Page 764 – Nejat Society

In Harmony with Ashraf Residents

In a statement issued on 8 September by the French International Human Rights League (FIDH), it called on the Iraqi authorities and the US to commit publicly that they will not forcibly send MKO’s members held in Camp Ashraf back to Iran and that the Multi-National Force will continue with its protection of Camp Ashraf, or Ashraf City as they call it. The statement is one of the many MKO’s provoked activities in recent weeks to safeguard its cult bastion in Iraqi soil following the justly taken decision by the Iraqi government to take the control of the camp to have a more close control over the group’s suspicious activities that jeopardize the country’s domestic order. The first question that forms in one’s mind is where and when Iraqi and the US authorities have publicly announced they would extradite MKO’s members to Iran which has worried FIDH? And the second question is why nobody, including FIDH, is really concerned about the members’ grave condition and human rights violations within Camp Ashraf?

In respect to the issue of handling over the control of Ashraf to Iraqi government and its decision to expel its residents from the country, it has to be pointed out that it is a matter of internal affair adopted according to the Council of Ministers’ decision. As stated in the published statement, according to “A decision of the Council of Ministers of Iraq dated June 17 stresses that control on the People’s Mujahidines Organization of Iran (PMOI) should be handed over to the Iraqi government by the US-led Multinational Force in Iraq and the necessity to expel the PMOI members from the country. According to various media reports, this decision was followed over the last two months by repeated declarations by Iraqi officials that the PMOI should be expelled from Iraq”.

The Iraqi government is well aware of the fact that the group is a terrorist organization in close contacts with the remnants of Saddam’s regime and other terrorist, insurgent groups that intend to lead the country to the precipice of a bloody internal war. The Iraqi government recognizes MKO a terrorist group as it is on the list of many other countries. In spite of many existing evidences of the group’s collaboration with Saddam’s regime against Iraqi people, the Iraqi government has announced that it will treat MKO according to the international laws and under the surveillance of international humanitarian bodies.

If FIDH, ICRC, and other humanitarian groups and committees are really concerned about Ashraf residents, the best they can do is a close cooperation with the Iraqi government so a decisive and secure decision can be taken. To release members from the bond of a terrorist cult and prepare for them to find a secure living-place wherever in the world is the most appropriate humanitarian duty these organizations can accomplish. And the least they can do is to beware of misleading propaganda activities by the group to act as its mouthpiece.

September 16, 2008 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Ashraf Base in Iraq, from inside and from outside

The Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) is a destructive cult according to all modern psychological and sociological definitions of cults. This cult is of course fully developed and has exposed all known cultic characteristics. All cults behave in a similar manner both from inside and from outside although they defer vastly in their publicized ideas.

All cults are known by three categories where they could be distinguished from other even undemocratic establishments.

1. Charismatic authoritarian leader who has control over every aspect of his followers and owns the lives and properties and chastity and even thoughts of individuals. The leader in a cult practically sits in the place of God and is not responsible against anyone.

2. Totalitarian pyramidal structure where the superior of every individual sits in the place of the leader and plays the same role. Followers are totally dependant to the organization and to their superiors. As they say breathing outside the organization and without the presence of the superior is impossible.

3. Psychological techniques are used to control the minds of the people under the tag of ideology. It is worth noticing that the philosophical or theological ideas of a cult have no significance and are just used as excuses. What keeps the followers attached to the cult and its leader is just utilizing mental methods of brainwashing.

But a cult needs particular facilities to impose those rational techniques to control the minds of the followers. The most important of course is a remote place isolated from the outside world since the cults need to disconnect the contact of their followers from the outside world, particularly from their families and fiends and even from their past, in order to impose their control over their lives and their minds.

Ashraf base in Iraq has provided a good opportunity for the MKO for two decades. The base of the MKO in Paris (Auvers-sur-Oise) and other safe houses of the organization round Western Europe and Northern America are serving the same purpose for the cult.

The MKO is claiming that the Ashraf Base is its strategic vessel (armed struggle) which is based on the National Liberation Army (NLA). This is true, but prior to that the base is the organization’s ideological vessel (or the mental methodology).

