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The MKO has no way but to leave Iraq

Referring to the pressure from MKO leaders on their group’s members to stay in Iraq, an Iraqi parliamentarian said the MKO has no way but to leave the country.

As reported by Habilian Association, accusing the terrorist MKO group of undermining their expulsion process, Qayda Kambash, Iraqi parliamentarian of Al-Iraqiya list said: "The reason of delay in expulsion of MKO members from Iraq is the pressure from MKO leaders on their members."

Ms Kambash also accused MKO leaders of misusing their group’s members as human shields and a pressure leverage to remain in Iraq.

The Iraqi Parliament member added: "The Mujahedin e-Khalq Organization has no way but to leave Iraq." She continued: "MKO leaders’ fear of devastation of their group has led them to use Ashraf and Liberty residents as human shields to protect their own lives. That is why the group has resorted to lies, deception and suppression of own members."

The UN has frequently criticized MKO leaders for their pressure on group’s members to stay in Iraq and also for the lack of cooperation in finding a way for them to leave the country.

August 4, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Bob Filner now claims he was fooled by fake MEK charity in U.S.

Filner will pay group back for Paris trip

San Diego Mayor Bob Filner said Wednesday that he will pay out of his own pocket the nearly $10,000 it cost for his trip to France last month.

Filner’s announcement came one day after U-T Watchdog reported that the IRS had no record of the organization Filner said paid his tab of being a U.S. tax-exempt nonprofit.

Filner said his $9,839 in travel costs to Paris were covered by the Organization of Iranian-American Communities, a group Filner initially claimed was a charity organized under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3).

“I have become aware that the OIAC’s representations regarding its non-profit status were inaccurate,” Filner said in a news release late Wednesday. “For this reason, I will reimburse OIAC for all amounts it paid for my travel and expenses in its international conference in Paris, France, above the $440 gift limit.”

Filner filed a similar statement on a mid-year disclosure of gifts, filed Wednesday on the day it was due.

The tax status is important because, under city and state law, officials such as Filner are prohibited from receiving gifts totaling more than $440 in a calendar year from most sources. Nonprofits are allowed to exceed that limit if facilitating the official’s appearance or speech at an event — such as the Iranian resistance rally Filner participated in.

Filner’s trip to France has been controversial since he returned in late June.

The U-T revealed on July 16 that two top aides to Filner increased their city charge-card limits to $30,000 each in advance of Filner’s trip.

Councilman Kevin Faulconer sent a series of questions to interim Chief Financial Officer Greg Bych in response to that story, in large part because of the cost to the taxpayers for the trip.

Filner later released some details of the trip’s funding, including the cost of his travel covered by the outside group and the cost of his security detail’s travel, covered by taxpayers — $21,244. Filner has said that his fiancee, Bronwyn Ingram, paid her own way. The two have since broken up, and Ingram has not returned messages seeking confirmation that she paid her own way.

Filner’s spokeswoman did not respond to calls for comment seeking more information about Filner repaying the Iranian-American organization.

Faulconer, chairman of the city’s audit committee, said Filner’s actions in reimbursing the group for the trip confirm a suspicion Faulconer had — that the gift was illegal.

“As Chairman of the City’s Audit Committee, I’ve continued to ask questions about Mayor Filner’s junket because the story doesn’t add up,” Faulconer said. “Nothing makes sense about a San Diego Mayor taking this trip to France. I’m going to continue to investigate to determine if other rules meant to protect taxpayers were broken.”

Felipe Monroig, president of the San Diego County Taxpayers Association, also said Filner’s action was inadequate.

“Mayor Filner has announced that he’ll cover the roughly $9,000 cost of his recent trip to Paris,” Monroig said. “Yet, there remains a much larger cost for his security detail that taxpayers are still on the hook for. Since it’s clear the Mayor’s trip to Paris was little more than a vacation, the Taxpayers Association calls on him to do the right thing and reimburse the full cost, which was upwards of $30,000.”

Filner has previously accepted travel from groups that are part of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. He went to Paris in June 2011 as a member of Congress. He also took a similar trip in June 2007, federal records show.

