A senior Turkish foreign ministry official underlined his country’s resolve to fight terrorism, and strongly condemned the crimes committed by the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO/MEK/PMOI), against humanity…
A former high ranking member of MKO told Ashraq Alawsat in Tehran:”they do not have arms. They are only trying to maintain their organization and its doctrine and obedience to its orders which is the most important to them. They think if Camp Ashraf is closed MKO/MEK/PMOI will collapse..
… what is the benefit for the organization[MKO/MEK/PMOI] to stay in Iraq now, without the presence of the former regime which protected them? The numerous statements made by the leaders and officials of the Mojahedin Organization directed across the world are a show of power and capability of the Organization in defiance of the Government of Iraq in particular, and the international community in general …
… Al Mutamar Newspaper reported on a meeting between the families of MKO victims in Camp Ashraf and the Political and Human Rights Director of UNAMI in Iraq, Mr Mahdu Acharya.
… The paper said that about three thousand men live at Camp Ashraf, called Camp New Iraq by the Iraqi authorities, and over 70% of them are over fifty years old. It is not clear what can be done with them. Asharq Al-Awsat spoke to people who have recently escaped from the camp. They spoke of the terrible conditions there, and said that anyone wanting to leave was severely punished, even tortured …
… There were allegations during the year that some of the 3,400 members of the MEK terrorist organization located at Ashraf were denied the right to leave under threat of reprisal from MEK leaders. These allegations were corroborated by several former Ashraf residents who had fled the camp. Individuals claimed to have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse …
..The view of the UK Government is that with the formal end of hostilities and the transfer of responsibility for the camp to the Iraqi authorities, any claim to protected person status by the camp’s residents under the fourth Geneva Convention has ceased to apply. That view is shared by the United Nations. The camp[Ashraf] leadership have been given that information…
… MEK’s initial purpose was realized in 1979 when the group, along with followers of Ayatollah Khomeini, successfully staged the Islamic revolution, seizing the Tehran U.S. Embassy and sending the Shah into exile. Following the revolution, MEK was sent into exile by the Islamic Republic of Iran. Over the following two decades MEK allied itself with Saddam Hussein …
… Government of Iraq would deal with the residents of the camp Ashraf [PMOI/MEK/MKO] with respect for their human rights in co-operation with the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross. We believe it is in the interests of the residents to respect and accept the decision made by the Government of Iraq, and to cooperate peacefully with the Iraqi authorities …
..Many Iranians view the MEK as traitors because the MEK supported Iraq’s terror invasion of Iran. .. the MEK/MKO/PMOI helped carry out Saddam’s brutal repression of Shiites and Kurds. So the MEK served Saddam Hussein, as even Daniel Pipes [who, though he’s a decent man who reveals a lot of facts, still falls for the MEK propaganda] admitted that “during its 17 years in Iraq, it also had to do Saddam Hussein’s bidding”.