CampAshraf

Bulgaria's non-combat unit that will be sent to guard a camp of mainly Iranian refugees in Ashraf, about 70 km north of Baghdad will be placed in a relatively safe area, Jabar Jauer Manda, Deputy Minister of Defence of Iraqi Kurdistan said.

Since Saddam's regime fell in 2003 not a single terrorist act has taken place in the area, Manda said during a meeting with the Atlantic Club of Bulgaria. The country's troops have already been in much harder situations and lost soldiers, Manda said and vowed that Iraqi Kurdistan will also help, so it doesn't happen again.

The area of the camp is guarded both by American troops and by the Iraqi Kurdistan ones, the Deputy Minister explained.

In the end of February, Bulgaria's parliament approved a government decision to send up to 155 troops to guard the Iraqi camp of Ashraf about 70 km north of Baghdad. The unit should depart by the end of March and stay in Iraq for a year.

Just months ago Bulgaria decided to pull out its 450-strong light infantry unit from Iraq. During the unit's service, the country lost 13 soldiers and six civilians.

Attempts to stop defections in Camp Ashraf
irandidban, March 7, 2006

Why does the MKO insist on immediate action against Iran?

Remnants of Rajavi showed their anger over Moscow-Tehran talks and Iran negotiations with Europeans in Vienna, saying in their internet journal (Mojahedin, vol.790):

"What's surprising is the insularity of compromisers who endanger the interest of Iranians as well as the security of their own, the region and the world. The question is that why don't they quit compromising after revelation of all these documents? … delaying the sanctions against regime, will provide regime with "time", the only factor it needs to get a nuke bomb."

Maryam Rajavi also repeats MKO's requests as follows:

"Referring Iran's nuclear case to the UN Security Council is a necessary step but other measures should also be put on the agenda as soon as possible; these measures include sanctions on oil, weapons, technology, diplomacy, removing terror tag from MKO".*

Why do the remnants warn about any delay and ask for immediate action?

This group claims that there's a global consensus against Iran and that the talks have failed, then why should it be worried?

Mojahedin claims that opposes war and follows the action by Security Council, then they should be asked why they are afraid of diplomatic talks that can lead to referral of Iran's case to the Security Council?

All this hurry can be justified in the decision of Rajavi's gang to stop defection of its members. Following this decision, Camp Ashraf's Gestapo started negotiating with protesting members, offering them some advantages and asking them not to leave the group.

These negotiations were based on convincing the members to stay in Camp Ashraf temporarily; the offers were presented in two forms:

1. These members can stay in a separate place, equipped with TV, Radio and other accommodations; they shouldn't go to the camp of defectors and MKO is determined to provide them will all services.

2. Stay in the camp until Iran's nuclear case is referred to the UN Security Council (MKO has slyly tied this event to the removal of MKO's name from terrorist lists!) and after that they would be sent to European countries by the assistance of MKO.

However, reports indicate that Camp Ashraf's Gestapo has failed in this effort; the crisis of defection of members continues more seriously.

Many of critics in MKO have no trust in the promises of Rajavi's gang; many of them escape each day from the camp to reach defectors' camp next to Ashraf.

The reason for MKO's emphasis on immediate action- which has increased recently due to the smell of US money and also due to the fear of being defeated by monarchists in receiving this money- is that the MKO can't stop the process of increasing defections.

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Camp Ashraf, Close to Revolt

irandidban, November 7, 2005

After failing in preventing members from leaving the group, and with the heroic escape from Camp Ashraf by two MKO members, remnants of the group have started new suppression process.

Following Massoud and Maryam Rajavi’s escape from Iraqi to Paris, many of the members raised questions. Being disarmed and surrounded by the US forces added to the problems and caused protests by the members. On the other hand, members have felt that there’s no future for the organization and several members have left it. This process has continued to date so that it has become MKO’s major problem since its establishment in Iraq.

At first, the MKO changed some organizational rules and provided some privileges for the members in the hope that members will quit leaving the group, but this sly method of MKO’s Gestapo in Ashraf had no results, leaving members more determined to leave.

Remnants of Rajavi didn’t tolerate this amount of freedom and resorted to violence and suppression again. They resumed “purification sessions” and weekly gathering, which had been stopped for a while.

One of the latest instances occurred to Parviz Farahmand. In a meeting, he was attacked by Mehdi Barayee and 40 other ideological members of the cult. But this method of Camp Ashraf’s Gestapo failed and he sought shelter in US-run camp.

Following that incident, two other members of the MKO escaped from the camp in a heroic act. They were also under heavy organizational pressure.

This process goes on in different places of Camp Ashraf. Particularly, after this successful attempt, atmosphere in Camp Ashraf is similar to that of 1994; And all members, accused of being infiltrators, are under unit arrests.

