No Mather dead or alive, Massoud Rajavi is politically dead
Massoud Rajavi disappeared in 2003
The last time Rajavi was heard of was in 2003 when he issued a statement on Ashura Day. Since then, no video of him has appeared.
There have been numerous accounts about Massoud Rajavi’s destiny. But what is very significant about him is that he disappeared just in the most critical situation. He disappeared after the US invasion but the most iconic event at that time was the arrest of Maryam Rajavi by French Police and the fall of Saddam Hussein as the main financial and military supporter of the group.
Occasionally the group publishes statements under the came of Massoud Rajavi.
The MKO’s propaganda might be seeking to maintain the sacred figure they have always portrayed for Massoud Rajavi, according to critics, because after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the coincident disappearance of Massoud Rajavi, many criticized him for leaving his members in danger and escaping to save his own life.
The fact is that nobody outside the MEK really cares whether Rajavi is dead or alive.
Contrary to Mujahedin-e Khalq claims of being democratic, the terrorist group of MEK has no democracy at all, according to the separated members of this group, members have been forced to do things that the leaders of the group want, such as participating in ceremonies, forced divorce, women marrying Massoud Rajavi again by force, etc. The members are not allowed to enjoy even the most basic needs of every human being to the extent that they do not even have the right to think freely and they have to report their thoughts to their leader so that if they are against the group, they will be insulted and humiliated by other members.
Another thing that is noteworthy is that the MEK are causing problems for their members and even those who have left the group. By the help of the United States they infiltrate to the Albanian government and this has made the separated members unable to work and earn money, which is why some of these people have been forced to sleep in the streets.
The MEK did not even have mercy on Massoud Rajavi’s son and in an action asked him to sign a letter against a separated person that in this letter, the separated member is introduced as an agent of the Ministry of Intelligence of Iran and he is accused of espionage, this is while Mohammad Rajavi, the son of Massoud Rajavi, has been separated from this group for some time and has strongly opposed and criticized the performance of this group. For this reason, he has sued the MEK and has filed a lawsuit in this regard.
Mohammad Rajavi describes this incident as follows:
I want to reveal about a dirty and illegal ransom to put pressure on me. Some time ago, the foreign employer of the company I work for, following a series of previous attempts to pressure me, sent me a letter asking me to copy and sign it. The text of this article was prepared by two well-known Mojahedin officials. One is Mohammad Mohaddesin, known as Behnam in the Mojahedin, and the other is Mohammad Sadat Khansari, known as Adib. In this regard, the letter that Adib sent to the employer and specified the lines of work for him, is available as a document.
In this letter, I was asked to write against Mr. Iraj Mesdaghi and introduce him as a mercenary. An act that was unacceptable to me. I will not call anyone a mercenary of the Ministry of Intelligence without a sufficient and court-friendly document. This has always been my position because I consider it immoral and it is against my principles.
Considering that this action was unacceptable and illegal in my opinion, I did not accept to do this signature and instead informed the syndicate about the matter. The syndicate officials, who had never encountered such cases in European countries, were very shocked by this action and it was unbelievable for them! For this reason, the syndicate’s lawyer sent a letter to Adib asking him to explain in order to better understand the matter. Until now, no response has been given to the lawyer’s letter. A case has been filed in court in connection with these illegal actions of the employer, which are carried out by taking direct orders from these two people.
Today, I want to address Mr. Mohaddesin and Mr. Khansari publicly: Mr. Khansari, Mr. Mohaddesin, who’s this dirty and illegal ransom? Why are you pressuring me through the employer to sign your statement? Don’t you, who have lived in Europe for nearly 30 years, know that this is immoral and illegal? Where in Europe and Scandinavia does an employer allow himself to get such a signature from his employee? Why didn’t you go directly to me and instead made the employer as a tool to put pressure on me? Please respond in front of public opinion if you dare!
Let me correct a point here. I have no connection with Mr. Iraj Mesdaghi and I do not know him at all. His positions towards the Mujahedin Organization are not my positions at all and I do not approve of them at all. Many of the things he says may be wrong, and baseless, but there is no reason to consider him a mercenary of the Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic. Doing so is against my principles.
