Iran protests US decision to send People's Mujahedeen to other countries

Agence France Presse
December 23, 2003

TEHRAN, Dec 23 (AFP) - The Iranian foreign ministry summoned the Swiss ambassador, who heads the US interest section here, to protest remarks by US Iraq overseer Paul Bremer that People's Mujahedeen members would not be expelled to Iran but sent to third countries, the press reported Tuesday.

Iran "is deeply concerned about the aftermath of such irresponsible remarks," the ministry's director general of American affairs, Mohammad Hasan Fadaie Fard, was quoted as telling Swiss envoy Tim Guldimann.

"If they provide safe havens for them, they will not only further promote terrorism, but also violate the articles of the UN Security Council Resolution 1373, which is a dangerous precedent that can be taken advantage of by other supporters of international terrorism."

On Monday, Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami proposed that members of the Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen, the main Iranian armed opposition, return home, vowing they would be treated with leniency.

"The majority who did not commit a crime and do not have blood on their hands are like our children and we must act with leniency towards them, but those who committed crimes will be tried with fairness," he added.

On Sunday, Iranian officials reacted angrily after the US ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Mujahedeen members would not be expelled to Iran but to third countries.

The US-installed interim Governing Council announced on December 9 that it planned to deport the People's Mujahedeen group by the end of this month.

Two days later, council member Nurredin Dara proposed expelling them to Iran, a move the group protested would amount to a war crime.

The group mounted attacks inside Iran from neighbouring Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, but surrendered to the coalition in May, when US troops disarmed more than 3,800 of them.

They are now guarded by US troops at their base in Camp Ashraf, northeast of the Iraqi capital.

Khatami proposes Iraq-based rebels return to Iran

Agence France Presse
December 22, 2003

TEHRAN, Dec 22 (AFP) - Iran's reformist President Mohammad Khatami proposed Monday that members of the Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen, the main Iranian armed opposition, return home and vowed they would be treated with leniency.

"The majority who did not commit a crime and do not have blood on their hands are like our children and we must act with leniency towards them, but those who committed crimes will be tried with fairness," he told reporters.

"We propose that they return to Iran," the president added.

"There should be no discrimination" in dealing with the Mujahedeen, which the United States and European Union have branded as terrorist groups, Khatami said on the sidelines of an Islamic conference.

"So they should be dealt with like other terrorist groups."

On Sunday, Iranian officials reacted angrily after the US ruler of Iraq, Paul Bremer, said Mujahedeen members would not be expelled to Iran but rather sent to third countries.

The US-installed interim Governing Council announced on December 9 that it planned to deport the People's Mujahedeen group by the end of this month.

Two days later, council member Nurredin Dara proposed expelling them to Iran, a move which the armed opposition group protested would amount to a war crime.

The group mounted attacks inside Iran from neighbouring Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, but surrendered to the coalition in May, when US troops disarmed more than 3,800 of them.

They are now guarded by US troops at their base in Camp Ashraf, northeast of the Iraqi capital.

U.S.: Prisoner swap with Iran illegal

United Press International
December 22, 2003
By ANWAR IQBAL

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) - Iranian rebels in U.S. custody cannot be handed over to the Islamic Republic because U.S. laws do not allow a swap of prisoners with a country that has been designated a sponsor of terrorism, the U.S. State Department said.

"And the Iranian Governing Council cannot hand them over to the Iranian government either because the rebels are in U.S. and not the IGC custody," a senior State Department official told United Press International.

Last week, a U.S.-based Iranian dissident group, the U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran, said the IGC had decided to hand over the rebels to the Iranian government. Other Iranian opposition groups also joined the alliance in condemning the decision, which, they said, enjoyed U.S. support because Washington wanted to swap the rebels with al-Qaida operatives now in Iranian custody.

The protest followed a Dec. 9 IGC statement saying the governing council had decided to "expel the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran from Iraq before the end of the year." A day later, a member of the IGC told reporters in Baghdad that it "is considering handing the People's Mujahedin back to the Iranian authorities."

Tehran applauded the IGC decision.

Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi said: "We have very good relations with the Governing Council, and we have had discussions (on the Mujahedin) and this decision is the result."

The Iranian statement sent Iranian opposition groups into panic, particularly the Mujahedin who are also known as the Mujahedin-e-Khalq, or MeK. Despite being designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States, the MeK has many supporters in the United States and other Western countries.

"Handing over the dissidents to Iran's clerical regime would be tantamount to signing their death warrants. Tehran's execution of its political opponents and rights abuses is well documented," warned the U.S. Alliance for Democratic Iran. "Last November, the United Nations condemned continuing and systematic violations of human rights and the use of torture, inhuman and degrading punishments."

The State Department described such fears as "unfounded."

"Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism ...and also has a horrible human rights record," the State Department official said. "I am not sure if there is a legal way of sending these men to Iran and swapping them for other individuals."

The official said it was wrong to assume the United States does not have to deal with the rebels directly and can arrange the swap by allowing the IGC to send them to Iran.

"They are not in IGC control. They are under the control of the U.S. forces, at camps controlled by Centcom (U.S. Central Command). And because we cannot deal with Iran, sending them to Iran is out of the question," the official said.

He said the IGC had only decided to close MeK offices in Baghdad, banned membership to the group, and stopped them from participating in political activities. During Saddam Hussein's rule, the group used Iraq to stage terror attacks on targets inside Iran.

"The IGC says, 'We don't care where they go, as long as they do not carry out their activities in Iraq,'" the State Department official said.

The official also said the MeK were " designated as a foreign terrorist organization. They are contained by coalition forces and are prevented from reconstituting themselves as a terrorist force."

Mujahedin-e-Khalq is an Iranian opposition group, which tried earlier - but eventually failed -- this year to solicit U.S. support for its efforts to bring down Iran's clergy-dominated government.

Washington's stand against the MeK came amid increased contacts between U.S. and Iranian officials and statements from Tehran expressing an interest in extending indirect support to the U.S.-led war on terror.

Such contacts led to speculation that the United States might hand over MeK rebels in its custody to Iran in exchange for al-Qaida suspects held by the Islamic Republic.

Talks between Washington and Tehran in Geneva broke down about three months ago. Last month, however, media reports said Jordan's King Abdullah was mediating between the two countries and was encouraging Iran to hand over al-Qaida members to Washington.

Iran's Prosecutor General: MKO's transfer will cost Europe, US dearly

Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting
12/21/03

Prosecutor General Abdolnabi Namazi warned on Sunday that the transfer of the criminal members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) to Europe from Iraq will cost Europe and the US dearly, IRNA reported from Tehran.

Addressing a press conference, Namazi said protection of the MKO members by any system would entail many political, economic and security consequences.

Namazi called on the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) to extradite those MKO members who were involved in criminal cases. He said that based on the Supreme National Security Council's approval those MKO members, who have not committed any crime can return to Iran.

Namazi said the approval concerns MKO members who have been deceived by the outlawed organization out of emotion and unawareness but have not taken part in any terrorist operation.
He said Iranian soldiers, deceived by the MKO during the eight-year war can also return home.
Meanwhile, an Iranian MP from Abadan (Khuzestan province) Abdollah Kaabi in an interview with IRNA on Saturday called for the extradition of the MKO members, saying they would have to stand trial.

Kaabi said the MKO members have acted as an instrument in the hands of the former Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein and have launched assaults against the Iranian people during the past two decades.

The MP said the MKO has been listed as a terrorist group by the European Union and the United States and has not been allowed to operate freely in other states.

Kaabi called on the Iraqi interim governing council to pave the way for the extradition of some five thousands MKO members from Iraq to Iran so that they stand a fair trial.

Those who have been threatening the lives of the Iranian people from inside and outside the country are surely terrorists, violators of human rights and the other states should refuse to shelter or defend them.

The MP said the MKO has embarked on deadly attacks against Iranian civilians for years and in particular after the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and has even continued its inhuman and criminal actions until a few days before the US/British-led war on Iraq.

He called on the Iranian authorities to exercise a more active diplomacy for the extradition of the MKO members from Iraq to Iran. The MP's comments came after the Iraqi Governing Council set a 40-day deadline for the MKO members to leave Iraq.

The Iraqi Governing Council announced that it is to expel the MKO by the end of December and confiscate its assets. This was a unanimous decision to expel the terrorist organization from Iraqi territory by the end of this year and close its premises and stop its followers from any activity before then, read a statement issued by the Council. It added that the confiscated assets and weapons would be used for a fund to compensate victims of the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein, which allowed the Iranian group to operate from Iraq.

Iran welcomed warmly the Iraqi Governing Council's decision to expel the MKO members from Iraq.

Iran's Defense Minister Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani hailed the Governing Council measure and said in a press conference the move by the Council indicates its power to establish peace, security and stability in Iraq and in the whole of the Middle East region.

Joint Statement by the Senior Iraqi delegation

Joint Statement by the Senior Iraqi delegation
Press Conference in House of Commons
18 December 2003

We, the undersigned, who represent different tribes and political, ethnic and religious factions of the Iraqi people and have been invited to London by British parliamentarians, state our positions as follows:

1. Achieving a free, independent and prosperous Iraq is the wish of every freedom-loving Iraqi. Thus, we believe the greatest threat and challenge to the safety and security of Iraqi people is from the intrusion of the Iranian regime in the internal issues of Iraq and their operation, which this regime is employing to create a government dependent on its regime in our county. The people of Iraq condemn these intrusions and would like to make clear that the future of Iraq will only be decided on by the Iraqi people and through democratic means.

2. We would like to express and convey our condolences in regards to the martyrdom of dozens of the members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Iraq who have been killed through terrorist operations. We would also like to condemn the different conspiracies of the Iranian regime against the presence of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran in Iraq and would like to state that they are political refugees and are the valued guests of the Iraqi people and like in any modern country in the world their rights should be justified and must be able to live a safe life in our country.

