Dear Mrs. Arbour,
I am writing on behalf of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a democratic coalition of which the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) is a member. I would like to convey the profound concerns of the Iranian Resistance over the fate of two PMOI members, who were abducted in Iraq, and seek your help to save their lives.
Messrs. Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad-Ali Zahedi were abducted on Thursday, August 4, 2005 in Baghdad’s Karradah Kharej Street by the Iraqi Interior Ministry’s Special Forces. Both individuals are protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Mr. Pouyan is also a political refugee from Italy.
Based on information obtained by the Iranian Resistance, the kidnappers, who belonged to the Ninth Badr forces, affiliated with the Interior Ministry’s Special Security Division, initially took the two PMOI members to the Interior Ministry.
Based on information from Iran, the Ninth Badr forces have transferred the individuals in question to the Iraqi city of Al-Amarah on instruction from the Iranian regime. The Interior Ministry and its special forces are responsible for the safety of the two abducted PMOI members. Yet, repeated inquiries from Iraqi authorities by the Mojahedin have proven futile.
If these hostages are extradited to the Iranian regime, they would face certain torture and execution. I therefore ask you as the highest international human rights authority to spare no effort to prevent this tragedy in urging the Iraqi government to abide by its international obligations and ask the Multinational Force, responsible to uphold the Fourth Geneva Convention, to undertake immediate and decisive action to secure the release the two abducted PMOI members.