AFP

Iran Says U.S. Plot Suspect Belongs to MKO Exiles

Iran has affirmed to the U.N. chief that one of the suspects in an assassination plot on U.S. soil belongs to an Iranian exile group that is seeking to overthrow its Islamic regime, media reports said Saturday.

A police probe into one of the suspects, following an Interpol request, suggested the individual "is a member of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization," the Tehran mission in the United Nations said in a letter to U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The letter did not explicitly identify or give the whereabouts of the suspect, but was apparently referring to Gholam Shakuri.

However, it said the new revelation proves that "U.S. claims about the involvement of the Iranian government (in the alleged plot) do not border reality."

The United States alleges Shakuri is an Iranian official in the elite Quds unit, a shadowy special operations outfit in the Islamic republic’s Revolutionary Guards, and that he co-conspired with an Iranian-American car salesman, Manssor Arbabsiar, to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington.

While Arbabsiar is in U.S. custody, American officials say they believe Shakuri is in Iran, and they have called on Tehran to turn him over to face charges.

Tehran has vehemently denied any involvement in the alleged plot, and accused Washington of seeking to divert attention from domestic economic woes and foreign policy failures in the Middle East and attempting to fuel tensions between Iran and its neighbors.

The Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization, also known as the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, is the main armed Iranian exile group that aims to overthrow Iran’s Islamic regime.

The United States and Iran consider the group to be a terrorist organization but it was removed from a list of 50 banned militant groups compiled by the European Union in January 2009.
On October 27, Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi confirmed an Interpol request concerning Gholam Shakuri, hinting the suspect was a member of the Mujahedeen group.

"There are 150 Gholam Shakuris (in Iran). Interpol sent us a question about this name, and our investigation showed a certain Gholam Shakuri who lives in the United States and is a member of the Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization," Salehi was quoted in Iranian media as saying in Saudi Arabia.

November 6, 2011 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq: Ashraf camp victims killed by own guards

Deaths resulting from an Iraqi army raid on an Iranian opposition camp on its soil were caused by the camp’s own guards firing on residents attempting to escape, an Iraqi spokesman said Thursday.

The comments from Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh came shortly after a United Nations spokesman in New York said 34 people were killed in the April 8 raid on Camp Ashraf, the residence of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), in Diyala province north of Baghdad.
"Our Iraqi security forces believe that this (the deaths) has been done by their (the PMOI) guards killing those who were willing to escape from the camp," Dabbagh said in a text message to AFP, adding that the government was investigating the issue.

"Similar methods have been used before by them."

Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq earlier told AFP in New York: "We are aware of 34 bodies at Camp Ashraf and nearby."

A spokesman for the camp gave the same death toll, but Iraqi security and hospital officials have said three died.

The PMOI used Camp Ashraf, which houses some 3,500 people, as a base for launching attacks on Iran during the rule of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but US forces disarmed the group after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Dabbagh also said that Iraq was willing to provide "all logistical support to facilitate the desires of Camp Ashraf residents who want to leave Iraq."

On Monday, Dabbagh said that the PMOI had to leave Iraq by the end of the year.

April 16, 2011 0 comment

USA

US moots ‘negotiated’ plan for Iranian camp (Ashraf) in Iraq

WASHINGTON — The United States said Tuesday it is ready to help Iraq find a negotiated plan for an Iranian opposition camp in which the dissidents there could "conceivably" end up in a third country.

Iraq has ordered the exiled Iranian opposition group People’s Mujahedeen of Iran to leave the country by the end of this year after a deadly weekend assault at its Camp Ashraf base.
"We’re prepared to help the government of Iraq develop and execute a negotiated plan — and the emphasis on ‘negotiated’ — that addresses the future of Camp Ashraf," State Department spokesman Mark Toner said.

When asked whether the plan could include having the camp’s members transferred to a third country where they would not be tortured or abused, Toner replied: "Conceivably, yeah."
Toner also said Washington is urging the authorities in Baghdad to allow UN officials to visit Camp Ashraf to determine what happened during the assault and how many people were killed.]

An Iraqi security official said at least three people were killed Friday when Iraqi forces clashed with the Iranian opposition group, but the dissidents claimed 31 of their members died in a full military assault.

