MEK behind second violent incident in Europe in a month
Attacker of Iranian diplomat in Frankfurt linked to
Mojahedin Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) terror group
.
... Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi told reporters that one of the Iranian consular members in Frankfurt had been attacked by an African woman on Monday while he was returning home from work. While the German police appear to have not fully investigated the incident, Iran-Interlink has learned that the African woman in question had previously been paid to attend a rally held by the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult in Villepinte, France on June 23rd. The MEK had paid and bussed in several hundred such African and other refugees from all over Europe to make up an audience ...
Maryam Rajavi currenty under investigation in France
directly ordered the attacks from her base in Paris
Iran Interlink, July 05 2012
http://iran-interlink.org
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi told reporters that one of the Iranian consular members in Frankfurt had been attacked by an African woman on Monday while he was returning home from work.
While the German police appear to have not fully investigated the incident, Iran-Interlink has learned that the African woman in question had previously been paid to attend a rally held by the Mojahedin Khalq terrorist cult in Villepinte, France on June 23rd.
The MEK had paid and bussed in several hundred such African and other refugees from all over Europe to make up an audience for its paid speakers, who mostly came from America.
This is the second violent incident in the past month involving the MEK. Nader Naderi, a former MEK member, was attacked and beaten up by Mojahedin Khalq cult members in Paris, during an authorised march to protest human rights violations by the MEK cult leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Mr Naderi suffered a broken rib and other injuries and was taken to hospital by a shocked English tourist who had filmed the event as evidence for the police.
Press TV reported on July 05 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/07/04/249396
/iran-summons-german-ambassador/
Iran summons German envoy over police misconduct
The Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned the German ambassador to Tehran Bernd Erbel to strongly protest against the police confrontation with an Iranian diplomat in Frankfurt.
Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hassan Qashqavi said that one of the Iranian consular members in Frankfurt was attacked by an African woman on Monday while he was returning home from work, IRNA reported on Wednesday.
“Instead of confronting the assailant individual, the German police unfortunately displayed a violent behavior toward our country’s diplomat…” he said.
“Following the occurrence, the German ambassador to Tehran was summoned to the Foreign Ministry and he received the strong protest of the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran against the German police behavior toward the diplomat],” Qashqavi added.
The Iranian government has also demanded German officials to launch an immediate investigation and explain the police misbehavior.
The Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Berlin and its consulate in Frankfurt have also sent letters to German officials, made contacts and held talks with them to voice Tehran’s protest in this regard.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry further condemned the move as part of an anti-Iran plot, aimed to undermine Tehran diplomatic image.
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12840
Ex-MEK leaves Paris hospital after vicious attack by Mojahedin Khalq
(aka; MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult)
.
... The attack on Naderi was witnessed by a citizen of Paris and a British tourist who filmed the incident and later accompanied Mr Naderi to hospital. In a statement given to the French police the British woman – who wished to remain anonymous – said, “I came here as a tourist and I was shocked when I saw what was taking place, I felt unsafe. What really disgusted me is that I think I have given money to this group in London in the past. I hope the police catch them and prosecute them.” Many ex-MEK members who managed to escape from the MEK’s Iraqi base, Camp Ashraf, in recent years have testified to numerous violations of human rights inside the garrison ...
By our Europe Correspondent, Iran Interlink, July 04 2012
http://iran-interlink.org
Nader Naderi, a former MEK member who was attacked and beaten up by Mojahedin Khalq cult members in Paris, was released from hospital after being treated for broken ribs and other injuries.
The attack on Mr Naderi took place in a busy street in Paris where a group of ex-MEK members were holding an authorized rally against violation of human rights by MEK cult leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi.
Naderi writes in his weblog, "more than 15 members of the MEK attacked us like they wanted to kill us. I say directly to Maryam Rajavi that these violent offences will not stop me or my friends from telling the world about what the MEK have done to us."
According to another ex-MEK member, who was one of the organizers of the rally, the MEK members were organized and had orders to stop the rally. Hamed Sarrafpour says, "Maryam`s terrorists hid among the tourists who were passing along the streets, they chased us and then attacked us. They don't want any criticism of their cult to be heard."
The attack on Naderi was witnessed by a citizen of Paris and a British tourist who filmed the incident and later accompanied Mr Naderi to hospital. In a statement given to the French police the British woman – who wished to remain anonymous – said, “I came here as a tourist and I was shocked when I saw what was taking place, I felt unsafe. What really disgusted me is that I think I have given money to this group in London in the past. I hope the police catch them and prosecute them.”
