Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Monday, 16 March 2009
Press release
Brussels, 16 March 2009
Press release
Brussels, 16 March 2009
’Friends of a Free Iran’ condemns the abuse of Ashraf residents ordered by Iraq’s National Security Advisor
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament (FOFI) strongly condemns the abuse of Ashraf residents ordered by the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mr Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. Ashraf City is the historic home of 3500 members of the main Iranian democratic opposition, PMOI (MEK).
On Sunday 15 March 2009, a group of Iraqi forces at the gates of Ashraf, without any justification, attacked two of the residents, Abdol-Ali Mohammadi and Noureddin Navid, with electric batons and attempted to handcuff them, but with the arrival of US forces at the scene, were forced to release them.
This is the latest in a spate of occurrences following a week-long trip to Iraq by the regime’s former President and the head of the Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who demanded the expulsion of the PMOI from Iraq and the closure of Camp Ashraf.
Following Rafsanjani’s trip, the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told the regime’s Arabic-language television station al-Alam on 8 March: ’We have a clear and precise policy regarding the expulsion of this terrorist organisation from Iraq and returning the residents of Camp Ashraf to Iran and or a third country. … These individuals have been brainwashed and we must liberate them from this poison. When we carry out a process of detoxification, if this assumption is correct, this act will at first be painful. There is no alternative than to begin this painful act.” These remarks are an affirmation of a war crime and crimes against humanity which clearly jeopardise the lives of the 3,500 residents of Ashraf.
Iraqi forces on 13 March, using force and aggression, surrounded one of the buildings in Ashraf, demanding the evacuation of hundreds of its mainly-female residents. Iraqi forces have openly told the people in Ashraf that even if 40 of the residents are killed, they will take over this building.
The European Parliament has an official policy on Ashraf : On 12 July 2007 the European Parliament adopted unanimously a resolution on Iraq which said in paragraph 7: ’(The European Parliament) strongly rejects the threats of expulsion and cutting off of supplies of fuel and drinking water made by some senior officials in the Iraqi Government against members of the Iranian opposition who have been political refugees in Iraq for the past 20 years and have the legal status of ’ Protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention’ and calls on the Iraqi Government to respect their rights under international law’.
Another resolution on Ashraf was adopted in the European Parliament on 4 September 2008 which included two paragraphs about the Iranian opposition, PMOI members, in Camp Ashraf- Iraq, emphasizing their legal status as Protected Persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Subsequently a high level delegation of MEPs from different political groups, headed by Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament, visited Ashraf. Their report of that visit is now published in a book: “Iran’s Democratic Opposition” (January 2009).
FOFI calls on Iraq’s Prime Minister – Mr Maliki – immediately to stop such unacceptable treatment of these defenceless Iranian refugees by the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. The residents of Ashraf have been in exile in Iraq for over 2 decades. We also call on President Obama to guarantee the implementation of international conventions and Ashraf residents’ protection by the U.S. forces in compliance with the U.S. government’s international obligations and its agreement with Ashraf residents. Therefore we call for the return of the situation prevailing prior to January 2009, i.e., that U.S. forces be tasked with the protection of Ashraf.
Paulo Casaca MEP
Co-Chair of Friends of a Free Iran
Struan Stevenson MEP
Vice President of EPP-ED
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament (FOFI) strongly condemns the abuse of Ashraf residents ordered by the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mr Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. Ashraf City is the historic home of 3500 members of the main Iranian democratic opposition, PMOI (MEK).
On Sunday 15 March 2009, a group of Iraqi forces at the gates of Ashraf, without any justification, attacked two of the residents, Abdol-Ali Mohammadi and Noureddin Navid, with electric batons and attempted to handcuff them, but with the arrival of US forces at the scene, were forced to release them.
This is the latest in a spate of occurrences following a week-long trip to Iraq by the regime’s former President and the head of the Expediency Council, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who demanded the expulsion of the PMOI from Iraq and the closure of Camp Ashraf.
Following Rafsanjani’s trip, the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie told the regime’s Arabic-language television station al-Alam on 8 March: ’We have a clear and precise policy regarding the expulsion of this terrorist organisation from Iraq and returning the residents of Camp Ashraf to Iran and or a third country. … These individuals have been brainwashed and we must liberate them from this poison. When we carry out a process of detoxification, if this assumption is correct, this act will at first be painful. There is no alternative than to begin this painful act.” These remarks are an affirmation of a war crime and crimes against humanity which clearly jeopardise the lives of the 3,500 residents of Ashraf.
Iraqi forces on 13 March, using force and aggression, surrounded one of the buildings in Ashraf, demanding the evacuation of hundreds of its mainly-female residents. Iraqi forces have openly told the people in Ashraf that even if 40 of the residents are killed, they will take over this building.
The European Parliament has an official policy on Ashraf : On 12 July 2007 the European Parliament adopted unanimously a resolution on Iraq which said in paragraph 7: ’(The European Parliament) strongly rejects the threats of expulsion and cutting off of supplies of fuel and drinking water made by some senior officials in the Iraqi Government against members of the Iranian opposition who have been political refugees in Iraq for the past 20 years and have the legal status of ’ Protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention’ and calls on the Iraqi Government to respect their rights under international law’.
Another resolution on Ashraf was adopted in the European Parliament on 4 September 2008 which included two paragraphs about the Iranian opposition, PMOI members, in Camp Ashraf- Iraq, emphasizing their legal status as Protected Persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Subsequently a high level delegation of MEPs from different political groups, headed by Dr Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament, visited Ashraf. Their report of that visit is now published in a book: “Iran’s Democratic Opposition” (January 2009).
FOFI calls on Iraq’s Prime Minister – Mr Maliki – immediately to stop such unacceptable treatment of these defenceless Iranian refugees by the Iraqi National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie. The residents of Ashraf have been in exile in Iraq for over 2 decades. We also call on President Obama to guarantee the implementation of international conventions and Ashraf residents’ protection by the U.S. forces in compliance with the U.S. government’s international obligations and its agreement with Ashraf residents. Therefore we call for the return of the situation prevailing prior to January 2009, i.e., that U.S. forces be tasked with the protection of Ashraf.
Paulo Casaca MEP
Co-Chair of Friends of a Free Iran
Struan Stevenson MEP
Vice President of EPP-ED
