Tehran – Throughout history, women are often more vulnerable than their male peers and face higher risks of crime, sexual exploitation and forced labour.
This is a recurring theme around the world, and each society has its own unique expression of this, but women can share the tragic stories of struggle everywhere.
One place you might expect to find abuse against women is in organizations that declare themselves “advocates” of women’s rights, particularly those who pride themselves on having a “leader” for women and are said to be inferior across their ranks.
Terrorist group Mojahedin et Kalk (MEK) may not consider the murder of more than 23,000 Iranians to be heinous or consider his alliance with Saddam Hussein against Iran during the invasion of the 1980s. Members may even argue that these acts of fear and treason were committed in the name of justification. But what the group certainly doesn’t acknowledge is the systematic abuse of its own members, especially the women it desperately tries to portray as free and happy.
But over time, the number of former female members has increased, breaking silence and revealing the truth. It is characterized by unimaginable violence and infringement of human, individual and gender rights. Maryam Sanjabi is one of these women.
Mariam seemed to have been composed as she sat across from me for an interview. Her attitude was in stark contrast to the cold information I had just read online. That means MEK was trying to assassinate her. I asked her if this was true. She said yes, but what she cared about was that the group’s facades would descend, especially in the European countries that now protect MEK.
Mariam’s introduction to the organization passed through her brother when she was just in middle school. She joined the terrifying outfit in the 80s. “I know I have to be responsible for what I did, but I can’t help but wonder how it ended in Ashraf camp in Iraq,” she explained. “Of course I didn’t fully understand that I was signing up. I was young, naive and easily sucked into lies. The MEK leaders said their goal was to make Iran free and prosper, but what they bothered was to kill innocent people and enslaved us.”
For 25 years, Maryam was part of the organization. In 2011, she finally fled Iraq after witnessing a horrific crime against members, especially women.
Tehran Times previously reported on Ashraf Camp’s isolation. Members were separated from technology and the outside world, exposed to strict separation, and forced to be brainwashed every day. They divorced their spouse and were even forced to drive away their children. But speaking with Maryam provided deeper insight into the specific struggles that the women in the group endured.
Forced sterilization of women
Until the 1990s, MEK women did not hold true status under the leadership of their early founders. At best, they were limited to working in the kitchen, kindergarten or dorms, Mariam said. However, in the 90s, when Maryam Qajar-Azdanlou rose to his feet alongside Massoud Rajavi, a new concep took shape.
“Qajar-azdanlou is the group’s most infamous female fraud. What she says about women’s rights is a lie, and her actions are completely inconsistent with her words. Group propaganda boasts that women portray the best leadership role and as free revolutionaries.
Maryam explained that MEK is particularly concerned about women leaving the organization. They adopted extreme measures to prevent women from fleeing or thinking beyond their commitment to Rajavi. “A key part of their control strategy was to systematically eliminate the role of women as wives and mothers,” she said.
As the Tehran Times previously reported, MEK ended up having all couples within Ashraf Camp divorce their spouses. He then banned all forms of romance and intimacy, breaking the rules as he faces more severe punishments than men. “I knew a 30-year-old woman who confessed her feelings to a male member,” recalls Mariam. “When MEK leadership discovered this, they forced dozens of members to verbally abuse her during our nightly ‘confession session’ – an hour-long ritual where we had to admit “cheating” from that day. ”
“The constant humiliation destroyed her. She ultimately committed suicide by electrocuting herself with high voltage wiring.”
Mek’s family destruction campaign has progressed systematically. After separating the spouse, they eliminated the child. Finally, they assured that women would never be able to have children again. “They moved from forced divorce to mass sterilization,” Mariam said.
The tissue actively sought opportunities for sterilization. “A simple stomachache was justified,” Mariam revealed. “They claim that your life depends on procedures. If you resist, they will invent another surgical reason and sterilize you while being anesthetized without your knowledge.”
