The families of the people taken hostage inside Ashraf Garrison have been picketing outside the gates of the camp for the last two years in a bid to have free and unfettered access to their children.
Relatives of Ashraf prisoners are ready to endanger their life to help with salvation of their family members imprisoned in the cult of Rajavi.
Thousands of Iraqi people held a demonstration in Tahrir square in central Baghdad to demand the immediate expulsion of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from their country.
While the situation at Camp Ashraf remains uncertain and the relocation of the residents is hanging in balance, families concern over the fate of their loved ones grows. They are truly worried about the future awaiting for them and their children.
Due to many contacts to Nejat Society Gilan Branch made by families, Gilan office held two gatherings in which families of Ashraf residents and former Ashraf residents took part.
The attendees in the meeting discussed crucial approaches to help rescue their family members imprisoned in Camp Ashraf.
Some former members of the MKO including Akbar Mohebi, Hamid Haji pour, Ghaffar Balafkandeh attended the meeting. They spoke for the families offering them suggestion to help release their loved ones.
The ultimate result of their discussion was that families’ active presence in front of the camp is a very effective tool for residents’ salvation and seems like a nightmare for the Rajavis.
One of the families who is an active member of Nejat Society Gilan Branch also prepared a paper to demand the international and human rights bodies to support the case of Ashraf residents. Other participants of the meeting signed the paper.
Nejat Society offers sympathy to all families who await salvation of their beloveds, hoping for a day they can visit them as soon as possible.
*Mujahedin-e-Khalq-e-Iran* is the Arabic term used to refer to a group called the People’s Mujahedin of Iran. The term *mujahedin* actually means holy warrior, and to take the definition a 
step further, it is this term which metaphorically submits to *jihad*, God’s struggle. For Muslims this is a righteous word, but since the attack of 9/11, it has become a rather notorious and widely misunderstood word to non-Muslims. The*Mujahedin-e-Khalq-e-Iran * (MKO/MEK) seemed to have passionate and noble intentions thirty years ago and they called themselves holy warriors with fervor. But now, they have transformed into a cult of personality and their holy warrior image no longer exists in the minds of the Iranian people. The MKO has inflicted so much damage on the Iranian people that instead of being known as holy warriors, their name, *The Mujahedin,* is synonymous with *traitor*.
Treason has always been part of the group’s strategy for struggle, and therefore remain a threat to the Iranian people. Now the MKO is supported by some United States politicians who know very well that their own United States government lists the MKO as a designated terrorist group—a group nonetheless who once despised and described the United States as imperialists, capitalists and Zionists. Dirty facts exist in the glossed over history of the MKO—one includes the murdering of American people, but that was thirty years ago.
Scott Shane of the *New York Times* describes the support for the MKO by US politicians as an “obscure cause” and notes it is a “stellar list of supporters from both parties and the last two administrations, including a dozen former top national security officials.” [1]
Shane furthers that “the M.E.K. advocacy campaign has included full-page newspaper advertisements identifying the group as ‘Iran’s Main Opposition’ — an absurd distortion in the view of most Iran specialists; leaders of Iran’s broad opposition, known as the Green Movement, have denounced the group.” [2]
The very group of Mujahedin-e-Khalq, the enemy of America’s enemy—definitely his friend—is an “anti-American, anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist” group, according to Professor Paul Sheldon Foote. He calls Massoud Rajavi, who is the disappeared leader of the group, the Pol Pot of Iran. [3]
Why is it that the very US government who had despised the MEK in its early years is now coming around to shake hands with them and become an ally?
