Iranian Intelligence Minister Heidar Moslehi has called for the immediate expulsion of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) terrorists from Iraq.
“Based on the arrangements made the MKO must leave Iraqi soil as quickly as possible,” Moslehi was quoted as saying on Tuesday.
MKO terrorists, blamed for the assassination of many Iranian people and officials after the 1979 Islamic Revolution, fled to Iraq in the 1980s where they enjoyed the support of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, who allowed them to set up a military base near the Iranian border.
MKO members currently live at Camp Liberty, a former US military camp near Baghdad Airport, after their relocation from their former Camp Ashraf under growing pressure from the Iraqi government and people for the terrorist group to leave the country.
Moslehi said a decision must be made about the MKO soon and the terrorist group has only committed seditious acts against Iraqis and other regional nations.
The Iranian intelligence minister hailed Iraqi forces for their effective handling of security in the country and pledged Iran will transfer its security expertise and experience it has gained battling terrorism over the past three decades to the Iraqi government.
Moslehi, heading a delegation, arrived in Baghdad on Monday to be received by Faleh Fayyaz, the National Security advisor of the Iraqi government.
The official then met with the former Iraqi prime minister and leader of National Iraqi Alliance, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who praised the Islamic Republic of Iran for presenting a unique security model, in which people make up the system.
He also held talks with Iraqi Parliament Speaker Osama al-Nujaifi on Tuesday and is scheduled to meet Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki later in the day.
The Obama administration said Monday that an Iranian dissident group must immediately accept an offer of asylum from Albania for some its members being housed at a camp in Iraq.
Albania has agreed to take in 210 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MeK), a dissident group that seeks to overthrow Iran’s theocratic regime.
The MeK has rejected the offer.
The U.S. wants the MeK leadership to “accept the government of Albania’s humanitarian offer immediately, and urges the residents of Camp [Liberty] to resume participation in resettlement interviews to ensure that individuals avail themselves of safe and secure relocation opportunities outside Iraq,” said State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland.
The dissidents are housed at Camp Liberty, a temporary location near Baghdad’s international airport.
“We further urge the MeK leadership to place the highest priority on the safety and security of the former residents of [Camp] Ashraf through full and unconditional cooperation with the resettlement process,” Mrs. Nuland said.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has been interviewing Camp Liberty residents to determine their eligibility for refugee status.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki wants the Iranians out of his country.
The Iraqi government is “working closely with the U.N. and the international community to find a permanent place for the residents of the Camp Hurriya outside Iraq,” an Iraqi official said on background.
The Obama administration welcomed the Albanian offer, which it described as “generous,” and thanked Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha “for the humanitarian gesture to provide a safe haven” for the Iranians, said Mrs. Nuland.
“We believe the permanent resettlement of former Ashraf residents outside Iraq is the only sustainable solution and remain committed to assisting [U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq, U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees] and the government of Iraq in this endeavor,” she said.
Saddam Hussein gave the MeK refuge in Iraq in the 1980s. The dissidents established a paramilitary base, Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad. After the Iraqi strongman was overthrown in a U.S. invasion in 2003, U.S. military forces disarmed the dissidents, who had renounced violence in 2001.
Meanwhile, Martin Kobler, the special representative of the U.N. secretary-general in Iraq, met Deputy Secretary of State William Burns at the State Department on Monday morning.
Mrs. Nuland said the U.S. “strongly supports” Mr. Kobler, the UNHCR and UNAMI.
The Clinton administration designated the MeK as a foreign terrorist group in 1997 while it sought to open negotiations with Iran. The designation had proved to be an obstacle to finding other countries willing to give asylum to the Iranians.
The Obama administration took the MeK off the terrorism list in September.
Camp Ashraf’s 3,100 residents were transferred to Camp Liberty under a deal brokered by the U.N. in December.
Ashish Kumar Sen,
EUROPEA/ U/IO/ Brussels, 20 March 2013
A 153/13
Statement by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton on the decision by Albania to offer resettlement to 210 former residents of Camp Ashraf
The High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission issued the following statement today: "I welcome the decision by the Government of Albania to resettle 210 former residents of Camp Ashraf, now temporarily located in Camp Hurriya. I have followed this issue very closely, lending my full support to the work of the United [n]ations Assistance Mission for Iraq, and in particular the Secretary General’s Special Representative Martin Kobler, towards a peaceful and durable solution to this humanitarian issue. Permanent resettlement outside Iraq is the only such solution.
