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An Iraqi Member of Parliament in Maliki’s bloc told reporters today that it would be a grave mistake for Iraq expelling the MEK without receiving adequate incentives from Iran, said Shafagh News website. She also stressed that there are a great many armed groups operating in Iraq supported by the Iranian regime while their cases remain undisclosed.
“Iraq’s foreign policy is full of flaws,” said Batoul Farough from Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s bloc in the Iraqi parliament told to Shafagh news reporter, “one of such mistakes is expelling the MEK without receiving any incentive from the Iranian side.”
“This will result in a situation where Iraq will no longer have a pressure leverage against neighboring countries that intervene in Iraqi affaires,” highlighted Farough.
Another member of the bloc, Ali Al-Alagh, said that the members of the MEK after closing the camp at the end of this year will be taken to various temporary locations specially designated for this purpose in Iraq. He added that Iraq is under a lot of pressure from Iran with this regard.
MEK members are the principal Iranian opposition movement in exile who have lived in Iraq for the past 25 years in a camp internationally known as Camp Ashraf located about 80 kilometers north of Baghdad. The 3400 residents in the camp are unarmed and are currently being considered for refugee status by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Last April Iraqi forces raided the camp killing 36 residents including 8 women. Since the incident the Iraqi government has put a blockade on the camp and threatens to close the camp at the end of the year and disperse the residents in different locations in Iraq.
Residents say that they will not be willingly relocated inside Iraq as that will be tantamount to a group suicide.
Martin Kobler, the United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy to Iraq told a meeting of the Security Council Tuesday that at Ashraf, “Lives are at stake, they need protection,” calling for the UN to take strong measure to prevent a large scale massacre of the resident.
