Mujahedin Khalq as a Destructive Cult

Sham report exposes MEK’s isolation in Washington

Massoud Rajavi is in danger of losing everything he ever had. The devastating significance for him of losing Camp Ashraf should not be underestimated. A 40km square piece of land Sham report exposes MEK’s isolation in Washington containing a nuclear bunker, arms caches, a satellite communications system, its own water and power supplies, dormitories, refectories, meeting rooms and leisure facilities, has been replaced for the residents by a 1km square area with prefab huts for living quarters. And their marching orders to leave Iraq ASAP.

Worst of all is that Rajavi has lost the ability to completely isolate his people from the outside world. As hard as the MEK leaders try to keep it closed, Camp Liberty is porous to external access as Camp Ashraf never was. It is regularly visited by representatives from the UN, EU, US and various NGOs and security at the camp is taken care of by Iraq’s security forces. The Iraqi authorities have even kept open a hotel in Baghdad, hired during the transfer process, to house any residents who do not wish to live in the basic conditions of Camp Liberty.

All this has made it possible for people to leave the MEK. It is a slow and difficult process of attrition because the cult maintains an iron grip on the residents through its psychologically coercive, high-pressure indoctrination process which is characterised by a daily confession and punishment regime for every single person from rank and file to leadership. The danger that is absolutely paramount in Rajavi’s mind is that sooner or later the cult will be dismantled, its membership dispersed and he will be left alone.

It is in this context that the controversial US Library of Congress report which asserts that Iran’s Intelligence agency has 30,000 employees should be placed for meaningful analysis and assessment.

The leaked report has been quickly and decisively exposed as a sham. And it should be clear to careful readers that the (privately commissioned and paid) report hasn’t been written for the MEK but has been written by the MEK; it contains much MEK cult jargon and many second language-user errors. Beyond this, the sources for much of the content can be traced directly to MEK websites which are, unsurprisingly, no longer functioning.

Why would the MEK risk publicising this easily refuted piece of nonsense?

Educated observation of its behaviours and statements will reveal that the MEK is not an actual player in the political scene, and that much of what the cult does publicly is really designed for internal consumption rather than as part of a policy platform to confront Iran. (Anyone who has direct dealings with MEK members will know that expecting transparency or consistency from them is like asking a drunk to walk in a straight line.

By commissioning this report Rajavi has created a fraudulent narrative with which to deceive his followers. His intention is to persuade as many as possible to remain in Camp Liberty, rather than be transferred to third countries by the UNHCR, by giving them false hope and expectations for the future of the MEK.

What Rajavi is saying through this report is that in spite of being incarcerated in Camp Ashraf and then Camp Liberty for ten years doing nothing, the MEK is in fact engaged in a serious head to head fight with the Islamic Republic of Iran in the shape of the Khodabandeh family. The Khodabandehs are libellously depicted in the report as “agents of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence”. According to Rajavi’s narrative the Khodabandehs are at the forefront of a massive spy network spread throughout the world and tasked to destroy the MEK. He has chosen to ‘promote’ the Khodabandeh family to this position because they are the most prolific and effective English language critics of his cult. He can motivate the residents of Camp Liberty to stay on in order to fight this enemy.

Rajavi has bigged up the Khodabandeh family and the hundreds of former MEK members who are vociferous in their criticisms because he is being defeated by their exposures. He has created the excuse that they are the face of the Iranian regime and extremely powerful and that is why it is so difficult to defeat them. (Interestingly only days ago Rajavi told the residents inside the camp that if they hear anything bad about him -he means the allegations of sexual abuse against women members -they should ignore such talk. Their only task is to accept his leadership and be confident that, in good time, he will answer his enemies. In other words he is instructing the MEK not to think, only to unquestioningly obey.)

But Rajavi’s deceptive narrative continues: do not be concerned about this fight with the regime, do not run away from it, because the MEK has the backing of the most powerful people in the American political establishment, the Israeli lobby and the Neoconservatives. Rajavi promised that the report would receive massive coverage in the American media and be supported at the highest levels in the American establishment as evidence that the only way to confront Iran is military action; that is, war.
His intention is to convince the MEK that he has found a replacement for Saddam’s regime in the Israeli lobby and Neoconservatives in Europe and the US. (In other times he has been prepared to fake mercenary status for the MEK to imply such support.)

The problem for Rajavi is that this didn’t happen. The report was leaked to the press as planned, but there was no media fest. Instead the report was pulled back "for revision" when the Library of Congress realised the shoddy piece of work was ripe for investigation: how was it possible for a group like the MEK to infiltrate its disinformation into the ‘Irregular Warfare Support’ office of the Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office in the Pentagon? The investigation has even gone as far as Brussels where Members of the European Parliament are now being questioned about their use of this unpublished, un-attributed report to interfere in the asylum process for Iranian refugees.

Rajavi has exposed his weakness not only in Iraq where the residents of Camp Liberty are drifting away from his control, but in the heart of Washington. Exposure of the lies and distortions in the report mean that Rajavi is not being protected and promoted as he has said by powerful people in the capital. Not only that, the defeat he is facing really is at the hands of former members and not the powerful Iranian Ministry of Intelligence.