I also have a word with the supporters of the Mujahedin. I have absolutely no intention of hitting and creating problems for the Mujahedin. I have nothing to do with politics, nor with the organization, nor with the opinion of the organization, and I also pray for each and every member of the Mujahedin. I am looking for a normal life away from controversy and useless noise. If you have been told something else, it is wrong and you can be sure that it is not true. But at the same time I have principles that I cannot deviate from. How the Mujahedin treats its critics is up to it, but it has no right to force me to follow them in this regard. Such an expectation is unreasonable, immoral and illegal. To this day, I have tried to resolve issues with reason and logic so that it does not lead to futile conflicts and does not take energy from me. Unfortunately, no result was reached and the court was forced to intervene to solve this problem. The syndicate’s lawyer has now filed a complaint with the court, and the date and time of the court hearing have been determined. I will keep you informed of further developments.
Important Note: Due to personal issues that can be understood by all dear compatriots, I refuse to mention the name of the company and the place of work.
Now a question rises that how a group whose members are fleeing from this group due to high internal pressure can claim democracy? Upon further examination of the group’s performance, it can be concluded that instead of the word democracy, it is better to attribute the word dictatorship to this group, a word that is perhaps the least adjective that can be used to describe the inner space of this cult. An atmosphere that has become difficult for most members of the group to bear.
Jack Turner, Geopolitica
In response to the recent message of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO)’s leader, in which he ordered the group’s terror cells to initiate widespread assassinations throughout Iran, families of Iranian victims of terrorism have written a letter to the international institutions of the European Union calling for legal proceedings against this terrorist group.
“The families of terror victims in Iran call on all international authorities and institutions in the European Union to, along with restricting the activities of this group in Europe, prosecute the leaders of this terrorist group in an international court with the presence of their victims,” the letter read.
According to this letter, the MKO leader’s order demonstrates adoption of a violent strategy towards the judicial process and the court hearing on March 8 and 9, 2021 where a large number of former members filed a complaint about years of torture and violation of human rights by this group.
As the open letter points out: “the group’s recent move to establish terror cells in Iran and their acts of sabotage and violence, which is officially admitted and prompted by the group, proved that the MeK is still a militant cult and a far cry from becoming an opposition group.”
Referring to The MKO’s location in Europe and freely activity of its members in European countries, families of Iranian terror victims warned that the group’s previous crimes and the violent threats its leader made on March 8 as well as any upcoming terrorist acts and assassinations in Iran, are partly the responsibility of the countries which have sheltered this group.
Read the full text of the letter below:
We are the families of the victims of assassinations and violence of the terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (aka MKO, MeK, PMOI) who lost our children, parents and grandparents in targeted and blind operations of this group. We have repeatedly protested against the negligence of international institutions in carrying out their obligations such as restraining this group and taking necessary measures to start prosecuting its leaders for their terrorist acts and crimes against humanity.
In our earlier correspondence, we had warned that ignoring their violent acts and behaviors would lead to this group’s return to violence and aggression.
As a result of this negligence, on March 8, Massoud Rajavi, leader of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization who has been living in hiding for nearly two decades due to fear of criminal prosecution and has been leaving occasional voice messages for members of his cult, broadcast a message to members of his terror cells known as”rebel centers”in which he ordered them to make use of weapons and initiate widespread assassinations throughout Iran.
This order of the MKO leader clearly demonstrates adoption of a violent strategy towards the judicial process and the court hearing on March 8 and 9, 2021 where a large number of former members filed a complaint about years of torture and violation of human rights by this group.
Fearing that ex-members of his cult sue him in court in Tehran and disregarding dozens of international documents on MeK crimes, terrorist acts and violation of human rights, Massoud Rajavi has escaped forward and invited Iranian officials to appear in an international court. On the other hand, former members and survivors of this terrorist group demand to go to an international court of law along with Massoud Rajavi and other leaders of this group to be fairly judged. Do Massoud Rajavi and his wife, as leaders of this cult, dare to appear in an international court of law before the victims of the crimes they have committed? And are EU officials and international institutions based in this continent ready to hold such a trial? This is the legal obligation of European officials and institutions. The MeK is located in Europe and its members travel freely in it. Therefore, the group’s previous crimes and the violent threats its leader made on March 8 as well as any upcoming terrorist acts and assassinations in Iran, are partly the responsibility of the countries which have sheltered this group.
