Working to Ensure Safety and Security of Our Loved Ones in Camp Ashraf

UN, US protection urged for Iranian exiles in Iraq
Reuters

Wednesday March 9, 2011
GENEVA, March 9 (Reuters) - The United Nations and the United States should take on protection of a community of Iranian exiles in Iraq that the Iraqi government wants dispersed, human rights advocates said on Wednesday. They told a meeting on the sidelines of a session of the U.N. Human Rights Council that quick action was essential to head off a tragedy which might lead to the death of many residents of the exiles' Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad.

"Both the United States and the U.N. must resume protecting these defenceless people. This is a matter of morality, duty and honour," said Paddy Ashdown, former U.N. chief in Bosnia and one-time leader of Britain's Liberal Democratic Party. "A tragedy is possible unless we act now."

Former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali said the roughly 3,400 people in the 25-year-old settlement were fully entitled to protection under international humanitarian law and Iraq should halt its attempts to dislodge them.

People who have visited the camp say it is like a small town with schools, shops and sporting amenities all built by the exiles, who are largely members of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI). The group, formally designated as a terrorist movement by both the United States, opposes the Islamic government of Iran but is accused by the Iraqi government of having helped former dictator Saddam Hussein put down his opponents. The exiles, whose National Council of Resistance political wing is based in Paris, deny this.

At Wednesday's meeting at the U.N.'s European headquarters in Geneva, U.N. rights official Jean Ziegler praised the PMOI as "a national liberation movement fighting for universal values."... Read More
 

A new Iran policy in the new Middle East
The Independent (Blog)

By Lord Tony Clarke
Tuesday, 8 March 2011
The tide of change engulfing the Muslim world is getting bigger and more pervasive day by day. What has happened in less than six weeks in this region has already made it a historical year as a huge geography used to political and social stagnation has been witness to its biggest changes since the end of imperial area. For many countries involved, this is going back to the date of their inception.

What makes it all the more remarkable is that the Arab revolutions were all works of the Arabs themselves. As refreshing as the feeling of self-empowerment in the streets of the Muslim world is, we should not put our guard down on potential dark forces waiting on the wings to usurp the fruits of these glorious, jubilant days and turn them into days of grief and nostalgia for future generations... Read More
 

Chairperson Ros-Lehtinen Questions Secretary Clinton on Iran Sanctions Implementation, Urges Protection for Camp Ashraf Residents

Committee News
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
(WASHINGTON) – U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at a Committee hearing earlier today asked U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about U.S. policy towards Iran and the implementation of sanctions against the Iranian regime. Statement by Ros-Lehtinen:

“I remain deeply concerned that the State Department is not fully implementing Iran sanctions.

“This morning, I was pleased to have the opportunity to ask Secretary Clinton about the status of five companies that the Administration waived sanctions against, through the utilization of a special rule in the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions and Divestment Act, based on these companies’ vague pledges to cease all investment in the Iranian energy sector.

“We must ensure that companies violating U.S. sanctions on Iran are not let off the hook.

“I want to know: How many investigations are currently open? Will the Administration commit to briefing the Committee on the status of all investigations that the Administration is undertaking on Iran sanctions?

“I also urged the Secretary for U.S. protection for Camp Ashraf residents. These are Iranian dissidents and opposition members residing in this facility in Iraq, and who are being harmed and harassed by Iraqi authorities at the behest of the Iranian regime.” ... Read More
 

London protests at 'attack' on Iran exiles at Iraq camp

BBC News

January 7, 2011

Demonstrators have gathered outside the Iranian Embassy in London to protest at what they claim was an attack on Iranian exiles in Iraq.
They have accused Iraqi special forces and Iranian agents of breaking into Camp Ashraf and injuring 175 refugees with stones, pieces of metal and other sharp objects. Camp Ashraf, close to the border with Iran, houses 3,500 Iranian dissidents. They have "protected persons" status under the Geneva Convention.

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom has accused Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of ordering the attack.
The committee's chairman, Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, called on American troops and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq to intervene. He warned of an "imminent humanitarian tragedy" and claimed that the Iranian government had played a part in the attack, calling it "Tehran's response to growing domestic unrest and nationwide calls for regime change". The committee also voiced concern that Camp Ashraf's residents were being psychologically assaulted by more than a hundred loudspeakers... Read More

Exiled Iran opposition claims attack on Iraq camp
Agence France Presse

January 8, 2011
PARIS — The head of Iran's main exiled opposition coalition on Saturday accused forces in Iraq of carrying out an attack on a camp housing Iranians that left dozens injured.

Maryam Rajavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement from Paris that "the Iranian regime's henchmen, from Iraq and Iran" carried out a "criminal aggression" on Friday against Camp Ashraf in Iraq, home to about 3,500 members of the People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI) and their families.

She said 176 residents of the camp had been wounded in the attack, which saw attackers throwing stones, iron bars and Molotov cocktails at camp residents.

"Video clips and photographs taken from the scene clearly show the active and vicious collaboration of the Iraqi armed forces and the agents of the committee under the command of the office of Iraq's prime minister in the criminal attacks," she said... Read More

Spain's Courage: Holding Iraq Accountable
The Huffington Post
January 7, 2011
Thank goodness someone -- the Government of Spain -- has shown humanitarian concern about the plight of 3,400 Iranians in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. On January 4, 2011, an Investigative Court of the Spanish National Court summoned Iraq's Lt. Gen. Abdul-Hussein Shemmari to appear in Spain on March 8, 2011, or face charges of complicity in murder for having directed an assault on 3,400 Iranians who are supporters of the Mujahedeen Khalq (MEK). The MEK seeks the peaceful replacement of the regime in Iran with a democratically elected government, and for this reason its supporters face death under the mullahs' regime in Iran.

The attack on Camp Ashraf directed by the Lt. Gen. Shemmari left 11 dead and 500 wounded. Today, the people in Camp Ashraf are beset day and night by 180 blaring loudspeakers urging them to end their struggle and return to Iran -- there to face death. Iraq has also constrained food deliveries and medical services to Camp Ashraf.

