UN

UN envoy welcomes last major transfer of Iranian exiles MEK

The United Nations envoy in Iraq on Sunday welcomed the last major relocation of Iranian exiles from a camp outside of the capital, Baghdad, and called for a renewed focus on resettling the UN envoy welcomes last major transfer of Iranian exiles MEK residents in third countries.

“This is an important step as we near the end of the relocation process. I would like to thank the residents for their cooperation,” said Martin Kobler, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

“I would also like to thank the Government of Iraq for ensuring this last major relocation and paving the way for the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf under the terms of the memorandum of understanding,” he added in a news release.

The issue of Camp Ashraf – located in eastern Iraq and made up of several thousand Iranian exiles, many of them members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran – has been one of the main issues dealt with by UNAMI for more than 18 months.

The last major relocation convoy, carrying 680 residents, has arrived in Camp Hurriya, where a process to determine refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Of the 3,280 residents originally in Camp Ashraf, only a small group now remains on a temporary basis to arrange the details pursuant to the closure of the camp, according to UNAMI.

UN monitors will continue to oversee the process, including the relocation of remaining residents to Camp Hurriya.

Now that the majority of the residents have been transferred, Mr. Kobler called for a renewed focus on resettlement. “I urge the international community to speed up its efforts to accept residents in third countries,” he said.

September 18, 2012 0 comment

Letter of Mr. Ali Hussien-Nezhad to Mr. Martin Kobler

Mr. Ali Hussein-Nezhad, the former veteran member of the MKO who has recently managed to escape form Camp Liberty and gain his freedom, has written a letter to Mr. Martin Kobler. Letter of Mr. Ali Hussien-Nezhad to Mr. Martin Kobler

The full text of the letter comes below:

Mr. Martin Kobler

Special Representative of the UN General Secretary for Iraq and
Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI),

Around three months ago, immediately after walking out of Camp Liberty, I met you and Mr. Nicola, head of the UNAMI human rights delegation in Baghdad. Two months ago I wrote my first letter to you.

In our meeting I described the suppression and repression and the cultic behavior and relationships inside Ashraf and Liberty, and how the members are kept unaware about the outside world and about their families. I defined how the followers of the Rajavi cult are forced to divorce their spouses and abandon their children and suppress all feelings but those towards the leadership.

I emphasized that all means of contact and communication with the outside world including internet, mobile phone, telephone, radio, television, newspaper, and etc. are forbidden. Even reading books is considered out of the question by the leaders of the MKO. Both in our meeting and in my first letter I declared that the cult has killed all normal human feelings inside the mind and soul of the members. Any kind of contact with the outside world, particularly with family and friends is forbidden. One must not even think about family relations inside the cult and any such thoughts must be reported as ‘mal thinking’.

I informed you that even inside Camp Ashraf they prevented me from visiting my daughter who is also a member of the organization and residing in the same camp. In previous years we were able to meet once a year on the Persian New Year for about one or two hours, a meeting which was under the total supervision of the superiors. But this year they announced there would be no family visits inside the camp. It is almost one and a half years that I have not seen my daughter Zeinab.

When I was being transferred to Camp Liberty in the fourth group, I was told that my daughter would be sent soon after me. But I learned from the Iraqi officials that she is still in Camp Ashraf. In fact they have kept my daughter as a hostage to make me keep quiet. They also do not wish my daughter to learn that I have left the organization.

My daughter is registered on the list of UNHCR asylum seekers, the number is 350 and my registration number is 920. We were both granted French travel documents in 1988 following our arrival in France in 1986. My daughter called her younger sister in Iran at the request of the organization around 6 years ago and never called again.

I am worried about her since no one, even in a prison, would reject family contacts. These people are deprived of any sort of outside communication. I am sure that there is a lot of pressure on my daughter and that they will not let her go to Camp Liberty and I should say that her life is really in danger.

Therefore I urge you to put pressure on the officials of the MKO in Camp Ashraf and persuade them to allow me and my younger daughter to meet with my 34 year old daughter Zeinab.

Dear Sir,

The leader of the MKO has turned the organization into a destructive mind control cult and has no aim but saving himself by sacrificing the innocent people who are his captives in Ashraf and in Liberty. He intends to provoke clashes with the Iraqi government and forces and this is the reason behind creating obstacles in the process of transition and creating unreasonable conditions. He aims to buy time and is waiting for some delusional political conditions in his favor which will enable him to stay in Iraq. This is why he does not wish to leave Ashraf and give it away. He knows full well that by leaving Ashraf the pressure on his cult will be enormous and this could result in his cult being dissolved.

