1- The residents’ representatives in December 2011 and January 2012 have time and again in letters to US officials, the UN Secretary-General, High Commissioner for Refugees, High Commissioner for Human Rights and Kobler himself emphasized the necessity of a team of Ashraf engineers inspecting Liberty before the residents’ transfer. However, Kobler constantly said the Iraqi government opposes such measures. Even the residents went so far as suggesting Ashraf’s technicians carry out just a one-day visit to Liberty to have a preliminary assessment of the conditions. However, this proposal was also rejected.
2-The residents’ representative on December 25, 2011 wrote to Kobler on behalf of Mrs. Rajavi: “In order to not lose time, Madam Rajavi asked me to convey this suggestion to you:On Tuesday December 27, a UNAMI team take a 10-man team from Ashraf to Camp Liberty, who are expert in logistical affairs for a one day evaluation visit, so they can closely see the area and assess the needs and the necessary work that needs to be undertaken. Then on Thursday, Dec. 29, a group of 100 residents go from Ashraf to Liberty and begin preparing so that when the minimums are guaranteed the work of relocation would be expedited.”
3- In a letter to Secretary Clinton on December 29, 2011 copied to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Amb. James Jeffrey, Amb. Daniel Fried and Amb. Martin Kobler, Mrs. Rajavi wrote: “I recall my emphatic appeal to the residents of Ashraf to relocate 400 people to Camp Liberty as a goodwill gesture until subsequent Iraqi government agreement with the minimum assurances and reiterate that 400 residents are prepared to relocate to Camp Liberty with their vehicles and moveable assets on December 30,2011 As such, why and who is preventing an initial inspection of Camp Liberty by five or ten Ashraf residents in order to assess the state and the shortages of the new camp? The obvious question the residents are asking is whether or not Liberty is going to be a prison. Otherwise, transferring the necessary equipment to Liberty in order to prepare and ease the shortages should not be to anyone’s detriment?
Mrs. Rajavi appealed to Secretary Clinton for her assistance and intervention so that Amb. Kobler could convince the Iraqi government agree to the “inspection of Camp Liberty by a number of Ashraf engineers
4- On December30, 2011, the residents’ representative wrote to Kobler: “if Iraq does not accept an initial exploratory visit to Camp Liberty by a 5-10 member team of Ashraf residents, I request that on behalf of the residents that a delegation consisting of Ashraf lawyers and representatives, including Senator Robert Torricelli, Brig. Gen. David Phillips (ret.), Mr. Paulo Casaca (former MEP) and Dr. Juan Garces (the distinguished international jurist) go to Iraq tomorrow to visit Camp Liberty and assure the residents that no malice is intended toward them.”
5- On January 4, 2012, the residents’ representative wrote to Kobler: “We have also emphasized that a small group of 5-10 engineers from Ashraf must personally inspect the camp and provide an assessment of the location. However, you have said that the Iraqi government opposes any such arrangement. As far as the residents are concerned, this is a clear indication that they are being taken to prison.”
6- On January15, 2012, Struan Stevenson, President of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Iraq, wrote to Ambassador Jean de Ruyt, Baroness Ashton’s Special Envoy on Ashraf: “On various occasions I have resorted to convincing the PMOI-MEK leadership and the camp residents to forego their rights, in order to avert violence and I have been successful most of the time. However, in all conscience, until I am convinced that Liberty is not a prison, I cannot ask more from them. Considering the trust Ashraf residents have in me, I really think the suggestion made by their representative i , you, Martin Kobler, and a couple of MEK lawyers could go to Liberty and see the place up close for a few hours and then go to Ashraf and explain what we have seen to the residents. I am sure this would be helpful to all parties. I can promise you that in such a case, the residents, camp’s leadership, and the leadership in Paris would trust and listen to me. Then the GoI would also be forced expeditiously to work out the minimum requirements in Liberty. I think Martin(Kobler) can get this visit going.”
7- The International Committee “In Search of Justice” in its April report to the UN Security Council on Ashraf and Liberty described in depth citing details of preventions of an Ashraf residents’ delegation visiting Liberty before the residents’ transfer, writing: “The SRSG insisted in his December 7 meeting in Brussels and December 16 and 17 meetings in Paris with representatives of Ashraf that Liberty is a ready and livable complex and at least 1200 residents have to move before the year end. Therefore he insisted that the MoU must be signed quicker with the GoI. Efforts by the residents, ISJ, ICJDA, European Parliament and prominent American officials to visit Liberty before the transfer of the residents were unjustifiably futile.”
