NCRI – Iraq’s barbaric government is slaughtering its own people and must be replaced in a free and fair election, the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq has demanded.
Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki’s brutal regime forcefully relocated Iranian refugees from Camp Ashraf to Liberty, where they are exposed to extreme danger – and that process was ‘disgracefully endorsed’ by the UN’s Iraqi envoy Martin Kobler, delegation president Struan Stevenson said.
He also branded Iraq as a puppet of the extremist mullahs in Iran, and which massacred 70 Sunnis and left hundreds more injured in Hawija on April 23, he said in a press release.
Al-Maliki’s ‘dictatorial and repressive’ policies could push Iraq into a sectarian war that could engulf the entire region, the statement warned.
It added: “News agencies across the globe have carried horrific images of the dead bodies of unarmed protesters massacred by Iraqi government forces in the Sunni enclave of Hawija on 23rd April.
“Since the Hawija massacre, attacks on other protests and demonstrations have continued and protesters have been systematically assassinated.”
Iraq has also executed 70 people so far this year – the third highest in the world after China and Iran. It has also confirmed that another 150 prisoners on death row will be executed shortly, Mr Stevenson said.
He quoted UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay who described the executions as ‘like processing animals in a slaughterhouse’.
Ms Pillay also declared that the judicial system in Iraq was ‘too seriously flawed to warrant even a limited application of the death penalty, let alone dozens of executions at a time’.
Mr Stevenson said the forced relocation of Iranian refugees to Camp Liberty – where they are denied access to even basic necessities – further underlined the brutality of the new sectarian dictatorship, Mr Stevenson said.
He added: “Unfortunately and disgracefully, this process has been endorsed and supported by the UN’s Special Representative in Iraq – Martin Kobler.
“The recent provincial elections were influenced and controlled by Maliki and his security forces. There have been massive protests against the frauds reported in these elections and I have received numerous reports on the mishandling of election ballots.
“The opportunity to restore democracy to Iraq has once again been squandered.
“Prime Minister Maliki’s dictatorial and repressive policies are leading Iraq towards a sectarian civil war that could engulf the entire region.
“The growing influence of the Iranian regime in Iraq has also given cause for international concern. It is now firmly believed that many of the terrorist bombings and attacks in public places have been perpetrated by Iraqi security forces in collaboration with the Iranian Quds Force.
“These terrorist acts are carried out to expand the circle of influence of the Iranian regime in Iraq and to help maintain Maliki’s tenuous grip on power.
“Iran now clearly controls Iraq’s domestic and foreign policy. In collaboration with Maliki, Iran has been able to circumvent the international boycott against itself and has used Iraqi land and air space to supply arms and personnel to the murderous regime of Assad in Syria.
“Iranian revolutionary guards and Hezbollah fighters have been regularly despatched to Syria through Iraq. Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs is part of the mullah’s grand strategy in the region that could push the entire region into a terrifying sectarian war.”
If civil war was to be avoided in Iraq, then al-Maliki must quit and be replaced in a democratic election, Mr Stevenson said.
The UN must also sack Martin Kobler and replace him with a ‘competent, unbiased representative who seeks to work for the establishment of peace and stability’, the MEP demanded.
