Khodabandeh was interviewed on the sidelines of one of the court sessions: “There are many unsaid words that need to be said somewhere. Regardless of the outcome of the court, these words must be said so that the younger generation, in particular, can understand what happened in this country, what incidents occurred, and where the root of all this lies.”

Regarding the strategy of the MEK, he said: “The MEK’s strategy was to overthrow the Islamic Republic. In the first stage, this strategy was to strike at the top leaders of the government so that a quick overthrow could occur and they could seize power. This strategy failed and was not carried out.”

According to Khodabandeh, the next stage was to strike at the bottom of the government. For example, the IRGC, Basij, the Hezbollahis (supporters of Islamic Republic). In order to run this phase, Massoud Rajavi ordered his forces to assassinate anyone who has a beard (anyone who looked like Hezbollahis!) and anyone who has a picture of Ayatollah Khomeini in his shop.

“We should reach the digit of killing one hundred people a day,” Khodabandeh cites from Rajavi.

However, the second stage also failed because the MEK ranks were widely arrested and punished by the Iranian security forces. Rajavi fled Iran and settled his base in Iraq which was at war with Iran.

“Taking shelter in Iraq, Saddam Hussein’s territory, the third stage of their strategy was to form the so-called National Liberation Army, as Saddam’s private army,” he said. “It wanted to gain power by Saddam’s military support.”

Aided by the enemy of Iran, the MEK launched some cross border operations against Iran. The largest operation was Forough Javidan which failed again.

So far, the MEK has had failures in different stages of their struggle to overthrow the Iranian government so they are doing the one thing that they are skillful in: Using violence. Khodabandeh stated: “The incidents that are happening in Iranian protests right now are the same things that were happening in the 1980s.”

Ebrahim Khodabandeh states in his interview: “After Operation Forough Javidan, Massoud Rajavi said that it would be worth it if half of the Iranian people were killed for the organization’s victory and gaining power in Tehran.”

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In this court, the plaintiffs’ lawyer said: The scale of the crimes committed by members of the organization cannot be described in a few documents, whether it is the young people who fell into the trap of the MEK or the parents who lost their children as a result of the MEK’s terror acts.

Maddah continued, “One of the crimes they committed was Operation Chelcheragh, a military operation carried out by members of the MEK on June 18, 1988.”

He said, “The goal of this operation was to capture the border city of Mehran, 100 kilometers from Ilam. After capturing the city of Mehran, members of the group looted the city, killed more than 8,000 Iranians, and took 1,500 people as hostage.
The lawyer said that the MEK calls its force as National Liberation Army. “Which liberation army in the world would storm a hospital and assassinate people from two-year-old children to young people, men and women?” he added. “A liberation army is supported by the people based on international law, while the MEK assassinated ordinary people.”

According to Maddah, intimidating, killing civilians, having illegitimate goals, lack of public support, and violence and resorting to force are among the most important definitions of terrorism in international law.

He said, “Liberation organizations in international law have special characteristics that distinguish them from terrorist groups. These organizations usually move towards their goals by observing the rules of war and international law and use legitimate means to achieve their goals, not by war crimes such as shooting and executing innocent people.”

The plaintiffs’ lawyer added, “The liberation armies are internationally recognized and supported by international institutions. In contrast, the MEK was recognized as a terrorist group in many countries, including the United States and Europe.”

Maddah notified that the MEK’s army stole a large amount of military equipment and tools that were to be used against the Iraqi Baath regime, in Operation Chelcheragh. The group even mentioned this issue in its newspaper, Mujahed.

“Since this action was a widespread act against national security and territorial integrity, the crime can be an example of corruption on earth,” he suggested. “Also, since they used weapons against people and created fear and insecurity, this crime can also be an example of war.”

The lawyer, on behalf of his clients asked the judge to take action to attribute the crimes of corruption on earth and war to all the leaders of the MEK who are among the defendants in the case and to issue sentences for them commensurate with these crimes.

A number of former members of the MEK including Ali Ekrami and Iraj Salehi also attended the 40th court in order to testify about what they witnessed in Chelcheragh.

Families of victims of Operation Chelcheragh took the stand and asked the court to bring MEK leaders to justice. The son of Asad Soltani, the sister of Salem Alipour and the brother of Mohammadi demanded revenge for the blood of their beloved ones who were killed on June 18, 1988 in the Mehran-Dehloran region.

At the end of the hearing, the judge announced that the next hearing would be held on October 21.

The post Report on the 40th court session of the MEK’s trial appeared first on Nejat Society.