The tragedy is compounded by the fact that the United States, having expended enormous treasure and over 4,000 lives, allows its influence to wane in Iraq even as that of Iran rises. Caught in the middle are the MEK dissidents at Camp Ashraf. Never mind that the U.S. military had pledged to protect them under the terms of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Times of War. Now, as America gets ready to leave Iraq, America's pledge of protection is going by the wayside... Read More
 

GOP leaders criticize Obama's Iran policy in rally for opposition group
The Washington Post
December 23, 2010
PARIS - A group of prominent U.S. Republicans associated with homeland security told a forum of cheering Iranian exiles here Wednesday that President Obama's policy toward Iran amounts to futile appeasement that will never persuade Tehran to abandon its nuclear projects. The Americans - former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani, former secretary of homeland security Tom Ridge, former White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend and former attorney general Michael Mukasey - demanded that Obama instead take the controversial Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK) opposition group off the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations and incorporate it into efforts to overturn the mullah-led government in Tehran. "Appeasement of dictators leads to war, destruction and the loss of human lives," Giuliani declared. "For your organization to be described as a terrorist organization is just really a disgrace."

The four GOP figures appeared at a rally organized by the French Committee for a Democratic Iran, a pressure group formed to support MEK. Their crowd-pleasing appeals, they said, reflected growing bipartisan sentiment in the U.S. Congress and elsewhere that the 13-year-old terrorist designation of the Paris-based dissident group should be ended because it is unfounded and has not made the Iranian government easier to deal with or halt its nuclear program. In addition, they noted, a Washington federal appeals court in July ordered Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to review the listing, and cast doubt on some of the information brought forward to support it. The group, the largest and most active Iranian exile organization, was added to the list in 1997 as part of an effort by President Bill Clinton's administration to reach out to Tehran. It has been maintained since, apparently to avoid antagonizing the Iranian leadership while the United States fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan... Read More

Iran 'dominant player' in Iraq politics: leaked memo
AFP

December 5, 2010
PARIS — Tehran is a "dominant player" in Iraq using "all means of diplomacy, intelligence and economy" to get a pro-Iranian regime there, leaked US diplomatic cables published by Le Monde newspaper Sunday said. "Iran is one of the dominant players in Iraqi electoral politics," US ambassador to Baghdad Christopher Hill wrote on November 13, 2009, according to Le Monde's translation of the WikiLeaks cable. Tehran "uses all the means of diplomacy, security, intelligence and economic tools to influence its allies and its Iraqi detractors to establish a more pro-Iranian regime, in Baghdad as well as in the provinces," Hill wrote...

In another cable dated September 24, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says that Iran reportedly "envisaged launching long-range missiles" at the Ashraf refugee camp north of Baghdad. The camp is home to around 3,500 supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, principally the People's Mujahedeen of Iran that advocates the overthrow of the Islmic regime in Tehran... Read More

Bipartisan group of House Members Calls on US government to comply with US obligations in regards to Camp Ashraf
NCRI Website

December 5, 2010
NCRI - A bipartisan group of House representatives called on US government officials on Wednesday to comply with US obligations in regards to Camp Ashraf and work towards lifting the terror ban against Iran’s main opposition as soon as possible.

The hearing at the House Foreign Affairs Committee focused on a progress report on the implementation of sanctions against the Iranian regime.

US lawmakers raised worries about suppressive measures against the residents of Camp Ashraf to the US Undersecretary of State, William Burns, and Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey.

They also criticized the State Department’s delay in removing the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from the terror list, requesting written responses to their questions and worries.

In response to inquiries from representatives, Undersecretary Burns said, “We take very seriously the concerns that have been raised about inadequate availability of medical treatment and other kinds of activities at Camp Ashraf. We, along with the UN mission in Iraq, meet regularly with the Iraqi government to hold them to their obligation to ensure that basic human and individual rights of the residents of Ashraf are protected and we will continue to do that.”

“We and the UN mission will continue to insist that the Iraqi government meet its obligation to ensure the human rights of the residents of Ashraf, and that is to say that they are not subject to forcible repatriation to a place that might persecute them and that they have access to the medical treatment that they need, and we will continue to push that hard.”... Read More

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi speech in International Symposium on Ashraf-Brussels
NCRI Web Site

December 05, 2010
Read More

Medical restrictions imposed on Iranian exiles, including refugees in Camp Ashraf
Amnesty International

December 2, 2010
Hundreds of Iranian exiles, including refugees, resident in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, north of Baghdad, are reported to have suffered serious complications from medical restrictions imposed on them by the Iraqi authorities. In the past five months the already appalling medical conditions at the camp have deteriorated even further. Many residents are reportedly suffering from cancer, heart problems, loss of vision, gallstones, orthopaedic problems, kidney stones and other diseases that without prompt and adequate treatment can result in irreversible health damage.

Camp Ashraf, 60 Km north of Baghdad, is home to around 3,400 members and supporters of the Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojaheddin Organization of Iran (PMOI). The residents have been living there for almost 25 years and it is now a small town with shops and other amenities.

Camp Ashraf was held under US control from April 2003 until mid-2009 when the Iraqi government took over control, in accordance with provisions contained in the SOFA, a security agreement signed by Iraqi and US governments in November 2008, which stipulated the withdrawal of US troops from towns and cities. Since the transfer occurred, residents needing medical care have found it extremely difficult to have access to medical treatment in and out of the camp because the camp is surrounded by Iraqi security forces. An Iraqi security committee, responsible for all matters relating to the camp, is now said to be responsible for making decisions regarding medical treatment. The committee members decide who can travel outside the camp for specialist treatment, and they control the influx of supplies into the camp. Moreover, Iraqi security forces are increasingly making life difficult for the residents, including by using loudspeakers to broadcast messages and play loud music at them.

Due to lack of adequate treatment for certain illnesses in the hospital next to the camp, some residents need to seek treatment in specialised hospitals in Baghdad and in the Kurdistan region of Iraq. However, Amnesty International has received reports confirming that patients with appointments in hospitals in Baghdad could not attend their appointments because the Iraqi forces apparently refused to allow others to accompany them, including interpreters. Most of the patients at the camp do not speak Arabic as Farsi is their native language and therefore without an interpreter they can not communicate with doctors in Iraq. It is reported that patients who have travelled to other facilities for treatment have returned without a diagnosis or treatment because of the lack of an interpreter. It has also been reported that patients with mobility issues have been barred from travelling due to the lack of wheel chairs or special beds. The Iraqi authorities have refused to provide such equipment.

