Dear Residents of Ashraf,
Following the deadly attacks last year against Ashraf, I supported the stand of among others the Archbishop of Canterbury, in condemning the attack on Iranian dissident refugees in Camp Ashraf.
I extend my support to the majority resolution 704 in the US House of Representatives which calls upon President Obama “to take all necessary and appropriate steps to support the commitments of the Unites States under international law and treaty obligations to ensure the physical security and protection of Camp Ashraf residents against inhumane treatment and involuntary deportation by Iraqi security forces.” The security of Ashraf residents needs to be guaranteed by the US forces in Iraq.
Based on international law and Geneva Conventions the residents of Ashraf are civilian “protected persons”. Therefore, the restrictions and unlawful blockade imposed on them by the government of Iraq must be lifted immediately. As the UN Secretary-General stated in his report of May 19, 2010 to the UNSC, the residents should have “unhindered access to the goods and services of a humanitarian nature”, and they must be “protected from arbitrary mass displacement or forced repatriation against their will in violation of the universally accepted principle of non-refoulement.”
I also wish success for the large rally of the Iranian democratic opposition in exile this month in Paris which is to support the rights of the Ashraf residents and to support the movement of the Iranian people for democracy and freedom that has been going on unabated since last year despite severe crackdown and issuing death sentences for the relatives of Ashraf residents and others inside Iran.
God bless you
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond M. Tutu
25 June 2010