NCRI – The mullahs’ regime on the fourth day of transfer of a number of Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty, unveiled the issue and while welcoming the Iraqi government’s action, described it as the “resolve of the Iranian nation” and “the will of the Iraqi government”. It also thanked the United Nations for helping to expel PMOI from Iraq.

The regime acknowledged the fact that project to transfer Ashraf residents was completely designed and guided by the religious fascism ruling Iran.

On Tuesday morning February 21st, Ramin Mehmanparast, the clerical regime’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “Transfer of Mojahedin from Camp Ashraf to temporary Camp Liberty for a final expulsion from Iraq, we welcome this initiative of the Iraqi people and the will of the Iraqi government and we will support it … This is the determination of the Iranian nation (read Iranian regime) and the will of the Iraqi government that they would leave the region and Iraq.” He added: “Also we welcomed the help of the United Nations and UNHCR with respect to the expulsion of PMOI from Iraq and support these actions in every possible way.” (State-run TV, February 21, 2012)

In a document obtained from the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), which was revealed by the Iranian resistance on February 21st, the Iraqi prime ministry has been quoted: “In particular, Mr. Kobler, Special Representative of Secretary-General supports GOI’s demands. We believe he does not want to have any dispute with the GOI and is not willing to strain his relations with Iraq for the sake of the PMOI”. According to this document, the Iraqi Prime ministry ensures the Iranian regime, “the PMOI would be paralyzed in Liberty and would become politically dead.”

The crippled clerical regime, unable to deal with growing public resentment, crises resulting from international sanctions and consequences of the Syrian uprising and prospects of its dictator’s fall in near future, unprecedented power struggle at the top on the eve of the election sham, finds annihilation of the Iranian people’s organized and democratic resistance as its savior.
 
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 21, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11725-acknowledgment-of-the-religious-fascism-ruling-iran-that-the-transfer-of-ashraf-residents-to-camp-liberty-is-a-mullahs-regime-project

Based on same reports, the output of the eavesdropping devices and espionage cameras are provided to the Iranian regime which would seriously threaten the security of residents and their families.
 
 These eavesdropping devices and espionage cameras are installed while Iraqi armed forces are also stationed in a command headquarters and three subsidiary stations inside the camp and the police patrols roam inside the camp. Moreover, Iraqi forces have occupied two other centers inside the camp under the pretext of ‘medical center’ and ‘human rights center’ whose job is nothing but to impost pressure and control on the residents.
 
This situation leaves no doubt that Camp Liberty is a very highly controlled prison whose levers are in the hands of religious fascism ruling Iran that hereby intends to annihilate its main opposition.
 
According to a document disclosed in the NCRI statement on February 21 (Camp Liberty-No. 6), after the relocation of a number of Ashraf residents, Iraqi Prime Ministry assured the mullahs’ regime that “PMOI  in Liberty will be under direct control of Iraqi forces” and these conditions “would paralyze this organization and … in Liberty they would be like the dead.”

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 21, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11724-installation-of-eavesdropping-devices-on-15-meter-tall-towers-adjoining-camp-liberty

NCRI – Iranian Resistance has attained a document from inside the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) which says that following the transfer of the first group of Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty, the Iraqi prime ministry has reassured the Quds Force and regime’s ambassador in Baghdad that members of the PMOI would be crippled in Liberty and would become politically dead. This shocking document leaves no ambiguity that the project for transfer of Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty is entirely to the wishes of the clerical regime with the objective of destroying this regime’s democratic and legitimate opposition. Sections of this document are as follows:

 1.  This document, a copy of which has been sent to Khamenei’s office, specifies, “The relocation of PMOI members from Ashraf and confining them in Camp Liberty under direct control of Iraqi forces would paralyze this organization. It does not matter to the Government of Iraq how long they would stay in Liberty; what matters is that they should not be able to have any activities. In Liberty they would be like the dead.” The document goes on to say, “In one stage, we have planned to separate the organization officials from the members; this is going to be the most difficult part of the transfer operation and it is possible that the organization’s members and officials may create problems. This stage will not proceed easily and smoothly.”

2- Iraqi prime ministry emphasizes, “We have told the UN and the international community that the Iraqi government does not recognize members of PMOI as political or humanitarian refugees and that their presence in Camp Liberty is just to facilitate their expulsion. Had we confirmed their asylum – a matter that the U.S. and EU worked very hard for – it would have created much legal obligations for us, and we then would have been obligated to give them Iraqi nationality or give them right to legal residence.”

