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MKO attacks Iraqi security forces

Members of the Mujahedin Khalgh Organization and Iraqi security forces clashed in the central province of Diyala on Friday.

Clashes erupted when Iraqi security forces began to return some of the land that was confiscated by Saddam Hussein to setup the MKO camp. Officials say, members of the camp began hurling stones and attacking the security forces with knives and other weapons as they were carrying out their duty.

According to the spokesperson of the Iraqi defense ministry, the Iraqi government has issued a judicial decree to reduce the 50 Km camp to 30 Km and have the rest of the lands returned to its original owners.

The commander of the Iraqi infantry forces warned the MKO that if they continue to incite violence then they will face strong reaction.

The Iraqi soldiers who were wounded in the clashes say the MKO members had been hurling stones at them for the last two days, and that the attacks against them were unprovoked.

The original owners of the lands had been urging the Iraqi government for some time now to get rid of the camp and its residents and to return the lands back to its rightful owners.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, and is responsible for numerous terrorist acts against both Iranian and Iraqi civilians.

Iraqis have repeatedly called on the government to expel the group, but as observers say, the US has been blocking the expulsion by pressuring the Iraqi government.

Wisam al-Bayati
Link to the Video Report

April 10, 2011 0 comment

MEK Camp Ashraf

Two MKO members set themselves alight

Camp Ashraf clash leaves 3 dead-Two Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) members set themselves alight prior to the clash

Camp Ashraf clashes casualties up Two Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, NCRI, Rajavi cult) members set themselves alight prior to the clash
BAGHDAD- A Youtube clip showed an Iraqi army force storming Camp Ashraf, which hosts the residents of the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen-e-Khalq, on Friday, leaving 28 people killed and dozens others wounded, according to MEK sources.

The clip, shot by MEK supporters, showed Iraqi forces using armor vehicles in their raid on the camp, which had been under the protection of U.S.
forces after they entered Iraq in 2003 prior to transferring the responsibility of its protection to Iraqi security forces.

Earlier on Friday, an Iraqi military source said three MEK refugees were killed and 13 more wounded by Iraqi forces inside Camp Ashraf in Diala.

“Three Iranians were killed when Iraqi forces from the 5th Division tried to set up a checkpoint inside Camp Ashraf,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
“The Iranian group clashed with the Iraqi forces, prompting the Iraqi security to open fire on them,” he explained.

“Two Iranians set themselves alight in front of the Iraqi forces prior to the clashes, while others pelted the Iraqi soldiers with stones, injuring six of them,” he added.

The Iranian group announced on its website that nine of its elements were killed in the attack by Iraqi forces.

MEK has been based in Camp Ashraf in Diala province, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, since 1980s during the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war.

Several politicians within the Iraqi government have been striving to drive the organization out of the Iraqi territories, claiming that the Mujahideen-e-Khalq fighters took part in suppressing the Shiite uprising that broke out in southern Iraq after the second Gulf War in 1991 against the former regime.

The restive province of Diala lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.

April 9, 2011 0 comment

Duplicity of the MEK nature

Ex-Member: MKO Falsifying Quranic Verses to Deceive Members

A defected member of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization revealed that MKO ringleaders have fabricated Quranic verses in a bid to deceive the members and justify their misbehaviors and the group’s terrorist nature.

According to a report by Nedaye Enghelab (Voice of Revolution) News Network, the defected member of the MKO wrote in a memo about his time in Camp Ashraf (MKO’s main training camp in Iraq) that the terrorist group has resorted to the falsification of the holy Quranic verses in a bid to justify its plans.

He said that in one case he and a member of the MKO had unsuccessfully tried to look up such verses in the holy Quran and then they referred the issue to the camp authorities and asked them for help.

"Thus, we went to the authorities with a holy Quran in our hand and asked them to show us the relevant verse. But because all their words were lies, they took away our Quran and told us that they would let us know later.

