The 36 Iranian nationals from the Mojahedin-e Khalq were originally arrested and charged with inciting and/or committing acts of violence against the police under Section 431 of Iraqi law in July 2009. Since their arrest further charges have been brought by the Government of Iraq (GOI) and passed to the Judiciary. The charges include: illegal entry into Iraq and interference in national security – charges which carry severe penalties.
…”MKO supposed they will be welcomed by France thanks to their role in Iran’s post-election events, but Paris left them hopeless in Camp Ashraf,”said the source who spoke on condition of anonymity… Scores of Ashraf residents believe that they have no role to play following the fall of Saddam Hussein and they are willing to return to Iran following the camp’s siege by Iraqi forces, but they are prevented by MKO hardliners, the Iraqi newspaper reported.
… The People’s Mujahedeen, an Islamic movement, was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran. It has subsequently fought to oust the clerical regime which took power in the 1979 Islamic revolution. The group set up Camp Ashraf in the 1980s — when former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was at war with Iran — as a base to operate against the Tehran government … Williams, who met a group of Ashraf supporters last week, urged protesters in Britain to end their hunger strike in support of the camp residents..
… Our view remains that the residents of Camp Ashraf are not entitled to ‘protected persons’ status as the Fourth Geneva Convention ceased to apply in Iraq after 28 June 2004, following the end of active hostilities and occupation … Our ambassador in Iraq has written to the Iraqi authorities to ask for a review into the recent events at the camp. Officials from our embassy in Baghdad are continuing to follow developments, and will shortly undertake a further visit to the camp.
Washington is angry at Baghdad because Iraqi troops recently stormed a camp north of Baghdad belonging to the Mujahideen-e-Khalq[MKO/MEK/PMOI]…Even after the U.S. turned Saddam from friend to foe, it continued his policy of befriending the enemy of the enemy. Hawkish members of Congress shilled for the Mujahideen, despite reports that the group had become a cult. Defectors were telling horror stories of devotees being indoctrinated, forced to live gender-separated lives, and of families being broken up.
The United States expects to keep to its plan to withdraw combat forces from Iraq within a year despite a spate of bomb attacks, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq said on Thursday.”During this year we’ll ensure that our troops are withdrawn on schedule, by the president’s timetable,”U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. In their place would be a”strong healthy relationship between the U.S. and Iraq,”he said…President Barack Obama has set a deadline of August 2010 for the removal of U.S. combat forces..
This is not the first time that the MEK has served as a bargaining chip in Middle Eastern politics. The group was placed on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations in 1997 at a time when the Clinton administration hoped the move would facilitate opening a dialogue with Iran and its newly elected president,who was seen as a moderate..Those at Camp Ashraf, including around 1,000 women, have become, in effect, bargaining chips in the complicated relationship between the United States, Iraq and Iran. ..
The deadly melee at Camp Ashraf, the base of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, provides a glaring example of what can go wrong as the U.S. military scales back ..Camp Ashraf and the presence of the Iranian exile group have long been a source of friction between Washington and Baghdad..The group _ also known by its Farsi name the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq _ is the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. It carried out a series of bloody bombings and assassinations in Iran ..
Iraq’s Shiite-dominated government now has good relations with Iran and little enthusiasm for the MEK. The Americans are at best ambivalent. The group, which some consider a cult, is on the American terrorism list for attacks against the United States (in the distant past) and more recently against Iran…Residents are barred from resettling in many third countries because of the group’s terrorist designation. Finding a solution will not be easy..
Unfortunately for the PMOI, it was categorized as a terrorist organization by the Bill Clinton administration. It continues to carry this designation in the US, although the designation was removed by the European Union earlier in 2009. On top of this label, which has certainly isolated the NCRI and PMOI from potential support among certain elements of the US power structure.. the PMOI is asking one of the greatest human rights violators in Iraq and elsewhere around the world–the US government–to protect them