Defectors of Mujahedin khalq

MKO leaders bar the visit of two sisters who have never met

Two sisters, 34 and 30, who have never met demand permission to visit one another

Mr. Ban Ki Moon

R: Zainab Hussein-Nezhad, 34, single, living in MEK Camp Liberty in Iraq – Baghdad
L: Mona Hussein-Nezhad, 30, married, living in Iran,

These two sisters know about one another but have not yet seen each other

UN General Secretary

With regards
I, Gorban-Ali Hussein-Nezhad, spent 30 years in the MEK (Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization) and managed to escape from Camp Liberty while moving from Ashraf Camp with the aid of UN human rights monitoring delegation, and gain my freedom.

I bear witness and wish to inform you and the international community that the MEK is by no means a freedom fighter and democracy seeking organization but a destructive mind control cult working against all internationally known humanitarian and democratic norms and values.

To give an example, the cult leader Massoud Rajavi, as a cultic practice to secure the existence of the cult and prevent it from elimination has banned all outside communications particularly family relations whether by phone or writing letters. In this organization contacting the outside world and especially family members is strictly forbidden. All means of gaining information such as papers, publications, television, radio, mobile, telephone, internet, post and etc. are banned and followers are only fed information through the cult’s own sources.

Through such limitations the cult has managed to keep more than 3000 individuals captive within their mental boundaries in a remote location in Iraq. Their families and the humanitarian organizations have accepted a great responsibility to rescue these individuals. Surely the UN has the biggest burden in this respect.

Dear Secretary General
The leader of the MEK had even prevented my elder daughter Zeynab Hussein-Nezhad (34) from talking to me while we were both inside the organization in Ashraf Camp. We were only allowed to visit once a year in the Iranian New Year (March 21) for about one or two hours where our conversation was totally controlled. This year this bas banned too and it is now more than one and a half years that I have not seen my daughter and have no news about her.

Recently I tried through the office of the UNHCR in Baghdad to visit her but I did not succeed. The UN officials brought her to their interview hall but the MKO leaders did not give the permission for the visit or even a telephone conversation and she was taken back to the camp. Following this, the cult forced my daughter to write a letter against me indicating that she has no desire to visit her father or talk to him.

Now my younger daughter Mona (30) who lives in Iran has come to Iraq to visit her older sister for the first time in their lives. I wish to ask you as the highest international authority, who strives to restore and maintain justice and human rights, to do all you can to ensure this visit to takes place. I also wish to ask the ICRC, the Iraqi Government, UNAMI, and the UNHCR to do their share to guarantee that these two sisters who are both in the same place now can visit each other and that the MEK leaders in Camp Liberty cannot place any obstacles in their way.
I thank you in advance.

Gorban-Ali Hussein-Nezhad – Baghdad

November 18, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Majid Mohammadi speaks of cult-like practices at TTL

Nejat Society Mazandaran Office interviews Mr. Majid Mohammadi, former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization.Mr. Mohammadi left Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) in May 2012.

Nejat Society, Mazandaran Office: Mr. Mohammadi, what did you and your colleagues think of camp Liberty (TTL) before you moved there?

Majid Mohammadi: as you know, Camp Ashraf was an isolated, restricted place where members were under a 24-hour controlling system. When the idea of moving to Liberty was proposed, the majority of guys thought that they would finally go to another place in which they would not be limited and controlled and they would be able to have access to the outside world.
In our private talks, we said that we would ultimately find a way to leave Iraq. Some of the members, who did not want to return to Iran, were happy because they thought that Liberty would open the way to go abroad.
But, we didn’t know that Rajavis intended to build another Ashraf in Liberty.

– What do you mean by building another Ashraf?

– I mean that the organizational control and cult-like practices exercised by the Rajavis, at Camp Liberty was worse than those applied at Camp Ashraf. MKO leaders knew that Liberty is not like Ashraf. It’s not an isolated, closed location with no access to the outside world so they enhanced the organizational control in Liberty to prevent defection and eventually the collapse of the cult.

From the beginning of our arrival at TTL, one of the criminal commanders of the MKO, named Abbas Davari, who had been previously sent there, started holding meetings for members. He said:”The difference between Liberty and Ashraf is that the former was completely under our control, no one was able to interfere in the organization relations but here at Liberty we are dependent on the outside world and Iraqi forces. We should work hard to maintain this Camp and chang it to another Ashraf.”
In order to assure those who realized what “loosing Ashraf” meant, he said, ”It is right, Liberty is a temporary Camp but you should know that Ashraf has been reproduced .We never
leave Iraq.”

At Camp Liberty, they could not fill members’ schedules with forced labor so they held numerous mind control meetings. We attended various manipulation meetings for over 12 hours a day.

– Mr. Mohammadi, speaking of your full-time schedule in Liberty, what was your daily routine?

