Page 788 – Nejat Society

CIA budget to supply and train MKO(Proscribed as a terrorist organisation in US!) in Iraq

The United States is clandestinely funding militant groups within Iran’s borders to destabilize the country, The Daily Telegraph says.

According to the daily, CIA officials are secretly funding militias among the numerous ethnic minorities clustered in Iran’s border regions in order to mount pressure on the country to give up its nuclear program.

Funding for their separatist causes comes directly from the CIA’s classified budget but is now”no great secret”, according to one former high-ranking CIA official in Washington speaking anonymously to The Sunday Telegraph.

“The latest attacks inside Iran fall in line with US efforts to supply and train Iran’s ethnic minorities to destabilize the Iranian regime,”said Fred Burton, a former US State Department counter-terrorism agent.

Some of the groups have resorted to terrorist methods. These include the notorious Mujahedin Khalq Organization [MKO] which has a long and bloody history of targeting Iranian civilians and government officials alike.

Another group claimed to be supported by the CIA is the Jundullah organization known for attacking high-profile Iranian targets, especially government and security officials.

Although Washington officially denies involvement in such activity, Tehran has long maintained that it has detected the hand of both US and Britain in guerrilla attacks on internal security forces.

Daily Telegraph, reported by Press TV, February 24, 2008 -http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=44463&sectionid=351020101

February 26, 2008 0 comments

Brian Binley

The Misreckoned solution for democracy

Hardly can you find a nation opposing establishment of real democracy in their country and, of course, welcome whatever efforts done by pro-democratic parties and groups to accomplish the cause. In fact, the degree of the publicity the active groups receive indicates the veracity of their claim. Although a hypocrite group might attain some success as a pro-democratic activist out of its home-country by keeping its alien supporters in dark about its most undemocratic deeds practiced at least for nearly three decades, its claims of having Iranian support as the main opposition are sheer lies.

Brian Binley, a Member of Parliament from the U.K. Conservative Party, condemns the Iranian regime to have conducted human-rights abuses and, as a lover of humanity, has searched for a solution to the Iran problem and an approach in which the Iranian people can bring about democracy by themselves. That is not a bad idea. But something seems to have gone wrong in his research or he may have not access to reliable documents and sources because in talking of an outcome of his research in Beware of Iran’s trap, he states:

It was during this search that I came across the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The situation of these opposition groups was difficult to understand due to the great deal of positive as well as negative information bandied about. However, treading carefully I reached the conclusion that these two groups not only offer a solution in bringing democracy to the people of Iran, but they are also the solution to averting a further war in the region.

It is hard to believe that Brian Binley as a Member of Parliament has come across MKO only through his research and has been unaware of its past history. However, he has to be notified that the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the National Council of Resistance of Iran are not two groups but one and run by the same leader; I refer him to the State Department’s list of FTO.

Mr. Binley has come to the conclusion that misinformation has been the cause to develop an untruthful recognition of MKO as a pro-democratic and legitimately popular group mainly aiming to establish democracy in Iran. Besides, here is his suggested solution for Iranian people as he has found in his research: “Search for a solution and you will find that the PMOI and the NCRI can offer the real solution to this crisis. The Iranian people supported by these opposition groups can bring about democratic change in Iran. This is a solution that we must all support.

But I have a much better suggestion for Mr. Binley to help him reach a reliable and authentic amount of information to complete his research concerning MKO; he is better to take a flight from London to Tehran and walk in the streets of the Iranian capital or any other city he likes, and have some chat with ordinary people or anybody he likes. For sure, he will burn his previously done research papers to ashes and will totally make a revision in his idea to propose MKO as founders of democracy. Mojahedin.ws-February 21, 2008

February 26, 2008 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Iran Interlink Special Report from Baghdad – Camp Ashraf and the Mojahedin-e Khalq

Report on the situation of remaining members of MKO in Camp Ashraf after Consultation with Iraqi Government officials

In January through February, Iran-Interlink representative Massoud Khodabandeh was invited by the Iraqi Government for a series of consultation meetings on Camp Ashraf. His report has now been published.

