On September 2013 Camp Ashraf Clashes

Where are the 42 missing Mojahedin Khalq eye witnesses from Camp Ashraf?

Forty two eye witnesses to the attack on Camp Ashraf on September 1st 2013 have mysteriously disappeared after they were transferred to Camp Liberty on September 11th. Officials from the Where are the 42 missing Mojahedin Khalq eye witnesses from Camp Ashraf? Government of Iraq (GOI), which has been tasked by the United Nations to investigate the attack in which fifty three people died, have been unable to contact the survivors since they were relocated under UNAMI supervision, and Camp Ashraf was finally closed.

At the time the attack took place, the Mojahedin Khalq had maintained a symbolic force of around one hundred loyalists at Camp Ashraf, ostensibly to sell off MEK assets although this never happened. Fifty three residents were killed in brutal execution style during the attack by unknown assailants, but afterwards MEK leaders refused to fully cooperate with teams of concerned visitors and investigators from the UN, the US embassy and the GOI.

Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG), Mr Gyorgy Busztin visited the camp on September 3rd and tasked the Iraqi government to “ensure that a thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into this atrocious crime is conducted without delay and that the results of the investigation are made public”. After extensive searches inside Camp Ashraf and widespread enquiries in the immediate vicinity and beyond, Iraqi investigators are still unable to say who perpetrated the attack, nor what actually took place inside the camp. It did not help that the MEK have refused to hand over many films and photographs which they took themselves just before, during and in the aftermath of the attack. It soon became clear however that the MEK had interfered with the scene by moving several bodies to create visual scenarios for propaganda purposes and had also destroyed key evidence before investigators were able to get inside the camp.

Speaking on the day Camp Ashraf was finally evacuated and closed, one Iraqi official claimed that videos of the clashes at the camp released by the MEK reveal that “most of the dead were actually killed by their own fellows at the camp.” However, the forty two individuals who were in the camp during the attack have not subsequently been produced to help with enquiries. The official again complained about the refusal of MEK commanders to cooperate with the investigators.

The MEK claimed that seven of its named members went missing from Camp Ashraf after the attack and, in what experts on MEK behaviour regard as a diversionary tactic, alleged, “they were taken hostage by Iraqi forces and flown to Amara province to be extradited to Iran”. Both the GOI and the Iranian government have denied any involvement in the attack and say they have no knowledge as to the whereabouts of the seven named persons who were Massoud Rajavi’s closest cohort inside Iraq. Rajavi himself has been in hiding for ten years and is therefore unavailable for comment.

Rajavi and his wife, Maryam, ordered their followers to go on a hunger strike – which has now incredibly passed one hundred days – to demand the return of the seven, who, like Rajavi himself, have apparently disappeared without trace. Because it is not known where the seven are being held nor by whom, or indeed whether they are still alive, the hunger strike is awkwardly open ended as it addresses no party known to be able to ‘hand them over’. Commentators have pointed out anyway that the logic behind the hunger strikers’ demand does not tally with the accusation that those who brutally murdered fifty three people are now holding the missing seven. Wouldn’t such people actually be glad if more MEK members starve to death?

Western media sympathetic to the MEK’s role in Iraq have recently reported that unknown ‘independent UN experts’ want the GOI to speed up its investigation into this specific issue. According to Reuters, the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances said in a statement, “We call upon the Government of Iraq to speed up the investigations in order to disclose the fate and whereabouts of the [seven] individuals.”

The working group added that “the impunity with which these crimes have been committed is particularly flagrant given the severity of the offences and the alleged evidence of engagement by Iraqi forces in the commission of these crimes.”

A UN Special Rapporteur – this time on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions – Christof Heyns, said “international law clearly requires governments to ensure that all allegations of killings are investigated in a prompt, effective and impartial manner, irrespective of who the perpetrator is.”

But while Rajavi used these media reports to justify continuing the hunger strike, Iraqi investigators have stressed that even though this statement empowers Iraq to interview the forty two individual eye witnesses to the events at Camp Ashraf, until now the UN has failed to produce them and has instead allowed them to be swallowed up by the Rajavi cult’s camp commanders at Camp Liberty, to which neither the UN nor the GOI has access. This is in spite of the fact that these are key witnesses and without their testimony the investigation cannot be completed.

