In June, it was announced at a conference by sheikhs and Iraqi political figures in Baghdad that more than 480,000 residents in Diyala province have signed a petition in support of Camp Ashraf, where 3,400 members of the main Iranian opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) reside. A former prime minister of Algeria, Sid Ahmad Ghozali, also unveiled the petition at a gathering of 100,000 Iranian exiles near Paris in June.
After a two-month campaign and marshalling of its cohorts from the council of Khalis city, which is tied to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the clerical regime’s embassy in Baghdad finally unveiled a photo exhibition against the PMOI, which has faced criticism from Iraqi political figures.
A former chair of the Diyala province council said the exhibition in Khalis is a result of the Iranian regime’s political pressure on the Iraqi government to interfere in the affairs of the PMOI.
According to the Lebanese news agency on Thursday, Ebrahim Bajlan added that Diyala’s previous council had informed the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross that the residents of Camp Ashraf are Iranian refugees on the basis of UN conventions and are considered guests of Iraq.
The Iraqi government and the regional government have no right to interfere in their affairs, he said. But, political pressures on the Iraqi government has caused meddling in the affairs of Camp Ashraf by the Iranian regime, he added. Bajlan also urged the UN to intervene immediately to protect the residents.
The Iraqi news agency reported on Thursday that a former council member in Diyala, Ziad Ahmad, also reacted to the regime’s measures against Ashraf residents by saying, “I don’t know what the aims of this exhibition are, but we will review this matter because we will not allow measures such as this that cause regional instability and insecurity to take place.”
He added, “We will not accept any foreign meddling against the interests, stability and security of Iraq.”