People’s Mujahedeen aka MKO/MEK/PMOI representative Mehdi Farahi told Iraqi officials residents would not leave Camp Ashraf, where they were installed by Saddam’s regime 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Baghdad in 1985. “Any attempt to expel us forcibly will lead to the same clashes and confrontations as those of July 28 and 29,” he said, referring to violence at the camp this year in which the group says 11 people were killed.
Iranian dissidents protest the Iraqi government’s orders that they vacate Camp Ashraf, even as Iraqi policemen stood ready at Camp Ashraf in case violence erupted. The government says it intends to take the exiles, members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, to camps in the south. (Hadi Mizban/associated Press) Iraqi policemen, at right, stood ready in case violence erupted. The government says it intends to take the exiles, members of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, to camps in the south.
… Upon a call from the Iraqi government, the reporters were going to go to Camp Ashraf to cover the MKO’s relocate to Baghdad. The blast at least wounded a reporter who was waiting with colleagues at Baghdad’s Green Zone to move to the camp. Another car bomb was blasted in a car park opposite to the Iranian embassy in Baghdad …
… This requirement of respect for human rights must also apply to officers of the PMOI which, by all accounts, continues to use practices to intimidate the camp residents. Thus, they would not be free to decide their fate. As you know, France had objected that the PMOI/MKO/MEK, on the list of European terrorist organizations since 2002, was withdrawn in 2008 …
We have, all along, recognized Iraqi sovereignty over the entire territory of Iraq, including the area where Camp Ashraf is located. And as I think we’ve said before, the Government of Iraq has assured us that they would not deport any of these[Camp Ashraf] citizens[MKO/MEK/PMOI members] to any country where they would — if you have a well-rounded fear of being treated inhumanely.So we — I mean, we’re engaging the Government of Iraq. Diplomatically, we respect Iraqi sovereignty..
Simultaneous with Iraqi Prime Minister’s remarks concerning “Transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Nuqrat al-Salman”, MKO has started a vast propaganda blitz to show its strong opposition to the decision and blatantly tries tolerate the decision to a pressure from the Iranian regime on the Iraqi Government as it is the group’s typical..there are some facts in MKO’s published statement that demonstrate an open threatening tone and the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe in Ashraf.
Hundreds of demonstrators from the citizens and staff as well as school students, met in the concert hall (central Samawah) in the presence of the Governor and the President and members of the Al Muthanna … The protesters carried placards that carried dozens of expressions of condemnation and rejection of the idea of transferring the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (the inhabitants of Ashraf camp) to Al Muthanna
… The Government has invited the media to attend Camp Ashraf on the fifteenth day of December to cover the transfer of residents to the place allocated to them… The Government of Iraq has decided to move the residents of Camp Ashraf, all of which residents are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, to another location which has not yet been disclosed. ..The issue of the MKO has been subject to protracted negotiations between the Government of Iraq and the U.S. over the fate of this organization which is classified as a terrorist group by both sides.
Washington respects any Iraqi decision regarding members of the dissident group People’s Mujahedin of Iran but urges caution, the U.S. State Department said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said this week that members of the PMOI/MKO/MEK would be relocated from their Camp Ashraf enclave in Diyala province first to Baghdad and then to a desert outpost in the Shiite south of the country.
The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), an anti-Iran terrorist group based in Iraq, has threatened to assassinate the chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Iraqi Media Network (IMN), Hassan Salman. The Board of Trustees has decided to take legal action against the MKO/MEK/PMOI in an Iraqi court, the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) reported on Thursday.