Iran: Mullahs’ regime through its operative Abdul Aziz Hakim calls for PMOI expulsion from Iraq

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
Friday, 28 July 2006

As the scope of outrage by the people of Iraq and the world community at remarks attributed to the Iraqi Prime Minister grows, today, the clerical regime sent its official spokesman and notorious operative, Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, head of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq, on the stage. During Friday’s prayer congregation in the holy of city of Najaf, Hakim demanded the expulsion of the People’s Mojahedin from Iraq.

Apparently, the support by 5.2 million Iraqis for the PMOI and the courageous reaction of Iraqis in the face of the new conspiracy by the clerical regime against the organization has exasperated and angered the mullahs.

Many Iraqi parties, organizations, associations, political personalities, tribal sheikhs and religious leaders (Shiite, Sunni and Christian), as well as hundreds of parliamentarians across the world condemned the new conspiracy by the religious, terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran against the PMOI in Ashraf City, Iraq. They called on the government of Iraq and the Multi-National Force-Iraq to recognize the PMOI members’ rights both in the framework of the Fourth Geneva Convention and in the framework of political asylum, to which they have been entitled for the past 20 years.

This is not the first time that Al-Hakim repeats instructions dictated by the mullahs. Previously, after the now defunct Iraqi Governing Council, issued a directive, dictated by the mullahs, on December 9, 2003 to expel the Mojahedin from Iraq, he called for the extradition of the Mojahedin to the Iranian regime. Two weeks later, on December 22, he demanded a trial for the Mojahedin “who had committed crimes on Iraqi territory.” At the time, the Multi-National Force-Iraq and the international community rejected Al-Hakim’s pronouncements. Less than seven moths later, on July 2004, the Multi-National Force-Iraq recognized all members of the PMOI in Ashraf City as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Hakim heads the kidnappers of PMOI members Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad-Ali Zahedi as well as terrorists who blew up Ashraf City water pipelines. The Iranian Resistance calls for the prosecution of the mullahs’ criminal agents in an international tribunal.

Mr. Mehdi Abrishamchi, Chair of NCRI’s Peace Committee, had announced on July 21 in Paris, “Recent remarks by the Iraqi government against the Mojahedin were dictated by the clerical regime’s leaders during a visit by Al-Hakim to Tehran.”

The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, the Iraqi government, relevant international agencies, including the International Committee of the Red Cross and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, to today’s remarks by Al-Hakim, which are a blatant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the sacred right to asylum. It also underscores the need to guarantee the security and safety of the Mojahedin and a reaffirmation of their political asylum rights, to which they have been entitled in the past 20 years.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 28, 2006

Backing resistance

The Washington Times
July 27, 2006
Embassy Row by James Morrison

A leading member of the European Parliament is on a mission to persuade the Bush administration to remove the Iranian resistance movement from its list of terrorist organizations.

Struan Stevenson, a conservative from Scotland, spent yesterday spreading his message at the Heritage Foundation and on Capitol Hill, where he met with several House members who share his goal of lifting the terrorist stigma from the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its military wing, the People's Mujahedeen, which was disarmed by U.S. forces in Iraq where it operated under Saddam Hussein.

The Clinton administration included the resistance on the terrorist list in 1997, when it was trying to normalize relations with Iran, which demanded the move as a prerequisite for diplomatic talks. The State Department accuses the resistance of killing U.S. soldiers in the 1970s during the Iranian revolution. The European Union also included the resistance on its own terrorist list.

Today the Bush administration, European governments and even some Arab leaders blame Iran for supplying and financing Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based terrorists who triggered the current conflict in the Middle East.

"Everyone realizes that the head of the dragon is Iran," Mr. Stevenson, co-chairman of the Parliament's Friends of a Free Iran caucus, told Embassy Row yesterday. "Their objective is hegemony in the region and global Islamization. The world better wake up to that."

Removing the resistance from the U.S. and EU terrorist lists would allow the Iranian opposition to raise money and promote a democratic message inside Iran to encourage an increasingly restive population to rise up against the regime, he said.

"We need to give them back what was taken from them," he said of the resistance.

The Iranian caucus is not urging the rearming of the People's Mujahedeen, but several members of Congress suggested that action, Mr. Stevenson said, declining to identify the lawmakers among those he met.

Mr. Stevenson, whose Washington visit coincided with that of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said he is upset by the Iraqi leader's recent threat to expel the disarmed Iranian rebels, held in Iraq at Camp Ashraf under the protection of U.S. forces.
"He's being financed by the U.S. and taking his orders from Iran," Mr. Stevenson said.

