Temporary Transit Location(Camp Liberty)

Iraq sends more MKO members to Temporary Transit Location

A few hours ago, the fourth batch of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, a.k.a. MKO and PMOI) elements were transferred to Temporary Transit Location [Camp Liberty], IRIB News reported.

According to Habilian Foundation (families of Iranian terror victims), the group of 400 MKO members were transferred by 25 buses to Temporary Transit Location [Camp Liberty ]which lies northeast of Baghdad International Airport.

During the inspection of their equipment, Iraqi police found industrial materials that may be used in the manufacture of explosives.

To date, nearly 1200 members of the cult were transferred to TTL in three groups of 400 each, February 18, 8, and March 20.

Earlier in September 2011, the Iraqi government and the United Nations reached a deal, under which they agreed to relocate 3400 MKO members living in Camp Ashraf, near Baghdad, until their refugee status is determined.

April 16, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

MKO from TTL to third countries

Tough road ahead of Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult in Iraq

Temporary Transit Location (TTL), which is going to be the only camp of MeK in Iraq, may be an Tough road ahead of Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult in Iraq end for the painful life of each member of this terrorist cult that Rajavi has imposed to them.

Over the next few months, Camp Ashraf will be completely blocked and its residents, whether they want or not, will be resettled in the TTL as Refugees- not Mujahedeen-e Khalq, or any other name.

However, the MerK’s obstruction and turbulence is still ongoing, so every moment it is expected from the terrorist group’s leadership to adopt new positions.

25. Dec. 2011, that is considered a turning point and qualitative topic in the project of closing the MeK case in Iraq, now, with transfer of the other Camp Ashraf residents to the TTL, is entering a new phase of its developments.

The existing evidences indicate that, although, European countries, U.S and the Zionist Regime already have made the most of the MeK, but, considering the terrorist cult a serious threat to the security of their citizens, almost none of them are willing to accept its members in their territory.

Philip Giraldy, former CIA agent, in his recent article about the MeK’s departure from camp Ashraf and final destination of its members, (the Mujahidin Khalq’s Useful Idiots) which was inserted on the Antiwar website, says: "…There might be some problem in arranging the move, as few countries want to take the MEK supporters, fearing that they would have to be deprogrammed from their brainwashing."

Also, according to the Habilian Foundation website (families of Iranian victims of terror), Antonio Guterres, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, on March 3 2012 in a meeting with Shia Soudani, the Iraq’s Minister of Human Rights, announced the UNHCR’s opposition with the granting asylum to terrorist group’s members.

At the meeting that was held in Geneva, Guterres said: "The UNHCR does not give asylum to groups, but it will be given only to individuals, if they quit violence."

So, MeK Have a tough road ahead from TTL to European countries. Renounce of violence and rejection of the sectarian organization is the first and the most important step to pass this arduous path.

Considering what was said above, UN, UNHCR, and ICRC can play the influential and unprecedented role to avoid turning the Temporary Transit Location to a new camp for more brainwashing of its residents by the MeK’s leadership and its gang leaders.

By Seyed Hojjat Seyed Ismaili, former member of the MeK’s central council

March 28, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq begins the Third Round of Expelling Mojahedin Khalq

Iraq on Monday night took a further step to expel hundreds of Iranian dissidents who received support from Saddam Hussein but who are no longer welcome as relations improve between the Shi’ite-ruled neighbours.

The Iraqi government aims to evict the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), which opposes the clerical rulers of neighbouring Iran and fought with Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

On Monday night buses moved 400 residents from Camp Ashraf – built under Saddam and which remained under the protection of U.S. forces – to a former U.S. military base in Baghdad, said Uday al-Khadran, mayor of the nearby town of Khalis.

The Iraqi government moved similar numbers of Ashraf residents to the temporary processing centre at Camp Liberty on February 18 and March 8 as part of its plans to expel them from the country.

There are now about 1,200 PMOI members at Camp Liberty and 2,000 still at Camp Ashraf. They say they fear for their safety now that U.S. troops have withdrawn from Iraq.

Residents agreed in February to move to the new camp, where the United Nations intends to process them for refugee status in other countries, but they complain that the conditions at the new base are dire. They say they have not been permitted to bring many of their personal belongings.

