Nejat Bloggers

Yaser, a murdered child soldier of Camp Ashraf

Following the screening of the Children of Camp Ashraf documentary at the Swedish Goteborg Festival, Nejat Society interviewed the family of one of the child soldiers who was killed inside Camp Ashraf. Reza Akbari Nasab, an active member of Nejat society and the uncle of Yaser Akbari Nasab, told us about the fate of Yaser, his young nephew whose story has been heard in the testimonies of a large number of defectors of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).

Reza’s 2 nephews and 1 niece were among the children of Camp Ashraf. Yaser, Musa and Fatemeh were the three children of Reza Akbarinasab’s brother, Morteza, whose lives were awfully affected by the cult-like violence of Rajavi because of their father’s membership in the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Among these three children, Yasser suffered the most traumatic fate. He was tragically killed in Camp Ashraf.

According to Akbari Nasab, Yaser got involved with the MEK since he was three years old. As a child, he was separated from his parents under the order of Masoud Rajavi and was smuggled from Iraq to Europe along with hundreds of other children. He and his siblings were placed in the MEK’s orphanage buildings in Germany.

Yeser’s sister, Fatemeh, could not stand the abuses in the MEK’s team house in Germany and escaped the house, few years later. According to Reza Akbarinasab, the MEK commanders immediately smuggled Yaser and Musa back to Iraq, to prevent their escape from the cult. Like many other children of Mujahed parents, Musa and Yaser were recruited as soldiers of the group’s so-called Liberation army. The two teenagers were given military uniforms and were taught military trainings.

Referring to evidence from defectors of the MEK, Reza believes that Yasser was not happy with his conditions at Camp Ashraf from the beginning, and his dissatisfaction caused him to be subjected to cult-like violence. Finally, in June 2005, in a suspicious incident that seemed to be self-immolation, he was killed.

Yaser died soon and did not survive the Rajavis’ violence to share his life story with us like the 4 young people who share their lived experience in the MEK, in the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf. His brother, Musa could manage to leave the group when it was located in Camp Liberty, Iraq.

Yaser was no more than 25 years old when he died. His two siblings managed to escape from the organization, but Yaser, who was not interested to stay in Camp Ashraf, became a victim of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi’s conspiracies to run their cult.

February 10, 2024 0 comment

Former members of the MEK

Report on the Premier of “Children of Camp Ashraf” at the Goteborg Festival

The new documentary Children of Camp Ashraf was screened at the Gotenborg Film Festival in Sweden. On Wednesday, January 31, 2024, Sara Moin’s documentary was screened at the Goteborg Documentary Film Festival.

Children of Camp Ashraf deals with the story of 4 out of 900 children of Mujahedin_e Khalq (MEK) who were separated from their parents in 1991under the order of Masoud Rajavi and were smuggled from Camp Ashraf, Iraq to Europe and North America. Amir Yaghmai, Parvin Hosseini, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sabdani are four of the 120 children of the MEK who were smuggled to Sweden at that time.

According to the information available on the festival’s website, the tickets for the first screening of the film at 5:45 pm on Wednesday were completely sold out about three weeks ago.

At the end of the movie, the crowd of Swedish spectators in the hall faced the tumult by the supporters of the MEK who were trying to convince the jury and the audience in the hall in non-Swedish languages that the film not based on truth.

https://dla.nejatngo.org/Media/Report/Children-Ashraf/Doc-Children-Ashraf-202402-1.mp4

Tumult by the supporters of the MEK after the doc’s screening

Hanif Heideranjad, a former member of the MEK and a journalist, wrote in his report on premier of the Children of Camp Ashraf: “Instead of being responsible and accountable, instead of addressing the subject and content of the film and responding to the facts and documents and instead of addressing the testimonies of four people interviewed in the film, the MEK resorted to blind and baseless accusations against these four people.”

On his Face Book account, Siamak Naderi, a former member of the MEK, refers to the “disturbance and hooliganism of the forces sent by the Cult of Rajavi”. According to the statements of Siamak Naderi, Amir Yaghmai told him in a call that due to the commotion of the supporters of Rajavi, the question and answer session that had been held with the presence of the film crew was disrupted in the cinema hall.

