News

US officials ‘bribed’ to lobby against Iran

A number of high-profile former US officials are getting paid by an exiled Iranian terrorist group known as Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to lobby the Obama administration against diplomacy with Iran.

The former US government officials lobbying on behalf of MKO include former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, former Ambassador to Morocco Marc Ginsberg, General James L. Jones, and former US Special Envoy for Nuclear Nonproliferation Robert Joseph, reports BuzzFeed’s Rosie Gray who attended a briefing sponsored by the group.

A US-based Iranian group affiliated with the MKO sponsored the event Wednesday in the Dirksen Senate office building on Capitol Hill to press for additional sanctions against Iran as nuclear talks continue to unfold.

The MKO has “combined efforts with Israeli, Zionist” groups to “bribe” US officials, said Scott Rickard, a former American intelligence linguist in Florida.

The four American officials “are nothing more than Zionist puppets who are consistently being paid by this group (MKO) and this group obviously being funded by anti-Iranian and pro-Israel initiatives,” Rickard told Press TV on Saturday.

“This is a form of bribery and the bribery goes on and on and on,” he added.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.

The group fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it had former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein’s support and set up Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border.

In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, to Camp Liberty.

“I said I was for it, but as a condition of signing the nuclear agreement, we ought to make sure these 3,000 people are safe and they ought to be out of Iraq,” Dean said of his stance on negotiating with Iran, according to BuzzFeed.

The last group of the MKO terrorists was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11, 2013, to join the other members of the terrorist group at Camp Liberty and await potential relocation to other countries.

February 2, 2014 0 comments

European Union

EU to offer €22 million aid for MKO members’ resettlement

The European Union plans to provide 20 million euros in aid for the relocation of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO) members outside Iraq.

According to the A EU to offer €22 million aid for MKO members’ resettlement rabic-language website Voice of Russia, in her meeting with the Iraqi minister of Human Rights, head of the European Union Delegation in Iraq Ambassador Jana Hybáškova, said the EU plans to allocate 22 million euros for the relocation of MKO members outside Iraq in order to respond to Iraq’s requests.

The Iraqi Minister of Human Rights said the GOI has been seriously obligated to the agreement signed with the United Nations.

The United Nations and the Government of Iraq signed on December 25, 2011, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for a humanitarian and peaceful resolution of the situation of the MKO members in Iraq.

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani criticized as “irresponsible” the countries who are constantly expressing concern over the condition of MKO members in Iraq, but refuse to accept them in their countries.

A number of other representatives of diplomatic delegations in Iraq were also present at the meeting.

Germany’s ambassador to Iraq referred to his country’s readiness to accept 100 members of the MKO, adding “87 of them had been living in Germany.”

Voice of Russian, arabic – translated by Habilian Association

February 2, 2014 0 comments

Camp Liberty

MKO Members Fail to Escape Camp Liberty

A number of members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI MKO Members Fail to Escape Camp Liberty and PMOI) failed in their attempt to run away from a hospital near the group’s transient settlement facility, Camp Liberty, near the Iraqi capital.

“Over 70 members of the grouplet sought to escape from the hospital where they were treated after going on a forced hunger strike, but they didn’t succeed,” a physician at one of Baghdad’s hospitals wrote in a letter to Iraq’s human rights ministry.

The Iraqi physician wrote in his letter that these people have told him that they were forced by the MKO ringleaders to go on hunger strike, and have given letters to the Iraqi medics to be submitted to human rights organizations in order inform the relevant authorities of vitally bad conditions.

Many of the MKO members have abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the group are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.

A recent Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.

According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly-established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who eventually took the MKO off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.

January 28, 2014 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

UNAMI: continued concerns about abuses committed by PMOI

UNAMI Half Yearly Report on Human Rights – January to June 2013

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights released the Half Yearly Report on Human Rights, covering the period from January to June 2013.

Extract from the report (PDF file) by Iran Interlink:

[…]

11.1 Camp New Iraq (Camp Ashraf)/ Camp Hurriya (Camp Liberty)

In accordance with the memorandum of understanding signed with the Government of Iraq in December 2011, UNAMI continued to conduct daily monitoring visits to Camp Hurriya, where more than 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedin Organization of Iran/Mujahedin-e-Khalq (PMOI/MeK) – an organisation formally listed by a number of States as a terrorist organisation – are currently based.

On 9 February and 15 June Camp Hurriya was subjected to rocket attacks. In the first attack, eight residents were killed and, according to staff at the Government-run clinic in the Camp, a further 71 were injured. As a result of the second incident, two residents lost their lives. The SRSG publicly condemned both attacks and called on the Government of Iraq to take appropriate measures to ensure the protection and safety of the residents. In the aftermath of the February attack the residents’ leadership demanded, inter alia, to return to Camp Ashraf and that they be provided with large T walls for all accommodation blocs and amenities (totalling some 17,000 large T walls), personal protective equipment (PPE) for each resident, and 380 bunkers in addition to the 120 already present in the camp. By the end of the reporting period, the Government of Iraq had provided 296 bunkers and 591 small T-walls but had refused the residents’ leaders request for a return to Camp Ashraf, for personal protective equipment and for large T walls.