During a visit to American troops in northern Iraq, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern at the reports of casualties. He urged Iraqi authorities to show restraint.

The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when the regime of late Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against Tehran.

It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

April 13, 2011 0 comment

Iraq

Iraqi Army, rejects accusation made by MKO terror group

Iraq army denies Iranian opposition claim

An Iranian opposition group said on Sunday that Iraqi forces had invaded its Camp Ashraf base in Iraq’s Diyala province, but the army denied the claim.

"The forces of Iraq’s Fifth Division invaded Camp Ashraf with columns of armoured vehicles, occupying areas inside the camp, since midnight on Saturday," the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) said in a statement.

The Iraqi army denied the Iranian opposition group’s accusation.
"It’s a replacement of forces, not a new deployment," Brigadier Tarek Azzawi, chief of military operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, told AFP.

"The Fifth Division in Diyala has replaced the Ninth Division that protects Ashraf, and we have not advanced even one metre (yard)," he said. "There were no clashes," he added.

The People’s Mujahedeen, a left-wing and Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against Tehran. It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of 2003.

April 5, 2011 0 comment

Iran

Hundreds stage anti-France demo outside France Embassy

TEHRAN — Hundreds of people shouted slogans on Monday outside the French embassy in protest against the holding of a rally in France by Iran’s main exiled opposition group.

"Shame on (President Nicolas) Sarkozy! Death to France! Shame on you, France, let go of the hypocrites!" chanted the crowd as police set up barricades outside the embassy in central Tehran, an AFP photographer said.

Iranians call exiled opposition group the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) "hypocrites," and Monday’s demonstration was organised to protest against a PMOI rally outside Paris on Saturday.

The state news agency IRNA reported that the demonstrators also shouted slogans and carried banners denouncing the Islamic republic’s arch-foes the United States and Israel.

The French embassy was closed as police prevented protesters from throwing eggs and water bottles at the building, IRNA said.

The protest organisers, an Iranian association representing families of those reportedly killed in attacks by the PMOI, also accused France of sheltering members of the group and demanded that they be handed over.

Saturday’s PMOI rally in France was attended by tens of thousands of opponents of Iran’s clerical regime, as well as by prominent Western political heavyweights.

The rally by the PMOI, which Washington considers to be a terrorist organisation, was attended by former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton and Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain.

The PMOI advocates the overthrow of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and is a major member of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the political umbrella organisation of exiled Iranian opposition groups.

It also sided with Saddam Hussein’s forces during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s.
The group has claimed several attacks inside Iran since the Islamic revolution of 1979 installed a clerical regime following the ouster of the US-backed shah.

June 30, 2010 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

MKO terrorists tried and appealed in France

Mahmood Aemi (with two false identities of Mahmoud Alami and Mohsen Abbasi) and Hossein Amini Gholipour were brought to trial for cheating their friends to set themselves on fire.

Two notorious MKO elements appeared before the Court of Appeal of Paris on Friday for "incitement to suicide" after the death of one of their compatriots who had immolated by fire in June 2003 in Paris during a demonstration against the arrest of Maryam Rajavi (one of MKO cult leaders).

On November 21, 2007, the Paris Criminal Court had acquitted Mahmood Aemi and Hossein Amini Gholipour, both members of the MKO terrorist group.

The court held that there was "no doubt" the fact that both defendant had "directly and personally delivered the victim the gas can she was sent to death with.

The prosecution, which called for a two-year suspended sentence against the two men, had appealed. Friday at the hearing, the Crown has tightened his submissions, asking the court to impose sentences of three years’ imprisonment.

M. Aemi and H.Gholipour were referred to court in 2006 on suspicion of inciting Sedighe Modjaveri, another MKO member living in Europe, to commit suicide by giving her a gas can at an event June 18, 2003.

It is worth mentioning that Mahmoud Aemi (member of MKO central cadres) is known as the Rajavi’s army commander in the massacre of Iraqi Kurds and has been a commander of MKO death squads against the MKO dissociated members in the Europe.

