Zamani joined the MEK in 2003, together with his family –his wife, son and daughter—because the MEK agents had promised him to transfer them from Iraq to Europe and help them find a good job and a happy life there.

But soon he realized that he was deceived; the MEK did not provide them any possibility to go to Europe and get asylum there. Instead, all the family were separated from each other. They could hardly ever see each other.
News 24; the Albanian 24-hour news television channel has recently interviewed Ali Zamani on his experiences with the MEK. The Albanian Balkan Web also published a report on the interview. The
report reads:

Ali Asghar Zamani

“I escaped from the Manza camp after 20 years”, the confession of the former mujahedin: Here’s what happens inside

The Iranian Mujahideen, otherwise known as the “Iranian opposition”, have been in exile for a long time.
The Iranian People’s Mujahideen Organization (MEK) was founded in Iran in 1965 by a group of radical students who combined Marxism and Islam.
Although there are no exact official data, the number of Mujahideen sheltering in the Manza camp is thought to be 3,500.

Ali Zamani is a former Mujahed who was able to escape from the Manza camp after 20 years of being in the MEK.

In an interview with moderator Çenkuela Hasa, he revealed how he became part of this organization, his escape and his new life in Tirana.
He told FitStation on News24 all the experiences of these years.

“In the beginning, I joined the MEK with the idea that our path alongside this organization was towards Europe or America, but I soon realized that this was not true.

I entered the MEK with my wife and two children, they forced us to separate because for them family did not exist, the men lived separately and the women separately. For 20 years, I watched the boy only from afar and could never speak to him inside the camp, while I never saw my ex-wife again after we entered the camp. It still continues to be there. MEK controls everything, psychological pressure was the hardest part, to control thoughts, actions. I am happy that I was able to escape after 20 years” – said the former Mujahedeen.

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Ali and his wife were forced to divorce. His initial resistance against this order did not work. His wife was finally separated from him. There is no married member in the MEK.

Their 17-year-old son was coerced to wear military uniform and their little daughter was taken back to Iran. Since then, they could hardly ever see each other. “During the twenty years of membership in the MEK, I could see my son four or five times, from long distance,” he recounts.

The group leaders wanted to hand the little girl to human traffickers to take her to Iran, but Ali refused. The leaders told him that he should scarify his daughter for the group cause. He promised them to get his daughter to Iran by his own and then turn back to Iraq.

After he left his daughter to his mother in Iran, he got back to Iraq, this time to save his son but it was not a simple process. He was not allowed to visit his son. In the MEK, family relationship was forbidden; leaving the group was considered treason. Breaking these rules would lead to punishment. “They didn’t show my son to me, and if I happened to see him, I would be under commanders’ control; we couldn’t talk or contact each other,” he writes in his official announcement for leaving the group. “Because any kind of family contact was considered against the organization’s ruling.”

However, Ali succeeded to talk to his son after the group was relocated to Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport. Ali got sick but his son could manage to visit the UN officials in the camp. He was aided to leave the MEK and to immigrate to Europe.
The father got stuck in the MEK for about a decade more. He was not able to leave the group until last month. “As a dissident member, I was jailed in a room when the Albanian Police raided Ashraf 3 two months ago,” he writes. “When the Albanian police came to the camp for inspection, they locked me in the proper room where I was living. Two members watched over me so that I could not go to the police and ask for asylum.”

Finally, he could ditch his commanders on a day that they had come to Tirana to do some errands. He escaped the group and surrendered himself to Police. He was welcome. He joined Nejat Society Albania that aided him get back to free world.
“The life in the MEK was full of suffering; we were under constant suppression in the MEK,” he says. “I could not meet or call my children in all those 20 years but since I left the group I can talk to my son and his family every night.”

Ali Asghar Zamani had a family of four before their involvement in the MEK. Today each member of the family is in a separate place. His wife in in Ashraf 3. His son is in a European country. His daughter is in Iran, and he is looking for a new life in Tirana, Albania.

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Ali Asghar Zamani left the MEK on Thursday, September 14th, 2023. In an opportunity that his commanders lost control over him, Zamani escaped the group and turned himself to the fourth station of Tirana’s Police. He then joined his friends at Nejat Society Albania.

Zamani was born in Tehran, in 1959. In 2003, he joined the MEK together with his family –his wife, son and daughter—because the MEK agents had promised him to transfer them from Iraq to Europe and help them find a good job and a happy life there.

“Some time after we got there, I realized my mistake and I realized that I was deceived, that the MEK does not provide us with any possibility to go to Europe and get asylum there,” he writes in the statement to announce his official defection from the group.

At the time, Zamani’s son was 17 years old, a good target for the MEK’s child soldier army. “They separated my son from me,” he states. “They had taken him as a hostage. I was not allowed to talk to him.”

As a soldier of the MEK’s army, his son was forced to wear military uniform. He was intimidated and indoctrinated with fear that his return to Iran will end with his arrest and death penalty. “Indeed, they had kidnapped my son,” Zamani writes.

Zamani was ordered to divorce from his wife. He did not accept. Zamani, his wife and their daughter could manage to return to Iran but without the son. In 2005, Zamani got back to Iraq to rescue his son, but he fell into the MEK’s trap once again.

“At that time, I had no choice,” he recounts. “I had to tolerate the condition. I wanted to take my son with me in any way. But even though my son was not far from me, I was not permitted to visit him in those inhumane conditions that prevailed there. They didn’t show my son to me, and if I happened to see him, I would be under Rajavi’s control; we couldn’t talk or contact each other. Because every family contact was considered against the organization’s ruling.”

When the MEK was relocated at Camp Liberty, under the supervision of the UN authorities, the son could manage to find an opportunity and ask the UNHCR to aid him leave the MEK. He succeeded to leave but the father was sick, hospitalized in Baghdad, under sever control of Rajavi’s agents.

Ali Asghar Zamani was not able to escape the Cult of Rajavi until two weeks ago after of writing several requests to the group leaders for leaving. Their answer was always no. As a dissident member, he was jailed in a room when the Albanian Police raided Ashraf 3 two months ago. “When the Albanian police came to the camp for inspection, they locked me in the proper room where I was living,” he writes. “Two members watched over me so that I could not go to the police and ask for asylum.”

“I could not trust them anymore and I knew that after a year they would come up with another excuse and not let me leave”, he writes about the leaders’ false promises. “Because of this, during a trip to Tirana for shopping while I was under the control of my supervisors, I managed to escape and turn myself to the Albanian police and apply for asylum.”

Ali Asghar Zamani is happy with the way the Albanian Police treated him. He is also pleased that he is free now but, he regrets the 20 years he lost behind the bars of the Cult of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. “After my release, I realized that my beloved mother has passed away and I cursed Rajavi a thousand times in my heart,” he writes with sorrow and anger.

The post Ali Asghar Zamani announced his defection from the MEK appeared first on Nejat Society.

Ali Zamani at the office of Nejat Society Albania

Mr. Ali Asghar Zamani Varkaneh, a former member of the Rajavi Cult, was able to escape in a brave situation on Thursday 14th of September 2023 and introduced himself to the Tirana No. 4 Police Station and subsequently joined his friends.

Tirana No. 4 police station

The Nejat Society Albania would like to first of all express its gratitude to the authorities of the government and police of Albania, especially the officials of Tirana No. 4 Police Station, and secondly, to congratulate all the families on the rescue of Mr. Ali Zamani and his joining the great family of Nejat.

Nejat Society Albania

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