Maryam, who worked at MEK’s documentation centre, said, “I knew about 150 sterile women. There were many horrifying cases crossing over my desk that no one else had ever seen.”
It’s now impossible to leave
During the first few years of MEK’s existence in Iraq, the organization’s exit was relatively easy. Departure members will be held in separate quarters for approximately one year of release. However, after the group suffered major losses during the 1988 surgeries against Iran in 1988, they implemented strict measures to prevent asylum.
“Everything changed overnight,” Mariam explained. “People who request departure will be trapped in isolation for two years. Once released, they will only be given a fork, spoon, flour, second-hand clothing and minimal cash before being abandoned in the Abu Ghraib prison.
Abu Ghraib has long been synonymous with systemic torture before and after the US invasion of Iraq. The prison gained global notoriety in 2004 when leaked photographs exposed brutal torture practices. The prisoners were led by chains, naked detainees stacked up on human pyramids and forced into a cross-like position.
“Some former members asked me to rejoin MEK after being sent to Abu Ghraib,” Mariam revealed. “A lot of people disappeared into that prison — we’ve never heard of them again. The others never survived.”
For those who endured the fears of Iraqi facilities, survival did not mean recovery. The Tehran Times recently learned about the case of a woman who returned to Iran after imprisonment. The former MEK member institutionalized the rest of her year with psychiatric care before dying earlier this year.
Punished before disobedience
MEK has run a regular “cleaning” campaign to eliminate complaints within its ranks. Members with complaints or suspected of potential escape were rounded up and exposed to days of torture. Mariam eventually became one of these targeted “impure elements.”
“They accused me and others of being agents of the Iranian government, but that was nonsense,” Mariam said. “They knew we had no outside contact. This was their way of warning unfortunate members about the consequences of trying to leave.”
Eight years after joining, Mariam was taken to “The Castle,” an infamous prison complex within Ashraf Camp. “The first thing I saw was Mahbouve Jamsidi, sitting on a chair, cursing me and demanding confessions. Then the others in the room began to dare me.”
Mariam was trapped in a cell along with other female prisoners. Their daily presence consists of merciless be-stripped, with only one third of them having a three-minute bathroom outside the cell every day.
“The four guards oversaw our torture: Heshmato Tifakchi, Nahid Sadegi, Cobra Hassanband and Fateme Keradmund. Khaledmund will kick me anywhere in her military boots – head, face.
“One day, when Kaledumand attacked me like a wild animal and tried to break my hands, the violence escalated.
Mariam endured this torture for ten days. “Then came Shahin Hali, Saieda Sharoki and other security guards. They dragged me into the room, tied my hands and feet, whipped me out and my body until I died. They resurrected me with water.
After this ordeal, Mariam was returned to the general population with strict orders that did not speak of what had happened.
The ultimate fate of a woman who dares to escape
But what awaited those who miraculously escaped Ashraf Camp, avoided the prison in Abu Ghraib and survived the MEK internal torture system? Almost certain death – especially for women.
“After Saddam fell, he escaped at a time when surveillance became weaker,” Mariam explained. “The collapse of the regime meant that the MEK lost its main allies in hunting fugitives. Those who tried to escape before were not so lucky – many were captured and executed.”
Mariam told the tragic story of Minu Fatari, a camp guard who ran away with a male colleague she loved. “MEK deployed 60 Iraq patrol vehicles to track them down. They were captured and pulled back in Baghdad.”
The man finally escapes after two years in prison, but Minu suffers a much worse fate – she is executed along with the cyanide. “This was their standard way,” Mariam pointed out. “Others chose suicide over continuous suffering. I knew about 100 of the 5,000 members – an unimaginable victim.”
Mariam said it was unwell for some of the people who left them trapped in MEK. “Before I ran away, I opened up to my two closest friends,” she shared. “But the fear has made them not join me. Now they’re stuck in Mech’s Albanian compounds. I don’t think they can find a way, but I’m praying to God that someone will help them leave that hell.”