September 27-2013
The Mojahedin-e Khalq, which earlier said the Iraqi government was holding seven of its members who have gone missing, last week charged that the US government had secretly met the missing seven on three different occasions.
The US government has denied any such meetings and says it knows nothing about the whereabouts of the seven missing people.
And Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has specifically denied holding the seven.
According to the Mojahedin-e Khalq, the seven disappeared during the September 1 gun battle at Camp Ashraf in which 52 of the group’s members were killed and 42 were counted alive afterward.
Some think the seven used the disorder of the day to flee Camp Ashraf. But, if so, they have not surfaced anywhere to speak out.
On Saturday, the Mojahedin leadership in Paris issued a statement saying, “New information about the Iranian dissidents taken hostage in Iraq reveals that an American delegation has met and talked three times with the hostages.”
The statement gave no other information and did not hint at why the group thought the Americans would be part of such a hostage-taking operation.
The US embassy promptly said the statement was “categorically untrue” and added that the United States has not seen any of the missing people and knows nothing about their whereabouts.
The Mojahedin earlier said Iraq had kidnaped the seven to send them back to Iran. But its statement Saturday said they were held “hostage” in Baghdad. That statement was issued the day after Maliki’s website denied Iraq was holding any members of the Mojahedin.
