Stop Fundamentalism –U.S. officials told reporters today that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will notify the Congress Friday about her decision to take the Iranian opposition group, Mujaheding-e Khalq or MEK out of its list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The MEK are the main Iranian opposition group in exile. Their main base in Iraq known as Camp Ashraf was recently closed with its 3400 residents moving to Camp Liberty near Baghdad international airport awaiting resettlement to third countries.
MEK disarmed following occupation of Iraq by the coalition forces led by the United States reaching a protected status given by the United Nation’s Fourth Geneva Conventions. US forces protected Camp Ashraf and its residents for many years until 2009 that the camp was turned over to Iraqi forces.
Iraqi forces mounted two massive attacks on the camp later in 2009 and in 2011 killing about 50 residents and wounding hundreds. The attacks were condemned internationally.
The group was put on the U.S. terror list as a goodwill gesture by the Clinton Administration in 1997 and now ironically, as was said by unknown U.S. officials to reporters, it will be removed by Secretary of State Clinton.
The move by the U.S. Department of State will pave way for other countries to accept the 3400 residents of now Camp Liberty as political refugees. That is while the Europeans removed the group from their terror list many years ago but still the U.S. list was considered a major obstacle.
The residents in Camp Liberty are being interviewed by United Nations Refugee agency, UNHCR for resettlement into third countries as their lives remain to be in danger of further attacks.
