Another group of 14 Camp Liberty residents in Iraq have relocated to Albania on Tuesday, June 18, 2013.
This is the third group in a series of planned moves to relocate Camp Liberty [Temporary transit Location] residents to Albania.
The third group comprised 14 MKO members: 12 Men and 2 women.
Names of some of the transferred members are as follows:
Karim Qoraishi, a high ranking MKO member.
Mehdi Dolati, Hesam,Bahram,Sasan, Shirin Maadoumi.
By Mohammad Karami,Faryade Azadi
Inside this Issue:
Download Pars Brief – Issue No. 72
Download Pars Brief – Issue No. 72
A brief look at MKO-run media implies that the world is concerned about the dire situation of the group’s 
members residing in the transit Liberty camp scheduled to be transferred out of Iraq to other third countries if they are accepted. As recently, there are also many statements circulated on the group’s pages from a variety of dignitaries from Western countries as well as organizations condemning mortar attacks against Camp Liberty that has led to a number of these refugees being killed and injured. But the bare fact about all this human tragedy and suffering is that the blame has to be squarely placed on MKO leaders.
A common sense approach to end the predicament of the residents is to have a close, unprejudiced cooperation with all parties engaged to solve the problem and those shouldering the responsibility to facilitate the transfer of the residents. However, MKO’s resistance to cooperate and its leaders’ insistence to return the residence to their previous military camp, Camp Ashraf, remains the sole obstacle to implement the approaches. To mention an example of MKO’s refusal to cooperate, the group’s leaders rejected Albania’s generous offer to resettle 210 former residents. The offer was made at a time when no other country has decisively offered to receive any member of the group. However, only a few numbers, only thirty residents, were relocated to Albania in early June under global pressure.
Following the relocation, in a press statement, the State Department called MKO to have a full cooperation with all the engaged parties to solve the problem:
“The United States also reiterates its call to the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) to cooperate fully with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) process to relocate Camp Hurriya residents outside of Iraq as expeditiously as possible. The permanent relocation of residents is essential to ensure the safety and security of residents, especially following the February 9 terrorist attack that took eight lives.
The MEK leadership has the responsibility to facilitate the full and immediate participation of residents in interview and counseling processes required by the UNHCR. Residents of Camp Hurriya are entitled to unimpeded and private access to UN human rights monitors. The MEK leadership has an obligation to ensure residents are able to engage openly and freely with UN human rights monitors, UNHCR personnel and UNAMI representatives.”
Despite all efforts for seeking a peaceful solution in handling the MKO’s exit from Iraq, MKO, innately a violent group investing on violent approaches as a desired outlet, is resolved to heighten the tension to a point that might provoke a violent reaction, just what MKO dreams to happen. MKO never observes nor has any respect for human rights and international laws; it is getting ready for causing an appalling human tragedy rather than to end it. MKO is not uninterested to make all residents martyrs to demonize the Iraqi government as well as securing a much more extended period of stay in Iraq with all needed sympathy directed in its own favor.
For sure, the countries that refuse to accept Liberty residents as refugees have their own logic and reasons. A review of the group’s past violent history and anti-social behaviors in Iraq and other European countries, regardless of the atrocities perpetrated against its own fellow Iranian, might well explain the cause. What is just before European’s eyes is the group’s decade long persisting challenge with the Government of Iraq. Once forming close alliance with Saddam against Iranian regime, MKO acted also as his loyal mercenary in suppression of uprising Iraq dissidents. After the fall of the dictator, in a shift of position the group claimed to be standing beside the Iraqi people in a unified front to secure its stay in Iraq. As it is naturally a terrorist group whose strategy of struggle is founded on armed and violent warfare, soon it began to show its real, hostile attitude against the legally elected government and defied any reached legal decision; it preferred to make coalition with Iraqi insurgent groups. MKO in its struggle to survive not only claimed a position similar to that of Iraqi citizens with all granted rights but also postured as being in the vanguard of accomplishing democracy for Iraqi people and began interfering in the country’s domestic affairs. So it is natural to see a violent reaction from certain Iraqis who are against MKO’s interventionist attitude and prolonged stay in Iraq regardless of any global condemnation and disapproval of attacks against the Liberty residents. It is only MKO and just MKO that is responsible for any killed or injured residents.
by mujahedin.wordpress – Afshar Koosha
In the name of Human Rights, Democracy and Freedom
Mr Claude Bartolone, President of the French National Assembly
As you know, Mojahedin Khalq Organisation (aka; MKO, MEK, NCRI,…) have booked a salon in Parc des Exposition de Villeprinte to celebrate the start of their terror activities in June 1981 killing many civilian people.
