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CEO of Nejat Society pens letter to the ICRC

International Committee of the Red Cross

Greetings and Regards,

On behalf of the Nejat Society in Iran, I wish to congratulate the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day on Wednesday, May8, 2024.
Nejat Society represents the families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO) who are trapped in a remote and isolated camp in Albania. These families have not heard from their loved ones for many years, which is because the leaders of the cult do not allow their members to communicate with the outside world, particularly family and friends.
According to those who managed to escape from this camp, the most basic human rights of the members are violated and the European Convention on Human Rights, which Albania is also a signatory, is systematically violated.

In the mandate & mission of the Red Cross we read:
It (ICRC) takes action in response to emergencies and promotes respect for international humanitarian law and its implementation in national law.
The ICRC also endeavours to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.
. . . the ICRC, with the support of the entire Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, has constantly urged governments to adapt international humanitarian law to changing circumstances, . . .
According to this mandate, when the basic human rights of the members of the MEK are continuously violated inside the camp of this organization in Albania and the members are exposed to systematic brainwashing, the World Red Cross ought to urge the Albanian government to implement international and European humanitarian laws in MEK camp in Albania.
Last year, I submitted the families’ requests to connect with their loved ones, along with many documents to the ICRC office in Tehran, and they promised to handle the case and cooperate, but so far no answer has been received.

On behalf of the grieving and awaiting families, I request you to fulfill the main task of the International Committee of the Red Cross and provide the possibility of communication between the families and the missing members inside the MEK camp in Albania through the Albanian government.

The families have absolutely no information about the situation in the camp and the conditions of their loved ones. They do not know if their loved ones are still alive and live inside the camp. No one knows whether they have deceased or have been transferred to another country. There is no information about the physical and mental health of these people. Are they imprisoned and curfewed? These people are considered missing and disapeared from the point of view of their families. According to the information received from the former members, the relations inside the camp have the status of modern slavery, due to the mind control that is applied.

I also request you to remind the responsibility of the government of Albania to comply with the human rights convention of the Council of Europe and ask this government to firstly remove the ban on giving visas to Iranian families of members of the MEK to travel to Albania and secondly open the doors of the camp in Albania to families and the free world so that families can visit their loved ones along with representatives of the Red Cross and be sure of their physical and mental health.

I look forward to your reply

Respectfully,
Ebrahim Khodabandeh
CEO of Najat Society

May 11, 2024 0 comments

Iran

Judge Dehghani: Hosting the MEK is considered a crime

The trial of 104 members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO/ MEK), and the group as a legal entity, began.

Today, Tuesday, May 7th, the trial was held in the 11th branch of the criminal court of a province of Tehran, headed by Judge Dehghani. The court advisors are Morteza Turk and Amin Naseri, and Vaziri represents the prosecutor.

Judge Dehghani announced that the court session is public and said: A case containing the indictment received from Tehran’s General Prosecutor’s Office regarding the accusations of 104 leaders of the MEK and the organization’s legal personality was brought to the court, which the 11th branch of the criminal court of a province of Tehran, according to the law, is dealing with it.

Once again Judge Dehghani asked the hosting countries of the defendants to extradite them to the Iranian judiciary. “We warn the countries that host the defendants of this case”, he said. “Hosting these defendants is considered a crime against international conventions against terrorism.”

Then, the judge asked Meysam Hakimzadeh, the lawyer of the plaintiffs, to take the stand. The lawyer spoke of the influence of the Shah’s Intelligence service (SAVAK) on Massoud Rajavi. Based on the bill he submitted to the court, Rajavi had turned into SAVAK’a accomplice after he cooperated with them and revealed the locations of his comrades. SAVAK reduced his sentence from death penalty to life imprisonment and in exchange made him unveil the Islamic cover of the group.

“At the beginning of its foundation the MEK tried to recruit members using an Islamic cover that attracted Muslim youth at the time,” the lawyer said.