In 1994, to suppress dissident members, 700 members were detained and tortured brutally by the order of Rajavi. Two of them died under torture.

Today, of course, the situation is a bit different and that’s because of the presence of US forces. MKO can’t torture the members but has put a heavy mental pressure on them.

After the escape of Emad Bagheri and Nasrollah Azari, all members are under mental pressure and the MKO puts them on trial.

The Gestapo in Camp Ashraf is afraid of members’ hope for leaving, the presence of UNHCR and US forces’ support for the members. It is true to say that at the current situation, anyone who finds an opportunity to get out of MKO’s control can get to the US-run camp and that the MKO official have no power to prevent this. That’s why senior officials of the MKO protest openly to the existence of US-run camp next to Camp Ashraf and express their dissatisfaction over the presence of US forces.

“Going to defectors’ camp (US-run camp) shows abjection and dishonesty,” says Mohammed Mohaddessin. Barayee calls this camp the “grassland of Iranian intelligence ministry” and asks Americans to move this camp away from Camp Ashraf; Abrishamchi says: “This is regime which asks you to go under the flag of aliens”!!

None of MKO efforts have been helpful for them because there’s no Master (Saddam) and Abu Ghraib prison and the MKO’s Gestapo can’t torture the members anymore.

Although the Gestapo in Ashraf tries to stop this process, keeping members and dissidents has brought Camp Ashraf to the threshold of a revolt.

The only solution for the remnants of Rajavi is to separate those who want to leave from the group and send them to defectors’ camp; this would help them preserve their ideological members intact.

Dictators of Rajavi’s cult ignore this option, and have resorted to the method of violence and suppression in the hope of thwarting the process, but they are indeed paving the way for a wide revolt.

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Two escape from Camp Ashraf

mojahedin.ws, November 3, 2005

In the “Direct Contact” program on the MKO's TV channel, Mehdi Baraee, who is in charge of Camp Ashraf, announced that two members in Camp Ashraf escaped the camp and sought protection in the US-run camp. In order to justify the escape, Mehdi Baraee, who was reporting to his comrade Mohammed Mohaddessin about the situation in the Camp, used the usual method and said that these two members were the agents of Iranian intelligence ministry! Baraee confessed that they had followed these members in order to hunt them down, but they failed as the two managed to reach the US-run facility. Mohammed Hussein Bagheri (Emad) and Nasrallah Azari are now under protection in the US-run camp.

These confessions from Camp officials come at a time when the Mojahedin still claim that MKO members can freely leave the camp. This suggests that the continued existence of force in the internal affairs of the MKO has obliged US military officials to write a letter and remind individual MKO members of their rights [provided by the Fourth Geneva Convention].

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250 former MKO members missing in Iraq

IRNA/Stockholm, November 1, 2005

No news is at hand in recent days on the fate of 250 members of the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization (MKO) who have been urging to leave Iraq and return to Iran as a priority, according to former MKO officials who have fled to Europe from Iraq.

The former MKO officials believe that probably the group might have either been trapped in MKO detention camps inside the US army protected garrisons in Iraq or might have been subject to organizational duels and been killed.

The commander of the dissolved Raad group, affiliated to the military wing of the MKO, identified only as Masood Gh. told reporters here on Tuesday that he was seriously concerned about the fate of his former friends in Iraq.

The dissolved Raad Group used to be involved in sabotage operations in Abulkhasib region south of Iraq.

Masood said that alike many other former military structures of the MKO in Iraq, Raad Group lost its identity as he and a large number of other members of the group left Iraq.

The International Red Cross has in an official report said recently that former MKO members had on several occasions voluntarily returned to Iran over recent months -- 328 of whom were accompanied with their families -- and received amnesty.

Masood said that he had managed to flee Iraq one year ago, finally succeeding in receiving conditional residential permit after a long uncertainty in different countries.

From the standpoint of European Union, with Sweden being one of its members, the MKO is a dreadful terrorist organization. The US however, in a double-standard approach and despite recognizing MKO as a terrorist group, has very close links with it.

Masood further told reporters that there is yet one more possibility, that is the 250 missing MKO members might have been transferred to the US army camps in Iraq for possible use in terrorist operations inside Iran and other parts of the world.

Iranian security institutions have provided proofs and documents which show that perpetrators of recent bombings in southwestern city of Ahvaz in Khuzestan province, which left six martyred, had infiltrated into the city from beyond borders and from inside Iraq.

The press in the Persian Gulf littoral states disclosed on Monday that the US and Britain have sent up camps south of Iraq to offer terrorist training courses.

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Coalition Forces remind MKO members they are free to leave

October 2005

Coalition General Command in Iraq has written a letter addressed to each of the residents at Camp Ashraf reminding them of their individual rights under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Part of this letters reads as follows:

“It is important that all Camp Ashraf residents know their rights and how they can exercise their rights. It is also important that all Camp Ashraf residents understand that they are free to leave Iraq at any time they want and that Coalition Forces, international organizations and humanitarian groups are ready to help them.

