Camp Residents Beaten and Tortured: Amnesty International
Amnesty International released a statement condemning detaining, beating and torturing 36 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran who were detained in the brutal attack of the Iraqi security forces on July 28 and called on its members worldwide to write letters to the Iraqi President and Prime Minister and Minister of Human Rights, urging them to release the detainees and provide medical care for the injured detainees.
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The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement on August 6th, 2009 that while the brutal crimes committed by Iraqi forces against residents of Camp Ashraf have sparked outrage and hatred among the people of Iran and Iraq and the world public opinion, and have been condemned extensively by the governments, organizations and authorities advocating human rights, the Iraqi officials have resorted to ridiculous excuses and sheer lies to ignore the “ responsibility to protect” (RtoP) and trample international conventions and cover up the suppression and massacre of Ashraf residents by invoking Iraq’s right to sovereignty. They never say anything about the instructions in the “bilateral agreement” between Khamenei and Mr. Maliki for suppression of the main Iranian opposition force in Iraq, and about the naked terrorism of the mullahs’ regime and the terrorist Qods force against the PMOI in Iraq; instead, they claim that the Ashraf residents do not respect Iraq’s right to sovereignty. They also claim that intention behind the brutal assault of Iraqi forces on Camp Ashraf was merely the generalization of Iraq’s sovereignty and setting up a police station just like other locations in Iraq. The NCRI said: such claims, in general and in particular, are invalid and phony and cannot save the parties who ordered or perpetrated the crime against humanity from judicial and international consequences of their deeds. The International Committee of Jurists in Defence of Ashraf (ICJDA), comprised of 8,500 jurists, the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), comprised of 2,000 Parliamentarians in the U.S. and Europe, and successive resolutions of the European Parliament( 12July 2007, 4 September 2008, and 24 April 2009) testify to this fact.
1 - The Ashraf residents and their lawyers have continuously announced that they respect Iraq’s right to sovereignty, but it is absolutely unacceptable that someone seeks, in the name of Iraq’s sovereignty, to implement the orders of clerical regime’s supreme leader for suppression and massacre of the Iranian Opposition members in Ashraf and violate the international obligations as happened on 28and 29 July, 2009.
Amnesty International released a statement condemning detaining, beating and torturing 36 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran who were detained in the brutal attack of the Iraqi security forces on July 28 and called on its members worldwide to write letters to the Iraqi President and Prime Minister and Minister of Human Rights, urging them to release the detainees and provide medical care for the injured detainees.
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The Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran said in a statement on August 6th, 2009 that while the brutal crimes committed by Iraqi forces against residents of Camp Ashraf have sparked outrage and hatred among the people of Iran and Iraq and the world public opinion, and have been condemned extensively by the governments, organizations and authorities advocating human rights, the Iraqi officials have resorted to ridiculous excuses and sheer lies to ignore the “ responsibility to protect” (RtoP) and trample international conventions and cover up the suppression and massacre of Ashraf residents by invoking Iraq’s right to sovereignty. They never say anything about the instructions in the “bilateral agreement” between Khamenei and Mr. Maliki for suppression of the main Iranian opposition force in Iraq, and about the naked terrorism of the mullahs’ regime and the terrorist Qods force against the PMOI in Iraq; instead, they claim that the Ashraf residents do not respect Iraq’s right to sovereignty. They also claim that intention behind the brutal assault of Iraqi forces on Camp Ashraf was merely the generalization of Iraq’s sovereignty and setting up a police station just like other locations in Iraq. The NCRI said: such claims, in general and in particular, are invalid and phony and cannot save the parties who ordered or perpetrated the crime against humanity from judicial and international consequences of their deeds. The International Committee of Jurists in Defence of Ashraf (ICJDA), comprised of 8,500 jurists, the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ), comprised of 2,000 Parliamentarians in the U.S. and Europe, and successive resolutions of the European Parliament( 12July 2007, 4 September 2008, and 24 April 2009) testify to this fact.
1 - The Ashraf residents and their lawyers have continuously announced that they respect Iraq’s right to sovereignty, but it is absolutely unacceptable that someone seeks, in the name of Iraq’s sovereignty, to implement the orders of clerical regime’s supreme leader for suppression and massacre of the Iranian Opposition members in Ashraf and violate the international obligations as happened on 28and 29 July, 2009.
