CAIRO: Iran has warned Egypt that any intention to shelter the group the Mojahedin e-Khalq Organization (MEK), which is dedicated to overthrowing the current Iranian regime, would not “bode well for Egypt.
The group is currently stationed in Iraq, 100 km north of Baghdad in a place called Camp Ashraf, and according to the Tehran Times, Iraqi sources had reported that the MEK had reached an agreement with Egyptian officials to transfer their headquarters to Egypt.
The Iranian National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Deputy Chairman Hossein Sobhaninia told the Mehr news agency Tuesday, “Moving Camp Ashraf to Egypt would be one of Egypt’s mistakes.
Sobhaninia went on to say that providing safe haven for the MEK in Egypt would be problematic for Egypt, as the group would carry out terrorist attacks in the country as it did in Iraq. Therefore Egypt should not harbor them for its own sake, he added.
Iraq is looking to expel the group from within its borders, which means many of its members may be forced to return to Iran where they may face arrest.
A delegation from the MEK in London had come to Egypt to meet with Egyptian human rights groups to discuss the future of the people in Camp Ashraf and to seek support from Egyptian activists to help them attain refugee status and thus seek relocation to a third country.
The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) told Daily News Egypt that the MEK delegation had met with them and sought their signature to a statement that called for them to be declared as refugees and thus make it feasible for its members in Iraq to seek asylum in a third country other than Iran. The EOHR signed the statement.
Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that the foreign ministry had stated that it had not been contacted by the MEK delegation and that it was not its policy to contact such groups.
“It was not a political visit and Egypt does not share a border with Iran to take in the MEK. And to give them haven is not something that is part of Egyptian foreign policy, Iraq expert at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Mohamed Abdel-Salam told Daily News Egypt.
The MEK was founded in 1965 as a socialist Islamic organization dedicated to overthrowing the then Shah of Iran. However after the Islamic revolution a campaign was conducted against it and it then became an advocate of overthrowing the current Islamic regime in Iran.
The MEK was allied to Saddam Hussein during the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq and has been stationed at Camp Ashraf in Iraq for the past 20 years. The group is also known as the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), and was designated as a terrorist group by Western nations until 2008, prompting speculation that it was being used as a bargaining chip between the West and Tehran.
The EU removed the PMOI from its terrorist list on Jan 26, 2009.
