Camp Liberty

UNHCR Update on the situation of Camp Liberty residents

Update No. 12

Update on the situation of residents of the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location

• UNHCR strongly condemns rocket attacks of 29 October 2015 which hit several precincts in the vicinity of Baghdad International Airport, including the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL) (also known as Camp Liberty). The impact on the Hurriya TTL resulted in the deaths of more than 20 residents and dozens of others were taken to hospitals for treatment of injuries sustained in the attack.

• Following the attack the High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres made the following statement: “This is a most deplorable act, and I am greatly concerned at the harm that has been inflicted on those living at Camp Liberty. Every effort must continue to be made for the injured and to identify and bring to account those responsible.”

• UNHCR and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) have been working since 2011 to find relocation opportunities outside Iraq for residents of the Hurriya TTL. These people formerly resided at Camp Ashraf (also known as Camp New Iraq). Approximately 2,160 of this group remain in the Hurriya TTL.

• UNHCR considers that all residents of the Hurriya TTL who are registered with UNHCR are persons of concern to UNHCR. They are entitled to protection against expulsion or forced movement to any place where their lives or freedom would be threatened. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Iraq and the United Nations explicitly recognizes that residents benefit from the principle of non-refoulement.

• Working with States and its partners UNHCR has supported the relocation of more than 900 residents to safe third countries since 2011. The solutions being delivered by UNHCR are current with more than 260 residents relocated since July 2015. Arrangements are in place to relocate in excess of 200 more people by the end of 2015.

• UNHCR deeply appreciates the measures taken by some countries already to relocate residents to situations of safety and security. Albania’s exceptional contribution to this humanitarian endeavor merits special note. These measures contribute greatly to international efforts to find solutions for this group of people.

• UNHCR urgently renews its calls upon governments of other countries to find ways to offer long term solutions for the residents who remain at the Hurriya TTL. If long term solutions cannot be made available immediately, the urgent need to relocate the residents would justify an extraordinary evacuation to a safer temporary platform from where they could be permanently relocated to a third country. UNHCR stands ready to assist states in achieving this objective.

• This appeal for help should be read in light of the potential for more attacks on the Hurriya TTL. As well as the attack of October 2015, residents of the Hurriya TLL suffered three rocket attacks in 2013, each of which resulted in deaths and injuries. There was also an attack on Camp New Iraq in September 2013 which left 52 dead and seven persons missing. The latest attack demonstrates that the current conflict and generalized violence across Iraq leaves residents of the Hurriya TTL open to significantly heightened security risks and it emphasizes the need for a quick and pragmatic action on the part of States to ensure that these people are relocated to a situation of safety and security.

• UNHCR continues to call upon the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and well-being of residents, including ensuring access to life saving medical treatment.

UNHCR

Geneva, 30 October 2015

November 4, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Pictorial- 23 MKO members killed in Camp Liberty October rocket attack

Barrage of rockets slammed late Thursday, October30, 2015 into a former military base near the Baghdad International Airport called Camp Liberty that houses as a temporary transit location the MEK members,killing three Iraqi soldiers, officials said.It is said that 27 of the Camp residents died in the attack.

Iraqi police said 16 rockets hit Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base that now houses Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. They said at least 16 soldiers guarding the camp were also wounded while the Iranian group, known as MEK, said dozens of MEK members were wounded as well.

23 MKO members killed in Camp Liberty October attack

November 2, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Militia Says Group Was Warned to Leave Iraq as Soon as Possible

Iraqi Militia Attacks MeK Camp, Killing 26

Yesterday’s attack on the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK) base at Camp Liberty, a strike which killed 26 people, has been claimed by the al-Mukhtar Army, a Shi’ite militia active in the ongoing war against ISIS. The group says they’d warned the MeK to leave Iraq as soon as possible, and promised more attacks if they don’t.

The Camp Liberty base has been wildly controversial in Iraq, as the MeK, primarily an Iranian opposition faction, was an ally of the Saddam Hussein government ousted in the 2003 US invasion. At the time, the MeK was still listed as a terrorist organization in the US, but the group was left in the camp irrespective of this, pending some eventual resettlement that never came.

