Countdown for MKO Departure from Iraq

Albania to take in members of MEK

The Albanian government said on Saturday the Balkan country was ready to take in 210 members of an Iranian opposition group who currently live at a former US military base in Iraq.

"The government is ready to accommodate in Albania, for humanitarian reasons, 210 members of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran", or the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), Prime Minister Sali Berisha said in a statement.

Albania will take in the Iranians, who currently live at Camp Liberty near Baghdad, following demands of both the US authorities and the United Nations, he said.

The UN envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler and US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf on Saturday held talks with the Albanian authorities over security measures and housing conditions for the opponents of the Tehran regime, which would be in line with international law.

A February mortar and rocket attack on Camp Liberty, housing about 3,000 members of the MEK, killed seven people, according to the group.

The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him the group took up arms against Iran’s clerical rulers.

It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran by peaceful means.

Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the United States in September 2012.

March 17, 2013 0 comments

Belgium

Belgium to host MKO members

Belgium Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs announced the country’s readiness to accept Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met on 26/2/2013 at the Ministry HQ the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, those members of MEK who are willing to leave Camp Liberty, Ashraf News quoted a source close to the Iraq’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Didier Reynders made the proposal to Hoshyar Zebari to help solving the issue of MEK in Iraq, Source added on the condition of anonymity.

Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari met on 26/2/2013 at the Ministry HQ the Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Foreign Minister, Didier Reynders, and the delegation accompanying him.

The visit resulted in signing a memorandum of understanding for political and diplomatic cooperation between the two ministries to organize the visits and diplomatic meetings.

Nejat Society reporting from Ashraf News

March 4, 2013 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Maliki Asks UN to Accelerate Expulsion of MKO Members from Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on the UN to speed up the process of expulsion of the members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq.

Ali Al-Moussavi, a senior advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, announced that Maliki has met with Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq over the UN’s activities in Iraq, including the transfer of the MKO from the country.

Moussavi said that Maliki has asked the UN representative to fulfill his pledge to rapidly implement expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq’s soil.

The advisor stated that Maliki has told Kobler that "Iraq can no more tolerate" the terrorist organization’s members and will not extend their presence in Iraq "even for one single hour", reiterating that any MKO overstay in Iraq will be illegal.

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) monitors the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.

The MKO, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

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 argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty.

February 27, 2013 0 comments

Germany

Germany Supports MKO Expulsion from Iraq

Germany’s Ambassador to Iraq Britta Wagner said her government supports expulsion of the member of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq. Germany's Ambassador to Iraq Britta Wagner

According to a report by Buratha news website, Wagner praised in a statement the performance of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in monitoring transfer of the MKO members from Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group’s main training camp in Iraq, to the Camp Liberty, a transient settlement facility in Iraq.

"I would like to express the full support of the German federal government to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) that has monitored the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty," she said.

The MKO, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

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 argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.

In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.

February 24, 2013 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq wants rehabilitated Iran ‘terror group’ out

An Iranian exile group attacked in Iraq this month has moved from terrorism lists to international good graces, but Baghdad wants it out over its opposition to Iran’s rulers and ties to Saddam Hussein.

On February 9, mortar rounds and rockets slammed into Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad that now houses some 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), killing five people, according to Iraqi security officials.

The attack triggered condemnation from the United States and United Nations, but in Iraq officials are eager to see the group depart.

The PMOI’s "presence in Iraq is illegal and illegitimate," Ali Mussawi, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s spokesman, told AFP. "Their presence is rejected."

Iraqi political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said the "nature of the relationship between the (Iraqi) Shiite political powers and Iran," Baghdad’s Shiite neighbour to the east with which it has close ties, is a key factor in Iraq’s insistence on the PMOI’s ouster.

Shammari also noted other factors including the PMOI’s links to executed dictator Saddam, under whose rule Iraq’s now-empowered Shiite majority was oppressed.