Ali Sedaghat, an expert on ideologies was called to take the stand. He said: “We are dealing with a group that has repeatedly committed violent crimes, including torture, murder and assassination, and has a practical policy for itself. We must first know its basic principles, because in philosophy, every action is based on a theory, dos and don’ts are based on what is and what is not.”

“Some believe that the MEK’s ideology is a mixture of Islam and Marxism opposing imperialism. But, these two ideologies are contradictory,” Sedaghati added.

He concluded about the basis of the MEK’s approach: “We all saw that the MEK wiped out the cover and today it is looking for the sponsorship of the Imperialism. Even if we say that the members of the MEK are Muslim-looking communists, it still cannot be applied. The communist should be with the people, but in Shabaniyah uprisings in Iraq, they were against the masses and by the side of the dictator, Saddam Hussein. I have an interpretation. I consider them to be Muslim-looking Machiavellians or Muslim-looking pragmatists to reach Masoud Rajavi’s power.”

May 7, 2024 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

Where is Massoud Rajavi?

Many people ask me about Masoud Rajavi. Mostly whether he is still alive or not. First, I must emphasize that my writings about Mujahedin (MEK) are based on my personal observations and experiences. If I have not seen or heard anything, I will not express it under the title of observation.

Talking about where Rajavi is in the MEK is prohibited. They told us that the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence is looking for this information and anyone who talks about this issue is in line with the Ministry. This issue was a “red border” and we should not have approached it. My writing about this will surely make Rajavi’s dogs rabid.

First, a memory from my childhood, which shows a part of the brainwashing of children at that time. When I was 8 years old and I was with my parents at Camp Ashraf, my mother once asked me:
My son, who do you love more, mom and dad or uncle Masoud and aunt Maryam (the Rajavi couple)? I said, “uncle and aunt”.

My mother was happy to hear this and said congratulations. In later years, when I returned to Ashraf as a teenager, she told me this memory several times and said that she was proud of me at the time. Yes, the brainwashed Zahra wanted me to like her ideologic leader more than anything else.

My first contact with Rajavi was in 1999. When I went to Ashraf and my mother said that my father died. Then she said that from now on consider Rajavi as your father and send him the gold watch [The souvenir that he had brought his father from the United States]. I did the same. A month later, when I was in the reception section of the camp, Rajavi sent me a gift in response.

A colored glass with the Koran verse engraved on it. If you know the story of Aya Kowsar, you will understand the depth of Rajavi’s deception. He tortured and killed my father and then with this verse he told me that it is okay that you lost him, instead I gave you Maryam Rajavi and her ideological revolution. Damn Rajavi!

From 1999 to 2003, I met Rajavi in several meetings. We, the new members, were allowed to kiss him several times. In this video, I had just joined Ashraf, and in a meeting, Rajavi gave all the new members an icon and put it around our necks.
The last time I saw Rajavi was in March 2001. It was the days of Ashura [a religious ceremony] and, as always, there were ideological mass meetings. It was clear that America was going to invade Iraq and Rajavi had planned to attack Iran if the war started. I will write more about the 2003 war and the relationship with America later.

The war started and after the agreement between the US and the MEK was signed, all the members were gathered at Camp Ashraf. When the war started, Rajavi disappeared. To this day, he has not shown up publicly anywhere. But in the years after the war, every year we had some meetings with Rajavi, which were held in audio or written form.

In one of these meetings, Rajavi announced, with photos and videos, the unsuccessful missile attack of the coalition forces on his headquarters and even his bed. There were many speculations and rumors about Rajavi’s whereabouts in those years. Some said that he was in a hidden place in Ashraf. Some said that he was in an Arab country.

But I have never seen any concrete evidence in this regard. I only knew that he was alive. After I left the MEK, I followed the news of the MEK for a long time. Rajavi’s meetings with members continue. Yes, the evidence suggests that he is alive. On this year’s New Year, an audio message from him was broadcast on the MEK’s TV channel.