The Ashraf base facility has the following advantages for the MKO:

1. Ideologically and organizationally or better to say regarding the mental methods to control the minds of the followers, this base is providing a good opportunity for the organization since the connection of the individuals with the outside world is totally cut off. Such facility for a great number of people would certainly not be found anywhere in the world.

2. Strategically the NLA as an army has two elements from the three basic elements needed (military base, border with Iran, and weapons). The view that the third element (weapons) would be provided keeps the individuals hopeful and therefore fix them to the organization in that base.

3. Politically and regarding propaganda for the MKO the Ashraf base is known as the symbol of power for the organization which has its special effects on Iranian and non-Iranian supporters and western politicians. In fact this base is the major instrument in the organization’s political and propaganda work and also to recruit new members in the western countries.

Therefore the Ashraf base, which the MKO prefers to be on the boarder with Iran, provides a unique opportunity for the organization to sustain and control the followers, to keep the structure of an army although too small, and to show the power of the MKO in its political and propaganda activities.

The MKO is not considered a threat for the Islamic Republic of Iran when it is by itself. But if they can find a substitute for Saddam Hussein as an external backer, then it could be turned into a threat as far as security is concerned. It is worth mentioning that this threat is of course limited to espionage and terrorist activities and the MKO slogans to overthrow the Tehran regime is out of question.

Then the Ashraf base is an opportunity from inside to preserve and control the forces and is an opportunity from outside for propaganda.

But what would happen if the Ashraf base is dismantled?

Initially a place must be found for the 3400 inhabitants of the base. The westerners are striving to send these people towards Iran. Surely they do not welcome these people who are the outcomes of a terrorist cult into their country. But any number of people who can reach to the western countries would not have the same use for the organization and they would not have the same ideological dependency. Many of them after having free contact with the outside world and realizing that they have been subject to psychological methods of brainwashing would gain the potentiality of countering the MKO and revealing the cultic internal relationships (historically the cults are doomed to be dismantled by their defectors).

In the next step the MKO would loose a strategic facility which is the boarder and the military base, and the strategy of armed struggle which is now on the halt would be finished.

And finally the MKO would loose its political and propaganda and recruiting opportunity and would face political and manpower crises in the western countries.

Specifically if the Ashraf base is dismantled and the forces are driven towards the western countries, not only the capability of diplomatic and propaganda of the organization would not increase, it would add to the many problems of the MKO and would face it with a dead-end.

In one word the cult would loose its main vessel and without that no content of the MKO would exist.

But this does not mean that the cult would go down completely since the organization could live as a cult in a very limited form with the facility of Auvers-sur-Oise (the European base of the MKO in France) and other safe houses they have in the western countries, but it would not have the same function as a political force.

September 16, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US Army Transfers Top PMOI Terrorists

United States/Iraq: US Army Transfers Top MKO Terrorists

The US military has transferred the senior members of terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) from Ashraf camp north of the Iraqi capital as it handed over the camp to Iraqi forces, an Iraqi Foreign Ministry source said.

The Iraqi army replaced American troops in taking control of Ashraf camp a few days ago.

Nearly 4,000 members of the MKO terrorist network fled to Iraq in the 1980s and settled at Ashraf camp, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of Baghdad, which the group now uses as its headquarters.

The source at the Iraqi foreign ministry said the US military officials have moved the key members of the terrorist group from Ashraf Camp to prevent Iraqi government to have access to them.

"Current members of MKO inhabiting the camp are remorseful and not effective for the US military", the source added.

Iran’s Ambassador to Baghdad, Hassan Kazemi Qomi referred to the six month deadline to expel terrorist members of MKO from Iraq, and said, "During the past two years, many members of the terrorist organization have abandoned the group. They have also expressed regret for their past actions."

"Iran has pardoned a number of these people, allowing them to return to the country and their families," he said.

The future of the MKO in Iraq is uncertain and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said he is looking for ways to end their presence.

