France

Is France doing Washington’s Dirty work?

Open letter to President Sarkozy

Dear Mr. President,

I am sure you are familiar with the name Mojahedin-e Khalq, as you were the Minister Massoud Khodabande open letter to President Sarkozyresponsible for ordering an investigation into the MKO’s activities at its HQ in the north of Paris. An investigation which exposed Maryam Rajavi hiding alongside 20 million dollars wrapped in Iraqi newspaper.

I am sure you also remember how the MKO responded. With orchestrated self immolations – especially those outside the Interior Ministry in Paris – which put pressure on your Government to stop the investigation. These self-immolations left two dead and others disfigured and disabled.

Dear Sir,

It is with regret that I must remind your good self that in June 2007 the MKO violently attacked a public meeting of human rights activists in FIAP, Paris in which several were seriously injured.
Now, in the last week, a new incident of violent, suppressive activity, carried out by the Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult in your country, has come to our attention; this time in the small town of Cergy, north of Paris.

Dear Mr. President,

Your Government has declared itself to be at the frontline of fighting terrorism. Yet the HQ of one of the most notorious terrorist cults, which has claim the lives of scores of Iraqis when working as Saddam’s private army, is located in the capital city of your county.

No one is in any doubt about the backing given by Washington to this terrorist group after the invasion of Iraq and the fall of Saddam, yet the same backers refuse to accept them on their soil and expect France to do the dirty work of housing them.

Dear Sir,

I am wondering what kind of logic your Government follows that ‘because of the failure of American policy in the Middle East, a friend of ours who has resisted every pressure to bow down to terrorists and has devoted his life to increasing awareness of terrorism, should be attacked by the remnants of Saddam’s private army in your country’?!

What kind of logic is followed in your Government that the people of France have to harbour these Washington backed terrorists just because the Iraqi government is not responding to the calls from neoconservatives to give their county back to Saddamists? And what kind of logic is followed in your Government that the same people who are under investigation on terrorism charges in your country should be allowed to attack the critics of terrorism with knives, clubs and fists?

Dear Mr. President,

There are many analysts who believe that harbouring the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation in France, as well as the clearly desperate support they get from Washington, is due to a lack of tools in confronting the ongoing saga of Iranian nuclear advancement. Many believe that the western toolbox is so empty that even the threadbare Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorists cannot be ignored as a tool.

Those who follow the political scene of the Middle East have noticed, particularly in recent months how the oil and gas deals have been favouring the Russians, how the Iranian investment market – especially in oil and gas – has shifted towards China, while Rajavi, Rigi (another Washington groomed terrorist in Pakistan) and PEJAK (part of the anti-Turkish PKK group on the border of Iran and Iraq, who are not either Iranian or Iraqis) are left for the clever west!!

Dear Sir,

I would like to know what steps your Government is willing to take to secure the safety and security of anti-terrorism activists who are being threatened by every possible means by the notorious Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation HQ in your country.

Yours,
Massoud Khodabandeh
Leeds
United Kingdom
November 30th 2009

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UK

Britain says MKO in Camp Ashraf subject to Iraqi law

Britain says MKO in Camp Ashraf subject to Iraqi law – protected persons status not applicable

Iraq: Iran Britain says MKO in Camp Ashraf subject to Iraqi law - protected persons status not applicable

Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Written answers and statements, 25 November 2009
Andrew Dismore (Hendon, Labour)

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what his Department’s assessment is of the status in international law of the residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq; and if he will make a statement.

Ivan Lewis (Minister of State (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Bury South, Labour)

Camp Ashraf is in a sovereign and democratic Iraq and the camp residents subject to its laws.

The UK is of the view that the residents of Camp Ashraf, as with all people in Iraq, enjoy rights and protections under the Iraqi constitution and applicable international obligations to which Iraq is a signatory. We do not consider that they have ‘protected persons’ status.

We do not feel a ministerial statement is necessary at this time.