I will not put the link here, but if you search the following sentence on YouTube, you will find the video:
“Masoud Rajavi’s Nowruz Message 1403”

It is clear from his voice that he is very old and sick. But in my opinion, yes, it is his own voice.

I wish Rajavi will be alive and one day will be tried in an international court. In my opinion, he and Mujahedin have been dead for years. Maybe not physically, but politically and socially. Today, they are a rotten cult that shakes its tail every day for this and that and buys foreign support with money. But they are definitely over.

Ray Torabi’s account on X

May 5, 2024 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Atefeh Sebdani: May Day, Child Labor in the MEK

A picture that reveals many details… read on.

What is May Day for you?

For me, pure pain. That meant jobs, child labor. When everyone else was free, cozying up and enjoying the warm rays of spring, we were up early accompanied by orders and tasks until it was evening again. And if the sun came out, which it usually did on May 1st, we came home exhausted with burnt noses.

The picture is not from the first of May but another demonstration, in Oslo if I remember correctly. A demonstration I describe in my book as one of the worst of the thousands we had during our childhood. That little boy of 10 or so years finally started crying from the double-digit freezing temperatures that bit into our marrow and we no longer felt our body parts.
In the picture you also see the drum orchestra I am talking about. I’m the one with the fake fur on the hood. No, it wasn’t easy, even incredibly painful to drum with frozen fingers. Inside, I was crying from the pain but was not allowed to show it outwardly. Those who passed by didn’t get to see how tormented we really were.

Of everyone I can identify in the picture, all but three have dropped out. Two of those who remain were my friends who today take every opportunity to assassinate me.
This was one of the first times our drum orchestra played and made a noticeable (audible) impression. If you look closely you will also notice the Mujahedin symbol of the military/resistance/cult on the drums. Do you understand these details that no one questioned that we children openly displayed? My little brother Mosa, who is on the left in the picture, has a “sign necklace” with a photo of a martyr on it. That was no oddity.

So there we were, on every single day off or skipping school quite often and pretending to be sick. Week after week. Year after year. In minus thirty to plus thirty. Rain, storm, scorching sun, freezing cold. The weather never mattered. Not even if a man like me suffers from chronic pain that the adults knew was made worse by the cold.
May Day was one of the most important working days for the children of the Mujahedin.

Today, however, I will have a party for my boy. My activism should inspire him, but never impose on him. He is not free labor. He is a child who should be allowed to be a child before the rest of his life is about everything else.
What is May 1st for you?

Atefeh Sebdani’s Facebook

May 1, 2024 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Young girls witnessed their mother’s murder by the MEK terrorists

The Eskandari family is one of the plaintiffs of the trial of the leaders of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Eshrat Eskandari, the mother, was killed by 8 bullets fired by the terror team of the MEK.

Eshrat Eskandari was 26 years old at the time of her heartbreaking death in September 1982. Before the revolution, she was married to Mohsen Eskandari, and eventually they had four children. Eshrat was targeted by the MEK because she was the wife of Mohsen who was soldier of Iranian revolutionary guard.

Her children Masoumeh, Mansoureh, Mohammad Javad and Mehdi have so far testified about that Friday morning when their mother was killed before their horrified eyes. These children have carried the trauma of their mother’s death and her loss throughout their lives. the trace of deep pain and suffering can be seen in their faces in the interviews they have attended since them.

Masoumeh Eskandari

Masoumeh Eskandari, who was 8 years old at that time, considers that day the worst day of her life, because she not only witnessed her mother’s murder, but she was also shot by the terrorists.

Mansoureh Eskandari was a 6-year-old child at that time. She witnessed her mother’s being shot, thrown in her blood. She tearfully states that even though she was a young child that day, she will never forgive herself for opening the door to Rajavi’s terrorists.

Mohammad Javad remembers the moment that the terrorists entered the room where he and Mehdi were sleeping. They opened their eyes to two men with Kalashnikovs opening fire in the room. He took his younger brother and laid down so that they would be safe from the bullets.

