NEWS IN BRIEF
An Iranian website reported on Sunday that a team of terrorists affiliated to Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) attempted to assassinate an Iranian nuclear scientist in Tehran on May 2. Six terrorists who were riding motorcycles opened fire on the scientist, but his bodyguards managed to save him from the attack.
Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism sent a message to Families of September 11 and US government to congratulate them the death of Bin Laden, mastermind of September 11 attacks. 
This message was sent on the occasion of Osama Bin Laden’s death and the celebration hold at the site of September 11 attacks.
Undoubtedly, the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death was very pleasing news for which all people of the world and especially the families of the victims of his and his group’s terrorist crimes have long been looking for. It is our pleasure to congratulate this success to Your Excellency and the families of September 11 event. We hope that Bin Laden’s death can mark a beginning for uprooting all terrorists and criminals who victimize innocent people for achieving their own ambitions.
We, the members of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism of the Middle East, expressing our pleasure and happiness from the recent achievement in killing a criminal like Bin Laden, are looking forward to see a day in which the murderers of our dearest ones also be punished. Mojahedin-e Khalq (a.k.a MKO/MEK/PMOI) is a terrorist group which has assassinated more than 12000 Iranians, 25000 Iraqis, thousands of Kuwaitis and even 7 American military counselors. This terrorist group is now in the FTO list of your Department of State and the documents of its leaders’ cooperation with Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden reveal their real nature.
We, the members of the Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism of the Middle East would like to ask you that whether the time has not arrived to administer justice against terrorists who have committed crimes several times more than Bin Laden and his terrorist group? Can we celebrate a day in which the killers of our dearest family members have been tried by justice? Indeed, how long can we live with a feeling of insecurity and threat by some terrorists who are not different from Al-Qaeda or Bin Laden?
The terrorist leaders of the MKO are trying to remove the name of their organization from the FTO list of your country and unfortunately some officials are helping them in achieving their illegal inhuman demand and making them released from the hands of justice.
Many international documents like Human Rights Watch report of May 2005 and US National Defense Institute report of 2009 have disclosed the dangers of this terrorist cult to the global security. High-jacking, armed robbery and attacks against military units or civilians are among the other crimes of MKO. MKO has acted as the private army of Saddam Hussein for many years and contributed in the suppression of Iraqis and Kuwaiti youths in 1991 and this has led to the hatred of people of the region from them. MKO is a terrorist group with cultic characteristics and relations. It turns its members into people who can commit any inhuman terrorist crimes like self- immolation, by mind manipulation and brain washing techniques.
Al-Qaida and Mojahedin-e Khalq have many common points in a way that based on international reports these two terrorist organizations are the only organizations which have cultic nature whose existence is an international threat.
Once more, congratulating this great achievement, we would like to ask you to help us to administer justice and try those who have made us to experience the bitter taste of terrorism.
In this statement we read: first May is called the Laborers’ day in Iran. Laborers are considered as one of the studious work forces of the society. The great majority of laborers’ population and their demands have incited terrorists for conducting attacks against them frequently. In this regard the terrorist cult of Rajavi has caused too much loss on this class of society. The great majority of victims of MKO terrorist attacks are laborers.
Based on this statement it has been asserted that the issue of laborers and the importance of supporting their rights have been mentioned in various international documents like the International Labor Organization Protocol, Articles 6,7 and 8 of the UN Cultural, Economic and Social Convention and the Articles 23 and 24 of the Universal Human Rights Declaration. However, in the list of the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, there are the names of more than 4000 laborers, most of whom had not even heard the name of this organization. According to the claim of the organization leaders, these laborers deserved death just for supporting the regime. Based on the domestic and international laws of most of the countries, no one should be reprimanded for having a special approach or viewpoint. Far beyond reprimanding, MKO assassinates these people. The MKO leaders turn laborers into a political plaything for their own ends without considering their human dignity; in the case of any opposition, the laborers would be murdered. The reason behind the assassination of most of the laborers was that their work was leading to economic growth and consequently the increase of public trust in government.
