Iraqi envoy to Tehran said on Wednesday that his county would not allow its soil to be used as a launch-pad for any aggressions against Iran.
"We will never authorize any actions against the Islamic republic from Iraqi soil," Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh told Al-Alam.
The Iraqi official also praised his country’s "friendly" relations with Tehran since fall of former dictator Saddam Hussein in 2003.
"The Islamic republic is our Muslim and important neighbor, and we urge having strong relations with this country, therefore we do not allow MKO (Mujahedeen-e-Khalq terrorist group) or any other parties to take any actions against Iran," the Iraqi envoy said.
Majid al-Sheikh said also referred to the recent arrest of members of two groups of MKO which attempted bomb attacks in Iran and said his country is opposed to the terrorist group’s presence in the Iraqi soil.
"… We are opposed to their presence in Iraqi soil and, as you already know, Iraqi officials have several times called for their exit from the country," he said.
"They are still in Iraq because no other country is ready to accept them, however, we do not let them carry out any operations or training against the Islamic republic…," he added.
Out of fear, the MEK leadership has been unable to cope with an ongoing challenge regarding their loss of “protected persons status” which was issued to them, under the Geneva Convention, shortly after the war in Iraq began. But since the Iraqi government took over in 2004, the “protected person’s status” has been defunct and Mujahedin Khalq leaders and members have been in a state of denial. The reality is that they have had a downfall in Iraq, and the Iraqi 
government is determined to expel them from Camp Ashraf, the territory which the MKO has occupied for more than two decades.
According to Wijdan Mikhail Salim, one of the Iraqi Human Rights Ministers, "Conditions for asylum seeking as well as the terms of Geneva Conventions do not apply to the members of the group [MKO]" [1]
Furthermore, a reporter for TIME, Rania Abouzeid, reports in her coverage of Camp Ashraf that “[t]he obligation to treat the MEK as protected persons under the law of war ended when the Coalition Provisional Authority handed over responsibility for governing Iraq to the Iraqi interim government in June 2004 which ended the occupation of Iraq.” Abouzeid articulates that the MEK has insisted they maintain this status—one of the members even showed her a photo ID with no expiration date. In response Abouzeid reports that according to a Western official, “protected person status is never a permanent status as it applies only during circumstances of armed conflict or occupation.’” [2]
In fact, in February 2010 it was published in the UK House of Lords’ website, that "the view of UK Government is that with the formal end of hostilities and the transfer of responsibilities for the Camp to the Iraqi authorities; any claim to protected persons status by the camp’s residents under the fourth Geneva Convention has ceased to apply. That view is shared by the United Nations. The camp leadership has been given that information."[3]
Although camp leadership has essentially been told by the Iraqi government that they are no longer protected, the members are still being told they are. Members are still isolated from the outside world, and they are regularly exposed to the groups’ own media. This propaganda campaign, an emblematic tactic for the MKO, keeps members subdued and believing that the organization maintains strength. For leadership, such misinformation serves to systematically reinforce a delusion (which they believe puts them in power in Iran); it also serves to protect the deluded members. However, this campaign will only make it more difficult for members once they find out the truth of their status, and are faced with repercussions as a result of the group’s terrorist history. For the MKO, the current situation is dismal, the loss of their status is daunting, and yet in their denial they cling to this obsolete status.
[1] "Geneva Conventions ‘not applicable’ to MKO". PressTV. December 22, 2009 <http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=114353§ionid=351020101>.
[2] Abouzeid, Rania. "An Anti-Iranian Enclave in Iraq Fights to Stay". Time/CNN . April 12, 2009 <http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1890590,00.html>.
[3] Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead, Baroness Falkner of Margravine. "United Kingdom Parliament.” Parliamentary Business. UK Parliament, Tuesday, 9 February 2010. Web. 29 Apr 2010. <http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200910/ldhansrd/text/100209-0001.htm>.