As a historical testimony we would like to make clear that in contrary to the false statements which are created by the security statements of Iran, The People's Mojahedin have never interfered in Iraqi issues and their only purpose in Iraq is to fight for freedom and democracy in their nation. In accordance to Islamic, Arabic, and Iraqi customs, and in accordance with the brotherly and historic relation between the people of Iraq and the Iranian resistance and People's Mojahedin of Iran, protecting our guest is the duty of every free and honourable Iraqi and we welcome them. In this context we demand that the Iraqi Governing Council abolish its statement regarding the expulsion of Mojahedin from Iraq. specially since this statement is in breach of International law and the Geneva Convention, which covers Mojahedin, considering that Iraq is a country under occupation. We would like to add that the presence of this organization is also to the benefit of the Iraqi people.


Council of Iraqi Tribal Leaders
Al-Sheikh Ali Al-Borhan Ali Al-Latif, Elected Chairman
Al-Sheikh Saadoun Al-Issa, member
Al-Sheikh Ali Hassan Al-Aadeli Al-Shommori, member
Al-Sheikh Hawas Shawka Hassan, member

Council of Iraqi Dignitaries
Al-Sayyed Aqeel Al-Khatib, Deputy General Secretary
Al-Sheikh Abdolkarim Abed Ali, member

Iraqi Peace Party
Al-Sayyed Saleh Abu-Khomra, leader of Iraqi Peace Party
Dr. Thorayya Al-Barzanji, spokeswoman and member of political bureau

National Association of Iraqi Tribal Sheikhs
Sheikh Borhan Dhahi Al-Shommori, Chairman

Central Council of Iraqi and Arab Tribal Sheikhs
Sheikh Ali Ibrahim Faaris, Chairman
Sheikh Adnan Ismail Ibrahim, Deputy chairman
Sheikh Monadeh Karim Mojed, member
Sheikh Yahya Rasheed Hazza, member

Iraqi Association of Friendship and Peace with Iranian People
Sheikh Faisal Kadhem Gaitan, chairman

National Association of Independent Iraqi Charities
Sheikh Imad Ghayyum Ramahi

Iraqi Chaldean Community
Nasseer Haddad, representative of Iraqi Christian communityFaisal Suhail, Iraqi intellectual

Iran urges Europe not to give refuge to armed opposition group members being expelled from Iraq

Associated Press
December 14, 2003
BY: ALI AKBAR DAREINI

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran urged European countries Sunday not to give refuge to members of the Iraq-based Iranian opposition group Mujahedeen Khalq who have been ordered to leave Iraq, warning that the group would be a "source of instability" for their hosts.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said countries taking in members if the group - which for years carried out a war on the Iranian leadership from Iraqi territory - would be violating international norms.

"If countries want to observe international regulations, they should hand them over to Iran," Asefi told reporters Sunday.

"We call on European countries not to accept them because their flight there will (become) a source of instability for the countries giving them refuge," Asefi said. He did not elaborate on how such instability would result.

The U.S.-backed Iraqi Governing Council Tuesday order that Mujahedeen Khalq members must be out of Iraq by the end of the year and that the all group's offices will be closed down.

The Mujahedeen Khalq is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. It is well armed and for years fought Iran's Islamic rulers from Iraq with the backing of Saddam Hussein's regime. It was disarmed by U.S. forces in Iraq soon after major hostilities ended in May.

Iraq's Governing Council said it had decided to expel the paramilitary group because of "the black history of this terrorist organization and for the crimes it had committed against our people and our neighbors."

The council also said that the group's money and weapons would be confiscated and the funds used to compensate the "victims of the bygone fascist regime."

Asefi said the council made the decision because of its "understanding the facts and knowledge that the group is a terrorist organization."

Attempting to relieve fears about treatment of Mujahedeen Khalq members, Asefi said that most of them would be handled differently if they returned to Iran.

"A majority of them were deceived and are repentant. The Islamic Republic of Iran welcomes them to return to the embrace of their families. They are allowed to return and there should be no room for concern," Asefi said.

But he warned that "a group of them have their hands stained with blood," and that those "must ... stand trial and be punished."

On Saturday, U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez said the U.S. had restricted all 3,800 members of the Mujahedeen to their camp northeast of Baghdad and "separated" them from their weapons.

The Mujahedeen Khalq sought to topple Iran's clerical government and kept an army in Iraq while the country was under the rule of Saddam. The group sided with Saddam during his 1980-88 war against Iran.

The Mujahedeen Khalq was allied with Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic fundamentalists during the 1979 revolution that overthrew the pro-American dictatorship of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. But the new government soon banned the Mujahedeen Khalq and other groups that advocated a secular regime.

During the 1970s, the group was accused of participating in attacks that killed several Americans working on projects linked to the Shah's security services, although the group has denied targeting Americans.

Iranian Rebels Urge Pentagon Not to Let Iraq Expel Them

The New York Times
December 13, 2003
By DOUGLAS JEHL

ASHINGTON, Dec. 12 — Representatives of an Iranian opposition group are appealing to the Pentagon to overrule an order this week by the Iraqi Governing Council that would expel its members from Iraq by the end of the year, possibly to Iran.

The group, the People's Mujahedeen, or Mujahedeen Khalq, maintained armed camps in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. It is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, but it has strong supporters in the Pentagon, who see it as an important pressure point on the Iranian government.

The request was sent on Thursday to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and shown to The New York Times on Friday by someone sympathetic to the group. It is being cast by some in the organization as a last-ditch effort to avoid an expulsion that could put its members into the hands of the Tehran government.

Iran has quietly been seeking to persuade the Bush administration to agree to hand over the group, administration officials said. Tehran has relayed word through intermediaries that it may move in turn to expel members of Al Qaeda that it says it has in custody. But the Bush administration has rejected the idea of such an exchange.

The group's status in Iraq since the American invasion has remained murky, with several thousand of its members confined to a sprawling camp outside Baghdad under American military supervision as part of a cease-fire agreement reached in April.

None of the group's members have been detained by the United States, and they have been permitted to keep some small weapons and to continue broadcasts into Iran.

Bush administration officials have defended that treatment as appropriate to the group's status as a terrorist organization. But the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, has refused to say whether the administration supports the order by the Iraqi Governing Council, whose authority to act unilaterally remains uncertain. Mr. Boucher has said only that American officials will be "discussing the matter" with their Iraqi counterparts.

In appealing to the Pentagon, the Mujahedeen are clearly reaching out to factions within the administration that have shown the most sympathy for the group, which has carried out many acts of sabotage and assassination inside Iran and which the Iranian government regards as its most powerful external foe.

In a letter sent Thursday to Mr. Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and others, a lawyer for the group argued that the United States had an obligation under the Geneva Convention as the occupying power in Iraq to prevent the organization's members from being expelled.

Any expulsion, particularly to Iran, "would constitute a violation of the laws of war and an egregious breach of international human rights law," said the letter from Marc Hezelin, a Swiss lawyer representing the group.

Larry Di Rita, a spokesman for Mr. Rumsfeld, declined to comment on Friday, saying he did not know whether the defense secretary had received Mr. Hezelin's letter.

Iran has hailed the decision to expel the group by the end of the year. The order did not specify a destination, but the Iranian statement suggested that Tehran believed that it would be given custody of the fighters.

The People's Mujahedeen was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States during the Clinton administration, which blamed it for the killing of Americans in Iran in the 1970's.

Last summer, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell raised the pressure by outlawing several of the group's affiliates in the United States, while France moved even more harshly in June by arresting more than 150 members in raids outside Paris.

American warplanes bombed the Mujahedeen's camps in Iraq during the war. But the group, which operated with the support of the Hussein government, did not take part in attacks against United States forces.

In the months since, the Pentagon and the State Department have squabbled about how the organization should be treated, with the Pentagon winning an initial battle that led to a negotiated agreement rather than an unconditional surrender.

The State Department has succeeded in blocking any reconsideration of the group's status as a terrorist organization, an option being pressed by some at the Pentagon to add to pressure on Iran.

But senior officials say the administation has been united in rejecting a proposal floated during the summer by Iran for an exchange of Mujahedeen members for Qaeda fighters whom Iran said it was willing to surrender to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab countries.

At a State Department briefing this week, Mr. Boucher said that all countries had an obligation to act against terrorism, and that the obligation was "not dependent on some two-way deal."

Iranian Rebels Urge Pentagon Not to Let Iraq Expel Them

Iranian Rebels Urge Pentagon Not to Let Iraq Expel Them
By DOUGLAS JEHL

New York Times
December 13, 2003

Representatives of an Iranian opposition group are appealing to the Pentagon to overrule an order this week by the Iraqi Governing Council that would expel its members from Iraq by the end of the year, possibly to Iran.

The group, the People's Mujahedeen, or Mujahedeen Khalq, maintained armed camps in Iraq under Saddam Hussein. It is listed by the United States as a terrorist organization, but it has strong supporters in the Pentagon, who see it as an important pressure point on the Iranian government.

The request was sent on Thursday to Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and shown to The New York Times on Friday by someone sympathetic to the group. It is being cast by some in the organization as a last-ditch effort to avoid an expulsion that could put its members into the hands of the Tehran government.

Iran has quietly been seeking to persuade the Bush administration to agree to hand over the group, administration officials said. Tehran has relayed word through intermediaries that it may move in turn to expel members of Al Qaeda that it says it has in custody. But the Bush administration has rejected the idea of such an exchange.

The group's status in Iraq since the American invasion has remained murky, with several thousand of its members confined to a sprawling camp outside Baghdad under American military supervision as part of a cease-fire agreement reached in April.

None of the group's members have been detained by the United States, and they have been permitted to keep some small weapons and to continue broadcasts into Iran.

