After 40 plus years of bombings and assassinations attacks in Iran, members of the terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization or MKO are standing trial in absentia.
Gisoo Misha Ahmadi
The fifth session of the court hearing the accusations of 104 members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO/ MEK) and the group as a legal entity, was held on Tuesday, January 9, at the eleventh branch of the Criminal Court of Tehran. The court was presided by Judge Dehghani.
Family members of some victims of the MEK terrorist acts were present in the court. A young woman whose father has been assassinated by the MEK addressed the court. She was only 3 years old when her father was killed. “My father was assassinated by the MEK because he had installed pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini on the wall of his shop,” she said. “After his martyrdom, they kept on threatening us. They knocked our door at midnight and threw their threatening letters in the house.”
“No one can understand the stress of a little girl on her way to school,” said the daughter of the victim. “Every time I took a few steps, I turned back in fear and looked behind me. Even after my father’s martyrdom, they threatened us every day by calling our house, saying that they will set fire to the house and even set fire to the shop again or they will kidnap us on the way to school.”
Then the judge asked the persecutor’s representative to take the stand. Vaziri, the persecutor’s representative read the indictments of the 34th to 42th defendants of the court.
Ozra Alavi Taleghani, the 34th defendant
She joined the MEK in 1975. In April 1981, she was transferred to the body of the organization and then became a candidate for the Iranian parliament on behalf of the MEK.
Ozra Alavi was one of the high-ranking officials of the MEK, who after the military-terrorist operation of Forough Javidan, became the deputy of the operations of the military branch and was responsible for operations inside Iran. She is dead now.
Jamileh Abrishamchi, the 35th defendant
She is the sister of Mehdi Abrishamchi, and because of her brother’s activities, before being a sympathizer, she became a member of the MEK. Subsequently, after the victory of the Iranian Revolution, she continued her cooperation with the MEK and fled Iran in 1982 with their children (Maryam and Ali Akbarzadegan) in order to join the organization. After settling in Paris, while being a member of the terrorist council known as the National Resistance, he cooperates with the foreign part of this terrorist group. She is currently based in Paris and also travels to Albania.
Mahmoud Qajar Azdanlou, the 36th defendant
He is the brother of Maryam Rajavi and the wife of Shahrazad Sadr Haj Seyed Javadi, the administrator of Maryam Rajavi’s office. Mahmoud Qajar Azdanlu joined the MEK in 1973 and with the victory of the Iranian Revolution, he continued his cooperation with the group and finally fled the country in 1981.
He is currently a member of the MEK and a member of the so-called National Council of Resistance (NCR).
It should be mentioned that Mahmoud Qajar Azdanlou, in close cooperation with Mozhgan Parsai, is another main and key factor in mobilizing the assassination team of Lieutenant General Ali Sayad Shirazi.
Badri Pourtabbakh, the 37th defendant
After the Iranian revolution, under the influence of her brother, she was fascinated by the MEK. the She joined the group in 1979. In 1982, after a forced organizational marriage with a member of the group, Mehdi Ghorbanpour Moghadam, she fled the country and settled in Iraqi Kurdistan.
Badri Pourtabbakh was one of the members of the MEK’s Elite Council and a member of the so-called NCR, who spends most of her time in Europe and America. She was in charge of the group’s headquarters in the Netherlands for a long time, and since 1999 she has been also in the interior headquarters of the group in Iraq and Albania.
Mohammad Javad Qadiri Modarresi, the 38th defendant
He was the spouse of Zohra Atrianfar and an MEK member who could penetrate the Iranian revolutionary guard. He had joined the MEK before the Iranian revolution. In 1981, he began to work in the intelligence unit of the group, and after that, in June of the same year, he was transferred to the security preparation department.
He is currently in Albania and is active in the so-called educational, political and Arabic sectors of the MEK.
Farhad Olfat, the 39th defendant,
His nickname is Manouchehr. He is one of the high-ranking officials and old members of the MEK.
In 1989, he was the deputy head of the military branch in axis one of the MEK, after which he became the head of the axis and then the head of the headquarters.