Earlier, the Iraqi government and parliament announced that they are seeking a rapid final solution to remove the remaining members of the MKO from Iraq and to shut down Camp Ashraf.

Iraqi officials say the group is playing a significant role in violence and insecurity in the country.

The MKO is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq war.

A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to 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.

Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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.

Along with at least six other sites in Iraq, Camp Ashraf was given to the MKO as their headquarters and training site by the former Iraqi dictator.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. – FNA

September 16, 2008 0 comments

Jordan

No change in Jordan’s position towards MKO

No change in Jordan’s position towards MKO: Jordanian official Amman

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nassar Habashneh has affirmed that there was no change in Amman’s position towards the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

Speaking to Jordan’s News Agency (Petra) on Saturday night, Habashneh said Amman’s commitment to deal with "legitimate authorities."

"Jordan adheres to its clear position in dealing with the legitimate authorities as a general principle that governs Jordan’s relations with world countries," said the spokesman.

He added that participation of some of the Jordanians in MKO’s conferences "comes on an individual basis" and "does not reflect Jordan’s official position."

Habashneh said that Jordan had previously made it clear to Iranian officials on a number of occasions that it had no contacts with the terrorist organization.

"The foreign minister clarified this position to his Iranian counterpart during their meeting on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement Conference, which was recently held in Tehran," Habashneh said.

The spokesman reiterated Jordan’s willingness "to maintain good relations with the Iran and promote them for the interest of both countries."

September 16, 2008 0 comments

Missions of Nejat Society

Nejat Society Delegation travel to Geneva

A delegation from Nejat Society traveled to Geneva to participate the meeting of United Nations Human Rights Council and to visit the delegation from other international human rights organizations in order to prevent the political abuse of the remaining captives in Camp Ashraf, and guarantee Nejat Society Delegation in Geneva the individual rights of those who basically deny terrorism and are willing to return to the society. Nejat Society delegation includes:

Mr. Babak Amin, Mr. Arash Sametipour, Mrs. Marjan Malek, Mrs. Ronak Dashti.

The delegation visited some authorities of human rights bodies based in Geneva declaring their concerns about the recent changes in Iraq and the departure of about 300 high ranking members ( who are wanted by Interpol ) of MKO from Camp Ashraf.

They made the officials aware of the threats that exist for the captured members in the cult, asking for the creation of a convenient situation for the members to return a normal life in a free society.

Regarding that the Iraqi government ,International Red Cross and High Commissioner for the Refugees of the United Nations have the access to Camp Ashraf and regarding that those who remain in Ashraf are not included in the high ranks, Nejat Society asks the whole international human right community to demand justice for the remaining members who really deserve the right to visit their family, choose clothes other than military uniforms, the right to have access to the public information resources like newspapers, Radio or TV and the right to select their living-place.

September 16, 2008 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

MKO engaged in illegal activities in Iraq

Iraqi Defense Minister Abdulqader Mohammed al-Obeidi said on Wednesday that the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) has been engaged in illegal activities on Iraqi soil. The terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization has been engaged in illegal activities on Iraqi soil

Al-Obeidi told a press conference, "We have reliable evidence at hand which shows the Organization (MKO outfit) has carried out illegal activities in Iraq."

He said that the takeover of the MKO camp by the Iraqi government can be an instance of sovereignty over Iraq.

"No garrison or military camp in Iraq should be out of Iraqi government’s control," he added.

The official said the MKO has over recent years carried out illegal activities inside Iraq and the Iraqi government will not at all accept such conducts.

He stressed that expulsion of the terrorist MKO from Iraq is legitimate right of the Iraqi government.

The Iraqi government’s move in expelling the MKO elements does not contradict international regulations and the government can do so, said the Iraqi minister, adding that as long as such elements have not been expelled from the country, Baghdad will treat them based on human rights regulations.

September 14, 2008 0 comments

MKO still a terrorist group, says UK’s Jack Straw

The British government still considers that the MKO is a terrorist group despite being recently removed from the UK’s proscribed organizations, according to Justice Secretary Jack Straw. The British governemnt still considers that the MKO is a terrorist group

During a meeting with visiting Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for European Affairs, Straw also said that the UK strongly supports keeping the MKO on the EU’s terrorist list.