Camp Ashraf is home to Forward Operating Base (FOB) Grizzly, but also contains 3,400 foreign terrorist fighters from the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO or MEK) who were corralled and disarmed by US Special Forces in 2003. The fighters have been under US military police protection for five years and now the Iraqi Government wants them removed from the country.

MKO leader Massoud Rajavi has told his group to stay in Iraq at all costs until they can be re-armed, but human rights organisations agree that Iraq is extremely dangerous place for the Iranian group and that any who do not wish to be voluntarily repatriated must be taken to third countries as refugees.

While in Baghdad, Massoud Khodabandeh met with officials from Iraq’s Ministries of Human Rights, Defense, National Security as well as non-governmental agencies to formulate a two part solution. He reported Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs position that ‘both the MKO and PKK are foreign terrorist organisations. They are especially harmful to the relations between Iraq and its neighbouring countries at this point of time. Iraq cannot accept nor afford further problems by accommodating international terrorist organizations whether as a group or as individuals.’

An interim plan was immediately agreed by Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights to permit the establishment of Sahar Family Foundation. Organised by former members of the MKO and families of people still trapped in the camp, Sahar now provides short-term rescue facilities for ex-MKO who are no longer being protected by US forces in Iraq before they are taken to third countries.

SFF can be contacted directly in Iraq on Tel: +964 – 7808481650 (Arabic and Farsi), and outside Iraq at Sahar, BM 2632, London WC1N 3XX, U.K., Tel: +44 – 2076935044 (English only).

In his conclusion to the report Mr Khodabandeh outlined a longer term plan which will enable western governments to protect the human rights of the MKO members by taking the whole group out of Iraq to safety.

In an interview with Alaraghieh television, Massoud Khodabandeh said he fully endorsed”the right of the Iraqi people to enjoy security and have justice served against the perpetrators of violent acts in their countryâ€¦”In January the Criminal Court of Baghdad issued additional arrest warrants for three leading MKO members in Camp Ashraf. It is believed that the handling of members of the foreign terrorist group which American soldiers are protecting will be a test of US-Iraqi relations over the coming months.
The report can be obtained online at www.iran-interlink.org or hard copy from editor@iran-interlink.org.

END
Contact:
Anne Singleton
Iran-Interlink
Tel: +44 (0) 113 278 0503
Mob: +44 (0) 787 654 1150
——————————–

Iran Interlink Special Report from Baghdad
Camp Ashraf and the Mojahedin-e Khalq
Massoud Khodabandeh,Iran Interlink, February 2008

link to pdf file (printable)
——–
Contents:

– Introduction “ What is the problem with Camp Ashraf?
– Why the MKO must leave Iraq
– What is Camp Ashraf
– What is happening at TIPF
– TIPF to close in six months
– Humanitarian intervention
– Consultation meetings
– Results of consultation in Iraq
– Families of MKO members
– Sahar Family Foundation statement
– Conclusion

Introduction “ What is the problem with Camp Ashraf?

The Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO) came into existence in 1965 to conduct armed opposition against the Shah of Iran. Among those killed during its first armed campaign the group were 6 American contractors in Iran. Most of its members were imprisoned during the 1970s. After the Shah was ousted in 1979, the MKO prisoners were released and after initially supporting the revolution for two years, then began to challenge Ayatollah Khomeini for more power. This led to exile first in France and subsequently in Iraq. Saddam Hussein gave financial, military and logistical support to the group and used it during his war with Iran and then to suppress Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in March 1991, thereby guaranteeing his grip on power.

First welcomed in the early 1980s by western governments for its opposition to the revolutionary government of Iran, the MKO’s violent and mercenary behaviour, which led to thousands of civilian deaths in Iran during its terrorist campaigns, led to its proscription as a terrorist entity. Following a report commissioned by the US State Department in 1994 the group was added to the US terror list in 1997. The UK proscribed the group in 2000, the EU in 2002, and Canada in 2005. In May 2005 Human Rights Watch published a report titled “No Exit” detailing human rights abuses carried out by the organization against its own members. The incarceration of dissenters in Abu Ghraib prison was made possible by the full integration of the MKO in Saddam Hussein’s security apparatus; well before 1991 the MKO had become Saddam’s private army.