Between the years 1994 and 1995, he entered the central unit and was later transferred to the staff units and for some time to the so-called legal system of MEK.
In 1998, he was in charge of the MEK’s prisons in Camp Ashraf, Iraq and the instructor of organizational training and group ideology. He is now in Albania serving in the Arabic section of the so-called political wing of the group.
Roya Ahmadi Musavi, the 40th defendant
After she was accepted in the university in 1985, under the cover of education, she legally left Iran for Germany, where he had an organizational marriage with one of MEK members named Musa Faiz Marzouqi (nicknamed Jalal).
Later, in 1989, she went to Iraq to participate in Forugh Javidan and after the defeat of the MEK in the operation, she escaped and reached Kermanshah. From there, while contacting one of her family members in Tehran, she asked for help and finally, with the help of some of her relatives, she secretly came to Tehran.
She spent 20 days in Tehran, hiding in a house, and finally fled the country illegally and rejoined the group. The news of his action spread among the members of the group, to the extent that Masoud Rajavi said, “the only person who was able to go to Tehran and return after the Forough operation was our Mujahid’s sister Roya” which is the reason for her fame among the members.
Roya Ahmadi has had responsibilities in Camp Ashraf and Cologne, Germany, in different periods. For example, in 1998, she was the financial and social manager of the MEK in Iraq. She is now a member of the leadership council and one of the officials of the MEK’s office in Germany.
Behzad Naziri, the 41st defendant
In 1981, he was employed in the guise of a translator for the AFP office in Tehran but, he was actually working and cooperating with the MEK. He was arrested in 1982, and was sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment, but then in 1985, during his leave from prison, he escaped and went abroad illegally.
His wife (named Maryam Khorramshahi, also a member of the MEK) was killed Forough Javidan.
He was in charge of the center of 13 military branches of the MEK in Iraq, and he had an active participation in the planning of the mortar attacks called road opening which led to the killing and injury of a large number of civilians, as well as large financial losses to private and public property.
He has been a member of the group’s so-called Foreign Relations Commission charged with organizing demonstrations in western countries, attacking the official embassies of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and recruiting troops.
Fereshteh Yaganeh, the 42nd defendant
At the beginning of the Islamic Revolution, she was recruited by the MEK and became one of the officials of the group’s Ahvaz branch. Subsequently, after getting married to a person named Alireza Panahivar, she participated in the armed actions of the MEK. She left Iran when the group entered the military phase. Currently, she is in charge of the group’s political struggle and aid.
An Iranian prosecutor has said crimes committed by the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO) terrorist group against the Iranian nation are similar to those carried out by the Daesh terror group because both groups resort to blind attacks to inflict more casualties upon civilians.
The prosecuting attorney made the remarks in the fifth session of the trial of 104 members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization, which was held in absentia in the capital Tehran on Tuesday.
According to the legal official, both terrorist groups use explosive materials with the same features; for instance, Daesh terrorists use suicide vests filled with shrapnel and nails, causing more casualties, and MKO elements utilize bombs and other explosives to kill more individuals as well.
Pointing to the history of assassinations conducted by the MKO terrorist group in Iran, the prosecutor noted that the group was aided and abetted by Iraq’s Baath regime during Saddam Hussain’s dictatorship and then created connections with the United States Congress.
Earlier, the Tehran criminal court held hearings concerning atrocities committed by 33 MKO terrorists based on visual and written documents, and the court announced that fugitive members of the MKO terrorist group must introduce their attorneys to the court to represent their clients’ cases.
The indictment of the crimes committed by ringleaders and members of the MKO terrorist group is comprised of over 700 pages, and the court is attended by journalists, and some of the families of the victims affected by the MKO terrorism. Furthermore, five lawyers of the defendants also attended the trial.
Documents obtained by Iran’s intelligence bodies show that the members of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorist group received oil from Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein in return for killing the Iranian people, says the prosecutor’s representative.
The third session of the court investigating the crimes of the MKO members was held publicly on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Judge Dehqani in the 11th branch of the criminal court of Tehran Province.
During the hearing, the prosecutor’s representative laid out the details of the documents against the MKO members and their relations with Saddam.
