Page 21 – Nejat Society

Report on the International Conference “Struggling Terrorism”

On October 12, 2024 an international conference was held in Italy that focused on terrorism and human rights topics. Erisa Idris (Rahimi) on behalf of the Albanian Nejat Society was invited to the conference “Iran and Struggling Terrorism” held in Modena, Italy.

Erisa Idrizi’s Speech and the MEK Case

Erisa Idrizi, the President of the Albanian Nejat Society, delivered a powerful speech during the conference, sharing the experiences of her society and its members concerning the terrorist group called MEK (Mojahedin-e Khalq). She highlighted the horrific practices employed by this group, including torture and abuse of its members. Idrizi emphasized that such actions are unacceptable and constitute serious violations of human rights, as guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).

Legal Framework for Human Rights

1. **International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR): This document guarantees fundamental rights, including the right to life, freedom from torture, and fair treatment, as well as the right to due process.
2. European Convention on Human Rights: According to Article 3, no one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment. The torture practices perpetrated by the MEK group violate this provision and place victims in a dangerous situation.
3. International Refugee Law: Under the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, individuals who have experienced violence, persecution, and abuse have the right to seek international protection. Refugees must be treated with dignity and protected from any form of violence.

Erisa Idrizi’s speech was highly praised by participants and the Italian media, positioning her as a strong advocate for human rights. She successfully raised awareness about the abuses occurring within the MEK group and the urgent need for international action to ensure the protection of victims.

In conclusion, the “Struggling Terrorism” conference served as an important platform to discuss the challenges and solutions related to terrorism and human rights protection. The engagement of Erisa Idrizi and the Albanian Nejat Society marks a significant step toward promoting a fairer and more humane society where the rights of all individuals are respected and upheld.

Aldo Sulollari / Media Manager of Nejat Society

October 16, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Erisa Rahimi’s speech at the Modena conference

The English translation of the text of Mrs. Erisa Rahimi’s speech, to be presented at the Modena conference, which was given to the officials of La Terra dei Padri before her trip to Italy.

Good day everyone and welcome to my presentation.
First of all, let me thank you all for coming here today. I also wish to thank the organizers particularity Mr. Luciano Lago for inviting me to participate and speak about a very interesting and important topic in this conference.
Let me start by introducing myself.

My name is Erisa Idrizi. I am the president of Nejat Society in Albania. Nejat Society, with the aim of supporting the Iranians living in Albania, has been active for several years and last year I managed to officially register it along with some other humanitarian Albanians in Tirana.

I speak with pain about betraying the country, terrorism and violation of human rights, because I have seen a lot of evidence and heard a lot of suffering testimonies and felt the pain of friends, colleagues and members of the Nejat Society in Albania, which consists of the former members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) and their Albanian friends.

I was introduced to MEK seven years ago by my husband, Sarfaraz Rahimi, a former member of this organization who managed to rescue himself and live freely. We have a six-year-old son called Ermolindo.

Seven years ago, my husband’s words seemed unbelievable, when he told me that during 17 years he did not communicated with his family, he did not have the right to think freely, he did not have the right to leave the camp in Iraq for fun or for medication, he did not have the right to communicate with any member inside the camp, not even with his brother and his nephew, who were also part of this organization, and he did not have the right to marry and form a family.

But the thing that amazed me the most was how the leaders of this organization controlled the feelings and thoughts of the members. My husband and many other members who have been part of this organization told me that every night they had to sit and write their thoughts and the work they had done during the day and criticize themselves.
Aren’t you surprised now?

I was also surprised 7 years ago. How can a person have so much power over the others to control their thoughts to the point that forcing them to write down all their thoughts and even their dreams, and the people be punished if they thought about their family, friends or anyone and anything outside the organization?

Members would be psychologically punished in the form of being severely criticized and morally insulted in daily sessions called the “the current operation” or peer pressure.

Don’t you think that this is the most inhuman act against the members? That is, controlling their thoughts so that they deny their families and parents? Do you think this is the only criminal act of this organization? There are so many of them that I need a whole day to count them all for you.

But I only refer to some main topics about the criminal activities practiced systematically by the MEK.
The first is abusing the basic human rights of the members in a mind control destructive cult. The members have no right to leave the camp in Albania or resign, they have no right to marry and form a family or contact with the outside world particularly the family and friends. No one can have private ownership whatsoever. Members are not allowed to medication and there have been suspicious deaths inside the camp.

