According to Nejat Society correspondent, four other people defected MKO and repatriated. The four defectors, who were MKO members for a long time, spent a few weeks in TIPF Camp and finally could return Iran with Red Cross cooperation.
The defectors’ names:
Ahmad Rostamian
GholamReza Shirdom
Jamil Abdollahzade
AliReza Naghashzade
The above-named people will consequently state their comments on the disruptive atmosphere in Camp Ashraf.
Nejat Society
Tehran-July 30th 2007
SCOTT SIMON, host:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I’m Scott Simon.
Coming up, climate change comes to the Sky Islands. But first, the next round of talks in Baghdad between the U.S. and Iran is expected to take place before the end of July. One issue of particular interest to Iran is the presence in Iraq of more than 3,000 militants of the Mujahideen cult of the People’s Mujahideen.
Until the U.S. invasion of Iraq, this group carried out cross-border attacks against the government in Tehran aided by Saddam Hussein. Since the invasion, the MEK, as it’s known, has been confined to a base in Iraq under the control of U.S. forces. In Tehran, an effort has emerged to persuade MEK members to return home.
NPR’s Mike Shuster has more from Tehran.
MIKE SHUSTER: Arash Semitapur(ph) is a fresh-faced young man with unkempt black hair. Eager to police, he doesn’t look like a terrorist or an assassin. Only his false right hand suggests something may have been amiss in his past.
Semitapur is one of the leaders of the Najat Society here in Iran. Najat means salvation and its goal is to bring the Iranians of the MEK home. Semitapur joined the MEK in the 1990s, recruited as a naive college student in Virginia. Eventually, he made his way to a training base in Iraq. And in 2001, he was sent over the border with automatic rifles, ammunition, grenades and two cyanide pills in his mouth.
Mr. ARASH SEMITAPUR (Leader, Najat Society, Iran; MEK Member): That was like the street order we had that when you entered in Iranian territory, you have to have the cyanide pills in your mouth. We were convinced that if we get arrested here by the securities, we will be tortured to death. And we were told that the easiest way is just to have the cyanide pills and chew them if you are getting arrested. Then you will be a hero. You will be a martyr.
SHUSTER: Semitapur’s mission was to assassinate an Iranian general in Tehran, but everything went wrong and he was arrested. Even the cyanide pills did not kill him.
Mr. SEMITAPUR: Of course, my handgun was jammed and it didn’t work. And I was taken to the police station. There they didn’t search me. I had a hand grenade, like a small grenade in my pocket. Again, with the street orders of the organization, I tried to commit a suicide again so I exploded the grenade in my hand, but fortunately didn’t kill me.
SHUSTER: Because Semitapur didn’t kill anyone he served just four years in prison. When he got out, he joined the Najat Society to try to convince others of what he calls the MEK cult to return to Iran. The Najat Society also helps the families of MEK members to visit Iraq and try to persuade their loved ones to come home.
After the U.S. invasion, Masumai Rasahid(ph) tried to bring her son Sayed(ph) home. So far, she has not been successful.
Ms. MASUMAI RASAHID (Resident, Iran): (Through Translator) They’re completely brainwashed and even they don’t trust us. When my son accuses me as his mother that you got money from the Islamic government to come here, to persuade me and convince me to go back. And she says I’m your mother, how can I cheat you? And this is the way they taught you and they do not trust and believe nobody.
SHUSTER: The MEK is confined to Camp Ashraf, about a hundred miles north of Baghdad. When U.S. forces seized the camp, they disarmed the MEK and took possession of hundreds of tanks, artillery pieces and other military hardware. The State Department considers the MEK a terrorist group.
The U.S. has permitted family members to visit Camp Ashraf. Masumai Rasahid has been there to see her son four times.
Ms. RASAHID: (Through Translator) When he met me, he had a very bad reaction in front of everybody. He screamed at me and yelled at me. His friends told me that he was forced to do that. The last time that we met, it was much better. They let us stay for the night in the camp with him, and he was a little better than the previous time.
