Amir Hezbepour was serving his army service in 1987 when he was taken as hostage by the Mujahedin-e Khalq agents in Iran-Iraq border. He was a soldier of Iranian army who was kidnapped by the MEK and since then he has been isolated from the outside world including his family in Iran.
Amir has not contacted his family for 39 years except for two times: The first time was in Iraq, in 2004 when his father went to Camp Ashraf. He was just allowed to visit Amir for a few minutes under the supervision of MEK commanders. His later trips to Camp Ashraf were not successful. He was no more permitted to visit his beloved son.
During these years, Amir’s brother, Adel has been cooperating with Nejat Society in order to send messages to his beloved brother in the MEK and so he has been labeled as an agent of the Islamic Republic’s Intelligence ministry. This is the MEK’s tactic to demonize all families who want to contact their children taken as hostages in the group’s cult-like system.
The second contact was made by Amir! He was forced by the group leaders to write against his own family calling them “Monsters”. “My family are the Resistance Units who are fighting the regime in Iran,” he added.
However, Adel had learned from former members of the MEK that Amir and many other members of the group are manipulated and coerced to write such words against their families. Thus, he continued writing letters to send love to his beloved brother. This is a part of his last letter that has been published in Persian on Nejat website:
Yesterday I received a new photo of you. To be honest, I was very happy that I was able to see a picture of you once again, and I was also very sad that after all these years I only had to see your photo and why can’t I even hear your voice?
My good brother, when I saw your photo, I just cried in silence for a few minutes, and in those few minutes, all the past memories with you flashed before my eyes. I remembered the cries and moans of our parents, because of their distance and lack of news about you, and I felt sad for them, who passed away with a lot of regret and sighs.
Amir Hezbepour is now in the MEK’s headquarters called Ashraf 3, in Manez, Albania. Residents of Ashraf 3 are not allowed to leave the camp. They are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world either. Their families, in Iran and across the world, like the Hezbepours are deprived from their basic rights to contact their loved ones.