Rajavi has even rejected Iraq’s humane proposal of moving the residents of Ashraf into hotels, a proposal which you backed. This exposed the real aim of the leaders of the cult; that all they are intending is to keep the cultic relationship and save the cult intact. The MKO in its statement called Iraq’s proposal gruesome and a plot against the organization and your dirty souvenir from Tehran. The MKO leaders have insulted you on many occasions in its propaganda since you did not accept all their unjust demands. Everyone knows about your humanitarian efforts to solve the problem and praise your exertions but Rajavi is not happy with the problem being solved peacefully and has asked for a UN representative appointed for Ashraf. They are playing the same game they played against Mr. Butler, the former representative of the USA in the negotiations with the MKO to move the residents of Ashraf elsewhere. When Mr. Butler finally announced that the leaders of the MKO do not intend to solve the problem peacefully they denounced him, but finally they had to accept leaving Ashraf.

All conditions announced by the MKO would be achieved by transferring the residents to hotels except conditions such as creating a green environment and manual work which are intended only to create conditions to remain in Iraq and not be transferred to a third country. They became so angered by this proposal from the Iraqi government that they wanted to leave the meeting. This clearly shows that moving into a hotel means that the hostages and the victims would have a chance to free themselves from this inhuman cult. This rejection shows how the leaders of the cult are afraid of their Stalinist organization being dismantled. The reason is that in a hotel they would not be able to force the members to perform hard labor and they would not be able to keep the members inside the boundaries of control and systematically brainwash them. In this case they would not be able to use the members as human shields to protect the leaders.

The two conditions that the MKO have put forward are having permission to sell their belongings and freedom of movement. Firstly I should say that the leader of the MKO has no rights over these so-called belongings since they are the property of the people and the government of Iraq. When I was the senior interpreter for Rajavi in the Foreign Relations Department since the year 2000 (the part which deals with the affairs with Iraq both before and after the fall of Saddam Hussein), I witnessed that at least 3 million barrels of oil a day was received from the Iraqi ministry of oil (equivalent to 90 million dollars according to the price of oil in those days), in line with the UN policy of oil for food and medicine. They used to sell this oil on the international market and have money for their necessities. In this way they were able to buy cars and other goods.

Secondly I must emphasize that they want freedom of movement only for their top officials. The ordinary members have always been deprived of free movement, even inside the camps, since they are afraid they might escape. In the past both in Ashraf and in Liberty the leaders of the cult have prevented the members from moving freely even within the camps, let alone letting them leave the camps. All sorts of posts and checkpoints have been established to limit the movement of ordinary members. They did not even allow those sick and injured people about whom they had doubts about their loyalty to go outside the camp for further medical treatment. Only recently they allowed some of those with severe illness out of the camp, but only after it were too late and they only dismissed them in order to let them die outside the camp and evade the consequences. It is hypocrisy for the leaders to complain about the conditions of Camp Liberty and compare it with a prison when they have kept the members captive for more than 30 years. The one who has turned Ashraf, and now Liberty, into a prison is Massoud Rajavi. A unique prison with no rights of access to their families, no letters, no telephone, no email, and of course no meetings. In any prison in any place in the world, even in the harshest dictatorships, prisoners have the right to contact their families and even have the right to go on leave to visit them. Recently the UN has issued a statement and declared that the residents of Camp Liberty have no access to the outside world and called for freedom of contact with their families.

To clarify this matter further and in order to reveal Rajavi’s aim behind such demands, I propose that the government of Iraq declares its readiness to allow MKO members to go for pilgrimage to the holy cities of Kerbela and Najaf in groups. In this case the leaders of the MKO would certainly reject the offer and as in previous cases would call it a conspiracy to destroy the “Iranian Resistance!” which means their only concern is the freedom of the captive residents and that they might escape. It would be a nightmare for Rajavi if the families would also go with them on this pilgrimage. According to the atmosphere I was witnessed inside the organization, the vast majority of the members, particularly the veterans, would leave the cult provided they find a suitable moment. I can give you the names and details of many of my colleagues inside both Ashraf and Liberty who are under severe pressure and they really wish to leave and I have informed Mr. Nicola the head of the UN human rights monitoring group about them.

