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.
So having the base of the people guarantees the success of a guerrilla movement and this is what the MKO/PMOI lacks. Instead they could operate by enjoying the protection of the friendly regime of Saddam Hussein ..MKO lost its public support in three phases..MKO leaders find no way except prolonging their stay in Camp Ashraf, Iraq since their vital need is now awning a location where they can survive as a coercive army.
Listed as a terrorist organization, an US-led coalition disarmed these members of the People’s Mujahideen. Since 2004, they have been held in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad ..On December 22, the Iraqi government announced their intent to expel the Iranian exile group. An expulsion, which has been long sought by the Shiite-led government, will become feasible once the U.N. mandate that regulates the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq and gave the Iranian opposition group protected status expires at the end of the year (2008).
Iraqi forces take over responsibility for Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 MKO terrorists, on Jan. 1 as part of a bilateral deal governing the presence of US troops who guarded the camp in the past… According to Al-Hakim, continued presence of the terrorist group in Iraq would be against Paragraph 33 of the Resolution 687 of the United Nations Security Council. It would also be against the Iraqi Constitution, decisions made by the country’s presidency council and approvals of the Iraqi parliament, added the advisor.
Al-Maliki: There is one thing that will not be tolerated and that is for them (Mojahedin Khalq, Rajavi cult) to stay in Iraq..They do not have the necessary requirements to be granted refugee status. Furthermore, Iraq is determined to put an end to this [Mujahedin Khalq] Organization because it is effecting relations between Iran and Iraq. This organization participated in many operations that harmed Iranian and Iraqi civilians under the Saddam regime.
Al-Maliki also announced that there is”no place in Iraq for the terrorist”Mujahidin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI/MKO) organization. The Iraqi government has taken control of Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, the terrorist training camp leased by Saddam Hussein to 3500 members of the Iranian MEK cult…In the end, as usual in the Bush administration, Washington gave us the worst compromise possible, declaring MEK a terrorist organization and going on using it for espionage and sabotage in Iran as well as against Iraqi Shiites
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.