New defections in anti-Iran group Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization. Some former members of the MKO give us some insight into what is happening in the group which is designated terrorist by much of the international community
Three defected members of the terrorist group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have given an account of their ordeal during their stay at Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
The spokesperson of the Iraqi defense ministry, General Mohammed al-Askari, said in a Tuesday press conference in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad that the three former MKO members escaped from Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group’s headquarters in Iraq, and surrendered to the Iraqi security forces, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The official said that the defected members have provided the Iraqi government with the evidence required to shut down the camp according to the international laws.
The former members of the terrorist group say the residents of Camp Ashraf are completely cut off from the outside world, and are tortured and traumatized, but are also afraid to escape.
Having lived in misery and under pressure for many years, Maryam Sanjabi, one of the MKO deserters, surrendered herself to the Iraqi forces deployed near the camp last week.
“None of the residents of Camp Ashraf have the right to contact their families… The only thing that can separate a member from the MKO is death,” she said.
“The leaders of the camp have spent millions of dollars to train the residents of the camp how to launch attacks and even encounter the Iraqi security forces,” Sanjabi added.
Another former MKO member, Abdullatif Shadvari, who escaped from the camp two months ago, earlier said, “The punishment of those who try to escape from Camp Ashraf… is execution.”
On April 8, 34 people were reportedly killed in clashes between Iraqi security forces and MKO members residing in Camp Ashraf in Diyala province.
Iraqi forces say there is evidence that the people have been killed by the organization itself.
On April 11, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the cabinet is determined to shut down the camp.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraqi executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up Camp Ashraf in the eastern province of Diyala near the Iranian border.
More than 3,000 MKO members are residing at the camp. In addition, the MKO sends elements to Iran on spy and terrorist missions.
The organization is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.
Following the overthrow of Saddam in 2003, the Iraqi government has set numerous deadlines for the terrorist group to leave the country but MKO has managed to maintain its base due to US backing.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, and is responsible for numerous terrorist acts against both Iranians and Iraqis.
Iran has repeatedly called on the Iraqi government to expel the group, but the US has been blocking its expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government against such a move.
Download Ex-MKO members recount ordeal in Iraq
Iraqi security forces say they have managed to discover a hidden munitions depot inside the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization’s (MKO) Camp Ashraf in Diyala province north of Baghdad.
Local officials say that US troops had earlier claimed that they disarmed the MKO terrorists in the camp but that has turned out to be no true, it seemed that was not true, a Press TV correspondent reported Monday.
Camp Ashraf served for years as the armed training base for MKO members and provided the Iranian terrorist group with a massive shelter by former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein,
The Mayor of Al-Khalis, where the camp is located, displayed photos of the weapons discovered in the terrorist camp and said that they were buried inside the Ashraf camp.
“Finding light and heavy weapons inside camp in a buried arsenal means they intend to attack the security forces,” Al-Khalis Mayor Oday al-Khadran said.
Meanwhile, Diayala police chief said that MKO leaders had claimed that they have already handed over 17,000 pieces of weaponry to American troops since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
“If the MKO had 17,000 pieces of weapons then how many hidden weapons do they have now? We confirmed that they attacked us with knives and tear gas,” Diyala Police chief Abdul Hussein Damouk said.
Recently, MKO claimed that the Iraqi security forces killed more than 34 of its members in the group’s latest clashes with Iraqi troops in April. However, AFP reported that only 10 terrorists were killed.
Iraqi officials say the clashes erupted when members of the camp began hurling stones and attacking security forces with knives and other weapons while they were carrying out their field duties.
Two days after the clashes, the Iraqi defense ministry held a press conference inside the camp to show that MKO claims were baseless.
Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the group has received backing from a number of US lawmakers who continue to argue that the MKO terror group should be removed from the US international list of groups that support terrorism.
However, in line with the new Iraqi constitution, Baghdad government has vowed that it is determined to expel MKO terrorists from Iraq by the end of 2011.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh has recently said that the cabinet is determined to shut down the Camp and disband the terrorist group.
Most MKO terrorists fled Iran after they carried out a large number of terrorist assassinations and bombings in1980. They formally settled in Iraq in 1986, enjoying full support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
The MKO is responsible for numerous acts of terror against Iranian civilians and government officials as well as many Iraqi civilians that opposed the rule of the country’s last brutal dictator.
