Iraq

Iraqi Politician Hails Seizure of MKO Camp by Baghdad Gov’t

The Iraqi security forces’ move to seize the training camp of the anti-Iran terrorist group, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), was "legal and accords with the international rules and conventions", an Iraqi politician said Sunday.

"Seizure of Camp Ashraf by the Iraqi army and security forces was a legal move and in accordance with the international rules and conventions," Forat al-Shar, A member of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC), told FNA.

"The MKO has conducted illegal acts inside the camp and this is not acceptable to the Iraqi nation," Shar underlined.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – on Tuesday and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

Earlier on Friday, Political Adviser of the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Mohsen al-Hakim told FNA that UN Security Council’s 1773 and 1816 resolutions as well as other international conventions have underlined the need for the expulsion of the MKO members from Iraq.
Fora’t al-Shar further rejected any extension of the MKO’s stay on the Iraqi, and added, "If MKO members want to stay in Iraq they should not commit acts against the Iraqi nation’s will and the country’s laws."

"If they want to go outside the country or come back to Iran, there are no barriers in this regard," the SIIC official told FNA.
He underlined that the Iraqi nation is unlikely to accept presence of the terrorist group inside the country for a long time, given the crimes committed by them against the Iraqi nation.
The Iraqi government has set a month-long deadline for members of the MKO to leave Iraqi soil.

"Members of the MKO at Camp of New Iraq (Camp Ashraf) have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq. The organization members should either return to Iran or seek asylum in a third country," Diyala province’s Police Chief Major General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told reporters on Saturday.
The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. The Iraqi government and parliament has announced that it would not tolerate the group anymore and is seeking to expel the group from the country in the near future.

The anti-Iran terror group has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by many international entities and countries.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp 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 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.

The MKO was put on the US terror list in 1997 by the then President, Bill Clinton, but since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group has been strongly backed by the Washington Neocons, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.

August 4, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq gives MKO a month to leave

The Iraqi government has set a month-long deadline for members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) to leave Iraqi soil. Members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) at Camp of New Iraq have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq.

"Members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) at Camp of New Iraq have to comply with the one-month time limit to leave Iraq. The organization members should either return to Iran or seek asylum in a third country," Diyala province’s Police Chief Major General Abdulhussein al-Shimari told reporters on Saturday.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s northern Diyala province since the 1980s when the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein dedicated Camp Ashraf – now called Camp of New Iraq — to host the anti-Iran terrorist group.

Iraqi authorities changed Camp Ashraf’s name to Camp of New Iraq on the wake of a two-day Iraqi security force raid on the site. Seven Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization members were confirmed dead and dozens of others were detained.

The MKO, which identifies itself as a Marxist-Islamist guerilla army, was founded in Iran in the 1960s.The terror group was exiled twenty years later for carrying out numerous acts of terrorism within the country and targeting Iranian government officials and civilians within the country and abroad.

The MKO is especially notorious for the help it extended to former dictator Saddam Hussein during the war Iraq imposed on Iran (1980-1988), and also helped the Iraqi dictator spill the blood of many Iraqi citizens who were critical of Saddam’s regime.

The Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization has been blacklisted as a terrorist organization by various countries, including the US and Canada, as well as international entities.

August 3, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Al Rubaie : No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan

Iraq National Security Adviser: No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan

Iraqi National Security Adviser Dr. Muwaffaq al Rubaie denied that there were any plans to Iraq National Security Adviser: No Plans to Send Mujahideen-e-Khalq to Pakistan transfer members of the Iranian opposition movement Mujahideen-e-Khalq based in Camp Ashraf, northeast of Baghdad, to Pakistan.

“The US forces considered the idea when they were responsible for the security situation in Iraq since the US administration wanted to put them in confrontation with Iran there. But now the Iraqi government is responsible for their conditions and for Camp Ashraf,” Rubaie told Asharq Al-Awsat by telephone from Baghdad.

Al Rubaie stressed that “Iraq is committed to international conventions and to the American administration that it will preserve the security and wellbeing of those present in Camp Ashraf. We will not force them to leave Iraq.” He added, “It is their right to choose whether to return to Iran – on the condition that Iran promises not to punish them – or to go to a third country.”

A leading figure from the Mujahideen-e-Khalq movement spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat on the condition of anonymity and said that this information is “unfounded.” He said, “This is merely leaked news, the aim of which is to discredit the historical decision of Mujahideen-e-Khalq that it was willing to return to the country [Iran] on the condition that fundamental rights could be guaranteed by international parties.”

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday, “Although the US government remains engaged and concerned about this issue, it is a matter now for the government of Iraq to resolve in accordance with its laws.”

