By Frederic Koller
Le Temps (Swiss national daily) – Two Iraqi deputies denounce Iran’s grip on their country.
To what extent is Iran responsible for the Iraqi chaos? For Mohammed Hussein Awaz, Sunni deputy at the Iraqi Parliament, the answer is clear: “Iranian secret services rule Iraq. They are everywhere, through militias, even in prisons to oversee tortures. The mullahs’ regime uses religious fascism to divide the Iraqi people. If the Iraqi government gives in to the Iranians, it would be another catastrophe for the whole world”.
Refugees in peril
Mohammed Hossein Awaz and Fallah Hassan Zeidan, both members of the Iraqi Front for National Dialogue, a parliamentary group which gathers close to one third of the Iraqi Parliament’s deputies, were the guests of the Swiss press club. They were passing through Geneva to defend the cause of the 4000 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation (PMOI), an Iranian opposition movement based in Iraq in the Ashraf camp, north-east of Baghdad, for two decays.
These most particular refugees – their movement is on the list of terrorist organisations of the United States and the European Union – have recently been threatened with expulsion by various Iraqi officials, including the Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on July 19. For more than two months, exiled Iranians have been demonstrating everyday outside the office of the High Commissioner for Refugees in order to ensure the UN body’s support.
According to the lawyer Christian Grobet who represents the People’s Mojahedin the United States – the occupying power in Iraq – is responsible for their security based on the Fourth Geneva Convention. A fact confirmed by the International Committee of the Red Cross in 2003. But their refugee status is “in peril” today.
For Fallah Hassan Zeidan, the Mojahedin are defenders of democracy and freedom whose fate can serve as a barometer for Iraq’s submission to the control-taking will of the country by Iran. “When I hear Nouri al-Maliki speak about democracy whereas he was ready to hand over 4000 democrats to the mullahs, I am surprised.” The PMOI states for its part that it had collected the signature of 5.2 million Iraqis to denounce the Iranian meddling in Iraq and to acknowledge the refugee status of its members.
