Mustafa Mohammadi and Mahbube Mohammadi are in Albania. They demand that the Albanian government allow them to meet their daughter, Somaye Mohammadi, who has been kidnapped by the terrorist organization of the Mujahideen of Iran since she was 15 years old. The Iranian Mujahideen, who are sheltered in Albania by the Albanian government and the Americans, refuse to allow Mustafa and Mahbube to meet their daughter. They have taken Somaye since she was 15, and she did high school at the Toronto Collegiate Institute. Once radicalized, the jihadists left school, without marrying, without family, and held them as suicide bombers in their base in Albania. They do not let Somaye to meet with her parents….
Personal Rights of Members in the MEK
Yesterday the media published a letter to Interior Minister Fatmir Xhafaj, signed by a 38-year-old woman named Somayeh Mohammadi. The letter states that Mohammadi is a member of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) and that she remains voluntarily in the Mojahedin camp in the district of Durres. This letter says Mohammadi’s father is an Iranian agent and has come to Albania for specific missions and not to meet her.
But the parents of Somayeh Mohammadi, tell a different version. In an interview for TPZ.AL , they say their daughter has been kidnapped by this organization and they are in Durres to return her to Canada. According to Somayeh’s parents, the letter published in the media to the Interior Minister was not written by their daughter but by MEK.
Q – Mr Mostafa and Mrs Mahboubeh, the MEK has distributed a letter to the media and accused you of being Iranian agents. Who are you and where are you from?
We’re Mostafa Mohammadi and Mahboubeh Hamze. We are the parents of Somayeh Mohammadi. We have lived in Canada since 1994. Our daughter was kidnapped by the Iranian Mojahedin terrorist organization in 1997. She was abducted together with our son Mohammad Mohammedi. Somayeh was at that time a child and went to the Etobicoke Collegiate Institute in Toronto, Canada.
Our children were kidnapped by the MEK because their activists invited them to Iraq for a two-week visit. But our children did not return. MEK kept Somayeh and our son Mohmmad hostage.
Since that year we have been undertaking a great media and legal struggle to extricate our kids held hostage by the terrorists. Fortunately, in 1999, we managed to save our son from MEK in Iraq and brought him to Canada.
Our son, Mohammad is now working as a manager for a gas company in Toronto. He is married and has a happy life.
But unfortunately, we have not yet managed to save our daughter from the extremist MEK organization.
I work in construction in Toronto, while I, Mahboubeh, am a care nurse for the elderly in Toronto. We are honest people who want to have our daughter, who was abducted when she was 17 years old, back home. The Mojahedin have destroyed their lives, left them without schooling, without marriage, without family, and have radicalized them and turned them into jihadists.
Q – In the Albanian media, MEK has issued a letter on behalf of Somayeh Mohammadi – who identifies herself as a member of the Iranian opposition sheltering in Albania – addressed the Interior Minister of Albania Fatmir Xhafaj. She accuses her father of being an Iranian intelligence officer who has come to Albania to attack the Mojahedin. Why these charges? Can you please explain to us how long you have been in Albania and what is the reason for your visit here?
That letter was not written by our daughter. Our daughter is MEK’s hostage. She has no freedom of religion and thought. She is a prisoner in the Manze jihadist camp. And the letter she sent to Minister Xhafaj was written by the extremist group’s leaders. Our daughter is held with psychological terror. The group’s leaders, who are masters of deception and indoctrination, frighten her and the other members. They say Iran is going to kill you, Iran has brought agents, if you’re out of the camp you are dead, and so on. They say that the only solution is to stay with us in the camp and join jihad against Iran.
As you can see we are old and older. We are not terrorists like the Mojahedin, nor Iranian intelligence agents. We live in Toronto, Canada and not in Tehran. We want to take our daughter to Toronto, and not to Tehran.