She stressed that the Iraqi government must uphold commitments to protect those living in Camp Ashraf and not hand them over to “any country where such a transfer might result in the mistreatment or the death of that person based on their political affiliation and activities.”
Baghdad: Rahma al Salim, Washington: Mina al Oraibi

August 3, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq’s obligation of protecting terrorists

In contrast to the United States long classification of MEK as a terrorist group, dating back to attacks by the group in the 1970’s that killed several US military personnel and civilians advising the government of the late Shah of Iran, it stands in full support of the group. MEK supported Iraq In an attempt to take the control of the group’s bastion, Camp Ashraf, Iraqi forces invaded the camp on Tuesday in its 1980’s war against Iran and enjoyed protected status under Saddam, but it has to leave the country as the new government in Baghdad tries to purge the country of any source of violence that endangers the country’s social security and order.

In an attempt to take the control of the group’s bastion, Camp Ashraf, Iraqi forces invaded the camp on Tuesday but protests from the side of MEK caused numerous casualties and according to reports by Iraqi officials, several deaths. Earlier Wednesday, a State Department spokesman said reports of casualties among camp residents are disturbing and said the United States is seeking more information from the Iraqi government.

Reported by Voanews, the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday she deplored the reported raid and said the United States is urging restraint on both sides in a confrontation between Iraqi security forces and Iranian dissidents in a camp east of Baghdad occupied by the Iranian exiles since before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Soon after the fall of Saddam, the US troops had provided security for the camp but ceded control in February of this year with the transfer of full authority in the country from coalition forces to the Iraqi government. Clinton said Iraq must uphold commitments to the United States that the MEK members will not be mistreated.

"We are very clear that we expect that the Government of Iraq, now that it has assumed this security responsibility, will fulfill its obligations, to show restraint, will not forcibly transfer anyone to a country where such a transfer might result in the mistreatment or the death of that person based on their political affiliation and activities," she said. "But it is now the responsibility of the Government of Iraq."

If full authority in the country from coalition forces is transferred to the Iraqi government, then, it is up to the government to decide for the country’s security by curbing the danger of a terrorist group still recognized a FTO.

August 3, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

SIIC rep :Many MKO members ask to return home

Many MKO members ask to return home: SIIC rep Service – Foreign Policy

Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) representative in Tehran Mohsen Hakim said a large number of Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) have asked to return home. Many MKO members ask to return home: SIIC rep Service Mohsen Hakim

In an interview with Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA), Hakim pointed out to Iraqi Tuesday attack over Camp Ashraf and said Iraqi forces took over the camp’s security since January 1st and then delivered the whole responsibility of the camp after the US forces withdraw Iraqi garrisons on June 30.

Iraqi government sought establishment of a security site in Ashraf Camp in a bid to strengthen its national sovereignty and monitor the camp, but it faced savage attacks by MKO members throwing stones and tear gas at police, he added.

According to Hakim, 25 police forces were injured at Diyala province, where Camp Ashraf is located, leading to Iraqi government use of force to strengthen its sovereignty through arrest of 30 MKO terrorist members.

Iraqi government has taken over the whole Ashraf Camp and will not change its approach, Hakim said adding the MKO members are terrorists and need to leave Iraq territory.

He continued Iranian and Iraqi diplomatic sources are in talks on mechanisms to return the MKO members home." Talks will get results seen."

Hakim said 928 MKO members are western nationals or residents and that Iraqi government is holding talks with 12 European embassies to bring them back to Europe.

He declared according to approvals of Iraqi parliament and international organization, MKO is regarded as a terrorist group which should leave Iraq as soon as possible.

August 2, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Diala police commander: Iraqi forces control Camp Ashraf without any violence

DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi police forces are entirely in control of camp Ashraf where the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) lives, the Diala province’s police commander said on Thursday.

The PMOI’s spokesperson did not confirm this announcement, and claimed that Iraqi army forces are preparing to attack the Camp, but an authorized source from the army denied this claim.

“Police forces, in coordination with Iraqi army forces, are in total control of Camp Ashraf without any violence,” General Abdilhussein al-Shemmary, the Diala police commander, told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

But Mahdee Aqbaee, the PMOI’s spokesperson, told the agency that “Iraq army forces are preparing to carry out a new attack on Camp Ashraf.”

For his part, an authorized source from the Iraqi army denied this issue.
“Iraqi army and police forces are in control of Camp Ashraf, without any security troubles,” the source said.

Yesterday, Iraqi forces engaged with PMOI’s elements when the Organization’s operatives prevented the troops from entering Camp Ashraf territory.

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 is said 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.

The PMOI has had thousands of its members for many years in bases in Iraq, but they were disarmed in the wake of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion and are said to have adhered to a ceasefire. Its armed wing is, or was, called the National Liberation Army of Iran (NLA).

The former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein dedicated Camp Ashraf in Diala province, northeast of Baghdad, to host the PMOI members since the 1980s.

