Page 537 – Nejat Society

Is TTL really a ‘concentration camp’ for the MEK?

The U.S. government has worked hard to find a new location in Iraq for the thousands of members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that is being kicked out of its home at Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi government.

But now the State Department has to answer aggressive charges that the new home for the MEK, a former U.S. military base called Camp Liberty( Temporary Transit Location), is a "concentration camp" with horrid conditions. What’s more, these charges are coming from senior U.S. politicians and experts, led by former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudi Giuliani.

"This is not a relocation camp. I have seen relocation camps. I know what relocation camps look like. And I know what jails look like. This isn’t a jail. This is a concentration camp. That’s what it is. This is a concentration camp. Let’s call it what it is," Giuliani said at a Feb. 26 "conference" held under the rubric of something called the Global Initiative for Democracy, an advocacy group that seems to be very interested in the MEK issue.

"This is worse than any facility I’ve ever seen having been at one time in charge of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and another time responsible for the New York City jail system, Rikers Island, materially better than this. This is a concentration camp."

The State Department worked with the United Nations to prepare Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location), now renamed Camp Hurriya (Arabic for "freedom"), to get it ready for the MEK, but the MEK has been reluctant to move there. The first tranche of about 400 MEK members started relocating this month.

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, who was on the panel with Guliani at the Feb. 26 conference, wholeheartedly agreed with his take on the conditions at Temporary Transit Location, according to a press release put out by the Global Initiative for Democracy.

"This is a scandal. This is a fraud; a fraud not involving money, but a fraud involving threats to human life. What we need immediately is a commission of inquiry to determine how this fraud was perpetrated," Dershowitz said. "Who certified, who approved that hell hole, that garbage dump? Who said that it met United Nations standards? Somebody is responsible for perpetrating that fraud and for getting 400 innocent people to risk their lives and their health to be exposed to that kind of trash and that kind of hazard to their health. We have to get to the bottom of this."

Neither man ever called Camp Liberty(Temporary Transit Location) a "concentration camp" or a "garbage dump" when it housed hundreds of U.S. soldiers for years during the Iraq war.

Also on that panel were several former high-ranking officials who have been on the roster of the MEK’s often-paid supporters in Washington, including former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats on the National Intelligence Council Glenn Carle.

Other speakers at the conference included former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, former U.S. Ambassador to the UK Philip Lader, and former policy advisor at the Treasury Department’s office of terrorism and financial intelligence Avi Jorisch.

Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX) both questioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the MEK at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with Poe directly raising Guliani’s accusation that the new location amounted to a "concentration camp."

Clinton didn’t comment on the "concentration camp" charge and simply emphasized that the U.S. was working hard to safely relocate the MEK to Temporary Transit Location, keep the Iraqi government from harassing the MEK, and ensure that the U.N. monitors the camp and provides help for refugees. She also said that if the MEK really wants off the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), it should get with the program at Camp Liberty( Temporary Transit Location).

"Congressman, given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, MEK cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s main paramilitary base, will be a key factor in any decision regarding the MEK’s FTO status," Clinton said.

Foreign Policy

March 1, 2012 0 comments

Iran

FM: West hosting killers of Iran’s nuke scientists

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in his speech at the 19th UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva condemned assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists, and deplored the FM: West hosting killers of Iran's nuke scientists West and Zionists’ support for assassins and other elements behind the terrorist acts.

Addressing the meeting, Salehi pointed to the background of terrorist operations against Iran’s innocent citizens, including children and women and scientists, and added, "These terrorist acts come while those responsible for these actions are now the guests of a Western capital and being supported by Zionist terrorists."

Meantime, the minister said that such illegal acts that are aimed at intimidating and exerting pressure on the Iranian nation will be unable to create a change in the Iranian nation’s decisions and policies.

In the fifth attack of its kind in two years, terrorists killed a 32-year-old Iranian scientist, Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, and his driver on January 11.

The blast took place on the second anniversary of the martyrdom of Iranian university professor and nuclear scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, who was also assassinated in a terrorist bomb attack in Tehran in January 2010.

The assassination method used in the bombing was similar to the 2010 terrorist bomb attacks against the then university professor, Fereidoun Abbassi Davani – who is now the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization – and his colleague Majid Shahriari. While Abbasi Davani survived the attack, Shahriari was martyred.

Another Iranian scientist, Dariush Rezaeinejad, was also assassinated through the same method on 23 July 2011.

Reports said that that the terrorist attack which killed a senior Iranian scientist in Tehran was a joint operation carried out by the agents of the Israeli spy agency and the MKO.

Earlier in February, a new report unveiled tight ties and cooperation between the Israeli spy agency, Mossad, and the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization.

