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Manipulation Techniques of the MEK cult leaders

The cult of Rajavi

MKO Starts Brainwashing Members to Stop Defection

Reports from inside the main training camp of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization said MKO ringleaders have started brainwashing members to persuade them to commit suicide in a bid to prevent their possible defection in quest for better living conditions.
 MKO ringleaders allege that their brainwashing plans are aimed at increasing the costs of the camp's sealing and incarceration by the Iraqi security forces
Earlier reports had revealed that a large number of MKO members are struggling against killing diseases like cancer, while the group’s leaders have blocked their access to the outside world in a bid to prevent their possible defection.

According to a new report by the Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, the MKO ringleaders allege that their brainwashing plans are aimed at increasing the costs of the camp’s sealing and incarceration by the Iraqi security forces for the Baghdad government.

After intense and repeated requests by the Iraqi people, groups, parties and parliament members, the country’s security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – last year and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group. The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.

The report said that the new measure came after protests remarkably increased inside the group. Right groups are gravely concerned that a large number of MKO members may lose their lives soon if UN, human rights and Iraqi officials do not force the group leaders to end their tortures and pressures against the dissident members.

Leaders of the Rajavi cult (MKO) have cut contacts between the group members and their relatives and family members even in the Camp hospital in a bid to prevent possible defection of the members, which has been on the increase in recent months.

Earlier reports had revealed that under the direct order of MKO’s Ringleader Maryam Rajavi, leaders of the terrorist group allow their members to receive medical aids, healthcare and other services only in return for given levels of cooperation.

Based on the order, dissident members are deprived of medicine and other medical services or, at least, face much hardship and difficulty in procuring their necessary medicines, a report by the Habilian Association said in November.

According to a report by Iraqi daily Motamar, also published by Edalat (Justice) Society web site – an organ of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism – Iraq’s right groups have sent serious warnings to civil society and human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi government about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the MKO’s main training camp in Northern Iraq.

Also, Sahar Family Foundation reported that the MKO’s ringleaders are forcing the dissident members of the group to commit suicide, and if they refuse to do so, the leaders massacre defectors themselves.
The right group called on the Iraqi judiciary system, international court of justice and all international human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi and international media to take urgent action to stop the human catastrophe in the camp which, they said, now looks more like a slaughterhouse.
The MKO ringleaders have long been reported to be using torture and pressure on their own dissident members, barring the dissident members from leaving the organization and joining their families.

Earlier this month, an Iraq-based right group unveiled that ringleaders of the MKO have resorted to various forms of mass killing in a bid to bring the group out of the current impasse in Iraq.

In relevant development, a report revealed in November that Ahmad Razzani, a veteran member of the MKO, had been killed inside the Camp.
Reports also said that all exit and entry doors have been locked and none of the members, even those suffering from acute diseases and illnesses, are allowed to leave the camp.
MKO ringleaders have ordered the camp guards to stage snap inspections of the group’s members and their personal belongings under the pretext of finding the lost weapons.

Such behaviors have sparked discontent among a number of MKO members and made them escape the camp and return to their anguished families.
A large number of Iranian and Iraqi families staged a massive protest outside the camp in December, and called for the freedom of their relatives and children who are under various types of torture and pressure by their ringleaders inside the camp.

The protestors demanded the Iraqi government and all human rights groups and organizations to provide the ground for the freedom of their children from the notorious Camp Ashraf, and urged closure of the terrorist hub.

Among the demonstrators were families of the MKO members, who say their loved ones are being held inside the camp against their will.
The MKO, whose main stronghold has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so, the report by the EU parliamentarians added.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

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The cult of Rajavi

MKO Cult qualifies as a “Closed High Demand Group”

The word “cult” is a term with various meanings; the sentiment of the word is nonetheless perplexing. “Cult” has gone through a rather insignificant linguistic evolution. As early as 1617, the word shows up in both Latin and French meaning to worship or care for; it also shows up with the meaning to tend, till (the earth), or cultivate. After the 17th century, the word seemed to wane from usage, and is not found in many texts until it surfaced again in the mid 19th century where it has become to some extent symbolic with bizarre religious groups, ancient or primitive rituals. In 1829 a definition surfaced which signified it with “devotion to a particular person or thing.” More recently the meaning has expanded especially in the West and has come to incorporate a more positive vibe as it refers to films or people with rock-star-type fame. With such development of the word, sociologists have backed away from using the term too specifically in academia, although it is still widely used by the general public.

As terminology has tended to become more specific in the social sciences, experts agree that the word “cult” is a rather loose term and for the most part needs to be explicitly defined. Leona Furnari of International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA) first used a new term which subverts the word*cult * and replaces it with the more specific”closed high-demand group”or CHDG.

CHDG’s are abusive, manipulative groups or relationships in which deception and mind control are used to gain power over members or individuals.”[1]

As a former member of a CHDG, Furnari determines some common characteristics of these groups:
– Members are expected to be excessively zealous and unquestioning in their commitment to the identity and leadership of the group. Personal beliefs and values must be replaced with those of the group.

– Members are manipulated and exploited and may give up their education, career and families to work excessively long hours at group –directed tasks such as selling a quota of candy and books, fund raising, recruiting and proselytizing .

– Harm and threat of harm may come to members, their families and/or society due to inadequate medical care, poor nutrition, psychological, physical or sexual abuse, sleep, deprivation, criminal activities, etc. [2]

Furnari’s unique perspective and knowledge qualifies her to act as an authority on the subject of CHDG’s, and as a result she has become one of the leading experts on CHDC’s. (She currently runs a practice to help people who have been subjected to the exploitive methods of CHDG’s. )

Having determined a clear definition of a CHDG for the purpose of my argument, it is important to know that CHDG’s are not unique to any particular culture, religion, or political group. I’d like to discuss one group in particular who meets the criteria of a CHDG, and whose group shadows many of the socio-political, and cultural-religious aspects of the societies in which they are located, in which they are influenced by, and in which they would like to influence. This group is the Mujahedin-e Kalq Organization, also known as the MEK, MKO, NCRI, and numerous other front names which they come up with in order to confuse the public, and in order to mask their shrewd, dirty practices. The MKO is made up of members (mostly Iranians who do not live in Iran) who have been deceived into believing that the leaders of the MKO, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, are a viable alternative to the leadership of the current Iranian government.

(While Iran maintains a tainted reputation in the West, mostly for resisting the pressure to conform the West’s ideals, its internal problems, like any other nation, are going to be solved by the population who knows it best—by the intelligent people who live there. Iran has had a long and complicated, highly misunderstood history which for the past 50 years has been exacerbated by propaganda from the West. Iranians feel that the West does not understand Iran, and most people living there feel that the demise of relations comes from a track record of a misinformed media, and a long-standing, unacknowledged grudge for the destabilizing atrocities that the US committed against Iran as it was moving naturally towards a modern political state.) The truth is that the MKO is a closed high demand group and its practices are identical to the criteria that Leona Furnari has proposed. The MKO spends an enormous amount of time and energy conjuring stories to hide its ugly practices and propagate its intention of taking over Iran. For the time being I am going to concentrate on some of the MKO’s CHDG practices for the sake of exposure. The group is dangerous. They have conducted various terrorist attacks over the decades which have literally killed thousands of innocent Iranian citizens and government officials. They are not so much a threat to the Iranian government—but to the members who have been duped into dedicating their lives in one way or another to the MKO. It is important to expose the MKO now, and continue to expose them, because Iran has become, or will soon become a target for the West, and needless to say, enough people have already died because of the MKO—no more need to. The MKO is disguised as an architect of human rights and blind supporters need to know the truth about the group. For this reason, and for the sake of members who have been sadly been tricked into giving up their lives for the MKO’s false hope, I will therefore list a short series of incidents which I feel clearly indicate that the MKO is a CHDG.

One former member of the MKO, Ann Singleton, who now lives in the UK, describes the organization as a “dangerous cult because it believes in using violence to achieve its stated aims. It is destructive because it destroys the lives, minds and spirits of its membership. The majority of the members are held incommunicado, with no access at all to the outside world. Within this isolation they are subjected to a systematic daily regime of psychological manipulation and coercion.”[3]

An example of this violence drew attention in June 2003, following the arrest by French Police of the MKO leader, Maryam Rajavi. Following the arrest, a number of MKO members in various large cities set themselves on fire. People around the world questioned the motivation behind the self immolations. The *National Post* (Canada) reported that after Maryam’s arrest, “the MEK had responded by mobilizing its international network of supporters, ordering them to take to the streets in protest. At the French embassy in London, an Ottawa woman named Neda Hassani died after setting herself on fire.”[4] Her father later told reports that Neda “loved [Maryam Rajavi] dearly.”