MEK experts working with the GOI on this issue, have warned United Nations human rights officials responsible for the camp of their grave concerns for the wellbeing of the forty two as well as the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty. News leaked from inside the camp by dissident members still held there, indicates that the forty two are being held incommunicado and that nobody has seen or heard of them since their arrival there. It is evident that the forty two hold vital information which the MEK leaders do not want to be made public. There can be no doubt they are under severe pressure to conceal the truth about what happened at Camp Ashraf. The concern is that, if they do not succumb to this pressure they may be killed. The United Nations Special Rapporteur should demand immediate and unmediated access to these missing persons to ascertain their wellbeing. As it is also alleged that the MEK commanders are deliberately withholding food from the hunger strikers in Camp Liberty, and this abuse should also be investigated as a matter of urgency.

The GOI has said on several occasions it would like to be more assertive in finding ways to get inside the camp and have free and unfettered access to all the individuals residing there, and to be able to separate those who would like to leave voluntarily. They are, however, severely hampered by obedience to UNAMI and what Iraqi MP, Rafe’ Abdul Jabbar, described as “the glacial pace in the relocation process of the MEK members to third countries. He said, “Baghdad is obeying the UN in this regard and this organization is obeying the US. We should admit that Iraq’s independence is still far away”.

Iranian.com

December 17, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq says no success tracing killers of Iranian dissidents

Iraq is hunting militants, still unidentified, who led a deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp near Baghdad and dismisses suggestions its own security forces were behind the violence, a senior government official said.

More than 50 people were killed at the dissident Mujahadin-e-Khalq (MEK) group’s Camp Ashraf in September in an attack the United Nations described as “an atrocious crime” and which drew condemnation from the United States and Britain. Assailants took time to conduct execution-style killings and plant bombs.

MEK, which the U.S. State Department removed from its list of terrorist organisations last year, wants Iran’s clerical leaders overthrown and fought on former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s side during the Iran-Iraq war in 1980s.

The group, which has accused Iraqi security forces of being behind the attack, is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shi’ite Muslim-led government that came to power after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam in 2003.

“The main thing that the investigations have revealed so far is that the Iraqi security forces were not involved in that attack and an unknown militant group was behind it,” said Haider al-Akaili, who is part of a government committee overseeing the investigation, which was demanded by the U.N.

Iraqi authorities have repeatedly denied involvement in the attack, in which camp residents also went missing. MEK says they were taken hostage by Iraqi forces and were flown to Amara province to be extradited to Iran.

Akaili, who is an official in Iraq’s Ministry of Human Rights, denied this: “Pictures of the alleged missing persons have been circulated to airports and checkpoints and we have not received any news about any of them,” he told Reuters.

The committee is headed by Iraq’s national security chief and includes representatives from government ministries and the intelligence service as well as the U.N.

Akaili added that 53 people had been killed, not 52 as originally reported by the U.N. which said its representatives had seen corpses with gunshot wounds and some with their hands tied. The additional victim had not been reported until now because his face had been burnt and he had not been previously identifiable as a camp member, Akaili said.

The last residents moved out of the camp to a new base in September. The camp had housed around 100 MEK members at the time of the attack.

Iraqi authorities have issued 148 arrest warrants for MEK members for crimes against Iraqis since 1991 but none have been arrested, according to officials.

The group which attacked the camp appeared to have had ample time to execute the victims as well as plant bombs in cars and buildings which it detonated remotely, Akaili said.

“The operation was elaborate, complicated and big,” he said, adding that MEK members who had seen the attack had shown a “serious lack” of cooperation with investigating authorities.

He raised the possibility that there had been a dispute within the camp and some of the attackers had come from inside it. Another scenario was that the seven missing people were behind the assault, he said.

MEK numbered 4,174 members in Iraq up to 2003. The U.N. has resettled some 1,000 while 1,600 have declined to meet with officials, Akaili said. The rest are being resettled.