At the beginning of the hearing, the judge asked the plaintiffs’ lawyer to take the stand and make his statement. Massoud Maddah said: The endless killing of children, men, women, young and old, and civilians is just a small part of the brutal crimes committed by mercenaries who were deceived by the leaders of this terrorist group. If we examine the history of the last few hundred years of Iran, we have never had mercenaries fighting for a foreign enemy and against the Iranian people, committing all kinds of brutal crimes and taking pride in these crimes, and worse, calling these crimes liberation and freedom-seeking.

Maddah reminded: The MKO had three types of cooperation with the Iraqi Baath regime during the 8-year imposed war on Iran. Military cooperation, espionage and intelligence cooperation, and supervision in the killing of the Iranian people. One of the separated members of this group, who is also mentioned on page 249 of the indictment, states that in explaining the world, Massoud Rajavi named Saddam and the sheikhdoms of the region as dictators and reactionaries of the region and called them aggressors, but when he issued a joint statement with Tariq Aziz [Saddam Hussein’s Minister], the analysis and theory changed. This was an example of Massoud Rajavi’s contradictory behavior.

The lawyer stated that numerous documents indicate that Massoud Rajavi had effective cooperation with the Iraqi Baath regime; while he considered this regime as reactionary and dictatorial. “This shows that this person’s entire behavior is deception, deceit, and contradiction,” he added.

Maddah told the court: The MEK claim to be liberating while they have killed, imprisoned, tortured, bombed, and even murdered two-year-old and one-year-old and eight-month-old children in Iran. Are they liberators or a terrorist group? In international law, the characteristics of a liberation movement or army include the independence of the country, the support of the people, and targeting legitimate targets. Not entering a house, martyring a two-year-old child, and then killing his parents. Liberation movements and armies observe international law and the rules of war.

He asked the court to refer the case to an international law expert, so that the issue can be clarified clearly.

Fathollah Eskandari former member of the MEK took the stand as an informed person. In Rajavi’s prison and organization, torture, inhumane killings, and severe mental and physical pressure were applied,” he told the court. “Many members were subjected to severe pressure.”

Eskandari said: “I worked in the repair shop of the MEK’s camp. Whenever we begged them to leave the group, it was as if they were giving us a choice between death and joining them: either get killed or leave!”

Samad Eskandari, another defector of the MEK who appeared at the stand told the court: On various occasions and in collective meetings, we heard Massoud Rajavi, the leader of the MEK, confess many times that he had received all the war equipment, tanks, cannons and other military equipment from the Iraqi army. In numerous joint meetings with Saddam Hussein, Rajavi convinced him to donate military equipment and financial aids.
“The MEK acted as the fifth column of the Iraqi army in operations against the Iranian forces and were in fact at his disposal like a special unit of Saddam’s army,” stated Samad Eskandari.

Hadi Shabani was also a defector of the Cult of Rajavi who spoke at the court. He recounted the MEK operation called Chelcheragh that was logistically sponsored by Iraqi army. “Because Iranian scouts were aware of us, we worked at night and stayed in the trenches that belonged to the Iraqi forces during the day,” he recalled. “The Iraqi army had given us these trenches.”

He added: By the night of the operation, we had two Russian 130 cannons and two 122 cannons, two of which were in the hands of the organization’s women and the other two were in the hands of our own forces. After Rajavi announced the operation, we were unable to fire much, because the cannons were both old and did not function well, and they went out of range very quickly. The important point is that in this operation, as the organization itself advertises and can be seen in their films, there was a lot of fire, while we ourselves knew that we did not have Katyushas or anything else. We only had four cannons. Of course, we later said that we didn’t have all these cannons and Katyushas because we hadn’t received the necessary training yet. Then they announced that these forces were the Iraqi army who had come to support us to carry out the operation, which they announced near morning had entered Mehran territory.

Then, Doost Mohammad Farhi, a defected member of the MEK, appeared on the stand as a witness and swore to tell the truth in court. He explained about Chelcheragh operation: I was also an infantryman in Operation Chelcheragh. During this operation, we were in the Mehran region for 2 days. The organization brought tanks to the Iranian border and left them at the border, and captured a number of personnel carriers and tanks inside Iran. All of these operations were with the help of Baathist forces. Baathist forces provided support from a distance. We also handed over the captured tanks to Baathist forces.

The next session of the court will be held on October 7th, 2025.

The post Report on the 39th court session of the MEK’s trial appeared first on Nejat Society.