17 June is also the anniversary of the arrest of Mrs. Rajavi alongside 164 other Mojahedin Commander in 2003 by the order of the government of Mr. Chirac. They were arrested in Val d’Oise charged with plotting terrorism from their HQ. The Mojahedin now celebrate this occasion every year alongside the anniversary of the start of “armed struggle”.
They contact members of the French Senate and try to gather their support. They rely on and hope that the targeted politicians would not know about their past, present and future intentions.
I am writing to ask for a meeting in the Parliament to come with a delegation comprising some of the senior ex members of this organisation to present to you and explain some of the documents available to us.
Mr President
When Mrs Maryam Rajavi speaks about human rights, you should know that there are 3200 MEK members who have been held captive in Iraq in Camp Liberty on her direct order. Of this total more than half are willing to return to their normal life, if allowed their freedom. Currently, members who show any hint of dissent and those who want to separate from the MEK will be severely and brutally beaten on the direct order of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. Since these people have been relocated to Camp Liberty, more than 50 of them have succeeded in escaping and have rescued themselves from that camp. The obstacles and obstructions which the MEK has created, has resulted in failure of their refugee process in Iraq. The representative of your honorable country in the United Nations and the Security Council’s sessions have witnessed that Mr Martin Kobler, the UN’s special envoy, has complained many times at the lack of MEK cooperation in solving this humanitarian matter. On the other hand, for more than two years the families of MEK members have been asking for a one or two hour meeting with their loved ones. They have established a sit-in in front of the camp, but unfortunately they have been denied meeting with their loved ones on the direct order of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Mr President,
In the French National Assembly, which is the symbol of French democracy and human rights, Mrs Maryam Rajavi speaks about human rights while dissidents inside the MEK are being killed on the direct order of Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. In this regard, I can mention the names of women such as Mehry Moussavi, Minoo Fathali, Marjan Akbarian, Zahra Faizbakhsh, Homa Bashardoost, Allan Mohammadi, and others and men such as Saeed Kiani, Kiomarz Barforosh, Alinaghi Hadad, and others. In this regard my friends and I who have witnessed these crimes, are ready to testify in any court of law. The MEK, which has not gained power in Iran, massacres its own members. Any Iranian opposition group or organization which wants to criticize the MEK will be faced with bullying aggression and intimidation tactics by the MEK and suffer character assassination; and they will receive death threats from the MEK. None of the Iranian opposition groups which reside in Europe and the USA cooperate with them because of their cultic and violent behavior. The National Council of Resistance, the MEK’s public political face, which comprises MEK commanders and operatives, does not have any popularity among Iranian people. Now, Mrs Maryam Rajavi with this kind of background and record, requests the same kind of recognition and accreditation as the Syrian opposition from the French government!
We former MEK members, with 20-30 years of living in the MEK, who were able to rescue ourselves from the MEK after the downfall of Saddam Hussein and who are currently living in France, would like to alert you to the facts of this situation.
Respectfully
Mohammad Karami, Faryade Azadi, Paris
oyanyoldash@yahoo.com
Transcript
The representatives of the French National Assembly
The representatives of the French Senate
The representatives of the European Parliament
–
Au nom des droits de l’homme, au nom de la démocratie et de la liberté
Claude barthelon, Président de l’Assemblée nationale de France.