– From early in the morning (at prayer time) until late at night, we were planned to labor. The cult authorities made us do futile works. For example, they had us move the sand in the camp under the pretext of building streets. Our daily routine was to move the sand to places the authorities said, but as the space was limited, when the task was done, they would find faults with us. they said,” Your female superior doesn’t approve your work” or” you should follow the plan that sisters used”, etc. Once again members had to move the sand to another place, thus our working time was full.
Regarding meetings, I said, twelve hours a day. Our daily routine was to eat breakfast and then to carry the sand until 10:30 am. Then we had a break and we had a meeting until noon.
After lunch, the meetings continued until sunset when we had a break to drink tea. Then we used to go playing sports, however, there wasn’t any possibility for playing games. After dinner time, again we had to attend meetings until midnight.

– How long did you stay at Liberty? How was the condition and facilities there?

– Liberty was a marshy land near our port. It had been known as Saddam Hussein’s hunting ground. After American invasion, the land was dried and filled with sand by US forces and their base was built there. Considering MKO expulsion from Iraq, the camp was allocated to the group as a temporary transit location following the agreement signed between UN representatives and Iraqi government.
A part of this region, about 500 square-meters, in the heart of Iraqi units was allocated to settle MKO forces.
Iraqi police has six stations inside the base.The camp contains 7 parts and each port is divided to 4 blocks. Residents live in Conexes, each conex is resided by 7 people. it is worth to mention that, according to arrangements made by UNHCR supervisor, each conex was due to be allocated to two people but the cult leaders placed 7 people in every conex in order to prevent private meetings and to control members more strictly. The other conexes were used for mind control meetings such as Current Operation and Weekly Cleansing and also for commandants.
Based on the agreement signed by Iraqi government and UN authorities, each Conex should be equipped with TV, air conditioner, telephone etc. until the two residents are granted asylum and leave the camp. But the cult leaders confiscated all Telephones.
The Televisions had no antenna. We were just allowed to watch the MKO channel in the eating place at specific times.
In order to impose more pressure and more limitation, they did not allow us to use the facilities left by American troops. For example, we were not permitted to use the gym which was highly equipped. This was their excuse: ”If we open the gym, members want to build their body, and this is definitely for their desire to have wife and a normal life. So, suggesting the idea of using the fitting center is kind of opportunistic act.” The authorities even did not let us use the exercise mats of US soldiers.”They have the smell of life, they shouldn’t be used”, they said.

– Did the mind control System work the way it worked at Ashraf?

– Yes, exactly. The transfer of members from Ashraf to the new place which is called Temporary Transit Location has changed members’ spirit. The cult leaders have to increase their control over members so that they can maintain the cult-like relations and structure. They hold long-time meetings, gather all members together. They seriously fear members talking to each other in order to prevent members from communicating with their peers; they have divided that 500 – Square-meter place in to smaller areas using bags of sand. The 7-people conexes are divided to two units and each unit is supervised by a high-ranking member to extend their 24-hour control over members.
The camp authorities are severely afraid of members’ gathering in a place. Members are not allowed to gather in the eating place at the same time. Each unit has to attend special ceremonies under the supervision of its own commander who tells them where to sit and when to leave the hall.
On the other hand, they claim that the pressure imposed at Liberty is actually originated in the war we have against Iran. They say,” we are in the battle.”
They try to manipulate members so as they cannot think anything else and ultimately come to different conclusions and decisions.

– What did the MKO leaders think of leaving Iraq?

– As a whole, they suggested that they would not leave Iraq whether at Ashraf or Liberty.
As an obvious contradiction, they told high-ranking members that they would turn TTL into another Ashraf arguing that the Arab Spring would bring change to Iraq too and this way the situation would turn in favor of their cult. But, for low-ranking members, they had another argument.
They told them to be patient until the problem for leaving Iraq would be solved.”If you don’t want to stay with us, be our guest for some time until a solution is found to your problem but don’t give up and don’t go to Iran,” they told us.

Another thing that I should mention about pressure at Liberty is that Rajavi’s nonstop printed and audio messages were the actual troubles for members.
He tries to convince forces not to give up, to stay there. This way, the commandants could more easily suppress the members.
In his last message, he offered four options to the members:

First: if you announce your defection, we deliver you to Iraqis and they will consequently hand you to Iran where you will be tried and executed.
(it is worth to know that before offering such an option, we had attended numerous meetings in which we were told that we would be tortured and executed in Iran so everyone was terrified of going to Iran. After our minds was manipulated ,this option was suggested.)
Second: if you have a good family in Europe, they can follow your case to take you there. (Practically such a solution was impossible for the majority of members who had no one in Europe.)
Third: stay a Mujahed and leave your fate to the Organization.
And after some time he suggested the forth option:
“Stay with the MKO as a guest”. The result of all these options was to stay in the cult and to get depressed in their dirty practices.
In all his messages, Rajavi considered return to Iran as treason. He had made a taboo out of this option.

– Mr. Mohammadi, what’s your idea about the fate of members who are currently imprisoned at Liberty?

– In my opinion, the MKO case in Liberty is just the same as its case in Ashraf. Members should again be staying in suspense for a long time. Although, they have been delisted by European Union since three years ago, not even a member could manage to leave Iraq.
In addition, the cult authorities do not want the members to leave the cult establishment and Iraq. Indeed, the Rajavis are the obstacle against MKO expulsion. I believe that Rajavi doesn’t hesitate to make a thousand people die in order to prolong his stay in Iraq.