Bush administration officials have defended that treatment as appropriate to the group's status as a terrorist organization. But the State Department spokesman, Richard A. Boucher, has refused to say whether the administration supports the order by the Iraqi Governing Council, whose authority to act unilaterally remains uncertain. Mr. Boucher has said only that American officials will be ''discussing the matter'' with their Iraqi counterparts.

In appealing to the Pentagon, the Mujahedeen are clearly reaching out to factions within the administration that have shown the most sympathy for the group, which has carried out many acts of sabotage and assassination inside Iran and which the Iranian government regards as its most powerful external foe.

In a letter sent Thursday to Mr. Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz and others, a lawyer for the group argued that the United States had an obligation under the Geneva Convention as the occupying power in Iraq to prevent the organization's members from being expelled.

Any expulsion, particularly to Iran, ''would constitute a violation of the laws of war and an egregious breach of international human rights law,'' said the letter from Marc Hezelin, a Swiss lawyer representing the group.

Larry Di Rita, a spokesman for Mr. Rumsfeld, declined to comment on Friday, saying he did not know whether the defense secretary had received Mr. Hezelin's letter.

Iran has hailed the decision to expel the group by the end of the year. The order did not specify a destination, but the Iranian statement suggested that Tehran believed that it would be given custody of the fighters.

The People's Mujahedeen was listed as a terrorist organization by the United States during the Clinton administration, which blamed it for the killing of Americans in Iran in the 1970's.

Last summer, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell raised the pressure by outlawing several of the group's affiliates in the United States, while France moved even more harshly in June by arresting more than 150 members in raids outside Paris.

American warplanes bombed the Mujahedeen's camps in Iraq during the war. But the group, which operated with the support of the Hussein government, did not take part in attacks against United States forces.

In the months since, the Pentagon and the State Department have squabbled about how the organization should be treated, with the Pentagon winning an initial battle that led to a negotiated agreement rather than an unconditional surrender.

The State Department has succeeded in blocking any reconsideration of the group's status as a terrorist organization, an option being pressed by some at the Pentagon to add to pressure on Iran.

But senior officials say the administation has been united in rejecting a proposal floated during the summer by Iran for an exchange of Mujahedeen members for Qaeda fighters whom Iran said it was willing to surrender to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and other Arab countries.

At a State Department briefing this week, Mr. Boucher said that all countries had an obligation to act against terrorism, and that the obligation was ''not dependent on some two-way deal.''

Iran's Mujahideen Khalq under U.S. control

United Press International
December 13, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec. 13 (UPI) - A top U.S. military commander said 3,800 guerrillas from the Iran opposition Mujahideen Khalq group were kept under his forces' control.

Gen. Ricardo Sanchez also told a press conference in Baghdad Saturday that the fate of the Iranian guerrillas, who were stripped of their heavy weapons, should be decided by the Iraqi people and not the U.S. command.

"It is up to the Iraq Governing Council to evict those guerrillas or not... We have nothing to do with that," Sanchez said.

He said the guerrillas, regarded by many Iraqis as terrorists, have been told that they must leave Iraq according to a plan coordinated with the council.

The council decided last week to expel the Mujahideen Khalq guerrillas by the end of 2003.

U.S. soldier killed and two Polish soldiers wounded in separate attacks

Associated Press
December 13, 2003
By SLOBODAN LEKIC

BAGHDAD, Iraq - … Other members of the Governing Council said they may ask the U.S. military to expel 3,800 paramilitaries of the Mujahedeen Khalq, Iranians who oppose their government and who operate from Iraq.

"We might ask the Americans because they have the military capabilities," Governing Council member Dara Noor al-Din said. "We don't have an army and the police force isn't well enough equipped to face the Mujahedeen."

The U.S.-appointed council has no plans to hand the Mujahedeen Khalq members over to Iran, where they are wanted for terrorist attacks, Iraqi officials said.

The Mujahedeen Khalq has for years sought to topple Iran's clerical government. During Saddam Hussein's rule, Mujahedeen Khalq fighters were believed to have taken part in some of Saddam's campaigns to suppress Iraq's Kurdish and Shiite Muslim communities.

People's Mujahedeen will be handled "in the right fashion": US commander in Iraq

Agence France Presse
December 13, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 13 - US forces are working to "disperse" the Iran opposition People Mujahedeen from Iraq "in the right fashion" after Iraq's Governing Council vowed to throw the group out by the end of the month, the top US military commander in Iraq said Friday.

Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez told reporters "as far as the expulsion of the MEK (Mujahedeen) from the country, there is a process in place that is being worked in coordination with the Iraqi people ... to process these forces and disperse the personnel in the right fashion."

Earlier this week, Iraq's interim Governing Council said the People's Mujahedeen would be thrown out of Iraq by the end of December and could possibly be sent back to Iran, where they are branded terrorists.

Sanchez stressed the coalition was working together with the Governing Council on the issue of the People's Mujahedeen and "executing our common goal" on the matter.

He put the number of Mujahedeen in US custody at over 3,800 since the group, which mounted attacks inside Iran from neighbouring Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, surrendered to the coalition in May and disarmed to the Americans.

They are now guarded by US troops in their base of Camp Ashraf, east of the capital.

The Mujahedeen said Friday it had told US authorities that any attempt by Iraq's US-controlled Governing Council to expel thousands of its members to Iran would be a war crime for which Washington would be responsible.

Iran greeted the expulsion decision as "very positive" and said the Islamic republic would show "leniency" to low-ranking members wishing to give themselves up.

Iraq commander: coalition to reconsider Iraqi army pay after desertions

Associated Press
December 13, 2003
By HAMZA HENDAWI

BAGHDAD, Iraq - … Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who had previously given the number of detainees under coalition control in Iraq as about 5,000, conceded that the number is now "almost to 10,000."

Among those are 3,800 members of the Iranian militant group Mujahedeen Khalq, who are restricted to their camp northeast of Baghdad and are "separated" from their weapons, Sanchez said. The Mujahedeen have been fighting Iran's religious government from bases in Iraq and the coalition considers them a terrorist organization.

Iraq leadership could seek U.S. help to eject Iranian guerrillas

Associated Press
December 12, 2003
BY: JIM KRANE

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Top U.S. and Iraqi officials will discuss how to expel an anti-Iran paramilitary group with links to the former regime of Saddam Hussein.

As part of those discussions, the Iraqi Governing Council, the nation's interim authority, might ask the U.S. military to expel the Mujahedeen Khalq from Iraq, Iraqi officials said Friday. But the council has no plans to hand them over to Iran, where they are wanted for alleged terrorist attacks.

The Coalition Provisional Authority, which is governing Iraq, will meet Governing Council members to discuss the removal of the paramilitary organization, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition said. He did not say whether the U.S. military would forcibly eject the Mujahedeen Khalq.

"We and the Governing Council and most Iraqis agree that the Mujahedeen Khalq is a terrorist organization and needs to be dealt with as such," the official said.

Earlier this week, the U.S.-appointed council decided to expel by year's end the 3,800 members of the Mujahedeen Khalq, listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.

"We might ask the Americans because they have the military capabilities," Governing Council member Dara Noor al-Din said. "We don't have an army and the police force isn't well enough equipped to face the Mujahedeen, because they have light weapons."

The group was disarmed by U.S. forces and is currently being held inside its camp northeast of Baghdad. Mujahedeen members at the camp said they were prohibited by the U.S. military from speaking with the press.

The Mujahedeen Khalq has for years sought to topple Iran's clerical government and kept an army in Iraq. During Saddam's rule, its fighters are believed to have taken part in campaigns to suppress dissent among the country's Kurdish and Shiite Muslim communities.

The coalition briefer said he had no information on speculation that the group might be bartered away in a swap between the United States and Iran. Such a deal would hand the Mujahedeen Khalq to Tehran in exchange for members of al-Qaida in Iranian custody.

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush has urged Tehran to detain and hand over al-Qaida members in Iran. In October, Bush said it would improve Iranian-U.S. relations "if we end up reaching an agreement on the al-Qaida that they hold."

Officials in the U.S. Department of State have criticized U.S. defense officials for agreeing to a wartime cease-fire with the Mujahedeen Khalq, after initially bombing the group's base during the war. Some members of the U.S. Congress have commended the Mujahedeen for battling the Iranian clerical regime, and the Pentagon is thought to be more sympathetic to its goals than the State Department.

Recently, however, the United States appears to have taken a harder line against the group, and Iraqi Governing Council members - eager to mend ties with Iran - seem ready to dispose of a band of fighters whose presence has become an embarrassment.

Still, the Governing Council has no plans to hand the group to Tehran.

"They can choose their own destination. We've given them sufficient time to gather their stuff and leave the country," said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi.

Iraqi Council Could Seek US Help To Eject Anti-Iran Group

Iraqi Council Could Seek US Help To Eject Anti-Iran Group
The Associated Press
December 12, 2003

BAGHDAD -- The Iraqi Governing Council might ask the U.S. military to expel an anti-Iran paramilitary group from Iraq, but the council has no plans to hand them over to Iran, where they are wanted for terrorist attacks, two Iraqi officials said Friday.

Earlier this week, the U.S.-appointed council decided to expel by year's end the 3,800 members of the Mujahedeen Khalq, listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the European Union.

"We might ask the Americans because they have the military capabilities," Governing Council member Dara Noor al-Din said. "We don't have an army and the police force isn't well enough equipped to face the Mujahedeen, because they have light weapons."

The U.S.-led administration of Iraq will meet the council to discuss the expulsion of the Mujahedeen Khalq, said a spokesman for the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA.

The coalition official, who spoke in a briefing with media on condition of anonymity, didn't say whether the U.S. military would forcibly eject the group.

"We and the Governing Council and most Iraqis agree that the Mujahedeen Khalq is a terrorist organization and needs to be dealt with as such," the official said.

The group was disarmed by U.S. forces and is currently being held inside its camp northeast of Baghdad. Mujahedeen members at the camp said they were prohibited by the U.S. military from speaking with the press.