His 2011 trip cost $6,589 and was paid for by Colorado’s Iranian American Community, a group tied to the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK, the militant — and largest — arm of the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

The 2007 trip to France, also paid for by Colorado’s Iranian American Community, cost $7,949. The plane ticket in that case was business class.

Filner is not alone in accepting travel from the Iranian groups. Others who have gone include former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Rep. Patrick Kennedy of Rhode Island.

In large part, the trips were part of a lobbying campaign to remove the MEK from the U.S. State Department’s foreign terrorist organizations list. In a speech to the group, Filner compared their plight to the U.S. civil rights movement.

“This will happen,” Filner said in a speech to the group in 2011. “This will happen. The laws, the facts, are on our side.”

The de-listing effort succeeded last year.

Trent Seibert, U-T San Diago

August 3, 2013 0 comments

Former members of the MEK

I was trapped by the MKO for the love of Europe

The mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) is a political organization with paramilitary structure. It was founded by Muhammad Hanif Nezhad in 1965. The MKO launched armed struggle against the Shah of Iran. However, it was harshly oppressed by the then Security and Intelligence Organization of Iran (Savak). The group leaders were sentenced to death under the order of Shah’s military court. They were accused of committing acts against national security and assassination of Iranian and American nationals. Some were executed and the others were imprisoned.

After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the MKO could manage to recruit large number of people from different levels of society, under the leadership of Massoud Rajavi and Musa Khiabani. Many people were deceived to join the group and then they were not allowed to leave the organization any more. After the American invasion to Iraq in 2003 the group was disarmed and some of its member’s could endure ruthless efforts to escape the cult.

Ronak was tricked into the MKO when she was 15 years old and after bearing tough circumstance she could manage to escape the group’s camp and join the Red Cross. We briefly interviewed Ronak while she was visiting the 26the International Book Fair in Tehran.

Dreaming of Europe

– When and how did you join the MKO?

– After I finished middle school, I and my brother traveled to Turkey illegally. I was fifteen dreaming of going to European universities and my brother was seeking a job. My uncle who was an MKO supporter lived in Turkey. We left Iran in hope of going to Europe by the help of our uncle. My uncle said that we should have had passports in order to travel to Europe. We couldn’t go there illegally. He promised me that I would be sent to an Arabic country with a group and from there they would facilitate my trip to Europe. They sent me to Camp Ashraf before my brother was sent. When my brother found that I was sent to Iraq, he came to find me.

– In which year?

– In 2002 we entered the camp and in 2006 we escaped.

– Is your uncle still in MKO camp?

– My uncle distanced from the MKO and returned to Iran after he found out that all the organization had said was a conspiracy.

– How did you see Camp Ashraf when you arrived there?

– When I arrived in Camp Ashraf, I was shocked I got temporary dementia for four months.

– What did you think of Camp Ashraf as a military camp?

– I had left Iran in the love for Europe but I entered a military atmosphere. I was shocked due to extreme fear and anxiety. I was so heavily under pressure that I forgot everything. When I wanted to fill my biography form, I could not even remember my brother’s name until I gradually got familiar with the system rulling Ashraf and recalled my past.

– Did you have any contact with your family during that period of time?

– No, I had no contact with my family although I missed them a lot. This worsened my illness.

– And what about your brother?

– I was allowed to visit my brother every six months under the supervision of commanders and my superiors.

– Tell us about your life in camp Ashraf what classes were you supposed to take?

– The new comers were taught the history and the activities of the MKO. There were also some classes for brainwashing; they emptied all we had in our mind, instead they indoctrinated their own ideas in our minds. We also received military training in Camp Ashraf.

After the American invasion to Iraq, some gaps had appeared in the MKO relations so the leaders held English, Arabic and music classes. Before that, classes were only ideological and political.

They said: if you get back to Iran, you’ll be killed

– Did the classes have any impact on you?

– No, it was all fear and panic. They tried to make us forget our family and free life but Iwe never quit, I never kept calm.

I was all the time busy fighting. They intimidated us that if we got back, we would be hurt or killed or imprisoned. We were told that no one would believe that we hadn’t go there with our own free will. I was really terrified.

– Were there many new recruits?

– During the time I was there, there were not so many new recruits. Not many women were recruited but the few people who were deceived were brought there from Turkey or Europe.

