Mujahedin Khalq as a Destructive Cult

Mr. Najarian declares his separation from MKO

I am Mohammad Reza Najarian, former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization. Here, I declare my separation from the cult of Rajavi [the MKO].

I missed about 11 years of my life as a member of the cult. I had left my family, my life, my younghood and all my other favorites for the sake of MKO and its leader, and the illusion of struggle for prosperity of the Iranian nation.

After I joined the cult in Iraq, I underwent too much suffering for over a decade. At least I came to the painful fact that the organization had abused me and thousands of other members who had once joined it devotedly and sincerely. It was nothing but a destructive cult of personality that was due to satisfy the interests of Rajavi.

I came up to make the decision so late because I was captured in the cult-like atmosphere of the group. The organization had cut us off the outside world and had barred the infiltration of any news or information from the world.

My family had several times come to Camp Ashraf during the past three years but I never got informed that my old parent had born the sufferings of such a trip to visit me.

I declare that the only thing that is not worth in his view is the life of human beings.

Translated by Nejat Society,

January 31, 2012 0 comments

USA

State Department Documents Expose Terror Group MEK

An Iranian group that has attracted high-level support from former White House and senior national security officials, was dealt a body blow last week in its effort get off the terrorism list, when the State Department released a series of documents the group had sought under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

According to the documents the group, known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, or MKO), supported the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran in November 1979 – not a position to endear itself to U.S. diplomats – before its “gradual elimination from the ruling coalition” by Ayatollah Khomeini less than two years later.

The new documents describe the MEK terror campaign against the Islamic regime during the 1980s and 1990s, and the group’s alliance with Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

According to hundreds of Iranians interviewed by State Department “Iran watchers” in Dubai, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Germany, the ties to Saddam were the most damning.

“Ordinary Iranians were almost uniformly dismissive of the MEK, reacting with either disdain or apathy,” a recent cable from the U.S. Consulate in Dubai states.

“The MEK are detested among the young and old in Iran, although many young Iranians don’t know much about them,” the cable quotes one Iranian as having told U.S. diplomats.

“They are hated among Iranians, since their hands are stained with the blood of their fellow countrymen,” another Iranian is quoted as saying in the just-released cable.

A host of former senior U.S. officials have come out in public in support of the group, including, most recently, President Obama’s former National Security Advisor, Gen. Jim Jones.

At pro-MEK event in Brussels on May 25, former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, former NATO commander Gen. Wesley Clark, former State Department counter-terrorism coordinator Ambassador Dell Dailey, and others, argued that the MEK should be treated as a legitimate Iranian opposition group.

As the U.S. and the European Union continued to ratchet up sanctions on the Islamic Republic of Iran this week, many members of Congress are pressing the State Department to remove the MEK from the terrorism list, as the European Parliament has recently done.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton have also staked out positions in favor of the group. All three are potential Republican presidential candidates in 2012.

But the newly declassified State Department cables paint a much darker picture of the group, starting with the victimization of its own members if they strayed from the party line or tried to leave the organization.

Several recent cables from the U.S. embassy in Baghdad detail interviews with MEK members who managed to escape from Camp Ashraf, a military base northeast of Baghdad that was assigned to the group by Saddam Hussein in the late 1980s.

Since the liberation of Iraq by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003, the group has been confined to quarters. Tensions with the Iraqi government have been building, and 34 MEK members were killed in April during clashes with Iraqi Army units.

The escapees – refereed to as “defectors” in the State Department cables – painted a harsh picture of repression in the MEK camp, and claimed that the group’s leader had issued standing orders that anyone caught trying to escape should be immediately executed.

“Many of the defectors alleged psychological and physical harm at the hands of the MEK, including solitary confinement in MEK jails in Ashraf,” one cable states.

Some of the MEK escapees said they had been “lured from Iran with promises of study abroad opportunities” or “by offers of travel abroad.” Others were Iranian POWs captured by the Iraqis during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war who were sent to Camp Ashraf with a promise they would soon be repatriated to Iran or resettled in a third country.