In his message which promoted violence, leader of the MeK called on his elements to provide his rebel centers, with names and addresses of employees of Iran’s military, security and judicial institutions so that for what he calls the”Great Day of Justice”, weapons can be fired at their chests! In the message, Rajavi made mention of the early years after the 1979 revolution when his group’s death squads assassinated Iranian civilians and officials. He requested the rebel centers to do the same.
As mentioned, numerous reports have been published by the research centers, governmental institutions and western intelligence agencies about this cult and its threats.
The FBI’s 1987 report; a Court of Appeals document on June 25, 1999, based on a CIA Report; US Government Statement in 1997; a report by Canada’s SIRC in 1992; US Department of Justice’s report in April 2009; State Department’s Reports in 2004, 2005, and 2006; Executive Order No. 13224 by the US Secretary of State on Terrorist Financing of the National Council of Resistance and the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in August 2003; US Court of Appeals’ verdicts in 1999, 2005, and 2009; FBI’s reports in August 2002 and November 2004; a report by the American Institute for Political Studies (IPS) in 2012; a 2005 Human Rights Watch report named No Exit; German BfV agency’s reports in 2004 and 2005; a document regarding the MEK’s inclusion in the European Union terrorist list printed in the Official Journal of the Union in December 2007; a report by security service of North Rhine-Westphalia State in October 2005; the 2008 North Rhine-Westphalia State Protection Office’s Report; Foreign Affairs Committee of the British Parliament’s report in July 2003; the British Foreign Relations Committee’s report in July 2004; official Statement by the UK Foreign Secretary in May 2008; Statement by the French Minister for Justice in June 2003; Swedish Government Resolution on 2 September 2004, and Swedish Immigration Office Decision against the MEK; EU Declaration on 5 April 2002; the US Deputy Secretary of State’s reports to Congress and the Foreign Affairs Committee of House of Representatives in October 1994; the 2009 Rand Corporation’s report; Saban Center for Middle East Policy’s report in June 2009; Columbia Court of Appeals’ report in 2010; and US Council on Foreign Relations’ report in July 2014.
These documents, reports and verdicts are only part of what proves the violence and terrorism of the Mojahedin. The group, which was disarmed in 2003 as a militant group affiliated with Saddam Hussein’s regime following the US invasion of Iraq, has since acted in Europe, pretending itself as a political group opposed to the Iranian government. However, the group’s recent move to establish terror cells in Iran and their acts of sabotage and violence, which is officially admitted and prompted by the group, proved that the MeK is still a militant cult and a far cry from becoming an opposition group. One should add to it the recent order of Massoud Rajavi to the terror cells to identify Iranian citizens working in judicial and military institutions and “execute justice on them”.
The families of terror victims in Iran once again call on all international authorities and institutions in the European Union to, along with restricting the activities of this group in Europe, prosecute the leaders of this terrorist group in an international court with the presence of their victims. We also declare our full readiness to cooperate in this process by providing the required documents to the responsible institutions.
To:
European Commission
Council of the European Union
European parliament
Secretariat of the European Parliament
European Court of Human Rights
Court of Justice of the European Union
Council of Europe Committee on Counter-Terrorism
Sincerely yours,
Habilian Association (Families of Iranian victims of terrorism)
March 12, 2021
Tehran, Oct 12, IRNA – In the recent months, there have been some reports in social media and news outlets with regards to MEK’s leader Massoud Rajavi, which once again drew attention to the unknown fate of the terrorist.
Rajavi disappeared in 2003. Ever since, the news about his death has been published by news outlets, but it was never confirmed.
The MEK, aka MKO, was founded in September 1965 to counter the US-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi but made a complete about-face on their causes after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. They changed into a puppet terrorist group controlled by the anti-Revolution World Arrogance.
After their three forefathers and leading core members were executed six years before the Revolution by SAVAK, the Shah’s intelligence service, Rajavi who was in prison became the leader of the group. When freed after the Revolution in 1979, he became the leader of the MEK.
In 2003, Iraq was invaded by the US and Saddam was toppled. In the air raids, Camp Ashraf was mistakenly bombarded by the US and it was reported that Rajavi and 20 other terrorists had been killed. The news was denied soon afterwards.