– What’s your suggestion to help them leave Iraq as soon as possible?

– As the presence of families at Camp Ashraf had awakened the members for escaping the cult, their presence at Camp Liberty will also be helpful regarding the fact that Liberty is much smaller than Ashraf in size and suppression is much stronger there. Families can play a key role n liberating their loved ones.
Families can assure their children that they are able to make the right decision for their fate demanding UN representative visit their beloveds.

– Thank you for the time you gave Nejat Society. And last question, what do you do now?

– I’m a construction worker and I will soon get married being impressed by Maryam [Rajavi]’s ideological revolution!

November 12, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Fakharzadeh, MKO members left the group after 20 years

Mehdi Fakharzadeh escaped Temporary Transit Location (Camp Liberty) and surrendered himself to Iraqi forces. Fakharzadeh, MKO members left the group after 20 years

After twenty years of membership in the Cult of Rajavi, Mr. Fakharzadeh stated at UN mission office in Iraq that he has defected the group and did not intend to stay in the MKO anymore.

He was handed to Iraqi authorities after he passed legal process in UNAMI and UNHCR. It is worth to mention that MKO leaders usually hold 3 to 4 hours meetings to manipulate members before they go to UN office to fill out asylum seeking forms and then they will let them go there, because they fear their defection.

Mr. Fakhar Zadeh is the second person who has escaped the Cult since last week. The other defector was Mr. Houshang Mirzaqorbani who last week escaped the Cult after two decades.

Translated by Nejat Society

October 30, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Abdul Hamid Raufian speaks of his years of imprisonment in the cult of Rajavi

Mr. Abdol Hamid Raufian who could manage to escape the terrorist Cult of Rajavi describes how he was first trapped in the hands of Rajavi’s gang:

I was taken as a war prisoner by Iraqi Baath forces in 1988 (during Iran-Iraq war), I was then sent to Camp Ashraf following the deals made between MKO leaders and Iraqi forces. Since then we were severely kept under the group’s deceitful mind control system. Regarding their long-term programming they could cut us off the outside world, so they succeeded to change our minds about our country. These criminals could even cut us from our family who was once so precious to us. We were so extremely under pressure that we would use offensive words against our parents who were our dearest ones in life. We considered the criminal leaders of the cult, Massoud Rajavi and the evil Maryam “our everything” and we were made-up to serve them.

If you wanted to think about your family for a few seconds, they would humiliate you so severely that you would never think about them again. They would hold numerous meetings such as Current Operation where a large number of zealous members would attack you, verbally abusing you. Therefore nobody dared to talk about or even think about his family.

Four years ago, they gave me the letter my brother had sent to me via Red Cross, following my insistence on contacting my family. There was a phone number on the foot of the letter. I could call my mother under a heavy mental pressure because my contact was highly controlled by the cult leaders. I should talk with my mother after 23 years, and this was the start of thinking about an opportunity to run away from the cult. Thank God, I could find the opportunity.

Leaders of the cult tried to call families as Intelligence Ministry’s mercenaries and traitors because they had nothing else to say regarding families’ presence in front of Camp Ashraf. When the loud speakers were off, they said that they (families) ran away and then they would say that Iraqi soldiers were speaking in the loudspeakers. When they were encountered with voices of defectors via loudspeakers they had to claim, "You wont be executed or imprisoned if you return to Iran but you will have such a hard life ,you will earn so little that you will wish you would have stayed here with us to be safe.”

We were transferred to temporary Transit Location (Camp Liberty) based on who the leaders chose to move. If one had declared to be volunteer to move to TTL, he should have been called to attend meeting immediately. They feared that he wanted to go there in order to be interviewed and get back to Iran, to denounce them. Thus, leaders of the cult decided who was supposed to move. Members had no choice.

Translated by Nejat Society

October 29, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Is the U.S. Administration hiding Massoud Rajavi?

Open letter of Iran Pen Association to Mr. Barack Obama, The President of USA

Dear Mr. President,

We are from Iran Pen Association in Europe that consists of defectors from the Iranian group Is the U.S. Administration hiding Massoud Rajavi? MEK which was just until recently in the US State Department FTO list. The majority of us have each spent more than twenty years inside the MEK and each one of us has abundant experience and knowledge of the MEK leadership, its cult nature and terrorist activities.
We believe that your administration has made a grave mistake by delisting the MEK and due to the terrorist nature of this group; the consequences of this decision will in near future harm many people, including US citizens.

Let us ask you of the whereabouts of MEK leader, Massoud Rajavi. Is he hiding under US Administration’s support?

The information and evidence given by the MEK defectors in recent years together with the views of analysts close to US administration suggest that by hiding and helping Massoud Rajavi in order to tame the MEK and utilize it as a tool; the US Government generates a terrible image of itself amongst the Iranian people and opposition groups. The Iranian opposition parties and personalities consider the MEK and its leadership as an authoritarian and religious cult which is light years away from the basic values of democracy. Therefore, the US Government support of the MEK and Rajavi ruins any reputation of your administration. Please note that many of the MEK defectors have legal cases against Massoud Rajavi for which he has to be brought to justice in any international court.

