NCRI – The Iraqi forces stationed in Camp Liberty who are affiliated with the Iraqi Prime Ministry use various pretexts to stonewall timely transfer of patients to hospital, including by preventing entry of ambulances to the camp; thereby intensifying the medical siege that is imposed on Iranian refugees.
On Sunday, June 8, Iraqi forces stationed in the camp sent away an ambulance that had arrived to transfer an emergency case patient to hospital in Baghdad. This was while the Iraqi physician stationed in the camp’s clinic had requested that Ms. Fatema Nourani who had suffered a brain stroke be quickly transferred to hospital.
This criminal act by the Iraqi forces caused the patient in critical condition to be transferred to hospital only after several hours of delay which introduced a high risk to her health and will surely affect her recovery.
Moreover, on Sunday, the Iraqi forces suddenly and in the last minutes crossed out two names from the list of patients that were to be taken to the hospital in Baghdad returning them back to the camp.
Additionally, without any justification, the Iraqi forces asked for the person accompanying one of the patients by the name of Hossein Moradi who was in critical condition, to be replaced. The accompanying person was an Arab language interpreter and the patient’s nurse as well.
Residents adhered to this demand so that the medical appointment would not be cancelled, but the Iraqi agents refused to accept his replacement as well. Therefore the ambulance only left the camp after a delay of several hours needed to find a third replacement.
In yet another suppressive measure, when the patients were waiting at the camp’s entrance gate to be taken to Baghdad, an element of the Prime Ministry Office named Mohammad insulted and harassed the patients and those who were accompanying them.
Mohammad receives his orders from the Iraqi Major Ahmed Khozair who is stationed in the camp and has been directly involved in the massacre of residents in Camp Ashraf.
This Prime Ministry agent threatened and pressured the patients to compel them to use just one ambulance for their trip. This was while there were too many patients and two of them needed to lie down in the ambulance because of their condition in order to be transferred.
This same individual also insulted and used foul language against one of the residents the previous day, twisted the resident’s arm, and threatened that he will suffocate him.
It is a long time now that the Iraqi Prime Ministry elements have intensified the inhuman medical siege and their restricting measures on Camp Liberty.
On a daily basis and for no reason whatsoever, they prevent nurses and interpreters from accompanying the patients, delay departure of ambulances, and stonewall the transfer of patients to Baghdad to receive medical care.
The criminal medical siege and lack of free access to medical services imposed on Ashraf and Camp Liberty in the past five and a half years has resulted in twenty PMOI members losing their lives.
The Iranian Resistance warns of the consequences of the anti-human medical siege against Camp Liberty, as well as the anti-human behavior and insulting and harassing of the patients by the Iraqi forces and it calls on the United Nations and the U.S. government, given their commitments regarding the safety and security of PMOI members in Camp Liberty, to adopt immediate measures to end this anti-human siege and to remove the elements responsible for suppression and psychological torture from Camp Liberty.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 9, 2014