The leaders of the MKO prevent the members from even thinking about going to a third country and force them to give reports if they have such so-called evil thoughts and to be ready to be denounced and humiliated and be accused of betraying the struggle. Maryam Rajavi declared in her last statement in March before the move to Liberty that we must turn Liberty the most beautiful city in the world and make it just like Ashraf. Abbas Davari in a meeting inside the Americans’ church in Liberty said that ‘they say this is a transit and interim camp, I say the whole world is temporary and it is seventy years that I am in transit. We will stay here to the end of our lives’. Massoumeh Malek-Mohammadi also said in another meeting that this is not a transit camp, but another Ashraf for us. Massoud Rajavi in a call-conference for our group (the forth one) before leaving Ashraf said that ‘we wish to have two Ashraf garrisons and you will see how the Iranian regime will condemn Maleki because he was meant to get rid of us and now we have two bases’. This was followed by the crowd cheering.

If you see the MKO propaganda in Europe and in America and follow their lobbying activities you will notice that their aim is to remain in Iraq and they have no intention of leaving Iraq for another country. You rightly asked everyone to be active toward the MKO to force the leaders to cooperate with the UN to move the residents of Liberty to another country.
As far as I have been in touch with the ex-members, all are eager for a peaceful solution for the MKO in order to be moved to a safer place. They must have the right to be informed about the outside world and choose their own destiny. The excuses Rajavi invents to keep them inside Iraq for his evil purposes should be condemned.

Dear Mr. Kobler

I fully back your efforts for a peaceful solution to the dilemma of the MKO in Iraq and I urge you not to be influenced by the MKO lobby which is active in the western countries and be firm in demanding the MKO leaders to allow the captives to be free. The best thing to do is to permit the families to stay nearby Camp Liberty and provide facilities for them to meet their beloved ones and negate the negative atmosphere created against the families by the MKO and stop the brainwashing of members and creating phobia inside their minds against the outside world and ensure they have full and free access to telephone and internet and radio and television and publications.

I sincerely thank you and wish you every success in your good work.

Ali Hussien-Nezhad ,Baghdad

September 5, 2012 0 comment

UN envoy welcomes transfer of MEK from Ashraf to Liberty

The United Nations top envoy in Iraq today hailed the relocation of another group of 400 Iranian exiles from a camp outside of the capital, Baghdad, to a new location, prior to their eventual UN envoy welcomes transfer of MEK from Ashraf to Liberty resettlement in third countries.

“I welcome the residents’ decision to re-commence the relocation process from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, said in a news release issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which he also heads.

In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government to resolve the situation, some two-thirds of the residents, or 2,000 people, were re-located to a temporary transit location near Baghdad known as Camp Hurriya – formerly known as Camp Liberty – where a process to determine refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Three-fourths of the residents, 2,400 persons, have now moved to Camp Hurriya,” Mr. Kobler stated. “I thank them for their cooperation, and call on those remaining in Camp Ashraf to act in the same spirit and start preparations for additional moves without delay, in order to peacefully complete the process.”

The news release further noted that Mr. Kobler requested that the Government of Iraq “be generous” to the camp residents in regards to their humanitarian needs, while also reiterating his appeal to Member States to accept the refugees upon resettlement in their countries.

Prior to today’s transfer, close to 1,300 individuals were still awaiting relocation from Camp Ashraf to the transit centre.

UNAMI staff have been monitoring the human rights and humanitarian situation during the relocation process and provide round-the-clock human rights monitoring at Camp Hurriya.

September 1, 2012 0 comment

UN envoy welcomes latest transfer of MEK to transit centre

The United Nations top official in Iraq today [18 August 2012] hailed the announcement of a further transfer of Iranian exiles currently located in a camp outside of the capital, Baghdad. UN envoy welcomes latest transfer of MEK to transit centre

“I welcome the announcement that the next group of 400 residents are willing to commence the move from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya immediately after the Eid holiday,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, said in a news release issued by the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which he also heads.

A Muslim holiday marking the end of the month of fasting known as Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr is observed on Monday in various countries around the world.