Behzad Saffari, a resident who moved to Camp Liberty last month and acts as a legal adviser there, said one of the new arrivals died of heart failure overnight shortly after the journey, after enduring 48 hours without sleep.

"At the movement it is a prison, with the saturation of police forces and no freedom of movement," Saffari said via telephone, since Camp Liberty is off limits to journalists.

He said others due for relocation were refusing to move to Camp Liberty until Iraqi police were withdrawn from the camp.

There is no suggestion that PMOI members will be sent back to Iran but finding refuge outside Iraq is made more complicated because the United States lists the group as a terrorist organisation. The PMOI carried out attacks decades ago including against U.S. targets but says it has long since renounced violence and shares the West’s opposition to clerical rule in Iran.

The European Union removed the PMOI from its terrorist blacklist in 2009 after being ordered to do so by a court.

(Reporting by Peter Graff in Baghdad and a Reuters correspondent in Baquba, Iraq; Writing by Peter Graff; Editing by Ben Harding)

March 24, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Martin Kobler in the European Parliament on the MKO

On Wednesday, 21/03/2012 Martin Kobler, the UN Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the United Nation Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), reported to the meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee on the work of the UNHCR and UNAMI in Iraq and the current situation of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty.
As part of his description of the problems of resettlement of the Ashraf residents Kobler said that it demanded a cooperative attitude from the residents.
The infrastructure at Camp Liberty was indeed improved, but the basic services are guaranteed. The capacity of the camp was for use by 4000 – 5000 U.S. soldiers and UN staff. This has been sufficient and would offer ample space.
The medical care at Camp Ashraf, although confined to two doctors and six nurses, but also including use of hospitals outside of Liberty, is guaranteed. The establishment of a clinic inside the camp had, however, until recently been refused by the residents, said Kobler.
In addition, there are ultra-modern kitchen facilities in accordance with U.S. standards, but these were rejected by the occupants.
The U.S. special envoy for Camp Ashraf, Daniel Fried, said that the information that the United States has of the situation in Camp Ashraf and Liberty is consistent with Kobler’s descriptions. The conditions at Camp Liberty are not nearly as bad as described by the MEK.
Kobler appealed to the MEK, to refrain from propaganda and complained that the constant, unnecessary rhetorical attacks by the MEK and its supporters are hindering the UN and the Iraqis in their work.
Fried said the key to success is not discussions about the conditions at Camp Liberty, but the progress of the work of the UNHCR.
In a conversation with Mr Kobler following the meeting, we had the opportunity to inform him of our "Back to the Family" initiative and asked him to work to ensure that in individual discussions with the UNHCR the Ashraf residents are made aware as soon as possible that contact with their family members is available.

March 24, 2012 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

MKO’s weapon: nonstop propaganda campaign in media

“Dirty, unusable, water shortage, power outage, highly controlled prison equipped with espionage cameras”; these are the alleged imperfections of Temporary Transit Location that are widely launched in the Mujahedin Khalq Organization’s hues and cries, these days. The first group of 397 members of the MKO moved to TTL on February 18.

The MKO’s slanderous statements on the so-called defects of the new location soon came after their resettlement. The group primarily accused the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) which in January said Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) met” international humanitarian standards “ of misrepresenting conditions there, according to AFP.[1]

AFP calls the MKO’s propaganda campaign in the media as “statement issuing ire”. W.G Dunlop of AFP writes,“the PMOI[MKO]’s focus on public relations campaigns marked by frequent statements to the media and cultivating well-known western politicians to speak on its behalf differs dramatically from its past activities,”.[2]
The report states that the MKO’s spokesman Shahriar Kia sends emails accusing the UN of telling ”lies" and filing “unrealistic report” on condition of TTL as well as forcing residents of Ashraf to move to it.

It is far and wide known that TTL (formerly called Camp Liberty) had previously housed 5000 American troops and as Martin Kobler the UN representative ,told AFP” it should be possible to have the infrastructure ready for these 400 persons who are now living there.”[3]

But, it seems that the MKO’s “flurry of statements” speaking of conspiracies, aims to acheive something extra.