House of Lords, London

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Missions of Nejat Society

Nejat families, Mazandaran branch meeting with MKO defectors

Following the incidents took place in Ashraf during recent months and the takeover of the Camp by Iraqi Police of which the news was published by the mass media, a large number of families who are members of Nejat Society, Mazandaran Branch contacted Nejat Office to get news on the latest situation of their beloved ones in Camp Ashraf.
Nejat families, Mazandaran branch meeting with MKO defectors
Therefore, on Oct 25th, 2009, the families gathered together at Nejat Office with a number of defectors of the cult. They discussed the cruel behavior of the Rajavis during the recent incidents, which ended with the death and injury of some of their children in order to achieve solutions so that they would be able to release their beloved ones from the hellish organization and to prevent the Rajavis from instrumentally abusing those captured ones.
 
 

The family members attended the meeting were:

Mr. Mehdi ramazani from Sari, Maryam Ramazani’s brother
Mr. Hassan Heidarzadeh from Amol, Parviz Heidarzadeh’s brother
Mrs. Oulia Heidarzade from Amol, Parviz Heidarzade’s sister
Mr. AliReza Rezaee from Behshahr, AhmadReza Rezaee’s wife
Mr. Naser Hosseini Motlaq from Amol, Mir Nezad Hosseini Motlaq’s brother
Mr. Nemat Allah Mohammadi from savadkouh,Majid Mohammadi’s mother
Mr. Ali Akbar Babapur from Babol, Ali Asghar Babapour’s brother
Nejat families, Mazandaran branch meeting with MKO defectors
and a number of recently defected members of MKO were:

Nowruz Tavakoli,Abdullah Afghan,Iraqj Salehi,Hadi Shabani and Samad Nazari.

The meeting was held in a friendly atmosphere.

 

The head of Nejat Society Mazandaran introduced all the participants and then presented a report on the latest circumstances of Camp Ashraf.

He spoke of the recent visit by some families at Camp Ashraf describing the way the MKO treated them.

He also noted that Iraqi government is determined to expel the MKO from its territory, declaring the following:
Nejat families, Mazandaran branch meeting with MKO defectors
• Disobedience committed by Rajavi’s cult regarding the six-month deadline that Iraqi government had assigned.

• The latest negotiations between the police of Diala Province and other Iraqi authorities and Camp Ashraf officials.

• Complete description of the incidents happened in Ashraf on July 28 and 29th following the raid by Iraqi police and the order made by the MKO leaders for resistance in front of Iraqi forces which ended with heavy casualties for the residents.

He pointed out that Massoud Rajavi ordered the members to resist for show-off and to prove the so called ideological vitality of his cult.

Maryam Rajavi also ordered public hunger strike at Ashraf that apparently lasted 72 days and according to many evidences it was held to feed the cult’s propaganda machine.

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Massoud Rajavi

Rajavi’s strategic bastion on sale

Rajavi and his propaganda machine are engaged in a never-ceasing, fervent struggle of supporting Camp Ashraf and encouraging the insiders to resist against the pushes to evacuate the organization’s strategic bastion.
 
While the organization consents to leave Iraq for a third country where it hopes to be the United The past events demonstrate proven evidences that Rajavi bargains anything to satiate his voracious appetite for the power and egocentric ambitionsStates or a country member of the EU, particularly after being removed from its list terrorist groups, it warns against the outbreak of a human tragedy in the camp. Nevertheless, the reports indicate that the Iraqi Government is decisive to close the camp and expel the insiders, regardless of MKO’s attempts to convince its advocates to support its stay in Iraq. The government’s determination fully comprehended, Rajavi sees no other option but to weigh anchor willingly or unwillingly.

The reality of the decision curing him of many fantasies and forcing him to act down-to-earth, Rajavi has taken a new turn to make a profitable deal before leaving the camp; to put a price on the camp.

His 200 million dollars demand for Ashraf is believed to be leading the Iraqi Government to face a serious law-suit challenge vis-a-vis the organization. Although drafted to prolong the group’s stay in Iraq, no doubt it is a problem that will be dealt with and has no effect on the arrived decision to expel the terrorists from Iraq. MKO knows well that none of its claimed, advertized millions of supporters will avail to annul what has already been decided and the victories it periodically trumpets to have achieved are nothing but an abuse of the humanitarian moves taken by the Iraqi Government to demonstrate its respect for human rights and global conventions.

Of other parameters that to a great extent disinclined Ashraf residents from reasoning to incline to Rajavi’s wrangling messages that has mislead their minds is occasional, social commotions inside Iran.
 