In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government, some two-thirds of the residents, or nearly 2,000 people, have been relocated from Camp Ashraf – now known as Camp New Iraq – to a temporary transit location near Baghdad, known as Camp Hurriya, where a process to determine refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Close to 1,300 individuals – Iranian exiles, many of whom are members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran – are still awaiting transfer from Camp Ashraf to the transit centre.

“I request the Government of Iraq to be generous with regard to the humanitarian needs of the residents,” Mr. Kobler said. “I also reiterate my appeal to Member States to accept the residents for resettlement in their countries.”

In addition to Mr. Kobler, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also previously urged all parties to avoid violence and work together to peacefully conclude the transfer of the remaining Iranian exiles.

The UNAMI news release also noted that there has been continuous progress in efforts to improve the living conditions in Camp Hurriya.

“The United Nations continues to support a peaceful solution to the issue of Camp Ashraf, continues to monitor the relocation process, and provides 24/7 monitoring in Camp Hurriya,” the Mision stated, adding that it calls upon the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf to “also start preparations for additional convoys to Campy Hurriya, in order to peacefully complete the relocation process.”

August 21, 2012 0 comment

On MKO’s Defiance to Relocate

A Letter to Martin Kobler: On MKO’s Defiance to Relocate

The problem is MKO is still under the utopian delusion that it can impose its stay in Ashraf

To Mr. Martin Kobler, A Letter to Martin Kobler: On MKO’s Defiance to Relocate

The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq

Dear Mr. Kobler,

As the families of the victims, members and the ex-members of Mujahedin Khalq Organization, MEK/MKO/PMOINCR, we appreciate your humanitarian efforts to put an end to the predicament of the group’s enslaved members both in Camp Ashraf and those relocated to the Temporary Transit Location TTL. We understand that you look at the issue from a humanitarian point of view and to put an end to the plights of men destined to suffer for the atrocities plotted by others, but MKO is buying time trying to politicize your humanitarian effort. From the very beginning of the reached agreement to relocate residents in Ashraf, MKO leaders were seeking for unjustified excuses to either hinder the process or bring it to an abrupt halt, and it seems they have succeeded. Furthermore, through all this six-month long extended period, the Iraqi government and the UN have tolerated MKO’s cavils and its raised objection to any presented solution.

MKO complains that facilities at TTL are far from meeting basic living necessities and calls it a prison and detention center, whereas reports from UN monitors indicate that the quality of life at TTL even exceeds accepted humanitarian standards. MKO’s leadership obstinately refuses cooperation and places preconditions and makes demands, whereas the Iraqi government has shown cooperation with the UN and even delivered a cargo convoy of goods as demanded by the group on July 15. The leaders turn down the UN presented “roadmap” on claims that it sidelines and ignores the residents’ rights and endangers the security of residents, whereas the roadmap has been designed to address the concerns of both the residents and the Iraqi government by suggesting a series of steps to complete the peaceful relocation of residents.

And MKO did not hesitate to wage a psychological war against the UN, UNAMI you just following the presented “roadmap”. A passing look into a variety of MKO-run and fed webpages discloses a blatant gesture of defiance against the international guideline which is blasted by numerous advocates who, by disregarding the ethics in words, act as the group’s mouthpiece. One after another they have questioned impartiality and humanitarian intention of the UN in an attempt to defend MKO; they openly condemned your remarks calling them sheer lies that have further complicated the problem instead of providing any solution.

As a result, you have been added to the list of MKO opponents acting as elements of pressure on behalf of the Iraqi government, claimed to be itself taking orders from Iran, and collaborating to set the stage for a human tragedy and massacre. So, it was not a sudden shock to read Alejo Vidal-Quadras, chairing the MKO’s alias International Committee of In Search of Justice (ISJ), strongly denouncing your reports and making suggestion for your replacement: “ISJ would like to reemphasize the need for appointment of an objective and competent personal envoy by the Secretary General to Ashraf and Liberty so that all issues could be addressed in a fair and unbiased manner.”

Although a strong antagonism towards the UN, you and other cooperating sides, all this ado MKO makes serve for a different purpose. Frankly speaking, the dispute is not merely over a simple matter of relocation from a camp to another; the problem is MKO is reluctance to leave Ashraf and is still under the utopian delusion that it can impose its stay in Ashraf. The ideal solution MKO appreciates is the one that disapproves any relocation from Ashraf. The group is well aware of the fact that relocation from Ashraf means a permanent expulsion from Iraq sooner or later. But staying at the small utopia they built, even if seemingly in limbo, means a permanent or decades long stay until they will be delisted from the State Department blacklist and be received by other countries.

