The silence of senior U.S. officials in the face of the major crime against humanity in Camp Ashraf was a new low in their record of turning their backs on their legal obligations and responsibilities towards those whom the U.S. government committed publicly and in writing to protect in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty.
Welcoming Maliki at the White House less than two months after the crime was a disgrace and shame of modern humanity. Everything was arranged so that this crime would not be mentioned. This was the perfect outcome for all parties except the Iranian people and the Resistance, and the honorable representatives and personalities in different countries who were not willing to accept this shame.
Strength from cohesion
The parties did not hide from the outset that their best option was to dissolve the PMOI, and hence better accommodate the mullahs’ regime and its puppet government in Iraq.
But the PMOI, by relying on widespread popular support from inside and outside Iran, and its flexibility and responsibility over the past 11 years, displayed its cohesion and invincibility.
And along with this perseverance, an expanding international front from Europe to the Middle East and the United States has stood up to defend the just rights of the PMOI and Ashraf.
Thousands of politicians, parliamentarians who represent more than one billion people in the world, and thousands more jurists, lawyers and human rights activists around the world, are part in this international front.
So while official bodies avoid saying the truth about September 1st attack, due to political considerations vis-à-vis the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government, the Iranian Resistance was able to attract the international community’s attention to a great extent and not let the official policies to prevail:
While the United Nations officially refuses to acknowledge the role of the Iraqi government, a rare joint statement by the UN expert bodies, including the Working Group on arbitrary arrests and forced disappearances and the UN Special Rapporteurs on execution, torture and women, emphasized on December 9 the responsibility of the Iraqi government and demanded the situation of seven hostages be resolved by this government.
The European Parliament Resolution of October 10, 2013, noted the crimes against humanity in Ashraf and said it “Strongly condemns the attack on Camp Ashraf of 1 September 2013 by Iraqi forces, in which 52 Iranian refugees were killed, and 7 residents were abducted, including 6 women who, as stated by EU High Representative Catherine Ashton, are believed to be held in Baghdad, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”
While the US government officially tried to wash the bloody hands of Maliki of this crime, on December 11, a bill on the Camp Liberty residents was put forward by 17 senior Congressmen that holds Iraq accountable for the crimes against Ashraf residents, demands specific measures by the United States of America for the protection and security of Liberty residents and their orderly transfer to outside Iraq. This bill has attracted widespread support.
A Spanish court issued a definite decision on following its investigation of Faleh Fayyaz, Maliki’s National Security Adviser, for complicity in the massacres of September 1, 2013 and April 8, 2011. The decision stipulates that no measures against Ashraf and Liberty can be taken without the order of Faleh Fayyaz, who acts completely on orders of Maliki, Iraq’s Prime Minister.
On November 19, Amnesty International stressed in its Urgent Action that the seven Ashraf Hostages are in Iraq and urged the Iraqi government to guarantee their security and non-refoulement to Iran. In a statement the same day about the seven hostages, the UNHCR urged the Iraqi government “to locate them, ensure their well-being and safeguard them against any forcible return.”
A little earlier, the Resistance campaign caused the Congress, the Senate, and US public opinion to express their outrage over Maliki’s crimes against the PMOI and the Iraqi people, and Maliki’s trip to the US that had been arranged to get support for his third term as Prime Minister and to receive military aid, has been unsuccessful and his journey ended a day earlier.
Therefore expert and relevant bodies of the UN, judicial and human rights organizations, as well as the US Congress and European Parliaments stressed the accountability of Iraq for the September 1st crime and neutralized official policies. The 108-day hunger strike of Liberty residents and Iranians in eight countries that ended on December 17 with Mrs. Maryam Rajavi’s call following the Spanish court ruling, had a great affect on the above developments and showed that the members and supporters of this Resistance and large numbers of Iranians are ready to pay the maximum price to defend the ideals of democracy and human rights.
Thus the experience of the Iranian resistance in 2013 in various fields, especially on the issues of Ashraf and Liberty can be formulated as:
On the one hand, maximum inaction and violations of known legal and international obligations by the UN, the US and other world powers, and the overshadowing human rights, political and economical factors. And on the other hand, the growing strength and effectiveness of the Iranian resistance and people and defenders of democracy and law at the international level, has created a new balance in international politics. This is a new phenomenon that without the active role of politicians, parliamentarians and noble and humanitarian European and American personalities would have been impossible.
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