Press release
18 June 2012
An Iraqi Government Delegation, in charge of repression and human rights violations of Ashraf/Liberty residents, is in Brussels this week
On behalf of the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ), Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament, urged Baroness Catherine Ashton to support the humanitarian requests of Iranian dissidents in camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq and to speak firmly with representatives of the government of Iraq.
In his letter to Baroness Ashton today, he wrote:
“This week Brussels is hosting a large delegation from the government of Iraq. They have come to defend the crimes and suppressive measures of their government against Ashraf residents and to blame the residents for the difficulties, shortages and violence by portraying a harsh and maximalist image of them.
A look at the composition of the delegation shows that its members are affiliated with the suppressive government bodies, mixed with some officials from the Foreign Ministry and Ministries of Human Rights and Justice in order to camouflage their true nature.
Among this delegation is Colonel Al-Farhan Sadiq Mohammed Katum/Kazem, who is the Iraqi governmental head of Camp Liberty and has been summoned by the Spanish National Court for his role in the two massacres of July 2009 and April 2011in Ashraf.
This delegation arrives in Europe at a time when the conditions of the Iranian dissidents at Camp Liberty are highly distressing. They are under a variety of suppressive measures and inhumane restrictions.
Liberty is suffering from lack of basic needs such as water, electricity, and a properly functioning sewage system, and the Government of Iraq, in an inhumane action, is preventing the transfer of the residents’ necessary items from Ashraf to Liberty.
Despite repeated statements by the UNHCR, including statements of February 1st, March 1st, and March 28th, the residents do not have the right of passage, nor access to their lawyers, nor are their relatives permitted to enter Iraq or Liberty/Ashraf. Liberty is, by all means, a prison. Instead of improving these conditions, Iraqi policy first and foremost is closing Ashraf at any price and piling up the residents in Liberty prison.”
Alejo Vidal-Quadras added in his letter that under these conditions, we must speak quite firmly with the Government of Iraq and the representatives that it has sent here and place the following actions on the agenda: European Parliament, ASP 11E205, 60 rue Wiertz, B-1047, Brussels, Belgium Email: [email protected]
1. Those people in the Iraqi delegation who have had direct roles in crimes against Ashraf must be strictly banned from entering the European Union institutions. Al-Farhan Sadiq Mohammed Katum is one of these people.
2. Iraq must be reminded that any act of violence against Ashraf residents and pressure for closure of Ashraf without implementing the minimum and legitimate demands of the residents is absolutely unacceptable and would severely impact the relations between Europe and Iraq.
3. The 6-point requests of Ashraf residents for continued relocation to Liberty must be clearly and unambiguously supported and we must ask the Iraqi government to immediately carry out the points related to that government. Defying these simple and basic requests would demonstrate that the government of Iraq has ominous intentions and plans to turn Liberty into a prison and a slaughter-house for its residents and in that case, continuing relocation to Liberty is by no means wise.
4. We ask you to take a position at the outset of this delegation’s arrival in Brussels and while condemning the suppressive behaviour of the Government of Iraq against the residents of Liberty and Ashraf, support their 6-point requests.*
Secretariat of the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ)
Brussels
*The six points requests mentioned in the letter are:
1. SRSG (UN envoy Martin Kobler) will not permit any interference of the Iranian regime against its opponents in Camp Ashraf and Liberty.
2. All the agreements and commitments related to the fifth convoy, mainly women, will be fulfilled by GOI (6 utility vehicles, 25 trucks to transfer their belongings, 6 special trailers and 3 vehicles of the paraplegic patients).
3. All the provisions of the SRSG letters, particularly about the police, 10 passenger cars for every convoy, a precise date for connection of Liberty to the city water network and power grind, construction, green areas and planting trees will be guaranteed and implemented before any other move.
4. Liberty’s legal status will be recognised as a refugee camp.
5. The UN guarantees selling all Ashraf moveable and immoveable properties or transferring moveable properties to another country/ or Iraqi Kurdistan.
6. The US will inspect Camp Ashraf as soon as possible.
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