According to Justin Raimondo of *antiwar.com* “the War Party is bound and determined to drag us, kicking and screaming, into a military conflict with Iran.” Raimondo asserts that the “nexus of this network is the government of Israel and its intelligence services which is coordinating an increasingly frantic campaign to bring the Iran issue to a head.”[4]
The true face of MKO is revealed in Israel’s recent acts of hostility against the Islamic Republic. In fact, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) aggressively lobbies US politicians to stand against Iran, and has announced that the MEK has potential as a proxy force against Iran. Raimondo warns that ”The Israel lobby is an octopus with many tentacles, of which MEK is merely one: they are all attached to the same body, however and that is the government of Israel and its intelligence services.” He further quips that the US is just another “Israeli occupied territory”. [5]
If there is a goal to destabilize Tehran, the MEK has become a potential tool for both the CIA and the Mossad. As the MEK feeds them misinformation the MEK gains ground in the intelligence arena, and likewise, as the CIA and Mossad continue to use the misinformation, the MEK becomes more of an ideal proxy. Paul Joseph Watson of *PrisonPlanet.com* writes that “it’s an admitted fact that the CIA uses terrorist proxies,” and “it is widely suspected that the well-known right-wing terrorist organization known as Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), once run by Saddam Hussein’s dreaded intelligence services, is now working exclusively for the CIA’s Directorate of Operations and carrying out remote bombings in Iran.”[6]
Following the explosion at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard’s missile base, west of Tehran, Israel’s Mossad was immediately accused and the Israeli government didn’t deny the accusations. Richard Silverstein, a correspondent of *Haaretz* suggests that it could have been the work of the MEK in a Mossad-led operation. Silverstein notes that it is “widely known within intelligence circles that the Israelis use the MEK for varied acts of espionage and terror ranging from fraudulent Iranian memos alleging work on nuclear trigger devices to assassinations of nuclear scientists and bombings of sensitive military installations.” [7]
The allegations about the MKO’s collaboration with western intelligence agencies were confirmed recently by an arrested Israeli spy, Mohammad Ali Lobnani who was arrested earlier this year in Lebanon. In a court hearing session, Lobnani said that he had phone contacts with Mohammad Alizadeh, an MKO ringleader, but claimed he didn’t know the number was a Mossad contact number, according to Fars News Agency. [9] Responding to a judge’s question about the link between the MKO and the Mossad, he noted, “as far as I know, the group [MKO] has been collaborating with Israel for several years and has massive interactions with the Mossad.”[8]
Western advocates of the MKO need to be aware of the group’s chameleon-like tendencies, because at some point the MKO will turn against the very ones who help them. Ultimately the MKO is a cult and the inner workings of the cult are kept secret from the various politicians they contract with to pursue their objective. Michael Rubin, an American scholar describes the MKO as a group who “sort of combined Islamism with Marxism, but it kind of just evolved into a freaky personality cult," and even warned that secretary of State, Hillary Clinton “should ignore their PR campaign.” Rubin cautions that the “Mujahedin Khalq is not only irrelevant to the cause of Iran’s democratic activities, but a totalitarian cult that will come back to haunt us.”[9]
Richard Silverstein also warns about consequences of lobbying for and working with a terror group like the MKO cult, pointing out that “It is, of course, ironic that the same MEK [which is trusted by Israel for its covert operations against Iran] is paying key political players in U.S. life hundreds of thousands of dollars to lobby on behalf of removing it from the Treasury Department terror list. I suppose when a terror group is harming your enemy then it’s no longer a terror group, eh? Certainly if there was another power than the Mossad willing to pay more for them to attack Israel and the U.S., guess who they’d be wreaking havoc on?” [10]
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1]Shane, Scott, For Obscure Iranian Exile Group, Broad Support in US, New
York Times,November27,2011
[2]ibid
[3]Sheldon Fooote, Paul, American Demons,Nejatngo.org,November14,2011
[4]Raimondo, Justin, The Armageddon Network,Antiwar.com,November13,2011
[5]ibid
[6]Watson, Paul Joseph, The US Is Already Attacking Iran Through Terrorist
Proxies,Prison Palnet.com,November11,2011
[7]Silverstein, Richard, Mossad – MEK May Have bombed Iranian Missile Base
,40 dead and Wounded, Richard Silverstein.com , Novemebr14,2011
[8]Fars News Agency, Arrested spy in Lebanon Confesses MKO’s Collaboration
with Mossad, Novemebr29, 2011
[9]Rahn, Will, Strange bedfellows: Romney and the militias who hate the
mullahs, the Daily Caller, November15, 2011
[10]Silverstein, Richard, Mossad-MEK May Have Bombed Iranian Missile Base,40 Dead and Wounded,Richardsilverstein.com, November14,2011
The Iranian families said they have come thousands of kilometers to see their relatives, and now they are few meters away and are unable to meet them.
According to reports by Iraqi NGOs and the defected MKO members, the group’s members inside the camps have been living in dire conditions and deprived of their basic rights.
Meanwhile, Iraq has agreed to United Nations demand to extend by six months a year-end deadline to close the MKO camp on its soil.
The UN and the Iraqi government signed a deal to relocate more than 3,000 MKO members living in Camp Ashraf while their refugee status is determined.
Due to many contacts to Nejat Society Gilan Branch made by families, Gilan office held two gatherings in which families of Ashraf residents and former Ashraf residents took part.
The attendees in the meeting discussed crucial approaches to help rescue their family members imprisoned in Camp Ashraf.
Some former members of the MKO including Akbar Mohebi, Hamid Haji pour, Ghaffar Balafkandeh attended the meeting. They spoke for the families offering them suggestion to help release their loved ones.
The ultimate result of their discussion was that families’ active presence in front of the camp is a very effective tool for residents’ salvation and seems like a nightmare for the Rajavis.
One of the families who is an active member of Nejat Society Gilan Branch also prepared a paper to demand the international and human rights bodies to support the case of Ashraf residents. Other participants of the meeting signed the paper.
