Ms. Fereshteh Khalaj Hedayati; member of the so called central Council of MKO noticed her separation from the Cult after 30 years of membership in the group. She declared his defection publishing a statement on her Facebook page, titled: ”Don’t be Silent”
On December18, 2015 members of Women Association visited an Albanian official in the country’s Embassy in Berlin.
Members of Women Association described their bitter experiences of their long-time imprisonment in the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO). They also recounted how they were released from the group.
Then, they raised the following issues to enlighten the Albanian authority:
Warning on the presence and activities of the cult of Rajavi (the MKO) in the Albanian territory considering their true nature as a sect.
Concern of families whose loved ones are taken as hostages in the group; they have not had the least information on the situation of their loved ones for many years; and even after their relocation to Europe, the leadership of the group continues this inhumane policy…..
Sirous Ghazanfari is a defector of Mujahedin-e Khalq Cult. In 2004 he separated the group and repatriated to his homeland. Now Sirous has his own business. He is married and has two children.
In an interview with Nejat Society Mr. Ghazanfari talks about his experiences within the MKO Cult and his life after separation from the cult:
“In 1998, I was prisoner of Iran- Iraq War. A year later due to the unbearable pressure of the prison along with 
the intense propaganda of the MKO elements within the Iraqi prisons I forced to join the group.
After joining the group, I spent the military, political and cultic phases within the cult.
After the US attack on Iraq and Saddam Hussein’s downfall in 2003, I had the opportunity to defect the group, though endured severe sufferings. ..”
“When I first entered Iran I had to face some difficulties to find a job and making a life due to my age. However I gradually overcame the difficulties…. Now I have my own business. .. I am married and have two children; Kowsar and Taha. …
Mr. Ghazanfari recommends his ex- comrades and friends who are still caught behind the bars of the cult to liberate themselves from the mental barriers of the cult.He says:
my dear friends!
The Organization [MKO] instills the members that separation from the group and starting a new independent life is impossible and those who detach the MKO will not have a good fate. But fortunately the good experiences of those who have already separated the group proved otherwise. …. You should decide your own fate. Be decided and take the first step…. “
Referring to the recent activities of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, Mr. Ghazanfari says: ”I have abandoned all organizational relations. However I follow their activities through media- print,broadcast,internet. So as, I am aware of what is happening within the organization. I know that Rajavi has enslaved some helpless people in Iraq’s deserts and unfortunately caused the killing of 24 of them recently…Rajavi’s obstacles on the way of the member’s relocation caused their death… The current government of Iraq wants Rajavi to move his followers from Iraqi territory…Yet Rajavi denies the Iraqis’ demand and even interferes in the internal affairs of Iraq… He hinders the members’ relocation process because he want to make more martyrs…
Rajavi is losing Camp Liberty as its Cult ideological base. The MKO’s support for rebels in Iraq and Syria brought nothing good for the group. The Saudi Arabia has not the potential to take in MKO members….
Rajavi is a loser and all his efforts is to maintain the group’s position in Ouver Sur d’Oise, France. He is fantasizing for some international incidents to take place to fish in troubled water.
Over the past decades, much of the attention of the world have been focused on the radical extremist groups such as AlQaeda and ISIS. But the true threat actually comes from the cult-like structure of these groups. Cult-like controlling system and the indoctrination methodology of these groups finally results in the most horrible acts of violence.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/MEK) is characterized as one of these destructive cults that threat the world’s security. Elizabeth Rubin the prominent journalist of the New York Times, was first to call the MKO, “the Cult of Rajavi”. The phrase was based on her first-hand experience of visiting the group’s base in Iraq, Camp Ashraf. About the world she witnessed in the MKO camp, she wrote:
“When I arrived at Camp Ashraf, the base of the group’s operations, in April 2003, I thought I’d entered a fictional world of female worker bees. Everywhere I saw women dressed exactly alike, in khaki uniforms and mud-colored head scarves, driving back and forth in white pickup trucks, staring ahead in a daze as if they were working at a factory in Maoist China. I met dozens of young women buried in the mouths of tanks, busily tinkering with the engines. One by one, the girls bounded up to me and my two minders to recite their transformations from human beings to acolytes of Ms. Rajavi. “[1]
As Rubin asserts, members of the Cult of Rajavi transformed from “human beings to acolytes of Rajavi “. But what the leaders of the cult want to show off is entirely different from what they really are. Jeremiah Goulka is one of the authors of the RAND Corporation report on the Mujahedin Khalq. He criticizes the US high profiles who support the group and finally removed it from the list of terrorist organization. ”Accidentally or not, though, the speakers were helping to raise the profile and legitimize the aims of a cult group that will not bring democracy to Iran and has no popular support in the country,” he warned. [2]
The group will not bring democracy because it has not practiced democracy in its four-decade history. “After my visit, I met and spoke to men and women who had escaped from the group’s clutches,” Rubin writes. “Many had to be deprogrammed. They recounted how people were locked up if they disagreed with the leadership or tried to escape; some were even killed.” [3]
“Friendships and all emotional relationships are forbidden. From the time they are toddlers, boys and girls are not allowed to speak to each other. Each day at Camp Ashraf you had to report your dreams and thoughts.” [4]
Rubin also refers to RAND report, “ A 2009 RAND Corporation study found that up to 70 percent of the group’s members there might have been held against their will. “ [5]
Regarding the cult-like terrorist substance of the MKO, its leaders’ efforts to pretend the group as a democratic alternative to the Islamic republic is ridiculous. The so-called president elect of the group starts her fabrications in an article raising the issue of the “radical factions” who shake “the world with their ability to convince ordinary people to commit unspeakable atrocities.”
