MEK Camp Ashraf

U.S. wants safe resettlement from Ashraf

The resettlement of Iranian refugees at Iraq’s Camp Ashraf must have the support of camp residents and their supporters, the U.S. secretary of state said.

The United Nations and Baghdad last weekend signed a memorandum of understanding to relocate residents at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province to a temporary location at Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport.

The MOU calls on the U.N. High Commission for Refugees to determine the refugee status of Ashraf residents to eventually resettle them in third countries.

Martin Kobler, head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, said the MOU made it clear relocation from Camp Ashraf was voluntary.

Camp Ashraf houses members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran. Members of the PMOI were used as a paramilitary force by Saddam Hussein but surrendered to invading U.S. forces in 2003.

Europeans have relaxed their stance on the organization, though Washington lists it as a terrorist group. PMOI supporters in Europe and the United States are actively lobbying lawmakers to get the organization removed from the U.S. State Department’s terrorism list.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in a statement, said PMOI supporters needed to ensure the relocation in Iraq is a success.

"This resettlement must also have the full support of the camp’s residents, and we urge them to work with the U.N. to implement this relocation," she said. "All those who want to see the people at Camp Ashraf safe and secure should work together to see that the agreed upon plan is carried out."

Dec. 27, 2011

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/12/27/US-wants-safe-resettlement-from-Ashraf/UPI-81141325006748/#ixzz1ho8T1TiH

December 28, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

326 MKO members transfer to Baghdad

236 members of the Mujahedin khalq organization are transferred to Baghdad international airport in order to be expelled from Iraq, declared Al-Khalis Governor.

Al-Alam reported from Buratha News that Mr. Ali Al-Khadran , Al Khalis Governor said: ”326 members of terrorist Mujahedin are transferred to Camp Liberty near Baghdad airport, today .”
“The decision was made under terms of the memorandum of understanding signed between Iraqi government and the UN,” he added.

Al-Khadran also asked the Iraqi government to return the land occupied by the MKO to its legal owners.

A memorandum of understanding was signed on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission and the Iraqi government to relocate Camp Ashraf residents to a temporary site until their complete departure from Iraq.

The UN Office in Iraq declared in a statement,” The MoU produces a process in which Iraq will relocate Ashraf residents to a temporary base”.

Martin Kobler, the UN special representative in Iraq stated that Ashraf residents would be transferred to the new base until they leave Iraq.

Once again Kobler asked UN members to receive MKO members in their soil.
Nouri Al Maliki, Iraqi Prime minister stated last Wednesday that Iraq agreed to extend deadline for the MKO expulsion for six month based on the plan proposed by the UN.

Iraqi nation and officials insist on necessity of the expulsion of the group from their territory.

Terrorist groups are not allowed to reside in Iraq and this country will never be a platform for terrorist groups to attack neighboring countries, according to Iraqi constitution.

Translated by Nejat Society

December 27, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Ashraf residents transfer, Families gathering

A large number of families of Camp Ashraf residents gathered in front of the Camp, this morning, reported Nejat Society representative.

Families are hopeful to see or at least get news of their children --after years of no news about them-- while they are transferred from Ashraf to Baghdad.

Families of Ashraf prisoners chanted slogans to once more announce their call to visit their loved ones.

Local and foreign reporters are present in there in order to broadcast the news of the region.

As it was also reported 100 residents of Camp Ashraf are relocated in Camp liberty, a site near Baghdad international airport, today.

Families are hopeful to see or at least get news of their children –after years of no news about them– while they are transferred from Ashraf to Baghdad.

December 27, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Mortars hit MKO’s Ashraf Camp in Iraq

Two mortars have struck the Ashraf Camp, the base of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in Iraq’s Diyala province near the Iranian border, according to the Iraqi military.

"Two mortars landed on Ashraf Camp and we cannot identify the number of casualties because we are not allowed to enter the camp," said an Iraqi military official Sunday on the condition of anonymity.

A statement issued by MKO representatives in the camp confirmed the incident but did not mention any possible casualties.

No party has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

The mortar strike comes just days after the Iraqi government agreed to a UN plea to extend by six months a year-end deadline to shut down the headquarters of the anti-Iran terrorist group on its soil.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki announced at a news conference last Wednesday that the move follows a request by the UN to postpone the closure of the camp located northeast of the capital, Baghdad.

Also on Saturday, an Iraqi security official revealed that ten members of the terrorist group had escaped from the camp due to harsh conditions of suppression within the camp by MKO authorities and pleaded with Iraqi officials to help them leave the country.

The Ashraf Camp, about 120 kilometers (74.5 miles) west of the Iranian border, houses more the 3,000 MKO members.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986 where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein and set up the Ashraf Camp near the Iranian border.

The group is known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and officials back in the 1980s as well as anti-Saddam Iraqi civilians mostly in the 1990s.