Saddam allowed the PMOI to establish a base called Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad after he launched the 1980-88 war with Iran, in which the group fought alongside his forces.

According to the US State Department, Saddam armed the group with "heavy military equipment and deployed thousands of (PMOI) fighters in suicidal, mass wave attacks against Iranian forces" near the end of the war.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the PMOI turned over "2,000 tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and heavy artillery," the State Department said.

The group was also allegedly involved in Saddam’s violent suppression of 1991 Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in Iraq.

"The former regime used (the PMOI) to carry out repression" in Iraq, said Dr Adnan al-Saraj, who has written books about the group.

Saddam gave the PMOI four bases in Iraq, buildings in central Baghdad and other perks including Iraqi passports and free petrol, Saraj said.

Almost all PMOI members in Iraq have moved to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, the last of their bases, as part of a UN-backed process that aims to see them resettled outside the country.

But after this month’s attack, the PMOI complained about the slow pace of the process, which has dragged on as few countries have come forward with concrete offers of resettlement.

The PMOI has not taken the move from Camp Ashraf, where some members have lived for decades, quietly, alleging Baghdad is acting at Tehran’s behest.

It has also criticised the UN’s assertion that the camp meets minimum humanitarian standards and complained about a variety of alleged shortcomings including restrictions on using forklift trucks, which it said amounted to "torture".

While not accepted in Iraq, the PMOI has made strides internationally.

The group, which was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran but took up arms against the country’s new clerical rulers after the 1979 Islamic revolution, successfully campaigned for its removal from US and EU terrorism lists.

The PMOI said it renounced violence in 2001 after carrying out attacks in Iran and elsewhere for decades. It now issues deluges of statements to the media and has enlisted well-known western politicians and officials as advocates.

The language of the official US condemnation of the attack on Camp Liberty also indicates the progress made by the PMOI, which was listed as a "terrorist organisation" by Washington until last year and by the EU until 2009.

The US State Department condemned it as a "terrorist attack," and also referred to the attack as a "tragedy".

Although the PMOI has gained international acceptance, Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert and senior associate with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the same is not true within Iran.

"They’re widely viewed as a backward and intolerant cult by their opposition peers in Iran," Sadjadpour said.

By W.G. Dunlop – Dailystar.com

February 19, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

MKO, Unwanted Guests in Iraq

MKO is a heavy burden on Iraq whose potential threats have to be drastically curbed

Despite the UN’s efforts in negotiating with immigrant-accepting countries to convince them to accept and shelter the MKO members, no country has yet agreed to let them on its soil as refugees. Labid al-Abawi, the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister has recently stressed that the Iraqi government has complied with all its undertakings to ensure the rapid expulsion of the terrorist MKO from its soil saying: “The group [MKO] is now in the transit Camp Liberty in Baghdad and the UN will start their transition as soon as a third country is found for them”.

MKO is not the Iraqi government’s sole serious problem to tackle with but one of the most complicated among many. Unrest, tribal insurgence and bombing are post Saddam legacies that have to be curbed. Based on official reports, Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq (SRSG), has strongly condemned the frequent wave of fomented unrests and bombings which have targeted thousands of individuals especially in northern and southern provinces. Expressing his concern, Mr. Kobler states that “I am particularly alarmed that attacks in disputed internal areas further aggravate the tensions there”.

The latest figures from UNHCR show that there are currently more than 70,000 Syrian refugees in Iraq, all fleeing the escalated violence in Syria to seek protection in Iraq. Majority of these refugees suffer from serious lack of basic living needs and the harsh living conditions and there is an ongoing joint cooperation to respond to the pending needs intensified in the camps particularly located in the sub-zero temperatures. Lack of healthcare services, clothing, inappropriate shelters to keep the cold off, the cold weather itself coupled with unhygienic conditions and more shortages have made displaced people vulnerable to a variety of diseases and have left them with no choice but to be engaged in a desperate struggle to survive.

