Monafeghin( literally hypocrites)
Actions of the Monafeghin organization against Iranian prisoners in Iraq.
The Mojahedin-e-Khalgh Organization, which has become known as the organization of Hypocrites due to its eclectic views, declared an armed war against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in June 1981 and joined the ranks of the enemies of the Islamic Revolution and the regime. The leaders of this organization fled abroad after the beginning of a series of conflicts and assassinations and the failure of their actions, and after that the activities of its remaining members in Iran became were done secretly. During the war imposed by Iraq against Iran, the aforementioned organization played the role of the fifth column for the Iraqi Baathist army and, while continuing the line of terrorism and insecurity in the country, carried out espionage for the benefit of Saddam's government. The cooperation of the Mojahedin-e-Khalgh Organization with Saddam's Baathist government, in the middle of the imposed war (Iraq's imposed war against Iran), took a wider and more obvious form with the establishment of military bases in Iraq, and with Masoud Rajavi's stay in Iraq and the formation of the so-called salvation army. With the direct support of Saddam and some other countries, they officially entered the war alongside the Iraqi army against their own people and remained with the Iraqi army until the end of the war. This cooperation took place in several areas as follows:
Helping the agents of Saddam's regime in studying, decoding and tampering with the prisoners' letters
The registered prisoners of detention camps were allowed to write two brief letters to their families during each meeting of the members of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The written letters were collected by the members of the Red Cross and delivered to the Iraqi Army Censorship Office in Baghdad for checking their content. In that office, the prisoners' letters were studied and if there were no forbidden contents, the permission to send them to Iran was granted. Some of the Iranian captives included certain codes or ciphers in their letters to convey bits of intelligence to Iranian authorities; this was partly done by resorting to a crabbed handwriting or deliberately leaving spaces between lines, and as those in charge of censorship had no proficiency of Farsi or were simply impatient, they failed to decipher the encoded letters and in this way, the letters in question reached their targeted correspondents and were utilized to the full.. This process continued until the middle of the war and many encrypted letters reached Iran. To solve this problem, the Baathists got some agents of the Mojahedin-e-Khalgh organization to censor the letters.
With the presence of the members of the organization in the censorship department, who were well acquainted with the Persian language and all kinds of allusions and codes in the text of the letters, the encrypted letters were decoded and the results were reported to the intelligence agents of Iraq. They also ordered the commanders of the camps to send the writers of encrypted letters to Baghdad. These people were tortured and interrogated in Baghdad, and in the end, they were sentenced to solitary confinement.
No matter how hard the captives tried to make their codes more and more complex, the censors succeeded in deciphering them. Among other actions of the organization's agents in the censorship department was tampering with letters and inserting untrue content and making it look like as though they were quoting the prisoners while speaking to their family members or vice versa that is quoting the family members while speaking to the prisoners. Writing items such as a divorce letter on the part of the husband or wife , the death of a father or mother, or the testimony of a brother and other relatives could cause problems for the prisoners and their families and had a nasty effect on their morale. Another action of the censors was to seize the letters of some prisoners and their families. Thus, the same limited and weak communication was also cut off and the spirits of prisoners would be totally dampened [1] [2][3].