Then, some news outlets said that he was severely injured and hurt on the face. He has never showed up in public since then. Just a couple of voice tracks were published to show he was still alive. The last track was broadcast on November 2, 2014.
In 2012, Camp Asharaf was evacuated and the MEK terrorists were taken to US Camp Liberty. Disguised as a woman, Rajavi was taken to Camp Liberty as well. They were eventually taken to Manez, western Albania.
There was no talk of Rajavi until four years ago when then-chief of Saudi intelligence Turki bin Faisal Al Saud, named the MEK standard-bearer as “Late” Rajavi in Paris. This made the media assume that he had died. The news was again not confirmed.
In its last year’s congregation, the terrorist group put on a billboard with pictures of some deceased Iranian figures. They had included Rajavi there as well.
The picture implied that Rajavi is dead. But still, some believe that he is still alive and leads the group from his unknown whereabouts.
The important point here is the new game MEK terrorists have started with the help of the CIA and Mossad. They publish the false news of Rajavi’s death, which is clearly part of a scenario.
In all likelihood, Rajavi is still breathing somewhere – most probably in the US camp in Albania – and leading what is left of the group.
It has been said that Rajavi’s appearance has changed: he has lost a lot of hair; his face is wrinkled; and now he wears glasses.
Another sign that heightens the probability of his being alive is that fact those that were always alongside him in Iraq are all in Albania.
The most important question is what is this cat-and-mouse game about his life and death for?
From all appearances, the US has preserved the terrorist for a rainy day, when they will bring him out in a mysterious way to strengthen the ideology of the group or even the masses.
The US has been repeatedly defeated by Iran in the past several years: their super-advanced drone was shot down in Iran; they were awfully defeated in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. The defeats have made the US extremists consider using the MEK as a tool against Iran – although they are well aware of the fact that the terrorists of MEK are old and feeble and have been quickly shrinking in the past few years.
Since May 2018, when US President Donald Trump withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that was an international UNSC-endorsed agreement, the MEK has encouraged Washington to attack Iran and has made them sure that if they do so, the MEK will be on the US side.
Of course, the last nail of the MEK’s coffin in Iran was hammered when they sided with Saddam in the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s.
So, what do the US extremists want with this walking corpse?
The rise of rulers with absolute power in Europe and Asia led to World War II. The totalitarian systems of Stalin, Hitler, Mao, Pol Pot and other relied largely on mass terror and indoctrination. Although today we live in a more democratic world with less ideological systems to rule people, there are still cult-like groups that are ruled by dictators. Cults of personalities such as the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI) use considerable violence to intimidate dissidents inside the cult.
In a totalitarian system like the one in the MEK, individuals have no rights, and the leaders suppress all opposition. However, the MEK tries to stimulate democracy using it as a tool to legitimize authority, consolidate power, and repress its members. The self-assigned president of the group Maryam Rajavi is called”president elect”to suggest that she was elected by the group’s parliament in exile, the so-called National Council of Resistance (NCRI). Actually, NCRI is 98 percent consisted of MEK members, no other fractions of Iranian political spectrum is included. She was indeed elected by Massoud Rajavi and other members had no way but agreeing with his decision.
Maryam Rajavi in her turn makes efforts to take the gesture of a democratic leader. Her”ten point plan”for the future of Iran is a representation of her alleged pro-democratic aspirations but none of the ten points of that secular democratic plan are practiced inside the group’s headquarters Ashraf 3 in Albania as a token community of Iranians.
Members in camp Ashraf 3 are not allowed to ask for their most basic rights. They are not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. They are victims of forced celibacy, forced labor, sleep deprivation in a coercive system that requires them self-criticism and peer pressure. They can never ask about the controversies they are faced with in the cult.
Indeed, the most controversial question in members’ minds might be about the whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi who disappeared in 2003 after the US invasion to Iraq and the eventual collapse of Saddam Hussein, Rajavi’s long-time financial and military sponsor in his struggle against Iran. But, no one dares to ask such a question. Even after the Saudi prince Turki Faisal announced Massoud’s death in the group’s gathering in 2016, the MEK leaders did not approve or deny the announcement.