Mohammad Reza Torabi, a former member of the MEK and a former child soldier of the group, who now lives in Germany, published a video on social networks about the troubles that the supporters of the MEK made during the screening of Sara Moin’s documentary in front of the festival cinema and inside the screening hall. According to his report, the Cult of Rajavi used other child soldiers who are themselves victims of Massoud Rajavi’s cult of personality to disturb the cinema hall.

The documentary Children of Camp Ashraf is also scheduled to be played at the Tempo Festival in Sweden in March.

February 4, 2024 0 comment

Iran

Report on the eighth session of the MEK’s trial

The eighth session of the trial of commanders of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and the group as an entity was held in Tehran. The court was chaired by Judge Dehghani in the 11th branch of the criminal court of Tehran province on Tuesday, January 30th. The court was held in two parts in the morning and in the afternoon.
Vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative read the indictments of the 90th to 105th defendants who include: Morteza Fakhar, Assadollah Faqih Dezfuli, Iraj Feiz, Parviz Karimian, Ahmad Golpaygani, Farid Mahootchi, Mehdi Madadi, Mahmood Ahmadi, Javad Ahmadi, Esmail Mortezai, Mahmood Moayeri, Roghayeh Malek Mohammadi, Hassan Nezamolmolki, Nasrin Nazari Aliabadi, Ali Hadizadeh, Allahkaram Hooshangi.

Accusations of the MEK as an entity

15 charges were read aloud to accuse the Mujahedin Khalq organization as an entity. According to the court the MEK has been the instigator of a large number of crimes that has led to intimidation, insecurity, injury and death of civilians.
The crimes have been committed by the MEK’s agents to disrupt national security of Iranians from 1979 until now inside Iran, from Iraq, France and Albania.
Instigating intelligence cooperation in organized espionage with the foreign and hostile government of the Iraqi Baath regime in order to damage national security, especially during the 8 years of war imposed by former Iraqi dictator on Iran.
According to the court, numerous organized kidnappings combined with torture, physical and mental harassment were instigated by the MEK as an entity. They include intentional destruction, setting fire on people’s property, public property, theft of public property, armed robbery of public and private properties and organized terrorist acts leading to assault and intentional killing of people, airplane hijacking, propaganda activity and publication of lies and financing of terrorism.

Maryam and Massoud Rajavi’s accusations

The accusations of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi as the second and third defendants of the trial were also read aloud for the audience. The leadership, command, planning, design, facilitating and direction of the extensive and criminal actions of the organized and coherent group, MEK.
The Rajavis’ charges include: Fighting through cooperation with the hostile foreign government (Baath regime of Iraq), commanding and participating in military-terrorist operations known as Aftab, Chelcheragh, Forough Javidan, Marwarid, cross border operations known as patrolling and clearing the way for the lives of people, intimidating them and creating insecurity in Iran, collusion and espionage against the internal and external security of the country and against people’s lives and property, including terrorist operations and organized actions for street riots…Massoud Rajavi is accused of participation in the hijacking of Boeing 707 on August 6, 1981.

101 other defendants of the court

Then the accusations of 101 accused members and commanders of the MEK were read aloud in detail. The crimes they have committed briefly include murder, robbery, torture, acts of terror, inciting riots and creating insecurity. Separate accusations were presented for Mehdi Abrishamchi, Mehdi Baraee, Farhad Olfat, Mahmood Fakharzadeh, Alireza Bahrami.

The reasons for persecution of the group and its commanders

Some of the reasons are the followings: Complaints of private complainants whose names were read in the court, reports of general and special justice officials (21 reports) focusing on the crimes committed by the MEK and its agents, confessions of the accused ones in speeches, and public and private meetings of MEK, claiming the responsibility of the crimes by the MEK, statements of other arrested defendants regarding the group and its commanders, the testimonies of the witnesses who were present at the scene of the terrorist attacks, testimonies of former members of the group…
Besides, based on the words of the representative of the prosecutor, the MEK and 104 of its commanders are now brought to justice because they started an illegitimate armed struggle against a legally established government. They killed 17 thousand of Iranian people, including children and women, and several of the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran including President Rajai and his prime minister Bahonar. Saddam Hussein sponsored the MEK financially and logistically to form its private army which was called National Liberation Army by the group.

