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The leader of an Iranian dissident group has agreed to start relocating refugees who for years have been living in precarious conditions in an Iraqi camp. 

Under an agreement recently struck between the United Nations and the Iraqi government, the 3,400 Iranian exiles at a site known as Camp Ashraf will move to Camp Liberty — the former U.S. military base near Baghdad — before making arrangements to leave Iraq and resettle elsewhere. 

Maryam Rajavi, the Paris-based head of the group, averted a potential showdown Wednesday by announcing that, “as a gesture of goodwill,” 400 residents at Ashraf are prepared to go to Camp Liberty “at first opportunity.” The statement was obtained by Fox News.

Before Wednesday, the exiles had not said whether they would consent to the U.N. deal. 

The statement, however, did not indicate when the rest of the residents might relocate. And it also did not mention one of the major remaining sticking points — the fact that in the United States, the group to which the exiles belong is a designated terror organization. As long as that label is attached to them, the residents can’t be resettled in the U.S. or Europe as part of any long-term solution. 

The group known as the Mujahideen Khalq or MEK, has been based in Iraq since the 1980s.
Saddam Hussein gave them protection because they helped him fight Ayatollah Khomeini and the mullahs in Iran. Since the U.S. military toppled Saddam Hussein after the invasion in 2003, the Iranians have been urging Iraq to hand over the exiles, whom Tehran considers traitors and spies. 

Technically, the MEK is still on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization list, placed there by President Bill Clinton because the group allegedly killed six American diplomats during the 1970s when the U.S. was supporting the Shah in Tehran. The group was reportedly placed on the list at a time when the State Department was attempting to engage Iran diplomatically. 

But the State Department is reviewing that designation. 

“We’re giving it serious consideration,” State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Wednesday, noting “no decision has been made yet.” 

More than a dozen former national security advisers have called on the Obama administration to delist the MEK, claiming there’s no evidence today to support allegations of terrorism against the group. 

More recently, the MEK and its affiliates have helped the U.S. and Western intelligence agencies. They provided information about the secret uranium enrichment facility in Natanz — a key intelligence breakthrough for the West. 

A report this past August by Lincoln Bloomfield, a former assistant secretary of state, noted a “longstanding pattern” of western governments being “pressured” by Tehran to sanction the MEK. While the MEK is held responsible for the killing of six Americans in the 1970s, 

Bloomfield cited claims that those responsible actually represented a “splinter” group no longer tied to the current MEK group. 

Whether or not the U.S. changes the terror designation, the U.N.-Iraq plan for resettling the residents of Camp Ashraf ultimately aims to find a permanent home for the refugees. 

Martin Kobler, special representative for the U.N. secretary-general, said in a letter Wednesday that the temporary relocation at Camp Liberty is “a necessary and indispensable first step towards a long-term solution.” He noted that individual countries will have to decide whether they will accept the refugees, but assured that the United Nations will conduct “24/7 monitoring” of the new camp until all residents leave Iraq. The letter also said the U.S. would visit Camp Liberty “regularly and frequently.” 

Rajavi called for “maximum vigilance” in protecting Ashraf residents. 

Even after the deal was struck, rockets from an Iranian-backed militia were fired at the camp on Sunday and Tuesday. Residents remain in fear that the Iraqi government will turn them over to Iran where they would be tried as spies and traitors. More than 30 residents of Camp Ashraf were killed by Iraqi police last April during skirmishes after the U.S. military relinquished control of the camp. 

“The transfer of the first group of residents is a test of the Iraqi Government’s attitude in respecting obligations as professed to the U.N. and U.S.,” Rajavi said. 

The U.S. military also has a role to play in protecting the residents, since the U.S. disarmed the group in 2004 and gave them protected status. 

Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin contributed to this report.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/28/iranian-exiles-in-iraq-ready-to-start-relocation

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BAGHDAD (AP) — The head of an Iranian exile group holed up at a camp in Iraq said Wednesday that the first of the camp’s residents are ready to move to a new location picked by the Iraqi government, solving a potential crisis.

The announcement Wednesday by Maryam Rajavi, the Paris-based leader of the group, averted what could have been a bloody showdown with Iraqi authorities if the residents had refused to move.

“After receiving assurances … and as a sign of goodwill, 400 Ashraf residents are ready to go to Camp Liberty with their moveable property and vehicles at first opportunity,” read the statement. Camp Liberty is the former American military base in Baghdad that has been chosen as the group’s new home.

