Camp Ashraf is under the control of Iraqi government: Iranian envoy

The Iranian ambassador to Iraq, Hassan Danaiifar, has said that Camp Ashraf, which was formerly ‎inhabited by members of the terrorist Mojahedin Khalq Organization (MKO), is now under the control ‎of the Iraqi government.‎

Iraqi officials announced on September ‎‏16‏‎ that the Iraqi government had evacuated the seventh and ‎final convoy of ‎‏680‏‎ MKO members from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty (Hurriya), a former U.S. military ‎base near Baghdad.‎

It had been decided that ‎‏3200‏‎ MKO members living in the camp be relocated in eight groups, each ‎consisting of ‎‏400‏‎ members, but the relocation of the MKO members was done in seven groups.‎

The relocation of the group was part of an agreement reached between the United Nations and the ‎Iraqi government in December ‎‏2011‏‎.‎

Speaking to the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency in an interview published on Tuesday, ‎Ambassador Danaiifar said that it has not been announced yet how many MKO members intend to ‎return to Iran.‎

Danaiifar said on April ‎‏13‏‎, ‎‏2011‏‎ that MKO members could return to Iran under certain conditions. ‎

‎“These persons can travel to Iran or any other country if they are willing to do so and if no criminal case ‎has been filed against them in Iran or Iraq. They will also be given passports,” the Iranian ambassador ‎said at the time. ‎

The MKO started its activities as a terrorist group based in Iraq in the early ‎‏1980‏s. In addition to the ‎assassination of hundreds of Iranian officials and citizens, the group cooperated with Saddam ‎Hussein’s Baathist regime in its repression of the Iraqi people.‎


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