Support for taking the resistance off the list crosses political ideologies in Europe and the United States, he said, noting that his caucus co-chairman is a socialist from Spain.

Today Mr. Stevenson will be at a joint appearance in Room B-369 of the House Rayburn Office Building at noon with six House members, who include conservative Republican Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado and liberal Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas.

Maliki Urged to Resist Pressure From Iranian Mullahs

CNSNews.com
Thursday, 26 July 2006

CNSNews.com - Criticized by congressional Democrats for his refusal to condemn Hizballah, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki faces other international challenges, especially the "increasing pressure from neighboring Iran," Middle East experts said this week.

"We know well that [Iran is] funding the insurgency in Iraq. They are fanning the flames of potential civil war in Iraq, and now, of course, and more ominously, they are also spreading their influence via their armed branch Hizballah and their armed branch Hamas into Lebanon and Palestine," said Struan Stevenson, a member of the European Parliament for Scotland during a meeting Tuesday of the Iran Policy Committee. The group is dedicated to regime change in Iran.

Stevenson also co-chairs the Friends of a Free Iran Inter-group in the European Parliament.

"Maliki must not bend the knee to any pressure from Tehran," Stevenson said. "He must stand up for the democratically elected government he represents."

Stevenson criticized the U.S. State Department's decision to place the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MEK) and related groups on its list of international terrorist organizations. That decision was "crazy," he said.

"We've decided to hamstring them. We've decided to shackle them. We've put the MEK, and, here in the United States, even the National Council for Resistance, on the terror list without any justification," Stevenson said. "They're on the terror list without any history of committing any terrorist acts."

As Cybercast News Service previously reported, the MEK was expelled from Iran after the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The group was placed on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist groups in 1997 for advocating the overthrow of the Iranian regime.

At this point in history, the Bush administration must ensure that Maliki understands his true allies and enemies, Stevenson said.

"We should be telling Prime Minister Maliki that the democratically-elected government in Iraq is something that we in the West support ... and that he must not allow the influence from the mullahs to start diverting him from a democracy course. That means he must listen to those people who say you really have to protect the Iranian opposition," Stevenson said.

Iran's evil influence

The Daily Telegraph
July 25 2006
Letters to Editor
By Struan Stevenson MEP

As the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, comes West for the first time, the Middle East is in turmoil. All its problems have one common feature - Iran. Teheran's mullahs have spread their evil influence in all areas, directly and indirectly.

A year ago, the Iranian opposition leader, Maryam Rajavi, told the European Parliament that, by propelling Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the presidency, supreme leader Ali Khamenei had declared war on his own people and on the world community. Events have proved her right.

Teheran's strategic battleground is Iraq, with the world's second largest oil reserves and a majority Shia population. Teheran has already spent billions of dollars in Iraq and dispatched thousands of intelligence agents and Revolutionary Guards to aid the insurgency. Iranian agents have infiltrated various Iraqi security organisations. According to American military sources, Iran has been the main source of explosive devices that have taken a heavy toll on coalition forces.

Teheran finances and organises terror groups that target intellectuals and anti-fundamentalist figures. The mullahs have launched an unrelenting campaign against the presence of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), the principal Iranian opposition movement, in Ashraf City in Iraq. There, several thousand anti-fundamentalist Iranians espouse a tolerant, democratic Islam, which is the antithesis of the ayatollahs' extremism.

When it was announced that 5.2 million Iraqis (Shias, Sunnis and Kurds) had signed a petition protesting against Iranian involvement in Iraq and supporting the PMOI, Teheran's campaign took on a sinister new dimension.

The mullahs urged the Iraqi government to expel the PMOI from Ashraf. In May, a bus carrying Iraqi citizens working there was blown up, resulting in 11 deaths. Last week, agents of the Iranian regime twice blew up the water supply from the Tigris River to Ashraf.

The Middle East problem is complex, but Iraq is where the West should confront the mullahs. Focus anywhere else and we will fall into the trap that Teheran has set for us. Mr al-Maliki should be vigilant to the ploys and pressures of the Iranian regime.

It would be a grave and strategic mistake by the new Iraqi government to kowtow to Teheran. This trip provides an excellent opportunity to the Iraqi PM to demonstrate that he will stand firm against any meddling from Teheran.