In anticipation of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Massoud Rajavi told MKO combatants they would launch an all-out attack on Iran. An operation announced as “the black phase”. Instead, he escaped into hiding and in April 2003 agreed a ceasefire with US Special Forces. By June, Rajavi submitted to the US demand that his fighters completely disarm. All MKO members in Iraq were corralled into Camp Ashraf and have remained there since that time as prisoners under the protection of US military police aided by a Bulgarian unit.

The MKO remain at risk of revenge attacks by Iraqis. In spite of this threat, Massoud Rajavi has insisted that the active MKO members remain in uniform in Camp Ashraf and has resisted all humanitarian efforts to help them move or even to have members with residence rights in western countries brought to safety. Rajavi’s perverse insistence that the MKO be treated only as a whole entity and not as individuals and the fact that, ostensibly, the group presented no trouble, discouraged the American army from disturbing the status quo. American soldiers continue to protect a group which its own State Department has proscribed as a foreign terrorist entity, but which some in the west regard as a possible bargaining chip against Iran.

Currently, according to US figures, there are around 3,360 active MKO members remaining at Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyali province. There are now 109 people in the Temporary International Protection Facility (TIPF) adjacent to Camp Ashraf who have left the MKO and are seeking refugee status and removal to third countries. Over 100 were turned out of TIPF in December 2007 and have met with an uncertain situation described later in this report. The US-led MNF also says 380 former MKO have accepted voluntary repatriation and have been helped by the ICRC and Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights to return to their families in Iran.

Now however, after five years, the Iraqi Government is insistent that the MKO be removed in totality from Iraqi territory. In spite of claims by the MKO in western circles that it has renounced violence, Iraq’s Ministry of Defence says there is no doubt the group is involved in ongoing violence in the country. A solution to deal with the group has become more urgent.

The legal status of the MKO combatants in Camp Ashraf is somewhat unclear. In 2004 the American army granted the MKO ‘protected persons’ status under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

According to a report by Robert Karniol, Defence Writer of the Straits Times, on February 4, the UN Fourth Convention Article 133 states that”‘internment shall cease as soon as possible after the close of hostilities’.”

“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) maintains that the Iraq war ended with the transfer of sovereignty to the country’s interim government in June 2004, with the fighting since then characterised as ‘an internal conflict internationalised by the presence of multilateral forces’.”

“‘Neither the active MEK members nor the former MEK refugees are being detained,’ said Major Danielson [MNF spokesman]. ‘The Ashraf refugee camp refugees have every right to depart and travel in Iraq using an Iraqi-issued laissez-passer. They can also repatriate to Iran if they desire, or they may stay in the camp.”

However, it is not only Massoud Rajavi’s insistence that his combatants wait in Camp Ashraf to be re-armed which blocks moves to deal with them. Since every major western country has proscribed the MKO as a terrorist group, it is virtually impossible to find a safe haven for the group outside Iraq.

The Straits Times report continues,”‘They are definitely in a legal limbo. No one wants them,’ said Mr. Said Boumedouha, a researcher at Amnesty International in London.”

“The US State Department’s 2007 report said the MKO maintains”the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada and beyond.”

“The report notes the MKO’s”cult-like characteristics,”such that”new members are indoctrinated in MEK ideology and revisionist Iranian history [and] required to … participate in weekly ‘ideological cleansings.'”Children are separated from their parents, it adds, and Mrs. Rajavi”has established a ‘cult of personality.’.”

“According to Said Boumedouha of Amnesty International, ‘Our position is that they shouldn’t be returned to Iran due to the fear of torture and the death penalty. And they shouldn’t be handed over to Iraq for the same reason. Their immediate future looks bleak.'”

However, events in Iraq are unfolding which make it imperative for western countries to address this issue

TO READ MORE CLICK HERE

February 26, 2008 0 comments

GOVERNMENT- IRANIAN GROUP SHOULD STAY BANNED

Is UK inviting Massoud Rajavi to London today?

