Thousands of members of civil society organizations from across Iraq, Saturday, gathered in front of Camp Ashraf, home to more than 3400 members of the PMOI in Diyala, demanding that the Iraqi government develop mechanisms to remove the organization from Iraq.
Member of the Organization of Unity for Human Rights in Diyala, Hamid Abdul-Majid al-Obeidi, said in an interview for Alsumaria News, the Iraqi government is to "develop mechanisms to remove the Iranian MKO from Iraq because it is the main reason behind lack of security and stability in the province of Diyala".
Obeidi said that his organization had "a lot of information recorded and submitted to the security forces in Diyala, which confirms the involvement of agents of the MKO in financing and supporting al Qaeda in Diyala."
For his part, lawyer, Zia Karim said that "the leaders of the MKO at Camp Ashraf reject orders made by the Iraqi justice system for the exit of some members of the MKO from the camp at the request of their families."
Karim said that “the leaders of Camp Ashraf and in particular the head of the organisation is being asked to accept the just demands of the ones who want to leave the organisation and to allow them to leave the camp”. He stressed that, “we also demand the government of Iraq to take responsibility to implement the orders of Iraqi officials as well as the Judiciary system and uphold the rule of law in Iraq”.
The lawyer revealed, "I have more than 75 powers of attorney from the Iranian families to take their children out of Camp Ashraf, especially when the children are subjected to torture at the hands of the leaders of Camp Ashraf, because they want to get out of the camp."
He continued by saying, "I will raise a lawsuit against the leaders of Camp Ashraf, where they are accused of preventing some members of the organization from access to their legal rights and do not allow lawyers and non-governmental human rights commissions and neutral bodies to enter the camp and give those individuals the right to decide to stay or leave."
Along with a description of the representative NGOs that participated in the demonstration today in front of Camp Ashraf, Fadel Daami, emphasized the position of the Iraqi government toward the obvious need to remove the MKO from Iraq.
Daami said to Alsumaria News, "The Iraqi government’s position is clear and is not a secret that it wants to expel the members of the Organization from Iraq. He added, “there is pressure on the Iraqi government as in the case of the PKK (the Kurdish PKK in Turkey) as the existence of organized opposition cause embarrassment to the government among its neighbors."
The Iraqi forces, comprising nearly a thousand members of the army and the police force, moved into Camp Ashraf earlier this year. But members of the MKO used batons and knives to prevent Iraqi security officers from discharging their duties, which led to the outbreak of fighting and injuring about two hundred and sixty people from both sides and the arrest of twenty five members of the MKO.
Alsumaria News – translated by Iran Interlink