The defectors “reaffirmed existing perceptions of the MEK as a cult-like organization that thrives on maintaining control of its members and those lured to Ashraf under false pretenses,” the cable states.

Allan Gerson, a Washington, DC attorney representing the group in its efforts to get removed from the State Department’s list of international terrorist organizations, dismissed the new documents as “much ado about nothing” when he released them at a lavish Capitol Hill reception last Wednesday.

“The question is why, when every single Camp Ashraf residents were taken outside [sic], and interviewed by the U.S. military in American controlled facilities in 2003 and 2004, and each were given the choice to leave, none of those individuals had done so?” Gerson asked.

But the State Department cable that recounts the stories of the MEK escapees, flatly contradicts Gerson’s assertion.

“The defectors confirmed that this was their first encounter with any foreign mission and welcomed future visits,” the cable states. “The defectors were all unified in their desire to leave Iraq… Many accurately pointed out that their failed resettlement has offered little incentive for other residents to leave Ashraf, fearing similar hopelessness and ‘purgatory’ in Iraqi hotels.”

The undated cable, signed “Hill,” appears to have been written in 2009 or 2010, when Christopher Hill was the U.S. ambassador to Baghdad.

Already in 1994, the State Department sent a damning 41-page report to Congress, detailing why it considered the MEK a terrorist organization.

The “original sin” of the group was the murder of three U.S. officers and three civilian contractors working for the Shah’s government between 1973-1976.

MEK representatives claim that the murders were carried out by a “Marxist splinter group” before Massoud Rajavi became MEK leader in 1979. But Mujahedin newsletters published in Iran in 1980 celebrated the murders, calling the U.S. victims “criminal agents of U.S. Imperialism in Iran.”

During an FBI investigation code-named Operation Suture, an FBI agent who infiltrated Camp Ashraf and posed as an MEK member reported that the group continued to celebrate the anniversary of those murders in late 1980s.

The MEK says that it abandoned violence against the Islamic regime in Iran in 2001, after a campaign of mortar attacks and hit-and-run raids against Iranian military and law enforcement personnel failed to win it popular support inside Iran.

Kenneth R. Timmerman is Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Iran and a Contributing Editor at Newsmax Media

January 29, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

My day with a real Thrill Kill Cult: the MEK

During a recent rally in front of the White House, hundreds of members and supporters of the Mujahideen-e Khalq (MEK) advocated for the MEK’s removal from the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. The MEK (which also goes by other names, such as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran) is a group of militants and activist front groups, composed largely of Iranian exiles, operating since the 1960s. Their flag-drenched rally featured guest speakers, a “die-in,” and many fliers and pictures, all to promote the group’s overall message: the MEK are freedom fighters and representatives of the aspirations of the Iranian people; their members at Camp Ashraf in Iraq are in mortal danger if the Iraqi government tries to relocate them; and the organization should be removed from the terrorist list. They were not counting on a two-man counter-leafleting team to arrive with a stack of fact sheets delivering a distinctly different message: the MEK is a personality cult with a long history of violence directed at Iranians, Americans, and Iraqi Kurds and Shi’a; they will shift their loyalties as it suits their delusional goal of taking power in Tehran; American neoconservatives (and others) have spoken openly of using the MEK as proxies for a war with Iran’s present government; and, as a result of the above factors, the MEK has no legitimacy within Iran, even among those who despise the current regime.

The MEK supporters who saw these fact sheets reacted with varying levels of outrage. I was accused of being in the pay of the Iranian government (and if not the regime in Tehran, then it surely had to be someone), and, somewhat paradoxically, I was also accused of spreading “Rush Limbaugh propaganda.” I suppose this was because the MEK is often said to be ideologically “Islamo-Marxist,” a label composed of two elements that find considerable disfavor among Limbaugh and his cohorts, even if he and his ilk are not usually averse to war with Iran. In any case, it made little sense. Shortly thereafter, in calmer but seemingly endless conversations with MEK supporters, I heard a repeated list of red herrings having to do with the malevolence of the Iranian regime and the plight of the MEK members at Camp Ashraf, who are apparently in many cases relatives and friends of those demonstrating in Washington. I assured my interlocutors that I shared their disdain for the regime in Tehran, and I did not want any misfortune to befall the residents of Camp Ashraf. They barely addressed the organization’s rap sheet…)

