PMOI Camp violently attacked on July 28 by Baghdad armed forces: 11 dead
With the deafening silence of global media and political circles, only a number of human rights organizations like Amnesty International have condemned the violent attacks
Source: Italian daily Liberazione, August 22, 2009
On July 28, a massacre took place quietly and away from international eye in northern Baghdad: 11 were killed, 500 injured and 36 were detained.
It was an attack against Camp Ashraf where 3,500 political dissidents (including 1,000 women) reside. They are affiliated with the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a resistance movement which has for years struggled against the ayatollahs’ regime in Tehran. They were placed on the terrorist list by them.
After Saddam Hussein’s downfall in 2003, Ashraf was controlled and protected by American forces. They handed over their weapons to the Americans in exchange for protection of Ashraf residents. They were protected by the Americans until February 28, 2009 when Ashraf’s protection was transferred to the al-Maliki government, which is increasingly cozying up to Iran (Khamenei and Ahmadinejad). The attack was carried out by al-Maliki’s armed forces and at the behest of his masters in Tehran. In a series of videos posted on YouTube the brutality of the attack comes to life.
More than 3,000 soldiers and police forces from Baghdad, aided by agents dispatched by the Iranian regime who were likely part of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (the videos show many agents speaking in Farsi), used bulldozers to raid Camp Ashraf.
Tear gas, sound grenades, iron bars and guns were used in the bloody killings. Ashraf residents, equipped with just a few stones, were not able to do much in the face of the pre-planned attack. Sensitive audience must avoid viewing the graphic pictures: There are military personnel who violently beat unarmed residents, there are bloodied and broken heads, women and men are covered in blood, cars zigzag up and down, and women scream and cry.
This was a pre-planned tragedy in all aspects. The Iranian parliamentary speaker Larijani (a moderate voice in the Shiite regime) praised the action and added that it was delayed. American forces were present on the scene and watched the murders but did not even lift a finger.
With the deafening silence of global media and political circles, only a number of human rights organizations like Amnesty International have condemned the violent attacks.
Ashraf residents who were abandoned by American forces on realpolitik grounds are worried about the potential of a more extensive attack since the Iraqi armed forces are still present in Ashraf and are awaiting new orders.
Ashraf residents have not abandoned their legal struggle and in addition to various protest actions and sit-ins in countries around the world (from Washington to Paris to London and Sydney), they are demanding from the international community to immediately work to force the Iraqi forces out of Camp Ashraf and return the protection of the 3,500 residents to its previous status.
According to the international committee of jurists in defense of human rights in Chicago, in accordance with Article 45 of the Geneva Conventions with regards to political refugees, the protection of Camp Ashraf must immediately be reassumed by the US. In a letter written to the US Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates, the jurists have asked for the security of Ashraf residents to be transferred to American forces, because in addition to the fact that Baghdad has been unable to shoulder this responsibility it has also proven to be imposing pressure on the residents.
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Photo: At a press conference c in Paris on August 11, 2009, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance shows pictures of members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEk) who have been killed by the Iraqi forces during attack at the Camp Ashraf.