The attacks of 9 February on Camp Hurriya have reminded us that all efforts must now be made to ensure that the process of resettlement to third countries moves forward without delay.
I therefore call on the MEK leadership and the residents to respond positively to the offer made by the Government of Albania and to cooperate constructively with the United Nations, including by resuming the interviews with the UNHCR. I understand that this does not represent a complete answer to the problem the residents are facing, but I am convinced that this is a first step in the right direction, which deserves everybody’s support. I also recall the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to ensure the safety and security of residents of both Camp Ashraf and Camp Hurriya, in accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 25 December 2011 with the United Nations.”
____________
P R E S S
FOR FURTHER DETAILS:
Michael Mann +32 498 999 780 – +32 2 584 9780- Michael.Mann@eeas.europa.eu
Maja Kocijancic +32 498 984 425 – +32 2 298 65 70 – Maja.Kocijancic@ec.europa.eu
Sebastien Brabant +32 460 75 09 98 – Sebastien.Brabant@ec.europa.eu
/abila Massrali +32 460 75 41 75 – /abila.Massrali@ec.europa.eu
Eamonn Prendergast +32 460 75 32 93 – Eamonn.Prendergast@ec.europa.eu
Follow us on Twitter@eu_eeas
www.eeas.europa.eu
E/
——-
Office of Catherine Ashton, European Union, March 21 2013
http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/
cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/136360.pdf
“Iraqi people do have a dark memory of Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, a.k.a. MEK and PMOI), and the decision for their expulsion is a key and national decision,” said an Iraqi Kurdish member of parliament.
Parizad Shaban was quoted by Ashraf News as saying that the hands of the Mujahedin-e Khalq organization (MEK, a.k.a. MKO and PMOI) are “smeared with the blood of people of southern and northern Iraq,” and the wounds of these people have not been healed yet.
MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was welcomed by Iraqi executed dictator, Saddam Hussein. In return, MKO helped him suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the Arab country in 1991.
Parizad Shaban called on all organizations and the media to work for the clarification of the crimes of this group-let for Iraqi people as well as the people around the world.
Surprised by the silence of some politicians and activists on the crimes of MKO, she reiterated that the presence of this group in Iraq “has no legal basis” and that Iraq is opposed to their presence on its soil.
Ashraf News, translated by Habilian Association
Mrs. Nuland reiterated that MKO’s return to Camp Ashraf was out of question
Just following the tragic mortar attack against the entrapped members of MKO inside the transit camp of Liberty, there came the imperious, short message of Massoud Rajavi, autocratic leader of the group, delivered from his hideout. His belligerent tone condemning the attackers was not something unprecedented but with the difference that this time the victims of his unleashed scathing attack were not the Iranian and Iraqi governments as usual but Martin Kobler, the UN Special Representative for Iraq and the head of UNAMI. In the course of a yearlong campaign, since settlement in Camp Liberty, expressing strong antipathy towards Mr. Kobler, MKO leveled all kinds of unfounded allegations against him and accused him of acting in collusion to displace MKO members. In his message, Mr. Kobler is represented as one among many adversaries whose antagonism is claimed to have paved the ground for the bloody attack:
“When Mr. Kobler’s duplicity, malice and his criminal pressures failed to work, and when a flood of disinformation and the spread canard did not work, then as usual, they fired missiles against defenseless refugees.”
Rajavi knows better than anybody that none of his putative adversaries gain the least benefit from the plotted attacks against the Liberty. The attacks rather break off the process of MKO’s expulsion from Iraq and its members’ resettlement in any third country. And that is what Rajavi is investing on; he plans to cease the process and to return to his almost closed previous cult bastion, Camp Ashraf.