Surely enough, in recent weeks the United Nations and the Obama administration have moved ahead with a plan similar to the course of action I tried to promote to the MEK members/supporters in front of the White House: under UN supervision, the 3,200 residents of Camp Ashraf will be moved to Camp Liberty, a recently vacated American base in Baghdad. From there, they will be processed and resettled. Some members with little “political baggage” are apparently willing to return to Iran; others will build new lives in their adopted country of Iraq; and others will be resettled elsewhere in the world. The MEK’s Paris-based leadership seems to be reluctantly cooperating, as is the Iraqi government, though the situation is still very tense and unsettled.

All of this is probably a pragmatic move on the Obama administration’s part. If the MEK members are first moved away from the border with Iran, and then out of the country entirely, that lowers the possibility of an incident on the border exploding into uncontrollable violence. On top of that, the Iraqi government seemed determined to close Camp Ashraf by any means necessary by the end of 2011, thus presenting the administration with a fait accompli: Obama could not allow Republicans (and others) to blame his administration for the humanitarian catastrophe if a group of so-called “Iranian freedom fighters” were massacred by the new Iraqi government, acting without the oversight of American troops. It would matter not that the withdrawal date was decided upon by the Bush administration, as Obama’s opponents would doubtlessly condemn him for fecklessly abandoning a group of rebels who oppose the enemy du jour.

Proponents of the invasion of Iraq often referred to the oppression of Iraq’s Kurds (and, less often, Shi’a) as an example of why Saddam Hussein should be deposed by force. Now, some of the same people, and their ideological brethren, extol the virtues of an organization with a leader (Maryam Rajavi) who is on record as instructing her followers to “Take the Kurds under your tanks” during the MEK’s period of fighting alongside Saddam Hussein. Even if the MEK is entirely removed from Iraq, they will likely continue their aggressive and well-funded lobbying in the US and Europe for the time being. If their behavior and demeanor at their demonstrations is anything to go by, they are thoroughly convinced of the righteousness of their cause, delusional enough to believe they can one day hold power in Iran, and unlikely to care about any collateral damage they create.

(My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult is an industrial rock band from Chicago. — Ed.)
Scott Charney is a contributor to Foreign Policy in Focus.

By Scott Charney, FPIF.org

January 29, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

MKO has ruined my life

Expressing his abhorrence of the deceits of MKO ringleaders during the years of his captivity in Ashraf garrison, one of the former MKO members who has been recently escaped from Camp Ashraf, MKO terrorists’ headquarters in Iraq, stated that 23 years of his life “was ruined in hell”.

According to Habilian Association database (families of terror victims in Iran), the ex-MKO member fled Mojahedin-e Khalq garrison on 23rd November and put an end to 23 years of captivity in the terrorist cult of Rajavi.

“Fessing up to having done wrong is not a sin, and people can make significant changes through willpower and determination at any age,” said the defected member of the MKO terrorist organization.

“I was wrong for more than two decades and I was deceived by Rajavi’s mottos; when I found out his deceptive and manipulative nature I found myself stuck in a hell with no way back.”

“My youth, spirit, feelings, family, freedom, soil and even my humanity have been sacrificed for MKO and their interests,” he stated.

“Those damn leaders did not acknowledge that they have reached a dead end, that they have gone a wrong route from the very beginning, and left hundreds of unanswerable questions of deceived members of the cult unanswered forever.

“I’m glad that finally I regained my freedom and I didn’t get lost in this mirage,” the defected member of MKO cult added.

“Turning back on my dark and bitter past I have high hopes of a nice and glamorous future,” he said in the end.