“However, this absence has been so prolonged that it has led members to criticize and even flee the group.”Suggests Ali Alghurabi of the MNA.”Fear of the group’s collapse has forced Maryam Rajavi to repeatedly move from her Paris headquarters to Tirana to lecture to members in order to show that the situation is under control.”
Alghurabi who is an Arab journalist based in Iran, assumes that the MEK’s stance about the death of Massoud Rajavi is like a game to keep members in limbo.”It seems that measures such as former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal’s statements among members of the cult a few years ago in which he had called Masoud Rajavi dead or putting Masoud’s image among Iran’s deceased historical leaders, and, at the same time, denying his death by the cult’s ringleaders by occasionally broadcasting Masoud’s voice messages are the cult’s game to confuse members and even Iranian officials about the status of the group’s leader,”he argues.”The goals of this game are preventing the members’ exit as well as blinding Iranians’ desire to prosecute or exterminate Rajavi.”
ALghurabi correctly asserts that the MEK’s declining system will no more succeed to maintain Massoud Rajavi’s authoritarian soul over members.”It seems that under the current circumstances, whether Massoud is alive or not will have little effect on the group’s situation,”he states.”The MEK continues to be viewed as a notorious group with a bad record among Iranian people and the Iranian opposition groups; A group which had been on the list of terrorist organizations in the US and the EU, with no credible social base in Iran, dozens of its members fled its camps since 2014 when the group was relocated to Albania, the average age of its members on the rise, and many of them already too old. It is even feared that because of its relocation to Albania, the MEK could be considered a serious obstacle to Albania’s EU accession negotiations and the group’s presence in Albania could turn into a challenge for the Balkan country.”
“So whether or not the elderly leader of this cult is alive, when the MEK is facing a lot of challenges, may not matter much,”Alghurabi determines. The collapse of the world’s most powerful dictators like Hitler, Stalin, Saddam and Ghaddafi is the proof. Maryam Rajavi’s hard work to trigger her troll farm in Albania makes no sense when members hardly believe in the group’s cause seeking an opportunity to escape the cult.
Mazda Parsi
All cults in the world are composed of a base and top of the pyramid. The top of the pyramid is the highest position in a cult that finds itself needless to consult and decides on the basis of its own thoughts or desires.
The bodies of these pyramids are forced to follow their hierarchical superiors, which eventually reaches the top of the pyramid.
The terrorist People’s Mojahedin Organization (MEK) is no exception: A leftist political organization that was formed in the 1940s and gradually changed in nature into a true cult.
The leader of this cult, Masoud Rajavi, has been missing in the past 13 years, just after the US-led war against Iraq in 2003 that toppled Saddam, Rajavi’s friend and ally.
Why has Rajavi disappeared since then, or where is he now, are questions that occasionally come to the minds of those who deal with this cult. There is no doubt that members of this group, especially those living in the MEK’s camp in Tirana, Albania, have repeatedly asked this question from themselves. they can only ask this question from themselves because asking questions in cults, such as the Rajavi’s cult, is a sign of criticism and would immediately be repressed or harshly responded.
But why Rajavi disappeared?
Massoud Rajavi has been the leader of the MEK for more than two and a half decades. He is accused of killing several thousand Iranian citizens and officials over the years by his death squads. In addition, Iraqis believe his group has worked directly with Saddam’s military and security apparatus to suppress the Kurds and Turkmen in the country after the 1991 war with Kuwait. Along with these allegations, which have been admitted by hundreds of the cult’s ex-members, his migration to Iraq during the country’s war with Iran is seen as an unforgivable betrayal by the Iranian people and even by political opponents of the Iranian government.
Thus, with the overthrow of Saddam’s regime and the prosecution of its officials, it was very likely that Massoud Rajavi be prosecuted by Iran or Iraq on charges of murder and war crimes.
In addition, the fear of assassination and physical extermination has obviously scared Rajavi. By his absence, Rajavi appointed his well-dressed wife, Maryam, at the head of the pyramid to indicate that the MEK has changed from a violent armed group to a political movement led by a woman.
In the years following his absence, Massoud Rajavi repeatedly sent audio messages to members of the group in order to prevent the frustration of members out of his prolonged absence.
However, this absence has been so prolonged that it has led members to criticize and even flee the group. Fear of the group’s collapse has forced Maryam Rajavi to repeatedly move from her Paris headquarters to Tirana to lecture to members in order to show that the situation is under control.