Many ex-MEK members who managed to escape from the MEK’s Iraqi base, Camp Ashraf, in recent years have testified to numerous violations of human rights inside the garrison. These include the torture and false imprisonment of members who did not want to stay with the group any more.
During recent years, the MEK has spent millions of dollars in order to get itself removed from the US terrorist list (FTO). They have held rallies and invited speakers who were paid amounts of between 10 to 40 k dollars.
The Rajavis run the MEK along the lines of a totalitarian cult which governs how relations are organized inside. This includes ordering members to divorce their spouses, forcing them to attend daily confession meetings and denying them access to external information and communication.
(Maryam Rajavi directly ordered the massacre of Kurdish people)
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12755
French security forces arrest 16 MKO terrorists
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MEK, Rajavi cult)
.
... several MKO defectors staged a rally in the Saint-Michel square in the southern suburbs of Paris on Friday to voice their resentment at the terrorist activities of the anti-Iran group. They were, however, confronted by a number of MKO members wielding knives, snap-off blade cutters, chains and baseball bats. Police later intervened to contain the violence, detained all 16 MKO members and sent them to judicial custody. On June 17, 2007, over 50 MKO members attacked a public meeting in Paris at which several people were injured. The attackers filmed their activities at the scene. It was later revealed that ...
(Rajavi cult or MKO aslo known as Saddam's Private Army)
Press TV, June 24 2012
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2012/06/24/247757/french-police-arrests-16-mko-terrorists/
Link to the original full report from Aria Iran in Paris (Persian)
http://iran-interlink.org/fa/?mod=view&id=12739
French security forces have arrested 16 members of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) following clashes with a number of defectors in Paris.
According to a Sunday report published by the Habilian Association, an Iranian human rights NGO comprising a group of families that have lost their beloved ones in terrorist acts during the early years following Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, several MKO defectors staged a rally in the Saint-Michel square in the southern suburbs of Paris on Friday to voice their resentment at the terrorist activities of the anti-Iran group.
They were, however, confronted by a number of MKO members wielding knives, snap-off blade cutters, chains and baseball bats.
Police later intervened to contain the violence, detained all 16 MKO members and sent them to judicial custody.
On June 17, 2007, over 50 MKO members attacked a public meeting in Paris at which several people were injured. The attackers filmed their activities at the scene. It was later revealed that the assault had been orchestrated by top MKO leaders.
According to French police, the assailants had been transferred from other European countries to France. None had French documents and some even had false papers.
The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq's executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up a camp near the Iranian border.
The group is also known to have cooperated with Saddam in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and carrying out the massacre of the Iraqi Kurds. It has carried out numerous acts of violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12782
Mojahedine Khalq (MKO, MEK, Rajavi cult) terrorist group propaganda
Time for a reality check
.
... The latest event at Villepinte in Paris on June 23 was such a spectacle. But it was a spectacle of spectacular failure. Probably the most embarrassing event the MEK has yet had to outlive (and Maryam Rajavi has a series of embarrassing public and private gaffes to her name). Most of the VIPs, who had been rounded up to promote the MEK under the false ‘democratic change’ front groups, called in sick after being briefed by government officials where the money was really coming from and that the support was for a terrorist cult. If the MEK had not held this event it would have been better for them. Even ...
Anne Singleton, Middle East Strategy Consultants, June 27 2012
http://mesconsult.com
For years Massoud Rajavi – that supreme egocentric – has tried to bend reality to suit his own version of how the world should be, and when actual manipulation of events has failed, has created myths to invent a reality more suited to his cultic agenda. Nowhere has this been more obvious than in the MEK’s grand vision of itself as the ‘only alternative’ or the ‘main opposition’ and the mythical tale that the MEK will ‘overthrow the Iranian regime in its entirety’. Year after year Rajavi has perpetually pretended, whether to himself or to his followers, that this is a reality. And the myth has depended on the willing suspension of disbelief of world public opinion – or at least a few political pundits – who enjoy such hatred of Iran and Iranians that they are happy to participate in the game; though not without financial recompense of course.