Saturday, 24 December 2011 Habilian

December 25, 2011 0 comments

France

Rajavi relocates Camp Ashraf to France

Open letter of Iran – Ghalam Association to the honorable Mayors, Former French Representatives and the Deans of Universities in France

It is completely understandable from the current pmoi propaganda( people’s Mujahedin Open letter of Iran - Ghalam Association Organization ) in their Media which this cult is trying its best to transfer and convey its activities from Iraq to the French soil , specially after their strategic failure and impasse in Iraq , now they have targeted the Mayors from different cities in Paris and Val d’Oise province as well as some of the former representatives and members of French parliament by their propaganda.

The members of Iran – Ghalam Association who had been the members of pmoi for a long period of time and fortunately they have succeeded to rescue themselves from the cultic subjective and physical barriers and obstacles and they are currently living in Europe countries such as France, would like to inform the honorable French politicians and warn them about the connection which this cult ( Rajavi cult) wants to have with them.

If the French politicians do not pay enough attention to the vital experiences which these former members of pmoi have about the pmoi threats , allure and propaganda, it does not take long that the same current problem which is about dealing with the presence of this terrorist cult on Iraq soil, will happen on French soil and its politicians as well. For this reason we are urging all French politicians , the former representatives of French parliament and the deans of the French universities to listen to our compassionate warnings and pay enough attention to them.

As you know , after the fall of Saddam Hussein , the former dictator of Iraq , some of the terrorist cults and sects which had regional and universal activities, lost their supporter and their sponsor, one of those cults is pmoi( People’s Mujahedin Organization ).

Pmoi did not have any tolerance to listen to any dissents and criticisms which the dissidents and critics had in their relations in pmoi , and for that reason they were sent to prison to show others a lesson that any objection and criticism against the pmoi leadership will end up in prison. There are many people who tolerated the harsh tortures and long incarcerations in the prisons of Mr and Mrs Rajavi and beyond that the leader of National Council of resistance ( NCR) , the pmoi political wing based in France , has approved and authorized killing and assassination of the dissidents and critics as well.

We would like to pose some questions to the French politicians and the people who have been targeted unilaterally by the pmoi propaganda ;

1. Why is the compulsory divorce , marriage and family ban in pmoi?

2. Why up to now the leaders of pmoi such as Mrs. Maryam Rajavi who is currently living in Auvers Sur Oise , Paris outskirts, have not mentioned anything about the outcome of their strategy of violence and war which terrorized and killed thousands of Iranians ?

3. Why are the members of this cult forced to participate every night in the sessions which is called current mission( Amaliyateh Jari)and they have to reveal their thoughts , imaginations , even their dreams about the opposite sex in those sessions to be ridiculed , insulted , slandered, blamed and punished ?

4. Why in those brainwashing sessions which are the most unethical tactics to put psychological pressure on members to force them to obey and surrender themselves to any illogical demands?

We would like also to mention that all cults need an isolated place with high walls to carry out and implement the brainwashing technique on their members , the Ashraf castle in Iraq and Auvers sur Oise castle in France have provided for such purpose for pmoi terrorist cult .

At the end we would like all the French politicians , the former representatives and members of French parliament and the deans of the French universities, according to the pmoi regional and universal threats to pay enough attention to the vital points and facts which mentioned above.

Respectfully
Iran Ghalam Association

Transcript
-The mayors of France
– The representatives and members of the French parliament
– The deans of Paris universities
-The French presidential office

Ghalam Association,

December 21, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

With deadline looming to close MEK’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq, what next?

The fate of some 3,200 anti-Iran militants on the US terrorism list hang in the balance, as an end-of-year deadline looms to close Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

American officials have expressed fears that the leadership of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/MKO) – which US government reports frequently describe as a cult – may order the massacre of their followers, rather than permit the peaceful disbandment of Camp Ashraf, which would deprive the MEK of one of its most powerful assets.

With deadline looming to close MEK's Camp Ashraf in Iraq, what next?

But Maryam Rajavi, the MEK’s self-styled "president elect" of Iran, said today the group accepted "in principle" a UN plan – if there were "minimum" US and Western guarantees of safety – to relocate members to a former US base near Baghdad airport for individual processing and possible resettlement as refugees.

The Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki, which has close ties to Iran, has made clear its determination to close the base set up by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.

In Iran, the MEK are widely despised as traitors for fighting alongside Iraqi forces in the Iran-Iraq War. In Iraq, few also have sympathy for the group, which Mr. Hussein deployed to help crush a popular Kurdish uprising in 1991.

"How shall we accept the killers of our sons?" asked Adnan al-Shamani, a Shiite lawmaker speaking at a recent government-sponsored conference in Baghdad to protest the MEK presence.

The decision to close the camp was "supported by the majority of parliament and the majority of the Iraqi people," said Mr. Shamani. "No one has the right to impose their will on Iraqi land, except Iraqis."

A negotiated solution?
United Nations and US officials appear to have made some progress in talks with Mrs. Rajavi, who is based in Paris.

Her husband and MEK leader Massoud Rajavi went into hiding in 2003, though several former Ashraf residents claim to have seen him at the camp as recently as 2007, and that he continued to address them by video link until seven months ago.

"After much regrettable stalling, the MEK finally seems ready to engage seriously," a US official told the Inter-Press Service, a news agency, in Washington. The MEK has backed off from "maximalist positions" in recent days, the official said, but "we’re still hearing talk about martyrdom and dying."

The risks of violence are high, and come from both sides. Clashes erupted at Camp Ashraf in April, leaving 34 MEK members dead, when Iraqi forces took control of a portion of the sprawling site. The MEK has a long anti-American history, and as a revolutionary group killed at least six US military advisers in Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, some Pentagon officials saw the MEK as a potential weapon against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Repeated calls by Iraqi officials since 2004 to disband the camp have until now been ignored.

But with the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq this week, options for the MEK have narrowed.

"From their first day in Iraq, [the MEK] accepted to be a tool of the intelligence and security of the former regime, especially against Iran," Saeed Al-Jayashi, a representive of Iraq’s former National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told the recent Baghdad meeting of Iraqi officials, tribal sheikhs, and Iranian families of those in Camp Ashraf.

"Any terrorist group that wants to stay in the country is not looking for safe haven, but a base for terrorist attacks," said Mr. Jayashi. "Western societies talk about human rights; I ask them to save these people from unfair separation from their families, and the strange life in this camp."

"How shall we talk to the Iraqi victims of this organization? We should stand in one line to deport them," he added. "Their choice is to go to Iran or choose another country; you can’t stay in Iraq."

Protests
Several such meetings, and a string of anti-MEK protests in Baghdad and at the Ashraf gate, project the same message.

"No to an extension. Yes to deporting the terrorist group," reads one banner. Family members holding framed portraits wore bibs emblazoned on the back: "Free our children."

Between speeches, one man wearing Iraqi tribal dress stood up and shouted: "These criminals are not from us! We have no connection with them."

A male quartet took to the stage, with a song about MEK "hypocrites" causing thousands of deaths, who were "embracing each other over our bodies."

Despite the MEK’s status on the US terrorism list, which it shares with Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, the group says it renounced violence in 2001.

But the US State Department in autumn 2009 submitted information in court that the MEK had trained women at Ashraf "to perform suicide attacks" in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala.

A declassified FBI report from 2004 similarly found – with data corroborated by French and German wiretaps – that MEK cells in the US, Europe, and Camp Ashraf were "actively … planning and executing acts of terrorism."

Violence renounced?
The MEK denies those charges, and has enlisted dozens of top-ranking former US officials and four-star generals – many of them paid tens of thousands of dollars in speakers fees – to make its case to get off the US terror list, and for protection of those at Camp Ashraf. They say Ashraf’s residents are anti-regime "freedom fighters."

Among the American advocates are former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani; former US homeland security chief Tom Ridge; former CIA directors James Woolsey, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden; and top retired generals such as Wesley Clark, Hugh Shelton, and Peter Pace.

"This is genocide, and we will not have it!" Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told a pro-MEK audience in July, about Iraqi plans to close the camp.[..]