"The next day the camp authorities removed all the Qurans from our resting places in the camp in a bid to block the members’ access to the holy book," he continued.

News coming out of the camp is still more shocking. The MKO ringleaders are reportedly using torture and pressure on their own dissident members, barring the dissident members from leaving the organization and joining their families.

An Iraq-based right group unveiled in a December report that ringleaders of the MKO resorted to various forms of mass killing in a bid to bring the group out of the current impasse in Iraq.
According to a report by Iraqi daily Motamar, also published by Edalat (Justice) Society web site – an organ of the families of the Iranian victims of terrorism – the Iraqi right group has sent serious warnings to civil society and human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi government about the ongoing humanitarian disaster in the MKO’s main training camp in Northern Iraq.

The Sahar Family Foundation also said that the MKO’s ringleaders are forcing the dissident members of the group to commit suicide, and if they refuse to do so, the leaders massacre defectors themselves.

The right group called on the Iraqi judiciary system, international court of justice and all international human rights bodies as well as the Iraqi and international media to take urgent action to stop the human catastrophe in the camp which, they said, now looks more like a slaughterhouse.

Also in December, Makki Rafi’ee, another defected member of the MKO, had revealed that the ringleaders of the group have ordered their agents to torture dissidents in a bid to dissuade defection.

Rafi’ee disclosed that agents of the MKO resorted to various types of torture and pressure against him during the last 15 years, and that he had been jailed in the notorious Camp Ashraf in Northern Iraq all these years.

"After 15 years of imprisonment in Camp Ashraf and tolerating various tortures by the agents of the grouplet, I managed to escape from the Camp and surrender myself to the Iraqi security forces," he added.

Also, a November report by the Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, said that under the direct order of MKO’s Ringleader Maryam Rajavi, leaders of the terrorist group in the Camp of New Iraq (formerly known as Camp Ashraf) allow their members to receive medical aids, healthcare and other services in return for given levels of cooperation.

Based on the order, dissident members are deprived of medicine and other medical services or, at least, face much hardship and difficulty in procuring their necessary medicines.

The right group added that the new measure came after protests remarkably increased inside the group, specially in the camp. Right groups are gravely concerned that a large number of MKO members may lose their lives soon if UN, human rights and Iraqi officials do not force the group leaders to end their tortures and pressures against the dissident members.

In relevant development, a report revealed in November that Ahmad Razzani, a veteran member of the MKO, had been killed inside the Camp.

According to an August report by the Habilian Association, the MKO leaders have increased their pressures and control over the members of the terrorist group to prevent possible defection and escape by unsatisfied members.

Reports also said that all exit and entry doors have been locked and none of the members, even those suffering from acute diseases and illnesses, are allowed to leave the camp.
MKO ringleaders have ordered the camp guards to stage snap inspections of the group’s members and their personal belongings under the pretext of finding the lost weapons.

Such behaviors have sparked discontent among a number of MKO members and made them escape the camp and return to their anguished families.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a letter last year 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).

The group, founded in the 1960s, blended elements of Islamism and Stalinism and participated in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah of Iran in 1979. Ahead of the revolution, the MKO conducted attacks and assassinations against both Iranian and Western targets.

The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.

April 6, 2011 0 comment

Iraq

Iraqi Army, rejects accusation made by MKO terror group

Iraq army denies Iranian opposition claim

An Iranian opposition group said on Sunday that Iraqi forces had invaded its Camp Ashraf base in Iraq’s Diyala province, but the army denied the claim.

"The forces of Iraq’s Fifth Division invaded Camp Ashraf with columns of armoured vehicles, occupying areas inside the camp, since midnight on Saturday," the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) said in a statement.

The Iraqi army denied the Iranian opposition group’s accusation.
"It’s a replacement of forces, not a new deployment," Brigadier Tarek Azzawi, chief of military operations in Diyala province, north of Baghdad, told AFP.

