After the collapse of the Iraqi dictator in 2003, the US army surrounded the camp and disarmed MEK forces. The camp was officially closed after the last 280 residents were flown to Albania, in 2016.

Hashd al-Shaabi parade in Camp Ashraf

The parade that was held by Hashd al-Shaabi on Saturday morning to celebrate the seventh anniversary of the founding of PMF was in the presence of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces.
Numerous PMF brigades marched in the parade, including Shiite, Christian, and Yazidi, according to images and video shared by the PMF-linked media sources. An image of Abu Madhi al-Muhandis, the PMF commander killed alongside Iran’s General Qasem Soleimani in a US drone strike in Baghdad in January 2020, was carried in the parade.
Camp Ashraf was a symbolic container for the ideology of MEK. The group leaders still glorify the name so as they named their headquarters in Albania as Camp Ashraf Three.

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“The day the MKO was expelledfrom Camp Ashraf was a day of victory for the oppressed people over the oppressors,” member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Fraction Qassem al-Orji told FNA on Monday.

Al-Orji pointed to the expulsion of 3,000 MKO members (from Camp Ashraf) over past year and their transfer them to a transient facility in Camp Liberty near Baghdad, and said, “The MKO members have been transferred to Camp Liberty near Baghdad to pave the way for their complete expulsion from Iraq …,” he added.

The Iraqi lawmaker also pointed to the 100 MKO members who remained in Camp Ashraf on the pretext of selling its assets after the expulsion of other group members, and said, “These people remained in Camp Ashraf with the support of US and Europe in order to kill the time and make a full evacuation of the camp impossible.”

On September 1, over 50 MKO members, including top commanders, were killed in an attack inside the terrorist group’s notorious camp in Iraq’s Diyala province. There were around 100 MKO members in the camp at the time.

The attack came at the hands of a group of Iraqi people and the relatives of those martyred by the terrorists when they had joined forces with executed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 1991 to crush an uprising by Iraqi Shiites.

The Iraqis who stormed the terror camp further demanded the immediate expulsion of all MKO terrorists from their country.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi-Tabar described the fall of the MKO headquarters in Camp Ashraf as a natural outcome for an organization that has based its activities on criminal acts.

“The ruinous fate of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) was quite foreseeable, as any group that turns against its own nation is doomed to fall,” Alavi-Tabar said.

The Iranian intelligence minister stressed that the MKO actions enraged the Iraqi nation, and the criminal members of the group were ultimately consumed by their wrath.

The last group of MKO terrorists at Camp Ashraf, now called Camp New Iraq, was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11 to join other members of the terrorist group in the former US-held Camp Liberty, now called Camp Hurriya, near Baghdad International Airport where they are awaiting relocation to other countries.

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 the 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 the US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with the 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.

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The killing of dozens of members of an Iranian dissident group that the Iraqi government wants out of the country should be ‘‘a wake-up call’’ to the international community, the acting U.N. envoy to Iraq said Friday as he pressed countries to do more to find them homes abroad.

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which is strongly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime, were welcomed into Iraq by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s during the brutal war with neighboring Iran.

Their fortunes turned sharply with the Iraqi dictator’s toppling in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq’s current Shiite-led Iraqi government, which has strengthened ties with Tehran, considers their presence in the country illegal.

A disputed Sept. 1 shooting at their longtime home in Camp Ashraf killed 52 MEK members — roughly half of the camp’s remaining population.

The dissidents accuse Iraqi security forces of carrying out the killings. Baghdad denies involvement, with officials saying an internal dispute was to blame. It has promised to carry out an investigation.

United Nations representatives traveled to the camp a day after the killing. Although the U.N. has not determined who was responsible, acting U.N. envoy Gyorgy Busztin said the bloodshed highlights the need to protect the residents.