We are in Albania for 19 days. We are here to ask for help from the Albanian authorities to let us meet with our daughter who is held hostage by the Iranian jihadist group. We do not want to take our daughter to Canada against her will. We just want to talk to her alone. Let us show that we live in a beautiful and democratic country and ask her in private – away from the threats and brainwashing of MEK jihadists – if she wants to come with us to Canada to live in freedom and in democracy, or to stay in Manze camp, isolated by barbed wire and held as a hostage to be a terrorist in Iran.
The Mojahedin are vicious people. They lie. They not only robbed us of our daughter but now have no shame and accuse us of being agents of Iran. They are people who have a lot of blood on their hands. They are terrorists and killers.
Q -Your daughter stated that she had voluntarily left her family 20 years ago to take part in the cause for Iran’s freedom? What is the truth?
Our daughter is hostage to MEK as was her brother. If you look on the internet you will see that MEK has taken many children as child soldiers. Just as if ISIS gets a little child, indoctrinates it and then turns it into a suicide bomber.
We do not want our daughter to be a suicide bomber for Maryam Rajavi, the MEK leader, and to go and kill people in Iran.
MEK is not an Iranian opposition group. They are terrorists. They are not democratic, and the people of Iran accuse the MEK of being terrorists, murderers and traitors who have served Saddam Hussein and have killed over 17,000 Iranian citizens. If MEK were a democratic organization, they would allow their members to feely meet with their families. Our daughter does not know the world outside because she has been imprisoned for 20 years.
If our daughter wants to be part of the Iranian opposition, she can do this in peaceful ways. Let’s go to Canada and do that right there. But MEK does not let her go free.
But we do not want to deal with MEK. They are fearsome killers. We just want our daughter to be released from the prison camp in Manze and to meet with her in private. To kiss her, to cry with her, and to invite her to come with us to Canada. If she wants to be part of the Iranian opposition, she can do it freely from Canada and not from the jihadist prison camp.
Q –The girl also accuses you of some concrete attacks on MEK’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq?
Firstly, this is not our daughter, but the terrorist leader of the group. Second, what do you think? Would Canada and America leave me alone if we were to attack MEK? Or if I were an Iranian agent? MEK are the most diverse killer, suicidal, and terrorist organization America uses against Iran. We do not want to deal with the MEK nor the policy of Iran or America.
We want peace! As a minimum, we want our kidnapped daughter to meet with us. We want to take her to Canada to live, in a democracy, and not to deal with violent extremism and radicalism.
Q-What are your relations with the current government in Iran?
No relationship. We are Canadian citizens. We are political asylum-seekers in Canada and we got this asylum by fleeing from Iran . We will take our daughter to Canada, not to Iran. To Toronto, not to Tehran!
Q – Have you been contacted by the Albanian authorities about the reasons of your visit to Albania?
Yes, the police have stopped us two times. The first time at the airport and the second time when we came to the hotel and they accompanied us to Police Station 1 in Tirana. They asked us why we are in Albania.
MEK has gone crazy because of our presence here. And for this reason they are terrorizing the Albanian government with letters, complaints, and lies etc. about why they do not want us to meet with our daughter. They know that if we take somebody to Canada, there will be a few hundred men and women who are held hostage by MEK in Albania who will say that we also want to be free. Let’s abandon jihad! Up until now in Albania 400 people have left MEK. This has horrified Maryam Rajavi, so they have brought the Mojahedin to Manze and locked them up in the camp.
Albania is a free country. European. The Mojahedin members want to abandon jihad and embrace democracy and freedom. That is why MEK does not want us to meet our daughter.
But we, inshallah, will meet our daughter and we will go back to our place of freedom in Canada.
We hope and pray that MEK will not kill us because we want to meet our daughter. We hope and pray that the Albanian authorities will protect us and will help us to meet our daughter away from the terrorist presence.
TPZ, Tirana, Albania, Translated by Iran Interlink
Hassan Shahbazi was a university student when he left Iran to visit his friend Hassan Heirani in Camp Ashraf, the headquarters of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi) in Iraq.