Struan Stevenson MEP (Con), Co-President, Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup, Brussels

Hundreds of personalities across the world condemn mullahs' plot against PMOI in Iraq

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 24, 2006

NCRI - The new plot by the mullahs' regime against the PMOI in Ashraf City in Iraq and pressures exerted on the Iraqi government to impose restriction on it has caused international outrage.

Hundreds of Iraqi, European and North American parliamentarians, jurists, and prominent political and cultural personalities, in letters addressed to the Prime Minister of Iraq, Secretary-General of the United Nations, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, US ambassador to Iraq and the commander of Multi-National Forces – Iraq (MNF-I), have called on the Iraqi government to abide by international accords and to guarantee the safety and security of PMOI members in Iraq.

They included: the National Human Rights Organization of Iraq; the Solidarity Congress of the Iraqi People; the Independent Jurists Association of Iraq; the Independent Association of Iraqi Turkmen; Dr. Adnan Al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accord Front and Secretary General of the Iraqi People's Congress; Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad al-Moussawi al-Qasimi, the founder of the Islamic Solidarity Party; the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom; Mr. Andrew Mackinlay, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons; Mr. Brian Binley, member of the British House of Commons from the Conservative Party; Mr. Struan Stevenson and Mr. Paulo Casaca, joint Chairs of the Friends of a Free Iran Inter-Parliamentary Group of the European Parliament; Ms. Ingrid Holzhueter, Chair of the Friends of a Free Iran group in Germany and former member of parliament; and the Committee for Democratic Action in France, whose distinguished members include, Mr. Sid Ahmad Ghozali, former Algerian Prime Minister; Senator Jean-Pierre Michel; Mr. Marc Reymann, member of the French National Assembly from the ruling UMP party and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Mr. Pascal Terrasse, socialist member of parliament; Mr. Yves Bonnet, former head of the French anti-terrorist police(D.S.T); Ms. Anisa Boumedienne, jurist; Mr. Mario Stasi, former president of the Paris Bar Association; Mr. Alain Vivien, former French government minister; Mr. Francois Colcombet, former member of parliament from the Socialist Party; Mouloud Aounit, Secretary General of the Movement Against Racism and Friendship Among Nations (MRAP); Mr. Gils Paruelle, former president of the Val d'Oise Bar Association; Mr. Jean Ferrat, renowned French singer; Ms. Lucie Aubrac, distinguished member of the French Resistance; Mr. Georges Flecheux, president of the Paris Human Rights Institute.

In their letters and statements, they made it clear that any restrictions on the PMOI’s freedom of speech, assembly, and movement or depriving the residents of Ashraf of their food and medicine rations, fuel and water supply was a clear breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and International Humanitarian Laws, and constituted a war crime.

On July 21, thousands of supporters of the Iranian Resistance held gatherings in various European cities including Berlin, Düsseldorf, London, Stockholm, Trondheim, Oslo (Norway) and the Hague. Similar gatherings were held in the United States and Canada in Washington D.C., New York, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. The Iranian Resistance supporters condemned the plots by the Iranian regime against the residents of Ashraf City including the bombing of their water pipelines. They called on the Iraqi government and the MNF-I to prevent the mullahs' regime from conspiring against the PMOI who have been living in Iraq as political refugees for the past 20 years.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 24, 2006

Mullahs' regime blows up Ashraf City’s water pipeline for second time

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 23, 2006

NCRI - At 5:00 pm, Saturday, July 21, terrorists dispatched by the clerical regime blew up for the second time in the past three days the water pipelines from the Tigris River to Ashraf City, at a location 18 kms to the west of Ashraf.

The three masked terrorists drew weapons on locals who saw them and fled the scene with a dark blue Opel (Vauxhall), the license plate of which had been covered.

The clerical regime and its agents have taken recent remarks attributed to a number of Iraqi officials against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) as a green light for their terrorist attacks. Last August, only two days after an Iraqi official lashed out at the Mojahedin, two of the PMOI’s members, Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad-Ali Zahedi, were abducted in Baghdad.

The bombing of the pipelines, in the 50-degree heat of summer, is an abhorrent, cowardly, inhumane and anti-Islamic act as well as a war crime under the Geneva Conventions.

The Iranian Resistance recalls the legal status of the members of Mojahedin in Ashraf City as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It urges the Multi-National Force - Iraq, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and in particular the government of Iraq to condemn this act and legally pursue the perpetrators of this terrorist crime. It also calls on them to take the necessary steps to prevent further attacks on Ashraf City’s water pipelines.