3- This document stresses: “We (the Government of Iraq) shall impose our own conditions and we want PMOI members to give in to these conditions at the end… on many occasions, UN justifies Iraq’s conditions and calls on PMOI members to acquiesce, since Camp Liberty is just a transition station where residence there would be short-term.”

4. Based on this document, the Government of Iraq complains that, “not all members in United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) are not in full accord with the GOI” and says, “nevertheless, SRSG Kobler in particular supports GOI’s demands. We believe he does not want to have any dispute with the GOI and is not willing to strain his relations with Iraq for the sake of the PMOI”.
 
5- PMOI has stated some demands, “We shall respond positively to be in line with the UN, but their demands will never be met. The Iraqi government and its representative have only agreed to discuss unimportant issues and details; issues that have little effect in our condition such as field visits by physicians or visits by delegations which are inconsequential. The Government of Iraq would strongly react to other requests that are sometimes put forward by Ashraf residents… the new camp should be tailored to the needs of the Iraqi government and not the PMOI members. The Iraqi government shall not give way in important issues.”

6- Iraqi prime ministry office accentuates that Ashraf residents want “Iraqi police and military personnel not to be present inside the camp and be transferred out of their main place of inhabitance… however, if the police and security forces leave Camp Liberty, we shall set up several security centers in their place inside the camp in addition to the current locations in order to keep the situation inside the camp under our control.”

7. The document acknowledges, “the U.S. Embassy wants to be part of international forces monitoring the situation in Liberty. We accepted that, but we didn’t go through details. The U.S. Embassy is serious and has had correspondence with us (GOI) on numerous occasions.” However, in order to reduce the effect of U.S. monitoring role, “the GOI’s willing is to merge the members of U.S. Embassy with the UN delegation to avoid various reports sent from Camp Liberty and prevent numerous opinions and monitoring agencies.”

8. Another section of the document ensures the Iranian regime that, “Members of the organization have to exit Ashraf before the end of next month … We had already decided if the talks reach a dead-end, the government would enter and transfer them to Liberty or another location by force, and after the given grace period, no one can question the Iraqi government … However, there are problems such as the UN mission which is asking the Iraqi government to stop relocation of further groups to make sure about the safety of this process, further arguing that hastily increasing the number of people can result in disorder.”

Expressing its deep regret regarding some parties in UNAMI cooperating with this repressive and illegal plan of Ashraf residents’ relocation to Liberty, the Iranian Resistance calls on the UN Secretary-General and the US government to prevent the Iraqi government from implementing this criminal plan, and urges them to provide Ashraf residents’ minimum assurances. These minimums include all Iraqi armed forces withdrawing from Camp Liberty, right to transfer residents’ vehicles and moveable property to Liberty, unfettered and direct access to medical services, freedom of movement or at least allocating more area to the residents to ease the prison conditions of Liberty. In the absence of such minimums, not even a single Ashraf resident will go to Liberty.
 
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 21, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11723-based-on-a-document-obtained-from-irgc-transfer-of-ashraf-residents-to-camp-liberty-is-aimed-at-annihilation-of-mullahs-legitimate-opposition

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has formally recognized the residents of Ashraf as “asylum seekers” and “persons of concern,” which entitles them to fundamental protections and security based on humanitarian standards.

Nevertheless, the Iraqi Government, with the tacit approval of the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Martin Kobler, has relocated our loved ones to Camp Liberty which, contrary to its name, is, by all indications, more like a prison than a transitional facility for “asylum seekers”.

The Iraqi-imposed inhumane and humiliating conditions under which 400 residents were inspected and then transferred to Camp Liberty, as well as the atrociously sub-humane living conditions of the camp amply reveal the nefarious intentions of the Iraqi Government.

Equally appalling is the fact that the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), which is expected to be playing a humanitarian role, has increasingly acted to accommodate the Iraqi Government in exerting pressure against the residents.

Not surprising, emboldened by the UNAMI chief’s repeatedly one-sided actions and positions to the detriment of Ashraf residents, the Iraqi Government has heightened it’s blatant and repeated violations of the residents’ human rights and the December 25 Memorandum of Understating.

The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR), representing thousands of Iranian-Americans whose loved-ones reside in Camp Ashraf, urges Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to uphold the United States’ long-standing moral and legal obligations to ensure safety and security of the residents of Ashraf, particularly those 400 who are now at the mercy of Iraqi Government in Camp Liberty.

