News

Reuters:Iraq says Iranian exiles not allowed to stay

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s state security minister said on Tuesday that no Iranian exiles living in Camp Ashraf on the border with Iran would be granted asylum in Iraq, including 56 he said were wanted in Iranian courts. Iraq's state security minister said that no Iranian exiles living in Camp Ashraf would be granted asylum in Iraq

Iraqi forces last week took control of the camp on the Iranian border, home to the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) dissident group for about two decades, sparking confrontations between police and residents who fear eviction. At least seven exiles were killed in the clashes.

Iraq’s Shi’ite-led government has said it wants to close the camp and send residents to Iran or a third country, a proposal they are bitterly resisting. The dissidents fear they will be imprisoned or executed if they are sent home.

Iraqi Minister of State for National Security Shirwan al-Waeli said his country had no qualms about sending them back.

"Iraq will not give asylum (to them) as refugees in its territory and we cannot tolerate groups that cause problems in their countries of origin," Waeli said, but he declined to say when Ashraf would be shut and its 3,500 residents evicted.

Iraq, like Iran and the United States, sees the PMOI as a terrorist organization, although they surrendered most of their weapons to U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion to oust Saddam Hussein.
Iraq took formal charge of Ashraf from the U.S. military in January, under a bilateral security pact.
Some human rights groups and PMOI sympathizers in the West, who have been highly critical of the way Iraq has handled Ashraf, say closing the camp and driving residents out against their will would violate international human rights law.

"Our information says there are only 56 wanted by Iranian judicial courts and the others won’t have a problem if they go back to Iran," Waeli said.

The PMOI was given shelter in Iraq by Saddam, who fought an eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s. Iraq’s government, which includes former Saddam opponents who lived in exile in Iran, has a close relationship with Iran.

"We don’t want problems with our neighbors," Waeli said.
Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Sophie Hares

By Tim Cocks and Muhaned Mohammed

August 5, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq will not grant asylum to MKO members

Iraqi Minister of State for National Security Shirwan al-Waeli says Baghdad will not grant asylum to any Iranian living at Camp Ashraf.

Last week, Iraqi security forces stormed the camp that housed members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) and seized control of it.

The Iraqi government has declared that it wants to close the camp and send its residents to Iran or a third country.

"Iraq will not give asylum (to them) as refugees in its territory and we cannot tolerate groups that cause problems in their countries of origin," Reuters quoted Waeli as saying.

He declined to say when Camp Ashraf would be shut down and its 3,500 residents evicted.

"Our information says there are only 56 wanted by Iranian judicial courts and the others won’t have a problem if they go back to Iran," Waeli said.
"We don’t want problems with our neighbours," the Iraqi minister added.

The MKO was founded in Iran in the 1960s, but its top leadership and members fled the country in the 1980s after carrying out a series of assassinations and bombings inside the country.

The group is especially notorious in Iran because they allied with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

August 5, 2009 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Mass grave links Mojahedin Khalq to Kuwait invasion

A mass grave discovered in the headquarters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization in Iraq casts light on the crimes the terrorists committed during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.

Police officials in the Iraqi province of Diyalah said Sunday that the mass graves contained Kuwaiti nationals who had fallen victim to the Ba’ath regime’s seven month-long invasion of Kuwait.

“We have been informed that a mass grave has been found in Camp Ashraf. Of course we knew there was a graveyard in the MKO headquarters, but we had thought that it was a place of burial for MKO members,” said Abdulhussein al-Shemri, a local police commander.

If confirmed, the reports would expose MKO complicity in Saddam Hussein’s war on Kuwait, which killed more than 3,664 Iraqis and 1,000 Kuwaitis

MKO leaders are said to have kept the mass grave a secret so far by refusing the entry of Iraqi forces into their base.

The grisly discovery came at a time when scores of regional correspondents were granted a permit by the Iraqi government to prepare a report from Camp Ashraf, where MKO dissidents were stationed for more than two decades.

The incident, however, prompted Iraqi officials to withdraw the permits and prohibit the journalists from conducting video reports from the site.

The MKO is the most hated grouplet among both the Iranian and the Iraqi nations, and suffers from total unpopularity in these two countries.

The Mujahedin Khalq Organization, which blended elements of Marxism and Stalinism, was founded in Iran in the 1960s but was exiled some twenty years later over of terrorism.