In the eighties the MEK used to organise mass demonstrations in Western countries to celebrate its armed struggle. The main event was the anniversary of 30 Khordad (21 June) 1981 when the MEK abandoned its ambition to lead the revolutionary forces and began to oppose the new constitutional government under the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini using terrorist tactics. The mass demonstrations in Western countries were popularly supported. But as time passed by and reality impinged on Rajavi’s dream of taking over Iran, instead of bending to reality and adjusting his group’s activities accordingly, he tried to bend reality to reflect his egotistical view of himself in the world. As the MEK’s violence became more and more futile and hence more savage, the demonstrations attracted fewer and fewer actual supporters and instead became more gaudy and showy. As western governments cracked down on the MEK’s illegal and undemocratic activities they were forced to downsize – while inflating advertised attendee figures by the power of ten - and hire (ironically) exhibition halls rather than take to the streets in public.
The latest event at Villepinte in Paris on June 23 was such a spectacle. But it was a spectacle of spectacular failure. Probably the most embarrassing event the MEK has yet had to outlive (and Maryam Rajavi has a series of embarrassing public and private gaffes to her name). Most of the VIPs, who had been rounded up to promote the MEK under the false ‘democratic change’ front groups, called in sick after being briefed by government officials where the money was really coming from and that the support was for a terrorist cult. (For future reference, where the word ‘appeasement’ is used, the article/speech/policy was most probably written by the MEK and is shorthand for ‘let’s declare war on Iran’.)
The VIPs who did turn up could, quite reasonably, have been expecting to address the ‘tens of thousands of Iranian exiles’ who, the MEK declared, had arrived in a ‘thousand buses from all over Europe’. Pictures from the event, which was held in a salon with a capacity of 10,000 standing, show a very different story. No wonder the MEK has been unable to publish film or photographs from inside the salon.
The linked photographs and film were taken by former members who had slipped in unnoticed among the crowd. Several minutes into the film Maryam Rajavi is heard addressing the crowd who are still milling around and clearly disinterested in the performance on the stage. The fervent cheering comes from the actual MEK loyalists ranged in the front few rows. Behind them no one is listening or even sitting down in the places where flags have been placed on every seat for them to wave to create a spectacle to film. The MEK have paid millions of Euros to create the crowd but couldn’t organise them when they arrived. The majority ‘rent-a-crowd’ element of the audience didn’t care much where the money came from or what the event was as long as they enjoyed a free weekend trip to Paris. Even the ever-supportive anti-Iran media could only realistically describe the event as ‘Iranian led’ to disguise the fact that right minded Iranians, inside and outside Iran, actively shun the MEK.
Now, how must it have felt for former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell and former US Senator Robert Torricelli to address this crowd about regime change in Iran. How much is their dignity worth?
If the MEK had not held this event it would have been better for them. Even to have a small gathering of their own members and supporters would have looked better, less desperate, less like the failing cult the MEK have become. Rajavi could have spent his money on many more effective means to plead his case for removal of the MEK from the US terrorism list. But although external reality has dramatically impacted on Rajavi’s fortunes, it is the leaking evidence of desperation in the MEK’s internal situation that is the most significant.
Unusually this year the MEK’s Photoshopped pictures of the meeting have been sloppily, shoddily perhaps hastily put together; several wide angle pictures concatenated to show a mass audience. But with the blurred join lines obvious on the pictures, the cracks in the MEK’s vision are exposed. And there are more fault lines in the MEK world.
Over the past few weeks the MEK has issued several frantic press releases related to the slow, inevitable demise of Camp Ashraf (where Rajavi has defiantly stopped cooperating with the UN and US like a truculent teenager). The significant aspect of these missives is their dire English style and grammatical mistakes. Clearly, just as with the Photoshopped pictures, Rajavi has lost some key personnel inside his organisation and has had to make do with sub-standard replacements to create the means to perpetuate his myths.
Markedly Rajavi recently lost two of his main Western stalwarts in the UK, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale who died on 19 February this year, and Lord Archer of Sandwell who died on 14 June. Such supporters have, for years, facilitated the MEK’s political lobbying in the House of Lords and of course provided other practical services and support; particularly editing English language documents. Their loss is irreplaceable. And with other Peers creaking with age and MPs subject to the vagaries of elections, Rajavi can only be staring into the well of loneliness.
Increasingly lonely too are those who have, for money, positioned themselves as MEK advocates. Anyone who looks beyond the political hype and anti-Iran propaganda will see an increasing disconnect with reality. Due to the internal demand for constant indoctrination the MEK cannot hold back from advertising its ‘martyrs’ – people who die for Rajavi. This week the MEK announced the deaths of two more people in Iraq. More than anything else it is their ages - 55 and 59 – which exposes the age group of MEK residents in Iraq. Those MEK advocates – including those addressing the Paris crowd – who continue to claim that the MEK is an essential force for change in Iran really ought to save their blushes. World public opinion is not blind or stupid. Accept reality and move on.