Comme vous le savez MEK le 22 Juin..dans la salle de villepinte …À l’occasion des opérations terroristes en Iran en Juin 1981 que.La plupart des gens qui ont été tués etaient des personnes inoccentes..17 juin 2003 Le gouvernement de Jacques Chirac, a condamner Maryam Radjavi et 164 de ces dirigeants.. de complot dans les bases de l’organisation a val-d’Oise ont ete.arreter dans ces célébrations.. Certains députés de l’Assemblée nationale française contacté et ils ont recu des informations sans fondement..et à faire entendre leur voix et en mesure d’obtenir leur appui.À cet égard, je demande un rendez vous (avec une délégation de membres de l’ancien et le MEK). avec les députés pour vous faire connaître les documents.
Mensonge discours de Maryam Radjavi.. elle a été invités à l’Assemblée nationale française…Monsieur le Président..:Mme Maryam Radjavi alors qu elle parle de droits de l’homme.
a ses ordres 3.200 personnes des membres de cette partie… sont.dans le camps de (liberty) commes captifs ……Plus de la moitié d’entre eux veulent retourner à leur vie normale..
. Commandé par Maryam Radjavi et Massoud Radjavi Les gens qui protestes Sont sévèrement battus.
. .depuis que les gens ont été transportés au camp Liberty Plus de 50 personnes Ont réussi à s’échapper du camp….
. les Représentants. au cours des réunions du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies M. Martin Kublr Envoyé spécial de l’ONU pour résoudre la question de la non-coopération organisation humanitaire se plaignaient souvent…
En revanche depuis deux ans Les familles des membres du partie Pour une visite de 2 heures Avec leurs enfants devant la porte du camp mais ils n ont pas eu l autorisation pour la visite de leurs enfants…..
Monsieur le Président: Mme Maryam Radjavi aL’Assemblée nationale française. qui est Le symbole de la démocratie.Alors qu elle parle de droits des humains Les dissidents sont tués dans l’organisation.
À cet égard, je peut donner les noms …madame mehri musavi ..Mme.minu fathi ..Mme marjan akbarian ..Mme zahra feyz bakhsh …Mme homa bashar doust .Mme mohamadi ..les monsieurs …
Et les mesieurs, said kiyani…kiyoumars bar-froush …ali naghi hadad…..moi et mes amis nous sommes des témoins de ses crimes et nous sommes pretes Témoigner devant les tribunaux du monde
Bien que pour l instant l’organisation n’a pas le pouvoir mais Il massacrés ses membres.. Toute organisation ou un groupe d’opposition iranien ne peut jamais critiquer et ils seront Sévèrement attaqué par l’organisation du mojahedin du peuple ……. Ils ont publiquement menacé a etre Assassiné…
Les mojahedin n ont pas leur place ni en iran et ni parmis les iranienes
Mme Maryam Radjavi demande de gouvernement français Avec un tel passee a Le désir d’être reconnu comme Opposition syrienne pour l iran ….
Nous les d’anciens membres 20 à 30 ans de vie dans cette organisation , nous avons fuite après la chute de Saddam Hussein, Nous vivons en France..on vous Averties le danger qui presente ce groupe
Avec le respect..
Karami Mohammad
oyanyoldash@yahoo.com
L’Assemblée nationale de la France
Sénat français
Les deputes parlement europenes
A former CIA officer said the US is "completely hypocritical" in its view of what constitutes terrorism and what does not.
"Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) has many friends in Washington, most of whom have been bought and paid for, and it also enjoys broad political support because it has been portrayed as a group that is actively fighting against the Iranian regime," said Philip Giraldi during an interview with Habilian Association.
The contributing editor at The American Conservative magazine touched upon the Israeli supports for the MKO, and said, "Israel has been supporting terrorism carried out by MKO inside Iran.
He went on to denounce US threats to use force against Iran as "violations of the widely accepted just war doctrine," saying they "might even be considered war crimes as Iran has not threatened the United States and has no nuclear weapons program."
"The UN has not taken any action against the US for a number of reasons, but most prominent would be the facts that the UN is located in New York and that most of its funding comes from Washington," Giraldi added.
When asked about the United States drone attacks on Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, and also its violation of Iran’s airspace, he said, "The use of drones in all those circumstances is illegal under international law because it is a deliberate violation of a country’s airspace using military aircraft launched by the US."
"When they kill someone using an armed drone, I believe it amounts to a war crime and the senior US government officials who approve the activity should be held accountable," he added.
