Iraqi forces under al-Maliki’s command refuse to issue death certificate and burial permit for Mr. Mehdi Fathi; they refrain from handing over his body to Ashraf residents

NCRI – One week after the death of PMOI member Mehdi Fathi, the Committee to Suppress Ashraf, affiliated to Iraqi prime ministry, and the forces under Nouri al-Maliki’s command have refrained from handing over his body and refuse to issue his death certificate and the permit to bury him in Morvarid Cemetery (Ashraf’s cemetery).

Mehdi Fathi died on December 10 of cancer because the Iraqi forces prevented his timely transfer to the hospital – a six-month delay which cost him his life. The same day  at noon, Iraqi forces transferred Mehdi Fathi’s body together with his ID card, issued by U.S. forces according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and his French refugee passport, to the forensics in Baquba.

Following due controls by the forensic section, the body was returned to Ashraf hospital. The Iraqi forces and the Iraqi director of Ashraf hospital that work under command of the Committee to Suppress Ashraf, refused to issue the death certificate and the burial permit. In addition, in another unjustifiable and illegal act, they demanded that Mehdi Fathi’s kin sign documents which may be used in future conspiracies of the committee and the Iranian regime’s agents. Thereby, Iraqi suppressive forces refused to hand over the body and retransferred it back to Baquba; they have refrained from handing over the body since.

The Iranian Resistance calls on international human rights community and activists to condemn this sinister and inhumane abuse by the Iraqi government and its forces. It calls on the UNAMI and the U.S. forces to arrange for the return of Mehdi Fathi’s body to Ashraf for his burial ceremony.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 15, 2010