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Former Minister urges trial of MKO members

Former Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahrol-Oloum asked the country’s Judiciary officials to put the members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) on trial for their crimes against the Iraqi people. Former Iraqi Oil Minister Ibrahim Bahrol-Oloum

"We call on Iraq’s Judiciary to try anyone or any group who has committed a crime against the Iraqi nation," Bahrol-Oloum told FNA on Tuesday, adding that any move in this regard is considered as a positive response to the demands of the Iraqi people.

"All political groups and parties which hold power should cooperate with each other to put the criminals on trial," he underscored.

In relevant remarks in September, Iraqi Minister of Finance Baqir al-Zubaidi had strongly condemned the crimes committed by the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) against his nation, and stressed that the group’s ringleaders should stand trial before being expelled from Iraq’s soil.

"The MKO has committed many crimes in Iraq and for that reason the criminal leaders of this group should be tried before being expelled from Iraq," Zubaidi said at a meeting with Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad, the Secretary-General of Iran’s Habilian Association – a human rights group formed by the families of 17,000 terror victims in Iran.

"Before the process starts for their expulsion, Iraqi officials are required to take action on behalf of the Iraqi nation to swiftly probe and verify the crimes committed by this cult," the minister reiterated.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.

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).

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.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

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