TEHRAN – Iraqi National Security advisor Muwafaq al-Rubaie said on Friday that Baghdad plans to close down the Ashaf military camp where the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) members are held under house arrest.
Iraq is also seeking to extradite the Mojahedin Khalq members who have taken refuge in Iraq since early 1980s, Rubaie told reporters in a joint news conference with Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili in Tehran.
The Mojahedin Khalq launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings in Iran immediately after the Islamic Revolution.
The group was supported by Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war but was disarmed after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Saddam also used the terror group in suppressing Shiite and Kurdish dissidents in southern and northern Iraq.
Rubaie said, “Among the members of this group, some have the blood of Iraqi innocents on their hands and we will hand them over to Iraqi justice, and some who have Iranian blood on their hands we can hand over to Iran.”
“The only choices open to members of this group are to return to Iran or to choose another country,” he stated.
The Iraqi envoy said “Some of the MKO members have expressed interest to return to Iran and we are making the arrangements for this.”
“We are acting under international humanitarian regulations and international laws. These people will themselves choose where they want to go.”
Rubaie said that 914 MKO members have a passport or residence of a third country and could leave Iraq for these countries.
He said on his return to Iraq he would discuss with the ambassadors of the United States and a dozen European countries to see if they would accept MKO members.
The top Iraqi security official stated that hundreds of MKO members have already returned to their families with the help of the Red Cross organization.
The Iraqi government announced on December 21 it planned to close the Ashraf camp north of Baghdad and close to the Iranian border.
On January 1, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki went further and said he would expel the MKO from the country.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Rubaie said Iraq is ready to take control of its domestic affairs even sooner than the 16-months deadline set by U.S. President Barak Obama.
Iraq and the United States have signed a security deal that calls for the U.S. troops to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. However, Obama, during his campaign for presidency vowed to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within 16 months from taking office.
Iraqi people and security forces are more than ever ready to take care of the country’s affairs and currently 95 percent of domestic issues are controlled by Iraqis, Rubaie said.
Jalili also stated that Iraq’s repeated announcements that it is ready to take control of the situation inside the county leaves no excuse for the continuation of occupation by foreign forces.
Turning to diplomatic relations with Iran, Rubaie said Iraq has signed a highly important agreement with the Islamic Republic after receiving “positive responses” from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“We are leaving Tehran by achieving a very important deal because we raised important issues in our negotiations and received positive, strong and documented responses,” he explained.
Rubaie, however, did not elaborate on the content of the agreement
http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=187569
Camp Ashraf Countdown
The U.S. State Department reaffirmed its designation of the anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization as a terrorist organization.
The presence in Iraq of the MKO has long been a source of friction between Washington and Baghdad, which intends to expel the terrorist group.
The MKO had filed a petition for revocation of its designation as a terrorist organization. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a notice published Monday in the Federal Register that after reviewing the case she determined that the designation is still valid and appropriate.
Iraq’s government has long sought to get rid of the MKO, but the issue took on new urgency when Iraq assumed greater sovereignty Jan. 1 under a new security agreement that gave the Iraqis responsibility for Camp Ashraf.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said on Jan. 1 that the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization can ""no longer operate in Iraq"".
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.
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).
In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.
TEHRAN (FNA)- Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed that he would expel the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the country after taking
over their base from US forces.
"Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbors… our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization live,"" Maliki said alluding to Camp Ashraf.
Maliki was speaking to reporters on the sideline of a ceremony during which the United States handed over to Iraqi forces security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American occupation of the country.
The MKO "is a terrorist organization and thus cannot operate in Iraq because it will create a political crisis in contradiction with the constitution," Maliki said.
"We will treat them based on the international laws. We will not force them to go back (to Iran) but we will give them the opportunity to either go home, or to another country," he added.
"(Staying in) Iraq will not be an alternative for them," Maliki said.
Maliki, who was speaking ahead of a visit Saturday to Tehran, told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March that he would take steps to ensure that Iraq was not used by "terrorists" from Al-Qaeda, or from Iranian rebel groups.
US forces confiscated the organization’s weapons following the March 2003 US-led invasion, taking away some 300 tanks, many of which were subsequently given to the Iraqi armed forces.