In Ashraf, he was welcome by the authorities of the MKO. “They intrigued our nationalistic sentiments…so I decided to stay there but what I endured during the past years is not easy to recount now,” he writes in his letter of declaration of separation from the MKO.
He was coerced to work as a forced labor. “Once I found myself in a discriminating system that claimed the classless society,” he asserts.
However he did not leave the MKO until the group was relocated in Tirana, Albania where the group members could have a very limited access to the outside world. “In the first days of our arrival in Albania, the organization let us visit the city in groups,” he writes. “I contacted my family and I learned that my family had come to Iraq to visit me but the group authorities had not let me know.”
Thus, the final stages of distrust started for Hassan Shahbaz. “The organization authorized itself to decide instead of us,” he suggests. “We were not allowed to contact our families. We had to hate our families.”
He eventually left the MKO secretly on April 3rd, the fourteenth day of the Iranian NewYear while the group had gone on a picnic. “Immediately I submitted to the office of UN High Commissioners of Refugees in Tirana,” he says. “I declare that I have had no relationship with the Mujahedin Khalq Organization since my departure from the group.”
Abdolkarim Karimi was a soldier fighting in Iran-Iraq war in 1988; his military service was supposed to finish in a few weeks when he was taken as a prisoner of war by the Iraqi army. His family was not aware of his whereabouts for a long period of time. Then they got to know that Rajavi has used him as bargaining chip in his treasonous deals with Saddam Hossein.
This time, their beloved son was sentenced to a long-life imprisonment in the Cult of Rajavi (the MKO/MEK/Mujahedin Khalq). He is still taken as a hostage in the group.
Mahmoud is Abdolkarim’s brother undergoing the long-time separation. “As an Iranian from Kurdish region, my brother has nothing in common with the Cult of Rajavi and its ideology,” he says. “My brother does not choose to live in the MKO by his own free will. He is just a prisoner and a hostage.”
Mahmoud feels pity for their father who died before he could visit her son Abdolkarim. Their elderly mother also suffers grieves awaiting to see his beloved son once more. In his visit to Nejat Society office in Kermanshah he asked his brother to contact their heartbroken mother and talk to her before it is too late.
Open letter to Exellencies , Mr. Richard CHARNESKI the vice chairman of European Union and Mr. Khozo RODASH the member of foreign committee of parliament
I, Zahra MOEINI, am the German citizen who had been a member of Rajavi cult or better to say a captive of this cult in Iraq for many years.
The reason that i say i had been a captive in that notorious cult in Iraq because we as members of this cult did not have any right whatsoever to communicate with the outside world and our families and all the married members in that cult had to get divorced from their spouses by the direct order of the leaders of this cult, Massoud and Maryam RAJAVI. These divorces were not just for married members of this cult but the single members had to divorce their imaginary spouses in their minds as well
After those compulsory divorces , the married members of this cult who had child or children had to send them away to foreign countries or to Iran and some of those children who were separated from their parents forcibly were sent away to European countries and United States to the associations which were founded by this notorious cult in those countries and those associations under the pretext of supporting those children began collecting money from the government and people but all those money were transferred to rajavi accounts for purchasing weapons and military equipment . In 1992 , when i was a member of Maryam RAJAVI security guard left Iraq to France with Maryam RAJAVI and 450 members of this cult . The operatives of this notorious cult in France told me to go to Germany. In Germany the operatives of this cult forced me to go on streets to ask people for money and because i was wounded in Iraq the operatives of this cult wanted to take advantage of my wounded body to collect money for Rajavi account and they were saying that European people are dumb and my wounds attract them to pay more money
