| The People’s Mujahidin had their own specialized prisons for their dissidents. These were detention centers at Camp Ashraf, near Baghdad, as well as at Al-Mansourieh and at Shahrban near Jabal Hamrin. There was also a prison shared with the Iraqi services in the Al Ramadi desert. |
Answers from Baghdad
Once again it is necessary to look to Baghdad to find the beginnings of an answer. There, we find confirmation that the main funder of the PMOI was no other than the fallen Boss of Iraq. One man knows the People’s Mujahidin of Iran and Massoud Rajavi particularly well. He is a very visible personality, very influential in Saddam Hussein’s regime until his defection. Brigadier General in the Iraqi Army General Staff, in charge of the secret services until 1994, Vafigh al-Sameraee, was in regular, personal contact with Saddam Hussein. Then, he broke with the Rais.
The retired General, now a refugee in London, held a job which made him extremely knowledgeable of the PMOI’s workings:
“How far back did the contacts begin between the People’s Mujahidin and Saddam Hussein?
— The regime began its relationship with them in the mid- Eighties. The People’s Mujahidin carried out several attacks on their own country during the Iraq-Iran War... It is important to recall that the People’s Mujahidin began their activities at the time of Mohammad Reza Pahlevi, Shah of Iran. In particular, they claimed responsibility for the assassination of a group of Americans.
In fact, the mental structure of the people under Rajavi’s command was perfectly in line with that of the Iraqi regime. They used the same underground methods. Even inside their own infrastructure, the Mujahidin applied the same Stalinist principles. Members of the organization used false passports to travel to European countries and raise funds to buy arms and pay for their propaganda. The organization even had a satellite television station broadcasting programs to Europe.
The People’s Mujahidin had their own specialized prisons for their dissidents. These were detention centers at Camp Ashraf, near Baghdad, as well as at Al-Mansourieh and at Shahrban near Jabal Hamrin. There was also a prison shared with the Iraqi services in the Al Ramadi desert. Many members of the organization who no longer could follow its line were locked up there. In the cells, there were cases of rape and death.
What was Iraq’s aid?
I especially remember a sum of 20 million Iraqi dinars received by Massoud Rajavi (I dollar was then worth three dinars). This was before the occupation of Kuwait in 1991. At that time he had received at least 8 million dollars. He also received various sums in foreign currency to cover his propaganda expenses in Europe. Massoud Rajavi also had other sources of income, including money given by his supporters. All of this money complemented the deliveries of military equipment. After all, the Iraqi regime supported the People’s Mojahedin with arms, mobile cannon, tanks, heavy artillery and even combat helicopters.
The group used the logistical support of the Iraqi intelligence services to cross the border and to send commando groups into Iran to carry out terrorist attacks. The People’s Mojahedin brutally assaulted the Kurdish towns of Jelola and Khaneghein and took an active role in the repression of the popular uprisings in Southern Iraq in 1991. They provided Iraqi intelligence with all kinds of information on what was happening inside Iran”. Thus, contrary to all their propaganda, the PMOI most certainly collaborated closely with the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, right up to the fall of the Baath Party from power in Iraq.