The violation of the human rights of the laborers is not limited to the assassinations; The MKO illegally transfers many workers who are seeking for a job in foreign countries, to Iraq and MKO’s military base there. After confiscating their identity documents, these laborers receive compulsory military and terrorist trainings and also are exposed to forced labor. On one hand, based on the ‘freedom of the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work’, mentioned in Article 23 of Universal Declaration of Human Rights this issue is the violation of human rights. On the other hand, it is quit contrary to the laws related to the way of treating laborers.
Mojahedin-e Khalq organization which speaks out the rights of laborers, considers long working hours and lack of sleeping, as a way for making the members exhausted and preventing them from thinking. This is another evidence of the violation of primary rights of human beings. This issue has been completely explained in the Human Rights Watch report of May 2005 and American RAND Corporation report of August 2009. Studying these impartial reports can give a better understanding of these stone-age criminals of the third millennium.
With these descriptions about the approach of the Rajavi cult leaders and the inhuman situation governing the Ashraf Camp and the way they treat their members (like some slaves), we have to talk about the two types of the laborer victims of this terrorist cult; the first category is composed of the laborers who have been directly targeted by the MKO and the second one are the workers who have been deceived by MKO. The members of the second category seek for their rights although they can find nothing but the violation of their basic rights in these terrorist groups.
ADVT also announces that instrumental application of these laborers just like the other professions of the society including students, teachers, and sellers are common in this terrorist group.
This year, MKO arranged various propaganda plays in order to distract the society and create an atmosphere of opposition and objection among the laborer class of the society. However, all of these futile efforts foiled and no one paid any attention to such claims. Therefore, Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism condemning the assassination of laborers calls on international organizations to make their best efforts for the trial of Rajavi leaders who keep the MKO members as captives and abuses the laborers.
Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, Tehran
As far as I can remember, Mojahedin Khalgh or MEK, an armed opposition group, has never enjoyed national support in Iran. When the MEK’S leader left Iran for Iraq and set up a camp to launch operations against the Iranian regime from Iraq, people shied away from them.
Iran was at war with Iraq and this group stood by Saddam Hussein, helping Iraq in their struggle against Iran. 
The MEK’s operations were deadly. On one occasion they assassinated key revolutionary figure Ayatollah Motahari; on another occasion, they bombed the Republic Party’s headquarters in Tehran, killing about 70 people, including Prime Minister Masoud Rajai. I was at primary school at the time; the father of one of my classmates, Mr. Akbari, was one of those killed in the bombing.
After the Iran-Iraq War, the MEK faded from the scene, only to regain prominence when the US invaded Iraq.
Thousands of MEK members, most of them middle-aged, were residing in the Ashraf camp when it was taken over by the Americans in 2003. Iran wondered what their fate might be. Eight years later, still nothing has happened to them.
Iran won’t have them back and they’re struggling to stay in Iraq. Who’s going to offer a safe haven to 3,500 MEK members, all on the US terrorist list?
Last Friday, Iraqi forces last Friday killed at least 10 of them and injured more than 100 more.
Nouri Al-Malki’s spokesman said that they refused to let Iraqi soldiers enter the camp for a routine inspection.
On Tuesday April 11, the Iraqi government gave the residents of Ashraf camp an ultimatum: they must leave Iraq by the end of 2011.
But where they can go? What makes it more difficult is that the leadership refuses to let individual members leave.
Disarmed in Iraq by the Americans back in 2003, they blame the latter for not protecting them.
But the real problem is with their leadership. At least one-third of the MEK members in Ashraf camp are from North America or other Western countries, but the leadership won’t let them leave and go home.
In fact, no-one has heard anything about their leader, Masoud Rajavi, since 2003. His wife Maryam, who lives in France, is now running the show and she’s reluctant to hand over power to any of the members in the camp in Iraq.