Iraq considers the MKO base and its residents a threat to its national security but, has been pressured due to US-led efforts to extend the existence of the camp on its soil.
Mon Dec 26, 2011
http://presstv.com/detail/217743.html

December 26, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Camp Ashraf Impasse Requires All Parties’ Cooperation

All parties involved with the UN plan to resolve the situation of Camp Ashraf residents should work to make sure it is carried out safely and effectively, Human Rights Watch said today. Camp Ashraf Impasse Requires All Parties’ Cooperation Everyone involved, especially the Iraqi authorities and the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization, should guarantee the safe transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to a protected site for refugee status determinations.

“Both Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and MEK leader Maryam Rajavi have issued statements suggesting they agree, in principle, to the UN plan, but both sides remain far apart on the details,” said Bill Frelick, refugee program director at Human Rights Watch. “Successful implementation of the UN plan requires good faith negotiations by all sides, including the Iraqi government and the leadership of the Mojahedin-e Khalq.”

On December 21, 2011,Maliki announced that the closing of Camp Ashraf would be delayed for six months if the MEK agrees to a Memorandum of Understanding for the relocation of the Camp Ashraf residents. However, a December 20 statement from Rajavi, which also agreed to the transfer in principle, set out conditions that have not been agreed upon. Because of the impasse, the prospect still looms that Iraq will stick to its December 31 deadline and use force to close the camp, raising fears for the safety of the approximately 3,200 residents.

Human Rights Watch sent letters on December 15 and 16, 2011, to the governments of the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Denmark and Sweden seeking their support for the appeal by Martin Kobler, the United Nations special envoy for Iraq,to the Iraqi government to extend a December 31 deadline for closing Camp Ashraf. Human Rights Watch also urged the governments to help ensure the safe transfer of camp residents for individual refugee status interviews, and respond quickly and positively to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s call for UN member states to indicate their willingness to accept Camp Ashraf residents for resettlement.

“Resolution of the Camp Ashraf situation requires the active involvement by other major players like the United States and the EU who can play a critical role in resettling Camp Ashraf residents and monitoring to make sure they are safe and are treated fairly,” said Frelick.

The Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) was founded in 1965 as an armed group to challenge the Shah of Iran’s government. In 1981, two years after the Iranian revolution, the group went underground after trying to foment an armed uprising against Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the former Supreme Leader of Iran. After a period of exile in France, most of the group’s leaders relocated to Iraq in 1986 and established Camp Ashraf, although its top leadership remains in France.

Human Rights Watch called on all parties to allow international diplomats, UN agencies, and independent observers to be present to monitor every step of the transfer of these residents to a protected transit site, such as the former Camp Liberty at Baghdad’s international airport. Human Rights Watch also urged the UN to continue monitoring the human rights and humanitarian situation after camp residents have been relocated to the transit site.

Human Rights Watch previously appealed to both the Iraqi government and the leadership of the MEK to cooperate fully with the UN to ensure the protection and safety of Camp Ashraf residents. Tension and mistrust between the MEK leadership and Iraqi security forces remain high following two violent incidents involving Iraqi security forces that led to the deaths of more than 40 Camp Ashraf residents, in July 2009and April 2011. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called on Iraqi authorities to refrain from using excessive force against Camp Ashraf residents, and for independent and transparent investigations to investigate the two incidents and any crimes committed during them.

The Iraqi government has not opened investigations into these incidents.

The UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials states that “law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.” The UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms provide that law enforcement officials “shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force” and may use force “only if other means remain ineffective.” When the use of force is unavoidable, law enforcement officials must “exercise restraint in such use and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence.”

Human Rights Watch has also called on the Iraqi government not to return the exiles to Iran against their will.

As a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Iraq is bound to apply the principle of nonrefoulement. The UN’s Human Rights Committee, which interprets the covenant, has explained this obligation[..].

The Iraqi government has assured Washington that it would not forcibly transfer any member of the group to a country where they face a risk of torture.

December 25, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

The Life of Camp Ashraf

Mojahedin-e Khalq – Victims of Many Masters

Product Description
The fascinating story of the controversial life of Camp Ashraf in Iraq from its foundation in 1986 to the present day is told in this book. Originally created to accommodate the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka MEK, MKO, PMOI, Rajavi cult) and its leader Massoud Rajavi for coordinating the violent overthrow of the regime in Iran, Camp Ashraf became the MEK’s main military and ideological training base. The MEK later became known as Saddam’s Private Army as it became an integral element in the Iraqi dictator’s repressive apparatus.

But, even years after the fall of Saddam the MEK still has the support and backing of many in the West and is therefore able to resist opening its doors to the outside world. It is the hidden life inside Camp Ashraf which renders it so controversial. The isolated garrison became the experimental ground for Rajavi to turn his group into a dangerous, destructive mind control cult.