Two years ago Iraq decided to restrict the movements of the estimated 3,500 MKO members to their base at Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border, where they have been held under a kind of US-supervised house arrest.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
The MKO is on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze, and has been designated by the US government as a foreign terrorist organization. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visits Brussels and despite the ban enjoys full freedom in Europe.
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).
Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
The 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.
Leaders of the group have been fighting to shed its terrorist tag after a series of bloody anti-Western attacks in the 1970s, and nearly 30 years of violent struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In recent months, high-ranking MKO members have been lobbying governments around the world in the hope of acknowledgement as a legitimate opposition group.
The UK initiative, however, has prompted the European Union to establish relations with the exiled organization now based in Paris. The European Court of First Instance threw its weight behind the MKO in December and annulled its previous decision to freeze its funds.
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.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.
FNA- 2009-01-03
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said on Thursday that he would expel an Iranian armed opposition group from the country after taking over their base from US forces. 
"Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbours… our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) live," Maliki said.
Maliki was speaking to reporters on the sideline of a ceremony during which the United States handed over to Iraqi forces security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American occupation of the country.
The PMOI "is a terrorist organisation and thus cannot operate in Iraq because it will create a political crisis in contradiction with the constitution," Maliki said.
"We will treat them based on the international laws. We will not force them to go back (to Iran) but we will give them the opportunity to either go home, or to another country," he added.
"(Staying in) Iraq will not be an alternative for them," Maliki said.
Maliki, who was speaking ahead of a visit Saturday to Tehran, told Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in March that he would take steps to ensure that Iraq was not used by "terrorists" from Al-Qaeda, or from Iranian rebel groups.
Last month the White House said it received assurances from Baghdad that the rebel group will not be expelled to a country where they may be persecuted, apparently excluding their return to Iran.
US forces confiscated the organisation’s weapons following the March 2003 US-led invasion, taking away some 300 tanks, many of which were subsequently given to the Iraqi armed forces.
Two years ago Iraq decided to restrict the movements of the estimated 3,500 PMOI members to their base at Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border, where they have been held under a kind of US-supervised house arrest.
Described as a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union, the PMOI, which was founded in 1965, has many supporters in the US Congress and British parliament.
Group members fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-1988 war between Iraq and Iran and then settled in Iraq.
Base was used in sabotage and assassination sorties 
US fostered sect as tool for regime change in Tehran
Iraq plans to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage – a decision that has sharpened political differences between Baghdad and Washington.
Camp Ashraf, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, came under Iraqi control yesterday in a broad security handover that forms part of the US withdrawal agreement concluded late last year.
Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, led a delegation of defence and interior ministry officials to the camp last weekend, warning its 2,500 male and 1,000 female inmates that "staying in Iraq is not an option". The Iraqi government said it "is keen to execute its plans to close the camp and send its inhabitants to their country or other countries in a non-forcible manner".
US troops disarmed the opposition group known as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) after the 2003 invasion. They removed hundreds of armoured vehicles donated by Saddam Hussein but kept the camp intact because some Bush administration officials allegedly saw the MEK as a potential tool for regime change in Iran.
The Shia-led government in Baghdad has forged close relations with fellow Shias in Tehran and rejects such ambitions. It insisted that the US/Iraq security agreement contain a promise that Iraq would not be used for attacks on Iran or any other country.
Under the security deal Iraq yesterday took over the Green Zone and Saddam’s former presidential palace. The prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, declared a national holiday, saying it amounted to the moment when sovereignty was restored.
The MEK helped to bring the Shah’s overthrow but soon clashed with Ayatollah Khomeini and his drive to put clerics in charge of the country.
It now describes itself as "democratic and secular". Insisting the camp’s inmates have conducted no armed operations in Iran since 2001, Nasser Razii, a London spokesman for the group’s political arm, said: "Camp Ashraf provides hope to the Iranian nation and keeps the flame of resistance burning. We want to keep it on the doorstep of our homeland."
The US and EU placed the MEK on their lists of terrorist organisations after 9/11. Last year Europe’s court of first instance ruled it should be removed from the EU list on the grounds it had not carried out terrorist activities for years. Lord Corbett, a Labour peer who has long supported the movement, and other British parliamentarians last month signed a letter to the Iraqi government urging it not to close Camp Ashraf. MPs in other European countries have made similar appeals.