The operatives of this cult were informing us all the time that we should not talk about those secrets to anyone .While i was in Germany , i saw some of those children who were separated from their parents in Iraq forcibly , were stranded in subways and i heard that in United States , California , some of rajavi cult supporters raped some of those children and they got arrested but while they came out for the leave they could escape from that state by the cooperation of rajavi cult . while i was in Germany , i found out about their hypocrisy , fraud , and deception , i found out they did not care about the life and the well being of those stranded and stuck members in Iraq , I found out that this cult is the worst enemy of the families, so i escaped from this cult while i was in Germany, and i informed the German government about all my experiences and information that i had seen and witnessed about this cult during my membership in this cult , as a result of that i have been sentenced to death since then by the direct order of Massoud and Maryam RAJAVI . EXCELLENCIES In 11 of Jan 2018, you were invited by National Council of Resistance (PMOI, MKO) and you had a meeting with Mrs. Maryam RAJAVI in Ouver Sur Oise and she informed you about the recent political unrest and events in Iran
It is true that there were many unrest and demonstrations in Iran and some people had been killed in those unrest and around 3700 people are in jail right now. The iranian people began their demonstrations and their dissent of the government for poverty and financial problems , if you saw the demonstrations of iranian people on the streets of Iran , you could have found out that no one mentioned the name of this cult or the names of its leadership in their slogans . If Iranian people are suffering it is all because of rajavi cult wrong doings and terrorist policies during these thirty years which helped stabilizing the iranian government for many years and by interfering, patronising and encouraging the people for demolishing and destruction and shouting violent slogans to spread violence, resulted in suppression , failure and defeat of those who came on streets in Iran for their rights . Mrs. RAJAVI has not adhered to Democracy , Human rights and freedom whatsoever
She has captivated around 2000 people in Albania and she has taken away their right to live freely and independently . Those stranded people in Albania have been deprived of their fundamental rights and they are not allowed to have access to the internet and personal cell phone
How can she bring democracy and freedom for Iranian people in Iran while she has taken away the fundamental rights of her own members and followers for decades ? Mrs. RAJAVI always takes advantage of the dignity of you excellencies and other honorable members of parliament for her own inhumane objectives and suppression of her own members . I would like to mention one of Mrs . RAJAVI’s hypocrisy in this letter; There was a PMOI gathering in Villepinte in Paris In 2016 and in this gathering Prince Turki Al FAISAL one of the princes of Saudi Arabia , mentioned twice the name of Massoud RAJAVI the husband of Mrs. Maryam RAJAVI and the main leader of this cult as deceased person and it created un ambiguity among all those people participated in that gathering and the cult members that if Massoud RAJAVI is dead why his wife MRS. Maryam RAJAVI herself who is the top leader of this cult , does not declare his death ? many iranians who are living outside of Iran asked this question from the leadership of this cult but there has not been any answer up to now!!!! Since then the leadership of this cult has kept silent about the death of Massoud RAJAVI and as a result of that nobody knows exactly that he is alive or dead !! but in recent weeks that there was many unrest and demonstrations in cities of Iran for poverty and financial problems and ……etc, suddenly
Mr. Massoud RAJAVI sent 5 written statements that he encouraged people to destroy and demolish and violent actions in those statements . I requested many times that Mrs . Maryam RAJAVI and i have an debate on television but up to now she has not responded yet because she is afraid of us ( the separated members ) she knows perfectly that if she accepts to have a debate with us she will not be able to answer the questions which we are going to ask and she can not lie to us because we know everything and we were living in that cult for many years
you excellencies if you are not able to help iranian people in their uprising , at least stop supporting the enemies of iranian people and you excellencies should know that standing beside the leadership of this cult and the enemy of the iranian people is like stabbing the iranian people from the back . you excellencies owe iranian people an apology.
Zahra Moeini, Iran Zanan,Germany
On October 9, 2017 an Albanian lawyer and a representative of some defectors from the Mojahedin Khalq organization (MEK) met with officials of the UNHCR in Tirana, Albania. The meeting had been requested on 27 September by the lawyer acting on behalf of two defectors from the MEK who want to know what their future relation with their UNHCR will be.