"The Fifth Division in Diyala has replaced the Ninth Division that protects Ashraf, and we have not advanced even one metre (yard)," he said. "There were no clashes," he added.

The People’s Mujahedeen, a left-wing and Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime that took power in Tehran after Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s regime was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against Tehran. It was disarmed following the US-led invasion of 2003.

April 5, 2011 0 comment

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Mojahedin Khalq terrorist operations using American vehicles

Indicating that the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCRI, RAJAVIS’ CULT…) terrorist group has never abandoned its terrorist operations, a member of the council of Iraqi tribal leaders in Salaheddin stated: the American vehicles enter camp Ashraf and take members of MKO out of the camp for terrorist operations and after the operation, American would take them back to the camp.
Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah Al- jabouri, member of the council of Iraqi tribal leaders in Salaheddin

In an interview with habilian Association (families of Iranian terror victims) database, Sheikh Ibrahim Abdullah Al- jabouri also added: “nobody dares to make any obstacles on the way of American vehicles’ arrival at camp Ashraf and they easily enter the camp without being questioned. Then they would take MKO members out of the camp for terrorist operation and then would carry them back to the camp when they are finished.

Member of Salahiddin tribal reconcile committee continued: we have suffered many losses since the arrival of Americans in our country that the continuation and expansion of terrorist operations in Iraq is among them.

He said: "We have devoted numerous martyrs in the way of defending our country; but we would do our best to expel terrorist groups, Mujahedin-e Khalq in particular, from our country and to bring back security and peace for the people of Iraq.

April 4, 2011 0 comment

Mujahedin Khalq Organization's Propaganda System

The MKO Advertises—Does Anyone Care About What They Don’t Tell You?

On February 16, 2011, the *New York Times* agreed to run a full page advertisement for the terrorist group and cult who are self-labeled the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK/MKO). [1] In an atmosphere of free speech, the MEK, even though they are a terrorist organization, has every right to run an ad to promote their cause. Surprisingly, so far no one has stood up to oppose it, as it was done in a similar situation in Seattle, when an ad was submitted by the Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (a group who is not affiliated with terrorism or terrorist organizations) to run on a METRO bus which stated “Israeli War Crimes: Your Tax Dollars at Work.” That ad was never run, because over two thousand emails were received by the METRO asking for the ad to be halted, and furthermore, a powerful Jewish lobbyist proposed to run his own ad campaign to counter the message. There was public uproar in Seattle regarding the ad—both for and against.

The decision by METRO to not run the ad, because of its controversial nature prompted a lot of dialogue and the real Palestinian-Israel issue itself was reinforced in people’s minds as indeed “a problem.” This dialogue was good, and hopefully mind-opening. [2]

With the MEK however, and the ad they ran in the *New York Times*, there was little or no resistance to its presence simply because not many people know about the MEK and not many people care. There was no dialogue to speak of, and yet there seems to be a growing concern over Iran. Why isn’t any one questioning this group?

Here’s what you should know about the MEK. The group is a cult and it is true that members’ rights are being violated–by their own leaders, Massoud and Maryam Rajavi, not the US government, not the Iranian government and not the Iraqi government. Oddly a few years back, according to an article in the *New York Times*, Elizabeth Rubin reports that MEK leaders do not allow members to marry, and that they must attend weekly “ideological cleansings” and children are separated from parents. Rubin states that “every morning and night, the kids, beginning as young as 1 and 2, had to stand before a poster of Massoud and Maryam, salute them and shout praises to them." [3]

The main leader of the cult, Maryam Rajavi, wants you ignore these infringements of human rights as you read her group’s current full page ad in the *New York Times*. She wants you to believe that the MEK is on the terrorist list because of a diplomatic decision which was made by the Clinton administration in order to appease the Mullahs in Iran. Maryam is banking on the idea that Americans are afraid of Iran and would like to see it diminish. Removing them from the list is one step forward for neoconservatives who would like to see the oil rich region under American control, and who would like to see Iran’s Islamic influence in the Middle East weaken. Some Americans will question NY Times’ motive, and maybe some will actually support the idea, after all, there are political A-listers in favor of Rajavi’s cult. In fact, the ad has listed the following individuals, with accompanying titles, as supporting the MEK’s cause:

Alejo Vidal-Quadras (vice president of European parliament), General James Jones (Former National security advisor to president Obama, Supreme Allied Commander Europe), Bill Richardson (Energy Secretary During Clinton Administration, US Ambassador to the United Nations 1997-1998), Irene Khan (Former Secretary General of Amnesty International), Michael Mukasey (Attorney General of the United States 2007-2009), Abassador Dell Dailey (Former Coordinator for Counterterrorism, US Department of State), Ambassador John Bolton (US Ambassador to UN 2005-2006), Juan Garces (Legal advisor to the late President Salvator Allende), Prof. Ruth Wedgwood (Chair of International Law and Diplomacy in [sic] John Hopkins University), Struan Stevenson (President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq), Dirk Claes (senior Belgian Senator), Paulo Casaca (member of European parliament until 2009), Jan Zahradil (Vice Chair of the European Parliament Conservative and Reformist Group.)Each of these supporters has given a statement in a small blurb in the ad which of course favors the MEK. Some statements are vague, alluding to universal ideals such as “concern for the people in Camp Ashraf” and “appeasement leads us nowhere when fighting the forces of evil.” Other statements are more noteworthy declaring that the “unequivocal policy of the USA should be to overthrow the regime in Tehran” or “we must support Maryam Rajavi.” Finally others statements specifically call for immediate action such as “we must start backing the main opposition” and “we urge the US government to remove the PMOI (MEK) from the blacklist.” All the statements are designed to persuade readers that the PMOI is actually legitimate, and furthermore the rhetoric suggests that they are in fact the “main” opposition group.

What the ad doesn’t tell you is that they are, in fact, a group to whom Israel fed false information to regarding nuclear proliferation in Iran. [4] Nor does the ad tell you the group has killed thousands of people in Iran, including Americans. The ad does not tell you much about the backers of Maryam. For example, Jan Zahradil believes global warming is a conspiracy. Paolo Casaca is a member of *European Friends of Israel* (EFI) is an Israel lobby group formed in September 2006.

Michael Mukasey has Israeli citizenship. General James Jones served on Chevron Oil Company’s board of directors. What do these supporters have in common besides agreeing to allow their names have an association with the MEK? None of them have ever been to Iran. None of them have ever looked into what the Iranians think of the MEK. None of them see the far reaching implications of a MEK-controlled Iran. All of them are full blown supporters of Israel’s occupation of Palestine. And sadly none of them have theprudence to even consider what the Iranian people want.

The ad promotes the idea that the MEK is not a terrorist organization and this is alarming. In actuality, the recently accelerated campaign by US former politicians to remove Mujahedin Khalq Cult from the US list of foreign terrorist Organizations of Department of State stinks of Cold War logic. Bringing down the Islamic Republic and forging a new political order in Iran by embracing the MKO as the foundation just won’t work.

Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett who write for the *Monthly Review*comment on an event held in Washington DC in January 2011, which was “clearly designed to build public support for delisting the MEK as part of a U.S.-led campaign for regime change in Tehran.” [5] The Leverett’s posit how they are “struck by how much the ongoing campaign to rehabilitate the MEK in Washington, as part of a broader, regime-change-in-Iran strategy, rhymes with a similar campaign in the 1990’s and early 2000s to promote Ahmad Chalabi’s expatriate Iraqi National Congress (INC) to overthrow the Iraqi government." They further that “the United States will truly deserve what it gets if it falls for this again with regard to the MEK and Iran." [6]

On January 28, Eric Lach of TPM (Talking Points Memo) posts a detailed report and descriptive background on the pro-MEK gathering that the Leverett’s exposed. Lach details the true nature of the group. In his report he makes some interesting observations, and questions why, despite what the State Department says, none of the speakers of the panel bother to mention that the group is a cult and that Maryam Rajavi has established a cult of personality. According to Lach, the whole case of the MEK and why such heavyweights are supporting them remains unclear to him. [7]

As late as March 7th, Lach is still asking questions and not getting much of an answer. [8]But Professor William Beeman of the University of Minnesota seems to have found the answer. He believes that these prominent American figures "apparently have no ability to look at this situation from the viewpoint of the Iranian people."[9] It seems that professor Beeman is perfectly familiar with Iranian people’s hatred towards MKO terrorists and their wisdom regarding the plot. Beeman thinks that the most important fact that Bolton, Rose Lehtinin and others fail to comprehend is the absolute incapability of the MEK reaching power in Iran. He asserts that the "MEK could never, never in a million years form an alternative government in Iran." He reminds us that majority of Iranians view the MEK as traitors. Beeman concludes that "Washington politicians waste their energy on cockamamie schemes such as getting this group off the terrorist list so that we can throw millions of taxpayer dollars down their rat hole in the utterly vain hope that they will bring about regime change in Iran rather than seriously trying to engage Iran ourselves." [10]

It is now the time to caution Washington warmongers and anti-Iran neo-cons that supporting the MEK is a lost cause. The morally bankrupt MEK, with their million dollar propaganda crusade will never fulfill their dream of taking over Iran. Political backers of the MEK stink of imperialistic puppeteers and their actions merely reinforce the notion that the US will repeat itself as it tries for a foothold into Iran—the US backed the Shah, whom the majority of the people in Iran at the time saw as a dictator. Then the US dumped him.

The MEK ad in the* New York Times* is not the first one, and until there is some real dialogue, it certainly won’t be the last. As we wait for a conversation to flourish, New Yorkers and Americans alike need to be aware of the MEK and their sticky, agenda-seeking foreign supporters.

By Mazda Parsi

REFERENCES
[1] Advertisement posted by The National Association of Iranian Academics in
Britain, titled “Remove Iran’s Democratic Opposition, MEK/PMOI from US
Terror List and Protect Camp Ashraf.” *New York Times* Wednesday February: 2011, 16
A9. Print.
[2]Ervin, K. "Metro’s acceptance of ‘Israeli war crimes’ bus ad draws
complaints." *Seattle Times* December 20, 2010.
[3]Rubin, Elizabeth. "The Cult of Rajavi." *New York Times Magazine*. July: 200313
[4]Porter, Gareth. "Iran Nuke Laptop Data Came from Terror Group." *ISP*February 29 2008,
[5]Leverett, Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett "After "Iran Engagement": *
MRZine* January 24 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[6]Ibid.
[7]Lach, Eric. "Big Time Dems Join GOPers In Support Of Iranian Terror
Group." *TPM.com Talking Points Memo* 28 January 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[8]Lach, Eric. "Big-Name GOP Lawyers Lobbying To Remove MEK From Terror
List." *Talking Points Memo* 07 March 2011: Web. 29 Mar 2011.
[9]Beeman, William. "Beeman–Mojaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) Can Never Rule Iran."
*Culture and International Affairs*. William Beeman, 25 January 2011. Web. 29
Mar 2011.
[10] Ibid.

April 3, 2011 0 comment

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Iraqi CMTE urges seizing Camp Ashraf

The Iraqi committee in charge of looking into the crimes committed by the MKO terrorist group in the country says the Camp Ashraf needs to be retaken from the group.

The committee also announced in a statement that the numerous crimes committed by the terrorist group should be investigated through legal channels, reported Habilian — an association that groups the families of those martyred in terror operations across Iran — on its website.

Addressing the elders of nomadic tribes, the representatives of NGOs and anti-MKO campaigners, the committee reiterated that it will voluntarily and without being forced by the government follow the crimes committed at the hands of MKO terrorists.

The committee emphasized that it will stand up for the rights of not only the martyrs but also all the individuals wounded or maimed as a result of MKO’s terrorist acts, adding that it will file a lawsuit to retake the personal properties of citizens seized by the MKO since its presence in Iraq.

“[The committee will also call for] the return of all properties, weapons and ammunition supplied to this (MKO) organization since the former [Iraqi] regime,” the committee further noted.
It also called on all Iraqi citizens who have suffered as a result of the MKO’s terrorist operations to come forward and submit their complaints, permitting the committee to legally follow their complaints.

March 31, 2011 0 comment

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Official: international organizations hinder efforts to close the file”Mujahideen Khalq”

Amid continued international calls for Iraq to protect Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf, government advisor Saad Muttalibi confirmed the Iraqi government’s commitment to Iraq’s logistical principles of human rights and the quest to end this since many years ago, pointing out that international organizations do not cooperate in this aspect for political reasons.

Muttalibi told Radio Free Iraq that the presence of PMOI members in Camp Ashraf is not acceptable because of their cooperation with the former regime in suppressing the popular uprising and for fuelling sectarian violence.

Muttalibi explained that the Iraqi government calls for 1300 Iranian refugees living in Camp Ashraf and European nationalities to leave Iraq, and refers to the possibility of the return of 2000 refugees to Iran after the last time that the Iranian government issued a pardon for them.

Human rights organisations recently called on the United States and the United Nations and the Iraqi government to ensure the protection of Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf after receiving reports of having been abused by Iraqi security forces, which took over responsibility for the camp from U.S. forces last year [January 1, 2009].

This topic was also discussed by the Foreign Affairs Committee in the U.S. Congress, as students asked members of Congress to protect American residents of Ashraf and the U.S. Department of State to review its decision on the inclusion of the PMOI in the terrorist list.

Saad Muttalibi denied [Iraqi involvement in] violations of human rights in this camp, which he called Camp New Iraq, calling for European countries to call for the protection of Iranian refugees and to receive these refugees, but a member of the Commission on Human Rights in the Iraqi Council of Representatives confirmed that members of the Committee will discuss the situation of refugees in Camp Ashraf soon, noting that they have an agenda for next week to visit secret prisons and detention centres and will also visit Camp Ashraf to find out the truth of what is being built there.

The Iraqi government decided last year to transfer residents of Camp Ashraf to another province but the government adviser Saad Muttalibi stressed that all local governments refused to receive Iranian refugees in the provinces.

Muttalibi said the government will continue its contacts with international organizations concerned with the subject of processing Iranian refugees, but he stressed that such organizations do not cooperate with the Iraqi government because the opinion of these organizations is linked to higher political-parties which are trying to keep these refugees in Iraq.
Al Naeb, MP for a coalition of State of Law considers that the issue of MKO in Iraq is political, not humanitarian.

Hamid al-Mutlaq member Iraqi Council of Representatives for the Iraqi List, expressed the hope that the Iraqi government deal with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran in accordance with the principles of human rights.

Professor of Political Science Jubouri does not rule out that Iran is pressing Iraq to keep the elements of the PMOI from Iraq, but he believes that the Iraqi government also to consider their interests and trying to deal with this file with the countries of the world.

Samira Mandy, Radio Free Iraq (Radio Free Europe in Arabic)
Translated by Iran Interlink

March 29, 2011 0 comment

The MEK; Baath Party Accomplice

Economist: Saddam used MEK to crush Iraqi Kurds

Economist received a letter from the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran [In which Mujahedin propaganda campaign makes efforts to deny MKO’s role in suppression of Iraqi Kurds and Shiites resorting to baseless arguments] in relation to the blog post:”Dictators and violence, Grim decision-making”

The Economist replies to the MEK’s fallacious letter:

Allegations concerning the uprising of 1991 are currently being aired before Iraq’s High Tribunal, which has already heard the testimony of numerous victims who say they were targeted by the Mojahedin e-Khalq (MEK), the Persian abbreviation for the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Several arrest warrants have been issued on the basis of these testimonies.

Nibras Kadhimi, a scholar at the Hudson Institute who is a respected analyst of Iraqi affairs, has testified that the MEK was Saddam Hussein’s main force in recapturing the towns of Kifri and Kalar and their surrounding villages, as well as parts of Kirkuk, from the Iraqis rebelling against Saddam in 1991. There are many such documented testimonies in this regard.

Professor Raymond Tanter, a former member of the American National Security Council, wrote a paper in which he states: “Following their expulsion from Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini in the early 1980s, the MEK allied with Saddam Hussein and, in exchange for providing domestic security operations against Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, Saddam gave the MEK millions of dollars, protection, and bases along the Iranian border from which the MEK could launch their frequent attacks against the clerical regime.” The same allegation is made again in the US State Department’s “Patterns of Global Terrorism” published in 2002.

Wilfred Buchta, in his book “Who Rules Iran? The Structure of Power in the Islamic Republic”, states that the MEK received some $80m a month from Saddam between 1982 and 1990. One of Saddam’s senior generals, who had a hand in suppressing the uprisings, also stated that the MEK received $7m a month after 1990.

A New York Times correspondent in Iraq, Elizabeth Rubin, who visited Camp Ashraf, the MEK’s base in Iraq, and wrote an exhaustively researched article on it published on July 13th 2003, quoted Mariam Rajavi making the statement denied in the letter (published above) from the MEK’s supporters. She also wrote: “Everyone I spoke to—Iraq intelligence officers, Kurdish commanders and human rights groups—said that in 1991 Hussein used the Mujahideen and its tanks as advance forces to crush the Kurdish uprisings in the north and the Shia uprisings in the south.”

In her book ”Why does the west forget?”, Baroness Nicholson includes further testimony of the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq, lending weight to the array of allegations against the MEK cited above. This was based on interviews she conducted during many visits to Iraq in the past 20 years.

March 28, 2011 0 comment

MEK Camp Ashraf

UK confirms – MKO leaders deny families’ access to their captive relatives inside Camp Ashraf

UK Government confirms – MKO leaders deny families’ access to their captive relatives inside Camp Ashraf

House of Lords – Written Answers
Wednesday 23 March 2011

Iraq: Camp Ashraf

Questions

Asked by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Howell of Guildford on 9 March (WA 410), whether they will ask the United Kingdom ambassador to Iraq to establish the purpose of 200 loudspeakers put around the perimeter of Camp Ashraf.[HL7641]

The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Howell of Guildford):
We are aware of reports that loudspeakers are being used outside the Camp Ashraf entrance. The Government of Iraq have publicly stated that the purpose of the loudspeakers is to allow family members to communicate with residents inside Camp Ashraf, as they have apparently been forbidden any contact by the camp’s leadership.

On 20 February 2011, our representatives met UN representatives and the Iraqi Government’s Ashraf Committee to discuss the situation at Camp Ashraf.

We urged the Iraqi Government to ensure the residents’ human rights are respected and we continue to encourage both sides to engage in constructive dialogue leading to a lasting, and peaceful, resolution.

Asked by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Howell of Guildford on 9 March (WA 410), what is the proper title, purpose, membership and position within government of the government of Iraq’s Ashraf Committee. [HL7642]

Lord Howell of Guildford:
We understand that the Iraqi Government’s Ashraf Committee is composed of members from the Prime Minister’s Office, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Immigration and Displaced People. The Ashraf Committee reports directly to the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki. The Ashraf Committee is responsible for implementing the Iraqi Government’s policies regarding Camp Ashraf.

March 26, 2011 0 comment

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