Perhaps now a line can be drawn under this issue and the focus of attention placed back where it belongs; Camp Liberty and the 3000+ cult hostages – and their families – whose future still remains uncertain.

Anne Khodabandeh (Singleton), Middle East Strategy Consultants

January 26, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Defectors bugging the Rajavis

Cult leaders often tend to claim that they are so spiritually elevated that they know the “absolute Defectors bugging the Rajavis truth” for the well-being of their followers. In this way, they apply various bizarre practices to blind the followers from observing the reality of maltreatments against them. In the cult, they are constantly kept under a sever mind control manipulative system that they cannot see their leaders abusive acts.

Once the member defects from the cult whether mentally or both mentally and physically, he realizes what has gone to him during the period of his engagement with the cult. He seriously gets motivated to denounce the cult and its leaders.

The majority of former members of the cult of Rajavi (the Mujahedin Khalq Organization/ the MKO/ MEK) are determined to reveal what they once thought as normal in the cult because of the responsibility they feel regarding the threat of the cult for both their former friends in the MKO and the humane community. Overwhelmed with feeling of anger and vengeance against Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, defectors of the MKO can help keeping silent over the human rights abuses they witnessed in the cult. Unsurprisingly, they are labeled by the cult as “agent of the Iranian regime” which is according to Mrs. Ann Singleton (a defector of the cult) a “one size fits all used to designate the victims” of the MKO [1]

Mrs. Singleton and his husband Massoud Khodabande and his brother-in-law Ebrahim are even mentioned as agents of the Iranian intelligence in the recent Pentagon report on Iranian intelligence. The misleading Pentagon report was noticeably run by the MKO’s agents in the US government. Iran Interlink offers evidences on the allegation:

The report is characterized by its mixture of allegation, assertion and allusion, much of which is not substantiated by evidence. The report blends fact and fiction in a manner intended to deceive and mislead. As such, this document is not an attack, it is a defensive act, it is a play on words intended to prevent informed discussion and stop important people being listened to. Indeed, the gratuitous mention of two specific individuals, Anne Singleton and Massoud Khodabandeh, who have consistently exposed the aspects of the Mojahedin Khalq which it most wants to hide – cult nature, human rights violations, mercenary relation to foreign agents – is the strongest possible indication of the provenance of this report.
The other indication is that the source of this specific misinformation is Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker. In a footnote the article “Disinformation Campaign in Overdrive: Iran’s VEVAK in High-Gear” is sourced at Global Politician, September 3, 2007, http://www.globalpolitician.com/23386-vevak-iran (accessed April 17, 2012). Interestingly, this website can no longer be accessed. [2]

However, the whole deceitful report –which was highly propagandized by the MKO – did not disturb the Khodabandehs. On January17, a few days after the report published Massoud Khodabandeh posted this status on his face book profile:

“I told my Mum that the Khodabandeh family was being attacked by the MEK in Washington and that she had been mentioned too. She said – I’m sure you three are more than enough for Rajavi and his cult, but if not, I’ll be happy to personally sort out Rajavi.”

For defectors denunciation of the violence committed in the MKO is kind of delightful job that helps enlighten the world community and release of their ex-comrades.

Ann singleton was among the first defectors to write about her experience with Rajavi’s Cult. She is the author of a book titled “Saddam’s Private Army”[3]. This is a sentence the review of the book published by Amazon.com:

”Told by a western woman who for twenty years had unique access to the secret inner world of the Mojahedin.”[4]

As you read on the book cover, "Saddam’s Private Army” gives a very detailed account and analysis on “How Rajavi changed Iran’s Mojahedin from armed revolutionaries to an armed cult."[5]

Regarding recently published testimonies of female former members about sexual abuse and women’s rights violations in the cult of Rajavi, Singleton’s book is perhaps the first document on the corrupt world created by Maryam and Massoud Rajavi. Singleton describes how Maryam’s ambitions lead her to promote herself in the MKO until she becomes Rajavi’s “personal assistant”. In 1984, Massoud who had been married to Firouzeh Banisadr – daughter of his then ally — divorced from her,” in this respect it is widely believed that she began a sexual relationship with Rajavi even before he divorced from Firouzeh in 1984. Singleton writes, ”She had been appointed head of Rajavi’s office and she worked closely with him in his office often not returning home at night for days. Before their marriage on 8th February 1985 Maryam hadn’t returned home to her husband Abrishamchi for several months. In this time. She had also attended a hospital in Paris for what is believed to have been a termination of pregnancy.”[6]

It took us just a few years more to learn about further violations of human rights in the MKO. Batoul Soltani, is a former member of the MKO’s so-called elite called “Leadership Council”. She bravely revealed horrifying facts about sexual abuse by Massoud Rajavi although she said that recalling those memoires is “awfully difficult” for her.[7]

Mrs. Soltani exposed a cultic ceremony in the MKO, called “Salvation Dance” (nude dancing) in which women of the “Leadership Council” were made remove their clothes in front of Massoud Rajavi and dance before him.”Get close to Massoud and unite with him”, Maryam said to dancing women.[8]

