Salvation
The Nejat Society Tehran, Iran July 2007 Ms Beatrice Megevanal Roggo International Committee of the Red Cross The Middle East Department Dear Ms Roggo We in the Nejat Society in Iran would like to draw your good attention to a rather crucial matter regarding the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) in Ashraf Camp in Iraq and their worrying relatives in Iran.
The Nejat Society is an NGO consisting of those former members of the MKO who have organised themselves in order to help the mentally and even physically captive members to gain their freedoms.
As you may well be aware the MKO is considered as a terrorist cult by many governments and establishments around the world. This organisation is utilising psychological techniques to mentally manipulate its own members in order to make them commit deeds they would not perform in normal status. The self-immolations done by some members in European capitals after the arrest of their leader Maryam Rajavi in Paris on 17 June 2003, is one obvious example of the kind. Like all cults, this organisation needs a remote site to be able to isolate the members from the outside world. The residents of Ashraf Camp have no contact with the real world, not even with their relatives or old friends. The members are forced to participate in the daily ideological sessions called "the Current Operation". In these sessions members are systematically subject to peer pressure and coercion methods.
Last summer we had news “ later confirmed by the organisation “ which designated that Mr Yasser Akbari-Nasab had passed out due to self-immolation. This “ along with some other news indicating that the MKO had asked its entire member to volunteer for self-emblazing “ has put the families into grave distress.
The families of the members of the MKO in Iraq have strived hardly in the past three years to get some information about their beloved ones. They have approached the ICRC, UNHCR, and other international bodies as well as the Iraqi and the Swiss Embassies many times with no outcomes.
We are therefore urging you to use your whole capacity to ensure the visit of the families with their beloved ones in a place in Baghdad without the presence of the MKO officials. Some of these families have not seen their beloved ones for up to twenty years and they believe it is their right to have the chance to be alone with their relatives for a few days. The MKO, under the protection of the US Forces which are guarding the Ashraf Camp, has denied this right despite the efforts of the Iraqi government.
Please let us know of your activities. We thank you in advance for your attention and your good work.
Yours truly,
The Nejat Society
The State Department Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism on April 30 released the list of designated terrorist organizations. What is the focus of attention concerning the list is not that Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) continues to occupy the status it has held since 1997, but the report has a more critical tone on the MKO than previous reports when it comes to describe the organization.
Noted in the released report, “In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics”. It also adds that “MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has established a ‘cult of personality’". Such remarks are promising in that the emergence of another al-Qaeda are anticipated and thus prevented. The very identical structural, ideological, and cult-like characteristics of MKO with that of al-Qaeda denote that, regardless of quantitative differences between the two, both maintain potential threat against global peace and security.
But it has to be acknowledged that terrorist phenomena like that of MKO and al-Qaeda before anything are products of political miscalculations and dereliction of the contemporary history, as al-Qaeda was supposed to be an instrument to confront what was presumed to frustrate accomplishment of democracy. But the fact was disregarded that such instruments initially diverge from the route of democracy. The paramount challenge of the latter years of the past decade proved to be injection of wrong policies, in an attempt to apply low-cost but useful strategies, in confrontation of unproven threats. Many political analysers, for instance, have come to unanimous agreement that al-Qaeda was an outcome of a rush by the US that was obsessed with the imagined threat of rising Communism in the region and resolved on an alternative to combat the threat. Recurrence of another similar phenomenon depends on your earnest endeavour to develop a deep and non-instrumental recognition of MKO.
Although bitter, the experience of al-Qaeda proved that curbed passionate drives and rationality can possibly frustrate repetition of tragic disasters. Your insistence to keep MKO on the list of designated terrorist organizations well indicates that how logically and deeply you have perceived unfathomed threat of the group regardless of a number of “members of Congress from opposite sides” who seemingly have come to recognition that the group can be effectively used as an instrumental client to accomplish certain political goals. The “displayed cult-like characteristics” you have referred to in the report are definitely the result of a complicated phenomenon within Mojahedin called Ideological revolution, an incident that, in spite of its significance for MKO, the group shuns revealing its contents for the world outside. No doubt, Mojahedin will be greatly perturbed to be under scrutiny when it is discovered that their opportunistic political mottos are in total contradiction with unrevealed principles of their ideological revolution.
