Following the screening of the Children of Camp Ashraf documentary at the Swedish Goteborg Festival, Nejat Society interviewed the family of one of the child soldiers who was killed inside Camp Ashraf. Reza Akbari Nasab, an active member of Nejat society and the uncle of Yaser Akbari Nasab, told us about the fate of Yaser, his young nephew whose story has been heard in the testimonies of a large number of defectors of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK).
Reza’s 2 nephews and 1 niece were among the children of Camp Ashraf. Yaser, Musa and Fatemeh were the three children of Reza Akbarinasab’s brother, Morteza, whose lives were awfully affected by the cult-like violence of Rajavi because of their father’s membership in the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). Among these three children, Yasser suffered the most traumatic fate. He was tragically killed in Camp Ashraf.
According to Akbari Nasab, Yaser got involved with the MEK since he was three years old. As a child, he was separated from his parents under the order of Masoud Rajavi and was smuggled from Iraq to Europe along with hundreds of other children. He and his siblings were placed in the MEK’s orphanage buildings in Germany.
Yeser’s sister, Fatemeh, could not stand the abuses in the MEK’s team house in Germany and escaped the house, few years later. According to Reza Akbarinasab, the MEK commanders immediately smuggled Yaser and Musa back to Iraq, to prevent their escape from the cult. Like many other children of Mujahed parents, Musa and Yaser were recruited as soldiers of the group’s so-called Liberation army. The two teenagers were given military uniforms and were taught military trainings.
Referring to evidence from defectors of the MEK, Reza believes that Yasser was not happy with his conditions at Camp Ashraf from the beginning, and his dissatisfaction caused him to be subjected to cult-like violence. Finally, in June 2005, in a suspicious incident that seemed to be self-immolation, he was killed.
Yaser died soon and did not survive the Rajavis’ violence to share his life story with us like the 4 young people who share their lived experience in the MEK, in the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf. His brother, Musa could manage to leave the group when it was located in Camp Liberty, Iraq.
Yaser was no more than 25 years old when he died. His two siblings managed to escape from the organization, but Yaser, who was not interested to stay in Camp Ashraf, became a victim of Masoud and Maryam Rajavi’s conspiracies to run their cult.