“Intelligence and judicial investigations show that the MKO members, as mercenaries of Iraq, carried out terrorist acts against the people. Also, the intelligence officials have obtained information showing that they took oil from Iraq in exchange for the terrorist acts,” he said.
Judge Dehqani then asked the prosecutor’s representative whether the said documents have been included in the lawsuit raised against the MKO members, to which the representative responded in the affirmative.
“The documents related to this meeting that was held in 2001 in the Iraqi Intelligence Service between the head of the Iraqi intelligence and Masoud Rajavi in the presence of Mehdi Abrishamchi have been documented and included in the lawsuit,” he said.
“In this meeting, the indictment of a number of other defendants in this case was read out. In the first and second session of the court, the charges brought up against 23 defendants were read out.”
The Gutenberg Film Festival include the documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf”. This documentary, directed by Sara Moin, covers the case of former child soldiers of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and the children whom this organization separated from their families and sent to other countries, including Sweden.
The documentary about the children of Camp Ashraf will be played on January 31, 2024 in Swedish with English subtitles. In the Gutenberg Film Festival website, the film is introduced in the following words:
As children, they were taken from their parents and sent to Sweden with the aim of one day returning as warriors to overthrow the current regime in Iran.
Screening of the documentary “Children of Camp Ashraf” at the Gutenberg Film Festival
In the aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution, the militant organization People’s Mojahedin (MEK) left their homeland, allied with Saddam Hussein, and settled in Iraq. Here, based on collectivist ideas, they established a large camp, Camp Ashraf. The organization became increasingly tied to its leaders, and in the early 1990s, it was decided that hundreds of children in the camp would be raised by sympathizers abroad. Amir, Parwin, Hanif, and Atefeh are some of those who ended up in Sweden, and in Sara Moein’s deeply engaging documentary, they narrate their experiences to a rich archive of materials. They also try to reconnect with the organization and their parents, who are now in Albania.
goteborgfilmfestival.se
The fourth session of the court hearing the accusations of 104 members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO/ MEK) and the group as a legal entity, was held on Tuesday, December 26, at the eleventh branch of the Criminal Court of Tehran. The court was presided by Judge Dehghani.
In the past sessions, the indictment of 33 defendants in the case has been read.
MEK terrorists started soon after the revolution
Before reading of the indictment of the accused ones, the prosecutor’s representative stated: “The MEK terrorist group has been collecting weapons for 28 months after the victory of the Islamic Revolution. This group claimed that the fight against imperialism required weapons and military branch. But at the beginning of the 60s, this group used to parade in the street and fight with people in the street.”
According to the prosecutor’s representative, Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the group had a trip to Paris before June 20, 1981 (the start of the MEK’s armed struggle against Iran) and entering the military phase and had a meeting with the officials of the French Intelligence Service in Paris; After the meeting, they blew up the office of the Islamic Republic Party in Tehran.
“In a meeting with General Habbush, the head of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, Rajavi revealed that the MEK not only blew up the building of the Islamic Republic Party, but he was also responsible for blowing up the prime minister’s office,” he addressed the court.
He added, “On the September 27th, 1981, the MEK once again brought their para military forces to the streets who openly brought weapons to the streets and killed anyone who stood in their way. On this sad day, from a 3-year-old child to a 90-year-old man, were killed by the MEK forces.”
Massoud Rajavi confessed his terror acts
Based on the documents presented by the prosecutor’s representative, the documents and images of the MEK’s violent act were distributed by the group’s network. “Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the MEK, said about this crime that first we encouraged the people to join us in Shohada Square. But we observed that the balance was messed up and people refused to cooperate.” Rajavi has admitted that because the people ignored the MEK militia, the group opened fire on civilians.
The MEK’s cross border operations against Iran for oil money
According to the prosecutor’s representative, after Rajavi took his terrorist organization to Iraq, the group crossed the border with the cooperation of the Iraqi Intelligence service and entered Iran to launch terrorist operations in urban areas.
