Honorable Modhat Al-Mahmood Chief Justice of Federal Supreme Court President of Higher Judicial Council Baghdad, Iraq Your Excellency! We the signatories of the present text would wish to draw your good attention to the subject described below and request you to add this document to the case dealing with the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organisation (MKO) in Iraqi judiciary system. We do appreciate and thank you for your sincere cooperation beforehand. Initially we must introduce ourselves as former members of the MKO who have been active in this organisation in Iraq for some periods. This organisation was officially and practically involved in terrorist and suppressing activities from Iraq as well as inside Iraq in different forms from June 1986 (when Massoud Rajavi and other MKO leaders moved from Paris to Baghdad) to April 2003 (when Saddam Hussein was toppled after the invasion of Iraq); although the relationship between this organisation and the former dictator of Iraq and their covert relations goes back to many years before that. We believe, as we would explain below, that the alliance between the leadership of the MKO and Saddam Hussein and their cooperation in many crimes they committed during many years should have been included in the trial of Iraqi former dictator and dealt with by the relevant judges. As you may know the leaders of the MKO moved to France when they started their armed struggle against the Islamic Republic of Iran on June 1981, and they started controlling and leading their activities inside Iran from that country. Once the French government imposed some limitations on their activities including leading terrorism in Iran from Paris, they moved their headquarters to Iraq. The grounds for this move had been prepared previously and the MKO armed forces were already present in Iraq and they were involved in military activities against Iran. The presence of Massoud Rajavi in Iraq did lead to a close relationship between the MKO and the Iraqi former government and in particular with the ministry of defence and the security services of Saddam Hussein’s regime. Then the Iraqi officers started training the MKO personnel who were recruited from inside and outside Iran and then fully armed them. One year later, which is in June 1988, the formation of National Liberation Army (NLA) was officially announced in Iraq. This army stood alongside the Saddam Hussein’s armed forces to fight against the Iranian army openly and actively. After the 598 Resolution of the UN Security Council was accepted by Iran on July 1988, this army made its last vast military assault against Iranian soil with the backing and cooperation of Iraqi armed forces which lead to thousands of losses on both sides. When Saddam Hussein’s army occupied Kuwait in August 1990 and consequently the US and its allies made a war against Iraq, there occurred the uprisings of the Kurds in the north and the Shiites in the south who were always under repression. In this incident the NLA officially entered this conflict as part of Iraqi army and suppressed the Iraqi people’s movement. But this organisation beyond all atrocities that has committed against the civilians in Kurdistan and in the south inside Iraq in cooperation with the Saddam Hussein’s regime, has even suppressed its own members with the aid of the former Iraqi security services and tortured them in Iraqi prisons. Besides, the NLA which Massoud Rajavi was its commander in chief and Mehdi Abrishamchi and Abbas Davari have been its contacts with the notorious security services of Saddam Hussein has launched terrorist attacks against Iranian cities from Iraq and with the arms and facilities of Saddam Hussein with his direct orders. Regarding the three points mentioned above, i.e. suppressing the people of Iraq, repressing the discontented members, and getting involved in terrorist activities inside Iranian cities, it is worth mentioning that some of the signatories of this letter have directly or indirectly been aware of this close cooperation of Saddam Hussein’s military and security forces with the MKO and they are ready to be a witness in any court. They believe that in an Iraqi court today the case of Massoud Rajavi and other leading members of the MKO and the NLA, as the close aides of Saddam Hussein, must be dealt with like all criminals of the former Iraqi Ba’th party and they must be prosecuted and judged in an Iraqi court. You surely agree that putting a person like Saddam Hussein on trial in Iraq had a great impact both socially and historically and the international and domestic public opinion were carefully following its process. Primarily in such trials it is more important to reveal the truth to the people than to require mere justice for both the defenders and the complainers. The fact that the regime of Saddam Hussein offered the last safe heaven to the MKO which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the international community and as a body which does not even have mercy for its own members cannot be ignored by the present Iraqi judiciary system. Every crime committed by the MKO leaders have been done with the direct cooperation of the Iraqi former dictator and also MKO was directly involved in atrocities done by Saddam Hussein. This fact should be revealed for the people of Iraq as well as the people of Iran. Therefore MKO and Massoud Rajavi must face trial the same way that Saddam Hussein did, since the two were close allies for many years. Surely one crime committed by Saddam Hussein which has international aspects is that he helped a known terrorist organisation to carry out terrorist operation against its own people as well as the people of Iraq and even its own members. We believe that the MKO members are all prime victims of a terrorist cult who must be helped and freed and brought to normal life. Those who are in Ashraf Camp have gone through fierce brainwashing processes and therefore must be de-briefing. Best regards
Copy to: – UN Commission for Human Rights – International Committee of the Red Cross – Amnesty International – Human Rights Watch – Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affaires – US Embassy in Iraq – Press and Media List of the Signatories