Iranian opposition group urges protection

19/06/2011| IslamWeb

The leader of an Iranian opposition group has called for the United Nations to protect a camp of its disarmed fighters in Ashraf, Iraq, after as many as 35 people were killed there in an Iraqi army attack in April.

During a rally attended by thousands in the French town of Villepinte on Saturday, Marjam Rajavi, the leader of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq's (MEK) political wing, said that the UN should send monitors to the camp in order to protect the 3,400 people living there.

The Iraqi government has repeatedly called for the group to shut down the camp and move to another country. The camp, located north of Baghdad, was initially set up while Iraq was still ruled by former president Saddam Hussein, and served as a based for the MEK in its battle against the Iranian government.

The MEK is also known as the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), and its political wing is referred to as the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).

It has been labeled a "terrorist group" by the US since 1997, but several prominent US political figures present at the rally have called for their government to reverse that decision.

'Very fragile'

Rajavi, the MEK leader, said that the international community must protect its base in Iraq in order to support an "uprising" in Iran.

"I think that the mullahs' regime [in Iran] is very fragile, very fragile, as before. And we are very optimistic of continuing the uprising in Iran, and I also think that the protection of the residents of Ashraf is necessary for the Iranian people because they are a symbol of perseverance, hope and tenacity. We must protect the residents of Ashraf in order to continue the uprising in Iran," she said.

The MEK was listed as a banned organization by the European Union in 2002, but the ban was rolled back in 2009 after a string of court cases went in its favor.

The group, which has opposed Iranian governments since the 1960s, says it is dedicated to forming a democratic government in Iran.

Members of the group were involved in the overthrow of the US-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979.

After the revolution, however, the group fell out with Ayatollah Khomeini, and thousands of its members were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile.

In response, it launched a campaign of bombings and targeted killings against the Iranian government.

It also fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

PHOTO CAPTION

Members of Iran's opposition living in the Turkish capital stage a protest against human rights violations in their country, near the Iranian embassy in Ankara, Turkey, Wednesday, June 15, 2011.

AL-Jazeera