First Jan Egeland, the director of NUPI as host of the seminar introduced Bill Richardson and then invited him to deliver his lecture.
In his detail speech, Bill Richardson spoke about the Bush’s foreign policies and post Bush challenges including issues Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, North Korea and Russia and China. He said, government and President of USA would face challenges in the context of such countries but diplomacy is very important while dealing with the challenges.
He said, power is significant but power is a decline without diplomacy. About Iran and North Korea, the US’s Politician said, we should deal with Iran and North Korea as we dealt with Libya. We have to talk to these countries and use influence of Russia and China in the context.
About Iraq he said, it is issue of hundreds of American lives and hundred of thousands of Iraqi lives. We should realize that if US’s forces withdrew, Iraqis are able to run their country. Countries like Norway can play a role to bring the Shia and Sunni groups in Iraq to the dialogue.
Speech of Bill Richardson was continued for one hour and at the conclusion of the lecture, some of the participants including Anjomane Solh asked questions on the different issues related of US foreign Policy.
At the end of the seminar, Representative of Anjomane Solh, Ghasem Ghezi presenting a document to Bill Richardson informed him about 120 disaffected people of Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in Iraq
from Arbil, Sulymanyeh and Dahuk in Iraqi Kurdistan
On May 2nd the American army run Temporary International Persons Facility (TIPF) at Camp Ashraf was closed completely, ending a process which had begun in December 2007. The TIPF was situated adjacent to the military base of the terrorist Rajavi cult in Khales, Diyali province, in Iraq. TIPF had been established in 2003 to give refuge to survivors of the cult who had rejected the group and managed to escape. Around 3,300 members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka Rajavi cult) are still being held as ‘protected’ prisoners by the American military.
After the removal of several of the survivors of the cult in December 2007 and the establishment of Sahar Family Foundation with the help of the Iraqi Government, Iraqi and international human rights organizations, as well as the families of the victims and survivors, the remaining people who did not wish to leave the protection of the American army were transferred on May 2, to Dahuk in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Ms. Batool Soltani, an ex-member of the Leadership Council of MKO who managed to escape from Camp Ashraf about 4 months ago, is now representing Sahar Family Foundation in Iraq and Turkey. Following a visit to Istanbul in May, she has now visited Arbil, Sulymanyeh and Dahuk in the Kurdish region of Iraq to assess the situation of the survivors who are now accommodated temporarily in these places until they find a way to settle in safer places.
Ms. Soltani also met with officials from the Kurdish Regional Government, various NGO offices in these cities, and officials from the US army in Kurdistan. These meetings will continue over the next few days and a full report will be published in this respect.
The statistics and situation currently pertaining to the survivors in Kurdistan are:
At this moment in time there are 12 people in Arbil, 2 in Sulymanyeh and out of the 85 people who were transferred from TIPF to Dahuk, 65 are still present (others have left to reach neighboring and European countries). The American army personnel who have been accommodating the people in Dahuk have now begun transferring them to Arbil. These will be accommodated with the other 12 people who live in 2 houses, and a new house which has been hired by UNHCR. The 12 who were there and the new arrivals are all under the protection of UNHCR and are given shelter (in houses) and food rations. They are free in respect of movement and are accepted by the Kurdish Regional Government (special thanks to PM Shirvan Barezani).
In recent days MKO members have been contacting these people (the group has hired (bought) one of the survivors as its agent in Kurdistan whose name, place and contact numbers and other information including his contacts in the terrorist organization are available for interested official bodies if needed) and has offered 1300 US dollars and 250,000 Iraqi Dinars (about 200 US dollars) altogether 1500 US dollars to whoever signs papers to say that the MKO has treated them well and includes all the usual cultish claims associated with forced confessions. We must stress that some of the people who are being approached are in such a desperate situation that have not had any fruit or vegetables for over 2 months and have survived on only grains and pulses.