The delay in treatment has caused serious long-term consequences for many people. It has been reported that Elham Fardipour, a female patient with thyroid cancer, could not receive the treatment she needs in Baghdad because she was not allowed to be accompanied by a nurse or interpreter; consequently, leading her to remain in the camp rather than travel alone to keep her appointment. Her current outlook is unknown but without prompt treatment her cancer is likely to spread. Additionally, about 60 residents are in need of assessment by a cardiologist for diagnosis and treatment of various heart conditions. Several need surgery to prevent or reduce damage caused by heart attacks.

Ill-treatment of patients by the Iraqi forces has also been reported. Soldiers have forcibly removed patients from hospitals or entered patients’ rooms against their will, in some cases verbally harassing them. In one case a soldier allegedly beat a patient who had just had surgery causing him to go into a seizure... Read More
 

Iranian expats want protection for Ashraf
United Press International
December 2, 2010

BRUSSELS, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- Roughly 1,000 Iranian expatriates gathered in front of the European Parliament building in Brussels Wednesday to demand international protection for the Iranian opposition living in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

Iraqi authorities have put Ashraf under a de-facto siege and are denying its residents access to doctors and medication, Javad Dabiran, a spokesman for the exiled Iranian opposition in Europe, said in a telephone interview with United Press International.

The Iranian opposition claims the Shiite-led Iraqi government has clamped down on the camp because of political pressure from Tehran. Melees between Iraqi forces and Ashraf residents have led to injuries and deaths, and the PMOI would like to see U.S. forces return to protect Ashraf.

On Wednesday the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an umbrella opposition group that includes the PMOI, in a news release said Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently urged Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to deport the PMOI members from Ashraf to Iran, where they would face torture and death. In return, Khamenei promised al-Maliki political support for his premiership, the PMOI claims. Iran has repeatedly denied meddling in Iraqi affairs.

The demonstration in Brussels came less than a week after European lawmakers in a non-binding resolution urged the EU to pressure Washington to take the PMOI off the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations... Read More
 

Ad Melkert responds to Euro MPs concern over Camp Ashraf
NCRI Website

December 02, 2010
NCRI - In a hearing held by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on Wednesday, December 1, Mr. Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, responded to widespread concern among Euro MPs about Camp Ashraf and its 3,400 residents, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, in Iraq.

In his opening remarks he said: We are monitoring the situation in Camp Ashraf and regularly meet with government representatives in order to help sustain the humanitarian situation there, on the basis of a number of key principles that we remind the Iraqi government time and again that they should be adhered to.

He added: We are also available on a 24-hour seven-day a week basis to be in touch with the residents’ leadership and they also make use of that when they are necessary. When challenges arise, we are informed and we in turn inform immediately the authorities and of course do not hide our concern if there is a reason to do so.

To allay concern raised by the President of the European Parliament delegation on Iraq, British Conservative MEP Struan Stevenson, about use of 140 loudspeakers around Ashraf installed by agents of the Iranian regime with full backing of Iraqi forces in order to torture psychologically its residents, Mr. Melkert said: I subscribe fully to the view that those loudspeakers do not serve any reasonable purpose and we have from very outset asked the Iraqi government to make sure that these loudspeakers would be removed.

He concluded by saying that this was just one of many examples where “we are trying indeed to our best of abilities to represent views that are based on fundamental principles of human rights that should guide this situation.”... Read More
 

Khamenei orders Maliki to expedite implementation of mutual agreement in suppressing Ashraf
NCRI Press Release

Wednesday, 01 December 2010
NCRI - The Iranian regime, on the verge of the Student Day and the anniversary of students' uprising of December 7, has found export of crisis to Iraq and intensifying suppression of Ashraf as its only way out of the mounting internal, regional and international pressures surrounding it.

Ali Khamenei, mulalhs’ Supreme Leader, through Saied Jalili, has ordered Maliki that in return for Iranian regime's support for his premiership, Maliki should, in the fastest way possible; implement the "mutual agreement" to expel PMOI from Ashraf and Iraq... Read More

Declaration by 5,000 French mayors in support of the rights of Camp Ashraf residents
NCRI Website
November 27, 2010
Subsequent to the inhumane pressures and crimes perpetrated by the religious fascism ruling Iran, its intelligence agents and the committee tasked with the suppression of Camp Ashraf at the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Office, 5,000 French mayors, including 200 senators and members of the National Assembly, joined with the presidents of 13 out of 26 administrative regions in France, voicing support for the rights of the residents of Camp Ashraf, which stands as the symbol of the Iranian nation’s dignity and quest for freedom and democracy. The mayors described Ashraf as the sister city of 5,000 cities in the Republic of France... Read More
 

International Committee in Support of Ashraf Established in Britain’s House of Lords
NCRI Press Release
November 27, 2010
Following the inhumane pressures and atrocities perpetrated by the Iranian regime, their agents and the Iraqi Committee for the Suppression of Ashraf in the Prime Minister’s Office against the resident of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, an International Committee in Defense of Ashraf was established in the House of Lords in the United Kingdom.

Dozens of Peers took part in a parliamentary session on 23rd of November, presided by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, Chair of the British Parliamentary Committee of Iran Freedom (BPCIF).

In a video address to the meeting, Maryam Rajavi reiterated, “Inhumane restrictions have been imposed on Camp Ashraf for the past two years and the harassment of the residents, including assaults on them, have been stepped up by Iraqi forces.”

Mrs. Rajavi presented a list of names of patients suffering from cancer in Ashraf and recounted some of the restrictions against, and mistreatment of, all patients, especially women. She described the medical deprivations as a humanitarian catastrophe... Read More
 

EU to Ask US to Lift 'Terrorist' Label on Iranian Exile Group
VOA News
November 26, 2010
The European Union's parliament is stepping up efforts to persuade the U.S. to remove the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran from its list of terrorist organizations. The parliament passed a written declaration Thursday that calls on EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to lobby U.S. President Barack Obama's administration to drop the designation. The Iranian opposition group has been on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997.

The EU removed the group from its terrorist list last year, and members of the European Parliament later wrote an open letter to President Obama saying they found that the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran was a “friend of the West and an enemy of religious fundamentalism.”

