People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran: Iranian Dissidents In Iraq Face Uncertain Future

NEW YORK--Iraq's transition of power and the security agreement calling for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq by 2011 leaves the fate of 3,000 Iranian dissidents hanging in the balance.

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) is Iran's most prominent opposition group based in Camp Ashraf, a desert compound some 60 miles north of Baghdad in Diyala province near the Iranian border.

Like the prisoners of Guantanamo Bay, the fate of those at Camp Ashraf rests in American hands and is an example of the complicated legacy of the U.S.'s recent wars. Although this situation has not received the same attention, for those involved, the stakes--in human lives, justice and prestige--are just as high.

The PMOI was founded in the 1960s in opposition to the pro-Western Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, whom it helped overthrow during the Iranian Revolution of 1979. Iranian security forces expelled the group shortly thereafter and it has since occupied a peculiar position as an American ally opposed to the Iranian regime.

Citing assassinations of U.S. military personnel and civilians in Iran in the 1970s and other violent acts, the U.S. State Department labeled the PMOI, also referred to as Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), a foreign terrorist organization in 1997 and in 2002 the European Union followed suit. But in 2003, shortly after the invasion of Iraq, the group agreed to give up their weapons in return for protection by U.S. coalition forces. Camp Ashraf's residents have been "protected persons" under Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention since 2004, and as such cannot be extradited or forced to return to Iran while the U.S. maintains a presence in Iraq.

PMOI supporters have long feared that the Bush administration would relinquish control over the camp before Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki's government is able to guarantee its security. Their concern stemmed from reports that some Iraqi ministers wished to expel the PMOI from Iraq and repatriate them back to Iran. Baghdad confirms that it wants the group to leave but says it will not use force to do so.

The U.S. Embassy in Baghdad stated earlier this week that U.S. forces will remain in place to protect Camp Ashraf despite Thursday's transition of power over the camp to the Iraqi government. With last month's security agreement calling for the withdrawal of American forces by 2011, the deadline looms over the heads of American military commanders and Iraqi government officials searching for a solution to this moral quandary that has left American hands tied for the past five years.

According to Joseph Logan, a Middle East researcher for Human Rights Watch, the Iranian government has identified a list of PMOI members whom they consider criminals and would like handed over to them for prosecution. The regime claims they will not hurt them, he said, "but the Iranian government can make all the promises it wishes--these types of agreements aren't worth the paper they're written on. There is a considerable amount of antagonism towards [the PMOI in Iran]. The risk is clearly there."

It is not certain whether the U.S. military is ready to take that risk. "This is a nightmare association for the Americans," Logan continued. "It is a politically untenable situation and the military wants to wash their hands of the whole thing."

Former Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations Mansour Farhang contends that it is likely the Iraqi authorities will arrest and send at least the leadership back to Iran. "And it would be without getting any kind of guarantee or assurance from the Iranian government that they will be treated humanely," he said. In addition to "the good relations the Iraqi government has with Iran, the leaders of these groups are known to have committed violent acts under the order of Saddam Hussein against the both the Shias and the Kurds. So there is both personal vengeance against them as well as an obligation of the Iranian regime to get rid of them."

Amnesty International warns that Ashraf residents "would be at grave risk of torture or other human rights violations" if returned to Iran. The Association of Iranian-Americans in New York claims that 120,000 PMOI members and supporters have already been executed by the regime. According to the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents, Tehran has declared the residents of Camp Ashraf--along with all those who fight against the government--guilty of waging war against God, a charge punishable by execution or amputation.

Farhang warned that the U.S. must not leave the camp's fate solely in Baghdad's hands. "The destiny of the Mojahedin at Camp Ashraf is going to be an issue for negotiation between Iran and the U.S.," he said. "If negotiations are left to the Iraqi government, we are going to see a different outcome."

Despite its designation as a terrorist organization, the PMOI has a vast army of supporters that includes hundreds of members of the U.S. Congress and European Parliament spanning the political spectrum. Farhang contends that this support has more to do with widespread contempt for the Iranian regime than accolades for the group itself. "But they are well organized and well financed," he said, "and have a very effective PR machine to target both the left wing and right wing that then give tacit support without understanding who they are."

