NCRI – The UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights heard a statement by a Euro MP on the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and its ploy to eliminate its main opposition, the People’s Mojahedin (PMOI), based in Ashraf City in Iraq.
Speaking at the fifty-eighth session of the UN body in Geneva on Monday, August 14, Paulo Casaca, MEP from Portugal, enumerated mullahs’ terrorist activities in Iraq and called on the UNHCR to reaffirm the political refugee status of the PMOI members in Iraq. The following are excerpts from his statement:
As a member of the European Parliament and as a long-time activist of the cause of human rights, it is for me a great honor, Mr. President, to be able to contribute to the worthy mission of your sub-committee – and specifically to the struggle against violations of human rights of such importance as the respect of the rights of refugees.
In the name of all those relatives of Iranian refugees in Iraq – that came here to Geneva to call for international help – and of all those million Iraqis who are now being forced to be exiled in their own country – or sometimes in their Western neighbor countries – I would also like to convey my deepest gratitude to the Women’s Human Rights International Association that sponsored this intervention.
Being in the human-rights sub-committee in Geneva, I have necessarily to pay my respects to one of the most famous political refugees that this generous city gave shelter to, Mr. Kazem Rajavi, who was murdered here, in a blatant disrespect not only for his human rights but also for this city, for this Committee and for the concept of refugee rights.
Mr. President: the right of refuge, be it in religious temples, country embassies or foreign countries has been one of the eldest and most sensitive human rights, the non-respect for it being one of the most certain symbols of the existence of severe human-rights disruptions.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) have been in Iraq for twenty years, fully enjoying political refugee status until 2003, and as protected persons under the IVth Geneva Convention afterwards, as following 16 months of investigations, in July 2004, the United States-led Multi-National Force – Iraq (MNF-I) recognized that all the accusations made against them were unsubstantiated.
As I was able to testify personally in two missions to Ashraf City in 2004 and 2005, apart from the civic intervention in support of the Iraqi people – be it in water supply, medical treatment, logistic center for free discussions among different Iraqi parties and associations – they never interfered in Iraq’s internal affairs.
This is the main reason why five million two hundred thousand Iraqis signed a petition supporting the refugee rights of the PMOI; Iraqis know who their friends are!
As the very intense campaign to taint the reputation of the PMOI members in Iraq – some of it, unfortunately, abusing human rights labels of some NGO – was proved to be based on pure slander, the enemy of PMOI decided to use the very same terrorist attacks and political hate speeches by which it has been targeting the Iraqi people.
In the past several weeks, the water pipelines supplying water to Ashraf were twice blown up. During the previous month, a bus carrying Iraqi workers who were working in Ashraf was blown up leaving 11 workers dead and 25 others injured.
At the same time, the supply of fuel, food essentials and medicine to Ashraf was embargoed, and operators in informal markets were threatened for their lives if they would accept to sell anything to Ashraf.
Some Iraqi political leaders recently returned from Iran where they lived for decades, as Mr. Al-Hakim, have been quite outspoken on their political will to expel Iranian opponents from Iraq, and others, as Iraqi Vice President Adel Abdul-Mehdi announced that the Iranian regime had called on the Iraqi government to hand over to it 5,000 members of the PMOI. When an Iraqi parliamentary delegation went to Tehran in June, it was told by Iranian officials that they would provide them with as much money and arms that they wanted as long as they put the PMOI under pressure.
These remarks are completely against both the Fourth Geneva Convention and the right to asylum, and this reality is reiterated by Iraqi officials who are not under the influence of the Iranian regime.
According to Iraqi press, “Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Services, Dr. Salam al-Zubai, reiterated PMOI members’ right to a legal presence in Iraq as political refugees and said, ‘They also enjoy the special status of protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and are protected by U.S. forces.'” (Al-Safir, al-Iraq al-Youm, al-Haqayeq – 9 August)
Also, in recent weeks, some of the most important Iraqi political leaders and personalities and several parliamentary groups have reaffirmed PMOI members’ legal status in Iraq and condemned the Iranian regime’s measures against them.
According to eminent jurist, Lord Slynn of Hadely, a former judge at the European Court of Justice, the PMOI were considered refugees in Iraq under the Iraqi constitution and other Iraqi laws since 1986. Therefore, under international law the current government of Iraq carries the responsibilities of the government it succeeded. Under Article 34 of the Iraqi Constitution of 16 August 1970:
1) The Republic of Iraq grants the right to political asylum to all the combatants who are under oppression and tyranny in their own country for defense of freedom and humanitarian principals which Iraqi people are dedicated to in their constitutional law.
2) Extradition of political refugees is forbidden.
Also, the presence of the PMOI in Iraq is in line with clauses 4 and 5 of Law 210 dated December 5, 2000.
Taking into account the above points and the threats posed to the security and lives of those in Ashraf City, and in order to remove the Iranian regime’s pretext for exerting pressure on the PMOI, I would very much appreciate the Sub Commission to ask the UN High Commissioner for Refugee to declare that:
PMOI personnel in Iraq (based in Camp Ashraf) have been political refugees in Iraq for the past 20 years and this status continues. The Iraqi government must respect this status and uphold its rights and requirements.
I am absolutely convinced that the respect of the asylum statute of PMOI members in Iraq will be the best symbol of the respect of human rights of Iraqis.