Specifically, Secretary Clinton, in line with her assurances provided on February 15, should ensure that the Iraqi Government removes its draconian restrictions on the 400 Iranian dissidents in Camp Liberty, guarantee the withdrawal of the Iraqi police from inside the camp and the freedom of movement of the residents – as stipulated by the UNHCR, as well as the unhindered access of the residents to their lawyers and their families.

Absent these guarantees, the stage would be set by the Iraqi Government to seriously jeopardize the safety and security of our loved ones in Camp Liberty. USCCAR urges the United States to address the serious concerns regarding this camp, otherwise, the relocation of the rest of Ashraf residents will be rendered moot.

A stellar roster of former senior US officials and a bi-partisan group of members of US Congress have declared their readiness to visit Camp Liberty and confirm its suitability to accommodate the Iranian asylum seekers. Such a visit and unfettered access of journalists to the camp and its residents will help to assuage the widespread anxiety of US families of the residents over their safety. To this end, Secretary Clinton should use her good offices to facilitate such a visit.

Camp Ashraf is home to 3,400 members of Iran’s principal opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) and their families, who were recognized by the United States as “Protected Persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention in 2004. 

SOURCE US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/usccar-urges-secretary-clinton-to-ensure-iraqi-guarantees-for-safety-and-security-of-400-iranian-asylum-seekers-in-camp-liberty-139634393.html

NCRI – The statement of UNAMI on January 31, stated “the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Liberty are in accordance with the international humanitarian standards stipulated in the MoU.” A technical report by a shelter expert dated January 30 which served as basis for the UNAMI statement confirmed that “the camp is currently configured to accommodate 5,500 persons.” The UNAMI statement pretended that the UNHCR had approved the situation of camp Liberty, but the latter was explicit in its February 1 statement that the new location was “being provisioned” and “the UNHCR has been advising on the technicalities of improving the camp infrastructure.”  

A day after the arrival of 397 Ashraf residents at Liberty it is crystal clear that the shelter expert’s report has been totally unrealistic.The camp not only fails to meet human rights standards, but also its infrastructure falls short of humanitarian standards.

The trailers and toilette facilities were so dirty and unusable that the residents had to remain in their buses during the night. There is serious water shortage and electricity is cut off, as in prisons, after 10:30pm.

It seems the shelter expert was compelled to file an unrealistic report, and that is why a first draft of the “technical report” had been sent to UNAMI’s political authorities for necessary modifications.
 
Before the report, a series of propaganda photos had been submitted to Ashraf residents and their representatives as well as the OHCHR, the UNHCR, US and EU officials and representatives in order to present Liberty like a pleasant paradise.  It is now evident that the photos and the report were meant to justify the unjustifiable, illegal and hurried expedition of Ashraf residents to Liberty. 

Since the beginning of December,  Ashraf residents, their representatives and lawyers as well as 23 renowned American personalities, President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq, General David Phillips and Colonel Wesley Martin (both formerly in charge of Ashraf’s protection) and many other personalities insisted on visiting Liberty prior to transfer of the residents.  But the just and logical demand was refused in an incomprehensible manner. Obviously the result of such a visit would have been the conclusion that the camp did not meet the minimum required standards and that the residents should not be transferred to it.

Apart from unacceptable facilities and infrastructure, the lack of least humanitarian needs including freedom of movement, access to lawyers and journalists, free access for visitors and the presence of armed Iraqi forces; the way the residents were transferred to Liberty and the prohibition of taking along much of their personal belongings are obvious violations of the MoU signed between the UN and the Iraqi government and the February 15 letter of the Special Representative of the Secretary General to Ashraf residents on relocation arrangements.

A number of items that were not allowed to be transferred by Iraqi forces in the presence of UN observers included medicine, medical instruments, power generators, office facilities (chairs, desks and copy machines), water heaters, sanitary equipment, cupboards, etc. 

This happened while in the February 15 letter of the SRSG it was explicitly cited that the residents can take along all their medical equipment and it was stated in the MoU that the Iraqi government permits the residents to take all their movable property with them to Liberty.

Iranian Resistance while reiterating that the condition of camp Liberty is not at all acceptable and untenable, underscores the fact that under such conditions praising and commending the Government of Iraq would only encourage further reneging and further oppressive measures. The Iranian Resistance calls on UN Secretary General, the SRSG, the US, and EU to condemn the current situation at Liberty and the violations perpetrated by the Government of Iraq.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 19, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11717-liberty-not-meeting-minimum-humanitarian-and-human-rights-standards

Professor Raymond Tanter, former member of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush White House and President of the Iran Policy Committee, stated, “The UN shares with Washington responsibility to protect Iranian dissidents from being harmed by Iraqi authorities. At the UN World Summit, September 2005, over 150 countries adopted ‘responsibility to protect’ populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity.”