In 2005, Human Rights Watch (HRW) interviewed five MKO members who were able to completely defect from the group. HRW reported in an article titled “No Exit” that the defectors’ “testimonies, together with testimonies collected from seven other former MKO members, paint a grim picture of how the organization treated its members.”Furthermore,”the MKO former members reported abuses ranging from detention and persecution of ordinary members wishing to leave the organization, to lengthy solitary confinement, severe beatings, and torture of dissident members.”[5]

The US State Department has documented that main objective of the group’s leaders is to gain power and this is done by having Maryam and Massoud Rajavi sustain a system that maintains a Cult of Personality. But total devotion to the leaders has physically maimed and traumatized some of the members for life. In October 2008, Nasrin (Batoul) Ebrahimi disclosed some of the MKO’s human rights violations. Being an ex-member of the MKO’s so-called elite “Leadership Council” Ebrahimi had both witnessed and experienced some of the worst human violations possible. In her speech at the European Parliament, she revealed an MKO practice called the”Ideal Summit Operation”which was basically a hysterectomy ordered on women members. The operation is done by a doctor named Nafiseh Badamchi, an MKO physician. [6]

Another former member of the group, Batoul Soltani, who also participated in the group’s “Leadership Council”, spoke out about a bizarre manipulative practice called the “Salvation Dance” in which women members were required to dance nude in front of the leaders. Soltani asserts that during the “Salvation Dance,” the women are indoctrinated by their superiors—they are told to remove their clothes in front of Massoud Rajavi who then says he will lead them to heaven and God. Ms. Soltani recalls that she noticed “Maryam and some other high ranking members were monitoring us and trying to convince those of us who hesitated to remove their underwear.”[7]

Members of MKO who live at Camp Ashraf, Iraq have been kept in an atmosphere of horror and isolated from the outside world—especially since the collapse of Saddam Hussein. The group was disarmed by coalition forces and their leader, Massoud Rajavi disappeared—fearing for his life, as he was a close ally of Saddam Hussein—going as far as helping the Ba’athist government exterminate hundreds of Kurds as well as plant bombs against the Iranian people. Members are so highly controlled that they are not able to trust their own families. Ann Singleton writes that “one of the most potent tools used by cult leaders to control their members is through the inculcation of irrational fears, or phobias, in the minds of the cult members.” Singleton believes that today MKO members’ phobias consist of many things, but mostly that, people who want to help them—mostly family members—get out of the cult are somehow coerced by”the agent of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.”She furthers that “no empirical evidence is required as the phrase works exactly to arouse irrational, not real, fear.”[8] Consistently over time the cult’s leaders have abused MKO members’ rights, and labeled MKO members’ family members as agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Because of this, members of the group are not allowed to visit their families. For more information about MKO human right abuse, please refer to the following website of the United Nations Refugee Agency:
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/
country,,HRW,COUNTRYREP,IRN,,45d085002,0.html

References:

[1]Furnari, Leona.”Born or Raised in High-Demand Groups: Developmental
Considerations.”*ICSA International Cultic Studies Association* 4.3 (2005):
Web. 16 Dec 2010. <
http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/
furnari_leona_bornraised_en0403.html>
[2] ibid
[3] Singleton, Ann.”Fear and Slavery in the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult.”*
Iran-Interlink* (2009): Web.16 Dec 2010. <
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=7192>.
[4] National Post.”Father’s Sacrifice.”*canada.com* Sep. 26, 2006: Web. 16
Dec 2010. <
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/story.html
?id=eb5a4184-ebee-4e44-93ce-b9b8485efa33&k=51167>.
This is the third part in a series of five articles by the National Post
investigative team. National Post investigators found the outlawed terrorist
group Mujahedin-e Khalq recruited teenagers in Canada and sent them abroad
to overthrow the Iranian government by force. In this article, a Canadian
family got deeply involved with the guerrillas — and now regrets it.
[5] Human Rights Watch.* *”No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the
Mojahedin Khalq Camps.”18 May 2005: Web. 16 Dec 2010. <
http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2005/05/18/no-exit>.
[6]Fars News Agency. “The Ideal Summit Mujahedin Khalq makes women
unfertile.” 15 October 2008
Web: 16 December 2010. <http://iran-interlink.org/fa/?mod=view&id=5257>
[7]NEJAT BLOGGERS. “PMOI Leadership Council’s women SALVATION DANCE.” 19
August 2010. Web: 16 December 16, 2010 <
https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3261>
[8]Singleton, Ann.”Fear and Slavery in the Mojahedin-e Khalq cult.”*
Iran-Interlink* NOV 2009: Web. 16 Dec 2010. <
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=7192>

By Mazda Parsi

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USA

Help the hostages taken by terrorist Mojahedin Khalq

Open letter to Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton
From Mr. Ali Ghashghavi, Iran Green Association, Germany, October

Dear Secretary of State,
I would like to introduce myself and give you a brief history of my experience with the MojahedinOpen letter to Secretary of State Mrs. Hilary Clinton From Mr. Ali Ghashghavi, Iran Green Association Khalq and their conduct in Iraq during the time I was a member. I have been treated with Dark Age kinds of torture and inhuman conduct on the direct order of the leadership of Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) only because I rejected the training and execution of terrorist activities. I was brought to their so called courts, forced to sign and confess to whatever they asked me and was sentenced to death. Subsequently I was sent to Abu Ghraib prison of Saddam along side other disaffected members of Mojahedin Khalq to serve long sentences. This is the time that Saddam was under pressure by the US government as well as much of the international community. With the fall of Saddam the benefactor of Massoud Rajavi leader of Mojahedin Khalq, I managed to free myself and now live in Germany.

I am writing this letter only to remind your good self of the situation of the people who are still trapped in this organisation. Now, years after the fall of Saddam, many of the captives inside this organisation are still trapped and have not achieved their basic human rights. The silence of the international community and the open hand given to this terrorist religious cult within the western lobbies including in your country US, has encouraged the group to increase its abuse of human rights and continue its spread of terrorism and hatred in free societies.

This way of life has been continuing for the last two decades in the closed camp in Iraq. A way of life which is more like an exercise of deliberate hostility toward the modern world and a way which is dreaming using the cult and cultish experiences to gain power over the civilised Iranian society. A dream obviously doomed to fail. After losing all credibility amongst Iranians over the last few decades, the cult is now trying to portray a picture of political opposition for itself by taking the internal critics as hostages.

After the September 11 disaster, the group celebrated the event and distributed candy etc in the presence of their leader Massoud Rajavi. They broadcasted every song and march they had for the celebration of the assassination of the American servicemen who they had killed in previous years in Iran. They clearly showed how distanced their way of thinking is compared with the normal social feelings of normal people in free societies.

Considering the backward mentality of terrorists who can even cheer for terrorist acts against innocent people, it seems that helping people to free themselves from Mojahedin Khalq terrorist organisation is a necessity.

Mojahedin try to hide their true face under the disguise of made up human rights names and groups so that they can stay in Iraq with the hope of one day starting their terror campaign again. They are also trying their best to come off the list of terrorists in US for the same purpose. The history of Mojahedin Khalq and the way they are treating the families of their victims inside their camp in Iraq clearly shows their vast differences with normal people. They are clearly demonstrating their true belief that “you are either with us or against us”
It is good to see that the State Department has included the name of National Council of Resistance (NCRI) in the list of terrorists as a another name for Mojahedin Khalq but we believe that there should be less tolerance of this organisation and certainly more help to free the ones who do not wish to continue working for this terrorist organisation.

The families of the victims of this terrorist cult, some of them have not seen their loved ones for the last two decades, are now picketing in front of the camp for the last few months demanding visiting rights to their loved ones. But the Mojahedin cult not only deny any proper response to their demands and questions, they are now clearly using the captive dissidents inside the camp as hostages to their goals.