Advice to the Baathists as how they could break the resistance of the prisoners
Given the complete familiarity of the agents of the organization with the spirits, strong and weak points of the prisoners, they tried to help the Ba'athists in their attempts as to break the resistance of the captives. Decreasing the quota of clothes, poor quality of food, frequent stoppage of water, creating severe sound pollution, launching psychological warfare and limiting the visits of members of the Red Cross, etc., were among the measures taken by the Iraqis in the camps against the LCs under the management of the Mojahedin-e Khalgh organization. [4]
Propagandizing and making arrangements for the recruitment of new members into the organization
After the ceasefire between Iran and Iraq, the prisoners hoped that they would shortly return to their homeland . The return excitement continued for a month or two after the ceasefire, but with the excuses of the Baathist government, it slowly subsided and the horizon of freedom and return to Iran became cloudy. The prolonged negotiations between the representatives of the two countries and the ineffectiveness of these negotiations, along with the actions of the Ba'athist agents in the camps, such as the reduction of the clothing quota, the poor quality of the food, the frequent stoppage of water, the restriction of the visits of the members of the International Committee of the Red Cross and disrupting the process of sending and receiving letters, which was the only means of communication between the captives and their families, all led to the aggravation of the situation
The political and cultural leaders and planners of the POWs tried to maintain the morale of the POWs in those difficult conditions, but the actions of the Baathists and the Mojahedin-e-Khalgh Organization were planned in such a way that under those horrible circumstances the future seemed bleak to the prisoners and with heavy pressures of all kinds inflicted upon them, the Iraqis hoped that Iranian captives would soon break and join the Mojahedin—Khalgh organization. In addition to the media of the Iraqi government, which constantly beat the drum of their poisonous propaganda against Iran, the organization's media also took action and followed the line of inducing despair and demoralization. Mujahid Radio and Television programs, which were broadcast from Iraq, and Mujahid newspaper whose copies were sent to the camps, although on a larger scale, had been intended to address people of Iran, but, it was reckoned by the organization that the captives were far more bound to be influenced by that venomous propaganda given the captivity conditions.
In addition to the media attack of the Baathists and the Mojahedin-e-Khalgh Organization, there were also some agents affiliated with the organization who infiltrated into the camps and identified the lowly educated, hopeless and weak-minded captives in an effort to convince them as to join forces with Monafeghin.
Finally, Mehdi Abrisham Chi, as the second person in the organization, visited some of the camps along with some of his comrades and accompanied by the intelligence officers of Saddam's army, inviting the prisoners openly to join them. In Mosul, Anbar, Takrit and Romadi camps ( camp) as soon as Abrisham Chi and his comrades appeared, the prisoners grew frustrated and let out an invective on them to the extent that they were forced to slink away and hide. The result of all the actions of the Baathists and the organization was the recruitment of a small number of members , who regretted it after a while and asked to return. According to some of these people, their action in joining the organization was not to accept its ideology, but they only wanted to save themselves from the insufferable conditions of captivity in the camps.[5] [6][7][8][9](Propaganda of Monafeghin to attract prisoners in captivity)
Spying for the Baathists and trying to engender discord
One of the other actions of the organization against the prisoners was espionage carried out by some agents affiliated with them in some camps through identification and introduction of planners and cultural activists. Moreover, the agents affiliated with the organization, in some cases, tried to create division and discord between the Shia and Sunni prisoners and get them to kill each other, but due to the vigilance of the prisoners, these actions were thawrted[10] [11][12].
See also
Bibliography
- ↑ Montazerin, Seyyed Hassan (2016). Tall saplings ;a survey of the beliefs of LCs. Ghom: Shahid Kazemi.
- ↑ Mahbuti, Ahmed (1388). strange land .Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
- ↑ Salmani Lotfabadi, Isa and Erfani, Ali Akbar (1387). Narration of trench builders 3 (a collection of memoirs of LCs of the Khorasan Jahad –e-Sazandegy). Mashhad: Salman.
- ↑ Ahmadzadeh, Mikael (1388). Camp 15, Takrit. Tehran: Shahid.
- ↑ Khorrami, Massoud (2009). The eight of us. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
- ↑ Irvani, Hojjat (1372). Th e atmosphere of captivity Volume 1, Memories of LCs of Fars Province, Tehran: Hozha Haneri.
- ↑ Zaghian, Asghar (1389). The twelfth camp. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
- ↑ Abdulahi, Sarafaraz (2014). Memories of captivity, The wound of love. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
- ↑ Dehnamaki, Massoud; Qasim Khan, Mohammad; Mousavi, Mehdi, Hatfi, Iraj, Maleki, Bahram (1996). Resisting in Captivity, Hidden embankment (4), Third Office, Research Group and Authors of Research and Publications Office.