April 7, 2010 0 comment

MEK Camp Ashraf

MKO;Iran ex-rebels defy police orders to quit Iraq camp

CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq – Disarmed Iranian rebels and their families defied Iraqi police instructions on Tuesday for them to leave a border camp the government has ordered closed, an AFP correspondent reported.

Police toured the camp reminding residents over loudspeakers of the deadline set by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki for their departure for alternative accommodation in southern Iraq but they refused to leave.

Maliki wants the former fighters of the People’s Mujahedeen, which fought with Saddam Hussein’s regime against Iran in the 1980-88 war, to move to the new camp with their families as a first stage towards leaving Iraq.

But People’s Mujahedeen representative Mehdi Farahi told Iraqi officials residents would not leave Camp Ashraf, where they were installed by Saddam’s regime 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad in 1985.

“Any attempt to expel us forcibly will lead to the same clashes and confrontations as those of July 28 and 29,” he said, referring to violence at the camp this year in which the group says 11 people were killed.

“The manner in which the Iraqi government is acting is contrary to international law,” he added.
Iraqi police were out in force and an AFP correspondent saw few residents on the camp’s well-tended streets.

One of the camp’s leaders, Shahriar Kia, said the People’s Mujahedeen had invested more than 200 million dollars in Ashraf and residents were determined to resist the orders to move to Neqrat al-Salman, a desert camp 350 kilometres (220 miles) south of Baghdad where Saddam used to send opponents of his regime.

Bakak Saraz, who has lived in Ashraf virtually since it was first set up, told AFP: “They want to chase us out of here so that they can kill us but we would rather die in Ashraf than go to Salman.”
Washington, which disarmed the Iranian rebels after the invasion of 2003 and placed the camp residents under its protection, said on Friday it expected the Baghdad government to act legally and humanely in relocating camp residents.

“The government of Iraq has assured us that they would not deport any of these citizens to any country where they would be having a well-grounded fear of being treated inhumanely,” said State Department spokesman Ian Kelly, in allusion to Iran.

But Iraqi army Colonel Bassel Hamad insisted the security forces had behaved correctly throughout.

“We respected all the human rights; there was no transgression,” he told reporters.

“The decision came according to a central decision from the Iraqi government. They live on Iraqi ground and there are local laws, and I don’t think there is a pressure made by Iran on the Iraqi government to make this decision.” he said.

A statement from the Iraqi prime minister announcing the camp’s closure was released last Thursday.

“We have taken the decision to get them (the People’s Mujahedeen) out of Iraq … and the process of their moving to Neqrat al-Salman is a step on the way of taking them out of the country,” Maliki said.

“Their presence in Ashraf represents a danger because of their historical relations with certain political groups, notably with the remains of the former (Iraqi) regime and members of Al-Qaeda.”
The People’s Mujahedeen was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and subsequently fought the clerical regime that ousted him in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group, which has been blamed for bombings and other attacks inside Iran in the past, is anathema to the Tehran regime which derides its members as “hypocrites.”

Philip Frayne, spokesman for the US embassy in Baghdad, said on Tuesday the United States had “no obligation, and no right … to provide protection to the residents of Ashraf.

“We still expect the Iraqi government to treat them humanely, in accordance with its laws and international obligations, and not to forcibly deport them to any country where they have a fear of torture or persecution,” he said.

December 16, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq to transfer Iranian dissident group to Baghdad

Iraq to transfer Iranian dissident group to Baghdad Iraq will move exiled Iranian dissidents based at a camp close to the border between the two countries to Baghdad, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

"We will move residents of Camp Ashraf to buildings in Baghdad on Tuesday," he said, without giving details.

The members of the People’s Mujahedeen have lived at Camp Ashraf, a refugee base in Diyala province north of the Iraqi capital, for more than 20 years.

Iraqi security forces launched an operation to take over the camp in July.

The group was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and subsequently fought the clerical regime that ousted him in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

About 3,500 Mujahedeen and their families have lived in Ashraf since former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the Iranian opposition to set up bases on his territory during his 1980-88 war with Tehran.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, American forces disarmed the Mujahedeen in Ashraf and placed the residents under protection.

Iraq’s increasingly independent government has moved to take charge of the site.