The lawyer and one MEK defector were received at the offices of the UNHCR in Tirana by H. Balla from the Office of Legal Protection, and H. Khan who is responsible for the MEK members in Albania.
The lawyer acting on behalf of her clients demanded explanations from UNHCR officials regarding the status of her clients in Albania, their economic difficulties and their legal status.
During the discussions H. Khan, who was responsible for the re-settlement of MEK members from Iraq in Albania, clarified a number of items for the lawyer. He explained that the UNHCR had helped the MEK to relocate to Albania to save them from the threats they were receiving in Iraq. The UNHCR had been paying MEK members in Iraq but now that they had settled in Albania they were no longer the responsibility of the UNHCR. Contrary to the claims of MEK defectors that the UNHCR pays 500 EUROs monthly to MEK members, the UNHCR representative explained that the UNHCR no longer pays any money to the MEK for its members. He said that the MEK has its own budget. It has an agreement with the Albanian state and it is responsible for paying its members and defectors alike, since this was one of the points of the understanding that the MEK, the Americans and the Albanian state had agreed once they were transferred to Albania.
The UNHCR for its part was trying to help MEK members to integrate into Albanian society by providing training for them and through an agreement that it had with an Albanian NGO, the Refugee and Migrant Services (RMSA), which was helping MEK members with their social needs.
During the discussions, the MEK defector complained to the UNHCR about the way the MEK was blackmailing its members in Albania, enslaving them, using psychological threats and blackmail and threatening them with slander. The defector described the spying network that the MEK has created against its own members who are deserting the organization en-mass. He complained that the MEK was keeping its members totally isolated, prohibiting them from talking to their families in Iran and throughout the world, and if one member is caught talking to his family or to another defector he is immediately expelled from the organization and is accused of being an agent of Iran.
The defector revealed how the MEK had enslaved many of its members for the past 30 years, and now that they were living in a democratic country like Albania, this organization was still blackmailing them, keeping them isolated and not allowing them to enjoy the freedoms of democracy and civic life.
The lawyer told the UNHCR officials that these claims have been presented to her by many other defectors who live in a state of fear and intimidation from this organization, which claims that it will bring democracy to Iran. She asked the UNHCR representatives if they were aware that the MEK was intimidating and threatening even the families of MEK members who have come to Albania to meet their loved ones. She disclosed to UNHCR representatives that in a number of cases, family members of MEK members had been detained and threatened even by the Albanian police whenever they had come to Albania and tried to contact their relatives.
The lawyer asked how can this organization speak of democracy when it treats its members in such an inhumane way, which is a criminal offense according to Albanian laws? She asked the UNHCR about its stance towards these criminal allegations that defectors are making against this totalitarian organization which claims to fight for democracy and human rights? How could the UNHCR work with and support such a totalitarian and enslaving organization? They asked UNHCR staff if they were aware that this organization is acting against human rights conventions and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Albania has signed, and was denying its members freedom of thought, freedom to create a family, freedom of movement, freedom of association and was treating many of its members as slaves.
Furthermore, the lawyer asked why the UNHCR does not support the MEK defectors, who after leaving the organization end up in the street and without any support? By not supporting these people who want to enjoy their personal freedoms that democracy guarantees, the UNHCR was not helping these people who deserve to live in freedom in a democracy.
The UNHCR representatives responded that the behavior of the MEK towards its members has to be judged by the Albanian government and within the framework of the agreement it has with the MEK. The lawyer pointed out that this agreement has not been made public or submitted to scrutiny and so nobody knows what has actually been agreed. What was clear is that as the situation stands at present this agreement is in contravention of UNHCR rules and human rights legislation because clearly neither the MEK members nor the defectors and nor their families are not being accorded their proper civil or human rights.
