Ban Ki-moon demands investigation by Iraqi authorities into deadly attack on dissident base that left at least six dead. 
Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, has condemned a deadly attack on an Iranian dissident camp in the Iraqi capital and demanded an investigation by authorities.
"(Ban) strongly condemns the mortar attack today on Camp Liberty, the temporary transit facility near Baghdad for former residents of Camp Ashraf," his press office said in a statement after the attack on Saturday.
The US state department labelled the assault a "vicious and senseless terrorist attack," and called on Iraq to probe the attack and enhance security at the camp.
According to the Associated Press, at least six people were killed and dozens of others were injured when missiles struck the area occupied by the Mujahadeen e-Khalq (MEK) group near Baghdad.
A spokesman for the European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, also joined in the condemnation of the attack.
"We express our condolences to the families of the victims. We are concerned that it could add tension to the present situation in the camp," the EU spokesman said.
A spokesman for the interior ministry, however, said only one person had been killed and that reports of more deaths were "exaggerated".
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack on the transit camp, a former American military base known as Camp Liberty, adjacent to Baghdad’s international airport.
The camp was the base that now-executed dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the group MEK to establish in Diyala province in the 1980s, during Iraq’s eight-year war with Iran.
Martin Kobler, the top UN official in Iraq, told Al Jazeera that he was "shocked" by the attack.
"These people have to be protected," he said, calling on Iraqi authorities to "promptly conduct an investigation".
‘Terrorist group’
The camp is home to more than 1,000 residents from the MEK who were moved last year, on Iraq’s insistence, from their historic paramilitary camp of the 1980s – Camp Ashraf.
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the Shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that overthrew him it took up arms against Iran’s rulers.
It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the government in Tehran through peaceful means.
It is no longer welcome in Iraq under the Shia-led government that came to power after US-led forces invaded and toppled Saddam in 2003.
Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Baghdad, said Iraq sees the MEK as a "terrorist group".
"They [MEK] say they’re in danger from the Iranians and the Iraqi government," she said.
The UN intends to process them for refugee status in other countries but no country has so far welcomed them.
Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the US in September 2012.
The US state department holds the group responsible, however, for the deaths of Iranians as well as US soldiers and civilians from the 1970s into 2001.
The MEK has no support in Iran, and no connection to domestic opposition groups.
Following the campaign launched by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO /MEK) on the alleged 
“inhumane condition” of Camp Liberty, the group leaders and supporters propagate “the necessity of returning residents to Ashraf”. Alejo Vida Quadras, the top MKO supporter in European Parliament suggested the new propaganda under the pretext of "lack of progress in relocation to third countries".
To our surprise, the group leaders do not call on their western supporters to aid facilitate their members’ relocation in European countries instead of returning to Camp Ashraf although a large number of Liberty residents have citizenship in various western countries. Earlier this month, speaking in their so-called international conference in Paris, Maryam Rajavi, the self-assigned president of the National Council of Resistance required the US government to relocate Liberty residents in Camp Ashraf. “Now the US must actively intervene as that the residents can return to Ashraf. Otherwise it would be responsible for what may henceforth happen in Liberty Prison” Rajavi addressed the conference. Fed by the large scale disinformation campaign of the MKO its supporters in Western states label Liberty as "Prison". They resort to the old pretext which has been flooding of storm and sewage at the camp. However, UN Mission in charge of the Camp believes that it complies with normal humanitarian standards as well as necessary infrastructure for residence of the group members. (View our previous post on Camp Liberty: Camp Liberty resembles a prison?)
On January21, 2013, in a debate in UK parliament House of Lords, a few number of Lords expressed their concerns over the situation of Liberty residents. Baroness Warsi, a conservative member of UK House of Lords convinced her coulleagues that heavy rainfall that flooded parts of Camp Liberty as well as many parts of Baghdad "did not affect residents’ accommodation blocks".
To respond her misinformed colleagues about the claims of ex-UNAMI chief Taher Boumedra and the alleged inefficiency of Martin Kobler over Camp Liberty issues, she noted:”Our own officials visited in July last year and the international community does not, at this stage, find any credible evidence to support the matters that have been raised by Mr. Tahar Boumedra.” Boumedra’s claims are still used as evidence by the MKO propaganda.
Lord Avebury who is one of the most loyal supporters of the MKO in UK parliament he pointed to allegations of “ill-treatment such as denial of access to urgently needed medical treatment”. In response Baroness Warsi mentioned that the situation of Liberty residents is “in many ways much better than that of residents in Baghdad.” She referred to the 24-hour electricity available in the Camp while Iraqi nationals enjoy power only three hours a day in some areas of Baghdad. She also noticed that enough water and medical facilities are available in the camp.