8- On February 7, 2012, a number of senior US political figures on both sides of the aisle and four officials from previous administrations issued a statement suggesting to travel to Iraq as impartial observers for the transfer of the first group of Ashraf residents. This statement was issued by Ambassador John Bolton, Secretary Andrew Card, General James Conway, Ambassador Dell Dailey, Senator Alfonso Di’Mato, Governor Howard Dean, Professor Alan Dershowitz, Judge Louis Freeh, His Excellency Rudi Giuliani, Governor Jim Hodges, Ambassador Bob Joseph, His Excellency Patrick Kennedy, Admiral James Lyons, Colonel Wesley Martin, Judge Michael Mukasey, Brigadier General David Phillips, Ambassador Mitchell Reiss, Governor Ed Rendell, Secretary Tom Ridge, Ambassador John Sano, General Hugh Shelton, Senator Robert Torricelli and General Charles Wald. The statement reads in part: “We are particularly encouraged by the statement issued on February 1st by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on the situation of the 3,400 residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq.
We are very troubled by the official position of the Iraqi Government that the residents of Ashraf will have no freedom of movement while in Camp Liberty. We are also very concerned about the lack of privacy for the residents, especially given that there are 1,000 women among the residents. We reiterate our consistent and repeated position that Camp Liberty cannot be turned into a prison.
To ensure that the minimum assurances for the safety, well-being, and privacy for the residents of Ashraf are provided, we believe an operational protocol must be developed through dialogue among all relevant parties, including the representatives of Camp Ashraf and the Iraqi Government.
In this light, we the undersigned, not only welcome the suggestion by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, to meet directly with Iraqi officials, but also state our readiness to travel to Iraq to act as impartial observers for the first phase of relocation of residents from Ashraf to Liberty.
As American citizens, we feel obligated to make such a trip for two reasons. First, the United States signed an agreement with every individual at Camp Ashraf to ensure their safety, protection, and well-being. As such, the United States has the ultimate responsibility in this respect. Second, in December 2008, the Iraqi Government gave written assurances to the United States Government that it would treat the residents of Camp Ashraf humanely and according to international law.
We believe that our presence for the transfer and relocation of the first group of the residents of Camp Ashraf is an essential step to begin to fulfill America’s commitment.”
However, these efforts reached nowhere and neither the Iraqi government nor Kobler took them seriously. His goal was to close down Ashraf at all costs.
9- On January 15, 2012, the residents’ representative wrote to the High Commissioner for Refugees saying in contrast to Martin Kobler’s preliminary descriptions of the conditions in Liberty, this camp is by no means livable for Ashraf residents, adding: “However, what troubles us even more is the fact that GoI wants to get a certificate from the representative of UNHCR in Iraq that the camp is up to UNHCR standards. This camp is greatly inferior to the current conditions in Camp Ashraf in every respect and hence this relocation would be absolutely considered compulsory and a blatant violation of UNHCR standards.”
10- Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, on 16 January 2012 wrote to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees: “Secretary General’s Special Representative for Iraq, Ambassador Kobler, informed us that the responsibility to certify Camp Liberty that it meets the expected standards is on UNHCR. All indications are that the government of Iraq, at the behest of the Iranian regime, is planning to turn Camp Liberty into a prison by building high concrete walls around it and shrinking the space to 0.6 km2. That is not acceptable to the residents. I hope the UNHCR will oppose and take necessary measures to prevent turning Camp Liberty into a prison.”
11- On January4, 2012, the residents’ representative in a letter to the Special Representative raised 21 questions about the conditions in Liberty and requested answers. Of course, as always, Kobler provided no clear answers. The answers to most of the questions are available in the January19, 2012 document and it is obvious that Kobler deliberately covered up the truth from the residents.