The former member of the Mojahedin Leadership Council added “They had portrayed the issue of having [sexual] relations with Massoud Rajavi in such a way that it appeared to us as the most sacred task. Mas’ud Rajavi also used verses from the Koran to justify his behavior.”[9]

A few months ago, Soltani together with two other former members, Zahra Mirbaqeri and Nasrin Ebrahimi once again denounced the MKO by receiving a list of 100 female members of the group who have gone under hysterectomy to be sexually abused by the Cult leader, Massoud Rajavi.[10]

Nasrin Ebrahimi had previously revealed that Rajavi had entitled the operation to remove women’s womb as “Summit”[11] referring to women’s extreme devotion to their leader. They lose their final sign of sexuality and motherhood, or as Mrs. Singleton says” to neutralize their sexuality”.[12]

Mir Baqeri said that the surgical operations were carried out to take out the victims’ wombs so that they would not be pregnant after being raped by Rajavi.[13]

Women of the Leadership Council were given a necklace on which Massoud’s portrait was graved earlier than they were made married with him. Zahra Mir Baqeri has one of the necklaces to show those who are concerned.

“Maryam Rajavi invented rituals such as being washed by other women members so as to ‘spiritually purify’ them, followed by the instruction to dance naked before both the Rajavis to prove they had ‘broken the physical and mental barriers’ to their total submission to Massoud. After these coercive practices, he would choose a bedmate for sex. The women have said that they did not agree to sex with Rajavi out of free will but because they had been coerced through deception into submitting to what they later came to recognize as rape.”, Ann singleton notifies.[14]

As she suggests:
“The facts are easily verifiable. The physical evidence of hysterectomy can be found in the women’s bodies. It is a matter of fact, not opinion. And if those who managed to escape the cult have evidence consistent with their accusations, does it not behove those people actually responsible for their welfare to conduct an investigation into the condition of the other named women in the MEK who are trapped incommunicado in (the ironically named) Camp Liberty.”[15]

There may be a much longer list of abuses committed in the Cult of Rajavi, as some of them were already reported by Human Rights Watch in 2005. This is what terribly disturbs the leaders of the MKO. To defend themselves they have no way except using their old tactic, labeling them “agent of regime”. Such reaction cheers defectors up as they see that they’ve been successful to bug the cult leaders.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]Singleton, Ann, Do not Disturb – Criminals at work in Camp Liberty, IranInterlink, January 5, 2013
[2]Iran Interlink, More smoke and mirror from the MEK propaganda factory, January &, 2013
[3]Singleton, A, SADDAM’S PRIVATE ARMY: How Rajavi Changed Iran’s Mojahedin from Armed Revolutionaries to an Armed Cult, IRAN INTERLINK, 2003, ISBN 0-9545009-0-3
[4]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saddams-Private-Army-Mojahedin-Revolutionaries/dp/0954500903
[5] Singleton, A, SADDAM’S PRIVATE ARMY: How Rajavi Changed Iran’s Mojahedin from Armed Revolutionaries to an Armed Cult, IRAN INTERLINK, 2003, ISBN 0-9545009-0-3
[6]ibid. Page 57
[7] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/3261
[8]ibid
[9] BBC Monitoring, Massoud Rajavi accused of "sexual exploitation" of women, September 22 2010
[10]Fars News Agency, MKO Ringleaders Abuse Female Memoires Sexually, December 25, 2012
[11]Fars News Agency, The Ideal Summit Mujahedin Khalq makes women unfertile, October 15, 2008
[12] Singleton, Ann, Do not Disturb – Criminals at work in Camp Liberty, IranInterlink, January 5, 2013
[13] Fars News Agency, MKO Ringleaders Abuse Female Memoires Sexually, December 25, 2012
[14] Singleton, Ann, Do not Disturb – Criminals at work in Camp Liberty, IranInterlink, January 5, 2013
[15]ibid

January 22, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

European intellectual views on the Cult of Rajavi – Part2

Dena Peace and Freedom Association interviewed a European intellectual on the Cult of Rajavi(MKO/MEK). Ms. Shemeltz who is an expert and scholar on psychotherapy, has personal and scientific experience about cults.

As the representative of Dena Peace and Freedom Association, Mr. Mohsen Abbasslou talked with the honorable expert, Ms. Shemeltz.

Abbasslou: Ms. Shemeltz, many people can hardly believe that an organization or an individual could be able to keep and control thousands of people under the name of struggle in one place for about three decades. Do you think that Rajavi has used an especial formula and method to control members’ minds and bodies?

Ms.Shemeltz: in the MKO, they use an apparently simple but very dangerous formula. Everyone is in the group is told: “You are like brothers and sisters for each other and you should call each other “Brother” or “Sister”.

The other day I saw a sentence on the wall of a mosque. It was written “if your spiritual brother or sister tells you that you are wrong about something, you shouldn’t get upset but you should try to correct your mistake and then thank your brother or sister for the notice."

In a glance, the slogan is a positive one but if you deeply think about it you’ll find out that the slogan is implying that you should supervise your spiritual brother or sister to seek for his or her mistakes. According to the science of behavior such an instruction is considered good for reforming a society but in a particular organization or group especially a religious one, with special goals, it can be very dangerous.

