The Third View on Mujahedin Khalq

Iraq set to deport Mojahedin Khalq

The Iraqi government is planning to deport Iranian dissidents of an opposition movement in exile that had led a guerrilla campaign against the US-backed Iranian Shah during 1970s, which included attacks on US targets

BAGHDAD (AA) – The Iraqi government is reportedly planning to deport Iranian dissidents of an opposition movement in exile, known as the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (MEK), which had led a guerrilla campaign against the US-backed Iranian Shah during 1970s, which included attacks on US targets.

The UN called on the Iraqi government earlier to do all it can to protect the Iranian exiles left in a camp north of Baghdad after confirming that 52 people were killed there.

Iraq’s government wants to shut down the facility known as Camp Ashraf (Liberty) and transfer thousands of Iranian exiles living there to another camp out of the country as it is growing impatience with a UN coordinated effort to resettle them abroad.

Undersecretary of the Iraqi National Security Falih al-Fayyaz said the Iraqi government ran out of patience as there were no international efforts to resettle them outside Iraq.

“Iraqi government will put an end to this issue soon,” Fayyaz said. “We want concrete solutions to transfer them to different countries”.

The Iraqi government had moved 3,400 MEK members to Camp Liberty in Baghdad in 2012 under an agreement with the United Nations.

Anadolu Agency,

September 24, 2013 0 comments

USA

US Denies Visiting Allegedly Missing Iranians

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says it has no information on the whereabouts of seven Iranian dissidents allegedly missing following a deadly shooting on their compound north of Baghdad this month.

The parent organization of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group says it has information that an American delegation has met the seven people held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford told The Associated Press by email Sunday that the claim of an American visit is "categorically untrue." He says no one from the U.S. government has seen or visited those said to be missing.

Iraq on Friday denied that it is holding the seven former residents of Camp Ashraf said to be missing. A disputed shooting on the compound Sept. 1 left 52 MEK members dead.

September 23, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq Rejects MEK Allegations & Demands Implementation of the Agreements

Rejecting MEK Allegations and Demanding UN Implementation of the Resettlement Agreement

The Khalq Organization is accustomed to fabricating lies and disseminating them, in this regard they alleged Rejecting MEK Allegations and Demanding UN Implementation of the Resettlement Agreement that seven of its members had been missing in the recent events that took place in the New Iraq camp, and claimed that they were abducted by Iraqi troops. As we reject these allegations altogether we reiterate the fact that the Iraqi forces has never conducted any actions against members of this organization, whether in the camp of New Iraq or any other site, but the elements of this organization, which is still on the list of terrorist organizations refused to allow Iraqi forces, which were protecting the camp, entering the camp at the time of the accident and impeded investigation efforts.

We would like to remind the international community of the Resettlement Agreement between the Iraqi government and the United Nations and their commitments to it, despite of making many extensions of the dates of the agreed schedule.

As we reaffirm our commitment to the agreement with the United Nations, which was many times violated by this organization, we appeal to the international community and the United Nations and all States to implement the Resettlement Agreement that was signed by the Iraqi government and the United Nations to resettle the members of this Organization in another country and help Iraq to migrate the members of this Organization who live in Iraq illegally.

Iraqi PM Office,pmo.iq, Baghdad

September 22, 2013 0 comments

USA

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visits Camp Hurriya

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Brett McGurk visited Camp Hurriya in Baghdad, September 16, accompanied by Gyorgy Busztin, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). DAS McGurk met with senior representatives from the Mujahedine-e-Khalq (MEK), as well as officials from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). He expressed his condolences to the survivors of the recent Camp Ashraf attack and emphasized the priority of the U.S. Government to ensure the safety and security of the residents of Camp Hurriya. He praised the efforts of UNAMI, and Mr. Busztin personally, to ensure the safe and secure relocation of the survivors from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya last week.

He also discussed issues related to the safe, permanent, and secure relocation of the camp’s residents outside of Iraq, and affirmed the U.S. policy to take active measures in support of such relocation to third countries as soon as possible. DAS McGurk encouraged the residents to cooperate fully with the UNHCR process to facilitate their safe and permanent relocation outside of Iraq. Finally, he thanked UNAMI and UNHCR for their tireless efforts in Iraq and ensured the ongoing cooperation and support for their efforts by the United States.

