AK News

MKO refuse move to TTL over property disputes

The fifth batch of Camp Ashraf residents in Diyala refused to be moved to Camp Liberty [Temporay Transit Location] in Baghdad amid disputes over the transferal and sale of their property.

The Mujahedine Khalq of Iran (MEK) said the Iraqi government prevented MEK residents in the camp from transferring some of their property, equipment and vehicles to Baghdad.

The MEK added that the terms of the memorandum of understanding between Iraq and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq about resolving the issue of the camp were not implemented.

The director of the Office of Human Rights in Diyala Salah al-Mojmaei said: "The concerned authorities in resolving the file of Camp Ashraf residents, and in coordination with security forces in Diyala, provided all the requirements to transfer the fifth lot of the camp residents to Liberty Camp[TTL] in Baghdad but the transfer was blocked due to the prohibitive demands of the residents.

Mojmaei added that the concerned parties announced May 15 as a deadline to complete the transfer of Ashraf residents to Baghdad.

The MEK said the residents of Camp Ashraf demand to be allowed to transfer their cars to Camp Liberty [TTL] and sell their property under the supervision of the United Nations to pay their expenses for protection, residence and moving to third countries.

Khalis mayor Uday al-Khadran announced in a press statement that more than 1,000 Ashraf residents expressed their desire to return to Iran and 40 others will be deported to European countries for possessing passports and nationalities of these states.

The MEK also accused the Iraqi government of not resolving the transferal of property that belongs to the residents of Camp Ashraf. The property includes 1,200 cars and vehicles, 700 electricity generators and about 15,000 other pieces of equipment, including coolers, therapeutic devices, audio devices, phones, caravans, containers for drinking water and civil defense equipment.

The MEK said the infrastructure of Camp Liberty [TTL]is not up to humanitarian standards, where the water supply per inhabitant is insufficient. The organization also accused the Directorate of Electricity in Diyala of trying to seize four stations to generate electricity established by the MEK itself. Diyala electricity said it owns the stations and Ashraf residents cannot transfer or seize them.

The MEK further accused the Iraqi government of trying to seize $500m (580bn IQD) from the funds for Camp Ashraf.

UN representative in Iraq Martin Kobler called on European countries to receive the Ashraf residents after they leave Iraq as refugees and provide safe areas for them.

1,600 members of Camp Ashraf had been transferred to Liberty [TTL] Camp between February 17 and April 16.

Camp Ashraf has been home to MEK members and their families since 1986, when it was established by Saddam Hussein at the height of the Iran-Iraq war.

After the fall of the former regime the camp came under the protection of the US and has been subject to repeated attacks ever since. Responsibility for maintaining security at the camp was handed over to the Iraqi authorities in 2009.

Iran has been actively mounting pressure on the Iraqi government to expel the Iranian dissidents, who Iran calls the Munafegine Khalq (Hypocrites of Khalq). Both Iran and the US identify the group as a terrorist organization.

The Iraqi authorities consider the group an ally of the former Iraqi dictator. The MEK is also accused by Iraq of participating in attacks against Iraqi Kurds and Shias during Hussein’s rule.

The Iraqi government signed an agreement with the United Nations on December 25 last year to reach a humanitarian and peaceful solution for the Camp Ashraf’s population, which included transferring the inhabitants to a temporary site in preparation for being moved out of Iraq.

The MEK was founded in 1965 to overthrow the Shah of Iran. It opposed the Islamic regime after the Islamic revolution in 1979. Many of its members fled to Iraq in the eighties during the Iran-Iraq war between 1980 and 1988.

The organization, once considered to be the armed wing of the France-based National Council of Resistance in Iran, announced the renunciation of violence in June 2001.

By Mahmoud al-Jabbouri

May 1, 2012 0 comments

Iraq

Protesters renew demand to shut down Camp Ashraf

Diyala – Thousands of Iraqis gathered in front of Camp Ahsraf, where almost 3,500 Iranian Iraqis remember MEK for their cooperation with Iraqi Baath regime and quenching Shiite and Kurdish uprising in Iraq. dissidents of the Mojahedine Khalqe Iran Organization reside, in order to renew a demand for closing down the Camp.

Camp Ashraf is situated northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis, about 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad.

MEK came to Iraq in 1986 and are regarded by coalition forces as a protected people under the Geneva Convention.

Iraqis remember MEK for their cooperation with Iraqi Baath regime and quenching Shiite and Kurdish uprising in Iraq.

The Iraqi government has repeatedly voiced its intensions to terminate the residency of the MEK in Iraq by the end of this year.

The protest rally today was arranged by the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) and the organizations and parties opposition the Camp residents. Children, political leaders as well as chieftains from different parts of Iraq were among the protesters.

ISCI chief in Jadida Shat in Diyala, Qasem Awdat al-Maamuri, told AKnews the gathering is to readdress the demand for expelling the Camp residents out of Iraq before Iraqi officials as well as the international community.