SHUSTER: The last time Masumai Rasahid saw her son was in 2004. Since then, it’s been far too dangerous to make the trip. The U.S. has been unable to decide just what to do with the MEK. The Iranian government has reportedly offered to exchange some al-Qaida members it says it is holding for the leaders of the MEK, permitting the rank and file to return to Iran to be reunited with their families.
Some U.S. officials have suggested sending the MEK to a third country. Others have argued that the U.S. should continue to hold the MEK as a bargaining chip and even use them for covert operations against Iran in retaliation for attacks that the U.S. says Iran is behind in Iraq.
Arash Semitapur(ph) urges Washington not to be tempted to use the group against the Iranian government.
Mr. SEMITAPUR: Maybe there are some people in U.S. government who would think that they are useful for them, but I don’t think that they are so naive that they can trust these guys.
SHUSTER: Semitapur argues for a more humanitarian solution to the problem – helping the families to spend more time in Baghdad or in bordertowns with MEK members. That way, he says, many will decide to come home. So far, according to the Najat Society, since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, about 300 MEK members have returned to Iran and are now living with their families.
Mike Shuster, NPR News, Tehran.
National Public Radio, Weekend Edition – Saturday, July 21, 2007
listen to the program:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12144968
The Nejat Society Tehran, Iran July 2007 Ms Beatrice Megevanal Roggo International Committee of the Red Cross The Middle East Department Dear Ms Roggo We in the Nejat Society in Iran would like to draw your good attention to a rather crucial matter regarding the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) in Ashraf Camp in Iraq and their worrying relatives in Iran.
The Nejat Society is an NGO consisting of those former members of the MKO who have organised themselves in order to help the mentally and even physically captive members to gain their freedoms.
As you may well be aware the MKO is considered as a terrorist cult by many governments and establishments around the world. This organisation is utilising psychological techniques to mentally manipulate its own members in order to make them commit deeds they would not perform in normal status. The self-immolations done by some members in European capitals after the arrest of their leader Maryam Rajavi in Paris on 17 June 2003, is one obvious example of the kind. Like all cults, this organisation needs a remote site to be able to isolate the members from the outside world. The residents of Ashraf Camp have no contact with the real world, not even with their relatives or old friends. The members are forced to participate in the daily ideological sessions called "the Current Operation". In these sessions members are systematically subject to peer pressure and coercion methods.
Last summer we had news “ later confirmed by the organisation “ which designated that Mr Yasser Akbari-Nasab had passed out due to self-immolation. This “ along with some other news indicating that the MKO had asked its entire member to volunteer for self-emblazing “ has put the families into grave distress.
The families of the members of the MKO in Iraq have strived hardly in the past three years to get some information about their beloved ones. They have approached the ICRC, UNHCR, and other international bodies as well as the Iraqi and the Swiss Embassies many times with no outcomes.
We are therefore urging you to use your whole capacity to ensure the visit of the families with their beloved ones in a place in Baghdad without the presence of the MKO officials. Some of these families have not seen their beloved ones for up to twenty years and they believe it is their right to have the chance to be alone with their relatives for a few days. The MKO, under the protection of the US Forces which are guarding the Ashraf Camp, has denied this right despite the efforts of the Iraqi government.
Please let us know of your activities. We thank you in advance for your attention and your good work.
Yours truly,
The Nejat Society
Current Operation
Attention: The Ambassador of the Republic of France in Tehran
From: Nejat Society
July. 07
Your Excellency,
We in the Nejat Society would like to draw your good attention to a very crucial matter relating the security of the defectors and opponents of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) in France.
To introduce ourselves, we are former members of MKO who have managed to flee the organisation from the Ashraf Camp in Iraq. We have organised ourselves to help the victims of a terrorist cult including the former members of the organisation as well as the families of the present members who have no trace of their beloved ones inside the MKO.
We wish to inform you that on 17 June 2007, about 50 members of a proscribed terrorist cult named the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), who had been dispatched from Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany, attacked a seminar organised by the Association for Supporting the Emigrants and Iranians in France. The venue was at FIAP in the 14th District of Paris. The attackers used knives, broken bottles, etc and injured many of the guests as well as some of the organisers. More than 13 people were seriously injured. The incident was immediately reported by the local and international media. After police intervention, some of the MKO members were arrested and taken into custody.