In the Rajavi’s establishment, exactly the same instruction is used in safety measures. Members are told, ”If your brother or sister tells you something or monitors you, you shouldn’t turn sour but you should confirm what you’re told because this is good for your promotion in the organization.”

They are told or they in fact are responsible to watch the comrade next to themselves.
Rajavi has efficiently used the formula. Everyone should watch his comrade. Everyone is monitored by many eyes in everywhere. You are controlled by your organizational brothers and sisters all the time and in all places so the risk of committing organizational mistakes decreases. The organizational formula in the MKO is: to control one person by the one next to him. The formula has been so efficient in the MKO. To the mentioned formula, you should add suppression and violation of private and public space of members by the cult leaders.

The controlling formula is supported by organizational punishment.

Rajavi is an intelligent person on the ground of using contrasts in inhuman way. Using political contrasts in the past and present time, he could build places like Ashraf or Ouver Sur d’Oise to control individuals.

He well recognized political splits and used the challenges and clashes in politics to maintain the structure of his cult. He knows whom to contact with in the world of politics using opportunist and venal politicians.

In my opinion, the leader of Mujahedin cult has recruited a team of these opportunists, venal politicians. He makes deals with them to achieve his organizational and political objectives. It is not difficult to find such sort of people in Europe and the West. Nowadays, such people are numerous.

Translated by Nejat Society

January 17, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

MKO Executes Discontent Members before Leaving Camp Ashraf

The anti-Iran terrorist group, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR), has executed a group of its discontent members and commanders before the forced MKO Executes Discontent Members before Leaving Camp Ashraf evacuation of its main training camp in Northern Iraq.

In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.

Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.

Now, a report by the website of the Habilian Association, a human rights NGO formed of the families of 17000 Iranian terror victims, said that .. a mass grave in Camp Ashraf (now the Camp of New Iraq) before leaving the place.

The report added that Seyed Taleb Mohammad Hassan, the head of Diyala provincial council, was quoted by Iraqi Kurdistan Navkho news agency as saying that "relevant bodies have investigated the corpses in the mass grave and found out that some of those buried in there had been executed by the MKO".

Further investigations showed that these murdered individuals "have been killed for criticizing or opposing the MKO", he added.

Earlier in January, Sadeq al-Husseini, the deputy chairman of Diyala Provincial
Council, said several mass graves had been unearthed in Camp Ashraf.

He said that the bodies were being examined in medical laboratories in Arbil Province, adding that human rights violations in the camp did not seem improbable.

In a 28-page report titled "No Exit: Human Rights Abuses Inside the MKO Camps," the Human Rights Watch described MKO camps in Iraq and the severe human rights violations committed by the group against its members.

The report says dissident members and those rank and files wishing to leave the organization were subject to "lengthy solitary confinements, severe beatings, and torture".

"The witnesses reported two cases of deaths under interrogation. Three dissident members – Abbas Sadeghinejad, Ali Ghashghavi, and Alireza Mir Asgari -witnessed the death of a fellow dissident, Parviz Ahmadi, inside their prison cell in Camp Ashraf."

Earlier this month, reports said a growing number of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization members are leaving the terrorist group as MKO ringleaders are using all types of physical and mental tortures against members to prevent their mass defection.

"As far as I know, due to the MKO’s physical controls and psychological and mental pressures on the members, a large number high and mid-ranking members of the Organization in the transit camp (Camp Liberty) are after a suitable opportunity to escape and defect from the rogue cult as soon as possible," a defected member was quoted as saying by the Persian-language Neday-e-Haqiqat (the Voice of Truth) website.

According to the recent reports, tens of veteran MKO members in Camp Liberty (the transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq) have left the terrorist group during the last month.

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 grouplet are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

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 argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.
2013-01-13
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9107135267

January 14, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

MKO’s Ideological Revolution, an Absolute Deviation

The Cult of Mojahedin; A Modern Cult of Personality – 3

The internal ideological revolution was the turning point that paved the way for the transformation of MKO to a cult of personality. Rajavi needed to construct a plot, regardless of the large cost, similar to that of the ideological drift in 1975 drafted by Taghi Shahram, who broke the seemingly Islamic ideology of the organization and officially announced it to be Marxism. Consequently, Shahram suppressed any protest and opposition and even plotted assassinations to liquidate opponents or as a method of silencing them.

Now ten years later, in 1985, Rajavi had faced a more complicated situation worse than before. The announced armed warfare with the heavy cost imposed both on regime and the organization had proved totally unproductive. Rajavi had come under harsh criticism and disapproval and blamed for his countless errors that had led to discredit what was being advertised as a revolutionary movement because of excessive use of unnecessary terror. And Rajavi was in urgent need of exploiting the intact huge potentiality of female insiders as motivators in inter-organizational relations and a prototype of a campaigning modern woman for tradition-bond Iranian women. The big change started itself with another error and scandal and the Rajavis, Massoud and Maryam, were the firsts to publicly break with Islamic and Iranian tradition; a wife’s infidelity misrepresented a sacred act and was considered as a turning point in the campaigns of the organization as well as a shocking strike against Islamic Republic regime! Any logical mind could anticipate what would be the outcome of a change started by challenging established traditions that Rajavi judged as impediments in the path of spurring innovations. MKO was the first in Iranian contemporary history to publicly legitimizing the unconventional remarriage of a woman immediately after her divorce.