2 - Ashraf residents, respecting Iraq’s right to sovereignty, negotiated with Iraqi officials for one year (since August 2008 till 29 July, 2009) and displayed extraordinary flexibilities despite international recommendations including the International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Ashraf.
3 - The issue of setting up a police station inside Ashraf and the way it was put forward was merely an absurd excuse for attacking and suppressing Ashraf residents at the behest of the mullahs’ shaky regime. Ashraf residents have had the maximum cooperation with the Iraqi forces stationed at Ashraf since the beginning of 2009 and have provided them with too many facilities.
4 - The Ashraf residents delivered to the Iraqi forces the buildings at camp’s entrance including dozens of rooms and halls and the appended trailers that were working places, residence and meeting place of lawyers, jurists, parliamentarians and international delegations; all of them were constructed by Ashraf residents and all the expenses were spent by them.
5- The Ashraf residents spent huge amount of money to build 4 protection towers with a set of installations as well as road construction at four points outside the camp perimeter for the Iraqi forces and delivered them.
6 - As a sign of goodwill to the Iraqi forces, the Ashraf residents removed 10 watch towers inside Ashraf’s perimeter having been used by the Organization members for guarding the camp aimed at showing the Iraqi forces that their presence is recognized and there is no interference in their duties.
7- The Ashraf residents accepted to go through the census, fingerprinting, identification and registration process by Iraqi Interior Ministry representatives that lasted for 5 days and was completed on April 9, 2009.
8- The Ashraf residents accepted private and individual interviews with Iraqi officials that lasted for 19 days at a place outside Ashraf, next to the Iraqi forces location. The interviews were completed on April 22, 2009. During the interviews, carried out with the presence of the U.S. forces, the Ashraf residents announced their selection of remaining in Ashraf and had it recorded legally vis-à-vis the options suggested by the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry. Eleven persons left Ashraf on their will.
9 - On Ashraf suggestion, for three days, all buildings, sites, gardens, farms and installations in Ashraf were searched by Iraq’s Ministry of Interior that with complete equipments including trained police dogs. The search was completed on April 20, 2009. According to the document that was signed in this regard, no explosives or weapons were found except for 23 boxes of firework squibs while some of them were rotten and some were empty.
10 - Therefore, no ambiguity is left that the brutal crackdown and massacre for setting up a police station inside Camp Ashraf under the pretext of implementing sovereignty is an absurd claim for fulfilling the clerical regime’s demands. On Thursday morning of May 28, 2009, the police forces surprisingly raided the Ashraf entrance and increased pressures and siege and all kinds of threats and restrictions and prohibitions for two months. Ultimately on July 28, 2009, along with other suppressive forces, they started their brutal crackdown and savage massacre at the behest of Khamenei who is being drowned in the waves of the Iranian people’s nationwide uprising.
11-It is worth noting that on the day of attack and massacre (28 July 2009), the representatives of Ashraf residents were negotiating with the Iraqi forces’ commanders and Iraq’s prime minister’s envoys at 12 o’clock noon on how to station the police. In this two-hour negotiation, the residents of Ashraf reiterated once again that they had no problem with the police forces taking position at the Camp’s entrance, and if the police needed more facilities at the camp’s entrance, they would provide them and would pay all necessary expenses and provide full facilities. However, the Iraqi side turned a deaf ear to these words, having resolved to attack and massacre on behalf of the mullahs’ regime. In the course of negotiations, the prime minister’s representative was called from Baghdad three times and was ordered finally to cut off the negotiations and launch the attack. The severity of attack, the number of Iraqi forces, the type of forces, and their brutal behavior are indications of devastating goals of the operation and clearly show that the problem is not implementation of sovereignty, rather the issue is the destruction of Ashraf at the behest of the Iranian regime.
12-Muwaffaq al-Rubaie, who was in charge of Ashraf’s dossier in the Iraqi government till May, had said one year ago on 13 July 2008: “this dossier will be wrapped up soon. …the only solution is that the Iraqi armed forces take the responsibility of Camp Ashraf; they are the ones who should hold the administration of the camp; only Iraqis should have control over it. Those who have committed crimes against the people of Iraq should be tried here. Any other country that supports them can take them, and majority of them should return to their country. Except for 56 of them, the others are probably granted amnesty. They can return to their country.”
