Facts on Camp Ashraf incident

[republished] Finally, Camp Ashraf was completely evacuated after a decade–long effort by Iraqi government and the United Nations representatives in Iraq. The relocation process of the surviving residents of the September 1st suspicious attack on the Camp was completed on Wednesday September 11th. The MKO’s spokesman Mohammad Mohaddesin told the Associated Press that “ the Council’s president elect, Maryam Rajavi, urged the remaining residents to leave over the past few days” although she had previously urged on the return of Liberty residents to Camp Ashraf! [1]

The mysterious killings at Camp Ashraf were considered by Maryam Rajavi “an instance of crimes against humanity”.  How about other instances of crimes against humanity? The residents of the MKO Camps have already been objected to criminal acts. Their most basic human rights have been violated by the group leaders for at least 3 decades. In July 2013, the former UN envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler told, the Security Council of the UN, “Of increasing concern are the human rights abuses in Camp Hurriyah itself by the Camp leadership”. He added,”Hundreds of daily monitoring reports suggest that the lives of Camp Hurriyah members are tightly controlled.” [2]

Because of such eye-opening assertions by Mr. Kobler, he was always labeled by the MKO propaganda as the Islamic Republic’s agent although his allegations were previously affirmed by Human Rights Watch, the US Department of State and the RAND institute. Mr. Kobler notified, “a significant number of residents have reported to the UN monitors that they are not free to leave the Camp, to participate in the resettlement process offered by UNHCR, to contact family members outside Iraq, or to have contact with other relatives even within the Camp itself.”[3] The killed Ashraf residents had been deprived from a normal free life, by their leaders. They were indoctrinated by their leaders to defend their”home of 20 years”, Camp Ashraf, to the death. They were promised “Martyrdom”and the “Heaven“by the cult leaders.”So let us say to the Martyrs of the Ashraf massacre that you stand at the zenith of the PMOI’s path and traditions”, said Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the cult, at “the ceremony for 52 martyrs of Ashraf”. She called massacred ones,”the generation of Massoud, with their unshakable spirit and triumphant fate.”!

After the resettlement of the 42 survivors of Ashraf incidents in Camp Liberty, the UN new envoy in Iraq, Gyorgy Basztin told the Associated Press that “What happened at Camp Ashraf on the first of September is a game changer.”He warned third countries,”It should be a wake-up call to all countries who are in a position to help to come forward. Resettlement is the ultimate guarantee of their security.”[4] However, UN officials say that resettlement process have been slow because many residents have been uncooperative with the process, complicating the relocation efforts, according to the AP. [5]

Seeking benefits from “results of these martyrdoms and the heroic epics in Ashraf” – according to Maryam Rajavi’s passionate speech – she salutes “mothers and families” of the assassinated members of her cult of personality. Nonetheless, the mothers and families of these members had no news of their loved ones for many years. Now that their children have been killed, they are saluted and congratulated on the martyrdom of their heroes!

As a matter of fact, the assassination of 52 Ashraf residents seems very unclear. The only films and photos of the incident were released by the MKO. There are no films or photos of how these people were killed. Tasnim News Agency quoted from an Iraqi official that the released videos of recent clashes in the MKO’s training camp reveal that “most of dead were actually killed by their own fellows at the Camp.”[6]

In the group’s footage of the incident, at least in two cases, the injured ones are wounded in arm or shoulder but in other photos you see the same people shot in the heads. The Iraqi sources told Tasnim,” Given its track record in liquidating certain members, MKO took advantage of the incident for more bloodshed and killed its members for propaganda purposes and to play the victims.”[7]

While the MKO accuses Iraqi security forces of carrying out the killings, Baghdad denies involvement with officials saying an internal dispute was to blame, reported the Associated Press. [8]

What happened to the seven allegedly missing residents?

The MKO propaganda claims that they were taken as hostages by Iraqi security forces. “Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammad Shiyaa al–Sudani and Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, both denied Friday that the seven said to be missing are in Iraqi custody,” reported the AP. ”Busztin, the UN official, had no information on their whereabouts.”[9]

Massoud Khodabande, former MKO member and a member of Terrorism Research Centre , asserts ,”There is strong evidence that the aim of the attack on Camp Ashraf was to capture or kill Massoud Rajavi  on the understanding he has been in hiding there.”

Khodabandeh clarifies that the seven missing people have been identified as Rajavi’s close inner circle. So they”have been part of a pre-planned maneuver to rescue him in the event of such an attack,” he concludes.”The other members have been there to resist any incursion to allow Rajavi and his protectors’ time to run away.”[10]

Besides, the attack on Camp Ashraf had been predicted by the group’s propaganda websites. If they really knew about such an attack, why didn’t they evacuate the Camp?

By Mazda Parsi, September18, 2013

Sources:

[1] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[2] Charbonneau, Louis, UN envoy accuses Iran group’s leaders in Iraq of rights abuse, Reuters, July16, 2013

[3] ibid

[4] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[5] ibid

[6] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5387

[7] ibid

[8] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[9] ibid

[10] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5388

*Quotes extracted from Maryam Rajavi’s speech, published on the MKO’s website  –  Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.