Maddah, the attorney of the plaintiffs once more presented the cases of victims of the Israeli attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists. He explained that victims of the attacks are considered as victims of a collaboration between the MEK and the invading enemy and then, this is a crime according to the laws.

Nezhat Shaban Azad is the wife of Fereidoon Abbasi Davani, the nuclear scientist who was killed in June 13th attacks. She took the stand at the court and explained how her husband was killed by the explosions at that night.

According to his wife’s testimonies, Fereidoon Abbasi was thrown out in the street from the 13th floor of their residential building. A neighbor, a retired man, was also killed.

Shaban Azad told the court that her husband had survived a first Israel-MEK led attack in 2010. He noticed the magnetic bomb that a motorcycle rider placed on their car.

She said: “The first time the Zionist regime attempted to assassinate my wife (15 years ago), we filed a complaint against the Zionist regime, the MEK, and the US government because Israel had officially claimed responsibility for the assassination. At that time, our lives were severely affected, and my wife and I were forced to separate our workplaces for greater security. But this time, we were attacked in our own home. Violation of the privacy of individuals’ homes is absolutely unacceptable, and I am filing a complaint against it.”

This complaint is still ongoing and Abbasi family have not been informed of the outcome yet.
Anne Singleton, a British citizen who was a member of the MEK for 8 years, took the stand as a witness.

“I have known the MEK organization for 47 years,” she addressed the court. “I was one of its supporters for twenty years and I have been its enemy for twenty years, and I have written books about the MEK.”

“Saddam’s Private Army” and “The Life of Camp Ashraf” are two of her books on the MEK.
“I left the MEK because I realized that they were people who influenced people’s minds,” she said. “After leaving them, it took me a while to get better, and after I felt better, I created a website called Iran Interlink.”

Base on Singleton’s testimonies writing in both English and Persian on her website, her intention was to bring the social and political situation of the MEK and their destructive ideas into limelight.

About the recruitment process the MEK agents use to recruit her, Singlton said: “Their recruitment and brainwashing process started in such a way that they sent messages and constantly asked me to do tasks so that I didn’t have time to think and figure out where I was going and what I was doing. Until in 1992 they asked me to come to Iraq for military training.”

She added: “For 10 years I had a different life. In one aspect I was a British person with a job, family and friends and in another aspect I was addicted to the MEK, I did whatever they wanted and I couldn’t separate myself from them and after 10 years in 1989 I had a personal crisis and in this personal crisis I had to choose one and I chose the MEK, the MEK separated me from my family and I had no contact with my family anymore.”

Singlton explained why the MEK recruits foreign nationals: “I was in the MEK’s team house in London and also in their team house in Sweden. They took me to Iraq for three months. They said that was for military training, but they didn’t use me as a trained person. They had people more trained than me for their operations. Instead, they used me as a passport. I say passport because Saddam paid them money for each passport.”

Ann Singleton (Ann Khodabandeh) married another MEK defector, Massoud Khodabandeh in Londen. Massoud Khodabandeh has previously attended the trail of the MEK and its leaders.
The next court session will be held on September 4th, 2025.

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At the 36th public session of the trial, held Tuesday, at Branch 11 of Tehran Province’s Criminal Court One, presiding Judge Hojjatoleslam Amir-Reza Dehqani announced that MEK operatives had coordinated with Israeli intelligence by gathering data on traffic flow near Kermanshah’s Farabi Hospital and passing it on to the regime in Tel Aviv. The intelligence was used to carry out a deadly strike on the hospital.

Judge Dehqani opened the hearing by condemning Israel’s actions and praising the Iranian Armed Forces for defending national sovereignty in the face of foreign-sponsored terrorism. He also expressed condolences to the families of those killed in the recent war, declaring:
“We are witnessing a new phase of hegemonic aggression aimed at destabilizing independent nations by assassinating their intellectual and scientific leaders. These acts are designed to uphold an unjust global order maintained by arrogant powers.”
Daughter of martyred scientist demands justice

Zohreh Abbasi Davani, daughter of late nuclear scientist Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi Davani—killed in the recent Israeli-led assault—testified in court, calling for accountability in a prior 2010 assassination attempt on her father.
“The second attack claimed my father’s life, re-injured my mother, and killed a neighbor. Twenty-eight families were displaced. My father was not a military figure—he was a university professor devoted to the country’s scientific progress.”

Following her statement, Judge Dehqani revealed that new documents and testimony submitted by the second defendant showed active cooperation between MEK members and Israeli operatives, particularly in identifying and targeting Iranian nuclear scientists. He said the evidence would be reviewed in full and, if warranted, referred back to the Prosecutor’s Office.
Widow of another assassinated scientist: MEK targeted Iran’s scientific core

The widow of Dr. Masoud Ali-Mohammadi, another prominent Iranian nuclear physicist assassinated in a separate incident, also testified.

