MKO former members
Ehsan Bidi; MKO former member on his FB page published the photo of his friend’s – Ali Ardalan wedding ceremony . he hoped all the MKO Cult hostages who are deprived of their basic rights such as marriage to be released from the bars of the Rajavis cult and experience the free,hopeful life near their families.
Members and representatives of Setaregan Association (Switzerland), gathered in Geneva for the 27th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). The Association used leaflets and individual explanations to inform delegates to the Conference about the human rights abuses practiced by the Rajavis against members of their own organisation, the Mojahedin Khalq. Representatives of Setaregan, including Nasrin Ebrahimi, were able to relate personal testimony to inform delegates, a move which was highly effective.
Members of Iran-Zanan association along with Iran-Fanous association on Frieday12th, 2014 staged a rally in front of the UN General Assembly, Geneva to denounce the terrorist destructive Cult of Mujahedin Khalq Organization.
Members of Iran-Zanan association along with Iran-Fanous association on Frieday12th, 2014 staged a rally in front of the UN General Assembly, Geneva to denounce the terrorist destructive Cult of Mujahedin Khalq Organization.
Ali Mohammad Khatami was in MKO camps for 27 years. He was a soldier when he was taken as war prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1987. He then was recruited by Rajavi’s fraudulent propaganda team.
Nejat Society offices in Golestan and Khorasan Razavi held welcome meetings for these two defectors.
Ali Mohamad Khatami who joined his family in Nejat Society office in Mashhad was very happy to see his parents after years of separation.
“I’m sorry and at the same time very happy”, he said. “I’m really ashamed to see my mother and father for the grieves I made them suffer for years.”
Interview with Massoud Banisadr
In 1979, Masoud Banisadr was a young postgraduate maths student at Newcastle University, watching political 
upheaval in his homeland of Iran on the nightly news. After the fall of the Western-backed Shah, wanting to play his part in a new society he joined Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), an Islamic Marxist revolutionary organisation.
But a couple of years after the revolution, the MEK began to clash with Ayatollah Khomeini’s theocratic regime and were soon deemed an enemy of the new Iran. MEK suicide bombings and assassinations followed. In 1981, thousands of MEK members went into exile, and by 1986 had established a tight-knit paramilitary organisation in Iraq led by husband-and-wife team Masoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Banisadr became the MEK’s PR man, moving between Camp Ashraf, their headquarters in Iraq, Geneva and Washington DC, trying to win over Western politicians. He finally left the group in 1996, went into hiding and now lives back in England.
The United States removed MEK from its list of terrorist organisations in 2012, but Banisadr still considers it a fanatical cult acting under the warped leadership of the Rajavis. He argues that any terrorist organisation is either a cult or “has no option but to become one in order to survive”.
I spoke to Banisadr about the power of cults, and how this might help us understand why young men in the UK are vulnerable to joining the Islamic State and other extremist groups.
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| An MEK oath ceremony at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, taken around 2002 by a member who has since left and does not wish to be named. |
VICE: You were once a high-ranking member of MEK. Why do you now see the organisation as a cult?
Masoud Banisadr: There was a charismatic leader, Rajavi. There was a black-and-white world view imposed; followers cutting themselves off from family; followers losing their personality. There was mind manipulation. At Camp Ashraf in Iraq there were talks lasting for days on end. I remember one task where we had to write down our old personality in one column on a board, and the new personality in a different column. I remember a guy who said, “My brother works in the Iranian embassy in London. Before I loved him as my brother, now I hate him as my enemy. I am ready to kill him tomorrow, if necessary.” And everyone applauded.
How did you justify violence?
I was fortunate not to be involved in any violence. But all group members accepted MEK suicide bombings and killings in Iran to be revolutionary acts. This was the brainwashing. And later, in my role as official representative, I would justify and explain these acts as the only means we had to defend ourselves. I was a nice person, well-mannered, and could argue very rationally with politicians. So I was a good salesman.
Why did MEK members divorce their wives?
In 1990, Rajavi said all members must divorce their spouses. My own wife had already left the group by then. All members accepted these terms, and it [applied to] everyone except the leader and his wife Maryam. In a single day, everyone became celibate. Someone asked, “What about sex in the afterlife?” He replied, “I know your trick – you want to fantasise about the afterlife. But no – you must be prepared to forget about sex, about spouses, about love.”
