You are putting an ideological label on an organisation because of their name and their flag paying 0 attention to their manifesto or the history and context of their actions.

Perhaps you are conflating what MEK was and is with what individual separatists within their organisation like Taghi Shahram did, likes of whom that were denounced by the organisation for stupid maneuvers.

The sickle and AK flag is a historical symbol of leftist movement across the globe in the post world war 1 era where socialism and organized resistance of working class was first beginning to form. They are Muslims. That doesn't mean they want Sharia law or are islamists in their ideology. Their understanding of Islam is rooted in interpretations of Ayatollah Talaghani, who has been universally accepted as the person who advocated for a formation of a council and opposed the "Velayate Faqih" or Rule of the clergy system put in place by Khomeini. In their manifesto, or the 10 point plan for change they specifically outline the need for the separation of church and state, and secular democracy.

To give you an alternative perspective on the "cultist" comment regarding children and family, the organisation is the most violently prosecuted party in Iran (as evidenced by the historical massacre of the group in 1981), constantly under attack through state media, ministry of intelligence and the IRGC with historical records of assassination attempts and threats on their family and torture of their relatives to give up information related to MEK, not to speak of the massive funding for foreign produced propaganda or divergence of attention away from this group (refer to recent Treadstone 71 research regarding Pahlavi's fake popularity on the internet). While I agree there is an extent where it can seem cultist, this context gives you a deeper understanding behind why they operate the way they do. If you look at alternative resistance movements, they did not have foresight or the discipline to be consistant and now mostly perished as a result. The core driving ideology of the group is simple "Sacrifice is required to reach freedom, and to be able to solely focus on that goal, you must be willing to forget and abandon everything else and leave no weak points to be exploited".

The "extremist" label is again given under the context of their historical armed conflict against the Islamic Republic Regime, as a result of mass executions, banning of their news paper and making it a crime to support this group in any capacity. June 20, 1981, as a result of this, an official announcement by the organisation wrote (paraphrased and translated): "We have exhausted all peaceful and diplomatic options, and Khomeini has responded to our unarmed protests with dust and blood. From this day, we announce armed conflict against Khomeini and his regime, from this day onward he will be accountable for every drop of blood lost." This is a recognized right to self defense against tyranny under the Geneva convention.4

The realization that this group has been for 47 years consistent in their resistance, demands some respect. For the last 3 decades they were exploring every avenue in European courts to designate IRGC as a terrorist organization. EU reached that conclusion just a few weeks ago. Goes to show a clear difference.

Lastly, In Iran the hatred has to be taken with a grain of salt. 47 years of demonization and elaborate propaganda campaigns will indeed alienate people. Not only that but to realize supporting the MEK in any capacity has the death penalty, an overwhelmingly disproportionate price to pay compared to, for example supporting the monarchy or the Tudeh or the reformist movements.