All Camp Ashraf residents who want to return to their homeland are entitled to receive help from Coalition Forces, the Iraqi Ministry of Human Rights and the International Committee of the Red Cross, who have already secured the return of 300 former members to Iran and other countries.

All those [Camp Ashraf] residents who do not want to return to their homeland, and instead want to get individual or family refugee status from a third country, can ask for their case to be referred to the UNHCR.”

Also, article 10 of the rights given to Camp Ashraf residents by the Fourth Geneva Convention says that “they have the right to leave, at any time, the land of conflict to go to their homeland or a country for which they have valid documents”.

It is clear from this that during the past two years, and particularly since the Coalition Forces have granted Fourth Geneva Convention status to the members, the Mojahedin-e Khalq organization has prevented its members from understanding the fact that they are free to leave Iraq at any time they desire.

During the past two years, they have repeatedly forced the members to pledge not to leave Iraq, and this is in contradiction with their rights: “Residents of Camp Ashraf are subject to the measures of control and security against danger, violence, obligation and special protection is provided for women’s rights”.

But forcing people against their will, to stay in Camp Ashraf is an extreme violation of their rights.

The second article of the rights given to these people according to humanitarian and international laws is their right to request to meet their families who are outside the camp. The MKO leaders systematically violate this law by banning the members from meeting with families who have come to the doors of Camp Ashraf to see their loved ones.

According the 3rd and 4th articles, of which it has been necessary for the Coalition General Command to remind the MKO, “they have the right to receive help from the International Committee of the Red Cross, UNHCR and other humanitarian organizations. They can enjoy freedom of thought, religion, speech, formation of associations inside their society and freedom of political views as well as freedom from harassment and servitude.”

The Mojahedin-e Khalq systematically violates these rights. The members are prohibited from contacting the Red Cross or UNHCR, and these agencies in turn are not permitted to contact the members either.

In addition the MKO, with its sectarian teachings, deprives these people of freedom of thought and forces them to work (without reward) and occupies them in such a way as to deprive them from exercising political and/or religious freedoms.

Other aspects of the Convention, reiterated by the Coalition General Command, are that the privileges applied during past year and the continuation of their application should not encourage or allow misuses by the MKO.

After distribution of the Coalition Forces letter, the MKO responded by claiming that the large number of families who come to Iraq with the assistance of Nejat Association to visit their loved ones [in Camp Ashraf] proves that there is democracy in the cult and that they [the MKO] allow such meetings.

This response, announced by the MKO’s European spokesman, Mohammed Mohaddessin, who is awaiting trial on terrorism charges in Paris, has been forced by the circumstance of the Coalition letter. Otherwise, the potential of the Fourth Geneva Convention to expose the MKO's internal suppression is huge.

After the Coalition General Command in Iraq announced that all residents of Camp Ashraf have the right to meet their families and to be in touch with them - and only after Irandidban had revealed that MKO leaders have systematically deprived the members of their rights and that they try to isolate the members politically, emotionally, intellectually and theologically – the MKO cult leaders (under heavy pressure) issued permission for such meetings and have claimed through this that Camp Ashraf residents do enjoy enough freedom.

Internally, the cult leaders continue to say that family meetings are “family bombs”, and have described the family as “the core of corruption”. Using the pretext that the visiting families all have links to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry, they have been able to coerce some members into insulting their parents. Families who have gone to Iraq to visit their family in Camp Ashraf can readily testify that prior to this permission, they were denied contact with their children for years and that the MKO still does not allow its members to be in touch with the outside world.

It would appear that, in order for Coalition Forces to properly apply the conditions of the Fourth Geneva Convention in Camp Ashraf, it will be first necessary to act to dismantle the MKO cult mafia which illegally governs the Camp, and which threatens the lives and the human rights of all members. Only at that point will the residents be able to enjoy the intellectual freedom, freedom of speech, and freedom of association which comprise their basic human rights.

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Multi-National Forces News about MKO

http://www.mnf-iraq.com/Publications/TWII/24Aug.pdf

Multinational forces in Iraq has an electronic journal in which they reflect latest news and events on Iraq, especially those related to these forces. In Vol.1 No.2, under the title “Detainee Operations Update” we read about the MKO:

“MeK members repatriate to Iran

CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq — With assistance from the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Ministry of Human Rights, ten former members of the Iranian Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization based at Camp Ashraf returned home this month.

These former members requested to be repatriated back to Iran upon arrival at the Coalition controlled facility. Since late 2004, over 300 former members of the organization have returned home to Iran through the amnesty program provided by the Iranian Regime.”
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A Recent Escape

By Irandidban.com

Mehdi Barayee (Ahmed Vaghef), who’s currently in charge of Camp Ashraf affairs, took part in “Direct Contact” (“Ertebate Mostaghim”) program on October 30 on MKO satellite TV channel.

