Head of an Iraqi human rights group says Iraq seeks to try in absentia the members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e 
Khalq organization (MKO, a.k.a. MEK and PMOI) in Iraq.
“The silence of the Iraqi government, international organizations, and the mass media regarding the martyrs and victims of Munafeqin (hypocrites, a term used in Iran and Iraq for the members of MKO) grouplet made us request the hearing in the absence of the Munafeqin,” head of the Association of Justice to Defend Iraqi Victims of MKO, Dr. Nafe al-Isa, told Habilian Association in an interview on Thursday.
He said the people of Tuz Khurmato, who are victims of the MKO and the trial is going to be held in their city, expressed happiness and satisfaction over the issue.
He added that the trial will be held as coordinated with the judicial system, and the witnesses will be heard in the first session.
Dr. Nafe al-Isa also called on Iranian media to cover the sessions, the first of which will be held on February 18, 2013.
Five deaths reported after mortars and rockets hit new transit camp housing members of opposition MEK 
group.
Dozens of mortars and rockets fired on a camp housing Iranian dissidents near Baghdad have killed five members of the opposition group, Iraqi security officials say.
Five members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) were killed in Saturday’s attack involving the mortars and rockets, two Iraqi security officials said on condition of anonymity.
Between 39 and 40 members of the group were wounded, along with three Iraqi policemen.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the transit camp, a former American military base known as Camp Liberty.
The United Nations called for an immediate investigation and said monitors were following up on the deaths, the first confirmed fatalities as a result of violence at the group’s new camp since they moved there last year.
The MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris, said in a statement that six people were killed and 50 wounded.
One Iraqi security official said around 40 rockets and mortars were fired into the camp, while the MEK said 35 were launched.
The UN said Martin Kobler, its special envoy, had asked Iraqi authorities to "promptly conduct an investigation into this," and added: "We have our monitors on the ground to follow up".
‘Hospitalised immediately’
Eliana Nabaa, spokeswoman for the UN mission in the country, said Iraqi officials had told the UN that "all those who were injured were hospitalised immediately".
Camp Liberty is home to about 3,000 residents from the MEK who were moved last year, on Iraq’s insistence, from their historic paramilitary camp of the 1980s – Camp Ashraf.
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the Shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew him it took up arms against Iran’s rulers.
It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the government in Tehran through peaceful means.
Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the US in September 2012.
The US state department holds the group responsible, however, for the deaths of Iranians as well as US soldiers and civilians from the 1970s into 2001.
The MEK has no support in Iran, and no connection to domestic opposition groups.
Ban Ki-moon demands investigation by Iraqi authorities into deadly attack on dissident base that left at least six dead. 
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has condemned a deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp in the Iraqi capital and demanded an investigation by authorities.
"(Ban) strongly condemns the mortar attack today on Camp Liberty, the temporary transit facility near Baghdad for former residents of Camp Ashraf," his press office said in a statement after the attack on Saturday.
The US state department labelled the assault a "vicious and senseless terrorist attack," and called on Iraq to probe the attack and enhance security at the camp.
According to the Associated Press, at least six people were killed and dozens of others were injured when missiles struck the area occupied by the Mujahadeen e-Khalq (MEK) group near Baghdad.
A spokesman for the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, also joined in the condemnation of the attack.
"We express our condolences to the families of the victims. We are concerned that it could add tension to the present situation in the camp," the EU spokesman said.
A spokesman for the interior ministry, however, said only one person had been killed and that reports of more deaths were "exaggerated".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the transit camp, a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, adjacent to Baghdad’s international airport.
The camp was the base that now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the group MEK to establish in Diyala province in the 1980s, during Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran.
Martin Kobler, the top UN official in Iraq, told Al Jazeera that he was "shocked" by the attack.
"These people have to be protected," he said, calling on Iraqi authorities to "promptly conduct an investigation".
‘Terrorist group’
The camp is home to more than 1,000 residents from the MEK who were moved last year, on Iraq’s insistence, from their historic paramilitary camp of the 1980s – Camp Ashraf.
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the Shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew him it took up arms against Iran’s rulers.
It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the government in Tehran through peaceful means.
It is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shia-led government that came to power after US-led forces invaded and toppled Saddam in 2003.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said Iraq sees the MEK as a "terrorist group".
"They [MEK] say they’re in danger from the Iranians and the Iraqi government," she said.
The UN intends to process them for refugee status in other countries but no country has so far welcomed them.
Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the US in September 2012.
The US state department holds the group responsible, however, for the deaths of Iranians as well as US soldiers and civilians from the 1970s into 2001.
The MEK has no support in Iran, and no connection to domestic opposition groups.