When the lawyer asked about their legal status and what the UNHCR is contributing towards this issue – since many of them have no work permits and their legal status is described as humanitarian refugees – the UNHCR responded that they are working with the Albanian government to clarify their status.
They suggested that the lawyer acting on their behalf must contact the Interior Ministry of Albania since this body is responsible for their residence in the country.
The lawyer asked the UNHCR representatives whether they do pay some MEK members. The UNHCR representatives said that yes, they do pay some members, on a case by case basis, but not everyone. They were paying the accommodation of M. A. a defector who was in a desperate situation.
The MEK defector who was in the meeting said that the help M. A. was receiving was minimal. He was able only to buy just few kilograms of oil, flour and sugar to eat for a whole month.
The legal representative of the UNHCR admitted that support for the MEK members in Albania was a big problem. He said that even the Albanian government will not support the refugees for more than six months. The government gives them accommodation, food and after six months they are on their own.
But the difficult case of MEK members was exacerbated since they were taken to Albania on a humanitarian basis and not as asylum seekers. They have no work permits and cannot integrate into the society.
The defector claimed that the UNHCR had in the past paid MEK members 500 EUROs per month in their accounts. However, H. Khan explained that this was no longer the case. The UNHCR had given financial support to MEK members in 2016 but now it has run out of money. He said that the support of MEK members and defectors was the duty of the MEK which brought them into the country and the Albanian government who agreed to host the Mojahedin.
The defector said that the Albanian office of asylum had told MEK members that in 2018 some humanitarian organization might take over the financial care of MEK members in Albania. But the situation of the defectors remains unclear and this means that many MEK defectors will continue to suffer and struggle for their economic survival in Albania.
The defector explained that many families of MEK members want to contact their loved ones in the MEK so that they can provide them with support and assistance. But the MEK’s refusal to allow this contact and the Albanian government’s compliance with this ban means they are forced to remain with the MEK or become destitute. This was not an acceptable situation when many people could be helped by their own families and not depend on handouts from any organization.
The conclusion of this meeting was that many MEK members who want to defect from this ex-terrorist organization, who do not want to be considered as combatants and want instead to live in freedom and liberty have no option but to stay with the organization. If they choose to leave the MEK and enjoy the freedoms and democracy of Albania, to marry, have children and create families like all other free human beings, they will suffer economic hardship and blackmail from the MEK whose spies monitor and intimidate the defectors. They will be accused by the MEK of being Iran’s agents and no one will help them. They do not speak Albanian, have no skills, the vast majority has no work permits and cannot find jobs in impoverished Albania. They have no passports and no possibility to settle in other richer countries in Europe. The only option that many MEK members have is to stick it out with the MEK in its camps in Albania. They must live an isolated life in which they are also thereby forced to agree to call for waging a terrorist war against Iran.
At the end of the meeting the UNHCR advised the lawyer and her clients to contact the Albanian office for asylum to clarify their status and situation. It was also suggested that the MEK should be taken to court and asked to pay for the defectors since the MEK had undertaken responsibility for their financial support after their transfer to Albania.
By Av. M.B., Lawyer
letter to ICRI, HRW
Dear friends,
As you are aware, it is now one year since the great majority of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi Cult) have taken up residence in Albania. These individuals were brought to Tirana by the UNHCR and are recognized as political refugees in this country. However, the UNHCR – contrary to all UN laws and regulations – has treated them as a group and not as individual persons, and has surrendered authority for them to the MEK leaders. The payment of their monthly refugee allowances is also given into the hands of the group.
Over the past year, many members have left the organization. The MEK, according to the commitments made in an agreement with Geneva, has paid their allowances to them. Then gradually the organization started to reduce and cut the monies given to the former members under the pretext of different excuses such as ‘contacting their families in Iran’. At the beginning of this month (September), the MEK announced that it would not pay anything to anybody.
