Amnesty International Reports
Rapport 2012
http://www.amnesty.org/en/region/iraq/report-2012
CAMP ASHRAF
Iraqi security forces continued to tighten their grip on and use violence against residents of Camp Ashraf, some 60km north of Baghdad. Renamed Camp New Iraq, it still housed some 3,250 Iranian exiles, members and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran,
which opposes the Iranian government. On 8 April, Iraqi troops stormed the camp using grossly excessive force, including live ammunition, against residents who tried to resist them. Some 36 residents – 28 men and eight women – were killed and more than 300 wounded. Subsequently, those injured and others who were seriously ill were prevented or obstructed from leaving the camp to obtain specialized medical treatment.
Senior Iraqi government officials insisted that the camp would be closed by the end of 2011, leading UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, to call for an extension to allow it to interview residents seeking to register as refugees. At the end of the year, the Iraqi government agreed to extend the deadline to April 2012 provided that the residents would be moved to Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport.