To develop a good understanding of MKO’s ideological revolution and how the group managed to conceal the contents depend on the will of the parties that advocate utilization of MKO against Iran even though they are well aware of the fact that the group maintains no political weight and legitimacy. But it should be noted that the same very small protection the group receives, compared with the high price the public opinion and the world in general have to pay, can help embolden it indulge in further belligerently terrorist and cultic activities.
However, your latest position accusing MKO of cult-like practices, which ex-members avow to have been under its predominant influence, might compel the group, regardless of its propaganda blitz and bombastic claims, to present justifiable reasons, if there are any, to defend allegations. Of course, the ex-member activists in the recent years have published documentaries and memoirs unfolding facts about the group’s medieval cultist features. Besides, there are also evidences corroborated by MKO itself that not only appreciate the ideological revolution within the group, but also impart its significant impacts on the insiders. A look at Bijan Niyabati’s “A Different Look at Mojahedins’ Ideological Revolution”, originally in Persian, is one of the best instances drafted by an enthusiastically devoted member. No doubt, you would be amazed to discover how the contents of this book contradict the group’s media rhetoric denying cult allegations. Furthermore, it is depleted with heaps of evidences that contributes to undeceive the deluded Western advocates.
To have MKO under control in Camp Ashraf is a serious responsibility on your shoulders. Of course, in the near future the group has to face its destiny and be expelled from Iraq. But it would not be the tragic end awaiting MKO. Camp Ashraf demonstrates the crystallization of MKO’s adopted cult-like strategy and ideology; the members within the camp have to be regarded as victims of a cult who need to be rehabilitated.
The transfer of these members to any other place out of Iraq is nothing more than an impetuous political move to diminish the group’s threat in Iraq. But it should be noted that relocation of the group, now discredited as pariah, with those same retained cultist features, in no way reduces the cult potentialities that perforce threatens the psychological health of the citizen wherein they are to reside as well as aggravating the psychological affliction of the forcibly held members. Another point, MKO’s prime moves to start its internal revolution and to transform into a cult was instigated when the group was in France. That is a good circumstantial evidence that Mojahedin are capable of accomplishing their objectives and stabilizing their position regardless of the domicile.
With respect to the complexity of MKO now regarded as a cult, let’s look at it from a different angle. That is, regardless of any political consideration, consider it an abnormally diseased body that needs circumspect attention to recover. Cults are an ever-growing social problem in the Western countries and the emphasis is today on helping the victims of cults to recover and treat the effects of emotional, physical, and sexual trauma. MKO is not an exception. Its members need counsel and therapy before they are physically freed from the cult’s holding and released into a free world. Otherwise they will be turned into a much greater problem and threat hard to deal with. Tragic precedents, as you have pointed out, were the self-immolations in Paris and a number of other European cities that led to the death of two female members. There are much more horrible potentialities that Mojahedin maintain.
Your report states that “Despite U.S. efforts, MEK members have never been brought to justice for the group’s role in these illegal acts”. Your delinquency in the past has imposed high prices on the world to pay. To keep MKO on the terrorist list fails to be the sole solution to confront the threat of the group as a cult and the remiss in efforts has to be redressed.
What seems to be urgent at the present, before dealing with the MKO’s terrorist crimes and before the members are dispersed, is to avail assistance of the professionals with expertise in dealing with the dangers of the cults and helping the therapy and recovery of the members. Your domination over the Camp Ashraf entrust you the duty of taking measures to ensure that the world will be safe against the cultic harms and threats of the Mojahedin cult in case the group is unleashed from the bounds of Ashraf.