++ Batoul Soltani wrote an open letter to General James Jones, President Obama’s national security advisor up to 2010, reminding him about the situation at Camp Liberty. He is now retired and will attend the MEK’s Paris rally. Soltani asks ‘don’t you see the danger they pose to your and other countries? ‘I am sure you know about this group’, she says, ‘but if you don’t, please do the research as this is not just a straightforward lobbying group’.
++ This week’s guest on Mardom TV was Behzad Alishahi. The programme concentrated on the resignation of the last two non-MEK members of the NCRI, Mohammad Reza Rowhani and Karim Ghassim. He talked about the MEK’s reaction which was to label them, alongside all the others, as ‘agents of the regime’.
++ Iran Ghalam (Pen Association) in Germany published news of the recent MEK arrivals in Albania. The MEK have dispatched two new agents headed by Mahmoud Hashemi – not his real name – who have tried again, unsuccessfully, to buy the new arrivals, and have again threatened them not to make contact with their families and the outside world. These threats have been ignored and contact is flowing.
++ Iran Didban website issued its analysis of the resignation of NCRI members Ghassim and Rowhani, quoting the reasons that they gave, and concludes that this is the last nail in the coffin of deceit and pretence in the Rajavi cult. There is no longer any hiding from the truth.
++ Some ex-members wrote to Mehdi Sameh, who is on the sidelines of the MEK and NCRI, but who has never rejected them publicly. They criticised him for remaining silent after all the things Rajavi has done to his former colleagues in the Council. They pose a simple question, ‘as a Marxist Leninist who believes he is continuing the line of the Fedayeen group, does he still believe that Rajavi is in the camp of revolution and is capable of being criticised?’
++ A fourth bulletin from Iran Ghalam describes further how the Albania arrivals have rejected the money offered to them by Rajavi’s agents and have established contact with ex-members and their families, even though they are under hardship and find it difficult to provide even enough food for themselves.
++ A group of ex-members have requested that the high-ranking NCRI members who have left the Council in recent years – specifically naming Ghassim, Rowhani and Dr Matin Daftary – do not remain silent, but instead come forward and talk about the problems and concerns which every one of them has, and as well, to get together and form a new organisation so that other ex MEK and Council-members can join.
++ Ghorban Ali Hossein Nejad criticised the MEK for publishing articles swearing at Ghassim and Rowhani. Hossein Nejad says ‘the only thing they asked for was to leave and the only thing they say is that there is no point talking to you as you never answer’. He says, ‘this is how you treat everyone in this organisation and now they are sick of it and are leaving’. Hossein Nejad and others have addressed the remaining people around Rajavi saying ‘this is your last chance to distance yourselves. If you stay any longer you cannot claim ignorance, and you will be part and parcel of the crimes Rajavi has and will still commit.
++ In reaction to the MEK swearing at everyone including Isaemel Vafa Yaghmai and his son Amir Yaghmai, Batoul Soltani asks ‘who is at fault, the son whose search for news about his mother has come to the point that he can only ask if she alive or not, or is it Rajavi who does not allow him to find out’? The MEK then published the text of a letter allegedly written by Akram Habib Khaani and posted on her behalf (allegedly from inside Camp Liberty) to United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, in which it is claimed that all this is the work of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence. One of the proofs of this has been that Massoud Khodabandeh published a paragraph sympathising with the Yaghmai family on Facebook. Even though the MEK members themselves accept that there is no free access to internet inside Camp Liberty.
++ Many analysts have described this MEK scenario of hiding the truth (saying the woman is dead and then alive, etc) as a desperate attempt to detract from real evidence that the MEK have been torturing and killing people in Iraq and that there are many dead and missing people. The analysts accuse the MEK of saying, ‘they claim she is dead, but she’s not’ as a way of proving that every accusation against the organisation is a lie. Yaghmai published an article naming a few of the people the MEK claim have committed suicide but who ex-members claim have been killed under torture.