Today everyone knows that the presence of Mojahedin Khalq and using them as a tool in political games not only has no benefit to the people of Iran[…]

Your sincerely,
Ali Ghashghavi
Germany
October 16, 2010

CC:
The Ambassador of United States to Iraq

Ali Ghashghavi, Iran Green Association, Germany

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Former members of the MEK

Interview with Alireza Einakian, MKO former member- Part1

Mr. Alireza Einakian could manage to run away from Camp Ashraf after midnight of September 7th 2010. His escape was successful due to his courageous innovate plan. The following is the interview with Mr. Einakian by Sahar Family Foundation:

SFF: what does an MKO member do in a typical day in camp Ashraf?
Mr. Alireza Einakian could manage to run away from Camp Ashraf after midnight of September 7th 2010.
Mr. Einakian: There are some general programs to plan the members’ daily schedule so there is so little time left for members’ personal affairs. Since the wake up time in the morning – which changes according to the season – until lunch time, you have to work continuously. After lunch there is a short break time, then you should attend the meetings in the afternoon. Then its exercise time and then the members should have dinner. After dinner, members might attend meetings again otherwise they have to listen to special tapes. Thus, at the end of a working day, you are so exhausted that you just fall asleep. There will be a great problem if you are supposed to stand guarding at night! The mentioned schedule is carried out on weekdays but in the weekend (Thursday and Friday) the plans change. The members believe that the weekends’ schedule is worse than that of weekdays because they have to attend numerous meetings held one after the other. It is so bothersome.

SFF: How about manipulation meetings and the reports members are supposed to write?

Mr. Einakian: Everyday when you attend Current Operation meetings, you should write about at least three or four sins you committed before attending the meeting, during the day. If you write nothing or very few facts about yourself, you will be criticized by your peers in the meeting.
The "layer meetings" are held every other day.
You should attend them while you have certainly written a report. In case you haven’t written a report, you will be the subject of the meeting; you will be insulted and at the end you will have to sign an engagement letter to promise that you will bring a report for the following meeting.
On Thursday afternoon, they usually hold a weekly brainwashing meeting in which members of the same rank should attend. Every individual should read his sexual moments [moments of sexual thoughts]for his peers and make a conclusion. I usually tried not to listen to the others’ facts after reading my own ones because while listening to their sexual thoughts I myself would have sexual thoughts too.

SFF: in order to prevent members from escaping the camp, what obstacles have the organization imposed?

Mr. Einakian: To bar the members from runaway, they control all departures and arrivals to the complex at night. You cannot simply leave the building. On the other side, the commandants have some control systems to control members, especially low-ranking members. The control is particularly heightened in collective ceremonies. There are also some patrolling cars to control all trafficking in the camp. When the Iraqis are closer to the members, they increase guards to stop the members from joining Iraqi forces. The male commandant of each unit is constantly present to prohibit any escape.
They have highly restricted trafficking in street 100 in order that they can prevent escaping from the cult. Members should traffic in groups of at least two people. They have forbidden trafficking at night.
In the collective meetings where Massoud speaks to the audience, he claims that anyone who leaves MKO is the regime’s spy who breaks the saint oath so he will turn in to pig. He actually tries to frighten the members.
They say that the defectors are taken to Hotel Mohajer which is a center of corruption and in which IRI’s intelligence agents wait for them to turn them into spies. That way they frighten the members and put them under pressure. Thus the members are always in an internal, mental fear of leaving the camp.

SFF: how did it go on July 28th and 29th 2009 when the group’s members encountered Iraqi forces?

Mr. Einakian: Generally when something is signified as "Red Line" in MKO, it means that you should never pass the Red Line. Last year, on July 28th and 29th , the entry of Iraqi forces to the camp had been defined as "Red Line". Iraqis arrival in the camp was like a taboo. On the other side, there were Iraqi forces that were determined to enter the camp in order to install their police station. The authorities of Camp Ashraf didn’t want to let them come in the camp. They didn’t want them to know about what was going on in Ashraf.
That was the start of clashes. When the members were ordered by their commandants to prevent Iraqi forces from entering the camp, the clashes began and lasted until night and ended with the death of eleven residents of Ashraf.
In my opinion the only person who is responsible for the death of those people is Massoud Rajavi since the main line of such a reaction [to Iraqi forces] was under his order. Female commandants of Ashraf including Mozhgan Parsaiee control various sect of the camp. They analyze those incidents saying that they have to stop Iraqis from getting into the camp otherwise they can install everywhere in the camp and we cannot deter their influence.
Actually, they were afraid of the member’s easy access to Iraqi police. They even forbade the members to go out of their units when Iraqis finally were able to arrive in the camp. They forbade any contact with Iraqi forces.

Translated by Nejat Society

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Former members of the MEK

Interview with Mahmoud Dashtestani– Part1

Falling in a well called Ashraf
Interview with Mahmoud Dashtestani a recently defected member of Mujahedin Khalq Organization.

Dashtestani was a 16-year old teenager when he was captured by Iraqi forces in his way from Mahmoud Dashtestani a recently defected member of Mujahedin Khalq OrganizationAbadan to Mahshahr [two towns in SouthWestern part of Iran where Iraq invaded in 1979].in 1988 after ten years of imprisonment in Iraqi prisons when Mujahedin offered him help return to Iran ,he admitted their offer.
He was deceived by MKO due to two reasons .First because he was not informed enough and second was MKO’s dirty recruitment tactics and the mind control system that enhanced and abused that lack of information.
Q: Please introduce yourself and explain how you were recruited by MKO?
Dashtestani: I am Mahmoud Dashtestani. I was born in 1965. I was captivated as a civilian when I was commuting from Abadan to Mahshahr in 1979. I was then imprisoned in Iraqi Camps for about ten years.
In the late years of my imprisonment when Iran and Iraq had both admitted a ceasefire, too much propaganda was launched by MKO in POW camps. They persuaded the prisoners to join their organization. Anyway, under too much pressure and due to lack of information on the group I was deceived by MKO and then I joined Camp Ashraf. I was hopeful to return to Iran by the possibilities that MKO would provide for me.
– How could you manage to leave the group?
– After two months, we asked why they did not return us to Iran. They told us that they had recently sent some people to Iran and all of them had been executed or sentenced to long-term imprisonment.
Then, Massoud Rajavi held a meeting for us to repeat the above mentioned lies. Terrified of returning to Iran, we were pulled into the cult. We were supposed to attend ideological meetings six hours a day. We were gradually so manipulated that we thought the whole world was consisted of Mujahidin and Ashraf.
Between the years of 1993 and 2002 people could rarely succeed to leave Camp Ashraf. If you wanted to leave the camp, you would have to go to Abu-Quraib prison first and you would stay there for seven or eight years, otherwise you would have to stay in the camp’s prison, called “departure gate”, for two years, so that all your information would be wiped out of your mind.
Since 2003, after the US invasion to Iraq, until 2009 when I succeeded to return to Iran, I asked several times for leaving Ashraf but each time they held longtime ideological meetings where my old and intimate friends made an emotional atmosphere to convince me to stay in the Camp. Any way I was dissuaded by them.
But now that I am in Iran, if you ask me how I feel, I tell you that I have one precious thing here; freedom. Here, my mind, my sole, my emotions, my feelings, my life are free. I am free to choose what to eat, what to wear, where to go. You are totally free in your life and that’s what you can never imagine in Camp Ashraf where everything begins and ends in the leader and his will.
– Do you have any regret of leaving Ashraf?
– Not at all. I just regret why I didn’t return to Iran earlier, because Iran is not like what they publicized in MKO. I don’t mean that there is no problem in Iran but it is entirely different from what their propaganda says.
– What do they say about Iran? Let us know!
– There is an obligatory program on Monday afternoons. They show the members some films of social issues like poverty, addiction, courts, divorce, suicide, immoral relations, prostitutions, and then they say that’s the whole thing which exists in Iran. they say,” This is Iranians’ routine life”.
In Ashraf garrison no emotion or feeling is found. Emotions towards your family, parents, brother, sister, wife and kids are meaningless. Everything is meaningful under will of the leader. In such an atmosphere, when we saw those so-called films of Iran, we thought that we really had a good life in Ashraf. We thought that we were really struggling for a monotheist classless society.
When I returned to Iran, I expected to see all men and women addicted in the streets! I thought I would see people hung on every square! I was seriously anxious about such scenes in Iran.
When I was first faced by Iranian authorities, I really got hopeful. They visited me in a hotel in Iraq where a room was allocated to me by Iranian Embassy. They asked me if I wanted to get back to Iran or to go to a third country. I answered “Iran” although I was in fear of those films I had seen in Camp Ashraf.
MKO leaders say that you shouldn’t think about family because it leads you to emotions. If such thinking crosses your mind, you should write in your daily record and then read it in the brainwashing meeting, every week. Thinking of emotions will decrease your love for leader, according to Rajavi. If you think of your mother, she is then called IRI’s mercenary.
– Even mother and father?
– Yes, absolutely .”Mother” is definitely a permanent case in brainwashing meetings.
When Rajavi launched those brainwashing meetings, he proudly told us that he granted them as gifts to his members.
The subjects of the meetings were mostly about sexual issues.