The British government has argued that it had no alternative but to accept a recent court decision to remove the group, which has assassinated thousands of Iranians, from its list of proscribed organizations under the Terrorism Act 2000.

But at their meeting on Tuesday night, Safari described the decision as both "political and unlawful" and said it was a "black stain on UK-Iran relations."

The deputy foreign minister, who started a three-day visit to London on Monday, also expressed concern about the long-drawn out saga of the US trying to extradite former Iranian Ambassador to Jordan, Nosratollah Tajik, from the UK while at Durham University.

He was particularly distressed about Tajik’s physical and psychological condition caused by two years of duress, while he was not only innocent but a victim of entrapment in a secret US sting operation.

But Safari expressed hope that the case would be successfully resolved as soon as possible and clear the "black mark" in the UK’s relations with Iran to ensure it does not happen again.

September 14, 2008 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq Expels Anti-Iranian Group – MKO

‘ font-size: 10pt”>(Reuters/Mohammed Ameen)Iraqi Interior Ministry Spokesman Abdul Karim Khalaf

‘ font-size: 10pt”> An Iranian opposition group that has sought refuge in Iraq for more than 20 years has been ordered by the Iraqi government to leave the country.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>The Shiite-dominated Iraqi Interior Ministry announced September 1 that members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK) had six months to leave Camp Ashraf, the U.S. camp in Iraq where approximately 3,360 members of the group are currently being held. The Saudi daily al Riyadh reported September 3 that the United States and Iran had agreed to hand over members of the MeK (also known as the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran) to Iraqi authorities.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>While Iraq wants this group out of the country, it is Iran that is behind the move to expel the MeK from Iraq. Tehran views the MeK—whose goal is to replace Iran’s Islamist theocracy with a secular regime—as a terrorist group. The U.S.’s protection of the group has been a major obstacle in U.S.-Iranian negotiations over Iraq. America—which has been a longtime ally of the MeK—has now caved in to Iran’s demands. At the same time, the U.S. administration has become relatively silent in its criticism of Iran, indicating a final deal between Iran and the U.S. on the future of Iraq may be drawing closer.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Meanwhile, “By essentially selling out the MeK,” Stratfor reports, “the United States risks sending the wrong message to its current allies” (September 4). The U.S. is increasingly finding itself in such a position—as recently seen in its lack of support for Georgia. As America increasingly loses power and prestige on the world stage and its military forces continue to be overstretched, we can expect it to become less and less reliable as an ally. This will push former allies to desert the U.S. and look to other nations for support and protection.

Trumpet.com

September 14, 2008 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

On the anniversary of a terrorist attack

On the anniversary of 11 September terrorist incident, and while the world media take positions and analyze the incident from different angles, MKO-run media have purposefully remained silent, as they have all through these years. It is an issue of concern that while the world unanimously condemned the terrorist acts at the time and voted on a universal move to stop any further terrorist plots and still commemorates the victims, MKO has preferred to keep silent. In contrast to its claims of having accepted democratic parameters of the West, MKO’s indifferent position on 9/11 incident indicates its innate duality and its glorification of terrorism.

The testimonies of the ex-members who were still in Camp Ashraf when the incident happened well reveal the strategic and ideological positions of the organization. A number of these ex-members have stated that after the incident, Massoud Rajavi’s manner of behavior had arisen in them a suspicion that the organization might have masterminded the incident. So passionate had Rajavi talked about the inhuman incident that the members had come to believe that Al-Qaeda operation team might have received their training at Camp Ashraf. In a part of his speech Rajavi was quoted to have stated:

What happened reveals only a percentage of the potentialities of an Islamic organization which has adopted the most reactionary concepts of Islam. Imagine how potential and capable our revolutionary Islam might be!

