News on the MEK

US Denies Visiting Allegedly Missing Iranians

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says it has no information on the whereabouts of seven Iranian dissidents allegedly missing following a deadly shooting on their compound north of Baghdad this month.

The parent organization of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group says it has information that an American delegation has met the seven people held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford told The Associated Press by email Sunday that the claim of an American visit is "categorically untrue." He says no one from the U.S. government has seen or visited those said to be missing.

Iraq on Friday denied that it is holding the seven former residents of Camp Ashraf said to be missing. A disputed shooting on the compound Sept. 1 left 52 MEK members dead.

September 23, 2013 0 comments

USA

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visits Camp Hurriya

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visited Camp Hurriya in Baghdad, September 16, accompanied by Gyorgy Busztin, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). DAS McGurk met with senior representatives from the Mujahedine-e-Khalq (MEK), as well as officials from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). He expressed his condolences to the survivors of the recent Camp Ashraf attack and emphasized the priority of the U.S. Government to ensure the safety and security of the residents of Camp Hurriya. He praised the efforts of UNAMI, and Mr. Busztin personally, to ensure the safe and secure relocation of the survivors from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya last week.

He also discussed issues related to the safe, permanent, and secure relocation of the camp’s residents outside of Iraq, and affirmed the U.S. policy to take active measures in support of such relocation to third countries as soon as possible. DAS McGurk encouraged the residents to cooperate fully with the UNHCR process to facilitate their safe and permanent relocation outside of Iraq. Finally, he thanked UNAMI and UNHCR for their tireless efforts in Iraq and ensured the ongoing cooperation and support for their efforts by the United States.

American Embassy, Baghdad

September 21, 2013 0 comments

Albania

70 MKO terrorists defect after arriving in Albania

According to an official at the Iraqi prime minister’s office on Friday, out of over 159 MKO terrorists granted asylum by the Albanian government, 70 members announced their separation from the group.

The unnamed Iraqi official revealed that these MKO members had been transferred from Camp Liberty, a former US military base in Baghdad.

The Albanian government has accommodated the 70 defectors in some apartments.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.

The group fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it received the support of Iraq’s executed dictator, Saddam Hussein, and set up a terror camp known as Camp Ashraf in Diyala Province near the Iranian border.

In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq (former Camp Ashraf) to Camp Liberty.

On March 16, Albania’s Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced in a statement that the Albanian government is ready to accommodate 210 members of the MKO group in Tirana “for humanitarian reasons.”

Political experts, however, warn that Albania’s decision to grant asylum to the MKO members has nothing to do with humanitarian concerns, and will give the terrorists a safe haven where they can work with former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

The KLA is notorious as a murderous group of drug traffickers and terrorists who receive training from NATO and the United States for operations around the world.

September 19, 2013 0 comments

Iran

Iran seeks prosecution of MKO criminals through intl. channels

Iran intends to pursue the rights of the Iranian victims of MKO terrorist attacks through international bodies and global human rights organizations, said spokesman for the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Hossein Naqavi Hosseini.

He said that Irn possesses evidence of the organization’s terrorist attacks against Iranians since the victory of the Islamic Revolution.

“Iran plans to call upon international bodies to prosecute members of the [terrorist] cell as criminals and take judicial measures to extradite them or put them on trial … and punish them,” he said.

Naqavi Hosseini said that since the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution the US has been using the group as a tool to achieve their objectives in the region.

The Iranian lawmaker said that the West was in talks with other countries to find a safe haven for the members of the terrorist organization now that their camp was evicted by Iraq.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.

The group fled Iran in 1986 for Iraq, where it received the support of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein and set up a terror camp near the Iranian border.

Out of nearly 17,000 Iranians killed in terrorist attacks since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, 12,000 of them have fallen victim to the terrorist acts carried out by the MKO.

In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq to Camp Liberty. The last group of MKO terrorists was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11 to join the other members of the terrorist group at Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport and await relocation to other countries.

September 17, 2013 0 comments

Albania

Another group of Liberty residents relocated to Albania

On Friday September 13th, another group of MKO members residing at Camp Liberty as a temporary transit location transferred to Albania, reported by Mohammad Karami – MKO former member.

This is said to be the ninth group on the series of relocations to Albania.

A total number of 159 members have been relocated to Albania before this latest resettlement, based on the report.

Tirana has offered to house some 210 members of the MKO in Albania.

For years, the UN has been searching for countries willing to host the MKO members.

"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," UN deputy special envoy Gyorgy Busztin said in a statement after the September 1st clashes at Camp Ashraf.

September 16, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization as a terrorist group

The MeK threatens Iranian and Iraqi officials

Reported by Fars News Agency, according to Habillian Foundation, following the September 1st attack on Camp Ashraf and its forceful evacuation on Thursday last week, the terrorist group’s spokesman has threatened Iranian and Iraqi authorities to assassinate anywhere in the world.

According to the report, in a The MeK threatens Iranian and Iraqi officials massage which was released on the MeK’s website, all those who have taken a position against this terrorist group anywhere in the world, are threatened to the fate of martyred Iranian officials such as Sayyed Assadollah Lajevardi, General Ali Sayyad Shirazi, and Ayatollah Sayyed AbdolKarim Hasheminejad.

It seems that the unprecedented audacity of Rajavi’s gang in threatening the officials from both Iran and Iraq is the result of the secure borders which the U.N and the U.S has created for them during the relocation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty in Baghdad Suburb.

