Iraq

Demonstration to reject the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents

Demonstration to reject the transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to maintain peace and security

Muthanna – Hundreds of residents of Muthanna province met in the city of Samawah on Thursday to reject the transfer of the population of”Camp Ashraf”to their province, while local officials have renewed their rejection of the order and demanded the Iraqi government refrain from any decision to transfer them to the province.

Hundreds of demonstrators from the citizens and staff as well as school students, met in the concert hall (central Samawah) in the presence of the Governor and the President and members of the Al Muthanna Council, in addition to a number of tribal leaders and dignitaries in the province.

The protesters carried placards that carried dozens of expressions of condemnation and rejection of the idea of transferring the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (the inhabitants of Ashraf camp) to Al Muthanna, and chanted clan songs to express their refusal to meet what they described as “murderers and thugs”…

Aswat al Iraq, Muthanna – Translated by Iran Interlink

December 13, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Media invited to witness MKO transfer from Camp Ashraf next Tuesday

The Government of Iraq has decided to move the residents of Camp Ashraf, all of which residents are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, to another location which has not yet been disclosed.

The Government has invited the media to attend Camp Ashraf on the fifteenth day of December to cover the transfer of residents to the place allocated to them.

The issue of the MKO has been subject to protracted negotiations between the Government of Iraq and the U.S. over the fate of this organization which is classified as a terrorist group by both sides. The former Saddam Hussein’s regime gave it full protection and provided a camp, said to be the base for its [terrorist] activities. The organization’s members participated in military operations in favour of Saddam’s regime until its demise in 2003.

Wasat online, Baghdad, translated by Iran Interlink
http://www.wasatonline.com

December 13, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq resolute to oust anti-Iran terrorists

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says Baghdad is serious about forcing members of a terrorist anti-Iranian group out of his country.

Maliki said the Mujahedin-e Khlaq Organization (MKO), which have the blood of thousands of Iranian citizens on their hand, will be quarantined in a far-fetched region south of Iraq before leaving the country.

MKO members have to pack up and leave the camp to Noghra al-Salman in southern Iraqi province of Al-Mosana, the Iraqi prime minister said. Iraqi security forces raided Camp Ashraf, the terrorist group’s camp granted by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, two months ago and has called for their ouster.

MKO members have to pack up and leave the camp to Noghra al-Salman in southern Iraqi province of Al-Mosana, the Iraqi prime minister said.

Maliki said the transfer is a step forward towards their complete expulsion.

He said the group’s presence poses security threats to Iraqi as they can team up with members of Saddam’s Baath party.

MKO is known for their bloody, untargeted operations against Iranians after the victory of the 1979 Revolution.

December 13, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Nuri al-Maliki: Iraq to move Mojahedin Khalq to remote south

BAGHDAD – Iraq plans to uproot an Iranian exile group that has become a headache for the Baghdad government and move the activists to a remote southern area until it can expel them, the prime minister said this week. Moving them to Nuqrat al-Salman is a step towards expelling them (from Iraq)," Maliki

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki vowed to oust members of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition movement that the United States considers a terrorist organisation, from a camp northeast of Baghdad where they have been living for two decades.

Their clamor for greater rights within Iraq and aggressive international outreach has been an irritant for a government seeking to nurture its fragile relationship with Tehran.

Maliki did not say when officials would try to move the exiles from Camp Ashraf to the southern province of Muthanna.

"Moving them to Nuqrat al-Salman is a step towards expelling them (from Iraq)," Maliki wrote in a question-and-answer session posted on a state website. He was referring to a remote area that is home to a well-known prison. The entry was dated Dec. 7.

Iraqi forces clashed with residents in late July when they forcibly took control of the camp, which had been protected by U.S. troops since Saddam Hussein’s ouster in 2003.

The Iraqi government, which sees the camp’s 3,500 residents as enemies who enjoyed Saddam’s protection for years, is keen to force the PMOI out of Iraq but wants to avoid being seen as trampling the exiles’ rights or endangering their lives.

The PMOI began as an Islamist leftist group opposed to Iran’s late Shah, but fell out with Shi’ite clerics who took power after the 1979 revolution and was crushed.

Mujahideen guerrillas carried out attacks against Iranian targets and collaborated with Baghdad in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. Iran executed a large number of PMOI prisoners at the end of the war.