By: Mazda Parsi
After investigations by the Iraqi Minister of Human Rights, Minister Salim said that the presence of the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq is illegal. She stressed that the Iraqi government will deal with them in a purely humanitarian manner, and added that since 2003 it has secured the freedom of 300 of them who wanted to leave the camp.
In a statement summarised by al-sabaah newspaper, Minister Salim said that the government is dealing with the residents of the camp in Diyala province, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, in a humane fashion. The absence of any official documents in their files of applications for asylum is an indication of the illegality of their presence in Camp Ashraf. However, between 2003 until the end of 2009, 300 have left the camp of their own free will and returned to their own country.
Minister Salim said that delegations from the Human Rights Ministry visit the camp from time to time to review the conditions of its population in coordination with the offices of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations. In less than a year, 36 people have asked to leave the camp under the direct supervision of the Ministry. They asked to return to Iran without any influence from government bodies and they were brought to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which took responsibility for them.
For decades the MKO have been in this camp and have not been regarded as refugees. Now neither the UNHCR nor the International Organization for Migration deal with them on that basis and refuse to cooperate with them. The Ministry has addressed these organisations formally more than once in order to lend a helping hand to them, but they always affirm in their responses that that the MKO is a military organization and has not demilitarized. They can only deal with them once they leave the camp and claim civilian protection.
Minister Salim explained that the laws and agreements on the protection of populations who seek protection on the grounds of suffering because of armed conflicts or war do not apply to them because they are not in a nation in war or conflict.
Minister Salim indicated that since the beginning of the SOFA with the United States which transferred responsibility for the camp from the Americans to the Iraqis, the legal situation has changed completely for them. In particular after review of the records and papers which exist, officials did not find any requests for asylum or protection or evidence that their presence is in any way legal.
Minister Sailm said that in general it is necessary to deal with them in a spirit of humanity and not to deport them to countries where they may be exposed to harm or torture, asserting that the Iraqi government has committed itself to this principle. She expressed surprise at their refusal to be moved to another location which provides services and care since they have not rented and nor do they own the land they currently occupy.
Alsabah, Translated by Iran Interlink
Al-khaddran: We have set up a lawsuit against the Mojahedin Khalq
Governor of Khales, Khalis Uday Al-khaddran, said he had filed a lawsuit on behalf of the citizens of Khales against the Mojahedin organization for the crimes perpetrated against them. Al-khaddran said that the MKO has held around 6000 dunums of land in Khalis district for more than 18 years. This organization was the right hand of the deposed (Saddam) regime and played a prominent role in sheltering and supporting what he described as (criminals of the state).
Al-khaddran added: "We hope the new government will remove this Organization from the land of Iraq and enforce the Constitution, which provides that Iraq not be used as a base for aggression and harm to neighbouring countries that enjoy good relations with them". At the same time I am requesting from humanitarian and international organizations that they find an alternative place for the organization and take them out of Iraq.
Diyala has seen a significant improvement in security since last July after the Camp of New Iraq (formerly Ashraf) came under the control of the Iraqi government, which has in turn offered MKO members that they may return to either Iran or to any other country. They do not come under the rules which apply to refuges or those with families within Iraq according to International law.
Al Dustour, Translated by Iran-interlink
In contrast to the Iraqi Government’s reluctance to use violence to evacuate Camp Ashraf, the members of MKO, encouraged by their leaders, have warned that they will not be taken out alive.
That is to say, MKO has adopted a blind, antagonistic way of struggle against the preferably peaceful attempt by the Iraqis to end the increasingly tense stalemate with less bloodshed. Emboldened by its last July’s violent reaction against the Iraqi forces that left many casualties, MKO is preparing for further systematically organized defensive measures to defend its bastion against any similar move by the government. Although the terrorist and cultic nature of MKO well justifies speculations about its potentialities in application of violent and aggressive approaches, the assertions by the defectors is a given warning that the organization is busy preparing for a much bloody confrontation.