Translated by Nejat Society

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Massoud Rajavi

Diabolical Sex Abuse Practiced by MKO Leader, Massoud Rajavi

The recently published testimony of Ms. Batoul Soltani, a former member of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) revealed new measures of the group’s manipulation and brainwashing. Because of this, and because of previous reported bizarre practices and abuses, the MKO can be accurately labeled by psychologists as a Closed High Demand Group (CHDG) [1]. Formerly, Ms. Soltani had testified against the MKO in front of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, revealing some of the group’s military operations during the Iran-Iraq War. [2] What she failed to report at that time was the sexual abuse that was imposed on her and many of the other women. Prior to Ms. Batoul Soltani’s escape from the MKO, she was a member of the group’s elite so-called “leadership council” and her new testimony is consistent with reports that Massoud and Maryam Rajavi are the self-appointed leaders of the cult, and that they frequently engaged in abusive practices in order to keep control of the members, especially the females. While abuse by the MKO has previously been documented, Soltani’s recent reports of maltreatment, due to shame and sensitivity, had not been made public. Now, Soltani describes Massoud Rajavi as a deceitful leader who practices a bizarre form of ideological polygamy and frequently engages in “obligatory” sexual activity with many of the women in the cult’s leadership council. In one of her many interviews that have been translated into English and fully documented into over 100 pages on the Sahar Family Foundation Website [3] Soltani describes a scene she witnessed during her time as a member of the cult’s leadership council—these particular excerpts are obtained directly from the Nejat Society’s website:

I was shocked to see some high-ranking women of leadership Council took off their clothes and went to Massoud. Massoud was saying”yes take off your clothes of heresy and ignorance and dive in the pool to unite yourself with me in order to be resistant enough in every moment of your struggle.”[…]

Maryam also said,”Get close to Massoud and unite with him.”I noticed that Maryam and some other high ranking members were monitoring us and trying to convince those of us who hesitated to remove their underwear.[…] Maryam said that we were no more jealous to each other so we could fight together.[…]she tried to persuade us to look at the others having sex with Massoud Rajavi. [4]

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Peculiar coercive sexual practices and polygamy in cults is not unusual. Cult leaders tend to claim they are more spiritually evolved than the rest of the population and therefore they aggressively press cult members to worship them. For some cult leaders, especially male leaders, requiring female members to have sex with them is basically part of that worship, which in turn is meant to create complete devotion—and often it does. But the repercussions are steep; Soltani outlines that there is a total loss of self. Steven Hassan who authored the bestselling book *Combating Cult Mind Control* writes on his website that”unselfishness, kindness, gentleness and compassion should be a basic living principle, not just an ideal. When individuals claim to be spiritually more developed, and put themselves in the role of guru, swami, master, prophet these virtues must be consistently demonstrated. We must not allow our desire to know the ‘Absolute Truth’ to blind us from observing obvious discrepancies in our teachers’ behaviors.”[5]

As a victim, Soltani has a unique perspective. She revealed that under this pretext of “unification with the leader,” the women are told to revere him—and that he is the only source of truth in their lives—then they are exploited sexually. Arnold Markowitz who is a cult expert asserts that members or disciples are often vulnerable and sexual abuse in cults by leaders is rampant. According to him,”a group constitutes a destructive cult when it has a self-appointed, charismatic leader who controls the daily lives of members.”[6] For the females of the MKO, Massoud Rajavi is that charismatic leader, and they are actually able to undergo total submission, even sexual submission, because according to Soltani, their daily lives are tightly controlled, both physically and psychologically. In essence Rajavi’s victims are comprehensively brainwashed. Besides Soltani’s testimony, many sources confirm that Massoud Rajavi became the captivating leader of MKO after he launched his ideological revolution in the mid 1980’s. At that time, he forced couples to divorce under the pretense of freeing themselves so that they could focus all their love, energy, and emotions on Rajavi the Ideological Leader. [7]

Soltani reports that nobody in the isolated, dominated and filtered atmosphere of the group is allowed to or even dares to question or show concern about Rajavi’s illicit behavior—the women are simply too vulnerable, and Rajavi wants to keep them that way.

The MKO is just one of many cults to use techniques which include the sexual exploitation of women. There are hundreds of documented cults which include polygamy or require deviant sexual acts—all in order to maintain their system of mind control. [8] Many of these cults’ leaders have been convicted. In 2005, William Kamm, was found guilty on five charges in a New South Wales District Court. Kamm was also known to his followers as “Little Pebble” and he led the Order of St. Charbel, an Australian Christian cult.

His offences include aggravated indecent assault and aggravated sexual intercourse with a 14 year old girl. His practices are similar to the “marriages” Rajavi imposed on the women of the MKO’s leadership council. And while Kamm chose twelve queens and seventy-two princess to become his mystical wives, [9] Rajavi used verses from the Quran to make his followers believe that his compulsory marriages were justifiable. Until recently, the MKO however, has not been illustriously known for systematic sexual coercion because media coverage of its military activity and its politically charged thunderous tirade against the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran has overshadowed its rather secretive internal core.

For now, three thousand people reside behind the fences of the isolated MKO compound—Camp Ashraf—in Iraq, and many of them are women. According to Batoul Soltani, there are some hundreds women with the leadership council rank—many or all of whom in some way or another are being subject to form a diabolical union with the leader, Massoud Rajavi.

References:

[1] Furnari, Leona LCSW.”Born or Raised in High-Demand Groups:
Developmental Considerations.”
International Cultic Studies Association 4.3
(2005): Web. 6 Sep 2010. <
http://www.icsahome.com/infoserv_articles/
furnari_leona_bornraised
Furnari states that According to Tobias and Lalich
(1994, p.13) the
following characteristics are often present in these environments:
Members are expected to be excessively zealous and
unquestioning in their commitment to the identity and
leadership of the group. Personal beliefs and
values must be replaced with those of the group.
Members are manipulated and exploited and
may give up their education,careers,
and families to work excessively long hours
at group-directed tasks such as selling a quota
of candy or books, fund-raising, recruiting, and proselytizing.
Harm or threat of harm may come to members,
their families and/or society due to inadequate medical care,
poor nutrition, psychological, physical, or
sexual abuse, sleep deprivation, criminal activities, etc.
Furthermore, Margaret Singer and Janja Lalich (1995),
who have done vast amounts of work in the cult field,
state that such groups have the following
characteristics:
Authoritarian power structure
Totalitarian control of members’ behavior
Double sets of ethics (one for leader and
another for members; one for
those inside the group, another for outsiders)
Leaders that are self-appointed and
claim to have a special mission in life
Leaders who tend to be charismatic,
determined and domineering
Leaders who center the veneration
of members upon themselves
Finally, Robert Jay Lifton (1961),
a psychiatrist and pioneering researcher
in the thought reform, or mind control, field,
has proposed that the following eight
features create environments of “ideological totalism”:
1. Milieu control—the control of communication
within an environment;this creates unhealthy boundaries
2. Mystical manipulation or
“planned spontaneity”—experiences which
appear to be spontaneous are actually
orchestrated in order to demonstrate
“divine authority,” which enables the leader(s)
to use any means toward a “higher end” or goal
3. The demand for purity—absolute separation
of good and evil within self and environment
4. The cult of confession—one-on-one
or group confession of past and present “sins”
or behaviors, which are often used to humiliate
the confessor and create dependency upon the leader
5. Sacred science—the group’s teaching is
portrayed as Ultimate Truth that cannot be questioned.
6. Loading of the language—use of terms
or jargon that have group-specific meaning,
phrases that will keep one in or bring one back into
the cult mindset.
7. Doctrine over person—denial of self and self-perception.
8. Dispensing of existence—anyone not in the group or
not embracing the “truth” is insignificant,
not “saved” or “unconscious”; the outside world
and members who leave the group are rejected.
[2] CORI Research Analysis, United Nations
High Commissioner for Refugees.
“Information on the People’s
Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) including on the three
main military operations
of National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA), the PMOI
military wing, in 1987-1988 during the Iraq-Iran war.”
The military
operations are called:”the Sun”,
“40 Lanterns/Stars”and”Eternal Light”.
Information about the military confrontation
in 1991 between the Iranian
forces and NLA at the Iraq-Iran borders
in Khaniqin and Jalawla (Ex-PMOI
members call it Marwarid (Pearl) operation).
Query ID: HCR00008E (21
September 2009): Web. 6 Sep 2010. <
http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/pdfid/4ac9c2c52.pdf>.
[3] Soltani, Batul [or Batoul]
.”Interviews of Ms Batul Soltani with Sahar
Family Foundation in Baghdad.”
Sahar Family Foundation. 1 May 2009. Web. 9 Sep 2010.
<http://www.saharngo.com/en/story/1335>.
[4] Nejat Bloggers.
“PMOI Leadership Council’s Women SALVATION DANCE.”
Nejat Society (19 August 2010): Web. 9 Sep 2010. <
https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3261>.
[5] Hassan, Steven.”Introductions.”
Steven Alan Hassan’s Freedom of Mind Center.
Freedom of Mind Resource Center, 2010. Web. 9 Sep 2010. <

