Camp Ashraf to be shut: Iraq president

Gulf Times ^

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Iran and Iraq have formed a joint committee with the Red Cross to shut down Camp Ashraf in Iraq which houses thousands of outlawed Iranian opponents, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said yesterday.

“The camp will be shut down by the end of this year,” Talabani said on the sidelines of a counter-terrorism summit in Tehran, the official Irna news agency reported. “For this, a tripartite committee has been set up by Iraq, Iran and the International Red Cross to make decisions and follow up on necessary measures to shut down the camp of this terrorist group,” Irna quoted him as saying.

The People’s Mujahideen established Camp Ashraf in the 1980s—when now-executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain’s regime was at war with Iran—as a base from which to launch military action against the Islamic Republic. Camp Ashraf is now home to some 3,400 people.

Iranian intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi said the Mujahideen was on the verge of “collapse,” and added that his agencies were taking “measures” to speed up the process, the Mehr news agency reported. “On this issue, (the intelligence apparatus) have had discussions with officials in Iraq to resolve the future of the camp Ashraf as soon as possible,” Moslehi said, also speaking on the sidelines of the summit.

But he also extended an olive branch to Mujahideen members who part ways with the group. “Islamic leniency awaits those members of this terrorist group who leave it or escape Camp Ashraf and return to the arms of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regime,” Moslehi said.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari had proposed during a Tuesday visit to Tehran the formation of a tripartite committee to “resolve the issues of Camp Ashraf.” “We have asked international organisations and European parliaments to encourage the (group’s) members to leave Iraq, and to facilitate (the movement of) those members who seek to go those countries,” Zebari said.

The announcement was met with a “vigorous” condemnation by the National Council of Resistance of Iran, the broad grouping that includes the People’s Mujahideen. The NCRI said allowing Iran to “interfere in the issue of Ashraf is a red line that should not be crossed,” and urged the International Committee of the Red Cross “not to lose credibility by participating in this plan of repression.”