The problem is that MKO is inherently pessimistic, and as Winston Churchill explicates, “the pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity”. You have provided the group with many opportunities but the only received responses have been insurmountable difficulties and unjustifiable excuses that will never end. And the problem is that the UN’s policy of peaceful cooperation to stop a human tragedy has further emboldened MKO to wrongly misconstrue the attitude as the Iraqi government and the UN’s capitulation to its demands and that, they have no other choice but to submit to its wills. And the sole victims of this battle are the residents themselves whom Rajavi seems to be determined to preserve as human shields to construct a secure bulwark against a global decisiveness. Here are, as people well acquaintance with tactics of the group, a few suggestions that may help in your humanitarian mission:

– When you draw up guidelines or make decisions concerning MKO, be determined to put them into action before publicizing them. Inaction further hardens MKO’s attitude against any compromise and temporizing prompt it to bring unto scene a considerable capacity of its advocacy network to thwart efforts.

– A consensus is needed among the sides cooperating to end the crisis. The Iraqi government and people have also rights and demands that have to be respected and accounted. MKO, for instance, complain of water and electricity shortage and ask to be connected to Baghdad’s networks. The fact should be observed that such shortages are natural to meet because of the infrastructural deficits that fail to satisfy the demands of the people in the area. Furthermore, it should be noted that closure of Ashraf does not mean closing a military bastion but returning the seized lands to people they belong to.

– The right for the families of the residents to meet them has to be recognized. Both the families and residents are deprived of a free meeting that will grant them the opportunity of breaking the walls that your efforts have thinned.

– We appreciate your peaceful, humanitarian solution to the issue of relocation. But urging the Iraqi government publicly to “refrain from violence under any circumstances and to be generous when it comes to the humanitarian needs of the residents” further encourages MKO to be antagonistic without being questioned or criticized for its warlike attitude.

August 12, 2012 0 comment

The only way-out of this crisis is the arrest of Rajavis!

Open letter of Mr. Homayoun Kahzadi to Secretary-General of the United Nations Honorable Mr. Ban Ki moon

Secretary General of the United Nations , Mr. Ban Ki moon Mr. Homayoun Kahzadi

Greetings,

You have done all your efforts for the captives in the notorious and infamous castle , Ashraf, but this terrorist cult even vis a vis you who are the highest official in the United Nations do the disobedience and the revolt.

This is the second time in the past two weeks that you as Secretary General of the United Nations have demanded the people’s mujahedin organization to respect the Iraqi regulations and rules of law and evacuate Ashraf on time . Meanwhile you have advised the Iraqi government to stay committed to their human rights commitments but this cult continues its resistance.

Even Mr. Martin Kobler , the head of united nations’ board who around 10 days ago appreciated the Iraqi government’s deed and criticized the people’s mujahedin organization about their delay and weakness in evacuation of Ashraf , he was accused by people’s mujahedin organization of cooperation and collaboration with the Iraqi and Iranian government to annihilate the residents of Ashraf. In this regard the Iraqi national security adviser declared on Monday , the expulsion of the residents of Ashraf does not mean necessarily the use of force or arms but vis a vis the deadlock which according to his statement has been begotten by people’s mujahedin organization , he will resort to any option suitable to evacuate Ashraf but this terrorist cult by resorting to the revolt and Rajavi’s hand made and fake excuses does not want to evacuate this castle.

Mr. Ban Ki moon , this confronting-plan with the relocation has been carried out by the direct order of Rajavi himself , and the only objective which this trickster and imposter pursue is to kill the captive members who have been living miserably in this castle for years . Doubtlessly we should say that if those captives had any option and authority , this castle could had been dismantled long time ago but they are under severe pressure and force which do not allow them to decide and think about their future properly.