Compared to these poor refuges, MKO’ members, if they insist to be recognized as refugees, are enjoying the convenience of living in an ideal location abundantly provided and left over by the US army. Any life-threatening shortage? Sometimes you cannot tell if MKO’s leaders are talking seriously or just kidding. For instance, they complain why they have to suffer walking on the mud-laden ground at the rainfall or, as they have recently accused Iraqi forces, be deprived of using forklift trucks because “moving of loads by residents during this period of time has led to orthopedic diseases, acute pains in the limbs and backs, and irreparable osteo-lesions”.

In a recent demand pressed by the NCR Secretariat, which MKO claimed to be an effort to end inhuman restrictions in Camp Liberty, the group called on “the United Nations and the US government with specific responsibility towards safety and security of Camp Liberty residents to adopt urgent measures to end torture of residents and inhumane restrictions on them such as depriving them of their own forklift trucks, and also to remove the aforementioned officers from Camp Liberty”. One may ask what the loads are, how heavy and abundant they are and where they have come from to need forklift trucks to carry and stockpile them in a transit camp!

The call comes after the disappointed news that the Iraqi government refused the demand made by MKO to return to the old location they had occupied for more than 25 years calling it City of Ashraf. Asserted by the Chairman of the Commission on Security and Defence and Parliamentary leader of the Coalition of State Law, Hassan al-Sanid, MKO will not return to Camp Ashraf in Diyala province after having been transferred to Camp Liberty near Baghdad. He further notified that “the Iraqi government, in coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), will act speedily on the mutually agreed resolution to drive them out.”

Besides ceaseless complains and new demands as well as spreading unfounded rumors of a massacre threat by Iraqi forces, MKO denounces the Iraqi government for plotting to plunder “the residents’ property and expropriation of their property, without paying any compensation”. Not only the government but also Mr. Kobler is accused of cooperating to pave “the way for stealing Ashraf resident’s property and third massacre in Ashraf by Al-Maliki at behest of the Iranian regime.

The Iraqi government has so far tolerated the cantankerous, strange behaviors of an imposed remnant of the ousted dictator. Neither are they refugees nor prisoners of war waiting repatriation nor trusted temporary settlers to grant them limited autonomous, self-dependent living. It is just a heavy, unthankful burden provided with free, double rations whose potential threats have to be drastically curbed until they are transferred out of the country. How long more can the Iraqi government tolerate the impudence of the guests who have outstayed their welcome is a question that remains unanswered.

January 24, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq declares zero-tolerance for MKO terrorist group

In an interview with Ashraf News, the Kurdistan Alliance Block in the Diyala Provincial Council confirmed that the Mojahedin Khalq carried out operations against the Kurds in the 1988 campaign.

Dalir Hassan, speaking for the Kurdistan Alliance Block said "We have documents that confirm the involvement of the Mojahedin Khalq organisation in operations against the Kurdish people in Kara Tepe, Khanaqin and Jalula". He added that the MEK were not only active in the north but also against the southern provinces of Al Amareh and Basra during the popular uprising in 1991.

The Vice-Chairman of the Security Committee in the province of Diyala said, "One of the ugliest landmarks left by Saddam Hussein and his regime with the participation of the terrorist MEK organization was his notorious campaign against the Kurds, who named it ‘Anfal’."

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The Chairman of the Commission on Security and Defence and Parliamentary leader of the Coalition of State Law, Hassan al-Sanid, said that the Mojahedin Khalq will not return to Camp Ashraf in Diyala province after having been transferred to Camp Liberty near Baghdad.

In a statement issued yesterday, the MEK demanded they return to Camp Ashraf where they had spent 26 years.

Al-Sanid said in an interview for Ashraf News, that Iraq will expel the MEK and end their presence on Iraqi territory. He said, "the Iraqi government, in coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), will act speedily on the mutually agreed resolution and drive them out."