– How about your living conditions?

– Everything was like a military camp. Uniforms, not so pleasant food and extreme fatigue that did not let members think of anything else. When you went to bed you just fell asleep.

They told my mother: come get your daughter’s body

– How did you escape?

– After the Americans arrived, Camp Ashraf was disarmed and some of prisoners [members] ran away. My brother went to American Camp from where he tried to help me get released. When the MKO saw I was determined to leave the camp, they told my mother that I committed suicide so she had to come get my dead body. When my mother came, she asked to visit my brother and after they met, they couldn’t leave each other. I was so scared that my Mom would get into trouble. They were likely to take my Mom as hostage in order to keep me in the group…

– Tell us about your feelings when you got back to home. What was your family’s reaction?

– I was so happy. It was like a dream. I could never get along with living in Camp Ashraf where I missed my loved ones and had no contact with them. [When I returned], I was under severe mental pressure because relatives used to ask me about what had happened to me in my trip to Europe. Most of them do not know about my experience in Iraq. They think that I went abroad to study but I couldn’t finish my studies because I missed my family!

– Didn’t you face any legal problem after your return to Iran?

– There is no legal problem. I just shouldn’t take jobs in security organizations.

– Do you still live with your love for Europe?

– No, when I got back to Iran, I continued my studies and I no more dreamed of Europe. My brother works with his car.

– Do you follow the news of the MKO?

– I used to watch their satellite TV with feeling of hatred and anger. I felt pity for those people who were imprisoned there.

Friendly chatting was forbidden in the MKO

-Did you have friends there?

– It was Unimaginable. In the MKO, it was forbidden to chat with your friends. They held meetings in which we were allowed to talk but not together.

– How was the meeting?

– They treated in a way that we felt guilty. They questioned us. they told us words like:” You are the regime’s mercenary”!

– How was your relationship with commanders?

– Terrible. I was a problem for them because I thought about my family. They put me under severe pressure in order to obey them. I was emotionally injured while that time could be best time of my life. Now, I’m happy because I could get released from their prison. Of course I still suffer the emotional injuries of that period of time.

– Did they torture you?

– I was not tortured physically but I was tortured psychologically. Sometimes, you were kept in Bangal. It was like solitary confinement. The life in Bangals was terribly hard.

– What is a Bangal?

– It was a place located far away in the Camp. You were imprisoned in a Conex which was so terrifying. You always panicked that they would harm you there.

There were no marriages in Camp Ashraf? How about sexual problems?

Men and women were separated but women in the high ranks were made Rajavi’s wives. Others had no right.

Translated by Nejat Society

August 1, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

MEK actively working for our intel agencies

US Congressman Ted Poe: MEK actively working for our intelligence agencies

STATEMENT IN RESPONSE TO REPORTS OF SECRETARY OF STATE CLINTON’S INTENTION TO DE-LIST MEK TODAY

Washington, D.C. – “Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s expected decision to delist the People’s Mojahedin Ted Poe: MEK actively working for our intelligence agencies Organization of Iran (MEK) from the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) list is long overdue, but a much welcomed and warranted decision,” said Poe. “The MEK long ago renounced violence, and in recent years, has been actively working with US intelligence agencies to get information on activities inside Iran. …”

In March 2011, Congressman Ted Poe, a Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced H.Res. 60, urging the Secretary of State to remove the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from the Department of State’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The bill has 98 bipartisan cosponsors.

US Congress,

August 1, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Your Country Needs You

It is patently clear by now that the unilateral US sanctions against Iran:

•Are illegal under international law;

•Constitute a form of economic warfare, indeed even economic terrorism, designed to harm the average Iranian (brutally pushing them to topple the Islamic Republic);

•Are designed to weaken Iran; (see page 10 where this is described as a ‘ benefit’ of the sanctions – obviously written by an American brute with no morals);

•Harm the economies of the West in a deep recession;

•Are having no impact on the stability of the Iranian government or advances in the nuclear programme; and

•Are causing Iran to pivot her economy to the East and South even more strongly and to expand and diversify both her trade partners as well as her industrial output.

The sanctions have been shamelessly supported by extremist elements within the ‘Iranian’ expat community.