At the camp itself, MEK members long ago had their identity documents confiscated, and have little access to the outside world through phones, Internet, or TV. They must take part in self-criticism sessions to expel "deviant thoughts" and pledge "eternal divorce."

Free will?
A detailed 2009 report, funded by the US military and published by the RAND corporation, says that the majority at Camp Ashraf "may have been recruited through deception" and remain there "against their will.

"Love for the Rajavis was to replace love for spouses and family," the report reads. MEK members once carried cyanide tablets in case of capture, and since 2003 "the MEK frequently used the threat of suicide as a negotiating tactic or to frustrate investigations."

Mrs. Rajavi’s temporary arrest by French authorities on terrorism charges in 2003 prompted a wave of self-immolations.

Recent MEK defectors from the camp interviewed by the Monitor say further dramatic acts may take place, as the deadline nears.

"It’s clear to me, [Mr. Rajavi] wants people to get killed, and send it to the media," argues Shahram Heydari, who left the camp two months ago. When the April clashes took place with Iraqi troops, he claims, "I clearly saw they [MEK] were pushing people forward" into the line of fire.

Rajavi’s "strategy is based on Ashraf," says Mr. Heydari. "He must have the camp to keep power."

Several defectors say they believe Rajavi is in the camp. A former member of the MEK leadership council, Maryam Sanjabi, defected 10 months ago after spending 24 years at Ashraf. She says she saw Mr. Rajavi "many times," up until four years go.

"He’s there, he’s alive…. His orders are being carried out there – he is the brain," says Sanjabi. Years of brainwashing to make MEK members believe Rajavi "is a god," means the leadership may calculate it "doesn’t matter if one thousand people die," she says.

"If you are ordered to burn yourself, you can’t resist: you burn yourself," says Sanjabi.

By Scott Peterson

December 21, 2011 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Three Former members announce separation from the MKO

As it was previously reported, three residents of Camp Ashraf fled the camp on Friday December 2nd,2011 and joined families picketing in front of the Camp.

The following is the statement issued by the three to declare their separation from the MKO:

We, declare our separation from the terrorist cult of Mujahedin Khalq, noting that we were deceived and recruited by Massoud Rajavi and his agents who took us to camp Ashraf Iraq, under the pretext of giving us membership in an employment agency and sending us to Europe.

Once we found out what their real intention was, we tried to return but they threatened us to be handed to Iraqi Baath government that then would imprison us in Abu Quraib and from there we would be sent to Iran where we would allegedly be executed as the MKO members.

Thus, we were forced to spend the best part of our life in Camp Ashraf, imprisoned under daily psychological pressure. Self-criticism sessions and psychological torture were going on every day.

During recent clashes with Iraqi forces, they made us get involved in clashes with Iraqis. They told that the Iraqi soldiers had come there to arrest us and hand us to Iran where we would be certainly tortured and executed. Therefore we thought that we had to fight with Iraqi forces at any cost even our death.

Families’ presence in front of the Camp, created hope of a new life in our hearts and the fear of leaving the group and fear of Iraqi forces lowered in our heart. We were relatively assured that outside Ashraf there would be another life.

The loudspeakers through which families called their children were our only hope in that prison.

We hope that until the day the last resident is released, the presence of families and the sound of their loudspeakers not be ended.

Ultimately, we risked our lives and tried to release ourselves. We had worked on our plan for escape for several months.

We are thankful to the God that helped us escape the horrifying castle and join Iraqi forces.

During our presence in the MKO, we witnessed the atrocities the leaders committed against us and other members. This is our right to campaign against them in Iraqi judicial community as well as the international community for the years MKO leaders deprived us from our basic human rights that are respected by any dictator in any detainment.

Ali Qezel Qarshi entered the MKO in 1992

Sadeq Khavari entered the MKO in 2000

Mohammmad Khavari Golshirmiri entered the MKO in 2000

By SFF – Translated by Nejat Society

December 19, 2011 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Rights Group Calls on UN to Rescue Women from MKO Captivity

An Iran-based rights group voiced deep concern about severe violation of human rights in Camp Ashraf, the main stronghold of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iraq, and The catastrophes taking place for women in the MKO cult urged the UN to rescue the female members of the group who have long been held captive by their ringleaders.