Maryam was known to be the fruit of the so-called “ideological revolution” and who, consequently, paved the way for the other details of the revolution and was built a prototype for Iranian women. Mehdi Abrishamchi, a ranking aid to Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi’s late husband, was himself the one to make the first sacrifice for the revolution! and among the firsts to justify his wife’s divorce and her remarriage to Rajavi:

Maryam had to be either unquestionably promoted to a high status in the organization free from any [conjugal] obligation, just like Massoud, and be totally devoted to revolution or had to give it up. 1

According to Abrishamchi, since Maryam had to be promoted to a leadership status and every decision in the organization had to be made by Maryam and Massoud together, the matrimonial obligations and restrictions prevented Maryam to be in Massoud’s company all the time. She had to deny all her obligations and tear whatever bonded her except to Massoud and the revolution. As such, her divorce and remarriage before anything was instilled to be the accomplishment of a revolutionary obligation. Thus, the marriage was hailed as a great sacrifice made by Masoud and Maryam and all the members had to follow the steps to undertake their own revolution not in a similar line with the leaders but by identifying their personal shortcomings in later arranged self-criticism sessions. Immediately following the Rajavi’s marriage, the military command of the MKO issued a directive stating:

In order to carry out your organizational duties under the present circumstances, there is an urgent need to strengthen and deepen this ideological revolution. You must pay the necessary price by allocating sufficient time and resources for absorbing related teachings…Thus in your daily routines give priority to listening to radio messages and explanations provided by your commanders. Believe in the central committee’s proclamation that “this ideological revolution will enhance the Mojahedin’s capacities enormously; it will ever more unify and cleanse our ranks.”…Be certain that your deep belief in the novel leadership of the new democratic revolution of the heroic Iranian people, meaning Masoud and Maryam Rajavi, and by making a direct connection with this leadership and setting it as your example….you will be able to correct your work habits and be able to deal with and resolve personal, organizational, and military difficulties. 2

It was followed by another directive issued by the Social Division commanding the members to prove their revolutionary obedience by submitting to the initiated self-criticism tradition within the organization:

To understand this great revolution…is to understand and gain a deep insight into the greatness of our new leadership, meaning the leadership of Masoud and Maryam. It is to believe in them as well as to show ideological and revolutionary obedience of them…By correcting your old work habits and by criticizing your individual as well as collective shortcomings, we shall gain much awareness in confronting our enemies…Report to your commanders and superiors in a comprehensive manner your progress, its results and outcomes that you gain from promoting and strengthening this ideological revolution. 3

Consequently, protests were aborted and a cult of personality was provided for the leader and his wife to the sanctuary of where nobody was permitted either to enter or violate it. The experience taught Rajavi to apply this tactic to remove any obstacle and save the organization and him when facing a challenge. His Machiavellian inclinations and his seizing any opportunity to achieve his goals made the impossible possible for him. The members` crushed identity had made them undergo an amazing metamorphosis to follow the orders. The exploited coercive mental and physical approaches against the insiders developed into a counteraction against the ever-increasing criticisms and protests.

According to many MKO’s ex-members, in this phase, under the pretext of security considerations, many dissident members and critics were either imprisoned or killed suspiciously and the first consequences of settlement in Iraq was establishing prisons and exercising mental and physical pressures on prisoners. The worst was despicable justification by zealous devotees of Rajavies for such maltreatment and offenses which they called the inevitable consequence of the ideological revolution which they believed to be necessary for assessing the loyalty of members to leadership. In their opinion, themselves enjoying the abundant luxury of the post-revolution, blind obedience and submission to imprisonment, as well as suffering physical and mental tortures were indications of expressing absolute devotion and loyalty to the leadership.

Resources:

1. The delivered lecture by Mehdi Abrishamchi on the internal ideological revolution within MKO, [1985].
2. Mojahed, No. 241, April 4, 1985.
3. Mojahed, No. 242, April 12, 1985.

January 14, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MKO and the Demonizing Campaign

Nobody is immune from the threatening, anti-human, cultic practices of MKO

Everybody is curious as to why any defected member and escapee from MKO happen to be an Nobody is immune from the threatening, anti-human, cultic practices of MKO agent of Iranian regime whenever the organization ever publicizes the news of some defection itself. The announcement does not appear just after the escape or defection but months and even years later and after the group fails to come to terms with the defected to stop him/her talking out. The stigma, MKO believes, on the one hand will possibly neutralize the disclosures and on the other, hand will boost a propaganda battle to talk big of its intelligence potentiality in detecting the infiltrated agents. Thus, it may appear to many as a never-ending battle between MKO and Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and security; and of course the more secretive and sophisticated the ministry is depicted the more capable its rival can be proclaimed.

