NCRI – Tehran’s increasing meddling in Iraq and the latest developments concerning the Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf was discussed in a meeting by the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) in Washington D.C. at the National Press Club on Wednesday, November 30.
USCCAR monitors and reports on the humanitarian status of the residents of Camp Ashraf, based in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, Iraq. The camp belongs to the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, and is currently under protection of the Multinational Forces – Iraq.
The USCCAR’s member Afagh N. Azadeh opened the briefing by saying: "My mother, Sodabeh Mohammad-Taher, is in Camp Ashraf right now. Her life as well as the lives of thousands of others is at risk because of Iran’s continued campaign of torture and terror. Many of us in the United States have relatives and friends in Camp Ashraf. For Iranian people, Ashraf has become a symbol of resistance against Iran’s inhumane policy of terror and tyranny, and of our hope for a democratic Iran."
Professor Steven Schneebaum, of Greenberg Traurig LLP, U.S. counsel for USCCAR, spoke on the rights of Camp Ashraf Residents under international humanitarian laws and the 4th Geneva Convention. He listed the internationally-protected rights of the residents of Ashraf, including the right to adequate food and shelter, and the right not to be repatriated to Iran or any other country against their will. In the case of the PMOI, he said, "forced repatriation would be tantamount to a death sentence". Mr. Schneebaum noted that "there have been recent signs of increasing Iranian interference with the PMOI. In August, two members of the PMOI were kidnapped from a Baghdad street in broad daylight. He concluded by stressing that "the world’s attention should continue to be focused on the people of Ashraf." It is unacceptable, he said, "to ignore their protected status under the Geneva Convention, which has been reiterated by U.S. military forces on the ground. The Iraqi people have been gracious and open in offering hospitality to their Iranian guests, and we must be vigilant to ensure that the Iraqi leadership, whoever that might encompass after the December elections, is of the same mind."
Dr. Majid Roshani, also a member of USCCAR, spoke on threat of Iran’s human rights abuses in Iraq. He said, "Discussions involving Iran’s destructive role in Iraqi affairs necessitate a sincere yet critical evaluation of Iran’s motives as well as the regime’s internal human rights record. Primarily, we must acknowledge that Iran first and foremost seeks the regional proliferation of its fundamentalist ideology. More recently, a number of reports have revealed the secret torture chambers run by these pro-Iranian groups. Kidnapping, assassinations, and intimidation of progressive voices inside Iraq are not simply happenstance, but are manifestations of a deliberate and calculated strategy supported by the Iranian theocrats. Two Iranian members of the PMOI, Hossein Pouyan and Mohammad Ali Zahedi, were abducted on August 4th reportedly by members of the Iraqi Interior Ministry, and are still being held, probably in one of the many yet undisclosed secret detention facilities in Iraq. We must do all that is possible to protect people in Iraq, including the residents of Camp Ashraf, from the barbaric initiatives of the mullahs in Iran."
In a statement addressed to USCCAR’s briefing, Rep. Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) said: "My office has been monitoring the status of PMOI (MEK) in Camp Ashraf since December 2003. In summer of 2004, residents of Camp Ashraf were granted protection under the Fourth Geneva Convention. PMOI is the principal organized resistance to the fundamentalist regime in Tehran. Tens of thousands of its members have been killed or imprisoned by the regime since the 1980s." He added: "Iran is hard at work to heavily influence the situation in Iraq. Recently, a Jordanian website al-Malaf Net reported that Tehran pays the Badr Brigade, the primary force in Iraq’s Ministry of Interior, a monthly salary of approximately three million dollars. The United States must put an end to this…We must take meaningful steps to provide safety and security to both Iraqi and PMOI members in Iraq."