UNHCR has continued to work towards identifying individuals in need of international protection and durable solutions for the residents of Camp Hurriya. As of 30 June 2013, 1,604 individuals had been identified as requiring international protection. However, UNHCR’s efforts to find durable solutions for the residents have been hindered by the non-cooperation of residents, such as the boycotting of UNHCR interviews. In March, the Government of Albania offered to accept up to 210 residents for resettlement.

However, the PMOI/MeK refused the names accepted by the Government of Albania, and insisted that it should decide who should be resettled there. As a result by the end of June, UNHCR had facilitated the resettlement of 71 residents only. Similarly, in April the Government of Germany decided to accept up to 100 residents for resettlement. At the time of writing, preparations were underway to relocate the first group some time in July.

UNAMI has continuing concerns about human rights abuses committed by the PMOI/MeK leadership within Camp Hurriya against the residents. These claims have been made to United Nations Monitors during interviews with residents who had managed to leave Camp Hurriya, as well as in a number of private discussions with residents who still reside in the Camp – despite the leadership’s attempts to prevent such discussions. The PMOI/MeK, which has a hierarchical and authoritarian structure, imposes a number of severe restrictions on the residents’ rights, including the right of freedom of movement within the Camp and the right to leave the organization, the free right of association, along with restrictions on contacts with family members (including those residing in Camp Hurriya), on access to basic communications, and on access to medical care and treatment.

[…]

January 25, 2014 0 comments

Terrorist groups and the MEK

Defected Member: MKO Training Militants in Syria

The terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI and PMOI) has been providing military training to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other militant groups in Syria, a defected Defected Member: MKO Training Militants in Syria member disclosed on Monday.

Speaking to Ashraf news website, former MKO member Mohammad Razzaqi said the MKO has been training some militant groups fighting the Syrian government, including the FSA, on bomb manufacturing, planting and detonation methods, assassination and street war.

He noted that some MKO leaders have had a series of meetings with the Syrian opposition leaders in France and Jordan and discussed help and assistance to the FSA and a number of other extremist Salafi groups in Syria.

Following similar reports in the last two years, Iranian officials stated that the collaboration between the ringleaders and members of the MKO and the FSA “displays the real face and goals of insurgents in Syria”.

"The invitation of the deputy commander of the FSA, the armed forces who are opposed to the Damascus government, to the MKO shows that they themselves are terrorists," member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ebrahim Aqa-Mohammadi said.

He added that the invitation of the Syrian group to the MKO to visit Damascus displays that the terrorist MKO is a role model for the Syrian insurgents.

In late 2012, an FSA commander said the MKO played as a role model for Syrian insurgents.

“Mojahedin-e Khalq is our role model, and we inform them that all doors of our houses are open to them,” Malek al-Kurdi, a deputy commander of the so-called Free Syrian Army, said, addressing a joint meeting of the MKO and the ringleaders of the anti-Assad armed rebel groups.

The last group of MKO terrorists at Camp Ashraf, now called Camp New Iraq, was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11 to join other members of the terrorist group in the former US-held Camp Liberty, now called Camp Hurriya, near Baghdad International Airport where they are awaiting relocation to other countries.

The MKO, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and western targets.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, one week after the then Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under the US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with the American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

The conflict in Syria started in March 2011, when sporadic pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle-East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government has boosted its political and military support to Takfiri extremists.

Washington has remained indifferent to warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.

January 21, 2014 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

MKO intervening in Iraq’s internal affairs

Former deputy prime minister of Iraq denounced Mujahedin-e Khalq organization’s (MKO, a.k.a. MEK) media attacks against the Iraqi army’sas intervention in the country’s internal affairs.

“I have no respect for politicians who are supporting an illegal entity in Iraq, Salam al-Zubaie told Habilian’s correspondent in Baghdad,” referring to some Iraqi politicians’ support for the MKO.

“We are against the presence of any group threatening the neighboring countries,” al-Zubaie added.

Asked about the late expulsion of MKO members in Iraq, he said that is because of the incompetence of the Iraq’s government and justice system.

“This issue is none of the MKO’s business and their action is an obvious intervention in internal affairs of the country and we as Iraqi citizens do not allow insult against our army,” the Iraqi politician added, pointing to MKO media’s attacks on the Iraqi army over its offensive against al-Qaeda militants.

The MKO describes the ISIL terrorists as Iraqi tribes combatants who have established the "Tribes Military Council" to confront the Maliki government, while the UN Security Council strongly condemned recent attacks committed by al-Qaida terrorists in Iraq’s western province of Anbar.

“Contrary to belief of some TV channels, Iraqi army has not invaded Fallujah and it doesn’t seek al-Anbar’s occupation. The main responsibility of the Iraqi Army is to protect the citizens and to stand against the groups seeking to destroy the public property and scare people.”

January 18, 2014 0 comments

Iraq

Maliki: Gov’t Struggling to Accelerate MKO’s Expulsion from Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minsiter Nuri al-Maliki underlined his government’s resolve to speed up efforts to expel the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCRI or PMOI) members from Iraq.

