 Born again
Part four: Story of an MKO member
By Sepideh
December 10, 2003
The Iranian
One Friday, early in the
morning, a group of MKO intelligence people came to the base.
They gave us some forms we had to fill
out. The forms included a host of questions about our friends
and relative's ideological beliefs, occupation, and political
ideas. I wrote in my forms that one of my brothers was executed
for being a supporter of the MKO, another brother is
a doctor in the Islamic Republic's revolutionary guards (IRGC),
and one of my brother-in-laws works in the
Iranian
army.
After a few days, I realized that the way others
were treating me had changed. Later, I understood that the cause
of this change
was the information I had written in the forms, compounded
by my inquisitiveness about the Organization's internal
affairs. I wasn't the kind of person to accept things easily
so I asked many question. This made some people suspicious
that perhaps I was an infiltrator.
Afterwards, when I asked questions at our military
training classes, A. J., our team commander, would angrily
retort, "Didn't
they teach you these things in the IRGC?" I recalled one incident
when, out of curiosity, I wrote a letter to Sister Tahmineh asking
her, "why is it that wherever I go nobody talks about brother
Massoud?
There
are no pictures of him on the walls or tables while his wife
Maryam and Fahimeh Arvani's pictures are everywhere. Every morning,
we chant the slogan 'Maryam, Maryam, Maryam's
army', but no single slogan is chanted for brother
Massoud. Can you clarify this for me?"
I gave the letter to A.J. to forward it to
sister Tahmineh. A few days later, A.J. called me. I could
see the anger and
bitterness in his face. He angrily reproached, "aren't
you ashamed of yourself for writing such a pure nonsensical letter
to Sister Tahmineh? It was a real rot. How dare you to write
her a letter at all?"
I replied that, "I
simply had some questions I wanted her to answer.
I didn't ask her anything wrong." A.J. said, "how could such
a non entity like you write to her? You are
nobody to ask her questions. You are nobody even to say her
name. Moreover, your questions are like those of the interrogators
in Evin prison, aren't they?"
I was angered by his words and
asked
if
he knew what he was implying. I inquired,
"do I ask questions like interrogators in Evin Prison?" He
answered, "you'd better go and rethink things and make sure
you weren't previously an interrogator there."
The
manner in which A.J. had treated me left me feeling angry and
annoyed. I consoled myself by reasoning that the top ranking
officials in the MKO were unaware of the behavior of their officials.
I knew if anyone had been treated as I was, he would desert the
Organization. I ascribed A.J.'s misconduct to his attitude
and inexperience. I simply overlooked the incident.
Then one
day I was summoned to Sister Tahmineh's office. Sister Jila
was also there. Sister Jila asked if I knew why I had been summoned.
She explained that they wanted me to sneak into Iran and carry
out a mission. She said they expected me to be
triumphant and get back to Iraq very soon. I was so happy and
proud that they gave me the honor to do something for the cause
of the Organization. I immediately left the room to pack what
I needed. I was so delighted and in such a rush to get ready
for the mission that when anyone asked about what was up I
told them that I am going on a mission to Iran and that there's
no time to explain.
From every unit, one or two people were getting
prepared to set out for the mission. From our unit, no. 55, one
of the members, Mohammad K. and I were to go. We were six
total and the plan
was for us to leave the Sardar base and go to the Az-hadi base
in Baghdad, and eventuality to Iran. After we got to Az-hadi
base, we were divided in two three-member teams.
Mohammad K.,
another member, Farshid B. and I formed one team.
On the first day, Farshid was called to the Operation Room. There
he was advised as to what he should do in Iran. He came back,
said good-bye to us and left. On the second day, Mohammad K.
was summoned. When he came back from the Operation Room, he was
strangely happy. He whispered to me, "Do you know
where they are sending me?" "Where?" I
asked him curiously. "They want to send me to the
Presidential Bureau at Tehran. I have a relative who is working
there." Before long, we parted.
My turn came the next day. I was summoned to engineer
Abolhassan M.'s office. He was code named Brother
Nabi.
I was anxious and happy at the same time. I entered the room
and happily gave the routine greetings. Brother Nabi offered
me a
seat. There was someone else in the room. He was Brother Jalal,
whose real name was Hassan H.
Brother Jalal
was seated at a table just across from where I was seated. He
turned to brother Nabi and said, "the way he gives
greetings is also like the mullahs." A feeling of
astonishment crept over me. At first I thought he was not referring
to me, so I just ignored it. However, before long, Jalal, who
I later learned was one of the interrogators of the Organization,
sternly looked at me me and said, "tell me why you came here."
Not knowing what was behind his question, I said "it's
clear. I came here to fight against the mullahs' regime; to liberate
Iran". He became irritated and repeated his question in an even
harsher manner. I still
wasn't sure what he really meant, so I repeated the same
answer. He then became extremely furious and shouted, "Look,
pay close attention to me. Open up your ears and listen to what
I say. Don't try to fool us, don't waste our time.
I'm too busy and I don't have any time to idle away.
I have seen trash like you a lot. Now tell me why they have sent
shit like you here?"
Now I knew I was being interrogated.
I was completely mystified and confused. I felt it was a bad
dream. But I wasn't. It was very real. I turned out to be a target
for the false charges of the Organization's security body.
Angry
and hurt, I reacted, "you think I am an infiltrator? You think
I am a Pasdar? You are
mistaken. It is true that you need to keep a wary eye on newly
recruited members and be distrustful of them, but it shouldn't
apply to me. You shouldn't be suspicious of me."
Jalal lashed
out, "Shut up and stop talking crap."
He continued, "we know everything about you dirty
pig. Tell us the truth now. You must speak, you must answer."
I felt dizzy and weak. My head was spinning around.
I lost my mental balance. At times I couldn't understand
his words. My lips dried out; I could barely talk. I was
tearful and felt completely helpless. It was a nerve-racking
experience and my entire body was shaking from the unbearable
mental strain.
I asked Jalal how he dared call me an infiltrator?
I continued "my brother was executed and my mother
and I were arrested for the sake of the Organization. How could
I be a spy and have a radio code? How could you give a radio
code to a spy? How could you put me in contact with the Organization's
people inside Iran if I were a spy? How could you consent to
give a spy the authority to sneak people from Iran into Iraq?
If I were an infiltrator, how could you let me come to Iraq and
join you? I didn't want to come here, you brought me here.
You know you are lying; only I don't know why..." >>> Part
5
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