"We, the Association for Defending the Victims of Terrorism (ADVT) in the Middle-East, believe we are required to draw the attention of the authorities of the international bodies to the catastrophes which take place for women in the MKO cult," the ADVT said in a letter to UN Women Executive Director Michelle Bachelet on Sunday.

The letter further mentioned that women in the MKO stronghold in Iraq are deprived of their most basic rights like marriage, pregnancy and even hairdressing.

It also revealed that the MKO ringleaders even force married women to divorce and force them to have hysterectomy in a bid to avoid pregnancies.

A defected member of the MKO revealed in March that the female members of the group had been living in captivity for more than 25 years and were not even allowed to appear in public places alone.

"It can be firmly said that 95% of the women in Camp Ashraf (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.

The former member of the MKO also revealed that nearly 70% of the female members of the terrorist group are single and have not been allowed to marry anyone in or outside the group.

And only a total of 10% of the married members have been allowed to have children, he added..

The defected member mentioned that since 1989 the MKO has deprived its male and female members of the right of marriage, meaning that they are not allowed to form a family and the children of those members who had married before 1989 were taken away from their parents and sent to the European countries.

Also in December, Makki Rafi’ee, another defected member of the MKO, had revealed that the ringleaders of the group have ordered their agents to torture dissidents in a bid to dissuade defection.

Rafi’ee disclosed that agents of the MKO resorted to various types of torture and pressure against him during the last 15 years, and that he had been jailed in the notorious Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq all these years.

"After 15 years of imprisonment in Camp Ashraf and tolerating various tortures by the agents of the grouplet, I managed to escape from the Camp and surrender myself to the Iraqi security forces," he added.

Also, a November 2010 report by the Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, said that under the direct order of MKO’s Ringleader Maryam Rajavi, the ranking members of the terrorist group in the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) do not allow members to receive medical aid and treatment, healthcare and other services unless they provide the group’s leaders with given levels of cooperation.

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

The rights group added that the new measure came after protests remarkably increased inside the group, specially in the camp. 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.

In relevant development, a report revealed in November that Ahmad Razzani, a veteran member of the MKO, had been killed inside the Camp.

According to an August 2010 report by the Habilian Association, the MKO leaders have increased their pressures and control over the members of the terrorist group to prevent possible defection and escape by unsatisfied members.

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.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a letter last year 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).

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.

FNA – 2011-12-04

December 8, 2011 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Open letter to Michelle Bachelet on Women in MKO

ADVT’s Letter to Executive Director of UN Women

In a letter to Ms. Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism depicted the deplorable condition of women in Mojahedin-e Khalq cult.

Dear Ms. Michelle Bachelet:

Executive Director of UN Women

There is a global consensus on the necessity of implementation of the rights of women and the establishment of justice, equity, freedom and dignity for them. However, despite all the efforts made for this purpose, there are still many women who undergo violence and discrimination just for being female. In this regard, the approaches adopted by some cults towards women are the source of the worst types of oppression against them. Based on international reports and documents (including German Federal Office 2003, FBI 2004, Human Rights Watch 2005, RAND 2009, US Department of State 2009, 2010 annual report of the Human Rights Office of UN Assistance Mission in Iraq,…) and the confessions of Mojahedin-e Khalq’s (MKO/MEK/PMOI) defected members, this terrorist cult is one of the worst violator of women’s rights. We, the members of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism of Middle East consider it necessary to draw the attention of the officials of international institutions to the crimes being committed against women in Mojahedin-e Khalq cult. May the preparations for the release of the members of this group be made and all of them specially women can return to their families.

Deplorable conditions of women in this cult: The issue which has raised many concerns is the way of treating women in this cult. Leaders of this terrorist cell have deprived their female members from the rights of marriage, having child, loving their family members, using cosmetics or choosing their own way of life. The surprising point is that women even do not have the right to think about the opposite gender and the violators of this law would deserve prison and punishment. This is while Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”.