An appeal panel’s decision to remove the main Iranian opposition movement from the UK’s list of banned terrorist organisations was challenged by the Government in the Court of Appeal today.

Lawyers for Home Secretary Jacqui Smith argued that the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI) had not given "a clear and unequivocal denunciation of terrorism".

Last November, a cross-party group of 35 MPs and peers won a ruling from the Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) that the PMOI should be delisted and that the Government’s decision to keep it on the proscribed list was "perverse".

But Home Office counsel Jonathan Swift told the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips, today that the Government feared the PMOI’s professed cessation of terrorist activities was temporary and "for pragmatic reasons".

Lord Phillips, sitting with Lord Justice Laws and Lady Justice Arden, heard that the pro-democracy PMOI was formed 40 years ago with the aim of replacing the then-government of the Shah of Iran. During the 1970s, it carried out a number of violent attacks against the Shah’s government and its western allies.

After the current regime came to power in 1979, the PMOI was engaged in a 20-year campaign of violence, internal and external, against the government.

Since the mid-1980s, it had also maintained an armed force in Iraq until it gave up its arms to US invaders in 2003.

The PMOI insisted it had been involved in no military activities since 2001 and that it had publicly denounced terrorism. The American authorities had granted special protected status to 3,000 of its members still held in Camp Ashraf, Iraq.

But Mr Swift told the judges that, in the light of the organisation’s history, the Home Secretary could not accept its assertion that it had undergone a significant and radical change of direction.

The POAC’s ruling followed a European court decision in December 2006 that the PMOI should come off the EU terror blacklist. Despite that ruling, it remains on the EU list.

The hearing, set for three days, was adjourned until tomorrow. The judges are expected to reserve judgment on Wednesday.

By Mike Taylor, PA-Press Association National Newswire

February 24, 2008 0 comments

Habilian Foundation

Iraqi sunnies visit secretary general of Habilian association

In a meeting with the secretary general of Habilian association and exchanging opinions about the latest issues and problems existing in their country, a group of Iraqi snnnis discussed different ways of deportation of the occupiers and the terrorist groups from Iraq.

Hasheminejad

In this meeting the secretary general of the Habilian association, Muhammad Javad Hashemi Nejad stated in a speech:The two countries of Iran and Iraq are located in a crucial region which is the cradle of Islamic civilizations and due to the evidence of the history the enemies have always had their greedy eyes on the region. But it requires the world Big Powers to apply some basic elements in order to rule over the region and I shall notify that the key element of disunion is on top of their affairs.

They have always tried to keep the two brotherly neighboring nations of Iraq and Iran separated through making discrepancies and disunion; but the question is that how much they have succeeded in attaining their goal and that to what extent they have made progress towards their targets.

Did they manage to divide the two nations and affect their culture and attitude? The Sunnies

We have passed several years filled with bloodshed and destruction resulted by the outsiders greed for this region, but as all their attempts to set up tension and war between the two nations faile , they came to the region in person.

We, as the nation of Iran ,have always wished for more intimate relations with the civilized nation of Iraq and to preserve our unity and stabilize it even more. we are sure that you think the same way as we do. We have all witnessed that whenever there were no obstacles, the two nations showed great tendencies towards each other and resumed their relations in their earliest convenience. This is the fact which Americans have always confessed to. They have admitted that there were no other two nations closer to each other than Iran and Iraq . The Sunnies

Our enemies are afraid of our unity because they know it well that in unity there is strength and that every step we take towards each other, results in their losing their position in the region; So regarding the above said, they have opened a especial account on disunion and have put all their efforts into making us stand against our brothers.

Any way we have always expressed our readiness to find new solutions to the problems and difficulties existing in your country. We believe that security and peace in our country depends on security and peace in the region, especially our neighboring countries including Iraq.

Iraqi Sunnies visit secretary General of Habilian Association

After the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran and as a nation which is in favor of peace, we expanded our attempts to establish peace and tranquility in several countries .An instance of this claim is our key role as an intermediate in making peace in Tajikistan.

