NCRI – The Iraqi National Movement has called on the international community to launch aid campaigns to save the lives of wounded residents of Camp Ashraf.
Camp Ashraf, Iraq, home to 3,400 members of the main Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), was attacked on April 8 by Iraqi forces at the behest of the Iranian regime. The attack left 35 residents dead and more than 350 wounded, some in critical condition.
In a statement published by al-Dastour daily, the Iraqi National Movement emphasized the following facts:
• Two days after the massacre, US Colonel Barry Johnson announced that the Iraqi government has rejected an American request to provide humanitarian aid to PMOI members in Camp Ashraf (al-Hurra, April 10, 2011).
• Reza Haftbaradaran, the father of Saba, who was among the martyred residents, has said, “I told the Iraqi major, who had stopped the convoy for no reason, that Saba was in critical condition and that he should allow the convoy to carry on. He whispered to his nearby colleague, ‘perfect, we want them all to die.’”
• Hospital staff have indicated 17 of the wounded during the attack on Ashraf included three women who had been transferred to Baquba for treatment were forced out of hospital beds by Iraqi forces and returned to Ashraf (Washington Post, April 13, 2011).
After recalling examples of the Iraqi government’s rights violations against Ashraf residents, the movement called on the international community “to convince the Iraqi government to lift the inhumane siege on Ashraf and to urge it to withdraw its forces from Ashraf and stop abusing the residents.”
The Iraqi National Movement also said it considers such criminal actions violations of international, humanitarian and Islamic laws. It said those responsible should be brought to justice at international tribunals.
“There is no law prohibiting the treatment of the wounded even in the worst kinds of conflicts,” the statement said.
“We invite the international community to take a humanitarian stance and compel the Iraqi government to lift the inhumane siege against Ashraf,” it said.
