Camp Ashraf Families of Mojahedin Cult Offered Solidarity by Paris Conference

PARIS, June 20, 2010 - A conference in Paris on Saturday asked international human rights
organisations to be more involved in rescuing victims trapped in a violent
cult in Iraq. Families and ex-members of the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq (MKO,
MEK, Rajavi cult) linked up from Paris with the families who have camped
outside Camp Ashraf in the Diyala province of Iraq for over four months. In
Iraq, tens of journalists and local tribe leaders joined the families, while
in Paris, Swiss author Anton Gessler, Dutch journalist Nelly Tomasini and MKO
expert Massoud Khodabandeh analysed the group.

The families' only demand is unrestricted visits with relatives outside
the camp. In a telephone link up with Iraq, Soraya Abdollahi, speaking for
the families, thanked supporters, saying, "We have no choice but to stay and
insist on our and our children's' minimum rights."

Camp Ashraf (now Camp New Iraq) has housed Mojahedin-e Khalq members for
thirty four years. Once allies of Saddam Hussein, the leaders disarmed in
2003 when American forces attacked their bases. But Mojahedin leaders,
Massoud and Maryam Rajavi refused to surrender to the allied forces or Iraqi
authorities and for seven years have held their followers hostage inside the
camp. Members have no access to outside information and are subjected to a
daily regime of indoctrination and hard labour.

Iman Yeganeh, who escaped the camp in April 2010 after 22 years of
captivity, described the situation for people inside the MKO as despairing.
He said, "People are being told the Iraqis will kill them if they leave.
Knowing about Saddam's security services, when I left I believed I would be
killed. Even then I had to plan carefully how to finally get out."

In Iraq, victims and their families are helped by Sahar Family
Foundation; established in 2008 by ex-members and families with support from
Iraq's authorities who also want to see a swift end to the self-imposed MKO
siege. From Iraq, the website www.SaharNGO.com was announced,
providing up-to-date information about the camp.

The conference, attended by people from Europe and North America,
produced a statement stressing that more must be done to challenge the
stalemate at the camp where 3400 people are imprisoned by cult leaders. The
statement also forms the basis of a cooperative working document for the next
year between the Camp Ashraf families and the conference delegates.

Anne Singleton of Iran-Interlink, +44-0-113-278-0503