The paid mercenary advocates of the group, majority of whom are vested with some authority of western parliaments and ex-officials of certain posts, have been tasked with the mission of beating the drum for the return of the Liberty residents to Ashraf. Misled by a widespread lobbying campaign of the group, many of these supporters fail to observe that there is no logic in returning people to a former location after it took a lot of painstaking work to get them out. Some of them even transcend to talk on behalf of their governments as Rep. Rohrabacher condemned the US for the irresponsibility that led to the attack:
“We put the MeK in this position, we forced them to go to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, where they are now being murdered and our government isn’t fixing responsibility on the Iraqi government as it should. We took them out of a more secure area and put them in a less secure area. We sent them into harm’s way and we haven’t stepped up to do our duty.”
Then again, the former New York mayor Rudy Guiliani demanded that the US keep its promise to protect the residents by moving them back to Camp Ashraf and then to safe countries. However, has the US government promised any of them anything considering the residents’ return to Ashraf or if the US ever sees any logic in reopening a camp that it cooperated to close down?
The answer was directly and clearly provided in Victoria Nuland’s daily press briefing in Feb. 12. In answer to the question on the United States position concerning moving the residents in Camp Liberty back to Camp Ashraf, the State Department’s spokesperson said:
“The answer for the individuals at Hurriya is not to relocate back to Ashraf, in our view. The only peaceful and durable solution for these individuals is resettlement outside Iraq, and that should continue to be the focus of everybody involved in this effort. As you know, we are continuing to support the work that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq and the UNHCR are undertaking to try to work on resettlement of these people.”
And she clearly briefed on her government’s recommendation to MKO’s advocates who are insisting and lobbying for residents return to Ashraf: “the point that I made here is the same point that we make in our private meetings with those who advocate for the MEK, that if they want to see them safe, if they want to see them have a better life, the answer is outside of Iraq”.
In fact, Mrs. Nuland said the last word, that return to Ashraf was out of question. She has perceived that the insiders are suffering two tragic situations; first, being the helpless victims of a closed cult of personality and second, kept in fetters of their leaders’ illogical and ludicrous decision makings intensified by an outside group of recruited supporters.
Blaming MKO for involvement in the recent political instability in Iraq, head of a newly established militant group 
in Iraq took responsibility for the February 9 mortar attack on Camp Liberty, which temporarily houses some 3000 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq organization.
According to Habilian Association, head of Mukhtar Army Wathiq al-Battat, in his interview with Al-Mada Press, did not rule out the possibility of further attacks on Camp Liberty, and underscored that they are in ambush for the terrorist MKO group until they leave Iraq.
Camp Liberty, formerly a US base which is now the temporary home for about 3000 MKO members, came under mortar attack on February 9, 2013, leaving a number of MKO members dead and injured.
From the very first hours, MKO started condemning Iran for carrying out the attack, but Iranian foreign ministry spokesman denied the allegations and said Iran has nothing to do with it.
In a separate interview with the Associated Press on Tuesday, al-Battat said, “It is time for the people of the MEK to leave Iraq. We have demanded that the government kick the group out of the country, but the Iraqi government did not respond positively to our demand” he said.
The Iraqi cleric said the MKO’s presence in Iraq poses a “big threat” to Iraq and the lives of Iraqi people.
A group of Ex MEK members and supporters, started a new campaign in Facebook which has outraged the 
Rajavists.
The campaign which was formed after the mortar attack to camp Liberty, has called for immediate replacement of MEK members to safe countries. A request that is against the rajavis will.
It is mentioned in the declaration of the campaign, “We call upon the United Nations and other responsible organizations for the immediate safe transfer of these defenseless political asylums before anymore future attacks.”
Despite the humanitarian nature of the campaign, Rajavi organization has mobilized its member and supporters to accuse founders and members of the campaign to be agents of Islamic Republic of Iran.
One of the founders of the campaign, Mrs. Atefeh Eghbal, is a former high ranking MEK official who left the Iraq based group in mid 90s. Her brother Mohammad Eghbal is still a high ranking MEK official in camp Liberty and is Arabic translator.
According to MEK websites MR. Eghbal has written a public letter to her sister and other campaign activists and accused her of being a traitor as well as insulting her. MEK has showed a huge desire to accuse every ex MEK and other criticizers in order to stop them from writing and talking about MEK.
Despite the efforts of MEK, this small group and their campaign has raised a question among Iranian internet activists that why Ravi`s Organization takes no action to help its members to leave Iraq.
