Madrid, 25 March (EFE) – Judge Fernando Andreu of the Spanish national court has charged two Iraqi soldiers and two government representatives in Iraq for an armed attack on Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf in 2009. They have all been summoned to testify on May 31.
The assault, perpetrated on July 28, 2009, resulted in 11 deaths.
The Spanish judge declared admissible the complaint expanding an earlier case.
The lawsuit was filed by two individuals against Iraqi Army Lt. Gen. Abdol Hossein Al Shemmari, which the plaintiffs accuse of eleven counts of murder, 36 counts of illegal detention, torture and causing severe injuries to some 500 people.
Andreu, who declared the court competent to investigate these events after asking Iraq to report on whether it had launched a probe into the attack, summoned the president and director of the government Committee for the Closure of Ashraf, Sadeq Ali al Yaseri and Mohammad Kazem, respectively, as well as Lieutenant Colonel Nezar and Lieutenant Haydar Azab Mashi.
The judge has issued a letter to Iraqi authorities to communicate his decision to the accused, summoning them to testify on May 31.
It is not expected that the defendants will attend their hearing, as was the case with Al Shemmari who was due to appear on March 8 to testify as a defendant.
In his order, the judge also allowed plaintiffs’ request to take evidence as witnesses to the special representative of UN secretary general for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and an official of the agency Ad Melkert.
The declaration may be presented in the court of Madrid or at a UN headquarters.
According to the complainants, the attack by the Iraqi army occurred at 15:00 pm on July 28, 2009 and continued until the next day, and involved some 2,000 troops under the command of Lt. Gen. Hossein Al Shemmari.
The army and the police were “equipped with armored Humvee, shovels, guns, axes, wooden and metal sticks, chains, pepper and tear gas, sound grenades, tanks water cannons and other vehicles,” and “launched an assault against unarmed civilians living in Camp Ashraf, shooting indiscriminately,” according to the complaint.