During the attack of two MEK operatives on Mohsen Eskandari’s house, not only his wife but also a 18-year-old man and 17-year-old woman, who were Eskandari’s guests, were assassinated. They were having breakfast when the terrorists attacked their house on Nahidi St. Tehran

In the morning of August 27th, 2024, there civilians were killed. 4 children were traumatized for their entire life by the violent of the MEK.

April 30, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

My life experience with the Mujahedin-e Khalq

Mohammad Reza Torabi nicknamed “Ray”, former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) has recently published a thread in his personal account on X social network on his life experience with the group. He was a member of the MEK’s army for 18 years. He left the group after it was relocated in Albania.

Ray’s father Ghorbani Ali Torabi was killed under torture in the MEK’s prison. His mother Zahra Seraj is still a member of the Cult of Rajavi. She is not willing to contact Ray because she considers him a traitor who has left the group and speaks out against it.

Ray Torabi’s thread on X published on April 28th, 2024

This is Ray Torabi’s thread on X published on April 28th, 2024:
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the fate of some 1000 MEK children who were separated from their parents during the Gulf War and sent to European and American countries. As one of those children, I want to clarify some facts.

These children came to Iraq with their parents in the 1980s, specifically after the establishment of the National Liberation Army (MEK’s armed wing). Their parents joined MEK military units and the children were kept in daycares and boarding houses in Camp Ashraf.

During the week the children were kept in daycare and the parents received military training in separate units. Parents picked up their kids from the boarding house on Friday and stayed with them in housing units until Sunday morning when they were dropped off again.

With the start of MEK’s internal “ideological revolution” and after the implementation of mandatory divorces within its ranks, families were separated. The father would get the child one weekend and the mother the next.

With the start of the Gulf War and upon Massoud Rajavi’s orders, the children were separated from their parents and moved to Jordan. We were kept in different hotels until MEK found families for us abroad. Many of the children were moved to families of MEK supporters.

Some went to MEK boarding houses in European countries. These boarding houses had terrible conditions such as lack of food and physical abuse by MEK caretakers. Most of the children were smuggled into these countries illegally. I was 9 when I was smuggled to Canada.

Many, like myself, later faced complicated legal issues for immigration status because of this. I want to note that there was little to no supervision from MEK and many of us children were subjected to physical, mental, and sexual abuse in the families where we were placed.

In some cases MEK tried to cover up these crimes and silence the children. In the late 90s MEK emotionally manipulated and made hollow promises to some of the children, including myself, to move back to Iraq to be with our parents again. I will also write about this later.

It’s not easy to talk about the pain and suffering we’ve experienced. Hence you don’t hear from the others. Many of the children started new chapters in their lives, forgot their past, and moved on. Most of them don’t want anyone to know they were affiliated with the MEK.

Do you know how difficult it is for me to publicly say I was sexually abused in my childhood in Camp Ashraf and then in MEK headquarters in Canada by an MEK members/supporters? The other children don’t want to talk about these things and I respect their right not to.

There are very few of us who speak openly. I’ve overcome my past. I don’t feel guilty for what happened to me. I hold the MEK responsible. I found the courage to speak up and share the truth about my past openly and confidently.
The people of Iran must understand the crimes, deception, and evilness of the MEK. I have learned in the past 7 years, since leaving the MEK, that people only have a shallow understanding of this cult. I will do my best to reveal their lies, deception and evil.

I’m not afraid to speak up because I only speak the truth. Those who read my words will feel it with their hearts. And I am willing to testify every word I write in any court.

