Following Mr. Saremi’s execution this morning, a number of his family members, including his wife, daughter, and sister were arrested by the security forces outside Evin prison. The international community must act urgently to ensure their safety and well-being.
The execution of Mr. Saremi makes it abundantly clear that the Iraqi government’s nearly two-year long barbaric siege of Camp Ashraf and the escalating suppression of its residents at the behest of Tehran – demonstrated by the unprovoked and vicious attack on Sunday, December 26 – is the flip side of Tehran’s inhuman executions of PMOI members and affiliates in Iran.
USCCAR calls on the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to condemn the execution of Mr. Saremi. It urges immediate action by the United Nations and international human rights organizations to save the lives of other political prisoners on death row in Iran, including the PMOI affiliates and relatives of Camp Ashraf residents Jafar Kazemi, Javad Lari, Mohammad Haj Aghaei, Abdolreza Ghanbari, Ahmad Daneshpour Moghaddam, and Mohsen Daneshpour Moghaddam.
The continued U.S. inaction vis-a-vis the deteriorating situation in Camp Ashraf and Washington’s refusal to heed a bi-partisan call in the U.S. House of Representatives to end the unjustified designation of the PMOI, has further emboldened Camp Ashraf enemies in Tehran and Baghdad to step up the suppression of the PMOI members with impunity.
The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents urges Secretary of State Clinton to promptly remove the PMOI from the FTO list. The blacklisting of the PMOI has not only been a major impediment to democratic change in Iran but has also been used by the governments of Iran and Iraq to subject our loved ones in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and inside Iran, to murder and inhumane treatment.