He added, “At that time, Rajavi believed that cross border operations had no added value for the group and that large-scale assassinations were necessary to bold the name of the People’s Mojahedin-e-Khalq organization. The MEK had asked its internal headquarters to assassinate people in the cities with groundbreaking operations. The MEK carried out these operations on behalf of the Iraqi regime, and instead, they got a guarantee of staying in Iraq and getting five million barrels of oil! The MEK exchanged the blood of Iranian nation the oil of Iraq.”
Who runs the MEK’s so-called rebel centers?
The prosecutor’s representative stated that in the 1980s, in order not to claim responsibility for the terror acts against civilians, the MEK claimed that its internal headquarters was carrying out the assassinations. He said, the rebel centers that have been active in the recent riots (2008 and fall of 2022) are new version of the internal headquarters of the MEK, which is run by the terrorist group from Albania.”
Eavesdropping of the MEK by the CIA
“Based on an American intelligence document about the eavesdropping of the MEK headquarters, the group confessed to terrorist acts,” prosecutor’s representative told the court. “The CIA in Los Angeles has intercepted several phone calls in which the leaders of the MEK terrorist group in France and Germany admitted that terrorist acts and bombings were their work.”
Sister of a 14-year-old victim of the MEK in the court
Then, the sister of one of the victims of the MEK terror acts, took the stand with the permission of the head of the court and explained how her sister was killed: “Zainab was a 14-year-old student who went to congregational prayers with the permission of her mother. He left the house and was suffocated by members of the MEK group with her chador.
The sister of Zeinab Kamai 15333 addressed the court, “For what sin did they martyr my sister?”
Mahin Najafi, the sister of Mohammad Jaafar Najafi, a captured member of the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), tells the story of her brother’s captivity and her encounter with the group.
I am Mahin Najafi. My brother Mohammad Jafar Najafi was a soldier during the Iran-Iraq war. He completed two years of military service and went to Kurdistan to settle his accounts and get his Military Service Completion Certificate.
My brother’s departure to Kurdistan coincided with Mersad operation [the MEK’s cross border military operation against Iran, named Forough Javidan]. He was captured by the MEK forces. They took him with them.
Our family was waiting for my brother’s arrival. We were prepared to celebrate the end of my brother’s service. We waited for a few days, but there was no news from my brother.
One or two months passed, but there was no news of our brother. We were worried. We had to travel to Kurdistan. We went to the military barracks where my brother was supposed to get his certificate, and they said that there was an operation in Kurdistan, and the MEK violated Iran’s borders. They had no news of my brother. We followed my brother for a few days and finally the answer they gave us was that the MEK had captured my brother and took him to Iraq. We were stunned! We did not know what to say and what answer to give to our parents. Finally, we had to return to our hometown.
We pursued the disappearance of my brother in our own province, we wanted to reach a conclusion. After some time, they informed us that your brother was in Iraq and in the barracks of the MEK called Ashraf Barracks! Ashraf Barracks was an unknown name for us. It was explained to us that Ashraf Barracks is related to the MEK. We were shocked wondering where Ashraf Barracks was?!
We had to tell the story of our brother to our parents. They were also shocked. It took a few years and we were waiting for our brother to call us or send us a letter telling us about his condition. But there was no news! When the Iraqi dictator Saddam was overthrown by the US-led coalition, they informed us that we could travel to Iraq. Traveling to Ashraf Barracks was allowed. It was good news for our family. After a few years, I could meet my brother Mohammad Jafar again.
I traveled to Iraq for the first time together with a group of fathers and mothers from our province. When we arrived in Baghdad, we changed our vehicle and went to Camp Ashraf. I was very happy on the way, I told my fellow passengers that I would hug my brother after years (I had no idea who I would face with).
I approached Ashraf Barracks; I was surprised when I saw the scene. It was strange. The surroundings of Ashraf barracks were nothing more than ruins. We settled next to Ashraf barracks. Before us, people from other provinces had gathered there. Mothers and fathers and sisters who had not seen their loved ones for several years. I was very happy to meet my brother after many years. We rested for one day and the next day I approached the barbed wire of Ashraf.