Receiving biased information about what is really going on in Iran, the members inside Ashraf are under the impact of misinformation and the illusion that they are the final winners of the riots that Rajavi refers to as revolution. Deceptive as his messages are not only them but any simple-mined in abroad may easily establish conformity between the demands of some protestors living in Iran and those of Rajavi’s group that has long lost its popularity; chanting demands of democracy, the Iranian protestors prefer to be ruled by any regime but that of led by the Rajavis.

The concluding words of Rajavi in his message of November 4, after putting a price on Ashraf, are boasting about the potentiality of Ashraf residents to overthrow the regime side by side of the Iranian people.
 
How can he bargain so precious a whole potentiality that can so easily play a decisive role to change a regime! But the members residing in Ashraf have to face the reality that Camp Ashraf, with all its potentialities and the made sacrifices, is on sale and the price is set by the very same person who encourages the members to resist. An estate on sale will be sold whether or not the residents like it.

The sole solution for the insiders before the sale debases them is to preserve the last vestiges of their honor and come to know their own real price. The past events demonstrate proven evidences that Rajavi bargains anything to satiate his voracious appetite for the power and egocentric ambitions. Rajavi’s past is full of such bargains whose victims are either suffering from incurable, sore wounds or regretting for the past mistakes of losing dignity in the company of a charlatan.

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Habilian Foundation

“Iran: A Victim of Terrorism”in Tehran Polytechnic University

"Iran: A Victim of Terrorism" exhibition was held by Habilain Association (families of Iranian terror victims) in Amir Kabir University of Technology (formerly known as Tehran Polytechnic University).
In order to introduce the crimes and terror efforts of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to the Iranian young generation, full documents on the MKO’s crimes both in Iran and Iraq were on show at the exhibition, Habilian website reported.

"Iran: A Victim of Terrorism" in Tehran Polytechnic University

Through various books, posters and videos, the exhibition sought to present shocking documents on the MKO’s terror efforts and its ideological and behavioural deviations. The students were introduced to new dimensions of the MKO’s crimes through classified posters on the cult’s background, intra-cult relationships, assisting Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war, its crimes against Iraqi people, the cult’s propagation and fundraising tricks and some of Iranian figures assassinated by the MKO.

"Iran: A Victim of Terrorism" in Tehran Polytechnic University

The exhibition also included cartoons on various dimensions of the cult’s crimes.

Recorded by Habilian Association, a full list of 16403 Iranian terror victims ,over 12000 of whom assassinated by the MKO, was also on show at the exhibition. It aroused an increasing sense of hatred of the cult among the visitors who came to know many people assassinated by the MKO were civilians.

"Iran: A Victim of Terrorism" in Tehran Polytechnic University

The exhibition also revealed the cult’s lies on Tehran Polytechnic University. News of a debate between two Iranian politicians at the university a month ago appeared as an uprising by the students on MKO’s websites. Interestingly enough, the debate began several minutes after the cult’s websites revealed the news!

As in several other universities, "Iran: A Victim of Terrorism" was highly welcomed by teachers, students and the staff of Tehran Polytechnic University. This led to the MKO terrorists’ excessive anger as they failed to prevent the students to bury five anonymous martyrs in the same university just a few months ago.

The following are only a few comments by many visitors who signed the exhibition’s guestbook:
•Excellent, helpful and influential. I feel this should be done in a broader sense for all groups of the society especially the youths.

•I have never believed in many Islamic teachings, however I will never forget the MKO’s obvious crimes, just the same as no one can forget Hitler’s. I hope the world is filled with eternal peace on day.

•I was so influenced by the exhibition when I remembered my own friends martyred by the MKO.

•Thank you very much for your efforts. The Supreme Leader’s comments on the enemies’ "soft war" necessitate exploring the MKO’s role in this regard.

•Quite informative! I never imagined that the MKO had done so many bad to us. Woe to the West that removed it from the terror list.

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Iran, Iraq and People’s Mojahedin of Iran

PMOI or MEK, the People’s Mojahedin of Iran, military and sectarian organization protected by Saddam Hussein, had been unarmed after the fall of the dictator but kept warm by the troops of

The  rear-Advanced base of People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), was besieged by Iraqi governmental forces.

the Anglo-Saxon occupation until July 28 2009, when the camp was taken over by Iraqi forces under the security agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in November 2008.