The former members, who have no income and no family support in a foreign country, complained to the UNHCR in Albania (RAMSA) and other official bodies in this country. The formers asked to have their allowances paid directly to them. The response of the UNHCR and other authorities was simply to tell the MEK to start paying the allowances again and fulfill its commitments.
Today we learned that Maryam Rajavi has informed the UNHCR and some of the former members that they would start paying the allowances again according to their commitments.
But the former members do not want their lives to be controlled and dictated by a destructive mind control cult which abuses the most basic human rights of its members. Such an arrangement allows the MEK to do and demand whatever they want and to hold the monthly allowances as ransom for these conditions. As an example, this cult coerces some of the former members to act against others and spy on them in order to get their own money.
As the representative of the suffering families, Sahar Family Foundation urges you to send inspectors to investigate the gross and open violations of human rights against the former members of the MEK in Albania by Maryam Rajavi and the MEK with the assistance of the RAMSA. Unfortunately, international and humanitarian organizations have remained silent over this matter and have failed to do anything to prevent further abuses.
Some nearly 70 former members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization yesterday approached the UNHCR in Albania (RAMSA) with a petition signed by all of them demanding their rights.
RAMSA officials who met with these individuals – who are protesting against their refugee allowances being cut by the MEK – said they are following up the issue with Geneva and there will be an urgent meeting about the case.
The individuals told the officials that over the coming days they would, of course with more people, continue coming to their offices until their rights are restored and that they will not give in.
The RAMSA officials accepted the fact that the MEK has acted against the commitments made in an agreement in Geneva. Presumably the organization did not expect so many defectors. In addition, there are many more inside the group who wish to leave.
The text of the petition handed over to RAMSA is as follows:
Petition to the UNHCR and the Albanian ministry of interior affairs
In the name of Human Rights and in the name of Asylum seeking
We, a number of Iranian refugees in Albania and former members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO …), would like to address all related organs and draw their attentions to our cause.
We accepted the humanitarian invitation by the time Albanian government in cooperation with the USA and the UNHCR in Albania (RAMSA) and moved to this country after being expelled from Iraq.
We decided willingly to dispatch from the MEK and we wish to live freely on our own outside the organization.
We learned that apparently according to some possible agreements between the UNHCR and the MEK, the refugee allowances of the former members should be paid by the MEK directly.
The Organization started paying us 45000 Leks (Albanian currency) and this was made up to September 2017.
But surprisingly the Organization informed us recently that from the coming month no allowances will be paid to us and we can complain to the RAMSA if we wish.
It is worth mentioning that not being able to receive the money means a grave economical difficulty, and consequently psychological pressure, to the refugees who have left the MEK and would make the life impossible for us, since we are not Albanian citizens but refugees who have no financial support what so ever.
Therefore we urge the related organs including the RAMSA and the interior ministry to meet the below demands:
- Our refugee allowances be paid by RAMSA and we be supported by the United Nations in Albania
- Work permits and jobs are granted to us in order that we are able to support ourselves.
- Our Refugee Status is officially issued in order that we can receive our righteous benefits.
Many Thanks and regards
List of signatures:
In a meeting between the UNHCR in Tirana – Refugee and Migrant Services in Albania – and Sahar Family Foundation, an official spoke about the situation of the families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK aka Rajavi cult) and the former members of the group. He told Sahar that there are currently around 230 MEK members who wish to separate from the organization in Tirana. Some of them are kept in a location in the Port of Dorsa in Albania by the MEK.
These individuals, despite Maryam Rajavi’s threats and promises, refuse to stay with the cult under any circumstances and are determined to gain their freedom no matter what the cost. Maryam Rajavi has threatened that they will not get any allowances once they leave. Clearly the cult wishes to keep them from having any contact, even visual contact, with the current members because it is feared their presence in Tirana living outside the organization would negatively affect the remaining members, leading to more disaffection.