Involuntary divorce: a report issued by American National Defense Institute (RAND) reads:” As a part of the “ideological revolution,” the Rajavis mandated divorce and celibacy. Compulsory divorce required couples to place their wedding rings in a bowl and renounce their affections for one another.” However, the rules do not apply to the leaders. This is while section 1 of the Article 16 of the Universal Declaration of human Rights says “Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family.” Since 1985 no one has got married in this cult and this right just applies for the leader. However based on Massoud Rajavi’s decree, all females belong to him and they should not think about any other men.

Separating children from their parents: Most of the female members of the MKO, who had a child before entering into the group, handed over their children to the organization and promised to never think about them. After separating children from their parents, the organization transfers children to other countries and relocates them in charity institutes and through introducing them as orphans raises fund.

Gender separation: Despite MeK’s claim of supporting gender equality and giving leadership roles to women, men and women are kept strictly apart in MeK camps. Housing is segregated by gender, and in other buildings, lines are painted down the middle of hallways, separating them into men’s and women’s sides. The MeK holds daily, weekly, and monthly “sessions” that involve forced public confessions aimed at expelling deviant thoughts and behaviors that are believed to undermine group coherence.

Denying the Right to Motherhood: Referring to the prohibition against giving birth since 1985, defected members of the organization disclosed that most of the female members involuntarily gone under hysterectomy surgery.

Self-immolation: applying brainwashing and mind-manipulation techniques, MKO leads members to death. One of the evidences is the self- immolations of 2003 in which three female members of the MKO (Marzieh Babakhani, Seddigheh Mojaveri and Neda Hassani) set themselves on fire. One of them was 25 years old.

Revealing the sufferings of the families of terrorism victims, Association for Defending Victims of terrorism intends to prevent the innocent men and women from being deceptively recruited by terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Mojahedin-e Khalq. The deplorable situation of 1000 female residents of Ashraf Camp hurts the hearts of all liberals and women’ rights supporters. Therefore, we would like to ask your Excellency to immediately take the necessary steps for returning the imprisoned women of MKO to the bosom of their society and family and avoid their further brain washing by the cruel leaders of Mojahedin-e Khalq cult.

December 7, 2011 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq as an Opposition Group

MeK leadership places massacre of the troops on agenda

After UNHCR, European Union confirmed Iraqi government decision to relocate the MeK inside

After UN, EU confirms Iraqi sovereignty; MeK leadership places massacre of the troops on agenda

its country, and to evacuate Camp Ashraf under control of the UN, therefore they offer another chance to MeK to surrender themselves to law, and give up turbulence and blackmail.

Terrorist group MeK and their supporters were demanding European Union FMs to take position against Iraqi government, and condemn its deadline to exploit them; or accept their Mass asylum, but the EU Did not act according to their demand.

Struan Stevenson, member of European parliament and MeK’s supporter says in this regard:

UN and European Union tell us that we should trust the security of Ashraf residents by Iraqi authorities. Have not we all heard this before? We are told that we should respect to the Iraq’s sovereignty. Well Hitler had sovereignty over the Jews in Nazi Germany. UN and European Union! Wake up For the sake of God!

So, it should be stated that MeK and its supporters also did not benefit from the involvement of Europe in This issue and, hereby, could not provide background to survive their organization. As before, they were dreaming it through intervening of the UN UNHCR in this matter.

Also in this time, the MeK had intended to legitimate their turbulence and blackmail based on possible support of EU and its stance against Iraqi government’s decision.

Frustrated of their inability in abuse of the Europe Union, Maryam Rajavi says in this regard: "Hiding behind the "Iraqi sovereignty" to justify the indifference toward crimes of this government against Ashraf absolutely is unacceptable."

Now, MeK seek to counter Iraqi government and create conflict at the end of the deadline.

From now, MeK leadership is preparing the troops to sacrifice, also he is inducing them that being Ashrafi means that never will we retreat, even one step; and with our deaths, we force the Iraqi government to withdraw. However, until last week, he was promising the desperate forces that the US, the UN, and the EU will protect them.

December 7, 2011 0 comments

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