Associated Press Website

Iraq dismisses MKO’s new allegations as baseless

Iranian exiles claim Iraq plans to deport 7 members to Iran, a charge Baghdad denies

An Iranian dissident group whose camp in Iraq was the scene of a disputed outbreak of violence last week claimed Tuesday that Iraqi authorities plan to hand over seven allegedly detained members to Iran. Baghdad denies having any such plans.

The latest dispute comes as Iraqi officials prepare to relocate the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital. The compound has long been a source of irritation to the Iraqi authorities, who want it closed and its current and former residents moved out of the country altogether.

A total of 52 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq were killed in a shooting at the Saddam Hussein-era compound on Sept. 1. The group, which opposes Iran’s clerical regime and was labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. until last year, blamed Iraqi security forces for the killings. Iraqi officials have said an internal dispute erupted inside the camp.

A team from the United Nations mission to Iraq visited the camp after the killings and confirmed the number of fatalities, but it has not released further findings into what happened or ascribed blame for the deaths.

About 100 MEK members had been living at the camp before the killings. The U.N. refugee agency says 42 remain.

A spokesman for the MEK’s parent organization, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, alleged that the seven people he said were “taken hostage” at the time of the killings are being held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport and will be transferred to Iran in the coming days. MEK members fear they will be persecuted if returned to the Islamic Republic.

“The government of Iraq has made no announcement about arresting these individuals and wants to return them to Iran surreptitiously at the first convenient opportunity without making any noise and raising attention,” Shahin Gobadi charged.

He said he knew this via sources within Iran’s “clerical regime,” but he did not identify them, expressing concerns about security. He said he did not know why those seven were abducted while dozens were killed and others survived.

Ali al-Moussawi, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said he had no information about any missing residents. He denied there are any plans by Iraq to forcibly send former Camp Ashraf residents to Iran, and he pressed for help in resettling them safely abroad.

“These new allegations are baseless. The Iraqi government calls on all countries to accept them,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Shimmari, the police chief of Diyala province, where the camp is located, said no Ashraf residents have been transferred out since the shooting.

The U.N. on Saturday said Iraqi authorities plan to relocate the surviving Camp Ashraf residents to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 former camp residents are staying. That facility, known as Camp Liberty, is meant to be a temporary way station while the U.N. works to resettle the exiles abroad.

The move would likely mark the end of the MEK’s presence at Camp Ashraf, which the group has been extremely reluctant to leave.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Saddam granted several thousands of its members sanctuary inside Iraq, and they turned Camp Ashraf into a self-contained, isolated community.

The MEK’s continued presence inside Iraq long has irritated Iraq’s postwar leadership, which has worked to bolster ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran. The government is highly suspicious of those linked to the former regime.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001. Camp Ashraf residents were disarmed by U.S. troops after the invasion.

Efforts to relocate the exiles abroad have moved slowly. The U.N. has struggled to find countries to accept them, and officials have cited a lack of cooperation by some of the exiles. They do not want to return to Iran because they fear persecution there.

A total of 198 former residents of the two camps have been resettled abroad so far, most to Albania.

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Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

By ADAM SCHRECK

September 11, 2013 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq Promises Probe Into Iranian Exile Killings

Iraq’s prime minister ordered an investigation Monday into the slaying of half of the roughly 100 remaining residents at an Iranian dissident camp north of Baghdad, where a U.N. team got its first look at the aftermath of the large-scale bloodshed.

The promised probe will do little to appease backers of the more than 3,000 exiles left inside Iraq who believe they remain targets in a country whose government wants them gone.

Supporters of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq members living at Camp Ashraf insist that the Saddam Hussein-era facility came under attack Sunday from Iraqi forces. Iraqi officials have denied involvement, with some suggesting there was an internal dispute at the camp.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s office said a special committee is being set up to investigate what happened at the camp, located about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital.

In a statement, it said the Iraqi government is committed to ensuring the safety of people living within its borders. But the terse remarks also made clear Baghdad’s impatience with resolving the MEK issue, stressing "the necessity of transferring the MEK members who are staying in Iraq illegally."

The MEK opposes Iran’s clerical regime and until last year was labeled a terrorist group by the United States. It carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Saddam granted several thousand of its members sanctuary inside Iraq.

Iraq’s current government is dominated by Shiites hostile to the former regime who have been bolstering ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran. They consider the MEK’s presence in Iraq illegal and have been trying to expel its followers for years.

