Elaph website
March 24, 2009
A large number of members of an opposition movement against the Iranian regime have lived in Iraq for the past 20 years. This large group from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) resides in Ashraf City, and until recently was under the protection of American forces. But the responsibility to protect it has since been transferred to Iraqi forces.
The PMOI played an important role in the Iranian revolution against the Shah. Khomeini, however, transformed the results of this revolution into a totalitarian religious regime. In such a regime, the role of non-military armed actors such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the paramilitary Bassij Force, intelligence units and the Iranian Hezbollah, gradually began to grow.
The left-leaning and liberal parties, along with all secular forces, committed a mistake by trusting Khomeini and the clerics. The people of Iran paid a huge price for this mistake.
In the 1980s, Saddam accepted as refugees progressive Arab left-leaning personalities and forces, including those from Egypt, as well as political leaders of the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran, notably the party’s secretary-general Abdol-Rahman Ghasemlou, and also the PMOI. Saddam’s motivation was not to consent to the plans and principles of these forces, but to rather gain a political advantage in the form of political cards against the regimes he opposed.
Today the Iraqi government has resorted to constraining Ashraf residents and has placed them under siege for the gratification of Iranian rulers. This trend was accelerated after a chain of visits by [Ali Akbar] Velayati, [Manouchehr] Mottaki, and [Ali Akbar Hashemi] Rafsanjani, to Baghdad. Iran demands the extradition of these activists, and we all know what awaits them there.
Is the position of the Maliki government a prudent one? Is this in the interest of Iraq? We do not think so. This is rather an inhumane and unethical position, which violates international refugee laws. We also know that successive administrations after Saddam have not brought cases against this organization to the effect that it has conducted military activities against Iran from Iraqi territory. Moreover, the European Union has removed the organization from its list of terrorist organizations. The Iranian regime’s concern is not that this organization has resorted to military activities against it. Rather, it simply fears the presence of such an opposition force in Iraq, just as it fears the presence of members of this opposition anywhere else in the world.
This organization was in the past accused of participating in the suppression of the March 1991 uprising. But, there is no evidence to back this up. The secular cleric and politician, Ayad Jamaluddin, has confirmed this, saying that he has carefully examined all the existing evidence and testimonies, and has found no grounds for the validity of such an allegation.
On this topic, we should say that this spontaneous uprising was in response to Saddam’s suppression and the flames of the Kuwait War and its tragic aftermath. However, during this Intifada, the murder and blind massacre was carried out with a purely sectarian motive. Intensely sectarian slogans were chanted, and the Iranian regime’s Qods Force heavily involved its armed elements in the south. Iraqi militias worked alongside the Qods Force. Such interference and fear of the establishment of an Islamic regime in Iraq caused Bush senior to give a green light to Saddam to use military helicopters against the people. Saddam’s well-known violent tactics led to the destruction and killings.
We support the call from the Iraqi National Accord Movement, led by Dr. Ayad Allawi, which demanded the protection of Ashraf residents, and ask the government and all national leaders to take steps in this regard and refuse to give in to Iranian pressures. It is also imperative for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to rise up to its responsibilities and interfere with Iraqi officials to prevent the implementation of measures threatening the lives and safety of Ashraf residents.