Rajavi keeps the rank and file in the camp in a state of modern slavery to perform acts of terrorism and to fulfill propaganda roles in Western countries for the group’s many masters.
Massoud Rajavi’s methods of enthralling his followers include banning marriage and having children, instilling irrational phobic reactions to external factors, denying any contact with the outside world through radio, television, letters or telephones. In particular members must have no contact with their families. This book exposes the hidden life of the camp and its inhabitants. It speaks for the silent victims of the Rajavi cult and for the families who wait outside the camp for news of their loved ones.

In conclusion, the book examines the ways to deal with the problem of how to dismantle a dangerous destructive mind control cult and free its members as various parties vie for control over the group for their own agendas.

CONTENTS Page

INTRODUCTION 1
1965 – 1986 THE MEK AND IRAQ 4
1986 – 1991 THE GOLDEN AGE 18
1988 – 1993 THE IDEOLOGICAL PHASE 37
1991 GULF WAR ONE 50
1991 – 1997 THE MEK’S DECLINE 61
1997 – 2003 CAMP ASHRAF PRISON – NO EXIT 84
2003 – 2007 THE MEK PLACED ON LIFE SUPPORT 104
2007 – 2009 A GROWING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS 130
2009 INEVITABLE CHANGE 153
CAMP ASHRAF – PAST ITS ‘BEST BEFORE’ DATE 174
CONCLUSION 196
APPENDICES 201

INTRODUCTION
The controversial life of Camp Ashraf from its foundation to the present day makes a fascinating story in itself. The camp was created by Saddam Hussein in 1986 to accommodate the Iranian opposition group Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its leader Massoud Rajavi. Founded in 1965 the MEK first took up arms to try to oust the Shah. Two years after the 1979 Iranian revolution Rajavi tried to engineer a coup against Ayatollah Khomeini. It failed and he fled to Paris in 1981. Rajavi then tried to conduct his armed struggle against the new Islamic Republic from Paris but when this failed he was given succour in Iraq where Camp Ashraf became the MEK’s main military and ideological training base.

The close relationship between Saddam and Rajavi led to the MEK being dubbed Saddam’s Private Army; Camp Ashraf played an integral role in the survival of the Iraqi dictator after the First Gulf war when Rajavi used his forces to help crush the Kurdish and Shiite uprisings. In 2003 Camp Ashraf became an enemy target for the Multi National Forces when Operation Iraq Freedom removed Saddam Hussein from power. Then in a paradoxical move the US Government provided military protection for Camp Ashraf for eight years while its inhabitants remained on the US Terrorism List.

Camp Ashraf came under the control of the democratically elected Government of Iraq in January 2009 (under the Status of Forces Agreement). After that time it was inevitable that the camp would close. Successive Iraqi governments since 2003 insisted that the Americans close Camp Ashraf and expel the foreign terrorist group Mojahedin-e Khalq from the country because of the group’s history of terrible crimes against the people of Iraq.

In the course of twenty five years Camp Ashraf has seen many changes. But the real story of course is not about the camp but about the lives of the people who inhabited it; how they came to be there and why they must now leave.

In its forty five year history, the MEK organisation has undergone many public image changes; from guerrilla fighters, resistance army, terrorist entity to feminist democratic opposition. The man who has led the group through all these superficial incarnations is Massoud Rajavi. And behind the glamorous advertisements of a sophisticated and relentless propaganda machine, his single-minded pursuit of power at any cost and his fundamental belief in the use of violence to achieve this aim of power, has not changed one iota in all this time.

Rajavi was a charismatic speaker and skilled psychological manipulator. He discovered in himself a talent for totalitarian control which matched his narcissistic ambition for power. Although he began to convert the Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation into a cult while still in Paris, it was the acquisition of the isolated, closed world of Camp Ashraf which provided the perfect crucible to extend his experiment. In Camp Ashraf he has forced the MEK members along a most extraordinary route of mental and physical anguish to meet his needs.

Over the years former members who escaped from Camp Ashraf have told their stories to a world unwilling or unable to listen. Thousands of them consistently and courageously described the conditions of the internal revolutions and Rajavi’s bizarre requirements for members to divorce and to remove all the children from the camp; to undergo the daily humiliations of public self-confessions which enforce the celibacy and gender apartheid; to suffer micro-management of their every waking moment which imposed deliberately exhausting work schedules and disorienting indoctrination sessions; to be deprived of any information from and contact with the outside world and their families. Rajavi did all this to keep his members from leaving. When this failed, he imprisoned them.

Camp Ashraf is now a double prison for the residents. They are trapped by Rajavi’s psychological manipulations which engender paralysing fear in everyone behind the barbed wire fences which he has had erected to keep them physically inside. But they are trapped ultimately by the misguided ignorance and misplaced sympathy of all those external agencies which could take action to free them but don’t.

The life of Camp Ashraf has reached a critical juncture. It must close. The residents must leave. But over and above Massoud Rajavi’s refusal to leave, there are a host of third parties with their own agendas which militate against closure. The main players are the Americans and the Iranians who have developed their own narratives and myths around the MEK in order to use it as a tool to aggravate and intensify their thirty year enmity. Between the ‘bomb Iran, regime change’ pundits in America and the ‘crackdown on foreign backed violent opposition’ proponents in Iran, all the bases are covered.