No sex?
No sexual thoughts. The idea was that we were in a war to take back Iran, so you cannot have a family until the war is won. This was the excuse the outside world would hear, but inside we were told your spouses are a barrier between you and the leadership. We were ordered to surrender our soul, heart and mind to Rajavi and his wife.
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| Masoud meeting trade union leaders at an International Labour Conference in Geneva in 1987 (published in an MEK newspaper). |
How did you manage to leave the organisation?
What saved me was seeing my daughter. In 1996 I came to London to arrange some meetings. I saw my daughter, after many years of not seeing her. I had totally forgotten about the guy who was the father, the old Masoud. I only knew Masoud, the MEK member. The old Masoud wanted to hug her, but the group member – living under strict rules where men and women never interacted – knew he should not. I was fortunate that I had a bad back problem, so I was allowed to go and recuperate in hospital. And in those two weeks, being around ordinary people, seeing ordinary families, I allowed feelings for my own family to come back. And so, finally, I decided to leave the group.
Where did you go?
I had to go on the run for a time. I learned how to hide myself around the UK until they gave up looking for me.
What do you think it is that makes young people vulnerable to extremist causes?
Well, terrorism is like a virus. It attacks us through our weaknesses. It kills our personality, our individuality, like a cult. I think there are three stages. The first stage is the injustice of the world. Young Muslims see injustice, become angry and want to react. Then comes along a powerful ideology, and the Wahabi ideology offers a very simple, black-and-white world view, and a very narrow-minded interpretation of jihad, offered as a solution to young Muslims. But both these stages are not enough to make someone a terrorist, a human bomb or a fighter for a caliphate. A third stage is required: the mind manipulation, which robs someone of their personality, makes them identify entirely with the group and cuts them off from their parents and society.
So radical ideas alone aren’t enough to go off and fight for, say, the Islamic State?
If you’re a young Muslim and you feel like a nobody, it’s appealing to hear that we can return to the time of Prophet Mohammed – [that] we will be powerful again and feel proud of ourselves. This can make you radical – even prepared to be violent – but you will not stay a fighter or become a martyr without being entirely cut-off from family and the values of the society you were brought up in. That requires the mind-manipulation that goes on in a destructive cult.
Where does the Islamic State fit in? Do you consider it a cult as well as a terrorist organisation?
The signs are there. The leader – Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi – is charismatic and has unlimited ambition. He has been introduced as the leader of all Muslims, the Caliph. Normal leaders want political power. Cult leaders want something more than governing a city or country – they want to govern history. They want to change the structure of humanity. For a while they were calling themselves ISIL – Islamic State of Iraq and Levant.
They wanted control of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel. Now they call themselves the Islamic State. They want whatever they think was once part of the Islamic empire, so they claim Spain, Portugal, North Africa, India and part of China and Russia. They want the whole world, to make everyone Muslim. This is not normal leadership; this is heading towards cult. There is no limitation you can deal with, politically.
What would you say to British parents who have children fighting in Syria or Iraq?
It’s very difficult, very delicate. If a parent says anything critical against a radical preacher, or about an organisation like Islamic State, that’s when a person’s mind becomes defensive. It is difficult to argue rationally. So if a parent has contact, they should not try to talk about politics or religion. They should show only kindness and love. This is the member’s weakness. Feelings do not die away, even if personality has changed. So the parent has to let them know they will be there, waiting. There has to be a pathway back to a life where family love is there, something that has nothing do with ideological thinking. Unconditional love unlocks the mind manipulation that has taken place.
Thanks, Masoud.
Adam Forrest, Vice.com
Dr. Massoud Banisadr speech at London Press Conference; “Terrorism, Cult and mind manipulation”
Iran Interlink: Following is the trascript of the speech of Dr. Massoud Banisadr at the London Press Conference, August 2014
Terrorism, Cult and mind manipulation
After September 2001, there is not a single day without some sort of news about Terrorism, its atrocities and our vulnerabilities. These days we are witnessing thousands of people killed, maimed, kidnapped and imprisoned by various offshoots of terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda, ISIS, or the Islamic State, in Iraq and Syria, Al Nusrah in Syria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Boko Haram in Nigeria and others in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and elsewhere.
