The claim was made at a press conference in Paris by representatives of the NCRI in the presence of lawyers for the residents of Camp Ashraf and an adviser to the Government of Nicolas Sarkozy, Jacques Attali.
The documents, according to the NCRI, prove the Iraqi government of Nuri Al-Maliki ordered its armed forces to invade “by force” and “militias supported by Iran” Camp Ashraf on April 4.
At dawn on April 8, several armored vehicles and more than two thousand Iraqi soldiers raided the camp, where refugees from the Iranian opposition reside.
“Thirty-four people, who were either crushed by armored vehicles or shot at using live ammunition, were killed, and 340 people were injured,” said the French lawyer of the refugees, François Serres. The number of casualties was confirmed by the UN.
NCRI representatives also showed a video clip of the assault recorded by a refugee, which displayed how some armored vehicles burst into crowds as well as some soldiers shooting at unarmed civilians.
Attali, meanwhile, emphasized the special situation of Ashraf with the presence of U.S. troops in the country and the fact that Iraq has become “a democratic country.”
He also expressed concern that the camp’s lack of “a clear legal status and the unknown precise nature of their protection represents a question for the international law.”
Lawyers for the refugees in Ashraf, Patrick Baudouin, also honorary president of the International Federation of Human Rights, and François Serres, denounced “America’s obvious responsibilities in this case.”
Baudouin and Serres added that U.S. forces were warned of the military operation beforehand. “Robert Gates (Defense Secretary U.S.) was aware and knew and left the field hours before the assault,” they added.
Located northeast of Baghdad and for almost twenty years, Camp Ashraf has hosted about 3,400 opponents of the Iranian regime belonging to the Organization of People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI), a group considered a terrorist organization by U.S. authorities, but has disarmed.
The NCRI is the political arm of the PMOI, which the European Union in January 2009 removed from the EU list of terrorist organizations, but remains on the U.S. list.
In June 2009, Iraqi forces also attacked and Ashraf and caused 11 fatalities and 500 injuries.