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman for the MEK’s parent organization, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, blames the Iraqi government for the killings and says it has no place investigating what happened.

"We have absolutely no confidence in this investigation. None whatsoever," Gobadi said. He called for an international fact-finding committee to investigate and said the perpetrators must be punished.

A U.N. team visited the camp on Monday, but that visit was intended to be "on humanitarian grounds, to assess where we can assist," said U.N. spokeswoman Eliana Nabaa.

The U.N. mission to Iraq at least for now does not have a mandate to conduct a formal investigation, she said. It is not clear what, if any, findings it plans to release.

Camp Ashraf is largely cut off from the outside world. The little face-to-face contact its residents have with outsiders is mainly through the Iraqi military, visiting diplomats and aid agencies.

Iraqi police were able to enter the camp Monday and have begun to investigate the incident, said Jamil al-Shimari, the police chief of Diyala province, where the camp is located.

He confirmed that 52 people had been killed inside the camp, the first time an Iraqi official has provided a death toll that matched that provided by representatives for the exiles. Some of the bodies had bullet wounds and others were burnt, he said.

Al-Shimari said the bodies had been moved to a hangar-like hall before Iraqi authorities arrived, and he expressed concern that would complicate any forensic investigation.

"The MEK people are still saying that they came under attack, but we could not find any evidence that the camp was attacked," al-Shimari said.

A large amount of explosives was found in one of the buildings, al-Shimari said.

The U.S. military disarmed residents of Camp Ashraf following the 2003 invasion. Gobadi, the dissidents’ spokesman, dismissed suggestions of an internal struggle at the camp as "preposterous" and said any explosives at the camp were brought in by the attackers themselves.

The U.N., the United States and Britain have condemned the violence but avoided assigning blame. All three have urged Baghdad to ensure the security of the remaining Ashraf residents and investigate what happened.

Amnesty International also pressed Baghdad to carry out a full and impartial investigation, saying that the Iraqis have failed to conduct effective probes into previous deadly attacks on Iranian exile camps.

"This has meant that no one has been held accountable for these incidents, and that residents live in constant fear for their safety," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, the rights group’s deputy director for the Mideast.

Camp Ashraf was home to more than 3,000 MEK followers until last year, when most residents were transferred to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad.

The Baghdad camp, known as Camp Liberty, is meant to be a temporary way station while the U.N. works to resettle the exiles abroad. It has been repeatedly targeted by militants in rocket attacks that have killed 10 people and injured many more, according to the MEK.

The president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, called Monday for U.N. peacekeepers to be deployed to protect residents at the two exile camps.

That is unlikely to happen for now. Any such deployment would require a Security Council resolution.

The MEK last month accused the Iraqi authorities of deliberately cutting off water and electricity to Camp Ashraf, a charged denied last week by Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government. He has previously said that authorities planned to pursue the eviction of Camp Ashraf residents through Iraqi courts.

The resettlement process has been slow because the U.N. has had difficulty securing commitments from member states to accept the exiles and because some of them are reluctant to be separated from their comrades.

A total of 198 former residents of the two camps have been resettled abroad so far. Most of them have gone to Albania, which has offered to take in up to 210.

———

By ADAM SCHRECK

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed reporting

September 3, 2013 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq denies halting services to MEK

Iraqi authorities deny allegations of shutting off power and water to Camp Ashraf

MEK, an Iranian dissident group, has accused the Iraqi authorities of cutting off water and electricity to a contested northern camp used by its members, a charge the Iraqi government denied Sunday.

The dueling accounts over services are the latest twist in a long-running dispute between the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group and the Iraqi government over Camp Ashraf, a Saddam Hussein-era community in northeast Iraq that the exiles never wanted to leave.

The dissident group, known by the acronym MEK, alleges that Iraqi authorities shut off power and water supplies to Camp Ashraf on Aug. 10. It claims that Iraqi forces are hauling off parts of the camp’s water system, and says some of the roughly 100 residents are becoming dehydrated inside the camp from a lack of water.

Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, dismissed the dissident group’s allegations as “propaganda.” He acknowledged there are occasional power cuts at the camp but said they are no different as those in other parts of Iraq.

“I can assure you no order was given” to cut off supplies, he said. Iraqi officials are, however, moving ahead with court proceedings to evict the Camp Ashraf holdouts, possibly as soon as in the next few weeks, Bakoos said.