Mojahedin.ws – June 24, 2007
President Nicolas Sarkozy Elysé Palace Paris, Republic of France Dear Mr. President Primarily the Nejat Society would like to congratulate you on your victory in the presidential campaign. We wish you every success in your tasks and duties for the future of France.
Nejat Society consists of those former members of the Mojahedin-é Khalq Organization (MKO) of Iran who have managed to escape from boundaries of the Organization and feel obliged to help their former colleagues to be rescued from the confinement of a destructive cult.
As you may already be aware, the MKO under the leadership of Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi actively took part in the French presidential campaign in the favour of the Socialist Party and its candidate Ms Ségolène Royal. This of course by no means has anything to do with the ideology or internal and international policies of the French Socialist Party. MKO has proven to be a terrorist cult with extreme opportunistic attitude toward political affairs.
The sheer fact is that Maryam Rajavi has a trial to face in a near future for fraud and terrorism in a French court of justice. This of course has put the organization in an awkward position. The organization thinks that if the ruling party in France is changed, this trial and its heavy file would be over shadowed.
It is worth mentioning that just after the 1979 revolution in Iran, MKO and its leader Mas’ud Rajavi fully supported the new ruling system just to gain time to get prepared to turn against it and assassinate many officials in various ranks.
We as the prime victims of a destructive cult would like to urge you to take decisive measures to counter the organization’s terrorist acts and the mind manipulation practiced over its members. Please do not let them to misuse you and your party’s reputation for their unjust goals.
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The analytic statement of Nejat Society related to the recent report of US State Department The Iranian Mojahedin-é Khalq (MEK) remains on US terror list, a vital step towards the final destination: The US State Department Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism on April 30 released the list of designated terrorist organizations. Once again Mujahedin-é Khalq Organization (as well as the National Council of Resistance and the National Liberation Army) continues to occupy the status it has been designated since 1997.
The highlights of the report are as follows:
– The MEK advocates the violent overthrow of the Iranian regime and was responsible for the assassination of several U.S. military personnel and civilians in the 1970’s.
– MEK leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United State, Canada, and beyond.
– The MEK emerged in the 1960s as one of the most violent political movements opposed to the Pahlavi dynasty and its close relationship with the United States.
– MEK ideology has gone through several iterations and blends elements of Marxism, Islam, and feminism.
– The group rapidly fell out of favour with the Iranian people
– The group has planned and executed terrorist operations against the Iranian regime for nearly three decades from its European and Iraqi bases of operations.
– It has expanded its fundraising base, further developed its paramilitary skills, and aggressively worked to expand its European ranks.
– In addition to its terrorist credentials, the MEK has also displayed cult-like characteristics. Upon entry into the group, new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and revisionist Iranian history. Members are also required to undertake a vow of "eternal divorce" and participate in weekly "ideological cleansings." Children are reportedly separated from parents at a young age.
– MEK leader Maryam Rajavi has established a "cult of personality." She claims to emulate the Prophet Muhammad and is viewed by members as the "Iranian President in exile."
– The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives and has been supported by reprehensible regimes, including that of Saddam Hussein.
– The MEK instigated a bombing campaign, including an attack against the head office of the Islamic Republic Party and the Prime Minister’s office, which killed some 70 high-ranking Iranian officials, including Chief Justice Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti, President Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar.
– For five years (1981 – 1986), the MEK continued to wage its terrorist campaign from its Paris headquarters.
– MEK leaders turned to Saddam Hussein’s regime (1986) for basing, financial support, and training. Near the end of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War, Baghdad armed the MEK with heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of MEK fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces.
– The MEK’s relationship with the former Iraqi regime continued through the 1990s. In 1991, the group reportedly assisted in the Iraqi Republican Guard’s bloody crackdown on Iraqi Shiites and Kurds who rose up against Saddam Hussein’s regime; press reports cite MEK leader Maryam Rajavi encouraging MEK members to "take the Kurds under your tanks."
– In April 1992, the MEK conducted near-simultaneous attacks on Iranian embassies and installations in 13 countries, demonstrating the group’s ability to mount large-scale operations overseas.
