TEHRAN — Iraqi chief prosecutor Jafar al-Musawi has said that Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) members in all countries should be extradited to Iran to face trial. An examining magistrate and a special prosecutor have been appointed to conduct an investigation into the MKO case, al-Musawi told the Mehr News Agency on the sidelines of the conference of Islamic states ‘ judiciary chiefs, which was held in Tehran earlier this month. Iraqi officials have contacted the Iraqi citizens who intend to press charges against the members of this terrorist group, he said, adding that the plaintiffs’ statements would be heard and collected, and based on the Iraqi Constitution, the appropriate ruling will be made. Originally Marxist-Islamist, the Mojahedin Khalq Organization was set up in the mid-1960s to oppose the U.S.-backed dictatorship of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. It participated in the country’s revolution but soon launched a campaign of assassinations and bombings in Iran. The group moved to Iraq in the early 1980s and it fought Iran from there until the United States invaded in 2003. The U.S. military has since disarmed thousands of the group’s members and confined them to a camp near Baghdad.
Asked whether Maryam and Masoud Rajavi, the ringleaders of the MKO terrorist group, are currently in Iraq, the Iraqi chief prosecutor replied, “I don’t think so, but wherever they are, they must be extradited according to international law and judicial verdicts.” Asked why no action has been taken in regard to the arrest warrants issued by Interpol for MKO members, al-Musawi said the examining magistrate has not passed a verdict against them yet, but once the current proceedings end, they will be prosecuted. Tehran Times, December 13, 2007 http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=159088