September 14, 2008 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

MEPs intrigued by newly arrived from Camp Ashraf

‘ font-size: 10pt”>MEPs intrigued by accounts of newly arrived escapees from Camp Ashraf

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Discussion of the Mojahedin-e Khalq/National Council of Resistance and its activities in the EU Parliament

MEPs intrigued by accounts of newly arrived escapees from Camp Ashraf

‘ font-size: 10pt”>

‘ font-size: 10pt”>On Tuesday 9 September a meeting was held by the Delegation for Relations with Iran in the European Parliament. The meeting focused on ‘Discussion of the Mojahedin-e Khalq/National Council of Resistance and its activities in an exchange of views with:

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Anne Singleton expert on the MKO

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Representative of the NCR (declined invitation)

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Three Residents of Ashraf Refugee Camp who arrived from Iraq in the last couple of weeks: Ms. Ebrahimi, Mr. Hassan Piransar and Mr. Hamid Siah Mansoori.

‘ font-size: 10pt”> MEPs intrigued by accounts of newly arrived escapees from Camp Ashraf Also present were former MKO members Karim Haggi, Mohammad Sobhani, Hadi Shams Haeri and Ali Ghashghavi, who accompanied the new arrivals to provide support to these vulnerable people.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Angelika Beer, President of the Iran Delegation (Greens/EFA), began by describing the MKO and its activities up to the present time.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Anne Singleton briefly described her own involvement with the MKO for over twenty years.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Asserting that the MKO will not give up the use of violence to achieve its aims, Ms Singleton went on to explain why, in spite of that, she believes that the MKO has currently little to do with the Iranian political scene, but that precisely because it is a cult, its danger is that it interferes in parliamentary democracy in western countries in ways that may even involve criminal activity.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Whilst agreeing that the MKO’s platform of ‘total regime change’ in Iran could be attractive to some politicians in the west, Ms Singleton challenged the delegates to consider whether the MKO would be able to achieve its stated aim – ‘will it do what it says on the tin’? Since its last major offensive against Iran in 1988, the MKO has achieved little to further its aims. She told delegates that they should also consider the possibility that, even if they believe the MKO has changed tactic and intends to pursue its aims only through political opposition, the MKO may not actually be ‘fit for purpose’ She urged them to consider the evidence of the three former residents of Camp Ashraf who have arrived in Europe from Iraq only in the past few weeks, and who would speak later in the meeting about conditions inside the MKO.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Singleton asserted that Iranian people – as those delegates who have visited Iran are aware – are not waiting to be rescued by the MKO and are capable of opposing their own government. Iranian women are not waiting to be taught about feminism by Maryam Rajavi who leads an organisation which – as Batul Ebrahimi will testify – badly abuses women members.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Then Ms Singleton described the current situation of the MKO in Iraq. Control of Camp Ashraf, the MKO’s headquarters, has been transferred from the American military to the Iraqi military. Ms Singleton said that Iraqi government officials are angry at reports which suggest that the MKO would be ‘massacred’ if the Americans handed over Camp Ashraf.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Instead, the people inside the camp are facing a humanitarian crisis because they are not allowed even basic freedoms such as the right to enjoy contact and visits from their families. A rumour has arisen that the Americans have removed around 300 of those captive in Camp Ashraf and left the others. Ms Singleton said that if this is the case then she would consider the remaining 3000 individuals in Camp Ashraf to be ex-members of the MKO. They should be brought to western countries as soon as possible.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Finally, Ms Singleton presented delegates with one solution to the crisis at Camp Ashraf, remove the MKO from the European terrorist list and bring ALL 3,300 residents to Europe where those who are mentally, physically and emotionally sick would be able to receive help.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Singleton finished by reminding delegates that continuing support for the MKO would, of course, mean that the European Parliament accepted to have a cult operating in its midst and continuing to interfere in parliamentary democracy. However, if that is the decision to be made, then so be it.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Beer thanked Anne Singleton for her contribution and asked the three recently arrived, former Camp Ashraf residents to speak.