++ Reporting from Syria, Hezbollah’s TV network, Al Manaar, puts the number of foreign fighters who have been killed in Syria at over 6,000, saying they are from 26 different countries. Within these numbers it is alleged 640 are MEK, which is the highest after the Saudis who number 729. It is believed these are not all ideological members but are mercenaries recruited to fight under the name of the MEK.
++ Hanif Heydar Nejad wrote in “Pejvak Iran” addressing Rowhani, Ghassim and Yaghmai. He says he heard that Rowhani and Ghassem are annoyed about being labelled alongside Yaghmai and the Eghbal family and Iraj Mesdaghi as agents of the intelligence services of Iran. Heydar Nejad criticises them for not recognising the true situation and seeing that this collective picture does not comprise just you or the other few you name. You, he says, have joined a much, much bigger picture, and being in it has not been in your or anyone else’s hands; the MEK have been doing this from decades ago. The MEK version of events is that people not submitting totally to their wishes are to be added to the picture. But your annoyance or shouting or not does not affect the photographer as he has been doing this for years.
++ One of the younger ex-members who has survived Rajavi’s cult alongside a few other younger ex-members has written the story of Amir Yaghmai, who he describes as a child soldier in the MEK. Pictures of him have been published showing that the size of the gun he carries is the same as his height. The writer praised him for standing on his own feet after all the things the MEK have done to him.
++ During the Iranian election a Russian chess champion created a spoof online parallel election putting forward the names of candidates who were not selected as well as personalities from outside the country, including Maryam Rajavi and Reza Pahlavi. People were invited to vote for their preferred candidate. Accordingly the MEK ordered their members and supporters to drop everything and make new email accounts in order to vote for Maryam. Apparently their forces have been so busy with this there has not been time for the MEK to write much this week.
++ Edvard Termador’s article describes the NCRI’s past and present, and concludes, ‘any way you look at it, there has been a past and a present but there is no future. The number of people leaving is confirmation of all the human rights abuses that have been going on.’
++ Marzieh Ghorsi in Turkey has published the fourth part of an interview in Nim Negah website titled ‘The difference between words and deeds in the Rajavi cult’. She explains how they treated her when she asked for help to leave. She asked for some of the money and gold that she brought to the organisation when she had joined along with her documents so she could begin a new life. This was of course rejected. Ghorsi has lived in Turkey for some years now with her children and husband Mr Shirdam. They have not been able to progress their claim for asylum for two years because the MEK have employed lawyers, lobbyists, MPs and MEPs in western countries to hider their case and not allow them to come to Europe. They have told the family, if you keep quiet we will bring you to Europe ourselves. If not, we will make life miserable for you and your children.
++ Asharq Al-Awsat interviewed the former president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Abulhassan Banisadr in Paris. Q: Leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and wife of the MEK leader Maryam Rajavi recently said that the Arab Spring will hit Tehran, and that the opposition—represented by the MEK—are prepared to be an alternative to the regime. Do you think there are truly those who view them as a viable alternative? Do you think you yourself are one of these alternatives?
A: Definitely, I consider myself an alternative, and equally I consider all democratic movements as alternatives. But why would we want to consider a group that depended on Saddam, throughout the years he was in power, and then announces that it wants to play the role of lobbyist to Washington. Is this the alternative to the Iranian regime? A lobby group in Washington’s hands?
++ Mayor of Khalis in Diyala province, Uday Al Khadran, called on the Iraqi government to conduct an urgent investigation after advanced telecom devices hidden in a food convoy were seized at Camp Ashraf where just under 100 MEK loyalists remain. He said the way the devices had been hidden demonstrated an intention to use them for unlawful activities.
++ Nejat Society wrote an open letter to French National Assembly member M. Pascal Deguilhem, who is slated to speak at the MEK rally in Villepinte on June 22. The letter reminds him of the situation of people trapped in Camp Liberty and concludes, ‘Compared with your socialist ideals, advocacy for a cult-like group with a dark history of human rights abuses, makes us confused and also concerned about the situation of our children behind the bars of the MKO. However, if you are still willing to attend the June 22 rally we appeal to you to at least use your political social and cultural influence to ask the group leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi to fully cooperate with the UN mission in Iraq for the relocation of Liberty residents to third countries and also to provide us with an opening to get in touch with the residents in a free atmosphere without the supervision of the group officials.’