He complained about the existence of defectors’ camp, which is located next to Camp Ashraf. Trying to cover the process of defection among MKO members, he admitted that two MKO members have heroically escaped Camp Ashraf.

Using an opportunity, Mohammed Hussein (Emad) Bagheri and Nasrallah Azari took a car and hurried to get themselves to US forces, without paying attention to the obstacles. They introduced themselves and were immediately protected by US forces.

In this regard, Mehdi Barayee admitted that MKO patrolling forces were chasing them with a short distance but couldn’t prevent them from getting to US forces.

The other point is that MKO tried to have them returned by accusing them of stealing documents and information but US forces thwarted this trick by searching the two and then transferring them to temporary transit facility.

Remnants of Rajavi tried to prevent another scandal on the defection of members by their usual methods: accusing members with false charges.

What is clear is that MKO members want to leave the group despite numerous obstacles and difficulties. Fortunately, some escape efforts like this are successful.
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Families organize petition

By Nejat Association

The letter of family members of Nejat Association in Azerbaijan province to the international communities.

In special ceremony held [with the assistance of Nejat Association] in Eastern Azerbaijan province on September 28, two former members of MKO joined their families. In the event, a number of MKO members’ families signed a petition addressing Red Cross office in Tehran, Iraq and Swiss embassies in Tehran and asked for direct meeting with their loved ones held in the terrorist organization of Mojahedin-e Khalq in Iraq.

The content of the petition is as follows:

“In the name of God

To:

Nejat Association in the Eastern Azerbaijan Province

Red Cross office in Tehran

[US interests section at the] Swiss embassy in Tehran

Iraq embassy in Tehran

We, signatories of this petition, as the families of a number of people held by the organization of Mojahedin-e khalq in Camp Ashraf in Iraq ask the respected officials to manage our direct meeting with our loved ones in Iraq to become certain of their mental and physical status and get them back to the family.

Families signing the petition:

1. Nasser Fakhri

2. Mir Mohsen Mortazavi

3. Ali Joodat

4. Dariush and Mahboobeh Dabbagh Tabrizi

5. Salman Dolat Panah

6. Ali Akbar Azimi

7. Hassanali Pour Mohammed Rouhi

8. Mehdi Sojoodi

9. Abolfazl Sheikh Beglou

10. Abdullah Nikbakht Tabrizi

11. Kheirallah Mohammed Alian

12. Nasser Javanshir

13. Hassan Rahnamai Ana Khatoon

14. Majid Ashk Khooni

15. Ramin and Majid Hassan Pour

16. Jalal Fakhimzadeh

17. Bakhshali Alizadeh

18. Habibeh Onsorian

19. Mohammed Reza Sedigh Aghbolagh

20. Mohammed Ali Baghbanbashi

21. Ali Asghar Karami

22. Suleiman Kheiri

23. Javad Abdi Nemat Abad

24. Karim Nalbandian (Ashrafi Vala)

25. Ali Hamed Ranji

26. Zekr Ali Zibayee

27. Kheirallah Mohammedian

28. Mir Sadegh Hejazi
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Families to take legal action against Rajavi

By Habilian.com

Following the reflection of reports on cooperation between MKO members’ families and Nejat Association and after the posting of interviews with these families and defectors on Habilian.com, Mojahedin-e khalq has initiated a wide range psychological pressure on the families.

A number of families (of MKO members in Iraq), calling Habilian correspondent, have said that after each interview is published, Mojahedin press the member to call his family, insult them and force them to withdraw their comments.

The mother of a member said: “I had no information about my son who’s in Iraq until the interview of my other son was published in Habilian website. He, forced by Mojahedin, called us and attacked us with a violent behavior.”

The comments of families indicate that they are going to get lawyers to file lawsuit against the leaders of Rajavi cult for pressing the members and holding them in Ashraf as well as forcing them to take position against their families.

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2003 - 2004

Articles

US Doesn't Care For MKO Blackmail
(April 13, 2004)

Denmark can't accept MKO members
(The Copenhagen Post, April 10, 2004)

MKO's Swedish lawyer in Iraq
(April 8, 2004)

Brief 16 - July 1st is fast approaching
(April 7, 2004

Terrorist MKO, Expelled from Iraq
(April 5, 2004)

Mojahedin and Denmark
(The Copenhagen Post, April 5, 2004)

Mojahedin attempts to blackmail Danish government
(Irandidban, April 4, 2004)

Lord Corbett in support of terrorism?
(Anne Singleton, March 26, 2004)

UK Parliament latest on the Mojahedin threat
(FAC, March 2004)