Stated by Alireza Fattahian, the defector who has recently managed to flee the terrorist cult, MKO has started a new round of training to bludgeon Ashraf residents into a bloody resistance and confrontation:
Hundreds of vehicles equipped with a variety of cameras are on a 24 hour patrol round the camp to announce red alert as soon as sensing any suspicious move. On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays the members undergo self-defense trainings by using non-fire arms like knives and bow and arrows. The latter is so sophisticatedly made that easily penetrate any common protective jackets. They have also devised petrol-filled capsules wrapped in cloth that can be catapulted far away. Another creative weapon is a very sharp, short knife carried under clothes to be used in close man to man encounters. As there is an anchor rope that is used to pull away the forces. They have recently crafted a hand-grenade-like pack filled with wax-like material to stun whoever intends to harass their women members. They have prepared especial green, thick and shockproof military uniforms to ward off blows by the security forces. The trainings, started three months ago, begin from 6 in the morning to 12.
The disclosure that reveals only some aspects of MKO’s harsh defensive reaction against lawful measures to evacuate Ashraf has frustrated the group since it is recently engaged in a vast propaganda blitz to influence the public opinion and to show how it has been oppressed and victimized. No doubt, Ashraf is a crisis and tense stalemate the Iraqi Government has to deal with but it seems that it lacks the needed decisiveness and experience when coming to treat with an aggressive group like MKO. It is a proven fact that the more lenient it is toward the group to arrive at a peaceful solution the more aggressive and violent attitude the terrorists emit. The government’s withdrawal after the last July’s bloody clash with Ashraf residents, who demonstrated their potentialities in creating big crises through self-destructive practices, has emboldened them to strengthen for later encounters if the Iraqis ever dare.
In the interim, MKO anticipates that two outlooks will be possibly promising to reach a conclusion. First, to postpone, and if possible to wholly resolve, the issue of relocation and evacuation of Ashraf and second, to impose legal leverages on Iraqi authorities that, as Rajavi has reiterated, will be to the group’s advantages. At least the Iraqi Government, in its rather long tension with MKO, should have learnt that Rajavi never assents to any peaceful or moderate solution. But, does it mean that the tragic armageddon between the two is inevitable?
The answer can be either yes or no depending on the extent of the government’s cooperation with the defected members and benefitting their experiences that will be of advantage to it. Although the Iraqis have become familiar with some aspects of the terrorist cult, but to deal with a cult like MKO requires its own especial approaches since it is hard to evaluate the costs of encountering a terrorist cult that has already proved its potentialities in inflicting irreparable social damages and committing self-destructive activities.
Rajavi knows well that the closure of Ashraf is the beginning of its cult’s decline since nothing can guarantee what happens to the relocated members; it is the concentration of members and regular cultic instillations that ensures the integrity of the cult. The group needs a closed bastion under its own control so as not to wound the integrity of its central tenets that might cause permanent disillusionment and disintegration of the members. At the same time, it must sufficiently mute the active condemnation of internal and external critics and dissidents. Thus, a tragic end will be an inevitable solution which will put all costs on the Iraqi Government to hold it accountable for the bloods shed.
The Iraqi authorities must give serious considerations to the warnings of those who are detached from the body of the organization and can share valuable information and experiences. They have now the opportunity of taking advantage of the international supervising organizations and bodies as well as the media to fully control and watch the moves of MKO and its suspicious practices within the walls of Camp Ashraf before it is too late. At least, the public opinion, advocates of MKO and even the victims themselves will come to know who is the real responsible for any tragic event the organization is preparing to instigate at the ripe time.
The deputy head of the council of Dyala governorate said the Mojahedin-e Khalq members will be transferred from Ashraf Camp to “Al-Khazra” region in near future.
Based on a report by Justice Supporters’ Association, visiting Karbala city, “Sadegh Al-Hosseini told the reporter of Iraqi website “Al-Nun”: the MKO members have resorted to a new kind of dangerous weapon in order to remain in Ashraf Camp. This new weapon is hunger strike, hitting each other by knife or having poison.