The Mujahedeen Khalq has for years sought to topple Iran's clerical government and kept an army in Iraq. During Saddam Hussein's rule, its fighters are believed to have taken part in some of Saddam's campaigns to suppress dissent among the country's Kurdish and Shiite Muslim communities.

The coalition briefer said he had no information on speculation that the group might be bartered away in a prisoner swap between the U.S. and Iran. A swap would hand the Mujahedeen Khalq to Tehran in exchange for members of al-Qaida in Iranian custody.

The administration of U.S. President George W. Bush administration has called on Tehran to detain and hand over al-Qaida members in Iran. In October, Bush said it would improve Iranian-U.S. relations "if we end up reaching an agreement on the al-Qaida that they hold."

Officials in the U.S. Department of State have criticized U.S. defense officials for agreeing to a wartime cease-fire with the Mujahedeen Khalq, after initially bombing the group's base during the war. Some in the U.S. have commended the Mujahedeen for battling the Iranian clerical regime, and the Pentagon is thought to be more sympathetic to its goals than the State Department.

Recently, however, the U.S. appears to have taken a harder line against the group, and Iraqi Governing Council members - eager to mend ties with Iran - seem ready to dispose of a band of fighters whose presence has become an embarrassment.

Still, the Governing Council has no plans to hand the group, known as the MEK, to Tehran.

"We're not concerned where the MEK are going to go," said Entifadh Qanbar, a spokesman for Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi. "They can choose their own destination. We've given them sufficient time to gather their stuff and leave the country."

Iran opposition group warns US that expulsion would be a war crime

Agence France Presse
December 12, 2003
BY: MARTIN BENNITT

NICOSIA, Dec 12 - Iran's opposition People's Mujahedeen group said Friday it had told the US authorities that any attempt by Iraq's US-controlled Governing Council to expel thousands of its members to Iran would be a war crime for which Washington would be responsible.

Some 4,000-5,000 of the Mujahedeen, which mounted attacks inside Iran from neighbouring Iraq when Saddam Hussein was in power, have been disarmed since the US-led invasion and are now guarded by US troops in their base of Camp Ashraf, east of the capital.
Earlier this week the Governing Council said it planned to expel the Mujahedeen, whom it accused of terrorism, by December 31. On Thursday a member of the council said Iraq's interim rulers are considering handing them over to the very Iranian authorities they have been fighting to overthrow.

A Swiss international law expert acting for the Mujahedeen, Professor Marc Henzelin, told AFP he had written Thursday to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and top military officials warning them that such a move would be a war crime under the terms of the Geneva Convention.

As the occupying power in Iraq, the United States would bear the responsibility, and would face legal action in US, Swiss or other courts.

"I am totally convinced that the legal experts of the US military will reach exactly the same conclusion," Henzelin said, noting that when they agreed to be disarmed in September the Mujahedeen put themselves under US military protection.

He said the Governing Council did not have the means to carry out its decision on its own, but would require the consent and cooperation of US forces for any deportation.

A statement issued by the Mujahedeen also said the handing over of the Mujahedeen to the Islamic republic "would be a war crime and a crime against humanity."

Washington must provide the "relevant protection offered to members of the (Mujahedeen) by the Geneva Convention, which categorizes them as civilians.

"Any transfer or deportation of (Mujahedeen) members outside the territory of Iraq to any country, and in particular to Iran, is prohibited under the laws of war applicable to the present occupation," it said.

The statement also said deportation would violate an international treaty binding states not to "expel, return or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture."

It called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, all the member states of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to "maintain a vigilant eye on the developing situation in Iraq with regard to the status of (Mujahedeen) members who are refugees in Iraq."

Iran greeted the expulsion decision as "very positive" and said the Islamic republic would show "leniency" to low-ranking members wishing to give themselves up.

The authorities said nothing about how middle- and high-ranking members would be treated, but have said in the past they would be dealt with harshly.

Governing Council member Nuredin Dara told AFP on Thursday: "It's better for them to ask for forgiveness from Iran. I think Iran will be understanding.

"If we deliver them to Iran I think (Tehran) will issue a general amnesty. The country may forgive them for the crimes they committed against Iran and accept them back again in their country."

Dara denied that the Mujahedeen had been sacrificed in the interest of better ties with Iran or that they would likely be executed upon their return.

He accused them of allowing themselves to be used "as a means for Saddam Hussein to execute the crimes of killing and slaughtering," notably of Kurds.

A Mujahedeen official, denying the allegations of terrorism, said the move showed Iran was exerting a malevolent influence on the Governing Council, 24 of whose 25 members had recently visited Tehran.

"As long as the fundamentalist regime remains in power in Iran, democracy in Iraq is an illusion," he said.

The official also noted that "quite a few members" of the Mujahedeen in Camp Ashraf had US or other citizenship and families living in the United States and elsewhere in the West.

Rebel army termination tests U.S.

Rebel army termination tests U.S.
Iraq panel votes to oust fighters opposing Iran

San Francisco Chronicle
December 11, 2003
Robert Collier

Khalis, Iraq -- The U.S. secret weapon against Iran is kept behind high gates here, where several thousand fighters of the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Warriors, live in a sprawling military base guarded by U.S. troops.

Although Khalis is just 60 miles north of Baghdad, two large statues of Iranian lions decorate the base's interior gateway, and an Iranian flag snaps in the wind.

The rebel army has become a symbol of the Bush administration's internal divisions about policy toward Iran -- and a possible point of friction with Iraq's emerging civilian leadership.

On Tuesday, the Iraqi Governing Council voted unanimously to shut down the Mujahedeen Khalq (known as MEK) camp at Khalis by the end of December. It also called for seizure of the rebels' money and weapons and a funneling of the proceeds to a fund that will compensate victims of Saddam Hussein's regime.

The move poses a sharp challenge by the council to the U.S. military, which has long sympathized with the Mujahedeen -- and to President Bush and his circle of advisers, since a dissolution of the group has long been sought by Iran's Islamic government.

On Wednesday, Pentagon officials responded cautiously, indicating that they would resist any immediate action to carry out the Iraqi decision.

"We share the Governing Council's decision about the MEK," said a Pentagon official in a telephone interview. However, he added, "We are considering how to deal with them and will of course consult with the Governing Council ..."

The guerrilla army, which has been opposed to Iran's religious rulers since it broke with them shortly after the 1979 revolution, is classified by the State Department as a terrorist organization because of its role in attacks on Americans in the 1970s and its support for Hussein in crushing the Shiite uprising in southern Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991.

It was given lavish support by Hussein, who provided conventional weaponry like tanks and helicopters, plus a half-dozen luxurious military bases replete with swimming pools and executive-quality offices.

On the other hand, conservatives in the Pentagon and Vice President Dick Cheney's office view the rebels as freedom fighters and potential U.S. allies against Iran's religious leaders, in much the same way as the Northern Alliance helped overthrow the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The group has long occupied a top spot in the Iranian government's pantheon of archenemies, and most official public rallies in Iran are punctuated by orchestrated chants of "Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to the Mujahedeen Khalq!"

After the U.S. conquest of Iraq, during which the Mujahedeen bases were briefly bombed by coalition forces, many in Tehran and Washington expected that the Americans would disband the group.

Although the U.S. military has taken away its heavy weapons and confined its fighters to their main base at Khalis, it has taken no steps toward dissolution.

The relation between the two forces clearly is friendly. At the base, an outer gate is manned by American troops, with a large antiaircraft radar nearby. About 100 meters inside is a grand inner gateway fit for a palace, with large imperial lion statues and flags of prerevolutionary Iran and the MEK overhead, with dozens of uniformed Mujahedeen fighters -- men and women alike -- carrying Kalashnikov rifles.

In a Chronicle reporter's visit to Khalis last week, it seemed apparent that the group was being kept intact as a potential fighting force.

Maj. Chris Wilson, executive officer of the U.S. garrison, said his instructions were to allow no media on the base, and said the rebels had been disarmed.

Mohammed Hussein, a Mujahedeen spokesman, said he could not give an interview or allow a visit inside. "I'm sorry, but we have received instructions from the U.S. Army not to talk to the press. We do not have freedom of movement, as you can see. We are waiting for decisions to be made."

U.S. officials and Arab diplomats say that in backchannel negotiations through Jordan's King Abdullah II, Iran has offered to extradite several top- level al Qaeda officials it is holding if the United States shut down the Mujahedeen and delivered its members to Iran.

In Iraq, however, it is widely assumed that the Americans are preparing the Mujahedeen as an intelligence and covert-action force. A U.S. military official hinted Wednesday that this might be true, saying that the rebels were "being screened to get intelligence they have about Iran that might be useful to us."

Last year, the group proved its credibility in the emerging debate over whether Iran is covertly developing nuclear weapons. The group released information about a secret plant for enriching uranium in the cities of Natanz and Arak. U.N. nuclear weapons inspectors investigated the claims and found them mostly correct.

However, the group is not believed to have much support inside Iran. The Mujahedeen "appear to have some support among professional and scientific classes, but it wouldn't be correct to assume they have a large base here, or that people would rise up to follow them if the U.S. did some kind of military or covert action," said a Western diplomat in Tehran.

"The Mujahedeen have been painted as the demons, and they are hated because they sided with Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war," said one Tehran resident who supports the Mujahedeen. "Its future as a military organization is over."

One U.S. official who asked to remain unidentified said, "I don't think anybody knows right now what's going to come of" the Governing Council's decision to expel the MEK. But he stressed that the council's Dec. 31 deadline was essentially impossible to meet.

If any rebels are deemed by U.S. investigators to be terrorists, the official added, "Will the legal action against them come in Iraq? The United States? Iran?

"And if they're not prosecuted, they're essentially refugees. Where will they be relocated? We haven't started asking that."