‘‘What has happened at Camp Ashraf on the first of September is a game changer. It should be a wake-up call to all countries who are in a position to help to come forward,’’ he told The Associated Press. ‘‘Resettlement is the ultimate guarantee of their security.’’

The U.N. this week helped facilitate the transfer of the last 42 Camp Ashraf residents to a different camp near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 of their comrades are staying. That compound is meant to provide temporary shelter while the U.N. works to resettle them abroad.

Busztin said the Baghdad camp, a former U.S. military base known as Camp Liberty, should offer them better security than Camp Ashraf, which is 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad. It is also physically closer to U.N. offices in the Iraqi capital, making it easier to monitor, he said.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. It says it renounced violence in 2001.

The U.S. considered the MEK a terrorist group until last year. Leaving Camp Ashraf was a key factor in reversing that designation.

Busztin urged U.N. member states to do more to relocate the residents safely abroad.

The Baghdad camp where MEK members are now all staying has itself been hit by deadly rocket attacks claimed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants.

‘‘These are human beings. Whatever the government of Iraq says about their past, these are people in need of protection, and we take that very seriously,’’ Busztin said.

The resettlement process has moved slowly because the U.N. is struggling to find countries willing to take them. U.N. officials also say that many residents have been uncooperative with the process, complicating the relocation effort.

A total of 210 residents have left to other countries so far, according to figures provided by the U.N. refugee agency.

Most of them went to Albania, which has offered to take 210 in total. Germany has said it would accept about 100. A small number of residents have been resettled elsewhere.

Seven former Camp Ashraf members are unaccounted for following this month’s violence, according to the MEK. The group claims they are being held by Iraqi forces and will soon be turned over to Iran against their will.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shiyaa al-Sudani and Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, both denied Friday that the seven said to be missing are in Iraqi custody.

Busztin, the U.N. official, had no information on their whereabouts.

The U.N. refugee agency expressed concern for the seven reported missing, saying in a statement that they are all known to be asylum-seekers. It called on the Iraqi government to find them and ensure their safety, as well as prevent them from being returned to Iran against their will.

As for the rest of the exiles, Busztin said it is difficult to say how soon they could be resettled.

‘‘I’m optimistic more countries will come forward and the numbers in the camps will be gradually reduced. But for the length of the process, I cannot give you a reasonable estimate,’’ he said. ‘‘What we request from the government of Iraq is to extend them adequate protection until the last one leaves,’’ he added.

__

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

By ADAM SCHRECK

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Relocation of Remaining Individuals from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya in Iraq

Press Statement

Jen Psaki

Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 11, 2013

The United States welcomes today’s safe arrival at Camp Hurriya of the remaining 42 individuals from the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) who had been residing at Camp Ashraf. These individuals were survivors of the horrific attack that took place on September 1 at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate their cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in this relocation effort. We also appreciate the assistance of the Government of Iraq in facilitating this relocation.

The United States reiterates its condemnation of the September 1 attack and insists that the perpetrators of that barbarous act be brought to justice. We also continue to be deeply concerned about the seven individuals who remain missing from the attack and urge that all steps be taken to locate these individuals.

UNAMI made extraordinary efforts to implement a plan to safely and peacefully move the remaining residents at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate and support those efforts. We urge all parties to continue to implement all remaining obligations of that plan. In particular, we call on the Government of Iraq to move expeditiously to enhance security structures within Camp Hurriya. It is the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents at Camp Hurriya in accordance with the December 25, 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between UNAMI and the Government of Iraq.

We further call on the Government of Iraq to ensure the safekeeping of the property that remains at Camp Ashraf, as agreed pursuant to the UNAMI relocation plan. We also call upon the members and leaders of the MEK to actively participate in the UNHCR-led resettlement process. The United States stands firmly behind UNAMI efforts to resolve this matter and to act with urgency to find locations for the safe, secure, and permanent relocation of Camp Hurriya residents outside Iraq.