Freedom of Mind by Dr. Steven Hassan


resourcecenter/responsibility/intro.htm
[6]Wikipedia. Arnold Markowitz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Markowitz
For print-interview reference to Markowitz, also
see: Read, Richard.”In the Grip of the Guru:
Small ‘cottage cults’ drawing more converts in United
States.”Oregonian 16 July 2001: Web. 9 Sep 2010. <
http://www.oregonlive.com/special/guru/index.ssf?/
news/oregonian/lc_11gside15.frame
[7] Isikoff, Michael and Mark Hosenball.
“Consider the Source: The State
Department says MEK is a terror group.
Human Rights Watch says it’s a cult.
For the White House, MEK is a source of intelligence on Iran.”
National News
msnbc.com Newsweek 20 May 2005:Web. 9 Sep 2010. <
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7902719/site/newsweek
Newsweek’s Isikoff and Hosenball report that
“Human Rights Watch alleges that the Iranian exile
group known as [Mujahedin-eh] Khalq (MEK) has a
history of cultlike practices that include forcing
members to divorce their
spouses and to engage in extended self-criticism sessions.
More dramatically, the report states,
former MEK members told Human Rights
Watch that when they protested
MEK policies or tried to leave the
organization, they were arrested,
in some cases violently abused and in
other instances imprisoned.
Two former recruits told the human-rights group
that they were held in solitary
confinement for years in a camp operated by
MEK in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein.”
[8] Many of the recent cults are documented by the following:
Ross, Rick, Executive Director.
“The Ross Institute Internet Archives.”
The Study of Destructive Cults,
Controversial Groups and Movements.
2010. Web. 12 Sep 2010.
<http://www.rickross.com/>.
[9]”MAKO – Movement Against Kindred Offenders.”
mako.org.au. MAKO, 16 June
2005 from The Australian. Web. 9 Sep 2010. <
http://www.mako.org.au/william_kamm_1.html>.

By Mazda Parsi

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The cult of Rajavi

Complex brainwashing and indoctrination methods in the PMOI

What is the meaning of the ‘Salvation Dance’ (described by Mrs. Batool Soltani, ex-member of the PMOI Leadership Council in her autobiographical writing), which was performed by the Muslim Leadership Council’s women in front of Massoud Rajavi, the leader and founder of the Rajavi cult?

In this so-called Salvation Dance (nude dancing), the women of the Leadership Council were indoctrinated through cultic-religious psychological manipulation to remove all their clothes in front of their guru, imam, spiritual leader, Massoud Rajavi, who is responsible for sending them to heaven while they die for him, in order to show their devotion and allegiance to him.

In Iranian culture, and especially in Islamic culture, the nudity of women in front of men is considered as high corruption and sin. So the question which comes into the minds of right thinking people is “why is the leader of the PMOI, who claims to be Muslim and that his organization is a Muslim organization, demanding that his Leadership Council perform nude dancing in front of him and Maryam Rajavi?” Maybe you think that the PMOI has reformed its ideology into a more western-like culture? Or, that they do this to show their ideological differences with the current regime of Iran.

If you ask the operatives of Rajavi’s cult the same question they will respond that “it shows the richness of their ideology, in which the souls of women and men become as one with their spiritual leaders”. You could also say that Massoud Rajavi is a highly lustful and salacious leader, who wants to take advantage of the women in his organization, especially beautiful women.

Well, we can think and imagine whatever comes into our minds, but if you ask me, as someone who has spent nearly twenty-five years of my life in that organization, I have my own point of view about this sensitive but serious subject.

First of all, whatever interpretations are mentioned above are not wrong; they are correct to some extent, and I can not say that they do not exist at all. But are those above mentioned reasons considered as a threat or danger? Having passion and lust for beautiful women, even as the PMOI’s leader is a matter of Massoud Rajavi’s own personal desires, or even that they are trying their best to show themselves as an open minded and reformed organization and not as a fanatical one to western countries. In this interpretation the behavior may look strange but not dangerous. But what is really happening there? And what is the real purpose of such deeds that occur in the PMOI’s internal affairs? What is the real interpretation of nude dancing in the PMOI? Is it utilized as a tool? What are the leaders of the cult thinking by performing such strange and odd activities? What do they want to achieve?

For Muslim women, according to their religion, one of the most precious and vital aspects of their belief is their cover (hijab); for that reason you would not see even the hair of a Muslim woman because it is covered by a headscarf. In Ashraf garrison, the PMOI’s main base, women and men are completely separated from each other, even their gas station working hours are divided between men and women, and no man can go for gas during the women’s turn, and vice versa.

These women in the Leadership Council are all Muslim, and they are very devout and serious in practicing their religion, and all of them wear a headscarf (hijab). So, taking off their clothes in front of their guru and leader and being naked is a giant step in their internal affairs. It is the end result of the long-term brainwashing and indoctrination which began in 1989 (Second Ideological Revolution).

In this final test, they become completely and utterly devoted and obedient and ready for any order which comes from Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. If this nude dancing which was performed by the Leadership Council in front of Maryam and Massoud Rajavi, were just to satisfy Massoud’s lust and his sexual desires, it could be considered as Rajavi’s sexual exploitation of women inside the PMOI. But the question remains “what did Rajavi want to achieve after all those years of brainwashing and indoctrination?”

To answer these questions I will take you back-stage in the PMOI. These ladies, the Leadership Council, are high commanders and they have many subordinates, the rank and file, who are under their direct command. To gain this position, these ladies must have proven themselves to Massoud and Maryam Rajavi as being ready and willing to implement and carry out their orders by all means, so they had to undergo the most difficult test which was opposite to their religious regulations and beliefs. Taking off all their clothes, even their underwear, in front of Rajavi means they had become the soul of him and at one with him to the point that they are ready to do whatever he wishes. (Do not forget that these ladies, the Leadership Council, are devoted Mulsims.)

After this prelude, I take you to the year of 2003. In that year, many PMOI members set themselves on fire in Paris and other countries in protest to the incarceration of Maryam Rajavi. Setting themselves on fire was an order which came directly from the leaders and Leadership Council of the PMOI. Just by conveying six words: set yourself on fire for Maryam, many of the brainwashed members killed or injured and disabled themselves for that cause. This is the dangerous aspect of Rajavi’s religious indoctrination and brainwashing methods.
These PMOI Muslim women, after passing through many years under religious-cultic indoctrination, entered into the final test to show that they were ready to carry out anything desired by their leaders, even by trampling their Islamic regulations. Their nude dancing in front of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi was the final phase of their brainwashing to become committed, loyal and devoted to their gurus, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. It showed their allegiance to them for implementing their orders in the PMOI’s internal relations, which means maximum suppression and oppression of the rank and file to keep them as captives and slaves of Rajavi’s cultic thoughts, and ready to implement any order by all means, whenever and wherever their leaders desire.