Suadad al-Salhy , Editing by Sylvia Westall; editing by Ralph Boulton

November 27, 2013 0 comments

USA

US Denies Visiting Allegedly Missing Iranians

The U.S. Embassy in Iraq says it has no information on the whereabouts of seven Iranian dissidents allegedly missing following a deadly shooting on their compound north of Baghdad this month.

The parent organization of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq dissident group says it has information that an American delegation has met the seven people held by Iraqi forces near Baghdad airport.

U.S. Embassy spokesman Rodney Ford told The Associated Press by email Sunday that the claim of an American visit is "categorically untrue." He says no one from the U.S. government has seen or visited those said to be missing.

Iraq on Friday denied that it is holding the seven former residents of Camp Ashraf said to be missing. A disputed shooting on the compound Sept. 1 left 52 MEK members dead.

September 23, 2013 0 comments

Iraq

Iraq Rejects MEK Allegations & Demands Implementation of the Agreements

Rejecting MEK Allegations and Demanding UN Implementation of the Resettlement Agreement

The Khalq Organization is accustomed to fabricating lies and disseminating them, in this regard they alleged Rejecting MEK Allegations and Demanding UN Implementation of the Resettlement Agreement that seven of its members had been missing in the recent events that took place in the New Iraq camp, and claimed that they were abducted by Iraqi troops. As we reject these allegations altogether we reiterate the fact that the Iraqi forces has never conducted any actions against members of this organization, whether in the camp of New Iraq or any other site, but the elements of this organization, which is still on the list of terrorist organizations refused to allow Iraqi forces, which were protecting the camp, entering the camp at the time of the accident and impeded investigation efforts.

We would like to remind the international community of the Resettlement Agreement between the Iraqi government and the United Nations and their commitments to it, despite of making many extensions of the dates of the agreed schedule.

As we reaffirm our commitment to the agreement with the United Nations, which was many times violated by this organization, we appeal to the international community and the United Nations and all States to implement the Resettlement Agreement that was signed by the Iraqi government and the United Nations to resettle the members of this Organization in another country and help Iraq to migrate the members of this Organization who live in Iraq illegally.

Iraqi PM Office,pmo.iq, Baghdad

September 22, 2013 0 comments

MEK Camp Ashraf

Camp Ashraf september1st clashes;What happened?

Facts on Camp Ashraf incident

[republished] Finally, Camp Ashraf was completely evacuated after a decade–long effort by Iraqi government and the United Nations representatives in Iraq. The relocation process of the surviving residents of the September 1st suspicious attack on the Camp was completed on Wednesday September 11th. The MKO’s spokesman Mohammad Mohaddesin told the Associated Press that “ the Council’s president elect, Maryam Rajavi, urged the remaining residents to leave over the past few days” although she had previously urged on the return of Liberty residents to Camp Ashraf! [1]

The mysterious killings at Camp Ashraf were considered by Maryam Rajavi “an instance of crimes against humanity”. How about other instances of crimes against humanity? The residents of the MKO Camps have already been objected to criminal acts. Their most basic human rights have been violated by the group leaders for at least 3 decades. In July 2013, the former UN envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler told, the Security Council of the UN, “Of increasing concern are the human rights abuses in Camp Hurriyah itself by the Camp leadership”. He added,”Hundreds of daily monitoring reports suggest that the lives of Camp Hurriyah members are tightly controlled.” [2]

Because of such eye-opening assertions by Mr. Kobler, he was always labeled by the MKO propaganda as the Islamic Republic’s agent although his allegations were previously affirmed by Human Rights Watch, the US Department of State and the RAND institute. Mr. Kobler notified, “a significant number of residents have reported to the UN monitors that they are not free to leave the Camp, to participate in the resettlement process offered by UNHCR, to contact family members outside Iraq, or to have contact with other relatives even within the Camp itself.”[3] The killed Ashraf residents had been deprived from a normal free life, by their leaders. They were indoctrinated by their leaders to defend their”home of 20 years”, Camp Ashraf, to the death. They were promised “Martyrdom”and the “Heaven“by the cult leaders.”So let us say to the Martyrs of the Ashraf massacre that you stand at the zenith of the PMOI’s path and traditions”, said Maryam Rajavi, the leader of the cult, at “the ceremony for 52 martyrs of Ashraf”. She called massacred ones,”the generation of Massoud, with their unshakable spirit and triumphant fate.”!