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Ebrahimi (speaking in Farsi) told delegates that she had gone to Camp Ashraf when she was sixteen years old and although she quickly realised she wanted to leave, she was captive there for another ten years. She described conditions for women in the camp. Not only does the MKO not allow women to marry, women are made to work in the scorching sun for hours at a time so their complexions are ruined and they become ugly. This is so they do not develop the vanity to think they could be attractive to a man, she told delegates.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>In order to remove hope from the women of ever having a family, they are being sent under surgery for spurious medical conditions to have their wombs removed [hysterectomy] and around ten percent of women in Camp Ashraf have now undergone this surgery. When they tried to impose it on her, Ms Ebrahimi ran away. She begged delegates to take doctors to Camp Ashraf to check the veracity of what she was telling them.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>The MKO told her that if she left the camp and went with the American soldiers, they would rape her. For this reason it took two years before she was able to have the courage to escape.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Ebrahimi said she saw Mr Paulo Casaca when he visited Camp Ashraf. We were not allowed to approach him and speak to him, she explained to delegates. If they had somewhere to go, she told delegates, without doubt ninety-nine percent of the people in Camp Ashraf would leave the camp and the MKO.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Mr Hamid Siah Mansoori (speaking English) told delegates he had been in the MKO for over twenty five years. He described how he had gone to Iraq from Canada. He had a good education, and a good life in Canada and had his own business before leaving everything behind in the mid 1980s to go to Iraq. He then described the MKO’s attitude to family. He said no one is allowed to contact their family, except in a few cases where people were told to contact their family to get money from them. He said the MKO told his family he was dead. They came to look for him five years ago – at the beginning of the American occupation – but were told he was dead.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Mr Hamid Siah Mansoori said he had arrived only a week ago, but had lost any contact details for his family. Nevertheless, his first priority now was to make contact with his parents and the rest of his family.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Beer asked delegates if they had questions. One delegate asked how the MKO continued to be financed which allowed them to continue to undertake such expensive campaigns in parliament and elsewhere. Another delegate asked for more detail about the role of the Americans in supporting Camp Ashraf when the US State Department so strongly describes them as a terrorist group.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Anne Singleton answered these questions, pointing out that during the reign of Saddam Hussein the MKO had received almost unlimited finance from Saddam Hussein, as well as from Saudi Arabia and some western governments from behind the scene. Now, however, although it is clear that MKO finances are dwindling somewhat, it was unclear how the MKO could continue to spend so much money, and the only people to answer that are the MKO themselves.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Singleton pointed out a five year rift in policy toward the MKO between the US State Department – which has a very thorough knowledge of the MKO – and the US Defense Department under Donald Rumsfeld. Some in the US Administration wanted to use the MKO in confronting Iran and therefore Camp Ashraf has been protected by the US military in Iraq for five years. Ms Singleton conceded that this protection was beneficial in keeping the MKO out of danger in the midst of a war zone. But that the Americans had also flouted the UN Fourth Geneva protocol by not allowing MKO to meet their families and not enabling them to leave the situation.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Ms Beer then introduced Mr Mohammad Sobhani who had previously addressed the Delegation. Following that meeting he had been the subject of unfounded accusations of having attacked MKO members in Paris. Instead, Mr Sobhani was the victim of a violent attack when some fifty MKO supporters ambushed a meeting at which Mr Sobhani was a speaker.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Following this, Mr Hadi Shams Haeri briefly pleaded with delegates to help him have contact with his children whom he has not been allowed to see for eighteen years. He asked that Mr Paulo Casaca accompany him to Camp Ashraf and help him meet with them again.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>At the end of the meeting Ms Beer expressed her appreciation for the speakers and said it had been a valuable meeting. One which, given the ongoing situation at Camp Ashraf, might soon be repeated.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>After the meeting, several of the attendees stopped to talk to the visitors – in particular the three who had just arrived from Iraq – and asked them to keep them informed of developments.

‘ font-size: 10pt”>Reported from EU Parliament,

MEPs intrigued by newly arrived from Camp Ashraf

Ms Anne Singleton expert on the MKO & Ms Ebrahimi newly escapee from camp Ashraf

September 14, 2008 0 comments

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