Even aside, the terrible traumas inflicted on hundreds of thousands or millions of individuals and their families by the destructive/terrorist cult leaders and the financial damage that they inflict on the society; there are also the further victims; i.e. members and followers of these groups.
In this very short speech, I want to explain what the relation between Terrorism and Cult is and explain how these violent groups recruit in our societies and how they can change normal, ordinary and even intellectual young people into a human bomb.
Terrorism
Terrorism in my view is some kind of a social virus similar to any other we know. We are all vulnerable to be infected by this virus mainly because of injustice, discrimination and double standards. Therefore, Terrorism has been with us since the beginning of civilization and unfortunately will remain with us as long as there is any kind of injustice in any society that makes people vulnerable toward it.
Like any other disease; for terrorism, we either can understand its characteristics and our vulnerabilities and immunise ourselves and our society against it, or fight its symptoms, prescribing a very strong painkiller that can harm healthy part of organism as well.
Unfortunately, as usual, governments have a habit of going for the latter one and only when they are forced by public opinion they will go for the former one. This is why most of government’s policies toward terrorism are aiming to face terrorists, rather than cause of terrorism.
Well I am not going to talk about terrorism in general but terrorist organisations in particular and their metamorphosis into destructive cults. Their victims and what can we do to stop them recruiting.
Terrorist Organisations
I will call an organization a terrorist organization if its only tactic, or at least its main tactic, dealing with outside world or for reaching its goal is an act of terrorism. According to this definition, I will not call any popular political organizations, even if they use terrorism to deal with their enemies, a terrorist organization because they are dealing with other problems of society as well; terrorism is not their sole tactic or the pillar of their actions in dealing with their daily problems and objectives. I argue any terrorist organization to survive; either is a destructive cult or has no choice but to change into one.
Change into a destructive cult
Let say virus of Terrorism like any other has only two principles, values and objectives: first to survive and then reproduce or expand its territory. Not being abided by any set of values, culture, custom or beliefs of the society is the main reason why terrorist organisations have to change into a destructive cult. After all their members are from the same society with the same set of values; therefore terrorist organisations either are able to change belief system, personality and individuality of their followers or will lose them for good and like other viruses without, let say hosts either they will fade away or will hibernate somewhere else. This is why soon or late they have to use some sort of mind manipulation technique to change their member’s set of beliefs and later their personality and their selfhood. This is their path toward changing into a destructive cult.
Here I assume everybody is familiar with definition of a cult and a destructive one, therefore I am not going to talk about that.
Vaccination is the solution:
As other viruses that attack live cells of our body and make us ill or even kill us, Destructive cults also attack our system of believe, our personality and individuality and they too will kill us, if not killing our body, certainly they will kill our personality and our individuality.
If we accept this analogy, then we might ask how we face a new deadly virus? Let say HIV or Ebola that we are facing these days. Do we bomb them or their victims? No. We certainly to stop spread of diseases will isolate victims but not killing them, we try to cure them.
We know that no virus or parasite (another analogy or metaphor for leaders of destructive and terrorist cults) can survive without a host. Therefore, instead of killing the Virus, we immunize potential hosts by vaccinating them against the virus, and without any available or substantial number of hosts, viruses soon or late will die away.
How can we vaccinate our people, and especially our young Muslims living in the west?
Three open gates or vulnerabilities of mind of young Muslims:
To prevent young people, especially young Muslims in Western countries, from being recruited, we should understand how terrorist cults use three vulnerabilities of their victims.
1- Injustice: We know that injustices are perpetrated all over the world against individuals and minorities, sometimes even against whole populations. Young people especially are particularly sensitive to these injustices and seek ways to put them right. This is their first ‘vulnerability’, or the first ‘open gate’ to their minds that terrorist cults can enter to infiltrate their thinking and ostensibly offer a solution to the problem. Governments, the media and politicians generally fail to understand and accept the nature and extent of injustice or to give young people ways to vent their anger and frustration about the sorry state of the world. Instead, they tend to turn a deliberate blind eye to wrongs and injustices and try to project a rosy picture of things. Hence, they aggravate and themselves become promoters of the problems, and it is left to the police to deal with protests and public unrest. Among young people, this creates resentment and hatred, not only towards the police and authorities but sometimes towards all of society. Rage leaves the ‘open gate’ of the minds of victims and sympathizers even wider for infiltration by terrorist recruiters.
