Source: Vart Land, December 17, 2009*
Late July, the Iraqi government ordered its forces to carry out a bloody raid of Camp Ashraf, a place of residence for 3,400 opponents of the Iranian regime.
This raid was carried out under orders of the Iranian regime and left 11 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) dead and 500 seriously wounded. The most important criterion of a civilized society is its respect for the security and the fundamental rights of all people who live there. This is the clear message that the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshyar Zebari, should take with him at the end of his visit to Norway this week.
Hundreds of parliamentarians and international personalities from Europe, the U.S., Canada, Australia and the Middle East condemned that attack and rose to defend the rights of Ashraf residents.
Since then, these humans have been under an inhumane siege and the Iraqi government has blocked food from entering the camp and has banned doctors, lawyers, relatives of the residents and everybody else from entering Ashraf.
The attack against civilized residents of Ashraf, who have lived there for the last 20 years, demonstrated Iraqi government’s lack of independence as well as its willingness to violate the rights of the Ashraf residents in order to help and assist the ruthless Iranian regime.
Despite the fact that the Spanish court has decided to hear the case of violations of the 4th Geneva Convention by the Iraqi government, this government continues to threaten the Camp. The Iraqi officials have announced that they intend to make the lives of residents at Ashraf –who have lived there for 20 years– unbearable. Recently, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maleki, threatened to carry out forceful relocation of these humans to a remote location in Iraq in order to set the stage for their expulsion.
At a time when Iraq is preparing itself for parliamentary elections that will make decisions on Iraq’s future policies, Foreign Minister Zebari’s visit provides a unique opportunity for Norway to tell Iraq that international laws should not be violated.
*This is the English translation of the article published in Norwegian