It is these voices which dominate political debates and media reporting on Camp Ashraf. But the political and security issues are a decoy to avoid answering the fundamental question. After twenty five years of testimony describing severe human rights abuses why do the individual residents of Camp Ashraf still have no voice? Why do people continue to escape the camp even in spite of the severe restrictions? At the time of Saddam Hussein perhaps these questions could be ignored. But now?

The original inspiration to write the story of Camp Ashraf came from witnessing the determination of the families of the camp’s residents to rescue their loved ones. Since 2003 they braved bombs and bullets to reach the gate of Camp Ashraf in the hope of finding their relatives. They refused to give up, refused to take no for an answer. Even when the MEK began to pelt missiles at them they refused to give up. Their extraordinary love and courage needs to be voiced and this voice needs to reach above the cacophony of the false hand wringing and political wailing to those who are in a position to help.

But as the story unfolded it became obvious that the really voiceless victims of Camp Ashraf are its residents. As the stories of individual members emerged it was clear that many had died and many more had suffered before their information could reach the public domain. Currently around 3500 people continue trapped and held hostage to the callous whims of the various pitiless powerful political forces who do not care about their individual fates. This book must speak out on their behalf.

This book therefore is an attempt to tell their story in the hope that this will halt the diversion of this issue to everything else except this fundamental question – why are people risking everything to run away from Camp Ashraf and the MEK and why is no one listening to them?

By Anne Singleton and Massoud Khodabandeh
First published September 2011 by IRAN-INTERLINK

Download The Life of Camp Ashraf
Download The Life of Camp Ashraf

December 25, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

State Department scrambling to move the MEK

State Department scrambling to move the MEK — to a former U.S. military base?

The Iraqi government has promised to shutter Camp Ashraf — the home of the Iranian dissident group Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) — by Dec. 31. Now, the United Nations and the State Department are scrambling to move the MEK to another location inside Iraq, which just may be a former U.S. military base.

The saga puts the United Nations and President Barack Obama’s administration in the middle of a struggle between the Iraqi government, a new and fragile ally, and the MEK, a persecuted group that is also on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The Marxist-Islamist group, which was formed in 1965, was used by Saddam Hussein to attack the Iranian government during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, and has been implicated in the deaths of U.S. military personnel and civilians. The new Iraqi government has been trying to evict them from Camp Ashraf since the United States toppled Saddam in 2003. The U.S. military guarded the outside of the camp until handing over external security to the Iraqis in 2009. The Iraqi Army has since tried twice to enter Camp Ashraf, resulting in bloody clashes with the MEK both times.

Now the United Nations, led by Martin Kobler, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), is working with the State Department to convince the Iraqi government and the MEK to open up a new home for MEK members inside Iraq, at a facility near the Baghdad airport. U.S. officials won’t confirm, but also won’t deny, that facility is a U.S. military base that was recently handed over to the Iraqis.

"Ambassador Kobler and we are working flat out to put together the deal for the beginning of the implementation of his plan, which is to move the people in Camp Ashraf to a new facility," a State Department official told reporters in a special Monday briefing. The United Nations and State are hoping that if an agreement is reached, the Iraqi government will push back the deadline and not invade Camp Ashraf on Dec. 31 and forcibly extradite the MEK to Iran. But time is running out.

"Time is extraordinarily short," the State Department official said. "Oh yes, we’re talking days."

The State Department official said the new facility under discussion is near the Baghdad airport, and has extensive infrastructure that "is very well known to the United States." Pressed by The Cable, the official refused to confirm that it was a former U.S. military base, but wouldn’t deny it either. "It’s a highly credible facility," the official said.

The official could not say if there was any precedent for a group that the United States labels a foreign terrorist organization being housed in a facility built by the U.S. military with U.S. taxpayer dollars, but emphasized that all U.S. military installations have now been turned over to the Iraqi government. The Victory Base Complex near the airport has several facilities that could be used for the Camp Ashraf residents.

Nobody knows how many people are in Camp Ashraf, because nobody can go inside. The residents are also suspected to be well armed. There could be as many as 3,200 people there, according to the State Department. If they are evicted from the camp, some will voluntarily go back to Iran and some will go to other countries. Others still may not actually be MEK members but could be living there for their own reason, making their relocation easier, the official said. The unknown number of "card-carrying members" of the MEK who can’t or won’t be relocated are the ones who the United Nations and State are trying to move to the new camp.

The United Nations and the Iraqi government have agreed on the basic way forward, but the MEK is not on board, the State Department official said. The Iraqi government won’t talk directly to the MEK, and the MEK leadership living in Paris may have different priorities than the people actually living in Camp Ashraf.

Of course, the Iraqis have been warning for months that they would close Camp Ashraf by the end of the year. So why is everybody scrambling in the last two weeks? The State Department is placing the blame squarely on the MEK.