In recent days, hundreds of parliamentarians, jurists, and political personalities in Iraq, Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia, have written to the Iraqi Prime Minister, U.S. officials and relevant international agencies or have issued statements, in which they underscored the need to uphold international conventions and laws regarding the situation of the People’s Mojahedin. They also emphatically reminded such officials of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of PMOI members in Ashraf City.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 23, 2006

Mullahs’ inhumane regime blows up water pipelines to Camp Ashraf, Iraq

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 21, 2006

NCRI - According to information received, on Tuesday, July 17, the water pipelines from the Tigris River to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, the residence of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, was blown up by agents of the mullahs’ inhumane regime.

Following the disruption of water supply in Camp Ashraf at 19:00 and a subsequent investigation of the surrounding areas, it became clear that the agents of the mullahs' regime were directly involved. The pipeline explosions occurred in Zorganeh region, 15 kilometers west of Camp Ashraf.

The series of explosions left a two-meter opening in the water pipeline which stretches 26 kilometers from the pumping station near the Tigris River to Camp Ashraf.

According to eye-witness accounts, a number of roadside bombs were placed near the site of the explosion in order to harm those who would later go to the scene to inspect the incident or attempt to repair the pipes. Until now, several of these bombs have been discovered and diffused. Local workers are continuing to inspect other locations and repair the camp’s pipeline network. All the costs of water supplies to Camp Ashraf for the past 20 years have been paid for by the PMOI, the relevant documents of which are available. For many years, the PMOI have also covered the costs of water supply for 15 nearby villages and schools.

The disruption of water by exploding the pipelines is an inhumane, anti-Islamic terrorist action by the mullahs’ evil regime. It also violates the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding “protected persons”, which defines the status of members of the PMOI in Camp Ashraf.

The Iranian Resistance calls on the Multi National Force-Iraq, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the United Nations and in particular the Iraqi government to condemn this terrorist crime and to prosecute the perpetrators.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 21, 2006

The Multi-National Force – Iraq: Press Briefing

The Multi-National Force – Iraq
Press Briefing
BRIEFER: Maj. Gen. William B. Caldwell IV, USA
COMBINED PRESS INFORMATION CENTER, BAGHDAD, IRAQ
THURSDAY, JULY 20, 2006

GEN. WILLIAM B. CALDWELL: … As you know, the MEK is out at Ashraf in a secure military facility that the coalition forces, in fact, guard on a 24-by-7 basis. They're under continuous surveillance and control. Their future status does need to be eventually determined, but currently, they're not operating within the country of Iraq. They're in a fenced-in facility, a very large facility out there, and there is quite a few coalition forces that are there continuously guarding that facility to make sure they in fact are not allowed access out of it, and if it is, it's a controlled access, where they are in fact are escorted the entire time.

Iraq Might Force Out Iranian Militants

Iraq Might Force Out Iranian Militants
Los Angeles Times
From Times Staff and Wire Reports
July 20, 2006

BAGHDAD — Prime Minister Nouri Maliki on Wednesday accused a militant Iranian opposition group of meddling in his country's affairs and suggested that it could face expulsion from Iraq, where it has been based for 20 years.

The Iraqi leader said the Mujahedin Khalq, which is dedicated to toppling Iran's Islamist government, had become too involved in Iraq's political and social issues.

"It is interfering as if it is an Iraqi organization, despite the fact that it is considered to be one of the terrorist organizations and its presence in the country contradicts the constitution," Maliki said at a news conference.

In response to a question, he said that government communications with the group had been banned and that a committee had been established "to find out the procedures related to their existence here" and to determine which countries would be ready to accept them as refugees.

The United States has listed the Mujahedin Khalq as a terrorist organization, although some U.S. officials have praised it as a tough opponent of the Iranian government.

The group was believed responsible for the slayings of several U.S. soldiers and civilians working on defense contracts in Iran in the 1970s, when Washington backed the shah. The Mujahedin Khalq also supported and may have aided the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, during which 52 Americans were held hostage for 444 days.

Tehran strongly opposes the group and has pressured Baghdad's Shiite-led government, dominated by parties with long-standing ties to Iran, to clamp down on its activities in Iraq.

A Mujahedin Khalq statement Wednesday said that its members had a right to protection under the Geneva Convention and that their safety was the responsibility of U.S.-led forces.

"Any action against the [Mujahedin] represents nothing but the demands and wishes of the theocracy ruling Iran that have been conveyed to the Iraqi prime minister," the statement said.