As leader of the Coalition of State Law, he also stressed that the Iraqi constitution does not allow the harbouring of any terrorist group under any name, pointing out that Iraq still considers the group as terrorist. He noted that "the MEK acted as henchmen for Saddam’s intelligence services and practiced many abuses and terrorist operations against the Iraqi people."

Translated by Iran Interlink

January 15, 2013 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraqi MP: MKO Losing Stance, Power

The terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, PMOI and NCR) has been debilitated in Iraq since the US withdrawal from the country, a member of the National Reform Trend, a political faction headed by the former Iraqi prime minister, said.

Speaking during a meeting with Seyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad Secretary-General of the Habilian Association, Manal Finjan explained that there are two factors, which have resulted in the weakening of the MKO.

"Terrorism charges that some pro-MKO politicians are facing and the unavailing efforts of the United States in the wake of its withdrawal (from Iraq) in supporting the group."

Referring to the Iraqi people and government’s efforts in the eviction of MKO from Iraq, the Iraqi political analyst said, "The group’s expulsion from Iraq entered a new phase in 2003, and the people staged many protests for the expulsion of the MKO members (from Iraq)."

She further explained the main reason that made the Iraqi government subjugate Camp Ashraf, saying that the group had been trying to "defeat the new political process in Iraq".

"The group has perpetrated many crimes against (Iraqi) people," she said, emphasizing that the terror victims’ families in Iraq have filed lawsuits against the terrorist MKO group.

The member of the Iraqi National Alliance went on to accuse the MKO of abduction of scores of people, and said, "The group was behaving like criminal gangs in the region by kidnapping people and sending them to Camp Ashraf."

She added that the MKO case in Iraq could have ended soon if some Iraqi politicians had not exerted pressure on the government of Iraq.

Describing the MKO members’ expulsion from Camp Ashraf as a "courageous measure" by the government, she reiterated, "During the recent years, Camp Ashraf has been considered as the MKO’s home and their symbol of power."

Dr. Finjan concluded that since the MKO members had access to their spies around the Camp Ashraf, the government of Iraq decided to cleave all their external links by relocating them to a place where they are not able to be in touch with anyone.

December 27, 2012 0 comments

MEK terrorist organization previously hampered resettled outside Iraq

In an interview with Ashraf News, the UN Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Political Affairs in Iraq, Georgi Boston said that the delay in re-settling the MEK individuals in

Representative of the President of UNAMI: MEK terrorist organization previously hampered resettled outside Iraq

European countries is because of their former association with terrorist activities. He added that the MEK is illegal in Iraq under the Iraqi constitution.

In an interview in his office in Baghdad, Georgi Boston said that "the United Nations is working earnestly to end the presence of the MEK organization there in coordination with the Iraqi government."

Georgi Boston said that the United Nations Mission discussed with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) ways to resettle MEK members in other countries, pointing out that interviews will be conducted with residents of Camp Liberty in the coming days.

The UN official revealed that dozens of members of the organization who defected and surrendered to the Iraqi authorities will be given priority in the interview process and that the legal action to resettle them outside Iraq after they obtain refugee status in European countries has been discussed with them.

Georgi Boston strenuously refuted as unfounded accusations that UNAMI and in particular Martin Kobler acted as ‘tools of the Iraqi government to put pressure on the MEK’. He said Martin Kobler had sought from the outset to move individuals of the MEK to Camp Liberty on a voluntary basis, and that this process was overseen throughout by a delegation from the UN. He said the UN worked alongside the Iraqi authorities to fulfill their mutual agreement last year to close Camp Ashraf.

He went on to say that 47 individuals had split off from the MEK after arriving in Camp Liberty and surrendered to the Iraqi authorities. UNAMI had met with them and provided records to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In addition, there are others who had left the MEK while in Camp Ashraf.

Mr Boston rejected as false the MEK’s claims that after removal from the US terrorism list, the group would be able to stay in Iraq and be granted political asylum status there. He said the Government of Iraq has said this is impossible and asked us to accelerate the removal of the MEK. The MEK was involved in terrorist acts against Iraqis and was used by the former regime as a repressive tool against the Iraqi people.