It is rather unthinkable for an Iranian patriot to ever promote war and sanctions against Iranians, no matter what the reason for their own exile condition. In fact, it would be unthinkable for anyone with the slightest bit of common sense to support such misery against their own community.

But such treachery is often linked to that strange Mujahedin cult (MEK) that actually joined forces with Saddam in his murderous war campaign against Iran in the 1980s. Iranians would support the Islamic Republic against the Mujahedin-E-Khalgh, just as they would against the MEK’s foreign masters like Israel and USA.

Personally, I would not be surprised if the same MEK traitors who assassinated Iranian scientists in the service of Israel were also behind the assassination of people like Neda and the worst violence in Iran in 2009.

After all, they and their foreign masters would be the only ones to see any gain from such treachery and sabotage.

With the election of President Rohani, Iranians have clearly demonstrated that they collectively want to take a more conciliatory stance in order to resolve the economic problems caused by the sanctions. But where is the reciprocal note of reconciliation from the West? How is it that the drive for more sanctions is still supported in several Western quarters?

The arrogance and ill will of the West in the sanctions warfare against Iran is even more evident today.

As a result, a civil society movement to fight the sanctions is taking shape inside Iran, for Iran’s inalienable rights under international law are above any individual or regime.

Question is: are Iranian expats going to use their positions in the West to help their mother country free herself of foreign economic terrorism? Or will they side with Iran’s enemies?

By Niloufar Parsi

July 31, 2013 0 comments

Camp Liberty

Some Liberty residents decided not to attend UNHCR interviews

Some Liberty residents have decided not to attend interviews with UNHCR to process their cases

Update No. 6

Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf) residents and the processing of their cases for solutions*

UNHCR has expressed continued deep concern for the safety and security of the residents in the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL), following the second deadly attack on 15 June. UNHCR reiterated the urgent need for enhanced physical protection, asking the Government of Iraq to do everything in its power to guarantee the security of the residents.

Invoking their security concerns following the two attacks on Camp Hurriya, a number of residents have decided not to attend interviews scheduled for them with UNHCR to process their cases. Nevertheless, pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq of 25 December 2011 on the situation of the residents of Camp New Iraq, UNHCR continues to process the applications of the residents who have been transferred, on a voluntary basis, to Camp Hurriya and who engage with UNHCR.

Camp residents who have submitted requests for international protection are formally asylum-seekers under international law. In the absence of a national system of adjudication in Iraq, UNHCR is considering these requests on an individual basis in an appropriate procedure. Individual interviews are taking place – with those who engage – in a safe and neutral location, and in full confidentiality. Transmittal to States of the cases of those with determined international protection needs is ongoing. Pending their relocation outside Iraq, the residents are in transit in Camp Hurriya, while their claims are being processed, as provided for in the above-noted Memorandum of Understanding.

International law requires that asylum-seekers must be able to benefit from basic protection of their security and well-being. This includes protection against any expulsion or return to the frontiers of territories where their lives or freedom would be threatened (the non-refoulement principle) as well as treatment in accordance with basic humanitarian standards – including, most importantly, their security. The primary responsibility for ensuring respect for these standards lies with the Government of Iraq. Freedom of movement is the most desirable state while processing takes place.

UNHCR, together with the Government of Iraq, UNAMI and other concerned actors, including importantly the international community, remains committed to doing its part in finding peaceful solutions to this long-standing problem. Accordingly, UNHCR and UNAMI are continuing their combined efforts to find solutions, including relocation opportunities, for the residents who wish to depart Iraq. To date a total of 135 residents have departed to other countries.

July 29, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization

Bad News for the MKO

Once the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) was delisted from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organization of the US State Department, the group opened its Washington office and paid Senator Robert Torricelli to register for lobbying in the Congress on behalf of the group." Unable to operate openly in Iran, the MEK is instead waging some of its battles in Washington” ,reported Susan Cornwell of Reuters. "It opened an attractive new office in April just a five-minute walk from the White House”. [1] In contrary to the efforts of the MKO agents in the United States, on July 18, 2013, 131 members of the US Congress signed a letter urging President Obama to reinvigorate Iran diplomacy. The letter, being circulated by Representatives David Price (D-North Carolina) and Charles Dent (R-Pennsylvania), is the biggest ever pro-Iran diplomacy letter from the Hill, those supporting the initiative said. [2]

