| The Iraqi Prime Minister has dismissed MKO’s claims that Iraqi troops abducted members of the terrorist group, reiterating that Iraqi forces has never conducted any actions against members of this organization. |
“The (Mujahedin) Khalq Organization is accustomed to fabricating lies and disseminating them, in this regard they alleged that seven of its members had been missing in the recent events that took place in the New Iraq camp, and claimed that they were abducted by Iraqi troops,” Nouri al-Maliki said in a statement on its official website.
Rejecting the allegations raised by the terrorist MKO group, Maliki added, “We reiterate the fact that the Iraqi forces have never conducted any actions against members of this organization, whether in the camp of New Iraq or any other site.”
“But the elements of this organization, which is still on the list of terrorist organizations, refused to allow Iraqi forces, which were protecting the camp, entering the camp at the time of the accident and impeded investigation efforts,” he added.
He went on to remind the international community of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Iraqi government and the United Nations and reaffirmed Iraq’s commitment to the agreement.
The United Nations and the Government of Iraq signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2011 to relocate the residents of Camp Ashraf to a temporary transit location where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) will start a process of refugee status determination, a necessary first step for their resettlement outside Iraq.
Iraq Prime Minister underscored that members of this group live in Iraq illegally and appealed to the international community and the UN and all states to implement the MOU that was signed by the Iraqi government and the United Nations to resettle the members of this Organization in another country.
Some 3000 MKO members have been relocated from their decades-long paramilitary base in northeastern Iraq to a former US military base in Baghdad. Albania became the first country to offer a home to over 200 members of this organization. Forty-four MKO members have been so far resettled in this country in two groups of 14 and 30.