In this regard, Mr. Mohammad Mohaddessin, the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the representative of Ashraf residents said: “So far as it concerns Camp Ashraf residents and its leadership, not only have they shouldered their responsibilities, but also in order to solve the crisis peacefully, they have given up many of their obvious rights and shown more than sufficient flexibility. But it is the government of Iraq, which has murdered 47 residents and wounded 1,000 more and killed 12 of the residents in a medical blockade, that is obstructing any peaceful solution. Doing to bidding of Tehran, the Iraqi government is bent on killing Ashraf residents or forcing them to surrender. Under the current circumstances, the Spokesman for the Secretary General should not place the victim and butcher at the same level.”
In May, Ashraf residents accepted to be relocated to third countries despite their 25 year s of right to residency. As suggested by the High Commissioner, they applied for individual applications and announced their readiness for interviews. However, in the past four months Iraq has blatantly violated International laws and prevented the process of the work of the UNHCR in Ashraf.
Despite these cruel and inhuman restrictions, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran issued a statement this morning, announcing that the residents of Ashraf were in principle prepared to relocate to Camp Liberty. She appealed to President Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for their intervention and assistance so that the United States, the United Nations and the European Union support and endorse, and the Government of Iraq accept, the minimum guarantees for the residents’ security and well-being, in order to prevent the recurrence of violence and bloodshed until the residents are resettled in third countries.
It is more than a week that Ashraf residents and their representatives have informed the U.S. and U.N. about these minimum requirements, requesting that these they be given to the residents and their representatives in an official document. Washington has reportedly agreed with most of these guarantees, including independent 24/7 monitoring by the U.S. at Camp Liberty, but the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has rejected the plan due to pressures exerted by Maliki.
The “minimums”, which draw the red line between forced relocation and peaceful solution, include permanent and independent U.S. and U.N. monitoring at Camp Liberty as a refugee camp with the UN flag and guaranteeing the safety of each and every one of the residents without exception from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty and from Camp Liberty to third countries; Iraqi forces shall not be present inside the Camp’s fenced area to ensure the security and tranquility, particularly for nearly 1,000 Muslim women, and to not interfere with the residents’ daily life; and transfer of all moveable property and the selling of their fixed properties to be reimbursed to the residents.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 20, 2011