The reasons why we believe delisting this terrorist cult is a grave mistake by the US Administration, include:

1. The MEK has never put aside aggression and armed struggle. The MEK and its leadership has not officially and publicly announced that it is rejecting aggression and armed conflict and has never criticized its past and recent acts of terror. Indeed, every year the MEK celebrates the start of its terror campaign. In many European countries and in France specifically, by orders sent out by Maryam Rajavi; legally held meetings and gatherings of the MEK’s opponents are attacked by MEK members carrying sticks and bats, injuring peaceful protestors.

2. Rajavi has said many times that the MEK will regain all its weapons and bases it had to give up by the force imposed by the US Army. He is hoping he will have the arms and strategic barracks like Ashraf back and start his terrorist activities again.

3. Before the downfall of the Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, Massoud and Maraym Rajavi had always their "anti-Imperialist" slogans and in every morning parade and training, the MEK forces had to sing MEK composed anti US songs such as: "Yanki go home or your blood will be spilt" or "the battle against America". On September 11, 2001 when US came under Ben Laden’s terrorist attacks and the twin towers in New York were destroyed, leaving many of your compatriots dead, wounded, shocked and in tears; MEK Camp in Iraq was the only place in the world that Massoud Rajavi ordered celebrations and festivities. On that very day during one of his general gatherings, the horrific scenes of ruins and explosions were repeatedly shown many times while Rajavi rejoiced saying: "this (attack) is done by the reactionary Islam, just wait and see when the Revolutionary Islam and the Organization (MEK) set out to do its job"!

4. A python never gives birth to a dove. So, how can MEK with its cult leadership and structure all of a sudden change its course over a night? The MEK was founded with the aim of fighting what it called US Imperialism and the Imperialist paper tiger. Then, on the eve of Saddam Hussein’s downfall by US, Rajavi ordered all anti US documents, books, films, songs and archives be wiped and burnt and then set out his new policy saying the MEK should tactically show it is moving in parallel to US policy.

5. When the MEK was designated a foreign terrorist organization in President Clinton administration, Rajavi used to wear his military uniform and colt gun in the MEK general gathering , calling for an all-out war against USA, saying he is the iron fist against US. This was due to the fact that he had Saddam Hussein’s support by means of funds, weapons and several bases and barracks in locations in Iraq. But nowadays he has been forced to take off his military uniform and his forces at the transit camp in Baghdad await possible acceptance as refugees by other countries. Thus, Rajavi is now on his knees and begging you to save himself from the quagmire in Iraq.

6. MEK has no tolerance whatsoever to the slightest criticism from inside or outside. Inside the cult and under Rajavi’s absolute rule, any disagreement or opposition has always been ruthlessly suppressed by imprisonment, torture and execution. The members have no basic human rights and are cut off from the outside world. They have no access to radio or TV stations, no access to any means of communications. The members have been denied even the very basic right of contacting or meeting their families and Rajavi has branded the families as mercenaries and does not allow any contacts. So has such an entity with such a leadership exercising these gross violations really changed into a decent political group? Is it not naïve to think or suggest that the MEK has distanced itself from its dark and bloody history, while there is not any statement from its leader regretting its past?

7. Frankly speaking, because of the problematic nature of MEK, you cannot use it as a card, let alone a winning card. We believe you are betting not on a losing horse, but a dead horse. The MEK is on the verge of collapse and suffers from:
– Lack of legitimacy in the Iranian society and is much hatred by the Iranian people due to its joining Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran. MEK has no roots amongst Iranians.
– Lack of political legitimacy among Iranian opposition groups inside and outside Iran because of MEK’s terrorist activities and its leader’s personality cult.
– Being tools of other countries, like Saddam’s Iraq and some others, leaving it isolated and much detested by the people of Iran.
– MEK and its leader still believe in armed terrorist activities and savage means to reach its goals, while history shows the time of such bloody and brutal means has long expired.
– MEK’s leadership is incapable of understanding and analyzing the socio-political situation in Iran.

Based on the above mentioned reasons, we believe that your decision to delist MEK has no political justification and is irrational, lacking sufficient knowledge and insight into this cult. In our view this decision is bound to fail and it cannot help to democratize a terrorist organization which is ruled by the Rajavis’ personality cult.
Therefore, and with all respects, we ask you to revise this decision.

Yours sincerely,
Iran Pen Association, Germany

October 25, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

MKO member escape Camp Liberty

Another member of Mujahedin Khalq Organization, named Mr Hooshang Mirza Ghorbani, escaped Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) and surrendered himself to Iraqi Police.

While, the MKO leaders claim that members consider the delisting of the group from US Foreign Terrorist Organization list as a great victory and dissident member will again trust the group, practically the removal of the MKO from the black list has no impact on members’ defection. Most of the members will run away as soon as they find the opportunity.