He continued: the time of their move is so close and thus they make use of these strategies to prevent it.
According to Al-Hosseni Iraqi government intends to transfer the Mojahedin members to a region within Al-Khazra area in Baghdad. The decision made since none of the Iraqi provinces accepted the residence of the cult members in their territory.
A member of the Iraqi parliament insisted that Iraq is firm in its decision to expel the anti-Iran terrorist group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the country.
Muhammad Al-Hamidawi called the terrorist cult’s presence in Iraq “illegal”, adding that “the conditions for asylum seeking as well as the terms of Geneva Conventions do not apply to the members of the cult”. He said the Iraqi government “is firm and serious in expelling the MKO,” Habilian Association (families of Iranian terror victims) news website quoted Mehr News Agency as reporting.
“The MKO entered Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule just due to its enmity towards Iran. Now we should destroy this cult, a way of which is their relocation from Camp Ashraf,” said the member of Al-Fadhilah Islamic Party in the Iraqi parliament.
“The MKO’s presence in Iraq has made so many problems to our nation due to usurping their lands, but also it is illegal according to the Iraqi Constitution,” Hamidawi insisted.
He confirmed there were pressures on the Iraqi government not to expel the terrorist cult, insisting Iraq “is determined to expel the MKO”, since the cult has had “several interventions in Iraq’s internal affairs both now and under Saddam’s rule and has been in contact with some of those who are well known for their opposition to the current Iraqi political situation”.
The fate of MKO and Ashraf residents in Iraq appears to have been sealed and the members are waiting their relocation to another temporary camp that can put them under the strict control of the Iraqi forces until they will have been sent out of the country completely. Unpredictable as a dangerous terrorist cult, the question is whether the dismantlement of MKO in Iraq and eviction of its stronghold will be an unchallenged task to accomplish? According to the assertions of Mrs. Soltani, a ranking detached member of MKO, the Ashraf residents have Rajavi’s order of committing a mass suicide as a protest to any imposed decision that may happen to be a challenge against the entity of the organization and its forcible displacement. However, it might be the last solution but not necessarily the first as it may cost a lot and at the present Rajavi prefers to expend as little as possible and not to venture the forces that can be used as human shield at any time. Although a working cult tactic of having revenge and imposing demands on the Iraqi Government, as they have already practiced it in France, Rajavi seems determined to preserve them for their potentialities to perform other big tasks.
It is not the first time Rajavi is getting mired in a grave situation to save the forces. Concentrated in a variety of camps and benefitting the benevolence and patronage of Saddam, Rajavi’s solution to weather the consequences of the coalition force’s invasion and decrease the casualties was to disperse the concentrated members throughout the Iraqi soil to reorganize them when the right time came. The process stopped, however, just when it was to start since the both side made a bargain and came to an agreement and the forces were concentrated in a single camp, Ashraf. It was much better to take a shelter under the protective umbrella of the US forces to guarantee the preservation of its forces and it actually worked and lasted at least for a few years. But where and under whose protection could they take shelter if the forces had to disperse?
No better option could they find than to seek and find refuge in the strongholds and areas under the control of the advocates of Saddam and dissidents to the newly established Iraqi Government. The remnants of the loyalists to Saddam and Baath Party could better than anybody protect and shelter them, trusting them as Saddam had before, and take advantages of their various military and information potentialities. Who knows, it could become much harder for the new government to confront and tackle with the insurgent and dissident parties and groups, less experienced in activities that required organizational aptitudes. Experts in masterminding violent and terrorist plots, MKO’s collaboration with rebellious dissidents could lead the country to a worse chaotic situation and harder-to-control internal disorder.
Failing to arrive at any agreement with the present government to prolong its stay in Iraq and within its walled Ashraf stronghold, MKO can only rely on Saddamists and remnants of Baath Party that predominate in Takrit region. They have an open arm for MKO since it objected Saddam’s execution that was a green light of loyalty and its readiness to be at the service of his loyalists. Always opportunists, MKO has never cut ties with dissidents as it had anticipated a day when it needed friends in high places. MKO has two alternatives before it; just wait to be relocated to Baghdad and to be transplanted to an isolated prison camp or implement the same plan it suspended after establishing rapport with the US forces. The Iraqi forces must be cautious about the unexpected.