In the meeting, Sahar explained to the official that there are currently some 240 individuals living outside the group for whom the MEK had previously made an agreement with the UNHCR to distribute their allowances. However, some time ago the cult started to cut this allowance for some individuals using various excuses. Now the MEK has told all these individuals that it will no longer pay anything to anyone anymore. This move has provoked strong objections and complaints among the former members. It has also flagged up serious concerns in the government and among the citizens of Tirana who are sensitive to the bizarre behaviour of this group.
The official explained that RAMSA will hold an urgent meeting this month to deal with the situation of the former members and said he was hopeful that positive decisions would be made to support those who had left the MEK in Tirana. The MEK had already informed RAMSA that they will not pay anything to those who have left the organization.
The other matter discussed, which they seemingly knew about, was that some current members of the group, although they have signed loyalty agreements to stay with the MEK, have insisted that they will leave the group if there is any talk about moving to another isolated location similar to Ashraf Garrison in Iraq. The official confessed that the MEK is experiencing a dreadful situation in Tirana and that conditions are getting worse day by day and are becoming unbearable for the members.
Accepting the risk of not being able to return to Paris, Maryam Rajavi made her second trip to Albania to sort out the catastrophic situation of the group and ease the internal tensions and persuade people to move to the remote base.
Everyone who is even slightly familiar with the situation of the Rajavi cult in Albania agrees that the MEK is very rapidly falling apart. Many have witnessed that during the past year more deleterious developments have occurred inside the group than in all those years in Iraq, and many believe that this is due to the efforts made by the families and the former members.
Reports indicate that the recent meeting between Maryam Rajavi and the American senators in Tirana took place because of the recent unexpected deterioration of the organization’s situation in Albania. And that it was also due to pressure from the Albanian government which has complained that the promises made by America previously had not been fulfilled. It is reported that the Senators’ meeting was a kind of impeachment of Maryam Rajavi for not controlling the members and for allowing concerns to be raised throughout Albania.
To the UNHCR, and the Albanian Ministry of the Interior
With regards
As you are aware, we have waited for many years for the opportunity to visit our loved ones who are held captive inside the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult). We have communicated many, many times with various national and international organizations. But so far, we have had not received any reply indicating that we do have the right to meet with our relatives. Many fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who desired to visit their loved ones have passed away without being able to do so.
With reference to the abusive nature of the Rajavi cult, as evidenced by many former members, and the fact that the members are subject to psychological manipulation, we urge you to respect our basic humanitarian rights and let us visit our loved ones. We also urge you to let our loved ones, held captive inside the cult, know about and benefit from their international and financial rights. You already know that these individuals, who are victims of a destructive mind-control cult, are deprived of their basic rights.
Over the past few years, many members of the Rajavi cult have been able to break through the mental as well as physical boundaries and step back into the normal world and are now living freely in Iran or other countries. These individuals have exposed the brutal relationship inside the cult and have met with international bodies and have written to the press and been active on the internet to talk about this.
This includes members of the Rajavi cult who had been sent into Iran to conduct violent terrorist operations but who changed their minds after being arrested and learned about the nature of their deeds. They have spoken out against the MEK and condemned the group for brainwashing its followers in order to get them to commit crimes. These former members enjoyed amnesty afterwards and went back to normal life.
Officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran have stated on many occasions that: “those who did not participate in armed struggle and did not commit murder can freely come back to Iran provided they have rejected the cult”. Over the years, many individuals have left the group and returned to Iran and resumed a normal life and were not prosecuted unless they had committed ordinary small offenses.
The attitude of the Islamic Republic towards the MEK members is that they have been deceived by the cult leaders and are therefore themselves victims, needing help from outside. According to Islamic teachings they must be treated in such a way that they are able to return to normal life with their families.
We, the families of the members captured mentally and physically inside the Rajavi cult, urge you prepare the grounds for our loved ones to be able to have access to their families and to the outside world and to be able to know what is going on in the world and decide freely what they would like to do and to choose their own futures.
Kind Regards,
Families of MEK members