But there are other reasons for MKO to enter a demonizing campaign against the regime’s security apparatus. Majority of the ranking members who leave MKO have been aware of hypocrisy and corruption within the group and majority are victims of cultic abuses themselves. However, as they have maintained an element of independence and some connection with their old values, they consider it a responsibility to become a volunteer to disclose facts long concealed from the public under a variety of pseudo social and democratic activities. Naturally, unable to provide justifiable responses to what MKO claims allegations against it, the group directs countless hateful attacks and attempts at character assassination of the defected members. The smear and character assassination campaign against dissidents further ensures that the exposé continues with full force.

That is why MKO was among the firsts to publicize the report by the Library of Congress report on Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security and to translate its parts, particularly those concerning MKO and ex-members, into other languages to be circulated in a variety of affiliated web-sites and blogs. Although the report itself blends fact and fiction, a look at the given references leaves no doubt that either MKO has been tasked with the responsibility to prepare the report or has acted as a close consultant in preparation. Typically, whenever a disclosure is made by some defected member, MKO call it a slander against the group and a work of individuals who officially work with the regime. To look at it through the eyes of MKO and its leaders, anybody who is against the group is an agent of Iranian regime, that is to say all Iranian people but the group’s members and sympathizers. They include even the families who insist to see their relatives and children held against their will by the group.

To have a real understanding of the intra-organizational behaviors and principles within MKO in relation with the defection of members, the split and runaway of a member, and the ranking members in particular, is considered an unforgivable sin since the escapes have always faced the group with serious challenges. That is mainly because they make the closed group vulnerable to outsiders’ scrutiny. As a rule, the members are organized into teams and units each headed and controlled by a loyal ranking who is directly responsible for the deeds of his subordinates and their defections and escapes since they impose considerable political costs on the organization due to the fact that it would be hard to figure how much information is disclosed by the defected and to whom. Even the rank-and-files are under tight control if they turn to be willing to leave. To tell the truth, neither the insiders nor the ex-members as the outsiders are immune from the threatening, anti-human, cultic practices of MKO. It is a global threat and problem to be dealt with.

January 13, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

European intellectual views on the Cult of Rajavi

As the representative of Dena Peace and Freedom Association, Mr. Mohsen Abbasslou talked with the honorable expert, Ms. Shemeltz.

Abbaslou: Ms. Shemeltz! Thank you so much for your time. You are a psychotherapist and once you have lived in a cult in Western Africa so you get precious experience on living in cults. We are so pleased to have you here. You trusted Peace and Freedom Association and declared your readiness to share your ideas and experiences with us. This is an honor for our association.

Ms. Shemeltz! You are well informed about practices of cults. How do you define the MKO or in better words the Cult of Rajavi?

Ms. Shemeltz: I consider the system used in the MKO Cult the same as the system used in North Korean camps. In these camps everything is run by force and aggression. As I know and according to documents I studied on the MEK cult the impact of stalinistic approaches on the MEK is too significant.

For me, the story of the cult of Rajavi is like an unbelievable myth. During the 1970s there were various versions of such organizations but the MKO is very complicated. It does not comply with today world. The MKO members are sort of frozen people.

On the other hand, the leaders of the cult of Mujahedin present themselves as progressive and modern. Their inner reality does not go with the mask they wear outside.

Mr. Abbasslou: as an expert, how do you think the Cult of Rajavi could control and imprison individuals for so many years? How is this psychologically and scientifically feasible?

Ms. Shemeltz: in my opinion, before they enter the organization, people do not know how it works and what its functions are. They arrive in the cult while they know nothing about its internal relations, so they suddenly find themselves imprisoned. I think the MKO takes the members’ common sense.

Members of the cult even can’t go for a walk out of their camp. They have no individual freedom. The cult has taken their entire power for decision making or choosing. The members, held imprisoned in the cult have defined a strategy for themselves to stay alive:

“We obey the organization regulations to stay alive. We have no way out!”

Translated by Nejat Society

To be continued

January 8, 2013 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

MKO Ringleaders Abuse Female Members Sexually

Those female members of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) who were residing in Camp Ashraf, the former training center of the group in Iraq, were abused by the MKO ringleaders sexually, a defected member revealed on Monday.

According to a report by Ashraf News website, Zahra Sadat Mir-Baqeri, one of the defected leaders of the MKO, said that she has some information about the sexual abuse of female members by the main ringleader of the terrorist group, Massoud Rajavi.

"Rajavi abused women in the Camp Ashraf sexually and there is a list of 100 young girls and women who had gone under surgical operations to be raped by Rajavi," she said.

Mir-Baqeri said that the surgical operations were carried out to take out the victims’ wombs so that they would not be pregnant after being raped by Rajavi. This is while they were falsely told that they needed surgical operations for being infected with anemia or kidney problems.

Earlier, a human rights group expressed deep concerns about the deteriorating conditions of over 3,000 members of the MKO who are under torture and harassment by the leaders of the group in Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq.

In March 2011, another defected member of the MKO revealed that the female members of the group have been living under captivity for more than 25 years and are not even allowed to appear in public places alone.