Why the MEK is considered a terrorist group?

The prosecutor’s representative said, “Terrorist acts are realized when they are intentional and related to an individual or collective action and have the goal of severely disrupting public order by creating terror, which is realized in the context of the following crimes: Deliberate damage to the life and dignity of people, extortion, theft, torture and brutal acts, violence leading to death, amputation or permanent disability, kidnapping or imprisoning people, as well as hijacking a plane, stealing a ship or any other means of transportation, money laundering. , disabling as well as computer crimes, violation of freedom of movement, manufacturing, selling, storing, transporting or maintaining war machines, lethal and explosive weapons, any type of crime using bombs, grenades, rockets, automatic weapons, letter or explosive package under individual or collective action to cause serious disturbance of public order through terror. Financing terror acts by providing, collecting, or managing assets, cash, or providing recommendations for this purpose with the intent of acquiring these assets and cash are regarded as works of terrorist groups. All assets or a part of it are used in order to commit terrorist acts.”

According to Vaziri, significant number of armed actions of the MEK, such as mortar attacks in residential areas, an attack on the Faculty of Literature in Ahvaz, and bombing a bus in Shiraz, in public places, places of education and training of young people for launching terror acts in residential areas of civilians, as well as public vehicles that has been carried out by the group has seriously disrupted the public order, it has caused intimidation and terror and the deliberate killing of ordinary citizens of the society. Therefore, these few cases will be enough to prove the terrorist nature of the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization and its commanders.

January 31, 2024 0 comment

Former members of the MEK

Hanif Bali in the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf

The Hanif Bali is a Swedish politician of the Moderate Party and a former board member of the party whose life experience with the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was documented by an Iranian-Swedish filmmaker in the documentary, Children of Camp Ashraf.

As one of the four case studies of Sara Moein’s new documentary, Hanif Bali arrived in Sweden when he was three years old. He spoke of his several moms in an interview with Manoto TV in 2016. “When I was told “Your mom”, I had to ask “Which mom?” because I had several moms,” he told Manoto.

He was one of the 120 children of MEK parents who were smuggled from Camp Ashraf, Iraq to Sweden. He was then moved between eight different foster families until he turned 18. He is a Swedish politician now because he is one of those few lucky MEK children who was not returned as a child soldier to Camp Ashraf to receive military training.

Hanif recounted the heartbreaking stories of his childhood as an orphan in a foreign country, in the interview. About his biological parents, he said, “Mothers were allowed to call their children only once a year. My father has called me only twice in my entire life.”

Children of Camp Ashraf narrates the story of the environmental scientist Amir, the actress Parvin, the politician Hanif and the influencer Atefeh who are four of over 700 children of MEK parents who were separated from their parents and smuggled from Iraq to Western countries under the order of the group’s leader Massoud Rajavi.

January 30, 2024 0 comment

Albania

Options for Albania: either to expel or extradite the leaders of the MEK

When we defected the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and planned to return to Iran, it was said that except for 50 MEK leaders who are on the black list, the rest were included in amnesty and can return to Iran. Most of the families who were worried about If their loved ones decide to leave and return to Iran, will they be in danger of being arrested and tried or not? Now this list has increased to 104 people who are being tried in Tehran court.

Although everyone in their organization knows if they were directly involved in a crime or not? Or they were just members who were deceived and taken to the group, and it can be concluded that all the defectors who decided to return to Iran know that they did not participate in any crime against the Iranian people, and they do not have private complaints.

But from the point of view of international law, now the question arises as to why the Albanian government has sheltered the members of this black list in its country with the participation and direct order of the American government? We, the defectors, are also complaining to the Albanian government that why has the MEK been settled in their country as a legal entity that violates our rights? Why should the group be formed in Ashraf 3 in a coherent way and no one has the right to enter and leave freely?