At the end of the meeting, the attendees congratulated Mr. Khavari the father of Sadeq Khavari on the release of his son from the cult of Rajavi. Sadeq recently could escape Ashraf. He hasn’t returned home yet because he has engaged to stay with families picketing at camp Ashraf and accompany them with their cause.
Families of Ashraf prisoners chanted slogans to once more announce their call to visit their loved ones.
Local and foreign reporters are present in there in order to broadcast the news of the region.
As it was also reported 100 residents of Camp Ashraf are relocated in Camp liberty, a site near Baghdad international airport, today.
Families are hopeful to see or at least get news of their children –after years of no news about them– while they are transferred from Ashraf to Baghdad.
Hundreds of families picketing in front of Camp Ashraf held a protest rally on Friday December 23rd and called on the Camp leaders to release their loved ones held as hostages by the leaders.
Families of Ashraf residents started the rally, walking from northern side of the camp to western side and chanted slogans in front of Asad Gate. They vigorously urged on visiting their children.
Relatives of Ashraf prisoners are ready to endanger their life to help with salvation of their family members imprisoned in the cult of Rajavi.
They also played audio messages recorded by some of dissociated members of the MKO, via loudspeakers.
At the end of the gathering families appreciated the cooperation made by all those who make efforts for release of Ashraf residents including, Iraqi, Iranian and American government.
Nejat Society reporting from Al-Sumariya News – a security source in Diyala Province declared on Friday Decemebr23 that ten residents of Camp Ashraf – the Mujahedin Khalq ‘s headquarter in 
Iraq escaped the Camp and surrendered to Iraqi police North of Baquba.
As far as it is known, these people ran away the MKO because of cruelty and injustice exercised by the group leaders.
“10 members of Mujahedin Khalq Organization escaped Camp Ashraf or Camp of New Iraq in a region near Baquba and sought refuge in a police Station there”, said the Iraqi security source.
The source declined to be named. He also said that the ten escapees demanded to be transferred to a third country and declined to give further information.
Isolated in a fenced area by barbed wire, in hot desert of Iraq, without having been determined as refugees, kept in their highly–guarded units, residents of Camp Ashraf are certainly stuck in the 
most complex situation. Besides, the leaders of the camp have been manipulating the members for over thirty years now. The residents have no freedom of expression and no access to the outside world. It is too difficult for outsiders to get comprehensive information on what is really going on in the Camp. Regarding cult-like characteristics of the group, evacuation or relocation of MKO members is still a critical issue that the international community really panics.
"U.S. officials fear that unless MEK leader Maryam Rajavi gives her approval, there will be a bloodbath at Camp Ashraf", writes Barbara Slavin of IPS. "There are particular concerns that MEK members will clash with Iraqi security forces or commit mass suicide." [1]
The U.S. administration is supporting a plan led by Ambassador Martin Kobler, the U.N. special representative to Iraq that would allow for a peaceful transfer of the residents of Camp Ashraf to a new facility in Iraq. The plan would also work to repatriate MEK members to Iran who go "voluntarily," or resettle to third countries under the auspices of the U.N., CNN reports. [2]
"The good news here is that in the past two weeks, Ambassador Kobler and the Iraqi government have made significant progress on this plan," an official told CNN on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations between the U.N., the Iraqi government, and the MKO. [3]
The alleged progress perhaps included the relocation of Ashraf residents in Camp Liberty, a single "temporary relocation" facility near the Baghdad International Airport. The location is "an accessible, not inaccessible part of the country," quoted CNN from the official. [4]
The MKO leaders’ reluctance to leave their ideological preserve, Camp Ashraf was not welcomed by either Americans or Iraqis. Barbara Slavin cites of a US official, "after much regrettable stalling, the MEK finally seems ready to engage seriously". "This is good, but the MEK must be realistic, and time is short", the official added. [5]
The official added that while MEK leaders have backed off from "maximalist positions" in the last 48 hours, "We’re still hearing talk about martyrdom and dying."[6]
If the residents are given the chance to choose their place of life, there are definitely a large number who are willing to leave the group and to get released of the extreme pressure imposed on them by the camp authorities. “Particular attention should be given to the approximately 70 percent of the Camp Ashraf population that joined the MeK after the group relocated to Iraq” according to RAND Corporation report. ”A substantial number of these MeK members were lured to Iraq under false pretenses or did not have a clear understanding of the group’s goals and methods of operation—particularly with respect to its cult behavior—and many have been forced to remain against their will. [7]
U.S. officials do not know for sure how many people are at Ashraf but believe they include minors and others who were tricked into going to the camp. There they were subjected to military training and mind control exercises that include cult-like devotion to Mrs. Rajavi and her husband Massoud, whose whereabouts are unknown, asserts Slavin.[8]
As a matter of fact, it is the absolute right of over 3000 Ashraf inhabitants to be got the opportunity and the place where they can think of and decide for a normal future. It is also the absolute right of the Iraqi government to assert sovereignty over its territory of which a large area has been occupied by the MKO for over 3 decades – the camp was handed over to the group by Saddam Hussein who gave them a military and financial support as well.