"It can be firmly said that 95% of the women in Ashraf Camp (the terrorist group’s resort in Iraq) have not even been allowed to step in Iraq’s public and recreational places alone all throughout the last 25 years," the defected member said.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the grouplet are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

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 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.

Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.

December 25, 2012 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

The Cult of Mojahedin; A Modern Cult of Personality – 2

The transformation of MKO to a pseudo-religious cult occurred through a lengthy process

For sure, as many experts on the subject believe, there are certain similarities between cults and The transformation of MKO to a pseudo-religious cult occurred through a lengthy process terrorist groups in the way each uses sophisticated psychological techniques to indoctrinate their devoted members. As a matter of fact, there exists a high potentiality in a terrorist group to actually change into a dangerous cult as it possesses cult features, because any group that challenges adopted norms that advocates moving against the current for sure it avails backdrop of a cult. In the same way, any cult has the potential to be a terrorist group. in the case of MKO it is not an exception.

But still there is a question to put that how and when it happened that MKO transformed from a Marxist-oriented political group with a fundamental ideology of advocating armed warfare to what is today known as a total cult of personality. Speculations fueled by a considerable bulk of studies as well as assertions by detached and former MKO members center on the fact that it was not an overnight transformation but a plot that hatched gradually through some lengthy process of guilefully outlined stages. Ali Akbar Rastgoo, an ex-member, firmly believes that MKO had some cult-like features even from the beginning but due to some reasons, they did not break the surface:

The transformation of MKO to a dangerous pseudo-religious cult occurred through a lengthy process. It has to be pointed out that it was a potentiality existing from the very beginning in the organization’s Islamic-Marxist eclectic ideology. If it failed to be manifested in those first years of its formation, it was because it was impossible to build up the current relations at that time. [1]

There are more than enough evidences to prove that Massoud Rajavi had a personal ambition of establishing a cult of personality after a complete failure in armed warfare and facing an overall political stalemate that led his group into total isolation from the masses. Even before the initiation of the military phase and declaring armed struggle against the regime in 1980, some eminent political figures well acquainted with MKO envisaged it would turn into a cult sooner or later. And Rajavi needed some information before taking the first step. Ali Ferasati, an ex-member, discloses that in 1984 while in Paris, Rajavi ordered the information bureau of umbrella groups and associations to do comprehensive studies about the structure of cults in the West:

In 1984, the information bureau of associations was asked to conduct a study into the Western religious cults. The reason was said to be since the imperialists were pushing policies ahead through religious cults, the organization needed to find out what the cults were doing and under what mechanism. … At the time I got to the bottom that Massoud [Rajavi] was aware of the fact that the organization was getting disintegrated and thus, he wanted to see how the western cults operated so he could follow their model. [2]

It may seem hard to believe that the first seeds of MKO’s transition to a cult of personality were sown in the heart of the Western democratic and free soil following the shocking initiation of a heretic inter-organizational revolution within MKO. In fact, before MKO relocation to Iraq to execute cultic relations in Camp Ashraf as its main cult bastion, the cult thought had passed beyond its embryo stage at Auvers-Sur-Oise in Paris. The four-year settlement of MKO in France and a great accumulation of members made them engaged in a routine bureaucracy that caused a staff crisis. Many other factors such as daily-life problems, lack of a clear strategy in 1981 to 1985, critical detachment and separation of members and lack of motivation as a result of long residence in France, attractions of life and beauties of European countries all and all caused the organization suffer acute crises. Besides, Rajavi was receiving formal messages and invitations from Saddam Hussein for a complete transfer of the organization to Iraq. The group had been caught in a difficult dilemma since Iraq was at war with Iran and Saddam was the most hated man in the eyes of Iranian. As a matter of fact, move to Iraq was equal to involving in an unforgivable conspiracy against a nation for whom the group had promised freedom and democracy.

Knowing the problem and hearing murmurs of protest from the ranking members against his goals and plans, Massoud Rajavi came to a conclusion to make a basic change in the already adopted conventional model of the Leadership Council for steering his group. On the other hand, the very existence of the Leadership Council had to be dissolved as it was an obstacle and threat to his authoritative leadership and he needed a plan to dissolve it. To find a way around all these problems and to pave the way to break any probable resistance, it required a very wise, deep plan which should also support a kind of revolutionary move. Besides, Rajavi was already embroiled in the scandal of having intimate and amorous relations with his office secretary, Maryam Qajar Azodanlu, the wife of Mehdi Abrishamchi at the time. The relation uncovered, it could cause a serious crash against the structure of the group that claimed to highly value moral principles in its campaign.

References:

1. Ra’isi and et al. Ravand-e Jodaee (originally in Persian) “The process of separation”. 1979. Samadie publication. p.164.
2. Massoud Jabani; Ravanshenasi Khoshunat va Terror (originally in Persian) “A psychology of aggression and terror” , Khavaran publication. p.127.