Most of Iraq lacks a steady supply of electricity. The power supply grows even spottier when demand spikes during the sweltering summer months.

A spokesman for the MEK, Shahriar Kia, said late Sunday that authorities had agreed to provide “limited hours of water and electricity” after more than two weeks of what he described as a total cut of the services.

The MEK is an opposition group to Iran’s clerical regime that fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Several thousand of its members were given sanctuary at Camp Ashraf. The group renounced violence in 2001 and was taken off the U.S. terrorism list last September.

Iraq’s current Shiite-led government, which has strengthened ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran, considers the MEK’s presence in Iraq illegal and wants its followers out of the country. It has been working with the United Nations to resettle MEK members, but the process has been slow.

The spokeswoman for the U.N. mission to Iraq, Eliana Nabaa, said U.N. officials are not on the ground at Camp Ashraf and could not confirm the claims about the power and water cuts.

“We take it seriously and are in constant touch with the government of Iraq, and continue taking it up with them to make sure that delivery of Camp Ashraf residents’ humanitarian needs is secured,” she said.

More than 3,000 MEK members who once lived at Ashraf reluctantly relocated to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad last year. It is meant to be a way station for the exiles while the U.N. works to resettle them outside Iraq.

Two raids by Iraqi security forces on Camp Ashraf before residents were transferred to the Baghdad camp left more than three dozen people dead.

The Baghdad-area camp, known as Camp Liberty, has since been targeted by militants in rocket attacks that have killed 10 people and injured many more, according to the MEK.

A total of 162 MEK members have been resettled abroad so far, mostly in Albania.

By ADAM SCHRECK

August 26, 2013 0 comment

UN Iraq rep urges exile cooperation

The United Nations envoy to Iraq said Wednesday that residents of an Iranian dissident camp are denied freedom of movement by the exile group, and that efforts to relocate them outside Iraq are being stymied in part by lack of coope AP Interview: UN Iraq rep urges exile cooperation ration from the residents themselves.

Martin Kobler made the comments in an interview with The Associated Press in Baghdad as he prepares to leave the country at the end of his term. The U.N. has been involved in relocating members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group to a camp on the outskirts of the Iraqi capital while it works to resettle them abroad.

The MEK is the militant wing of a Paris-based Iranian opposition movement known as the National Council of Resistance of Iran that opposes Iran’s clerical regime and has carried out assassinations and bombings there. They fear persecution if sent back to Iran.

About 3,100 MEK members live in Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport. The Iraqi government wants the group’s members out of the country. So do Iranian-backed Shiite militants, who have claimed responsibility for deadly rocket strikes on the camp.

Kobler acknowledged that a major problem in resettling camp residents is a shortage of countries willing to accept them. He repeated his call for U.N. member states, including the U.S., to do more.

"We do not have enough recipient countries. … There is also reluctance from the side of the Liberty residents to cooperate with the UNHCR," he said, referring to the U.N. refugee agency.

Albania has agreed to take 210 camp residents, but only 71 have made the move so far. Germany has also offered to take 100 residents.

Kobler also cited concerns about what he called "human rights abuses inside Camp Liberty done by the MEK themselves."

Residents are not free to move between different sections of the camp without approval, and some are denied Internet and mobile phone access by MEK officials, he said. Medical treatment outside is also often blocked by the group, he alleged.

"There are, of course, MEK residents who probably would like to disassociate themselves from the MEK," he said. "Everybody who wants to go out of the camp … should have the chance to do so."

The NCRI, the MEK’s affiliated Paris-based group, has repeatedly criticized Kobler. He retains the backing of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and was recently appointed the U.N. envoy and head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Congo.

NCRI spokesman Shahin Gobadi dismissed Kobler’s comments as baseless and intended to "cover up the failure to provide minimum security provisions" at the camp.

"The only purpose they serve is they set the stage for more attacks," he said, insisting that residents cooperate with the U.N. Gobadi also charged that "Kobler has never been an impartial person and does not represent the values of the U.N."

Iraq gave foreign diplomats as well as journalists from AP and Iraq’s state-run TV a rare glimpse of the camp in September. Diplomats on the tour described conditions as acceptable.

The MEK fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary at a facility known as Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border. The MEK renounced violence in 2001 and was removed from the U.S. terrorism list last year.

Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which has close ties to Iran, considers the MEK a terrorist group. Iraqi security forces launched two deadly raids since 2009 on Camp Ashraf, and in 2012 most residents were moved to Camp Liberty, which is meant to be a temporary way station.

Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said Baghdad also has concerns that MEK leaders are preventing residents from leaving.

"There is intimidation being practiced by some MEK leaders against their fellow people," al-Moussawi said. "Some MEK members are willing to leave the country, but they are being threatened by a minority preventing them."

The exiles say their new home is unsafe, and they want to return to Camp Ashraf. Several residents were killed in a Feb. 9 rocket strike on the camp, and two others died in a similar attack this month.

In another development Wednesday, Iraqi electoral officials said the Kurdish-backed al-Taakhi list won the largest single bloc of seats in provincial elections in the restive northern province of Ninevah. It claimed 11 of 39 provincial council seats up for grabs.

Ninevah borders Iraq’s largely autonomous Kurdish region and has a sizable Kurdish minority. Many of the remaining seats went to Arab parties, with Iraqi parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi’s Sunni Arab-backed United bloc coming in second, with eight seats.

Residents in Ninevah and neighboring Anbar province voted last week in local elections that were delayed due to security concerns.

Also Wednesday, Iraqi authorities said two policemen were killed in a bomb blast in the Ninevah provincial capital Mosul. Four others died in an explosion in a small cafe in Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood, They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to release the information to journalists.

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed reporting.

By ADAM SCHRECK

June 27, 2013 0 comment

Albania

UN: 14 Iranian Exiles Moved From Iraq To Albania

The first exiles from an Iranian opposition group have moved to Albania from a camp near Baghdad as part of a relocation process, the United Nations said Thursday, a step toward defusing an explosive dispute left over from the Iran-Iraq war of the UN: 14 Iranian Exiles Moved From Iraq To Albania 1980s and the U.S.-led ousting of the regime of Saddam Hussein.

In a statement, the U.N. envoy in Iraq, Martin Kobler, said 14 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq arrived in Albania late Wednesday, the first of 210 set to travel to new homes in Albania.

The MEK, or the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, opposes Tehran’s clerical regime. It carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran until renouncing violence in 2001. Several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq by dictator Saddam Hussein, who was deposed in 2003.

Since then, the MEK refugees have been a stubborn, anachronistic thorn in the side of Iraq and the United States, even after the U.S. turned over responsibility for Camp Ashraf, housing the remnants of the militant group, to the Iraqi government in 2009.

The MEK fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the 1980s Iraq-Iran war, and its members fear persecution and death if they return to Iran.

The Shiite-led government in Baghdad that replaced Saddam’s regime is bolstering its ties with Iran. It considers the MEK a terrorist group and wants its members out of the country.

The MEK exiles have come under fire from armed Iraqis who demand their expulsion. In one incident, seven people were killed in a rocket attack on the MEK camp in February. Later, the head of a Shiite militant group threatened to carry out more attacks on the camp if the MEK members refused to leave.

Last year about 3,000 MEK exiles were moved from their decades-long enclave in northeastern Iraq to a refugee camp outside Baghdad at a former U.S. military base, part of an effort to ensure their peaceful departure from Iraq. However, while Albania is taking in a small group, it remains unclear where the rest of the MEK members might go, leaving a clear potential for further violence.

The U.S. government praised Albania for accepting to host the MEK members, urging the Iranian opposition group to cooperate fully with the relocation process.

"The relocation of Camp Hurriya residents outside of Iraq is vital to their safety and security. It is the responsibility of the MEK leadership to facilitate for the residents of Camp Hurriya free and unfettered access to U.N. human rights monitors," said a statement by the U.S. State Department.

Albanian Interior Minister Flamur Noka pledged to quickly complete arrangements to resettle the 14. He told The Associated Press that they will get the refugee status immediately and then receive residence permits and proper documentation.

"They will be treated like every other Albanian citizen," he said, though "for the moment they will have the status of the refugee," meaning they will not be free to travel outside Tirana, the capital.

Then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton negotiated the agreement with Albania and the U.N. to take in the 210 MEK exiles late last year.

The U.S. took the MEK off its list of terror groups in September 2012, raising a stiff protest from Iran, charging that the U.S. move was "a violation of America’s legal and international obligations" that could threaten U.S. interests.

"There is much evidence of the group being involved in terrorist activities. Delisting it shows America’s double standard policy on terrorism," Iran state TV said then. The U.S. distinguishes between "good and bad terrorists" and the MEK are now "good terrorists because the U.S. is using them against Iran," the TV report said.