12- After three and half years, Mr. Tahar Boumedra, the Special Representative’s advisor in Ashraf affairs, resigned in May 2012 in protest at Kobler’s actions. Testifying under oath in the US Congress on September13, 2012, he said: “When Iraq decided to start relocating the exiles to the new site at Camp Liberty in December 2011, I made several visits to inspect Camp Liberty, and reported that it was not fit to accommodate 3,400 men and women. The SRSG visited Camp Liberty and saw the reality; yet when the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) hired a consultant to assess the conditions at Camp Liberty, The SRSG pressured him to certify that the camp met all required humanitarian standards, which we knew was far from the truth. After the consultant declined, SRSG Kobler issued a report that misled the international community and the exiles alike into believing the standards were being met so the transfer process could proceed…
13- In this testimony he also said: “The most immoral exercise in my view was that of UNAMI staff being instructed to take photographs selectively at Camp Liberty. The least offensive ones were filed and sent to the exiles’ representatives in Paris with the message that the new site would measure 30 square kilometers, reduced to 2.5 square kilometers. On that basis, the exiles consented to move out of Camp Ashraf. In reality, the site at Camp Liberty attributed to Ashraf residents measures 0.6 square kilometers and is surrounded by three-to four-meter concrete walls (T-walls). It reminded me of the concentration camp I lived in as a child during Algeria’s war of liberation.”
14- In a hearing at the UK Parliament on 11 December 2012, Mr. Boumedra said:”We are employees of the United Nations and most of us try to keep the job, they’re not there to defend human rights, we’re there to defend our jobs! So, before I do anything I have to make sure that my report will satisfy the SRSG. And I know that whatever I report the report will be rewritten at what we call the front desk of the SRSG … So, whatever I report it never reaches New York, the SRSG office, will reshape the whole thing and put it the way it should be done because we are there to report and to keep everybody happy. When Al-Maliki is happy, the Secretary General of the United Nations is happy.”
He underscored that he is ready to testify before any court and prove these points.
15- Struan Stevenson, President of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Iraq, in a letter dated January8, 2012 described the conditions in Liberty for the High Commissioner for Refugees and wrote: “Under these circumstances, the UNHCR and you personally, bear a very heavy responsibility to ensure that there will be no transfer of the Ashraf asylum seekers to Camp Liberty until all of the above matters have been rectified and the camp meets internationally acceptable standards, approved by the Ashraf residents’ representatives and UNHCR. Therefore, I ask you to ensure that UNHCR’s officials refrain from approving this location without first ensuring the following conditions are met:
a. UNHCR’s mandate includes improving the conditions of refugees and asylum seekers; as such, the UNHCR must be convinced that Liberty has at least the same standards that Ashraf has. Taking Ashraf residents to a place which is inferior to Ashraf by several folds, is a clear violation of the High Commission’s standards.
b. UNHCR must ensure that the Iraqi government does not practically turn Liberty into a prison for Ashraf residents by, for example, building prison-like walls around the camp.
c. The area allocated at Liberty for the residents is by no means acceptable. Ashraf’s area is 36 sq km and therefore the new location must be at least several sq km to provide minimum ‘breathing space’ for the residents
d. Like any other refugee camp, UNHCR must ensure minimum freedom of movement for residents to leave Camp Liberty to visit doctors, go to the park, undertaking religious pilgrimage and going to the cinema and other public places.
e. UNHCR must ensure freedom of visitation rights by lawyers, relatives and human rights activists to Camp Liberty.
f. UNHCR must ensure that the residents can take all their moveable properties, including their vehicles, to Liberty.
g. UNHCR must ensure that the residents can sell their unmovable properties and receive the funds.
h. UNHCR must ensure that Camp Liberty has sufficient access to water, drinking water, electricity and sewage facilities and that sanitary services (baths and toilets) are usable.
i. UNHCR must ensure the existence of sufficient infrastructure within the camp, including dining halls, community halls and sports halls.”
One year later none of the above nine items has been accomplished.”
16- Mr. Stevenson in a letter on January16, 2012 again to the High Commissioner wrote: “The situation of Ashraf residents should not be compared to that of ordinary refugees who have just escaped their homeland. The residents have lived in Ashraf for 26 years and on average, each of them possesses moveable and immovable assets worth hundreds of thousands of dollars that they have accumulated through their work over a quarter of a century.The portion of Liberty allocated to the residents is less than 0.5 sq. km. with no green area lacking any convention centre, sport field or building, library, mosque, park, artificial lake, or other facilities that already exist in Ashraf. Keeping any person in such a place would be akin to hard-labour imprisonment. In this case, voluntary relocation would be the most absurd term to be used. My request is that you do not allow the UNHCR’s reputation to be tainted by such a forcible relocation.
“The questions about Camp Liberty being directed by Ashraf residents to Martin Kobler are quite logical and warranted. I am sending a copy to you. I believe before any confirmation, these specific questions need to be addressed and answered.”