One of the people from inside Camp Ashraf shouted, “Go and get lost, mercenaries!”. I said, “who are talking to? Are you talking to us?!” In response, he said, “Yes, I am talking to you”. I said that we were not mercenaries and we had come to see our dearests after many years. Two or three people from Ashraf came near Fence and started telling us nonsense. They said, “Your loved ones are not here. Get lost!”.
However, I said, “My brother Mohammad Jafar Najafi is here, tell him to come here. I want to see him.” In response, they said that they did not have a person with this name, and if you did not move away from the barbed wire, they would hit us with rocks.
They did not pay attention to whatever we said. I and all the families were determined to see our loved ones. I stayed by the side of the fences of Ashraf barracks for almost 15 days. My fellow provinces, Ms. Habibi, whose daughter was in Camp Ashraf, tried hard to meet with her daughter, but she did not succeed, as well as Ms. Fatemeh Jafari, whose daughter Tayyabeh Nouri was in the camp too. Tayyabeh managed to leave the notorious MEK a few years ago. She released herself and began a new life. In the photo, Mrs. Fatemeh Jafari and Mrs. Mahin Habibi are by my side in front of the gates of Camp Ashraf.
I traveled to Iraq three times and tried very hard to meet my brother, but unfortunately, I did not succeed. To my surprise, the leaders of the MEK were so brazen. They did not respect the elderly parents. They threw rocks at us. The leaders of the notorious MEK should not think that they have bought our loved ones. Our loved ones belong to us. I seek the release of my brother and I will not back down. I am sure that my brother will release himself. I am hopeful.
The international TV channel Euronews Albania participated in the event organized by the Nejat Society Albania on the occasion of Yalda night this year. The TV reporters filmed and interviewed the members and activists of the society.
Euro News produced a video report titled “The Land of Refugees” which was aired many times on this network in the first days of the new year.
This program was a thought-provoking short documentary that started with the relocation of Iranian refugees in Albania and the entry of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). The report finally covered the activities of Nejat Society Albania.
It is noteworthy that in the report called the MEK as terrorists. It also broadcast the statements of Nejat Society in full. This report even held the MEK responsible for the hacking of Albania’s internet systems and introduced them as a threat to Albania’s national security.
Broadcasting such a program from a television channel in Albania is unexampled and has never happened before.
In the past, the MEK had introduced the News24 TV channel, the Albanian-language channel of the Iranian regime, for airing an interview with Ali Zamani, a recently defected member of the group. It remains to be seen what the group will say about EuroNews Albania.
“Zainab died with the first knot tied to her chador, why did they tie the other three knots?”
These are the words of the sister of one of the victims of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist acts. She was present at the fourth session of the trial of the group and its leaders. With the permission of the head of the court, she took the stand to plead her case to the court explaining how her sister was assassinated by the MEK terrorists.
Zainab Kamai was a 14-year-old girl who had left home for congregational prayers in the mosque. She was kidnapped and suffocated by MEK agents with her own chador.
Zeinab’s sister asked the court: “For what sin did they kill my sister?”
Zeinab Kamai was born in 1967 in Abadan. His family moved to Isfahan after Iraqi troops invaded Iranian border cities. She was a pious high school teenager who had chosen chador as her hijab, so she was considered as a governmental person by the MEK agents who were active at schools, at the time. This was the MEK’s faulty reasoning for choosing their targets.
The sister of the MEK’s terror victim added: “My sister was not a political person, nor did she have any special activities. She was only a pious girl who believed that humans have a pure nature. They [the MEK] even published the photo of Zainab as one of their successful terror acts on their website. What was Zainab’s crime? Zainab died with the first knot that they tied to her chador, why did they tie the other three knots?”
The forensic report of the examination of the body of the 14-year-old girl reads: “Due to physical weakness and small size, she was killed by the first pressure.”
Zeinab Kamai was assassinated by the MEK agents on the first day of the Iranian New Year in 1982. As the representative of her family, her sister was a defendant in the fourth session of the court hearing to bring MEK leaders to justice.
An Iranian court has held the first public hearing on a lawsuit over the Mujahedin-e-Khalq’s terror organization’s crimes in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The trial reportedly addresses the conduct of the group’s main ringleaders.
Farzaneh Ashoorioun