"For a long time, the MEK position was ‘here we are and here we stay, period,’" a State Department official said. "In recent days we’ve had the first signs that the MEK is finally, at long last, beginning to engage in a serious way, rather than simply politically through its many, many advocates. This is a good sign."

Reporters at the briefing wondered why the United Nations and State think simply relocating the MEK to another facility will solve the problem of its status as a terrorist group whose members are unable to get refugee status in a country where they are not welcome. The official said the new facility would be better because it would give the Iraqi government some control over what goes on there.

"[Camp Ashraf] is a state within a state. It is run by the MEK and when anybody else tries to enter, well, we’ve seen what occurs," one State Department official said, explaining that the new camp would have some type of Iraqi government administration and yet not be in total control of the MEK. "Iraqi soveriegnty will prevail with a robust set or arrangements and U.N. monitoring."

Another reason the United Nations and State are pushing for the MEK to be moved from Camp Ashraf to another facility is that the U.N. High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has refused to give refugee status to Ashraf residents because of the MEK’s tight control over the people there.

"Many international observers have regarding the current facility at Camp Ashraf as a coercive environment. Independent observers have called it a cult," the State Department said. "The UNHCR requires an atmosphere in which people can make their own choice free of group pressure. What’s happened in Camp Ashraf has not been conducive to this."

Advocating for the MEK is a tricky proposition for the State Department, because the organization is on its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The MEK has been lobbying hard for its removal from that list and State’s review of their status has been "ongoing" for years.

As part of its multi-million dollar lobbying effort, the MEK has paid dozens of top U.S. officials and former officials to speak on its behalf, sometimes at rallies on the State Department’s doorstep. MEK supporters have been stationed outside the State Department non-stop for months now, and are even showing up at Congressional hearings.

Their list of advocates, most who have admitted being paid, includes Congressman John Lewis (D-GA), former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, former Sen. Robert Torricelli, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, former CIA Deputy Director of Clandestine Operations John Sano, former National Security Advisor James Jones, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Richard Myers, former White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, Gen. Wesley Clark, former Rep. Lee Hamilton, former CIA Director Porter Goss, senior advisor to the Romney campaign Mitchell Reiss, Gen. Anthony Zinni, former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, former Sen. Evan Bayh, and many others.

The State Department officials didn’t say outright that these officials are making the challenge of dealing with the MEK worse by shilling for the organization around Washington. But they did call on the MEK’s paid representatives to use whatever clout they have to urge the MEK to go along with the relocation now.

"It is important for those advocates to support a solution that is feasible. Because maximalist demands and echoing a kind of martyrdom and complex of defiance and blood will produce the results they fear. Now is the time for everybody who says they want a peaceful solution to back that solution right now," the official said.

But what happens after the MEK moves to the new facility, even if the current deal is worked out in time? What’s the plan to deal with these people over the long run?

"Right now our priority is in a successful, peaceful relocation," the State Department official said. "One huge problem at a time."

UPDATE: The AP reported has just reported that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has decided to grant a 6-month extenstion on the closing of Camp Ashraf, although he is backdating the start of the extension to November.

December 22, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Fate of Ashraf Residents Hang in Balance

Isolated in a fenced area by barbed wire, in hot desert of Iraq, without having been determined as refugees, kept in their highly–guarded units, residents of Camp Ashraf are certainly stuck in the Fate of Ashraf Residents Hang in Balance most complex situation. Besides, the leaders of the camp have been manipulating the members for over thirty years now. The residents have no freedom of expression and no access to the outside world. It is too difficult for outsiders to get comprehensive information on what is really going on in the Camp. Regarding cult-like characteristics of the group, evacuation or relocation of MKO members is still a critical issue that the international community really panics.

"U.S. officials fear that unless MEK leader Maryam Rajavi gives her approval, there will be a bloodbath at Camp Ashraf", writes Barbara Slavin of IPS. "There are particular concerns that MEK members will clash with Iraqi security forces or commit mass suicide." [1]

The U.S. administration is supporting a plan led by Ambassador Martin Kobler, the U.N. special representative to Iraq that would allow for a peaceful transfer of the residents of Camp Ashraf to a new facility in Iraq. The plan would also work to repatriate MEK members to Iran who go "voluntarily," or resettle to third countries under the auspices of the U.N., CNN reports. [2]
"The good news here is that in the past two weeks, Ambassador Kobler and the Iraqi government have made significant progress on this plan," an official told CNN on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations between the U.N., the Iraqi government, and the MKO. [3]

The alleged progress perhaps included the relocation of Ashraf residents in Camp Liberty, a single "temporary relocation" facility near the Baghdad International Airport. The location is "an accessible, not inaccessible part of the country," quoted CNN from the official. [4]

The MKO leaders’ reluctance to leave their ideological preserve, Camp Ashraf was not welcomed by either Americans or Iraqis. Barbara Slavin cites of a US official, "after much regrettable stalling, the MEK finally seems ready to engage seriously". "This is good, but the MEK must be realistic, and time is short", the official added. [5]