April 29, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

From Victim to Victor, Ex-Member in the Trial of the MEK leaders

Ali Ekrami, a former member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and the current head of Nejat Society’s office in Ahvaz, Khuzestan, participated in the 11th hearing of the MEK’s charges. Ali Ekrami was a victim of the MEK’s cult-like system. He left the group 18 years ago. He was a member of the group for 25 years.
During the court, the lawyer of the plaintiffs, Hakimzadeh Hosseini introduced Ekrami, as a person who is informed about the case, to the court. Under the order of the judge, Ali Ekrami got in place. H testified about the MEK’s spying activities against Iran during Iran-Iraq war.

Ekrami began his life story by saying: “Influenced by the slogans of the organization in 1979, I joined the MEK while I was a student of oil university.”

He continued: “After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, I was an idealist young boy with a poor family. I worked and studied at the same time and I felt that the MEK was the key to the happiness of the Iranian nation.”

The former member of the MEK added: “After the group announced armed struggle in 1981, I did not join it, but once again I was recruited by the group in 1986. I went to Iraq through Pakistan and I became a member of the 56th rank of the group’s central council.

Based on his testimonies, in 1987 Ekrami was charged with foreign policy and relations with Iraq in the MEK’s central council. Ath the time, the office of the headquarters was located in Baghdad. Ekrami was a member to coordinate the relations with Iraq and part of the Iraqi intelligence.
He added: “I was one of the coordinators for the meeting between general Haboush [former Iraqi intelligence official who served under the regime of Saddam Hussein] and Massoud Rajavi. The video was taken by Iraqi intelligence.”

The former member of the MEK said: “We collected intelligence from inside Iran and provided it to the Iraqi intelligence and the Ba’athist regime through telephone hearing and spying. 400 military advisers were trained at the Camp Ashraf. And, mainly in all MEK-run operations, the ammunitions and military equipment were provided by Iraqi Baa’th regime.”
Referring to Iraq’s bombings of Iranian cities during the Iran-Iraq war, he said: “The MEK leaders ordered the members whose hometowns had been bombed by Iraq, to contact their families and seek information about the amount of demolition and fear of the people, while in the MEK, members were banned from communicating the family. In fact, the group asked its members to get information from their families under the cover of expressing concern about them.”

Ali Ekrami is a victor now. He has built his self-confidence. He is stronger than he was in the past, under the cult-like structure of the MEK. Unlike when he was a victim of the Cult of Rajavi, he now recognizes the influence he has over his circumstances. Thus, he participated the trial of his former leaders and commandants.

April 28, 2024 0 comments

Iran

The Judge called on Albanians and International bodies to take action against the MEK

Judge Dehghani called on People and Albanian government to extradite the defendants of Tehran court who reside in Albania. He also asked the international bodies and other countries hosting individuals out of the 104 accused ones to take action in order to bring them to justice.

As the heading official who presides over court proceedings of the trial of the leaders and 102 high-ranking members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), began the recently held court session by addressing the international organizations and certain countries that host the MEK leaders: “

“From this position, I plea the international organizations and some countries that host the defendants of this indictment. The people of those countries should take action and ask their governments and institutions to extradite these people and submit them to the court in order to show up in court until the decision is made and final verdict is issued for the defendants.”

“There are 104 defendants with indictments issued in the court,” he continued. “They are accused of crimes that are more than one murder. How is it that when some people are suspected of murder and the police or competent institutions are informed of their presence in their countries, but they do not take any action?”

“Now, 104 people who are accused of burning people alive and bombings,” judge Dehghani added. “shouldn’t the hosting countries take the initiative and demand their competent institutions the extradition and departure of these people from their country? so that those accused with these charges can be tried in the court? A court where the defendants have the right to freely choose a lawyer.”

The head of the court expressed hope that these governments, by prioritizing the interests and the security of their people for extraditing the defendants, just like any other accused group, to the Islamic Republic of Iran, will take measures according to their national interests.

April 28, 2024 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Atefeh Sebdani’s autobiography to be translated in Persian

Atefeh Sebdani’s autobiography will be published in Persian. The Former child soldier of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), Atefeh Sebdani announced on her Facebook account that her book will be published in Persian soon.

