in Mojahedin Khalq Organisation, Rajavi cult
… The self burnings proved, for those yet in doubt, that MKO preserved the characteristics of both a terrorist group and a cult. Following the classic techniques of cults, Mojahedin relies on psychological manipulation and brainwashing to mesmerize the insiders to follow the orders. Singer and Lalich* define cults as organizations that feature "coordinated programs of coercive influence and behavioral control," many religiously or politically oriented and increasingly centered on New Age self-improvement techniques. Cults use motivational psychology to create closed controlling environments where cult members have little opportunity for free thinking. Some cults control all aspects oftheir members’ lives, including where members work and live, members’ social companions, members’ sexual companions, and even the members’daydreams. Cults achieve complete control through a program of deliberate isolation plus psychological reward and punishment. Cult members mechanically serve the cult leadership’s goals and fantasies, and in some cases, commit self-destruction for his or her cause…