“Ten days before his death, my husband showed me emails and satellite images of nuclear sites sent by the MEK. When he refused to engage, they killed him.”

She added: “The MEK has betrayed the Iranian people since the Revolution. My husband’s killing wasn’t just a personal loss—it was an attack on the nation’s scientific backbone. It risks setting back Iran’s intellectual development for generations.”
Concluding her testimony, she formally pressed charges: “I demand that those within the MEK responsible for these crimes be held accountable.

Justice must be done

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At the beginning of the hearing, Judge Dehghani explained about the testimonies made by arrested agents of the MEK who committed terrorist attacks in the early years of the 1980s. According to the testimonies of certain MEK agents, named Sohrab Sepehri, Hossein Sheikholhokama, Abbas Sahraiee and abdolkarim Moazez, the leaders of the group had ordered them to kill any individual who seemed to be a sympathizer of the Islamic Republic.

They testified that the murders were usually accomplished based on the beard of the victim or the portrait of ayatollah Khomeini on the wall of his shop. This way, the MEK, as the first defendant of the court, has killed a large number of civilians in Iran.

Maddah, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, asked some of family members of the victims of a terrorist attack, called Qadikalah incident, and a survivor of the attack to take the stand and deliver their testimonies.

Ali Haghpanah, the brother of Mohammad Ali Haghpanah asked the court to bring the MEK to justice for the assassination of his brother. Qiaseddin Mozaffari, the son of Hossein Mozaffari also lost his father in Qadikalah terrorist attack. The MEK agents killed the two men in the road from Qaemshahr to Qadikalah.

Einollah Delpisheh is also a survivor of Qadikalah incident who took the stand to testify about the terrorist attack. He and Mozaffari were teachers; they had no political position in the government.

Abbas Ali Kamalpour Bandari was also a victim of the MEK terror teams. He was only 17 when he was killed by the MEK terrorist. His brother, HosseinAli attended the court to ask for punishment of the group and its leaders.

The wife and children of Yunes Taheri also demanded blood money and severe punishment from the court for the first accused of the court, the legal entity of the MEK. Taheri’s wife told the court that the body of her husband was never found. Yunes Taheri was a member of Iranian revolutionary guard.

Another action of the MEK was the hijacking of a Phantom F-14 fighter jet, which was carried out by agents of the group. This case was reviewed in the 35^th session too.

The legal representative of the Islamic Republic Army وIn the previous session, he explained three cases of military plane hijackings carried out by the Mujahedin. In this session, he also explained one of these plane hijackings and the pilots who hijacked the plane with the collusion of the MEK and transferred military information. He submitted the documents to the court.

The next court session will be held on June 28^th, 2025.

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Judge Dehghani once more addressed the host countries of the defendants, saying: “According to international laws, terrorist crimes are separated from the rules on extradition of criminals. Based on Article 11 of the UN Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, these charges are excluded from the list of political charges and, regarding the extradition of the defendants, they do not enjoy the protection of the impossibility of extraditing political criminals.

According to Article 11 of the UN Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, none of the crimes stipulated in Article 2 of this Convention can be considered as extraditable crimes or legal cooperation between the parties. In Articles 1 and 2 of the 1997 European Union Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, if the perpetrator is arrested, he is tried or extradited.”

In the 34th session, Massoud Maddah, the plaintiffs’ lawyer filed a criminal complaint against the second defendant, Massoud Rajavi. Based on the testimonies of two members of technical staff of the flight that carried Rajavi to Paris, Massoud Rajavi was armed during the flight trip. He and his comrades forcefully stop the crew at gunpoint and take them onto the plane, effectively carrying out a hostage-taking and flight high jacking.

Iraj Salehi former member of the group, the then personal bodyguard of Massoud Rajavi, testified about the flight highjack. He stated that Massoud Rajavi admitted the fact in his speeches during the meetings in Camp Ashraf in 1994.
Three family members of victims of the MEK’s terrorist acts, also testified in the court, describing how their loved ones were killed by the MEK terror operators.

Mohammad Reza Goli was another former member of the MEK who testified about the MEK’s operations in Iran’s border areas in 1993, Mortar fire by MEK terror teams between 1998 and 2001.

In the end, the judge declared that the next session will be held on June 10, 2025.

