Iraq: Security arrangements in place for transfer of 400 MEK from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty
According to Al Sumaria News, security arrangements are now in place to facilitate the transfer of
The commander of the Diyala police force Al Shammari said, "our security services have completed integration of all the security measures needed to transfer the sixth group of members of the Mojahedin Khalq Organization of Iran (MEK) still resident in Camp New Iraq [formerly Camp Ashraf, 55 km north of Baquba], to Liberty base in Baghdad pursuant to the requirements of the formal agreement between the central government and the United Nations to end the Organization’s presence in the country."
Shammari said, "more than 400 MEK will be transferred in this sixth batch, which is expected to take place in the next 24 hours".
In a process begun in February this year to empty Camp Ashraf before removing the MEK members from Iraq, the MEK leader Massoud Rajavi has several times stalled the movement of his followers. This latest batch should have been transferred in May. Rajavi refused accusing the UNAMI head Martin Kobler of being an "agent of the Iranian regime".
After a period of tense negotiation during which one MEK spokesman was arrested for inciting residents of Camp Ashraf to disobey Iraqi law, Rajavi’s wife Maryam Rajavi eventually announced from her base outside Paris that the sixth group of 400 MEK members would leave Camp Ashraf on 23rd August. Iraqi security forces who are responsible for the safety and wellbeing of the members of this terrorist group have now put into place the security arrangements for this move which is scheduled to take place in the next 24 hours.