Dear Mr Annan,
I write on behalf of the international human rights organisation, the Jubilee Campaign, regarding recent reports that on May 29, a bus carrying Iraqi civilians travelling to work at Camp Ashraf in Iraq was blown up, killing 13 people and injuring many others. Camp Ashraf is a base of the PMOI (People’s Mojaheddin of Iran), a leading resistance group actively opposed to Iran’s brutal, theocratic regime.
This appears to be the latest in a series of acts of terrorism carried out by the Iranian regime in Iraq with the aim of destroying peace and stability in that country and the region. The Iranian regime has a history of meddling in Iraq’s internal affairs.
In 1999 a bus on the same route to Camp Ashraf was destroyed by a remote-controlled bomb, killing 6 and wounding 21, in an attack which was very likely to have been organised by the Iranian regime. The next day, Camp Ashraf was attacked by Iranian Scud missiles.
This latest attack happened two days after a visit to Iraq by the Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki. It appears that Tehran is sending a message to the Iraqi people not to lend their support to the PMOI or they will find themselves targets of terrorist attacks.
PMOI personnel all have protected person’s status under the fourth Geneva Convention and should be granted political asylum by the Iraqi government whilst security at Camp Ashraf and in that area should be increased. I urge you to use whatever influence you have in this matter to encourage the Iraqi government to grant political asylum to all PMOI personnel in Iraq and to ensure that security at Camp Ashraf and in that area is increased.
Yours sincerely,
Wilfred Wong
Researcher and Parliamentary Officer
Jubilee Campaign