The MEK spent large sums of money in years of lobbying for removal from the U.S. terror list, holding rallies in European capitals and elsewhere.

On Thursday, Kobler described the transfer of the first group as "an encouraging first step in the relocation of the group of 210 residents the Albanian government has agreed to receive."

Ortenc Balla, a U.N. official in Tirana, said the 14 were in an asylum-seekers center. "The Albanian government has undertaken all the responsibilities, including their security," he told the AP.

Phone calls to the Iraqi government and MEK officials went answered.

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Associated Press writers Llazar Semini in Tirana, Albania and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed.

May 18, 2013 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Albania offer for asylum to MKO rejected

Rajavi: Camp Ashraf Safer than Albania!!!!!

An Iranian opposition group on Saturday turned down Albania’s offer of asylum to 210 of its members who are Rajavi: Camp Ashraf Safer than Albania!!!!! living at a former U.S. military base near Baghdad.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha made the offer after meeting with U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, U.N. envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler, and other officials. He said the offer of asylum for the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq members was made for “humanitarian reasons.”

“We really appreciate the Tirana government’s helping hand,” Shahin Gobadi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran told The Associated Press from Paris in an interview conducted by telephone and e-mail.

Gobadi said the group, which oversees the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, could not accept an offer of asylum for only a small portion of the group. The U.N. says more than 3,000 MEK members live at the former U.S. base.

Iraq’s government is eager to have Mujahedeen-e-Khalq out of the country. The group opposes Iran’s clerical regime and carried out assassinations and bombings in Iran until renouncing violence in 2001. It fought in the 1980s alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war.

The refugee camp is located on a former American military base known as Camp Liberty. It is meant to be a temporary way station while the United Nations works to relocate the exiles abroad.

MEK members reluctantly began moving to Camp Liberty last year. They previously lived in a compound known as Camp Ashraf in northeastern Iraq. It was twice raided by Iraqi security forces, leaving more than three dozen people dead.

Their move to the new camp has not guaranteed their security. A strike at the camp with rockets and mortar shells on Feb. 9 left 8 dead and about 100 injured.

Two weeks later the head of a new Shiite militant group in Iraq threatened to carry out more attacks against the camp.

“The idea that Liberty residents refuse leaving Iraq is a lie that (U.N. envoy) Kobler propagates,” said Gobadi. “Quite the contrary, the Iranian resistance has done its utmost in the past two years to find host countries for former Ashraf residents.”

He said that camp residents had contacted Tirana and had guaranteed that the Iranian resistance would bear all costs regarding relocation and sought to increase the number of people offered asylum.

“Following the February 9 rocket attack on Camp Liberty and in light of the fact that all the Camp Liberty residents are in danger of similar attacks, transferring small groups of Liberty residents outside of Iraq would simply increase the danger for the majority who would stay behind,” Gobadi said in an e-mail

Gobadi said there are two options: “The first option is the immediate, even temporary transfer of all the residents to the U.S. or to a European country and permanent resettlement from there or the return of all of the residents to Camp Ashraf and the continuation of resettlement process from Ashraf, including transfer to Albania from Ashraf.”

By Llazar Semini ,

March 18, 2013 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Canada drops MEK from list of terror groups

Move to delist Mujahedeen-e-Khalq follows similar decisions by US and EU

Canada’s government said Thursday that it has removed an Iranian opposition group once allied with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime from its official list of terrorist organizations.

The government’s move to delist Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, follows similar moves by the United States and the European Union.

The MEK, a small, armed exile group, has said it wants to replace Tehran’s clerical regime with a secular government through peaceful means.

The MEK, also known as the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001.

The United States noted when delisting the Paris-based group in September that the MEK had not engaged in terrorism for more than a decade.

Any person or group on Canada’s terrorist list may have their assets seized, and there are criminal penalties for assisting organizations that are on the list.

Critics of the MEK say it has cult-like characteristics and that delisting it would be seen even by moderate Iranians as an endorsement of terrorism.

Maryam Rajavi, the group’s leader, welcomed the decision.

“The designation of the most anti-terrorist and anti-fundamentalist movement in the world only emboldened the real terrorists and the godfather of terrorism and fundamentalism, namely the dictatorship ruling Iran,” she said in a statement.