Many people have refused to sign these papers and receive the money but Ms. Batool Soltani who is being accompanied by Mr. Massoud Khodabandeh from Iran-Interlink asked all the survivors to sign the papers (which are not worth the paper written on) and take the money which is desperately needed in this situation. Massoud Khodabandeh explained to the survivors that the signatures which the Rajavi cult gets from people in need (or by force in the cult’s terrorist camp or in their terror HQ in the suburbs of Paris), is part of a psychological war with those people who have been subjected to cult manipulation for years. Khodabandeh emphasized that when the survivors reach free countries in Europe and elsewhere, they will be able to talk freely about what has happened to them and that these kinds of signature (and video confessions) obtained by the cult using deception and coercion, will not negate the truth, and people in free countries would not criticize you for accepting to sign bogus papers in order to rescue yourselves.
Some of the survivors told us that Rajavi’s representative in Kurdistan (the same bought agent) has told them that “SAHAR Family Foundation activities have increased your price [that is, the value of the people there] and we pay this money to see that if they can match what we can offer [that is, if Sahar can pay more to buy the people that Rajavi thinks he has bought for 1500 dollars].
Khodabandeh and Soltani in response announced that first Rajavi should understand that a single hair of any of these people is worth more than the combined leadership of the cult, and the rest of the money stolen from these people by the cult leaders will be taken back through European courts in future (it is interesting that already Rajavi is offering 5,000 US dollars in Turkey and 20,000 US dollars in European countries to silence these survivors for a short time, and we believe they should take the money and sign whatever is given as this is only a small percentage of their own money stolen by the cult leaders).
In a meeting with some of the survivors in Dahuk, Ms. Soltani gave a brief report on her meetings with various officials and said that the representative of the US Army in Camp Ashraf has clearly announced that, contrary to the propaganda of MKO, for the people trapped in the camp, anyone who approaches the US army personnel would be taken under the protection of the army and under no circumstances would the person seeking protection be handed back to the cult leaders inside the camp.
These people would be transferred to the protection of UNHCR in Kurdistan and join the other survivors already there. The official from the US army also emphasized that again contrary to what MKO is publicizing, there is not a grain of sympathy with this terrorist organization among Americans, or for that matter Iraqis, and the US army is already seriously concerned about what is called the Exit part (MKO has apparently arranged accommodation inside Camp Ashraf for disaffected members and is keeping them there by force) and is investigating. He emphasized that these kinds of activities by the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorists inside the camp is as illegal as it is immoral.
According to eye witnesses in Kurdistan, the survivors in Kurdistan (as well as the ones in Turkey and other countries reaching Europe) have been told by MKO agents that if they accept to sit in front of a camera and announce that "… I am at this moment in good health etc… and announce that MKO has been overly humanitarian etc and it is my fault that I have left them because I am weak etc,… and if in future you see me saying things against MKO I say from now that it would only happen under the pressure of the Intelligence Ministry of Iran …." they would receive a sum substantially more that the 1500 US dollars they can receive now for signing in their favour.
Considering the various cases of kidnapping, missing people and the reports about killing people inside the various camps of MKO terrorists in Ashraf (Iraq) and Auvers-sur-Oise (France), Khodabandeh reminded the survivors that if these conditions involve their presence in the HQ of Rajavi cult or their safe houses in Iraq, Turkey or European countries, they should not take the risk until after obtaining their legal status as refugees from a democratic countries and to not do so without the full knowledge of the law enforcement agencies of these countries.
The survivors are also reporting that the agents of MKO have announced that for any information as to the whereabouts of the families who are trying to visit Camp Ashraf (under protection of the US army) to see their relatives (which should be encouraged by the occupying forces according the Fourth Geneva Convention), and especially information as to the whereabouts of Ms. Soltani and Mr. Khodabandeh, MKO would pay a lavish price – enough to provide a good capital for the informer to start a new life in a western country of his or her choice.
Ms. Soltani in response said that the man (Rajavi) has always been a subject for jokes and laughter from day one. She said that in the last telephone conversation between the Leadership Council of MKO terrorists in Camp Ashraf and Massoud Rajavi (the cult guru-in-hiding who has not surfaced in the last 5 years), practically all the Leadership Council were making jokes about his daft approach to any situation. “Now I can see that he can not confine his approach to inside the cult and is amusing the survivors and us” said Ms Soltani.
