Mujahedin Khalq as a Destructive Cult

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

News of the families – outside MKO’s Camp Ashraf

Sunday 22 August 2010 – When the six months picketing families outside the gate of Ashraf garrison, the base of the MKO (Rajavi cult), who desire to see their loved ones seized inside the garrison learned about the interview of Ms. Batul Soltani about the immoral behavior of the leader of the MKO Massoud Rajavi inside the cult, they became ever so distressed and were totally ashamed of hearing them. Some were not willing to continue listening; some were in tears while some others were furious. One mother said: “Oh Lord! What is happening to my child inside this group?” while another mother asked: “Do our children know about these events?”

Today the families first decided to announce the matter on the loudspeakers in order to let the people trapped inside Ashraf cultic garrison know about it, but they were all ashamed to do so and no one was prepared doing it. Therefore they gave up. But later they thought that they have some commitments against their relatives.

Would anyone help these suffering mothers?

Finally some families made their minds and decided to read the interview on the loudspeakers with the condition that the ladies go the sleeping container and would not stand opposite Ashraf gate.

Eventually the text of the interview was read. But after a short while, a group of cult manipulated victims stood in front of the families and started insulting, threatening and assaulting them. The families, who well know that the victims of the cult more than anything else need to be helped and saved, did not react likewise and ignored their insults.

We must accept that the former members as well as the families are in a very awkward situation. On the one hand they are ashamed to refer to the immoralities committed inside the cult by Massoud Rajavi and on the other hand they find themselves responsible against the society to give them the right information.

We remember that when Ms. Batul Sotani was in Iraq, she would only refer to these matters in private gatherings without going into details. She always used to say that when she goes to Europe and solves her legal affairs she would reveal many facts. She was determined not to go into the details of such things while interviewing in Baghdad with the Sahar Family Foundation. She used to say that the time is not ripe for it yet.

We also remember that following the revelations of Ms. Nasrin Ebrahimi for the first time in the European Parliament regarding abdominal hysterectomy (removing the uterus) inside the Rajavi cult, Ms. Soltani confirmed it and said that she had the intention of revealing the fact when she goes to Europe and Ms. Ebrahimi was supposed to do so when she gets there as she did. Both Soltani and Ebrahimi did not see any need to reveal the names of the victims, but they said that many women went into that process. They also announced that they are ready to go to Ashraf garrison along with a team of physicians from international organizations for the doctors to examine the women and ask them for what reason they had the operation done.

August 24, 2010 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

PMOI Leadership Council’s women SALVATION DANCE

Ms. Batoul Soltani, the former member of PMOI’s Leadership Council – the highest organizational rank in PMOI – bravery and honesty revealed the horrifying and shocking facts which are proving justly that this organization has been changed to a very robust notorious cult.

The shocking and terrifying facts unveiled by Ms. Batoul Soltani are about the ‘Salvation Dance’ which was performed by the Leadership Council’s women in front of Massoud Rajavi, the leader and founder of the Rajavi cult?

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

In her recent interview with Iran-Ghalam Association, Ms. Soltani has been courageous enough to reveal some shocking facts on sexual abuse against women in leadership Council of MKO by Massoud Rajavi.
Here are some extracted paragraphs of the above mentioned interview:

[…]Iran-Ghalam :in the conference held in Paris you pointed out the existence of sexual abuse and corruption in MKO cult […]I’d like you to enlighten our visitors on sexual exploitation committed by the cult’s leader systematically.

Batoul Soltani: it’s awfully difficult for me to review those memoirs in my mind but I’m thankful to God who put me in a position now to denounce the hidden facts of Rajavi’s organization and I’m ready to swear to Quran in order to give testimony in any court of justice.[…]

Once we had become members of Leadership Council in the winter of 1997 the Rajavis held a meeting in Badi’ Zadegan Camp [in Iraq]. We were told to take a bath before the meeting and all our clothes had to be clean […]Maryam Rajavi told us that this meeting was "the pool of Leadership Council, and "Dance of Salvation" with Massoud.[…] I was really worried about what was going to happen in the meeting. […] after everyone took a shower and wore make up, we were told to enter hall X which was decorated beautifully in white. There were two sofas …. […]

Maryam told us:" since then you are Massoud’s wives"[…]

Then Massoud read the wedding sermon for all women one by one.[…] then they took the table and spread a large white meters on the floor. I was shocked to see some high-ranking women of leadership Council took off their clothes and went to Massoud. Massoud was saying "yes take off your clothes of heresy and ignorance and dive in the pool to unite yourself with me in order to be resistant enough in every moment of your struggle." […] Maryam also said, "Get close to Massoud and unite with him."