December 23, 2012 0 comment

UN urges peaceful solution to Camp Ashraf standoff

UNITED NATIONS — Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on the Iraqi government and an

UN chief urges Iraq and Iranian opposition group to work together to finish group’s relocation

Iranian opposition group that was given refuge in the country during Saddam Hussein’s rule on Monday to work together to peacefully complete the group’s relocation without further delay.

Nearly 2,000 members of The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran have moved from Camp Ashraf in northwestern Iraq to Camp Hurriya on the deserted former U.S. military base outside Baghdad known as Camp Liberty. But about 1,300 have refused to go until the Iraqi government meets their humanitarian demands, including the transfer of air conditioners, power generators, trucks and other items to their new location.

They had been living in exile at Camp Ashraf in Iraq since Saddam welcomed them three decades ago in a common fight against Iran. But they are now being pressured to leave by the new Iraqi government, whose Shiite officials want to build stronger ties with Iran.

The Iraqi government has set a July 20 deadline for the group, also known by its Farsi name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, to vacate Ashraf entirely.

Anglican leaders in Ireland and Britain wrote a letter to the secretary-general urging the U.N. and the U.S. to press the Iraqi government to improve humanitarian conditions so the Ashraf residents can relocate.

In a report to the U.N. Security Council circulated Monday, Ban called on the Iraqi government and residents of both camps “to continue to work together in a constructive and flexible manner in order to complete the relocation process without further delay.”

He stressed the importance of residents of both camps cooperating with Iraqi authorities and stressed the U.N.’s commitment to a peaceful solution.

The Anglican leaders expressed alarm about the possible use of force against the people of Camp Ashraf and drew attention to the shortage of water, food, medicine and medical treatment at Camp Hurriya. They said further relocations were halted becuse Iraq reneged on earlier agreements.

“We believe that the international community, the United Nations and the people of the United States of America are at one in desiring morally acceptable humanitarian standards for all people,” the leaders said. “We believe that the residents have shown clear commitment to a peaceful resolution of the crisis and are prepared fully to relocate to Camp Liberty as soon as minimum humanitarian provisions are put in place.”

The letter was signed by Archbishop of Armagh A.E.T. Harper, the Primate of All Ireland, and supported by the archbishop of Wales, 18 bishops and three ministers.

The People’s Mujahedeen carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war but it says it renounced violence in 2001. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is under court order to decide by October whether to remove the group from the U.S. terrorism list.

The group says the Iraqi government has used its terrorist status to justify mistreatment of the residents — an Iraqi army raid last year left 34 exiles dead — and has made it difficult to relocate the residents to other countries.

Associated Press Writer Shawn Pogatchnik in Belfast, Northern Ireland, contributed to this report.

July 18, 2012 0 comment

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

MEK Terrorists eye Jordan relocation

An exiled Iranian opposition group being forced to relocate from its paramilitary base in eastern Iraq proposed on Saturday to temporarily move to the Jordanian border instead of Camp Liberty [Temporary Transit Location] MEK Terrorists eyes Jordan relocation near Baghdad.

Last month, the Obama administration offered to move the group temporarily to Temporary Transit Location , which once was a base for U.S. soldiers.

Iraq wants Camp Ashraf, with more than 3,000 residents, shut down. The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, or MEK, guerrilla group was disarmed by U.S. soldiers during the Iraq invasion in 2003, and have since become an irritant to Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which is trying to bolster ties with its Shiite-ruled neighbor.

The group, whose political wing is based outside Paris, is seeking removal from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations and in February U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton suggested that one way to get off it was to cooperate in a relocation plan.

She said the United States will help ensure the safety and security of the Camp Ashraf residents, near the Iraq-Iran border, as they are moved to another site — Temporary Transit Location.

The MEK members fear a massacre if they remain at Camp Ashraf. An Iraqi raid last year left 34 exiles dead.

However, the group insisted in its statement Saturday that "minimum assurances" must be met such as removal of Iraqi guards from seven positions in Temporary Transit Location where women would reside for a relocation to take place. Among other assurances sought are access to medical services, freedom of movement and transfer of vehicles and other moveable property.

So far, "none of the minimum assurances that Ashraf residents had sought has been met," the statement said. It claimed those living there have two options: "massacre and death at Ashraf or gradual death in a place called Liberty, under the name and supervision of the U.N."

Already, 397 Camp Ashraf residents have relocated to Temporary Transit Location.