This week's EU parliament declaration also urges the United Nations to provide protection for People's Mujahedeen members and their families who have been living in an exile camp in Iraq. U.S. troops had been based near the exiles' Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, but the Americans left as part of the draw-down of forces in Iraq, and the exiles contend they have been mistreated since then by Iraqi troops surrounding their camp... Read More
 

EU lawmakers: US must help Iranian group in Iraq
Associated Press
November 25, 2010
BRUSSELS -- The European Parliament urged the United States and the U.N. on Thursday to provide immediate aid to an Iranian opposition group camped near Baghdad since the 1980's.

In a nonbinding resolution, lawmakers asked the European Union to pressure the U.S. government to take the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran off the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

The U.S. military relinquished control over Camp Ashraf and its 3,400 Iranian inhabitants last June, turning it over to Iraqi forces.

"The U.S. terror label ... and unlawful transfer of Ashraf protection to Iraqi forces both constitute participation in suppression of Iranian opposition and obstruct the way for change in Iran," Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the leading opposition group National Council of Resistance of Iran, said in a statement... Read More
 

EU Urges U.S. to Remove Iran Group From Terror List
Wall Street Journal

November 25, 2010
The European Parliament Thursday passed a written declaration calling on the U.S. to remove the People's Mujahideen of Iran from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The resolution became official when more than half the members of the 736-seat chamber signed it, but support was nearly unanimous, a parliament official said. The resolution also called on Iraq to cease its blockade of Camp Ashraf, a settlement of more than 3,000 Iranian dissidents near the border between the two countries.

The People's Mujahideen, which aims to overthrow the Iranian government, has been on the list since 1997, when the U.S.'s Clinton administration put it there in a bid to secure closer cooperation with Tehran.

In July, a U.S. federal appeals court ordered the State Department to reconsider its decision. The European Union removed the group from its list of terrorist organizations in 2009.

Specifically, the European Parliament demanded that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton "urge" the U.S. to remove People's Mujahideen from the list. Mrs. Ashton hasn't yet responded, a spokeswoman said... Read More

EU Lawmakers Urge U.S. to Remove Iranian Group From Terror List
Bloomberg News

November 25, 2010
The European Union’s parliament said the U.S. should remove a prominent Iranian anti-government group from its list of terrorist organizations. The EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton should lobby the Obama administration to change the status of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, the parliament said in a declaration approved by a majority vote in Brussels today. In January 2009, the EU allowed the group to operate freely throughout the 27- nation bloc, ending restrictions imposed in 2002.

Ashton should also push the United Nations to provide “urgent protection” for the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, which has been a base for the group’s members since 1986, lawmakers said in the statement. U.S. forces handed over responsibility for security at the camp to Iraq in February 2009. Since then, the group says its 3,400 residents have been deliberately mistreated by the pro- Iranian Iraqi government... Read More

Adoption of a Written Declaration on Camp Ashraf at the European Parliament
NCRI Website

November 25, 2010
NCRI - It was announced in today’s plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg that the Written Declaration number 75 on Camp Ashraf, Iraq, home to 3,400 members of the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), was adopted with absolute majority.

By referring to crimes committed by the Iranian regime and its agents in Iraq against the residents of Ashraf and their families in Iran that are justified by the U.S. terrorist label against the PMOI, the declaration calls on Baroness Catherine Ashton, European Union’s foreign policy chief, to urge the United States to remove the PMOI from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, as it was done by the EU, and call on the United Nations to provide urgent protection to Ashraf residents.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, described the adoption of the declaration as the reaction of 500 million conscientious people of 27 European nations against violations of human rights by the Iranian regime and its proxies in Iraq and also against Western governments’ policy of appeasement towards the regime. The adoption of the declaration underlines the outstanding and growing support of the European people for the Iranian Resistance and in particular the PMOI members in Ashraf, who have turned into a symbol of hope and resistance for the people of Iran.

She reiterated that after the adoption of this declaration by the European Parliament and also the support of more than half of the members of the U.S. Congress for resolution 704 and 110 of them for resolution 1431, there is now no ambiguity that the U.S. must reassume the protection of Ashraf residents and a monitoring team of the United Nations to be stationed in Ashraf. This is essential for the U.S. in order to fulfill its obligations under international law and its mutual agreement with the residents of Ashraf and to prove is allegiance to moral values and political norms... Read More

Iraq accused over Camp Ashraf refugees from Iran
Friday, 12 November 2010
BBC News
The Iraqi government has been accused of denying Iranian dissidents living in Camp Ashraf free access to medical treatment. The National Council of Resistance of Iran claims that officials prevented a woman who has thyroid cancer from going to hospital in Baghdad. The group says another resident of the camp was prevented from going with her as a nurse and translator.

More than 3,000 people live in Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad. Those at the camp, which was previously under the control of US forces, are members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, the People's Mujahideen of Iran (PMOI).

The National Council of Resistance of Iran said that the woman, Elham Fardipour, would have had to travel to Baghdad with the same Iraqi soldiers who had in the past taken part in attacks on the camp. It said "in these circumstances, she was compelled to cancel her appointment". The group also called on the United Nations and the American government to end what it alleges has been "the nearly two-year-long inhumane siege of Ashraf"... Read More
 

Iraqi forces under al-Maliki command prevent transfer of a cancer patient to hospital
NCRI Press Release
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
NCRI - In an inhuman move, the Iraqi forces under the command of Nouri al-Maliki obstructed the transfer of Ms. Elham Fardipour, 44, who is suffering from thyroid cancer, to a hospital. This has happened several time in the past.

According to her doctor, she should have undergone iodine therapy in the hospital for three days starting on November 9. The Iraqi forces and the Iraqi officials of the hospital in Ashraf had already agreed with the transfer of Ms. Fardipour to hospital accompanied by another Ashraf resident as her translator and nurse. However, on Monday evening, November 8, the head of hospital in Ashraf, Omar Khalid Tamimi, informed the patient that she should go to hospital without a translator and a nurse from Ashraf and the Iraqi soldiers will accompany her. They are the very same soldiers who have been involved in attacks on Ashraf, killing of its residents and the siege of the camp... Read More
 

Camp Ashraf needs American protection
The Washington Times
Monday, November 8, 2010
Thank you for bringing the inhumane situation of 3,500 innocent civilians of Camp Ashraf to the attention of your readers ("WikiLeaks boosts Iran influence in Iraq," Commentary, Friday). I totally agree with Lord David Alton that the Obama administration has a responsibility toward these people.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's orders to open fire on these unarmed refugees in July 2009 resulted in 11 deaths, 500 injuries and 36 hostages. The United States cannot allow the same crime to happen again. What happened last year was a crime against humanity, and the perpetrators, in both Iraq and Iran, should be prosecuted for these crimes.