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Judge Dehghani, condoling the Shahid Rajaee Port incident, said: “What measures the power of countries is their human resources. A factor that is more important and colorful than other factors. In developing countries, the presence of human resources is a factor in the development of that country, and therefore, the assassination of human resources is considered the most important soft power source of countries, a power that cannot be replaced in any way. Today, many terrorist organizations target the most important source of power production of a country, which is human resources, in order to hold countries back from development and a constructive role in global positions. This is why the assassination of people in various forms is one of the most horrific acts among countries; and this is so unacceptable that it has caused no country, even if it is a terrorist state, to openly support terrorist groups.”

According to the judge, throughout the world, international organizations and the United Nations have adopted numerous conventions to combat terrorist acts that cause terror and fear, and countries even ostensibly declare their readiness to combat terrorism by joining the conventions.

Judge Dehghani asked the countries that host the MEK to extradite the suspects to a competent court. “According to international law and conventions, hosting terrorist suspects while a competent court is handling their charges is a crime,” he said.

The French government is hosting the first defendant) the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization as a legal entity) of the case. As judge Dehghani said, according to international conventions, hosting terrorist groups is against the conventions and creates criminal liability for the officials of this country, and these officials must be accountable to the government and people of Iran.
“Many of the court’s witnesses are former members of the main defendant (MEK), and very detailed testimonies have been presented in court regarding France’s hosting of the defendants”, the judge added.

Referring to some of the defenses raised in the previous court session, Massoud Maddah, the lawyer for the plaintiffs in the case, said: “In this case, we deal with people who fought against oppression and the Shah, and who are fighters and mujahids, and who claim that a guerrilla should not survive for more than 6 months. Why is Massoud Rajavi alive and has not fought? When Rajavi was ordering the resistance units in the country to torture and assassinate people and hijack planes, he was in France. There are documents that Massoud Rajavi cooperated with SAVAK to the fullest extent. The Iranians who fought and took action against Iran are evidence of the conspiracy and betrayal of Rajavi and this organization.”

To defend his clients he added, “What Rajavi has committed is bombing, intimidation, public disorder, guerrilla attacks, torture, genocide, and hijacking, all of which are examples of the actions of terrorist groups.”

Maddah warned that as long as this organization exists, all of this group’s crimes can be spread to all people in the world, and no one will be safe from their criminal actions.

The lawyer added, “There is no doubt that legal entities can be held responsible towards others, and there is no doubt that these groups have civil liability, and therefore, in this regard, if there is a claim against legal entities, there is the possibility of claiming against the property of legal entities.”

According to Maddah, in criminal groups, criminal responsibility is transferred from members to their leaders, but in the case of legal entities, criminal responsibility is transferred from the leaders to members. For example, whenever Massoud Rajavi feels defeated, he orders assassinations so that the name of his organization is repeated in the media.

Following the court’s announcement to register a complaint against the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), many complaints have been sent from all over the country from people who were victims of the crimes of the organization, and 205 victims of the MEK group have registered their complaints, expressing their complaints against both the organization and its leaders.

At the end of the hearing, the judge said: The next court session will be held on May 13.

The post Report on the 32nd court session of the MEK’s trial appeared first on Nejat Society.

Massoud Madah, the Plaintiffs’ lawyer emphasized on the fact that the court is not dealing with a simple criminal group. “We are dealing with an organized terrorist group that has committed acts with the support of intelligence services,” he said. Remarking Massoud Rajavi’s meeting with Taher Jalil Haboush, the head of the Iraqi intelligence service, in 1999, the lawyer mentioned that Rajavi explicitly stated in that meeting that he was in contact with the American, British, and French intelligence services.

According to Maddah, Based on what is stated in the indictment, the fifth reason for the MEK being a terrorist organization is that it was on the list of terrorist organizations by the United States until 2012 and was recognized as a terrorist organization by the European Union in 2005. Also, Maryam Qajar Azdanloo (Maryam Rajavi) was arrested on June 17, 2003, along with 165 leaders of the organization, by the anti-terrorist police in France for attacking the Iranian embassy and assassinating 25 defectors of the group.

The lawyer stated that from the perspective of criminology and the characteristics that have been declared for terrorist organizations, the organization should be included in the list of terrorist groups. Bombings, intimidation, public unrest, guerrilla attacks, torture, coups, mass murder and genocide, kidnappings and hijackings are just a few of the crimes committed by the MEK.

“This terrorist group tortured and martyred children from 18 months old to young students and students in the most heinous way possible,” he added. “No ethnicity or religion in this country has been safe from the actions and crimes of the MEK, and as long as the legal personality of this organization is established, these crimes will continue. Accordingly, my clients demand the dismissal of the MEK as a legal entity and that the extradition of its criminals and their punishment.”