– In April 1999, the MEK targeted key Iranian military officers and assassinated the deputy chief of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff, Brigadier General Ali Sayyaad Shirazi.
– In April 2000, the MEK attempted to assassinate the commander of the Nasr Headquarters. The pace of anti-Iranian operations increased during "Operation Great Bahman" in February 2000, when the group launched a dozen attacks against Iran. One of those attacks included a mortar attack against a major Iranian leadership complex in Tehran that housed the offices of the Supreme Leader and the President.
– In 2000 and 2001, the MEK was involved in regular mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids against Iranian military and law enforcement personnel, as well as government buildings near the Iran-Iraq border.
– In 2001, the FBI arrested seven Iranians in the United States who funnelled $400,000 to an MEK-affiliated organization in the UAE which used the funds to purchase weapons.
– Since 2003, roughly 3,400 MEK members have been encamped at Ashraf in Iraq, under the supervision of Coalition Forces.
– In 2003, French authorities arrested 160 MEK members at operational bases they believed the MEK was using to coordinate financing and planning for terrorist attacks.
– Upon the arrest of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, MEK members took to Paris’ streets and engaged in self-immolation.
– According to evidence which became available after the fall of Saddam Hussein, the MEK received millions of dollars in Oil-for-Food program subsidies from Saddam Hussein from 1999 through 2003, which supported planning and executing future terrorist attacks. In addition to discovering 13 lists of recipients of such vouchers on which the MEK appeared, evidence linking the MEK to the former Iraqi regime includes lists, as well as video footage of Saddam Hussein handing over suitcases of money to known MEK leaders, and video of MEK operatives receiving training from the Iraqi military.
The report is by no means inclusive and some essential factors are deliberately missing. The evidential fact that the group celebrated the 11th of September terrorist incident in their camp in Iraq with the presence of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi has not been mentioned. Many former MEK members, both inside and outside Iran, have repeatedly testified the very fact that Maryam Rajavi in a meeting of about 2000 MEK members in Iraq praised the catastrophe and called it to the best interests of the MEK. The group’s present links with extremists in Iraq and former Iraqi Ba’th Party elements has not been mentioned in this report either. The US State Department should have referred to existing documented reports in order to let the actual facts be known by the people, as well as being recorded in the history.
In this report the “expatriate Iranian communities” have been referred to as the organisation’s present financial source. The truth is that the organisation, similar to many cults alike, is using cover societies to swindle people and absorb their financial aids by using deception and fraud.
Nevertheless the facts revealed in the report clearly prove that the group is a major threat for western citizens as well as Iranians and Iraqis. The report emphasises that the MEK is a personality cult and Maryam Rajavi is praised like an idol and the organisation is capable of executing terrorist acts in western countries.
Referring to this report and the Iraqi authorities decision that the members of MEK must be expelled from Iraq and the inhabitants of Ashraf Camp be freed, one may ask that why that decisive step is not taken. The State Department has revealed the nature of this group which leaves no doubts that the members of the group are the prime victims of a cult and their presence in Iraq has given the chance to the leaders to isolate them from their families and the outside world.
In one word the US State Department’s report describes MEK as a destructive terrorist cult. In this case, would it not be better to help the captive members of a dangerous cult to be saved from a horrific citadel and return to their families? The leaders of the cult must not be permitted further to keep their recruits as hostages using mind manipulation and then force them to commit self immolation and further immolating others. The official statement of the State Department is a grave and severe obstacle on the way of those who have aimed to play Saddam Hussein’s role for the MEK and to utilize this aggressive cult as “good terrorists”. Let’s hope that this process would end to the freedom of all captive recruits of the MEK.
Nejat Society calls upon all western countries particularly the US administration to take decisive measures to safeguard the future of those still captive in Ashraf Camp in Iraq and let them choose their own destiny and do not enter into the dangerous double standard policy of serving the MEK leaders the same way Saddam Hussein once did.
Nejat Society
9 May,2007
www.nejatngo.org
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