Mr. al-Maliki has continued receiving instructions from Tehran and suppressing residents of Camp Ashraf. These people are denied their basic human rights. Both the mullahs and Mr. al-Maliki's government view Camp Ashraf residents as their enemy… Read More
 

WikiLeaks boosts Iran influence in Iraq
U.N. requires U.S. protection for Camp Ashraf refugees
The Washington Times
Friday, November 5, 2010
By Lord David Alton
Four days before WikiLeaks revealed 400,000 documents of war crimes and egregious human rights abuses in Iraq, the country's power-hungry Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made a one-day trip to Tehran to meet with another power-hungry leader, Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - fitting bedfellows. Both are deeply loathed at home, with little or no support; both are leaders of regimes that preside over killing, torture and rape of their fellow citizens. One day, those responsible for these crimes deserve to be arraigned before the International Criminal Court.

This sinister meeting of minds had one objective: bolstering the ebbing status of Mr. al-Maliki in Iraq and his unlawful power grab of the premiership. Such an outcome would, of course, benefit Ayatollah Khamenei and his ruling clique because the continued reign of Mr. al-Maliki ensures Tehran's continuing domination of Iraq.

On his return to Baghdad, however, Mr. al-Maliki unexpectedly found himself faced with the leaked reports, which detailed his abuse of power as well as Iran's direct assistance to his death squads in Iraq. The documents have disclosed the type of crimes that could not have been committed without the full knowledge of the highest authorities in Iraq. They refer to special forces in the prime minister's office, which acted and perpetrated atrocities under the direct orders of the prime minister. No wonder that Mr. al-Maliki called WikiLeaks' revelations a plot to undermine his bid to stay in power.

For their part, these revelations and the prime minister's role came as no great surprise. The real surprise was the United States' knowledge of these events and its lack of action to stop them. The sentiment was shared by the international community. Amnesty International expressed concern that the U.S. authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they summarily handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who, they knew, were continuing to torture and abuse detainees on a truly shocking scale... Read More

Iranian regime intelligence ministry threatens Iraqi journalists supporting Ashraf
NCRI Website

Thursday, 28 October 2010

NCRI – The Iranian regime’s intelligence ministry and its embassy in Baghdad have ‎threatened Iraqi journalists who support the main opposition members in Camp Ashraf, ‎near Baghdad.‎

A prominent Iraqi journalist, Safi al-Yaseri, has revealed that he received threatening ‎letters from regime agents, decrying his support for Iranian opposition members in Ashraf, ‎and telling him that a legal case against him “is going through the initial stages of ‎evidence gathering.”‎

Previously, the Iranian regime’s new ambassador, Hassan Danaifar, threatened Iraqi ‎figures on his first day in office that anyone who accuses the Iranian regime of meddling ‎in Iraq will be prosecuted in Iraqi courts... Read More
 

Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and plots against Ashraf revealed in ‎Brussels conference
NCRI Website

Wednesday, 27 October 2010

NCRI - Fresh evidence of the Iranian regime’s meddling and crimes in Iraq was ‎brought to light on Tuesday, October 26, by the National Council of Resistance ‎of Iran in a press conference in Brussels. The revelations came just days after ‎hundreds of documents on Iraq were made public by the website WikiLeaks.‎

Speakers specifically pointed to Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where thousands of ‎Iranian dissidents reside, citing threats faced by the political activists in the face ‎of the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and the gross human rights violations ‎committed by the current Iraqi government.‎

In light of the threats against the residents of Ashraf, the speakers especially ‎called on American forces to reassume control of the camp, saying that the ‎mullahs’ meddling in Iraq leaves no excuse to abandon such a responsibility by ‎Washington... Read More

Maliki wants to suppress Ashraf residents to buy Iranian regime backing, Iraqiya ‎official warns
NCRI Website

Monday, 25 October 2010

NCRI - An official of the Iraqiya bloc, which came first in the parliamentary elections in ‎Iraq in March, has said that aggressions against Camp Ashraf present a case where by ‎striking deals with the Iranian regime the incumbent prime minister Nouri al-Maliki seeks ‎to secure a second term in office.‎

Jamal al-Karbouli added that Maliki’s attempts to curry favor with the Iranian regime ‎have led him to make members of the main Iranian opposition residing in Camp Ashraf ‎into casualties in order to be able to buy the mullahs’ backing for his second term as prime ‎minister.‎

Karbouli urged international organizations, especially the United Nations and UNAMI, to ‎comply with their obligations regarding Ashraf residents who are protected persons under ‎the Fourth Geneva Convention... Read More

EP veep: WikiLeaks docs show war crimes
United Press International

October 26, 2010

GENEVA, Switzerland, Oct. 26 (UPI) -- The vice president of the European Parliament said documents released last week by WikiLeaks indicate the Iraqi regime is guilty of war crimes.

Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, who is also president of the International Committee in Search of Justice, said the actions of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his subordinates, as well as Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and Qods terrorist group are "considered as crimes against humanity and those responsible for them should be held accountable by the international community."

WikiLeaks released 400,000 pages of documents related to the Iraq war Friday.

Quadras' remarks were directed at the treatment of prisoners at Camp Ashraf, including allegations of torture and other mistreatment of detainees... Read More
 

US Shot Down Iranian Drone in Iraq, WikiLeaks Confirms
The Iraq War logs reveal new details about an Iranian UAV that buzzed US soldiers, and maybe Iranian refugees, in Iraq
Mother Jones Website
Oct 23, 2010
By Adam Weinstein
The US shot down and captured an almost-completely intact Iranian surveillance drone in Iraqi territory in early 2009, not far from a refugee camp for dissident Iranians, WikiLeaks' new Iraq logs confirm. The report, listed under "Events that may elicit political, media, or international reaction," adds credence to US claims of Iranian interference in Iraq, while also demonstrating just how ethnically and logistically messy the US's operations there have been.

