… There were allegations during the year that some of the 3,400 members of the MEK terrorist organization located at Ashraf were denied the right to leave under threat of reprisal from MEK leaders. These allegations were corroborated by several former Ashraf residents who had fled the camp. Individuals claimed to have been subjected to psychological and physical abuse …
The State Department report on international terrorism for 2007 asserts that the organization—and not just a radical element of the organization as the group asserts—was responsible for the alleged killing of seven American defense advisers to the former Shah in 1975-1976. The report again notes the group’s promotion of women in its ranks and again emphasizes the group’s “cultlike” character, including indoctrination of its members and separation of family members, including children, from its activists. The group’s alliance with Saddam Hussein’s regime in the 1980s and 1990s has contributed to the U.S. shunning of the organization
The People’s Mujahidin is sick and tired of being called a terrorist organization by the U.S. government..The government’s lawyer, Douglas Letter, wasn’t about to negotiate with”an organization that for at least 30 years has been involved in terrorism, violence, assassination, et cetera.”He admitted the public record was not sufficient to demonstrate that the group still poses a threat, but he said”it was the classified material”that made it clear that the group still deserves its terrorist listing.
We have, all along, recognized Iraqi sovereignty over the entire territory of Iraq, including the area where Camp Ashraf is located. And as I think we’ve said before, the Government of Iraq has assured us that they would not deport any of these[Camp Ashraf] citizens[MKO/MEK/PMOI members] to any country where they would — if you have a well-rounded fear of being treated inhumanely.So we — I mean, we’re engaging the Government of Iraq. Diplomatically, we respect Iraqi sovereignty..
Washington respects any Iraqi decision regarding members of the dissident group People’s Mujahedin of Iran but urges caution, the U.S. State Department said.Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said this week that members of the PMOI/MKO/MEK would be relocated from their Camp Ashraf enclave in Diyala province first to Baghdad and then to a desert outpost in the Shiite south of the country.
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..
The truth of the matter is that the decision to sever ties with the MEK was taken by Washington following a study undertaken by the Rand Corporation, which established, on the one hand, the criminal character of the organization (cracking down on Kurdish and Shia dissidents on behalf of Saddam Hussein) and, on the other hand, its sectarian set-up (the religious cult of the Rajavi couple and the sequestration of their members).
Maryam Rajavi once again resorts to her ex-enemy to survive. Following the raid by Iraqi police to Camp Ashraf, Maryam Rajavi asked her new God-father and her former Imperialist enemy, the United States for help. According to THE HOFFINGTON POST: The People’s Mujahedeen of Iran wants the United States to re-establish temporary control over Camp Ashraf, where some 3,500 of its members have been confined since being disarmed by U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion of Iraq, said Maryam Rajavi, leader of the National Council of Resistance of Iran – an umbrella group that includes the People’s Mujahedeen
U.S. medical teams provided assistance to Iranian dissidents under siege by Iraqi forces in their Camp Ashraf enclave in the eastern province of Diyala. Iraqi police earlier this week seized the Camp Ashraf base of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran using tear gas and water cannons. Authorities promised to expel the 3,500 members of the group.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely to ensure the residents of Camp Ashraf are treated in accordance with Iraq’s written assurances that it will treat the residents there humanely,”Kelly told reporters at his daily press briefing in Washington on Tuesday.”This is in accordance with the constitution, laws, and international obligations of Iraq,”he said.