A spokesman for the group said earlier that it had not been informed by Baghdad that it may have to leave Iraq, whose government has improved ties with non-Arab Shiite Iran.

The Mujahedin Khalq, which has carried out attacks in Iran, was believed to have received support from former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, whose troops fought the Islamic Republic in the 1980s. But the group's fortunes changed after a U.S.-led invasion toppled Hussein in 2003. It handed over its weapons after the U.S. bombed its bases.

Its estimated 4,000 members in Iraq are based at Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad. It has many supporters in Europe and North America and operated openly in France until 2003.

Iraq PM accuses Iran opposition group of meddling

Iraq PM accuses Iran opposition group of meddling
Reuters
July 19, 2006

BAGHDAD, July 19 (Reuters) - Iraq's prime minister on Wednesday accused the main Iranian opposition group, which has been based in Iraq for the past 20 years, of meddling in his country's affairs and suggested it could face expulsion.

Nuri al-Maliki said the Mujahideen Khalq, which is dedicated to toppling Iran's Islamist government, had become too involved in political and social issues in Iraq.

"It is interfering as if it is an Iraqi organisation despite the fact that it is considered to be one of the terrorist organisations and its presence in the country contradicts the constitution," Maliki told a news conference.

"The cabinet has taken decisions on this matter and the group will be informed."

A Mujahideen Khalq statement said its members are protected under the Geneva Convention and that their safety therefore was the responsibility of the U.S.-led forces.

"Any action against the (Mujahideen) represents nothing but the demands and wishes of the theocracy ruling Iran that have been conveyed to the Iraqi Prime Minister," said the statement.

The group, in a statement sent to Reuters in Dubai, urged the international community to intervene against what it described as pressure by Tehran's "evil regime" on Baghdad.

A Mujahideen spokesman said earlier the group had not been informed by Baghdad it may have to leave Iraq, whose Shi'ite-led government has significantly improved ties with non-Arab, Shi'ite Iran.

Iraqi Sunnis, once dominant under Saddam Hussein, have accused Iran of meddling in Iraq's affairs and are likely to interpret any expulsion of the Mujahideen as a result of pressure from the Tehran government.

The Mujahideen, who have carried out attacks inside Iran, were believed to have received military support from Saddam, whose troops fought the Islamic Republic in the 1980s.

But their fortunes changed after a U.S.-led invasion toppled the former Iraqi leader in 2003. U.S. forces bombed their bases and the group handed over its weapons.

The group has many supporters in Europe and North America.

Its members in Iraq, believed to number about 4,000, are based at Ashraf Camp, north of Baghdad.

The Mujahideen Khalq are on a U.S. list of terrorist organisations.

Iraq PM hints at expelling Iran opposition group

Iraq PM hints at expelling Iran opposition group
Agence France Presse
July 19, 2006

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says he is looking for ways to end the presence in his country of the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahedeen of Iran.

"The presence in the country of this organization violates the constitution," he told a press conference on Wednesday, accusing the organization of interfering in Iran's internal affairs.

"This organization has been behaving as though it is an Iraqi organization," he added, emphasizing that it is labeled as a terrorist organization in the United States and the European Union.

Maliki said the cabinet decided at a meeting Wednesday to restrict the movements of PMOI members to their base at Camp Ashraf, near the Iranian border, and to prevent them from contacting government officials.

The government will also form a committee to decide whether to allow them to remain in Iraq or find a country to exile them to.

Iran has publicly complained about the continuing presence of the PMOI across its border.

Under the former Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein, the PMOI was supplied with weapons and tanks and periodically carried out armed incursions against Iran as well as helped Iraqi forces put down rebellious Shiites in 1991.

US forces confiscated the organization's weapons following the March 2003 US-led invasion, taking away some 300 tanks, many of which were subsequently given to the Iraqi armed forces.

The estimated 3,000 PMOI members are now under a kind of US-supervised house arrest at Camp Ashraf, which is mainly for their protection against hostile population on both sides of the border.

The group's activities are supported by its political wing, the National Council of Resistance in Iran (NCRI) which has offices in France and Germany and carries out lobbying efforts against the Iranian government.

While the PMOI is characterized as a terrorist group by the United States and EU, it has many supporters in the US Congress and British parliament.