As leaders of a cult, Massoud Rajavi and his wife definitely know how “to convince ordinary people to commit unspeakable atrocities”. The “acolytes” of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, committed numerous acts of violence including military operations, mortar attacks, suicide attacks and assassinations. One significant example of the MKO’s “unspeakable atrocities” was the suppression of Kurdish uprising in Iraq. Read Rubin’s account of the story: “In 1991, when Mr. Hussein crushed a Shiite uprising in the south and attempted to carry out a genocide against the Kurds in the north, the Rajavis and their army joined his forces in mowing down fleeing Kurds.
“Ms. Rajavi told her disciples, “Take the Kurds under your tanks, and save your bullets for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.” Many followers escaped in disgust.” [6]
Today, with the increasing growth of defection from the MKO and the decline of the group following the relocation of its rank and file from Iraq to Europe, the group leaders make efforts to hook their survival to the West. In their masquerades to boast a democratic portrait, Rajavi introduces her cult as “moderate Muslim” that is suppressed by the Islamic Republic.
Presenting a solution to the trouble of the region, she tries to pass her cult off as “an interpretation of genuine Islam that is both democratic and tolerant” that should be accompanied with “military campaigns and intelligence operations in the region”.
Jeremiah Goulka correctly suggests that the MKO’s real aim is “to have the United States install the MEK as Iran’s new government”. He warns, “That would mean war. The MEK may deny wanting violent regime change, but the only conceivable way it could become the next government in Tehran would be at the head of a U.S. invasion force.”[7]
Goulka advises the American supporters of the MKO, “Aligning ourselves with the MEK would undermine any attempt at credibility among Iranians because it would make us look like dupes.” [8] He is absolutely right but looking like “dupes” is the least danger that a community in which the MKO followers are living is posed to.
Brainwashed members of the Cult of Rajavi have several times showed their ability to commit “unspeakable atrocities”. A dozen of them set themselves on fire to protest the arrest of their leader by the French Police, in June 2003. Two female members of the cult lost their life because of self-immolation.
The Rajavis are definitely professional on the most effective methods to turn ordinary people into devotees who commit appalling violence.
By Mazda Parsi
Sources:
[1] RUBIN, ELIZABETH, An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends, The New York Times, August 13, 2011
[2] Goulka, Jeremiah, The Cult of MEK, The American Prospect, July 18, 2012
[3] RUBIN, ELIZABETH, An Iranian Cult and Its American Friends, The New York Times, August 13, 2011
[4] ibid
[5] ibid
[6] ibid
[7] Goulka, Jeremiah, The Cult of MEK, The American Prospect, July 18, 2012
[8]ibid
Mehdi Baghbab Khatib separated the MKO after 27 years.
Mehdi was enslaved within the MKO Camps along with his mother. He was among the children who were 
involuntary grew up and stayed within the Cult.
When he was just 14 years old, Cult leaders enrolled him to the group’s military units despite the International Laws.
Mehdi separated the MKO even though he was under the manipulation and cult-like practices of the cult from childhood.
The family of Ayoub Lorestani; Camp Liberty resident wrote an open letter to Maryam Rajavi.
The Soltani family are worried about the fate of their beloved son.