The NBC News said in a new report that Mossad has financed and trained the MKO to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists.

Two senior US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have confirmed to the NBC News that the MKO was to blame for the series of assassinations against Iranian nuclear scientists.

"All your inclinations are correct," said one of the officials while speaking about the group’s role in the assassinations and Tel Aviv’s support of the group.

The US officials said the US government was aware of the assassination campaign.

March 1, 2012 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraq’s decision to expel MKO purely internal

The Iraqi Justice Minister describes the Iraq’s decision to expel Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, also MKO and PMOI) terrorist group from Iraq as “purely internal.” Iraq’s decision to expel MKO purely internal

Hassan Al-Shammari expressed his wonder over recent remarks of dismissed Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq regarding the Iran’s involvement in the expulsion of MKO members from Iraq and stressed that this measure has been taken following the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Iraq and United Nations, Habilian reported.

According to the report, three days ago Saleh al-Mutlaq, the strategic ally of Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization, said that the decision to relocate MKO members has been taken by Iran and that he was opposed to UN’s decisions in this regard.

On December 25, an agreement signed by Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Martin Kobler and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq, Faleh Fayad.

The agreement established that the Iraqi government will relocate the residents of Camp Ashraf to a temporary transit location where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will start a process of refugee status determination, a necessary first step for their expulsion outside Iraq.

Following the MOU Iraqi government paved the way for the relocation of MEK members to Temporary Transit Location. Finally on Saturday 18th February, 397 members of the terrorist cult were relocated to their temporary home in order to be expelled out of Iraq.

March 1, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Temporary Transit Location and MEK excuses

In a symposium held in New York on the situation of MKO’s members in the Temporary Transit

The conditions in TTL are justifiable and acceptable enough for a few days stay

Location TTL, Alan Dershowitz, an American lawyer, stated that: “… if it (TTL) truly is designed to keep people for a couple of days until they are moved to a safer place, one could understand perhaps, even justify that. But if this is to be a place where people are expected to live, my God, what kind of humanity would compel people who are protected individuals under the United Nations to whom the United States made a sacred promise to make this their home. This is not a home”.

The last part of Mr. Dershowitz is approved; TTL is not going to be a permanent home for the relocated members. As the name of the location itself indicates, it is a temporary center to hose the transferred residents for a short span of time to process their refugee status and to transfer them to a third country. The group’s relocation to TTL was agreed between the United Nations, Iraqi authorities, the United States, the European Union and the leaders of the group itself. All the parts were well aware what was to happen and on 31 January, the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said they had confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the new relocation camp met international standards.

In January, Daniel Fried, U.S. special adviser on Camp New Iraq, said that TTL, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport, is the Iraqi government’s property and the MKO members are not authorized to reside there for a long-term period. Not only the members themselves but also MKO’s American and European advocates should understand that a temporary location does not need to be as convenient as the Ashraf within which MKO built itself an autonomous, authoritarian territory. The conditions in TTL are justifiable and acceptable enough “to keep people for a couple of days until they are moved” to a third country. Unless MKO intends to violate all agreements and plan for another prolonged stay; the object of the Iraqi Government does not seem to be letting terrorist bastions multiply, it is decisive to uproot them.

March 1, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MeK Status on US Terror List Hinges on Relocation

Clinton says if anti-Tehran terrorist group can’t find someplace to go after being evicted from Iraq, they may get de-listed.

If the terrorist Iranian dissident group Mujahadin-e Khalq (MeK) can’t find someplace to go after being evicted from its base in Iraq, the United States may remove the group from the State Department’s terrorist list.

The MEK has a long history of terrorist activity going back to the 1970′s and it remains on America’s official list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and has the goal of overthrowing the Iranian government. Because of this goal, there has been a big money push by many influential people in Washington to get the group removed from the State Department’s terrorist list, presumably to make it eligible for U.S. funding and harm Iran.

MeK’s former ally, the late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, had allowed the group to settle at Camp Ashraf, 40 miles from Baghdad. But now Iraq’s Shi’ite majority has forged closer ties with its Shi’ite neighbor Iran, and the MeK is no longer welcome at Ashraf.

Despite still being officially considered a terrorist group, the U.S. has sort of taken MeK under its wing, opening up a former U.S. base in Iraq for the 3,000 MeK members in Ashraf to resettle to, and trying to find a third country that might welcome them, since both Iraq and Iran will not.

But they can’t stay at the U.S. base in Iraq permanently. And if a new home can’t be found for them, the U.S. may de-list them, and possibly even welcome them on U.S. soil.

“Given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, MeK cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, the MeK’s main paramilitary base, will be a key factor in any decision regarding the MEK’s FTO status,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently told U.S. lawmakers.

