"Pre-arranged media shows cannot hide the fact that Ashraf residents have been denied their fundamental rights in the past 14 months due to severe inhuman siege of the Camp.
"We call upon the US, the EU, the United Nations Secretary General and the Canadian Government to immediately intervene to end the siege of Ashraf and hold Al-Maliki accountable for denial of food, medicine, and humanitarian needs of the Camp residents." – Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran
19 February 2010
Press release
End the siege of Camp Ashraf and suppressive measures against its residents
The Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran has learned that a group claiming to be family members of Ashraf residents and some agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence has been brought outside Camp Ashraf to exert psychological pressure on the residents. The Al-Maliki government who violently attacked defenseless Ashraf residents in July 2009 leaving 11 dead and 500 injured, is acting once again on the orders of its Iranian counterparts to defuse the much needed attention to both the Iraqi election and the people's uprising in Iran.
The propaganda machine of the Iranian regime clearly targets Ashraf residents who have been under inhuman siege for past 14 months. The goal appears to be setting the stage for another violent attack and forcible transfer of the residents that constitutes a crime against humanity.
On Tuesday February 16, the Iraqi committee responsible for suppression of Ashraf and the dispatched agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence brought some journalists mainly affiliated with the Iranian regime's media to tell them that Camp leaders deny access to family members of the residents to visit them.
In fact, the Canadian Friends of a Democratic Iran and the International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Ashraf have on numerous occasions called on the Iraqi government to allow family members, lawyers, journalists, parliamentarians and human rights organizations to freely visit Ashraf. This request including visa request by our members to visit Ashraf has been denied.
Pre-arranged media shows can not hide the fact that Ashraf residents have been denied their fundamental rights in the past 14 months due to severe inhuman siege of the Camp.
We call upon the US, the EU, the United Nations Secretary General and the Canadian Government to immediately intervene to end the siege of Ashraf and hold Al-Maliki accountable for denial of food, medicine, and humanitarian needs of the Camp residents.
We call for unfettered access to the Camp by family members, lawyers, parliamentarians and human rights organizations to assess the situation free from Iranian regime's pressures and to prevent any further attack on the Camp.