Although being designated as a “terrorist” group, the organization has been under U.S. protection.

After the security agreement between Iraq and the United States government was signed, the Iraqi government took the responsibility of providing security to Camp Ashraf residents.

August 1, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraq changes name of MKO’s Camp Ashraf

Iraqi authorities changed the name of a training base of the anti-Iran terrorist group, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), after seizing full control of the camp.

"Camp Ashraf’s name has been changed to Camp of New Iraq, after the Iraqi security forces assumed full security of the camp,"" Political Adviser of the head of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC) Mohsen al-Hakim told FNA on Friday.

Hakim underlined that the Iraqi government has reached its specified goals during the raid, and added, ""The security post which had been scheduled to be set up inside the camp, was established."

"The Iraqi government has officially announced that it will confront any unrest and breach of law, and will not allow trespassing by the camp’s residents anyway,"" Political advisor of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim said.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf – about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad – on Tuesday and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

Seven members of an anti-Iranian terrorist group have been confirmed dead during the two-day Iraqi raid on Camp Ashraf.
Commenting upon the fate of the MKO’s members, Mohsen Hakim told FNA, ""The Iranian and Iraqi governments have made lots of efforts to draw a proper mechanism to transfer those who want to come back to Iran.

The official further noted that massive consultations are underway between Baghdad and 12 European states to expel 912 members of the group who have the citizenship or residency of those countries as soon as possible.

The MKO has been in Iraq’s Diyala province since the 1980s. The Iraqi government and parliament has announced that it would not tolerate the group anymore and is seeking to expel the group from the country in the near future.

Many of the MKO members abandoned the terrorist organization while most of those still remaining in the camp 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 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 MKO was put on the U.S. terror list in 1997 by the then President, Bill Clinton, but since the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, the group has been strongly backed by the Washington Neocons, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the U.S. terror list.

August 1, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Dabbagh: MKO snipers killed two members

Dabbagh – MKO snipers killed two members when they tried to flee the camp

Seven members of an anti-Iranian terrorist group have been confirmed dead during two-day Iraqi raids on Ashraf Camp in northern Baghdad.

Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) at Camp Ashraf — about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad — on Tuesday and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.

After two days of denying that the clashes had resulted in casualties, Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh admitted the death toll but rejected the claim that they had been killed after Iraqi police opened fire on them.

“Five of them threw themselves in front of Iraqi police vehicles,” Dabbagh said. “That’s not death by shooting but by rioting.”

The MKO is notorious for launching a campaign of self immolation in Europe following the 2003 French crackdown on group members suspected of attempts to move their base of operation to the European country.

Dabbagh says MKO snipers killed two others when they tried to flee the camp housing 3,500 Iranian dissidents.

MKO says 12 camp residents died during the two-day clashes.

Al-Dabbagh said that Iraqi forces would continue to maintain their control over the camp.
"The government intends to have control of Ashraf from inside and outside," al-Dabbagh said, adding that the responsibility for the camp’s security is Iraq’s concern and is viewed as "part of government sovereignty".

"They live on Iraqi soil and not on a remote island, and it is the job of Iraqi government to have control on the security situation there," he added.

After the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, American troops disarmed MKO members based at the camp. Control of the camp was handed over to Iraqi forces earlier this year.

Iraqi police said that about 800 Iraqi soldiers and more than 200 security forces would be stationed at the camp.

The MKO was founded in Iran in the 1960s, but its top leadership and members fled the country in the 1980s after carrying out a series of assassinations and bombings inside the country.

The group is especially notorious in Iran because they sided with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The United States, Canada, Iraq, and Iran have all designated the MKO as a terrorist organization.

August 1, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraqi Police Storm Ashraf – Iraq police clash anew with Iran rebel camp residents

KHALES, Iraq (AFP) – Clashes flared for a second day on Wednesday between Iraqi security forces and residents of a camp housing Iran’s main exiled opposition, a day after violence left two policemen dead.

AFP – Iraqi police vehicles block one of the entrances leading to Camp Ashraf, home to the People’s Mujahedeen, …

Around 420 people were also wounded after Iraqi soldiers stormed the camp on Tuesday, sparking unrest that prompted the deployment of riot police to quell resistance from Camp Ashraf’s residents.

"Fighting resumed when Iraqi police established a police station and hoisted the Iraqi flag," police Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim al-Karawi said, adding that Iraqi security forces were controlling about 75 percent of the camp.

Another police officer said clashes continued into the evening.

The opposition People’s Mujahedeen said seven residents of the camp, in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, were killed but there was no independent confirmation of those deaths.

Doctor Abdullah al-Timimi from the main hospital in the nearby town of Khales said the two policemen died on Wednesday from injuries sustained the previous day.

One suffered internal bleeding following a blow to the head. The other was stabbed in the neck, he said.

