News

Russian expert: Europe using terrorism for political purposes

IRNA, Moscow- A Russian scholar said the European Union (EU) manipulated such issues as terrorism and human rights for its own political purposes.
Talking to IRNA here on Saturday, Ludmila Kulagina, as a top researcher in the Russian Institute of Oriental Studies, criticized the recent EU move in removing the terrorist Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) form its terrorism list.
She said the move was a clear example of the double-standard policy adopted by the west on the issue of terrorism and frankly undermined the EU claim of fighting terrorism.

She believed the west treated such issues as terrorism and human rights in a biased and fanatical manner based on the double-standard policies inspired by its political interests.
Saying that certain western countries labeled organizations as terrorists according to their own whims and wishes, she said such a policy was clearly manifested in their behavior towards Hamas which was rejected by the west as a terrorist movement despite the fact that it assumed power in Palestine following a democratic election.
Referring to countless terrorist operations carried out by the terrorist MKO in both Iran and Iraq during the past three decades that claimed numerous lives, she stressed the EU’s delisting of the terrorist MKO lacked any legal or rational justifications.
Kulagina noted that the EU’s move, who delisted the terrorist organization instead of punishing it for the crimes it has committed, served the merely political purpose of fueling the tension between Iran and the US and some European countries by strengthening Iran’s opponents.
She said such a decision by the EU would negatively affect Iran-Europe ties.

February 15, 2009 0 comments

UK mindful on MEK history

David Lidington (Shadow Minister, Foreign Affairs; Aylesbury, Conservative) To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what the Government’s policy towards the People’s Mojahedin of Iran is in the light of we remain mindful of the MeK's history as an organisation responsible for a number of serious terrorist attacks—it claimed responsibility for large numbers of violent attacks inside Iran the recent judgment by the European Court of First Instance.

Bill Rammell (Minister of State, Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Harlow, Labour) | Hansard source

On 26 January 2009, taking account of the judgment by the Court of First Instance on 4 December 2008, the General Affairs and External Relations Council adopted a list which did not include the MeK (Mojahedin-e-Khalq, also known as the People’s Mojaheddin of Iran).

However, we remain mindful of the MeK’s history as an organisation responsible for a number of serious terrorist attacks—it claimed responsibility for large numbers of violent attacks inside Iran for a number of years, including 96 in a three-month period in early 2001. We do not agree with its claim that it represents a credible democratic opposition in exile.
10 Feb 2009 : Column 1846W
Written answers | Hansard source
Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

February 14, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Mojahedin Khalq outraged at Iraq’s trial decision

A front man for the MKO has protested against Iraq’s decision to bring to trial the leaders of the terrorist group, calling it ‘illegal’.
Alireza Jafarzadeh, a top member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization, appeared on the Fox news TV channel after the Iraqi government promised prosecution for certain leaders of the group.
Jafarzadeh said Baghdad made the decision as it was under pressure from the government in Tehran.
In a Press TV program aired on Tuesday, Iraq’s National security Advisor, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said the members of the MKO who had committed crimes against Iraqi civilians had to stand trial in Iraqi courts.
“Iran is prepared to provide legal evidence against these people and is prepared for their trial in Iraq by the Iraqi judicial system,” the Iraqi official said.
“We are going to do this in a humane way. We are going to stick and adhere to all international laws and regulations,” he said, adding that Iran was prepared to respect the court order on the MKO members.
The Iraqi government has vowed to expel the members of the group to their country Iran or send them to a third country, maintaining ‘staying in Iraq is not an option for them’.
Iran has long called for the expulsion of MKO members from their headquarters and training center, Camp Ashraf, in Iraq.
Tehran says the members of the group who have not participated in the organization’s terrorist activities are allowed to return home but others have to stand trial in Iran or outside the country.
Several members of the group have now defected from the organization and returned to Iran.
The MKO, blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many international entities and countries including the US, is responsible for numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as Iraqi people at the time of former dictator Saddam Hussein.

February 14, 2009 0 comments

Iran

MKO too weak to create problems for Iran

Iranian Intelligence Minister: MKO too weak to create problems for Iran
Intelligence Minister underlining his affiliated ministry’s capability to monitor Mojaheddin Khalq Organization (MKO) activities inside or outside Iran, said that MKO is too weak to create any problem for the country.

In a ceremony here Monday evening, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejeie told IRNA that both the intelligence and the foreign affairs ministries are monitoring MKO’s moves inside and outside of Iran’s international borders.