The capture of Iran's green-and-white, camera-carrying unarmed aerial vehicle in a border region northeast of Baghdad on February 17, 2009, was all the rage in US military and diplomatic circles. While US officials confirmed the shootdown to the media a month later, those initial news reports held few telling details. But many such details were included in the WikiLeaks report, including intelligence officers' assessment that the downing was "potentially a politically volatile matter" in a crowded corner of Iraq's strategic chessboard.

According to the report, the drone went down outside Combat Outpost (COP) Cobra, a "primitive" US Army base at the oil-rich crossroads of Iraqi Arab, Kurdish, and Iranian territory about 40 miles northeast of the Iraqi capital. Soldiers at the base heard a US jet flying overhead and engaging a target with machine-gun fire. "Shortly there after soldiers inside the COP reported a plane flying overhead with a parachute, which turned out to be an almost completely intact UAV falling to the ground under parachute," the report reads... Read More
 

Iraqiya official blasts Maliki for aggressions against Ashraf, calls for US protection‎
NCRI Website

Saturday, 23 October 2010

NCRI - A leader within the Iraqi political bloc that won the March parliamentary ‎elections has said in an interview that recent acts of aggression by Prime Minister Nouri ‎al-Maliki against Iranian opposition activists in Camp Ashraf prove his allegiance to the ‎Iranian regime.

‎In an interview with al-Hurra TV, Dr. Saleh Mutlak of the Iraqiya list, said, “A day ‎before his visit to Iran, on the orders of the Iranian regime, Maliki clearly showed his ‎allegiance and loyalty to the Iranian regime by being offensive, aggressive and abusive ‎towards the residents of Ashraf, and injured 18 of the residents in the process.”‎

‎“Is it not clear that what is happening against Ashraf is directed by the Iranian regime’s ‎intelligence ministry?”‎

Dr. Mutlak added, “Is it not clear that all the loudspeakers that are harassing and ‎disturbing the residents day and night are in reality installed there based on the will and ‎decisions of the Iranian regime?” ... Read More

Iraqiya official denounces Maliki's pressures on Ashraf as "down payment" to the Iranian regime
NCRI Website

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

NCRI – A senior official of the al-Iraqiya bloc has said that recent aggressions against the ‎residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq, who are members of the main Iranian opposition, serve ‎as Nouri al-Maliki’s down payment to the Iranian regime to preserve his power as prime ‎minister.‎

In an interview with BBC Arabic, Dr. Zafer al-Ani said, “The Iraqi forces’ aggression ‎against Ashraf residents constituted a down payment by Nouri Maliki before a visit to ‎Iran in order to secure the regime’s support for his second term (as prime minister).”‎

Dr. al-Ani added, “The National Alliance (which supports Maliki) was created under the ‎direction and control of the Iranian regime. The faction’s goal, which is to obstruct ‎Iraqiya in an attempt to open all Iraq’s doors to Iran’s destructive absolute clerical rule, is ‎extremely dangerous.” ... Read More

Iraqi Shiite cleric calls for protection of Camp Ashraf by UN and US forces
NCRI Website

Wednesday, 20 October 2010

NCRI - A prominent Shiite cleric in Iraq has released a statement condemning pressures ‎exerted on Camp Ashraf residents, members of the main Iranian opposition, which have ‎intensified simultaneous with Nouri al-Maliki’s visit to Tehran.‎

Mr. Iyad Jamaluddin, who is also the chairman of the Ahrar association, said in the statement ‎published on Ahrar’s official website that the Iraqi government’s measures against Ashraf ‎‎“are an insult to all of those in Iraq who want an independent government that rejects ‎worthless deals.”‎

Mr. Jamaluddin added, “We clearly announce that the only solution for preventing these ‎pressures (against Ashraf) is the intervention of the United Nations and the establishment ‎of a permanent UN monitoring team in Ashraf in coordination with American forces.” ... Read More

On the eve of Maliki's visit to Tehran, Iraqi forces attack Ashraf residents and injures 10
NCRI Press Release

Sunday, 17 October 2010
NCRI - Upon orders of Nouri al- Maliki, on the eve of his trip to Tehran, as a down-payment to the ‎clerical regime ruling Iran, Iraqi forces attacked Ashraf residents by firing bullets, and ‎using sticks and truncheons. As a result, 10 Ashraf residents were wounded. ‎

Maliki, who faces widespread domestic, regional and international opposition to maintain ‎unlawfully his post as the Prime Minister, is trying to kowtow to the demands of the ‎clerical regime more than ever. ‎

This attack took place when in an open aggressive move the Iraqi forces set up a new ‎watch tower in the northern flank of Ashraf. A number of residents who were in the vicinity ‎of the site of the new post, peacefully protested to this illegal act and sought explanation. ‎

In response, the Iraqi forces who were under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Latif ‎Abdul-Amir Hashim al-Anabi, Captain Ahmad Hassan Khodheir, and Lieutenant Heidar ‎Azab Mashi attacked the residents by firing bullets and using sticks that they had prepared ‎in advance for this purpose. Firing bullets was done by the unit under the command of ‎Heidar Azab. He is an agent of the Iranian regime who have attacked and assaulted Ashraf ‎residents on number of occasions in the past... Read More
 

Regime's embassy stages theatrics at Ashraf's main gate with full backing of Iraqi government
NCRI Press Release

Tuesday, 05 October 2010
NCRI - As an extension of its psychological war against the residents of Camp Ashraf, the Iranian ‎regime’s embassy in Baghdad on September 3 sent a number of its Iraqi agents in the guise ‎of “Iraqi sheikhs” and “journalists” to the camp’s main gate to both raise the morale of its ‎existing operatives at the scene, who are engaged in an ongoing psychological torture of the ‎residents in its eighth month, and to also pretend that Iraqis demand the expulsion of the ‎residents. The agents were sent to their destination on a minibus which was rented by the ‎regime’s embassy.‎