Former members claim the MEK is a cult that forces members to break ties with their families, orders married couples to separate and demands they devote themselves totally to the movement. Closing the camp will restore members’ human rights and allow them to decide whether to resume normal life, they say. But MEK members fear they will be deported to Iran, a fear Baghdad says is groundless.
Independent visitors to Camp Ashraf report that the inmates live in segregated barracks-style rooms. The International Committee for the Red Cross says several hundred former MEK members have left Camp Ashraf since 2003. The ICRC has helped more than 250 cross the border to Iran after conducting private interviews with each to ensure they are going voluntarily.
In spite of MEK claims that returnees face arrest and imprisonment or have been offered unfair inducements by the Iranian authorities, the ICRC is continuing the repatriation programme. "If we had any allegations of ill-treatment of people who have returned to Iran we would follow up with the authorities in Tehran," said Dorothea Krimitsas, ICRC spokesperson for the Middle East.
Jonathan Steele
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jan/02/camp-ashraf-closure-baghdad-iran
IRAQ PLANS to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage – a decision that has sharpened political differences between Baghdad and Washington.
Camp Ashraf, about 130km north of Baghdad, came under Iraqi control yesterday in a broad security handover that forms part of the US withdrawal agreement concluded late last year.
Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, led a delegation of defence and interior ministry officials to the camp last weekend, warning its 2,500 male and 1,000 female inmates that “staying in Iraq is not an option”.
The Iraqi government said it was “keen to execute its plans to close the camp and send its inhabitants to their country or other countries in a non-forcible manner”.
US troops disarmed the opposition group known as the Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MEK) after the 2003 invasion. They removed hundreds of armoured vehicles donated by Saddam Hussein but kept the camp intact because some Bush administration officials allegedly saw the MEK as a potential tool for regime change in Iran.
The Shia-led government in Baghdad has forged close relations with fellow Shias in Tehran and rejects such ambitions. It insisted that the US/Iraq security agreement contains a promise that Iraq would not be used for attacks on Iran or any other country.
Under the security deal, Iraq yesterday took over the Green Zone and Saddam’s former presidential palace. Prime minister Nouri al- Maliki declared a national holiday, saying it amounted to the moment when sovereignty was restored.
The MEK helped to bring the shah’s overthrow but soon clashed with Ayatollah Khomeini and his drive to put clerics in charge of the country. Like almost every other political party and group that had created the revolution, it lost hundreds of members to torture and execution in the early 1980s.
It now describes itself as “democratic and secular”. Insisting the camp’s inmates have conducted no armed operations in Iran since 2001, Nasser Razii, a London spokesman for the group’s political arm, said: “Camp Ashraf provides hope to the Iranian nation and keeps the flame of resistance burning. We want to keep it on the doorstep of our homeland.”
The US and EU placed the MEK on their lists of terrorist organisations after the September 11th attacks. Last year, Europe’s court of first instance ruled it should be removed from the EU list on the grounds it has not carried out terrorist activities for years.
Lord Corbett, a Labour peer who has long supported the movement, and other British parliamentarians last month signed a letter to the Iraqi government urging it not to close Camp Ashraf. MPs in other European countries have made similar appeals.
Former members claim the MEK is a cult that forces members to break ties with their families, orders married couples to separate and demands total devotion. Closing the camp will restore members’ human rights, they say. MEK members though fear they will be deported to Iran, a fear Baghdad says is groundless.
The International Committee for the Red Cross has helped more than 250 to cross the border to Iran after conducting private interviews with each to ensure they are going voluntarily. – (Guardian service)
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0102/1230842350664.html
Iraq has decided to shut down the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) Ashraf Camp as soon as possible, expel the MKO members from Iraq and close their file forever, said a senior Iraqi official.
Political advisor of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Muhsin Al-Hakim exclusively told IRNA that Baghdad considered the MKO as a terrorist group.
Most of its members are based in Ashraf Camp north of Baghdad.
According to Al-Hakim, continued presence of the terrorist group in Iraq would be against Paragraph 33 of the Resolution 687 of the United Nations Security Council.
