(1 Apr 1996) English/Nat
Iran's opposition army in exile the National Liberation Army is on full alert in neighbouring Iraq as Tehran prepares for another round of parliamentary elections later this month.
The Iraq-based army was formed after the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.
All the combatants are volunteers - many of them are women - and their sole aim is to restore democracy in their homeland by overthrowing the Tehran regime.
On parade in exile.
This is the army of the Iranian Resistance movement, a movement whose sole aim is to overthrow the Islamic regime in Iran and restore its democracy.
For the moment though they are based in neighbouring Iraq.
Following the bitter eight-year war with Iran, Iraq welcomed the opposition army with open arms, although it keeps it on a tight leash.
It's an army with a difference.
A third of the recruits are women, the majority of the top-jobs are held by women and at this camp, Camp Ashraf, a woman is in charge.
Mozhgan Mahdavi is typical of these so-called "freedom fighters" or Mujahideen.
She was studying in America when the Shah of Iran was deposed in 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini.
Committed to overthrowing the Islamic regime, Mozhgan gave up her normal civilian life and its comforts to join the army.
Her husband, who she sees little of, is also based at Ashraf.
At first military life was hard.
Now Mozhgan is a tank commander - she says she won't leave the army even if it succeeds in its aim.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"As a woman you have in your mind that you cannot do everything that you hope for or you want to, but then I came here I learned I can achieve whatever I want to."
SUPER CAPTION: Mozhgan Mahdavi, Tank Commander
To keep busy, the troops are put through their paces everyday - training on weapons seized by Iraq during the Iran-Iraq war.
The Mujahideen say the army's funding comes from Iranians abroad.
The women soldiers are as proficient as the men in combat techniques.
Here they demonstrate how to take over a building and flush out would-be impostors.
Camp Ashraf is on alert from attack from Iran as the country prepares for another round of parliamentary elections.
For years, these troops have been told by their military leaders they will one day march into Tehran.
Yet the group's only major offensive in the last few years came in 1991, just after the Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein ordered the army to help quell a Kurdish revolt in northern Iraq.
The exact size of the army isn't known - a military secret say officials.
Critics argue the numbers are in the hundreds not the thousands.
Like Mozhgan most of the women on the base are married.
Either their husbands are here too or based at another of the five camps in Iraq.
Children stay with relatives in Europe - many youngsters left Iraq when the Gulf War erupted.
In one corner of the massive camp is a cemetery.
Here troops come and remember those who were killed in pursuit of their cause.
These women are prepared to die for what they believe in and some already have.
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