The US State Department spokesperson called on the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) "not to relocate back" to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters
located some 100 kilometers West of the Iranian border.
"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," Victoria Nuland said, reported Habilian Association, a human rights NGO representing the families of Iranian terror victims.
Following the mortar attack on the Camp Liberty earlier the week, the group called on the US administration to "facilitate the transfer of" its members in Camp Liberty back to Camp Ashraf, their former military headquarters.
"The answer for the individuals at Hurriya is not to relocate back to Ashraf," said Nuland.
She also made a reference to those advocating the MKO, and said, "If they want to see them safe, if they want to see them have a better life, the answer is outside of Iraq."
Mujahedin Khalq Declining
The undeniable fact about the UN is that it is a recognized unique international character along with its affiliated
councils, bodies and committees. It has a global responsibility to fulfill and works on a broad range of fundamental issues and if it ever engages itself in solving regional differences, disputes and conflicts, that is because to achieve greater general causes and to coordinate efforts for a safer world. In the same way, when the UN Secretary-General officially appointed Mr. Martin Kobler as his Special Representative for Iraq and Head of UNAMI on 11 August 2011, he tasked Mr. Kobler with sensitive duties to take up. As Mr. Kobler said upon his arrival in Baghdad, “I am privileged to be here to contribute to serving and assisting Iraq and its people at a time when the country is going through an important phase in its transition towards a peaceful and prosperous state”.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Kobler is not in Iraq to deal with the never-ending problems, better to say non-stop excuse makings, of an outcast terrorist group that has no respects for internal or international agreements. As a coordinator to help solve one among many problems in Iraq, Mr. Kobler did his best to mediate a settlement between the Iraqi government and Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, MCR, NLA). The issue of Camp Ashraf, MKO’s bastion located in eastern Iraq, has been one of the main issues dealt with by UNAMI for more than two years. In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December 2011 by the UN and the Iraqi Government to resolve the situation, the Ashraf residents were re-located to a transit location near Baghdad known as Camp Liberty to carry out a process to determine refugee status again by another office of the UN, UNHCR.
But Mr. Kobler, unfamiliar with MKO’s unconventional thanksgiving, never anticipated that his humanitarian efforts would leave him the most hated and despised man in the eyes of MKO along with Iranian and Iraqi officials. Strong condemnation of Mr. Kobler’s efforts and announcing his boycott as well as seeing him biased and siding with Iran and Iraq regimes is not an unprecedented campaign since MKO’s safe settlement in Camp Liberty. Even after the recent mortar attacks against Camp Liberty, Mr. Kobler did not hesitate to request the Iraqi authorities to ensure medical care for the wounded and confirmed that all those injured have been hospitalized. However, the most unethical, shameful attack against him that raised outcry from sensible politicians was made after the bloody incident when Rudy Guiliani, the former New York mayor, lambasted Mr. Kobler saying:
“You allowed it to become a concentration camp and you permitted it to become a killing field. You shouldn’t resign. Ban Ki-moon should fire you today.”
While the UN monitors are still on the ground and Mr. Kobler has asked the Iraqi authorities to promptly conduct an investigation into the mortar explosions, why is MKO pressing the UN’s head to dismiss his Special Representative for Iraq? That is mainly because Mr. Kobler has a general and humanitarian cause to fulfill rather than bowing down to irrational, impractical demands of a terrorist cult; that is because he cannot be bought and exploited as many other paid advocates of the group like Rudy Guiliani himself; that is because his efforts to redeem the enslaved insiders goes against the group’s barbaric plots to victimize them; that is because he played a decisive role in closing the cult’s bastion and returning the occupied lands to their real owners and … .
Mr. Kobler is not easily corruptible and cannot be manipulated as a stooge of MKO’s propaganda campaign; he is experienced enough not to be trapped in group’s provoked propaganda brawls and keeps away from rebutting unproven allegations leveled against him. In contrast to MKO’s press to be recognized an entity with exclusive privileges and rights, Mr. kobler insists to devote efforts to recognize the rights of the insiders as human beings with the rights of deciding for a free life in a third country. MKO fails to understand that it is making a futile attempt to question the legitimacy of the UN and its representatives. An effective cooperation is a more sensible approach, a right path which MKO is unfamiliar with.
The February 9th mortar attack on the Temporary Transit Location (TTL) for the members of the Mujahedin
Khalq Organization known as Camp Liberty, which left 7 dead and dozens injured, opened a new opportunity to the group leaders to run their new plot:”Return to Ashraf”.