Many Iranians think that the MEK are finished. Most of them feel sorry for these stranded MEK members. They regret that Rajavi trapped them and are also upset to see them being killed like animals in Iraq by Iraqis.
Some Iranians want the government to show the residents of Ashraf camp a little mercy, allowing them to come home to Iran and their families.
“These people have been wasting away for many years. It’s wrong. They are getting old and ought to come home. No-one knows who they were and what they did. An amnesty would save them from this nasty situation,” a journalist in Tehran told me.
Camelia Entekhabifard, Al Arabiya – Published in the Egyptian Gazette on April 27
Iran has criticized the West’s support for the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) despite the group’s deadly attacks and crimes against thousands of Iranians.
At a meeting with the head of South Korean Supreme Court in Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Justice Minister Morteza Bakhtiari said “12,000 Iranians have fallen victim to MKO’s acts of terror but the U.S. and Europe keep supporting the terrorist group,” Fars news agency reported.
“Two-hundred revolutionary and significant figures have been martyred by the MKO members,” Bakhtiari added, singling out slain head of Iran’s Judiciary Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti.
The Iranian minister further highlighted the contradiction between the statistics and U.S. accusations of human rights violation against the Islamic republic.
“This number of terror victims comes while from the U.S. point of view Iran does not observe human rights, and this issue is not fair,” he underlined.
Bakhtiari called on the Korean judiciary official to be aware of Washington’s attempts to tarnish the humanitarian image of the Islamic Republic.
The Korean side welcomed the proposed exchange of experiences between the two countries’ judicial institutions and said he would discuss a Seoul-Tehran judiciary exchange agreement with the Korean justice minister.
The Association for Defending Victims of Terrorism, an Iran-based right group, strongly criticized a US daily for its support for the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and its politically-tainted attitude towards terrorism.
"We the families of the terror victims of the Middle-East, including Iraq, Turkey, Kuwait and thousands of Iranians who have been suffering years of pain, condemn any terrorist act, anywhere in the world and against any one, avoiding any classification between good and bad terrorism," the association said in a letter to the US daily, Boston Globe.
"Therefore, we believe that considering this phenomenon under any political issue in which the centrality and priority of human beings are sacrificed for short-term political interests brings about a challenge in the global fight against terrorism that keeps us away from the basic humanitarian goals," the letter added.
"However, countries should fight against all terrorist groups in the same way that they condemn the Al-Qaeda. They have to consider it as a humanitarian issue (beyond political ups and downs) and seriously fight against terrorist cults such as the Mojahedin-e Khlaq Organization (MKO) which has a complete record of terrorist crimes, including the murder of 7 American military counselors, thousands of Iraqis (25000 people) and thousands of Iranians (12000 Iranians) and the citizens of other countries, including Kuwait."
"In fact the danger of this group is no less than the Al-Qaeda and we, the families of terrorism victims in the Middle East who are themselves the victims of this group, consider the danger of this group far more than the Al-Qaeda," the letter concluded.
After clashes between Iraqi security forces and MKO members in the group’s main training camp in Iraq, the US daily called the attack as "massacre" and claimed that the Iraqi forces’ attack on Camp Ashraf proves what it called Iran’s dangerous influence in Iraq.
The daily also said in its editorial that the United States and its allies must act quickly to relocate abroad some 3,000 MKO members still stationed in Camp Ashraf.
"Toward this end, the State Department needs to remove the group from its terrorist list," the daily wrote.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.
Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – in 2009 and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.
The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.
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 the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
Numerous articles and letters posted on the Internet by family members of MKO recruits confirm reports of the horrific abuse that the group inflicts on its own members and the alluring recruitment methods it uses.
The most shocking of such stories includes accounts given by former British MKO member Ann Singleton and Mustafa Mohammadi — the father of an Iranian-Canadian girl who was drawn into the group during an MKO recruitment campaign in Canada.
