The anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) announced that it will not allow the remaining residents of its Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq to be transferred to Camp Liberty, where they are to be settled temporarily before being expelled from Iraq.
The terrorist group announced that no additional transfer will take place until "the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General and the Iraqi government declare their approval of the minimum assurances, particularly departure of Iraqi police from inside Camp Liberty".
According to the Habilian Association (families of Iranian terror victims), the National Council of Resistance of Iran – the so-called political wing of the MKO, which United States still designates as a terrorist organization – in a statement underlined that no additional transfer will take place until "the Special Representative of Secretary General and the Iraqi government declare their approval of the minimum assurances, particularly departure of Iraqi police from inside Camp Liberty".
This inappropriate demand is an affront to Iraq’s sovereignty and in contrast to UN Secretary-General’s statement released on Thursday in which Ban Ki Moon reiterated that "the Government of Iraq bears the primary responsibility for the security and the welfare of the residents of Camp Ashraf."
"At the same time, the residents of Camp Ashraf also bear a responsibility to abide by the laws of Iraq. Any provocation or violence must be avoided and would be unacceptable," Ban Ki Moon added.
Earlier last month, the special adviser for Camp Ashraf in Iraq, Ambassador Daniel Fried, said that Camp Liberty will be an Iraqi facility, adding, "It’s not going to be a kind of independent, self-governed, autonomous, extraterritorial facility, which is what Camp Ashraf has been for many years."
Three hundred and ninety seven MKO members on Friday started relocating from Camp Ashraf, North of Baghdad, to a temporary home near the Iraqi capital’s international airport.
The United Nations has welcomed safe relocation of about 400 residents of the Iraqi settlement formerly known as Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, calling it "the first step towards a better future."
Kobler commended Iraqi authorities "for having ensured a safe and secure relocation of the first group of residents. I urge them to pursue the relocation of the remaining residents in a manner that continues to guarantee the human rights, safety and welfare of all residents."
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country. The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.