Speaking in a joint press conference with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in Baghdad, Maliki blamed the UN f Maliki: Gov’t Struggling to Accelerate MKO’s Expulsion from Iraq or prolonging the presence of the MKO members in Iraq.

“We have again repeated our demand from the UN on the necessity for transferring the members of the MKO from Iraq since their remaining entails huge costs for Iraq,” he said.

“The presence of the MKO members is illegal based on all criteria and standards and the Iraqi people are dissatisfied with their presence,” Maliki underlined.

On Sunday, Ban Ki-moon appointed a former US Homeland Security Undersecretary as his special advisor for relocation of the MKO members from Camp Liberty in Iraq.

According to Habilian Association, Jane Holl Lute’s appointment came after two years of quite fruitless painstaking efforts of the UN’s refugee agency and UN Assistance Mission for Iraq for the resettlement of MKO members in third countries.

“Holl Lute will work with a wide range of stakeholders, in particular the (UN) Member States, to assist in relocating the camp residents,” read a statement from Mr. Ban’s spokesperson, adding that she will also collaborate with Nickolay Mladenov, the UN representative in Iraq.

Earlier last week, the UNHCR said 1,400 MKO members in Iraq are ready for relocation to third countries.

Former UN Special Representative had formerly asserted that finding homes for the MKO members “is the most difficult part of the story.”

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

January 15, 2014 0 comments

USA

McGurk talks directly with Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq

[…]The U.S. Embassy also said McGurk visited Friday with members of Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the militant wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, whose camp outside Baghdad came under rocket attack last month. The statement said the U.S. diplomat stressed the urgency of relocating the residents of Camp Hurriya to another country.

The dissident group, which opposes Iran’s clerical regime, joined forces with Saddam Hussein’s forces during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, and several thousand of its members were given sanctuary in Iraq. It renounced violence in 2001, and was removed from a U.S. terrorist list last year.

Iraq’s current Shiite-led government, which has strong ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran, considers the MEK’s presence in Iraq illegal and is eager to get rid of them. The refugee camp is home to about 3,100 people.

January 13, 2014 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

British MPs consider the MKO terrorist

Former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who was heading a parliamentary delegation during a three-day visit to Iran, had a press conference in the Iranian capital on Wednesday, January 8. Jack Straw confirmed that the UK government condemned any form of terrorism

To answer a question on the support for the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO) and its terror acts by the British Government, Jack Straw said that when in 2009 he was the UK Justice Minister, he passed legislation based on which the MKO was outlawed in Britain and was considered a terrorist entity.

”The MKO is a terrorist organization", he added. After the MKO was listed as a terrorist group in 2009, the group petitioned its case to the appeal court and ultimately the court ordered its delisting.

The UK delegation also visited a number of families of terror victims killed by terrorist groups, such as Mujahedin khalq on Thursday. The son of one of the victims of the MKO asked the UK officials to return the MKO to the list of terrorist groups.

Families of assassinated nuclear scientists asked the British MPs to tie bans on trafficking of the MKO terrorists in Europe.

Jack Straw confirmed that the UK government condemned any form of terrorism. "The British government has condemned the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientists", he said.

Ben wallace another member of the UK parliamentarian delegation spoke of the probability of relisting of the MKO as a terror group.

The Britain-Iran Parliamentary Friendship Group seeks better relations with Iran. The delegates met with counterparts from the Iranian Majlis.

January 11, 2014 0 comments

UN to evacuate MKO terrorists from Iraq

The United Nations has announced that it will be relocating members of anti-Iran terrorist organization, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, from Iraq to other countries. The U-N chief says that a former Deputy U-S Secretary of Homeland Security will be in charge of the MKO relocation.

The Mujahe UN to evacuate MKO terrorists from Iraq din-e Khalq Organization (MKO) was declared by the US state department to be a designated foreign terrorist organization in 1997. For decades the group has committed acts of terrorism against Iranians both inside Iran and around the world. During the Iraq-Iran war, the group aligned with former dictator Saddam Hussein, and with Iraqi support, slaughtered countless Iranian civilians. According to Human Rights Watch, the MKO is known to torture people, often dragging its victims by ropes from tied around their necks.

The group is currently operating from bases in Iraq. Sunday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon announced that the world body would help MKO members to relocated to other countries, and that former deputy of the US department of homeland security, Jane Holl Lute, would be in charge of the operation. Sara Flounders says the US support for MKO terrorists shows the hypocrisy of America’s foreign policy. The group has a long record of carrying out terrorist attacks. Still, many prominent figures in US politics are speaking on MKO’s behalf, ignoring their crimes, referring to them as "victims" and "dissidents." Former New York City Mayor is one of many US officials who has worked closely with MKO terrorists in the last several years. Many US elected officials have received tens of thousands of dollars for speaking on MKO’s behalf, some even being investigated for it by the FBI. As the UN prepares to move MKO members out of Iraq, questions continue to be being raised about why the United Nations and the United States government are working so hard to protect a group with such a horrible human rights record.

January 8, 2014 0 comments

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