In spring 2003, about 2,400 fighters trained and highly disciplined Mujahedeen had yet material offensive heavy artillery and tanks, providing a response force capable of operating independently to penetrate the Iranian territory as was the case during the offensive "Eternal Light" in summer 1988 launched just after the cease-fire
between Baghdad and Tehran.

Although it is designated as a terrorist organization, PMOI has openly, now more than ever, strong political support in European capitals.

Just like in Washington where remarkably organized and active lobbyists as the NCRI, the National Council of Resistance, serves as a showcase honorable organization for campaigns launched against the Islamic Republic. Their unofficial spokesman occupies an important place on the air Voice of America, whose broadcasts to Iran manage to escape, apparently, the classical interference.

Since even before the Revolution of 1979, when Zbgniew Brzezinski convinced President Carter to abandon Reza Shah, when it would betray an inclination to re-nationalization of oil, the U.S. had begun to support, even encourage terrorist activities of mujahideen-e Khalq in the prospect of establishing a "Republic of Iran oriented to federalism." A choice "federal" clearly preserved in the founding charter of the movement and whose implicit logic is that a collapse of the Iranian nation in autonomous provinces.
 
Regarding the apparent failure of U.S. policy over the last thirty years, in Iran and the region (a flop which also insist no further action), however, did not influence the U.S. administration for its objectives, or to waive or modify a project that somehow continues its cheerful way, making it gained new momentum with the opening of the nuclear weapons issue in 2004 through the PMOI / NCRI which is probably not a simple coincidence.

However, it seems that this is not purely humanitarian considerations which have prevailed only in the maintenance of troops, although unarmed,of PMOI in Iraqi Kurdistan, that until July 28, 2009 in the context of a "reorientation" U.S. policy towards Iran, while the Iraqi Parliament had voted for the evacuation of this basis since June 2007. The fact remains that the maintenance by the previous U.S. administration, an intervention force seasoned, albeit unarmed, but may be reactivated, is an aspect of the case that should be borne in mind. A supplementary force trained and disciplined, being able to remain operational by shorter delay, could, if necessary, participate in an attack on Iranian soil as was the case in 1989 shortly after the cease-fire between Iran and Iraq, although then the operation ended in a crushing defeat!

There is no reason that such an attempt might one day be repeated at a major military or political crisis or in case of conflict, similar to actions of PEJAK supported by the PPK, in order to open a diversion front on the west side of the security apparatus in Iran. This hypothesis is not absurd if one considers that other fastening operations could be triggered simultaneously, in the South, Khuzestan and in the East, Balochistan.

Besides, from Camp Ashraf, PMOI has long provided an important work of listening telecommunications Iranian (military and policies) for the Pentagon to continue the mission of intelligence made before 2003 in favor of the Baathist regime. PMOI also, through its networks and relays in the Western political class, possesses the ability to inject into the international media channels, information obtained through parallel channels such as NSA or the Shin Beth, allowing original sources, thereby, to remain in the shadows. A role of strategic intelligence collector, but, equally important, activity broadcaster, relay and echo chamber, which is essential in the context of indirect strategies implemented to create conditions for regime change and make evolve the Iranian nation towards federalism market.

Asked about its sources PMOI said to involve the private sector provider of strategic information, including free market in satellite images. Thus, the first revelations about Iran’s nuclear program, on August 14, 2002, were published by the channel of Ali Reza Jafarzadeh, an analyst assigned to the Fox News Channel and a member of the People’s Mujahedeen. Similarly Ali Safavi, also a member of the People’s Mujahedeen, who created, the Near East Policy Research, in London in 2003 and whose programs are focused on "human rights, regional threats such as terrorism and nuclear proliferation, the spread of religious extremism, the construction of democracy and economic challenges,” said in August 2002 in Vienna, at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA),where shots on satellite images relating Iranian facilities has given the kickoff of the campaign against Iran since that date to today. International Campaign on the Iranian nuclear program, all constituting a potentially explosive could lead to "war" according to the French Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Dr. Kouchner, in September 2007!

Still, since December 3, 2007 and the NIE report, it is permissible to assume that these revelations about the offensive nature of Iran’s nuclear program could have been an element of manipulation among other active measures, initiated as part of an ambitious plan to destabilize the Islamic Republic. As previously mentioned, in the hypotheses of regime change in Iran, PMOI could be called to occupy a certain place – at least in the transition phase – the construction of a federal Iran, one organic ideas of the "Constitution" internal movement.