A day before the Dent-Price letter was published, Ryan Costello special correspondent to the Huffington Post reported that 29 prominent former government officials, diplomats, military officers and national security experts sent a letter to President Obama urging him to “seize the moment to pursue new multilateral and bilateral negotiations with Iran once Rouhani takes office and to avoid any provocative action that could narrow the window of opportunity for a more moderate policy out of Tehran.” Costello believes that the Obama administration has, rightfully, expressed cautious optimism over the election of Rouhani as a moderate Iranian authority. [3]

This is no good news for the MKO. The group has so far advocated for a tougher US policy towards Iran paying large amounts of money to US prominent figures to "stop appeasing" Iran. The MKO leaders who seek the overthrow of the Iranian Government criticize the West for what they call "appeasement policy" towards Iran. "Long active as an advocacy group in the United States and Europe, the MEK is now formalizing its campaign to pressure the Obama administration to maintain a hard line – including in multilateral nuclear talks – with the Islamic Republic, which it hopes will one day crumble", according to Susan Cornwell. [4]

As Jason Ditz of the Antiwar website puts, "Getting to the top of a Congressional committee with foreign policy implications is reserved mostly for the lunatic hawks, and Congressmen who are reasonable are usually anonymous." But this time as Ditz admits, the names of the signatories of the letter are known to everyone.[5] Worse news for the MKO is that the name of one of its high profile sponsors is found among the signatories of the Dent-Price letter: Senator Sheila Jackson Lee who is "longtime Mujahedeen champion" according to Elizabeth Rubin. [6] Jackson is one of the speakers at the MKO’s recent gathering in Villepinte. She calls Maryam Rajavi "sister". According to Maryam Rajavi at the same rally, "western countries and appeasers are trying in vain to portray such a figure [Rouhani] as a moderate".[7] Congresswoman Jackson Lee seems to be confused between the generous offers of the MKO and her 130 peers who believe that " it will be prudent for the United States to utilize all diplomatic tools to reinvigorate ongoing nuclear talks."[8] However, Jason Ditz implies that the Israelis agree with Maryam Rajavi rather than their American friends, " That’s not going to sit well with the Israel Lobby, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already made it clear that the he wants the US to treat Rohani with hostility, and the Obama Administration has already suggested that’s the path they’re going with."[9]

In order to encounter any move based on engagement and diplomacy regarding Iran, the MKO propaganda machine runs hysterically. Occasionally, together with their multi-million dollar lobbying campaign, the MKO instigators repeat their so-called revelations about the Iranian nuclear program making efforts to convince the West that the Islamic Republic is seeking a nuclear bomb – what the reportedly new sponsor of the group Benjamin Netanyahu is also yelling about. The most recent allegation by the MKO on the Iranian Nuclear program was released last week. To their surprise the Dent-Price letter was regulated a few days after the group claimed to have discovered a secret site in the mountains Northeast of Tehran but the report could hardly ever attract attention in the world. "The group released satellite photographs of what it said was the site. But the images did not appear to constitute hard evidence to support the assertion that it was a planned nuclear facility”, reported Reuters. [10]

"Clearly, the MEK’s latest revelations are recycled claims and, like before, are essentially allegations based on vague intelligence leaked to the group by American officials", suggests Nima Shirazi at Wide Asleep in America. "The MEK merely acts as a laundering service for the unproven accusations of its handlers in the United States and Israel." [11]

Mazda Parsi

References:

[1] Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June, 14 2013

[2] Rosen, Laura , 131 House members sign letter supporting diplomacy with Iran, The Back Channel, July 18, 2013

[3] Costello, Ryan , Congress, Former Policymakers Urge Obama to Revitalize Diplomacy with Iran, the Huffington Post, July 19 ,2013

[4] Cornwell, Susan, Far from Iran election, former guerrillas lobby Washington, Reuters, June, 14 2013

[5] Ditz, Jason, Over a Quarter of House Wants Iran Talks, Antiwar.com, July 18, 2013

[6]Rubin, Elizabeth, The Cult of Rajavi, The New York Times, July 13, 2003

[7] Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.