Link to the pictures
http://iran-interlink.org/fa/?mod=view&id=12770
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12693
Spectacle glorifying the 31st anniversary of armed struggle on June 23 in Paris
Where does the Mojahedin-e Khalq stand now?
Mojahedin-e Khalq (aka MEK, MKO, Rajavi cult) has become an anti-Iraq force
.
... While the West is trying to put more and more pressure on Iran and isolate the country, the self-styled Iranian opposition has now become an Iraqi opposition with no links to Iran at all except the group of Farsi speaking former members scattered through western countries who are now suing the leaders for compensation for mistreatment in Iraq, Europe and North America. While the MEK’s paid lobbyists remain highly vocal in their attacks on the Government of Iraq (GOI) and United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the people who still don’t have a voice are the residents inside both Camp Ashraf (aka Camp New Iraq) and Camp Liberty (aka Camp Hurriya) ...
The Life of Camp Ashraf,
Mojahedin-e Khalq Victims of Many Masters
Massoud Khodabandeh, MESConsultants, June 19, 2012
http://mesconsult.comAfter ten years Western anti-Iran pundits are finally waking up to the fact that the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) terrorist group cannot be used against Iran as long as it remains in Iraq. The MEK leader Massoud Rajavi, in a fight for his own survival, has now dug himself into such a deep hole there that the MEK no longer has any role in anti-Iran activities. Instead a ridiculous situation has arisen in which his wife Maryam Rajavi is using her Paris base to attack Nouri Al Maliki and the Government of Iraq. While the West is trying to put more and more pressure on Iran and isolate the country, the self-styled Iranian opposition has now become an Iraqi opposition with no links to Iran at all except the group of Farsi speaking former members scattered through western countries who are now suing the leaders for compensation for mistreatment in Iraq, Europe and North America.
While the MEK’s paid lobbyists remain highly vocal in their attacks on the Government of Iraq (GOI) and United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the people who still don’t have a voice are the residents inside both Camp Ashraf (aka Camp New Iraq) and Temporary Transit Camp Liberty (aka Camp Hurriya). Since the relocation process began in February numerous residents have run away and taken refuge with the Iraqi authorities. They report an increasingly tense and turbulent internal situation with violent attacks and sexual assaults becoming more frequent. Families of the residents have maintained a permanent vigil outside Camp Ashraf and now Camp Liberty for two years in an attempt to gain access to their loved ones. The GOI has still not been given the go ahead to allow families access to the people transferred to Camp Liberty.
The UNHCR has begun refugee status determination interviews with individuals who have relocated to Camp Liberty. Of these, 238 residents have been formally declared refugees. To qualify they needed to renounce membership of the MEK. 1,400 more interviews are scheduled. The GOI remains adamant none of them will be able to remain in Iraq and the process is therefore ongoing. There is no reason for Europe or the US to refuse to accept those who have UN refugee status.
Two-thirds of the residents, just fewer than 2,000 people, have relocated. Interestingly, among them are hundreds of people with special needs, suffering from disabilities and serious medical conditions as well as many elderly people; people whom Rajavi regards as dispensable. At least five people who were rushed to hospital with life threatening conditions after they arrived at Camp Liberty said they did not want to leave the MEK but were thrown out and told not to come back because of their illnesses. The Iraqi authorities have ensured that they have received the best treatment available.
UNAMI officials reported that the relocation of MEK from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty had stalled since the arrival of the fifth group of residents on 5 May as the MEK refused further movement. The reasoning behind the stop is Massoud Rajavi’s hope to drag the removal process out for another four months until the MEK is removed from the US FTO list and things will then change for him. He is certainly not prepared to cooperate with Secretary of State Clinton’s suggestion – repeated on 18 June - that they should show full cooperation before she reviews their FTO status –the implication being that if they voluntarily remove to the new camp this would be enough proof they have renounced violence.
Instead the MEK is setting its own agenda based on the legal ruling which gave rise to Clinton’s review. Rajavi does not regard the Secretary of State as being powerful enough to need to listen to and is looking instead to his Israeli friends to protect him.
However, the Government of Iraq and the UN have said every resident of Camp Ashraf must leave Iraq and it is clear they cannot be taken off the terrorism list in this situation.
