BAGHDAD, The New York Times, Sept. 10, 2016 – A camp housing members of an Iranian opposition group in Iraq was officially closed after the last 280 residents were flown to Albania on Friday, the group said.
The Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK) has been based in Iraq since the 1980s. U.S.-led forces disarmed the group after the 2003 invasion and settled them at a base north of Baghdad.
The MEK says it renounced violence in 2001. The U.S. military in Iraq signed an agreement with the group in 2004, promising that members would be treated as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon thanked member states and international organizations for “the successful resolution of this humanitarian issue,” in statement issued by his spokesman.
Iraqi forces raided Camp Ashraf, the group’s longtime base north of Baghdad, in 2009, shortly after U.S.-led forces handed over responsibility for the camp to the Iraqi government. The group was later relocated to a former military base in the capital.
Armed groups have repeatedly attacked the group since Saddam’s ouster, killing scores of its members.
The United Nations repeatedly expressed concern about the safety and security of residents of the group’s camps.