During the court session, Hossein Sobhaninia, a member of the central office of the Islamic Republic Party and a witness of the bombing of the Party’s building, took the stand and, after taking the oath, stated:

“I remember that Mohammad Reza Kolahi (MEK member) was present that night in the space between the prayer place and the meeting hall, inviting and encouraging people to attend the hall. Members of this meeting usually attended with prior invitations, and since at that time most of the members of parliament were members of the Republican Party, in this incident 27 members of parliament, four government ministers, a number of deputy ministers, and a group of personalities and central members of the Islamic Republic Party were killed.”

Sobhaninia presented his testimonies about the killed and injured victims of the incident: “It took an hour for the basic facilities to arrive. They wanted to remove the roof with a crane, which increased the subsidence. Some of the victims were thrown out of the hall window and their bodies were outside the hall, including Ejei, the representative of Isfahan Derakhshan was also next to the window. An attempt was made to dig out the part where Ayatollah Beheshti was sitting, but with great difficulty his body came out, which was burned. These bodies were taken to the hospital and the others were pulled out of the rubble.”

Elaheh Pirouzfar, the lawyer for defendants in rows 88 to 107 of the case said: “Mr. Sobhaninia’s statement is consistent with the indictment. He says that the bombing was not the work of one person, and I confirm this because the bombing was next to the pillars (contrary to the previous witness’s statements). I want this matter to be explained.”

The judge said: “We invited a bomb expert to the court session for this matter, and in the 28th session, they announced that there were two bombs in the columns and one bomb next to Shahid Beheshti’s table. In fact, one of these statements, that there was a bomb next to Shahid Beheshti’s table, is consistent with the expert’s opinion, and the other opinion, that the bomb was next to the columns, is also consistent with part of the expert’s opinion. Each witness testified to the extent of his knowledge.”

The judge added: “In previous hearings, the bomb expert raised a point in court about the technology used to make this bomb, which has so far been immune from objection by the defendants’ lawyers. According to this expert’s opinion, making and placing such a bomb with this technology was not the work of anyone inside Iran; that is, such a bomb could not have been made and designed inside the country under those conditions, and the bomb in question was foreign.”

Massoud Maddah, the lawyer who filed the case, said: “The MEK had 7 cases of plane hijackings, one of which was on June 28th, 1983, when they hijacked a plane with 371 passengers and 19 crew members that was traveling from Shiraz to Tehran. The plane first landed in Kuwait and then was taken to France to Massoud Rajavi. A widespread action against the country’s internal and external security, of which the plane hijacking is a part.”

Ali Akbar, the legal representative of Iran Air, then took the stand and said: “The duty of Iran Air is to supervise the technical and operational performance of airlines. The plane that was hijacked by the MEK in 1983 belonged to the Islamic Republic of Iran and the main victim and plaintiff is Iran Air Company.”

The legal representative of Iran Air explained that the hijacking was registered by EKO and even with the help of EKO the plane was returned to the country. According to the case documents, with the coordination made, the plane was delivered to our country’s embassy two days later. According to Ali Akbar Iran Air is suing the MEK for this hijacking and requested the court to consider the severest punishment for the leaders of the group and the perpetrators of the hijacking.

Tohidi, a PhD in international law and university professor, explains the rules governing hijacking from an international perspective. He said, “Air piracy and hijacking are carried out for personal or specific vengeful purposes, such as demanding the release of specific prisoners or causing social unrest, and sometimes using aircraft as a weapon to target specific areas and buildings.”

The Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft was adopted in 1970, and the discussion of hijacking was considered here, and an attempt was made to emphasize facilitating cooperation between states in preventing impunity for those who disrupt aviation security. Therefore, the 1970 Convention states several basic points. The first point is that Article 2 of it states that the contracting states have committed to punishing this crime severely. The second point is that Article 3, paragraph 3 of this Convention states that this Convention applies to both domestic and international flights, and the flight that the MEK hijacked was from Shiraz to Tehran and is covered by this Convention, according to Tohidi.

The judge concluded: “In view of the receipt of the plaintiff’s lawyer’s bill and the issued indictment, as well as the request for a postponement from Iran Air and the letter that the family of the complainant submitted to the court, the court accepts the Iran Air’s postponement to submit a complaint to the court in this regard and gives the Civil Aviation Organization this deadline for 10 days. In view of the statements of the legal representative that actions have been taken regarding the allegations that occurred during his time, the documentation must be submitted to the court, therefore, the Civil Aviation Organization is given a 10-day postponement within this period. Otherwise, due to the omission of the act, the court will refer the matter to the Tehran General Prosecutor’s Office in accordance with Article 341 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The next court session will be held on April 28, 2025.”

