[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 150 (Wednesday, December 10, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1788]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            AN IRANIAN OPPOSITION GROUP'S FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 10, 2014

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, you may not know it, but there is a 
group that, like the United States, thinks the Supreme Leader of Iran 
needs to go. They are a group of Iranians called the MEK. They want 
their countrymen to be free from the oppressive regime that has ruled 
with an iron fist since 1979. But the MEK is locked up in a prison-like 
camp in Iraq. 112 of its members have been killed.
  How we came to this point is a story worth telling. After the Iranian 
revolution, the MEK opposed the Supreme Leader. So the newly installed 
Islamic regime systematically arrested and executed members of the MEK. 
The MEK fled and found refuge in Iraq. They built a home in the middle 
of the desert in a place called Camp Ashraf. In August 2002, the MEK 
disclosed two previously unknown nuclear facilities in Iran.
  The Natanz enrichment facility and Arak heavy water facility 
triggered the IAEA inspection of Iranian sites for the first time.
  After the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, the MEK gave over all of its 
weapons to the U.S. Army 4th Infantry Division. In return, the U.S. 
promised to protect the MEK, labeling them ``protected persons'' under 
the Fourth Geneva Convention.
  On January 1, 2009, U.S. forces handed control over to the Iraqi 
Security Forces. Then Prime Minister Maliki was beholden to Tehran so 
when the Supreme Leader asked him to crack down on the MEK, he obeyed. 
Maliki either allowed or facilitated two deadly attacks on the 
defenseless residents living in Camp Ashraf. In July 2009, 11 residents 
were killed and 500 more injured. Two years later, in April 2011, the 
Camp was attacked again.
  Videos would show Humvees running over residents and snipers shooting 
at residents as they ran for their lives. The attackers were not trying 
to talk. They were trying to kill. And they succeeded. 36 residents 
were killed and 345 injured.
  I and other Members of Congress met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri 
al-Maliki in June 2011. The meeting that was supposed to last 20 
minutes but went for 2 hours came to an abrupt halt when our delegation 
asked to see Camp Ashraf where the MEK members lived. Maliki's mood 
immediately changed and he said that there was no way we were going to 
see the Camp. Maliki did not allow us to go because he had something to 
hide.
  After pressure from the Government of Iraq and the U.S. Government, 
the remaining residents agreed to be transferred to Camp Hurriya near 
Baghdad as the UN worked to resettle them in some other country besides 
Iraq or Iran. But a new camp would still not keep them safe--not while 
Maliki was under the thumb of an Iranian regime that wanted to decimate 
the MEK. On three more occasions in 2013, 65 more unarmed residents 
were killed and over 600 injured. The UN has now resettled 600 
residents, but there are still 3,200 living in squalid conditions in 
Camp Hurriya. They are confined to the Camp, not allowed to leave.
  Lawyers and family members cannot visit them. After a series of 
rocket attacks killed many of them, residents dug trenches and slept 
inside them because they had no other way to protect themselves. These 
conditions are worse than an American prison. This is no way to treat 
thousands of people who have risked their lives for three decades so 
that their countrymen may know the sweet taste of freedom. One day, I 
believe, we will not be talking about ensuring Iranian freedom fighters 
like the MEK have another country to live in. One day, the Supreme 
Leader will supremely fall.
  Democracy and freedom will once again flourish in Iran. And the 
freedom fighters, who have now been fighting for decades, can finally 
return home to join their families and their countrymen in building a 
new, peaceful Iran.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________