[8] Rosen, Laura , 131 House members sign letter supporting diplomacy with Iran, The Back Channel, July 18, 2013

[9]Ditz, Jason, Over a Quarter of House Wants Iran Talks, Antiwar.com, July 18, 2013

[10]Reuters, Exiled dissidents claim Iran building new nuclear site, July 11, 2013

[11] Shirazi, Nima, Dirty Laundry: MEK Re- Ups 3 Year Old Nuclear Propaganda, Wide Asleep In America, July 13, 2013

July 28, 2013 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

UK peer: MKO ban members from Iran

Former vice president of the EU Committee on Foreign Affairs Baroness Emma Nicholson says the heads of MKO bans likely penitent members from return to Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) do not allow members in Iraq to return to Iran and rejoin their families there.

The British life peer said in an interview with Iranian NGO the Habilian Association that the terrorist groups’ members are not allowed back in Iran by their leaders in the knowledge that they will not face persecution there.

The MKO terrorists, formerly based at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, now face expulsion from the country.

Nicholson said that “western European states are not at all wishful of receiving them because of their recent past history” with just two European countries, Germany and Albania, giving a lukewarm response to the UN Secretary General requests for asylum to the members of the terrorist MKO.

The terror cell has, however, turned down the two offers asking to be relocated to the US, where they are most ardently supported.

Last year, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Policy and National Security Commission Alaeddin Boroujerdi said there is space for discussion of some MKO members return to Iran if officials give their approval.

He added that would only be possible if they “regret their past mistakes” as many MKO members have been kept at Ashraf Camp against their will.

MKO terrorists are notorious for carrying out terrorist acts and assassinations of lay people and top officials in Iran.

The Habilian Association, which represents part of families of the victims of MKO terrorism, estimates that it has assassinated over 12,000 people in Iran.

July 24, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq; A proxy force

Sources: Israel Bankrolling MKO

Israel is financing the terrorist Mujaheedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), sources in Iraq disclosed.

“Israel is providing financial support for MKO at a time when the grouplet is short of cash and financial resources …,” an Iraqi source told Fars News Agency on condition of anonymity. Israel Bankrolling MKO

“Israel, unlike the Ba’ath Party, believes that MKO is regarded as one of the main levers of pressure against Iran no matter where it is (inside or outside Iraq), while Ba’ath Party believes that if the MKO is expelled from the Muslim country it cannot serve the interests of the party as it did during Saddam’s rule,” the source added.

He noted that the groups which previously supported MKO have cut their support for the terrorist group.

The source said that head of the now outlawed Ba’ath party Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri is still supporting the MKO.

“This relationship (between the MKO and the Ba’ath party) has continued after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled and executed because Al-Douri did not want to lose an important trump card like the MKO … ,” he added.

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).

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 tortures and imprisons defectors.

The group was founded in the 1960s. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and western targets.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it came under the protection of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and helped him 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.

July 22, 2013 0 comments

Human Rights Abuse in the MEK

Mujahedin-e Khalq Leaders Abusing Followers in Iraq

UN Envoy: Mujahedin-e Khalq Leaders Abusing Followers in Iraq

Won’t Let Residents of Iraq Camp Leave

UN Envoy Martin Kobler has detailed growing complaints about human rights violations by leaders of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), an Iranian rebel faction, against its followers in Iraq’s Camp Hurriya. UN Envoy: Mujahedin-e Khalq Leaders Abusing Followers in Iraq

The MeK was a long-standing member of the US State Department’s list of terrorist organizations, but after heavy lobbying the group was dropped from the list last year. The group was allied to Saddam Hussein and retains a significant presence at Hurriya, and formerly Camp Liberty during the US occupation.

Accord to Kobler, the UN receives “hundreds” of reports every day about violations by MeK leaders against people inside Camp Hurriya, restricting their movement, forbidding them from contacting family members, and keeping them from leaving to participate in a UN resettlement effort.

MeK spokesman Shahin Gobadi angrily rejected the allegations, insisting they are “baseless” and accusing the UN of covering up Koblers “lies” against their organization. MeK leaders insist the US remains responsible for their safety.

by Jason Ditz

July 18, 2013 0 comments

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