The Iraqi defence ministry was unapologetic about the raid against the camp, saying it was justified under a November security agreement with Washington.

"It’s our territory and it’s our right to enter, to impose Iraqi law on everybody," defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Askari told Al-Arabiya television.

"They (camp residents) have to submit to the law, and to Iraqi sovereignty. The SOFA (Status of Forces Agreement) authorises us to do what we did."

Under the pact, Iraqi security forces took over responsibility for the camp three months ago from US forces, which had disarmed the 3,500 or so residents following the 2003 invasion which toppled Saddam Hussein.

Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted in a statement that Baghdad "will not force anyone to leave Iraq against his will" after a Mujahedeen spokesman expressed concern that camp residents who were arrested would be handed over to Tehran.

A government committee, established on Wednesday to oversee the camp, said in a statement that authorities were aiming to close it and transfer its residents to another location in Iraq or help them leave the country if they wished, but noted that those were long-term goals.

A police official said 300 camp residents, 25 of them women, had been wounded along with around 120 security force personnel. More than 50 camp residents were detained.

The Mujahedeen said seven camp residents were killed and 385 wounded.

Karawi said negotiations between Diyala provincial police chief General Abdul Hussein al-Shamari and the Mujahedeen, which began on Tuesday evening, had stalled.

A US administration official said that Washington — which still blacklists the Mujahedeen as a terrorist organisation — had received assurances that camp residents would be treated in a "humane" manner.

The storming of the camp coincided with a visit to Iraq by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates but the top US commander in Iraq, General Ray Odierno, said the US military had no advance warning.

Iran’s parliament speaker Ali Larijani welcomed the seizure of the camp, describing the action as "praiseworthy" albeit "rather late".

Maryam Rajavi, the head of the exiled National Council of Resistance of Iran which includes the Mujahedeen, condemned the raid and accused Baghdad of doing Tehran’s bidding.

The People’s Mujahedeen was founded in 1965 in opposition to the shah and 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 Saddam was at war with the Islamic republic — as a base to operate against the Iranian government.

July 30, 2009 0 comment

Iraq

Iraqi Police Storm Ashraf – Iraqi forces storm MKO camp

TEHRAN/BAGHDAD – On Tuesday, Iraqi soldiers and riot police stormed Camp Ashraf, where Mojahedin Khalq Organization members had been based, triggering violent clashes that left at Iraqi officials say clashes broke out as they were trying to establish a police post in the camp. least 260 people injured.

Iraqi officials say clashes broke out as they were trying to establish a police post in the camp.

“After the failure of negotiations with the Mojahedin (Khalq) to enter peacefully, the Iraqi army entered Camp Ashraf with force and it now controls the interior and all entrances to the camp,” an Iraqi military source said.

An Iraqi army spokesman in Diyala said two battalions of 400 soldiers each plus 200 riot police took part in Tuesday’s operation, which was ordered by Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s office.

“It is our territory and our right to enter, to impose Iraqi law on everybody,” a defense ministry spokesman told al-Arabiya television.

Camp Ashraf, 40 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province, houses 3,418 residents. It was set up in the 1980s, when Iraq was at war with Iran, as a base to operate against the Iranian government.

The camp was disarmed by U.S. soldiers following the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. U.S. soldiers had overseen the camp until handing over control three months ago to Iraqi security forces.

The Iraqi government has vowed to close Camp Ashraf and expel the members to a third country. Iran has said those members whose hands are not tainted with the blood of Iranian nationals can return home.

Police captain Firaz al-Atbi from Diyala province said about 60 members of Iraq’s security forces were also wounded, 20 seriously.

50 camp residents were also detained, AFP quoted him as saying.

Shahriar Kia, a spokesman for the MKO, said four people had been shot dead and around 300 others were injured. However, Atbi denied the four deaths.

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 it fought Iran from there until the United States invaded in 2003.

The executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein used the heavily armed group during his decade-long war with Iran in the ’80s, and it also played a role in Saddam’s bloody suppression of Shia and Kurdish uprisings after the Persian Gulf War in 1991.

The MKO was founded in Iran in the 1960s, but its top leadership and members fled the country in the 1980s after carrying out a series of assassinations and bombings inside the country.

The group is especially notorious in Iran because they allied with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war.

The United States, Canada, Iraq, and Iran have all designated the MKO as a terrorist organization.

The European Union had also designated the MKO as a terrorist organization but inexplicably removed it from the EU terror list in January 2009.

It is still not clear if the US gave Baghdad the green light to storm Camp Ashraf or if Iraqi officials took the action on their own initiative.

However, US military officials in Iraq say they were not informed about the plan until after it was carried out.

Many political analysts had said the United States had intended to use the Camp Ashraf MKO members as pawns to pressure Iran, so this development will change the political calculus of the region.

July 30, 2009 0 comment

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