To further his agenda Rajavi is using his wife’s Paris base for an advertising campaign focusing on a rally in VillePinte, Paris on 23 June. The demand is to have the MEK taken off the US list without moving the combatants from Iraq. In addition to this 'wait it out' tactic, Rajavi is also hopeful that Al Maliki's government will fall - or even that he is assassinated - and that a new government in Iraq take a more favourable position toward his group. After the MEK’s office inside the European Parliament was closed, the MEK covertly financed two new lobbying offices outside the parliament for the use of Struan Stevenson, MEP and Alejo Vidal Quadras, MEP. Both MEPs switched from the European Parliament's Iran Delegation where they lobbied for the MEK, to the Iraq Delegation to lobby for Saddamists during the Iraqi election.
But these activities are balanced by a severe crackdown on the MEK’s activities. The GOI, UNAMI, European and US representatives, the ICRC and a large body of former members are showing a united front to challenge the MEK’s stalling and diversionary tactics.
The GOI has tasked its diplomatic delegations in Europe to apprise the European political community of the lies and deception used by the MEK to cover its many contraventions of the law. Only days ago Maryam Rajavi was summoned to the Palais de Justice in Paris to answer charges to charges of terrorism related activities, fraud and slavery.
Documents have recently been made available to the US Treasury linking an array of front organisation finances to companies and investments controlled by the Mojahedin-e Khalq’s leader.
Speakers’ agencies have been warned to exercise extreme caution regarding the MEK’s methods for recruiting support for the rally in France. Those attending the rally must know they are engaged by organisations with direct links to the MEK.
In addition, with the MEK’s financial sources exposed it has become possible for victims to pursue a class action to claim compensation directly from the Rajavis. Victims of the MEK, including former members who say their basic human rights were denied them for years, have launched a legal case for compensation from the companies which Massoud and Maryam Rajavi use to fund their elaborate and expensive propaganda campaigns. Their message is clear: Individuals who accept financial recompense from the MEK through its front organisations for speeches or lobbying should know that they can no longer claim ignorance and they will be pursued through the courts to recover money which should rightfully go to compensate the victims.
Whether the MEK is on the US terrorism list or not there is very little tolerance for the group. It is widely regarded as finished.
For those who are not involved too deeply with the MEK, it would be advisable to get out now.
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Also
http://www.iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12670
MEK victims warn Lobby groups - "we will claim compensation from MEK beneficiaries"
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
.
... Speakers' agencies are being urged to exercise extreme caution regarding MEK . In the U.S., former political and military heavyweights have already fallen foul of this tactic, where several are currently being investigated for aiding and abetting a terrorist entity. Those attending the rally must know they are engaged by organisations with direct links to the MEK. With the MEK's financial sources exposed it has become possible for victims to pursue a class action to claim compensation directly from the Rajavis. Victims of the MEK, who say their basic human rights were denied them for years, have launched a legal case for compensation ...
Maryam Rajavi currenty under investigation in France
directly ordered the massacar of Iraqi Kurds
Reuters, June 17 2012
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/17/
idUS28253+17-Jun-2012+PRN20120617
LONDON, June 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Iran-Interlink -- Critics of Iran's human rights record are being warned by former MEK members in Europe not to be fooled into giving support to a terrorist cult. The Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MEK) wants to be removed from the U.S. FTO list and is using front organisations to lure paid speakers to a campaign rally in VillePinte, Paris on 23 June.
The warnings come after documents were made available to the U.S. Treasury linking an array of front organisation finances to companies and investments controlled by the Mojahedin-e Khalq's leader. Top MEK members are also directing political support for the campaign through proxy parliamentary groups like Friends of a Free Iran.
Speakers' agencies are being urged to exercise extreme caution regarding the MEK's methods for recruiting support. In the U.S., former political and military heavyweights have already fallen foul of this tactic, where several are currently being investigated for aiding and abetting a terrorist entity. Those attending the rally must know they are engaged by organisations with direct links to the MEK.
With the MEK's financial sources exposed it has become possible for victims to pursue a class action to claim compensation directly from the Rajavis.
Victims of the MEK, including former members who say their basic human rights were denied them for years, have launched a legal case for compensation from the companies which Massoud and Maryam Rajavi use to fund their elaborate and expensive propaganda campaigns. Anne Singleton speaking for the victims said, "Individuals who accept financial recompense from the MEK through its front organisations for speeches or lobbying should know that they can no longer claim ignorance and we will pursue them through the courts to recover money which should rightfully go to compensate the victims."
The MEK was removed from European terrorist lists on legal technicalities but concerns remain at official levels about the group's propensity to use violence.