Mohammadi recounts his desperate efforts to contact his daughter, who disappeared several years ago – a result of what the MKO called a ‘two-month tour’ of Camp Ashraf for teenagers.
He also explains how the group forces the families of its recruits to take part in pro-MKO demonstrations in Western countries by threatening to kill their loved ones.
Lacking a foothold in Iran, the terrorist group recruits ill-informed teens from Iranian immigrant communities in Western states and blocks their departure afterwards.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed 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).
Iraq had announced earlier this month that members of the terrorist group must leave by the end of 2011.
Earlier this week, the Baghdad government assured Iranian officials and people that it is determined to expel the terrorist organization from Iraq by the end of 2011.
"Expulsion of the MKO from Iraq’s soil and termination of its presence which has lasted for several years is a definite decision," Iraqi Government Spokesman Ali Al-Dabbaq told FNA, adding, "The MKO will be expelled from Iraq by the end of the current year."
"The only option for the members of the MKO is leaving Iraq and they have no other choice," he reiterated.
Reminding the black record of the terrorist group and its crimes against the Iraqi people, Dabbaq said "collaboration with the former Iraqi dictator and massacre of thousands of our people is just part of their crimes".
The Association for Defending the Victims of Terrorism condemned a recent report released by the Independent website in defense of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), reminding the news website that MKO is responsible for the assassination and massacre of tens of thousands of innocent people in Iran, Iraq and other countries.
The following is the detailed text of the ADVT statement:
This letter is an explanation for the report published in the website of Independent on 12 April under the title of "Crime against humanity at Camp Ashraf". We consider it a responsibility for ourselves to mention some points about the terrorist group of Mojahedin-e Khlaq Organization (a.k.a MKO/Mek/PMOI) in order to increase the public knowledge about it. At first let’s take a look at the recent events which occurred in Ashraf Camp. On the day of the event and after two days of being stoned by Ashraf residents, Iraqi forces, stationed near the base, were forced to react.
Despite the constant demand of the Iraqi people and emphasis of the various parties on the expulsion of this group from Iraqi soil, this measure has faced delay for many years. The terrorist group of MKO has taken different reactions in the face of these demands including activities for weakening the legal Iraqi government, displaying human rights postures, propaganda fool plays like attacks against Ashraf residents, anti-human crimes and the violation of rights of the members. These are all conducted in order to represent a critical condition in Iraq which needs the interference of the US forces and accordingly the continuance of members’ residence in Ashraf. An evidence of such acts which once more proves the cultic structure of this terrorist group was the self-immolation of two Ashraf members for inciting other members on April 8th.
Self-immolation is the most common way of suicide in MKO which implies the cultic feature of this terrorist organization. The cultic characteristics of this group have been widely reported by former MKO members and Human Rights Watch report. Another example of the application of this technique was the self-immolation of 2003 in which a number of MKO members set themselves on fire in protest to the arrest of Maryam Rajavi. Ashraf Camp with its military framework is applied by MKO leaders for controlling the members. Let’s review some facts about this terrorist cult:
Investigating and identifying the efforts of this cult for defining itself as a banished opposition group worth consideration. A glance at the background of this terrorist cult clarifies that it has not been banished but its inhuman activities led to the disapproval of people and finally the cult chose a base outside the country in order to continue its terrorist operations. The more ominous fact is that MKO started cooperation with the Baath regime which was hated by Iranian people due to its aggression on Iranian territory. In fact Rajavi’s escape from country as the leader of this cult after the referendum and the sabotage activities of the cult including various measures for worsening the situation in the early days of the revolution shows that the name of Iranian opposition group is quite contrary to the nature of this terrorist group. Many international documents like Human Rights Watch report of May 2005 and US National Defense Institute report of 2009 along with the confessions of the defected members disclose the dangers of this terrorist cult to the global security. The agents of MKO have murdered more than 12000 Iranians and thousands of Iraqis. The assassination of 7 American counselors, high-jacking, armed robbery and attacks against the military units or civilians are among the other crimes of the MKO.