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

August 19, 2010 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Complex brainwashing and indoctrination methods in the PMOI

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Respectfully
Hassan Piransar , an expert on the PMOI,Paris

August 14, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

The Mujahedin-e Khalq: Who are they really?

So for all of you who have spent an extended period of time working in the European Parliament, you cannot have failed to notice members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq or the People’s Mujahiden. They are easy to spot because they are by far the most active Iranian lobby in the Parliament. Or rather, the lobby most active in its opposition to the regime in Tehran. They have strong ties with numerous deputies, and regularly attend and speak at committee meetings. Its members are well-spoken and extremely articulate. However, the question of how and why they have managed to work their way into the corridors of European power remains a mystery to many. Just who are these people?

First of all, the story is long and quite complicated. The organization was the brain child of a group of disgruntled Tehrani students, who during the mid-60s, wanted to end the Shah’s rule, but do so in accordance with Marxist and Islamic principles. They advocated violent protest; something akin to a Persian Baader Meinhof . The name “Mujahedin-e Khalq” means “The People’s Holy Warriors”. In 1971 they tried to target electric power grids in Tehran, but were stopped by the Shah’s forces. However they succeeded in killing a number of civilian contractors and a U.S. Army officer.

Change was coming

The group was one amongst many who had grown tired of the Shah and his western-oriented policies. The Islamic Revolution gave them all a chance to shake things up, and the MeK’s leader Masoud Rajavi, allied himself with Ayatollah Khomeini, thinking that he would have a position in the post-Revolutionary government. This was not to be, and instead, Khomeini prevented him from running for office, and all other political groups–with the exception of the Islamic Republican Party (IRP)–were outlawed.

In 1981, the MeK launched an attack against the headquarters of the IRP, which killed seventy high-ranking officials; making the organization persona non grata in the eyes of Ayatollah Khomeini. Its leadership fled to Paris, where they set up the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Their goal was to bring an end to the Islamic Republic, and they adopted the kind of rhetoric that would appeal to a western audience. They discussed democracy, free speech, women’s rights and the rule of law. Other MeK members settled in Iraq and Kurdistan, and in 1986, Saddam Hussein promised them military support if they were willing to support his campaign against the Iranians. Seven thousand took up the offer, and formed Masoud Rajavi’s National Liberation Army. They provided intelligence, translation services and helped suppress Shia and Kurdish rebels in order to curry favor with the Iraqi leader. Needless to say that the group’s popularity within Iran dwindled.

A political group or a cult?

During the mid-80s, the MeK’s leaders in Paris decided to instigate their own “ideological revolution”, which has characterized the group to this very day. Masoud Rajavi and his wife wanted members to increase their commitment to the cause, since their alliance with Saddam had seen the group’s popularity fall by the wayside. Cultic practices were introduced such as confiscating members’ assets; limiting their exit options and imposing social control. Human Rights Watch reported that the MeK instituted a complicated process to retain members who expressed a desire to leave. They were pressured to change their minds and were subjected to indoctrination. The Rajavis demanded quasi-religious devotion. The MeK’s newspaper Mojahed once declared: ” To understand this great revolution…is to understand and gain a deep insight into the greatness of our new leadership, meaning leadership of Masoud and Maryam. It is to believe in them as well as to show ideological and revolutionary obedience to them [sic]“.

The MeK strongly refutes the charge that they exhibit cult-like behavior and claim such notions are put out by forces loyal to the Islamic Republic.

There is no doubt that the group has mastered the art of effective propaganda. They project an image that is compatible with liberal western values. However they have been accused of using devious recruitment methods by promising Iranian economic migrants employment and asylum assistance. Many recruits brought to Iraq have had their passports confiscated, and more seriously, the group has been linked to money laundering activities.

Post-Saddam Iraq

From the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the MeK were viewed as forming part of Saddam’s own private army. When US troops stumbled upon Camp Ashraf–the MeK’s militia camp located 60 km north of Baghdad– they did not know who they were dealing with. The MeK and US troops agreed to a cease-fire, and the Americans were taken by the friendly and cooperative nature of the camp’s leaders. They were prepared to show leniency in exchange for intelligence sharing and other practical services.
At present, the Iraqi government wants to expel the MeK from the country. However following Iraq’s occupation, the MeK were designated under the fourth Geneva Convention which forbids the forcible transfer of any individual to a country where their life may be in danger. In 2009, the camp fell under the control of the Iraqi government, and the MeK are working hard to avoid forced repatriation.

