NCRI – At an international symposium at UN headquarters in Geneva on Thursday September 19, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance called on the United States and the UN to take urgent actions for securing the release of 7 Camp Ashraf hostages, including 6 women.
She said that we have no doubt that the hostages are in Iraq and held in a prison near Baghdad airport by forces under command of Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki. Contradictory statements by Iraqi officials are simply to set the stage for handing them over to the religious fascism ruling Iran.
She warned against another massacre of Iranian asylum seekers in camp Liberty in Iraq and said that the only way to guarantee the minimum safety and security of Liberty residents is around-the-clock stationing of a UN monitoring team and Blue Helmet forces inside Liberty. She added that to avert another catastrophe, conducting an independent investigation regarding Ashraf massacre within a narrow time frame is absolutely necessary and called on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Navi Pillay to start the investigations immediately.
Mrs. Rajavi said: The U.S. government, the European Union, and the United Nations must make it clear to the government of Iraq that suppression of the Iranian dissidents in Iraq and holding the hostages will have a profound impact on economic and political relations with Iraq.
The Speakers other than Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, included Bernard Kouchner, former French Foreign Minister, Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria, Dr. Jean Charl Rielle, chair of the Geneva Town Council, Christiane Perregaux, former head of Geneva’s legislative council, Tahar Boumedra, former chief of Human Rights of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq and in charge of Camp Ashraf case, Professor Goodwin-Gill, legal theorist and professor of Geneva’s humanitarian laws, and Francois Colcombet, judge and French parliament’s former deputy.
Rajavi described transferring of 17,500 T-walls as well as immediate transferring of other necessary protective gears such as vests and helmets from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, allowing construction at Camp Liberty, and double-layering trailers’ ceilings, as necessary steps for providing minimum protection for Camp Liberty. She also called for guaranteeing residents’ right of ownership to their moveable and non-moveable properties at Camp Ashraf and permitting sale of their properties under the supervision of the American Senator Robert Torricelli, their legal representative.
The participants condemned inaction by U.S. and UN regarding the 7 Camp Ashraf hostages who were kidnapped by Maliki’s and terrorist Quds Force’s murderers since 19 days ago and reiterated direct responsibility of U.S., UN, and relevant International refugee organizations vis-à-vis security and safety of the hostages. They called on them for their immediate intervention and taking necessary practical steps for enforcing the principle of non-refoulement and securing hostages’ immediate release.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
September 19, 2013