The group masterminded a torrent of terrorist operations inside Iran, one of which was the 1981 bombing of the offices of the Islamic Republic Party, in which more than 72 Iranian officials were killed.

A 2007 German intelligence report from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has identified the MKO as a "repressive, sect-like and Stalinist authoritarian organization which centers around the personality cult of [MKO leaders] Maryam and Masoud Rajavi".

August 4, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Iraqi Politician Hails Seizure of MKO Camp by Baghdad Gov’t

The Iraqi security forces’ move to seize the training camp of the anti-Iran terrorist group, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), was "legal and accords with the international rules and conventions", an Iraqi politician said Sunday.

"Seizure of Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi army and security forces was a legal move and in accordance with the international rules and conventions," Forat al-Shar, A member of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), told FNA.

"The MKO has conducted illegal acts inside the camp and this is not acceptable to the Iraqi nation," Shar underlined.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – on Tuesday and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

Earlier on Friday, Political Adviser of the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Mohsen al-Hakim told FNA that UN Security Council’s 1773 and 1816 resolutions as well as other international conventions have underlined the need for the expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq.
Fora’t al-Shar further rejected any extension of the MKO’s stay on the Iraqi, and added, "If MKO members want to stay in Iraq they should not commit acts against the Iraqi nation’s will and the country’s laws."

"If they want to go outside the country or come back to Iran, there are no barriers in this regard," the SIIC official told FNA.
He underlined that the Iraqi nation is unlikely to accept presence of the terrorist group inside the country for a long time, given the crimes committed by them against the Iraqi nation.
The Iraqi government has set a month-long deadline for members of the MKO to leave Iraqi soil.

"Members of the MKO at Camp of New Iraq (Camp Ashraf) have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq. The organization members should either return to Iran or seek asylum in a third country," Diyala province’s Police Chief Major General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told reporters on Saturday.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. The Iraqi government and parliament has announced that it would not tolerate the group anymore and is seeking to expel the group from the country in the near future.

The anti-Iran terror group has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many international entities and countries.
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 camp 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 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.

The MKO was put on the US terror list in 1997 by the then President, Bill Clinton, but since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group has been strongly backed by the Washington Neocons, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

August 4, 2009 0 comments

Members of the MEK

35 Iranian dissidents sent to Baghdad for questioning

Thirty-five Iranian dissidents arrested by Iraqi security forces during a takeover of their base were transferred to Baghdad for questioning on Sunday, a senior Iraqi official told AFP.

"Today, 35 of the people arrested at Camp Ashraf were moved to Baghdad for questioning," said the official in Diyala province’s security operations centre.

A spokesman for the People’s Mujahedeen group, whose Camp Ashraf base was stormed by Iraqi security forces on Tuesday, said 36 residents had been arrested, of whom 32 had been sent to provincial capital Baquba, with the whereabouts of four still unknown.

Mujahedeen spokesman Shahriar Kia in a statement repeated allegations that Baghdad’s actions were being carried out at Tehran’s behest.

Eleven residents of Camp Ashraf have died since Iraqi forces stormed the site on Tuesday, an Iraqi security official has said, although the Mujahedeen say 12 have been killed. Camp Ashraf, in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, is home to 3,500 People’s Mujahedeen members and their families.

The People’s Mujahedeen, a Marxist and Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime which took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against the Tehran government. Amnesty International, meanwhile, has "called on the Iraqi government to investigate the excessive use of force by its security forces."

August 4, 2009 0 comments

Members of the MEK

36 MKO members arrested in Iraq

Iraqi police have arrested 36 members of the Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) after clashes erupted between MKO operatives and security forces in Camp Ashraf.

The clashes broke out after Iraqi security forces on Tuesday took over the camp which was run by the terrorist group for almost two decades.

The skirmish left seven camp residents dead and many others wounded. Police said the seven were killed after they threw themselves under police vehicles.

The arrests were confirmed by Abdul Nassir al-Mehdawi, governor of Diyala province.

"Their cases are being investigated now. They are being charged with inciting trouble," he said. "We will deal with them according to Iraqi law; we won’t send them back to Iran."
MKO members were under US protection after the 2003 invasion of Iraq but the country formally took control of Camp Ashraf in January.