American Embassy, Baghdad

September 21, 2013 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

MKO Expulsion from Camp Ashraf Sign of Iraqi People’s Victory

A prominent Iraqi lawmaker called expulsion of the members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, also known as MEK, NCR and PMOI) as a great victory for the people of his country.

“The day the MKO was expelledfrom Camp Ashraf was a day of victory for the oppressed people over the oppressors,” member of the Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Fraction Qassem al-Orji told FNA on Monday.

Al-Orji pointed to the expulsion of 3,000 MKO members (from Camp Ashraf) over past year and their transfer them to a transient facility in Camp Liberty near Baghdad, and said, “The MKO members have been transferred to Camp Liberty near Baghdad to pave the way for their complete expulsion from Iraq …,” he added.

The Iraqi lawmaker also pointed to the 100 MKO members who remained in Camp Ashraf on the pretext of selling its assets after the expulsion of other group members, and said, “These people remained in Camp Ashraf with the support of US and Europe in order to kill the time and make a full evacuation of the camp impossible.”

On September 1, over 50 MKO members, including top commanders, were killed in an attack inside the terrorist group’s notorious camp in Iraq’s Diyala province. There were around 100 MKO members in the camp at the time.

The attack came at the hands of a group of Iraqi people and the relatives of those martyred by the terrorists when they had joined forces with executed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 1991 to crush an uprising by Iraqi Shiites.

The Iraqis who stormed the terror camp further demanded the immediate expulsion of all MKO terrorists from their country.

Earlier this week, Iran’s Intelligence Minister Seyed Mahmoud Alavi-Tabar described the fall of the MKO headquarters in Camp Ashraf as a natural outcome for an organization that has based its activities on criminal acts.

“The ruinous fate of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) was quite foreseeable, as any group that turns against its own nation is doomed to fall,” Alavi-Tabar said.

The Iranian intelligence minister stressed that the MKO actions enraged the Iraqi nation, and the criminal members of the group were ultimately consumed by their wrath.

The last group of MKO terrorists at Camp Ashraf, now called Camp New Iraq, was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11 to join other members of the terrorist group in the former US-held Camp Liberty, now called Camp Hurriya, near Baghdad International Airport where they are awaiting relocation to other countries.

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 the 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 the US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with the 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.

September 17, 2013 0 comments

UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents

The killing of dozens of members of an Iranian dissident group that the Iraqi government wants out of the country should be ‘‘a wake-up call’’ to the international community, the acting U.N. envoy to Iraq said Friday as he pressed countries to do more to find them homes abroad.

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which is strongly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime, were welcomed into Iraq by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s during the brutal war with neighboring Iran.

Their fortunes turned sharply with the Iraqi dictator’s toppling in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq’s current Shiite-led Iraqi government, which has strengthened ties with Tehran, considers their presence in the country illegal.

A disputed Sept. 1 shooting at their longtime home in Camp Ashraf killed 52 MEK members — roughly half of the camp’s remaining population.

The dissidents accuse Iraqi security forces of carrying out the killings. Baghdad denies involvement, with officials saying an internal dispute was to blame. It has promised to carry out an investigation.

United Nations representatives traveled to the camp a day after the killing. Although the U.N. has not determined who was responsible, acting U.N. envoy Gyorgy Busztin said the bloodshed highlights the need to protect the residents.

‘‘What has happened at Camp Ashraf on the first of September is a game changer. It should be a wake-up call to all countries who are in a position to help to come forward,’’ he told The Associated Press. ‘‘Resettlement is the ultimate guarantee of their security.’’

The U.N. this week helped facilitate the transfer of the last 42 Camp Ashraf residents to a different camp near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 of their comrades are staying. That compound is meant to provide temporary shelter while the U.N. works to resettle them abroad.

Busztin said the Baghdad camp, a former U.S. military base known as Camp Liberty, should offer them better security than Camp Ashraf, which is 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad. It is also physically closer to U.N. offices in the Iraqi capital, making it easier to monitor, he said.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. It says it renounced violence in 2001.

The U.S. considered the MEK a terrorist group until last year. Leaving Camp Ashraf was a key factor in reversing that designation.

Busztin urged U.N. member states to do more to relocate the residents safely abroad.

The Baghdad camp where MEK members are now all staying has itself been hit by deadly rocket attacks claimed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants.

