Iran criticizes U.S. for delisting MEK from terror list
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E-mail Xinhua, September 30, 2012
Iranian lawmaker Hossein Naqavi- Hosseini criticized the United States' recent decision to remove the Mujahideen Khalq (MEK) organization from its terror list, Tehran Times daily reported Sunday.
The United States on Friday removed the MEK, an exile Iranian group in Iraq, from its list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The decision made by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton enabled the group, also known as the People's Mujahedeen of Iran, to have its assets under U.S. jurisdiction unfrozen and do business with American entities, the State Department said.
Naqavi-Hosseini, who is the rapporteur of Iranian Majlis ( parliament) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, said the United States formally announced its support for the MEK with this measure.
It is natural that the United States will be henceforth directly responsible for any "terrorist" act carried out by this group, because due to this measure members of the group will be able to travel everywhere, transfer their assets and continue their "crimes," he was quoted as saying.
"On the one hand, the United States attacks Afghanistan and Iraq under the pretext of campaigning against terrorism and levels allegations against countries, but on the other hand, it cooperates with terrorist groups and provides assistance to them," said the Iranian lawmaker.
Iranian Foreign Ministry said Saturday in a statement that Tehran strongly condemns Washington's "irresponsible" move, which is against the international and legal commitments of the United States, Press TV reported.
The Islamic republic holds the U.S. government "responsible for the terrorist acts carried out by the MEK in the past, present and the future," the statement was cited as saying.
The foreign ministry stated that the United States has expressed its official support for the terrorist cell with this move, which also proves that Washington follows no logic in its actions, according to the report.
It also strongly criticized the U.S. dual standard on fighting against terrorism, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
By removing the "ominous grouplet" from the terrorist list, the United States has increased its anti-Iran moves and has once again proved that it does not follow any logic in its behavior, said the Iranian foreign ministry according to IRNA.
The MEK is an Islamic movement founded in September 1965 in opposition to the shah of Iran, and it subsequently fought, in violent military clashes, to oust the Islamic regime which took power in the 1979 revolution.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986 and set up Camp Ashraf near the Iranian border after being given refuge by then Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.
It was branded by Washington as a terrorist organization in 1997 for killing six Americans in the 1970s.
The MEK fighters were disarmed in June 2003 following the U.S.- led invasion of Iraq, and Camp Ashraf was placed under the protection of the U.S. military police before the Iraqi government took over the security responsibility in January 2009.
On the same day of the handover, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al- Maliki announced that the militant group would not be allowed to base its operations on Iraqi soil.
Deadly clashes occurred at the camp over the years, including one on April 8, 2011, in which 34 residents were killed when Iraqi forces in bulldozers and Humvees stormed the camp.
A UN-brokered deal late last year allowed the exiles to move to the grounds of Camp Liberty, the former U.S. military base near the Baghdad airport.
With the final convoy of 680 residents reaching Camp Liberty on Sept. 16, the MEK completed the evacuation of some 3,000 people and would wait for relocation to a third country.
Clinton told the U.S. Congress in February that her decision to delist the group would hinge in part on its willingness to relocate peacefully. In early June, a U.S. federal judge gave the Obama administration until October to make a final decision.
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