13- Therefore, the Ashraf residents had no objection to stationing Iraqi police forces at Ashraf’s entrance, and their representatives underscored in their several meetings with both the Iraqi forces and the U.S. forces that they had no problem and objection with stationing the police at the camp’s entrance, but stationing the police in the Ashraf residents’ residing area in the middle of the camp, where 1,000 Muslim women including young girls with Islamic culture and traditions live, pursues other known goals that the Iraqi officials have announced and repeated time and again. On 1 April 2009, Muwaffaq al-Rubaie said on Al-Forat TV, “Iraqi security forces will enter the camp gradually and will set up control posts and will run patrols and will start searching, and then they will launch attacks…”
14- On 29 July 2009 in the midst of the attack and massacre in Ashraf, Ali Larijani, Iranian regime’s parliament speaker, followed by all Friday prayer leaders, “thanked and expressed gratitude” to Mr. Maliki and lauded him for his “brave measure” in “annihilating the Monafeqin[the regime’s derogatory term to describe the PMOI] ”.
15- On 31 July 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said: “ the goal of setting up a police center is that some of those who are in the camp want to go to Iran or any other country in the world, but this organization prevents them and does not permit them to do so. Some seek to return Iran by taking advantage of amnesty, but they do not allow. Some of them, meaning 55 of them, are under prosecution by the Interpol, because they are guilty and there are judicial complaints against them. The camp officials refrain from delivering these individuals, and therefore we planned to set up a police center there.” (ALHURRA TV, 31 July 2009)
16- Therefore, the Ashraf residents’ problem is neither Iraq’s sovereignty, nor the presence of the police and its station and command at Ashraf’s entrance (specifically at Lord Slynn’s building). The problem is to use “the right to sovereignty “ and “police station” as an excuse to implement the “ bilateral agreement” between Khamenei and Mr. Maliki for suppression and massacre of Iranian Opposition or forcing it to bow down and surrender. This is where the crime against humanity tramples international laws, conventions and resolutions, and rejects “responsibility to protection” (RtoP).
17- The UN Secretary General said about “responsibility to protection”: “RtoP is an ally of sovereignty, not an adversary. Strong States protect their people, while weak ones are either unwilling or unable to do so. …. RtoP seeks to strengthen sovereignty, not weaken it.” (Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary General- New York, 15 July 2008)
18- In the 2005 Summit, the UN Secretary General specified based on the signed document in the Summit that in today’s world obligations of States to protect from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity is not “in contradiction to sovereignty”, and as the 2005 Summit recognized in its official document, “when “national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations” from the four crimes and violations, Governments “are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional and sub-regional organizations as appropriate.” (New York, 15 July 2008)
19- In light of the one year experience and since it was proved that the current Iraqi government has neither capacity nor competence to assume the protection of Ashraf residents, and regretfully implements the wants of the dictatorship ruling Iran in suppression of the Iranian Opposition in Iraq based on the “bilateral agreement”, as Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, wrote to the U.S. President on 2 August 2009, the solution is now that the U.S. forces temporarily undertake the protection of the Camp Ashraf until an international force under United Nations monitoring takes their place. In this regard, the Iranian Resistance calls on the United Nations, European Union, and the Arab League.
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The demonstration of the Iranian-Canadians continues in Ottawa
As the Iraqi's attack on Iranian residents of Ashraf Camp started, hundreds of Iranian-Canadians began their protest. Today was the 12 day of their hunger strike and the 13 day of the demonstraions. They gather in front of the foriegn affairs on Sussex Drive from Monday to Friday every morning and in the afternoon they move to the front of the U.S. embassy. On Sat. and Sundays they are at the U.S. embassy all day long.
They want the United States to end the siege of Ashraf Camp where the Iraqi forces attacked its residents and killed 13, wounded more than 500 and took 36 people as hostages.
The Iranian-Canadians's hunger strike is to support the Ashraf residents hunger strikee.
