Iraq pledges it won't deport Iranian group
BAGHDAD - Iraq's government has promised not to forcibly evict an Iranian opposition group, the U.S. ambassador said in a broadcast interview aired yesterday, despite warnings from the prime minister that its members will not be allowed to remain in the country.
BAGHDAD - Iraq's government has promised not to forcibly evict an Iranian opposition group, the U.S. ambassador said in a broadcast interview aired yesterday, despite warnings from the prime minister that its members will not be allowed to remain in the country.
The presence of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran has long been a source of friction between the United States and Iraq, which is under pressure from neighboring Iran to deport the group - branded as a terrorist movement by both Washington and Tehran.
U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker said he understands that the Iraqi government wants the People's Mujahedeen removed from its territory.
But Crocker said the Iraqis have promised to respect the human rights of the group's nearly 4,000 members - some of whom have been in Iraq since the 1980s.
"We've discussed this issue intensively with the Iraqi government," Crocker said in the interview aired by the U.S.-funded Alhurra television station.
"They have provided assurances that none of these individuals will be forcibly sent to a third country where they have reason to fear for their safety or well-being, and we know those assurances will be respected," Crocker said.
Iraq's Shiite-led government has long sought to get rid of the People's Mujahedeen, which fought alongside Saddam Hussein's forces during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s. At the same time, many Iraqi Shiites fled to Shiite-dominated Iran and fought against Iraq.
Hussein allowed the People's Mujahedeen to establish a base north of Baghdad in 1986 to launch raids into Iran.
After U.S.-led forces overthrew Hussein in 2003, U.S. troops disarmed the People's Mujahedeen and confined its fighters to Camp Ashraf, about 80 miles north of Baghdad.
The issue took on new urgency when Iraq assumed greater sovereignty Jan. 1 under a security agreement that gave the Iraqis responsibility for Camp Ashraf.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, a Shiite, said on Jan. 1 that the People's Mujahedeen can "no longer operate in Iraq," although he pledged he would not force its members back to Iran.
Despite those assurances, the People's Mujahedeen fears the Iraqis will eventually send its members back to Iran, where they could face severe punishment, including execution.
Deputy Foreign Minister Labid Abbawi said the government has been working with international agencies to try to find an acceptable way to remove the group, including persuading other countries to accept its members.
