Despite distribution of pamphlets, and constant invitations on loudspeakers by Iraqi officials in Ashraf’s streets and in the presence of some 50 reporters, videographers, and photographers from various news agencies around the world, not even one resident expressed willingness to leave Ashraf
Forcible displacement of Ashraf residents – No 4
NCRI – At 11:30 on Tuesday, December 15, 2009, 37 police vehicles entered Camp Ashraf along with a number of Iraqi officials from the suppressive Iraqi committee called Committee for Closing Ashraf. Some 50 journalists, photographers, and videographers also entered Ashraf with the same contingent. After a year-long ban on media, the Iraqi government’s spokesman last week invited reporters to produce footage of those who refuse to stay in Ashraf and are willing to leave after a call by the said Iraqi committee.
Ashraf residents did not preclude or resist the police’s entry in any way and left all doors and buildings open for visits by the police, Iraqi officials and reporters.
Police forces were stationed in the main streets and squares of Ashraf. Officials from the Iraqi committee, sent from the Prime Minister’s Office, demanded a meeting with representatives of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). PMOI representatives responded that they would only be prepared to meet if it is agreed that there would be no discussion about forcible displacement of residents. Iraqi authorities said in response that there are no intentions of relocation using force.
PMOI representatives then met with the Iraqi authorities, and in the end declared to reporters: Ashraf residents have stayed in Ashraf on the basis of their free will, and they have individually communicated this decision to Iraqi officials from the Human Rights Ministry in the course of 19 days of private and one-on-one interviews in the presence of American commanders. In contrast to the rulers of Iran, Ashraf residents respect Iraq’s sovereignty, however, forcible displacement or using armed forces to utilize violent methods, as displayed in the attack against Ashraf on July 28 and 29 which led to 11 dead and 500 wounded, would not reflect Iraq’s sovereignty claims and would instead be indicative of usurping the country’s sovereignty by the ruling theocracy in Iran. This is especially true because Ashraf residents are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and their forcible displacement would constitute blatant violations in the context of Human Rights Law, International Humanitarian Law, and the Geneva Conventions. Ashraf residents have lived in the camp for the past 24 years, and Ashraf is considered to be their residence and home.
On the other hand, following their meeting with PMOI representatives, Iraqi forces flooded the streets and various locations of Ashraf in large numbers, distributing loads of pamphlets and announcing through loudspeakers that “the Iraqi government is determined to relocate the residents of this camp to another location” and “willing individuals can refer to the police station or any one of the patrolling vehicles.”
Committee officials and Iraqi forces, accompanied by journalists, visited various locations in Ashraf and spoke to the residents face-to-face, asking them to leave Ashraf and take residence in luxurious hotels in Baghdad. But, contrary to their expectations and multiple invitations, not even a single resident bothered to acknowledge such theatrics and ultimately the minibuses which had come to displace the residents returned empty.
Another significant point in a mountain of mullah-inspired pamphlets, were the shameful lies about the massacre of Ashraf residents on July 28 and 29. These claims are made even as films and pictures of the criminal raid by Iraqi forces using sticks, axes, bullets, and iron bars against defenseless and unarmed Ashraf residents have saddened the conscience of the contemporary world.
At around 15:00 local time, Iraqi forces and officials left Ashraf, taking the journalists with them, even as many of the residents in Ashraf still demanded interviews with reporters.
The Iranian Resistance emphasizes that the illegal decision of the Iraqi government for relocation is a prelude to another large humanitarian catastrophe against Ashraf residents, and calls on the United Nations and the American government to guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents and ensure prevention of forcible relocation and a repeat of use of force and violence against them.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 15, 2009