Back to Europe

Iran’s disastrous presidential elections of July 2009, gave the MeK a unique opportunity to push for greater recognition of their plight and the plight of other opposition movements outside Iran. Their public diplomacy has had an extraordinary effect on European and US policy makers. They are accepted as a legitimate opposition group, without having their credibility questioned. They have barely a handful of supporters in Iran.

They are still deeply attached to Islamic principles and endorse an anachronistic approach to politics that no longer holds sway for most Iranians. The MeK has little understanding of modern Iran.

The leadership has not set foot in Iran for almost thirty years, and yet still feel entitled to speak on behalf of Iranian citizens. Do they really know what the people want? Why so many MEPs, MPs and other policy makers cannot see this as a problem is difficult to understand. It cannot be for a lack of information, because the group has been extensively written about, and many Iranian opposition groups have voiced their concern over the close ties that exist between western governments and the NCRI. For instance, Maryam Rajavi has been welcomed into the European Parliament and is embraced as an open-minded reformer, whose interests are to fight for a free and democratic Iran. But her own background and those of her close associates are highly suspect.

We can only wait and see what happens. Hopefully in the future, politicians will be a little more wise before they decide to embrace individuals who invoke terminology that is seductive to western ears. The MeK has a history which should ring some alarm bells: their former allegiance to Saddam Hussein; their Marxist/Islamist roots and militant training are at odds with the EU’s own principles and more importantly, at odds with legions of educated and secular-oriented Iranians.

MEPs in the European Parliament–and there are quite a few–are fooling themselves if think that by lending their support to the MeK and the NCRI , they will improve their standing amongst members of the Iranian diaspora, who want Europe to toughen its stance against Islamic Republic.

They will be left truly disappointed.

August 5, 2010 0 comments

Massoud Rajavi

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 1, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Who is responsible for the continued suffering of the MEK victims’ families ?

Who is responsible for the continued suffering of the families of members imprisoned inside Ashraf garrison?

The bombing in the city of Zahedan (south east of Iran) claimed several casualties (Thursday 15 Maryam Rajavi called the family ‘the nest of corruption’ and rightfully describes the family as ‘the main enemy’ of the cult July 2010). President Barak Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other western leaders immediately condemned the terrorist act. This terrorist attempt took place a few days after the Supreme Criminal Court of Iraq issued the arrest warrants for 38 leaders of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) including Massoud and Maryam Rajavi who are charged with crimes against humanity and expanding terrorism.

Two days after the terrorist act in Iran, a Federal court in the United States of America urged the State Department to review its decision on finding the MKO as an FTO (foreign terrorist organization). This call received a positive response from the Secretary of State. Apparently the show which was performed in Europe is now starting in the US.

The US administration and western countries do always condemn terrorism but for some reasons they are not so keen on condemning the terrorist. It is interesting to learn that the European countries which no longer, despite piles of documents, recognize the MKO as a terrorist group are still not ready to accept the people who they imposed to Iraqi people in their own countries. Of course they do not want these terrorists in their own countries; they would rather have them close to Iran and on the shoulders of the Iraqi people.

The US government describes the MKO as a cult of personality and as a terrorist group and says that they have murdered Americans in Iran and even made songs to celebrate it. But it is noteworthy that when a victim of this cult tries to escape from Ashraf garrison in Iraq and the elements of the cult, right in front of the eyes of the families, grab him and beat him up and take him away, the American soldiers, who are supposed to evacuate the place, hover over the heads of the families by helicopter and threaten them and afterwards do not allow any investigations into the matter.

Apparently some elements and factions within the US Administration and in the west have started a dangerous game and did not learn from the history. The terrorism of the Rajavi cult could not be in a better situation than that of Al-Qaida and Ben Laden for the west. One day, not far away, they will start killing in Europe and America. The MKO at the present time have established security systems in Iraq and have gathered the elements from the previous regime and have sent their members who were trained under Saddam Hussein to France and Germany. One former member in Europe once quoted Mehdi Abrishamchi a top official in the MKO saying that “now that the west calls us terrorist let us be real terrorists”. The security authorities in the west, who were insisting that the MKO not be de-proscribed, had the analysis and knowledge that the threat of the MKO is far greater for the west rather than for Iran.

The Americans could do to recall their support for the Falun Gong cult in China; assuming that since they are opposed to the Chinese government they could be America’s friends. This support resulted in the cult being able to recruit Chinese-Americans in the US and entering them into organized crimes in that country and creating enormous problems. This cult was no longer a problem for the Chinese but in its place became a disastrous difficulty for the Americans and they still are struggling with.