The MeK’s status as a Saddam ally, and it’s continued hostility toward the Iranian government, a close ally of the current Iraqi government, has made it a common target for Shi’ite factions in the country, and militias like the al-Mukhtar Army are given increasingly free reign with the growing ISIS war.

Though the militia was quite clear about having carried out the attack themselves, the MeK issued a statement blaming the Iranian government for the attack. The US issued a statement condemning the attack and vowed to support the relocation of the MeK to some other place.

by Jason Ditz,

October 31, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Iraqi militia takes credit for rocket attack targeting Iranian dissident camp

Iraqi militia have threatened more attacks following a rocket barrage that killed at least 26 people at an opposition camp near Baghdad. UN chief Ban Ki-moon has condemned the attack.

Camp Hurriya (Liberty), a former US military base, has housed members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) since 2012, a group that had fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.

On Thursday at least 15 rockets crashed in and around the camp near Baghdad’s international airport killing more than two dozen people.

Iraqi joint operations command spokesman Yahya Rasool said investigation is underway and that two Iraqi soldiers were wounded in the attack. An abandoned truck mounted with rocket tubes had been recovered in Bakriya, north of the camp, he said.

"The people behind this attack are terrorist criminals who want to destabilize the country," Yasol told Reuters news agency, without specifying any group or nation.

Shiite militia warns of further attacks

A Shiite Muslim militia in Iraq has claimed responsibility for the attack – the deadliest in years – that targets the Iranian opposition.

"We warned the members of this terrorist organization to leave Iraq as soon as possible … If they don’t do so, there will be more similar attacks," al-Mukhtar Army commander Wathiq al-Battat was quoted as saying by Iran’s Fars news agency.

The PMOI stands accused by rights groups of taking part in the brutal suppression of a 1991 Shiite uprising against Saddam Hussein, making it widely reviled by members of Iraq’s own Shiite Arab majority, which came to power after the US-led Iraq invasion in 2003.

EU, UN, US line up to condemn attack

UN chief Ban Ki-moon "condemns the attack… on Camp Hurriya, near the Baghdad International Airport, which left at least 26 residents dead and many more wounded," the general secretary’s office said Friday in a statement.

"This is a most deplorable act, and I am greatly concerned at the harm that has been inflicted on those living at Camp Liberty.” the UN’s High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said. "Every effort must continue to be made for the injured and to identify and bring to account those responsible."

US Secretary of State John Kerry said efforts to relocate the members – in the works for years – should be accelerated.

"No matter the circumstances, on this point we remain absolute: the United States remains committed to assisting the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in the relocation of all Camp Hurriya residents to a permanent and safe location outside of Iraq," Kerry said in a statement.

“It is crucial that the Iraqi government fully investigate the incident and immediately step up security at the camp in line with its duty of protection of the camp residents under the December 2011 agreement with the United Nations,” the EU’s external affairs office said in a statement.

PMOI had been delisted as a ‘terror organization’

Until a few years ago, PMOI — also known by its Farsi name Mujahideen-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) — was listed as a terrorist organization by both the US and the European Union.

Shahin Gobadi, a PMOI spokesman, accused "agents of the clerical (Iranian) regime inside the government of Iraq" of launching the attack and also placed responsibility on the Iraqi government and the United Nations.

The group, which critics have described as a cult, enjoys a well-connected network of former and current officials who advocate on its behalf.

Following an intensive lobbying campaign, it succeeded in being removed from the US and EU terror lists.

But around 3,000 remaining dissidents at Camp Hurriya are still waiting to be relocated to other countries.

October 31, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Wathiq al-Battat (Mukhtar Army) claimed responsibility for rocket attacks

At least 20 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) have reportedly been killed in an incident during which a barrage of rockets was fired at their camp in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad.

Iraqi police confirmed that at least 15 rockets had slammed into Camp Hurriyet (Camp Liberty) near Baghdad International Airport on Thursday night, AFP reported.

“Fifteen rockets were fired from Bakriya around and on the edge of Camp Liberty,” the Baghdad Operations Command said.