In spite of their public bravado, the MEK leaders are facing harsh setbacks. Massoud Rajavi's stronghold in Iraq is being dismantled by UNAMI. His wife and co-leader Maryam Rajavi was in court last week in Paris to answer to charges of terrorism related activities, fraud and slavery. Other high ranking MEK members are being pursued for murder and terrorism offences relating to Iran, Iraq and France.
SOURCE Iran-Interlink
(Rajavi cult or MKO aslo known as Saddam's Private Army)
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Also
http://iran-interlink.org/?mod=view&id=12141
U.N. Iraq chief: The countries of the world must take MEK ‘refugees’
(aka; Mojahedin Khalq, MKO, Rajavi cult)
.
... Some advocates of the MEK, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have called Camp Ashraf a "concentration camp," a reference Kobler said is insulting and offensive."I am a German citizen. To compare the situation of Camp Ashraf residents to the systematic extermination of European Jews during Nazi dictatorship, this is not only historically totally absurd but is an insult to the victims," he said."My message to these supporters is, spend your energies not so much on attacking the United Nations or others. Spend your energies to convince your governments to take them into your countries," he said ...
Josh Rogin, Forign Policy, April 17 2012
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/04/16/un_iraq
_chief_the_countries_of_the_world_must_take_mek_refugees
The United Nations and the State Department have been struggling to convince the Iranian exile group the Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) to move to a former U.S. military base in Iraq, but the real need is for third countries to accept MEK "refugees" on a permanent basis, according to the top U.N. representative in Iraq.
The MEK is a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization opposed to the Iranian regime that has been living in a closed compound in Iraq called Camp Ashraf for years. The Iraqi government has pledged to close Camp Ashraf, using force if necessary, so the U.N. and the State Department are slowly but surely cajoling Ashraf's 3,200 residents to move to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad airport.
But that's only a temporary solution. Unless other countries start accepting MEK members for relocation, they could face the prospect of being returned to Iran, where they could face retribution from the Iranian regime they have been fighting for decades.
"I have the feeling that the Camp Ashraf residents have made peace with the idea to go to Camp Liberty and they've made peace with the idea that there is no future in Iraq and they will leave Iraq," Martin Kobler, the head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), told The Cable.
But finding homes for the MEK members when they leave Iraq "is the most difficult part of the story," he said. "The whole process only will succeed if all the 3,200 find countries who will take them into their borders."
The U.N. held a resettlement conference on March 27 in Geneva and the response was "not overwhelming, to say the least," Kobler said.
Part of the difficulty of dealing with the MEK group members at Camp Ashraf is that they have been cut off from the world for years and little is known about their individual histories or whether they would qualify for refugee status. Some reports say that MEK members are still conducting violent attacks inside Iran at the behest of the Israeli government.
The United States is legally barred from accepting any refugees from members of a foreign terrorist organization. There is also no plan for what happens to those MEK members who do not qualify for refugee status.
"We will find a solution then," Kobler said. "Everybody has Iranian nationality and on a voluntary basis can go back to Iran... The question is what happens to them then."
Kobler disputed the claims made by the MEK and its long list of American advocates that the Camp Liberty site is not fit for human occupation.
"Camp Liberty is a place where 5,500 American soldiers lived for many, many years... What worked for 5,500 people should also work humanitarian wise for 3,200 Camp Ashraf residents," he said.
Kobler declined to comment on reports that the MEK is involved in ongoing attacks on the Iranian nuclear program and its personnel inside Iran. He also declined to confirm that U.N. reports have stated that MEK members were intentionally sabotaging the facilities in Camp Liberty in order to make the camp look worse than it is, saying only, "There were big initial difficulties and a lack of cooperation. However this has improved over the last weeks."
Some advocates of the MEK, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, have called Camp Ashraf a "concentration camp," a reference Kobler said is insulting and offensive.
"I am a German citizen. To compare the situation of Camp Ashraf residents to the systematic extermination of European Jews during Nazi dictatorship, this is not only historically totally absurd but is an insult to the victims," he said.
"My message to these supporters is, spend your energies not so much on attacking the United Nations or others. Spend your energies to convince your governments to take them into your countries," he said.
While in Washington, Kobler met with Deputy Secretary of State William Burns, Assistant Secretary of State for Refugees, Population, and Migration Anne Richards, and Ambassador Daniel Fried, the State Department official in charge of the Camp Ashraf issue.
Martin Kobler (U.N.), Daniel Fried (U.S.) discuss
Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in European Parliament