Regarding providing security for the presidential election period, the minister noted, "we are closely monitoring all events in a bid to prevent any move against country’s security.

Replying to a question about the latest situation of espionage and groups seeking to overthrow the Islamic system, the intelligence minister said that their dossiers are under survey at courts of justice.

ISRIA

February 12, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Rajavi gang is begging foreign forces to save them

Rabbani: Rajavi gang is begging foreign forces to save them
Iranian envoy to Qatar interviewed on ties, relations with US, Hamas

Doha Al-Sharq Online in Arabic on 10 February carries an interview with Iranian Ambassador to Qatar Muhammad Tahir Rabbani entitled: "Gas Forum is a Clear Example of the Qatari-Iranian Cooperation to Regulate the Energy Market in the World," conducted by Taha Husayn. The interview discusses several issues related to the economy of Iran, Iranian-US relations, and bilateral relations with Qatar

..Concerning the question on ignoring the role of the powers that participated in the revolution such as Mujahedin-e-Khalq , Rabbani says that the political struggle against the former regime was coloured by cultural and peaceful characteristics which differ from the other political trends which resolved to weapons, killing innocents, and assassinating the figures of the Islamic regime. Rabbani notes that "the terrorist hypocritical gang [REFERENCE to Mujahedin-e-Khalq] did not once, neither by words or deeds, show faith in the principles of the revolution. They never yielded to the will of the Iranian people." He adds that this "terrorist gang" participated with Saddam in his war against its own people and in the war against the Sunnah and Shi’i in Kurdistan and the southern Iraqi cities. He goes on to say that "this gang is now begging the foreign forces to save them and keep them alive." ..

Source: Al-Sharq website, Doha, in Arabic 10 Feb 09 – Translated by:BBC Monitoring Middle East

http://al-sharq.com

February 12, 2009 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq stands by anti-MKO drive

Iraq says it is standing by a decision to shut down Camp Ashraf and end the terrorist Mujehedin Khalq Organization’s presence on Iraqi soil.
"MKO members who are residing in Camp Ashraf (inside Iraq) should either leave Iraq for Iran or a third country because they won’t be granted permission to stay in Iraq," Iraq’s National security Advisor, Mowaffak Al-Rubaie said in a televised interview with Al-Alam TV network on Sunday.
"The expulsion of MKO members would be conducted in accordance with human and Islamic criteria as well as Iraqi and International law," he added.
The Iraqi government took over the security of the Camp Ashraf following the finalization of the Iraqi-US security agreement. Under the agreement, the security of the MKO headquarter, was put under Iraqi control as of Jan 1, 2009.
Baghdad holds MKO responsible for instigating violence and acts of terror inside Iraq. The government has decided to extradite the MKO members from the Islamic Republic should they decline to leave Iraq.
The Mujahedin Khalq Organization was blacklisted across the Europe. However, on January 26, 2009 the European Union voted to remover the MKO terrorist group from its black list. The MKO is still considered as terror-sponsoring group in the United States.
According to Al-Rubaie Iraq has so far issued arrest warrants for 14 MKO members over criminal charges inside or outside Iraq.
"According to Iraq’s constitution MKO is considered as a terrorist group due to the crimes it committed against the Iraqi people in 1991, no matter how hard the European countries or other states try to strike the organization off the list of terrorist groups," the Iraqi official maintained.

February 11, 2009 0 comments

UK still views MKO as terrorist group: Miliband

Berlin, Feb 8 – British Foreign Secretary David Miliband made clear his country’s position on the terrorist nature of the MKO grouplet had not changed, despite the European Union’s controversial decision to remove the MKO from the terror list, IRNA reported.
Meeting with Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani on the sidelines of the 45th Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Miliband said, the position of the British government on the terrorist group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization, remains unchanged.
Miliband’s latest comments on the MKO came in the wake of earlier statements by Larijani who in his address to the Munich security confab on Friday voiced outrage over the West’s harboring of known terrorist groups, alluding to European countries providing safe haven to the MKO.
The MKO has been involved in the mass killings of thousands of innocent Iranians over the past 30 years.
Furthermore, the Israeli-backed MKO terror grouplet had also collaborated with the former Saddam regime, massacring tens of thousands of Iraqi Kurds and Shias.