This is a despicable and hypocritical approach on the part of Washington. U.S. officials recently told NBC News that Israel has financed, trained, and armed MeK terrorists to carry out unprovoked attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists inside Iran. To help MeK find refuge or even de-list them would clearly be U.S. support for terrorists. Of course, when terrorists target the United States or its allies, they are detained without charge or trial, tortured, or even executed. But if terrorists target an adversary of the U.S., like Iran, suddenly they’re worthy of Washington’s help.

by John Glaser,

March 1, 2012 0 comments

USA

Clinton urges MKO to complete move

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that a decision on whether to remove an Iranian opposition group from the list of terrorist organizations would depend in part on whether more than 3,000 of its members cooperate in moving to a new location inside Iraq.

The group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or People’s Mujahedin, is under pressure from the Iraqi government to move from Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, where it was given territory by Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraqi dictator. Under an agreement negotiated by the United Nations, it has begun a move to a former American base near the Baghdad airport. United Nations officials have said they hope to find permanent homes for the exiles outside Iraq, where government forces have had several bloody clashes with the group, also known as the M.E.K.

In mid-February about 397 members of the group made the move. “There were complications, but it was peaceful,” Mrs. Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

But about 2,800 people remain at Camp Ashraf, and the group’s leaders have complained about conditions in the new location. American officials, who say the group has refused to occupy one building, blocked water trucks and resisted the opening of a clinic, are concerned that the group may balk at completing the move.

Mrs. Clinton told the committee that “M.E.K. cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf” will be “a key factor in any decision” on its longstanding request that the State Department lift its terrorist designation. She did not elaborate, but an administration official said her remarks were meant to be a strong signal to the group that it must improve cooperation.

Lawyers for the organization went to court this week seeking to speed a State Department decision on the terrorist label for the group, which has a history of terrorism but says it long ago renounced violence. It has recruited a long list of prominent former American officials to endorse the cause, many of whom have been paid generous speaking fees by the group’s supporters.
By Scott Shane

March 1, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

Simple Answer to Bangkok Blasts: MKO

The Valentine’s Day bomb blast in Bangkok came approximately a month after Tehran bombing where the Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahamdi Roshan was assassinated after a magnetic bomb was slapped to his car by motorcycle riders who were MKO-Israeli agents according to various reports. The most prominent report is that of MSNBC that quotes from US officials who confirm that Israeli Mossad and the Mujahedin khalq Organization have been working together on killing Iranian scientists.[1]

MSNBC revealed that US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Obama administration is aware of the assassination campaign but has no direct involvement. Israel’s Foreign Ministry declined comment. And, the MKO called the report “absolutely false”.[2]

The sophistication of the attacks shows that an experienced intelligence service was involved, according to experts.[3]
The possibility of the MKO involvement in the attack “seems logical” in the “psychological warfare” conducted against Iran. ”it ‘s been done before” Dr. Uzi Rabi, director of the Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University told NBC.[4]

The MKO’s spying network and terrorist operations against Iran is notoriously known to the world. Maybe that’s why Bangkok Post states, ”at various levels, there are grounds which might support the theory of an Independent MEK operation in Bangkok, New Delhi and Tiblisi.

“Strategically, the organization has ample motive. The successful assassination of Israeli diplomats would at the least serve to further isolate the Iranian government at a critical juncture. At most, it might provide the impetus to push Israel into an attack on Iran that would destabilize or even topple the regime – a result MeK has no chance of achieving itself.”[5]
Muhammad Sahimi and Richard Silverstein of the Christian Science Monitor believe that it may be no accident that the attacks occurred only days after the publication of MSNBC report on Mossad – MKO role in Iran assassinations.[6]

It was no surprise that after the February blasts Israel accused Iran and eventually Iran denied the accusation. “Though the plot in Thailand appears utterly amateurish and there are questions as to why Iran might choose India – one of the most importers of its oil- to attack the Israeli diplomats, the denial might be self-serving”, Sahimi and Silverstein write. [7] However, “the willingness of the Islamic Republic to provide proactive assistance in the investigations [about Bangkok blasts] will also serve as an important reflection of its interest in rebutting Israeli’s accusations,” according to Bangkok Post. [8]

It doesn’t seem too difficult to figure out who really commit the terrorist operations.”Operationally ,the hand of the MEK or allied opposition elements also provides an explanation for the otherwise puzzling blunders displayed in Mid February,” reads Bangkok post.”It can be safely assumed that a small number of Iranian opposition elements has been recruited, trained and deployed by Israeli and/or US intelligence services in the covert war against Iran’s nuclear program.”[9]