On March4, Assasicated Press also reported of a statement issued by the MKO that proposed “to temporarily move to the Jordanian border instead of Camp Liberty near Baghdad.” The group once more criticized the alleged poor conditions of TTL.”None of the minimum assurances that Ashraf residents had sought has been met”, the statement said. And, Maryam Rajavi offered her golden suggestion: “camp residents are ready to relocate temporarily to the Jordanian border this month in an area once set up as a tent city to house asylum seekers after the outbreak of the Iraq war in 2003”, AP reported. [4]

According to the group’s statement, it would handle expenses for the move. [5] What motivation makes Rajavi to propose such a suggestion?

The history of the MKO’s foreign relations includes Jordan as one of the allies of the group especially during Saddam Hussein’s era. In 2008, some members of the House of Representatives of Jordan accepted the group’s invitation to attend its conferences in European capitals. [6]

A day after Rajavi proposed her impudent plan, Jordan authorities in their turn rejected the suggestion.”Jordan is committed in its obligation that it should not interfere in the affairs of other countries,” a source in the Jordanian Interior Ministry told AL Arab Alyawm Newpaper. [7]

It seems promising to conclude that the MKO leader is highly confused about how to handle her cult of personality after the closure of camp Ashraf. She hopes to be able to gather her forces together in a tent city but out of Iraqi control. She might hunt for building another “Camp Ashraf”, this time in Jordanian territory!

By Mazda Parsi

References:
[1] Dunlop, W.G, Iran exiles in Iraq do battle using press release, AFP, March 5, 2012
[2]ibid
[3]ibid
[4]Associated Press, Iranian opposition group eye Jordan relocation, March 4, 2012
[5]ibid
[6]BBC, Jordanian MPs advised not to attend PMOI conference, December 11, 2008
[7]Kuna, Jordan confirms rejection of building a camp for MEK to its territory, March 5, 2012 (Originally Arabic, Translated by Iran-interlink)

March 8, 2012 0 comments

USA

Clinton urges MKO to complete move

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Wednesday that a decision on whether to remove an Iranian opposition group from the list of terrorist organizations would depend in part on whether more than 3,000 of its members cooperate in moving to a new location inside Iraq.

The group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or People’s Mujahedin, is under pressure from the Iraqi government to move from Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, where it was given territory by Saddam Hussein, the executed Iraqi dictator. Under an agreement negotiated by the United Nations, it has begun a move to a former American base near the Baghdad airport. United Nations officials have said they hope to find permanent homes for the exiles outside Iraq, where government forces have had several bloody clashes with the group, also known as the M.E.K.

In mid-February about 397 members of the group made the move. “There were complications, but it was peaceful,” Mrs. Clinton told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday.

But about 2,800 people remain at Camp Ashraf, and the group’s leaders have complained about conditions in the new location. American officials, who say the group has refused to occupy one building, blocked water trucks and resisted the opening of a clinic, are concerned that the group may balk at completing the move.

Mrs. Clinton told the committee that “M.E.K. cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf” will be “a key factor in any decision” on its longstanding request that the State Department lift its terrorist designation. She did not elaborate, but an administration official said her remarks were meant to be a strong signal to the group that it must improve cooperation.

Lawyers for the organization went to court this week seeking to speed a State Department decision on the terrorist label for the group, which has a history of terrorism but says it long ago renounced violence. It has recruited a long list of prominent former American officials to endorse the cause, many of whom have been paid generous speaking fees by the group’s supporters.
By Scott Shane

March 1, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Temporary Transit Location and MEK excuses

In a symposium held in New York on the situation of MKO’s members in the Temporary Transit

The conditions in TTL are justifiable and acceptable enough for a few days stay

Location TTL, Alan Dershowitz, an American lawyer, stated that: “… if it (TTL) truly is designed to keep people for a couple of days until they are moved to a safer place, one could understand perhaps, even justify that. But if this is to be a place where people are expected to live, my God, what kind of humanity would compel people who are protected individuals under the United Nations to whom the United States made a sacred promise to make this their home. This is not a home”.

The last part of Mr. Dershowitz is approved; TTL is not going to be a permanent home for the relocated members. As the name of the location itself indicates, it is a temporary center to hose the transferred residents for a short span of time to process their refugee status and to transfer them to a third country. The group’s relocation to TTL was agreed between the United Nations, Iraqi authorities, the United States, the European Union and the leaders of the group itself. All the parts were well aware what was to happen and on 31 January, the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said they had confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the new relocation camp met international standards.