More than 3,000 MKO members reside at Camp Ashraf. In addition to cooperating with US operatives in Iraq, the MKO reportedly dispatches its elements from the terror camp to Iran to carry out espionage and terrorist operations for some Western countries.Download Iraq unveils MKO’s hidden weaponry
MKO attacks Iraqi security forces
Members of the Mujahedin Khalgh Organization and Iraqi security forces clashed in the central province of Diyala on Friday.
Clashes erupted when Iraqi security forces began to return some of the land that was confiscated by Saddam Hussein to setup the MKO camp. Officials say, members of the camp began hurling stones and attacking the security forces with knives and other weapons as they were carrying out their duty.
According to the spokesperson of the Iraqi defense ministry,
The commander of the Iraqi infantry forces warned the MKO that if they continue to incite violence then they will face strong reaction.
The Iraqi soldiers who were wounded in the clashes say the MKO members had been hurling stones at them for the last two days, and that the attacks against them were unprovoked.
The original owners of the lands had been urging the Iraqi government for some time now to get rid of the camp and its residents and to return the lands back to its rightful owners.
The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, and is responsible for numerous terrorist acts against both Iranian and Iraqi civilians.
Iraqis have repeatedly called on the government to expel the group, but as observers say, the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.
Wisam al-Bayati, Diyala
Download MKO attacks Iraqi security forces
People in Iraq’s Diyala province organized a protest in front of Camp Ashraf where the Mojahedin-Khalq Organization or MKO members are residing.
Iraqis have been urging the government to deport the MKO members for a long time now…
Most Iraqis jeer at the MKO and are concerned about its secret terrorist plots and other illegal activities. So mush so that, in everyday conversations, Iraqis describe the MKO’s presence in their country as a chronic disease.
Some important figures turned out for the protest including tribal leaders, clerics and local government officials.
Protesters shouted,”leave our country”, and carried placards with anti-MKO slogans to express their intolerance towards the presence of a terrorist group that they say has caused so much trouble in their country.
The tribal leaders want the government to respect public demands and expel the MKO once and for all.
Some Local officials accuse the west of influencing the Iraqi government to let the MKO stay in Iraq.
MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. It’s been blacklisted as a terrorist group by most countries in the world.
Many accuse the MKO of murdering Iraqi civilians during the 1991 uprisings and so helping Saddam Hussain stay in power.
The group is widely frowned upon in the region for having sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 war against Iran.
Wisam al-BayatiDownload Iraqis continue to protest Mojahedin Khalq camp
These people have come together to discuss the legality of the presence of the terrorist group of Mujahedin Khalgh Organization on their soil.
In this gathering organized by the Iraqi Tribal Council, many Iraqi officials, tribal leaders and ordinary people voiced their support for the tribes that are calling for expulsion of the organization from their country.
They also reminded the Iraqi policy makers of what they called the crimes committed by MKO against the Iraqi citizens under Saddam regime.
After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops disarmed MKO members based at the training base of the terrorist group at Camp Ashraf — about 60km north of Baghdad. There are many in Iraq saying that despite the disbarment, the US and its allies delay evacuation of the camp.
The United States, Canada, Iraq and Iran have all designated the MKO as a terrorist organization.
The group is especially notorious in Iran for siding with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
Iraqi security forces took control of the camp, housing 3,500 people, on July 28.
Wisam al-Bayati, BaghdadDownload Iraqi Council discusses MKO camp Ashraf
After one year families of MKO hostages in Camp Ashraf refuse to go away
Zionist-backed Mojahedin-e Khalq revert to type. The families of MEK cult members held hostage in Camp Ashraf are subjected to violent attacks by Massoud Rajavi’s Special Guard. The cult enclave is surrounded by the families of the people inside who are asking to have contact with their loved ones. The worst fear of Rajavi is for his cult members to have contact with the outside world.
Over the past few months the families have begun approaching the fence all around the camp perimeter trying to engage with the members inside and talk with them.
Now, in order to prevent them from contacting the ordinary members, Rajavi has introduced an extra security system to try to force them back. Undaunted the families continue to approach the fence and engage with the MEK’s security force.
