Elaph website
By Nazar Jaf
March 18, 2009
Bonn – Sources close to the Iraqi government stress that officials are pursuing policy of expelling the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), responds to Elaph’s questions on relations between the two sides from Paris.
Reports from Iraq show more tensions between Iraqi authorities and Ashraf City. Each side has its own reasons and claims. What is the reality?
There are no tensions on the part of Ashraf residents. They are still acting the same way they have been during the past six years and have done nothing illegal. Tensions, very briefly, consist of the pressures the Iranian regime imposes on the Iraqi government to expel the PMOI from Iraq, hand them over to the regime, and create a human catastrophe. The Iranian regime has always wanted to eliminate its opponents. However, at the present its insistence on this has become more intense than in the past for several reasons. These include: Social upheavals especially by university students inside Iran who are inspired by the Iranian Resistance; The significant defeat of the regime’s proxies during the Iraqi provincial council elections; And the removal of the PMOI from the European Union terrorist list. In such circumstances, the Iranian regime wants to reduce the crises it faces by removing Ashraf from the scene.
What is transpiring here is the Iranian regime’s desire to implement its plots and pressures against Ashraf through its proxies in Iraq. As Mr. Ayyad Jamaluddin said in this regard in an interview with al-Baghdadieh TV, “There is one litmus test for identifying Iraqi political forces, and that is, any group that attempts to expel the PMOI demonstrates that it has organic relations with Iran.”
Why is it that your friends are not helping you?
Our friends are the majority of the Iraqi people. With the exception of the Iranian regime there is no one in Iraq demanding the PMOI to leave.
What is the position of the Sunnis and Kurdish forces with respect to the Iranian pressures regarding your expulsion from Iraq?
I do not think the positions of other ethnicities and religious followers in Iraq in relation to the Iranian regime’s pressures for expulsion of the PMOI from Iraq are any different from one another. They all condemn the mullahs’ pressures. For example, Mr. Massoud Barzani, president of the Kurdish region, told al-Qabas daily in an interview that: We are against their forced hand over or expulsion to Iran. “If they decide to go by themselves, that is up to them.” He also stressed that the federal government is responsible to find a solution to the problem which “does not involve forced repatriation or relocation. We insist on this solution.”
Moreover, Mr. Ayyad Jamaluddin, a prominent Shiite cleric, also told the al-Arabyia TV channel in an interview that: Iraq is a member of the United Nations and is obligated to its international commitments and obligations, including the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the forced displacement of PMOI members residing in Camp Ashraf even within Iraq itself. The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits their relocation in Iraqi territory, let alone their expulsion from the country or hand over to the Iranian regime.
He added, “There are very serious rumors claiming that many Iraqis are under the impression that the PMOI participated in the suppression of the Iraqi people, specifically during the glorious Shaabania Intifada. I personally reviewed intelligence documents from the previous intelligence ministry and special security institutions, and did not find a single document or grounds pointing to this organization’s participation. I did not come across any document, grounds, or evidence that would claim the PMOI has participated in the suppression of the people. … Therefore, there does not exist even fabricated grounds for their participation.”
Today, we were also informed of statements and positions announced by patriotic Iraqi figures at the parliament and from political parties denouncing Muwaffaq al-Rubaie’s actions, and supporting and acknowledging the rights of Ashraf residents.
Mrs. [Maryam] Rajavi [President-elect of the Iranian Resistance] has written a letter to American President Barack Obama, encouraging him to return Ashraf City’s protection to American forces. Do you anticipate a response from the American side on this matter?
The responsibility to protect the PMOI rests with the United States of America for the following reasons. First, because of America’s international obligations with respect to protected persons in the context of International Humanitarian Law, international law, and the principle of non-refoulement; Second, because of the principle of Responsibility to Protect (RtoP); And, third, on the basis of the mutual agreement signed by both parties in relation to the consolidation of weapons in return for protection.