It seems that measures such as former Saudi intelligence chief Turki al-Faisal’s statements among members of the cult a few years ago in which he had called Masoud Rajavi dead or putting Masoud’s image among Iran’s deceased historical leaders, and, at the same time, denying his death by the cult’s ringleaders by occasionally broadcasting Masoud’s voice messages are the cult’s game to confuse members and even Iranian officials about the status of the group’s leader. The goals of this game are preventing the members’ exit as well as blinding Iranians’ desire to prosecute or exterminate Rajavi.
It seems that under the current circumstances, whether Massoud is alive or not will have little effect on the group’s situation. The MEK continues to be viewed as a notorious group with a bad record among Iranian people and the Iranian opposition groups; A group which had been on the list of terrorist organizations in the US and the EU, with no credible social base in Iran, dozens of its members fled its camps since 2014 when the group was relocated to Albania, the average age of its members on the rise, and many of them already too old. It is even feared that because of its relocation to Albania, the MEK could be considered a serious obstacle to Albania’s EU accession negotiations and the group’s presence in Albania could turn into a challenge for the Balkan country.
So whether or not the elderly leader of this cult is alive, when the MEK is facing a lot of challenges, may not matter much.
By: Reza Alghurabi
Reza Alghurabi is an Arab journalist who lives in Iran. He is a former researcher at the Beirut Center for Middle East Studies and an independent researcher and journalist writing in Iranian newspapers including the Khorasan daily.
A US and Saudi Arabia-backed anti-Iran terrorist group, which is responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent Iranian civilians and officials, has announced a plan to assassinate a senior Iranian military commander and the country’s new Judiciary chief.
Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) informed its members about the plan through a recent internal communiqué.
It specified the targets as Major General Qassem Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), and Ebrahim Raeisi, who was appointed as the country’s top judicial official by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei earlier this year.
The terrorist organization said it would “welcome” their assassination, adding that it desired for the ranking officials to “join” Asadollah Lajevardi, Tehran’s former chief prosecutor, and Ali Sayyad-Shirazi, a former commander of the Iranian Army’s Ground Forces during Iraq’s 1980-88 war against Iran.
Lajevardi and Sayyad-Shirazi, both prominent figures in the country’s struggle against campaigns led by the United States and its allies following the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, were assassinated by the MKO terrorists respectively in 1998 and 1999.
The MKO has a dark history of assassinations and bombings against the Iranian government and nation. It notoriously sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the eight-year war.
Out of the nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist assaults since the Revolution’s victory, about 12,000 have fallen victim to the MKO’s acts of terror.
The group throws lavish conferences every year in Paris, with certain American, Western, and Saudi officials as its guests of honor. These include US National Security Advisor John Bolton, US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, and former Saudi Arabian spy chief, Prince Turki al-Faisal.
This comes as Western countries, topped by the US, have taken the group out of their terror blacklists, while frequently accusing Iran of conducting terrorist attacks against regional countries.
In the latest instance of their accusations, the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, echoing Trump, accused Iran of being behind a recent attack on two tankers in the Sea of Oman.
The Trump administration has blamed Iran for attacks on two oil tankers in the Sea of Oman without providing any evidence to back up the accusation.
Earlier this month, the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous and Norwegian-owned Front Altair oil tankers were struck by explosions near the strategic Strait of Hormuz. Japan’s government said both vessels were carrying “Japanese-related” cargo.
Tehran has roundly rejected any role in the attacks, which it called suspicious, asking how could have the country possibly benefited from such an attack while Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was in the Islamic Republic on a historic visit.
Massoud Rajavi surfaced in Iraq, the country that was in war with Iran at that time. After he was expelled from France territory in June 1988, he was welcome by the then Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein as the fifth column agent who would aid Iraqi Baath regime in spying and military operations. However, Maryam Rajavi is still in France running the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/ MEK/ PMOI/ the Cult of Rajavi) with its full potentials as a destructive terrorist cult.
At that time, Massoud Rajavi was in the first stages of establishing his cult of personality. His expulsion from France was a year after his marriage with Maryam Qajar Azdanlou, the wife of Abrishamchi another high ranking member of the group. The marriage was marked as the start of the “Ideological Revolution” that required members to divorce their spouses and to dedicate their entire existence to the group’s cause and its leader Massoud Rajavi.