There are many queries raised relating this incident; such as why the MKO elements attended the meeting and what was their purpose and why they brought recording cameras with themselves to the meeting and why they only used the elements residing in the countries other than France. All these factors prove that the act was previously planed and organised. We have also been informed about the depth of involvement of the leaders of the MKO, currently based in north of Paris in Auvers-sur-Oise. The following information has been revealed to us:
This terrorist act had been approved and arranged at the highest levels of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation and the National Council of Resistance (NCR) leadership and the cult leader Maryam Rajavi was involved in every detail of the operation. Mr Alaoddin Turan and Ms Shahrzad Haj Seyyed Javadi have acted as the "intelligence officer" and "operational officer" for this operation, conducting every detail from Mrs Maryam Rajavi’s headquarters in the north of Paris. The operation had been named "Destruction of the Nest of Snakes".
The "executive field officer" of the operation has been Mr Mohammad Hayati (aka: Siavash) who has been a military leader of MKO from the time of the Shah and is currently a member of the MKO as well as the NCR. He conducted the attack using his men and had communication with them through mobile phones. During the years 1981 to 1986, Mohammad Hayati was a member of executive committee of MKO in France and after the departure of Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi (cult leaders) to Baghdad in 1986; he was transferred to Iraq as the commander of one of five military bases of the National Liberation Army (NLA) of MKO backed by Saddam Hussein. Hayati has directed major military operations in suppressing the uprising of the Iraqi Kurds and Shiite Moslems as well as insurgencies inside Iranian territory.
According to news received from the Americans as well as the disaffected members of Ashraf Camp in Iraq, the name of Mohammad Hayati has been registered in the list of MKO members in the camp and up to 6 months ago, he has had regular contacts with the American forces in charge of the camp. It must be taken into account that his illegal move to France is not merely to disrupt a defectors’ meeting. His role was and still is to assassinate the discontented members and opponents in France and other parts of Europe, something he has been doing even before the Iranian revolution. His mission of course has not been accomplished yet.
We believe that Mohammad Hayati has specifically been sent from Iraq after the announcement of holding a meeting by the above mentioned association. He has been sent by Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi and has been appointed to command this terror operation in Paris. He had been present at the scene from 12:00 on Sunday June 17 and had coordinated every movement by mobile phone. He had been in constant contact with the MKO headquarters in the north of Paris and had been reporting every step directly to Maryam Rajavi.
Mohammad Hayati was arrested by the police inside the FIAP building and was transferred to the police station. The police after examining his documents clearly were aware of his false ID and false passport which was used to travel from the Netherlands. His true identity and his mission were immediately revealed to the police, but astonishingly he was soon released.
We alert the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the American forces in charge of Ashraf Camp that the terrorist MKO has been transferring some of its military and operational forces from Iraq (Ashraf Camp) to European countries to carry out similar attacks and specifically to assault and assassinate its critiques and converts.
All this is happening at a time that about 200 people, who have clearly renounced terrorism and the MKO after the fall of Saddam Hussein, are still being kept under extreme conditions by the American forces and do not have the right to seek asylum in other countries or to leave the place.
We would like to bring into your consideration the very fact that contrary to the misinformation of the cult through its massive propaganda machine which has been granted to this proscribed terrorist organisation (MKO), the cult has been clearly demonstrating its true face and its deeply rooted beliefs in using violence and terror to reach its goals.
During the raid made by the MKO tugs in Paris, Mr Mohammad Hassan Sobhani who was badly assaulted and beaten by the intruders was also arrested by the French Police. Amazingly the photograph that was taken of him in the police station was published in one of MKO’s websites. We are puzzled how the MKO elements could get hold of the French Police properties.
