Baghdad – Some Iraqi lawmakers supported the decision by the government to end the file of Mojahedin-e-Khalq-e-Iran Organization(MKO).
Iraqi government announced recently that almost 3,500 members of the Iranian dissident organization in Camp Ashraf will be either repatriated or helped to be resettled in a European country or resettled in the Iraqi provinces where the group is safe.
The decision was in fact made last year but delayed so far. Its enforcement was spotlighted again Thursday when the only resident of the group, Camp Ashraf, was attacked by the Iraqi army, where 35 people were killed and over 200 were wounded.
Speaking to AKnews, Zeinab al-Tayee from Ahrar Party accused the organization of "being funded by terrorist groups."
The Iranian group played opposition against the Islamic Republic of Iran after it was established and Massoud Rajavi the founder of the party was sidelined in the new government.
Tayee said her party backs expelling MKO from Iraq and hoped the decision comes into effect as soon as possible.
The decision has to be enforced by the end of 2011, Abbas al-Bayati a deputy from the National Coalition and close to the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.
Tayee reiterated the presence of the group is contrary to the Iraqi constitution, a point frequently raised to criticize Maliki’s government.
MKO has been recognized as a "terrorist" organization by some countries.
Safia Soheil, an independent lawmaker, also supported ending MKO file.
She told AKnews the group has been living in Iraq since the era of the fallen Iraqi Baath regime and aided Saddam Hussein in combating and stifling Iraqi peoples.
MKO has been accused of confronting the Iraqi Shia and Kurdish uprisings in 1991 alongside Iraqi Army which mobilized and armed the group.
Soheil believed her country is a democratic and constitutional country and hence advised the government to observe human rights international conventions when enforcing the decision against MKO and to avoid violence against the group.
"Iraq is also responsible towards the international community for handing over the members to a third country," she added. At the same time, the lawmaker believed repatriation of the members to Iran is in breach of human rights conventions. She believed the government should instead consult the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for MKO resettlement.
By Yazin Shamarai