NCRI – Speaking at a press conference organized by a number of prominent international human rights organizations on Tuesday, the Secretary General of the human rights group France Liberte, Mr. Michel Joli, said, “I would like to remind everyone what happened during the July 28 attack. A number of people were killed in the attack, while some were injured and others were illegally taken into detention. But what was really shocking were the methods used during the attack which were designed to provoke [the residents].”
He referred to the history of the camp and added, “Camp Ashraf is not a new phenomenon. It has been in existence for the past 23 years and did not just appear out of nowhere. When UNSCOM [UN mission to disarm Iraq] sought to inspect Ashraf in 1998, Iraqi officials told them that Ashraf is not under the control of Iraqi forces and UNSCOM accepted this. It set up a special channel with Ashraf and entered direct negotiations with its residents because although Ashraf was not a government it nonetheless had a special status.”
“During all this time, too, no one questioned the status of ‘protected persons’ in accordance with the Fourth Geneva Convention. But, now we see that 36 protected persons who have proper identification cards in this respect are spending their days in prison without any justification.”
Mr. Joli then proposed the following measures that need to be taken:
First, the residents of Ashraf must be recognized as refugees and no one could have the permission to relocate them.
Second, this legal status must be respected. Iraqi leaders must allow a monitoring team in coordination with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to be stationed there.
Third, as a long term solution, the protection of Ashraf residents must be guaranteed so as to prevent the commission of other crimes against Ashraf.