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In a statement released on Thursday, the ministry stated that Tehran had on occasions warned the UN Special Representative for Iraq Martin Kobler about the continued presence of the MKO members at the camp — situated about 120 kilometers (74 miles) west of the border with Iran — as well as their mischief and adventurism.

The statement also underlined Iran’s support for efforts made by the UN and Iraqi government for rapid expulsion of the MKO members from Camp Liberty in western Baghdad, calling on the countries supporting the terrorist group to stop their financial and political backing.

On September 1, over 70 MKO members, including top commanders, were killed in an attack inside the terrorist group’s notorious camp in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala. There were around 100 MKO members in the camp at the time.

The attack came at the hands of a group of Iraqi people and the relatives of those martyred by the terrorists when they had joined forces with executed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 1991 to crush an uprising by Iraqi Shias.

The Iraqis who stormed the terror camp further demanded the immediate expulsion of all MKO terrorists from their country.

The last group of MKO terrorists at Camp Ashraf, now called Camp New Iraq, was evicted by the Iraqi government on Wednesday to join other members of the terrorist group in the former US-held Camp Liberty, now called Camp Hurriya, near Baghdad International Airport where they are awaiting relocation to other countries.

The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator, Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.

The group is also known to have cooperated with Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The MKO has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

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“The process, concluded today, has come a long way since its launch in February 2012, with the Government and the residents both abiding by the agreement between the UN and the Government of Iraq on the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to the temporary transit location of Camp Hurriya,” said the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin.

Camp Ashraf was comprised of Iranian exiles, many of them members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran.

More than 3,000 residents have been relocated to Camp Hurriya, previously known as Camp Liberty, while the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) carries out a process to determine their refugee status, and resettle them outside of the country, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UN and the Iraqi Government.

Camp Ashraf has been attacked several times, making relocation a priority for the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). The latest attack, which took place earlier this month, killed and injured numerous camp residents.

“The tragic events of 1st September, when 52 residents lost their lives in a terrorist attack, while seven others are still unaccounted for, was a sombre reminder of the necessity to conclude the final phase of the relocation process without further delay,” Mr. Busztin said.

“Resettlement outside Iraq is now the priority, and it is urgent that countries ready to host the residents come forward to accept them, providing them a safe future outside Iraq.”

Mr. Busztin also called on the Iraqi Government to abide by its commitment to ensure maximum safety and security for Camp Hurriya residents until all of them leave the country.

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The MEK is staunchly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime, and thousands of its members were granted sanctuary inside Iraq by Saddam. It carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Its fortunes inside Iraq turned sharply with Saddam’s ouster following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq’s current Shiite-led government, which has been bolstering ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran, considers the group’s presence inside Iraq illegal and wants its followers out of the country.

Most of the residents of Camp Ashraf, where members of the group had lived for decades, reluctantly moved to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport last year. A core of about 100 MEK followers had stayed behind to protect and sell off the group’s remaining property.

A shooting on Sept. 1 left 52 of those residents dead. Another seven people are missing, according to the MEK. The group blames Iraqi security forces loyal to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for the killings. Iraqi officials deny involvement and say an internal dispute is to blame.

United Nations officials visited the camp shortly after the shooting and condemned the bloodshed, but they have not reported any findings as to who was responsible.

Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Shimmari, the police chief of Diyala province, where the camp is located, and the mayor of the nearby town of Khalis, Oday al-Khadran, told The Associated Press that a convoy carrying the residents and their belongings left the camp Wednesday evening.

"This took a lot of patience. We dealt with them according to the law," al-Shimmari said. None of the Iraqi officials reported any incidents of violence during the transfer.

The residents were searched by Iraqi forces before departing and were allowed to visit the graves of loved ones who are buried at a cemetery inside the compound, al-Shimmari said. The residents initially refused to leave, but were eventually persuaded after representatives from the U.N. intervened, he added.