After the resettlement of the 42 survivors of Ashraf incidents in Camp Liberty, the UN new envoy in Iraq, Gyorgy Basztin told the Associated Press that “What happened at Camp Ashraf on the first of September is a game changer.”He warned third countries,”It should be a wake-up call to all countries who are in a position to help to come forward. Resettlement is the ultimate guarantee of their security.”[4] However, UN officials say that resettlement process have been slow because many residents have been uncooperative with the process, complicating the relocation efforts, according to the AP. [5]

Seeking benefits from “results of these martyrdoms and the heroic epics in Ashraf” – according to Maryam Rajavi’s passionate speech – she salutes “mothers and families” of the assassinated members of her cult of personality. Nonetheless, the mothers and families of these members had no news of their loved ones for many years. Now that their children have been killed, they are saluted and congratulated on the martyrdom of their heroes!

As a matter of fact, the assassination of 52 Ashraf residents seems very unclear. The only films and photos of the incident were released by the MKO. There are no films or photos of how these people were killed. Tasnim News Agency quoted from an Iraqi official that the released videos of recent clashes in the MKO’s training camp reveal that “most of dead were actually killed by their own fellows at the Camp.”[6]

In the group’s footage of the incident, at least in two cases, the injured ones are wounded in arm or shoulder but in other photos you see the same people shot in the heads. The Iraqi sources told Tasnim,” Given its track record in liquidating certain members, MKO took advantage of the incident for more bloodshed and killed its members for propaganda purposes and to play the victims.”[7]

While the MKO accuses Iraqi security forces of carrying out the killings, Baghdad denies involvement with officials saying an internal dispute was to blame, reported the Associated Press. [8]

What happened to the seven allegedly missing residents?

The MKO propaganda claims that they were taken as hostages by Iraqi security forces. “Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammad Shiyaa al–Sudani and Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, both denied Friday that the seven said to be missing are in Iraqi custody,” reported the AP. ”Busztin, the UN official, had no information on their whereabouts.”[9]

Massoud Khodabande, former MKO member and a member of Terrorism Research Centre , asserts ,”There is strong evidence that the aim of the attack on Camp Ashraf was to capture or kill Massoud Rajavi on the understanding he has been in hiding there.”

Khodabandeh clarifies that the seven missing people have been identified as Rajavi’s close inner circle. So they”have been part of a pre-planned maneuver to rescue him in the event of such an attack,” he concludes.”The other members have been there to resist any incursion to allow Rajavi and his protectors’ time to run away.”[10]

Besides, the attack on Camp Ashraf had been predicted by the group’s propaganda websites. If they really knew about such an attack, why didn’t they evacuate the Camp?

By Mazda Parsi, September18, 2013

Sources:

[1] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[2] Charbonneau, Louis, UN envoy accuses Iran group’s leaders in Iraq of rights abuse, Reuters, July16, 2013

[3] ibid

[4] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[5] ibid

[6] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5387

[7] ibid

[8] Schreck, Adam, UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents, The Associated Press, September13, 2013

[9] ibid

[10] https://www.nejatngo.org/en/posts/5388

*Quotes extracted from Maryam Rajavi’s speech, published on the MKO’s website – Nejat bloggers are either former MKO members or have a family member who is currently held in Camp Ashraf. They have suffered deeply because of Massoud Rajavi’s crimes. While the Nejat Bloggers recognize that citing sources of information is essential ,we, as a society feel so strongly against the MKO that we have agreed to not include the group’s websites or links in our articles because we consider it as kind of publicity for the cult.

September 19, 2013 0 comments

Iran

MKO terrorists incurred Iraqi nation’s wrath

An Iranian military commander says Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) incurred the wrath of the Iraqi nation and resulted in the attack on camp Ashraf.

Deputy Commander of Iran’s Armed Forces Chief of Staff Brigadier General Mohammad Hejazi said on Wednesday that attacks on Camp Ashraf, now called Camp New Iraq, had precedent.

