Source: Azzaman (Iraqi daily), May 30, 2009
Two days ago in the morning, Iraqi police units entered Camp Ashraf, home to some 3,400 Iranian refugees, under the pretext of ensuring internal security. This took place even though the military is responsible for protecting the camp.
Mehdi Oqbai, the official spokesperson of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), told Azzaman that, “The unjustifiable and sudden entry of Iraqi police to the camp happened simultaneous with the Iranian officials’ demands to intensify pressure on Ashraf residents. It raises alarm about the occurrence of a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Source: Azzaman (Iraqi daily), May 30, 2009
Two days ago in the morning, Iraqi police units entered Camp Ashraf, home to some 3,400 Iranian refugees, under the pretext of ensuring internal security. This took place even though the military is responsible for protecting the camp.
Mehdi Oqbai, the official spokesperson of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), told Azzaman that, “The unjustifiable and sudden entry of Iraqi police to the camp happened simultaneous with the Iranian officials’ demands to intensify pressure on Ashraf residents. It raises alarm about the occurrence of a humanitarian catastrophe.”
“These developments take place in conjunction with the infighting within the Iranian regime for more power in the run up to the presidential elections in Iran,” Oqbai added.
The PMOI spokesman also said, “Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of Iranian resistance, wrote letters to US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, demanding their immediate intervention in the matter in order to prevent the intrusion of any forces at the camp, and asking for the protection of camp residents in accordance with international and humanitarian customs and treaties. Mrs. Rajavi also demanded the protection of Ashraf residents by American forces under UN supervision. International personalities, human rights groups, and international lawyers have sent telegrams of protest to the US President and UN Secretary General, condemning the Iraqi police’s intrusion at Camp Ashraf, and demanding guarantees to protect the camp’s unarmed residents.”
A statement by the Iranian opposition said: It is an extremely dangerous move which can prepare the grounds for a human catastrophe in Ashraf. This is something that the clerical regime has been planning for. The unexpected and sudden entry into Ashraf by the Iraqi police violates the agreement between the Iraqi and the US governments to respect the rights of Ashraf residents. The European Parliament has called on the Iraqi government to end its blockade of the camp and respect the legal status of the Camp Ashraf residents as 'protected persons' under the Geneva Conventions.
In her letters, Mrs. Rajavi cited a letter by the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), comprised of 2,000 Parliamentarians in Europe and the US, and the letter of the International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Ashraf (ICJDA), comprised of 8,500 jurists in Europe and North America, and reiterated that if the government of Iraq were to refrain from complying with the EP resolution and continue to violate the rights of Ashraf residents, the only option would be to refer the matter to the United Nations for the upholding of international guarantees and for US forces to directly assume the protection of Ashraf.