February 9, 2009 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Joint committees formed to receive Ashraf Camp detainees

Iraq: Joint committees formed to receive Ashraf Camp detainees from Multinational Forces to close the file

Baghdad Al-Iraqiyah Television in Arabic reports in its 1700 gmt newscast on 5 February on the preliminary results of the provincial council elections. The channel also reports on a meeting between the finance minister and the Japanese ambassador in Baghdad, a meeting between the defence minister and the UN representative in Iraq, a meeting of the committee in charge of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization’s presence in Iraq, and other political developments.

– "Finance Minister Engineer Baqir Jabr al-Zubaydi has hailed the Japanese Government’s support through giving Iraq a $3.5-billion loan, which will contribute to the entry of Japanese companies to Iraq to implement important projects in the fields of power, water, roads, and other reconstruction projects. This came during Al-Zubaydi’s meeting with Japanese Ambassador to Iraq Shoji Ogawa."

– "Defence Minister Abd-al-Qadir Muhammad Jasim received Ambassador Staffan de Mistura, representative of the UN secretary general, today. The two sides discussed the success achieved by the Iraqi security forces in securing the provincial council elections. The two sides also discussed the means of providing protection for the UN mission in Iraq after the withdrawal of the US troops."

– "The committee in charge of ending the presence of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization [MKO] in Iraq has held a periodic meeting under National Security Adviser Dr Muwaffaq al-Rubay’i and in the presence of the minister of human rights and the US ambassador to Iraq. Al-Rubay’i stressed the need to expel this organization from Iraq. He noted that the government’s decision to close the Ashraf Camp and expel those living in it is irreversible. He stressed the need for the international community’s cooperation with Iraq to resolve this issue through renewing asylum permits to the organization’s members who were issued such permits in the past by European and other countries. He called on these countries to study the possibility of giving asylum permits to other members of the organization."

– "Human Rights Minister Wijdan Salim has said that the file of detainees in Iraq will be closed within the next six months. She said that joint committees have been formed to receive the detainees from the Multinational Force to close this file."

– "The security forces in the Ninawa Governorate have released 151 detainees who were not convicted of involvement in terrorist actions in Iraq."
Al-Iraqiyah TV, Baghdad, in Arabic, 6 February 2009
Translated by: BBC Monitoring Middle East

February 8, 2009 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

EU delisted MKO to manipulate it

An Iranian parliamentarian said Friday that the European Union (EU) delisted the terrorist Mojahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO) only to exploit it in line with its own interests. Member of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Javad Jahangirzadeh said the members of the terrorist MKO will continue to serve their new European masters just the way they did for the toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq for a long time.
He said the MKO members will certainly try to stir unrest and make anti-revolutionary moves inside Iran but to no avail.
He predicted that soon the EU will brand the grouplet as a freedom-fighter and try to increase its support for it.
The parliamentarian termed the EU move in removing the MKO from its list of terrorist organizations as an explicit gesture of animosity with Iran.
Noting that the Europeans, too, like Iranian nation, detested the terrorist grouplet, Jahangirzadeh said delisting MKO stands in strong contrast with Europe’s claims of supporting human rights.
He opined that the EU made the decision under influence of the US and Zionist lobbies.

February 8, 2009 0 comments

Iraq

Arrest warrants for 14 top MKO terrorist Leaders

Official: Baghdad soon to close MKO file He went on to say that Iraqi courts have issued arrest warrants for 14 MKO members.
Iraqi National Security Advisor Muvafaq al-Rubai said here Friday that Iraqi government will in next few months close dossier of the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO).
“The MKO is a terrorist group and a cancerous tumor in Iraq; The crimes and sins the group has committed are evident and well-documented. Several thousand Iraqi citizens have fallen victims of the terrorist organization and we have provable evidence, that we will submit them to Iraqi courts,” said al-Rubai in an exclusive interview with IRNA.
He said the MKO was stationed in Iraq by former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and contrary to then regulations in Iraq, getting involved in suppression of Iraqi people’s Intifadha in 1991 and massacre of Kurds and Shiites.
He added that after formation of popular government of Iraq, the MKO has taken provocative moves against legal government of the country over recent years.
He went on to say that Iraqi courts have issued arrest warrants for 14 MKO members.
On removal of the MKO from Europe’s list of terrorist organizations, he said the MKO case is complicated and the European courts have thus far removed the outfit from the terrorism list and re-entered them into the list three times.
He said that the MKO will soon be put in the EU terrorist list.
“We have asked the EU to contribute to settlement of problem with the MKO and their exit from Iraq; we have recently discussed the issue with ambassadors of the countries and they have vowed to cooperate.”

February 7, 2009 0 comments

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