It’s been over three decades that families of the hostages of the Cult of Rajavi (the Mujahedin Khalq Organization/ the MKO/ the MEK) have been suffering a bitter separation. The dimensions of their grief have been enlarged by the suppressive acts of the cult day after day.
During the early days of the separation, families were concerned over the fate of their loved ones and naturally missed them enormously but they were hopeful to have them back in a few months. They hardly ever would guess about the huge violation of human rights that their children endured inside the MKO.
The truth of the world inside the cult of Rajavi was revealed approximately after the process of defection was suddenly accelerated following the collapse of Saddam Hussein in 2003. The fall of the Iraqi dictator and eventually the disarmament of the group by the US military left the group members with unanswered questions about the existence and ideology of their group. Fed up with the inhuman suppressive atmosphere of the cult, a large number of members revolted against the cult authorities demanding to be released from the cult. Most of them were denied permission to depart the cult and in response were faced with peer pressure, mental and physical torture, imprisonment and solitary confinement. Some of the dissidents could manage to escape the cult.
Defectors of the cult who had suddenly confronted the free world, got to know that the reality of the world outside the MKO is completely different from what the group’s propaganda had fed them with. Having lost the best years of their youths under the manipulative mind-control system of the MKO, they felt disappointed. Thus, they set off for a large-scale revelation campaign to denounce the leaders of the group.
This way, horrible facts on the world inside the Cult of Rajavi were exposed to the international community. Families of the cult members gradually got informed about the suppressive system ruling their dear ones inside the cult. Defectors testimonies, interviews and scripts unveiled horrifying cases of human rights violations against MKO members.
Families found that their only concern is not only the distance between them and their children but also the pain and sufferings they endure under the Cult of Rajavi: mental and physical torture, solitary confinement, forced labor, forced divorces, separation of children from parents, mandatory celibacy, sleep deprivation, coercive mind-controlling jargons, forced marriage with the leader Massoud Rajavi, Hysterectomy surgery for female members…
It is definitely natural that the family of the victims of the Cult would be living in anxiety and worry all the time concerning about the well being of their loved ones. The more the person is kept under the cult-like system, the farther he gets from reality, emotions, love and family.
Having been relocated in Albania, under the supervision of the UNHCR, the case of the victims of the Cult of Rajavi is no more a regional case like when they were residing in Iraq. The MKO’s victims should be considered as an international problem. Today families are hopeful to pursue the case of their loved ones before international bodies including the UN. The UN authorities should be considerate enough to ensure the families for the ultimate release of their loved ones from the bars of the Cult despite the deceitful lobbying activities and briberies that the MKO skillfully uses to mislead the international community.
By Mazda Parsi