It was commented in the Facebook page of the campaign, “Rajavi claims that he has support of more than 7000 mayors in France and a huge support among members of parliaments in European countries and in America. Why NON of these supports has taken any actions to save members in Iraq?
Meanwhile MEK has called for immediate return to Ashraf, where was given to Rajavists by Saddam and has a better infrastructure for the cult like organization.
An Ex MEK member told Mojahedin Monitor that Rajavi is not willing that its members leave Iraq. They are hoping to remain and return to Ashraf. Rajavi has proved that he is willing to sacrifice its members for his goals.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/campaigneliberty/?bookmark_t=group
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called on the UN to speed up the process of expulsion of the members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq.
Ali Al-Moussavi, a senior advisor to the Iraqi prime minister, announced that Maliki has met with Martin Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Iraq over the UN’s activities in Iraq, including the transfer of the MKO from the country.
Moussavi said that Maliki has asked the UN representative to fulfill his pledge to rapidly implement expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq’s soil.
The advisor stated that Maliki has told Kobler that "Iraq can no more tolerate" the terrorist organization’s members and will not extend their presence in Iraq "even for one single hour", reiterating that any MKO overstay in Iraq will be illegal.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) monitors the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.
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 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 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.
Germany’s Ambassador to Iraq Britta Wagner said her government supports expulsion of the member of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from Iraq.
According to a report by Buratha news website, Wagner praised in a statement the performance of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) in monitoring transfer of the MKO members from Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group’s main training camp in Iraq, to the Camp Liberty, a transient settlement facility in Iraq.
"I would like to express the full support of the German federal government to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) that has monitored the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty," she said.
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 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 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.
Iraqi professor: USA and a few Iraqi officials back the Mujahedin e-Khalq organization and try to keep the terrorist group in Iraq for a while.
Referring to the U.S. role in the region’s instabilities, Seyyed Mohammad Javad Hasheminejad addressed the 
recent developments in the region and threats facing the nations in a friendly meeting with a delegation of Iraqi university Professors and scholars and said: “After the new Iraqi government came to power, the Americans found the developments in Iraq against their will and started to support and enhance terrorist groups to destroy the country’s security, they promoted the very same thing they had apparently came to fight.”
Habilian’s Secretary General added: “One of the most destructive terrorist groups in Iraq is Mujahedin e-Khalq organization. As though the group is acknowledged by the USA and other western countries as the sample of murder and crime and it is hated by Iraqi and Iranian nations since it has assassinated many innocent people in both countries, the United States is MEK’s most prominent supporter in Iraq.”
After Hasheminejad’s speech, Ali Abood Ne’emeh, a member of the Iraqi delegation, pointed out recent Islamic movements and said: “We believe the Islamic movements in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq,… wouldn’t have succeeded without Islamic Republic of Iran’s help and support and we have to thank you for this. We also appreciate our leaders who had a very impressive role in the movement of people.
Dr. Rashid Hussein, a university professor in Iraq, referred to the deep, ancient ties between Iran and Iraq and said:” Of course sometimes foreign factors cause problems for the ties between the two countries, but whenever these foreign factors are removed, the ties will be normal again.”
In another part of his speech he addressed the Imperial governments’ wickedness and stated: “The conspiracy of imperial governments is too obvious in the region and it has always existed. What is now happening in the Islamic Wakening countries is a good proof for this. These are due to foreign and imperial intervention.
Dr. Hussein added: “The Iraqi people don’t ever tolerate the MEK, but unfortunately some Iraqi officials and the United States back the group and want them to stay in Iraq for a while.”
He pointed out the American propaganda and said: “We know what the USA is seeking in the world. But unfortunately they are using their propaganda machines and false advertisement to claim they have come to Iraq for Human Rights. They can easily promote themselves since the media is at their disposal.”
At the end Dr.Rashid Hussein appreciated Habilian Association’s activities and included: “We are very happy to see NGOs are so active in Iran and hope we can use Iran’s experience in this field in our country. We are still at the beginning in Iraq. It is such a useful experience. Specifically about Habilian, it is so nice to support families of the people who have sacrificed themselves for your country. This would encourage Iranian people for further sacrifices in the future.”