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."