Iranian Opposition Group Faces Uncertain Fate in Iraq

More than 3,000 Iranians housed in a refugee camp in Iraq are facing the threat of expulsion as Baghdad prepares to close the site by the end of this month.

Camp New Iraq, known previously as Camp Ashraf, about 60 kilometres north of the capital, is home to Iranians from the Mojahedin-e Khalq organisation, MKO,

Iraqi politicians and officials insist it is no longer tenable to play host to a group that has hostile intentions towards neighbouring Iran. Government spokesman Tahsin al-Sheikhi says the December 31 deadline for closing the camp must stand.

But as the last United States troops leave Iraq, the treatment of camp inmates will be closely watched both as a measure of the government’s handling of sensitive human rights issues, and as an indicator of the reach of Iranian influence.

Kadhim al-Meqdadi, a Baghdad-based political analyst, said the plan to close Camp Ashraf “lays bare the significant role that the Islamic Republic of Iran plays in Iraq's decision-making processes”.

If the government pressed ahead with plans to dismantle the camp, “it will be a great embarrassment to Iraq at a time when all the world is watching what we do after the US withdrawal”, he added.

The MKO crossed into Iraq in 1986, at the height of the Iran–Iraq War. The then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein offered the group sanctuary and support, encouraging its guerrillas to launch raids into Iran. The MKO carried out several assassinations of senior Iranian political and military figures.

Following the United States-led invasion of 2003, MKO fighters at the camp were disarmed. Although the European Union removed the MKO from its list of terrorist organisations in 2009, Washington has not done the same.

The United Nations takes the view that people in the camp are entitled to security, including protection from expulsion. Its refugee agency UNHCR says it will review applications for refugee status and seek solutions for those that are successful.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International has urged the Iraqi government to extend the closure deadline to give UNHCR to consider claims submitted by residents.

That seems unlikely to happen, judging from statements coming out of Baghdad.

Ali al-Allaq, a Shia lawmaker from the governing State of Law bloc, said the MKO was a terrorist group and it was unconstitutional to give them sanctuary.

“This organisation presents a threat to a neighbouring country,” he said. “Hosting such people is prohibited under our constitution. If they have not departed by the deadline, our government will consider moving them to another location.”

Tehran has repeatedly called on Iraq to expel the residents of the 35-square-kilometre site close to the two country’s border.

Mahdi Oqbai, a spokesman for the camp’s residents, accused the Iraqi authorities of allowing themselves to be pressured by Iran.

However, Oqbai appeared resigned to the camp’s eventual closure, saying, “All we want is an extension to the deadline.”

He added that residents would not be applying for asylum in Iraq, but were now looking for another state to take them in.

Oqbai alleged that residents were subject to unfair restrictions and harassment, and that Iraqi soldiers surrounding the camp had prevented supplies of medicines reaching them.

Until June 2009, the camp was guarded by international troops, but after that the Iraqi military took over. Since then there have been numerous clashes between the army and residents. In one early incident in July 2009, at least nine camp inmates died and dozens more were injured. Some 36 were detained and held for more than two months, amid allegations that they were tortured.

In April 2011, 36 residents including eight women were killed and more than 300 others were injured in a further confrontation, according to Amnesty International.

Anas al-Bdeer is an IWPR trainee reporter in Baghdad, and Ali Mohammed is an IWPR-trained journalist based in Diyala. IWPR editor Abeer Mohammed also contributed reporting to this story.