Iraqis Rally to Protest MKO Presence in Diyala Province

Over 750 academic, political and tribal figures of the Diyala province took part in the rally. "Expulsion of the MKO from Iraq is a demand of all people that should be respected and obeyed," Mayor of al-Adhim town in Diyala province, Abdul Jabbar Ahmed al-Obeidi, said during the rally.

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A large number of the people staged a rally in Northern Iraq on Tuesday to protest at the presence of the anti-Iran terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) in their country, and called for the expulsion of the terrorist group from Iraq's soil.

"Expulsion of the MKO from Iraq is a demand of all people that should be respected and obeyed," Mayor of al-Adhim town in Diyala province, Abdul Jabbar Ahmed al-Obeidi, said during the rally.

Over 750 academic, political and tribal figures of the Diyala province took part in the rally, the Middle-East Association for Defending the Victims of Terrorism reported.

Al-Obeidi said that the people of the province want the fertile lands under the MKO occupation to be freed and given back to farmers for agricultural and economic development of the province.

The Baghdad government has assured Iranian officials and people that it is determined to expel the MKO from Iraq by the end of 2011.

The MKO has been in Iraq since the 1980s. Iraqi security forces took control of the training base of the MKO at Camp Ashraf - about 60km (37 miles) north of Baghdad - in 2009 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.

The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by a big part of the international community, including the United States. Before an overture by the EU, the MKO was on the European Union's list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who resides in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.

The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also said that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).

The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and 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 killed thousands of Iranian civilians and soldiers.

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.