A judiciary spokesman said the U.S. Department of State violated international standards by removing the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization from the list of terrorist organizations that can be legally prosecuted, the Iranian state-run Fars News Agency reported Monday.MKO is behind numerous assassinations and bombings within the country because of its alleged role in helping Iraq in its 1980-1988 war with Iran,
The government of Iraq, along with Iranian exiles [MKO/MEK/PMOI], is called on to honor the spirit of a resettlement agreement, a U.S. State Department official said.Baghdad and the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding in December outlining the voluntary relocation of members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran from their Camp Ashraf enclave …
A memorandum outlining the voluntary relocation of Iranian dissidents in Iraq must be honored for the sake of peace, the U.N. special envoy to Iraq said. Kobler said the United Nations is ready to help Iraq organize the voluntary relocation.In December, Baghdad and the United Nations signed a memorandum of understanding outlining the voluntary relocation of members of the People’s Mujahedin/MKO/MEK/PMOI of Iran from their enclave..
..This resettlement must also have the full support of the camp’s residents, and we urge them to work with the U.N. to implement this relocation,”she said.”All those who want to see the people at Camp Ashraf safe and secure should work together to see that the agreed upon plan is carried out…
…Iraq then told the U.S. Embassy Rohrabacher and his five colleagues were no longer welcome in the country. Maliki also refused to let the congressmen visit Camp Ashraf. Iraq wants to expel the 3,000 MEK/MKO/PMOI members.Embassy spokesman David Ranz said Saturday:”Congressional visitors do not necessarily express the views of the U.S. administration or even a majority of Congress. The visitors this weekend made that clear in their remarks.”
The PMOI family members say their relatives are held captive in Camp Ashraf, adding if Washington can broker an agreement with Iran, similar arrangements are possible with the PMOI[MKO/MEK].”If America can negotiate this with Iran, we certainly expect that you can negotiate with this small terrorist group so that its members can meet freely with their families,”the families said…
The dissident People’s Mujahedin of Iran is responsible for the assassination of the nephew of Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi, officials said…The PMOI is under fire to leave its base in Iraq’s Diyala province. The group earned a terrorist designation for its violent action against the clerical regime in Iran. It now claims it is acting peacefully to advocate regime change in Tehran.
Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala province can transfer to another facility on a voluntary basis, Iraqi military officials said Tuesday..Baghdad plans to relocate the PMOI first to Baghdad and then to another facility in the south of the country.Iraqi Brig. Bassel Hamad added that if the residents defied government efforts to close Camp Ashraf, Baghdad would”find suitable solutions for this.”
Washington respects any Iraqi decision regarding members of the dissident group People’s Mujahedin of Iran but urges caution, the U.S. State Department said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said this week that members of the PMOI/MKO/MEK would be relocated from their Camp Ashraf enclave in Diyala province first to Baghdad and then to a desert outpost in the Shiite south of the country.
U.S. medical teams provided assistance to Iranian dissidents under siege by Iraqi forces in their Camp Ashraf enclave in the eastern province of Diyala. Iraqi police earlier this week seized the Camp Ashraf base of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran using tear gas and water cannons. Authorities promised to expel the 3,500 members of the group.