Some parts of the letter reads:
" Ms. Maryam Rajavi
We are the family members of “Ayoub Lorestani” who resides in Camp Liberty. We are very worried about his life. 14 years ago Ayoub left Iran to Turkey. His plan was to go to Europe from Turkey; however he met some members of the MKO and was transferred to Camp Ashraf, Iraq.
During all these years we were happy we could occasionally hear his voice. But during the last two years we have had no news of him. We just hear the news of Camp Liberty rocket attack. Do you really reward your worriers’ families in this way?
Our demand is to be sure of Ayoub’s welfare. We want him to be transferred to a safe country.
Even though we keep track on Ayoub’s transfer to a third country via a lawyer in Australia and the UNHCR has accepted to cooperate on the issue, the Mujahedin-e Khalq are not cooperative.
During these two years we have several times contacted the MKO officials; however they do not reply us. .. ….. Do the MKO members’ families deserve such behaviors?!…
Since all our efforts have remained fruitless, we wrote this letter to ask you accelerate the transfer of Ayoub to Albania or any other safe country. Or let Ayoub’s lawyer contact him and persuade his move."
Masoumeh Lorestani,14 December 2015
“Campaign for Camp Liberty residents’ quick transfer to third country” published the letter in Persian.
On Tuesday December15, another group of Temporary Transit Location transferred to Albania, Peyvand-e Rahayee Website reported.
The group consists of 26 Camp Liberty residents bringing the total to 323 in 18 series.
The names are as follows:
Ms. Hedayati is the first member of Central Council to declare her defection from the Mujahedin-e Khalq.
In september6, 2015 the Mujahedin declared a new entity called the Central Committee composed of a 
thousand women members of the group.
In fact, The MKO Cult leaders forced to announce this new committee after several members of the Leadership Council defected the group. These brave women who managed to release themselves from the Cult revealed horrifying facts about the MKO Cult leader; Massoud Rajavi abuses of female members of the group.
Maryam Sanjabi,Zahra Moeeni, Zahra Sadat Mirbagheri, Nasrin Ebrahimi, Homeira Mohammadnejad,Batoul Soltani are among the women of Leadership Council who exposed Massoud Rajavi’s sexual exploitation of women.Their exposures were a big scandal to the MKO Cult so called guru!
Ms. Fereshteh Khalaj Hedayati; member of the so called central Council of MKO noticed her separation from the Cult after 30 years of membership in the group. She declared his defection publishing a statement on her Facebook page, titled: ”Don’t be Silent”
In her statement Ms. Hedayati stated:
“Silence is not consent …, now we should talk about all those who lost their lives to pursuit a goal.
I am an eyewitness who is released from a cave.
How long should I wait. How long should I continue my silence …
…I spent 30 years of my life within the Rajavi’s group… I was an eyewitness for thirty years.. I am liberated from a brainwashing machine..
…. I believe it is the time to brake my silence..
For the sake of all those innocent people who are still at Camp Liberty and are not aware that the world outside of this damn cult is completely different from what they imagine….. “
At the end Ms. Hedayati wrote:
” I declare my separation from the sinister, medieval Cult of Rajavi and deny any kind of relationship with this hellish group. I am ready to answer any question in this regard.
The Camp Liberty residents transferred in two groups of 20, on December8th and 19th, Peyavand-e Rahayee Website reported.
The total number of those transferred is 297 in 17 series.
The MKO Cult leader forced to comply with the quota set by UNHCR to facilitate the weekly transfer of 40 TTL residents .
Names are as follows:( some of the names may be aliases)
One sure sign of someone being involved in a cult is that there is a clear separation from family and friends. This sign is clearly observed in the Cult of Rajavi (The Mujahedin khalq Organization/ the MKO). There are numerous cases of families of the group members residing in Camp Liberty Iraq who have been striving to visit their loved ones in the camp but they are absolutely barred by the authorities to do so and they are labeled the group authorities who forbid any kind of family relationship, label the families as “agents of the regime’s intelligence Ministry under the cover of families of the residents”. However, the 
efforts of the suffering families picketing in front of Camp Liberty resulted favorably by the Iraqi Parliament.
Following the meeting between Liberty residents’ families and certain Iraqi MPs, a parliamentary committee was formed to investigate the situation of the MKO members and their families’ request to visit their loved ones in the camp. They are hoping that the Iraqi administration will take proper actions to facilitate their visit. The parliament website reported that a member of the parliament’s leadership board, Dr. Humam Hamoudi had recommended the Human Rights Commission and Foreign Relations Commission to form a delegation to visit Camp Liberty in order to get first-hand information about the situation in the camp. This will help them to transfer the family’s wishes to their loved ones about their desires to visit them in the camp.