The government of Albania was supposed to fulfill the preparations for de-radicalizing of MEK members in the path to free life, but now, more than 7 years have passed since the members of the organization entered the territory of Albania, this task has not been realized. When the Albanian police entered the Ashraf 3 headquarters on June 30 this year, we all saw that the leaders of the terrorist organization were reminiscing about their previous and terrorist organizations and had no idea of releasing the captive members of the organization.

As always and like what the French government did on June 17, the MEK leaders should be treated by force, after examining all the shameful records of the organization, it is important to conclude that in the first place we, defectors, should complain to the Albanian government that they are torturers and corrupters. The givers of our life and youth have sheltered us in their country, now that the government of Iran has started the trial of 104 of the heads of the MEK and the organization itself as a legal entity, it is appropriate that the complaint of us is also related to this case between the governments of Iran and Albania should be annexed and our complaint, which is now between the two governments of Iran and Albania, should be submitted to the International Court of Justice in The Hague and the government of Albania should be held accountable for sheltering the leaders of the MEK in its territory.

The MEK has always spent its life in the gaps and conflicts between Iran and its enemies. There is a gap between the definitions between a liberation movement and terrorism! It is obvious that a group that has killed 17,000 Iranian people and has thousands of its members killed or tortured and imprisoned within the group is not a liberating organization.

The Albanian government is blamed for harboring terrorists. Masoud Rajavi, who escaped and if he is still alive, is in the rat hole, but Maryam Rajavi and the heads of the group, as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization, which is a legal entity, should not travel freely between countries, international criminals should not travel freely, and the judges of the Hague Court should oblige the governments not to shelter terrorists, the Albanian government has no right either. If it tolerates the terrorists any more, the Albanian government has two options: either to expel or extradite the leaders of the MEK.

The heads of the Albanian government should be held accountable in the Hague court. They should be asked why they gave shelter to the terrorists? Those terrorists who are organized and conduct terrorist trainings in their organizations including bomb making and launching explosives in public places.

Some of these terrorists received political asylum and cannot be extradited or tried, although such people do not have the right to be members of a formerly terrorist designated organization. Giving shelter to a group of rebels with a violent background means that if an opportunity is provided, they will continue their terrorist acts again. Before granting asylum to asylum seekers, governments have been asked by the United Nations to ensure that these people have not been involved in committing terrorist acts, and after granting asylum, they must take care of the status of asylum seekers.

For these reasons, even their political asylum should be canceled, and granting the right of political asylum should not create immunity for terrorists to continue their terrorist acts. Violence in any form is prohibited, and the Albanian government has no right to support terrorists from its territory and openly endanger the interests of other countries.

The Albanian government seems to be indifferent to the actions of the MEK in its territory. The 1937 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Terrorism (1937 Geneva Convention) can be considered the first international convention on terrorism. This convention defines the act of terrorism as “criminal actions against a government with the aim of causing terror in certain individuals and groups or at the level of society.”

Conspiracy, incitement to commit a criminal act, incitement of people to do something, even if it is not successful, or voluntary participation and cooperation in criminal acts are among the things mentioned in this convention. The government of Albania allows the MEK to finance terrorists from the Albanian territory, now the government of Albania is accused of supporting a terrorist group.

The fact is that terrorism is one of the main threats to international peace and security. This action has a criminal aspect and cannot be justified in any way and under any circumstances.

January 29, 2024 0 comment

Former members of the MEK

Amir Yaghmai in the documentary, Children of Camp Ashraf

Former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), Amir Yaghmai is one of the relief subjects of the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf. The documentary was directed by Sara Moein and will be played in two Swedish film festivals.

Barnen från Camp Ashraf is the Swedish title of the film which has documented the lives of Amir Yaghmai, Parvin Hossein Nia, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sebdani as 4 examples of about 120 children of the MEK parents who were resettled in Sweden. The number of MEK children who were smuggled from Camp Ashraf, Iraq to European and North American countries mounts to over 700.