She said in her message to Rajavi: "the day that you manage to kill me and my body falls in blood and dust, is the day that I have been honored to give my life in the path of rescuing my friends and countrymen. And of course that is the day that hundreds of Soltanis will arise to bring you and your nasty cult down". She added: "After my successful escape do you think that there is even one person in your Leadership Council whom you will ever be able to trust? I don’t think so".
Link to a video conversation between Ms. Soltani and one of the survivors in Arbil in Farsi.
Hassan Nemati ex-Mojahedin-e Khalq member drowned in the Aegean According to a report by Aria Association, Mr. Hassan Nemati, a former member with 25-years of service in the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), has drowned in the river in the border between Turkey and Greece. On 20 May 2008 Hassan Nemati (Saffar), drowned near the shores of Samos as he and a friend tried to enter Greece clandestinely by swimming the river. Hassan Nemati and a group of repentant Mojahedin members were expelled by the Turkish authorities. Nemati and one of his friends decided to leave the Kusadasi and swim to Samos. During the night passage over the Aegean Sea storm waves rose up and Hassan Neamti was drowned. He is the second person who has drowned in Turkish border waters in the past few weeks. On 23 April 2008, Hassan Mirzai, another repentant MKO member, drowned after being forcefully expelled by the Turkish authorities. Mirzai was one of a group of asylum seekers who were made to leave the country by swimming across the river border between Turkey and Iraq. Three others also drowned in the same incident. The body of the Hassan Nemati has not yet been found.
The UNHCR representative in Turkey has condemned the behaviour of the Turkish authorities by announcing the death of Hassan Mirzai and forced eviction of the group via the river.
Moreover, the UNHCR has requested that these refugees are not deported.
According to this organization there are other former MKO asylum seekers who are currently becoming lost in different regions of Iraq, Turkey and Greece.
These people have been deceived for four years by the Mojahedin organization which promised to help them get asylum with European countries if they remained in the TIPF camp.
The Mojahedin organization has not kept its promise and now these people have no protection, they are without legal status and are wandering in the neighbouring countries of Iraq and in Iraqi cities.
Here we must question the western backers of the Mojahedin, and especially Lord Corbett who likes to present a nice democratic mask, about the situation of this organisation:
Is it not true that the leaders of this organization have promised their members that they will pay their airfare if your country gives them asylum?
(Robin Corbett, who promoted terrorism in Iran and Iraq under the logo of MKO for the past 25 years!!)
So until today not only this organization has made no effort to support these people but instead insults and accuses them when they themselves are trying to get out of this miserable situation.
They offer death tickets!
The MKO cult and its leaders have never been messengers of freedom and democracy and the only message they had for their own members were lies, deceit and death.
Who is responsible for the abandonment and deaths of former MKO members?
The Aria Association offers condolences to the bereaved families and implores humanitarian organizations around the world to go to the rescue of these people who are currently in pitiful conditions in Iraq, Turkey and Greece after the closure of the TIPF camp TIPF.
May 24, 2008-Paris
Note by Iran-Interlink:
Last December American forces removed half the MKO dissidents from the TIPF adjacent to Camp Ashraf. On Friday May 2, 2008 American forces completely closed TIPF and transferred the remaining people to Dahouk in Kurdistan. They have been housed for two months and have food rations, but have been told they will then be given over to the UN refugee agency.
The deportation order issued by the Turkish authorities
Link to the report (Audio) in Persian
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2734560/7957789
Aria Iran, Paris, May 24, 2008 – Translated by Iran-Interlink
http://www.ariairan.com/fr/?mod=view&id=5232 (French)
http://www.ariairan.com/fa/?mod=view&id=5229 (Persian)
http://iran-interlink.org/fa/?mod=view&id=4570 (Persian)
Dear Ms. Hashtroudi,
Happy New Year,
First of all, we would be pleased to send you congratulations on the publication of your book about your experiences and memories within MKO, and the clear expression of the reasons of your defection. We hope you to be successful in your continual good activities.
