Disgruntled members of Iranian terrorist group "Mojahedin Khalq" (MKO) based in Iraq have been staging sporadic riots in their ‘Camp Ashraf’ base complaining of forced stay in the camp.
Discontent members of the terror group, which colluded with Iraq’s late dictator Saddam Hussein in his eight-year aggression against Iran, have been complaining of poor conditions in the camp and their lack of access to outside and family members, ISNA reports Sunday, quoting a website operated by families of Iranian terror victims.
They have recently been subjected to tight control and increased pressure by the camp’s leaders for any signs of revolt or discontent. Camp residents are not even allowed to leave the camp for medical reasons.
In the past three month, several MKO members have reportedly escaped from the camp to join family members of those trapped inside the camp.
The family members have been waiting in the vicinity of the camp hoping to hear from or gain access to their loved ones.
According to the report, there have been increased instances of writing anti-MKO slogans on walls and even distribution of flyers critical of senior MKO leaders within the camp.
Originally established in the 1960’s as a group opposing the rule of the US-backed regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, some MKO members changed course after the Islamic Revolution in 1978 and opposed the establishment of an Islamic Republic. After conducting numerous major terror operations and bombings against Iranian officials and civilians loyal to the government, most members of the group escaped the country facing wide-spread public wrath.
Eventually, the group colluded with Iraq’s dictator Saddam Hussein in his war against Iran and was allowed to establish Camp Ashtaf near Iran’s western border to assist Saddam in his war effort and also lead an insurgency against the Islamic rule in Iran.
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Riots Break Out at MKO Camp in Iraq
TEHRAN (FNA)- Reports coming out from the main training camp of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization in northern Iraq said that a large number of MKO’s deprecating members started riots and angry protests to end their forced presence in Camp Ashraf.
According to a report by the Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, the MKO leaders have increased their pressures and control over the members of the terrorist group to prevent possible defection and escape by unsatisfied members.
Reports also said that all exit and entry doors have been locked and none of the members, even those suffering from acute disease and illness, is allowed to leave the camp – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad.
MKO ringleaders have ordered the camp guards to stage snap inspections of the group’s members and their personal belongings under the pretext of finding the lost weapons.
Such behaviors have sparked discontent among a number of MKO members and made them escape the camp and return to their anguished families during the last 3 months.
Earlier this year, Iraqi security forces took control of Camp Ashraf and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group. The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.
Some other ranking members of the MKO who have had a role in the assassination of a large number of Iranian citizens and officials are currently living in France.
The group started assassination of Iranian citizens and officials after the Islamic 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.
Many of the MKO members have 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.
Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.
The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi — the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.
Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.
He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in the western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.
Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in western states and blocks their departure afterwards.