Asked about the reluctance of some European countries to accept MEK members for resettlement, Mr Boston said that the MEK’s history of terrorist activities was hindering the process, but that the UN mission was working hard to find a solution to this problem. He stressed that in the meantime the UN had information on a daily basis on the status of the situation in Camp Liberty and its residents.

Translated by Iran Interlink

December 23, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Mojahedin Khalq Trapped in a State of Limbo

The US and its European allies are responsible for MKO’s current state of living in limbo

In his briefing of November 29 to the Security Council, the Special Representative of the The US and its European allies are responsible for MKO’s current state of living in limbo Secretary-General (SRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Martin Kobler, stated: “I should like to take this opportunity to reiterate the Secretary-General’s appeal to Member States to offer resettlement opportunities to former residents of Camp Ashraf. Without such an undertaking, there can be no sustainable solution for the residents.”

The statement is clearly taken to imply that, despite unconfirmed rumors, no country has so far announced readiness to accept the members of Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR) as refugees. The unanimous reluctance to receive MKO is in fact a negative response to the call for a durable and workable solution to the issue of residents’ resettlement. Although it has led the process to a standstill, at the first look it seems it is MKO that benefits the situation most of all as it never intended to leave Iraq and is doing its best, through a widespread propaganda, to grab at a chance of turning the transitory camp into a permanent camp of refugees. The consequence, however, might lead to a serious crisis hard to handle since the Iraqi government is decisive to banish the group. But the basic question that goes unanswered is why countries resist letting MKO on their soil?

For sure, there are sound reasons behind this universal unwillingness. A first group of these countries, including the US and European countries, make sure to keep in with MKO while withdraw to offer any refugee opportunities to have them on their soil. It is simplistic to think that their refusal is just for considering MKO a security threat, a fact that they never deny. But for a number of political justifications, these countries prefer to convince, and if possible force, the Iraqi government prolong group’s stay there. Having the military option still on the table, the US and its allies look at the group as a multi-purpose tool against Iran as used in Saddam’s era. However, MKO has already proved to be a working instrument where other imposed political solutions fail to work; MKO may play the role of one of many sticks for these countries’ resort to the policy of carrot-and-stick when engaging in talks to resolve Iran nuclear issue. The removal of MKO from the terrorist list by these countries has been in line with the same policy; for the designation of foreign terrorist organizations and their removal have become a highly politicized exercise in which some groups are just designated to be used as political approaches. In fact, there is really no change in the nature of the relations between MKO and these Western countries before and after its designation.

A second group of countries are concerned about the political consequences of letting MKO on their soil. Before allowing MKO as refugees, these countries should consider the advantages and disadvantages as there would possibly be a darkened and even a suspended diplomatic relation with the Islamic Republic. Of course, for a country like Israel it makes no difference but no doubt, it has to pay big prices for a direct and open alliance with the notorious group it has long tried to deny any collaboration. However, these countries political prescription for MKO is not different from the first group; MKO continue its living-in-limbo style residence in Iraq for the present.

The temporary accommodation is typically secure, suitable and affordable for MKO under the supervision and monitoring of the UN both for the relocation and the situation in the temporary camp around the clock. The UNHCR has a team at the camp to carry out the verifications for refugee status, a futile attempt so far since no third country has offered a suggestion. Within its set framework of responsibility, UN can do nothing beyond urging the Iraqi government to tolerate the current situation to find the “sustainable solution for the residents”.

The fact is that neither the UN nor its Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Iraq anticipated such a stalemate in the issue of MKO and Ashraf residents. At first presumed to be a decisive solution to resettlement of residents in third countries, the relocation remains a difficult challenge itself. No effort will be productive to tackle with the challenge unless the US and its European allies make a small change in their political perspective for humanitarian causes.

December 19, 2012 0 comments

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