In January, Daniel Fried, U.S. special adviser on Camp New Iraq, said that TTL, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport, is the Iraqi government’s property and the MKO members are not authorized to reside there for a long-term period. Not only the members themselves but also MKO’s American and European advocates should understand that a temporary location does not need to be as convenient as the Ashraf within which MKO built itself an autonomous, authoritarian territory. The conditions in TTL are justifiable and acceptable enough “to keep people for a couple of days until they are moved” to a third country. Unless MKO intends to violate all agreements and plan for another prolonged stay; the object of the Iraqi Government does not seem to be letting terrorist bastions multiply, it is decisive to uproot them.

March 1, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Is TTL really a ‘concentration camp’ for the MEK?

The U.S. government has worked hard to find a new location in Iraq for the thousands of members of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK), a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization that is being kicked out of its home at Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi government.

But now the State Department has to answer aggressive charges that the new home for the MEK, a former U.S. military base called Camp Liberty( Temporary Transit Location), is a "concentration camp" with horrid conditions. What’s more, these charges are coming from senior U.S. politicians and experts, led by former New York mayor and presidential candidate Rudi Giuliani.

"This is not a relocation camp. I have seen relocation camps. I know what relocation camps look like. And I know what jails look like. This isn’t a jail. This is a concentration camp. That’s what it is. This is a concentration camp. Let’s call it what it is," Giuliani said at a Feb. 26 "conference" held under the rubric of something called the Global Initiative for Democracy, an advocacy group that seems to be very interested in the MEK issue.

"This is worse than any facility I’ve ever seen having been at one time in charge of the Federal Bureau of Prisons and another time responsible for the New York City jail system, Rikers Island, materially better than this. This is a concentration camp."

The State Department worked with the United Nations to prepare Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location), now renamed Camp Hurriya (Arabic for "freedom"), to get it ready for the MEK, but the MEK has been reluctant to move there. The first tranche of about 400 MEK members started relocating this month.

Harvard Professor Alan Dershowitz, who was on the panel with Guliani at the Feb. 26 conference, wholeheartedly agreed with his take on the conditions at Temporary Transit Location, according to a press release put out by the Global Initiative for Democracy.

"This is a scandal. This is a fraud; a fraud not involving money, but a fraud involving threats to human life. What we need immediately is a commission of inquiry to determine how this fraud was perpetrated," Dershowitz said. "Who certified, who approved that hell hole, that garbage dump? Who said that it met United Nations standards? Somebody is responsible for perpetrating that fraud and for getting 400 innocent people to risk their lives and their health to be exposed to that kind of trash and that kind of hazard to their health. We have to get to the bottom of this."

Neither man ever called Camp Liberty(Temporary Transit Location) a "concentration camp" or a "garbage dump" when it housed hundreds of U.S. soldiers for years during the Iraq war.

Also on that panel were several former high-ranking officials who have been on the roster of the MEK’s often-paid supporters in Washington, including former Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, and former Deputy National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats on the National Intelligence Council Glenn Carle.

Other speakers at the conference included former Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, former U.S. Ambassador to the UK Philip Lader, and former policy advisor at the Treasury Department’s office of terrorism and financial intelligence Avi Jorisch.

Reps. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) and Ted Poe (R-TX) both questioned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the MEK at Wednesday’s hearing of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, with Poe directly raising Guliani’s accusation that the new location amounted to a "concentration camp."

Clinton didn’t comment on the "concentration camp" charge and simply emphasized that the U.S. was working hard to safely relocate the MEK to Temporary Transit Location, keep the Iraqi government from harassing the MEK, and ensure that the U.N. monitors the camp and provides help for refugees. She also said that if the MEK really wants off the list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO), it should get with the program at Camp Liberty( Temporary Transit Location).

"Congressman, given the ongoing efforts to relocate the residents, MEK cooperation in the successful and peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s main paramilitary base, will be a key factor in any decision regarding the MEK’s FTO status," Clinton said.