Iraqi people are in the same party with their government in their protest against the presence of the MKO in their soil. On December10, Hundreds of Iraqis took part in a “protest rally to demand the expulsion of members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization,” reported Press TV. [9]
A more recent protest also took place on Friday December 16 in Baghdad where thousands of Iraqi people held a demonstration in Tahrir square in central Baghdad calling for expulsion of the MKO. [10]
In an outstanding article, in the Washington Post, titled “Building a Stable Iraq”, Iraqi prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki notes his country’s determination to “put Iraq’s new democracy on the right path” but he notifies that “challenges remain”. He names Baathist “who seek to destroy Iraq’s democratic process”. He refers to Ashraf residents as source of a “great deal of controversy” in Iraq and in the United States. ”I would like to see this complex issue resolved peacefully and with the help of the United Nations.” he writes. ”The Camp’s residents are classified as a terrorist organization by many countries and thus have no legal basis to remain in Iraq.” [11]
Confirming Iraq’s right to have control over its entire territory, Maliki writes, ” country wouldn’t accept the presence of foreign insurgents on its soil, but we will work hard to find a peaceful solution that upholds the international values of human rights.”[12]
Predictions on the place where Ashraf residents will be relocated after its complete expulsion from Iraq, is another challenging issue. The Iraqi ambassador to Iran says Azarbayjan and a number of other countries have agreed to receive nearly 900 members of the terrorist group of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), reported Press TV.[13]
Mohamamd Majid Al-Sheikh said, "Necessary measures are being taken through cooperation of the Red Cross and Iraqi officials to transfer these individuals.” [14]
On its turn the international Committee of Red Cross, "welcomes the Iraqi authorities’ commitment not to transfer Camp Ashraf residents to Iran against their will, and will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the Iraqi authorities fulfill this commitment" said Beat Schweizer, head of ICRC delegation in Iraq. [15]
Mr. Schwiezer mentioned previous experiences of ICRC in aiding former members of the group to return to their home country Iran.” we have been facilitating the repatriation of former residents of Camp Ashraf who wish to go back to Iran” he said. “Since 2003, the ICRC has arranged for repatriation of over 250 Camp Ashraf residents to their home country, in cooperation with its delegation in Tehran. The ICRC has helped repatriated seven former residents in 2011, with the most recent repatriation taking place in August.” He also declared that ICRC is prepared to continue helping residents return Iran. [16]
A more recent Iraqi stance against MKO presence in Iraq was published by Agence France Press on December 15th. In the interview with AFP Nouri Al-Maliki said that Baghdad’s decision to close Camp of New Iraq – the name that was given to Camp Ashraf After it was handed over to Iraq — by year end is “irreversible”. [17]
It seems that the way is approximately paved for the ultimate evacuation of Camp Ashraf and Iraqi government is determined to wipe its territory off occupiers but concerns over the fate of the residents do not simply come to an end. In response to Amnesty International that is allegedly concerned over "the serious risk of severe human rights violations if the Iraqi government goes ahead with its plans to force the closure of the camp by the end of this month", the senior U.S. administration official said Amnesty, instead, should urge the MEK to sign onto the plan "at hand and not encourage people to die". [18]
By Mazda Parsi
Sources:
[1]Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011
[2]Crawford, Jamie, U.S. supports plan to relocate terror group, CNN, Dec. 19th,2011
[3]ibid
[4]ibid
[5] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011
[6]ibid
[7] Goulka, Jeremiah, Lydia Hansell, Elizabeth Wilke, and Judith Larson.
"Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum." *RAND National Defence
Research Institute* (2009): Web. 3 Nov 2010.
[8] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th, 2011
[9]Press TV, Iraqis want MKO terrorists expelled, December 10, 2011
[10]Tehran Times, Iraqis rally demanding MKO expulsion, December 16, 2011
[11]Al-Maliki, Nouri, Building a stable Iraq, WashingtonPost, December10, 2011.
[12]ibid
[13]PressTV, Azarbayjan to take in MKO members, Decemebr10, 2011
[14]ibid
[15]International Committee of Red Cross Official Website, Situation remains uncertain for residents of camp Ashraf, Decemebr13, 2011
[16]ibid
[17]Karim Ammad, Nuri al-Maliki: decision to close Camp ashraf is final, we cannot allow a criminal gang to remain in Iraq, AFP, Decemebr15, 2011
[18] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011
