The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has called for the release of 36 people affiliated with the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). At the same time, Iraq’s Islamic Party and the Kurdish Democratic Party have denied signing any declarations against Ashraf residents.
The NCRI’s call in a statement issued from Paris, a copy of which was obtained by Elaph, came in reaction to a report broadcast by al-Alam TV on Monday, that said a court in the city of Khalis will prosecute the 36 members of the organization in the coming days. They are “accused of wasting Iraqi property, and killing and suppression of people. [The case] went for investigation after gathering proofs to charge this organization.”
The statement added that the 36 residents of Ashraf are all protected persons, are considered to be hostages from a legal point of view, any attempts to put them on trial is illegal, and thus they must be released immediately. Many of them were abducted at the entrance of Camp Ashraf before the Iraqi forces launched their attack and the attackers did not know of their identities at the time. According to a plan by the terrorist Qods Force, the attackers had to abduct as many of the Ashraf residents as possible to extradite them to the Iranian regime and in the meantime to use them as means to pressure and blackmail the PMOI.
The NCRI went on to say that in accordance with international conventions, abduction and taking protected persons hostage are considered to constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Maliki, is fully responsible for this hostage taking as the person who ordered the killing and abduction.
Separately, Mohammad Ehsan, a minister for the autonomous government of Kurdistan denied in an interview with the Kurdish news agency, AKA News, on Saturday reports about the Kurdish Democratic Party calling for the PMOI’s expulsion from Iraq. He added that the reports were false and the party has never signed declarations to this effect.
Earlier some media outlets had reported that a number of Iraqi political parties in Britain, including the Kurdish Democratic Party and the Islamic Party of Iraq, had signed a declaration calling for the expulsion of the PMOI from Iraq.
Today the Islamic Party in London for its part also denied signing such a statement. Farid Sabri, the party’s spokesman in London said in an exclusive interview with the Islamic Party website that, “A few days ago some media outlets reported about a declaration signed by a few representatives of Iraqi political forces in London with regards to the attack against Camp Ashraf and expressed support for the Iraqi government in this regard, while calling for the expulsion of Ashraf residents from Iraq. They added my signature to this statement as the representative of the Islamic Party of Iraq in Britain.”
Sabri stressed that the Islamic Party has no affiliations with statements that support such policies and actions. He said adding the Islamic Party’s name to such statements is part of an attempt to create a pre-election atmosphere of distrust towards the patriotic positions of Iraq’s Islamic Party in the eyes of voters and the people.
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 adbducted by the Iraqi forces during attack at the Camp Ashraf.