The second issue is the importance of Ashraf Camp for the MKO terrorist cult. The question is that why MKO leaders should make such a great deal of effort for keeping the members in Ashraf base? Why have the doors of Ashraf never been opened to the families of the members? Why are the members of this cult being kept as captives, being prevented from outside world? In other words, the Ashraf base, as a cultic structure, imposes inhuman features on its members which manifest the true identity of the cult.
The obstinacy of the MKO leaders in protecting the Ashraf Base should be sought in the following issues: the MKO finds its survival in resorting to various techniques like suppression of any suspicion and resistance through which it can give a new sense of attachment. It is an issue which frequently comes along with suppressing common emotional human senses and feelings. In this regard, removing the non-cultic ideas by repeating some slogans or limited phrases, the cult leaders try to deny the previous beliefs and establish some new values in which the cult is at the center and every instrument for attaining the defined goals is legitimate. Setting up the principles of a cult, any sense of personal judgment or valuation, individual decision or thinking are all denied and blind obedience is being developed between members. Wearing uniforms, confessing the internal drawbacks or any sense of doubt, isolation from the outside world, families and friends, exaggerating the faults and sins… are all among the common techniques that cults resort to for protecting their nature.
For the same reason the MKO terrorist group keeps its members in a socially and mentally isolated environment in order to pull out the members’ abilities to think and make decisions. The leaders of this terrorist cult are completely aware of the role of Ashraf camp in preserving the cultic structure of MKO and their authority over members. Therefore they have decided to keep the Camp by any possible way. In doing so, many capabilities have been displayed by MKO like the self-immolation of members or throwing them in front of the Iraqi vehicles with the aim of exposing the ability of the cult in degenerating the members and sacrificing them.
Based on the above, the necessity for the dissolution of Ashraf Camp as a cultic structure which imposes inhuman features upon its members, becomes obvious. Then the best efforts should be made in order to return back these members to the bosom of the family, relatives and society. Although the US department of State reported that its aim is to dissolve the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization which was involved in terrorist activities and to prevent it from rebuilding as a terrorist organization, but practically the coalition forces did not encourage the members to defect the group. They even violated many items of the Geneva Conventions in which the appropriate ways for the dissolution of this terrorist cell and reducing its power, were considered permissible.
According to the anti-democratic history of this group which is based on Marxism, the consecutive electoral failures and people’s disapproval in first Consultative Assembly elections, and their refusal of the constitution, one can understand the anti-human nature of this group.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986 and joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam to kill thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers. It was funded by Saddam Hussein and helped the Iraqi dictator to violently suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country in 1991. These measures were conducted to strengthen the power of Saddam Hussein. Therefore, most of the Iraqi people consider the MKO as the private army of Saddam which acted on behalf of the Iraqi army against the people. The Iraqi people call for an investigation into all the crimes of the Iraqi dictator and accordingly the MKO as his tool in suppressions. People are now emphasizing on the expulsion of this group, as the ally of the former Iraqi dictator, from their country. People of the Al-Khalis city of Iraq have also complained against the MKO for committing crimes and seizing their lands. Meanwhile, the ratifications of the Iraqi parliament are supporting these legal demands. The people of the Diyala province have held many demonstrations for accelerating the expulsion of the MKO from Iraq and trial of its leaders. The resolution adopted in December 2003 by the Iraqi governmental council specifically asks for the MKO’s exit from Iraq. The Iraqi authorities have repeatedly emphasized on this stance too.