The agreement comes as militants this week twice tried to target the camp with rockets. No one was injured.

The Iraqi government vowed to close Camp Ashraf, home to about 3,400 Iranian exiles, by the end of this year. The exiles, members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, one-time allies of Saddam Hussein in a common fight against Iran, favor the overthrow of the Iranian government.

But since the ouster of Saddam they have become an irritant to an Iraqi government that is trying to establish good ties with Iran and sees the group as an affront to Iraqi sovereignty. At least 34 people were killed in April during an Iraqi government raid on the camp.

The United Nations on Sunday announced an agreement to move the residents of Camp Ashraf to a temporary location, but until Wednesday, the exiles had not said whether they would go.

Rajavi said 400 residents are ready to move first as a sign of goodwill. The statement made no mention of when the other residents would go, but the group’s residents are believed to want to stay together. If the first move is successful and safe, it’s likely the rest would be relocated soon.

“The transfer of the first group of residents is a test of the Iraqi Government’s attitude in respecting obligations as professed to the U.N. and U.S.,” Rajavi said.

At Camp Liberty, the U.N.’s refugee agency will interview the residents to determine their eligibility for refugee status, before they can eventually be resettled in third countries. Returning to Iran is ruled out because of their opposition to the regime.

Rajavi’s statement also gave rare insight into a camp that was built during the 1980s and has largely been closed off to the outside world. The group’s residents have not left the camp for years, and the little contact they have with outsiders is through the Iraqi military, visiting diplomats and aid agencies. They do have extensive communications equipment that allows them to communicate with the outside world.

The group’s leader said residents had taken a piece of land in the desert and transformed it into a “modern city with their labor and extensive cost.”

“It has a university, library, museum, hospital, power station, cemetery, mosque, parks, lake, sports and recreation facilities, and underground bomb shelters,” she said.

The group carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war. The group says it renounced violence in 2001. U.S. soldiers disarmed them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Under the agreement outlined by the U.N., the international organization will monitor the relocation process, and then a team from the U.N.’s refugee agency will be deployed at the new location to process the refugee claims. The U.S. has said that its embassy personnel will also frequently check on the camp’s residents.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2HYalCrCOblur92W0bIIFddTVHA

Maryam Rajavi expresses gratitude to Secretary Clinton for humanitarian approach to safety and security of Ashraf residents, and appreciate efforts by UN Secretary General, UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Iraq, UNHCR, and Baroness Ashton

NCRI – Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, expressed her gratitude for the humanitarian approach by the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in her December 25 statement on the situation in Ashraf for reaching a peaceful and durable solution on the Camp’s residents and for her stressing their “safety and security” and that “officials from U.S. Embassy Baghdad will visit (Camp Liberty) regularly and frequently.” She also thanked Ambassador Daniel Fried, the Secretary’s Special Representative on Ashraf for his efforts in this regard.

Mrs. Rajavi repeated the readiness of Ashraf residents to relocate to Camp Liberty with minimal assurances and underscored: The residents of Ashraf welcome Secretary Clinton’s statement and, naturally, anything that would be contrary to the spirit and letter of the statement would be unacceptable to them.

Having received the assurances and the letter of Mr. Martin Kobler, SRSG, to Ashraf residents, Mrs. Rajavi announced: Despite the December 25 and 27 attacks with 107mm rockets on Ashraf, and the continuation of various provocations in Baghdad and around Ashraf, as a gesture of goodwill, 400 residents are prepared to go to Camp Liberty with their moveable property and vehicles at first opportunity. The relocation of the first group of residents is, at the same time, a test of the Iraqi Government’s attitude toward the commitments it has given to the United Nations and the United States.

Mrs. Rajavi also expressed her profound gratitude and appreciation for the efforts of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon; SRSG, Ambassador Martin Kobler; UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres; EU High Representative Baroness Ashton, Special Advisor to EU High Representative, Amb. Jean de Ruyt; European Parliament Vice-President Alejo Vidal-Quadras; and Head of European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Iraq, Struan Stevenson; as well as distinguished US personalities and parliamentarians from over 40 countries for their efforts to prevent violence and bloodshed and for seeking a peaceful solution.

The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect pointed out that the Iraqi Government had unfortunately not accepted her participation or that of representatives of Ashraf residents and their lawyers in negotiations related to the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the UN. As the UN statements have pointed out, the SRSG was only a facilitator in the negotiations. As a result, the MOU has not sufficiently emphasized on the minimal assurances and was therefore not acceptable to Ashraf residents. But the categorical emphasis by Secretary Hillary Clinton, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Baroness Ashton, António Guterres, and in particular the letter by Amb. Martin Kobler, contained the crisis and resolved the very complex problem.

