NCRI – During the past month and following the siege and imposition of more restrictions on Ashraf City and its residents, various sectors of the Iranian population in different cities, have sent numerous letters to international organizations and political figures in the US and Iraq, condemning restrictions on Ashraf and expressing unconditional support for the residents of Ashraf.
NCRI – During the past month and following the siege and imposition of more restrictions on Ashraf City and its residents, various sectors of the Iranian population in different cities, have sent numerous letters to international organizations and political figures in the US and Iraq, condemning restrictions on Ashraf and expressing unconditional support for the residents of Ashraf.
Ashraf City or Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad in Iraq, is home to approximately 3,500 residents who are members of the main Iranian democratic opposition movement, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK). They are regarded as ‘protected persons’ under the Fourth Geneva Convention, but have come under appalling pressures at the behest of the Iranian regime, which seeks to expel them from neighboring Iraq.
Families of PMOI martyrs and associations of PMOI sympathizers inside Iran, including Association of PMOI supporters in Hamedan and Association of Employees in Support of PMOI, sent letters to the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva and other ICRC officials in Tehran and Iraq, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Secretary of State and President of the US, international human rights organizations, and Iraqi and American officials, condemning measures adopted against Ashraf residents by the Iraqi National Security Advisor which have taken place on the orders of the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader. They demanded guaranteeing the protection of Ashraf and respecting the rights of its residents.
A number of associations also sent separate letters to American officials and international organizations and issued statements detesting inhuman pressures against Ashraf residents, especially the prevention of physicians to enter Ashraf in order to treat patients, and demanded immediate intervention to end these restrictions. Some of the associations included: Association of Nurses in Tehran, Shiraz Society of Medical Doctors, Teachers in Western Tehran, the Bazaari Society of Tehran, Association of Workers in Southern Tehran, the Youth Association of Southern Tehran, the Youth Association of Eastern Tehran, Young Sympathizers of the PMOI in Zanjan Province, and a number of associations of PMOI sympathizers in the cities of Sari, Ghaemshahr, Babol (northern Iran).
In their letters, Iranians denounced inhuman measures against Ashraf residents as well as the banning of physicians to enter Ashraf City, and underscored their solidarity with the residents of Ashraf. One of the letters reads in part: “To our sister, Fatemeh Alizadeh [a cancer patient at Ashraf], whose voice and picture on the hospital bed brought so much pain to our hearts, we say that we are and will always be standing with all of you. … We say to Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, the Iraqi National Security Advisor, that you have seriously miscalculated. The PMOI has roots deep in the Iranian society and we support it on a daily basis despite numerous threats.”
PMOI sympathizers in Iran also posted pictures and banners on walls in various cities, expressing their rage and opposition to the Iranian regime’s plots against Ashraf residents.