Iran ready to extradite some of 130 al-Qaeda detainees: Khatami

Agence France Presse
December 11, 2003

GENEVA, Dec 11 - Iran has arrested 130 suspected members of the al-Qaeda network and is ready to extradite some of them, President Mohammad Khatami said Thursday.

"Those who have committed crimes in Iran will be judged in Iran and the others will be extradited to their country of origin," he said through an interpreter during a news conference here.

"There is no place for al-Qaeda, no place for any terrorist, for those who act against peace in the world," he added.

Khatami said al-Qaeda was "very hostile" to the Iranian regime.

The United States has asked Tehran several times to extradite members of the terror group on its territory, most recently on Monday.

"We believe Iran should turn over all suspected al-Qaeda operatives to the United States or to countries of origin or third countries for further interrogation and trial," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said in Washington.

The US stressed that it was not discussing a swap of Iranian opposition People's Mujahadin members held by US forces in Iraq in return for al-Qaeda operatives held in Iran.

Khatami said Iran was ready to welcome opposition fighters who "are in Iraq and regret" past acts.

"We will welcome them and judge them according to the law," he said.

Reports over the weekend said Jordan's King Abdullah II was quietly trying to broker a deal between the United States and Iran on the prisoners.

Khatami had earlier delivered a sharp rebuke to the September 2001 attacks by al-Qaeda on the United States during a conference in Geneva.

He pointed out that the 20th century had been marked by unprecedented wars and violence, including the "ugly face of terrorism".

"It showed its ugliest face in the cities of New York and Washington in September 2001," Khatami told the conference on religious tolerance organised by a grouping of the world's Christian and Orthodox churches.

Iraq may deliver Mujahedeen to Iran

Agence France Presse
December 11, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 11 - Iraq's interim rulers are considering handing the People's Mujahedeen back to the very Iranian authorities the armed opposition has fought to overthrow, a member of the Governing Council said Thursday.

"It's better for them to ask for forgiveness from Iran. I think Iran will be understanding," Nuredin Dara, a judge, told AFP.

"If we deliver them to Iran I think they will issue a general amnesty. The country may forgive them for the crimes they committed against Iran and accept them back again in their country."

The Governing Council in Baghdad on Tuesday night branded the Mujahedeen as terrorists, to be kicked out by the end of the month and their assets seized.

Iran greeted the expulsion as "very positive" and said the Islamic republic would show "leniency" to low-ranking members wishing to give themselves up. The authorities said nothing this week about how middle- and high-ranking members would be treated, but have said in the past they would be dealt with harshly.

"We have good relations with Iran now and have agreed to prevent any border infiltrations by terrorists," Dara said.

He denied the Mujhahedeen had been sacrificed in the interest of better ties with Iran or that they would likely be executed upon their return.

Dara said the group, coralled by US forces into their last base at Camp Ashraf northeast of Baghdad, would be given time out of humanitarian consideration.

"We will give them time to get out. It still has to be decided in detail."

Dara accused the Mujahadeen of allowing themselves to be used "as a means for Saddam Hussein to execute the crimes of killing and slaughtering," notably of Kurds.

Disarmed and detained by US forces, the Mujahedeen rejected Wednesday the expulsion.

The Mujahedeen, who ran a low-level armed campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran from bases along the border under Saddam's protection, suggested the US-appointed council did not have the legal right to expel them and invoked the Geneva Convention in a country under occupation.

The Mujahedeen, some 4,000-5,000 of whom had been regrouped and disarmed at Camp Ashraf following the March-April invasion, have since September been considered prisoners by the US-led coalition.

62 U.S. Troops Injured in Iraq

The Los Angeles Times
December 10, 2003
By Carol J. Williams

BAGHDAD — ... The 25-member Governing Council ordered the expulsion of an Iranian-based organization aligned with Hussein during the Baathists' 35-year rule. The Moujahedeen Khalq was ordered to cease all activities and leave Iraq by month's end.

The group once claimed to have several thousand members, but many are thought to have fled Iraq since Hussein was toppled in the spring. Those factions still here are heavily armed and could resist the council's order...

Iraq/Iran Agreement on 'Terror Groups'

ABCNews.com
December 10, 2003

Sources close to the Iraqi Governing Council told Elaph, an Arab news website, that an agreement between Iraq and Iran related to the crackdown on 'terror groups' in both countries was signed during the visit of Jalal Talbani to Iran. The agreement supposedly includes the Iranian opposition group mujaheddin Khalq. (Elaph)

Iraqi council targets Iran group

Iraqi council targets Iran group
December 10, 2003

BAGHDAD (CNN) --The U.S.-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has voted to expel the People's Mujahedeen -- an Iranian opposition group -- as well as confiscate its money and weapons.

"The decision was made after looking into the dark history of this terrorist organization and crimes that they committed against the Iraqi people and neighbors of Iraq," a statement from the council said.

"All of the members of this organization should leave Iraq by the end of this year ... closing their offices and banning the organization from performing any activities."

Tuesday's vote to ban the group was unanimous and allows for "the confiscation of all of the funds and the weapons of the organization and donating them to the compensation fund for victims of the Saddam Hussein's regime."

The People's Mujahedeen is one of the groups that make up the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which opposes the Tehran government. The People's Mujahedeen wants to replace Iran's religious government with a democratically elected leadership.

The organization helped Iraq suppress Shiite and Kurdish uprisings in northern and southern Iraq in 1991 after the Persian Gulf War, according to the State Department's Web site.

It also, the Web site says, provided internal security for the government of Iraq while carrying out bomb attacks on Iranian leaders inside Iran and on embassies outside Iraq.

The U.S. government views the People's Mujahedeen, which it calls the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization [MEK], as a terrorist group.

Iranian opposition group denounces expulsion order

Associated Press
December 10, 2003
BY: MARIAM FAM

CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq - Iraq-based members of an Iranian opposition group denounced on Wednesday a decision by the U.S.-appointed Governing Council to expel them from the country by the end of the year, claiming the move will boost Iran's interests in Iraq.

"The vast majority of the Iraqi people ... support (our) presence in Iraq," said a statement released on Wednesday by the group, Mujahedeen Khalq, at its camp northeast of Baghdad.

On Tuesday, the 25-seat Governing Council said Mujahedeen Khalq members must leave Iraq by the end of the year and that the all group's offices will be closed down.

"The statement merely reflects the fantasies and illusions of the mullas' regime, which regards ... (us) as the biggest obstacle to its export of fundamentalism and establishment of a satellite theocratic dictatorship in Iraq," the statement said. The council's decision was "dictated by the ruling clerics in Tehran," it added.

The Mujahedeen Khalq is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Its well-armed force, which for years fought Iran's Islamic rulers from Iraq with the backing of Saddam Hussein's regime, was disarmed by U.S. forces in Iraq soon after major hostilities in the war ended on May 1.

The Governing Council said it had decided to expel the paramilitary group because of "the black history of this terrorist organization and for the crimes it had committed against our people and our neighbors."

The council also said that the group's money and weapons will be confiscated. The funds will be used to compensate "victims of the bygone fascist regime."

Iraqi individuals and institutions are free to sue the Iranian opposition group "for crimes against the Iraqi people and demand compensation from its funds inside and outside Iraq," the council said.

On Wednesday, U.S. troops were guarding Camp Ashraf and Mujahedeen Khalq officials said they were not allowed to speak to reporters.

The Mujahedeen Khalq was allied with Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's Islamic fundamentalists during the 1979 revolution that overthrew the pro-American dictatorship of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi. But the new government soon banned the Mujahedeen Khalq and other groups that advocated a secular regime.

During the 1970s, the group was accused in attacks that killed several Americans working on projects linked to the Shah's security services, although the group denies targeting Americans.

Iraq's interim leaders offer Mujaheeden expulsion as a gift to Iran

Agence France Presse
December 10, 2003
BY: BERTRAND ROSENTHAL

BAGHDAD, Dec 10 - The decision by Iraq's interim leaders to expel thousands of members of the Iranian opposition People's Mujahedeen is a move that will be appreciated in Tehran as the two neighbours set aside old enemities and look for common ground.

"The Governing Council unanimously decided to expel from Iraq by the end of the year the People's Mujahedeen because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation," said an official statement released Tuesday.

The statement did not say where the people would be sent when they are expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The Mujahedeen, some 4,000-5,000 of whom had been regrouped and disarmed at a sprawling base northeast of Baghdad following the March-April invasion, have since September been considered prisoners by the US-led coalition

US ground commander Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez announced that 3,856 members of the Mujahedeen had been detained.

The fate of the leading armed Iranian opposition movement was discussed in November when the Kurdish factional chief Jalal Talabani went to Teheran as president of the rotating Governing Council.

Iran, which has long sought the removal of the group classed a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, the European Union and the Teheran government, stepped up its campaign after the US invasion.

Talabani paved the way for the expulsion decision by asking Teheran to offer a general amnesty to the bulk of the force on humanitarian grounds.

"They are prepared to offer it to those who return to Iran," Talabani announced.

Kurdish parties in particular also accused the Mujahedeen of working as auxiliaries in waves of repression waged by Saddam Hussein's troops.

"Iraqi individuals and bodies have the right to bring complaints against this organisation for its crimes and ask to be compensated by the funds this organisation has both inside and outside the country," the council said

Washington maintained an amibiguous stance on the The People's Mujahedeen, or Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization (MKO), classifying it as terrorist but striking a disarmament deal with the group in the aftermath of the fall of Baghdad.

Mujaheeden representatives told AFP that relations had been good with the occupation forces and claimed to have been behind intelligence supplied ot the United States of Iran's nuclear industry.

The MKO set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids in Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

The group kept out of the US-led war, although their bases were bombed by US warplanes.

The People's Mujahedeen were created in 1965 as a splinter group of Mehdi Bazargan's Iran Freedom Movement. All of its founding members died behind bars under the shah.