Up to the Ideological Revolution, the MKO was a political group with a violent back ground of fighting against the Iranian government but after the Ideological Revolution was declared and started its rule, the MKO became a destructive cult with a terrorist extremist substance. It almost took two decades to fall Saddam Hussein and the MKO go disarmed by the US military. The fall of the landlord and the disarmament of the group led a large number of MKO members –who couldn`t justify their stay in the group anymore—to leave the group.
Once the rank and file defected the group, secrets of the Cult of Rajavi were revealed in the testimonies that former members made in different courts and media in order to bring Massoud Rajavi to trial. But Massoud got disappeared. He had not been seen since Maryam was arrested by the French Police in June 2003.
Maryam has been the only leader of the MKO since the disappearance of Massoud. She has made efforts to maintain the cult-like structure of the group whether in Iraq or Albania. The same as any other destructive cult, leaving the MKO is forbidden. Members are fed up and disappointed due to the suppressing atmosphere of the cult that controls all aspects of their life, bars them from contacting their family and friends. They were tortured mentally and physically by the order of its cruel leader. They can hardly ever leave the group normally; they have to escape.
Therefore, the rank and file of the MKO are definitely suffering a more threatening oppressive situation these days than in 1988 that Massoud joined them in Iraq. Today, the MKO members are taken as hostages in a remote camp outside the Albanian capital. The new camp is called Ashraf 3 by the group leaders who wish to maintain Rajavi’s cult-like structure the same as it was once formed in Camp Ashraf, Iraq.
The Expulsion of Maryam Rajavi from France and her relocation in Albania seems to be a very vital solution for the threat of her destructive cult that endangers European citizens too. Eventually, the MKO’s camp in Albania should be supervised by the United Nations authorities in order to offer members of the group possibilities to choose for their future with their own free will.
Mazda Parsi
Massoud Rajavi born on August 18, 1948 in Tabas in the Northwest of Iran. He became the leader of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) in the late years of the Pahlavi dynasty after the early leaders of the group had been executed and Massoud survived the death sentence that all his comrades received. Due to his “cooperation” with the Shah’s Intelligence, SAVAK, his death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment.
By the time of the Iranian revolution, Rajavi was released and supported the newly-established government founded by Ayatollah Khomeini. Soon, the gap widened between the organization and the new government due to the former’s adoption of mixed ideologies of Islam and Marxism. The tension reached its peak in 1981 when Massoud Rajavi called his young followers to launch an armed struggle against the Islamic Republic. A large number of innocent civilians were killed during the MKO’s acts of violence. The government arrested a number of the group members and this led Rajavi to flee to Paris together with the Iranian deposed president Abolhassan Banisadr. His wife Ashraf Rabii was killed in the clash between the MKO armed forces and the Iranian security forces.
In Paris, he married Firouzeh Banisadr the daughter of Abolhassan Banisadr. He founded the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). He then joined the Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was at war with Iran. The Banisadrs opposed Rajavi’s anti-nationalistic act and broke out with him. In Iraq, Rajavi formed the National Liberation Army (NLI) that was logistically and financially sponsored by Saddam Hussein’s Baath Regime. NLA was actually Saddam’s Private Army.
Sheltered in Iraq, near Iranian border, Massoud Rajavi led numerous cross border operations and terrorist attacks inside Iran. NLA was also an arm of Iraqi military in the suppression of Shiite and Kurdish uprisings inside Iraq in the early 1990s.
Rajavi married to Maryam Qajar Azodanlu (later known as Maryam Rajavi) in 1985, who was already married to one of his close associates Mehdi Abrishamchi and divorced her husband in order to marry Rajavi. The marriage that was called as ideological by Massoud, resulted in the transformation of Rajavi as a normal political leader to the leader of a cult of personality.
The Cult of Rajavi required members to obey cult-like regulations that Massoud indoctrinated in the hierarchy of the group. The regulations included forced divorce, forced celibacy, absolute obedience ….
He disappeared in the 2003 invasion of Iraq and it is not known whether he is alive or dead. Rajavi has been wanted by Iraq since 2010 for crimes against humanity.