It would also be against the Iraqi Constitution, decisions made by the country’s presidency council and approvals of the Iraqi parliament, added the advisor.
The Paragraph 33 of the UN Security Council resolution, approved in April 3, 1991, required the government of Iraq to expel all terrorist groups that are present in the country.
The MKO members have two options of either returning home or leaving for another country but they cannot remain in Iraq any longer, Al-Hakim said stressing that the terrorist group was legally in an unclear situation as its members are neither considered refugees nor prisoners of war.
According to reports by human rights advocates, former members of MKO who returned home were living in good conditions, Al-Hakim added.
The advisor stressed that the grouplet has been barred from conducting all political, social and media activities on Iraqi territory.
He added that an Iraqi battalion was currently in charge of providing external security of Ashraf Camp while its internal affairs are undertaken by the foreign nationals department of the Iraqi Foreign Ministry.
MKO is known as a terrorist group for conducting violent operations in Iran.
It is labeled a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union and many other countries.
Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organisation while most of those still remaining in the camp are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
The Iraqi government will take over security responsibility for Iranian opposition Camp Ashraf on Jan. 1 when the U.S.-Iraqi security pact comes into force, a
U.S. embassy statement said on Monday.
"With the end of the UNSCR mandate for the Coalition Forces in Iraq, the Government of Iraq will assume security responsibility for Camp Ashraf and its residents as of Jan. 1, 2009," the statement said.
The statement also clarified that a U.S. force will maintain presence in the Camp which is located in Diala province in northeast of Baghdad and hosts an Iranian opposition group of Mojahedin Khalq.
It said that the U.S. troops "will continue to assist the Government of Iraq in carrying out its assurances of humane treatment of the residents of Camp Ashraf."
"The U.S. Government and Government of Iraq will work with appropriate international organizations to assist the camp residents in securing a safe future."
Camp Ashraf contains more than 3,000 Iranians from the Mojahedin Khalq opponents and their families. The Iranian organization had been used by former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s regime to fight the neighboring Shiite state of Iran.
After the U.S.-led invasion, the U.S. troops disarmed the organization fighters and since then, the camp became under the U.S. military police protection for five years.
The Shiite-dominated Iraqi government repeatedly demands Mojahedin Khalq people to be removed from the country.
Ex-MKO members: US impeding efforts to shut Ashraf Camp
London – Several former members of the outlawed terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) have accused the United States of hampering efforts to close the notorious Ashraf Camp in Iraq.
Arash Sameti, Director of Nejat Association’s Foreign Relations Department, told IRNA that Americans do not want the case of Ashraf Camp closed by refusing to cede it to Iraqi officials.
"The doors of the Ashraf Camp should be opened to international organisations and human rights entities to help those who want to leave the camp to save from the critical situation there," he said.
Sameti added that the Nejat Association, a non-governmental organisation trying to save people from the Ashraf Camp, welcomes the position of the Iraqi government on closing down the camp.
"We want western countries to support the Iraqi government and we express readiness to shelter those trapped in Ashraf Camp," he said, adding that many of Ashraf Camp residents are ill and under constant torture by MKO terrorists not to abandon the ill-famed militant group.
MKO, a dissident group which conducts violent operations against Iran, is labeled a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union as well as many other countries including Iraq.
Most members of the outlawed group are based in Ashraf Camp north of Baghdad. Sameti and several other former MKO members abandoned the terrorist organisation because of its coercive actions across the world and founded the Nejat Association -translated as save association- in 2003 to help save others who also want to quit MKO.
Most of the Ashraf Camp residents are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
Sameti and other members of the Nejat Association are in London to lobby for their release. They have met members of the British House of Commons, government officials and human rights activists to raise their awareness about the misery in Ashraf Camp.
Babak Amin, the Secretary of Nejat Association, told IRNA they have also met senior officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
"Many MKO members in the Ashraf Camp do not want to be terrorists and it’s our duty to save them," he said.
Amin suggested that a flag be hoisted outside the Ashraf Camp so that those who want to put aside their "terrorist uniform" could take refuge under the flag.
"The non-political Nejat Association is ready to host them and even move them to Europe," he said.