132 former MKO members arrive home

Qasr-e Shirin, Kermanshah prov, March 9, IRNA -- Another 132 penitent members of the terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) arrived in the Iranian territories via Khosravi border point.

The group is the second of the MKO penitent members who have repatriated via Khosravi border point. The former MKO members have returned home voluntarily.

A 100-member group have also returned home via Khosravi border point recently.
Representatives from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry, Iran's Foreign Ministry, and Iran's embassy in Iraq accompanied the former MKO members to the country.

Governor of Qasr-e Shirin, Shahryar Heydari told IRNA that the former MKO members who have arrived in Iran were living in a 500-people camp in Iraq. After escaping the camp, they asked the ICRC headquarters in Iraq to help them return to Iran, he added.

He further announced that 233 MKO members living in that camp have called for return to the country. Meanwhile, a number of 276 penitent members of the MKO, who returned home after fleeing the camp in Iraq, were handed over to their families on Tuesday.

TEHRAN (AFP) -- A new group of 132 members of the exiled Iranian armed group the People's Mojahadeen (MKO) have quit their base in Iraq and returned to Iran, the state news agency IRNA reported Wednesday. According to the report, which quoted a border security official, the group "returned to Iran voluntarily after contacting the International Red Cross."

The group is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union, but Iran has accused Washington of failing to act against the organization it refers to as "hypocrites".