On September 1st, a group of Iraqi youth, who were outraged by the presence of the notorious terrorists inside their country, attacked Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala. As a result of the attack, 52 members of the terrorist organization, including some top MKO commanders and members of its leadership council, were killed.

September 15, 2013 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

UN announces transfer of remaining Iranian exiles Camp Ashraf

12 September 2013 – A United Nations official in Iraq today announced the successful relocation of the last group of Camp Ashraf residents to a camp near the Baghdad area, pending their resettlement outside the country.

“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.

September 14, 2013 0 comments

The cult of Rajavi

Source: Mojahedin Khalq Comrades Killed Fellows at Camp

An Iraqi source revealed that a large number of victims in a recent attack on the camp of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) were killed by their own colleagues, namely members of the terrorist group.

A well-informed Iraqi source, which spoke on the condition of anonymity, told Tasnim on Wednesday that the released video of recent clashes in the MKO’s training camp reveal that “most of the dead were actually killed by their own fellows at the camp.”

The terrorist group said that dozens of its members died in a raid on September 1 and blamed the Iraqi security forces for the deaths. Iraqi officials, however, strongly denied the allegations, and said that a preliminary investigation suggested they died as a result of infighting among camp residents.

“In the released video of the recent clashes in Camp Ashraf, footages of the victims of the group showed that most of them had been killed execution style,” the source added.

“Given its track record in liquidating certain members, MKO took advantage of the incident for more bloodshed and killed its members for propaganda purposes and to play the victim,” the source said. Mojahedin Khalq Comrades Killed Fellows at Camp

On September 1, 52 MKO terrorists, including some top commanders, were killed in clashes in MKO’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern Diyala province.

The MKO is considered a terrorist group since it has been behind many cases of bombings and assassinations against the Iranian officials and people.

The group also fought alongside the regime of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 8-year Iraqi-imposed war on Iran in 1980s.

Download Mojahedin Khalq Comrades Killed Fellows at Camp

September 12, 2013 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Iranian exiles leave disputed Camp Ashraf in Iraq

KHALIS, Iraq — The transfer marks the end of a years-long effort by Iraqi authorities to evict members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group from Camp Ashraf, an isolated Saddam Hussein-era compound that the group was extremely reluctant to leave. Iranian exiles leave disputed Camp Ashraf in Iraq

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,

September 12, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq dismisses MKO’s new allegations as baseless

Iranian exiles claim Iraq plans to deport 7 members to Iran, a charge Baghdad denies

An Iranian dissident group whose camp in Iraq was the scene of a disputed outbreak of violence last week claimed Tuesday that Iraqi authorities plan to hand over seven allegedly detained members to Iran. Baghdad denies having any such plans.

The latest dispute comes as Iraqi officials prepare to relocate the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital. The compound has long been a source of irritation to the Iraqi authorities, who want it closed and its current and former residents moved out of the country altogether.

A total of 52 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq were killed in a shooting at the Saddam Hussein-era compound on Sept. 1. The group, which opposes Iran’s clerical regime and was labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. until last year, blamed Iraqi security forces for the killings. Iraqi officials have said an internal dispute erupted inside the camp.

A team from the United Nations mission to Iraq visited the camp after the killings and confirmed the number of fatalities, but it has not released further findings into what happened or ascribed blame for the deaths.

About 100 MEK members had been living at the camp before the killings. The U.N. refugee agency says 42 remain.

A spokesman for the MEK’s parent organization, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, alleged that the seven people he said were “taken hostage” at the time of the killings are being held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport and will be transferred to Iran in the coming days. MEK members fear they will be persecuted if returned to the Islamic Republic.

“The government of Iraq has made no announcement about arresting these individuals and wants to return them to Iran surreptitiously at the first convenient opportunity without making any noise and raising attention,” Shahin Gobadi charged.

He said he knew this via sources within Iran’s “clerical regime,” but he did not identify them, expressing concerns about security. He said he did not know why those seven were abducted while dozens were killed and others survived.

Ali al-Moussawi, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said he had no information about any missing residents. He denied there are any plans by Iraq to forcibly send former Camp Ashraf residents to Iran, and he pressed for help in resettling them safely abroad.

“These new allegations are baseless. The Iraqi government calls on all countries to accept them,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Shimmari, the police chief of Diyala province, where the camp is located, said no Ashraf residents have been transferred out since the shooting.

The U.N. on Saturday said Iraqi authorities plan to relocate the surviving Camp Ashraf residents to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 former camp residents are staying. That facility, known as Camp Liberty, is meant to be a temporary way station while the U.N. works to resettle the exiles abroad.

The move would likely mark the end of the MEK’s presence at Camp Ashraf, which the group has been extremely reluctant to leave.

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. Saddam granted several thousands of its members sanctuary inside Iraq, and they turned Camp Ashraf into a self-contained, isolated community.

The MEK’s continued presence inside Iraq long has irritated Iraq’s postwar leadership, which has worked to bolster ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran. The government is highly suspicious of those linked to the former regime.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001. Camp Ashraf residents were disarmed by U.S. troops after the invasion.

Efforts to relocate the exiles abroad have moved slowly. The U.N. has struggled to find countries to accept them, and officials have cited a lack of cooperation by some of the exiles. They do not want to return to Iran because they fear persecution there.

A total of 198 former residents of the two camps have been resettled abroad so far, most to Albania.

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

By ADAM SCHRECK

September 11, 2013 0 comments

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