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Iran interlink,February 2007
Psychiatrists andSociologists whoare experts in thisfield, broadly agreeon a general princi-ple which is that aterrorist group thatsystematically util-ises violence toreach its goals willalso be utilisingsome specific as-pects of cult modusoperandi accordingto contemporarydefinitions of cults[1].What this means isthat an organisedentity which, forany stated reason,attempts to physi-cally eliminate itsopponents (as op-posed to engagingwith them in anyother way) will beassumed to be em-ploying mind con-trol techniques(often referred to incommon parlanceas "brainwashing")in order to attract,recruit and main-tain its recruits andto exert power overevery aspect of their lives. Again,many scientists of human and socialstudies who haveextensively studiedthis phenomenonagree that any cult,because of itsunique characteris-tics, is potentiallycapable of usingviolence and physi-cally eliminatingnot only its ownmembers but alsoits opponents if itdeems this neces-sary. Any cult will,in theory at least,believe this to bean absolute right.Examination of adocumented exam-ple in this regard isused here to openp this issue. In thefollowing we firstdescribe three in-terlocking circles of the structure andoperations insideone clearly definedterrorist cult:In the First Circlethere stand thepeople who aretrained to carry outterrorist activitiesand to ultimatelydestroy their ownlives and those of the others. Theseindividuals areproud of their ter-rorist acts and con-sider this, withinthe framework of their ideologicalsystem, to be thehighest pinnacle of purity and sacrifice.This ‘ideological’ framework is sig-nificant because of course the directperpetrators of ter-
Cults and Terrorism - A Case Study
 
S
PECIAL
I
SSUE
 M
ARCH
, 2007
Nejat Newsletter
BRIEFING PUBLICATION OF NEJAT SOCIETY 
Cults and Terrorism -A Case Study
, is thetitle of a research articlewhich appeared in thewebsite of 
Iran-Interlink.org
lastmonth.Since this article dealswith the cultic behav-iour of the Mojahedin-éKhalq Organisation(MKO), it was decidedto present it to you inthe form of a specialissue of the Nejat News-letter.The truth is that MKO isa well established terror-ist cult which has allknown behaviours of such groups and theirname is among variousinternational terroristlists.What is mentioned inthe present article is justone example of suchbehaviours and deedspracticed within theorganisation.There are many articlespublished in the pastwhich deals with thiskind of behaviours of this cult that are usefulfor all readers (e.g.please see the book pub-lished by Mas’udBanisadr under the titleof Memories of an Ira-nian Rebel).Anyway, we do hopethat this would help youin order to getting toknow the organisationmuch better.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: 
 
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rorist acts are themselvesthe prime victims of terror-ism but unfortunately arequite unaware of this bitterfact. It is due to this frame-work that the fact thatsome suicide bombers donot inflict casualties as aresult of their own deathsdoes not stop others fromfollowing them.In the Second Circle therestand the people who playthe role of intermediatesbetween the leader of theorganisation and those whoare tasked to act in the ac-tual scene. It is these indi-viduals who put into prac-tice a specific process of psychological manipulationor mind control which willprepare the people in thefirst circle to carry out ter-rorist operations. These in-dividuals are so thoroughlydissolved in the system of the organisation that theyare capable of sincerely anduncritically imposing thesemind control techniques onothers.In the Third Circle therestand the leaders of thecult who have developed amask to portray freedomand humanity to the mem-bers of their cult and be-yond this to the outsideworld where their pur-ported advocacy of democ-racy and human rights isdesigned to distance themfrom the actual victims of terror on both sides. Cullsare not what they show.Cult leaders are expert atcovering their actual natureand easily show a differentface from their actual oneto those who do not knowthem.Now we describe a docu-mented example using theframework of those con-nected circles which com-prise the structure of a ter-rorist cult. The case studyhas been chosen from theMojahedin-é Khalq Organi-sation (MKO). This organi-sation according to currentsociological definition is adestructive cult. [2]
First Circle
 Around March 2001, threeindividuals named Gar-shasb Soleymanian, Mas'udBakhshi and Amir Gudarzi,who had been trained mili-tarily and ideologically in
Cults and Terrorism - A Case Study (cont)
 
the MKO camps in Iraq un-der the hegemony of Sad-dam Hussein, were sent toa city inside Iran to per-form a terrorist act. Theywere eventually killed in astreet clash with law en-forcement officers. Thenews relating to this clashalong with their biographieswas published in Mojahed,a Persian language news-paper, the main publicityorgan of the MKO at thattime. From the text andtone of their letters to theircommanders and theirwills, we can derive thekind of preparation that allthree underwent for themission and identify thespecific psychological ma-nipulation which takesplace under the heading ‘Internal Ideological Revo-lution’. The mind-set of allthree is that they are actingas saviours by conqueringthe city and freeing thepeople. They apparentlybelieve that all these peo-ple are waiting for the arri-val of their commandersafter they have cleared theway for them. Such evi-dence of psychological ma-nipulation, which often also
 
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includes forms of coercion,which is imposed on theoperational individuals inthe ‘first circle’ can befound in most cults. It isthis which guarantees theoperation being performedwhatever the price mightbe and that the next indi-viduals with the same men-tal mechanism get ready tofinish the unfinished task of their previous colleagues.In this regard, the cult at-taches specific, value ladenattributes to their opera-tives which are highly sig-nificant: “the
proud hero
 of the scene of commit-ment and
bearing respon-
Cults and Terrorism - A Case Study (cont)
 
sibility
, the
courageousMojahed
-é Khalq com-mander, with the
will likesteel
, the
heroic Moja-hed
, the
young blood of the sun
. . .” (The sun isoften used in the MKO asan analogy for cult leader,Maryam Rajavi)
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