A Shiite and Marxist-inspired movement, the group took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution to overthrow the shah but was then forced into exile after clashes with the new regime that cost thousands of lives.

After France expelled its leader Massoud Rajavi, the Mujahedeen set up bases in Iraq in 1986 following an agreement with Saddam, who was then in the midst of an eight-year war with Iran.

According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, it had some 15,000 fighters, who lived under stringent rules and revered their leader and his wife, Maryam, presented as "the future first lady of Iran".

The whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi remain unknown, according to diplomatic sources, but Mujahedeen spokesmen had insisted he was still in Iraq.

Iran hails Iraqi decision to expel armed opposition, denies Al-Qaeda swap

Agence France Presse
December 10, 2003
BY: LAURENT LOZANO

TEHRAN, Dec 10 - Iran on Wednesday hailed a decision by Iraq's US-backed interim leaders to expel the Iranian armed opposition People's Mujahedeen, but denied suggestions the move was part of a secret deal involving the extradition of Al-Qaeda members from the Islamic republic.

"The decision taken by the (Iraqi) Governing Council is very positive. We have been saying to the fighters not to be stubborn and to surrender, in which case we will show leniency," Intelligence Minister Ali Yunessi told reporters.

When asked if Iran could now hand over top members of Al-Qaeda it says are in its custody, Yunessi insisted "there is no link".

"When it comes to terrorists, we do not do deals," added government spokesman Abdollah Ramazanzadeh.

"The judiciary will decide on what to do with them if they have not committed crimes against Iranians and if there are no Iranian complaints against them," he added, repeating statements that some detained Al-Qaeda members here could be tried in Iranian courts.

"We have very good relations with the Governing Council, and we have had discussions (on the People's Mujahedeen) and this decision is the result," added Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi.

Several Western diplomats have said Iran has been resisting handing over top-ranking Al-Qaeda fugitives, complaining that the United States had failed to deal with the People's Mujahedeen -- which has waged a brutal armed struggle against Iran's clerical rulers -- after its invasion of Iraq.

There have also been reports that Jordan's King Abdullah II was quietly trying to broker a deal between the United States and Iran over the issue.

Diplomats and Arab press reports have said Al-Qaeda detainees here include bin Laden's son, Saad, Al-Qaeda's spokesman, Sulaiman Abu Gaith, and its number three Saif al-Adel.

The People's Mujahedeen, or Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization (MKO) set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids in Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

For many in Iran's leadership the struggle is also a personal one -- supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had his arm paralysed in a 1981 attack blamed on the group.

Iraq's interim Governing Council decided unanimously Tuesday to expel several thousand members of the People's Mujahedeen, branding the Iranian opposition force a "terrorist organisation".

The statement did not say where the people would be sent when they are expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The money would "be given to the compensation fund for victims of the former fascist regime" of Saddam Huusein, the Governing Council said.

Several thousand Mujahedeen militiamen were disarmed by US forces following the fall of Baghdad in April and barred from undertaking military operations.

The group kept out of the US-led war, although its bases were bombed by US warplanes. After lengthy negotiations, it struck a deal with the US-led coalition and withdrew to Camp Ashraf.

This prompted Iranian alarm that the US may be seeking to eventually rehabilitate the group and use it against Tehran, lumped into an 'axis of evil' by President George W. Bush.

Iranian Mujahedeen reject expulsion order from Iraq's interim leaders

Agence France Presse
December 10, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 10 - The Iranian opposition People's Mujahedeen rejected Wednesday a decision by Iraq's interim leaders to expel thousands of its members.

"Such a statement has no executive guarantees and only paves the way for terrorist activities by the mullahs' regime against, the Mujahedeen in Iraq, a spokesman for the group said in a written text.

The Mujahedeen said its "presence in Iraq as a country under occupation is in the context of the Geneva Conventions" and accused Tehran of dictating the decision to the interim Governing Council in Baghdad.

"The statement merely reflects the fantasies and illusions of the mullahs' regime, which regards the People's Mujaheeden Organization of Iran as the biggest obstacle to its export of fundamentalism and establishment of a satellite theocratic dictatorship in Iraq."

An official statement released in Baghdad on Tuesday said: "The Governing Council unanimously decided to expel from Iraq by the end of the year the People's Mujahedeen because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation."

The statement did not say where the people would be sent when they are expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The Mujahedeen, some 4,000-5,000 of whom had been regrouped and disarmed at a sprawling base northeast of Baghdad following the March-April invasion, have since September been considered prisoners by the US-led coalition

The group set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids in Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

Iraqi tribes rally to support Iranian armed group facing expulsion

Agence France Presse
December 10, 2003
BY: BERTRAND ROSENTHAL

CAMP ASHRAF, Iraq, Dec 10 - Iraqi tribes living round the last remaining base of the People's Mujahedeen offered support Wednesday to the Iranian opposition group which Baghdad's interim rulers have decided to expel as terrorists.

A dozen tribal chiefs met leaders of the once powerful armed force who told AFP they could not talk because of "restrictions imposed by American forces".

US troops firmly control the huge compound about 100 kilometres (60 miles) northest of the capital.

"We are not authorised to talk to the press," one uniformed but unarmed member of the group said.

He did however hand out a statement from the People's Mujahedeen rejecting the expulsion.

The Governing Council in Baghdad on Tuesday night branded the Mujahedeen terrorists to be kicked out forthwith and their assets seized.

The Mujahedeen, who ran a low-level armed campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran from bases along the border under Saddam Hussein's protection, suggested the US-appointed council did not have the legal right to take such a decision.

"Such a statement has no executive guarantees and only paves the way for terrorist activities by the mullahs' regime against the Mujahedeen in Iraq," a spokesman for the group said in a written text, using its usual epithet for the Islamic republic.

The Mujahedeen said its "presence in Iraq as a country under occupation is in the context of the Geneva Conventions."

"Such a statement has been dictated by the ruling clerics in Tehran and has no bearing on that issue."

Abbas al-Zawi, head of the Aza tribe, said: "We have met with Mujahedeen leaders Al-Saed Bahman and Mrs Peri."

He said the explusion order was "not just because it is a peaceful organisation" and accused the Governing Council of being a "puppet of the Iranian regime with no legal foundations to take such a decision."

Namman al-Jabbari of the Al-Jobour tribe and Ahmad al-Sumedia of the Al-Sumeidi nodded in agreement and said they would organise a protest.

Salem al-Zawi of the tribal council added: "The Mujahedeen have never interfered in the internal affairs of Iraq. We have known them for 20 years and we have never found any terrorists here."

An official statement released in Baghdad said: "The Governing Council unanimously decided to expel from Iraq by the end of the year the People's Mujahedeen because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation."

It did not say to where the people would be expelled.

A spokesperson from the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) hit back at the Mujahedeen rejection of the ruling.

"This is a Governing Council issue and they are fully authorised to take this decision," he said.

With the US army the only force likely to be able to expel physically the Mujahedeen, the spokesperson declined to comment on coordination between the Governing Council and the CPA to apply the decision.

A coalition military spokesperson said he had no details about the expulsion, but added: "We will confiscate their weapons.

"We don't know the time or the procedures (for confiscation)," but "they are now surrounded."

Iran greeted the expulsion as "very positive" and said the Islamic republic would show "leniency" to low-ranking members wishing to give themselves up.

The Mujahedeen, some 4,000-5,000 of whom had been regrouped and disarmed at the sprawling camp following the March-April invasion of Iraq, have since September been considered prisoners by the US-led coalition.

Two US tanks stood guard Wednesday as usual outside the camp entrance but after a check vehicles were going in and out.

English teacher Ahmad Ali turned up to give his class as he has for the past two months.

The group set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids into Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

The Mujahedeen, listed as a terrorist organisation by Washington, kept out of the invasion which overthrew Saddam's regime and struck a deal with US forces that saw them hand over all but personal weapons.

Iraq Council Votes to Throw Out Iranian Opposition Group

Iraq Council Votes to Throw Out Iranian Opposition Group
Washington Post
By Robin Wright and Rajiv Chandrasekaran
Wednesday, December 10, 2003

Iraq's Governing Council voted yesterday to expel the leading Iranian opposition group and confiscate its assets, a surprise move that could alter the regional balance of power. The resolution calls for the eviction of the group's 3,800 members by the end of the month.

The move comes as the American governor of Iraq, L. Paul Bremer, headed to Washington for talks at the White House about several unresolved and thorny issues in the U.S. exit strategy, particularly the transfer of power to a provisional Iraqi government to be concluded by July 1.

The Iraqi council's unanimous decision against the People's Mujaheddin, or MEK, is a significant political and security gain for Iran and could marginalize the group or even eliminate it as an effective opposition movement…

The timing is interesting. The Iraqi council's decision comes as Jordan's King Abdullah has been quietly trying to mediate the hand-over of about 70 al Qaeda operatives held by Iran -- in exchange for action by the United States on the MEK.

The move may also be linked to the Iraqi council's efforts to improve relations with Iran, another predominantly Shiite Muslim country that shares Iraq's longest border.

Ahmed Chalabi, a leading council member with close ties to both the United States and Iran, proposed the resolution. A Shiite Muslim, he recently visited Iran, according to Iraqi sources. Most of the 24 Governing Council members have been to Iran in recent months…

The move, which will assuage Iranian concerns, will deprive the MEK of its only direct access to Iran. There are now no major opposition groups operating on any of Iran's borders.

An unanswered question is what will happen to the MEK. The Iraqi council's resolution calls for the closure of the MEK headquarters in Baghdad and a prohibition on its members engaging in any political activities until their departure. It also calls for the seizure of all MEK funds and weapons, both of which will be turned over to a fund to compensate victims of Hussein's regime.