Referring to “Which Path to Persia” 2009 report of Brookings’ Institution, Feroze Mithiborwala put it in countercurrents.org that the US and Israel are looking for ways to goad Iran into provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. [10] He finds “the riddle of Bangkok”, ”a very simple matter to comprehend” explaining that ”The Mujahedin Khalq (MKO/MEK) ,is a terrorist organization comprising of disgruntled Iranians who are now working for the CIA and the Mossad. The MKO is openly supported by the US – Israel as their strategic allies and they are the ones who are responsible for the assassinations of the Iranian nuclear scientists and terror attacks within Iran.”[11]

Yeah, for the United States and Israel the MKO is categorized in “Good Terrorists” group because it is engaged in any act of violence against people-whether civilians or military – to destabilize their long time common foe, Islamic Republic of Iran.

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1]Engel, Richard& Windrem, Robert, Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, US officials tell NBC News, MSNBS, February 9, 2012
[2]ibid
[3]ibid
[4]ibid
[5]Bangkok Post, No easy answer to who lit fuse in bomb attacks, February 26, 2012
[6] Sahimi, Mohammad & Silverstein, Richard, Israeli Iran attack? What goes around comes around, Christian Science Monitor, February 21, 2012
[7]ibid
[8] Bangkok Post, No easy answer to who lit fuse in bomb attacks, February 26, 2012
[9]ibid
[10]Mithiborwala, Feroze, Exposing the Israeli-Mossad False Flag Terror Attacks in New Delhi, Tibilisi and Bangkok, countercurrents.org, February 16,2012
[11]ibid

February 29, 2012 0 comments

U.K. ready to help re integrate up to fifty MKO members

Lord Hylton (Crossbench)
U.K. ready to help re integrate up to fifty MKO members back into normal society
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the views expressed by the United Nations Special Representative for Iraq in the International Herald Tribune on 16 February, concerning the residents of Camp Ashraf, in particular regarding their permanent resettlement in third countries.

Hansard source (Citation: HL Deb, 27 February 2012, c280W)

Lord Howell of Guildford (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Conservative)

The Government welcome the ongoing efforts of United Nations (UN) Special Representative of the Secretary-General Martin Kobler to broker a peaceful solution to the situation at Camp Ashraf. We welcome the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the Government of Iraq and the UN to allow for the voluntary transfer of some residents to Camp Liberty.

The one British citizen we were aware was in Camp Ashraf has left and returned to the UK. Of the five Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf with valid UK refugee travel documents, four have left Camp Ashraf and arrived in the UK. The fifth is free to return to the UK so long as the refugee travel document remains valid. The UK has agreed to consider further the cases of the approximately 50 residents with previous residence in the UK as refugees who do not have valid refugee travel documents, subject to UNHCR (the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) conducting an assessment of their refugee status. The UK has no plans to provide resettlement opportunities for other residents of Camp Ashraf or Camp Liberty.

February 29, 2012 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Another MKO member escapes the cult

Last week and in the process of MKO members’ expulsion from Camp Ashraf, one of the captives of the cult managed to escape and announced his separation from the cult.

Mr. Alireza Rahamti could escape the terrorist cult of Mujahedin while transferring to Temporary Transit Location

According to Habilian database, even though Rajavi has selected 397 most adherents of the Ashraf residents for the first stage of their expulsion from Iraq, one of the captives of the terrorist cult whose 10 best years of his life were ruined in the cult managed to became estranged from the terrorist organization.

The latest defected member of Mujahedin-e Khalq terrorist organization who is now in Baghdad wrote a brief note announcing his separation from the Mujahedin-e Khalq:

I hereby announce my separation from the cult of Rajavi. I am extremely happy and I thank God that I could obtain my freedom. I did not even have the right of free-thinking and I was under the constant pressure and mental torture.

Now I feel the love of life’s revival inside of me which was dead for 10 years, and I feel great satisfaction of this.

Hundreds of MKO members have so far left the cult and almost all of them confirmed that they were living in dire conditions and were deprived of their basic rights.

February 29, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

12 MKO leaders on Interpol’s wanted list

Interpol has issued arrest warrants for 12 leaders of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization, the Habilian Association website reported on Tuesday.

The website, quoting an informed unidentified Iraqi official, said that the arrest warrants have been issued for the members due to the illegal activities that they have carried out, including abduction.

According to the official, the main impediment to the implementation of the arrest warrants is the fact that police forces are not allowed to enter Camp New Iraq, which was formerly known as Camp Ashraf, where most of the MKO members are based.

However, he said that Iraq reserves the right to pursue the cases of the MKO members in other countries when they are transferred out of Iraq.

The Iraqi government plans to transfer all MKO members out of the country and has temporality relocated them to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport.

February 29, 2012 0 comments

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