“When the MKO committed all those injustices against Iraqis and they saw that they (MKO) usurped their lands, helped Saddam’s regime in their suppression and committed innumerable crimes against Iraq, it was natural for the public fury to erupt and consume them.”

He further noted that the latest attack on the terrorist group’s notorious camp in Iraq’s eastern province of Diyala was something that had happened before, adding that Iraqis had earlier gathered outside Camp Ashraf and demanded the expulsion of MKO terrorists.

“The Iraq people’s rages finally afflicted MKO members… This was the inevitable destiny that awaited the MKO,” he pointed out.

On September 1, over 70 MKO members, including top commanders, were reportedly killed in an attack on Camp Ashraf. There were around 100 MKO members in the camp at the time.

The attack came at the hands of a group of Iraqi people and the relatives of those martyred by the terrorists when they had joined forces with executed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in 1991 to crush an uprising by Iraqi Shias.

The Iraqis who stormed the terror camp further demanded the immediate expulsion of all MKO terrorists from their country.

The last group of MKO terrorists at Camp Ashraf was evicted by the Iraqi government on September 11 to join the other members of the terrorist group in the former US-held Camp Liberty, now called Camp Hurriya, near Baghdad International Airport where they are awaiting relocation to other countries.

The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.

The group is known to have cooperated with Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The MKO has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

September 19, 2013 0 comments

Mujahedin Khalq Organization members' families

Loving families offer security and a future for Liberty residents

As usual, when a crisis erupts among the Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq, the world and his dog are ready to jump in and use it as a platform to push their own agenda based on their own interpretation of events.

We have US lobbyists in Washington telling the UN – which is conducting an investigation on the ground – not only who perpetrated the attack but also what to do about it. We have Iran dancing with joy over the ‘elimination’ of its enemies, though more circumspectly adding that Iran itself will pursue vengeance through legal channels.

It’s easy to sit outside the country and talk. It’s easy to hold the Iraqis responsible for everything that happens in their country in disregard of the blatant interference from every side.

The long suffering government of Iraq – which is also conducting an investigation of its own – yet again reminds UNAMI and Western governments that the MEK cannot stay in their country. For thirty years the Mojahedin Khalq has been working there for the benefit of America and western interests; which paid a middleman called Massoud Rajavi for their services. The MEK consequently killed thousands of Iraqis. The country cannot now be expected to continue to play host to such a terrorist group.

But behind all the noise and squabbles of the various political bodies there echoes a profound silence. We never, ever get to hear from the people who are themselves directly involved, the MEK rank and file. Of course, on September 1st, the day of the attack on Camp Ashraf, the MEK leadership almost instantly broadcast its own ‘Hollywood Blockbuster’ version of events, with films of the assailants creeping up on the camp and graphic pictures of the aftermath; images replete with contradictions and inconsistencies.

But what of the victims, those survivors and injured who have now been taken to Camp Liberty? What of the people already in Camp Liberty? We never get to hear how they feel, nor about whether they are worried about being the next targets, nor about how they want their futures to unfold.

For American politicians and lobbyists these individuals are only pawns in a political game which they propose to win at all costs. For the Iranians and the Iraqis these are terrorists who do not deserve a voice. More importantly, as UNAMI officials can confirm, the people in Camp Liberty are being held incommunicado by the leaders of the cult. And as long as the MEK plays its valuable role as a brand on which to hang an advertising campaign then nobody is looking for a solution.

However, America has a moral duty toward these individuals who have done so much for them. America also has an international obligation to the government of a sovereign Iraq after ‘liberating’ the country from former American ally Saddam Hussein and killing hundreds of thousands of Iraqis in the process. America must put pressure on the MEK leaders to finally get out of Iraq, to open up the camp and allow the residents to leave as individuals and not as members of a terrorist group. This of course simply requires quiet, dignified co-operation with the UN and Iraqi officials who are there to oversee and facilitate exactly this occurrence. Even the MEK’s own Iranian supporters in the west are begging the leaders for such co-operation.