But the council did not discuss where the group would go. "It's up to them," said Entifadh Qanbar, a senior official of the Iraqi National Congress, Chalabi's party. "They can seek refuge in other places. We don't care where they're going to go."…

Iraq to expel Iranian militants

Iraq to expel Iranian militants
BBS World Service
December 9, 2003

The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has decided to expel an Iranian opposition group this month.

A Council spokesman told the BBC the People's Mujahideen's offices were to close and its members ordered to leave Iraq voluntarily or face deportation.

The group's expulsion was likely to improve relations with neighbouring Iran, the spokesman said.

The Mujahideen were driven out of Iran in the early 1980s following a power struggle and given sanctuary in Iraq.

The spokesman did not say where the 5,000 members would go at the end of the year but that the group's arms and financial resources would be confiscated and the money given to victims of Saddam's regime.

"Iraqi individuals and bodies have the right to bring complaints against this organisation for its crimes and ask to be compensated by the funds this organisation has both inside and outside the country," he said.

Iran has said rank and file members would be welcome to return home, but wants senior members to be extradited.

The People's Mujahideen, or Mujahideen-e Khalq Organisation (MKO), has been a thorn in Tehran's side for more than two decades.

A violent organisation, whose ideology combines elements of both Marxism and Islam, the group based itself in Iraq after being expelled from Iran.

Members then carried out cross-border raids in Iran, which fought a war with Iraq between 1980 and 1988.

Although the group kept out of this year's US-led Iraq war, their bases were bombed by US warplanes but after negotiations they reached a truce with the Americans and withdrew to their base, north-east of Baghdad.

Both the US and Iran consider the group a terror organisation.

BBC regional analyst Pam O'Toole says that although the latest decision will improve relations between Iran and Iraq, a number of questions remain unanswered.

She says it is still unclear who is responsible for the expulsion, how it will be done, where the members would go or what Iraq will get in return.

A source in the Council expressed doubts about the timing of the decision when Iraq is facing so many other pressing problems.

Iraq wants Iranian opposition group out by year's end

Associated Press
December 9, 2003

BAGHDAD, Iraq - The U.S.-picked Governing Council unanimously decided Tuesday to expel Iran's opposition Mujahedeen Khalq group from Iraq by the end of the year.

A statement by the 25-seat council said Mujahedeen members should be out of Iraq by the end of the year and that the group's offices in Iraq will be closed.

The Mujahedeen Khalq has for years sought to topple Iran's clerical government and kept an army in Iraq. The group is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union. Its army was disarmed by U.S. forces in Iraq soon after major hostilities in the U.S.-led war ended May 1.

During Saddam Hussein's rule, Mujahedeen Khalq fighters are believed to have taken part in some of Saddam's campaigns to suppress dissent among the country's Kurdish and Shiite Muslim communities.

The council said its decision was made because of "the black history of this terrorist organization and for the crimes it had committed against our people and our neighbors."

It also said it was confiscating money and weapons belonging to the organization, placing the money in a fund that would be used to compensate "victims of the bygone fascist regime."

Iraqi individuals and institutions are free to sue the Iranian opposition group "for crimes against the Iraqi people and demand compensation from its funds inside and outside Iraq," the council said.

The People's Mujahedeen: Iran's exiled opposition group

The People's Mujahedeen: Iran's exiled opposition group
Agence France Presse
December 9, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 9 (AFP) - The People's Mujahedeen, which Iraq's interim Governing Council decided unanimously Tuesday to expel from the country, is the leading Iranian opposition movement, whose "terrorist" epithet it strongly denies.

The council said in a statement it was taking the decision "because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation."

It did not say where the group's several thousand members in Iraq would be sent when they were expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The money would "be given to the compensation fund for victims of the former fascist regime" of Saddam Huusein.

Several thousand Mujahedeen militiamen were disarmed by US forces following the fall of Baghdad in April and barred from undertaking military operations.

Around 4,000-5,000 people were grouped in Camp Ashraf, the main Mujahedeen base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. The US army announced in September that it had detained 3,856 of its members.

They were also bombed by the US-led coalition during the Iraq war, but in early May it reached a truce with US forces.

The Mujahedeen were given sanctuary by Saddam in 1986 after being driven out of Iran in the wake of a vicious power struggle following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group has been classed as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, the European Union and the Iranian government, but says it is merely fighting oppression under the Islamic regime in Tehran.

Tehran had demanded that US forces hand over the opposition fighters in Iraq and warned that they should not be used "as a pressure lever."

A Shiite and Marxist-inspired movement, the group took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution to overthrow the shah but was then forced into exile after clashes with the new regime that cost thousands of lives.

It continued to fight with bomb attacks and assassinations inside Iran, but never posed a serious threat to the regime, despite spectacular strikes against oil pipelines and the mausoleum of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Mujahedeen stepped up their operations after Mohammad Khatami was elected president in 1997, claiming the 1999 assassination in Tehran of general Ali Sayad Shirazi, one of the highest-ranking army officers at the time.

After his election, Khatami demanded that Western powers oust the Mujahedeen. For its part, the movement urged these same powers to sever ties with Tehran.

Iran's leadership considers Mujahedeen leader Massoud Rajavi "a terrorist with blood on his hands", while Rajavi spares no opportunity to attack what he calls "the mullahs' inhuman regime."

The People's Mujahedeen were created in 1965 as a splinter group of Mehdi Bazargan's Iran Freedom Movement. All of its founding members died behind bars under the shah.

After France expelled Massoud Rajavi, the Mujahedeen set up bases in Iraq in 1986 following an agreement with Saddam, who was then in the thick of an eight-year war with Iran, and created the Iranian National Liberation Army (INLA).

According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, it had some 15,000 fighters, who lived under stringent rules and revered their leader and his wife, Maryam, presented as "the future first lady of Iran".

Born in Tehran in 1953, Maryam was joint leader of the Mujahedeen in the late 1980s but resigned after being made president-elect for a future Iranian government by the NCRI in 1993.

Branded "the hypocrites" by Tehran, the Mujahedeen regularly reported attacks against its bases, as well as incursions of its own into Iran.

The whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi remain unkown, according to diplomatic sources, but Mujahedeen spokesmen insist he is still in Iraq.

Iraq's interim leaders decide to expel Iranian People's Mujahedeen

Agence France Presse
December 9, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 9 - Iraq's interim Governing Council decided unanimously Tuesday to expel the several thousand members of the People's Mujahedeen, branding the Iranian opposition force a "terrorist organisation".

"The Governing Council unanimously decided to expel from Iraq by the end of the year the People's Mujahedeen because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation," said an official statement.

The statement did not say where the people would be sent when they are expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The money would "be given to the compensation fund for victims of the former fascist regime" of Saddam Huusein.

"Iraqi individuals and bodies have the right to bring complaints against this organisation for its crimes and ask to be compensated by the funds this organisation has both inside and outside the country," the council said

The group's central Baghdad offices have been deserted for more than a month, security guards at a neighbouring hotel told AFP.

The People's Mujahedeen, or Mujahedeen-e Khalq Organization (MKO) set up base in Iraq in 1986 and carried out regular cross-border raids in Iran, with which Iraq fought a bloody war between 1980 and 1988.

Several thousand Mujahedeen militiamen were disarmed by US forces following the fall of Baghdad in April and barred from undertaking military operations.

Around 4,000-5,000 people were grouped in Camp Ashraf, the main Mujahedeen base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, where they were screened for terror activities.

The US army announced in September that it had detained 3,856 members of the Mujahedeen.

The group kept out of the US-led war, although their bases were bombed by US warplanes. After lengthy negotiations, it struck a deal with the US-led coalition and withdrew to Camp Ashraf.

Mujaheeden officials denied reports that splinter elements had fled to the mountains separating Iran and Iraq.

Washington announced on April 22 it had reached a ceasefire with the Mujahedeen. The following day officials of the group said the agreement allowed it to keep its weapons and carry on its activities in Iran from Camp Ashraf.

But US officials denied the claim when hundreds of military police took control of Camp Ashraf in June and the Mujahedeen was consolidated.

The group was a well-armed fighting force that, with backing from Saddam, had continued a guerrilla insurgency against the hardline Islamic government in Tehran since 1988.

Both the United States and Iran consider it a terror organisation.

The United States also banned the group's political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran activities, and froze its bank accounts.

The People's Mujahedeen: Iran's exiled armed opposition group

Agence France Presse
December 9, 2003

BAGHDAD, Dec 9 - The People's Mujahedeen, which Iraq's interim Governing Council decided unanimously Tuesday to expel from the country, is the leading Iranian opposition movement, whose "terrorist" epithet it strongly denies.

The council said in a statement it was taking the decision "because of the dark history of this terrorist organisation."

It did not say where the group's several thousand members in Iraq would be sent when they were expelled, but that its offices would be closed and its arms and financial resources confiscated.

The money would "be given to the compensation fund for victims of the former fascist regime" of Saddam Huusein.

Several thousand Mujahedeen militiamen were disarmed by US forces following the fall of Baghdad in April and barred from undertaking military operations.

Around 4,000-5,000 people were grouped in Camp Ashraf, the main Mujahedeen base in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad. The US army announced in September that it had detained 3,856 of its members.

They were also bombed by the US-led coalition during the Iraq war, but in early May it reached a truce with US forces.

The Mujahedeen were given sanctuary by Saddam in 1986 after being driven out of Iran in the wake of a vicious power struggle following the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The group has been classed as a terrorist organisation by the US State Department, the European Union and the Iranian government, but says it is merely fighting oppression under the Islamic regime in Tehran.

Tehran had demanded that US forces hand over the opposition fighters in Iraq and warned that they should not be used "as a pressure lever."

A Shiite and Marxist-inspired movement, the group took part in the 1979 Islamic revolution to overthrow the shah but was then forced into exile after clashes with the new regime that cost thousands of lives.