Baroness Warsi warned her peers in UK parliament that they “must be incredibly careful” about the MKO regarding its history and record.
The new tactic, the MKO has used to maintain the hegemony over its cult-like group seems to be an alternative to the previous agenda which was running petitions and lobbying efforts to make the UN grant the status of a refugee camp to camp Liberty. The failed tactic led the group to run the new one: return to Ashraf where they claim to own its properties.
In their most recent misinformation event in Paris, the “speakers condemned forcible eviction of Ashraf residents and their transfer to Liberty prison…”, according to NCRI website . They called for “the return of Ashraf residents to the modern town they built in 26 years.” Lord Dholakia’s asked about refugee status of Liberty while he confessed that he WAS misinformed by the MKO saying,”the information the Minister has is not the information that we receive from residents of those camps". Ordinary residents of liberty have no access to the outside world let alone contacting a UK Parliamentarian.
During the debate the conservative Baroness assured her colleagues that Liberty” is not a refugee camp as such: it is a place where individuals are being assessed as to the countries to which they could be relocated.”(View the debate here)
According to reports, almost all former members of the MKO who fled the group camps in Iraq could manage to resettle whether in Iran or in European countries. It sounds that leaving Iraq is not so difficult that the Rajavis could not relocate their members yet. Probably it’s not the matter of ability it’s the matter of will.
By Mazda Parsi
Iraq: Camp Liberty — Question
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what recent information they have concerning flooding by sewage and storm water at Camp Liberty, and whether they have made representations to the United Nations and the United 
Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq about conditions at the camp.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
My Lords, we are aware that parts of Camp Liberty were flooded during a recent period of heavy rainfall, as were many parts of the Baghdad area. Fortunately, this did not affect residents’ accommodation blocks. We continue to monitor the situation at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty through the embassy in Baghdad and to raise issues with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations.
Lord Maginnis of Drumglass (Non-affiliated)
My Lords, is it not time that the Government made a judgment, based on first-hand evidence such as that produced by the ex-UNAMI chief Tahar Boumedra, and ignored the manipulation and dissembling by Martin Kobler on behalf of the Secretary-General of the United Nations? If the United Kingdom is to maintain its integrity and influence in the Middle East, we should be pressing for the dismissal of Herr Kobler and, indeed, be asking ourselves, with our allies, whether the present Secretary-General of the United Nations has not outlived his usefulness.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
Before I answer the noble Lord’s very important question, I am sure the rest of the House will want to join me in wishing him a very happy birthday.
The noble Lord raises an important point. The Secretary-General, whom I met with last week at the United Nations, is doing a very important job, with the support of the international community, in some very difficult circumstances. The specific situation in relation to Camp Liberty is that the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq, as part of the United Nations Assistance Mission, regularly reports about the situation in Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf. Our own officials visited in July last year and the international community does not, at this stage, find any credible evidence to support the matters that have been raised by Mr Tahar Boumedra.
Lord Avebury (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, considering that many of the complaints that are made by the residents of Camp Liberty and, indeed, Camp Ashraf, against the Iraqi authorities and UNAMI could be easily verified or refuted and that some have been confirmed not only by Mr Tahar Boumedra but by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, will the Government press for an inspector to be appointed by the UN Secretary-General to look into the serious allegations of ill treatment, such as denial of access to urgently needed medical treatment, which has lead to the deaths of two inmates of Camp Liberty? Since we have been aware for some time that 52 residents of Camp Liberty were formerly refugees in the United Kingdom, will my noble friend press for their immediate transfer to the UK?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
As my noble friend is aware, the situation in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is in many ways much better than that of residents in Baghdad. For example, electricity is available for 24 hours a day, as opposed to the three hours for which it is available in some parts of Baghdad. About 200 litres of water are available to residents there, when about 90 litres are available in some parts of Baghdad. My noble friend raises the very important issue of the recent death of a resident there. We share those concerns about the death of Behrooz Rahimian and have made inquiries specifically in relation to the medical assistance that he received. We are aware that there is a doctor and medical facilities on site 24 hours a day; there is also the opportunity to receive medical assistance from doctors in Baghdad. We understand that Mr Rahimian was afforded medical assistance in relation to his illness.
Lord Foulkes of Cumnock (Labour)
My Lords, will the Minister confirm that the new Parliament in Baghdad will be built to a British design, that UK parliamentarians, including the noble Lord, Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope, are out there helping to develop democracy and that the development of a democratic Government in Iraq to deal with the kind of issues raised by the noble Lord, Lord Maginnis, is the number one priority and will be supported fully by the British Government?
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I agree with much of what the noble Lord said. He will also be aware that this situation goes back many years. The group that lives in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty is an organisation that originally left Iran after the Iranian revolution. Mujaheddin e Khalq, the group that is predominantly part of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, has its own history and record, and we must be incredibly careful about which members of that group we readmit to the United Kingdom.