- ↑ Ahmadzadeh, Mikael (1389). The last embankment. Tehran: Aja.
- ↑ Moshtakhi Nia, Seyyed Hamid (2012). The narrative of freedom. Babylon: Exercise.
- ↑ Dehnavi, Alireza (2012). Purgatory of captivity, memoirs of a liberated Iranian prisoner. Tehran: Art field.
To read more
Barati, Mohammadreza (2007). Humming the liberty song, a collection of memoirs from captivity to liberation. Mashhad: Zalal Andisheh.
Basiri Jezi, Alireza (2018). Tab, Isfahan: People's Culture.
Haddadi, Seyyed Ahmad and Sadeghi, Ali Naghi (2011).The lover in cage Qom: Martyrs.
Hamzai, Mohammad Murad (2006). Freedom in captivity. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
Heydari Nesab, Alireza (2004). The chamber of the prophets. Hamadan: Al-Ahmad (AS).
Khoshzad, Akbar (1391). The captivity of Farahbakhsh (a surname whose literal meaning is halcyon,blissful) .Memories of Akbar Farahbakhsh. Hamadan: Al-Ahmad (AS).
Rahmanian, Abdul Majid (1998). The Tale of Flame-Eaters (diary of the LC Mohammad Hossein Rafei). Tehran: Omid Azadegan.
Rahmanian, Abdul Majid (2016). Sorrow and Smile (diary of Azadeh Mohammad Hossein Rafei). Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
Rukni, Seyyed Kazem (2009). Nobody is the strongest. Memories of 118 months of captivity of the Islamic militia member and veteran Haj Hossein Eslami (Abadani). Ghom: Ebtekar Danesh.
Romsipour, Abdulsaheb (2000). Beyond the horizon. A collection of memoirs of the LCs of Karbala, Khuzestan. Ahvaz: Congress of generals and 16 thousand martyrs of Karbala, Khuzestan. Salaminejad, Abdolreza (2016). In the executioner`s prison, the memories of the LCs of the agricultural jihad of Khuzestan province. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
Foroughi, Mohammad Ghasem (1371). Collection of memories, From the bottom of my heart (interview with forty gallant liberated captives). Tehran: Deputy of Advertising and Publications of Wali Faqih Agency in Ground Forces.
Firoozi, Ismail (1388). Sparrows nobody is allowed to visit. The collection of the LCs of South Khorasan. South Khorasan: Surah Mehr.
Mohammadi, Hamid (1369). Mosul camp 3, Diary of a freed Iranian prisoner. Tehran artistic field.
Mahmoudi Noorabadi, Muhammad (2012). Skyless nights. Diary of a freed Iranian captive Ramzan Ali Zarei. Shiraz: Eighth Heaven.
Mehrabi Koushki, Ghodratollah (2015). Meeting strangers. Isfahan: Bright stars.
Nouri (Zayd), Hassan (1387). Three thousand days in captivity. Tehran: Payam Azadegan.
Nikjo, Zaigham (2006). Wounds of captivity. Tehran: Shahid.
Memories of Prof. Ahmad Chaldavi's captivity in Saddam's dungeon, Camp No. 11, Takrit (2013). Second edition, Tehran: Maarif Bahar Publishing House.
Yousefi Marand, Mahmoud (1382). A story of memories. Collection of memories of LCs Tehran: Political ideological organization of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Support.
Interviews
Mohammad Azad Jami Freemani, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; A-R-Y-; Imran Ahmadi, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Heydar Jahansoz, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Haj Ali Hossein Jamali, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Nader Haqqani, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Ebrahim Haghighi, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Issa Sarkohi, Payam Azadegan Institute, 2018; Ali Asghar Ghobadii Aram, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Pazhand Golchin, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Mohammad Hossein Mouzanzadeh Saqqa, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Mehdi Mousavi, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990; Yavari, Payam Azadegan Institute, 1990.
Bijan Kiany Shahvandi