The official added that while MEK leaders have backed off from "maximalist positions" in the last 48 hours, "We’re still hearing talk about martyrdom and dying."[6]
If the residents are given the chance to choose their place of life, there are definitely a large number who are willing to leave the group and to get released of the extreme pressure imposed on them by the camp authorities. “Particular attention should be given to the approximately 70 percent of the Camp Ashraf population that joined the MeK after the group relocated to Iraq” according to RAND Corporation report. ”A substantial number of these MeK members were lured to Iraq under false pretenses or did not have a clear understanding of the group’s goals and methods of operation—particularly with respect to its cult behavior—and many have been forced to remain against their will. [7]

U.S. officials do not know for sure how many people are at Ashraf but believe they include minors and others who were tricked into going to the camp. There they were subjected to military training and mind control exercises that include cult-like devotion to Mrs. Rajavi and her husband Massoud, whose whereabouts are unknown, asserts Slavin.[8]

As a matter of fact, it is the absolute right of over 3000 Ashraf inhabitants to be got the opportunity and the place where they can think of and decide for a normal future. It is also the absolute right of the Iraqi government to assert sovereignty over its territory of which a large area has been occupied by the MKO for over 3 decades – the camp was handed over to the group by Saddam Hussein who gave them a military and financial support as well.
Iraqi people are in the same party with their government in their protest against the presence of the MKO in their soil. On December10, Hundreds of Iraqis took part in a “protest rally to demand the expulsion of members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e-Khalq Organization,” reported Press TV. [9]
A more recent protest also took place on Friday December 16 in Baghdad where thousands of Iraqi people held a demonstration in Tahrir square in central Baghdad calling for expulsion of the MKO. [10]

In an outstanding article, in the Washington Post, titled “Building a Stable Iraq”, Iraqi prime Minister, Nouri Al Maliki notes his country’s determination to “put Iraq’s new democracy on the right path” but he notifies that “challenges remain”. He names Baathist “who seek to destroy Iraq’s democratic process”. He refers to Ashraf residents as source of a “great deal of controversy” in Iraq and in the United States. ”I would like to see this complex issue resolved peacefully and with the help of the United Nations.” he writes. ”The Camp’s residents are classified as a terrorist organization by many countries and thus have no legal basis to remain in Iraq.” [11]

Confirming Iraq’s right to have control over its entire territory, Maliki writes, ” country wouldn’t accept the presence of foreign insurgents on its soil, but we will work hard to find a peaceful solution that upholds the international values of human rights.”[12]

Predictions on the place where Ashraf residents will be relocated after its complete expulsion from Iraq, is another challenging issue. The Iraqi ambassador to Iran says Azarbayjan and a number of other countries have agreed to receive nearly 900 members of the terrorist group of Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), reported Press TV.[13]

Mohamamd Majid Al-Sheikh said, "Necessary measures are being taken through cooperation of the Red Cross and Iraqi officials to transfer these individuals.” [14]
On its turn the international Committee of Red Cross, "welcomes the Iraqi authorities’ commitment not to transfer Camp Ashraf residents to Iran against their will, and will continue to monitor the situation to ensure that the Iraqi authorities fulfill this commitment" said Beat Schweizer, head of ICRC delegation in Iraq. [15]

Mr. Schwiezer mentioned previous experiences of ICRC in aiding former members of the group to return to their home country Iran.” we have been facilitating the repatriation of former residents of Camp Ashraf who wish to go back to Iran” he said. “Since 2003, the ICRC has arranged for repatriation of over 250 Camp Ashraf residents to their home country, in cooperation with its delegation in Tehran. The ICRC has helped repatriated seven former residents in 2011, with the most recent repatriation taking place in August.” He also declared that ICRC is prepared to continue helping residents return Iran. [16]

A more recent Iraqi stance against MKO presence in Iraq was published by Agence France Press on December 15th. In the interview with AFP Nouri Al-Maliki said that Baghdad’s decision to close Camp of New Iraq – the name that was given to Camp Ashraf After it was handed over to Iraq — by year end is “irreversible”. [17]
It seems that the way is approximately paved for the ultimate evacuation of Camp Ashraf and Iraqi government is determined to wipe its territory off occupiers but concerns over the fate of the residents do not simply come to an end. In response to Amnesty International that is allegedly concerned over "the serious risk of severe human rights violations if the Iraqi government goes ahead with its plans to force the closure of the camp by the end of this month", the senior U.S. administration official said Amnesty, instead, should urge the MEK to sign onto the plan "at hand and not encourage people to die". [18]