He added the protesters demand the government "restore the land that the Iranian dissidents have occupied for more than two decades under a rule by the former Iraqi regime."

He added this year alone 20 protest rallies were held for terminating the Camp residency.

Mr. Maamuri urged the federal government to "take swift and serious decision" to expel MEK members whom he described "terrorists".

"They should be banned in Iraq, considering that they impose a threat on the security in Diyala, the whole country and the neighbors," he said.

The security forces imposed strict measures to avoid any violence or disputes between the protesters and the Camp residents.

Elements of the dissident organization used loudspeakers to call on the crowd to disperse and keep away from the Camp.

Though some have proposed for the Camp residents to relocate to other provinces of Iraq, the idea has received strong oppositions from many parties. Only one choice seems to have been left for MEK members: relocation to a third country. But so far no country has expressed willingness to grant refuge to the Camp residents.

MEK was founded in Iran in 1965 and cooperated with the rest of the opposition parties in toppling down Mohammed Reza Shah’s regime in 1979.

Disputes with the Islamic Republic led MEK relocate to Iraq and Europe.

By Mahmoud al-Jobour

December 12, 2011 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Lawmakers back decision to expel MKO from Iraq

Baghdad – Some Iraqi lawmakers supported the decision by the government to end the file of Mojahedin-e-Khalq-e-Iran Organization(MKO).

Iraqi government announced recently that almost 3,500 members of the Iranian dissident organization in Camp Ashraf will be either repatriated or helped to be resettled in a European country or resettled in the Iraqi provinces where the group is safe.

The decision was in fact made last year but delayed so far. Its enforcement was spotlighted again Thursday when the only resident of the group, Camp Ashraf, was attacked by the Iraqi army, where 35 people were killed and over 200 were wounded.

Speaking to AKnews, Zeinab al-Tayee from Ahrar Party accused the organization of "being funded by terrorist groups."

The Iranian group played opposition against the Islamic Republic of Iran after it was established and Massoud Rajavi the founder of the party was sidelined in the new government.

Tayee said her party backs expelling MKO from Iraq and hoped the decision comes into effect as soon as possible.

The decision has to be enforced by the end of 2011, Abbas al-Bayati a deputy from the National Coalition and close to the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said.

Tayee reiterated the presence of the group is contrary to the Iraqi constitution, a point frequently raised to criticize Maliki’s government.

MKO has been recognized as a "terrorist" organization by some countries.

Safia Soheil, an independent lawmaker, also supported ending MKO file.

She told AKnews the group has been living in Iraq since the era of the fallen Iraqi Baath regime and aided Saddam Hussein in combating and stifling Iraqi peoples.

MKO has been accused of confronting the Iraqi Shia and Kurdish uprisings in 1991 alongside Iraqi Army which mobilized and armed the group.

Soheil believed her country is a democratic and constitutional country and hence advised the government to observe human rights international conventions when enforcing the decision against MKO and to avoid violence against the group.

"Iraq is also responsible towards the international community for handing over the members to a third country," she added. At the same time, the lawmaker believed repatriation of the members to Iran is in breach of human rights conventions. She believed the government should instead consult the United Nations High Commission for Refugees for MKO resettlement.

By Yazin Shamarai

April 16, 2011 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq parliament recognizes chemical attack on Halabja as genocide

Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult acted as Saddam’s private army

The Iraqi parliament has officially recognized the chemical attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in 1988 as genocide.Halabja .

The decision came during a parliamentary session on Thursday where the proposal was put to vote and was approved by the majority of the parliament.

Halabja, situated 81km south east of Sulaimaniyah and 364 km north east of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, was subjected to an airborne chemical weapon attack in March 1988 by the former Iraqi regime. The death toll was widely estimated at 5,000, with more than 10,000 injuries.

On Tuesday, on the 23rd anniversary of the attack on the Kurdish town, the Kurdish MPs in Baghdad commemorated the gassing of Halabja by opening a photo gallery of images depicting the attack and displaying video footage showing the victims. They also called on parliament to recognize it as genocide.
On March 16, 1988 Iraqi jets swooped over Halabja and sprayed it with a cocktail of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX for five hours.
The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court sentenced Saddam Husein’s cousin, Ali Hasan Majid notoriously known as "chemical Ali" to death for ordering the chemical attack.
Mr Majid had been earlier sentenced to death four times for crimes against humanity, his last sentence was in January 2010 – the same month he was executed.

The Iraqi Supreme Criminal Court was set up to try former members of Hussein’s government. It was the same one that sentenced Saddam Hussein to death.

Many people from Halabja still suffer the after-effects of the gas attack, and since 2007, 17 victims of the gas attack have died of resulting medical complications.

March 27, 2011 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Camp Ashraf residents prevented by PMOI from meeting their families coming from Iran

Local officials in Diyala province said on Saturday that leaders Pople’s Mujahedin Of Iran (PMOI) or the Mojahedine Khalq refused, again, to let the families coming from Iran to enter Camp mayor of Al-Khalis city, Uday Adnan Al-Khaddran. Ashraf to meet their sons on the pretext that they belonged to Iran’s security agencies.