Members who live in a remote and isolated camp are subject to psychological thought control techniques systematically. Those who managed to escape and free themselves say that many individuals wish to free themselves but they have been frightened that they would be arrested and imprisoned by the Albanian police if they leave the camp.

Maryam Rajavi, the leader of MEK after the absence of her husband Massoud Rajavi, claims to respect the women’s rights inside the organization which is totally false. Women are subject to double abuse inside the cult. According to the Ideological Revolution masterminded by Massoud Rajavi, all female members are considered the legitimate wives of him. Some women including Batul Soltani who lives in Germany have confessed that Massoud Rajavi has sexually abused the female members systematically.

What has really shocked the world was the testimony of some former members who were child soldiers inside the organization. The documentary “the children of camp Ashraf” revealed this fact for the world. Members aged even 14 were forced to fight for Iraq against Iranian soldiers.

The discontented members have been subject to solitary confinement, torture, sham executions, and even death according to many witnesses. These types of criminal acts are still going on in the MEK camp and unfortunately the Albanian government has no control over the inside affairs of the camp.

The second is assassinations and terrorist activities inside Iran even against ordinary civilians and also inside Iraq against the Kurds in the north and Shiites in the south of the country with the cooperation of Saddam Hossein.

And the third which is also still going on now is to target the psychological security of the Iranians by forming a cyber army or troll farm in Albania. Hundreds have sat in front of keyboards and try to deceive individuals with disguised names.
This organization, which has currently located its military, security and intelligence departments in Albania, is using the Internet in my country as their main weapon to deceive the Iranian youth into sabotage activities.

How do they do it? They open different accounts with different fake names in the social media and they contact the Iranians in Iran with false identities and force them for small payments to set fire in government institutions, make explosion in parks regardless of the fact that there may be children, women, and families. Some young people have been the victims of the deception of the MEK in this respect.

Those who were arrested by the police in Iran and were imprisoned say that they (MEK) on the other side of the line were so convincing and they did not thing about the consequences of their activities.

MEK is no longer a major security issue for Iran, but rather a human rights issue for the families. Many families of the MEK members in Iran are suffering because Rajavi does not allow the members to have any sort of contact with them. They do not know anything about their loved ones trapped inside MEK for decades. They have formed the Nejat Society in Iran and trying to draw the attention of International Organizations to this human catastrophe.

I urge you to use all your capacity to demand the International and Albanian authorities to have some sort of control over the internal affairs of the camp and apply state sovereignty over that part of the territory and make sure the basic human rights are respected according to the European Convention on Human Rights.

This is all for now as there is much more to say. I would be more than happy to be able to answer your queries if there is any.

Thank you so much again and cheers

October 16, 2024 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Conference on Iran’s fight against terrorism held in Modena

A conference has been held in Italy regarding Iran’s fight against domestic and international terrorism. The initiative has highlighted how Iran has successfully dealt with a number of terrorist threats since its 1979 Islamic revolution in light of today’s crucial challenges. Our correspondent, Max Civili has more on the story in this report.

Max Civili, Press TV, Rome

October 15, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Albanian citizen comments on the MEK isolated members

Every time I see the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in the streets of Tirana, I recognize them without hesitation. This quick recognition is not only because of their appearance, but also because of their special way of behaving, which is very different from the world around them. MEK members always move in groups of three or four, as if this structure is part of their strategy of solidarity or looking out for each other. This habit alone can indicate the depth of belonging to the group, which may have been rooted from long years of struggle and living in closed environments.

But what attracts more attention than anything else is the way they are covered. The clothes they are wearing, especially the old and worn trousers, take me back to the time when Albania was under the leadership of Enver Hoxha. These clothes seem to be a symbol of forty years ago, an era that seems to have never ended for them. This old and repetitive clothing style is a reflection of a past life. It is as if these people have stopped in time and are not willing to accept changes and modernity. Even the shoes they wear are the same and unchanged, a sign of a cultural uniformity that has kept itself separate from the outside world.

