WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — According to Aswat al-Iraq news agency and Al-Sabah Al-Jadid daily, on August 24, 2009, a judge in the Iraqi city of Al-Khalis ordered the release of the 36 abducted residents of Camp Ashraf. The Prosecutor agreed with the verdict because the judge found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Security forces were ordered by the Judge to release the detained Ashraf residents, members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI).
WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — According to Aswat al-Iraq news agency and Al-Sabah Al-Jadid daily, on August 24, 2009, a judge in the Iraqi city of Al-Khalis ordered the release of the 36 abducted residents of Camp Ashraf. The Prosecutor agreed with the verdict because the judge found no evidence of wrongdoing.
Security forces were ordered by the Judge to release the detained Ashraf residents, members of the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI).
Police authorities, however, claimed that "their release must be approved by higher authorities" and refused to carry out the orders of the judge. Apparently, the Iranian regime's embassy in Baghdad and the masterminds of the unprovoked raid on Ashraf are obstructing the implementation of the judge's order.
Reports indicate that the Iraqi Prime Minister's office has ordered the transfer of this case to Baaquba district under the bogus pretext of appealing the judge's ruler.
This latest act clearly reaffirms that detention of the 36 Ashraf residents, on their 29th day of a hunger strike, was an act of "Abduction," a crime against humanity according to the Fourth Geneva Convention and prosecutable in international tribunals.
It also shows that their detention lacked any legal basis and was carried out solely at the behest of the Iranian regime. According to a report in today's Washington Post, quoting an Iraqi intelligence source, "the [Iraq's] prime minister uses an Iranian jet with an Iranian crew for his official travel."
The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents urgently calls on the US government as the legal protector of the "Protected Persons" of Camp Ashraf under the Fourth Geneva Convention, to act swiftly to save the lives of the 36 abductees by ensuring their prompt release in accordance with the explicit ruling of the judge in Al-Khalis.
The Committee demands that the US Embassy and the US forces' Command in Baghdad to honor their binding obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention and in accordance with the agreement that every single resident of Camp Ashraf, including the 36, have signed with the U.S.
According to Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the January 2009 transfer of security to Iraqi government does not relieve the United States from its obligations for ensuring safety of "Protected Persons" of Camp Ashraf.
SOURCE U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents
