Pluralistic democracy is, by definition, a political system in which there is more than one center of power. Modern democracies are pluralistic by definition because democratic systems allow freedom of associations and parties. But the half-century history of the MEK’s activities has shown that there is only one center of power in the group, and that is Massoud Rajavi, who is at the top of the organizational pyramid, followed by Maryam Rajavi and then some higher-ranking members of the group’s hierarchy.

Establishing justice in a society is not possible without deepening democracy, and in an organization like the MEK, which is run hierarchically, democracy is sacrificed first and then justice is gone. Discrimination is one of the definitive consequences of such a structure. Although the MEK, with its uniformed forces and the use of titles such as “Sister Mujahed” and “Brother Mujahed,” tries to hide its structural injustices, members who have left the group have repeatedly testified about the severe inequalities between the higher-ranking members and commanders of the group compared to the lower-ranking members and subordinate forces.

Aylin Moghadam, a former member of the MEK, was a child soldier who served the MEK for many years. In her posts on her X social media account, she writes about the extreme injustices and the discriminating system of access to facilities in Rajavi’s cult:

The authorities of the MEK eat well, but the rest of the ranks eat beef. Mehdi Abrishamchi and his daughter Ashraf Abrishamchi have natural fruit juice for breakfast. Of course, high-ranking officials like Faezeh Ranjkar, Sedigheh Hosseini, and Zohreh Akhiani all have special diets and are never the subject of any criticism session. And whether in Ashraf Iraq or Ashraf 3, they always stay in air-conditioned rooms, but the rest have air conditioning for just a few hours of the day and are mostly in the sun and in the heat, with terrible nutrition and $8 a month, the equivalent of Albanian money, with which they really can’t buy anything.

But in the wallets of the commanders there is at least a thousand dollars in cash. I said at least. In the wallets of people like Fahimeh Arvani there is even three thousand dollars in cash apart from credit cards. It is up to you!

 In addition, having a phone is free for the leadership council and high-ranking brothers, but it is forbidden for low-ranking forces!!

From these few lines written by Aylin, we can see that inequality in the MEK dominates all aspects of its members’ lives. As can be seen from the memories of other former members, this injustice in terms of nutrition, medical treatment, use of urban facilities, and enjoyment of entertainment has created a deep class gap between high-ranking and low-ranking members.

Also, in terms of enduring psychological pressure and organizational coercion, low-ranking members are greater and more numerous victims. In the pluralistic democracy claimed by the MEK, the number of underprivileged individuals is much greater than that of the well-off commanders and leaders.

Mazda Parsi

The post Injustice in the MEK as told by a former child soldier appeared first on Nejat Society.

After fleeing home, Masoumeh was picked up by police while wandering Tehran’s streets. She eventually ended up in a psychiatric facility, where her family was notified of her whereabouts. “When she was still home, she used to mumble an anthem. We later found out it belonged to the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).”

The MEK is a terrorist organization that has operated mostly from outside Iran. Currently based in Albania (and previously in Iraq), the group is responsible for killing over 24,000 Iranians – including at least six people, one of them an infant, in a recent MEK-linked terrorist attack in southeastern Iran. Media outlets affiliated with the MEK characterized the terror attack as an “armed rebellion by the youth” and praised the terrorists for their brutal crime.

The MEK was listed as a terrorist organization in the U.S. and Europe for years, until its removal in the early-to-mid 2010s. The West has long used the group for espionage and attacks inside Iran. Most recently, during the Iran-Israel war, Western media and politicians attempted to rebrand the MEK, hailing it as a “reformed,” female-led faction and even floating it as a potential alternative to Iran’s government. One New York Times report wrote that the MEK now advocates for a “secular republic, gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran.”

But for the MEK’s victims – like Masoumeh – no PR campaign can erase their suffering. Like many others, she didn’t join voluntarily, and leaving cost her everything: her sanity, and ultimately, her life.

“Masoumeh started taking care of us at just 8 years old, after our mother died. Our father was a construction worker and was usually away at work,” Leila explained. “She always put us first and dreamed of a better life for her siblings. She cooked for us, cleaned after us, and took us outside to play.” The family had seven children – two sisters, four brothers, and an older half-sister, Fatemeh, whose ties to the MEK would destroy Masoumeh’s future.

Fatemeh had been an MEK member but left before Saddam Hussein’s fall, when the group began to bar defections from its Iraqi camps. She moved to Finland and tried to bring over two financially struggling siblings – Masoumeh and her brother, Hamidreza –through an MEK contact she thought could be trusted. “They were supposed to go to Turkey first, then Finland,” Leila said. Instead, in 2001, the MEK member took them to the Ashraf Camp in Iraq.

The family lost contact immediately. Hamidreza resurfaced 14 years later, escaping during the MEK’s chaotic relocation to Albania. Masoumeh reached out sooner by randomly visiting them after four years – but her ordeal had been far worse.

“After being taken to Iraq, they were separated at Ashraf Camp. Both resisted at first, but Hamidreza bided his time. Masoumeh kept fighting back – so the group decided to ‘get rid of her,’” Leila said.

As previously documented by the Tehran Times, the MEK routinely sent defiant members to the infamous Abu Ghraib prison, which was well-known for the systematic torture of inmates. Masoumeh endured months of beatings, isolation, and psychological torment before Iraqi guards dumped her near Iran’s border. She then walked for days – starving, traumatized – only to face more violence from roadside thugs. By the time she reached Tehran, her mind was shattered.

“The person who came back wasn’t my sister,” Leila said. “She’d slip into catatonic states. When she did regain awareness, the memories made her try to kill herself – over and over.”

The final escape

For the next 20 years, Masoumeh cycled through psychiatric facilities, where she tried to take her life multiple times. Her last attempt, taking place in February of 2025, was successful. That day, Leila visited Masoumeh in the psychiatric hospital and then took her to a restaurant in Chaloos, a scenic route north of Tehran.

“Masoumeh used to love nature. So, I took her to a nice location to spend a few hours together. But as we sat at our table, she started recalling her past, so I tried distracting her. I looked away for seconds… and she was gone.”

Triggered by flashbacks of Abu Ghraib, Masoumeh had jumped into a nearby river. Her body was later found wedged against a tree trunk. “That was the end the MEK gave her – decades of torture, physical and mental, until she couldn’t take it anymore,” Leila said as tears began to rush down her face.

Masoumeh’s story is not unique. Before the West attempts to promote a terrorist outfit as a “democratic group”, similar to how it rebranded the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) terrorists in Syria, it must reckon with dozens like her. Future Tehran Times reports will ensure they are not forgotten.

By Sheida Sabzehvari

The post The West’s ‘democratic alternative’ tortured my sister to madness appeared first on Nejat Society.

Ms. Abdollahi has been endeavoring to free AmirAslan from the hands of the MEK leaders, for over two decades. She has taken every kind of legal action to call on the international community for the release of their son.

She has met several authorities in Iran, Iraq, Europe and the United Nations. She has written so many letters to anyone who can do anything for them. She has founded an NGO called ”Mothers, Forgotten Victims”to help the voice of mothers of the MEK members to be heard. She has launched several campaigns to collect signatures to make Albanian government take action in order to help Ashraf residents choose for their fate.

In this video, Soraya Abdollahi recounts her ordeals with her only son captivated behind the bars of Ashraf 3 in Albania:

Amir Aslan; you left me alone for 24 years,
its been 24 years that I haven’t heard from you,
I don’t know where you are,
I don’t know how you live,
I don’t know how can you live without me,
How can a other tolerate 24 years of anxiety awaiting,
How can a mother live 24 years with just pictures and memories,
On what grounds?
For what crime were you imprisoned?
On what ground have you been imprisoned?
You can’t even make a phone call,
You can’t talk to me, …

The post My Asalan… Come Home appeared first on Nejat Society.

Now in her forties, she is a critic of both Iranian government and the Cult of Rajavi. She believes that the ideology of the cult caused her mother’s devotion to the MEK and the collapse of her family.

She writes:

“I have never been in the MEK for a single day. I was not among the Ashraf children. My mother was a member of the MEK before the 1979 revolutuion. She was one of the academic elites at Tehran University who found her way into the group and dragged my father into this pit. She was arrested with my father in 1961. My father was released a year later and my mother two years later, but they continued their activities. My mother’s family was generally part of the 1979 uprising in some way. They were either Tudeh, or Fada’i guerrillas (Communists), or Mujaheds. But my father came from a traditional, religious, and almost non-political family that generally supported Khomeini, and he joined the MEK because of my mother’s love.”

Sara was only three years old when her parents left her behind in Iran and joined the MEK in Iraq. However, Sara finds it a blessing that she owes to her grandmother because her mother tried to take her to Iraq and trap her in the trap of the MEK, but she was unsuccessful due to her grandmother’s wisdom. She writes about this:

“My mother sought to transfer me to Iraq around 1989 to 1990, and we did not know until then that my father had been killed. I remember once that two of my mother’s relatives came to my grand ma’s house to take me and my brother from Pakistan to Iraq. My grand ma’s opposition prevented my transfer. She was my greatest supporter until she died during the coronavirus pandemic and then I left Iran.”

The only information available about Sara Delban is the content she personally shares on her X social media account. The young woman has pinned a widely-shared video from the documentary Children of Camp Ashraf on her account. The video shows moving scenes from 1991, when children from Camp Ashraf are loaded onto buses to be smuggled out of Iraq and eventually end up in orphanages, foster families and MEK’s team houses in Europe and North America.

In the video’s caption, Delban refers to an important aspect of her own and his brother’s lives and the oppression his parents suffered because of their allegiance to the MEK:

“Maybe if it weren’t for my grandmother’s resistance against transferring me to Iraq and Ashraf, I would be in this film because of my mother’s betrayal and stupidity! Maybe today I would be a prisoner in the Cult of Rajavi, with a green or red scarf sitting behind an account, posting the hashtag #NoSheikhNoShah! Someone like my brother. Sometimes, fate can be so cruel.”

Sara’s father was killed in one of the MEK terrorist operations. As a daughter of a female member of the MEK, every new piece of information she receives about the internal relations of the MEK reveals horrifying truths about her parents. Perhaps hearing about Massoud Rajavi’s mass marriage with the women of the organization’s elite council has caused her to share these words recently:

“For three months, the thought of ‘I’m happy my father was killed’ has been tormenting me! Right from the day I found out that my mother, like all members of the MEK’s Elite Council, danced naked in front of Masoud Rajavi with a few other people and was then married to him”

This post by Sara Delban has received special attention and surprise from users. Many users from different political stances have expressed disgust towards the MEK and praised Sara’s courage in telling these bitter truths about her mother.

She is an example of more than a thousand children who have been harmed in various ways by their involvement with the MEK. She speaks of strange contradictions that many of the MEK’s children have experienced.

The post Grieves of a daughter of Mujahed parents appeared first on Nejat Society.

The consistent use of vague explanations, the refusal to release updated photographs of the deceased, and the absence of autopsy reports or independent investigations all point toward a troubling lack of accountability.

Here is a documented list of individuals whose deaths remain unanswered:

1. Mohammadreza Khaleghi Amir (2024) – Cause of death listed as “cardiac arrest,” with no exact date or forensic evidence.
2. Abdolmalek Alavi (2023) – Officially reported to have died of a “heart condition,” without any updated images or substantiating documents.
3. Mehdi Javdan (2025) – Reportedly died in January 2025 due to “respiratory failure and cardiac arrest.”
I knew Mehdi personally. He lived in our home during my childhood, and years later, I saw him again at Camp 7 (Habib). His death is not just a report to me; it is a personal wound and a deep question.
4. Abdolrahim Ahrari (2023) – Died in May 2023 of “cardiac arrest and respiratory issues,” again with no additional information or medical documentation.
5. Mojgan Koukkabi (2021) – A central council member who died in 2021 due to “brain cancer.” No images were released from her final years, and her burial site remains unknown.
6. Maryam Hejbarian (2025) – A veteran member who died in 2025. No cause of death was given in the official statement, only referring to her as a “companion in resistance.”
7. Abdolvahab Farjinejad Jahromi (2023) (aka Ali Moshtari) – A senior military figure of the MEK who died during an Albanian police raid on Ashraf 3 in June 2023. The exact cause of death remains disputed between MEK and Albanian authorities.
8. Mohsen Negahban (2022) – Born in 1960, reportedly died in December 2022 from respiratory issues. He had previously been injured in clashes with Iraqi forces in 2009.
9. Mahmoud Barisami (2024) – A former Marxist and POW from the Iran–Iraq war who died in 2024 after months of illness at Ashraf 3.
I also knew him personally. He was transferred from a prisoner-of-war camp to Camp Ashraf, a case that illustrates how vulnerable individuals were recruited into a closed and unmonitored structure.
These deaths, routinely attributed to general causes like “cardiac arrest” or “illness,” without any forensic or independent review, demand international scrutiny.