The MKO is no longer an issue for the Iranian regime. This problem is in the first place on the shoulders of the Iraqis. This, then, is reflected inside western countries, and the solution becomes a burden for the western countries that imposed this problem on Iraq in the first instance. Iraq will not carry this problem anymore, but some in the west – for their short term benefits – try to keep them in Iraq. The inhuman face of some western elements, who do not care about the human rights of the inhabitants of Ashraf, is revealed when they intend to use these unpaid, psychologically manipulated terrorists for their wicked tasks. If they are sincere why don’t they open the gates of Ashraf garrison and let everyone learn about what is going on inside there and let its inhabitants learn about what is happening outside.

But innocent people, including the members confined inside Ashraf and their suffering families, are the victims of this paradox and this uncertainty in western foreign policy. That faction of the west which is under the influence of Israel apparently has problems with the Islamic Republic of Iran. But the only concern of the families is why they cannot freely visit their loved ones just a few hundred yards away after waiting for months. What is the obstacle? The leaders of the MKO of course who consider families as their nightmare are the main obstacle. But who is supporting them to be able to continue their crimes? Certainly some warmongering and narrow minded elements in the US Administration and Israeli lobby are doing so. But why do they do so? Because they arrogantly think that the enemy of their enemy is necessarily their friend and of course while totally miscalculating the events have forgotten the experience of Hitler and Bin Laden. Further to this, it should be far from their dignity to try to use the used handkerchief of Saddam Hussein which has proved to be useless for many years.

The US government has no choice but to let the Iraqis to dismantle the MKO in their country. Nowhere in the world has a foreign terrorist organization had the privilege to establish a garrison and not let the host county know what is happening there. This is of course the heritage of Saddam Hussein for the Iraqi people, created by the Europeans. And American Forces, according to the RAND report, protected their base and kept it exactly as the MKO leaders desired. If the Americans are worried about their human rights why don’t they take them to their own country? The truth is that the Americans are not prepared to issue even one single visa for MKO members to enter their country while they force the Iraqis to maintain them even against their national security and other interests.

An Iraqi official told us that in Saddam Hussein’s era, after the ceasefire in the war with Iran, it was arranged for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to interview Iranian prisoners of war (POWs) who were staying with the MKO and ask them whether they wanted to stay with them or go back to Iran. At that time both Saddam and Rajavi were forced to fulfill the demand and consequently these people were interviewed outside MKO bases without the presence of the MKO and even a representative from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad was present and in some cases members of families or their photos and their letters were brought to the meetings. Finally, although the cult had tried to intimidate them by telling them that they would be executed if they go back to Iran, a considerable percentage of them did not go back to the MKO bases and returned safely to Iran and to their families. Now how is it that the ICRC and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and even the American Forces, even though Saddam Hussein, Rajavi’s mentor, is gone and the Iraqi government opposes the presence of the Rajavi cult on their soil, they cannot arrange even a simple meeting of the members with their families outside Ashraf garrison?

At this time, Rajavi is facing a very tough situation. Cult and family are each other’s diametric. The existence of one is the rejection of the other. Maryam Rajavi called the family ‘the nest of corruption’ and rightfully describes the family as ‘the main enemy’ of the cult. Now the families are standing outside the cultic castle of Rajavi without any weapons and equipment and are trying to counteract its witchcraft and free the imprisoned members. What would Rajavi, who has no tool to reach his goals except machine guns and bombs and of course lying and deceiving, do against the unshakable stand of these standing families and how long will the warmongering elements in US policy continue with this situation? The future will reveal all.

July 26, 2010 0 comments

Iran

Iran to probe rumors of US drafting Israeli backed Mojahedin Khalq Terror group

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar says Tehran is investigating reports of US plans to mobilize an Iraq-based terror group on Iran’s northwestern border.

Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar speaks
with reporters following a meeting with government officials
in Tehran, July 21, 2010

"We are investigating this [report]; however, the global arrogance has and will use Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) against the interests of the Iranian nation wherever it can," Fars News Agency quoted Mohammad-Najjar as saying on Wednesday.

Washington has called on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants to allow members of the anti-Iran terrorist group access to the Qandil mountain rage along Iran’s northwestern border, Fars quoted an informed source close to PKK Leadership Council on Tuesday.

The remarks came hours after an explosion damaged a gas pipeline near the eastern Turkish town of Dogubayazit, close to the Iranian border.

Regarding the July 15 terrorist attack in the southeastern Iranian city of Zahedan, Mohammad-Najjar urged neighboring countries to step up security on their borders and prevent terrorists from crossing into Iran.

"Neighboring countries should not become the backyard of a group of thugs who act against the interests of our establishment. Since Iran’s borders have always been the securest for our neighbors, we expect them to secure their borders and not allow their soil and capacities be used to equip these thugs against the interest of our nation."