‘‘These are human beings. Whatever the government of Iraq says about their past, these are people in need of protection, and we take that very seriously,’’ Busztin said.

The resettlement process has moved slowly because the U.N. is struggling to find countries willing to take them. U.N. officials also say that many residents have been uncooperative with the process, complicating the relocation effort.

A total of 210 residents have left to other countries so far, according to figures provided by the U.N. refugee agency.

Most of them went to Albania, which has offered to take 210 in total. Germany has said it would accept about 100. A small number of residents have been resettled elsewhere.

Seven former Camp Ashraf members are unaccounted for following this month’s violence, according to the MEK. The group claims they are being held by Iraqi forces and will soon be turned over to Iran against their will.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shiyaa al-Sudani and Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, both denied Friday that the seven said to be missing are in Iraqi custody.

Busztin, the U.N. official, had no information on their whereabouts.

The U.N. refugee agency expressed concern for the seven reported missing, saying in a statement that they are all known to be asylum-seekers. It called on the Iraqi government to find them and ensure their safety, as well as prevent them from being returned to Iran against their will.

As for the rest of the exiles, Busztin said it is difficult to say how soon they could be resettled.

‘‘I’m optimistic more countries will come forward and the numbers in the camps will be gradually reduced. But for the length of the process, I cannot give you a reasonable estimate,’’ he said. ‘‘What we request from the government of Iraq is to extend them adequate protection until the last one leaves,’’ he added.

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

By ADAM SCHRECK

September 14, 2013 0 comments

USA

US welcomes relocation of remaining Ashraf residents

Relocation of Remaining Individuals from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya in Iraq

Press Statement

Jen Psaki US welcomes relocation of remaining Ashraf residents

Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 11, 2013

The United States welcomes today’s safe arrival at Camp Hurriya of the remaining 42 individuals from the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) who had been residing at Camp Ashraf. These individuals were survivors of the horrific attack that took place on September 1 at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate their cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in this relocation effort. We also appreciate the assistance of the Government of Iraq in facilitating this relocation.

The United States reiterates its condemnation of the September 1 attack and insists that the perpetrators of that barbarous act be brought to justice. We also continue to be deeply concerned about the seven individuals who remain missing from the attack and urge that all steps be taken to locate these individuals.

UNAMI made extraordinary efforts to implement a plan to safely and peacefully move the remaining residents at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate and support those efforts. We urge all parties to continue to implement all remaining obligations of that plan. In particular, we call on the Government of Iraq to move expeditiously to enhance security structures within Camp Hurriya. It is the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents at Camp Hurriya in accordance with the December 25, 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between UNAMI and the Government of Iraq.

We further call on the Government of Iraq to ensure the safekeeping of the property that remains at Camp Ashraf, as agreed pursuant to the UNAMI relocation plan. We also call upon the members and leaders of the MEK to actively participate in the UNHCR-led resettlement process. The United States stands firmly behind UNAMI efforts to resolve this matter and to act with urgency to find locations for the safe, secure, and permanent relocation of Camp Hurriya residents outside Iraq.

September 14, 2013 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

UN announces transfer of remaining Iranian exiles Camp Ashraf

12 September 2013 – A United Nations official in Iraq today announced the successful relocation of the last group of Camp Ashraf residents to a camp near the Baghdad area, pending their resettlement outside the country.

“The process, concluded today, has come a long way since its launch in February 2012, with the Government and the residents both abiding by the agreement between the UN and the Government of Iraq on the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to the temporary transit location of Camp Hurriya,” said the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, Gyorgy Busztin.

Camp Ashraf was comprised of Iranian exiles, many of them members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran.

More than 3,000 residents have been relocated to Camp Hurriya, previously known as Camp Liberty, while the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) carries out a process to determine their refugee status, and resettle them outside of the country, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UN and the Iraqi Government.

Camp Ashraf has been attacked several times, making relocation a priority for the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). The latest attack, which took place earlier this month, killed and injured numerous camp residents.

“The tragic events of 1st September, when 52 residents lost their lives in a terrorist attack, while seven others are still unaccounted for, was a sombre reminder of the necessity to conclude the final phase of the relocation process without further delay,” Mr. Busztin said.

“Resettlement outside Iraq is now the priority, and it is urgent that countries ready to host the residents come forward to accept them, providing them a safe future outside Iraq.”