At the same time, operatives of the mullahs’ Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), ‎who have camped in front of Ashraf since February, used more than 40 powerful ‎loudspeakers to shout, “We congratulate the fitting election of Mr. Nouri Maliki as the ‎Prime Minister … God willing, there is more good news to come, so keep your ears open.” ‎At a time when relatives of Ashraf residents are being sentenced to death by the clerical ‎regime, these agents disgracefully screamed to the residents, “These people (Iraqi forces) ‎are your Bassiji brothers. The brothers in the Iraqi Army are helping us. … Our Velayat-e ‎faqih (absolute clerical rule) has decreed that you are free. … The Iranian government has ‎pardoned you … Go to Baghdad directly and once there the [Iranian regime’s] ambassador ‎will send you a letter granting you amnesty.” ... Read More

The Iranian regime's activities against Ashraf prove its meddling in Iraq, politician says
NCRI Website

Tuesday, 05 October 2010
NCRI - The Iranian regime’s recent measures in Iraq’s Diyala province against opposition activists ‎residing in Camp Ashraf serves as a potent example of Tehran’s meddling in Baghdad’s affairs, an Iraqi ‎political leader said on Sunday.‎ The leader of Iraq’s Umma Party, Methal Al-alousi, was quoted by the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai as saying ‎that a conference and photo exhibition set up by the Iranian regime’s embassy against the main ‎opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) signal the regime’s new policies ‎against Iraq.‎ Camp Ashraf is home to some 3,400 PMOI members. Last month, the clerical regime’s embassy in ‎Baghdad set up a so-called exhibition against Ashraf residents in the city of Khalis in Diyala province, ‎which was boycotted by the locals according to officials... Read More

Egyptian lawyers denounce Iranian regime's measures against Ashraf residents in Iraq
NCRI Website

Sunday, 03 October 2010
NCRI - The Society of Egyptian Lawyers in Defense of Ashraf has expressed concerns over an increase in the activities of the Iranian regime’s embassy in the Iraqi regions of Diyala and Kazemia against opposition activists in Camp Ashraf. Camp Ashraf, 60 km north of Baghdad, is home to about 3,400 members of the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The Egyptian lawyers said, “According to the information we have obtained, a photo exhibition in the city of Khalis and a seminar in Kazemia were organized under the direct supervision of Haj Ali Navidi, the deputy of the Iranian regime’s ambassador in Iraq and with the full cooperation of the office of the Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki.” ... Read More
 

Iraqi forces set up a new post in Camp Ashraf
10 Ashraf residents are wounded with sticks, iron bars and rifle butts
NCRI Press Release

Saturday, 02 October 2010

NCRI - On Friday afternoon, October 1, Iraqi forces on the orders of the committee within the Iraqi Prime Minister office responsible for suppression of Ashraf, set up a new post in a hostile move in the northern part of Ashraf with some 20 armed soldiers and have installed a bungalow for this purpose.

When a number of Ashraf residents peacefully approached the Iraqi forces to find out the reason for setting up the new post and occupation of part of the camp, they were attacked with iron bars, sticks, batons and rifle butts. Ten residents, who were beaten and injured, were taken to hospital. The Iraqi forces were under the command of two Iraqi Army officers; Lieutenant-Colonel Nezar, and Lieutenant Heidar... Read More

Ashraf communication system destroyed and equipment stolen by Iraqi forces
NCRI Press Release
Wednesday, 29 September 2010

NCRI - In a hostile move by the Iraqi forces on Monday, one of the internal telephone system junctions inside Camp Ashraf, which was purchased and installed by Ashraf residents years ago, was destroyed and some of the communication equipment and cables were removed from underground and taken away by the forces.

In a similar malicious move, the Iraqi forces and agents of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), who have camped at the entrance of Ashraf and are subjecting the residents to psychological tortures, have destroyed many installations and equipment at the entrance and are refusing to allow the residents of Ashraf to repair them.

Some of the goods and equipment including barbed wires in storage areas at the entrance of Ashraf, which was taken over by the Iraqi forces in July 2009, have recently been stolen by these forces… Read More
 

Ashraf residents are refugees and guests, Iraqiya spokeswoman says
NCRI Website

Tuesday, 28 September 2010
NCRI - The spokeswoman for the Iraqi coalition that came out as the winner of the March parliamentary elections has once again asserted that Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, are political refugees and Tehran has no right to interfere.

Speaking to the Lebanese daily Annahar on Saturday, Meysoun al-Damlouji, the spokeswoman for the al-Iraqiya list, said that the Iranian regime, which is pressuring Baghdad to impose more restrictions on the camp, must not be allowed to interfere when it comes to Baghdad’s treatment of Ashraf residents.

According to Annahar, Ms. Al-Damlouji was previously quoted as saying that the residents of Ashraf, members of the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), pose no threats against the Iranian regime’s security, calling on Baghdad to treat the issue from a position of “Arabic and Islamic courage and morals.”... Read More
 

Human right activists call for int"l protection to Camp Ashraf
Kuwait News Agency

Friday, 24 September 2010
GENEVA, Sept 24 (KUNA) - International lawyers and NGOs called Friday for international protection to the residents of Camp Ashraf through UN and US forces in Iraq according to the Geneva Conventions.

The camp, situated northeast of the Iraqi town of Khalis some 120 kilometers west of the Iranian border and 60 kilometers north of Baghdad, shelters Iranian refugees and elements of the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), an anti-Iran leftist rebel group. On January 1, 2009, the U.S. forces in Iraq handed over the control of the camp to the Iraqi authorities.

Chaired by former Algerian prime minister Sid Ahmed Ghozali, the conference requested an urgent intervention by the UN Secretary General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to halt executions of political prisoners in Iran on charges of "Mohareb" or enemy of God.

The conferees called for alleviating the intolerable pressures on the residents of camp. They also called for the establishment of an international tribunal by the Security Council to try the perpetrators of the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran in 1988.

The conference was held at the UN Office in Geneva upon a joint initiative by the World Organisation against Torture (OMCT), the Foundation France-Libert{s (Danielle Mitterrand) and the Movement against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP), as well as eminent jurist, lawyers and defenders of human rights in various countries... Read More
 

Psychological torture and inhumane siege on Ashraf Intensifies
NCRI Press Release

Friday, 24 September 2010
NCRI - The inhumane siege on Ashraf on the orders of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office committee tasked to suppress Ashraf residents that started early 2009 continues. In a recent incident, on Wednesday, September 22, the Iraqi forces prevented the entry of two cargo containers carrying necessary items such as cooking equipment, Freon gas and spare parts for cooling devices for preserving food stuff, as well as various types of pipes for supplying water to different parts of Ashraf, electric cables, bulbs, fuses, chairs for patients and stationary.