Last Thursday, at least 27 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured when two bombs detonated outside the Zahedan Grand Mosque in Sistan-Baluchestan Province.
The attacks have widely been blamed on extremist Wahabis and Salafis trained by US intelligence in Pakistan.

Last month, military sources told Press TV that the US army had moved a select group of MKO terrorists from Camp Ashraf near Baghdad to a US base in central Iraq.

According to the sources, the US army plans to later disperse these MKO members as ‘secret agents’ and terrorists across the border and into Iran.

July 22, 2010 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Cultic identity formation in Mojahedin Khalq

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

mechanism of such a new identity as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

July 18, 2010 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Western supporters of MKO must be cautious!

It is now more than 5 months since some families of the members of Mujahedin-e Khalq

Families picketing in front of Ashraf camp for more than 5 months

Organization (MKO – Rajavi cult) based in Ashraf camp in Iraq are protesting in front of the camp and their only wish is to visit their loved ones whom they have not seen in some cases for more than two decades. The leaders of MKO cult have of course denied their plea and on the contrary have called their move a conspiracy plotted by the enemies.

Massoud Rajavi the leader of MKO terrorist cult, who was allied with Saddam Hussein, and is on the run since the invasion of Iraq, has called the appeal a circus show and has compared the families to circus animals. These comments were broadcasted in the cult’s satellite television. During this time some mind manipulated elements of the cult residing inside Ashraf camp have tried to intimidate the families and insulted them in several occasions. These actions of course had no impact on the families and did not make them to pull back and on the contrary have made them more decisive to insist on their demands and carry on their picketing until they manage to see their relatives.

The cultic behaviors of MKO and its leaders are quite exposed to those who have even little knowledge about the deeds of this terrorist destructive cult. Several researchers, experts and international bodies do recognize MKO as a cult of personality. MKO is a destructive cult which is

Manipulated elements of MKO cult threatening the families

threatening its own confined members more than anyone else and has the capacity of creating a human tragedy.

The families of captive members inside cultic camp of Ashraf have every right to be concerned about their loved ones there. Circus show is exactly what Rajavi has set up in Iraq and innocent people have been moved away from their human nature and have become robots and machines who could be run in any way their desire, and of course the audience of this miserable and sad circus show are the supporters of MKO in the west who try to keep them alive against humanity for their short term benefits.

Rajavi and its associates are undoubtedly the enemies of Iranian people and their positions are clear. But to respond to those who try to keep MKO active and add to the misery and pains of the

Families of MKO cult members call for help

families and the members in Iraq we just quote Dr. Massoud Banisadr from a website in Britain which has recently been published and we hope it finds its wise addressees:

“I wished Mr. Bolton could remember the advice of his Neo Cons friends to President Reagan in arming Taliban and Terrorists of Bin Laden against the Soviet Union, and could understand how unwise it is to use terrorists and cults against those who one might consider as enemies.

Maryam Rajavi is the cult leader of MEK labeled as Terrorists in US and till recently in EU. Being cult means that they can say anything and pretend to be anybody in hope of reaching to power, and when they do so, they will show their real color. Unfortunately then it is too late for people like Mr. Bolton to compensate for their mistakes as catastrophe of cult leaders in power cannot be erased without loss of lives of millions of innocent people. Don’t’ forget that even Hitler came to power using the same democracy that it seems nowadays to be the slogan of Rajavis. Then, there were some Americans and British who were thinking that they can use Hitler against communists and the Soviet Union, but in power Hitler and his cult of personality did what they did. Then it was too late for free world to realize that they cannot trust cult leaders. To reverse their mistakes millions of lives had to be sacrificed. Recent report of American Think Thank RAND for US defense department pointed out very clearly that NCR or MEK under Rajavi is a destructive cult that can change color at any minute to advance its goals. Not long ago their main slogan was death to the US and calling ‘Human Rights’ and ‘liberal democracy’ as ploy of Imperialism against oppressed people, and now they are using the same slogans to gain support of western politicians against Iranian regime. Do we really want friends like this and support cult leaders that soon can change into new enemies like Bin Laden?”

Sahar Family Foundation in Iraq once again calls the world community, international organizations, human rights activists, public media, and all humanitarian individuals particularly supporters of MKO in the west, who have just seen its misleading appearance and do not know about its wicked nature, to do whatever in their capacity to satisfy the request of the suffering families.

July 15, 2010 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Rajavi, the God of Ashraf

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[2] ibid

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

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

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

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

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

By Mazda Parsi

July 14, 2010 0 comments

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