IRNA

Case on Saddam’s crimes against Iran open

Prosecutor general: Case on Saddam’s crimes against Iran open

Prosecutor General Ghorban-Ali Dorri Najafabadi on Thursday said that dossier concerning Saddam Hossein’s atrocities against Iranians is still open and should be investigated.

He told IRNA that the file includes two aspects: one involves all individuals who committed or advocated crimes such as Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) and another includes the losses that Iranians suffered during the eight-year imposed war.

"The UN has put the amount of losses inflicted on Iran at more than dlrs 100 billion, while Iran has estimated them at dlrs 1,000 billion," he added.

The provisions of the Resolution 598 should be implemented by the Iraqi government, he noted.

Pointing out that the goal behind lodging Iran’s complaint before Saddam’s trial was to following up the Iranian nation’s rights, he said Tehran did not have any hope to witness the hearing of Saddam’s crimes against Iranians from the beginning of the court.

Elsewhere in his remarks, he referred to the efforts made by the judiciary and government to create 800,000-1,000,000 new jobs annually nationwide.

Attending Semnan province’ administrative council session, he underlined that people’s massive presence in the Bahman 22 rallies (marking the victory of the Islamic Revolution of Iran on February 11) will show the power of the Islamic system, and make its enemies disappointed.

Touching on the critical condition of the region, he expressed hope that stronger presence of people in the event will send a clear message to the West, particularly the US to recognize Iran’s legitimate right to access peaceful nuclear technology.

He also recommended all countries involved in Iran’s nuclear case to resume negotiations and avoid setting any precondition in this respect.

Referring to the US warmongering policy in the region, he called on the American people to prevent their leaders from continuing their bullying policies worldwide

Feb 1, IRNA

February 5, 2007 0 comment

The MEK Expulsion from Iraq

Iraq Set To Expel the MKO

Iraq Thursday announced it would expel members of the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said, "We have our own problems and are going through a trying period that prevents us from offering refuge. Our Constitution forbids us from hosting an organization considered to be terrorist."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s cabinet had demanded that the MKO members be rapidly transferred to other countries, AFP quoted the spokesman as saying.

"The presence of this organization is illegal and the cabinet has decided to put an end to it, said Dabbagh, adding, "We have given it time to prepare to leave Iraq for another country. We have left it to them to go to the country of their choice.

"This organization has broken the law and interfered in Iraq’s internal affairs."

During the regime of now executed dictator Saddam Hussein, the MKO was welcome in Iraq and fought with Iraqi forces against Iran.

The organization was behind terrorist acts in Iran, assassinating prominent figures and officials in the country.

Iraq’s Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs Shirvan Vaeli had already announced that the MKO which had hatched numerous plots against the Iraqi nation would be expelled from the country.

"We are now preparing a comprehensive plan which requires approval of the government to expel the MKO from the country," he said.

"We strongly follow up the case because the MKO seeks to hatch plots against the Iraqi people," vowed Vaeli.

Officials at International Committee of the Red Cross and the United States had been informed of the need to take action to drive MKO out of Iraq, he added.

UNLAWFUL PRESENCE

An eminent Iraqi lawyer had also announced that the existence of Mujahedin Khalq Organization in Iraq was unlawful.

Tariq Harb, head of the Population of Disseminating Law Culture in Iraq, told the Baghdad-based weekly Al-Shahed, "According to the domestic, international, and foreign nongovernmental laws, the existence of MKO in Iraq is illegal.

"Given the law of Iraqi nongovernmental organizations and the organization’s nature, the MKO has never been enlisted as a foreign nongovernmental organization in the country."

He added the MKO had no lawful credibility and was not allowed to operate in Iraq.

In accordance with articles 7 and 8 of the Iraqi Constitution, the country had ordered a ban on terrorist groups and those who conduct hostile actions against neighboring countries, he noted.

International bodies had listed the MKO as a terrorist organization, recalled the lawyer, adding Iraq with respect to its Constitution was abiding by commitments in cooperation with the United Nations and the Security Council in this respect.

Pointing to Article 8 of the Constitution, the Iraqi lawyer stated that Iraq had vowed to abide by international resolutions issued by the UN Security Council.

"Article 8 reads that Iraq observes the principle of good neighborliness, and it should reject organizations that carry out military or political operations against adjacent countries," he added.

According to the lawyer, Article 7 underlines a ban on provocative operations from every foundation which is either committed to or paves the way or promotes terrorist activities against neighboring countries.

Harb added that the MKO had massacred Iraqi people in 1991 in collaboration with Baathist regime, recalling that nobody had forgotten the organization’s role in suppressing the people of Khaneqein and Jalula.

He called the MKO a terrorist group which was linked to Saddam Hussein’s regime, stressing that their operations should be cut down in Iraq.

