Jahanshah Seyed Mohammadi is a former member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK). He was a sergeant of the Iranian army when he was taken as a war prisoner by Iraqi forces. He was jailed in Abu Qhuraib for 8 months and then, he was taken to POW’s camp. As an army officer he was treated violently by Iraqi forces. He and his peers were under torture in the jails of Iraqi defense ministry where MEK agents were actively propagating a pro-democracy and humanitarian portrait of their group.
The MEK’s propaganda in Iraqi camp succeeded to convince Jahanshah to join the group. He recounts “Under the group’s propaganda, I left the hell of Baathists, and I entered the MEK that was allegedly people lover but actually it was an enclosed group that imposed severe ideological pressure on its members so that all members of a family inside the group would become enemies of each other.”
Jahanshah Seyed Mohammadi recalls some of the torturers of the MEK. “I do not remember the names completely, but I recall a woman named Maryam Akbari. She was one of the high-ranking members of the group whose duty was to coerce members to admit that their families are enemies.”
Under the cult-like ruling of Massoud Rajavi, even Maryam Akbari’s son had turned against her. Jahanshah recounts a day that Maryam’s son, grown up as a child soldier shouted at her and accused her of not being loyal to Massoud!
Jahanshah cites the son’s words to his mother: “In the past, you were obsessed with your marriage instead of being devoted to Rajavi. You just thought of your husband. You wanted a comfortable life in Europe. Today, I am one of the loyal forces of Rajavi. I am even ready to scarify my parents for Massoud Rajavi. I am a devotee of Rajavi.”
Based on Jahanshah’s testimony, ideological meetings in the MEK were mostly focused on family. The arguments presented by the manipulators working in Rajavi’s system tended to convince members that your spouse is your enemy, your siblings, your parents and your children are your enemies. “They did it in such a way that a son would never try to contact his parents inside the MEK.”
However, according to the evidence that are seen in the lives of defectors of the MEK, it is certain that as soon as a person leaves the Cult of Rajavi, he or she tries to reunite with family. “Every member who left the MEK was immediately attracted by his family,” Jahanshah says.
Jahanshah Seyed Mohammadi is from Kermanshah, Iran. He rejoined his family in his hometown after he escaped Camp Ashraf a decade ago. He is now a member of Nejat Society. His interview with Mehr News Agency was published a few days ago.