We wish to remind you that Mas’ud and Maryam Rajavi have mistaken France with Iraq of Saddam Hussein, where they used to detain and torture and even execute their opponents and their discontented members. We are expecting your government to give a through examination of the case and announce the obtained results to the public and take sufficient measures to make sure that the MKO tugs could not harass the Iranians residing in France anymore. We therefore are very concerned about the security of the emigrants and Iranians in France and we urge your government to adopt appropriate measures to ensure the security of the Iranians in France. We would be very pleased if you could give some sort of response to our communiqué.
Pictures we have received to date are attached.
1 – Picture of Mohammad Hayati standing among some policemen plus his earlier photos in the organisation
2 – Pictures of Mr Mohammad Hassan Sobhani who was badly beaten and injured by the MKO tugs plus the photo of him which was taken in the police station by the police and later appeared in the MKO site.
3 – Picture of Mr Ali Akbar Rastgu who was also badly beaten and injured by the MKO tugs.
Yours truly,
Nejat Society
Copy to:
– The office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tehran
– The office of the United Nations in Tehran
– The Embassy of Switzerland in Tehran
– The British Embassy in Tehran
– The Embassy of Iraq in Tehran
– The Elyse Palace “Paris
– The Media
Nejat Society
P.O. Box 14395/679,
Tehran, Iran
Fax: 88 96 10 31
info@nejatngo.org
March 2007
France 24 TV
Immeuble Aphelion
5 Rue dos Natiousunies
92130 Issy-les-Mourineaux
Paris
Dear editor
We in the Nejat Society in Tehran learned through the website of the Mojahedin-e- Khalq Organization (MKO) called “hambastegimeli” that you have made interviews with Mr Afshin Alavi and Ms Farid Karimi, two well known members of the organization under the alias of the National Council of Resistance (NCR). We must draw your attention to the fact that the MKO terrorist cult is disguised as the NCR in its international relations. It is also worth mentioning that MKO has been in the list of proscribed terrorist groups issued by the council of the European Union since May 2002.
Nejat Society consists of those defected members of the MKO who have managed to rescue themselves from the boundaries of the Organisation. They do find themselves obliged to strive to help and rescue the members whom are still mentally or even physically captive inside a terrorist cult. We also would like to require your consideration on a matter concerning many families of members of the MKO residing in their base in Iraq called Ashraf camp.
Up to 500 ex-members of the MKO have managed to return home to their families since the overthrow of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. Nejat Society of course played a vital role with the help of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Iranian Red Crescent, and other international and domestic bodies as well as the families themselves to safeguard their homecoming.
Around 200 of those who have managed to flee the Organisation are kept in a nearby component under the supervision of “Temporary International Presence Facility (TIPF)”. And evidently there are some 3000 members still left in Ashraf Camp inside Iraq. These people need to be rescued out urgently.
The members and authorities of Nejat Society are well aware that they are facing a fierce tackle. The Mojahedin-e- Khalq Organization of course has adopted a hostile attitude against the Society and has never stopped its intense propaganda aggravation in order to stop the Society helping the MKO members.
All cults, typically try to intimidate their critics and opponents, particularly those who try to help the discontented members out. MKO is no exception. They have a long record of suppressing their despondent members and they have used all forms of mental and physical methods in order to make their followers yield.
On behalf of the anxious families of the members of the MKO we would like to invite you to come to Iran and make interviews with these families as well as the defected members and raise their voice in order to be heard by the international bodies as well as the organization’s leaders.
We are looking forward to seeing a reply from you as soon as possible.
With regards and many thanks
Nejat Society
www.nejatngo.org
Brainwashing
Liability and Unity within cults..!
1. Nejat Society Letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy
2. EU keeps Mojahedin Khalq Organisation on terror list after review
3. Iran welcomes repatriation of repenting MKO members
4. Proscribed terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organisation attack the Seminar on "Cults and Violence" in Paris
5. MKO crafty offer to parent Iraqi children
6. Two Agendas: Why Iran, U.S. Stand Far Apart — Tehran Seeks End to Bid to Destabilize Regime; Washington Wants Insurgent Backing in Iraq to Stop
Download Pars Brief – Issue No.34
Download Pars Brief – Issue No.34
To pose as being democratic