IRNA – 2007/02/03

February 5, 2007 0 comment

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraq Dismantles the MKO

Iraq’s Vice President Adel Abd-al-Mahdi said Iraqi authorities have been assured of the release of Iranian diplomats recently abducted by the US.

"We have been assured that Iranian diplomats would be released in the near future," said Abd-al-Mahdi in a joint press conference with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani Wednesday.

He said Baghdad has had done a lot and has good cooperation with Tehran in connection with freedom of the Iranian diplomats.

He added, "We give the assurance that Iraqi government is much sensitive and cares for Iranian citizens; in that connection too it will do its best."

He added that Iraq has been trying to secure the release of Iranian nationals soon after their capture by US forces.

Asked on pullout of the US forces from Iraq, the Iraqi vice president said Iraqi government has always been trying to train Iraqi forces to speed up the restoration of security in the country so that the ground would be prepared for exit of foreign forces.

As for Iran’s interest to train Iraqi forces, he said such proposals are made due to close and good ties between Iranian and Iraqi interior ministries and security establishments and ‘today there are very good ties between the ministries’.

He said there are a series of issues which are connected with security in Iraq and Iran, one of which being the presence of the outlawed terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization in Iraq.

He added that Baghdad tries to settle the case as a matter of responsibility.

He stressed that Tehran has always, including after fall of Saddam, been supportive to Iraqi people, including during the formation of the transitional government and governing council, compilation of constitution and parliamentary elections.

He said Baghdad tries to restore security in Iraq with the cooperation of neighboring states and the US.

He described his talks with Larijani as good.

IRNA, February 1, 2007

February 5, 2007 0 comment

Missions of Nejat Society

Most MKO Members Want to Return Home

No change in EU terrorist list

TEHRAN, Sept. 10–Representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to Iran Peter Stuker here Thursday said the Committee has got to know that many members of the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) want to return Iran.

Stuker told IRNA on Thursday that unfortunately, due to lack of security in Iraq and loss of some staff members, the ICRC did not deem it advisable to visit the Ashraf Refugee Camp, where the MKO agents are based.

He added that the ICRC representatives would take actions in that connection immediately after restoration of security to Iraq.

Families of the deceived MKO members in Ashraf camp staged a sit-in in front of the ICRC’s Tehran office and outside the Swiss Embassy, that looks after the US interests in Tehran, calling for measures to secure the release of their children from MKO captivity.

Meanwhile, the EU does not intend to remove the Iranian grouplet MKO from its terrorist list, EU diplomatic sources said here Friday.

The comments followed reports that the MKO is planning to hold a demonstration on Monday in front of the EU headquarters in Brussels to call for the removal of its name from the EU terror list.

"The MKO has been on the EU terrorist list since 2002. I am not aware of any formal moves to do that (to remove). There has been no movement in recent time on this issue," EU diplomatic sources told journalists on condition of anonymity.

"Some individual politicians have raised questions, but I am not aware of any initiatives to change the names on the terrorist list."

EU foreign ministers are to discuss ties with the Islamic Republic during their formal monthly meeting in Brussels on Monday.

The Brussels-based English weekly "European Voice" published a full-page, in what seems to be a paid, advertisement titled "Remove People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI) from Terror List."

The ad claims that "100 parliamentarians, political figures call for the rally in Brussels on September 13".

Observers here are astonished at the ‘duplicity’ of Belgian and EU authorities in allowing members of a terrorist group to demonstrate openly.

IRNA, 26 January 2007

February 1, 2007 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

MKO Members’ Families Meet Red Cross Reps

"Representatives of the International Red Cross met several families of MKO members in the building of Association," The head of Nejat Association in Western Azerbaijan.

Arash Rezayee said to IRNA’s correspondent on Wednesday: "In the meeting, the families talked about their problems and that their loved ones were kept captives in the terrorist cult of Rajavi. They asked for help."

According to Rezayee, they asked the representatives to wire their voice to the officials of Red Cross in Geneva and other related international authorities and asked for the freedom of their loved ones from the cult.

Red Cross representatives expressed regret over inhuman limitations imposed on MKO members by the cult of Rajavi.

They assured the families to use all available options to meet the legal and natural demands of the families. They promised to talk to international officials.

Mr. Rezayee reminded that these families are members of Nejat Association.

IRNA, January 24, 2007

February 1, 2007 0 comment

USA

US using MKO terrorists as bargaining chips, says BBC

Nearly four years after overthrowing of Saddam Hussein’s regime, the US are still using some 3,500 MKO terrorists at Ashraf camp in Iraq as a bargaining tool in its relations with Iran, BBC reported.

Britain’s state-funded broadcaster said the US cannot decide what to do in its hypocritical policy, with some statesmen in Washington still seeing the MKO as potential allies even though the grouplet is officially branded as terrorists.

