MKO former members
She says: “I didn’t question anything. I was shown a film of a female suicide bomber blowing up an ayatollah in Iran. It was horrific and very shocking at first. “But they showed me the film so many times that I got less and less distressed. Eventually I didn’t bat an eyelid. Of course, I heard politicians and journalists describing the group as extreme but I dismissed it and assumed they didn’t understand.
Back in the early 1980s, Anne Singleton was a rebel with a romantic streak, entranced by the selflessness, as she saw it, of a group of Iranians who were trying to bring democracy and a secular government to their country. The People’s Mujahideen, as they were known, had helped to overthrow the Shah but had been rejected by Ayatollah Khomeini and his followers and were allowed to seek refuge in Irag by Saddam Hussein.
Today Miss Singleton recalls with horror how the group, which is based in Iraq and wants to overthrow Iran’s current regime, was able to convince her to give up her life in the UK and travel abroad with them as a brainwashed slave. Her indoctrination, conversion and submission to the MKO happened gradually over a period of ten years.
The absolute control of thoughts started; marriage became forbidden and divorce obligatory even if the spouse lived in Iran. The rings should have gotten out of fingers. In your mind, you must forget the existence of women. Everyday, there were meetings in which we had to explain to our commandant, anything passed in our minds beginning with sexual things. All this was noted in a report which was used against you in case of necessity especially when you were willing to leave the MKO.
She views the Mujahedin now as a cult and says their methods of psychological manipulation are tried and tested and used by many other groups around the world, even similar to some tactics employed by salesmen to sell timeshares.
Since he left, the Mojahedin have been misusing his name over the past years in every possible way, publishing articles on their websites (Iranfocus, Iranterror and PauloCasaca.net) which are their version of his views, but never publishing any direct response from him. In this way the MKO has variously claimed that Tafrishi ‘admitted’ working for the Iranian Intelligence Ministry …
The big words are not always uttered be great men. The anonymous and the less-known people can also, because of the experience they have gained, speak big words. That is the outcome of the past experiences of a man who has preserved his intellectual freedom and independence in the face of any sanctimony and quasi ideals and causes.
The trip of Ms. Fariba Hashtroodi* to Iran and her meeting with the representatives of Habilian Association and Mr. Ibrahim Khodabandeh has overwhelmed MKO members and leaders in their headquarters in France. People close the MKO report of disappointment of members of this organization, particularly the members of Council.
They had the freedom flag in their hand but they revolted against freedom. They themselves violated the human rights. They said:”outside our camp the people are starving from hunger or addiction. The people are hung and their heads are hung of the trees”. Any one who tried to escape the organization was delivered to Abu Qoraib in case of being arrested. The life there was evil.
Two defectors of Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization, by cooperation of IRC returned to their homeland on Wednesday afternoon.Khosro Eslamizade and Mehdi Shahkarami by more than 20 years of cooperation with MEK defected the Mujahedin due to the leaders’ inhuman behavior and their abuse of the members’ primary personal and social rights . ..