While the PMOI and its supporters loudly denounce human rights violations in Iran, numerous organizations have accused the group itself of mistreating some of its members within Camp Ashraf. Accusations that the PMOI is a cult stem from mandates requiring members to show ideological and revolutionary obedience to husband and wife leaders Massoud and Maryam Rajavi. In 2005, Human Rights Watch published a report based on testimonies from 12 former PMOI members who described "abuses ranging from detention and persecution of ordinary members wishing to leave the organization, to lengthy solitary confinements, severe beatings, and torture of dissident members."

Massoud Khodabandeh, consultant for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Ministry of Human Rights, explained that the Iraqi government is talking with some Scandinavian countries that may be willing to accept PMOI members. But for that to happen, he said, "the camp would need to be dismantled. They would have to take their uniforms off and be treated as individuals." Khodabandeh, who was a member of the group for 21 years until fleeing the camp in 1996, said the camp's residents cannot leave on their own because only those in leadership positions have unfiltered access to the outside world

The plan faces resistance from PMOI's leaders, but Khodabandeh believes that Massoud Rajavi would agree to the deal if he were offered guarantees of safety and protection from prosecution for attacks he led inside Iran that killed civilians and for his aid to Saddam Hussein in quelling the Shiite and Kurdish uprising in 1991. Yet doing so would mean the U.S. would effectively be granting immunity to the leader of a terrorist organization and an alleged criminal. In Bush's war on terror, that would be a hard option to sell.

What will happen to Camp Ashraf, then, if no solution is reached before the U.S. leaves Iraq in 2011? "That's the $64,000 question," said Logan, "and it's pretty likely that the military will withdraw from [Diyala province] before the country altogether. It's already beginning to happen." He believes it will be difficult for President-elect Barack Obama to deal with Camp Ashraf differently than his predecessors, and recent confirmation that Robert Gates will stay on as Secretary of Defense seems to support that prediction.

The situation in Camp Ashraf is just one among many complexities the United States faces as it wrestles with a disengagement strategy. "Whatever the rationales were for setting up Camp Ashraf the way it was set up, five years on we still have an unresolved mess," Logan continued. "And I honestly don't think that the people who did this really foresaw where it was going to lead." Seven years since the invasion of Iraq, he said, "[Camp Ashraf] is indicative of the fact that certain things were done with ignorance. The consequences of that are still unfolding."

If the U.S. looks the other way and the Iranian regime harms the group's members, it will make a mockery of America's image and its calls for democratic change in the Middle East. A mishandling of this issue risks badly damaging America's already tenuous credibility in the region.

Comments

[peterjones2009]

This, so called group of mojahedin, were advertising extreme and bloodshed actions, lynch, arson, looting to people in streets, pressuring moderate government of Bazargan-Beheshti for adopting Stalinistic policies, state economy, accusing them of being agents of US. Their leadership member, known as father of Rezaie-ha (father of four of their executed member during Shah) was the first person who staged first executions of revolution the very next day of 12th February 1979. He shot a group of high-ranking officers of Shah regime with his own hand without any trial. These people are not Marxist or Moslem. Neither they are pro-democracy. They are opprtunist-adventurist-terrorist and pathological liars, who received what they wanted to do to others. I am a secular, non-Moslem. Since I know depth of cruelty and viciousness, and vengeance nature of this MEK group, I deemed it necessary to reveal their background. If they get to any position in Iran they create more instability and problem for Iranians and world community.

[peterjones2009]

Thais camp, ashraf, is like the 1960's British TV sci fi "The Prisoner." Massoud Rajavi is "Number One" always keeping him in darkness. Mariam Rajavi is the presentable front face "Number Two." All others are inmates "Number Six." Before Mariam Rajavi becomes "Numer Two" a man, now evaporated, non-existant man, a Mr Abrishamchi, something was "Number Two" and Mariam was his wife. Then Massoud dicided to put a woman in "Number Two" place as a face lift, or a nose job to hide the "cruel, vicious" face of the organization. But as he did not believe genuinely in independence and capability of women, he forced in his lilipotian dictatorship the Mr Abrishamchi to divorce Mariam and marry her to himself. In this way even "Number Two" also was carrying name of "Number One." Hence, "Number Two" is also genuinely another "Number Six." bound to a forced arranged marriage. Massoud Rajavi was a peti stalinist Khmer Rouge Pol Pot whose "Number One" was "Saddam Hossayn" himself or rather his two cruel, vain sons using organization as a very loyal tool of suppression obeying Baghdad without any refute, bringing head when asked for the hat. Members' extremely suppressed, and violent and exaggerated arguments against their adversaries if you talk with them is very trivial sign of their state of brain wash. If they are supposed to be moved into any democratic country, each individual should receive private confidential counselling to assure free choice of that individual.