2- Ideology or doctrine: Nowadays, positive nationalism, public ethics and morality, family traditions, cultural ties and tolerant religions are all diminishing in importance in the everyday lives of young people, especially in the West, and being displaced by pure individualism, celebrity worship and the assumption that, to be of value, you have to be talented, beautiful or rich. Young Muslims in the West are increasingly turning to religion as a cure for all their ills and dissatisfactions. This can be very positive and helpful, but, in the absence of intelligent and progressive preachers in the mosques who understand their frustrations and show them the tolerant and moderate face of religion, this merely opens the second ‘gate’ into the minds of the young devotees for terrorist recruiters and preachers (the main export of Saudi Arabia to other countries after oil). Using a few misrepresented and misinterpreted sentences of the Koran or the Bible, it is easy to radicalize them.
3- Mind manipulation: Unfortunately, schools and universities fail to educate young people about the dangers that destructive/terrorist cults pose to innocent minds unprepared to fend off their influence and their blandishments. Ex cult members, experts in this field can show the methods of mind manipulation that cults, terrorist cults in particular, use to alter young people’s personalities and make them capable of turning into slaves, and even suicide bombers. Lack of education and awareness about what freedom and slavery are in the modern world and how mind can be manipulated by a cult leader is the third vulnerability of these young people. Here we might be able to help; With such education, it might be possible to close this third ‘gate’ into young people’s minds.
How do I define Mind Manipulation?
According to my Mathematical model that I am not going to bore you with mathematical part, I have divided the mind manipulation in three stages:
The first stage is the use of rational and Influence techniques to engender a change of beliefs among new recruits. The next phase is to instil and stabilize the new beliefs and prevent the new recruit from returning to his previous belief system under the pressure of his pre-existing personality and his feelings towards his old way of life, family and friends. This is done mainly via isolation and forcing a change of behaviour, which I call it mind control (control of old feelings and control of behaviour). Finally, a destructive cult leader has to change a disciple’s personality into a collective cult personality; this is done mainly by the use of emotion, which I have called it brainwashing. If you are interested to know more, you can either refer to my articles on RIDC.info web site or see my new book that hopefully will come out next month: [Destructive/ Terrorist Cults are a new kind of Slavery]
What can we do?
How should we stop suicide bombers or punish them? By arresting them before they act? Or after their act, when they are in their own paradise? The first option goes against our values and principles, and risks fatal errors and the victimization of innocent people; the second is a joke and impossibility. However, we can and must stop people from becoming human bomb or a killing machine. Therefore, in my conclusion I suggest that we need, urgently and seriously, to conduct more research in order to understand the phenomena of destructive cults and mind manipulation. We need to inform and educate society and especially young people about these phenomena and the dangers they pose. We must criminalize the brainwashing and enslavement of people, just as we banned the old slavery. We need to help people who are on the road to killing their personality and individuality, just as we try to prevent would-be suicides. We have to help the families and friends of those who are enslaved in cults to rescue their loved ones, and encourage and give moral and financial support to those who want to escape cults. In this way, we will save many thousands of individuals from the new slavery and protect our modern way of life from the terrorism perpetrated by organizations that can only survive by changing into destructive cults.
Two former members of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization returned Iran
Mr. Shir Ahmad Ruzrokh and Ali Mohammad Khatami who had left the MKO camp in Iraq earlier could manage to return to their hometowns where they joined their families.
Shir Ahmad Ruzrokh was a war prisoner when he was deceived by the MKO to join it. Then he found out the bitter reality of the world inside the cult but he had no way out for 27 years.
Ali Mohammad Khatami was in MKO camps for 27 years too. He also was a soldier when he was taken as war prisoner by Iraqi forces in 1987. He then was recruited by Rajavi’s fraudulent propaganda team.
