NCRI – Since the early hours of the heinous attacks against Ashraf residents by forces under the command of Nouri Al-Maliki on April 8, this atrocious and anti-human crime received wide coverage in the international media:
The Associated Press (AP) reported the news of the killing of defenseless Mojahedin in Ashraf at the hands of Al-Maliki forces in the early hours of this morning.
According to the AP’s report, Iraqi forces stormed the settlement of Iranian dissidents near the Iran-Iraq border.
Gen. Ali Gheydan, Commander of Iraqi Ground Forces confirmed the early morning attack on camp Ashraf on Friday.
AP also reported that the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki has sought the deportation of the Ashraf residents for a long time.
Ashraf residents said 23 people including 6 women have been killed and hundreds of people have been injured.
In another report, the Associated Press said that Ashraf residents reported 28 dead and 325 wounded as a result of Friday’s attack on the camp.
Behzad Saffari, Camp Ashraf’s legal advisor said that the Iraqi forces first attacked the residents with grenades and tear gas, followed by opening fire on the defenseless residents.
The United Nations group that monitors the camp’s conditions did not immediately comment on the situation.
The AP also quoted Hamid Mutlaq, a member of the Iraqi Parliament’s Security Committee as saying that the attack was unjust and that the Ashraf residents were legally present at the camp.
Hamid Mutlaq reiterated that there is no doubt that the Iranian regime is behind the attack.
Reuters quoted the National Council of Resistance of Iran as saying that the Iraqi security forces were ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki to attack Camp Ashraf…
“Nouri Al-Maliki has started an unprecedented massacre at Camp Ashraf at the request of Khamenei,” the NCR said.
According to Reuter’s report, earlier this year, human rights activists in Geneva said that the United Nations and the United States must take on the responsibility of protecting Camp Ashraf in order to prevent a tragedy that could lead to the massacre of the residents.
Canadian news agency reported:
In an interview on Friday, General Ali Gheydan, commander of the Iraqi forces said that he ordered the attack on the camp. He said the uprising started when the Iraqi soldiers wanted to settle their forces which were in the vicinity of the area.
The exiles said that so far 28 residents of Ashraf were killed, but high ranking Iraqi officials angrily denied any casualties whatsoever.
The CNN reported that Iranian exiles on Friday said that Iraqi security forces attacked Camp Ashraf and killed at least 25 people.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran has been opposing the Iranian regime for decades. They said as a result of Al-Maliki’s forces’ attack on Ashraf, hundreds of people were injured.
CNN also said that the Iraqi military officials in the Dyala province have confirmed the attack on Ashraf.
Ashraf residents and their supporters called Friday’s attack a massacre.
Aljazira TV reported early today:
The Iranian opposition group Mojedin-e Khalq (MEK) said that during an attack by the Iraqi security forces on Ashraf Camp in the Dyala province, more than 20 of its members were killed and more than 100 others were wounded.
MEK distributed a video clip that it described as depicting the attack by Iraqi forces on its camp. MEK called on the United Nations to halt the killing of the organization’s members.
The New York Times wrote:
According to MEK, the Iraqi security forces opened fire on Camp Ashraf’s residents early Friday and have so far killed more than 12 people.
The United States has been trying to control the tensions and is sufficiently confident about the accuracy of these reports.
There are a few thousand Iranian dissidents at the camp who have sworn to overthrow the Tehran government.
Iraqi government in alignment with the Iranian regime is an enemy of the group and initiated an attack in July of 2009 with the goal of creating a police station at the camp. At that time, the police and the soldiers opened fire and ran over the camp’s residents by their military vehicles, killing 11 and wounding more than 500.
The Wall Street Journal wrote that on Friday, the movement’s Paris-based leader, Maryam Rajavi, sent a letter to President Barack Obama urging him “to act upon the U.S. government’s commitments and responsibilities and prevent the continuation of war crimes.”
She indicated that 6 of the killed residents were women who were either shot or ran over by military vehicles during the attack on camp Ashraf.
According to the Wall Street Journal, in her letter, Mrs. Rajavi held U.S. responsible for the safety of the Ashraf’s 3400 residents as a consequence of the agreement signed by the coalition forces and every individual at Camp Ashraf.
In those agreements, a copy of which was viewed by the Wall Street Journal, camp residents vowed not to use violence in return for their protection.
In another part of its report, the Wall Street Journal said that it was the National Council of Resistance of Iran that first publicly exposed Iran’s nuclear fuel program in 2002. The NCRI has made a series of further revelations about the Iranian program since.
The journal added that closure of Camp Ashraf has high priority for the Iranian regime.