The UN Secretary General stated: “He believes that the agreement lays the foundation for a peaceful and durable solution to the situation, respecting both the sovereignty of Iraq and its international humanitarian and human rights obligations,” and “that any violence or attempt at a forcible solution would be unacceptable.”

Addressing Ashraf residents and their leadership, Baroness Ashton stressed: “They should be reassured by the terms of the MOU and the commitment of UNAMI and the United States to ensure a robust monitoring. Thanks to this, the entire International Community will be able to follow closely the whole process and the EU intends to bring its support to this whole arrangement… and will continue to follow very closely the implementation of this agreement.”

Mr. António Guterres declared: “UNHCR is fully engaged in this initiative and looks forward to the voluntary and peaceful transfer of the asylum seekers to a temporary site so that UNHCR can proceed immediately with the determination of their status…”

Finally, the SRSG’s clarifications about the MOU in his letter to Ashraf residents persuaded them to relocate based on the statement by Secretary Clinton on December 25 and the SRSG’s letter on December 28, 2011. I emphatically urged Ashraf residents to count on and trust these foundations and statements by UN Secretary General, EU High Representative Baroness Ashton, and UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.

The SRSG stressed:

“The MOU is a good start. It outlines the process of relocation to camp liberty which will take place exclusively under the security responsibility of the Government of the Republic of Iraq. The Government of the Republic of Iraq ensures your safety and security both during the transportation from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty and in Camp Liberty itself until the time comes when you leave Iraq.

“Given the short time it was not possible to address all your requests. Many issues will have to be arranged between you and the representatives of the Government of Iraq in Camp Liberty.

“Safe and secure transfer of the residents of Camp New Iraq to Camp Liberty and from Camp Liberty to other countries is ensured in the MOU.

“Upon arrival of the residents to Camp Liberty, the United Nations will conduct 24/7 monitoring at Camp Liberty until the residents leave Iraq.

“I am aware of your request for respect for your privacy in particular regarding women. I will continue my efforts with the Government of the Republic of Iraq in this regard to establish the appropriate arrangement, with the agreement of the Government of Iraq, which would respect the sovereignty of Iraq.

“With regard to other issues, such as assets and properties, we will continue the discussions towards reaching a solution that would respect the property rights of the residents in an organized way”.

Mrs. Rajavi added that contrary to what is said about the Iraqi Government not knowing about the number or identities of the Ashraf residents and what goes on in this city, I must bring to your attention:

First – from April 5 to 9, 2009 in a span of five days, the Iraqi Government fingerprinted, registered, and identified every single Ashraf resident, without exception;

Second – The Iraqi Government privately and individually interviewed all Ashraf residents, under supervision of US forces and International Committee of the Red Cross, from February 26 to April 22, 2009 at the headquarters of the Iraqi battalion. During these interviews, 11 persons decided to leave Ashraf and Iraqi state television broadcast these individuals’ repentance in the presence of Iraqi security officials on April 15, 2009;

Third – The Iraqi Government searched all buildings and facilities and all grounds and each single resident in Ashraf including women’s personal effects with a trained police dog unit for three days on April 18, 19, and 20, 2009. The official signed document of this search is available on request.

Fourth – Before the attacks of July 28 and 29, 2009, a representative of the Iraqi Government, Mr. Salim, was resident inside Ashraf and had unfettered access to every place in Ashraf 24/7.

In addition, after the United States transferred the protection of Ashraf to Iraqi forces in early 2009, Ashraf residents warmly welcomed the Iraqi forces. They also handed over $10 million worth of buildings and facilities to the Iraqi forces which the residents had built with their own funds in over two decades.

While underlining the red lines of the Ashraf residents in not surrendering to the religious fascism ruling Iran and the demands of its supreme leader, Mrs. Rajavi recounted the successive flexibilities shown by Ashraf residents, which were ultimately reflected in accepting the UN and US plan. They were:

– Yielding on a 26-year right of residence and asylum in Iraq, outlined in 22 legal opinions by the preeminent legal scholars across the world;

– Accepting the European Parliament plan for leaving Iraq for third countries;

– Accepting the UNHCR’s recommendation to submit individual applications for refugee status and to declare readiness for individual and private interviews;

– And finally, accepting the US and UN plan to leave Ashraf, a barren and arid piece of land, which thousands of residents transformed to a modern city in 26 years, through their toil and extensive cost. They built a university, a library, a museum, a hospital, a power station, a cemetery, a mosque, a lake, parks, sports and recreation facilities, and underground bomb shelters to defend themselves against the Iranian regime’s repeated bombings and Scud-B missile attacks.