Professor Tanter said, “The United High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) formally recognized on 13 September 2011, and reiterated on 1 February 2012 residents of Ashraf as ‘asylum seekers,’ with rights and protections based on international humanitarian standards. According UNHCR, “International law requires that asylum-seekers must be able to benefit from basic protection of their security and well being. This includes protection against any expulsion or return to the frontiers of territories where their lives or freedom would be threatened.”

Professor Tanter added, “But the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) works at cross purposes with UNHCR. While UNHCR stands ready to conduct Refugee Status Determination to resettle the dissidents in other countries, UNAMI colludes with Iraqi authorities, providing a pretext for Baghdad to harm them, contrary to international humanitarian standards.”

UNHCR emphasizes protecting Iranian dissidents stating, “Any relocation outside Camp New Iraq Ashraf should proceed on a voluntary basis, with freedom of movement the most desirable state at the site of relocation.” But according to reports, Iranian dissidents are barred from taking their personal belongings, even items like wheelchairs, microwave ovens, and satellite dishes for Internet access. Contrary to UNHCR, the dissidents have no freedom of movement. Journalists are kept away, and neither lawyers nor families can observe or visit Camp Hurriya; in disregard of dissidents’ rights, UNAMI paid no attention to Iraqi harassment, intimidation, and insult to them upon arrival to Hurriya.

Washington is also accountable for failure to provide effective diplomatic pressure on Iraq to ensure safe relocation, often called the “American plan” because it stems from a Christmas Day statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: “We are encouraged by the Iraqi government’s willingness to commit to this plan, and expect it to fulfill all its responsibilities, especially to provide for the safety and security of Ashraf’s residents.”

Because of the Clinton statement, the dissidents accepted the relocation plan, which is now being violated by Iraqi authorities. A subsequent announcement by the Department of State “commends the decision by the Ashraf residents to begin to relocate to Hurriya, where the United Nations will begin a process aimed at facilitating their eventual departure from Iraq,” a commendation that enhances U.S. stake in the plan and responsibility to protect the dissidents. By praising the former residents of Ashraf for the first time, the pronouncement also implicitly commends their leadership in Paris for its constructive role in averting human tragedy.

The Way Forward
In a statement of 7 February this year, 23 former senior officials of the U.S. Government expressed concern about relocation, “We are very troubled by the official position of the Iraqi Government that the residents of Ashraf will have no freedom of movement while in Camp Liberty.”  

First, the IPC concurs with a recommendation of our former colleagues in the U.S. Government for American Embassy Baghdad to obtain assurances for security of dissidents now relocated in Camp Hurriya and as incentive for the 3,000 who remain in Camp Ashraf to relocate: “We believe an operational protocol must be developed through dialogue among all relevant parties, including the representatives of Camp Ashraf and the Iraqi Government.”

Second, the UN might inform dissidents of rights as asylum seekers. The IPC is dismayed to learn that Iranian dissidents in Camp Hurriya have no minimum assurances from either the UN or Washington about their security or rights under international human rights law.

Third, the Secretary General needs to bring operational practices of UNAMI in accord with humanitarian standards of asylum seeker status provided by UNHCR. If the Iraqi police were outside Camp Hurriya and UNAMI monitors inside, UNHCR humanitarian standards are more likely to be followed.

Without such steps, a calamity is likely, spilled blood of the Iranian asylum seekers will be on the hands of those with responsibility to protect, and appropriate legal action against accountable parties is likely in international and national tribunals.

SOURCE Iran Policy Committee

http://news.gnom.es/pr/iran-policy-committee-responsibility-to-protect-iranian-dissidents-in-iraq

BAGHDAD (AP) — Lugging clothes, tables and whatever else they could carry, roughly 400 members of an Iranian exile group reluctantly moved Saturday from their camp in northwestern Iraq to a deserted military base outside the capital in what they called a show of good faith that they eventually will be allowed to leave the country peacefully.

It was the first group to move of the more than 3,300 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran who have lived at Camp Ashraf for three decades.

They left under pressure from the Iraqi government, whose army stormed Ashraf last April in a raid that left 34 of the exiles dead.

The United Nations also wants the exiles to move to the Camp Liberty military base outside Baghdad, where they can be screened for asylum eligibility and, presumably, better protected.

