A reply to Iraqi government’s spokesman assertions

February 2, 2007

NCRI - In previous days, the revelations of the list of names of 32,000 salaried agents of the mullahs' regime in Iraq, which received extensive coverage, leaders democratic and nationalist Iraqi parties and forces visited Brussels and exposed the Iranian regime's crimes in Iraq and declared solidarity with the Iranian Resistance.

Subsequently, the Iraqi government spokesman Ali Dabbagh said in a press conference, “This organization [People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI)] in Iraq is an illegitimate and illegal organization. On July 19, 2006, the cabinet ordered that the issue of ending the presence of this organization in a specified period of time be pursued by a ministerial cabinet, headed by the Minister of the Interior… They were given the opportunity to find residence in another country other than Iraq. They have been given the freedom of choice to return to their own country or to any country that would accept them."

To justify the unlawful demand, Dabbagh has absurdly charged, “the [PMOI] and it members violate Iraqi laws by contacting Iraqi officials. This is not allowed.”

Dabbagh’s anger and frustration over the revelations of the list of Iraqi agents on Tehran's payroll in Iraq is quite understandable since he knows full well that the names of senior government officials for which he is the spokesman and the names of thousands of Iraqi police and army officers appear in the list.

It goes without saying that Dabbagh’s remarks carried no legal credibility. The PMOI members’ presence in Iraq is consistent with the international laws and not based on directives dictated by the regime in Tehran. The legitimacy and legality of the PMOI members' residence in Iraq is based on Geneva Conventions, especially the Fourth Geneva Convention and their refugee status according to the United Nations 1967 declaration and the basic principles of international law, particularly the principle of non-refoulement. All international organizations and the Multi-National Force-Iraq have accepted this principle, which prohibits any involuntary displacement of the PMOI.

On December 10, 2003, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, then head of the now-defunct Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) gave the PMOI three months to leave Iraqi territory. That turned into a major scandal and disgrace for al-Hakim.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 2, 2007