Now America, which invaded Iraq just for its own benefits and interests ,would apply any means it finds in order to extract more out of Iraq and one of these available means is MKO terrorist group which was ,not a long time ago, against America and even targeted Americans several times ; but is now under the control of America and serves the US. as a loyal mercenary .

MKO terrorists have assassinated 16,000 innocent people in Iran. We should be aware that as the crisis in Iraq grows more crucial, they would find more grounds to fulfill their wicked ambitions. So we must do our best to establish peace and tranquility as well as stability in the region so as to make the region unsafe for the intruders and terrorists and to make them come to this conclusion that they have no base in Iraq and have no other alternatives but leaving your country. At the end I wish for the day we would have a stabilized Iraq in peace.

Muzaffar Hussain Albokahi (member of Iraq’s national commission ):

I would strongly approve your statements .Iraq is a holy land considering the holy shrines of number of Imams which are located in our country . Right now a human disaster is about to take place in Iraq and I’m afraid of the day it may affect all Iraqis and its main cause is occupation and the support the occupiers give to terrorists like mojahedin . Rajavi’s cult is up to set up discrepancies via committing terrorist operations as they did Shiaat and Kurdish regions.

Both Iranians and Iraqis demand MKO to be deported from Iraq .Iraqi people ,like all other nations , are in favor of peace and seek for it .They wish for stability to be established in their country ; but would always demand the criminals who have killed their children to be punished. We also criticize America for supporting these notorious terrorists and also express our eagerness to continue our relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

At the end of the meeting the two sides signed the letter for condemnment of mojahedin and demand for bringing them to trial.

February 24, 2008 0 comments

Soheyl Khattar

Join Sahar Family Foundation in Iraq

Sahar Family Foundation in Iraq has started its new Website.

Sahar Famly Foundation website, February 23, 2008- http://www.saharngo.com/en-index.html

Join Sahar Family Foundation in Iraq

Contact Number:

Tel: 00964 7806867591 (Baghdad)

Tel: 0044 2076935044 (London)

Contact Address:

Sahar Family Foundation

BM 2632

London

WC1N 3XX

U.K.

e-mail Address: saharfamily @ yahoo.com

Mr Teymur Khattar and Mrs Khattar Appeal to the Iraqi legal authorities to deal with the case of the suspicious death of their son Soheyl Kattar in the base of the MKO in Iraq called Camp Ashraf.

Soheyl Khattar (the young man in the middle)

Soheyl Kattar left Iran legally with his Iranian passport along with his cousin Mehran Rastegar to go to Turkey to eventually go to Europe for employment. But they ended up in Camp Ashraf the base of the MKO in Iraq, a place which is quite hard to escape from.

The birth certificate of Soheyl Khattar

Soheyl Kattar was born on September 1981. He was 20 when he left Iran and only 22 when he was suspiciously killed in the Camp Ashraf.

Teymur Khatar

Mr Teymur Khattar (father of Soheyl)

Mr Teymur Khattar shows the Mojahed publication (the MKO weekly) illustrating the picture of his son (the one on the left in the bottom row which he has pointed with his thumb)

According to this publication Soheyl Khattar was killed during the bombings by the alliance forces in the second gulf war in Iraq.

Later the father was told that he was hit under his chin caused by an undesired shot. One of the commanders claimed he committed suicide. One man in Camp Ashraf said to the father covertly that Soheyl was killed since he was not satisfied with the MKO and he wanted to leave.

Mojahed weekly illustrates Soheyl Khattar as a martyr

The Mojahed publication, the weekly journal of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) praises Soheyl Khattar as a martyr in the issue no 623 published in spring 2003.

Sahar Family Foundation (SFF)

To aid the families of the MKO members

Patience, dawn is near.

The Sahar (Dawn) Family Foundation is a non-governmental, non-political and non-profitable organisation which has been established to provide humanitarian aid to the families of members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) who are based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq. This foundation is solely focused on charitable and human rights issues regardless of political or group considerations and geographical boundaries and only aims to help the suffering families.

