MKO not welcome in Switzerland despite US pressure

Pointing to MKO’s expulsion from Iraq befor December 31, 2011 the French-language Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes wrote, “Despite US pressures, Federal Office for Migration in Switzerland rejected the resettlement of 11 members of the MKO organization.”

Pointing to MKO’s expulsion from Iraq befor December 31, 2011 the French-language Swiss newspaper 20 Minutes wrote, “Despite US pressures, Federal Office for Migration in Switzerland rejected the resettlement of 11 members of the MKO organization.”

“These individuals pose a great threat to our national security,” Federal Office for Migration in Switzerland explained that why they did not accept MKO members, IRNA quoted the newspaper as reporting.

“According to experts, members of this organization are really acting like groups of mafia, and they have committed numerous terrorist attacks in the past,” the newspaper added.

Secretary-General of Swiss relief organizations also considered MKO as an aggressive and violent  organization.

The newspaper asked the Swiss Middle East analyst Erich Gysling that whether the members of this organization use Switzerland as a base for terrorism? He said, “yes, and the Swiss Federal Government is considering all these threats.”

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran. It started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran's new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country. The terrorist group joined Saddam's army during the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988) and helped Saddam and killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers during the US-backed Iraqi imposed war on Iran.

Since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, the group, which now adheres to a pro-free-market philosophy, has been strongly backed by neo-conservatives in the United States, who also argue for the MKO to be taken off the US terror list.