Once it is acknowledged that the residents of Camp Liberty are individuals and not pawns to be deployed or destroyed, and the MEK leaders are required to restore their basic freedoms, then solutions as to what can be done with them will not be difficult to find. First and foremost of these is to reunite them with their families. The 52 people who died in Camp Ashraf all had families. The remainder who have been transferred to Camp Liberty all have families, as do all the other residents there. Since 2003 many of these families have sought contact with their loved ones and been denied by the MEK leadership who are afraid of the compassionate influence their presence exerts over their loved ones. In 2009 a determined group of families set up a permanent picket outside Camp Ashraf resulting in the decision of several MEK to leave the camp and return to civilian life; this gradual process of attrition continues at Camp Liberty. Observers on the ground are in no doubt that had families still been permitted to remain there as a normalising presence, then the events of September 1st would not, could not have occurred.

When looking for a permanent solution for the residents, anybody with any sincerity must acknowledge that the involvement of these people’s families can offer the emotional, financial and mental security needed for them to return to normal life wherever they finally settle. Beyond this, the normalising presence of families at Camp Liberty will forestall the opportunity for further attacks.

Middle East Strategy Consultants,

September 18, 2013 0 comments

Iraqi Authorities' stance on the MEK

Zebari – presence of MKO terrorists in Iraq is no longer tolerable

Iraq Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari noted that the presence in Iraq of dissident groups and terror militants was no longer tolerable – directly referring to MKO members .

He called on the UN and Western countries to honor their promises and relocate all militants out of Iraq as soon as possible.

In a statement on Saturday, the United Nations office in Baghdad said Iraqi authorities are planning to relocate dozens of the MKO members from the camp (now Camp of New Iraq) where 52 residents were killed last week.

The UN office added that the authorities will transfer the remaining residents of Camp Ashraf in northeastern Iraq to another facility in the Baghdad area.

Also, Ali Mussawi, spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, had stressed on Saturday that Baghdad has "the right to order them to leave."

Camp Ashraf houses members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (also known as MEK), which Baghdad says is in the country illegally.

Last week, over 52 terrorists, including top MKO commanders, were killed in an attack on Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s eastern Diyala Province.

The group has accused Iraqi troops of carrying out the assault.

The office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has set up a probe into the incident. Iraqi officials say no Iraqi troops entered the camp.

The Iraqi officials said the violence began with infighting among camp residents. Others suggest explosions at the camp were triggered by mortar fire.

Some 3,000 MKO members were relocated to Camp Liberty on the outskirts of Baghdad last year but some 100 people stayed on at the camp.

In December 2011, the United Nations and Baghdad agreed to relocate some 3,000 MKO members from Camp New Iraq.

The MKO is considered as a terrorist group since it has been behind many cases of bombings and assassinations against the Iranian officials and people

September 14, 2013 0 comments

UN envoy in Iraq urges countries to accept Iranian dissidents

The killing of dozens of members of an Iranian dissident group that the Iraqi government wants out of the country should be ‘‘a wake-up call’’ to the international community, the acting U.N. envoy to Iraq said Friday as he pressed countries to do more to find them homes abroad.

Members of the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, which is strongly opposed to Iran’s clerical regime, were welcomed into Iraq by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s during the brutal war with neighboring Iran.

Their fortunes turned sharply with the Iraqi dictator’s toppling in the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. Iraq’s current Shiite-led Iraqi government, which has strengthened ties with Tehran, considers their presence in the country illegal.

A disputed Sept. 1 shooting at their longtime home in Camp Ashraf killed 52 MEK members — roughly half of the camp’s remaining population.

The dissidents accuse Iraqi security forces of carrying out the killings. Baghdad denies involvement, with officials saying an internal dispute was to blame. It has promised to carry out an investigation.

United Nations representatives traveled to the camp a day after the killing. Although the U.N. has not determined who was responsible, acting U.N. envoy Gyorgy Busztin said the bloodshed highlights the need to protect the residents.

‘‘What has happened at Camp Ashraf on the first of September is a game changer. It should be a wake-up call to all countries who are in a position to help to come forward,’’ he told The Associated Press. ‘‘Resettlement is the ultimate guarantee of their security.’’

The U.N. this week helped facilitate the transfer of the last 42 Camp Ashraf residents to a different camp near Baghdad airport where more than 2,800 of their comrades are staying. That compound is meant to provide temporary shelter while the U.N. works to resettle them abroad.