The group said that more than 100 had been injured in the shelling and its demands to return to its previous location in Iraq, Camp Ashraf, had been ignored, New York Times reported.[1]
A few hours after the Liberty attack, the MKO websites launched largescale propaganda over the issue. They held an event where a number of their supporters including Howard Dean, Patrick Kennedy, and Strauan Stevenson, spoke on behalf of the group’s recently taken agenda; they all called for residents’ return to Camp Ashraf. Among the event speakers was Rudy Giuliani, former mayor of New York who condemned Martin Kobler and even former US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton for not protecting Liberty residents. He went further and suggested the relocation of Liberty residents to the United States territory. Surprisingly, this part of his speech is no more available on YouTube or the MKO websites. It seems that Mr. Giuliani’s passionate speech was not completely in line with the group’s tactic.
The attack on Liberty that only victimized the suffering hostages held in the MKO’s cult-like structure provided more fuel for the group’s propaganda machine to condemn Iraqi government for its so-called violent act.
New York Times quoted Ali Al Mousavi, saying the accusation from the MEK "is not the first time when they blame us for everything.”[2]
Since the collapse of Iraqi Baath regime, in 2003 and the takeover of camp Ashraf by American military, the MKO was ordered by the new Iraqi government to leave Iraqi territory. Ultimately, in late December 2011, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the UN, Iraqi Government and the MKO in order to evacuate Camp Ashraf and the relocation of its resident in the former American Camp near Baghdad airport, Camp Liberty. But, the MOU didn’t work until the US government promised to remove the group from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organization. the NY Times clarifies:” The MEK had long resisted leaving Camp Ashraf, on land that had been set aside by Saddam Hussein, the toppled Iraqi dictator, and did so only because the United States made it a condition of dropping the group’s terrorist designation”. The report also notifies, “An American official said in August that the MEK had been using Camp Ashraf for paramilitary training.”[3]
The group was delisted in September 2011, only a few weeks after it almost completely evacuated Camp Ashraf. Getting removed from the US black list was a great victory for the MKO that had for years launched a well-funded active lobbying campaign in the US government including the Congress and the Pentagon.
Now that they are no more in the terrorist list they have shifted to the new agenda; return to Ashraf. The attack on TTL (Camp Liberty) provided them with the opportunity to insist on their rude demand but actually it was opposed by the US State Department.
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Tuesday, ”The answer for the individuals at (Camp Liberty) is not to relocate back to Ashraf, in our view”, reported the AFP.[4]
“The only peaceful and durable solution for these individuals is resetteltment outside Iraq, and that should continue to be the focus of everything involved in this effort.”[5]
French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Phillipe Lalliot also expressed support over transferring the residents of Liberty underlined its readiness to take part in coordination with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).[6]
MKO is losing the last chances for maintaining its cult in Iraqi territory and this is good news for most Iraqi people. Head of Iraqi human rights group said that Iraq seeks to try absentia the members of the MKO. He said the people of Tuz Khurmato, (a Kurdish area in Iraq) who are victims of the MKO and the trial is going to be held in their city, expressed happiness and satisfaction over the issue. [7]
By Mazda Parsi
References:
[1] Ghaze, Yasir, Six killed in shelling of Iranian Refugee Camp in Iraq, the NewYork Times,February9,2013
[2]ibid
[3]ibid
[4] AFP, US rejects moving Iranian exiles back to old Camp, Febriary12, 2013
[5]ibid
[6]Aswat al-Iraq, France supports transferring MKO members outside Iraq,February13,2013
[7]ibid
THE US has rejected calls for Iranian exiles housed in a camp near Baghdad that came under mortar and rocket attack to be sent back to their former base near the Iranian border.
The death toll from Saturday’s assault on Camp Liberty, which houses about 3000 members of the opposition People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK), has risen to seven, the group said.
Iraqi authorities are now investigating who was behind the attack, but the MEK and its supporters have called for the group to be allowed to return to their old base dating back to the 1980s – Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border.
"The answer for the individuals at (Camp Liberty) is not to relocate back to Ashraf, in our view," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
"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."
The camp residents were reluctantly and finally moved from Camp Ashraf last year, on Iraq’s insistence, as part of deal negotiated via the United Nations.
They are now in the process of being resettled, and it is understood the United States and several European countries have agreed to take them in.
Nuland said the United States has still not made any decisions on whether to accept any of the residents.
"We are now in the process of evaluating some of the referrals that UNHCR has sent our way, and we’re strongly, as I said, encouraging others to do the same," Nuland said.
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran and took up arms against Iran’s clerical rulers after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah.
The group says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran by peaceful means.
Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the United States in September.
The recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty – the transient settlement facility of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq
Organization in Iraq – unveiled the deep differences between the terrorist group and its American and European lobbyists.