Mr. Ban Ki moon

To confront with this disobedience and the revolt and for preventing the bloodshed and killing of those stranded members and for the sake of the families of those captives and for the sake of our captive-friends , we are urging you as Secretary General of the United Nations to deploy your representatives to supervise the relocation of the remaining members from Ashraf to liberty camp because this organization does not understand any language except the language of force. The leaders of this organization by their deeds and attitudes want to provoke the Iraqi government and force them to resort to fight and the bloodshed. All the humanitarian organizations and international conventions have been informed that more than half of the residents of Ashraf , have been relocated to the liberty camp and the rest have remained in Ashraf, is not it obligatory and necessary for the remaining members to go to the liberty camp or can the leaders of this cult by bringing fake excuses obstruct in the relocation process ? as we know that this organization does not relocate even one member without his or her commander , so why have all the high ranking officials of this organization been staying in Ashraf?! , in your opinion , is not it one of the Rajavi’s plans? Surely and doubtlessly he has a new plan in his mind .

Mr. Ban Ki moon do not doubt that this terrorist cult will connect you to the Iranian government because this cult does not know another trick because they have even connected us , the former members of this organization , to the Iranian government and according to Rajavis’ ideology the only people who are honest and flawless are the ring-leaders of this cult !

Mr. Ban Ki moon , I as a former and separated member of this cult am urging you to relocate the remaining members ,who do not have any option and authority , from Ashraf to Liberty camp peacefully and without any bloodshed by cooperation with other humanitarian organizations such as the Red –cross and …etc ,and arrest Rajavi through cooperation and collaboration with the Interpol.

In my opinion the only and the best solution for solving this crisis is to arrest Maryam and Massoud Rajavi and surrender them to the justice.

Respectfully ,
Homayoun Kahzadi

August 7, 2012 0 comment

Mr. Kobler, Avoid repeating the error!

The intricate problem and deadlock in issue of relocation of Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty is not only result of the MeK leadership’s excuses and blackmail, but part of that, and Mr. Kobler, Avoid repeating the error! perhaps its major part, relates to the incorrect entry of the United Nations to this file and the more incorrect decisions of the UNAMI and the UNHCR on this topic.

These errors can be investigated in two areas:

First, basically the UN and the UNHCR should not follow the America’s wrong path in giving special and illegal privileges to the terrorist group MeK, and during the review of Camp Ashraf residents’ application for asylum , instead of being caught in the MeK leadership’s trap, they should adopt a more correct decision.

The fact is that the camp’s residents are guilty and the UN cannot and should not facilitate terms of harboring criminals and especially those who create plenty of potential and actual risks for international peace and security. Even if the UNAMI authorities succeed in their path, they have established a wrong tradition that causes to escape criminals from legal proceedings.

When the UNHCR engaged to process Camp Ashraf residents’ application for refugee, from the first it should deal with individuals and entities, such as the all files that it handle throughout the world; but regrettably committed a fundamental mistake and attended to negotiations with the representatives designated by Rajavi, whose task was defending the organizational interests of the MeK, not humanitarian rights of the camp’s residents.

The UN representatives- with good faith- from the first were just thinking about their goals and in the negotiations addressed facilitating the relocation process, while with the two mentioned mistakes they made the situation more intricate, and now suppose that by advising the Iraqi government for restraint and asking the camp residents for collaborating they can take the situation out of the deadlock.

However, the UN authorities should not just think to completion of the relocation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, but, with the experience of this level, they have to put the overall conclusion on agenda that any negotiation with the persons as representatives of the residents or, more wrong, negotiations with Rajavi’s representatives is an irreversible error that will bring many times more destructive results than the current situation.

August 7, 2012 0 comment

UN chief tells Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq to move

UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. chief is urging some 1,200 Iranian exiles who are refusing to UN chief tells Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq to move leave Camp Ashraf to cooperate with Iraqi authorities and resettle in a new refugee camp near Baghdad.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday also urged other countries to give asylum to the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, an exiled Iranian dissident group that had waged a campaign from foreign bases to overthrow Iran’s clerical government.

The exile group, also known by its Farsi name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, have already moved about 2,000 of its residents from Camp Asraf in northern Iraq to a Baghdad refugee camp, Camp Hurriya, which is a former U.S. military base. But they ignored a July 20 deadline to move the remaining 1,200 members, saying they will not go until they see proof of more water, increased electricity, better facilities for sick and disabled people and other improvements to the base. The U.N. says the services there are already far better than at most other refugee camps worldwide.

On Tuesday, Iraqi National Security Adviser Faleh al-Fayadh warned the group to move soon or his government will take matters into its own hands.

Ban expressed "appreciation" for Iraq’s government and urged the refugees to "earnestly prepare for their next transfer."