Maryam Rajavi, co-leader of the MEK, said that camp residents are ready to relocate temporarily to the Jordanian border this month in an area once set up as a tent city to house asylum seekers after the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003.

The MEK said the relocation would have to take place under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the UNHCR refugee agency.

"As such there will be no need for (the) Liberty detention center and the chain of problems and difficulties," the statement said, adding that residents would not leave the premises until acceptance for resettlement in third countries.

It said the group would handle expenses for the move.

Ashraf, with some 3,200 people still present, is to be closed at the end of April.

The U.S. State Department has been ordered by a federal court to re-evaluate its decision to place the MEK on its list of terrorist organizations. The Iranian dissident group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran regime in the 1980s and fought alongside former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001, and it has assembled an impressive roster of U.S. advocates, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and ex-FBI Director Louis Freeh.

The group helped Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979, but the MEK quickly fell out with the regime. Thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile.

The group was designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. in 1997 at a time when Washington sought warmer relations with Iran under the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

Yet the group has provided the Americans with intelligence on Iran and has convinced many governments that it has abandoned terrorism. The European Union removed it from its list in 2009.

Tehran insists that the MEK continues to commit acts of violence. It claims the group has worked with Israel to kill several Iranian nuclear scientists in recent years. The MEK rejects the allegation.

March 4, 2012 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

US to take MKO off terrorism list, if it cooperates with Iraq

The Obama administration on Wednesday offered an Iranian opposition group a path to get off of a U.S. terrorism blacklist, a move that would end years of high-profile campaigning from the Mujahadin-e-Khalq and infuriate Iran.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told a House committee Wednesday that MEK’s cooperation in a relocation plan from its paramilitary base on the Iran-Iraq border “will be a key factor in any decision” on whether to take it off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations. The United States will help ensure the safety and security of the camp’s residents as they are moved to another site inside Iraq, she said.

Clinton’s guidance was the clearest indication that the U.S. is close to removing the MEK from the list. The State Department has been ordered by a federal court to re-evaluate the designation of the MEK, an obscure Iranian dissident group that carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside former President Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war.

Taking the MEK off the terror list would lift U.S. economic sanctions, which prevent the group from fundraising.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001, and it has assembled an impressive roster of advocates, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey, FBI Director Louis Freeh and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Earlier this week, the MEK asked a federal appeals court to clear its name, arguing that its status was putting members long exiled in Iraq at risk. About 3,200 residents remain at Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, but are being pressured to leave by the new Iraqi government, whose Shiite officials want to build stronger ties with Iran. An Iraqi raid last year left 34 exiles dead, and the group claims its terrorist status has helped Iraqi authorities justify mistreatment of members and made it harder for residents to find permanent homes in other nations.

Clinton rejected the suggestion, saying that no country has raised the issue of the MEK’s terrorist designation with the State Department. And she backed an Iraqi relocation plan that has already taken 397 camp residents to their new, temporary home at the former U.S. Camp Liberty.

“There were complications but it was peaceful,” Clinton told lawmakers in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, several of whom have strongly pressed the MEK’s case. “There was no violence. The safety so far has been protected and we are watching that very closely.”

The closure of Ashraf remains an issue because it was the main paramilitary base for the MEK when it conducted terrorist attacks. Following the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Americans disarmed several thousand MEK members and promised to protect them at Ashraf, but for Iraqi authorities it essentially remained a no-go zone. They’ve bristled at the MEK’s attempts to defend a sovereign zone inside Iraq, which U.S. officials say contributed to the violence.

Clinton stopped short of explicitly saying the U.S. would remove the MEK from its list in exchange for fully leaving the Ashraf camp, but her comments suggested that any other requirements for delisting have largely been met.

The MEK is deeply controversial. Critics call it a cult with an ideology mixing Marxism, secularism, an obsession with martyrdom and near adoration of its leaders; American officials have long cited its role in the murder of Americans in the 1970s and attacks that killed hundreds of Iranians.

The group helped Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in Iran’s Islamic Revolution in 1979. But the MEK quickly fell out with Khomeini, and thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile. It launched its campaign of assassinations and bombings against Iran’s government in retaliation.

Yet the group also has provided the Americans with intelligence on Iran and has convinced many governments that it has abandoned terrorism. The European Union removed it from its list in 2009.

The group was designated a terrorist organization in 1997 at a time when the U.S. sought warmer relations with Iran under the reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami.

March 3, 2012 0 comment

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