Authorities have prevented journalists from getting near the camp since the shooting this month.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. in Iraq, Eliana Nabaa, earlier in the day described the transfer process as "ongoing." She could not be reached for further comment after Iraqi officials confirmed the transfer had begun.

Representatives for the for MEK’s parent organization, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, later confirmed the departure.

Mohammed Mohaddessin, chairman of the NCRI’s foreign affairs committee, said in an interview that the council’s president-elect, Maryam Rajavi, urged the remaining residents to leave over the past few days.

By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ADAM SCHRECK,

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The United Nations says Iraqi authorities are planning to relocate dozens of Iranian exiles from a camp where 52 residents were killed last week.

The UN office in Baghdad said on September 7 that the authorities will transfer the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf in northeastern Iraq to another facility in the Baghdad area.

Camp Ashraf houses members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an Iranian exile group opposed to the Iranian government that Baghdad says is in the country illegally.

An attack on the camp on September 1 left fewer than 50 residents left.

The group has accused Iraqi troops of carrying out the assault.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has set up a probe into the incident. Iraqi officials say no Iraqi troops entered the camp.

Some Iraqi officials allege the violence began with infighting among camp residents. Others suggest explosions at the camp were triggered by mortar fire.

Some 3,000 MKO members were relocated to Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad last year but some 100 people stayed on at Camp Ashraf to deal with leftover property and goods.

The MKO was founded in the 1960s. The group seeks the overthrow of Iran’s Shi’ite clerical rule, and some of its members fought alongside former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iraq-Iran War of the 1980s.

Based on reporting by AFP and AP

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Iraqi forces attacked Camp Ashraf at last midnight.

Reports suggest the clashes on  September 1st, left some members dead and injured and some have been arrested by the Iraqi forces.

There is no confirmed report on the grounds of the attack.

The Camp Ashraf accommodates about 100 MKO members and the rest have already been transferred to Camp Liberty as a temporary location in preparation for resettling in other countries.

The Iraqi Government has on several occasions declared its intention to completely evacuate the Camp Ashraf.

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"Based on a decree issued by Diyala provincial court, Camp Ashraf which now shelters about 100 MKO members will be closed completely next week and after the end of the holy month of Ramadan," Spokesman of Diyala province’s Police Commander Qaleb al-Atiya told FNA on Sunday.

"The Iraqi government needs the large area of the Camp for trade and military uses and can no more give time to the MKO leaders for the full evacuation of the Camp," he added.

Earlier, the local administration of the Iraqi town of Khalis declared plans to build a mall in Camp Ashraf – the main training center of the MKO – after all members of the terrorist group are expelled from the Camp.

Khalis Mayor Uday AlKhadran told a press conference in July that an Iraqi court has transferred the authority of the site to the local administration of Khalis which plans to build a mall in there once all MKO terrorists are expelled from the Camp.

"The Camp of New Iraq (Ashraf) still accommodates 100 members of the MKO members, and the rest have already been transferred at the order of the UN to (the transient facility in Camp Liberty in Northern) Baghdad during the last year in preparation for housing them in other countries.

He further pointed to "the suspicious political activities of Ashraf residents who refused to sell the property of Camp Ashraf in accordance with their earlier agreement with the Iraqi government, despite receiving attractive offers from Iraqi and foreign traders and companies".

The Iraqi government evacuated Camp Ashraf almost completely last Summer and moved more than 3 thousand MKO members to Camp Liberty, and kept only 100 members in the Camp of New Iraq (Camp Ashraf) to complete the sale of property and transfer the money to the MKO.

The Diyala province which hosts Camp Ashraf has on several occasions declared its intention to invest in the Camp to turn it into a tourist site and build a large commercial exchange center for trade between Iraq’s Kurdistan region and Baghdad.

The MKO 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 Camp Liberty, and formerly at Camp Ashraf (its main training camp) during the US occupation.

The MKO group, 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 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 eventually took the MKO off the US terror list.

The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September 2012, 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.

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