June 14 2013
While the Iranian nation was practicing democracy at the polling stations on Friday to elect their new president, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization that has always boycotted the elections in the Islamic Republic seemed to 
go nuts with the 36 million voters who have no sympathy for the MKO but welcomed the Presidential Elections in Iran.
The MKO propaganda makes efforts to boycott each and every election in Iran labeling it as "sham elections", "rigged elections" and claiming "low voter turnout" despite the fact that the large majority of Iranians hardly ever know the MKO and those who remember them as an Iranian guerilla group hardly ever trust them.
Susan Cornwell of Reuters writes of the group’s well-paid lobbying campaign in the US despite lack of support among its own nation. In her piece "Far from Iran elections former guerrillas lobby Washington", Cornwell analyzes the controversial situation of the MKO among in the United States. " But as Iran elects a new president on Friday, the MEK has no discernible role in politics at home, where it is mistrusted – even by government critics – for having been allied with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war", suggests the Reuters correspondent.[1]
As the Reuters asserts that the MKO tries to compensate its lack of reliability in Iran by running wealthy lobbies in the land of the enemy of the Iranian Government –actually the land of former enemy of the MKO, US Imperialism. Unable to operate openly in Iran, the MEK is instead waging some of its battles in Washington. It opened an attractive new office in April just a five-minute walk from the White House, according to the Reuters. [2]
Despite interviewing a number of prominent supporters of the group in the Unites States the author of the Reuters piece believes that the MKO is a "Tough Sell" in America because of its dark record against the U.S. which for many years has blamed it for the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970. [3]
Following the election of Iran’s reformist-backed presidential candidate Hassan Rowhani, it is believed that the US and other Western States see an opening in the process of nuclear negotiations. The New York Times’ piece dated June 13 suggests Rowhani as "the West’s best hope" –although the author tries to convince the audience that the election in Iran is "deeply flawed". However, he views the election in Iran as" important" because "it gives Iran and the United States a fresh diplomatic opportunity to avoid a dangerous confrontation over Iran’s nuclear program". Nuclear talks have always been a nightmare for the MKO. The group has been working for years to use the Iranian nuclear program as a justification to grow animosity against Iran in the world. "Once the election is over, it also needs to step up diplomatic efforts, testing through intermediaries if there is any willingness by the new president", asserts the NY Times. [4]
The above-mentioned hypothesis is what the MKO leaders fear the most because according to several arguments the MKO is seeking a Syrian style or Iraqi style –better to say Chalabi Style — regime change in Iran although it always claims "peaceful" regime change. As an organization with so little support in Iran "peaceful" change is never likely." They’ll deny it, but I think it’s pretty simple: their goal is to keep pushing the politics in America to lead to an invasion, some kind of major unsettlement of Iran, that they can sweep into as a new government," Jeremiah Goulka, author of the RAND study told the Reuters.[5]
The previous time a moderate figure, Mohammad Khatami was elected as an Iranian President, the MKO was left with grave consequences. It is widely believed that the designation of the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 1997 was "a move that has been described as a nod to Iran’s then-new reformist president ". [6] The whole story contends that the MKO is not more than a bargaining chip in the hands of Western politicians.
Shortly after the declaration of winner of Iran’s Presidential Election, the U.S. Secretary of State as well as many other governments’ officials welcomed the preference of the Iranian people expressing their readiness for engagement with the Islamic Republic. The press statement of the US Secretary of State, John Kerry read, "We, along with our international partners, remain ready to engage directly with the Iranian government. We hope they will honor their international obligations to the rest of the world in order to reach a diplomatic solution that will fully address the international community’s concerns about Iran’s nuclear program."[7]
The MKO propaganda is awfully obsessed with the elections in Iran. With the actual result of the elections their fear is said to get more serious. Regardless of what the future of Iran- US relations will be like, it seems that the MKO has to spend more and more money, time and energy to reimburse the loss they incur by the side of the Iranian people.
Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June 14, 2013
[2]ibid
[3]ibid
[4]The New York Times The Editorial Board, Who will succeed the President Ahmadinejad?, June 13, 2013
[5]Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June 14, 2013
[6]Lach, Eric, MEK Event Sponsor: Iranian Group Is Not A Terror Organization, TPMMuckraker, January 31, 2011
[7]Indian Express, Ready to engage directly with Iran says John Kerry, June 16, 2013
Iraq’s Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for the Saturday’s attack on Camp Liberty, where it houses around 3000 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization .
MKO’s transient home near Baghdad International Airport came under mortar attack on Saturday, killing 2 and wounding 27 members of the terrorist group.
In a statement, Wathiq al-Battat, a top member of Iraq’s Hezbollah movement, claimed the group was behind the mortar attack, Habilian Association reported on Sunday.
It was the second attack on the remaining members of terrorist MKO in Iraq since February. The previous one took place in February 9, which led to a number of deaths and injuries. Al-Battat took responsibility for that attack as well, and warned of further attacks until they leave Iraq.
Al-Battat said they had 120 rockets ready to hit Camp Liberty on Saturday, but they managed to fire 13 of them. He again threatened further attacks against members of the terrorist group in Iraq.
MKO’s socializing with Iraqi politicians supporting al-Qaeda and other militant groups was the stated motivation behind Saturday’s attack.
Some 3000 MKO members have been relocated from their decades-long paramilitary base in northeastern Iraq to a former US military base in Baghdad.
The relocation was in line with the memorandum of understanding signed on December 25, 2011 between Iraq and United Nations to temporarily transfer them to a transient home for the UNHCR to determine their refugee status.
Albania became the first country to offer a home to over 200 MKO members. Forty-four MKO members have been so far resettled in this country in two groups of 14 and 30.
An Iraqi official revealed that 80 advanced cell phones were discovered in a consignment of food destined for Camp Ashraf, MKO’s former paramilitary base in Northern Iraq.
"Iraq’s security forces stopped the Camp Ashraf-bound shipment for inspection and discovered these advanced cell phones," said Uday al-Khadran, governor of Iraqi Khalis town, during a press conference, Habilian Association reported on Monday.
Camp Ashraf is the former paramilitary headquarters of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCRI), in which they used to live for nearly three decades. Some 3100 of them have been relocated to Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport, and nearly 100 others still remain at their long-held base. The relocation follows a deal between the United Nations and the Iraqi government on the expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq.
In late May, the acting Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs at the US State Department told a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee that although US officials have worked hard to persuade the MKO’s leadership to cooperate in the departures, "very few have been allowed to move."
The US State Department official responsible for Near Eastern affairs appealed the group for cooperation.
Al-Khadran said the secret transfer of these mobile phones reveals the fact that they were intended for illegal purposes.
The governor of Khalis called on the government of Iraq to launch a probe into the case.
Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the group are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.
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 eventually took the MKO off the US terror list.
The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.
Two United Nations officials today strongly condemned an attack on Camp Liberty, an Iranian exile camp in Iraq, and called on the Government to assist and protect camp residents in need.
According to media reports two people were killed and dozens injured in a mortar attack to the camp, which is located near western Baghdad.
The Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler and the country representative for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Claire Bourgeois, said they are “deeply concerned that today’s tragic violence has occurred despite their repeated requests to the Government of Iraq to provide Camp Liberty and its residents with protective measures, including T-Walls.”
More than 3,000 residents, most of them members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran, are temporarily housed in Camp Liberty – a transit facility also know as Camp Hurriya – while UNHCR carries out a process to determine their refugee status.
The camp had previously been attacked in February while most of the residents were sleeping. The attack resulted in six deaths and various injuries.
Camp residents were previously situated at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq, but were relocated last year, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UN and the Iraqi Government.
Mr. Kobler reminded the Government of its responsibility to guarantee the security and safety of Camp Liberty as well as Camp Ashraf’s residents, throughout the relocation process.
He also called on authorities to do everything possible to provide immediate assistance to the injured.
“Today’s second terror attack on camp Liberty is a reminder to third countries to come forward with serious offers to resettle Camp Liberty residents outside Iraq,” Mr. Kobler said. “Third countries must step forward and open their doors to relocation.”