Unfortunately, all the PMOI Leadership Council’s members who are still in the PMOI have had all human sentiment hollowed out from them, and as a result they are capable of implementing many hazardous deeds and missions; and surely it is not their fault since Rajavi and his brainwashing methods made them like this.

I assert that nude dancing is the final step in brainwashing of the Leadership Council which Rajavi utilizes for implementing his desires. These dangerous desires could be a mass suicide, setting their members ablaze, a mass hunger strike to death, and terrorist activities, etc.

In the end, I do not reject the idea which says Rajavi is a salacious leader, or that he has a passion and lust for women but I emphasize that we should be alert and vigilant to the dangerous purposes and objectives of all this brainwashing and religious indoctrination that Rajavi has done for many years. All these indoctrination and brainwashing methods, which I call “Rajavi’s complicated tools”, are designed for the cult leaders to forward their cultic objectives, whenever and wherever needed, and that is the thing which makes this cult so dangerous and terrifying.

So, in my view, the PMOI is as a dangerous poisonous snake which if you are not vigilant enough, will bite you, and believe me, its poison is deadly as hell, so watch out.

Respectfully
Hassan Piransar , an expert on the PMOI,Paris

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Massoud Rajavi

Massoud Rajavi wants to be worshiped as …..!!!!!!

I would like to begin my article with my highest admiration and gratitude for Mrs Batool Soltani, the former member of Rajavi’s Leadership Council – the highest organizational rank in PMOI – because of her bravery and honesty for revealing the horrifying and shocking facts which are

Massoud Rajavi had tried his best and used whatever he could use to become a god or at least a prophet in his organization.
Massoud Rajavi had tried his best and used whatever he could use to become a god or at least a prophet in his organization.

proving justly that this organization has been changed to a very robust notorious cult, and I can declare without any doubt in my mind that no one in the PMOI had this ability to deform the revolutionary organization to such a dangerous cult except Massoud Rajavi himself.

The facts are shocking and terrifying, and Massoud Rajavi is the source and founder of this notorious and horrifying cult.

He is the one who hollowed out the organization of any revolutionary content and replaced it with harsh cultish rules and politics.

I spent twenty years in this organization and I have seen and heard many facts that prove Massoud Rajavi had tried his best and used whatever he could use to become a god or at least a prophet in his organization. I believe the Leadership Council was his tool for reaching to that point.

Every member of the Leadership Council is a high commander and they have many subordinates (rank and file) who are under their command. The Leadership Council are all women. Their duty as they have said and mentioned on many occasions was to indoctrinate and brainwash members that Massoud is attached to God and every night he has conversation and communication with God and God’s prophet.

I remember that one of the Leadership Council, Mrs Soosan Taleghani, told us that Massoud Rajavi is Imam Hussein and Maryam is Hazrateh Zeynab. In this organization Massoud’s character was as a man without any sin and guilt and he was an innocent and sinless leader and all mistakes and sins and guilt pertained to everyone except him and his wife.

Once, Mehdi Abrichamchi (Maryam Rajavi’s first husband) said in one particular organizational gathering that, “Massoud is not responsible to anyone except God for his actions and no one is allowed to make any criticism against Massoud“. In the PMOI, no one was allowed to criticize Massoud and Maryam Rajavi and the Leadership Council. We were told all the time that whatever Massoud was saying we should accept as concrete facts and truths and we should accept his thoughts even if we did not believe in it. We did not dare to open our mouth and voice our ambiguities and doubts about his thoughts because we were afraid of its consequences. We were not allowed to reject his thoughts or even doubt them and worse of all we had to substantiate and prove that he and his thoughts were right.

The years which I spent in that organization have become my nightmares and even after 6 years in which I have separated from them, I still have nightmares while I sleep. I thought that if I joined them I will be helping the Iranian people to gain their freedom and democracy back. But now I realize that joining the PMOI was the biggest mistake that I made in my life and I cannot compensate for the loss which I suffered in my personal life any more.

According to Mrs Soltani’s recent interview about Massoud Rajavi’s strange desires and passion to become a praiseworthy and charismatic leader and his behavior and attitude toward women in his organization and nude dancing of the Leadership Council’s members in front of him and Maryam Rajavi, which makes any one sick, all show that Massoud Rajavi has made a cult inside his organization, a cult which for decades has enslaved the souls of all those men and women through indoctrination and brainwashing methods.

In this cult Massoud is the God, the prophet, the holy man, the guru, and his wife Maryam Rajavi is his first devotee and admirer who is ready to sacrifice anything for him and the Leadership Council is his tool to brainwash all those men and women in that cult to worship him as god and as a prophet.

But I want to tell Massoud Rajavi wherever he is hiding that the season for demagoguery has reached its end. The Iranian people are very informed, educated and experienced people and believe me, you and your cult and your devotee, Maryam Rajavi do not have any place among Iranian people.

The Iranian people want changes in Iran’s politics and in their life and for that reason they are protesting and showing their complaints in the best way possible. But no one in Iran looks to you and your cult as an opposition. On the contrary, they see you and your notorious cult as criminal, traitors, mercenaries and imposters. So in my opinion the best place for you is your hideout; stay there and let the Iranian people choose what is best for them. I am sure that the Iranian people are better off without you and your cult and your first lady, Maryam Rajavi, in their struggle to retrieve democracy and freedom. You and your cult just worsen their struggle and endeavors and makes it harder for them to make progress. You (Massoud Rajavi) must understand that Iranian people have their own real God and prophets to worship. You should accept the fact that you and your cult are sinful and have committed many crimes against humanity and that you should be put on trial like any criminal because every crime has its natural consequence.

At the end, I convey my best wishes to Mrs. Soltani and all the separated members who are struggling to reveal the unknown and unheard facts about this cult and its leaders.

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The cult of Rajavi

Cultic identity formation in Mojahedin Khalq

To stripe somebody of his individual identity to replace it with a new identity has been a common process in majority of all contemporary cults. This cult identity is created by sophisticated mind control techniques and it does not represent the whole individual. Steven Hassan stresses that “[cult] members are taught to suppress negative personal thoughts and emotions. They are trained to speak only positively of their involvement. When the cult member says he is "happy," it is usually the cult identity who is talking. The cult self is doing what it has been instructed to do”. 1

As cults have developed their own principles and rules, their reactions to the outside world are based on some certain criteria different from that of other political and social organizations that have to exercise the discipline of their own in order to achieve certain objectives; however, rarely they make use of any process to forge identities. At the present, cults are largely in need of obedient and submissive members whose mentality can be shaped through a change of identity and our aim here is to take a brief look at the concepts of individual identity, cult identity and investigate the process of setting up new identity in MKO similar to that of other cults.

We may consider the individual identity as the sum of mental and ideological beliefs of a person and the extent to which he is affected by the environment out of the cult. On the contrary, the detachment of the person from such beliefs and values by means of a system controlling his behavioral, mental and psychological aspects constitute one of the major goals of cults. Such a replacement of values leading to a new cult personality makes the person struggling with many contradictions to adapt his potentiality in line with cult objectives. In other words, cult identity neutralizes the individual identity of the members. In fact all the cultist instructions depend on such a mechanism for actualization.