It is worth notifying that regarding the increasing process of defection from the MKO, the group leaders have highly enhanced security and guarding supervision in order to prevent escapees.

October 22, 2012 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Now Focus Attention Back On Rajavi’s Hostages In Camp Liberty

Among humanitarian organisations and the estranged families of MEK members there is a sense of relief now that the US sideshow of speculation over MEK terrorist listing and who the MEK’s financial backers are has blown over. It means that attention can now properly be returned to the situation of the MEK in Iraq where the urgent problem is how to restore basic human rights to the former MEK fighters trapped in Camp Liberty. Because although UN inspectors and Diplomatic representatives have attested to the more than acceptable living conditions in the temporary transit camp, the residents continue to be denied their basic human rights by the MEK leadership. Since 2003 the Americans have been complicit in allowing the MEK to mistreat the membership. Unfortunately this situation has continued at Camp Liberty to where all but a handful of the former Camp Ashraf residents have been relocated.

Massoud and Maryam Rajavi run a personality cult which dictates to the members that only they should be worshipped and adored. There is no room for other relations, even friendships. In the MEK, members are not even permitted to maintain a relationship with other family members inside the group, such as siblings, parents, aunts, uncles, cousins. Relations between individuals is severely restricted and constantly monitored for infringements. This state of affairs is maintained through a harsh, unremitting regime of daily confessions with infringements – or sins – punished by an escalating system of public humiliation, beatings and isolation. In Camp Liberty residents are billeted six to a bungalow even though enough space has been allocated to allow for two per housing unit. The cult leaders insist on more than two people sharing as a means to prevent dissenting views from being discussed behind closed doors.

In Iraq the estranged families of MEK members have maintained a vigil outside both Camp Ashraf – and now Camp Liberty – for nearly three years. These families have travelled to Iraq to try and get news of and contact with their loved ones who are being held hostage by the Rajavi cult. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi have imposed cruel conditions on their followers in which nobody is allowed to have contact with their families outside the cult without the permission of the leaders.

The Americans in Iraq have done nothing to help these families reach their loved ones. Instead they have apparently done everything possible to prevent the dissolution of the MEK as a single entity, in spite of being informed of the cult nature of the group.

However, because the US terrorism list has no relevance in Iraq, the Government of Iraq will not change its stance because of this action. Indeed, no government of any colour would be able or willing to keep any MEK in Iraq because of its history of violence against Iraqi citizens.

Since the US government no longer regards the MEK as terrorists the Americans should now make a real effort to remove them from Iraq for their own wellbeing. The State Department claims that the MEK has publicly renounced violence – even though there is no evidence that the MEK leader Massoud Rajavi has made any verbal or documented declaration to this effect. (Who do the State Department thinks actually runs the MEK? Lawyers?) As such the MEK should be expected to fully decommission its military personnel and reconfigure its internal structure to allow it to pursue exclusively peaceful and democratic opposition activities against the governments of Iran and Iraq, and possibly Syria.

The burning question then is what the MEK will do with its redundant former fighters in Camp Liberty in Iraq? As avowed enemies of the Iranian government they must presumably take refuge in the West. To qualify as refugees they must renounce their membership of the MEK as a political entity. Logically this should not present any difficulty as they are no longer needed as fighters. (Because the MEK is now a peaceful organisation with no need for any personnel trained in violence or military/terrorist style activity.)

The first step is to open up Camp Liberty to the outside world, to the families and humanitarian NGOs which are waiting to offer help to the residents. The residents must be given access to external information sources, internet, television, telephones, print media, etc. Conditions must prevail such that each resident is able to enjoy freedom of movement in the camp, freedom of association in the camp, including between the genders, and freedom to contact their families. This would represent a first, yet vital, step toward solving the problem of the MEK in Iraq.

October 2, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Hamed Moradi escape Camp Liberty

Hamed Moradi is the third person to run away Temporary Transit Location (Camp Liberty) during the two past weeks. He is from Khoramabad, Lorestan. Previously Mr. Hassan Sharqi from Hamed Moradi escape Camp Liberty Shahsavar, Mazandaran and Mr. Ablodkarim Ebrahimi from Ilam succeeded to escape camp Liberty after 24 years of imprisonment in the cult of Rajavi.

Following their release, families of other cult members who are from the above mentioned cities have been contacting us in the hope of getting news about their loved ones held as hostages in the MKO. They have had no news from their children in 10 to 30 years of their imprisonment. Regarding the recent escape from the cult and their eventual contacting with their families, other families got hopeful to see the release of their families.

Although, they are told that their children have no access to telephone unless they step out of the Camp, they think that all members were released. A mother’s message from Ilam:”For God’s sake, tell my son, Sattar Kheiri to call his old mother, I’m dying.”

Translated By Nejat Society

September 10, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Eyewitness: condition at Liberty was one hundred percent better than Ashraf

SFF interviews Hassan Sharqi

Mr. Hassan Sharqi who could release himself from Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) SFF interviews Hassan Sharqi on August 22nd, 2012 was interviewed by Sahar Family Foundation a few days after his defection. The following is the interview which was translated by Nejat Society.