It continued to fight with bomb attacks and assassinations inside Iran, but never posed a serious threat to the regime, despite spectacular strikes against oil pipelines and the mausoleum of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini.

The Mujahedeen stepped up their operations after Mohammad Khatami was elected president in 1997, claiming the 1999 assassination in Tehran of general Ali Sayad Shirazi, one of the highest-ranking army officers at the time.

After his election, Khatami demanded that Western powers oust the Mujahedeen. For its part, the movement urged these same powers to sever ties with Tehran.

Iran's leadership considers Mujahedeen leader Massoud Rajavi "a terrorist with blood on his hands", while Rajavi spares no opportunity to attack what he calls "the mullahs' inhuman regime."

The People's Mujahedeen were created in 1965 as a splinter group of Mehdi Bazargan's Iran Freedom Movement. All of its founding members died behind bars under the shah.

After France expelled Massoud Rajavi, the Mujahedeen set up bases in Iraq in 1986 following an agreement with Saddam, who was then in the thick of an eight-year war with Iran, and created the Iranian National Liberation Army (INLA).

According to the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, it had some 15,000 fighters, who lived under stringent rules and revered their leader and his wife, Maryam, presented as "the future first lady of Iran".

Born in Tehran in 1953, Maryam was joint leader of the Mujahedeen in the late 1980s but resigned after being made president-elect for a future Iranian government by the NCRI in 1993.

Branded "the hypocrites" by Tehran, the Mujahedeen regularly reported attacks against its bases, as well as incursions of its own into Iran.

The whereabouts of Massoud Rajavi remain unkown, according to diplomatic sources, but Mujahedeen spokesmen insist he is still in Iraq.

U.S. not to swap Iran rebels for al-Qaida

United Press International
December 8, 2003
By ANWAR IQBAL

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) - The United States said Monday it does not intend to swap Iranian rebels with Iran in return for al-Qaida members.

"The United States is not engaged in discussions regarding a swap of Mujahedin-e-Khalq members held by U.S. forces in Iraq in return for al-Qaida members held in Iran," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher told a briefing.

Mujahedin-e-Khalq is an Iranian opposition group, which tried earlier this year to solicit U.S. support for its efforts to bringing down Iran's clergy-dominated government.

The group is on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organization, placed there by the Clinton administration in 1997 for bombing Iranian and Western targets in the past.

But in April this year, the Pentagon indicated interest in improving its relations with MeK, hoping to use it to counter Iranian influence in Iraq.

The MeK was allowed to lobby U.S. lawmakers and held several meetings on the Hill and other places to win over official U.S. support.

The Bush administration, however, changed its policy again in August and law enforcement agencies seized Mek's assets and shuttered its offices in Washington. The move was criticized by pro-MeK lawmakers who thought it was a mistake to alienate a powerful group that could have been used against the Iranian government.

Some 150 U.S. lawmakers urged the State Department to remove the group from its terrorist list, calling the MeK a legitimate democratic opposition group.

The State Department disagreed. On Oct. 28, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage publicly criticized the Pentagon for attempting to win over a group already on his department's list of terrorist outfits.

The action against the MeK came amid increased contacts between U.S. and Iranian officials and statements from Tehran expressing an interest in extending indirect support to the U.S.-led war on terror.

Such contacts led to speculations in Washington's diplomatic circles that the United States might hand over MeK rebels in its custody to Iran. Such a move could not only encourage Iran to surrender al-Qaida suspects to the United States but it could also help thaw Washington's strained relations with Tehran, the sources said.

MeK supporters in Washington, however, were relieved when indirect talks between the United States and Iran in Geneva broke down about three months ago.

But their fears were revived last week following a meeting between President George W. Bush and Jordan's King Abdullah in Washington. Media reports said the Jordanian king was mediating between Iran and the United States and was encouraging Iran to hand over al-Qaida operatives to Washington.

MeK supporters fear that Iran will not handover al-Qaida operatives unless the Bush administration gives Iranian rebels to Tehran.

Commenting on these fears, State Department's spokesman Boucher said the Bush administration has always urged Iran to surrender all al-Qaida suspects to the United States or to the countries of their origin.

But he said the United States does not intend to handover MeK fighters to Iran who had surrendered to U.S. forces after they captured Iraq.

Despite its reservations about MeK, the State Department has acknowledged in the past that the group did play a key role in exposing Iran's nuclear program.

The State Department also considers the MeK "the largest and most active armed Iranian dissident group ... with several thousand fighters and an extensive overseas support structure."

The department's policymakers, however, say that the Mek has a terrorist past. To bring about regime change in Iran with their held would hurt the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

The department says the MeK's "history is studded with anti-Western activity, and, most recently, attacks on the interests of the clerical regime in Iran and abroad."

The MeK was formed in the 1960s by college-educated children of Iranian merchants to counter, what they saw as, excessive Western influence during the reign of the shah of Iran. It follows a philosophy that mixes Marxism and Islam.

During the 1970s, the MeK staged attacks inside Iran and killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians working on defense projects in Tehran, which was then an ally of the United States. The groups also supported the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

In the 1980s, the group split with the mullahs who ran Iran. Its leaders fled to France. Most resettled in Iraq by 1987, often launching guerrilla attacks into Iran with then President Saddam Hussein's support.

In April 1992, the group attacked Iranian embassies in 13 different countries, demonstrating its ability to mount large-scale operations overseas.

The group's military wing, founded in 1987, is called the National Liberation Army and is headed by Massoud Rajavi, 55. His whereabouts are unclear though his supporters say he is operating along the Iran-Iraq border.

Rajavai's wife, Maryam Rajavi, 49, is the head of the political faction, and is projected as Iran's future democratic leader. She is also the deputy-commander-in-chief of the NLA. Women are said to account for one-third of MeK fighters.

When U.S. forces entered Iraq in April this year and toppled Saddam, they disarmed several thousand MeK fighters but allowed them to stay in their camps. The move rekindled MeK's hopes to get off the FTO list. It immediately launched a major media campaign to improve its image in the United States.

Kerry Denounces 'Inept' Bush Foreign Policy

Kerry Denounces 'Inept' Bush Foreign Policy

New York Times
December 4, 2003
By DAVID M. HALBFINGER

Senator John Kerry attacked President Bush yesterday for an ''arrogant, inept, reckless'' foreign policy and laid out a detailed plan for prosecuting the war on terrorism far differently while ''building bridges to the Islamic world.''

Mr. Kerry, a Democrat from Massachusetts and a presidential candidate, called for a harder line toward Saudi Arabia and a softer approach to Iran.

In a sharp critique of the president's policies regarding terrorism, Mr. Kerry said that the administration was ''intoxicated'' with America's surpassing military power but that its ''triumphalism'' had only made the nation ''less safe today than we were three years ago.''

''This is the consequence of a policy that regards legitimacy as largely a product of force, and victory as primarily a triumph of arms,'' he said in a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

''Triumphalism may make the armchair warriors in the seats of power feel good, but it does not serve America or the world's interests.''

Mr. Kerry, who voted last year in the Senate to authorize force in Iraq but has criticized Mr. Bush's failure to build an international coalition, has been focusing his campaign on his Senate foreign policy experience.

Setting out his own approach to the Middle East, Mr. Kerry said yesterday he would find common ground with Iran by fighting the flow of drugs from Afghanistan and by exchanging anti-Iranian terrorists operating out of Iraq for members of Al Qaeda and the Taliban now in Iran.

He also said he would demand that Saudi Arabia crack down on anti-Semitic and anti-American hate speech and stop supporting Hamas. ''The Saudis cannot pick and choose among terrorist groups,'' he said.

In his critique of the Bush administration, Mr. Kerry said that the president's policy ''diminishes Islamic moderates and fuels the fire of jihadists,'' helping create more terrorists.

''Instead of demeaning diplomacy, I will restore diplomacy as a tool of the strong,'' Mr. Kerry said.

On Iraq, Mr. Kerry accused the administration of considering a ''cut and run strategy'' in which it would speed up the timetable for withdrawing troops as a ploy to win votes in November 2004, but at the risk of ''the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Baathists.''

An adviser to Mr. Kerry, Rand Beers, said before the speech that thousands more coalition troops were needed to stabilize Iraq and that Mr. Kerry would not rule out sending Americans as part of that mix.

Mr. Kerry said that L. Paul Bremer III, the American administrator in Iraq and head of the Coalition Provisional Authority there, should be replaced by a United Nations special representative.

He also said that if elected president he would name a special envoy to the Middle East peace process, and offered a few possible appointees, including the former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter, and even President Bush's father, as well as the elder Mr. Bush's secretary of state, James A. Baker III.

On Afghanistan, he said he would double American anti-narcotics aid to the Karzai government to tackle the exploding Afghan opium crop -- an area where he said the United States and Iran had a mutual interest, but which the Bush administration had ignored.

Another area, he said, is in cracking down on terrorists -- the United States in pursuing members of Al Qaeda in Iran, and Iran in pursuing members of the Mujahedeen Khalq, or People's Mujahedeen, an Iraq-based Iranian opposition group.

Mr. Kerry said he would start a ''name and shame'' campaign against those who finance terrorism and would not shrink from shutting foreign governments out of the United States financial system if they did not comply -- a weapon he said had rarely been used.

One country that could fall into that category, he suggested, is Saudi Arabia, for exporting hate speech across the world. Though Saudi officials have promised changes, Mr. Kerry said: ''We need to see the new textbooks. We need to hear what the government-financed clerics are preaching.''

Acknowledging that America's oil dependency on Saudi Arabia was ''for the moment inescapable,'' Mr. Kerry vowed to wean America from its reliance on Arab oil imports.

He proposed ideas for reaching out to Muslim nations, in part by charging American diplomats with appealing to ''populations, not just to governments,'' and naming a presidential envoy to the Islamic world.

''We must speak,'' he said, ''and we must listen.''