In conclusion, Mrs. Rajavi, once again thanked all officials, personalities, parliamentarians, and jurists who worked towards a peaceful solution and called for an immediate end to the siege, restrictions, and provocations against Ashraf residents. She called for the international community’s maximum vigilance to protect the lives and rights of Ashraf residents and to record every single breach of the items stipulated in the letter by the SRSG and in the statements by the UN Secretary General and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, until the last person has left Camp Liberty for third countries.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 28, 2011

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

BAQUBA, Iraq — Multiple rockets over the past 24 hours hit a camp in Iraq housing Iranian exiles, officials and the group based there said on Wednesday, after Iraq and the UN signed a pact to resettle residents.

The latest strikes, the third in four days, occurred at about 8:15 pm (1715 GMT) on Wednesday, according to an official at the Iraqi security command centre in Diyala provincial capital Baquba.

“Four mortars fell on Camp Ashraf at around 8:15 pm from unknown sources,” the official said. It was not immediately clear if they caused casualties.

On Tuesday evening, at least one rocket hit the camp, the official and a spokesman for the camp said.

An ambulance was sent to the camp, home to 3,400 members of the People’s Mujahedeen, after that attack but returned carrying no victims.

Shahriar Kia, a spokesman for the camp, said in an emailed statement that multiple rockets hit the camp at 8:00 pm on Tuesday, and confirmed there had been no casualties.

He blamed groups loyal to Iran of being behind the strike and a previous rocket attack on the evening of December 25.

On Sunday, Iraq and the UN signed a pact under which Baghdad will resettle members of the People’s Mujahedeen and provide security for them while the UN determines their refugee status.

The agreement was signed by UN special envoy Martin Kobler and Iraqi National Security Adviser Falah al-Fayadh.

It did not give the location to which the residents would be moved or provide a timeline, but Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has said the camp will now close in April, rather than at the end of this year.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said US embassy officials would visit the new site “regularly and frequently” in support of the UN plan.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein allowed the rebel People’s Mujahedeen to set up the camp during the war with Iran in the 1980s.

When Saddam was overthrown in the US-led invasion of 2003, the camp came under US military protection, but American forces handed over security responsibilities for the site to the Baghdad authorities in January 2009.

The camp has been back in the spotlight since a controversial April raid by Iraqi security forces left at least 34 people dead and scores injured.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5iD3Kpoyh39ZyOjzBebAKw06idc5A

Department of Public Information • News and Media Division • New York

Secretary-General, Welcoming Memorandum of Understanding on Relocation of Camp
New Iraq Residents, Warns That Forcible Solution Would Be ‘Unacceptable’

The following statement was issued on 26 December by the Spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon:

The Secretary-General welcomes the signing on 25 December of a Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq for the voluntary relocation of the residents of Camp New Iraq (formerly Camp Ashraf).  He believes that the agreement lays the foundation for a peaceful and durable solution to the situation, respecting both the sovereignty of Iraq and its international humanitarian and human rights obligations.  The Memorandum of Understanding is the result of intense negotiations between his Special Representative for Iraq, Martin Kobler, and representatives of the Iraqi Government.  The residents of the camp have also been consulted.
The Secretary-General welcomes the decision of the Government of Iraq to extend the deadline for the closure of the camp to provide more time and space for the peaceful voluntary relocation of the residents.  As reflected in the Memorandum of Understanding, the Government of Iraq has a clear and exclusive responsibility to ensure the safety and security of the residents.  At the same time, the residents of Camp New Iraq have to abide by the laws of Iraq.  He appeals to all concerned to continue to demonstrate flexibility and good faith, and move towards the swift implementation of the relocation plan.  The Secretary-General reminds all concerned that any violence or attempt at a forcible solution would be unacceptable.  The Secretary-General also reiterates his call to Member States to accept the residents who are eligible for voluntary return or resettlement as soon as possible.
The United Nations has been involved in this issue from a purely humanitarian perspective and has played the role of an impartial facilitator.  Under the leadership of Special Representative Martin Kobler, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees remain committed to continue supporting a peaceful and durable solution to the situation of the residents of the camp.

* *** *

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs//2011/sgsm14038.doc.htm

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