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Issa kept his eyes on the floor as we started talking. It was hard to read him at all. He seemed like a jumble of things: anxious, numb, angry, regretful… but then you’d see a flicker of hope in there somewhere. Before delving into his experiences with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK), a terrorist organization known for its dogmatic indoctrination and isolated, tightly controlled environment, he said he wanted people everywhere to understand how dangerous the MEK really is, both for those who join and for the world beyond its walls.

“When I entered the MEK I was highly educated,” he explained. “I was a university graduate, and I had a family, job, and social connections. But after my involvement with the organization all that was lost. There, Masoud Rajavi tried to reduce the members to nothing, devoid of character, dignity, and honor.”

Introduced to the MEK after the 1979 Islamic Revolution while studying engineering at a prominent Tehran university, Issa joined the organization under the influence of a friend and became a high-ranking member over a 38-year period. He spent two decades at Camp Ashraf in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Iran, until its dismantling in 2003 by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. After the camp’s closure, Issa, along with other MEK members, moved to Camp Liberty near Baghdad. He ultimately left the MEK before its relocation to Albania in 2016.

Issa says almost every single day he spent with the MEK was tiring, humiliating, and dehumanizing.
“We would all wake up at 5 a.m. to the sound of a shrill wind instrument. It was incredibly jarring. We had about 20 minutes to get ready and eat breakfast. Then, our exhausting day began. We had to clean the area, guard the camp, and carry out missions outside. Our only entertainment was watching the group’s propaganda on TV for two 30-minute segments.” The TV remote was kept locked in a box; a precaution that seemed unnecessary. After all, only the person responsible for the TV schedule knew how to use it.

Issa said the most difficult part of the day was the joint self-criticism sessions. “One of the biggest taboos was having sexual thoughts. We were forced to dissect our feelings, describe our fantasies in detail, and express repeated regret. Then, the others would join in, and one by one start scolding us too.”

Forced divorces followed by forced marriages

Typical of leaders like Rajavi, the man was obsessed with sex. Initially, he ordered some members of the organization to marry each other. However, after realizing that marriage and family preoccupied the minds of those he considered his devoted followers, he decreed that everyone should divorce. Rajavi later declared that all women in the group had become his wives, a claim substantiated by former female members of the MEK who reported frequent sexual abuse and exploitation orchestrated by Rajavi himself.

“The divorce process the members were forced to endure was one of the most inhumane and unbelievable events imaginable,” Issa stated. He had not taken his wife and kids with him to the camp, but he was still required to divorce his wife in his mind. “Couples within the organization were made to stand facing each other and then ordered to hurl vile profanities at one another.” Reflecting Iranian cultural norms, where men typically avoid cursing in front of women, Issa declined to repeat the exact words for me. “Even those who were not married, either within or outside the organization, were ordered to undergo a ‘mental divorce.'”

Soon after, strict segregation was enforced. Men and women were required to use separate routes within the camp to minimize contact. “There was a gas station inside the Ashraf camp where we refueled the vehicles used for patrols. We were not even allowed to visit the gas station on the same day,” Issa revealed.

The mass “marriage” of MEK women to Rajavi occurred sometime after contact between men and women was cut off. Rajavi’s own wife, Maryam Qajar-Azdanlu – having herself divorced Rajavi’s friend to then become Rajavi’s wife after a scandalous affair – was the key figure in manipulating the other women into accepting their “sacred” duty: sexual submission to their leader.

“I didn’t know this was happening when I was still part of the organization, because I rarely spoke to the women there. Also, there’s often a great deal of shame involved in admitting to being sexually assaulted. When a former female member of the MEK publicly broke the news a few years ago, it was very difficult for me to process, even though I had always known that Rajavi was a perverted and corrupt individual.”

The Taliban and Daesh were less oppressive towards women than the MEK, Issa said. While no one within the organization enjoyed rights or privacy, women were treated as particularly disposable.
“People often ask individuals like me why we didn’t leave the organization sooner,” Issa said as he looked at me with a bitter smile. “To those observing the MEK from the outside, it’s crucial to understand the complete loss of self that occurs within its walls. You are forced to abandon your identity, to erase your past and all those you once cherished. Inside, Masoud Rajavi’s orders become your only reality.”