Nejat Society offices in Golestan and Khorasan Razavi held welcome meetings for these two defectors.
Ali Mohamad Khatami who joined his family in Nejat Society office in Mashhad was very happy to see his parents after years of separation.
“I’m sorry and at the same time very happy”, he said. “I’m really ashamed to see my mother and father for the grieves I made them suffer for years.”
Nejat Society congratulates Mr. Ruzrokh and Mr. Khatami for being back home nearby their beloved families. And hopes the release of other ex-comrades who are still held as hostages in the MKO camps.
Open letter to MR. JOSE LUIS RODRIGUES ZAPATERO
The Most Honorable Jose Louis Rodriguez Zapatero
“…We know that freedom’s cause is our fair cause. We know that the fight for freedom is often painful, but it is worthwhile. Democracy
, true justice, and dignity do not accept the superiority of anyone. No faith, no interpretation of God, no culture is superior to human kind free will to live together.”
The above golden words are from your speech this year in a Paris gathering on the occasion of Mujahidin celebrating start of their so called armed struggle.
I do believe that these are the words of a Major Political Figure that deeply believes in every word he says. I believe this from your deeds: Among them the withdrawal of Spanish troops from the Iraq war, when you found it unjust to continue. On the other hand, the increase of Spanish troops in Afghanistan; when there was a true cause for supporting and fighting for freedom of human kind. Or your Sponsorship of Alliance of Civilizations, even reform of abortion law; your attempts for peace negotiation with ETA in your country, also the reform of various autonomous statutes, particularly the Statute of Catalonia and so on.
Your Honor,
It is unfortunate that as a senior member of the Mojahedin e Khalq for nearly 30 years and a member of National Council of Resistance of the Mojahedin, when it comes to Mrs. Maryam Rajavi and Mr. Masoud Rajavi, I have experienced quite the opposite.
How can a human being be called free when he or she cannot express his or her ideals, or practice her or his free will, cannot chose his or her cloth, her or his marital status, her or his source of information, her or his political status or party when there is an Imam (Masoud Rajavi) which does that for her or him?
Masoud and Maryam Rajavi talk about the democracy in the West, but dramatically deny the democracy inside and outside their cult and even in the national council of resistance.
Rajavies teach their members that, they are superior to every human being on the Earth. Although for the time being can only apply it within their cult, Rajavi thinks himself as Profit (Imam) sent by the God and represents the God on the whole Universe. To give Your Honor an example, Rajavi ordered all their members to divorce their wives, because Rajavi thought all the wives belong to him rather than their husbands. After the divorce, all the women had to marry Rajavi to be purified and freed from all impurities!
If anyone objected were met with harshest measures one could imagine. Some members who objected were jailed for years, some tortured and even killed. In the past, members were systematically handed over to the dictator of Iraq. The rest are systematically brainwashed in daily devastating general gatherings by senior members who collectively and brutally attack the subject in bitter words to make them convince or keep them silence.
Your Honor
Masoud and Maryam Rajavi do not tolerate any criticism. Criticism is taken as an act against the God. They do not tolerate freedom of individual, no one in the Mujahidin is allowed to any free literature, news or understandings of the free world. They are not allowed to communicate with anybody even their first degree relatives outside the Rajavies will.
They brand all the western political parties as corrupt that must be wiped from the face of the earth. This is hidden in the recent years that Masoud and Maryam Rajavi have escaped from Iran and then from Iraq to the West where can be reached by the Law.
Masoud Rajavi praised the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack as a revolutionary act against imperialism while watching the brutality live on the TV in a general gathering in Iraq.
Your Honor,
Masoud and Maryam Rajavi are hiding their real face. They are more dangerous and more brutal than ISIS.
Sincerely yours
Ehsan Roshanzamir
25.08.2014
Cult Experts Hold Press Conference at London College
Experts mingled with cult survivors and members of the press before launching into nearly two hours of presentations and questions at a press conference at London College in Notting Hill on August 22, 2014. These leading thinkers on extremist groups and cults spoke freely about the challenges faced by governments when tackling the risks posed by such groups.