Every time I come across these scenes, these people appear in my mind like beings from another planet, as if they have mistakenly stepped here, in Tirana. This mental image may be caused by some kind of alienation that ripples in their behavior and appearance. But behind this superficial image lies a deeper story of the political and ideological past. A story of a group that was born with revolution and struggle, but now in the midst of the turmoil of a changing world, it still adheres to old traditions and beliefs.

I hope that a day will come when these people can make the right decision for their future. A decision that will bring them out of the shadow of the past and from isolation and connect them to the modern and real world.

I always get a lump in my throat when I talk to family or friends and tell them stories about the Rajavi cult and their base in Manez, Durres. Since the members of this group have not been able to see their families for many years, they have stayed away from their parents, siblings. These stories create a deep sense of fear and concern because they show how controlling and restrictive this cult can be. In a world where technological advancements make it possible to be connected to the whole world, it is strange that this group still uses its members in the style of old times, isolated from the real world.

This situation is not only an example of the internal dictatorship of an organization, but also reminds of the dark times of slavery. Where a person is forcibly deprived of the outside world and even the smallest human rights are ignored.

Edona Hunda, Member of Nejat Society Albania

October 14, 2024 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Representative of Nejat Society Albania in a conference in Italy

The cultural center La Terra dei Padri (Land of the Fathers) in Italy organizes many social and political activities for public awareness.

Among these activities was organizing a program titled “Iran, struggling against Terrorism” in Modena city, where Ms. Eria Idrizi (Rahimi) was invited to participate and speak in this program on behalf of Nejat Society.

The invitation was sent with the signature of Mr. Luciano Lago, the president of this cultural center, and Ms. Idrizi, the president of the Albanian Nejat Society, accepted this invitation and left for Italy. In addition to her mother language, which is Albanian, he is also fluent in English and Italian and has also learned Persian in these years.

In this conference, which started at 17:15 on Saturday, October 12, 2024, Ms. Beatrice De Maio, a member of the city council and civil activist in Modena, welcomed the audience and introduced the speakers.

Then the speakers spoke in the following order:
Dr. Hanieh Tarkian, lecturer of Islamic sciences in Italian universities and director of the Department of Islamic Sciences of the Center for International Studies in Rome
Dr. Abolfazl Emami Meybodi, head of the Islamology Department of the International Studies Center of Dimore della Sapienza (Houses of wisdom) in Rome.
Erisa Idrizi, President of the Albanian Nejat Society
Maria Morigi, writer, researcher, reporter and regional geopolitical analyst
Stefano Bonilauri, civil activist and publisher and editor in various media

And the final speaker, who presented the goals of the conference and summarized the presented materials, was Mr. Gianni Alemanno, the secretary of the Indipendenza Party of Italy.

In her speech, Ms. Erisa Idrizi introduced the Nejat Society and its goals and activities in Iran and in Albania, introduced the structure and activities of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) in Albania from the words of former members of this organization, and described it as a terrorist cult whose current members are its prime victims.

Ms. Idrizi called for the intervention of the Albanian government and the exercise of its sovereignty in the Manez camp and asked the international organizations to end the violation of human rights in this camp and facilitate the communication of families with their loved ones after decades.
After the conference, Ms. Idrizi gave interviews to three Italian TV channels.

On the sidelines of this conference, a photo exhibition of the terrorist activities of the MEK was arranged, which attracted the attention of the attendees.

Erisa Idrizi next to Hanieh Tarkian and Abolfazl Emami

Erisa Idrizi between Mr. Gianni Alemanno and Ms. Beatrice De Maio

October 14, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Conference on Iran and the struggle against terrorism in Italy

On Saturday, October 12, 2024 at 17:15, a conference titled “Iran and the struggle against terrorism” was held in the city of Modena in Italy.

The Italian newspaper LaPressa.it wrote this morning in a report before the start of the program by its social reporter Gianni Galeotti:

A conference organized by La Terra dei Padri will be held on Saturday afternoon at 5 pm in Modena, in the Ulivi hall, entitled Iran and the struggle against terrorism.

“Iran is at the center of tensions in the Middle East chessboard, its opposition to US and Israeli policies in the region has cost the Islamic Republic frequent media campaigns in the Western mainstream, which has been accused of being close to terrorism.

But what is the reality of Israel, beyond the exploitation of the West? What has Iran done about domestic and international terrorism? What does this group called Mojahedin-e Khalq really represent and why does Iran consider it a terrorist group?