By Mazda Parsi

Sources:
[1]Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011
[2]Crawford, Jamie, U.S. supports plan to relocate terror group, CNN, Dec. 19th,2011
[3]ibid
[4]ibid
[5] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011
[6]ibid
[7] Goulka, Jeremiah, Lydia Hansell, Elizabeth Wilke, and Judith Larson.
"Mujahedin-e Khalq in Iraq: A Policy Conundrum." *RAND National Defence
Research Institute* (2009): Web. 3 Nov 2010.
[8] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th, 2011
[9]Press TV, Iraqis want MKO terrorists expelled, December 10, 2011
[10]Tehran Times, Iraqis rally demanding MKO expulsion, December 16, 2011
[11]Al-Maliki, Nouri, Building a stable Iraq, WashingtonPost, December10, 2011.
[12]ibid
[13]PressTV, Azarbayjan to take in MKO members, Decemebr10, 2011
[14]ibid
[15]International Committee of Red Cross Official Website, Situation remains uncertain for residents of camp Ashraf, Decemebr13, 2011
[16]ibid
[17]Karim Ammad, Nuri al-Maliki: decision to close Camp ashraf is final, we cannot allow a criminal gang to remain in Iraq, AFP, Decemebr15, 2011
[18] Slavin, Barbara, Mass Tragedy Feared as Closure of MEK Camp Looms, IPS, Dec 19th,2011

December 22, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

With deadline looming to close MEK’s Camp Ashraf in Iraq, what next?

The fate of some 3,200 anti-Iran militants on the US terrorism list hang in the balance, as an end-of-year deadline looms to close Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

American officials have expressed fears that the leadership of the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK/MKO) – which US government reports frequently describe as a cult – may order the massacre of their followers, rather than permit the peaceful disbandment of Camp Ashraf, which would deprive the MEK of one of its most powerful assets.

With deadline looming to close MEK's Camp Ashraf in Iraq, what next?

But Maryam Rajavi, the MEK’s self-styled "president elect" of Iran, said today the group accepted "in principle" a UN plan – if there were "minimum" US and Western guarantees of safety – to relocate members to a former US base near Baghdad airport for individual processing and possible resettlement as refugees.

The Shiite-led government of Nouri al-Maliki, which has close ties to Iran, has made clear its determination to close the base set up by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s.

In Iran, the MEK are widely despised as traitors for fighting alongside Iraqi forces in the Iran-Iraq War. In Iraq, few also have sympathy for the group, which Mr. Hussein deployed to help crush a popular Kurdish uprising in 1991.

"How shall we accept the killers of our sons?" asked Adnan al-Shamani, a Shiite lawmaker speaking at a recent government-sponsored conference in Baghdad to protest the MEK presence.

The decision to close the camp was "supported by the majority of parliament and the majority of the Iraqi people," said Mr. Shamani. "No one has the right to impose their will on Iraqi land, except Iraqis."

A negotiated solution?
United Nations and US officials appear to have made some progress in talks with Mrs. Rajavi, who is based in Paris.

Her husband and MEK leader Massoud Rajavi went into hiding in 2003, though several former Ashraf residents claim to have seen him at the camp as recently as 2007, and that he continued to address them by video link until seven months ago.

"After much regrettable stalling, the MEK finally seems ready to engage seriously," a US official told the Inter-Press Service, a news agency, in Washington. The MEK has backed off from "maximalist positions" in recent days, the official said, but "we’re still hearing talk about martyrdom and dying."

The risks of violence are high, and come from both sides. Clashes erupted at Camp Ashraf in April, leaving 34 MEK members dead, when Iraqi forces took control of a portion of the sprawling site. The MEK has a long anti-American history, and as a revolutionary group killed at least six US military advisers in Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

In the aftermath of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, some Pentagon officials saw the MEK as a potential weapon against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Repeated calls by Iraqi officials since 2004 to disband the camp have until now been ignored.

But with the complete withdrawal of US forces from Iraq this week, options for the MEK have narrowed.

"From their first day in Iraq, [the MEK] accepted to be a tool of the intelligence and security of the former regime, especially against Iran," Saeed Al-Jayashi, a representive of Iraq’s former National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, told the recent Baghdad meeting of Iraqi officials, tribal sheikhs, and Iranian families of those in Camp Ashraf.

"Any terrorist group that wants to stay in the country is not looking for safe haven, but a base for terrorist attacks," said Mr. Jayashi. "Western societies talk about human rights; I ask them to save these people from unfair separation from their families, and the strange life in this camp."

"How shall we talk to the Iraqi victims of this organization? We should stand in one line to deport them," he added. "Their choice is to go to Iran or choose another country; you can’t stay in Iraq."

Protests
Several such meetings, and a string of anti-MEK protests in Baghdad and at the Ashraf gate, project the same message.

"No to an extension. Yes to deporting the terrorist group," reads one banner. Family members holding framed portraits wore bibs emblazoned on the back: "Free our children."

Between speeches, one man wearing Iraqi tribal dress stood up and shouted: "These criminals are not from us! We have no connection with them."

A male quartet took to the stage, with a song about MEK "hypocrites" causing thousands of deaths, who were "embracing each other over our bodies."

Despite the MEK’s status on the US terrorism list, which it shares with Al Qaeda and Hezbollah, the group says it renounced violence in 2001.