[ha g]

I read your article on PMOI's uncertainty in Iraq. We cannot bear another disappointment in regard to PMOI members at Camp Ashraf. U.S must remain at this Camp and continue protecting these 3,000 individuals. U.S has a legal and moral obligation to the International Humanitarian Laws as well as these individuals. We cannot dodge our responsibilities to the people of Ashraf. Iraqi Government cannot solely take the responsibility of protecting of these individual, as Mr. Farhang mentioned, due to the pressure from Iranian Government. Mr. Khodabandeh is introduced as a consultant to the Iraqi Ministry of Defense and Human Rights. This indicates Iran's influence. Mr. Khodabandeh is a well known agent of the Ministry of Inteligence Service of Iranian Regime. The role of PMOI in killing Kurds and Shias. New York Times speaks the facts for anyone who seeks the truth. There was a 5.2 million Iraqi Peoples in one occasion in 2006 called for support for PMOI presence in Iraq and called for eviction of Iranian Regime from Iraq, among them Kurds, Sunnis, Shias, Christians, and etc. In another occasion in July of 2008, 3,000,000 Shias supported PMOI and called for eviction of Iranian Government from Iraq. I have a question that was raised in the paper and that was" why Prisoners of Guantanamo Bay got huge coverage and much attention in media, but PMOI members at Camp Ashraf didn't". This is a question for all news media including Huffington Post to answer to American Public.

[MajorKong]

Never really felt the urge to sit in a deer stand all morning, freezing my butt off, waiting for something to walk in front of me so I can shoot it.

[separatingwheatfromchaff]

Personally,I prefer the drive-up window.I had no idea those dear stands weren't heated.I bet they don't even have broadband.

[mulegino]

It would appear that American Intelligence is an oxymoron. There is an established pattern of the CIA, Defense and State department, as well as other unnamed covert operators, creating, arming, and funding militant groups, operating on the principle of "the enemy of my enemy is my friend." Such schemes work in the short term, and provide tactical successes, yet ultimately backfire and create blowback worse than the problems they were intended to solve. American citizens of all persuasions should be outraged by this perpetual malfeasance, waste of resources and ultimately, loss of American lives.

[peterjones2009]

. Vaheed Afraakhteh, was a friend of Massoud Rajavi in Mash-had before 1971. He became indoctrinated by Rajavi and then introduced to join this organization to overthrow the Shah government by Maoist terror operations. Vaheed later reached to the leadership of organization. He is the one who shot the finish off, when they gunned down a high rank US military advisor of Shah. At that time the officer was carrying a samsonite containing secrete documents related to NATO and Iran armed forces. That briefcase was passed through Democratic Yemen (Adan) to soviets. Around and at the beginning of years of new regime in Iran, organization vehemently was spying for Soviet union, trying to pass structure, training and weapon technical details of Shah government and US activities to Soviets. They were inspiring and provoking agitators for attack to US embassy in Tehran. You should ask what is the surname, maiden family name of Mariam Rajavi. It is Ghajar-Azodanlou (Qajar-Azodanlou). Why she hides that name for a second reason. Iranian women do not lose their maiden name when they marry, in contrast to western countries. Her sister, Narjess Qajar Azodanlo was a direct participant in terror of an American during Shah's regime. Shah captured her and executed her.

[ArmyCentrist]

Thanks a lot Bush...what a mess this is. The PMOI have committed many crimes in Iran, and since Iran is a sovereign nation, they should be able to deal their criminals. On the other hand...they are our "allies" (for now), and it would look bad for democracy in the Middle East for us to abandon them in Iraq, and let Maliki's government extradite them...*sigh...I wish I could go back 8 years and warn everyone not to vote Bush...

[hamid arash]

Dear Ms. Deprez

Did you know that Massoud Khodabandeh is not a consultant for the Iraqi Ministries of Defence and Human Rights? He is a senior member of the IRANIAN Ministry of Intelligence and Security.
This article is biased. Why did you not contact the PMOI themselves or the Coalition they belong to (the National Council of Resistance of Iran)? The NCRI has its offices north of Paris, and are easily reachable. Please look at all the other journalists who interview NCR officials all the time for articles they write about the PMOI.

I am sorry, but I have to dispute the neutrality of this article.

[watchingthings]

Well, if there is no safe place left for them to go perhaps Dubya can ship them all to his huge ranch in Paraguay. He can do this from the goodness of his heart since he helped put them in this situation.