Iraq: Camp Liberty — Question
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent information they have concerning flooding by sewage and storm water at Camp Liberty, and whether they have made representations to the United Nations and the United 
Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq about conditions at the camp.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
My Lords, we are aware that parts of Camp Liberty were flooded during a recent period of heavy rainfall, as were many parts of the Baghdad area. Fortunately, this did not affect residents’ accommodation blocks. We continue to monitor the situation at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty through the embassy in Baghdad and to raise issues with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
My Lords, is it not time that the Government made a judgment, based on first-hand evidence such as that produced by the ex-UNAMI chief Tahar Boumedra, and ignored the manipulation and dissembling by Martin Kobler on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations? If the United Kingdom is to maintain its integrity and influence in the Middle East, we should be pressing for the dismissal of Herr Kobler and, indeed, be asking ourselves, with our allies, whether the present Secretary-General of the United Nations has not outlived his usefulness.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
Before I answer the noble Lord’s very important question, I am sure the rest of the House will want to join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.
The noble Lord raises an important point. The Secretary-General, whom I met with last week at the United Nations, is doing a very important job, with the support of the international community, in some very difficult circumstances. The specific situation in relation to Camp Liberty is that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission, regularly reports about the situation in Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf. Our own officials visited in July last year and the international community does not, at this stage, find any credible evidence to support the matters that have been raised by Mr Tahar Boumedra.
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, considering that many of the complaints that are made by the residents of Camp Liberty and, indeed, Camp Ashraf, against the Iraqi authorities and UNAMI could be easily verified or refuted and that some have been confirmed not only by Mr Tahar Boumedra but by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, will the Government press for an inspector to be appointed by the UN Secretary-General to look into the serious allegations of ill treatment, such as denial of access to urgently needed medical treatment, which has lead to the deaths of two inmates of Camp Liberty? Since we have been aware for some time that 52 residents of Camp Liberty were formerly refugees in the United Kingdom, will my noble friend press for their immediate transfer to the UK?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
As my noble friend is aware, the situation in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is in many ways much better than that of residents in Baghdad. For example, electricity is available for 24 hours a day, as opposed to the three hours for which it is available in some parts of Baghdad. About 200 litres of water are available to residents there, when about 90 litres are available in some parts of Baghdad. My noble friend raises the very important issue of the recent death of a resident there. We share those concerns about the death of Behrooz Rahimian and have made inquiries specifically in relation to the medical assistance that he received. We are aware that there is a doctor and medical facilities on site 24 hours a day; there is also the opportunity to receive medical assistance from doctors in Baghdad. We understand that Mr Rahimian was afforded medical assistance in relation to his illness.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour)
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the new Parliament in Baghdad will be built to a British design, that UK parliamentarians, including the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, are out there helping to develop democracy and that the development of a democratic Government in Iraq to deal with the kind of issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Maginnis, is the number one priority and will be supported fully by the British Government?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I agree with much of what the noble Lord said. He will also be aware that this situation goes back many years. The group that lives in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is an organisation that originally left Iran after the Iranian revolution. Mujaheddin e Khalq, the group that is predominantly part of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, has its own history and record, and we must be incredibly careful about which members of that group we readmit to the United Kingdom.
Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that one of the problems we have is that the United Nations has not granted Camp Liberty the status of a refugee camp? It that were granted, would it not be possible to have adequate medical facilities and for water, sewerage et cetera to be resolved? At the same time, the status of Camp Ashraf could be looked at because the property of individuals is systematically being looted there, and the information the Minister has is not the information that we receive from residents of those camps.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I can assure my noble friend that about 3,000 residents of Camp Ashraf have moved to Camp Liberty. It is not a refugee camp as such; it is a place where individuals are being assessed as to the countries to which they could be relocated. Four have already come to the United Kingdom, a fifth who was offered that has decided not to come and about 52 others are being considered for coming to the United Kingdom. In relation to property at Camp Ashraf, I can assure my noble friend that about 100 residents of this group remain in Camp Ashraf specifically to sell off their property.
An Iraqi official says the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) had turned its Camp Ashraf into a base for training al-Qaeda operatives who carried out terrorist attacks against the Iraqi nation.
Head of the Security Committee of Diyala Province Meysam al-Tamimi noted that the MKO had transformed Camp Ashraf, situated about 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the border with Iran, into a training camp for al-Qaeda members when they were in charge.
He said a large amount of money and weapons was also funneled through Camp Ashraf to al-Qaeda and Salafist extremist groups to help them target Iraqis in acts of terror.
The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
The group is also known to have cooperated with Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
The MKO has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.
MEK lies silenced by U.K. Government
David Anderson (Blaydon, Labour
(
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the condition of residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty; and what representations he has made to the Iraqi Government on that matter.
Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative):
The UN visit Camp Liberty, where the majority of former residents of Camp Ashraf now live, several times a week, and report that facilities at the camp meet international humanitarian standards. For example, residents have access to electricity 24 hours a day and over 200 litres of water per person per day. This compares well to the situation for many Iraqis. I raised the situation at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty with the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Human Rights in July 2012. We continue to monitor the situation at Camps Ashraf and Liberty through our embassy in Baghdad, and to raise issues with the UN and the Government of Iraq where appropriate.
Iraqi officials announced on Sunday that they have found the bodies of a large number of Iraqi citizens and officials slain by the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) in a mass grave in MKO’s Camp Ashraf in the Northern Diyala province.
"As proofs and evidence show, the corpses of Iraq’s Shiite citizens, officials, officers, sheikhs and religious scholars have been buried in the mass grave," a high-ranking Iraqi political source said in an interview with al-Mustaqbal al-Iraq news agency.
He said that the corpses belong to the people who were killed by the MKO from 2006 to 2009.
An Iraqi official had informed in early January that several mass graves had been unearthed in Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, in the Diyala Province, which was the headquarters of the terrorist MKO before a majority of the group members were transferred to Camp Liberty around Baghdad a few months ago.
Sadeq al-Husseini, the deputy chairman of Diyala’s provincial council, added that the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights was in charge of determining the identities of the bodies and whether they were Kurds, the residents of southern provinces or from the town of Khalis in Diyala Province.
He said that the bodies were being examined in medical laboratories in Arbil Province, adding that human rights violations in the camp did not seem improbable.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988.)
Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the grouplet are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A May 2005 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 argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.
The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, 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.
Manama: Bahrain’s foreign minister has denied online reports that Manama was ready to host members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) organisation, the Iranian dissident militant group.
“The report is baseless and lacks credibility and I am not at all aware of anything related to it,” Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa told local Arabic daily Al Watan.
Websites claimed a United Nations official in the Iraqi capital Baghdad said that Bahrain had informed the US administration it was willing to host elements of the Iranian exiled opposition group currently staying in Camp Liberty, a former US base outside Baghdad, Al Watan reported on Monday.
MEK was taken off the US terror list in September after the US State Department said it had not committed terror for more than a decade.
The militant group had also complied with a US requirement that more than 3,000 of its once-armed members leave their Camp Ashraf base in the eastern province of Diyala in Iraq near the Iranian border and move to Camp Liberty.
The Iranians condemned the US decision to delist the group, saying that it was an “irresponsible move that is against the international and legal commitments of the US.”
MEK, as a guerrilla movement, fight Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1970s, but could not agree with the new Iranian regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini when it came to power in 1979.
The group ended up teaming up with Iraq to battle Iran in the 1980s and won the protection of Iraqi former leader Saddam Husain.
However, the group was disarmed after the 2003 US invasion of Iraq and had difficult relations with the new Iraqi leadership.
Habib Toumi
"The Al Khalifa regime is trying to support the terrorist MKO to suppress public protests in Bahrain and use the group in line with its objectives,” Mohammad-Saleh Jokar, a member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said on Saturday.
The Bahraini uprising against the Al Khalifa rule in the Persian Gulf island nation began in February 2011. The regime promptly launched a brutal crackdown on peaceful protests and called in Saudi-led Arab forces from neighboring states.
Jokar, however, said that neither the MKO, nor any other force can confront Bahraini people’s rightful protests.
An informed source at the UN office in Baghdad, Iraq, said earlier that Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al Khalifa had handed a message from King Hamad bin Issa Al Khalifa to US Ambassador to Manama Thomas Krajeski, announcing Bahrain’s willingness to host the group.
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and officials.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it received the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up its headquarters, Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border.
Following the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the members of the group, in several stages, were relocated to Camp Liberty near the Baghdad airport, which was a former US military site.
The group is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
Mujahedin-e Khalq organization is not complying quickly enough with the Iraq’s calls on the terrorist group to complete the move from its former military camp. So the Diyala provincial officials are giving the grouplet a new deadline to fully evacuate Camp Ashraf.
According to a report published by Habilian Association, a human rights NGO formed of the families of over 17000 Iranian terror victims, a responsible source in the town of Khalis, 50 km north of Baghdad where Camp Ashraf is located, said the officials have set the February 9, 2013, as the new deadline for MKO to withdraw all its members from the Camp Ashraf.
The source added that the Diyala Operations Command is responsible to inform the remaining elements of the MKO in this regard.
The relocation is in line with the memorandum of understanding signed on 25 December, 2011, between Iraq and United Nations to temporarily transfer members of the terrorist MKO group to a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport for the UNHCR to determine their refugee status.
So far, over 3100 of the group’s members have been transferred to their transient home in Camp Liberty. Although the Iraqi government’s patience is wearing thin and has repeatedly insisted the closure of the Camp Ashraf, about 100 of the MKO members, who were due to leave shortly, are still at the camp to “sell their property” in there.