Lord Dholakia (Liberal Democrat)
My Lords, does my noble friend agree that one of the problems we have is that the United Nations has not granted Camp Liberty the status of a refugee camp? It that were granted, would it not be possible to have adequate medical facilities and for water, sewerage et cetera to be resolved? At the same time, the status of Camp Ashraf could be looked at because the property of individuals is systematically being looted there, and the information the Minister has is not the information that we receive from residents of those camps.
Baroness Warsi (Conservative)
I can assure my noble friend that about 3,000 residents of Camp Ashraf have moved to Camp Liberty. It is not a refugee camp as such; it is a place where individuals are being assessed as to the countries to which they could be relocated. Four have already come to the United Kingdom, a fifth who was offered that has decided not to come and about 52 others are being considered for coming to the United Kingdom. In relation to property at Camp Ashraf, I can assure my noble friend that about 100 residents of this group remain in Camp Ashraf specifically to sell off their property.
The SFF has written a letter concerning the latest developments in the Interim Transit Camp Liberty to Mr 
Martin Kobler, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Iraq, which was handed over in person during a meeting.
Mr Martin Kobler,
UNAMI, Baghdad, Iraq
Dear Mr Kobler,
With regards, we wish to share with you what we learned from some members of the MKO who very recently managed to escape from the camp and gain their freedom.
As you know, Camp Liberty has the area of one kilometer by one kilometer which is much smaller than Ashraf Garrison. The entrance contains check posts belonging to UNAMI and to the Government of Iraq separately. This place is now called ‘the triangle’ since the MKO has also established a post there.
All traffic in and out of the camp is controlled by the two posts of UNAMI and the GOI, and the third one, which belongs to the MKO, is merely keeping watch on these events and their job is to inform the various MKO units when the UN authorities are entering the camp. In this case residents in the unit that the officials are approaching are obliged to return to their dormitories and lock the doors and do not come out until they are told everything is clear. “Security reasons” is the excuse they give to the members for such a bizarre act.
When the UN officials enter the camp, the MKO post immediately warns leaders and they issue a state of alert to all units. In this situation, those residents who might try to contact the UN officials must be watched carefully and kept away. Everyone has been warned not to approach any visitor.
According to the information we have received, each unit of the Rajavi cult inside Camp Liberty has a legal and political liaison ‘representative’ who is the only person authorized to have contact with UN officials when they enter the camp. They are instructed to continuously complain about conditions in the camp. Everyone else must stay inside the dormitories until they are told to come out when the officials have left.
The MKO authorities say that they have been promised the same facilities they had in Ashraf and now they understand that this is because the UN wanted to separate off the discontented members. The MKO is following a policy of causing disruption in their present situation in an attempt to be allowed to return to Ashraf.
In this regard they have ordered the members to deliberately create terrible and unbearable conditions inside the camp and, according to them; if some die doing this it is worthwhile.
The Sahar Family Foundation which represents the ex-members and the families of trapped members of the MKO would like to urge you to deal with the above mentioned matters and make every effort so that:
1. The inhabitants of the camp have free access to the outside world, particularly to the UN officials who visit the camp;
2. The suffering families who have been waiting in Iraq for three years will be able to visit their loved ones.
Sahar Family Foundation
Baghdad, Feb 1, 2013
MEK lies silenced by U.K. Government
David Anderson (Blaydon, Labour
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To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent reports he has received on the condition of residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty; and what representations he has made to the Iraqi Government on that matter.
Alistair Burt (Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Afghanistan/South Asia, counter terrorism/proliferation, North America, Middle East and North Africa), Foreign and Commonwealth Office; North East Bedfordshire, Conservative):
The UN visit Camp Liberty, where the majority of former residents of Camp Ashraf now live, several times a week, and report that facilities at the camp meet international humanitarian standards. For example, residents have access to electricity 24 hours a day and over 200 litres of water per person per day. This compares well to the situation for many Iraqis. I raised the situation at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty with the Iraqi Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Human Rights in July 2012. We continue to monitor the situation at Camps Ashraf and Liberty through our embassy in Baghdad, and to raise issues with the UN and the Government of Iraq where appropriate.
A group of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) members have reportedly defected from the terrorist group as internal dissensions intensify within the MKO. 
At least 17 MKO members have fled Camp Liberty near the Iraqi capital of Baghdad so far in December.
They have requested UN officials in Baghdad to help them leave Iraq and seek asylum in a European country.
A former MKO member, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he managed to escape from the former US military base near Baghdad International Airport on December 5, despite strict measures and tight controls on the movements of all MKO terrorists.
The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s former dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
The group is known to have cooperated with Saddam 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.
