Despite judge decision to release 36 Ashraf hostages, Iraqi Government refuses their release at behest of Iran regime
NCRI – At 10:00 am local time on Monday, August 24, the judge in Khalis, the town near Camp Ashraf in Diyala province of Iraq, ordered the release of the 36 Ashraf residents who have been taken hostage and passed the verdict to the police to implement it. The Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday and Al-Sabah Al-Jadid daily today reported the release of hostages from prison and wrote: “A Government official in Diyala province on Monday said that 36 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization who were arrested a month ago by the Iraqi forces have been released.”
Despite judge decision to release 36 Ashraf hostages, Iraqi Government refuses their release at behest of Iran regime
NCRI – At 10:00 am local time on Monday, August 24, the judge in Khalis, the town near Camp Ashraf in Diyala province of Iraq, ordered the release of the 36 Ashraf residents who have been taken hostage and passed the verdict to the police to implement it. The Aswat al-Iraq news agency on Monday and Al-Sabah Al-Jadid daily today reported the release of hostages from prison and wrote: “A Government official in Diyala province on Monday said that 36 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization who were arrested a month ago by the Iraqi forces have been released.”
According to the verdict issued by the judge in Khalis which was also approved by Khalis Prosecutor, the detained PMOI members must have been released immediately. But the police refused to release these people who are on their 29th day of hunger strike. The police said: “For their release, the higher authorities must also approve.” It appears that the Iranian regime’s embassy in Baghdad and the planners of the criminal attack on Ashraf, desperately worried about the verdict, are preventing the release of 36 hostages with bogus excuses. According to information received, the case has been transferred to Baaquba on the order of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s office and the Prosecutor of Baaquba has appealed against the verdict to prevent the release of the hostages.
It is evident more than ever before that their imprisonment is done solely at the behest of the Iranian regime and in order to implement the bilateral agreement that Khamenei made it public on February 28.
The Iranian Resistance calls on the US Government, the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, the UN Secretary General, the UN Security Council, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and all human rights organizations to act immediately to save the lives of the 36 hostages and get them freed that were abducted during the raid of the Iraqi forces and were not released despite explicit order of the judge.
The Iranian Resistance warns the Government of Iraq that taking hostage of Protected Persons is a clear case of crime against humanity and is prosecutable in international tribunals. It urges the US Embassy in Baghdad and the Command of the US forces to stand up to their commitments regarding the protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention according to agreement that every single resident of Camp Ashraf, including the 36, have signed with the US.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 25, 2009
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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.