As such, cults make their best to recruit members with unstable identity and ready to acquire cult identity due to their political, emotional and familial discouragements in order to play the major role in the quantitative growth of cults. Under the impact of a new identity, members easily submit to cultic domination and whatever sacrifices for the cult causes. Eric Hoffer evaluates the factor of devotion based on the cult identity. He believes that the relation between these concepts may clarify the nature of members’ full obedience to cultist instructions:

To RIPEN A PERSON for self-sacrifice he must be stripped of his individual identity and distinctness. He must cease to be George, Hans, van, or Tadao- a human atom with an existence bounded by birth and death. 2

Reviewing the historical cults may reveal the role of such a factor. The earliest religious cults such as Isma’ilis (Hasan Sabbah) tried hard to instill a kind of cult identity into members. They declared openly that members had to do something more than self-sacrifice for leaders and consider the extent of obedience as the main measure for a new cult identity. Therefore, they asked their members to put the principle of absolute obedience into action rather than pretending by merely saying it. What the leaders asked members was to have absolute faith in the cult’s commands:

We don’t ask Fedayeen [self-sacrificers] for passion but for a sound belief. We are to be sure that in case of issuing any order for any of our Fedayeen, there is nothing to prevent it. 3
Cultist relations of Mojahedin, as the most typical political leftist cult, are the same as that of Hasan Sabbah’s cult. The term "spiritual journey" refers to the negation of individual personality and development of a cultist one instead. The theoreticians of Mojahedin resort to mystical concepts in order to justify their procedures and approaches saying:

In spiritual journey, no question is allowed. The wayfarer has to put his faith in Sheikh wholeheartedly and must regard him as the most perfect person to conduct him in spiritual training, guidance and education, be his interlocutor and obey Sheikh far from any inward or outward objection. 4

Then a quotation from Maulavi, the Persian mystic poet, is resorted to:

A wayfarer has no responsibility and should be submissive like a piece of wood in the hands of carpenter. 5
An intellectual outlook does not bear such a procedure and also may denounce it. Mojahedin are against any spiritual identity but have to pretend to its reception. They analyze the

mechanism of such a new identity as follows:

It is evident that such a process does not follow a logical trend. Its dominant factor is not reason nor logic but love and emotion. Its means is not discussion nor justification but blind obedience. Herein Masoud asks for Mojahedin’s hearts. 6

Contemporary cults resort to such techniques in order to establish subordinate identities in which their members have to replace their external ties with internal ones. A new identity is regarded as the origin of cults’ power. Therefore, external bonds are the main barriers in the way of a new identity replaced by cultist models. Hofer refers to such a process saying:
The chief burden of the frustrated is the consciousness of a blemished, ineffectual self, and their chief desire is to slough off the unwanted self and begin a new life. They try to realize this desire either by finding ‘a new identity blurring and camouflaging their individual distinct- and both these ends are reached by imitation. 7
From a cultist viewpoint, a new identity works as a new faith to which a member has to be attached. It may tie an individual to an ideological group, band, political party or any ritual concept. In this regard, Hoffer writes:

Faith here is primarily a process of identification; the process by which the individual ceases to be himself and becomes part of something eternal. Faith in humanity, in posterity, in the destiny of one’s religion, ation, race, party or family -what is it but the visualization of that eternal some- tiling to which we attach the self that is about to be annihilated? 8
The relationship between cults and producing of new identities is a complex one and varies widely from cult to cult. But what is common is that the main goal of producing a new identity in cults is to make insiders dependant on the cult and to be obedient. The mechanisms the cults exploit to achieve the goal are interrelated but each can be discussed separately since they are all prerequisites for insiders’ persuasion and control and the final transformation of the recruits into real cultists. It will not be wrong to say that whatever the cults do is to cut the members off from the outside world to produce a new identity and belief totally different from what the members previously held as right and dear. The process finished, the insiders will adopt a new and reborn personality as Singer states:

As part of the intense influence and change process in many cults, people take on a new social identity, which may or may not be obvious to an outsider. When groups refer to this new identity, they speak of members who are transformed, reborn, enlightened, empowered, rebirthed, or cleared. The group’ approved behavior is reinforced and reinterpreted as demonstrating the emergence of "the new person." Members are expected to display this new identity. 9
The new personality totally split from the outside world is manipulated for a variety of group tasks based on the objectives of the group and cult that consider the outsiders as the enemies who have to be confronted:

The conflicts a mass movement seek and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium. 10

As Hoffer asserts, a cultist personality is formed to be submissive to the inner-cultic relations that have priority to outwardly demonstrated ambitions and goals. The members undergoing overall identity change easily consent to any means of changing behaviour and conduct. Thus, cults can successfully accomplish their goal of binding new members to the group. Considering the stages people will go through as their attitudes are changed by the group environment and the thought reform processes, Singer points to psychologist Edgar Schein’s second stages of three:

During this second stage, you sense that the solutions offered by the group provide a path to follow. You feel that anxiety, uncertainty, and self-doubt can be reduced by adopting the concepts put forth by the group or leader. Additionally, you observe the behavior of the longer, term members, and you begin to emulate their ways. As social psychology experiments and observations have found for decades, once a person makes an open commitment before others to an idea, his or her subsequent behavior generally supports and reinforces the stated commitment. That is, if you say in front of others that you are making a commitment to be "pure," then you will feel pressured to follow what others define as the path of purity. 11

There are also the eight psychological themes that psychiatrist Robert Lifton has identified as central to totalistic environments and cults invoke these themes for the purpose of promoting behavioural and attitudinal changes in the members. The third theme, demand for purity, depicts two opposite world of black and white; the cult being an absolutely white and clean world versus the black and evil world of outside. Of course, the members with a new personality have no other choice but to think and act according to cult’s ideology and drawn strategy:

An us-versus-them orientation is promoted by the all-or-nothing belief system of the group: we are right; they (outsiders, nonmembers) are wrong, evil, unenlightened, and so forth. Each idea or act is good or bad, pure or evil. Recruits gradually take in, or internalize, the critical, shaming essence of the cult environment, which builds up lots of guilt and shame. Most groups put forth that there is only one way to think, respond, or act in any given situation. There is no in between, and members are expected to judge themselves and others by this all-or-nothing standard. 12

The process of producing identity within MKO follows the same mechanism as practiced in other cults and its orientation began with the start of the internal ideological revolution. All the members undergoing the revolution process have admitted, unveiled by the ex-members, their identity change, and the result was development of a long distance between their organizational and personal identities. It was instilled into them that their identity would be prompted based on the extent of adherence to the ideological system of the group and denial of any personal identity. In a written testimony by a member of MKO, he is somehow proud of his new identity that believes has granted him a new insight into his within and without:

Personality, egocentrism, self-reliance and individualism are all souvenirs of the bourgeoisie’s worthless humanism that distanced me from the organization as far as its degree of its impact on me. I was unworthy and this barred me to drink the pure, life-giving instructions of the organization and was leaving me alone in a desolate waste-land with no way out. I was enslaved by dominant ambiguities within me. When I failed to overcome the ongoing struggle inside me, I was even more vulnerable to the outside misfortunes and could not even face them. 13

The member’s confession well depicts his identity destabilization and what psychologists call an identity crisis. He looks back at his own world and values to find out that he has been wrong in the past. This process makes him uncertain about what is right, what to do, and which choices to make and of course, as he admits, only the cult-like instructions of the organization can lead him to what is inspired to be the right path. Consequently, he takes on a new organizational identity which he considers a change for the better. In the process, he, as the member of a cult, detaches from his most dear ideas and attachments which he discovers to have been nothing beyond a barren waste-land for the identity reborn, a utopia in the horizon he fails to dismiss easily. Masoud Banisadr, another separated member of MKO, in his memoir relates of the time when sat tearing whatever attached him to the past under the commands of the organization:

This time I attacked my old photographs from my own childhood till marriage and up to then, my parents photographs as I wanted to deny all of them, my father who was perhaps responsible for my bourgeois tendencies and my mother who was responsible of my own ‘mild’ and ‘gentle’ behaviour known as liberal ones. Anna seeing me taking all those photographs and albums, with anger, was quietly crying, then when I attacked our marriage Album she start crying louder, and asked me to stop it. She said those are not just yours . . . but I was not listening to her and took everything and put them in a rubbish bag. 14

Quoting Lifton’s forth theme, through a cult’s instructions, members are told whatever connects them to their former lives is wrong and has to be avoided, a fact well affirmed by MKO’s ex-members:

Through the confession process and by instruction in the group’s teachings, members learn that everything about their former lives, including friends, family, and non-members, is wrong and to be avoided. Outsiders will put you at risk of not attaining the purported goal: they will lessen your psychological awareness, hinder the group’s political advancement, obstruct your path toward ultimate knowledge, or allow you to become stuck in your past life and incorrect thinking. 15

That is why MKO refer to members’ solubility in the organizational identity as a “reborn” or “identity salvation”. The organization, being transformed into a cult, pursues the same cult mechanism of altering the members’ personal identity to produce a new identity.

References:
1. Steven Hassan’s Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves. FOM Press, 2000.2. Eric Hoffer; The true believer, Harper &. Row, Publishers, New York, 1966, p.60.
3. Paul Amir; The Lord of Alamout, p.45.
4. Niyabati, B. A different look at the ideological revolution within MKO, p.32
5. ibid, p.40
6. ibid, p.15
7. Eric Hoffer; The true believer, Harper &. Row, Publishers, New York, 1966, p.94.
8. ibid, p. 62.
9. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 78.
10. Eric Hoffer; The true believer, Harper &. Row, Publishers, New York, 1966, p. 112.
11. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 76.
12. Ibid, 71.
13. Mojahed, no. 252; Abdol-ali Maasoumi’s letter to the ideological revolution.
14. Masoud Banisadr; Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel.
15. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 72.