London Press Meeting
Masoud Banisadar, a former MEK member (an Iranian terrorist organisation) said; “Terrorism is like any other virus. It attacks through our weaknesses.” He pointed out that as long as there are “open gates” that allow the virus to spread, cults and extremist groups will have a free hand to continue. What really needs to be tackled is the “undue influence” (mind manipulation) that enables such groups to thrive.
Lloyd Evans and Masoud Banisadar
All of the participants echoed this theme in their presentations.
Lloyd Evans Editor of JWsurvey.org focused on the “undue influence” of Jehovah’s Witnesses over their members. While acknowledging the right of religions to promote their unique set of beliefs, he argued that when some of those beliefs violate human rights there must be mechanisms in place for proper redress.
Linda Dubrow-Marshall
Linda Dubrow-Marshall is an academic researcher from Salford University. She focused on the special issues associated with individuals who are raised in cults and the challenges they face when they attempt to leave those groups. She mentioned that they may experience depression, grief, existential pain, disassociation, foggy thinking along with many other issues during their transition out of a cult. Because they will face special situations as they try to return to a more normal lifestyle, they need to be given support through an approach she called “re-entry therapy.”
Rod Dubrow-Marshall
The research context was touched on by Professor Rod Dubrow-Marshall, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Derby, who admitted that he had once been part of a “political cult.” He said the evidence of the psychological impact of such groups is clear. “It is essential that governments respond,” he emphasized. “In that sense a religion or ideology should not be a shield that people can hide behind – there should be accountability. All organisations should open up for scrutiny.”
Jon Atack
John Atack is a former Scientologist and author of the book Let’s Sell These People a Piece of Blue Sky. He gave a moving and clear presentation about the research he undertook to uncover the facts about the life of L. Ron Hubbard and the inner workings of the small cult Hubbard created known as Scientology. Mr. Atack’s efforts resulted in some personal costs due to facing litigation. He pointed out that there is a general misunderstanding of the realities of this cult – just in terms of its membership figures. While there are only about 25,000 Scientologists, the organisation makes huge amounts of money by “unduly influencing” its members and by promising them “super-human powers.”
Steve Hassan was the last to speak.
A former Moonie – he is one of the foremost authorities on cults and mind control. He has been involved in educating the public about mind control, controlling groups and destructive cults since 1976. Steve’s wrote
Combatting Cult Mind Control: The #1 Best Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults (1988),
Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves (2000), and in July 2012, he published the paperback and e-book,
He wrapped up the session by explaining his work that was born out of previous research by such experts as Margaret Singer and Robert Lifton. He has expanded that research and taken it much further in the development of what he calls “the BITE model.”
Bo Juel and Steven Hassan
“People born into cults have an authentic suppressed self that they need to re-examine and recover,” he stated. “Through cloning, dependence, fear, and threats – the influence of extremist groups and cults is totalistic.”
A lively period of questions followed. Bo Juel, a former Jehovah’s Witness from Norway, asked how does this relate to “human trafficking.” Steven Hassan replied, “Human trafficking, sex and labor trafficking is a ‘commercial cult.’ Kidnapping, drugging, raping – it is along the same continuum up there with labour trafficking with political ends. The media needs to connect the dots.”
Professor Rod Dubrow-Marshall pointed out that the timing was now right to look deeper into the activities of these groups and they should be held to account for their actions.
In the final comments made while the questions were being asked, it was agreed that some in the media were beginning to look more seriously at what is really happening. But much more remains to be uncovered. We need a deeper understanding of exactly how “undue influence” is being used to recruit and retain membership within extremist groups and cults.
Now that governments have started an inquiry into the cover-ups of child abuse within public organizations (including churches and religious organizations), there was consensus among the panel that the time is ripe for abuses (like the “Trojan horse” situation within schools in Birmingham, UK) to be investigated, uncovered and addressed.
Workshops and group meetings will continue on Saturday and Sunday, August 23-24, 2014. We will provide updates on those gatherings in a future article.
Bo Juel and Steven Hassan Bo Juel and Steven Hassan Linda and Rob Dubrow-Marshall Linda and Rob Dubrow-Marshall Marc Latham and attendees Marc Latham and attendees
Press Meeting Press Meeting Richard Kelly Richard Kelly Jon Atack and Steven Hassan Jon Atack and Steven Hassan