In a note that Atefeh posted on Facebook platform on April 23rd, 2024, expressing her pleasure she explained about the publisher and the time of the publication:
Nothing makes me more proud and happy, than to announce that my book will be translated to Persian and this, already this year. It’s through eminent Baran Publishing and I feel honored to be part of their fantastic authors.

To even get the chance to write a book to begin with, and that for Albert Bonniers Förlag, was never anything I took for granted. Now, another wild dream is coming true which is to get the same book translated into my mother tongue.

So many have asked for this which I’m so humbled by and now we can let you know that sometimes during fall, you will be able to get your hands on your Persian version.
Thank you @nashrebaran for this opportunity and thousands of thanks to my fantastic agency @grandagency.se whom made efforts beyond the regular to sign me with an exile publisher. You are a true gem and I knew it from the start.

Now a Swedish citizen, Atefeh Sebdani was born to Mujahed parents. Under the order of the MEK leader, Massoud Rajavi, the five-year old Atefeh and her two younger brothers were smuggled from Iraq to Europe, together with at least 900 other children of the Mujahedin.

Last summer Atefeh published her biography, “My hands in mine”, in Swedish. The book is the story of a five-year-old girl who turned into the mother of her brothers. My Hand in Mine is a story about growing up with no one to hold on to but yourself, of abuses that are skillfully covered up by the MEK’s ruling system and a society that fails to see the vulnerable children. But it is also a story of a persistent burning energy and the courage to finally break free.

April 27, 2024 0 comments

Iran

Trial of MEK leaders in Iran | Report of the 11th session

A new round of courts on charges of 104 high-ranking members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) as well as the group as a legal entity began yesterday, April 23rd, at the 11th Branch of the Tehran Province Criminal Court. The court was presided by Judge Dehghani and his counselors Morteza Turk and Amin Nasseri.

The judge began the session by explaining that the defendants’ lawyer has the opportunity to present his statements in the court, and the court hears private plaintiffs, their complaints and their lawyers.

Judge Dehghani addressed the international bodies and the countries that host the accused: “People of those countries themselves must be the pioneer to call their governments and the international organizations to extradite these individuals in order to attend the court until the trial is finalized and the verdicts are issued.”

According to the indictments the defendants are accused to a lot of crimes including murder, burning the victim alive, bombings and shooting against civilians. “How is it that 104 people are suspected of murder, police or competent institutions re informed of his or her presence but the hosting nation does not demand their competent institutions to extradite these individuals?”, judge Dehghani asked the audience.

He added, “I announce to the people of Albania and certain European countries that indictments have been issued and they have the right to choose lawyers to defend the allegations. It seems that they have not been informed by their hosting governments.”

The head of the court expressed hope that these governments would take actions in favor of their national interests by prioritizing their people’s security extradite the defendants of the court, like any other accused groups, to the Iranian government.

Subsequently, the Judge ordered Seyyed Maysam Hakimzadeh Hosseini, one of the lawyers of the plaintiffs, to stand before the court to present his statement.

“Given that today is the first meeting that I have had the opportunity to express defense, the text of the bill will be submitted to the court,” the lawyer told the court.

The lawyer continued, “The previous incidents have shown that there have been crimes that anyone who defines crimes would not use not a word other than that, in terms of the public conscience of the media, their task is to reflect the crimes.

As we can see today, the public conscience has been awakened about Gaza crimes, and everyone takes stand against them.”
“What happened in Iran by the MEK for the past 40 years is not less important than what we see in Gaza today,” Hakimzadeh Hosseini said, “We are dealing with people who have committed the highest level of crime and betrayal against their own country and their national interests.”

The lawyer introduced two people to the court, a researcher and a former member of the MEK in order to present their statements. Safaedin Tabraeian, the researcher is the author of a book on the MEK history. Ali Ekrami, former member of the MEK and a member of Nejat Society attended the court as an informed person.

April 24, 2024 0 comments

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