Israel is financing the terrorist Mujaheedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), sources in Iraq disclosed.
“Israel is providing financial support for MKO at a time when the grouplet is short of cash and financial resources …,” an Iraqi source told Fars News Agency on condition of anonymity.
“Israel, unlike the Ba’ath Party, believes that MKO is regarded as one of the main levers of pressure against Iran no matter where it is (inside or outside Iraq), while Ba’ath Party believes that if the MKO is expelled from the Muslim country it cannot serve the interests of the party as it did during Saddam’s rule,” the source added.
He noted that the groups which previously supported MKO have cut their support for the terrorist group.
The source said that head of the now outlawed Ba’ath party Izzat Ibrahim Al-Douri is still supporting the MKO.
“This relationship (between the MKO and the Ba’ath party) has continued after Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was toppled and executed because Al-Douri did not want to lose an important trump card like the MKO … ,” he added.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list.
The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group tortures and imprisons defectors.
The group was founded in the 1960s. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and western targets.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it came under the protection of the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and helped him suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country. The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.