A purely hypothetical question at the first look, the escape and dispersion of Ashraf residents is an option on the table of the organization; it may be a hard job to control the stealthy escape operation and to block their escape routes although not impossible. For Rajavi, tying the destiny of its organization to that of al-Qaeda and Baath dissidents is less challenging than easily assenting to an uncertain destiny of relocation. Early concerns over the presence of the terrorist MKO in Iraq somehow abated when it was disarmed and reduced the danger of its terrorist collaboration with the Iraqi dissidents and insurgents regardless of how costly it was for the new government. But to permit an easy scattering and escape of these trained members to fight on the side of the dissidents would bring more violence in the disturbed Iraq and will be much more costly to tackle with them. MKO is unpredictable and the Iraqi Government has to be cautious and serious as well as considering all controlling and security measures in the process of the members’ relocation.
The Iraqi authorities have reiterated that they are decisive in their decision to relocate Ashraf residents to the southern part of the country as a prelude to expelling them. The decision is the outcome of many failed attempts to convince the Western countries and other international bodies and organizations to find another willing host country for them since Iraq is no more interests to host the remnant terrorists of the former regime. However, the hard point is that there is still no specifically set timeframe for the relocation of Camp Ashraf to a certain temporary camp. It is much because none of the local provincial officials have assented to accept the risk of Ashraf residents’ relocation to the areas under their control and have warned that it would spark violence in peaceful areas. That is in absolute contradiction with MKO’s widely advertized claims that it has the support of many Iraqi Sheikhs and tribe leaders as well as known figures on its back.
As stressed before, MKO is the only opposition among all that has turned into a real problem for not only among other opposition but its own advocates in western and non-Western countries and parliamentarians since it has proved not to be a trustable company despite its beneficially hireling activities for all adversaries against the Iranian regime, from Saddam to the US that has globally registered it as a terrorist group. The worst, there is no Saddam to defend it against any opposition and no area on the Iraqi soil is willing to accept them even for a short while before their complete erase from the country.
The first signs of protest were publicized when, as a new devised strategy for Ashraf residents, the Iraqi government announced it would shut Camp Ashraf and move the occupants to Muthana, a province in southern Iraq. The local officials in Muthana resoundingly rejected the resolution and Ibrahim Salman al Mayali, the provincial governor, said he would do all he could to oppose a relocation. He argued that his people would not welcome a terrorist organization that once Saddam had sent its members to stop a revolution against him in 1991. He reasoned that “I cannot stop my people’s anger against this terrorist group. Maybe they will want to take revenge for 1991 and attack them. I certainly could not guarantee security for the MKO here.”
A leading local tribal leader, Sheikh Resan al Myasar, also cautioned there would be violence if the government resolved to send MKO members south. He justified that “We have not forgotten that they showed us no mercy when they crushed the uprising and so now the sons of our tribe would show them no mercy. There is malice here; the people of Muthana want to bury them with their hands.”
Whatever measures the Iraqi authorities decide to take with regard to the future of Camp Ashraf is lawful and according to the constitution but the people of Iraq have also the right to be sure of their security when they are just close to a temporary camp where the notorious accomplices of the ousted dictator are to reside. The thousands numbers of MKO’s claimed supporters exist only on the papers and its own publicized sites. The only ones MKO believes can be of any help to it are out of Iraq as it urges the United Nations and the American government over and over to guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents and ensure prevention of forcible relocation and a repeat of use of force and violence against them.