But the US State Department in autumn 2009 submitted information in court that the MEK had trained women at Ashraf "to perform suicide attacks" in the Iraqi shrine city of Karbala.

A declassified FBI report from 2004 similarly found – with data corroborated by French and German wiretaps – that MEK cells in the US, Europe, and Camp Ashraf were "actively … planning and executing acts of terrorism."

Violence renounced?
The MEK denies those charges, and has enlisted dozens of top-ranking former US officials and four-star generals – many of them paid tens of thousands of dollars in speakers fees – to make its case to get off the US terror list, and for protection of those at Camp Ashraf. They say Ashraf’s residents are anti-regime "freedom fighters."

Among the American advocates are former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani; former US homeland security chief Tom Ridge; former CIA directors James Woolsey, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden; and top retired generals such as Wesley Clark, Hugh Shelton, and Peter Pace.

"This is genocide, and we will not have it!" Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, told a pro-MEK audience in July, about Iraqi plans to close the camp.[..]

At the camp itself, MEK members long ago had their identity documents confiscated, and have little access to the outside world through phones, Internet, or TV. They must take part in self-criticism sessions to expel "deviant thoughts" and pledge "eternal divorce."

Free will?
A detailed 2009 report, funded by the US military and published by the RAND corporation, says that the majority at Camp Ashraf "may have been recruited through deception" and remain there "against their will.

"Love for the Rajavis was to replace love for spouses and family," the report reads. MEK members once carried cyanide tablets in case of capture, and since 2003 "the MEK frequently used the threat of suicide as a negotiating tactic or to frustrate investigations."

Mrs. Rajavi’s temporary arrest by French authorities on terrorism charges in 2003 prompted a wave of self-immolations.

Recent MEK defectors from the camp interviewed by the Monitor say further dramatic acts may take place, as the deadline nears.

"It’s clear to me, [Mr. Rajavi] wants people to get killed, and send it to the media," argues Shahram Heydari, who left the camp two months ago. When the April clashes took place with Iraqi troops, he claims, "I clearly saw they [MEK] were pushing people forward" into the line of fire.

Rajavi’s "strategy is based on Ashraf," says Mr. Heydari. "He must have the camp to keep power."

Several defectors say they believe Rajavi is in the camp. A former member of the MEK leadership council, Maryam Sanjabi, defected 10 months ago after spending 24 years at Ashraf. She says she saw Mr. Rajavi "many times," up until four years go.

"He’s there, he’s alive…. His orders are being carried out there – he is the brain," says Sanjabi. Years of brainwashing to make MEK members believe Rajavi "is a god," means the leadership may calculate it "doesn’t matter if one thousand people die," she says.

"If you are ordered to burn yourself, you can’t resist: you burn yourself," says Sanjabi.

By Scott Peterson

December 21, 2011 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

MEK exiles in Iraq may accept U.N. plan

The leader of an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Tuesday it would agree to a United Nations plan to move residents of a dissident camp in Iraq to a new location, depending on certain conditions and guarantees.

The settlement known as Camp Ashraf, some 65 km (40 miles) from Baghdad, is the base of the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group that Washington officially considers a terrorist group.

The Iraqi government, which is friendly with Tehran, has said it intends to close down the camp, home to an estimated 3,000 Iranian dissidents, by the end of this year, leaving less than two weeks to work out a solution.
Maryam Rajavi ,the so called leader of MKO
As described by U.S. officials on Monday, the U.N. plan would move the residents to a location near the Baghdad airport, where the United Nations would monitor them and process them for possible resettlement as refugees.

In a statement, PMOI leader Maryam Rajavi said the camp’s residents were "in principle" prepared to relocate on condition that the United Nations, United States and European Union support and endorse the proposal and that the Iraqi government guarantee the residents’ security and well-being.

The fate of Camp Ashraf is one of the main unresolved issues left over after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq this month. Residents of the camp have long said they fear for their safety at the hands of Iraqi authorities without U.S. protection.

In April, the camp was the scene of clashes between residents and Iraqi security forces, during which 34 people were killed, according to a U.N. investigation.

U.S. officials have urged residents to accept the U.N. plan.

Rajavi said Baghdad had refused U.S., U.N. or European Union forces protecting the camp, so the group wanted "minimum" guarantees before it would accept the plan.

Its demands include no Iraqi forces being allowed within the camp, independent U.N. and U.S. observers based at the new settlement, the end of harassment of camp residents, provision of medical supplies and international supervision of the transfer of residents and all belongings to the new camp.

Resettling the dissidents in other countries will not be easy given that some may be afraid to return to Iran, where they could be viewed as enemies of the state, while others may be regarded as terrorists by the United States or other nations.

In the 1970s the group, which is also known as the Mujahadin-e Khalq (MEK), led a guerrilla campaign against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran, including attacks on U.S. targets. It says it has since renounced violence.

Reporting By John Irish

December 21, 2011 0 comments

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