On the other side of the battle, the MKO’s propaganda does not remain silent. It publishes a so-called letter of families of liberty residents to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon. In the alleged letter, the alleged “liberty residents’ families residing in Europe and the United States” are “gravely concerned” about the lives of their children!
The so-called letter is a failed tactic because of the numerous evidences on violation of the rights of family in the MKO camps. Regardless of the grieves of a large number of families from Iran who have been endeavoring to visit their beloveds in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, the truths on the family rights abuse inside the MKO is undeniable.
Despite the MKO propaganda calls for visa for families in Europe and the US, there are families who were granted visa to travel to Iraq but they were prevented from visiting their loved ones in the Camps. Mustafa and Mahboubeh Mohammadi, whose daughter Somayeh has been taken as hostage by the MKO leaders, went to Camp Ashraf Iraq several times. They were not allowed to visit their daughter and even they were beaten by the MKO agents. However, the Mohammadis did not stop their efforts to save their daughter from the cult bars of the MKO.
Mustafa Mohammadi together with his other daughter Hurieh even went to the MKO’s headquarters in Auver sur d’oise to urge the group leaders to release their long lost daughter. Once more, they were attacked by the group agents for seeking their most basic right, the right to have a free contact with their loved one. Mostafa and Hurrieh were accompanied by another heartbroken father, Ghorban Ali Hosseinnezhad. When Gorban Ali escaped Camp Ashraf his daughter was left behind in the camp.
According to his testimonies, when he was in the camp he was not allowed to visit his daughter regularly. “The leaders of the MKO cult did not allow me and my first daughter Zeinab, 34, to visit and talk to each other while we were both in the same camp,” said Hosseinnezhad. “We were just allowed to meet each other on the New Year’s celebration for an hour or two and under their direct control and supervision.”
In Hurriyeh Mohammadi’s report on their trip to Auver sur D’oise you can read: “The Mojahedin are threatened by a father and daughter that have put their lives on hold many times and have used the little resources they have to fly to Paris to ask for the safety of Somayeh. They call themselves an organization for the liberation of the people of Iran yet they cannot even provide freedom to the ones they call their own. We will not stop fighting for the safety of our children and this will not be over until these captives are freed.”
As usual, the MKO propaganda labels the two fathers as agents of the Iranian Intelligence but there are many more evidences on the cases of violation against families in the group. Forced divorces and separation of children from parents are two iconic examples of abuses took place in the MKO after the so-called ideological revolution of Massoud Rajavi. Human Rights Watch and the US Defence Department’s RAND report, both mentioned the fact.
In Persian references you can see testimonies of former members who reveal horrible evidences about child abuses committed in the MKO camps. Manijeh Habashi and Nadereh Afshari, Batoul Soltani and many others are female defectors of the Cult of Rajavi who recount horrific facts about distorted family relations in the MKO camps. Before the children were dispatched to Europe in 1991, mothers in Ashraf were not permitted to live with their children. They were just allowed to visit their children on certain days of the week or certain hours of the day.
The above mentioned cases of violation of family rights occur in the camps of the MKO where no visa is needed to travel to visit a family member and the distance between two family members is not more than a few kilometer.
In a letter to UNHCR, former members of the MKO including Ghorban Ali Hosseinnejad ask the authorities to provide residents of Camp liberty with a situation so that they can decide for their future with their free will. “Many of us have been in this organization, before being able to find a way out of it, for decades”, they state.” We are fully aware of the brainwashing and intimidation activities that take place at every level with the single aim of isolating the members from the outside world and feeding them false information and targeted propaganda to turn them against their own families.”
The signatories of the letter believe that family connections –that the MKO members have been deprived of for many years—are a key to release them mentally and eventually physically. “Based on our personal experience, we assure you that if you facilitate the meeting of the members with their families in a protected and private space, without the presence of their superiors, they will find the courage to express their true desire that is to join their families and relocate from Iraq,” they write.
While the MKO propaganda claims that Iraqi government does not grant visas to families of liberty residents, this is the call of families who repeatedly went to Iraq, stand behind the gates of Ashraf and Liberty but they were not granted “visa” to visit their loves ones who are taken as hostages behind the bars of the camp:
“We will go to any lengths and are begging anyone who can hear our voices to help us. Please help free our kids from their evil clutches. Help their voices be heard. Help mothers take their children back into their arms. Help children see the advancement of the world and live the rest of their lives not in fear but tranquility and peace.
By Mazda Parsi
