Urgent call on US, UN, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights to save lives of seven Ashraf hostages threatened with extradition to mullahs’ regime
At an international conference in Geneva on Friday, September 20, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance called on the US, UN, and the High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay to honor their legal and moral commitments to act immediately to free the seven Camp Ashraf refugees, including six women, who have been taken hostage by Maliki’s assassins. Mrs Rajavi condemned the 20 days of silence and inaction as they are held in horrendous conditions under torture and interrogation.
She said that according to specific and accurate information from various sources, the hostages were in the hands of the government of Iraq. These details have also been brought to the attention of US officials, the High Commissioner for Refugees, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and the European Union.
Mrs Rajavi added: “The September 1st massacre in Ashraf has turned the already precarious conditions in Camp Liberty into a pressing matter. The ominous intentions of the Iraqi government have become evident as despite guarantees by UN officials and U.S. Secretary of State, it continues to obstruct the provision of minimum security provisions for Camp Liberty residents, such as the transfer of personal protective gear and medical equipment from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, and it refuses to allow the 17,500 T-walls that protected the containers to be returned to the camp.”
Maryam Rajavi stated: “Since Government of Iraq has no competence whatsoever in protecting the residents and is itself their murderer, the UN monitoring team and UN Blue Helmet forces should be stationed inside Camp Liberty at all hours of the day because without the presence of a third force in Camp Liberty, no security is conceivable.”
In addition to Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance; José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, former Prime Minister of Spain; Giulio Terzi, Foreign Minister of Italy (2011-2013); Horst Teltschik, leader of the Munich Security Conference (1999-2008); Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Philip Crowley,US Assistant Secretary of State of (20092-011); Senator Ingrid Betancourt, former presidential candidate in Colombia; Jean-Charles Rielle, Eric Vorou,Luc Bartesa, and Mauro Poggia Swiss legislators; Alessandro Pagano, member of Italian parliament; Senator Gerie Douran and Senator Ripol from Spain; Dennis Demvel, member of Belgian parliament; Tahar Boumedra, former senior UN official and in charge of Camp Ashraf case; Marc Ginsberg, former U.S. Ambassador to Morocco; former U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli; General Mesghal Al-Batish, Staff Brigadier General of Syrian Free Army; Fereshteh Bolourchi, representative of National Council of Resistance in Germany and mother of Rahman Mannani, a martyr of September 1st massacre; Colonel Wesley Martin, a commander of Ashraf protection; and Nils De Dardel, lawyer and co-Chair of the Committee in Defense of Camp Ashraf in Switzerland also addressed the conference.
Mrs. Rajavi added that as far as the appeasers of mullahs are concerned, this massacre is a matter for their perpetual shame and disgrace because the Iranian Resistance and its supporters around the world had time and again warned that the Iraqi government, which is subordinate to the mullahs in Iran, is positioning itself to carry out another humanitarian catastrophe against PMOI. Nonetheless, their only response was silence and inaction.
Participants at the conference expressed their abhorrence that the US and UN turned a blind eye to the human catastrophes in Ashraf and Liberty, and have not carried out minimum investigations into these atrocities that until now have led to the killing of 100 defenseless refugees. They called on the US and UN to put an end to this inaction and silence that has emboldened the henchmen and assassins of the Iranian regime and its subordinate government in Iraq, and to live up to their commitments to the residents of Camp Liberty who are threatened by further massacres at any moment.
The conference emphasized that United States and United Nations are legally and morally directly responsible for providing safety and protection to these refugees that are ‘people of concern’ and protected by the Fourth Geneva Convention and therefore are liable for any threat and danger to them.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 20, 2013