A documentary for Newsnight, screened on Wednesday, suggested there was a split between the US State Department and Defence Department, where there was said to be a "strong pro-MKO lobby" despite the removal of Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, former Secretary of State Colin Powell’s chief of staff, expressed regret that the terrorist group had been used as a US source of confrontation against Iran.

"I think failure of the US for six years to make some meaningful overture to Iran is a terrible mistake," Wilkerson told the program.

Kenneth Pollack of the Brooking Institute said that the US and Iran needed to work together to stabilize Iraq and on nuclear issues and that he did not want the MKO to be used "to muddy trouble waters." The documentary introduced the MKO a "cruel and manipulative cult" that had killed and wounded hundreds of Iranian politicians and civilians for more than two decades.

Former members were interviewed describing the psychological warfare and torture used by the Iraq-based terrorist organization as part of its system of control.

A spokesman for the MKO front group in London, Ali Safavi, even admitted that all members were asked to divorce to show their devotion to the organization that had led to the break up of their families.

From Iraq, where the terrorists had been given their military base as guests of Saddam, numerous invasions of Iran were carried out.

But since Saddam became an enemy of the west, they had become a terrible liability with the new Iraqi government wanting the MKO removed from Ashraf.

The report suggested that the US had missed opportunities to make deals with Iran first during its war in Afghanistan and then following its invasion of Iraq.

But it now believed that time was finally running out for the MKO and that they would be "probably be used as bargaining chips in a diplomatic game" by the US for better relations with Tehran.

London, Jan 18, IRNA

January 22, 2007 0 comment

Iran

Iranians’ complaints against Saddam to be compiled

Iranians’ complaints against Saddam Hossein and his international accomplices for the atrocities they committed, will be compiled, head of the Sacred Defence Foundation said on Wednesday.

Mir Faisal Baqerzadeh told IRNA that the foundation has planned to forward the attorney general’s letter including documents of Saddam regime’s crimes against Iranians to Iraqi Supreme Court.

He expressed hope that in the current situation when the US avoided hearing other crimes of Saddam regime such as imposing eight-year war on Iran (1980-1988), releasing the documents will pave the way to reveal crimes of Saddam and its international supporters, the US, against Iranians.

Documents related to chemical attack against Iranian nation, bombing educational and medical centers, destroying environment as well as mistreatment and execution of Iranian prisoners of war (PoWs) will include the complaint.

Baqerzadeh also referred to the documents of allocating military equipment to the terrorist Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) by Baath regime, the reports of the UN envoys on the losses induced via the imposed war against Iran, and the list of Iraq’s air attacks against Iranian cities as well as the public complaints as other facts will be released in the future.

IRNA, Jan 3

January 11, 2007 0 comment

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Tariq Harb: MKO Presence in Iraq, Illegal

Despite the approval of a ruling by former Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) on the expulsion of MKO from Iraq, the leader of the group are trying all possible ways to stay in that country.

The leaders of the group claim that the presence of the group in Iraq is legal and sometimes claim to be refugees; recently they tried to introduce the group as a political front.

During referendum on Iraqi constitution last year, this terrorist organization was trying to enter Iraq’s political scene when it claimed that Iraq’s new constitution had been written in Iran! At that time, Iraqi government responded to the situation properly.

In recent months also, by spending millions of dollars, the group has been trying to buy supporters in Iraq the newest example of which was the distribution of pamphlets under the name of Iraqi tribes, asking for the staying of MKO in Iraq.

More than 100 lawyers, tied to the former regime of Saddam Hussein and all from the dissolved Baathist party, released a statement in favor of MKO and claimed that the group’s presence in Iraq is legal.

Meanwhile, Article 7 of Iraq’s constitution- approved by 70% of Iraqis- expresses clearly that the presence of terrorist groups in Iraq is illegal.

On the other hand, it should be noted that terrorist organization of Mojahedin-e Khalq has committed terrorist activities against both Iranians and Iraqis.

MKO was involved in suppressing Kurds and Shiites in early 90s and the court of Saddam Hussein is expected to release the names of its leaders as the ones who committed crimes against Iraqis.

Earlier, Iraqi government emphasized that it would prosecute the MKO if its crimes against Iraqis are proved.

In an interview with IRNA’s correspondent in Baghdad, an eminent Iraqi lawyer discussed the issue of MKO from a legal viewpoint.

Tariq Harb, a senior lawyer in Iraq’s Judiciary, is the head of the ‘Population of Disseminating Law Culture in Iraq’. He is also one of the senior lawyers in Saddam court.

Citing Iraqi constitution, Harb said the presence of MKO in Iraq was illegal.

"Iraqi constitution clearly bans the presence of terrorist groups in the country. In legal terms, group’s presence in Iraq is illegal," he said.

