BAGHDAD, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Maryam Rajavi, the head of an Iranian opposition group, called on backers to end their hunger strikes following the release of 36 dissidents from Iraqi prison.
Iraqi authorities released 36 members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran to their headquarters at Camp Ashraf in eastern Diyala province following a 72-day hunger strike.
Iraqi forces stormed the Camp Ashraf enclave of the PMOI on July 28 following the withdrawal of U.S. forces to their combat bases under the terms of a bilateral security pact with Baghdad.
At least 10 residents of the camp have died from wounds suffered during the military raid. The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the political wing of the PMOI, said an Iraqi court had issued several orders for their release, but all were ignored by Iraqi authorities.
The group, which considers itself the Parliament in exile of the Iranian resistance movement, said Iraqi verdicts found no evidence members of the PMOI committed any crimes.
The PMOI earned a reputation as a terrorist organization for its violent opposition to the clerical regime in Iran in the wake of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The group surrendered to U.S. forces during the initial invasion of Iraq in 2003 and now claims to favor peaceful opposition.
The U.S. and Iraqi governments include the PMOI on their national terrorist lists, though it was removed from the European list in January.