SFF: Please introduce yourself.

Hassan Sharqi: I am Hassan Sharqi. I was taken as a War Prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1980 and I was in Iraq POW’s camps for 9 years. I joined the MKO in 1981 because of the difficult conditions in Iraqi camps. After a while, I found out that I was detained in a worse situation. I still had to stay imprisoned but this time in the cult of Rajavi. I asked to leave the organization twice, in 2008 and in 2012 but they didn’t accept my demand. Instead, they held long-time meetings to punish me. Since Camp Liberty belongs to the United Nations, I decided to announce my defection during the interview and not to get back to the organization.

SFF: During the years you were in the MKO, how many times did you contact with your family?

HS: Except the nine years of my imprisonment in Iraqi prison that I used to write letter, I had no contact with my family during the 24 years that I was in Camp Ashraf. About one and a half years ago, my brother called to me via loudspeakers from the eastern side of the Camp. He wanted to visit me but I wasn’t allowed to meet him because of the severe controlling
conditions in the group and the way the officials treated us. My brother is back in Iran now.

SFF: how influential was the families’ presence at the camp?

HS: it was extra ordinarily influential. When their voice was heard in the camp, it was very motivating. Members are stuck there, they are waiting the day they can join their family. Some could risk and escape the camp to set themselves free. After each escape, supervision and guarding was enhanced so it became harder and harder for others to leave the Camp.

SFF: what kind of communication facilities did you have in the Camp?

HS: I, myself had no access to communication tools like cell phone, telephone or the Internet. These tools were only accessible for high ranking members.

SFF: why doesn’t the MKO allow members to contact their families?

HS: mainly because they fear the collapse of the cult. They fear that members be absorbed by the families. That’s why Massoud Rajavi, the cult leader, calls the families as mercenary and enemy. He is afraid of them. He says that the Iranian regime wants to stop you by wife and life and eventually to stop you from struggling.

SFF: In which phase were you transferred to TTL?

HS: I was moved in the third convoy.

SFF: can you describe the condition at Camp Liberty?

HS: about water, electricity, food and settlement facilities, I believe that the condition at Liberty was one hundred percent better than Camp Ashraf. American forces have previously been in TTL, they’ve left their equipments there and now the MKO is using them. About kitchen and preservation equipments, Camp Ashraf has never had such amenities.
About living conditions, if the authorities housed the members according to what the UNHCR had assigned, the place would be the best. The beds and closets are very good. Each Conex has three air conditioners. But out of 40 Conexes the authorities allocated only 20 ones to members’ accommodation and the rest were allocated to offices and working place.

SFF: the MKO says that it had no possibility for planting trees? What does it mean?

HS: in my idea, there is no need for planting trees or building side walks and streets if the site is a temporary one, there is no need for asphalted streets. They want to make a new base because they’re losing Ashraf. What they do has nothing to do with a Temporary Transit Location. Secondly, everyone knows that planting trees in this hot season is a vain work. The trees will go dry. This is just to keep members busy so that they cannot think of anything else.

SFF: did the MKO conserve its organizational structure at Camp Liberty?

HS: yes, it did . They accepted to move to liberty because Iraqi forces were not involved. Camp Ashraf consist three parts. They moved them all to Liberty. They didn’t want the organizational structure to be understood. They divided the forces in 40 quarters that were given to them. They separated each part from the others using curtains because they didn’t want forces of each unit communicate with the other one. You may not believe that in the world of satellites and the Internet, we weren’t able to communicate with the person next to us. They disagree with any form of communication devices. Brainwashing sessions including Current Operation, Weekly Cleansing and Organizational meetings were held more severely and more frequently than the ones that were held at camp Ashraf.

SFF: where was your interview with UNAMI?

HS: on August22, I was interviewed by UNAMI representatives who were installed in camp Liberty together with 15 other members.

SFF: did they hold any meeting for you before the interview?

HS: yes, on August 21, I was told to be at the commandant’s office at 9 O’clock. Two officials, Rasoul and Mohammad Bakhshayee tried to manipulate our minds about the following day’s interview. The meeting took three and a half hours long. They told us that we should claim that the conditions of life were not good at liberty and we had problems with water and electricity. We had to say that we had had contacts with our families before coming to liberty and we had no meetings except Current Operation. They asked us to say that food supplies were very little and Iraqi forces didn’t let us reach food easily. They told us to tell lies.

SFF: why did you decide to leave the group?

HS: I spent 33 years of my life in camp Rumadia (9 years) and Camp Ashraf (24 years) as a prisoner. I found out that the MKO was a liar and just wanted to maintain its establishment from collapse. Thus, I asked to leave the group twice but they refused my demand. On the interview day, I used the opportunity and said everything to the authorities of HCR. I told them about the reality of the organization and that I didn’t want to get back any more. I was serious in my decision.

SFF: do you think there are other people in the group who are willing to leave it?

HS: during the years of imprisonment, the MKO has manipulated members by brainwashing sessions and deceitful words of leaders so no one is able to make a serious decision until he is helped from the outside world. They have no idea of the world they would enter after defection.