Maliki suggested the exiles would be less troublesome in largely Shi’ite Muthanna than they were in Diyala, an ethnically and religiously mixed province that remains volatile.

"Their presence at Ashraf is a major risk because of the historical ties with some groups and political powers in that area, especially the remains of the former regime and al-Qaeda," the prime minister said.

He dismissed objections to the move from local officials in Muthanna. "The province is a part of Iraq and it must assume its responsibility," Maliki said.

Reporting by Waleed Ibrahim and Missy Ryan, editing by Paul Taylor

December 12, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq to transfer Iranian dissident group to Baghdad

Iraq to transfer Iranian dissident group to Baghdad Iraq will move exiled Iranian dissidents based at a camp close to the border between the two countries to Baghdad, a government spokesman said on Thursday.

"We will move residents of Camp Ashraf to buildings in Baghdad on Tuesday," he said, without giving details.

The members of the People’s Mujahedeen have lived at Camp Ashraf, a refugee base in Diyala province north of the Iraqi capital, for more than 20 years.

Iraqi security forces launched an operation to take over the camp in July.

The group was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran and subsequently fought the clerical regime that ousted him in the 1979 Islamic revolution.

About 3,500 Mujahedeen and their families have lived in Ashraf since former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the Iranian opposition to set up bases on his territory during his 1980-88 war with Tehran.

Following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, American forces disarmed the Mujahedeen in Ashraf and placed the residents under protection.

Iraq’s increasingly independent government has moved to take charge of the site.

December 12, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Maliki: No place for the Mojahedin Khalq in Iraq

Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he "no place for the MKO in Iraq."

According to a statement issued by Maliki’s office: "The Prime Minister today received the new President of the International Red Cross mission in Iraq McKenna Bart."

The statement quoted Maliki as saying:

"Our demand is fair, we do not force them to return to Iran and do not allow them to stay permanently in Camp Ashraf. There is no place for them in Iraq after the crimes they have committed against the Iraqi people by exercising their terrorism and because of their cooperation with the Baathists and their interference in Iraq’s domestic affairs."

On the issue of missing Kuwaitis, Maliki said: "The issue of missing Kuwaitis is humanitarian and not political, and we are fully prepared to cooperate with our brothers in Kuwait."

He continued: "We confirmed our commitment to cooperate on missing Kuwaiti property and money in letters previously to the United Nations and the Government of Kuwait, and seek to end this humanitarian issue, and seek to protect the integrity of the remains of any missing Kuwaitis."
He added: "Iraq has overcome many difficulties during the past two years, and [we see] the development and improvement on what the security situation was before."

For his part, according to the statement, the head of the Red Cross praised the developments witnessed by Iraq and Iraq’s commitment to resolving the issue of missing Kuwaitis, referring to the adoption of the International Committee of Red Cross’ joint efforts with the Iraqi government and its cooperation in this respect.

November 24, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq firm on extraditing MKO ringleaders to Iran

BAGHDAD – Tehran’s chief diplomat in Baghdad has said that Iraq is serious about handing over MKO ringleaders to Iran.
Hassan Qazemi Qom ,Tehran’s chief diplomat in Baghdad
Hassan Qazemi Qom told the Mehr News Agency that the Iraqi government is determined to expel the MKO group and it has already taken steps in this regard.

According to Iraqi resources about 3,400 MKO members are held at Camp Ashraf in Diyala province near the border with Iran.

Qazemi Qomi said since the Iraqi people are worried about the behavior of this group in their country and the Iraqi government has put the expulsion of the group on its agenda.

“In recent months a number of hypocrite members have left Iraq and certain have returned to Iran,” the ambassador noted. “We expect the Iraqi government to expedite its efforts in expelling the hypocrites.”

Mojahedin Khalq Organization are referred to as hypocrites in Iran.

The MKO began a campaign of assassinations and bombings in Iran shortly after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The group moved to Iraq in the early 1980s and fought Iran from there until the United States invaded the country in March 2003.

The group was also involved in the suppression of the Iraqi people during Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Extradition of criminals

The envoy said during the Iranian parliamentary delegation’s visit to Iraq a number of lawmakers sitting on the Majlis Legal Committee exchanged views with the Iraqi side on signing a deal on extraditing criminals.

Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani made a five-day tour of Iraq at the head of a parliamentary delegation from November 4 to 8.