The process of moving the exiles to the new location has proceeded in fits and starts over recent months. Iraqi soldiers searched the exiles for almost an entire day before they left Ashraf, and they were being searched again Saturday morning before they were allowed into Liberty.

Members were reluctant to leave their home, which they turned into a miniature city with parks and a university, in favor of an abandoned military base. Residents have not strayed outside for years.

“People are very upset,” said Bahzad Saffari, 50, a camp resident since 2003 who was among the first group of exiles to go. “It took many days to convince them to go.”

He said soldiers ordered the exiles to leave some of their heirlooms behind, including photographs, microwave ovens, satellite dishes for Internet access and, in one case, a pair of therapeutic socks.

“They say it has metal in the socks and so they must be bulletproof,” Saffari said as the exiles were being searched at the camp. “Who wears bulletproof socks? Some of the people are very much bothered and they said, ‘If it is going to be like this, you can imagine how Liberty will be.’”

“This is to break the morale of the people.”

A spokesman for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said the exiles are in Iraq illegally but that the move is a first step toward to sending them out of the country.

“We consider the moving of Ashraf people to the new location as a positive step toward reaching a final solution for their presence in Iraq and sending them to a third country,” al-Maliki media adviser Ali al-Moussawi said Friday night. “During the past years, the presence of the (exiles) has represented a problem to the Iraqi government because their staying was illegal, and it was a source of irritation to some neighboring countries.”

The People’s Mujahedeen, which seeks the overthrow of Tehran’s clerical rulers, has been labeled everything from a cult to a terrorist organization — although one that has provided the U.S. with intelligence on Iran. The group says it renounced violence in 2001, after carrying out bloody bombings and assassinations in Iran in the 1980s.

Also known by its Farsi name, the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, the group is the militant wing of the Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran. The U.S. considers it a terrorist organization although the European Union removed it from its terror list two years ago.

They were welcomed to Iraq by Saddam Hussein during the 1980s in a common fight against Iran. But since Saddam’s ouster they have been an irritant to the Iraqi government and which is trying to build stronger ties with Iran.

Al-Maliki sees the group’s presence as an affront to Iraqi sovereignty, and last spring ordered Ashraf to close by the end of 2011. The U.N however has dubbed the forced removal of Ashraf residents as “ill-advised and unacceptable.”

Ashraf is located in the desert near the Iranian border, about 60 miles (95 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad.

Until recently, the exiles refused to go. In December, the group’s Paris-based head, Maryam Rajavi, agreed to move 400 residents to Camp Liberty in a show of goodwill as the U.N. tries to broker a compromise between the two sides. In a statement this week, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said Iraq’s government has agreed to let Ashraf stay open until April 30 to give the exiles more time to move.

In the meantime, “any provocation or violence must be avoided and would be unacceptable,” Ban said.

The U.N. mission in Iraq has been frantically working to relocate the exiles in other countries. But as of Friday, fewer than 30 have been granted asylum, said Ashraf chief spokesman Shahriar Kia.

Ban’s statement urged member states to help relocate eligible residents of Camp Ashraf who wish to resettle in third countries. Returning to Iran is unlikely because of their opposition to the regime.

Camp Liberty, which sits next to Baghdad’s international airport, was a sprawling U.S. Army base until the American military withdrew from Iraq in December. The Ashraf residents fear it will be a cramped “prison” where they will be barred from moving around and lack clean water, security and free medical services.

An Associated Press photographer who on Friday was allowed into one of the areas of Camp Liberty where the exiles will live described it as surrounded by concrete blast barriers to protect about 140 temporary buildings that each will house nine people. There is a refrigerator and an air conditioner in each building, and portable bathrooms and a dining hall on the compound that will be guarded by Iraqi army soldiers.

They are leaving what Rajavi in December described as a “modern city” with a university, library, museum, hospital, power station, cemetery, mosque, parks, lake, sports and recreation facilities, and underground bomb shelters. Ashraf residents have not left the camp for years, and the little contact they have with outsiders in Iraq is through the Iraqi military, visiting diplomats and aid agencies. They do have extensive communications equipment that allows them to communicate with the outside world.

Kia said the eldest exile who moved Saturday is 70 years old.

Saffari said none of the exiles wanted to go but agreed to be among the first tranche when Ashraf’s leaders asked for volunteers.