A large delegation of the local administration, elders and dignitaries of the areas went to the camp today to persuade the leaders of Camp Ashraf to let the families coming from Iran to meet their sons, according to mayor of Al-Khalis city, Uday Adnan Al-Khaddran.

"This attempt, like the first and second attempts faced the intransigence of Ashraf leaders. They did not agree on the entry of the families of the members," Al-Khaddran said.

Dozens of families from Iran are on a sit–in since February 8, in front of the camp’s gate, in an attempt to persuade the leaders of the camp to let them meet their sons who are members of the PMOI.

PMOI accused the families in front of the camp’s gate of being Iran’s security agents.

But Al-Khaddran attributed Ashraf leaders refusal to let the Iranian families in to "fears" of the leaders of revealing their practices with the deluded people who wish to return home, on the one hand, and to prevent the world from knowing the secrets and mysteries of collaboration with, and the support of the organization, for militant terrorist groups, on the other hand, as he put it.

There area three thousand 3,400 residents in Camp Ashraf who had warned that the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the camp and handing it over to the Iraqi government would pave the way for a "humanitarian disaster"

Mujahedine Khalq described an effort by a number of sheiks and dignitaries of Diyala province on June 19 to end the ongoing suffering of the Iranian families outside the camp’s main gate as an "attempt to agravate the crisis against Camp Ashraf as a prelude to attack the camp again", according to an statement released by the organization.

On 28 July 2009, hundreds of Iraqi police and army troops attacked the Camp Ashraf and clashed with the PMOI members in the camp, and according to the organization 13 of their members were allegedly killed and more than 500 were injured.

Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City is situated northwest of Khalis town, 66 kilometers north of Baghdad. Camp Ashraf is currently an Iranian refugee camp in Iraq guarded by the United States military. Some 3500 PMOI members reside the camp. On January 1, 2009 its control was formally transferred to the Iraqi government.

The Camp was set up during the former regime of Iraq. After the fall of the former regime of Iraq, the US military disarmed the camp and took on the responsibility of protecting it which the Iraqi government has been attempting to evict it for several years.

Mujahedine Khalq was formerly on the list of "terrorist" groups in America and Europe, but the situation began to change when it helped to identify some of the secrets of Iran’s nuclear program, which represents a crisis between Tehran and the West.

Mojahiden E-Khalq is an opposition group led by Massoud Rajawi. It was founded in 1965 and played a major role in fighting the Shah and ousting his regime, PMOI supported the former Iranian President Bani-Sadr in facing the religious institution in the early eighties when they engaged in bloody clashes with the Iranian government that claimed many of the groups members and many others were arrested. It resorted to exile to continue its war against the "Islamic Republic" under the slogan of building an alternative "Islamic democracy" state.

During the U.S.-led 2003 invasion of Iraq, the group’s sites were bombed by the U.S. and British forces and considered it as a part of the Iraqi formations, but the U.S. troops maintained security of the camp after the war was over and according to an agreement they were allowed to keep their weapons, stay in Iraq and continue their armed struggle against Iran, which raised Tehran’s worries that prompted some of its officials to describe America as a "liar" in its campaign against terrorism.

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki’s government of Iraq tried to take measures that would remove the organization from the country, but the organization was protected by the United States.

July 1, 2010 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

KRG officers: MKO slamming Iranian shelling is futile

Kirkuk, June 3 (AKnews) – The Iranian government resistence organization, Mojahedine Khalqe Iran (MKI), slamed the Iranian bombardment of Kurdistan territories in a declaration on June 1, asking the international bodies to react against the transgression, while Kurdistan Region Government (KRG) officials believed that the statement is of no consequences. …

Kurds, along with the Iraqi Federal Government expect their neighbors to respect the territorial sovereignty of our homeland, according to Falah Mustafa, KRG Chief for Foreign Relations.
“Both Iraqi Ministry of Defense and KRG have taken positive steps in calling Iran halt its bombardments against our region”, Mustafa said.…

“The statement by MKI is just an extension of their efforts against all the policies of Iran, whatever they could be”, the Chief for Kurdistan Strategic Studies Centre, Farid Asasard told AKnews, noting that this is not the first time the organization releases such declarations.

Any attempt by this organization to thaw relations with Kurds will be overlooked for they do not enjoy the blessing of Kurds”, Asasard argued, explaining “Because in suppressing the Kurdish uprising, this organization supported the fallen Baathists regime.

This statement cannot wash away their stained vision in the memory of the Kurdish people”, he believed. …

MKI, established in 1965 to topple down the then Shah Regime in Iran, conducted a serious of aggressions against some top Iranian personalities between 1980 to 1990, when it came to be recognized more as a militant sect. It was blacklisted as a terrorist organization by the US and Europe in 2001. However, in 2009 Europe agreed to restore the legitimacy to the organization.
Lh (AKnews)
AKnews, Kiekuk,

June 7, 2010 0 comments