November 15, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq to expel Washington Backed Mojahedin Khalq

Iraq to expel Washington Backed Mojahedin Khalq Despite American desperate support for terrorists

Larijani warns of plots to cause Iran-Iraq rift

Iran’s top lawmaker says efforts are underway to create a rift between Tehran and Baghdad, but stresses that all such efforts are in vain.
Second Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Aref Tayfour, said MKO/MEK/PMOI members must be transferred to a third country
"Iran and Iraq have great potential for economic cooperation. That is why serious attempts are made to prevent them from establishing deep ties," Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said during a Wednesday meeting with Iraqi lawmakers in Baghdad.

Larijani, who is in the Iraqi capital for a four-day visit, did not specify which parties oppose close ties between the two countries, but went on to criticize the United States for its ‘extremist’ behavior in the region.

He held Washington responsible for the rise in terrorist activities in Iraq and accused it of trying to spread ‘modern barbarism’ in the world.

Larijani also attacked Washington for encouraging the former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, to wage a devastating eight-year war against Iran in the 1980s.

Moving to the issue of the Mujahedeen Khalq Organization (MKO), Larijani asked the lawmakers to expedite the process of expelling members of the terror group from Iraqi soil.

After the meeting with Larijani, an Iraqi lawmaker described the Iranian parliament speaker’s comments about the MKO as very important and said that Baghdad was doing its best to expel the group, but added that no country was willing to accept them.

Second Deputy Speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Aref Tayfour, said MKO members must be transferred to a third country far from Iraq and Iran to be unable to infiltrate the borders of the two countries.

Late in July, Iraqi security forces stormed Camp Ashraf in Iraq’s Diyala province near the Iranian border and shut it down. Camp Ashraf had been housing some 3,500 members of the terrorist group for years.

The MKO, listed as a terrorist group in Iran, Iraq, Canada, and the US, has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against Iranian government officials and civilians over the past 30 years.

The attacks include the assassination of the late president Mohammad-Ali Rajaei, prime minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar and judiciary chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.
The MKO is also known to have cooperated with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hossein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.

The organization is also notorious for using cult-like tactics against its own members and for torturing and murdering its defectors.

November 7, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

No country willing to accept MKO terrorists on its soil

Second deputy speaker of Iraqi Parliament:
No country willing to accept MKO terrorists on its soil

Underlining the Iraqi government’s official position regarding MKO terrorist group Aref Tayfour said: So far, no country has expressed willingness to accept them in its soil. Second deputy speaker of Iraqi Parliament:No country willing to accept MKO terrorists on its soil

In a meeting with Iranian parliament speaker on Wednesday and referring to Larijani’s remarks about MKO parasitical presence in Iraq Aref Tayfour also said: The Iraqi government is determined and is doing its best to displace and expel MKO from Iraq but until now no country has been ready to accept this terrorist group.

The Iraqi official also clarified: the Iraqi government is trying to relocate MKO to somewhere away from Iran’s border with Iraq so as to prevent them from infiltrating to Iran from Iraq’s soil.

Second vice president to the Iraqi parliament then referred to the Islamic republic of Iran support for the Iraqi Kurds and said: The Iraqi Kurds nation always regards Iran as its safe heaven.

November 7, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

European countries urged to host PMOI

BAGHDAD- The Iraqi cabinet’s secretary general on Wednesday revealed attempts by the Iraqi government to convince European countries to host the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), which is currently based in Iraq.

“Iran has called on Iraq to hand over the PMOI’s members, but the (Iraqi) government does not want to force them to go to a country against their wishes, just as it does not want them to stay in Iraq,” Ali al-Allaq said in an exclusive statement to Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

“There is no justification for the organization’s members to remain in Iraq,” Allaq added.
The official explained that it is not possible for the Iraqi government to look after the PMOI’s members, who are taking refuge in the country, at a time it declares security and reconstruction as its top priorities.

The PMOI, also known by the abbreviations MKO and MEK, is a militant socialist organization that advocates the overthrow of Iran’s current government. Founded in 1965, the PMOI was originally devoted to armed struggle against the Shah of Iran, capitalism and Western imperialism.

The group officially renounced violence in 2001 and today it is the main organization in the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), an “umbrella coalition” parliament-in-exile that claims to be dedicated to a democratic, secular and coalition government in Iran.

November 5, 2009 0 comment

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