These are the questions that will basically be answered at this afternoon’s meeting organized by La Terra dei Padri in the Salle Olivi di Modena at via Ciro Menotti 137.

Hanieh Tarkian, professor of Islamic studies in Italy, Abolfazl Emami, religious authority of Shiites in Italy, Erisa Idrizi, Nejat Society, Maria Morigi, geopolitical analyst, Stefano Bonilauri, editor, will be present as speakers.”

The speakers will be introduced by Beatrice De Maio, former councilor of the city council, and the program will be concluded by Gianni Alemanno, secretary of Italian Independence Party.

Mrs. Erisa Rahimi (Idrizi), the president of the Albanian Nejat Society, who participated in this program on behalf of the Nejat Society and at the invitation of the organizers, gave a speech in Italian, which she is completely fluent in, and introduced herself and the Nejat Society and presented demands on behalf of the families to especially the international communities.

Immediately after finishing the program, Mrs. Rahimi did three interviews with Italian TV channels, which was broadcast live for 4 minutes with the Italian channel 9mq.it.

The entire length of this program, including Mrs. Rahimi’s speech, was broadcast live on Italy’s 9mq.it network. Additional reports and coverages and the text of Mrs. Rahimi’s speech will be announced later.

At the end of this conference, the participants visited the terrorism exhibition of the Mojahedin-e Khalq.

Image of the letter inviting Erisa Rahimi to the conference “Iran and the struggle against terrorism”

Image of the Poster of “Iran and struggle against terrorism” conference in Italy

Exhibition about Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorism on the sidelines of the conference

October 13, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Mohammad Hemadi, victim of inequality and discrimination in the MEK

Mohammad Hemadi was 24 years old wen he joined the Mujahedn-e Khalq (MEK) in Iraq. As a politically motivated young Iranian, he had decided to join the group in order to fight the Iranian government but the MEK leaders did not believe him. They kept him in the reception unit of their headquarters in Iraq for almost 5 years.

The MEK commanders even delivered him to Iraqi intelligence department where he was imprisoned and tortured for 2 years. In 2000, finally the MEK accepted Mahammad as an organizational member. They never apologized for what he had endured under the unproved accusation of being an Iranian spy.

Mohammad was a member of the MEK for 17 years. In 2012 when he left Camp Ashraf he was already very sick. “Despite the fact that my brother has been suffering from this disease for nearly 2 years, the leaders of the terrorist Cult of Rajavi not only refused to take any action to treat him, but by accusing him of malingering, they subjected him to the most severe anti-human forced labor in the cult,” Hassan Hemadi told Nejat Society after Mommad died.

Mohammad Hemadi died only ten days after he returned to his home town Ahvaz, Iran. In previous years, his brother had gone to Camp Ashraf to visit him but the MEK leaders did not allow them to visit. Hassan found a chance to pass a letter to his brother through the fences. Eventually, the MEK commanders had forced Mohammad to show up in the group’s TV channel to speak against his family.

Hassan said that in the first contact he had with his brother Mohammad after leaving the organization, Mohammad had announced that his interview with the MEK’s TV against his family was done under the pressure of the group leaders.
After leaving the cult, in the first phone calls, Hassan felt that Mohammad was having trouble saying words. “I was upset about this issue, he said that he had been suffering from severe headaches for a long time in the MEK, but they had only taken him to their clinic at Camp Ashraf!”, he recounts.

They took x-ray of his head but never told him what the cause was! “I even asked them to send me outside of Ashraf for treatment but they did not accept,” Mohammad told his brother. “Only if a high-ranking official fell ill, they would send him outside of Ashraf for treatment. When your letter reached me and you told me about outer space, I made up my mind to run away, I found a good excuse and went to the authorities and said that now that you are not sending me outside for treatment, I want to pursue my treatment myself. They finally let me go.”

With the help of a friend Mohammad moved to Turkey but his health conditions were so bad that he could not live alone. His friend called Hassan and asked him to come over. Hassan went to Turkey immediately and brought Mohammad home.
“He was not even able to eat or sit on his bed alone,” Hassan said. “Without informing the Red Cross or even the Iranian government, I brought him to Iran. We immediately took him to a specialist doctor for treatment. Nothing could be done because his brain tumor had progressed too much. The doctor told us to just take him home to rest. Unfortunately, he didn’t last more than 10 days and passed away.”