Mr. Busztin also called on the Iraqi Government to abide by its commitment to ensure maximum safety and security for Camp Hurriya residents until all of them leave the country.

September 14, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq dismisses MKO’s new allegations as baseless

Iranian exiles claim Iraq plans to deport 7 members to Iran, a charge Baghdad denies

An Iranian dissident group whose camp in Iraq was the scene of a disputed outbreak of violence last week claimed Tuesday that Iraqi authorities plan to hand over seven allegedly detained members to Iran. Baghdad denies having any such plans.

The latest dispute comes as Iraqi officials prepare to relocate the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf, about 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of the Iraqi capital. The compound has long been a source of irritation to the Iraqi authorities, who want it closed and its current and former residents moved out of the country altogether.

A total of 52 members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq were killed in a shooting at the Saddam Hussein-era compound on Sept. 1. The group, which opposes Iran’s clerical regime and was labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. until last year, blamed Iraqi security forces for the killings. Iraqi officials have said an internal dispute erupted inside the camp.

A team from the United Nations mission to Iraq visited the camp after the killings and confirmed the number of fatalities, but it has not released further findings into what happened or ascribed blame for the deaths.

About 100 MEK members had been living at the camp before the killings. The U.N. refugee agency says 42 remain.

A spokesman for the MEK’s parent organization, the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran, alleged that the seven people he said were “taken hostage” at the time of the killings are being held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport and will be transferred to Iran in the coming days. MEK members fear they will be persecuted if returned to the Islamic Republic.

“The government of Iraq has made no announcement about arresting these individuals and wants to return them to Iran surreptitiously at the first convenient opportunity without making any noise and raising attention,” Shahin Gobadi charged.

He said he knew this via sources within Iran’s “clerical regime,” but he did not identify them, expressing concerns about security. He said he did not know why those seven were abducted while dozens were killed and others survived.

Ali al-Moussawi, the spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said he had no information about any missing residents. He denied there are any plans by Iraq to forcibly send former Camp Ashraf residents to Iran, and he pressed for help in resettling them safely abroad.

“These new allegations are baseless. The Iraqi government calls on all countries to accept them,” he said.

Maj. Gen. Jamil al-Shimmari, the police chief of Diyala province, where the camp is located, said no Ashraf residents have been transferred out since the shooting.

The U.N. on Saturday said Iraqi authorities plan to relocate the surviving Camp Ashraf residents to a former U.S. military base near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 former camp residents are staying. That facility, known as Camp Liberty, is meant to be a temporary way station while the U.N. works to resettle the exiles abroad.

The move would likely mark the end of the MEK’s presence at Camp Ashraf, which the group has been extremely reluctant to leave.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. Saddam granted several thousands of its members sanctuary inside Iraq, and they turned Camp Ashraf into a self-contained, isolated community.

The MEK’s continued presence inside Iraq long has irritated Iraq’s postwar leadership, which has worked to bolster ties with neighboring Shiite powerhouse Iran. The government is highly suspicious of those linked to the former regime.

The group says it renounced violence in 2001. Camp Ashraf residents were disarmed by U.S. troops after the invasion.

Efforts to relocate the exiles abroad have moved slowly. The U.N. has struggled to find countries to accept them, and officials have cited a lack of cooperation by some of the exiles. They do not want to return to Iran because they fear persecution there.

A total of 198 former residents of the two camps have been resettled abroad so far, most to Albania.

___

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

By ADAM SCHRECK

September 11, 2013 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

UNAMI urges all parties to act responsibly in the relocation process to Camp Hurriya

UNAMI

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) has been informed that the Government of Iraq has served an order to relocate the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya. The United Nations believes that the Iraqi Government will move to enforce this order without delay.

“We strongly hope all parties will act responsibly and that the process of relocation to Camp Hurriya will be peaceful and voluntary,” the Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG) for Iraq, Mr. Gyorgy Busztin, said.

The UN Envoy repeatedly urged both sides to act responsibly and to show restraint to prevent any violence during the relocation process. “The United Nations has made tireless efforts to facilitate an agreement between the two sides, and went every extra mile for peaceful relocation,” Mr. Busztin added.

“The UN stands ready to monitor the process, should an agreement be reached between all parties involved to relocate voluntarily to Camp Hurriya,” Mr. Busztin concluded.

September 8, 2013 0 comments

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