Salah al-Mutlak, the newly-banned Iraqi politician had an interview (in Arabic) in Sot al-Iraq (Voice of Iraq). Mutlak says the decision to exclude him from the March 7 parliamentary elections is political, designed to avoid what he calls a”sweep”by his Iraqi coalition. He calls the de-Ba’athification commission a”political body,”rather than a judicial body.
He says he has no involvement with the Ba’ath Party, but he defends what he calls the”oppressed”members of the Ba’ath party, and the Mujahedin-e Khalq, whose members residing in Camp Ashraf are waiting to be relocated to a desolated camp as decided by the Iraqi Government.
In answer to a question concerning his visiting camp Ashraf and contact with designated MKO he did not reject it and claimed it has had its impact on his exclusion by the involvement of Iranian regime: “Yes my visit to camp Ashraf affected Iran, and my relationship with MKO never change. They are real Mujahids and I will continue my contact with them and respect them and I think they are oppressed; and I am naturally standing with the oppressed. I stood with Shiite when wronged at a time, and I will stand with the oppressed regardless of being Ba’athists or MKO and whoever is at home or abroad”.
Reported by Mojahedin WS