Mohammad Hemadi was a member of the Cult of Rajavi for 17 years. He lost his youth and physical health inside the cult.

After he left the group, he declared his separation from the MEK in a letter. The following is the ending part of his letter, translated to English:
“Considering the atrocities that the organization did to me and denied me the least treatment and left me alone, and with the deceptions and tricks that this evil cult brought on the youth of Iran, it was time that I admit the mistake I made for 17 years. I declare my separation from the dirty and treacherous cult.”

October 12, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Former member of the MEK testify in the court

The 20th session of the trial court of 104 Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) members and the group as a legal entity was held in Tehran. The recent session was held at the 11th branch of the criminal court of Tehran province on Tuesday, September 1st, 2024. The court was presided by Judge Dehqani.

The court was attended by the lawyers of the plaintiffs, the family of the victims, the lawyers of the defendants the prosecutor’s representative and survivors of the group’s terrorist acts and former members of the group. Iraj Salehi, former member of the MEK took the stand as the eye-witness of the group’s crimes.

At the age of 13, Salehi joined the MEK under the influence of the slogans of the organization. “The organization used to chant that it was looking for freedom and equality of men and women, justice and the freedom of Palestine,” he said. “I had activities in high school and in 1986 I went to Iraq from Turkey and I was there for 20 years. Over time, I realized that the organization was doing something in practice that was contrary to my thoughts and its slogans, but because it was a cult-like system, I was not allowed to leave.”

According to Salehi, after the fall Saddam Hussein, the power of the organization decreased, so he could manage to leave the group along with hundreds of other members. “Inside the MEK, we had no contact with the outside world and we had no information,” he told the court. “There was only one TV in the halls that broadcast their own programs. They had instilled that Iran is a village and if went go to Iran we would be executed, that’s why I wanted to go abroad, but my mother got sick and I returned Iran.”

Elahe Piruzfar, the lawyer of the defendants, appeared on the stand and asked Iraj Salehi some questions.
Piruzfar asked: You said that Massoud Rajavi implicitly accepted the party’s explosion.
“I heard from Massoud Rajavi that we killed 72 but 120 people,” Salehi said.

Piruzfar asked: You talked about the hijacking of the organization’s plane. How many do you know of?
“I know of a case where the plane was taken to France,” the defectors of the group said.
The judge noted: At the moment there should be questions about the bombing of the Islamic Republic Party.

Piruzfar said: Ms. Roqia Malek Mohammadi was an important member of the leadership staff for several years.
“She has been in charge of operations since almost 1972,” Salehi said. “Everyone in our unit knew that Ms. Malek Mohammadi was responsible for irregular operations.”
The judge asked the witness: “Did you hear from this lady that they carried out the party bombing operation?”

“Yes, we went to the border as a security force, they gave us Iraqi uniforms,” Salehi said. Female members did not come to the border to avoid being identified. Malek Mohammadi then went to the foreign relations department and was in contact with the Iraqis.

Piruzfar asked who worked in the media field.

“There were Zahra Marikhi and several others,” Salehi said.

Piruzfar asked: Who was the main decision-maker in the leadership?
“They once had a political office,” Salehi said. “In 1964, Massoud Rajavi dissolved the political office and said that all decisions were with me. Then the Executive Board was created. The executive board was dissolved again and the leadership council was established.”

Salehi, the former member of the organization, said: “In the 70s, we had operations called irregular operations and a series of operations called mortars. They used trained forces and the newly arrived ones and those who were likely to flee in the operations. In one case, two of the people who had fired mortars in Iran were given medals and honored in a camp called Taghizadegan. That happened in the 80s.”

The Judge: Do you know anyone from the officials of that headquarters?
Salehi answered: “Not all of them; But one of our officials was Zhila Deihim. I also remember Fazeh Hesari. These people used to select people and take them to another place for military training. They were taught how to work with weapons and how to install weapons and familiarize themselves with the conditions of Iran and their place of residence. Because the members of the MEK have been away from normal living conditions for years and had forgotten even normal tasks such as buying and selling, these people were taken to the city of Baghdad to have a little contact with normal life and social environment so that they would not be exposed during the operation.”