We expect the US to act in accordance with its commitments. Otherwise, it would bear responsibility for whatever catastrophe Ashraf residents face. What the Iranian Resistance is calling for is to return the situation of Ashraf’s protection to what it was prior to 2009 and for the American forces to accept responsibility for protection of Camp Ashraf. But, the US must be aware of its responsibilities, including obligations arising from the principle of non-refoulement (prohibition of forced displacement), the principle of the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP), and obligations arising from the mutual agreement between the US and Ashraf residents in 2004.
You have had political and legal victories in Europe. Why do you not attempt to have the Europeans convince the Iraqi government to end this chaotic situation?
Your suggestion is correct. We call on the EU, and prior to that, we call on our brother Arab countries, to act in this regard and stand with their brothers and sisters residing in Ashraf. These are the brothers and sisters who have blocked the mullahs’ attempts to turn Iraq into a stepping stone to launch their policies of exporting fundamentalism and terrorism. Currently, the mullahs’ regime aims to eliminate Ashraf and get rid of it so that it can complete its dominance over Iraq. This regime is the common enemy for the Iranian people and Arab peoples living from Morocco, Egypt, Palestine and Lebanon, to Iraq and the Gulf states.
But, let’s go back to the EU. They have acted quickly, such that the In Search of Justice international committee, which is made up of 2,000 parliamentarians from across Europe, said in a statement that, “The expulsion of the PMOI and closure of Ashraf serves a demand of the mullahs and is part of a two pronged strategy which aims to eradicate the opposition and extend and complete the mullahs’ infiltration in Iraq.”
The Vice President of the European Parliament and Chairman of the International Fact-Finding Committee has written to the American president and other US officials, the UN Secretary General, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, as well as other pertinent international organizations and authorities, warning about the consequences of the Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and demanding the adoption of immediate measures to guarantee protection for Ashraf. He has also pointed to the commitments and obligations arising from International Humanitarian Law, international law, the principle of non-refoulement, and the Responsibility to Protect (RtoP) principle.
What are the NCRI’s options for confronting the situation if the tensions continue and reach a climax? Do you have a specific plan in this regard?
Ashraf residents are not looking for anything else except respect for their legal rights which are fully compatible with humanitarian, Islamic, and international standards everywhere else in the world. During the past several years, Ashraf residents have repeatedly informed American officials, the UN, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that they want to remain in Iraq, where they have lived for the past 23 years. We hope that the honorable people of Iraq, the Arab countries, and international organizations would work to prevent the mullahs’ regime from carrying out its agenda in Iraq.
Mr. Vidal Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament and Chairman of the International Fact-Finding Committee said in a statement that the expulsion of the PMOI and closure of Ashraf serves a demand of the mullahs and is part of a two pronged strategy which aims to eradicate the opposition and extend and complete the mullahs’ infiltration in Iraq.
The truth of the matter is that the Iranian regime wants to remove Ashraf from its path, so that it would be able to make Iraq into a launching pad targeting the rest of the Arab world. At this point, I call on my Arab brothers to stand with the opposition PMOI and form a common front in order to neutralize the Iranian regime’s pressures and plots.
Some independent sources and those aware of the situation stress that the Iraqi government is very serious about the issue of expelling the PMOI, to the degree that some of them have determined how this scenario will play out. Do you think that there has been a deal struck which you are a victim of?
This deal-making, as [the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei personally declared during his meeting with the Iraqi President, is very clear. He said with an arrogant tone that, “The bilateral agreement with respect to the [PMOI’s] expulsion from Iraq must be implemented. … We are waiting for this to happen.” For this purpose, Khamenei also sent Ali-Akbar Velayati, his senior advisor, and the mullahs’ foreign minister to Iraq. After Khamenei’s comments, [former mullahs’ president] Rafsanjani visited Iraq and met with Iraqi officials, in order to prepare the stage for the imposition of new suppressive measures against Ashraf residents.