Having mentioned a few of the features and measures of this cult, we hope that fighting against terrorism would step into its correct path in which the Iranians, Iraqis, Kuwaitis and even Americans whose families were killed by the terrorists of this cult could achieve their rights. Also we urge the international authorities to take into consideration the way of confronting this cult which degrades its members and to call for Ashraf camp’s immediate dissolution. We wish to see the day when the incarcerated members of Ashraf Camp freely live a happy life with their families.
Deaths resulting from an Iraqi army raid on an Iranian opposition camp on its soil were caused by the camp’s own guards firing on residents attempting to escape, an Iraqi spokesman said Thursday.
The comments from Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh came shortly after a United Nations spokesman in New York said 34 people were killed in the April 8 raid on Camp Ashraf, the residence of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), in Diyala province north of Baghdad.
"Our Iraqi security forces believe that this (the deaths) has been done by their (the PMOI) guards killing those who were willing to escape from the camp," Dabbagh said in a text message to AFP, adding that the government was investigating the issue.
"Similar methods have been used before by them."
Deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq earlier told AFP in New York: "We are aware of 34 bodies at Camp Ashraf and nearby."
A spokesman for the camp gave the same death toll, but Iraqi security and hospital officials have said three died.
The PMOI used Camp Ashraf, which houses some 3,500 people, as a base for launching attacks on Iran during the rule of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, but US forces disarmed the group after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Dabbagh also said that Iraq was willing to provide "all logistical support to facilitate the desires of Camp Ashraf residents who want to leave Iraq."
On Monday, Dabbagh said that the PMOI had to leave Iraq by the end of the year.
Political and security sources in Iraq said the US troops deployed in the country provide logistical support and camouflage for the anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to run terrorist operations.
Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah Al-Jabouri, a member of the council of Iraqi tribal leaders in Salahiddin, told the Habilian Association – an Iran-based human rights group formed of the family members and relatives of the Iranian victims of terrorism – that the MKO members stationed in Camp Ashraf pass through the Iraqi security check points in US vehicles.
"The American vehicles enter Camp Ashraf and take members of the MKO out of the camp for terrorist operations and after the operation, Americans take them back to the camp," he said.
Iraqi security forces took control of the main training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – in 2009 and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.
The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.
"Nobody dares to make any obstacles on the way of American vehicles’ arrival at camp Ashraf and they easily enter the camp without being questioned. So, they take the MKO members out of the camp for terrorist operation and then carry them back to the camp when they are finished," Sheikh Al-Jabouri continued.
He underlined that the MKO (also known as the MEK, PMOI, NCRI, the Rajavi Cult) terrorist group has never abandoned its terrorist operations, and stated, "We have suffered many losses since the arrival of the Americans in our country and continuation and spread of terrorist operations in Iraq is among them."
"We have devoted numerous martyrs in the way of defending our country, but we would do our best to expel terrorist groups, the Mojahedin-e Khalq in particular, from our country and to bring back security and peace to the people of Iraq," the member of the Salahiddin Tribal Reconcile Committee concluded.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed 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 the 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.
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.
Indicating that the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCRI, RAJAVIS’ CULT…) terrorist group has never abandoned its terrorist operations, a member of the council of Iraqi tribal leaders in Salaheddin stated: the American vehicles enter camp Ashraf and take members of MKO out of the camp for terrorist operations and after the operation, American would take them back to the camp.
In an interview with habilian Association (families of Iranian terror victims) database, Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah Al- jabouri also added: “nobody dares to make any obstacles on the way of American vehicles’ arrival at camp Ashraf and they easily enter the camp without being questioned. Then they would take MKO members out of the camp for terrorist operation and then would carry them back to the camp when they are finished.
Member of Salahiddin tribal reconcile committee continued: we have suffered many losses since the arrival of Americans in our country that the continuation and expansion of terrorist operations in Iraq is among them.
He said: "We have devoted numerous martyrs in the way of defending our country; but we would do our best to expel terrorist groups, Mujahedin-e Khalq in particular, from our country and to bring back security and peace for the people of Iraq.