On contradiction between MKO presence and Iraqi constitution, Harb said: "European countries and the US as well as many of the world’s countries have designated the MKO as a terrorist organization. Also, Iraqi constitution declares that no terrorist group should be allowed to stay in Iraq soil (article 7)."

"Article 8 of the Iraqi constitution reads that Iraq observes the principle of good neighborliness, and it should reject organizations conducting military or political operations against adjacent countries. So, the presence of groups like MKO and PKK in Iraq is illegal."

On the illegal presence of the MKO, he continued to say: "According to the laws of Iraqi non-governmental organizations and the Iranian group’s nature, the MKO has never been enlisted as foreign non-governmental organizations operating in the country. So, the MKO is not considered a legal entity and its presence is illegal."

Tareq Harb added: "Several complaints by MKO against real and legal groups or people have not been pursued by Iraqi courts because basically the MKO’s presence in Iraq can’t be accepted."

"Iraqi government should have no interaction with this terrorist group in Iraq," he said on the issue of Iraqi government’s approach toward the group.

"IGC ordered the expulsion of the group and recently, Iraqi PM said they couldn’t stay in Iraq anymore".

On repentant members of MKO who want to return to their country, Harb said:

"Iraqi government can’t help the issue. This is something that should be pursued by international organizations like Red Cross and Red Crescent. Even if they are in Iraq as refugees they can’t claim of rights. Refugee rules don’t force the host country to accept them. Despite the claims of the group, hosting countries can expel them in the case they’re not going to extradite them to their country of origin."

On MKO weapons, given to them by Saddam regime, he said:

"All their weapons and equipments, considered the properties of Iraq, should be returned to the government. Properties of other countries should also be returned to their own countries."

On the statements released under the name of Iraqi lawyers and tribal leaders in favor of MKO, he stated: "Today, one can buy others by money. There’s only money behind such supports for a terrorist organization. They can easily contact others in Iraq and offer them money in exchange of expressing support for them."

"Despite all claims, Iraqis hate the group and even tribesmen of Dyala, in which the MKO’s camp is located, dislike the group strongly."

Mr. Harb expressed hope that the elements of this terrorist group be expelled from his country as soon as possible so that good ties with neighboring nations are not damaged.

IRNA – 2006/12/28

January 2, 2007 0 comment

Iran

Iran dismisses European Court’s ruling on MKO assets

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad- Ali Hosseini on Wednesday dismissed as "legally unjustified and unacceptable" a ruling by the European Court of First Instance which annulled an EU decision to freeze the assets of the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO).

"The ruling runs counter to the spirit of the UN Security Council resolution 1373 which holds governments responsible for fighting terrorist groups," said Hosseini on Wednesday.

Hosseini said such a measure will bring the credit and competency of authorities whose main responsibility is to defending people’s interests and fundamental rights under question.

The world public opinion will never forget MKO’s black record of inhumane crimes including their complicity in massacre of innocent Iranian and Iraqi people by former regime of Saddam Hussein, he added.

He said MKO has been recognized as a terrorist group by international organizations on the basis of the UN Security Council resolution 1373 and an European Union approval.

He added that any measure to unfreeze terrorists’ assets could serve to revive terrorism and spread terrorist activities. It will also be contrary to the responsibilities of the European Union in campaign against terrorism, he added.

Iran calls for an appeal against the European Court of First Instance, urging a fair and just judgment.

Tehran, Dec 13, IRNA

December 14, 2006 0 comment

European Union

EU sources: MKO will not be removed from terror list

A European Union diplomat in Brussels has stressed that there is no chance of any political change to review the status of groups which are currently on the EU terror list.

"Definitely there will not be any change. The MKO will stay on the terror list," the EU diplomat told IRNA, speaking on condition of anonymity.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Justice annulled a decision by the EU to freeze the assets of the terrorist MKO grouplet.

The diplomat, however, explained that the case was annulled on procedural matters.

The court said the MKO was not given a fair hearing to defend itself against the move to blacklist it.

The EU, in a statement on Tuesday, said that the European bloc now intends to provide a statement of reasons to each person and entity subject to the asset freeze, wherever that is feasible, and to establish a clearer and more transparent procedure for allowing listed persons and entities to request that their case be re-considered.

Jean-Claude Piris, legal counsel to the Council of the EU, told a news conference in Brussels Tuesday that the EU will examine in a thorough way the judgment of the European court.

Piris said the decision to include the MKO was taken by consensus of all EU member states. "It was not arbitrary."

The Council of the EU represents the governments of the 25 member states.

He said the MKO remains on the terror list and its assets in Europe will remain frozen.

The EU will consider whether to make an appeal limited to points of law to the Court of Justice against this judgment, noted the EU statement.

The EU put the MKO on its terror list on May 2, 2002.

Since then, the EU has updated the blacklist several times and the MKO has been maintained on the list.

Dec 13, IRNA

December 14, 2006 0 comment

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