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According to the Habilian report, the MKO ringleaders have provided financial and structural support for the establishment of over 20 publications and sociopolitical groups in Iraq in recent years in a bid to see their desired government in power. |
Habilian Association, an Iran-based human rights group, reported that the anti-Iran terrorist Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has made heavy investments to gain soft power in Iraq as part of its broader efforts to secure its presence in the country and gain political influence on Baghdad.
According to the Habilian report, the MKO ringleaders have provided financial and structural support for the establishment of over 20 publications and sociopolitical groups in Iraq in recent years in a bid to see their desired government in power.
The report said that the investment was vital for the terrorist group considering that MKO ringleaders tried hard to make Nouri Maliki face failure in his bid for becoming Iraq's new Prime Minister.
Also, the soft war funding was an urgent necessity for the MKO since its affiliated publications and groups could support the MKO under the pretext of human rights against the Iraqi people and political groups who are growingly demanding MKO's expulsion from their country, the report added.
Both Iraq's parliament and government have ratified expulsion of MKO from the country.
Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf - about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad - last year and detained dozens of the members of the terrorist group.
The Iraqi authority also changed the name of the military center from Camp Ashraf to the Camp of New Iraq.
Earlier this month, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari expressed hope that Baghdad would expel the anti-Iran terrorist Organization from Iraq soon in future.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting in Baghdad with visiting Iranian Foreign Ministry Caretaker Ali Akbar Salehi, Zebari said that he and his Iranian counterpart have discussed expulsion of MKO from Iraq at their meeting.
Asked about the fate of the MKO, Zebari said the two sides "hope to find a way to close the MKO's case in Iraq as soon as possible".
"There are some humanitarian commitments to which our government is loyal, but fulfilling these undertakings should not harm Iraq's national sovereignty," he said.
The MKO has been in Iraq's Diyala province since the 1980s.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.