The Sahar Family Foundation covers a great number of families as well as former members of the MKO who seek help. This foundation enjoys good support amongst the local and international bodies in Iraq which is the base of the foundation.

The MKO has been based in Iraq, precisely in Camp Ashraf, for more than two decades. This organisation is run as a classic cult and therefore would not give its members the chance of free association with the outside world or with their families. Therefore the families of these members are suffering severely and seek assistance from humanitarian organisations.

When the former regime of Iraq was toppled, a small light of hope lit the hearts of the families and they thought that, in the new situation in Iraq, they would be able to visit their beloved ones freely and adequately without the presence of a third party. Some of these families have not heard from their relatives for more than 20 years and some even don’t know if their beloved ones are still safe and sound. According to these families those who are residing in Camp Ashraf â€“ as is the case with many cults throughout the world â€“ are considered to be captives both mentally and physically and therefore are assumed as hostages. The Sahar Family Foundation is striving to reunite the members of these families again using every possible means.

Camp Ashraf is the base of the MKO members which is guarded by US forces in Iraq. On the other hand the present Iraqi government insists that Camp Ashraf must be dismantled. Iraqi constitutional law does not permit any foreign terrorist organisations to remain in that country. The US State Department as well as that of Canada, along with the European Union and the British parliament and many other governmental and international bodies have officially designated the MKO as a destructive and terrorist cult. Obviously the members of a cult and their families are considered to be the prime victims whom must be helped. In May 2005 Human Rights Watch published a report called ‘No Exit’ which details human rights abuses meted out by the MKO against its own members.

At the present time Baghdad is the central meeting point for the misfortunate families and the former members, as well as concerned entities which are all waiting for the crack of dawn. They seek help from all the humanitarian bodies throughout the world. Anyone can help a little. On the other hand, of course, Camp Ashraf, according to many international security professionals, is a centre for training terrorists. The families are concerned about the fate of their children who are subjected to brainwashing and terrorist training.

Please contact us. We would be more than pleased to have your comments and ideas. Help us in any way you can. The members of Sahar Family Foundation are all volunteers who have moved to Iraq to work in the difficult situation of that country merely to gain family reunions.

February 24, 2008 0 comments

British Government fights to keep ban on main Iranian opposition group (MKO)

The government is to appeal today against a court ruling, won by 35 MPs and peers, that it should remove the People’s Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI), the main Iranian opposition organisation, from the list of banned terrorist organisations.

The Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) ruled last November that the government’s decision to keep the PMOI on the list was "perverse", flawed and must be set aside.

The cross-party parliamentarians backing the delisting of the PMOI – an organisation dedicated to overthrowing Iran’s fundamentalist regime by democratic means – include a former law lord, Lord Slynn, two former solicitors general and a former home secretary, Lord Waddington.

The POAC, a body set up by the government to hear appeals from organisations on the UK blacklist, ruled that the home secretary, Jacqui Smith, acted illegally in refusing to take the PMOI off the list drawn up under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The commission, chaired by former high court judge Sir Harry Ognall and cleared to see secret material, said: "We recognise that a finding of perversity is uncommon." It added: "We believe, however, that this commission is in the (perhaps unusual) position of having before it all of the material that is relevant to this decision."

Three senior judges headed by the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, will hear the home secretary’s appeal. The POAC ruled that in deciding to maintain the ban the Home Office had misunderstood the law and ignored facts. The commission concluded that action by the PMOI against Iranian targets had ended in 2001, that the organisation maintained no military structure, that it had disarmed in 2003, and that it had not attempted to re-arm.

However, the government argues that it has only temporarily ceased terrorism for "pragmatic reasons". A Home Office spokesman said: "The PMOI was engaged in terrorism until 2001, and until 2003 kept an extensive arsenal at its base in Ashraf, Iraq. It is now seeking to establish itself as a non-violent democratic movement.