Busztin said the Baghdad camp, a former U.S. military base known as Camp Liberty, should offer them better security than Camp Ashraf, which is 95 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Baghdad. It is also physically closer to U.N. offices in the Iraqi capital, making it easier to monitor, he said.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations inside Iran in the 1980s and fought alongside Iraqi forces in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war. It says it renounced violence in 2001.

The U.S. considered the MEK a terrorist group until last year. Leaving Camp Ashraf was a key factor in reversing that designation.

Busztin urged U.N. member states to do more to relocate the residents safely abroad.

The Baghdad camp where MEK members are now all staying has itself been hit by deadly rocket attacks claimed by Iranian-backed Shiite militants.

‘‘These are human beings. Whatever the government of Iraq says about their past, these are people in need of protection, and we take that very seriously,’’ Busztin said.

The resettlement process has moved slowly because the U.N. is struggling to find countries willing to take them. U.N. officials also say that many residents have been uncooperative with the process, complicating the relocation effort.

A total of 210 residents have left to other countries so far, according to figures provided by the U.N. refugee agency.

Most of them went to Albania, which has offered to take 210 in total. Germany has said it would accept about 100. A small number of residents have been resettled elsewhere.

Seven former Camp Ashraf members are unaccounted for following this month’s violence, according to the MEK. The group claims they are being held by Iraqi forces and will soon be turned over to Iran against their will.

Iraqi Human Rights Minister Mohammed Shiyaa al-Sudani and Georges Bakoos, who oversees the MEK issue for the Iraqi government, both denied Friday that the seven said to be missing are in Iraqi custody.

Busztin, the U.N. official, had no information on their whereabouts.

The U.N. refugee agency expressed concern for the seven reported missing, saying in a statement that they are all known to be asylum-seekers. It called on the Iraqi government to find them and ensure their safety, as well as prevent them from being returned to Iran against their will.

As for the rest of the exiles, Busztin said it is difficult to say how soon they could be resettled.

‘‘I’m optimistic more countries will come forward and the numbers in the camps will be gradually reduced. But for the length of the process, I cannot give you a reasonable estimate,’’ he said. ‘‘What we request from the government of Iraq is to extend them adequate protection until the last one leaves,’’ he added.

Associated Press writer Qassim Abdul-Zahra contributed to this report.

By ADAM SCHRECK

September 14, 2013 0 comments

USA

US welcomes relocation of remaining Ashraf residents

Relocation of Remaining Individuals from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya in Iraq

Press Statement

Jen Psaki US welcomes relocation of remaining Ashraf residents

Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

September 11, 2013

The United States welcomes today’s safe arrival at Camp Hurriya of the remaining 42 individuals from the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) who had been residing at Camp Ashraf. These individuals were survivors of the horrific attack that took place on September 1 at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate their cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in this relocation effort. We also appreciate the assistance of the Government of Iraq in facilitating this relocation.

The United States reiterates its condemnation of the September 1 attack and insists that the perpetrators of that barbarous act be brought to justice. We also continue to be deeply concerned about the seven individuals who remain missing from the attack and urge that all steps be taken to locate these individuals.

UNAMI made extraordinary efforts to implement a plan to safely and peacefully move the remaining residents at Camp Ashraf, and we appreciate and support those efforts. We urge all parties to continue to implement all remaining obligations of that plan. In particular, we call on the Government of Iraq to move expeditiously to enhance security structures within Camp Hurriya. It is the responsibility of the Government of Iraq to take all possible measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents at Camp Hurriya in accordance with the December 25, 2011 Memorandum of Understanding between UNAMI and the Government of Iraq.

We further call on the Government of Iraq to ensure the safekeeping of the property that remains at Camp Ashraf, as agreed pursuant to the UNAMI relocation plan. We also call upon the members and leaders of the MEK to actively participate in the UNHCR-led resettlement process. The United States stands firmly behind UNAMI efforts to resolve this matter and to act with urgency to find locations for the safe, secure, and permanent relocation of Camp Hurriya residents outside Iraq.

September 14, 2013 0 comments

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