As a military organization (behind the scene of the political showcase more familiar for European officials), and like the PKK, PMOI remains clearly one of the assets available to the U.S. in their hidden war for the destabilizing of Iranian power. It is obviously not a mere academic speculation, but a geopolitical trend recorded in the long term contemporary and we see here and now effects, with evidence of the remarkable efficiency with which the U.S. Administration demonstrated in the case of the Balkans: in fact it only took fifteen years to complete, with the independence of Kosovo in February 2008, the dismantling of the Yugoslav Federation, a regional power and former purveyor of weapons of ‘Baathist Iraq.

PMOI, though deprived of its rear-advanced base in Iraqi territory, nonetheless an asset, an important card provided because of its organization and its penetration to the establishment Western European and North American ( regardless of the Ashraf camp wound properly, that is to say, in a timely manner according to the agenda of the Department of State) because it is expected to play a role similar to that of the Iraqi National Congress that Washington was instrumented in order to justify its invasion of Iraq in 2003. Irrespective of the fact that the May 7, 2009, one hundred and three MEPs from 24 Member States of the EU had sent a message to President Obama to ask him to imitate the European example by removing People’s Mujahedeen of Iran from the list of terrorist organizations. 

Alterinfo.net – Translated by Nejat Society

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Mujahedin Khalq Organization

The Truth MKO leaders Claim

In a mind control cult there is nothing called Truth. As the cult leaders believe, the “Reality” is not something external but only in people’s mind so the Truth is what the cult called “Truth”. In this way, the cult controls the Truth by controlling the members’ mind. As the cult leaders believe, the “Reality” is not something external but only in people’s mind so the Truth is what the cult called “Truth

The leaders’ of MKO terrorist cult try to pretend that their organizational system wants to bring happiness and prosperity to people but actually they see their members as weak individuals who are not able to live freely and to face the Truth of the life. Massoud and Maryam Rajavi are well aware of their real goal which is maintenance of their power in the cult and achievement of power in Iranian political scene. The power is not the means, according to the Rajavis, but it’s the goal. They see the power as the ability of imposing extreme pain and grief on other members.

Therefore, that’s the power that creates the Truth and Reality for them.

When the Rajavis claim that their cult is the best alternative to IRI regime, the members who are isolated behind the cult bars have no way to investigate such a claim. Thus the claim becomes a truth for them. As far as they are kept behind the barbed wires of camp Ashraf they have to accept their cult as the best system to liberate the world!

The more the destructive cult of Rajavi controls its members’ minds, the more they become a number of instruments to accomplish the Rajavi’s goals. The members of MKO cult are today the tools to change the forms to the Reality to what is appropriate for their own cause.

Indeed, the truth is something that the masses of people agree about it not what the cult leaders claim. The limited numbers of MKO members are victims of Rajavi’s skillful manipulative practices that make them believe the opposite of what is the truth.

Therefore, as far as the individual has no independence in his opinions and believe what the cult says, two plus two can equal five, Slavery can be the same as freedom for them. They think that they are free because they don’t know the difference between True and False any more.

The function of manipulative approaches is especially useful in ideological systems like Rajavi’s cult. They torture their members physically or mentally under the cover of their ideological principals. This is what Rajavi does with his victims in his cult. One may have two reactions to the fate of Rajavi’s victims: to get more disappointed or to accept that it is not too late, there is still time to be courageous and encounter the cruelty of MKO leaders. It is clear that human soul is more powerful than the manipulative system.

By Mazda Parsi

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MEK Camp Ashraf

Saddamist lobby’s lies exposed in U.K. parliament

[Iran-Interlink – The MKO do not have Protected Persons status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The group has no legal status in Iraq. The U.N. has refused to give them refugee status in Iraq.

The Government of Iraq has stated that the relocation of the 3,400 MKO members in Camp Ashraf to a place distant from Iran’s borders is necessary for their safety. The MKO has violently resisted any attempts to enforce Iraqi law inside the camp.]

Iraq: Camp Ashraf — Question

All Lords debates on 23 Nov 2009
 

Saddamist lobby’s lies exposed in U.K. parliament
Lord Corbett of Castle Vale (Labour)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Government of Iraq about their threat to use force to relocate 3,400 Iranian dissident refugees at Camp Ashraf to elsewhere in Iraq.