Amir Yaghmai was smuggled back to Iraq when he was 14 years old and he was immediately given a military uniform and recruited as a child soldier of the group’s so-called National Liberation Army.
Amir has so far revealed facts on difficulties, segregation and mental pressure he suffered during his stay in the cult-like structure of the MEK.

Today, Amir has a PhD degree in Eco-logy, working as an environmental scientist. He lives in Sweden with his family.

The documentary, which partly develops on Amir’s testimony of what it is like to escape from a destructive cult, will premiere on January 31st at the Gothenburg International Film Festival and on March 4 at the Tempo Documentary Festival.

January 27, 2024 0 comment

Iran

Iran court holds seventh trial session for the MEK

The seventh session of the trial of commanders of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was held in Tehran. The court was chaired by Judge Dehghani in the 11th branch of the criminal court of Tehran province on Tuesday, January 23rd.

The prosecutor’s representative called Hossein Dadkhah, Sepideh Ebrahimi, Sadat Bandari, Fatemeh Davaran, Azadeh Rezai, Hadi Roshan Ravan and 15 others as the main defendants of yesterday’s session.

According to the prosecutor’s representative, Hossein Dadkhah was responsible for identifying the target of the assassination, the address and hours of the assassination, as well as announcing this information to the MEK agents in the murder of Seyed Mohammad Hassan Beheshti Nejad.
Thus, in this terrorist act, in 1381, the members of a five-person team went to the door of the mentioned house and shot at him under the cover of delivering a letter, which led to the murder of him and his young child.

Based on the indictment of Sepideh Ebrahimi, she is one of the interrogator-torturer of the group’s dissident members. She has also been the organizer of the group’s terror teams for mortar attacks in the cities of Iran.

Vaziri, the prosecutor’s representative stated that in a classified document published by the US government, the MEK only seeks to create chaos, but also helps the American government to put more pressure on Tehran.

He added, “It is mentioned in this document that the terrorist MEK can play an important role for Washington as an agent of infiltration and espionage.”.
Mohammad Sadat Darbandi is the 78th defendant in the court investigating the crimes of the MEK. Inside the MEK, he is called Kak Aadel. His name is frequently mentioned as a notorious torturer of the group’s dissident members, in the testimonies of defectors of the MEK.

January 24, 2024 0 comment

Former members of the MEK

Atefeh Sebdani in the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf

As children, they were taken from their parents and sent abroad, with the aim of one day returning as warriors who would overthrow the current regime in Iran. The Children of Camp Ashraf follows four of the children that were sent to Sweden. One of them is the Swedish-Iranian author Atefeh Sebdani.

Atefeh Sebdani debuted last year with the gripping memoir My Hand in Mine. It is a story about growing up with no one to hold on to but yourself, of abuses that are skillfully covered up and a society that time and again fails to see the vulnerable child. But it is also a story of a stubborn burning vitality and the courage to finally break free.

The documentary, which expands on Atefeh’s vital testimony of what it is like to escape from one country and grow up in another, will premiere on January 31st at the Gothenburg International Film Festival and on March 4 at the Tempo Documentary Festival.

Sara Moien the director of Children of Camp Ashraf, narrates the story of the environmental scientist Amir, the actress Parvin, the politician Hanif and the influencer Atefeh are four of over 700 children of MEK parents who were smuggled from Iraq to Western countries.
These children have experienced traumatic lives in foster families, orphanages and as child soldiers in Camp Ashraf, Iraq.

January 22, 2024 0 comment

The cult of Rajavi

“The children of Camp Ashraf” in Tempo Festival, Sweden

The documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” will be screened at the Tempo Festival in Sweden. This documentary, directed by Sara Moein, tells the story of the children of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) who were separated from their parents after the First Persian Gulf War under the order of Masoud Rajavi and were sent from Iraq to European and North American countries.

In her film, Sara Moein documented the lives of Amir Yaghmai, Parvin Hossein Niya, Hanif Bali and Atefeh Sebdani as 4 examples of about 120 children of the MEK parents who were resettled in Sweden.