New plot by mullahs’ regime against People's Mojahedin in Iraq

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 19, 2006

NCRI - The clerical regime’s state television announced this afternoon, “The Iraqi Prime Minister reported the expulsion of elements of the hypocrites grouplet (People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) from his country. The regime’s official news agency carried a report, entitled “Security – Iraq – hypocrisy”, which said, “Without referring to specifics, the Iraqi Prime Minister announced a plan to expel elements of the terrorist hypocrites group from his country.” The agency said, “[Nuri] al-Maliki reiterated that elements of this grouplet are currently being held in a camp and they are not permitted to leave. The state-run news agency ISNA added, “It was decided to limit actions of this group and to encamp them in Ashraf Camp, north of Iraq, and prevent their contacts with the ministers and government agencies.

Any action against the PMOI represents nothing but the demands and wishes of the theocracy ruling Iran that have been conveyed to the Iraqi Prime Minister by discredited “security agencies.” These are the very same organs that are widely known to have been infiltrated by the Iranian regime and have played the greatest role in advancing the regime’s objectives in Iraq in the past year.

Suggesting such measures against the PMOI comes at a time when the very same security agencies have remained silent regarding the Iranian regime’s role in countless crimes and killings in Iraq, including atrocities such as the August 4 abduction of two PMOI members and the May 29 bombing of a bus carrying innocent Iraqi workers who worked at Ashraf City.

Today, the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq is so extensive that it has not only exasperated the Iraqi people and threatened democracy in that country but has also endangered peace and tranquility in the entire region. The Iranian Resistance had previously provided to pertinent authorities the list of names of more than 30,000 operatives of the Iranian regime in Iraq who have been on the mullahs’ payroll.

Clearly, the main problem for the clerical regime and its operatives in Iraq emanates from their anger over the declaration by 5.2 million Iraqis which condemned the mullahs’ meddling in Iraq and demanded, “The acknowledgement of PMOI members’ rights to political asylum in Iraq.” In a statement in this regard, the presidency of the Iraqi People’s Congress Solidarity had called on the United Nations, international organizations and the International Committee of Jurists to examine the documents pertaining to the declaration.

The clerical regime’s leaders, including the Supreme National Security Council Secretary General, Brig. Gen. Ali Larijani, and Majlis Speaker, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, emphatically pleaded with an Iraqi parliamentary delegation that had recently visited Iran, telling it that they would give them money and weapons in order to expel the PMOI from Iraq and say that they were involved in bombings in Iraq and joined the U.S. forces in suppressing the people of Iraq.

This is while members of the PMOI in Iraq are under the protection of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Multi-National Force-Iraq has the responsibility to protect them. Violating these rights would be considered a war crime.

The said measures against the PMOI in Iraq are being contemplated at a time when in the past three years PMOI members have not traveled freely in Iraq. Since some time ago, at the request of the mullahs’ regime, their state rations for fuel and food stuffs have been cut off. Dr. Hossein Albahrani, the Director General of the Oil Products Distribution Company, who had agreed in writing in the presence of representatives from the MNF-I last month to provide the fuel needed for Ashraf City’s hospital, was fired under pressure by the mullahs’ regime. Yesterday, the water supply for Ashraf residents was cut off.

The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of relevant international agencies and officials to the need for immediate intervention to confront the pressures by the mullahs’ evil regime against the PMOI and the Iraqi government.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 19, 2006

Iraq Govt Limits Movement Of Largest Iran Opposition Grp

Iraq Govt Limits Movement Of Largest Iran Opposition Grp
Associated Press
July 19, 2006

BAGHDAD (AP)--Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Wednesday that his government will take measures against an Iranian opposition group, terming it a "terrorist organization."

As a first step, al-Maliki said he will ban the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran from distributing statements and restrict its fighters from leaving their camp in eastern Iraq.

He added that a committee has been set up to consider their status here or look for a country willing to take them as refugees.

The People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, or Mujahedeen Khalq, has thousands of members in Iraq, most of them in Camp Ashraf in Diyala province. Dozens of others have been stranded on the Iraq-Jordan border for years.

The organization was founded in the late 1960s and fled to Iraq in the early 1980s after it fell out with the clerical regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. During Saddam Hussein's rule, the movement used Iraq as a base for operations against Iran's government.

Many top Iraqi officials sought shelter in Iran after Saddam cracked down on Shiite opposition groups.

U.S. forces disarmed the People's Mujahedeen fighters after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion. More than 3,000 of its members live in Camp Ashraf, which is under American military control. The group had sided with Iraq in its 1980-88 war against Iran.

"Security forces gave a report about the organization and its interference in the political and social fields," al-Maliki said. "They are behaving as if they are an Iraqi group even though it is considered a terrorist organization and its presence in Iraq contradicts with the constitution."