Children that were killed, trafficked, or indoctrinated

In 1990, Rajavi took another crucial step to subjugate MEK members: He ripped kids away from their parents. These kids lived in separate compounds near their parents’ headquarters in Iraq.
“There were about 700, all different ages. They were just put on buses and shipped off to Jordan,” Issa said. What followed was a tragedy. Some never made it, some were exploited by human traffickers, others became entangled in crime, and some ended up in brothels. Roughly 300 were left, either sent to distant relatives or relegated to MEK-owned housing in Europe.
Years later, some of those kids, who’d grown up hearing Rajavi’s propaganda and idealized stories of their parents’ “heroic” actions, ended up joining the MEK. Their view of the whole thing? Like something out of a bad Hollywood movie. They, however, managed to come to their senses soon. “Many of them eventually left the MEK again. I believe they were wiser than their parents.”

Now in their 40s, some of these former child members have recently begun to share their experiences. They frequently face threats from the organization, and are blamed for being “ungrateful”.

MEK’s ‘missions’ funded by the U.S.

Like many who joined the revolution against the Shah, Rajavi lacked the popular support to gain prominence in the new political system after the monarchy was toppled. However, what set him apart was the United States’ interest in using him to destabilize Iran, which began during his imprisonment under the Shah.

The MEK was initially formed by leftist students in 1965. “Rajavi was cultivated by the CIA as early as his imprisonment in 1971 during the Pahlavi era. He became the group’s leader in 1979,” Issa said. He added that the CIA believed purely communist groups, some of which were formed under the influence of the Soviet Union during the Shah’s reign, lacked appeal for the highly religious Iranian population. Therefore, someone with opposing ideologies to the Islamic Republic but a similar religious appearance was needed. This, according to Issa, is the origin of the MEK’s religious facade.

Rajavi left Iran in 1981 after he failed in two bids for power: a presidential campaign and a parliamentary seat. What followed next was a descent into terrorism. Orchestrating high-profile assassinations—under the order and support of the CIA —Rajavi turned the MEK against its own people. The targets were not just political leaders and military commanders; ordinary Iranians became victims in a brutal killing spree. The MEK’s hands are now stained with the blood of approximately 23,000 and their collaboration with Saddam Hussein in Iraq deepened the wound, as they helped him inflict further casualties on their homeland.

The organization’s operational capabilities, however, are now significantly diminished. The MEK has struggled to recruit younger generations, and its remaining members in Albania are primarily elderly and infirm. “I believe approximately 2,000 members remain with the organization. Some are unable to manage their daily lives due to illness or old age. A small number of younger members are primarily involved in cyber activities,” Issa stated.

As of 2025, the MEK is also exploiting vulnerable young people in Iran, particularly those with troubled pasts or financial hardships, by paying them to perform simple tasks within the country. These tasks include acts of public display, such as hanging posters of Masoud Rajavi or Maryam Qajar-Azdanlu in prominent locations like Tehran highways, which the MEK then promotes on its website.

For payment, these young individuals also set fire to governmental buildings, mosques, educational centers, and public transport, with their arson attacks reaching a high point during the fall 2022 unrest.

“The U.S. and its European allies who prop up these terrorists know that the MEK cannot bring down Iran. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluding themselves,” Issa stated. “Right now, the MEK is nothing more than a bargaining chip for them, a pressure point they hope will force Iran into concessions.”

Issa left Iraq and the MEK on December 26, 2011, at exactly 4:30 PM. “I left on my birthday. A relative I had in the UK got in touch with the UNHCR and UNAMI in Baghdad and arranged my exit in secret.”

Adapting to life outside the MEK camps was difficult initially. Having been isolated from technology and modern life, Issa faced ridicule. “People used to laugh at me,” he said. “They could not believe that I did not know how to operate a TV, a mobile phone, or anything else that was not widely used in Iran in the early 80s.”

Issa had one daughter and one son when he left to join the MEK. His young daughter’s visit was a catalyst for his eventual departure from the group. “One day my daughter came to Iraq. It was during the war there. I remember it was scorching hot, almost 60 degrees.”

Issa’s daughter reached the area near Camp Ashraf with the assistance of the Nejat Association, an NGO formed by former MEK members to help those still inside escape the organization’s influence. “My daughter stood outside the Ashraf camp, behind the fences. The organization refused to let her see me, and they didn’t even tell me she was there. Later, they informed me they’d prevented the visit to avoid demotivating me. This was a significant turning point, although it took several years before I finally left.”

Tehran Times, Sheida Sabzehvari

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