December 15, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Beware of MEK terror group and their activities in your buildings

Open letter to the Chairperson and Members of the French Parliament

Greetings,

On Wednesday 5 December, 2012 the PMOI/MEK related websites reported that in her speech in Open letter to the Chairperson and Members of the French Parliament one of the halls at the French Parliament building, Maryam Rajavi demanded that France and the EU support what she called “the Iranian Resistance” similar to what has been done with regards to Syria. “Rajavi emphasized that French Government which has played a decisive role in recognizing the Syrian resistance, must also take up the initiative for a new policy in EU” and “wants Paris and EU to recognize (what she called) “the Iranian resistance” for the regime change in Iran.”

We, the writers of this letter, are from Iran Pen Association in Europe that consists of defectors from the Iranian group PMOI/MEK. Our activities include Human Rights promotion and helping Iranian refugees. The majority of us have each spent more than twenty years inside the Rajavi’s cult in Iraq and each one of us has abundant experience and knowledge of the PMOI/MEK leadership (Masoud and Maryam Rajavi), its cult nature, terrorist activities and its rule of terror, deceit and humiliation inside the Organization. Despite the lobbying policy of the PMOI/MEK in the West and its efforts to spend enormous sums of money to buy western politicians’ support on one hand, and despite its policy of character assassination of whomever Iranian or non-Iranian that opposes this cult, on the other; we are ready to shed in-depth light for you into all the deceitful ways and functions of PMOI/MEK. We warn against any alliance with this anti democratic cult and bring your attention to the following key factors:

– Basically, PMOI/MEK and its cover named National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), have no legitimate stance and presence amongst Iranian opposition organizations and personalities. The leftist groups and parties, Nationalists, Monarchists, the national-religious groups, Unity of Republicans and secular forces acknowledge the PMOI/MEK as a totalitarian cult. It is also much noteworthy that Rajavi’s cult has no support in the Iranian society, a fact shown clearly during the widespread and huge demonstrations of the Iranian people that were staged against the controversial presidential election of Ahmadinejad’s first term. Rajavi’s treacherous role as Sadam Hussain’s fifth column during Iraq’s war against Iran is very much detested by Iranians and his recent efforts to buy support and gain aids from some Western politicians is widely seen as his new attempts to offer mercenary services.

– In a recent analytical book by the French Senator Ms. Nathalie Goulet, titled “ the PMOI: a cult in the heart of France” (L’OMPI: au Coeur de la Republique); she begins by warning the French senators and members of the French Parliament about this cult. While objecting at suspicious relations of some French figures with the PMOI, Senator Goulet questions these figures and French Government: “How is that an organization having all the characteristics of a cut in France, is recognized as a political organization or party?” and that “In the light of democratic values, is any group which claims that is against a dictatorship can be recognized as a democratic organization or party?” The Senator concludes: “With regards to the PMOI background it is hard to believe that an organization which still suffers from all the pains and illnesses of a totalitarian group has changed into a democratic organization. Illnesses such as personality cult, terrorist activities, hidden financial resources, utilizing lies, deceit, threats to discredit the characters of the citizens.”

– Iranian and non-Iranian writers and researchers have so far published numerous revealing books and articles about the dark and hideous aspects of Rajavi’s cult. The Human Rights Watch report and RAND’s analysis have described some shocking facts about the suppression of the members and cadres of PMOI in its various garrisons in Iraq.

– Rajavi’s “divine” personality cult and his totalitarian and absolute rule are extremely dangerous for any society in the 21st century. He uses any immoral and inhuman means in order to get to power. When the widespread demonstration of the “Green Movement” swept Iranian cities, in a message to his followers at Camp Ashraf, Rajavi said that if the Green Movement succeeded and the reformists were to come to power in Iran; then the PMOI armed forces would topple such a reformist government, using the “model” of Lenin’s armed uprising against the Kerensky Government in Russia and grasping the power. Furthermore, Rajavi’s continuous enmity against all the Iranian figures and parties (inside and outside Iran) that oppose the Islamic Republic regime is yet another undeniable sign of Rajavis’ totalitarian doctrine and attitude. Therefore; when Maryam Rajavi compares her totalitarian cult with the pluralist and widespread Syrian Coalition against Bashar Assad, she yet again utilizes gross deceit and lies to cover up her organization’s hideous nature.

– In order to realize just how corrupt the PMOI leadership is, you should know that for more than 40 years Masoud Rajavi has been the absolute and unquestionable leader of this cult and he states that he is only accountable to God. At the same time for nearly 20 years Maryam Rajavi has been named as the “president” of Iran by Rajavi’s cover up entity, the NCRI. Her almost 20 year “presidency” reminds one of long life dictatorial presidents in the Middle East such as Saddam Hussain of Iraq, Gadhafi of Libya, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Ben Ali of Tunisia, Hafez and Bashar Assad of Syria.

The truth and reality is that due to the religious-cult nature of the PMOI/MEK, any support given to it by French politicians will have far more disastrous implications than USA’s backing of Osama Bin Laden in Afghanistan during the Russian invasion of that country. Therefore, we believe that if the West in general and France in particular want to be on the side of the Iranian people and their desire for freedom and democracy, then the western politicians should really distance themselves from PMOI/MEK which is based upon a religious and totalitarian cult. We, as the direct victims of this cult; object to any warn against any support for PMOI.

Yours sincerely ,
Iran Pen Association, Germany

December 10, 2012 0 comments

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