The Judge: Do you know what actions the central headquarters took against Iranian individuals or institutions?
Salehi said: “These actions were many and in some cases they gave notices about them as if this headquarters was present inside Iran, while this headquarters was present in Ashraf Camp and was carrying out its work in coordination with Iraqi intelligence and from the border areas. The terrorist forces were entering the territory of Iran.”

The Judge: Did you see that the members of the central headquarters honored the terrorists for carrying out the operation?
Salehi answered: “Yes, they honored two people for throwing mortars against the Iranian Ministry of Information. A woman who was the head of our headquarters, with the nickname Afsaneh, had operated in Khuzestan, and the MEK announced in their announcement that they hit a military center. One of our friends in that center used to mock: a few bullets were fired without a target. Also, operations were carried out in Ahvaz and Abadan. The details of this attack were not explained, but it was said in the announcement that military centers were attacked.”

Iraj Salehi continued saying: The attitude of the MEK was that whoever was released from prison had definitely betrayed and they repeated this issue many times in the meeting. Some people were introduced to foreign journalists as witnesses of torture in Iranian prisons. The fact is that Rajavi was looking for bloodshed and for him there was no difference between friends and enemies. On the one hand, he wanted to assassinate Iranian forces, and on the other hand, he wanted to show that Iran executes members of the Mujahideen. Many of the people that Rajavi had announced that they were executed in the executions of the 1360s in Iran were those who were killed in military operations of the group or even died due to illness.”

Judge: Do you know any people of the MEK people who have disappeared?

Salehi said: “A person named Saeed, an officer of the group’s intelligence department, went to the southern borders of Iran in Khuzestan province with the team for identification in 1993. When the team returned, they said that Saeed had drowned. There were many of these cases, for example, a person who had normal physical health was once said to have died.”

The judge: Did Masoud Rajavi have a special doctor?
“Yes, I don’t remember his name”, he said. “They told all of us in 2001 that we do not have a sick mujahid.”

Judge: Did you see anyone sick among the members? Did you see a sick person?

The former member of the organization said: “One person was from Khuzestan and he was a perdon with high technical skills and a high-ranking member of the group. He was healthy, one day I was informed that he had a stroke and died.”
Judge: Do you know the number of people in the organization during these years?

He replied: “I don’t know this, but 6 thousand people participated in Mersad operation. The Americans announced that there are 4,500 people, and nearly 2,200 to 2,200 of them left the organization, and some of them were killed due to illness and conflicts that Rajavi deliberately caused, and I don’t think they are now more than 2,000 people.”

Mentioning an example, Salehi said: Maryam Rajavi used to teach us that if they told you that you ruined something, even if you didn’t, you have to prove that it was your work. Or, for example, Masoud Rajavi used to say in the eighth year, we brought you a gift, we have a meeting on Fridays, come and discuss the sexual issues you see in your mind or in your dreams. They tried their best to crush the character of their members. No one was valuable to them.

Judge: How many years have you been a member of the organization?

Salehi said: 20 years.

tria

Salehi stated that in the operation of Mersad, the organization was defeated and had no connection with the outside world. After that, they themselves said that they took 2,000 prisoners of war from Saddam Hussein. After the ceasefire was announced, a thousand people left in one day. After Mersad, which had many casualties, there was not much recruitment of the organization. At that time, they used to recruit people from the borders of Iran and told them that you have to work for 2 years in order to get you a German visa and money. When these people came, they told them that you joined the liberation army and that there is no marriage; divorce is forbidden.

Salehi said, “One of them said, I don’t accept you, they took him to the cemetery, they showed him a grave, they said what is your name, He told them a name, then they said, what is your real name? He said that I came with a pseudonym, they said that if we throw you in this grave and bury you, no one will know that you were here.”

With these methods, they kept forces inside the group. They brought a person named Abdullah Afghani, who was not Iranian at all. They also brought Pakistani people and changed their documents, and later when America wanted to return these people to their country, they faced many problems. Even after the fall of Saddam, if there was any recruitment, it has been very few.

October 9, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Testimonies of MEK ex-member in the 20th session of court hearing

The court was attended by the lawyers of the plaintiffs, the family of the victims, the lawyers of the defendants the prosecutor’s representative and survivors of the group’s terrorist acts and former members of the group. Mohammad Reza Goli Eskardi and Iraj Salehi, two former members of the MEK took the stand as eye-witnesses of the group’s crimes.