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The cult of Rajavi

Rajavi, the God of Ashraf

In the Alborz Mountains of northern Iran there is an isolated area known as the Valley of the Assassins. It is here where Hassan Sabbah, a charismatic man who died in 1124, founded a In a strikingly similar fashion to Hassan Sabbah, in the early1980’s Massoud Rajavi, came to realize thatnotoriously violent radical Islamic sect referred to by historians as the Hashaashiyun (the Druggers). Interestingly, this word, hashaashiyun is the origin of the English word assassin, which means killer. In this valley, Hassan Sabbah created a small and very successful empire of dedicated followers from whom he demanded total devotion. Iranian literature and lore preserve the fascination and opinion that Hassan Sabbah systematically created one of the most effective terrorist groups in history. Sabbah’s magnetic personality and uniquely efficient leadership promoted such intense belief and devotion that members, with the pledge of martyrdom, were able to commit assassinations without hesitation. The zealous follower’s committed ferocious acts of killing, believing that there was a purpose to their heinous acts—and that they would be sent to paradise if they were killed while serving their leader. In effect, martyrdom was an essential element in Hassan Sabbah’s power scheme. Indubitably Hassan Sabbah and his followers in the infamous Valley of the Assassins helped lay the foundation for today’s continued fascination of—and for a few, total acceptance of—suicide .

Hassan Sabbah was an educated, well travelled, intelligent man who spent many years as a missionary. When he chose to gain power and control over the community in the Alborz Mountains, his plan worked because he was able to inspire commitment and action as well as kindle complete obedience from his followers—to the point that followers’ previous sense of right and wrong was phased out of their mindset. Hassan Sabbah knew how to wash a brain—to erase all notions of good and bad—to let fade right and wrong. He replaced followers’ thinking with distorted morals: the notion of “good” became obedience toward the leader, and the notion of “bad” became disobedience towards the leader. With this immense power, Hassan Sabbah’s wishes were the followers’ commands—if it was his wish for a follower to kill, the follower killed. If it was his wish that a follower die, the follower died. Thus became the association of the word killer with the word assassin.

Hassan Sabbah’s group was by today’s definition a cult. He had created a deliberate agenda in order to serve himself for the purpose of creating power for himself. The Hashaashiyun devotees martyred themselves believing that they would attain fulfillment only through servitude. In this way, they gradually earned degrees, which put them closer to their leader who they believed represented God.

The cult created by Hassan Sabbah was successful given that it lasted upward of three decades . Hassan Sabbah’s cult epitomized the idea of suicide killings, and had a significant impact on other subsequent cult leaders particularly the husband and wife team, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi of the Mojahedin-e Khalq, a modern radical religio-political group (based in Paris) who bedevils Iran. Because there is an acceptance of this radical notion from a tiny minority in the Middle East, it is only natural that the MEK would take advantage of it, and then exercise such a “killing device” in their programme de formation. For the naïve MEK members, leaders implementing this contrivance would not be abnormal in the hearts and minds of the the Mujahidin Organization has all the main attributes of a culttruly dedicated; and committing suicide would not be out of the ordinary because culturally the idea is still present, although most Middle Eastern people and certainly most Iranians would not support such an outrageous “opportunity.”

In a strikingly similar fashion to Hassan Sabbah, in the early1980’s Massoud Rajavi, came to realize that in order to achieve organizational efficiency and maintain his own power, a system must be implemented for the MEK. Professor Ervand Abrahamian—one of the world’s foremost experts on the cult, whose 1989 extensively researched book, The Iranian Mojahedin is still being used to educate professors, politicians and policymakers all over the world—details the cult’s history and evolution. Although it is common knowledge among politically- minded Iranians, Abrahamian affirms that the group officially began in 1963, as a small university student-discussion group. Shortly thereafter, with a revolutionary ideology, they took up arms, and after almost twenty years of growth and some support from Iranians, membership began to dwindle due to the sociological factors which determined their function was not really useful for the Iranian public. Because of this, the group restructured itself into a religio-political sect, and in the mid-1980’s, the Mujahidin, from an outsider’s perspective, had qualified itself as a cult. After renaming itself the “National Council of Resistance of Iran,” the group declared that it was actually founded in 1981. [1]

Abrahamian confirms that “by mid-1987, the Mujahidin Organization has all the main attributes of a cult […] the organization had granted unlimited power to its charismatic leader, [Massoud Rajavi].” He furthers, “Immediately the group had created a rigid hierarchy in which instructions flowed from above and the primary responsibility of the rank and file was to obey without asking too many questions. It has produced its own handbooks, censorship index, world outlook, historical interpretations and, of course distinct ideology—an ideology which, despite the organizations denials, tried to synthesize the religious message of Shiism with the social science of Marxism. It had its own slogans, insignia, icons, relics, ceremonies, rituals and liturgy. It had formulated its own esoteric terminology injecting new meaning into old Islamic words and sometimes coining entirely new terms. It had its own history, martyrs, hagiographies, honored families. It even had its own calendar.

“The organization had adopted its own dress code and physical appearance. It had begun to see the world as divided into two contradictory forces: on one side was the Mojahedin, the vanguard of the select, and those willing to accept its leadership; on the other was Khomeini, the forces of darkness and anyone refusing to accept Mojahedin leadership.
“Essentially the “Mojahedin became increasingly a world unto itself.” [2]

Sadly, in the name of Islam, and in the name of freedom and democracy, after the mid 1980’s, MEK members became increasingly devoted, increasingly isolated—as they were forced to stay on compounds and in camps based in Iraq—the biggest one being Camp Ashraf, where many members are still being housed and are prevented from knowing about the outside world. The MEK leaders, Maryam and Massoud Rajavi remain idols. Members worship them. Today the innocent devotees “volunteer” as suicide bombers or hunger strikers, willing to die for their cause and for their leaders. But the MEK, will never openly admit this practice is required. In January 2009, Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie’s made a statement to the Washington Post declaring that “a member of the organization had turned himself in to Iraqi security forces and told them that group leaders had instructed him to detonate explosives at the headquarters of the Iraqi security forces.” [3]

In July 2003 upon the arrest of MEK leader Maryam Rajavi, MEK members took to Paris’ streets and engaged in self-immolation. [4] [At least ten] members set themselves on fire in cities across Europe. [5]

The MEK suicidalists are the modern parallels of Hassan Sabbah’s “Druggers” in the Valley of the Assassins. MEK defectors describe the group as a cult. [6] Former MEK members told Human Rights Watch that when they protested MEK policies or tried to leave the organization, they were arrested, in some cases violently abused and in other instances imprisoned. Two former recruits told the human-rights group that they were held in solitary confinement for years in a camp operated by MEK in Iraq under the protection of Saddam Hussein. [7]

The MEK is a group of misguided individuals who do evil things to themselves and others—not out of malice, but out of faith and devotion to a pair of twisted leaders.

References:
[1] Abrahamian, Ervand. The Iranian Mojahedin. London, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989. pp.260-1

[2] ibid

[3] Londoño, Ernesto. "Iraq Accuses Iranian Exiles of Plotting Attack". The Washington Post.Wednesday, January 21, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article
/2009/01/20/AR2009012004051.html.

[4] United States Department of State, Naval Post Graduate School. “Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK), Country Reports on Terrorism, 2007”. Dudley Knox Library. April 2008 ‘
<http://www.nps.edu/Library/Research/SubjectGuides
/SpecialTopics/TerroristProfile/Current/MujahedineKhalq.html>.

[5] BBC News, "Iranian fire protests at Paris arrests". June 18, 2003
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2999652.stm.

[6] Allam, Hannah. "Middle East Diary: MEK in Iraq". McClatchy Newspapers .
August 14, 2009
http://blogs.mcclatchydc.com/cairo/2009/08/mek-in-iraq.html.

[7] Isikoff, Michael. "Terror Watch: Consider the Source". Newsweek. May 18, 2005
<http://www.newsweek.com/2005/05/17/
terror-watch-consider-the-source.html>.

By Mazda Parsi

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