SFF: what do you want to do after your release?

HS: First of all, I want to hire an attorney to sue the MKO leaders in Iraqi judiciary in order to reveal the atrocities they committed against me in those 24 years. Then, I’m determined to return to my country even if I am alive for a few days. I am an Iranian; I shouldn’t be far from my territory.

SFF: Thanks for your time.

HS: thank you, I know that SFF has played a major role to denounce the Cult of Rajavi. I want to continue denouncing Massoud Rajavi and the crimes he committed.

September 9, 2012 0 comments

Letter of Mr. Ali Hussien-Nezhad to Mr. Martin Kobler

Mr. Ali Hussein-Nezhad, the former veteran member of the MKO who has recently managed to escape form Camp Liberty and gain his freedom, has written a letter to Mr. Martin Kobler. Letter of Mr. Ali Hussien-Nezhad to Mr. Martin Kobler

The full text of the letter comes below:

Mr. Martin Kobler

Special Representative of the UN General Secretary for Iraq and
Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI),

Around three months ago, immediately after walking out of Camp Liberty, I met you and Mr. Nicola, head of the UNAMI human rights delegation in Baghdad. Two months ago I wrote my first letter to you.

In our meeting I described the suppression and repression and the cultic behavior and relationships inside Ashraf and Liberty, and how the members are kept unaware about the outside world and about their families. I defined how the followers of the Rajavi cult are forced to divorce their spouses and abandon their children and suppress all feelings but those towards the leadership.

I emphasized that all means of contact and communication with the outside world including internet, mobile phone, telephone, radio, television, newspaper, and etc. are forbidden. Even reading books is considered out of the question by the leaders of the MKO. Both in our meeting and in my first letter I declared that the cult has killed all normal human feelings inside the mind and soul of the members. Any kind of contact with the outside world, particularly with family and friends is forbidden. One must not even think about family relations inside the cult and any such thoughts must be reported as ‘mal thinking’.

I informed you that even inside Camp Ashraf they prevented me from visiting my daughter who is also a member of the organization and residing in the same camp. In previous years we were able to meet once a year on the Persian New Year for about one or two hours, a meeting which was under the total supervision of the superiors. But this year they announced there would be no family visits inside the camp. It is almost one and a half years that I have not seen my daughter Zeinab.

When I was being transferred to Camp Liberty in the fourth group, I was told that my daughter would be sent soon after me. But I learned from the Iraqi officials that she is still in Camp Ashraf. In fact they have kept my daughter as a hostage to make me keep quiet. They also do not wish my daughter to learn that I have left the organization.

My daughter is registered on the list of UNHCR asylum seekers, the number is 350 and my registration number is 920. We were both granted French travel documents in 1988 following our arrival in France in 1986. My daughter called her younger sister in Iran at the request of the organization around 6 years ago and never called again.

I am worried about her since no one, even in a prison, would reject family contacts. These people are deprived of any sort of outside communication. I am sure that there is a lot of pressure on my daughter and that they will not let her go to Camp Liberty and I should say that her life is really in danger.

Therefore I urge you to put pressure on the officials of the MKO in Camp Ashraf and persuade them to allow me and my younger daughter to meet with my 34 year old daughter Zeinab.

Dear Sir,

The leader of the MKO has turned the organization into a destructive mind control cult and has no aim but saving himself by sacrificing the innocent people who are his captives in Ashraf and in Liberty. He intends to provoke clashes with the Iraqi government and forces and this is the reason behind creating obstacles in the process of transition and creating unreasonable conditions. He aims to buy time and is waiting for some delusional political conditions in his favor which will enable him to stay in Iraq. This is why he does not wish to leave Ashraf and give it away. He knows full well that by leaving Ashraf the pressure on his cult will be enormous and this could result in his cult being dissolved.

Rajavi has even rejected Iraq’s humane proposal of moving the residents of Ashraf into hotels, a proposal which you backed. This exposed the real aim of the leaders of the cult; that all they are intending is to keep the cultic relationship and save the cult intact. The MKO in its statement called Iraq’s proposal gruesome and a plot against the organization and your dirty souvenir from Tehran. The MKO leaders have insulted you on many occasions in its propaganda since you did not accept all their unjust demands. Everyone knows about your humanitarian efforts to solve the problem and praise your exertions but Rajavi is not happy with the problem being solved peacefully and has asked for a UN representative appointed for Ashraf. They are playing the same game they played against Mr. Butler, the former representative of the USA in the negotiations with the MKO to move the residents of Ashraf elsewhere. When Mr. Butler finally announced that the leaders of the MKO do not intend to solve the problem peacefully they denounced him, but finally they had to accept leaving Ashraf.

All conditions announced by the MKO would be achieved by transferring the residents to hotels except conditions such as creating a green environment and manual work which are intended only to create conditions to remain in Iraq and not be transferred to a third country. They became so angered by this proposal from the Iraqi government that they wanted to leave the meeting. This clearly shows that moving into a hotel means that the hostages and the victims would have a chance to free themselves from this inhuman cult. This rejection shows how the leaders of the cult are afraid of their Stalinist organization being dismantled. The reason is that in a hotel they would not be able to force the members to perform hard labor and they would not be able to keep the members inside the boundaries of control and systematically brainwash them. In this case they would not be able to use the members as human shields to protect the leaders.