The systematic nature of the security patrol is clear. The MEK have introduced extra lookout posts around the perimeter mounted on trucks. There are also mobile patrols which travel the perimeter road watching for the families. When the patrols discover the families approaching, the MEK security forces are mobilised. These forces are organised. They do not engage with the families but are immediately hostile. They quickly escalate the encounter from aggressively shouting at the families to go away and swearing at them, to throwing stones and using catapults to launch missiles (some of them made of metal scraps). This is not a spontaneous reaction but is a deliberate action to prevent the families getting close to the perimeter.
It is notable that the perimeter fence has been added to with the extension facing inward and the barbed wire all on the inside. This is clearly designed to keep people in rather than prevent anyone outside from entering the camp. It should be plain from this that Camp Ashraf has become a prison for the ordinary members.Download Rajavi deploys his Special Guard to attack families with catapults
The film shows an Iraqi soldier going to investigate an encounter at one of the boundaries of the camp. The two men on this side of the fence are, an MEK member (in buff jacket) who managed to escape the camp only several months ago, and an Iraqi Farsi translator (in black jacket and holding walkie talkie). The MEK member inside the camp is angrily gesticulating and shouting at the two outside telling them to go away and starts throwing stones.
Over the past few months the families have begun approaching the fence all around the camp perimeter trying to engage with the members inside and talk with them. In order to prevent them from contacting the ordinary members, Rajavi has introduced an extra security system to try to force them back. Undaunted the families continue to approach the fence and engage with the MEK’s security force.
The systematic nature of the security patrol is clear. The MEK have introduced extra lookout posts around the perimeter mounted on trucks. There are also mobile patrols which travel the perimeter road watching for the families. When the patrols discover the families approaching, the MEK security forces are mobilised. These forces are organised. They do not engage with the families but are immediately hostile. They quickly escalate the encounter from aggressively shouting at the families to go away and swearing at them, to throwing stones and using catapults to launch missiles (some of them made of metal scraps). This is not a spontaneous reaction but is a deliberate action to prevent the families getting close to the perimeter.
It is notable that the perimeter fence has been added to with the extension facing inward and the barbed wire all on the inside. This is clearly designed to keep people in rather than prevent anyone outside from entering the camp. It should be plain from this that Camp Ashraf has become a prison for the ordinary members.
Download Ex member encounters a MKO security unit in camp Ashraf
Approaching anniversary of picket to demand family contact with Rajavi’s hostages in Camp Ashraf,Iraqi citizens join with families
… thousands of Iraqi people including prominent Iraqi dignitaries, heads of tribes, reporters and journalists gathered in front of the gates of camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) to protest the presence of the military garrison of Rajavi cult (Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI). This popular gathering showed the anger of the people of Iraq against the presence of the terrorist cult backed by the US forces still present in the country. The gathering came under attack by the brainwashed members of the Mojahedin Khalq who threw stones using specially made equipment for launching them. The act resulted in the injury of some of the participants including Dr. Nafe the head of …
Download Iraqi citizens join with families picket demanding contact with Rajavi hostages
People in Iraq’s Diyala province organized a protest in front of Camp Ashraf where the Mujahidin Khalq organization or MKO members are residing.
The protesters who had come from Basra, Tekrit, Baghdad and Diyala called for the expulsion of the terrorist group from Iraq whose presence they said was a source of instability and a cause of
concern for their country. Tribal leaders, clerics and local officials were among those who had taken part in the protest.
The Iranian relatives of some MKO members also joined the protesters, to ask for the release of their family members who are said to be held inside the camp against their will. According to a Human Rights Watch report, the group puts defectors under torture or in jail.
In response to the protest, the MKO members gathered behind the safety of barbed wire, hurling stones and insults at the protesters.
Iraqis accuse the organization of involvement in the killing of their compatriots during the rule of former dictator Saddam Hussein.
Meanwhile the Iranian families praised the initiative taken by the Iraqi citizens who gathered at camp Ashraf to make their concerns heard, saying that those countries supporting the MKO should rethink their stance towards the group.
MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the mid 1980s and was part of Saddam Hussein’s war against Iran during that period. The group which is listed as a terrorist group by Tehran and much of the international community is especially notorious in Iran for having sided with former Iraqi dictator during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.
After a recent meeting with the caretaker of Iranian foreign ministry in Baghdad , Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari expressed hope that his country would expel the group in the future.
Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, US troops disarmed the MKO members at the camp to hand over control of the place to the Iraqi security forces in 2009.
Wisam al-Bayati, Diyala