After Saddam fell, U.S. troops took control of Camp Ashraf, disarmed its fighters and confined the residents to their 30-square-mile (78-square-kilometer) camp. In return, the military signed an agreement with the camp giving the residents protected status under the Geneva Conventions. But the U.S. turned over those responsibilities to the Iraqi government in 2008.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva, which oversees whether nations are complying with the Geneva treaties, is helping resettle the exiles in other countries once the U.N. determines asylum eligibility for each that would grant them, individually, protected status.

Associated Press Writer Sameer N. Yacoub and Photographers Karim Kadim and Hadi Mizban contributed to this report.

http://www.iranfocus.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=24638:400-iran-exiles-reluctantly-move-to-new-iraq-home

Baghdad (CNN) — About 400 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group who are the first to leave a long-term camp in Iraq under a U.N. plan criticized their treatment and the conditions at the new temporary site Saturday.

The group left Camp Ashraf at midnight following 12 hours of inspections and checks, Shahin Gobadi of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement.

When they arrived seven hours later at the new site, a former U.S. military base near Baghdad International Airport long known as Camp Liberty, the group discovered a heavy presence of police.

Camp Liberty has been renamed “Camp Hurriya” and is now an Iraqi facility.

Another inspection was then demanded, prompting the residents to protest what they consider “degrading, humiliating and inhumane treatment” and the obstructive behavior of the Iraqi forces by refusing to leave the transit buses, Gobadi said.

“The preliminary reports indicate that Camp Liberty (Hurriya) is a prison from all aspects,” he added.

The group’s relocation to the new site was agreed between the United Nations, Iraqi authorities, the United States and the European Union.

The U.S. commended Iraq for the relocation to the camp and called for the Iranian expatriates to cooperate with Iraqi and U.N. authorities in a State Department statement from spokeswoman Victoria Nuland Sunday.

“Patience and willingness to resolve issues related to the relocation will be important as the process moves ahead,” Nuland said.

Human Rights Watch has criticized tensions between the Shiite-lead Iraqi government and the MEK’s leadership. And it has also accused the MEK leaders at Camp Ashraf of holding individual residents — who attempted to leave — against their will, coercing them to remain with the organization.

From Camp Hurriya, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees will begin efforts to resettle the group outside of the country.

Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary general’s special representative and head of the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), was at the temporary site to welcome the new arrivals.

“This is the first step towards a better future outside Iraq,” he said. “I look forward to their continued cooperation with the Iraqi authorities to complete the relocation without delay.”

He also praised the Iraqi for having ensured the “safe and secure relocation” of the first group of residents and urged them to guarantee the human rights and safety of all those still to relocate.

Camp Ashraf has been home to members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, for more than 25 years. More than 3,000 exiles, described as Iranian resistance figures and their sympathizers, live at the camp.

The MEK has been on the U.S. terrorism list since 1997 because of the killing of six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and an attempted attack against the Iranian mission to the United Nations in 1992. However, since 2004, the United States has considered the residents of Camp Ashraf “noncombatants” and “protected persons” under the Geneva Conventions.

Before moving, the Camp Ashraf residents had demanded a commitment that no Iraqi police would remain inside the new site, in order to ensure the security of the residents. The group believes the current regime in Iraq, under orders from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, has previously staged deadly attacks against Camp Ashraf.

Instead, there are several police posts inside the facility and residents must be accompanied by the police even to go to the dining area, Gobadi said.

“The most important of the Ashraf residents’ demands is that the police must leave the camp area and stay outside the walls,” a statement released by the group Friday said. “This is a condition without which it will be impossible to have more people in Liberty (Hurriya) as it will result in further confrontations, tensions and killing.”

The residents also asked for guarantees with regards to the site’s infrastructure — and say these have not been met.

“In a nutshell, Camp Liberty lacks the most basic international humanitarian standards and human rights standards are not met,” the statement said.

The residents say the camp is much smaller than they were told it would be, and that they are being denied free movement and access to medical services.

The U.N.’s refugee agency confirmed that the new camp’s infrastructure and facilities were in line with international humanitarian standards at the end of January, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said earlier this week.

Camp Ashraf was established in 1986 after former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invited members of the MEK to relocate to Iraq in an effort to undermine the Iranian government, which was then at war with Iraq. Iran also considers the group to be a terrorist organization.

A U.N. commission on refugees has described the residents as “formal asylum seekers” from persecution by the regime in Iran.

The temporary facility, at Camp Huriyya, formerly the U.S.-run Camp Liberty, will remain open for an unspecified period of time, though a senior U.S. administration official said in December that there were plans to keep it open until all of the camp residents were resettled.

CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq contributed to this report.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/18/world/meast/iraq-camp-ashraf-relocation