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
My Lords, we encourage the Iraqi authorities and the Camp Ashraf leadership to find a lasting and acceptable solution for the future of the residents. We have relayed this message to the Iraqi Government at the highest levels, including to the Iraqi Prime Minister. Camp Ashraf is in a sovereign and democratic Iraq and, ultimately, decisions on the future location of the camp are for the Iraqi Government to resolve.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale (Labour)
Will my noble friend confirm that the United Kingdom supports the views of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq, the ICRC and the UNHCR that it would further breach international humanitarian law if Iraq carried out its threat to again use violent force against defenceless Iranian refugees at Ashraf, so adding to the toll of 11 dead and hundreds injured in its July assault? Will the Government join efforts to persuade Iraq to accept a UN monitoring force at Ashraf to help talks between Iraq and the residents on their future to continue in a calm atmosphere?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
My Lords, in light of the tragic deaths of 11 people and many others injured at Camp Ashraf on 20 July, the Government have raised the issue with the Iraqi Government seeking a review of the event. We also raised the question of a UN presence in the camp.
 
That was acceded to in discussions between the PMOI and the Government of Iraq and is now established, with a mission that is monitoring human rights and the humanitarian situation at Camp Ashraf, liaising with American and Iraqi counterparts as well as with the PMOI, regularly reporting on the situation to the SRSG and the OHCHR in Geneva, and assessing the possibilities and the presence of enabling conditions by the GoI-the Government of Iraq-for a later deployment of UNHCR staff and other actions as required.

Lord Waddington (Conservative)
Perhaps the noble Lord can help on this. Did Her Majesty’s Government make representations to the Iraqi authorities about the blockade of Ashraf, subsequent to the attack in July, and about the outrageous situation in which the authorities prevented even doctors from entering the camp to look after people who had been injured in the attack, or are Her Majesty’s Government washing their hands of the whole matter and saying that they no longer have any real responsibility for the people of Ashraf as protected persons under the Geneva conventions? If it is the view of Her Majesty’s Government that they have no responsibility in that regard, how did they come to that conclusion?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
I refer the noble Lord to an answer that I gave to the noble Lord, Lord Eden of Winton, when I dealt with the whole question of the immunities that people believe exist but which do not exist in relation to Camp Ashraf. It is in sovereign Iraqi territory-a democratic state.

On the other hand, we do not resile at all from trying to ensure that humanitarian conditions exist and that assurances are kept that no one will be transferred from that camp to a country in which their lives are in danger. In that sense, we are clear about the issue. We are less clear about accusations, for which we have no independent authoritative evidence from the UN or anywhere else, that people are being prevented from having medicines and other things. If there is any hard evidence, I would be more than delighted to refer it to my Foreign Office colleagues for investigation.

Baroness Nicholson of Winterbourne (Liberal Democrat)
Why is no European nation, or North America, willing to accept any of the residents of Camp Ashraf? May it have something to do with their previous activities? Is the Minister absolutely determined either to prove that the Camp Ashraf residents cannot return to the Islamic Republic of Iran or to press European nations to bring them out? What responsibility do the Iraqi Government have to keep these former enemies of the Iraqi people?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
The noble Baroness raises a question that has undoubtedly been the subject of considerable discussion in Iraq. People in the camp probably find no favour in the country from which they came and little favour in the country of their adoption, given their previous adherence to the regime that has now been removed. The short answer is that no one outside the country seems to show any great enthusiasm for bringing in people in Camp Ashraf. Many of them may be innocent, but there are people in that camp with a clear history of attacks in Iran-attacks which they may have now abandoned-that makes them unpopular in that country and of support for a dictator that makes them equally unpopular in Iraq.

Baroness Turner of Camden (Labour)
My Lords, is my noble friend not aware that these people have protected person status under United Nations law? That being so, would it not be possible to persuade EU countries to provide these people with refuge? These are genuine refugees who deserve protection.

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
Alas, it is not the case that people in Camp Ashraf have protected person status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. That has ceased to apply. That view is shared by the United Nations, the Government of Iraq, the United States and us. It is a mistake to believe that there is international protection for these individuals. However, that does not mean that we should abandon them to be subject to inhuman treatment or to be transferred to regimes in countries where their lives would be in danger.