In the review on Sara Moein’s documentary, the website of the festival writes:
The environmental scientist Amir, the actress Parvin, the politician Hanif and the influencer Atefeh are some of the hundreds of children who were smuggled to Sweden in the early 90s so that their parents could devote themselves wholeheartedly to the political struggle in the Marxist-Islamist movement People’s Mujahedin. Thousands of children were shipped from the movement’s military base in Iraq to Mujahedin-sympathizer foster families in Europe. In Sweden, the children were placed with the help of social authorities. Interviews and archival material depict the painful family separations and how the movement becomes increasingly authoritarian and sectarian”.

Tempo is Sweden’s largest documentary festival. Since its founding in 1998, it has showcased hundreds of documentaries from around the world, presenting documentary works in the forms of audio, photography, performing arts, and experimental art.

In 2024, eight films will compete in the Tempo Documentary Award. The winning director will receive an award worth 150,000 kroner. The Tempo Documentary Award is the largest award given to a Swedish documentary film. All nominated films will be screened in the festival from March 4 to 10.

The Children of Camp Ashraf has also participated in the Edinburgh Film Festival in Sweden which will premiere on January 31st.

“The children of Camp Ashraf” in Tempo Festival, Sweden

January 20, 2024 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Get to know an MEK torturer

Hamideh Shahrokhi Amiri is the 50th defendant in the court hearing the case of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). She has always been one of the group’s officials, a member of the group’s Elite Council. She has also worked as an interrogator-torturer.
Hamideh Shahrokhi, nicknamed Afsaneh, was one of the commanders of the MEK army in the Forough Javidan operation, the group’s cross border operation against its own country sponsored by Saddam Hussein.

His sister, Saeeda Shahrokhi, was also a member of the Cult of Rajavi, and she is considered one of the high-ranking officials of the group. In 1984, she married Massoud Kalani (anchor of the Mujahideen TV channel) in Paris. It was an organizational forced marriage. They were later forced to divorce under the order of Massoud Rajavi, as a ruling of the so-called Maryam ideological revolution.

Afsana was one of the officials who played an active and significant role in suppressing the members who wanted to defect the organization. She appointed her deputy, who was Zohra Akhyani in 1989 to 1990, to administer the meeting and suppress the dissidents.

Dariush Ghanavati is a former member of the MEK who encountered Hamideh Shahrokhi’s violence when he asked to leave the organization. He recounts: “Hamida Shahrokhi told me, do you want to go out? We do not send anyone abroad! I answered, what do I have to do with abroad? I want to return to Iran. He drew an arrow with a marker and said that one end of this arrow is a Mujahid and the other end is an Iranian revolutionary guard. Which one are you?! I said none. I want to go back to my family.”

“She started insulting and cursing and the rest of the crowd followed her,” Dariush continues. “They pressured me so much that I started crying. Then they took me to the southeast side of Camp Ashraf and imprisoned me in a Conex, called Bangal.”

Kambiz Bagherzadeh is another former member of the Cult of Rajavi who recalls Afsaneh as his torturer after he wrote a letter to Massoud Ragavi and asked him to let him leave the group in 1990. “They transferred me to a shanty-like room that we called Bengal, and I was there alone for about a month,” he writes in his memoirs. “I was only allowed to leave the place twice a day to use the restroom, and they kept a guard behind the Bengal door for me 24/7. The Bengal was actually a cell for solitary confinement.”
“Little by little, loneliness and mental pressure pressed me so much so that sometimes I actually thought of suicide!”, Kambiz recalls. “From the 20th day, they made me participate in meetings for those who wanted to leave the organization. Really nauseating meetings that were full of insulting, cursing, and spitting on the targeted person, and everyone was shouting and yelling so loud that no one could understand what others were saying. Everyone was shouting at the poor person! This was where Afsanah was the commander, all these crimes were committed under her orders and supervision.”

In 1993 and 1994, the MEK imprisoned about 700 members of the group under that accusation of being an agent of the Iranian intelligence. The imprisoned ones have been accused of such a charge because they had asked to leave the group or they had criticized the group’s ideology or leaders. According to the defector’s testimonies, Hamida Shahrokhi was one of the torturers in this story, who brutally harassed the disaffected forces as much as possible.

January 17, 2024 0 comment

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