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Iran regime intensifies disinformation campaign against PMOI and Camp Liberty residents to pave the way for another massacre

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A dubious website called Veterans Today, which is represented by the Iranian regime’s Press TV in Tehran, published a ludicrous and utterly false story on March 6, quoting unidentified “well-informed security sources” as saying: “Iraqi Federal Police foiled a suicide attack by a group of MKO terrorists who attempted to target a gathering of prominent Sunni clerics.”

This website has on previous occasions regurgitated totally absurd allegations against the Iranian opposition that are fabricated by the Ministry of Intelligence and Security.

It went on to add: “The previous confessions made by arrested ISIS members show the great degree to which MKO is cooperating with the so-called Islamic State” and “the remnants of this terrorist group serve as valuable tools for ISIS in murdering key Iraqi figures”.

MKO is a pejorative term used by the Iranian regime to refer to the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

In another absurd claim the same website wrote: “Frustrated with recent military setbacks, Riyadh seeks to stoke ethnic fire in Iraq by carrying out terror attacks – By using ISIS and MKO – liquidating the leading Sunni leaders and then pointing fingers at Army and Iraqi resistance.”

The bogus nature of these claims that are an amateurish replica of lies produced and spread by the Iranian regime’s media and officials will only prompt abhorrence and ridicule on the part of anyone who with minimum knowledge about the situation in Iraq, Iran and the PMOI. Even a novice in such matters cannot be deceived.

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran emphasizes that these lies are vivid cases of accusations, whose authors and the website publishing them could be legally pursued.

NCRI’s Foreign Affairs Committee further draws attention to the following to set the record straight:

1. This is not the first time that the clerical regime and its Iranian or non-Iranian elements and paid hands resort to such falsifications against the PMOI and residents of camps Ashraf and Liberty. The objective of such lies is solely to pave the way for the massacre of Camp Liberty residents.

2. These claims are made while the residents of Ashraf and Liberty have been under complete control of U.S. forces from 2003-2009 and the Iraqi forces since 2009. Moreover, over the past seven years, according to testimonies by relevant international organizations, they have been kept in detention. After conducting objective and impartial studies, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued two reports declaring that the conditions in Camp Liberty are akin to a prison. Even commute for medical purposes take place after long delays and only when accompanied by Iraqi officers. (https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G12/154/32/PDF/G1215432.pdf?OpenElement and https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G12/182/65/PDF/G1218265.pdf?OpenElement)

3. Previously, Habilian Association, a branch of the Iranian regime intelligence ministry (MOIS), had declared that “It is imperative that Government of Iraq, concurrent with endeavors to eradicate the al-Qaeda terrorists, would think about taking advantage of the serious and important opportunities to dry up the support given by the MKO to these terrorists.” The Iranian regime’s intelligence service added: “Without a doubt, combating terrorism in Iraq should include hitting their financial sources, breeding grounds, and media and propaganda networks, in addition to a broad targeting of terrorists and destruction of their places and headquarters” (Habilian Website – January 8, 2014).

4. In July 2015, in a series of absurd and false narratives, the terrorist Qods Force and the MOIS claimed that the PMOI “has provided ISIS with valuable information. This information has been provided to ISIS in coordination with the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and it includes information on the Baghdad airport, including videos captured by Baghdad airport security cameras at inspection stations, departure halls, airport runways, control rooms and the airport’s control tower” (Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with the Qods Force – July 29, 2015).

5. The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) issued a communiqué on September 17, 2015 to declare: “According to reports received from inside Iran… MOIS has informed the Governmental Committee tasked to suppress Camp Liberty residents, as well as other Iraqi security and military organs, that a group from PMOI is planning to hijack an airplane at Baghdad Airport. The reason behind these lies is to ratchet up the siege and suppressive measures against Camp Liberty and to disrupt the transfer of residents out of Iraq.”

The statement notes a series of lies by the Iranian regime and its Iraqi cohorts against the PMOI and says: “The Iranian Resistance reminds the commitments of the United States and the United Nations concerning the security and wellbeing of Liberty residents, brings their attention to the Iranian regime’s machinations, and calls for the provision and guaranteeing of their security until the last resident leaves Iraq.”

6. On December 28, 2014, Tabnak, a website affiliated with Mohsen Rezaee, the former commander of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and current Secretary of the State Exigency Council, talked about “extensive intelligence and field cooperation between the PMOI and ISIS in Iraq” and wrote: “The PMOI has provided ISIS with intelligence and maps of some regions in Iraq”. It then resorted to more lies and quoted an obscure PMOI statement, saying that the PMOI “has resorted to overt support for ISIS” and has stated that “actions against ISIS are in blatant violation of Security Council accords.”

7. Foreign websites affiliated with the Iranian regime were tasked at that time with echoing these lies. Among them was the website http://www.sentinelassam.com that quoted the regime’s Press TV on December 29 and said: “The anti-Iran terrorist group, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), has openly expressed support for the Islamic State (IS) militants and their acts of terror in a clear indication of its wrath over Iran-Iraq cooperation against the group.”

8. Another website, http://www.examiner.com, wrote on December 30: “The Iranian news agencies are also reporting that the anti-Iran terrorist groups, Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MK0), is proudly expressing its support for ISIS and the group’s terrorist operations in Iraq and Syria.”

9. In a letter to UN and U.S. officials on January 1, 2015, Camp Liberty residents’ representative referred to the above stories and said: “There are worrisome news reaching us from inside the clerical regime in Iran that the regime is planning to falsely attribute the death of a number of Qods Force commanders and others affiliated with it in Iraq, such as Hamid Taqavi and Wathiq al-Battat, to the PMOI/MeK and use this as a pretext to seek revenge by targeting Camp Liberty with another criminal attack and to conduct another massacre.”

10. Following the heavy missile attacks by Iraqi forces against Camp Liberty on December 26, 2013, which left four martyrs and over 70 wounded, the NCRI wrote in its communiqués on January 8 and 10, 2014: “As to the directives of Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the terrorist Qods Force, in order to justify the attack on PMOI, they should to be related to terrorism, al-Qaeda and Daesh in Iraqi government’s propaganda!” The communiqués added: “In order to avert another massacre, the Iranian Resistance is calling for immediate intervention by the U.S. President and Secretaries of State and Defense, the UN Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Refugees and the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the High Representative of the European Union for provision of imperative security requirements and deployment of UN observers and a team of Blue Helmets, on a round-the-clock basis, inside Camp Liberty.”

National Council of Resistance of Iran, Foreign Affairs Committee
March 6, 2016