So far, the failure of the Muthana relocation attempt means that the issue of the MKO remains stuck in a stalemate. That is much because nobody is still convinced that the group’s terrorist potentialities are diminished and its link with insurgent groups gut off; it is a risk to have them around. The new proposal for solving the problem, although no country has yet assented to receive the group, by the Iraqi Government is to move Ashraf residents to Nuqrat al-Salman, a desolated prison camp. Although MKO has started a vast propaganda blitz to show its strong opposition to the decision, does Rajavi deserves any other place on the earth than a wasteland to wander?
On early December, BBC quoted Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO, MEK, PMOI, NCR) that it never consents to evacuate Camp Ashraf under any condition adding that any attempts by the Iraqi Government to force the group out of its base might result in further bloodshed. Earlier in a message, Rajavi had announced his readiness to leave Ashraf on condition of receiving a big sum of money for the price of the camp. Of course, many were of the opinion that his words meant buying more time and lengthening the process of relocation. But one thing is certain that the Iraqi Government’s ultimatum reaching its final days, the organization is also preparing to confront, as it has already threatened, any move by the Iraqi forces against its bastion as it did in July that resulted in many casualties.
That is while according to the state’s spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, the Iraqi forces and police had “an order not to use any live rounds”. The residents’ fierce resistance against attempts to quell the violence eventually led to an estimated casualty of two deaths and 110 injured from the Iraqi forces and 11 claimed deaths and some 500 wounded from among the Ashraf residents.
What is of great significance and attention in all these is MKO’s broad and widespread propaganda to demonize the Iraqi Government and to demonstrate itself as the oppressed. While the Iraqi Government prefers not to run out of patience with the group to find a peaceful solution to end the issue, MKO has insisted on the application of violence and continuation of an aggressive resistance. The government is doing nothing but trying to execute the law that the constitution and the nation requires to be accomplished rather than appeasement of a terrorist group that claims an autonomous territory on the soil of a sovereign state. The organization’s subsequent propaganda blitz against the Iraqi Government mainly aims to attract the attentions of advocates to interfere and to take the side of Mojahedin to impose them on the government and guarantee their stay in Iraq.
That is why suddenly a rightful enter of a country’s forces to impose the law turns into the eye catching headlines of “crime against humanity”, “barbaric attack by Iraqi forces”, “storm against Camp Ashraf” and the like by MKO’s media and propaganda machine that did much better than the Iraqis in this respect. The incident was recorded mostly from MKO’s cameras and reports released as the group aired. In fact, all the media and news agencies reflected just what MKO had released about the incident with the very same words, pictures and footages.
In contrast, Iraq underestimated the need to counteract the group’s heavily influential propaganda by making it clear that it was not so complicated an issue and violation of any right but just an ordinary act of controlling a terrorist group imposed on it as an unwanted and problematic legacy of the ousted dictator. MKO has come to understand that its relocation to Baghdad means a never-return to camp Ashraf and the beginning of expulsion and wandering in nowhere. As a result, it prefers to save its present foothold that seems much secure by any means and price. It has whatever it needs to line against Iraqi’s determination; the well trained militants that are ready to follow any organizational command just as when Rajavi encouraged them to initiate a suicide operation against the Iranian borders just after the announced ceasefire between Iran and Iraq. It is a scenario that can be put into action easily whenever necessary and to put the blame on the other side.
At the present MKO has chosen the psychological warfare whose bullets are bloodless and unethical with the outmost impact on the public opinion. It is a seemingly peaceful but offensive weapon that attempts to exploit the Iraqi’s weaknesses in media and propaganda coverage that helps further tactical achievements for the terrorists. It will be a good move by Iraq to invite international observers, as it invited reporters, to prove that its words mesh with its actions concerning its good-intention when dealing with the group according to its adopted laws and decisions.
The presence of the international humanitarian bodies and organizations like ICRC and UNHRC, as well as the reporters’ cameras side by side of the Iraqi forces when the government announces the exact date of the Ashraf relocation to execute the law can well judge between the side that is violent and infringes the regulations and the laws. For sure, MKO’s propaganda machine fails to spread misinformation before responsible eyes and cameras watching closely.