This is while the terrorist group has reportedly said that 23 of its members were killed and that two dozen others were wounded in the attack. The group also claimed that some 80 rockets had rained down on the camp.

Three Iraqi soldiers guarding the camp were also killed and at least 16 others wounded during the rocket attack, according to Iraqi police.

In an interview with Fars news agency on Friday, Wathiq al-Battat, the leader of Iraq-based Mukhtar Army, claimed responsibility for the rocket attacks.

In December 2011, the United Nations (UN) and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp Ashraf, now known as Camp New Iraq, to Camp Hurriyet, a former US military base.

The last group of the MKO terrorists was evicted by the Iraqi government in September 2013 and relocated to Camp Hurriyet to await potential relocation to third countries.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and has committed numerous terrorist acts against Iranians and Iraqis.

In 1986, the terrorist group’s members fled Iran for Iraq, where they received now-executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s support and set up Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border.

October 31, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Rockets near Baghdad airport kill soldiers, Iranian refugees MEK

A barrage of rockets slammed late Thursday into a former military base near the Baghdad International Airport that houses an Iranian refugee group, killing three Iraqi soldiers, officials said. The Iranian exiles said at least 20 of their people died in the attack.

Iraqi police said 16 rockets hit Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base that now houses the exiled Iranian opposition group known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq. They said at least 16 soldiers guarding the camp were also wounded while the Iranian group, known as MEK, said dozens of Iranian refugees were wounded as well.

No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

The statement from Mujahedeen-e-Khalq said that “due to darkness of the night, the exact number of dead and wounded has not been established.”

Police said that there may be casualties among the exiled group, but noted they did not report them to the local authorities so they could not determine how many civilians were hit in the attack. The MEK statement on casualty figures could not be independently verified because of the late hour of the attack and the camp’s inaccessibility to media.

A police official added that the rockets landed far enough from the airport that they did not disrupt commercial traffic. A hospital official confirmed the casualty figures. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

This was not the first attack since Camp Liberty became home to the Iranian group, which is strongly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime. Last year, the Islamic State group was said to have fired rockets near to Baghdad International Airport as it attempted to destabilize the capital.

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq 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.

The group regularly reports worsening health conditions within their isolated camp and accuses the Iraqi government of neglect and human rights abuses.

VIVIAN SALAMA,

Associated Press writer Murtada Faraj contributed to this report from Baghdad.

October 31, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Rajavi preparing to battle the families: Killing two birds with one stone

News received from within Camp Liberty, base of the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO, MeK, Rajavi cult) forces in Iraq, indicates that the MKO is training its members to make Molotov Cocktails and that subsequently some of these hand make bombs have been produced and stored underneath their residential containers.
The individuals are briefed that there is a danger that Iranian forces will attack the base under the cover of the families of the residents. Therefore they must be ready to defend themselves. Thus the members of the MKO have been mentally prepared to violently oppose the families.
The truth is that the Rajavi cult was alarmed when some families of members trapped in Camp Liberty approached the camp to visit their loved ones and that is why they react like this. Rajavi, like any other cult leader, considers the families as the major threat to its mind manipulation techniques and control over the members.
When the families’ showed their presence at the gates of Camp Liberty, the Rajavi cult started its widespread propaganda against them as though they are organized armed forces who have planned to attack the base and abolish it! This is while the families, who are all empty-handed and without any propaganda tools, approached the camp to hear from their loved ones.
Sahar Family Foundation, which was aware of the families visit to Iraq beforehand, kept its promise to the Iraqi and UN officials by not mentioning anything publicly and kept a low profile in order not to give the MKO leaders any excuses. But the MKO announced the news with extreme propaganda and fabricated lies since it had no intention of allowing the families to visit their loved ones quietly, and made up excuses that there are conspiracies against the camp by the Iranian regime.
Everyone remembers that in the past the families were stationed outside the gates of Ashraf Garrison for about 4 years where they peacefully demanded to visit their relatives. In return the MKO members, indoctrinated by the cult leaders, pelted them with stones and metal pieces which cut their arms and heads and called them all kinds of names and accused them of being the spies of the Iranian regime. But the families patiently tolerated the situation and simply repeated their demands of the leaders peacefully that they just want to know about their loved ones.
The Rajavi cult claimed in the past that they would allow the families to visit their relatives provided it takes place inside the camp with the presence of the MKO officials. The families accepted this condition, but the cult leaders, who are frightened of any contact of their followers with the outside world, in particular with their relatives, broke their promises and did not allow any visits.
Massoud Rajavi, like all cult leaders, considers the presence of the families outside the camp as a threat to his cult and like all dictators is against any information reaching the followers.
There is also another fact that some considerable numbers of members are old or sick or discontented and are not of any use to the cult. If they are dismissed or they defect in large numbers there would be a political damage to the organization. Therefore the best option for Rajavi is to get them killed as he planned in the past in the Ashraf Garrison in order to use them for propaganda purposes. In this way he would be able to kill two birds with one stone.
Rajavi is preparing his forces and arming them with Molotov Cocktails to wage battle against the Iraqis. He is using the excuse of the families’ presence at the camp gates in order for those who he considers no longer have any use for him to be killed.