We wrote you the letter since you spent several years with MKO and are, to some extent, familiar with its nature and function and according to your knowledge you decided to defect from NCRI. We believe that such a knowledge puts you in a position where you should do your best to help the victims of the organization, in an absolutely humane action, without any political tendency.
As you are well aware, MKO has used psychological techniques that are practiced in all cults, to recruit members, it has captured a large number of people mentally and physically in Ashraf, Iraq. These people need emergency aid and their families seek the help of those like you.
The intellectuals including you who have realized MKO’s labyrinth personally, are able to do some actions to save the captives and return them to the free and open world. The captured members of Ashraf haven’t had any contact with the outside world for years and are manipulated by the self- criticizing meetings under the sever physical control. We would like to ask you to step up your efforts regarding your possibilities in Paris, in order to solvate the true victims of the ambitions of the power worshipers. The families of those dear ones appreciate you and wish you the best.
Sincerely Yours,
Nejat Association ,April 22nd, 2008
In April 2008, three other defectors of MKO who were installed in TIPF, returned to Iran via International Red Cross and Red Crescent. They described their adventures with MKO in a visit with Nejat Society on April 23rd.
Mr. Nasouri who was mentally captured by MKO for 18 years:
I am Hassan Nasouri, I was born in 1963, Bushehr. I got acquainted with MKO in 1979 via journals, meetings and my friends. In 1981, when the armed struggle started, my connection was cut. In March 1988, I went to Turkey legally. Before my departure I could watch the organization’s program on their TV channel, in Bushehr. In Turkey I called the organization’s linker and asked for joining them. I could reach Iraq that June. After staying in Bagdad for a few days I arrived in Karkuk where I received military training for Chelcheragh Operation and then Eternal Light Operation. Following the operations I returned to camp Ashraf. I was tank driver in Perl Operation (in which the Iraqi Kurds were massacred in 1991) MKO used the war situation to kill the Kurds who had upraised against Saddam Hussein.
Before the American invasion my problem with MKO was focused on their ideology but I couldn’t express any opposition. We were supposed to attack Iran in case of American invasion to Iraq but instead we were absolutely submitted to Americans that caused me express my critics against MKO who was trying to find another Saddam Hussein among the Americans. Therefore, I decided to defect but I was also afraid of going to TIPF where I had a terrible imagination of. When I announced my defection they held many meetings for me during an entire month and did their best to dissuade me. Finally, I threatened them that I would escape or commit suicide or homicide and then they accepted to deliver me to Americans. At last, I could enter TIPF in the early 2007. I was in TIPF for two years and could contact my family from there and in March, 2008 I succeeded to return to Iran after 20 years.
During the period I was in MKO, I asked for contacting my family several times and I was told that it was impossible. Just two months before my defection they asked me to call my family after 18 years for the first time but later I found out that was only for recruiting new members and financial support. I told them that I had no track of my family and they brought me my family’s numbers. I wasted twenty years of my life in MKO where I saw my ideals but ultimately I figured out that MKO was not what I thought of and now, here I am in Iran and I should start from the beginning.
As a former member of MKO who has experienced the political and military stages of MKO, I believe that if the door of Ashraf was open to Europe, more than seventy percent of the members would leave the group.
I am really sure that Rajavi is well aware of such a fact so he does his best to maintain Ashraf.
In the organization, Rajavi is either a solution to problems or a problem maker. In order to show that he can solve problems, he has to work in an isolated and enclose place like Ashraf otherwise the problems are presented. He recruits the members and attracts the attention of the authorities by playing roles and even ordering the members to play roles. I can remember the time when Fariba Hashtrudi had come to Ashraf, they had done such decorations in order to satisfy her and not to show her any contradiction but they never imagined that finally there would be a day that she would stop to take look at her behind scene and leave the NCRI and finally call the MEK as liars.