NCRI – 100 political parties, organizations and figures in various Arab countries have issued a joint statement in support of Ashraf City, home to 3,400 members of the main Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The signatories of the statement in support of Ashraf residents include politicians and organizations from Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco.
NCRI – 100 political parties, organizations and figures in various Arab countries have issued a joint statement in support of Ashraf City, home to 3,400 members of the main Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
The signatories of the statement in support of Ashraf residents include politicians and organizations from Egypt, Jordan, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine, Tunisia and Morocco.
The text of the statement is as follows:
Reports we have continued to obtain about the situation in Camp Ashraf, home to 3,500 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), have sparked increasing worries regarding the violation of the residents’ rights, 1,000 of whom are women.
Since January 1, 2009, when the protection and control of Camp Ashraf was handed over from the American forces to the Iraqi government, restrictions and pressures have dramatically escalated, such that currently the transfer of daily necessities to the camp, except food and water, is prohibited, while journalists and delegations of international and regional human rights organizations are banned from visiting the camp.
Restrictions were stepped up specifically after [mullahs’ Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei’s explicit dictates in his meeting with the Iraqi President on February 28, 2009, during which he had said, “The Iraqi government must implement a bilateral agreement about the expulsion of the PMOI as soon as possible.” After Khamenei’s directives, Iraqi authorities spoke of attacking Ashraf’s buildings and insist on moving its residents to southern and western deserts, in violation of international law.
In an April 20, 2009 statement, Amnesty International expressed serious worries about remarks made by the Iraqi National Security Advisor who said, “We plan to gradually make the continuation of stay [in Iraq] for Ashraf residents intolerable …”
On April 24, 2009, the European Parliament passed a resolution underscoring the status of Camp Ashraf residents as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention
We, the undersigned, fully affirm the articles of the April 24th EP resolution on the rights of Camp Ashraf residents and call on the Iraqi government to officially declare its compliance with this resolution in writing. Otherwise, there would be no other option but to guarantee international protection of Camp Ashraf in accordance with the principle of RtoP (responsibility to protect vulnerable populations), and the United States, which has disarmed and rendered Camp Ashraf residents vulnerable, must stay faithful to its obligations and resume the responsibility to protect Camp Ashraf as was the case before January 2009, until such time that the Iraqi government would be able to resist pressures emanating from the Iranian regime regarding Camp Ashraf residents.