News reports from Camp Liberty, the transient settlement facility of the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO also known as the MEK, PMOI and NCR) in Iraq, said that
MKO ringleaders fear that members might defect and escape from the Camp en masse.
According to a report by the Iran-based human rights Didehban Center, during the last three weeks at least 9 members of the MKO have managed to escape from Camp Liberty.
Other reports revealed that the members of the terrorist group have disobeyed the orders of Massoud Rajavi, the MKO’s main ringleader, adding that disobedience among the MKO has been on the increase recently.
Also, 300 members of the MKO refrained from signing a written commitment ordered by Rajavi to accompany the terrorist group in any future event.
Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the group are said to be willing to quit but are under pressure and torture not to do so.
A May 2005 Human Rights Watch report accused the MKO of running prison camps in Iraq and committing human rights violations.
According to the Human Rights Watch report, the outlawed group puts defectors under torture and jail terms.
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.
The terrorist group joined Saddam’s army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.
Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who argued for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.
The US formally removed the MKO from its list of terror organizations in early September, one week after Secretary of State Hillary Clinton sent the US Congress a classified communication about the move. The decision made by Clinton enabled the group to have its assets under US jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said in a statement at the time.
In September 2012, the last groups of the MKO terrorists left Camp Ashraf, their main training center in Iraq’s Diyala province. They have been transferred to Camp Liberty which lies Northeast of the Baghdad International Airport.
Camp Liberty is a transient settlement facility and a last station for the MKO in Iraq.
Former member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), Reza Rajabzadeh left it after 23 years of membership behind the bars of the cult-like group.
Reza’s father RamzanAli Rajabzadeh who was an active member of Nejat Society Gilan office died last year while he was awaiting his son’s release from the cult of Rajavi. Thus his old mother, who was so happy and eager to meet her beloved son, told Gilan office that the life of her son, his wife and two children was ruined by the Rajavis.
Nejat Society congratulates the Rajabzadehs particularly Reza’s brother Behrouz who greatly cooperated with the office to help rescue Reza, wishing for the release of all our ex-comrades who are still held as hostages in the MKO.
Another member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization fled the group last week.
Mr. Taqi Saleh, 47, was a high ranking member of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization who left the MKO after 22 years and joined UN forces installed at camp Liberty, on Monday, Dec.3, 2012.
Following the evacuation of camp Ashraf, the Cult leaders have to impose more severe mind control system and work time schedule over members in order to keep the members’ minds and bodies busy and eventually to prevent their defection. But, the more they enhance the pressure, the less the members are willing to stay in the cult.
It is worth to notify that Mr. Nasrollah Tokhm Afshan was also a long time member of the Cult of Rajavi who left the group, last week.
Dear UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon,
The residents of the Mujahedin Khalq Organization’s headquarter in Iraq, Camp Ashraf moved to
a Temporary Transit Location, Camp Liberty near Baghdad airport, according to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by UN special representative, Ambassador Martin Kobler and the Iraqi Government. Previously too reluctant to move to TTL (Camp Liberty), having settled down in the new site, the MKO leaders are now seeking the recognition of Liberty as Refugee Camp by the UN.
Regarding the testimonies of recently defected members, the leaders of the MKO are making efforts to maintain the manipulative controlling system of their cult-like group in Camp Liberty. They even do not allow the residents to use the facilities allocated to them by the UNHCR. Members are not allowed to use telephones, televisions. They have no access to the world outside the Cult of Rajavi, yet.
Systematic psychological pressure is heavily used against the Cult members. Manipulation sessions are held much more severely, according to escapees from Camp Liberty.
Members of the group are not permitted to visit their families who have been waiting to meet their loved ones in a free atmosphere, for so long.
Today, the leaders of the MKO seek to turn Camp Liberty to a small-size Camp Ashraf, with the same regulations and the same cult-like structure. They have ramped up suppression against members in order to prevent the collapse of the group. Thus, their last resort for the time being is to push the UN to recognize Liberty as a Refugee Camp. This way, they can prolong their stay in Iraq and eventually the structure of their cult-like organization.
Mr. Secretary General,
One of the most crucial rights deprived from the MKO members is the freedom to choose for their fate; to choose where to live; to choose where to go. Definitely, you and your respectable colleagues stand for individuals’ basic human rights but the leaders of the Cult of Rajavi continue to violate the members’ rights day and night. They intend to turn the temporary transit camp to a permanent refugee camp and ultimately another container for their cult of personality.
Do not allow the cult leaders to keep on abusing our loved ones mentally and physically imprisoned in their cult trap. Appreciating the acts of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq in the evacuation of Camp Ashraf, we shall be pleased to see your prompt cooperation to aid the residents of TTL decide for their own future without the supervision of the MKO authorities.
Respectfully,
Nejat Society