According to a report by Didehban center, pro-MKO lobbyists, who are mostly retired European and American politicians, have recently concluded that the criminal activities of the MKO (also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) will definitely prove costly for them.
They have recently increased their criticism about the "irresponsible" remarks of MKO’s ringleader, Maryam Rajavi, and the negative impacts of her remarks.
These lobbyists have realized that MKO ringleaders want to massacre the group’s members as they see such bloodshed as the only way to guarantee their longer stay in Iraq, while their lobbyists such as former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani have asked for the transfer of the MKO members to the US, said the Didehban report.
In Washington on Saturday, at a convention of Iranian-Americans, Giuliani called on the United States to take in the camp residents.
"These people can all be removed within hours," Giuliani said. "Planes can be sent immediately. They can be here within a day. We have done far more difficult things than that. It’s only about 3,000 people."
The report came after some media reports alleged that Katyusha rockets fired on the Camp Liberty have killed five members of the MKO. About 40 members of the terrorist group were reportedly wounded in Saturday’s attack, along with three Iraqi policemen, said the reports.
Meantime, a senior Iraqi lawmaker said that the recent rocket attack on Camp Liberty was a move to convince Iraq to allow the MKO to return to Camp Ashraf, but such actions are futile the grouplet’s return to its main training camp is impossible.
"Attack on the MKO aimed to rally the support of the international community’s public opinion for the MKO’s return to the Diyala province and Camp Ashraf," Abdullah al-Naeli said on Wednesday.
"But returning the MKO’s members to their previous position is not possible, specially given the fact that Diyala residents spent much efforts to expel them from their province," Naeli was quoted by Ashraf News as saying.
The Iraqi lawmaker added that the Baghdad government is seriously investigating the attack to find out the realities.
France expressed support over transferring members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization outside Iraq, underlining its readiness to take part in coordination with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Iranian Fars news agency quoted French Foreign Ministry Spokesman Philippe Lalliot as saying that his country supports the UN plan to move the MKO to a third country.
Head of an Iraqi human rights group had said that Iraq seeks to try in absentia the members of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as the MEK, NCR and PMOI) in Iraq.
He said the people of Tuz Khurmato, who are victims of the MKO and the trial is going to be held in their city, expressed happiness and satisfaction over the issue.
A senior Iraqi lawmaker said that the recent rocket attack on the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization
transient settlement in Camp Liberty was a move to convince Iraq to allow the MKO to return to Camp Ashraf, but such actions are futile the group’s return to its main training camp is impossible.
"Attack on the MKO aimed to rally the support of the international community’s public opinion for the MKO’s return to the Diyala province and Camp Ashraf," Abdullah al-Naeli said on Wednesday.
"But returning the MKO’s members to their previous position is not possible, specially given the fact that Diyala residents spent much efforts to expel them from their province," Naeli was quoted by Ashraf News as saying.
The Iraqi lawmaker added that the Baghdad government is seriously investigating the attack to find out the realities.
Some media reports alleged that Katyusha rockets fired on the Camp Liberty, the transient settlement facility of the MKO (also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) in Iraq, have killed five members of the MKO. About 40 members of the terrorist group were reportedly wounded in Saturday’s attack, along with three Iraqi policemen.
Speaking to reporters here in Tehran on Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast said that the move is part of the MKO’s efforts to portray itself as an oppressed community in a bid to postpone its expulsion from Iraq’s soil.
Mehman-Parast also called on the UN and Iraqi officials to rapidly implement the agreements on the expulsion of the MKO from Iraq.
Also on Tuesday, Iran’s Ambassador to Baghdad Hassan Danayeefar said that the attack is part of the MKO’s efforts to return to Camp Ashraf.
Expressing disapprobation of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq group’s presence in Iraq, head of the Iraqi
parliamentary committee on martyrs and political prisoners said that, if compelled, they would extradite MKO members to Iran.
“The United Nations should expedite the process of their expulsion from Iraq,” Muhammad al-Hindawi said, as quoted by FNA, Habilian Association reported.
“One day we may be forced to hand the MKO elements over to the government of Iran,” he said, adding that nobody in Iraq thinks about aggression against MKO members held in the country, but they have to leave Iraqi soil.
The Iraqi MP finally concluded that the government of Iraq is not responsible for the lives of these people, as it has not granted them political asylum.
Earlier this week, the temporary home of some 3000 MKO members came under mortar attack, leaving 6 dead and dozens injured.
In an e-mail sent to news media outlets in Iraq, the military wing of Hezbollah in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the attack and warned that others would follow, NY times reported.
Head of an Iraqi human rights group says Iraq seeks to try in absentia the members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e
Khalq organization (MKO, a.k.a. MEK and PMOI) in Iraq.