Foreign Policy

March 1, 2012 0 comments

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

TTL is not a permanent place of host and stay

With the relocation of about 400 residents of Camp New Iraq, formerly Camp Ashraf, to a new

TTL, A Temporary or Permanent Location
is not a permanent place of host and stay as some may presume

transit center, Temporary Transit Location TTL, near the Baghdad’s airport, the United Nations has welcomed the move calling it “the first step towards a better future” for the transferred residents. But it seems that the relocation does not follow smoothly on the agreed path. For humanitarian reasons and to end the presence of MKO’s members in Iraq in a peaceful way, the Iraqi government agreed to extend the decided deadline 0f their expulsion, in line with the memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government. Although the relocation of the residents to TTL imposes heavy costs on the Iraqi government, but it demonstrates Iraq’s good will to resolve the situation facing the residents of Camp New Iraq.

As the name of the new location denotes, Temporary Transit Location TTL, it is a temporary facility to facilitate the process of residents’ departure to third countries. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees UNHCR has announced that it will immediately start the process of verification and refugee status determinations, a key step in preparing the submissions of eligible candidates for resettlement in third countries.

Then, TTL is a center for:

– Temporary settlement of the relocated residents,

– To recognize the residents’ individual identity,

– To determine and verify the residents’ former refugee status in other countries

– To determine the residents’ future of returning to Iran or applying asylum in a third country,

– Preparing legal process of applying for asylum seekers,

As stated in MoU signed by Special Representative of the Secretary-General and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) Martin Kobler and National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Iraq, Faleh Fayad, the Iraqi government will facilitate relocation of the residents of Camp New Iraq to TTL where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will start a process of refugee status determination of residents individually and regardless of their organizational rank as a necessary step for their resettlement in a third country.

In fact, TTL is not a permanent place of host and stay as some may presume. For sure, the residents’ cooperation with the Iraqi authorities and representatives of UNHCR to complete the relocation and process of refugee status without delay guarantees the human rights, safety and welfare of all residents. Of course, any disapproval and protestation by MKO that might end in prolongation of stay in TTL not only satirizes the meaning of the phrase itself but is also a different aspect of a method of sophistry utilized by the group; to turn TTL into another permanent camp.

By M. Nelson

February 27, 2012 0 comments

Professor Paul Sheldon Foote

Prof.Foote: American gov’t to continue using MKO against Iran

This week saw the relocation of Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK, also MKO and PMOI) from Camp Prof.Foote: American gov’t to continue using MKO against Iran Ashraf to a Temporary Transit Location, which was along with MKO’s complaints and moaning about being banned to carry their resources which “were provided for terrorist services rendered by supporters in Iraq (Saddam Hussein), Saudi Arabia, America, and elsewhere,” as Paul Sheldon Foote, a professor with California State University Fullerton (CSUF), puts it.

In an interview with Habilian Foundation (families of Iranian terror victims) on Wednesday, Paul Sheldon Foote, said that the Iraqis should have the freedom to close MEK camps immediately, adding Mujahedin-e Khalq has “no right to remain in Iraq.”

“The American government plans to continue using the MEK for terrorist activities inside Iran,” added Sheldon Foote.

MEK is now hue and crying over not being allowed to carry their medicine, medical instruments, power generators, office facilities (chairs, desks and copy machines), water heaters, sanitary equipment, cupboards, etc. to the Temporary Transit Location!

“These resources were provided for terrorist services rendered by supporters in Iraq (Saddam Hussein), Saudi Arabia, America, and elsewhere,” Sheldon said regarding the issue.

Concerning the latest allegations regarding Iran’s involvement in recent terrorist attacks in Thailand, Sheldon Foote made reference to an Indian author’s article rejecting the Israeli claims upon because of the close trading relationship between Iran and India.

He stressed that they “want an excuse for attacking Iran.”

Referring to the MEK member arrested in Thailand, Paul Sheldon Foote underlined that it is expensive to hire supporters for terrorists, adding that (MKO) terrorists “earn their way by pleasing their supporters” by means of committing acts of terror against their enemies.

Earlier this week the first step towards the expulsion of MKO terrorists from Iraq were taken by transferring some 400 members to a Temporary Transit Location in order for UNHCR to determine their refugee status.

February 23, 2012 0 comments

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