NCRI – Camp Liberty residents are being ‘oppressed and imprisoned’ by UN envoy Martin Kobler and must be immediately returned to Camp Ashraf following the later missile attack, the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) has demanded.
Liberty’s Iranian dissident population is exposed to extreme danger on a daily basis – and their plight is being ignored by the United Nations, the ISJ said.
A statement issued by ISJ’s President and Vice-president of European Parliament, Dr. Alejo Vidal-quadras on May 6 said: “After the April 29 missile attack on camp Liberty, the necessity to return the residents to Ashraf is even more urgent.
“UN envoy Martin Kobler and his staff are part of the suppression and imprisonment machinery against the residents and are being used to dismantle the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).
“The firing of 20 missiles at Camp Liberty on April 29, that fortunately left no human casualties, showed once again that Liberty residents have no security and Liberty is prone to massacre at any given time.”
The Iraqi government was also doing nothing to provide security or protection for the camps 3,100 inmates, the statement said.
It added: “T-walls are not returned, protective vests and helmets and the residents’ basic medical equipment are not allowed to be brought from Ashraf, and constructions and expansion of the camp’s area has not been allowed.”
“Internal hostilities in Iraq have exponentially heightened the danger. The airport area – where Liberty is located – is a center of tensions and facilitates targeting Liberty by the Iranian regime and its Iraqi proxies.
“Furthermore, the likelihood of accidental attacks on Liberty is very high, the population concentration is very high, and more importantly, due to the prison conditions at Liberty, the residents have no escape and are confined to Liberty’s perimeters at the time of danger.
“This dangerous condition continues while the transfer of all or a large number of the residents is not within sight. Despite UN envoy Martín Kobler’s dirty campaign indicating that in April that 210 people would go to Albania and 100 to Germany, not a single person has been relocated yet.
“Regarding Germany, after Kobler announced on April 18, that 100 residents have been accepted there, German Interior Ministry practically rejected his assertion on April 19 and announced that currently they are being processed within the regular framework of issuing visas to determine whether or not they have the right to travel to Germany.
“The required condition is that in addition to having an officially recognized refugee status which is still valid, their identities must be checked to see if there are any security prohibitions for their admission to Germany.
“Despite all that, Martin Kobler viciously misrepresents the residents as the responsible party for lack of progress in relocation while the residents provided the UNHCR with a list of 140 people for relocation to Albania and 100 people to Germany in the past months and Mrs Maryam Rajavi, through her admirable efforts, convinced them to leave their friends behind under the threat of bombs and missiles and leave Iraq.
“Unfortunately Martin Kobler has had a prominent role in amassing more than 3,000 refugees in a dangerous prison and is on the side of the Iraqi government, whitewashing its crimes and setting the stage for future massacres.
“By supporting Kobler, the USA unintentionally paved the way for the Iranian regime to advance its policies against its legitimate and organized opposition and today Kobler and his staff are practically part of the suppression and imprisonment machinery against the residents.”
The ISJ also said: “The Iranian regime that considers the PMOI (MEK) as the only threat to its survival, has succeeded in recruiting Kobler for the goal of dissolving the MEK,” adding: “Only in late 2011 and early 2012, Kobler met for 5 times about Ashraf with Danaiifar, who is the Iranian Ambassador in Baghdad and a commander of the terrorist Quds Force.
“Similarly at Liberty, instead of monitoring Iraqi government’s compliance with the rights of residents and preventing them from violating those rights, Kobler’s agents are trying to impose additional controls to interfere in the residents’ personal lives and internal affairs, and encourage them to leave the MEK and return to Iran.
“Instead of focusing on the Iraqi forces, locations of missile launch pads, and controlling Sadeq Mohammad Kazem, the murderer of the residents in the 2009 and 2011 massacres, they are concentrating on the victims, submitting them to physical aggression and psychological torture.
“Kobler’s statements for the past year and a half have been consistently expressing gratitude and admiration for the “humanitarian” approach of the Iraqi government and criticizing the MEK for lack of cooperation with that government.”
The statement issued on behalf of ISJ, went on: “Many of my colleagues and I have travelled to Ashraf and have personally spoken with the residents and their leadership.
“They are a most valuable part of the Iranian society with considerable political expertise and many years of experience in struggling against the mullahs’ regime.
“Their only goal is to free their homeland and it is natural that they will not accept dissolving or annihilating their organization at any price.
“With any turn of events, they are a reliable force that can be the determining factor in moving Iran towards democracy and stability, preventing extremism and internal war. This is the very element whose absence in the Arab world has resulted in deviation of the Arab spring from its democratic origins.
“There are no alternatives for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) under the presidency of Mrs Rajavi that has its roots in the struggle of the Iranian people for freedom which began in early 20th century.
“Alternatives made by the Western countries in the past three decades – all of which ignored or systematically weakened the MEK and the NCRI – have consistently failed and Tehran has been its clear beneficiary.
“From a humanitarian perspective as well as a political one in this sensitive part of the world, protection of Liberty residents is a pressing and vital matter. Under current conditions, this issue can be achieved through their temporary return to Camp Ashraf, dismissing Kobler and giving the responsibility of this population to UNHCR.
“At the European Parliament and the International Committee in Search of Justice we will work with full force to accomplish these goals and call on the US government and the EU to urgently act in this regard.”
The ISJ has the support of over 4,000 parliamentarians on both sides of the Atlantic.