But he added that "violence should, at all costs, be avoided" and urged Iraq’s government to "exercise restraint."

The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran has been labeled everything from a cult to a terrorist organization — although one that has provided the U.S. with intelligence on Iran. The group says it renounced violence in 2001, after carrying out bloody bombings and assassinations in Iran in the 1980s.

The Iraqi government considers them a terrorist group that is in the country illegally. Over the last six months, the U.N. has tried to mediate, and helped broker an agreement to close Ashraf and temporarily move the exiles into the refugee camp. Ultimately, Iraqi and U.N. officials want to give the Ashraf residents refugee status and resettle them outside of Iraq.

The distrust between the exiles and Iraq’s government has always been palatable, but it peaked after security forces led deadly raids in Ashraf twice in the last four years.

"The government of Iraq receives all of its orders on Ashraf from the Iranian regime, refrains from implementing this simple and practical plan, and it’s planning for the third massacre at Ashraf," the exiles said in a statement Tuesday.

CBS News

August 2, 2012 0 comment

Nejat Society supports UN roadmap on Camp Ashraf evacuation

Dear Mr. Kobler, Nejat Society supports UN roadmap on Camp Ashraf evacuation
We are family members of Mujahedin Khalq organization forces. We founded Nejat Society (Salvation Society) about a decade ago. We have worked here to help release our loved ones who are held as hostages in the MKO.

With greetings and respect to you and your colleagues at the United Nations Organization.

Your peaceful actions to avoid violence and bloody conflict between the MKO cult and the Iraqi government in relocating of the group captives to Camp Liberty and eventually to the free world have provoked the group leaders’ anger and wrath against you!

Appreciating you and your honorable colleagues we should mention that your effort for peaceful relocation of 3400 men and women –stranded in the MKO’s cultic thoughts– to Camp Liberty and from there to the free world, is a humanitarian and highly admirable deed. As the families and victims of the cult we know that the cult leadership who has always welcomed bloodshed and tension between cult members and the Iraqi government, do not like your suggested roadmap for camp Ashraf closure and instead of showing their gratitude to you and the United Nations for your endeavors, they have consecutively created spurious and baseless tensions, problems, excuses and obstructions in this peaceful relocation process.

Mr. Ambassador,
We would be pleased to cooperate with the United Nations in their humanitarian commitment to resolve Camp Ashraf issue. The followings are some suggestions to boost the plan:
-All the people at camp Ashraf and Liberty to be interviewed separately and freely with UN and ICRC.
-The residents of Camps Ashraf and Liberty to be allowed to meet their families and friends in a free atmosphere.
-The residents of the camps to be granted the right to choose for their own fate.

Sincerely,
Nejat Society

August 1, 2012 0 comment

UN calls for cooperation to find solutions to relocate Mujahedin

The United Nations refugee agency today called for cooperation, patience and understanding among all parties involved in finding solutions for the 3,200 Iranian exiles residing in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
Assistant High Commissioner for Protection Erika Feller
In a news release, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it is currently assessing individual protection needs of former residents of the camp, situated in the north of Baghdad, the capital, in an effort to close the camp peacefully and resolve the situation of its residents.

Camp Ashraf is made up of several thousand Iranian exiles, many of them members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran. In line with a memorandum of understanding signed in December by the UN and the Iraqi Government, some two-thirds of the residents, or nearly 2,000 people, were re-located to a temporary transit location near Baghdad known as Camp Hurriya, where a process to determine refugee status is being carried out by UNHCR. Another 1,286 individuals are still awaiting transfer to the transit centre.

According to the agency, those found to be in need of international protection may have the possibility of being resettled to another country.

“Status determination, however, does not in itself resolve things,” said UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Erika Feller. “It must be accompanied by efforts from all concerned, in good faith and in a spirit of international solidarity, to offer resettlement solutions and, in the interim, to assist people to stay safely and decently until such solutions can be materialized.”

UNHCR called on countries to cooperate by allowing for re-admission of individuals having had previous links with them, or by offering resettlement places or other forms of humanitarian admission. It also said it hoped that the Government of Iraq will maintain the asylum option in Iraq pending realization of solutions for these individuals.

In addition, UNHCR appealed to States for financial support, including for the host country to meet costs associated with transferring, hosting, housing, assisting and processing the cases of these individuals until solutions have been found.

July 28, 2012 0 comment

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