By Fabian Mahmoudi
WASHINGTON, D.C. (USA) — (OfficialWire) — 10/22/11 —
 
Protest demand delisting of MEK

A vociferous and determined crowed chanted in favor of delisting the “Iranian Opposition” to Tehran, MEK, as the US is approaching its deadline to withdraw from Iraq leaving the group in a stalemate and unsecure position in Camp Ashraf.
In an article earlier on Louis Freeh, EX- FBI chief, asserted that: “The government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim, has brazenly murdered members of the Mujahedeen Khalq.” While justifying his attacks by noting that the group is on the United States’ official list of foreign terrorist organizations. “ Without forceful American and United Nations intervention to protect the camp’s residents and a decision by the State Department to remove Mujahedeen Khalq’s official designation as a terrorist group, an even larger attack on the camp or a massacre of its residents elsewhere in Iraq is likely” , was Freeh’s warning in his article.
During  the past couple of months , supporters of delisting the group from the US black list have firmly argued on humanitarian grounds that the massacre that took place in 2009 and later 2011 by President Maliki forces, were under orders of Tehran  and under pretext of the “FTO list”.
Some even went further to indicate US obligations and misapprehensions regarding the International Convention involving the “R2P”( RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT )norm which brings responsibility for “States involved” in precarious situations such as the one of the refugee Camp Ashraf, as irrefutable obligation to prevent a humanitarian crime.
Freeh argued that Ashraf situation is the direct result of the State Department’s misconceived attempt to cripple the Mujahedeen Khalq by labeling it a terrorist organization, beginning in 1997.
Britain and the European Union have already removed the Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK) from their sanctions lists in 2008 and 2009, respectively.
Last week in a conference in Belgium, Iranian dissidents, backed by Belgian, European and US politicians urged the international community to press Iraq to postpone the closure of a camp housing thousands of Iranian Opposition members already threatened with death by Tehran.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean had reportedly said: “The US remains morally responsible for the people of Ashraf. We have 74 days left until all the American troops are withdrawn and there is no protection left”
The camp’s residents are being assessed individually by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees after applying for refugee status, to allow them to resettle elsewhere, but fears are that the process cannot be completed within the time-frame set by Baghdad.
Maryam Rajavi the leader of the group had emphatically demanded the International Community to intervene and impel the Iraqi Al-Maliki government to “to cancel the suppressive deadline “.
On 21 October, President Barack Obama announced that he will withdraw all US forces from Iraq by the end of the year, more than eight years after the US invasion, a US official said.
The Whitehouse is facing a Humanitarian Dilemma which will definitely end as an election issue if President Obama does not resolve the matter soon for the best.