[wembakoy]

Now that there is war going between Israel and Hamas. The world should not forget about Democratic Republic of Congo. Because there is not some people more important than other.

Now the news are all about Gaza. What about Democratic Republic of Congo?????? That is a pure discrimination. Why Africa always be less important than other part of the world? Please let me know?

Pleas read all: http://okonda.com/please_save_my_people.html

and

Please watch and share: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kTp5Cjx8TQ

Please share. It hurt me to see the injustice going aroung this planet. Please do something for less fortunate people.

[alex for change]

I am wondering why the author didn't bother to contact PMOI officials to get her facts straight. Instead she used known Iranian intelligent agent namely Massoud Khodabandeh for her story about opposition. PMOI is the only viable democratic solution for Iran and we should support them by recognizing their right to bring about change to Iran.

[mamacat]

The PMOI fought to overthrow the Shah, and then were expelled by other Iranian forces. Sounds a little like what happened to the Viet Cong after South Vietnam fell. Most of the Viet Cong were murdered, to make it easier for the North Vietnamese to consolidate their control over the country. Can't have armed "freedom fighters" getting in the way of law and order.

History has a funny way of repeating itself.

[MajorKong]

The last thing you want after a revolution is a bunch of revolutionaries hanging around.

[IForgotMyName]

"guilty of waging war against God, a charge punishable by execution or amputation."

A war against God? I wonder who won.

[MajidSaatchi]

Mojahedin are the only solution for peace and stability for medal east and the world. Me and my family and my friends will support them . We are against any appeasement to Ahmadinejad and his regime. I likes to tell people, "appeasement of the "moderate" Rafsanjani and the "reformist" Khatami got us Ahmadinejad"; in the same sense, it is frightening to imagine what appeasement of Ahmadinejad will get us.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi's speech in gathering of 70,000 Iranians in Paris Three million Iraqi Shiites condemn Iranian regime, declare support for PMOI (MEK) Declaration by 5.2m Iraqis in support of the Iranian Mojahedin 121 political parties and social groups, 700,000 women, 14,000 lawyers and jurists, 19,000 physicians, 35,000 engineers, 320 clerics, 540 professors, 2,000 tribal sheikhs and 300 local officials among 5.2 million EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT COMMITTEE CHALLENGES ALLEGATIONS AGAINST PEOPLE'S MOJAHEDIN An investigative report by a delegation of the European Interparliamentary Group, Friends of a Free Iran, following its visit to Camp Ashraf in Iraq in summer of 2005.

[Vieux Charles]

First of all, I fail to see where the PMOI is an "American ally" other than they oppose everything Iranian. They could best be catagorized as pro-Saddam, Iranian expatriot thugs. The only reason they gave up their arms in 2003 was to save themselves from immediate extermination by American forces. When we're gone their protection ends - as agreed. Seems to me we lived up to our end of the bargain. After we're gone this becomes an Iraqi problem, an Iranian problem and more specifically a UN problem. If the Swedes and Norwegians want these guys mulling around in their back yard then fine. Personally, I say we salvage the women and the children and to hell with the rest.

[MajidSaatchi]

Mr Charles
Mojahedin is nobody ,s ally
We are not pro anybody
We are not Mr Chalabi or Binladan or .......
We have one enemy Islamic fundamentalist of Iran
We don't want money arms solder ............... we have enough to change the regime of Iran
We have one problem USA and world must should Stop stop STOP appeasement policy

[iblisexpat]

Mojadedin are a terrorist group, fundamentalists whose ideology is a mix of Marxism and fundamentalist Islam. See their women all wearing islamic headscarves. They are a cult, worship their leaders (the Rajavis) and are a group of murderers.
They should not be sent back to Iran, they will be imprisoned or killed (deservedly, I might add since they have assassinated many in Iran)
Muhahidin supported and conspired with Saddam Husain against their own country and its people. They comprise a fascist organization, brutal, and criminal and they can go anywhere they are accepted.
U.S. occupying forces in Iraq protected them for their own interest and now that they will be leaving, they don't give a damn what happens to them. Let them all come to U.S. where we have in the past protected and given asylum to other world terrorists and dictators.

[MajorKong]

"We have one problem USA and world must should Stop stop STOP appeasement policy"

Let me guess. Anything short of a full scale military assault on Iran, preferably tomorrow, counts as "appeasement".