Anglican Church leader backs MKO supporters
The Archbishop of Canterbury has called for an end to a hunger strike outside the US Embassy in London by supporters of the terrorist Mujahedeen-e-Khalq Organization (MKO).
The supporters are protesting against the treatment of some 3,000 MKO members, whom have been confined to Camp Ashraf in Iraq since the US invasion of the country in 2003.
Rowan Williams, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Church, on Monday expressed deploration for the conditions of the camp, adding that it was a humanitarian issue "of real magnitude and urgency," AFP reported.
The United States, Canada, Iraq and Iran have designated the MKO as a terror organization. It was only recently removed from the Council of the European Union’s terror list.
The group is responsible for many acts of terrorism in Iran, helping former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein in the massacre of Iraqis, and killing civilian and military personnel working for the US Department of State.
The US military officially turned control of the camp — which houses MKO members regarded by NATO forces as protected under the Geneva Conventions — to the new Iraqi government on January, 2009.
Residents of the camp claim that an Iraqi raid there in July left several people dead. The demonstrators in London, meanwhile, are asking Washington to reclaim responsibility for Camp Ashraf.
Baghdad has repeatedly vowed to close the camp, but Williams, who has met with several of the protesters over the past few days, said returning the MKO members to Iran endangered their lives, urging authorities to investigate the matter.
He further added that a UN monitoring team must be established to visit the camp.