May 13, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Six Camp Liberty residents escaped MKO Cult

Six Camp Liberty (Temporary Transit Location) residents have managed to run away the Camp and handed over themselves to the Iraqi police, Mohammad Karami- the MKO ex-member reported on his blog.

Following the Massoud Rajavi’s last message, internal brainwashing meetings and torturous rules has escalated and hence the dissatisfaction has increased within the members.

The cult leaders coerce members to sign different forms of obligations, the report reads.

January 29, 2015 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Six Camp Liberty residents escaped the cult

6 individuals ran away Temporary Transit Location during past three months.

These six survivals managed to release themselves from the bars of the Rajavis cult and stepped in a life of free will.

One of these newly defectors returned to his family and now lives near his beloved ones.

We hope all MKO hostages to be liberated and experience free life among their families.

Based on the Neday-e Haqiqat( Call of teh Truth) Website report

October 2, 2014 0 comment

Camp Liberty

Conflict in Iraq continues to affect residents of the Hurriya

Update No. 11

Conflict in Iraq continues to affect residents of the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location

The surge in conflict since June 2014 has continued across significant areas in Iraq. Violence has displaced hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, who have either moved internally or across borders to become refugees in the region. UNHCR and its partners have scaled up operations to respond to their urgent needs for protection and assistance.

The dramatic deterioration of the security situation in Iraq as a result of the fighting is equally worrying in the context of the efforts – on-going since 2011 – of UNHCR and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) to find relocation opportunities outside Iraq for former residents of Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf). Approximately 2,700 people reside in the Hurriya Temporary Transit Location (TTL) near the Baghdad International Airport (BIAP).

The residents suffered three separate rocket attacks in 2013, each of which resulted in deaths and injuries. In addition, an attack against Camp New Iraq in September 2013 left 52 dead and seven persons missing. The escalation in conflict across Iraq leaves residents of the Hurriya TTL open to significantly heightened security risks.

In light of the current situation, UNHCR urgently renews its calls upon governments of other countries to admit residents and to find ways to offer long term solutions to all. If long term solutions cannot be made available immediately, the urgent need to relocate the residents would justify an extraordinary evacuation to a temporary platform from where they could be permanently relocated to a third country. UNHCR stands ready to assist states in achieving this.

UNHCR deeply appreciates the measures taken by some countries already to relocate residents to situations of safety and security. These measures contribute greatly to international efforts to find solutions for this group of people.

UNHCR recalls that all residents of the Hurriya TTL registered with UNHCR are persons of concern to UNHCR. They are thus entitled to protection against expulsion or forced movement to any place where their lives or freedom would be threatened. The Memorandum of Understanding between the Government of Iraq and the United Nations explicitly recognizes that residents benefit from the principle of non-refoulement.

UNHCR continues to call upon the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and well-being of residents, including ensuring access to life saving medical treatment.

UNHCR,Geneva

August 16, 2014 0 comment

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