Ebrahim Khodabandeh, a former senior member of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization who defected from the group in 2003, provided details of some less known aspects of the MEK in a speech delivered to scholars of Astan Qods Razavi endowment in Mashhad.

In the first part of his speech, Ebrahim Khodabandeh referred to the cultish nature of MEK and said cults like the MEK highlight real-life problems of people and recruit their members by presenting themselves as the solution to those problems.
He then stated that the MEK which once claimed to be fighting for independence from the United States, now invites and hosts the most extremist American warmongers, who are rejected even by liberals in the West, in its events and gatherings.
Khodabandeh went on to say that the main focus of MEK’s international activities was on Iranophobia. “This approach was in line with Western governments’ desires. We used to demonize Iran to terrify Western people. When they were terrified of Iran, we used to present ourselves as the alternative and asked for their support. This is how the MEK recruited some people and brought them into the group.” He said.
He then pointed out the criminal record of the group and stated: “As confessed in its own documents, the MEK has killed 12000 Iranians. We shall never allow these crimes to be forgotten. One of their best-known betrayals against Iranian people is their cooperation and siding with Iraq in their war against Iran. As Saddam was bombing Iranian cities, Rajavi and his group encouraged him and advised the Iraqi army on the location of their targets. Rajavi ordered MEK members to contact their families in Iran and gather intel about the hit targets under the pretext of greeting their family members.”
Khodabandeh also referred to Iran’s attitude towards MEK members and reiterated: “Nothing in the world is more important to humans than security. Let’s look at Iran’s situation back in the 80s. On one hand, a foreign country has invaded the Iranian soil. And on the other hand an Iranian group is conducting high treason by siding with the enemy in this invasion. Mersad operation is a clear example of MEK’s betrayal to Iran. During WWII in Britain, the sentence of robbery was execution. They used to justify it by saying as all security and Police forces are focused on an ongoing war, robbery is an act against the national security and in favor of the enemy at war. And the sentence of cooperation with the enemy during war is execution. Now going back to Iran in the 80s, all military and security forces of the country are engaged in war. Imam Khomeini issued the right Fatwa and saved the security of people. Many of those MEK members who were not executed in 1988 and release later, moved to Iraq and rejoined the MEK and participated in a direct military operation against the country (Mersad operation). After Mersad operation, MEK members who were still in prison were asked about their ties with the group, and some would still insist on supporting MEK’s activities. It has nothing to do with Islam. Do a research in a country like the U.S. and see what the sentence of high treason is. The Islamic Republic has shown the maximum mercy to an enemy group. I know more than 700 MEK members like myself who are freely living their lives. Many journalists who encountered us were surprised and wondered if it is possible.”




associations of this cult in other countries and those associations gathered money from foreign people in the pretext of accomodating and feeding those kids , but in reality all those money which were gathered were sent to Iraq to buy bullets , arms , and ammunition for that cult . In 1992 , i got out of Iraq with Maryam Rajavi as her bodyguard and a member of her security team with almost 450 members of that cult and we entered France . After a while , i was sent to Germany and despite of my injury in Iraq , i was asked to go on streets to gather money from the foreign people for the cult purposes . For collecting money , we were told by the cult operatives that the European people are very naive and they believe whatever we say ,easily. We were told that we should not talk about our work with others outside of the cult and that was a red line for each of us, but after a while i found out that some of those miserable kids who were separated forcibly from their parents in Iraq were left alone in metro without any support and some of them were sexually abused by some of the cult supporters in California , USA. Those guys got caught by justice but when they came out of prison with the cooperation and coordination of the cult they could escaped from California and from Mexican Bay they could go out of USA. When i was in Germany i found out alot about their lies hypocracy and fraud and also i found out that this brutal and notorious cult does not care about the life and death of those stranded members in Iraq . This brutal cult does not care about the families of those stuck and stranded members and see them as enemy , so as i mentioned above , after finding out of all those atrocities and brutalities , i decided to escape from this notorious cult and i informed the German government about this cult. I would like to ask you a question as an independant and free media , do you know any organization or person or a political party who claims that he is pro democracy and freedom but he threatens his opponents and the critics to death ??yes this brutal cult threatened me to death just because i revealed some facts about them . Did you know that in this cult if someone wants to have a free life , he or she will be punished and the leaders of this cult force them to stay and work in the cult ? Did you know that in this cult , the leaders all the time brag about freedom and democracy but in reality you can not find any of those and instead you will be confronted with the worst dictatorship ? Every year the leaders and operatives of this cult spend huge amount of money to gather the retired generals and politicians in France and now they do the same thing in your country with money which has been gained by selling the vital informations of Iranian borders to previous Iraqi government just to pretend that they have lots of international support !!!!!! As you know that Maryam Rajavi and some of her high ranking members and operatives of this cult have traveled to your country and they have stayed there to suppress and brainwash the members . I am ready to share my thoughts and my experiences about this cult with anyone who is interested in knowing them better specially about notorious Ashraf Garrison , whenever and wherever they prefer. I am urging all parliamenterians and political figures to scrutinize the situation of all those stuck and stranded members in Tirana , Albania who are deprived of having simple reunion with their parents of families and loved ones and it is forbidden for them to get in touch with their loved ones by the direct order of Maryam Rajavi . I am urging all political figures in Albania to put pressure on the leadership of this cult to allow the members to reunite with their families and loved ones and to have access the internet and cell phone freely and to be free to communicate with outside world . I would like to warn you about their propaganda and deception and hollow slogans about democracy and freedom which they are very good at .
You might have heard about or have seen the pictures of mass suicide of cult members in the United States like Jamestown and Davidians or you might see the news of suicide bombers of Taliban and ISIS in the Middle East every day. The victim-attackers of such incidents are all grown up under certain systems with same criteria. The system is considered a cult. Typical characteristics of cults are based on true accounts taken from testimonies of their victims, carefully studied by cult experts. The result of studies has ended with the crucial conclusion that the Mujahedin khalq Organization fits all criteria of a destructive cult.
