NCRI – In an interview with al-Babelyia TV, on Friday May 1, 2009, Dr. Saleh Mutlaq, Chairman of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front, criticized a blockade by Iraqi forces on Ashraf City (Camp Ashraf), where nearly 3,500 members of the main Iranian opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), currently reside.
Dr. Saleh Mutlaq, Chairman of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front said: “There is still a lot of debate regarding the PMOI. There are some who say we have the wrong position toward them, but instead we believe that they are mistaken. We think that the issue should be approached with a mindset of trying to serve Iraq’s interests and not appeasing Iran. In our view, Iran has in many cases intervened in Iraq. According to Iraq’s Foreign Minister, Iran has violated Iraqi borders, air space, and waters, violating ownership of neighboring oil wells, shooting at Iraqi workers who worked on oil patches in Iraqi territory. Iran is funding terrorist and criminal gangs in Iraq and smuggles deadly weapons into the country.
“Now, we are talking about an organization [the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)], which has been disarmed in practice and which opposes the Iranian regime. Regardless of who they oppose, since they have been disarmed and have nothing at their disposal even to defend themselves, our siege on this organization greatly harms our humanitarian values, not to mention our Iraqi and Arab traditions. Placing a blockade on them is not condoned by Iraq’s values. The source of these measures is outside Iraq, and crawled into Iraq after the invasion. No Iraqi would ever place a siege on their guests.”
Dr. Saleh Mutlak added: “The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) is a peace-seeking organization and we must not put a siege on them. We should not be permitted to let go of this case. They were saying that this organization has explosives and supports al-Qaida, and there were many more allegations like this. At the time, we used to say, ‘brothers, please present your evidence and documents so that we could validate what you are saying. But, if there is no evidence, it is not right to accuse them as such.’
“According to my information, a committee made up of members from the Interior Ministry and other ministries, was recently set up under the monitoring and with the knowledge of the US. It investigated every inch of Camp Ashraf. They did not find anything which could suggest that they have weapons or even light weaponry for individual self-defense. No weapons were found at the camp. No explosives, as it was alleged, were found in the camp. The US side verified this, and it was documented in the investigation report. So, what are those who used to claim that the PMOI has weapons of mass destruction and chemical weapons, saying now? Today it has been proven that there is not even a single hand gun in Camp Ashraf. What are we saying to ourselves and our people now?”