The organization which is blacklisted as a terrorist group by the US was given shelter by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the 1980s. It actively participated in Saddam’s oppression of Iraqi people, including the Kurdish minority.

The Iraqi government has declared that it would no longer allow MKO members to stay in Iraq and they had to return to Iran or go to a third country.

August 4, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq gives MKO a month to leave

The Iraqi government has set a month-long deadline for members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to leave Iraqi soil. Members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) at Camp of New Iraq have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq.

"Members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) at Camp of New Iraq have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq. The organization members should either return to Iran or seek asylum in a third country," Diyala province’s Police Chief Major General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told reporters on Saturday.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s northern Diyala province since the 1980s when the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein dedicated Camp Ashraf – now called Camp of New Iraq — to host the anti-Iran terrorist group.

Iraqi authorities changed Camp Ashraf’s name to Camp of New Iraq on the wake of a two-day Iraqi security force raid on the site. Seven Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization members were confirmed dead and dozens of others were detained.

The MKO, which identifies itself as a Marxist-Islamist guerilla army, was founded in Iran in the 1960s.The terror group was exiled twenty years later for carrying out numerous acts of terrorism within the country and targeting Iranian government officials and civilians within the country and abroad.

The MKO is especially notorious for the help it extended to former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988), and also helped the Iraqi dictator spill the blood of many Iraqi citizens who were critical of Saddam’s regime.

The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by various countries, including the US and Canada, as well as international entities.

August 3, 2009 0 comments

Members of the MEK

Iraqi official : MKO has no choice but leaving Iraq

Baghdad, IRNA – “Iraqi Diala Province Police chief said that members of Mojahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) in ‘New Iraq Camp’ (formerly Ashraf Camp) has no choice but leaving Iraq.

Major General Abdolhossein Shommari told IRNA on Saturday in the city of Baaghoobe, capital of Diala province, that the committee for investigation of ‘New Iraq Camp’ dossier has determined a one-month deadline for them ( members of MKO) to depart Iraq, and they have to decide on either returning to their homeland (Iran) or leaving for a third country.

August 3, 2009 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Mass grave found in Camp Ashraf

According to confirmed reports reflected in the Iraqi media, a mass grave containing victims of Saddam Hussein’s regime during the war against Kuwait in 1991 was found in Ashraf garrison, the base of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization, in the Diyala province in Iraq.

Iraqi media reports also reflected the joy of the inhabitants of the Diyala province that the Iraqi government has imposed its rule over what was described as the "camp housing the terrorist MKO". The Iraqi people have suffered greatly from the terrorist group for its collaboration with the ousted Saddam’s notorious regime and are demanding the expulsion of the terrorist group from Iraqi territory.

August 3, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Al Rubaie : No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan

Iraq National Security Adviser: No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan

Iraqi National Security Adviser Dr. Muwaffaq al Rubaie denied that there were any plans to Iraq National Security Adviser: No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan transfer members of the Iranian opposition movement Mujahideen-e-Khalq based in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, to Pakistan.

“The US forces considered the idea when they were responsible for the security situation in Iraq since the US administration wanted to put them in confrontation with Iran there. But now the Iraqi government is responsible for their conditions and for Camp Ashraf,” Rubaie told Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone from Baghdad.

Al Rubaie stressed that “Iraq is committed to international conventions and to the American administration that it will preserve the security and wellbeing of those present in Camp Ashraf. We will not force them to leave Iraq.” He added, “It is their right to choose whether to return to Iran – on the condition that Iran promises not to punish them – or to go to a third country.”

A leading figure from the Mujahideen-e-Khalq movement spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity and said that this information is “unfounded.” He said, “This is merely leaked news, the aim of which is to discredit the historical decision of Mujahideen-e-Khalq that it was willing to return to the country [Iran] on the condition that fundamental rights could be guaranteed by international parties.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday, “Although the US government remains engaged and concerned about this issue, it is a matter now for the government of Iraq to resolve in accordance with its laws.”

She stressed that the Iraqi government must uphold commitments to protect those living in Camp Ashraf and not hand them over to “any country where such a transfer might result in the mistreatment or the death of that person based on their political affiliation and activities.”
Baghdad: Rahma al Salim, Washington: Mina al Oraibi

August 3, 2009 0 comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts