Iraq plans to close down Camp Ashraf, which is the seat of Iranian militant group Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MeK), within two months, Press TV reported Jan. 23, citing Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. Al-Rubaie added that Iraq would allow MeK members to return to Iran or go to another country.
The U.S. State Department reaffirmed its designation of the anti-Iran Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization as a terrorist organization. The presence in Iraq of the MKO/PMOI/MEK has long been a source of friction between Washington and Baghdad, which intends to expel the terrorist group. The MKO/PMOI had filed a petition for revocation of its designation as a terrorist organization. But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice wrote in a notice published Monday in the Federal Register that after reviewing the case she determined that the designation is still valid and appropriate.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed that he would expel the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the country after taking over their base from US forces.”Based on taking over everything and in accordance with our constitution and our policies of opening up to our neighbors… our forces are going to take full control of the camp where the Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization live,””Maliki said alluding to Camp Ashraf.
Maliki was speaking to reporters on the sideline of a ceremony during which the United States handed over to Iraqi forces security control of the Green Zone, symbol of the American occupation of the country. ..The PMOI”is a terrorist organisation and thus cannot operate in Iraq because it will create a political crisis in contradiction with the constitution,”Maliki said.”We will treat them based on the international laws.
Independent visitors to Camp Ashraf report that the inmates live in segregated barracks-style rooms. The International Committee for the Red Cross says several hundred former MEK members have left Camp Ashraf since 2003. The ICRC has helped more than 250 cross the border to Iran after conducting private interviews with each to ensure they are going voluntarily…
IRAQ PLANS to close a camp for Iranian dissidents who used to cross into Iran to mount assassinations and sabotage – a decision that has sharpened political differences between Baghdad and Washington. Camp Ashraf, about 130km north of Baghdad, came under Iraqi control yesterday in a broad security handover that forms part of the US withdrawal agreement concluded late last year….
Iraq has decided to shut down the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/PMOI) Ashraf Camp as soon as possible, expel the MKO members from Iraq and close their file forever, said a senior Iraqi official. Political advisor of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI), Muhsin Al-Hakim exclusively told IRNA that Baghdad considered the MKO as a terrorist group.
The Iraqi government will take over security responsibility for Iranian opposition Camp Ashraf on Jan. 1 when the U.S.-Iraqi security pact comes into force, a U.S. embassy statement said on Monday..It said that the U.S. troops”will continue to assist the Government of Iraq in carrying out its assurances of humane treatment of the residents of Camp Ashraf.”
Several former members of the outlawed terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO/PMOI/MEK) have accused the United States of hampering efforts to close the notorious Ashraf Camp in Iraq. ..Most of the Ashraf Camp residents are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so. ..Sameti and other members of the Nejat Association are in London to lobby for their release. They have met members of the British House of Commons, government officials and human rights activists to raise their awareness about the misery in Ashraf Camp.