Another part of this cruel siege is the hindrance made by the Committee against Ashraf residents in having access to medical services and taking patients to specialist hospitals that has led to deterioration of the state of many patients where some of them can no longer be cured.

In parallel to this brutal siege, it is eight months now that a number of agents of Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) have camped at the main gate of Ashraf in the guise of families of Ashraf residents and are psychologically torturing the residents particularly the patients in nearby hospital. With the full backing of the Iraqi forces, they are using powerful loudspeakers to create deafening and disturbing sounds aimed at provoking and preparing the grounds for massacre of residents... Read More
 

Iraqi committee to suppress Ashraf refuses four cancer patients access to specialist doctors
NCRI Press Release
Friday, 24 September 2010
NCRI - On Thursday morning, September 23, upon the order of the committee tasked to suppress Ashraf residents, the Iraqi forces stopped translators to accompany four cancer patients to see specialists at a hospital in Baghdad. Since none of the patients could speak English or Arabic, they were forced to cancel their appointments with specialist physicians. This is while the appointments had been made long time ago and necessary coordination were made a week in advance with Ashraf hospital management for the patients and their translators and they were finalized on September 21 and 22. However, Ashraf hospital management informed the patients last night that upon the orders of the committee, they could not be accompanied with their translators.

In another inhumane act, the Iraqi forces cancelled eye surgery on two Ashraf residents due on September 20 in Baghdad without offering any reason or explanation; they were returned back to Ashraf without any treatment. This is while these medical appointments had been made months in advance. It is worth noting that Ashraf residents shoulder themselves the costs of all the medical treatments and related movements completely... Read More
 

British parliamentary committee urges protection of Camp Ashraf residents
NCRI Website

Tuesday, 21 September 2010
NCRI - The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, which enjoys the support of a majority in Britain’s House of Commons and more than 200 members in the House of Lords, has released a statement condemning the Iranian regime’s unlawful pressures against Camp Ashraf, where 3,400 Iranian dissidents reside.

The committee, chaired by Lord Robin Corbett, called on US forces to protect the residents of Ashraf and demanded the posting of a permanent monitoring team by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) in Camp Ashraf... Read More
 

Amnesty International: NEW ORDER, SAME ABUSES - Unlawful Detentions And Torture In Iraq
Amnesty International
September 15, 2010
No investigations yet into the murder of Ashraf residents in 2009, Amnesty International says

... The Iraqi authorities have on numerous occasions announced investigations into incidents of torture, deaths in custody and killings of civilians, especially by the Iraqi security forces. However, the outcomes of such investigations have never been made public. This has raised concerns that such investigations may not have been carried out, or that they were conducted or partly conducted but the findings were ignored. In all cases, those responsible for abuses have not been brought to justice. The failure to deal seriously and effectively with torture and other human rights violations by the Iraqi security forces has created a culture of impunity...

In July 2009 the government stated that it had set up an investigation into the killing of six Iranian refugees, members of the People’s Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), in Camp Ashraf in Diyala governorate after the camp had been raided by Iraqi security forces provoking an international outcry. As of July 2010 it is not known to Amnesty International whether the investigation had been conducted. If it was conducted the findings have not been made public... Read More

France Libertes highlights Ashraf residents' rights at UN session
NCRI Website

September 15, 2010
NCRI - A representative of France Libertes has spoken at the Human Rights Council session in Geneva against rights violations of the residents of Camp Ashraf, where Iranian dissidents reside in Iraq. The UN body started its session, chaired by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, on Monday and will continue until October 1.

Speaking at the session, Oretta Bandettini di Poggio of France Libertés – Foundation Danielle Mitterrand said it was important to promote human rights in times of crisis and emergency, as the High Commissioner had pointed out. She added the situation of Camp Ashraf in Iraq was among the examples that requires immediate attention and emphasized the imperative of UN intervention to ensure respect for Geneva Convention protections for the residents... Read More

Iranian regime's latest plots against Camp Ashraf residents
NCRI Website

September 14, 2010
NCRI - Following the failure of eight month long campaign of psychological torture and pressures against Camp Ashraf residents by the agents of Iranian regime's Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) and terrorist Quds Force who have been stationed at the camp's entrance, and in reaction to widespread support by people of Iraq’s Diyala province for Ashraf residents, the clerical regime is planning to carry out new plots by its agents in that province.

According to information obtained from inside the regime, the agents are planning to dispense false and provocative propaganda against Ashraf by staging a "photo exhibition" on September 17, 2010 in the city of Khalis in Diyala province near Ashraf. The regime intends to pretend as if the inhabitants of Diyala want Ashraf residents out, thus, set the ground for an attack against the camp's residents.

The plan is to be carried out by a number Iranian regime's Iraqi agents including Khalis governor, Odei Khadhran; head of the support council of Khalis, Ali Al-Zahiri; and an individual identified as Ahlam Ghassem Jassim al-Maliki. Al-Zahiri went to Iran last August to be briefed by the MOIS in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah and he was assigned to carry out missions against Ashraf. MOIS provided him with large sums of money to distribute among agents who are involved in the mission... Read More

Italian daily reports on PMOI and Camp Ashraf
NCRI Website

September 5, 2010
NCRI - The Italian Sociality party’s daily has released an analysis in its latest issue about the Iranian people’s recent protests and the role of the main opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.”

The 'Avanti!' wrote, “The largest opposition movement against the dictatorship ruling Iran is the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran which was established in the 1960s. The movement opposed the Shah’s regime. It quickly grew in size and [after the 1979 revolution] began organizing opposition against the clerical regime.”

“Today, the PMOI is headquartered in Camp Ashraf, 60 km from Baghdad and 120 km from Iran. It is under siege by the Iraqi government and the Iranian regime’s agents. The urgent situation in Ashraf prompted the UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon to table a resolution at the Security Council affirming the rights of Ashraf residents.”

“Following the current regime’s overthrow,” Avanti wrote, “the PMOI would be prepared to establish a government in Iran based on the principles of democracy. The strength of this organization was revealed when the European Union removed the group from its terrorist list. The PMOI is now seeking to achieve a similar victory in the United States.” ... Read More

 

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