The two conditions that the MKO have put forward are having permission to sell their belongings and freedom of movement. Firstly I should say that the leader of the MKO has no rights over these so-called belongings since they are the property of the people and the government of Iraq. When I was the senior interpreter for Rajavi in the Foreign Relations Department since the year 2000 (the part which deals with the affairs with Iraq both before and after the fall of Saddam Hussein), I witnessed that at least 3 million barrels of oil a day was received from the Iraqi ministry of oil (equivalent to 90 million dollars according to the price of oil in those days), in line with the UN policy of oil for food and medicine. They used to sell this oil on the international market and have money for their necessities. In this way they were able to buy cars and other goods.

Secondly I must emphasize that they want freedom of movement only for their top officials. The ordinary members have always been deprived of free movement, even inside the camps, since they are afraid they might escape. In the past both in Ashraf and in Liberty the leaders of the cult have prevented the members from moving freely even within the camps, let alone letting them leave the camps. All sorts of posts and checkpoints have been established to limit the movement of ordinary members. They did not even allow those sick and injured people about whom they had doubts about their loyalty to go outside the camp for further medical treatment. Only recently they allowed some of those with severe illness out of the camp, but only after it were too late and they only dismissed them in order to let them die outside the camp and evade the consequences. It is hypocrisy for the leaders to complain about the conditions of Camp Liberty and compare it with a prison when they have kept the members captive for more than 30 years. The one who has turned Ashraf, and now Liberty, into a prison is Massoud Rajavi. A unique prison with no rights of access to their families, no letters, no telephone, no email, and of course no meetings. In any prison in any place in the world, even in the harshest dictatorships, prisoners have the right to contact their families and even have the right to go on leave to visit them. Recently the UN has issued a statement and declared that the residents of Camp Liberty have no access to the outside world and called for freedom of contact with their families.

To clarify this matter further and in order to reveal Rajavi’s aim behind such demands, I propose that the government of Iraq declares its readiness to allow MKO members to go for pilgrimage to the holy cities of Kerbela and Najaf in groups. In this case the leaders of the MKO would certainly reject the offer and as in previous cases would call it a conspiracy to destroy the “Iranian Resistance!” which means their only concern is the freedom of the captive residents and that they might escape. It would be a nightmare for Rajavi if the families would also go with them on this pilgrimage. According to the atmosphere I was witnessed inside the organization, the vast majority of the members, particularly the veterans, would leave the cult provided they find a suitable moment. I can give you the names and details of many of my colleagues inside both Ashraf and Liberty who are under severe pressure and they really wish to leave and I have informed Mr. Nicola the head of the UN human rights monitoring group about them.

The leaders of the MKO prevent the members from even thinking about going to a third country and force them to give reports if they have such so-called evil thoughts and to be ready to be denounced and humiliated and be accused of betraying the struggle. Maryam Rajavi declared in her last statement in March before the move to Liberty that we must turn Liberty the most beautiful city in the world and make it just like Ashraf. Abbas Davari in a meeting inside the Americans’ church in Liberty said that ‘they say this is a transit and interim camp, I say the whole world is temporary and it is seventy years that I am in transit. We will stay here to the end of our lives’. Massoumeh Malek-Mohammadi also said in another meeting that this is not a transit camp, but another Ashraf for us. Massoud Rajavi in a call-conference for our group (the forth one) before leaving Ashraf said that ‘we wish to have two Ashraf garrisons and you will see how the Iranian regime will condemn Maleki because he was meant to get rid of us and now we have two bases’. This was followed by the crowd cheering.

If you see the MKO propaganda in Europe and in America and follow their lobbying activities you will notice that their aim is to remain in Iraq and they have no intention of leaving Iraq for another country. You rightly asked everyone to be active toward the MKO to force the leaders to cooperate with the UN to move the residents of Liberty to another country.
As far as I have been in touch with the ex-members, all are eager for a peaceful solution for the MKO in order to be moved to a safer place. They must have the right to be informed about the outside world and choose their own destiny. The excuses Rajavi invents to keep them inside Iraq for his evil purposes should be condemned.

Dear Mr. Kobler

I fully back your efforts for a peaceful solution to the dilemma of the MKO in Iraq and I urge you not to be influenced by the MKO lobby which is active in the western countries and be firm in demanding the MKO leaders to allow the captives to be free. The best thing to do is to permit the families to stay nearby Camp Liberty and provide facilities for them to meet their beloved ones and negate the negative atmosphere created against the families by the MKO and stop the brainwashing of members and creating phobia inside their minds against the outside world and ensure they have full and free access to telephone and internet and radio and television and publications.

I sincerely thank you and wish you every success in your good work.

Ali Hussien-Nezhad ,Baghdad

September 5, 2012 0 comments

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