Skip to content

U.S. Committee for Ashraf Residents

Working for Safety and Security of Our Loved Ones

Menu
  • Home
  • News
    • 2003-2016 Attacks
      • Oct 2015 Rocket Attack
        • Reactions
          • US Congress
          • UN & HR Orgs
      • Sept. 2013 Massacre
      • April 2011 Massacre
        • Scenes of Massacre
      • July 2009 Attack
      • TV/Video reports
  • Statements
  • US Congress
    • Resolutions
      • H.R.3707 (2013-2014)
      • H. RES. 89 (2013)
      • H. RES. 60
      • H. RES. 231
      • H. RES. 332
      • H. RES. 704
  • US Officials
  • UN & Ashraf
  • About
    • Our Committee
    • Ashraf 3 – Albania
    • Camp Ashraf & Camp Liberty – Iraq
    • PMOI/MEK
Menu

MEPs warn of ‘humanitarian catastrophe’ at Iran exile camp

Posted on October 31, 2011November 1, 2011 by AFP

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

BRUSSELS, Oct 31, 2011 (AFP) – European parliamentarians issued a fresh warning Monday of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” at an Iraqi camp housing Iranian exiles and urged the United Nations to provide protection for its 3,400 residents.

Iraqi security guards firing on Iranian exiles. The fighting happened at Camp Ashraf, a refugee camp about 90 kilometres north of Baghdad. Video courtesy of Reuters.

MEP Struan Stevenson, who heads the parliament’s delegation for relations with Iraq, said in an e-mail that 180 parliamentarians from the main political groups had signed a petition urging the postponement of a December 31 deadline set by Baghdad to close the camp.

“We have only eight weeks left to make (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri) al-Maliki see sense or I fear we will face a certain humanitarian catastrophe,” he said.

The plea came as in Baghdad, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said his government was resolved to close down Camp Ashraf, northeast of the Iraqi capital, by year’s end.

“The decision will be implemented by the end of this year,” he said, speaking alongside his Iranian counterpart Ali Akbar Salehi.

“There is no government that would agree to an organisation staying against its (authorities’) will, laws and sovereignty.”

Hundreds of protesters gathered in Washington and Brussels earlier this month to demand that the camp’s closure be postponed to protect the 3,400 Iranian dissidents who have lived there for 30 years.

The camp, which has become a mounting international problem, has been in the spotlight since an April raid by Iraqi security forces left 34 people dead and scores injured, triggering sharp condemnation.

It was set up when Iraq and Iran were at war in the 1980s by the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), later coming under US control until January 2009, when US forces transferred security for the camp to Iraq.

The PMOI has been on the US government terrorist list since 1997 but has received support from leading US figures in its battle to obtain international supervision of Camp Ashraf’s closure, which comes as US forces pull out of Iraq.

In their petition, the MEPs said the closure “could be used as a pretext for a large-scale massacre.”

The petition accused Iraqi forces of psychological warfare on residents, threatening them day and night over 300 loudspeakers and restricting access to fuel and medicines. It said at least 12 people had died in recent months due to an “inhuman medical blockade.”

Because the UN High Commissioner for Refugees needed more time to interview the residents to decide on their future, the MEPs said they were calling on the United States and the United Nations to force Iraq to postpone the December 31 deadline “until the transfer of all residents to third countries has been accomplished.”

They also asked for UN monitors at Ashraf “to assure and guarantee the residents’ protection until they are transferred to alternative host countries.” 

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2011/Oct-31/152694-meps-warn-of-humanitarian-catastrophe-at-iran-exile-camp.ashx

Latest News

  • Iranian Resistance, Achievements and Activities in 2023 January 5, 2024
  • Female political prisoners in Evin are retaliated for their protest, deprived of their basic rights January 4, 2024
  • BCFIF Makes Iran Policy Recommendations for UK Government January 1, 2024
  • Congressional Caucus Spearheads Global Initiative to Ensure Safety and Rights of Iranian Dissidents in Ashraf-3 December 21, 2023
  • Iranian Regime Judiciary’s Actions against MEK Condemned by 453 Legal Experts October 28, 2023

Iranian diplomat Assadollah Assadi faces terrorism trial in Belgium court

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnKyWTWC6EM

UN experts call for investigation of 1988 Massacre in Iran – December 2020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTQGUHGsUCQ
© 2025 U.S. Committee for Ashraf Residents | Powered by Superbs Personal Blog theme