December 12, 2009 0 comment

Members of the MEK

35 Iranian dissidents sent to Baghdad for questioning

Thirty-five Iranian dissidents arrested by Iraqi security forces during a takeover of their base were transferred to Baghdad for questioning on Sunday, a senior Iraqi official told AFP.

"Today, 35 of the people arrested at Camp Ashraf were moved to Baghdad for questioning," said the official in Diyala province’s security operations centre.

A spokesman for the People’s Mujahedeen group, whose Camp Ashraf base was stormed by Iraqi security forces on Tuesday, said 36 residents had been arrested, of whom 32 had been sent to provincial capital Baquba, with the whereabouts of four still unknown.

Mujahedeen spokesman Shahriar Kia in a statement repeated allegations that Baghdad’s actions were being carried out at Tehran’s behest.

Eleven residents of Camp Ashraf have died since Iraqi forces stormed the site on Tuesday, an Iraqi security official has said, although the Mujahedeen say 12 have been killed. Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, is home to 3,500 People’s Mujahedeen members and their families.

The People’s Mujahedeen, a Marxist and Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime which took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against the Tehran government. Amnesty International, meanwhile, has "called on the Iraqi government to investigate the excessive use of force by its security forces."

August 4, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraqi Police Storm Ashraf – Iraq police clash anew with Iran rebel camp residents

KHALES, Iraq (AFP) – Clashes flared for a second day on Wednesday between Iraqi security forces and residents of a camp housing Iran’s main exiled opposition, a day after violence left two policemen dead.

AFP – Iraqi police vehicles block one of the entrances leading to Camp Ashraf, home to the People’s Mujahedeen, …

Around 420 people were also wounded after Iraqi soldiers stormed the camp on Tuesday, sparking unrest that prompted the deployment of riot police to quell resistance from Camp Ashraf’s residents.

"Fighting resumed when Iraqi police established a police station and hoisted the Iraqi flag," police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Karawi said, adding that Iraqi security forces were controlling about 75 percent of the camp.

Another police officer said clashes continued into the evening.

The opposition People’s Mujahedeen said seven residents of the camp, in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, were killed but there was no independent confirmation of those deaths.

Doctor Abdullah al-Timimi from the main hospital in the nearby town of Khales said the two policemen died on Wednesday from injuries sustained the previous day.

One suffered internal bleeding following a blow to the head. The other was stabbed in the neck, he said.

The Iraqi defence ministry was unapologetic about the raid against the camp, saying it was justified under a November security agreement with Washington.

"It’s our territory and it’s our right to enter, to impose Iraqi law on everybody," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Askari told Al-Arabiya television.

"They (camp residents) have to submit to the law, and to Iraqi sovereignty. The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) authorises us to do what we did."

Under the pact, Iraqi security forces took over responsibility for the camp three months ago from US forces, which had disarmed the 3,500 or so residents following the 2003 invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted in a statement that Baghdad "will not force anyone to leave Iraq against his will" after a Mujahedeen spokesman expressed concern that camp residents who were arrested would be handed over to Tehran.

A government committee, established on Wednesday to oversee the camp, said in a statement that authorities were aiming to close it and transfer its residents to another location in Iraq or help them leave the country if they wished, but noted that those were long-term goals.

A police official said 300 camp residents, 25 of them women, had been wounded along with around 120 security force personnel. More than 50 camp residents were detained.

The Mujahedeen said seven camp residents were killed and 385 wounded.

Karawi said negotiations between Diyala provincial police chief General Abdul Hussein al-Shamari and the Mujahedeen, which began on Tuesday evening, had stalled.

A US administration official said that Washington — which still blacklists the Mujahedeen as a terrorist organisation — had received assurances that camp residents would be treated in a "humane" manner.

The storming of the camp coincided with a visit to Iraq by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates but the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, said the US military had no advance warning.

Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani welcomed the seizure of the camp, describing the action as "praiseworthy" albeit "rather late".

Maryam Rajavi, the head of the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran which includes the Mujahedeen, condemned the raid and accused Baghdad of doing Tehran’s bidding.

The People’s Mujahedeen was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah and has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime which took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when Saddam was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against the Iranian government.

July 30, 2009 0 comment

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