"However, our assessment is that the PMOI may not have genuinely renounced terrorism and that there may have been only a temporary cessation of terrorist acts for pragmatic reasons. We believe there is a risk of the PMOI returning to terrorism in the future that warrants its continuing proscription in this country."

The organisation, which campaigns for the replacement of the Iranian regime by a secular democracy, drew the world’s attention to Iran’s nuclear programme in 2002. Jack Straw stated in 2006 that he had put the PMOI on the terror list at the behest of the Iranian government.

The POAC’s ruling followed a decision in December 2006 by the European Court of First Instance that the PMOI should come off the EU terror blacklist. Despite that ruling, it remains on the EU list.

Masoud Zabeti, a solicitor at Mishcon de Reya and chairman of the Committee of Anglo-Iranian Lawyers, said: "The PMOI now has two legal authorities finding in its favour, but the group still remains on both the UK and EU lists.

"If terrorism legislation is to be respected and not brought into question, it is critical that the government honours the procedures that parliament has put into place to deal with such matters."

Clare Dyer, legal editor The Guardian, Monday February 18 2008

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/18/iran.uksecurity

February 24, 2008 0 comments

The UK Government fights to keep ban on MKO

Reported by The Guardian the UK government is to appeal against a court ruling, won by 35 MPs and peers, that it should remove Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), from the list of banned terrorist organizations. The Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) ruled last November that the government’s decision to keep MKO on the list was "perverse", flawed and must be set aside.

According to the report, three senior judges headed by the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, will hear the home secretary’s appeal. The government argues that the proscribed group has only temporarily ceased terrorism for "pragmatic reasons". A Home Office spokesman said: "The PMOI was engaged in terrorism until 2001, and until 2003 kept an extensive arsenal at its base in Ashraf, Iraq. It is now seeking to establish itself as a non-violent democratic movement.

Mojahedin.ws -February 18 2008

February 19, 2008 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

Humantarian issue of 120 disaffected members of Muhajedine Khalq in Iraq

Subject: Request for meeting about humanitarian issue of 120 disaffected members of Muhajedine Khalq in Iraq

You might be acknowledged of dozens of the peoples who had been separated from Iraq based Ashraf Camp of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization of Iran, were held at a camp namely Temporary International Presence Facilities (TIPF) in Iraq.

According to the reports received in the last few days by Anjomane Solh, the Peace Association Norway, about 120 people of the disaffected people escaped from the TIPF in a extremely grave condition. Some of them might be remained in a terrible position in different cities of Iraq or some of them might be able to reach near with the borders of Jordan and Turkey to ease them from danger circumstances of Iraq .

We want to raise our deep concern about the situation of these people. You are aware that after the fall of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003, TIPF was established provisionally alongside Ashraf Camp of MKO. The purpose was to locate those who defect the organization at the first instance interviews by the American Forces.

As you are aware, in various reports by the Human Rights Watch, the European Union, the British Government, the US State Department, the Canadian Foreign office, and many other sources as well as the worldwide media, the deeds and practices of the MKO and its leader Mas’ud Rajavi have been categorised as terrorist and violating the bases of human rights. Therefore, we urge you to pay attention to our concerns about the situation of around 120 separated people from MKO those do not want to return back to their home Iran , nor they want to rejoin cult of MKO.

These people should be protected by the International Community on the humanitarian gournd and under the World Declaration for Human Rights; and we urge you to help them by any means you can.

It is also worth mentioning that the MKO is considering the fleeing of its members and their departure from Iraq as a grave threat to its existence.

It is essential to point out the fact that some of reports concerning the disaffected people have already appeared in the media.

We are currently considering a purposal to send a delegation under the supervision of International Human Right Organisation based in Norway to Iraq, so that to be able to help the disaffected people of TIPF camp.

We would like to make you further updated in the connection and would be most pleased to have a meeting with you or your colleagues in coming days. We would be grateful for your cooperation in the context.

Kind Regards

Ghasem Ghezi,

Representative of Anjomane Solh, the Peace Association Norway

www.anjomanesolh.com

Anjomane Solh (Peace Association), Norway,

February 19, 2008 0 comments

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