Eskardi served the MEK for 23 years. In the early days of 1988, he left Iran for Turkey, and was recruited by the organization from there. In Turkey, he worked in the bases of the MEK for a while, and then he was sent to Iraq.

He stayed in the group’s Camp Ashraf, Iraq until 2011 when he escaped the camp. His family went to Baghdad to visit him. They helped him return home after so many years of separation. “Contact with family was forbidden in Camp Ashraf,” he told the court. “With the encouragement and support of my family, I returned to Iran. It has been 10 years since I returned to Iran, started a family and started a new life.”

“I did not have a fixed position in the organization” he explained about the years of serving the MEK. “They used to change my organizational position from time to time.”

Asked about his involvement in the MEK’s cross border operation against Iran called “Forough Javidan”, Eskardi said, “When they organized us there and we entered the arena, I realized that what they are doing has no other result than suicide; Because they had mobilized everyone and wanted to send everyone to Tehran and we were like a target in front of the Iranian army. I handed over the wounded ones to the Iraqi officials to take them to Baghdad, I also went with them and never returned.”

He continued, “On the same day that I appeared in the battle, I witnessed that they had brought people from different countries, these people did not know how to use weapons at all, Rajavi intentionally brought these people to the battlefield to kill them. A group of them were POWs from Saddam’s prisons. These people had no motivation, they were not an organizational force, and they did not know the organization.”

Stating that he was on the scene during the Pearl operation, the MEK’s operation to aid Saddam Hussein’s army to suppress Iraqi Kurds, the witness said, “When we went to hide in the mountains, they told us that the Iranian troops were going to come and surround Camp Ashraf and so we have to defend ourselves. But after the battle broke out, I realized that the people on the other side of the conflict were not Iranians, they were Iraqi Kurds and nomads who had been killed them with cannons and tanks. Rajavi had no motive other than to kill innocents.”

Asked about the explosion of the office of the Islamic Republic Party by the judge, Eskardi said, “I just have some have general information about this. In the meetings held by Rajavi, I remember him boasting about the actions of July 27th explosion. Several times in the meetings, I saw him boasting about himself and calling it ‘the anger of the people’. He said that the bombing on July 27th was our (MEK’s) work, he did not say mention any name. He said that with this action, we were able to ruin the future of the Islamic Republic. Regarding the terrorist attacks they committed, they simply said that we did it.”

Escardi kept on saying, “These people [the MEK] did not show mercy to anyone and even assassinated businessmen and ordinary people. Before anyone took up arms, the organization had planned terrorist actions to get involved with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The judge told him, “You must have a document for your conversations. What was the structure of the organization and who usually knew about the missions?”

The witness answered, “high-ranking commanders such as Mhvash Sepehri; This person was very violent and humiliated people in meetings. Inside the group, nothing was done without the permission of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi.”

The judge asked Eskardi if Maryam Rajavi knew about the explosion of the Islamic Republic Party office?
Eskardi replied, “At that time, Maryam Rajavi did not have a high position and was only a member, and I don’t think she knew, but the people who were political members of the organization, such as Abbas Davari, Mehdi Abrishamchi, and Siavash, were aware and they consulted each other to do whatever they wanted to do.”

To answer the questions of the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Eskardi explained the organization structure of the MEK, “The leadership council was at the top and the commanders were under the leadership council.”

The judge asked, “Did the leadership council know about the explosion of the party?”

Eskardi answered, “The leadership council selected people who were supposed to carry out the operation. They were sent to quarantine for training so that no one would know about the operation. The members of the organization were not allowed to watch television, but the people who were selected for the operation were allowed to watch television to get to know the atmosphere of the society. They received military training, and a few people accompanied them to the border.”

Mohammadi, the lawyer asked him, “When was the last time you saw Masoud Rajavi?”

Eskardi stated that Massoud Rajavi used to hold public meetings before 2003. “After that, he did not appear again and the audio file of his speeches were played in the meetings, which continued until 2013,” he said.

Eskardi did not receive anything during his 23 years serving the MEK. “It was just forced labor,” he said.

October 8, 2024 0 comments

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