“The silence of the Iraqi government, international organizations, and the mass media regarding the martyrs and victims of Munafeqin (hypocrites, a term used in Iran and Iraq for the members of MKO) grouplet made us request the hearing in the absence of the Munafeqin,” head of the Association of Justice to Defend Iraqi Victims of MKO, Dr. Nafe al-Isa, told Habilian Association in an interview on Thursday.
He said the people of Tuz Khurmato, who are victims of the MKO and the trial is going to be held in their city, expressed happiness and satisfaction over the issue.
He added that the trial will be held as coordinated with the judicial system, and the witnesses will be heard in the first session.
Dr. Nafe al-Isa also called on Iranian media to cover the sessions, the first of which will be held on February 18, 2013.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent information they have concerning flooding by sewage and storm water at Camp Liberty, and whether they have made representations to the United Nations and the United
Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq about conditions at the camp.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
My Lords, we are aware that parts of Camp Liberty were flooded during a recent period of heavy rainfall, as were many parts of the Baghdad area. Fortunately, this did not affect residents’ accommodation blocks. We continue to monitor the situation at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty through the embassy in Baghdad and to raise issues with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
My Lords, is it not time that the Government made a judgment, based on first-hand evidence such as that produced by the ex-UNAMI chief Tahar Boumedra, and ignored the manipulation and dissembling by Martin Kobler on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations? If the United Kingdom is to maintain its integrity and influence in the Middle East, we should be pressing for the dismissal of Herr Kobler and, indeed, be asking ourselves, with our allies, whether the present Secretary-General of the United Nations has not outlived his usefulness.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
Before I answer the noble Lord’s very important question, I am sure the rest of the House will want to join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.
The noble Lord raises an important point. The Secretary-General, whom I met with last week at the United Nations, is doing a very important job, with the support of the international community, in some very difficult circumstances. The specific situation in relation to Camp Liberty is that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission, regularly reports about the situation in Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf. Our own officials visited in July last year and the international community does not, at this stage, find any credible evidence to support the matters that have been raised by Mr Tahar Boumedra.
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, considering that many of the complaints that are made by the residents of Camp Liberty and, indeed, Camp Ashraf, against the Iraqi authorities and UNAMI could be easily verified or refuted and that some have been confirmed not only by Mr Tahar Boumedra but by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, will the Government press for an inspector to be appointed by the UN Secretary-General to look into the serious allegations of ill treatment, such as denial of access to urgently needed medical treatment, which has lead to the deaths of two inmates of Camp Liberty? Since we have been aware for some time that 52 residents of Camp Liberty were formerly refugees in the United Kingdom, will my noble friend press for their immediate transfer to the UK?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
As my noble friend is aware, the situation in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is in many ways much better than that of residents in Baghdad. For example, electricity is available for 24 hours a day, as opposed to the three hours for which it is available in some parts of Baghdad. About 200 litres of water are available to residents there, when about 90 litres are available in some parts of Baghdad. My noble friend raises the very important issue of the recent death of a resident there. We share those concerns about the death of Behrooz Rahimian and have made inquiries specifically in relation to the medical assistance that he received. We are aware that there is a doctor and medical facilities on site 24 hours a day; there is also the opportunity to receive medical assistance from doctors in Baghdad. We understand that Mr Rahimian was afforded medical assistance in relation to his illness.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour)
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the new Parliament in Baghdad will be built to a British design, that UK parliamentarians, including the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, are out there helping to develop democracy and that the development of a democratic Government in Iraq to deal with the kind of issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Maginnis, is the number one priority and will be supported fully by the British Government?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I agree with much of what the noble Lord said. He will also be aware that this situation goes back many years. The group that lives in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is an organisation that originally left Iran after the Iranian revolution. Mujaheddin e Khalq, the group that is predominantly part of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, has its own history and record, and we must be incredibly careful about which members of that group we readmit to the United Kingdom.
Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that one of the problems we have is that the United Nations has not granted Camp Liberty the status of a refugee camp? It that were granted, would it not be possible to have adequate medical facilities and for water, sewerage et cetera to be resolved? At the same time, the status of Camp Ashraf could be looked at because the property of individuals is systematically being looted there, and the information the Minister has is not the information that we receive from residents of those camps.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I can assure my noble friend that about 3,000 residents of Camp Ashraf have moved to Camp Liberty. It is not a refugee camp as such; it is a place where individuals are being assessed as to the countries to which they could be relocated. Four have already come to the United Kingdom, a fifth who was offered that has decided not to come and about 52 others are being considered for coming to the United Kingdom. In relation to property at Camp Ashraf, I can assure my noble friend that about 100 residents of this group remain in Camp Ashraf specifically to sell off their property.