We call for the following:
•Independent autopsies under international supervision
•Transfer of deceased bodies outside the camp for forensic examination
•Unrestricted access for independent observers to Ashraf 3
•Installation of surveillance systems to ensure minimal human rights compliance

The MEK cannot escape responsibility. Transparency, accountability, and respect for human rights are the absolute minimum obligations of any political or ideological organization.

Amir Yaghmaei

The post Suspicious Deaths at Ashraf 3: Unanswered Questions for the MEK Leadership appeared first on Nejat Society.

Female members of the MEK are deprived of the Right to celebrate Women’s and Mother’s Day.

The Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) claims to support women’s rights, yet within the organization, women are stripped of their identity and denied the right to celebrate Women’s Day or Mother’s Day.

Motherhood itself is forbidden—women are forcibly separated from their children and forbidden from knowing them. On Mother’s Day, while mothers are cherished all over the world, the women of the MEK must suppress their pain in silence.

Women’s Day is similarly distorted. Instead of true empowerment, female members of the MEK endure forced divorces, emotional repression, and total obedience to the Mujahedin Khalq leaders. Any sign of independent thinking is punished, proving that the organization’s so-called feminism is a sham.

By erasing the personal identity of women, the MEK reveals its true nature as a cult that exploits rather than empowers. The world must recognize this hypocrisy and stand with the women who are locked inside, denied even the simplest joys of femininity and motherhood.

Edona Honda

The post March 8 and the MEK’s oppression against women appeared first on Nejat Society.

One of the most noticeable aspects of the lack of freedom at Ashraf 3 camp is the restriction of the movement of individuals. MEK members are locked inside the camp and have very little opportunity to travel outside of it. This restriction is a sign of isolation and a lack of autonomy, making them feel confined in a tight space, unable to enjoy the freedom to choose their lives.

Another aspect of the lack of freedom and human rights is the restriction of ways to communicate with outside world. MEK members are unable to communicate freely with their families and friends due to information verification and strict rules within the camp. This kind of restriction of social and family connections is a grave deprivation of the right to communication and development.

Living conditions in Ashraf 3 camp are insufficient and difficult. MEK members live in strict conditions, with little opportunities for freedom of expression, personal development and to have a dignified life. Opportunities for education, work, and activities that could help individuals develop and contribute to society are often lacking. These conditions violate the human rights and dignity of any individual, forcing them to live in conditions of persecution and isolation.

Another element of the lack of freedom in Ashraf 3 camp is information control. MEK members are often required to follow certain opinions and obey certain rules, which restrict freedom of thought and expression. This control of information makes it impossible for individuals to develop independent thought and to criticize their own reality. Often, this leads to a kind of “forced praise” and a lack of freedom to openly discuss different ideas and thoughts.

MEK participants often face uncertainty, fear, and ongoing stress about their future. They feel threatened and frightened by the possibility of violent and unjust punishments, making their lives a long period of suffering and fear.

In response to the living conditions in the Ashraf 3 camp, there has been reactions from various human rights organizations and several countries. Many of these organizations have raised concerns about human rights violations and the lack of freedom that the MEK group has. The insecurity and difficult living conditions in these camps have been criticized as outright violations of international human rights standards.

The lack of freedom and human rights in Ashraf 3 camp is a reality that has profound impacts on the lives of MEK members. They are deprived of opportunities to enjoy life the way they please, to have open and free relationships, and to express their opinions without fear. This isolation and lack of freedom is a reflection of the difficult and unfair conditions they face, creating an oppressed and controlled environment, where freedom is a seemingly distant aspiration.

The post The lack of freedoms and human rights in Ashraf 3 camp appeared first on Nejat Society.

Mothers like Soraya Abdollahi, who are symbols of maternal love and resistance to the Rajavis’ blatant oppression, stand against the various vindictive labels the MEK puts on them and insist on their fundamental right to contact their beloved children.

On the other hand, their children are under pressure from the cult-like dictatorship of the group leaders to forget their family, to consider their family as enemies, and even to consider their mothers –who cry out with tearful eyes to see them– as mercenaries. These Children were even brought in front of the group’s TV cameras to curse their mothers.
The second group are mothers who are now in the group and whose children live in different parts of the world. In this group, there are mothers whose children are also in the MEK’s headquarters but there is no mother-child relationship between them. These children were child soldiers who were smuggled from Iraq to Europe and North America, and then smuggled back to the MEK’s headquarters in Iraq as teenagers. These mothers and their MEK children have no contact with each other except for one or two official visits a year.

After forced divorces, Mujahed mothers were forced to hand over their children to the smugglers of the MEK. Many of them are unaware of the fate of their children after long years of separation. Some have also been faced with their children’s revelations about the Cult of Rajavi. On the order of the group leaders, they have denied any maternal affection for their children. Amir Yaghmai and Mohammad Reza Torabi are among the child soldiers whose mothers have denied them in the group’s media and labeled them as mercenaries of the Iranian government!

The MEK, headed by Massoud Rajavi, is the defining line between being a mother and not being a mother. Today, if any MEK member leaves Camp Ashraf 3, they are welcomed with enthusiasm by their mothers, but each of the child soldiers who have left the group and whose mothers are still trapped in it, have been so much disliked by the side of their mothers that they could accept that there is no maternal love from them.

Mazda Parsi

The post Motherhood in the MEK vs Motherhood in free world appeared first on Nejat Society.

I wanted to write a few lines for the future mothers who have children captive in the Manze camp! In our current era, which is the era of technology and information, the members of the Mujahedin organization, especially in the Manze camp, are deprived of everything! They cannot even contact their families, thinking about their mother is considered a crime in the Rajavi’s organization and anyone who asks members to contact their father or mother will be punished and forced to force the members! They have no feelings in their relationships with their parents and family, and if any member remembers his mother for a moment, he must be punished in the meeting and tell why he remembered his mother!

With Respect Mirlinda ZHARRI !

The post In the MEK thinking about mother is considered a crime appeared first on Nejat Society.

Each year, International Migrants’ Day is observed on 18 December. Designated by the United Nations General Assembly on 4 December 2000, in response to increasing migration around the world, the day aims to draw attention to migrants’ human rights and highlight their contribution to host societies.

However, the UN and other international human rights bodies neglect the disastrous situation of over 2 thousand MEK members who are taken as hostages in the MEK headquarters in Manez, a village near Tirana, the capital of Albania. They have no legal status in Albania. They are not considered as refugees or asylum seekers or migrants. Their identity is only defined by their membership in the Cult of Massoud Rajavi (MEK).

It is important to understand that, MEK members residing under the isolating system of the Cult of Rajavi, should be entitled to have all their human rights protected and respected, regardless of the status they have in Albania. The International community as well as the Albanian government must protect all MEK members as migrants from violence, exploitation and forced labor.

According to the UN documents, On 4 December 2000, the UN General Assembly (UNGA) designated 18 December as International Migrants Day, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world. Through its resolution A/RES/55/93, the UNGA invited Member States and others to observe the Day through the dissemination of information on human rights and fundamental freedoms of migrants, the sharing of experiences, and the design of actions to ensure protection of migrants.

The UN claims that by supporting regular pathways for migration, they can enable opportunities for migrants, better protect their rights, and contribute to greater prosperity while hostages of the MEK can never think of future and prosperity. They see no regular pathway for leaving the mental and physical bars of the Cult of Rajavi. They will succeed to escape the group’s camp if they are lucky enough to accomplish their escape plan.

The rights of the MEK members are violated by the group leaders every day. They are subjected to forced celibacy, forced labor, forced clothing, forced hijab, gender segregation, mind manipulation, isolation from the outside world including their family and friends. They need urgent help from the outside world because it is quite difficult to break through all the chains that MEK leaders have tied around them.

The UN says, “Together, one step at a time, we can continue building a world where migration is safe, orderly, and beneficial – for everyone.” In order to achieve such a valuable objective, the UN officials must pay attention to the calls from the families of hostages of the MEK. They have been longing for a phone call or face to face visit with their loved ones who have been barred by the group leaders for decades.

Mazda Parsi

The post Raise Awareness about rights of MEK members on International Migrants’ Day appeared first on Nejat Society.