The European Union’s Foreign Affairs Commissioner Baroness Ashton must call on Iraq to immediately release the seven Camp Ashraf hostages, the EU parliament’s vice president has demanded.
Alejo Vidal-Quadras also described it as ‘incredible’ that Baroness Ashton has remained silent over the soaring rate of executions in Iran under the regime’s new ‘moderate’ president Hassan Rouhani.
Mr Vidal-Quadras was speaking at a conference at the EU parliament on December 4, when he also issued a message of support for the Camp Liberty hunger strikers protesting at the Camp Ashraf massacre and demanding the release of the six women and one man taken captive during the atrocity.
He said: “The first issue is the silence and inaction on the part of the European Union and especially Lady Ashton regarding the crime against humanity that took place at Camp Ashraf on September 1. This crime has not finished, it is ongoing, since the Iraqi Government continues to hold seven members of the PMOI (MEK) as hostages.
“I know, and Mrs. Ashton knows, that the hostages are being held in Baghdad. The European Union’s Ambassador and other diplomats in Baghdad and Amnesty International say the same, but the European Union has not taken a strong stance with the Iraqi Government yet.
“Mrs Ashton seems to want to gain the favour of the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister who are of course under the influence of the mullahs and who have been partners in all the regime’s crimes over decades at the expense of the Iranian people and resistance and at the cost of human rights.
“She should call loudly on the Iraqi Government to release the hostages immediately, otherwise Iraq’s relations with the European Union will be affected. She has many ways to put pressure on Maliki. She has all the levers to play with to force him to act rightly and she does not do it.
“It’s really incredible. Mrs. Ashton has also been silent about the horrendous executions in Iran which have sharply increased since Rouhani took the presidency. The moderate Rouhani!”
Mr Vidal-Quadras also accused the US, UN and EU of violating their pledge to protect the Iranian dissidents in Camps Ashraf and Liberty.
He added: “And this fact that they have not complied with the legal obligations is what led to the catastrophe on the 1st of September in Ashraf.
“Prime Minister Malaki is now talking about these 120 arrest warrants that will be used to pave the way for another massacre, but this time in Liberty not in Ashraf.
“The US, the United Nations, the European Union, the three of them guaranteed the security of the residents until the last person was transferred out of Iraq. It was upon such assurances that residents moved to Liberty.”
He also praised Iranian Resistance leader Maryam Rajavi for her efforts to persuade the hunger strikers to save their lives, adding: “She has dispatched representatives to various cities to convince them to stop this hunger strike. But they continue to resist.
“In today’s world, this is highly admirable, giving your life for a just cause, for defending legitimate rights, for the security of others and for defending moral values,” he said.