Baroness Falkner of Margravine (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, I appreciate the clarification provided by the Minister regarding the status of these people in Camp Ashraf. However, in light of the Iraqi Government’s pledge that these people will not be forcibly repatriated to Iran, have Her Majesty’s Government been in any discussions with the Iraqi Government as to whether they might be given political asylum in this country?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
As I said, the UK Government have no locus in Iraq in relation to these people. The discussions have been held internationally through the United States, which had control prior to the ending of the Geneva Convention status. That status was given in the first place only because the Americans chose to accept and adopt it, rather than because there was any international obligation. It is clear that there is no nation-alas, it might be said-for these individuals outside the country that they are in, albeit that they are very reluctantly accepted; no other country is prepared to give residence status to them.

Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, following the violence that was perpetrated on residents of Camp Ashraf, Members of the House of Lords met the Minister, Ivan Lewis, who promised to make representations when he visited Iraq and to convey our concern. The Minister has given the answer in relation to making representations, but what was the response of the Iraqi Government?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
The Iraqi Government agreed to put in place an inquiry, the results of which we do not know. My ministerial colleague Ivan Lewis will visit Iraq in December and will no doubt keep the promise that he made to the noble Lord, Lord Dholakia, and colleagues to raise this issue at the highest level.

Lord Elton (Conservative)
My Lords, there are many settlements around the world of people who are unwelcome in the country from which they have fled and unwelcome in the country to which they have fled. The United Nations does a considerable job in getting them settled in third countries. What steps are we taking to assist that effort in this case?

Lord Brett (Government Whip (technically a Lord in Waiting, HM Household); Labour)
The United Nations is seeking a solution to the problem but, as I hope I have explained, it is not easy when the country of origin sees the individuals as people who attack them and the country that they are in sees them as people who attack them. In that sense, we are protecting the humanitarian support for these individuals where they are and trying to ensure that they are humanely treated and not transported to other countries. But we have a very limited locus in this matter.

House of Lords, London

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The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq stands firm on swift MKO expulsion

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has urged Mujahedin-e Khalq organization to immediately leave the country, saying Baghdad had no place for the MKO.

The Iraqi government and parliament have a resolve to expel members of the notorious groupIraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki after they committed crimes against the Iraqi people, exercised terrorism, cooperated with the Bathists and interfered in domestic affairs, said a statement by al-Maliki’s office.

The statement added that Iraq would not allow the MKO members to stay permanently in the residents of the group’s training camp in eastern Iraq, known as Camp Ashraf.

The statement came after a meeting held between al-Maliki and the new President of the International Red Cross mission in Iraq McKenna Bart.

Some 3,500 MKO members are held in a camp under the control of the Iraqi security forces.

The MKO is the most hated grouplet among both the Iranian and the Iraqi nations, and suffers from total unpopularity in these two countries.

The Mujahedin Khalq Organization, which blended elements of Marxism and Stalinism, was founded in Iran in the 1960s but was exiled some twenty years later over terrorism.

The group masterminded a torrent of terrorist operations inside Iran, one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed.

A 2007 German intelligence report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified the MKO as a "repressive, sect-like and Stalinist authoritarian organization which centers around the personality cult of [MKO leaders] Maryam and Masoud Rajavi".

The Iraqi premier touched upon mass graves contained Kuwaiti nationals who had fallen victim to the Ba’ath regime’s seven month-long invasion of Kuwait and said, "The issue of missing Kuwaitis is a humanitarian and not political case."

He expressed Iraq’s full readiness to "cooperate with our brothers in Kuwait."

He said that Iraq remains committed to cooperation on missing Kuwaiti property and money in letters previously sent to the United Nations and the Kuwaiti government aimed at putting an end to this humanitarian issue.

A mass grave, discovered in the headquarters of the MKO in Iraq in August, cast light on the crimes the terrorists committed during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

If confirmed, the reports would expose MKO complicity in Saddam Hussein’s war on Kuwait, which killed more than 3,664 Iraqis and 1,000 Kuwaitis
MKO leaders are said to have kept the mass grave a secret so far by refusing the entry of Iraqi forces into their base.

The grisly discovery came at a time when scores of regional correspondents were granted a permit by the Iraqi government to prepare a report from Camp Ashraf, where MKO dissidents were stationed for more than two decades.

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