NEWS))))))
Iraqi police beat and wounded Camp Ashraf residents
At 17:30 local time on Tuesday July 28, 2009, camp Ashraf was raided by the Iraqi forces. The unarmed residents were attacked with machine guns, betton, tear gas, pepper spray and manmade clubs, chains and stones by the Iraqi forces. They attacked the camp Ashraf where close to 4000 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) have been residing for more than 20 years. So far 12 people have been killed by the Iraqi forces either by bullets, boldoser, or sever beating to the head, more than 400 are wounded and 30 taken by the police to an unknown location. The residents of Ashraf are unarmed and are protected persons under the 4th Geneva Convention. The U.S signed an agreement with the Ashraf residents in early 2000 to ensure their safety in Iraq. Camp Ashraf is located close to the Iran-Iraq border in Diale province. The residents of Ashraf announced on Tuesday that except the wounded and the ill, everyone else is going on a hunger strike until their demands are met. Retreat of the Iraqi forces from the Camp and return of the missing is among the demands of residents of Ashraf including the U.S to take control of the security of the Iranian residents in Ashraf. In solidarity with the Camp residents, the Iranian political organizations, political and artists, and human rights defenders, condemned Iraqi attack on the Iranian residents of Ashraf. In 14 countries and 15 cities people are staging demonstrations and hunger strikes to support their countrymen and women. In Ottawa the Iranian protesters gather every day in front of the American Embassy from 9 Am to 9Pm. A few people have started their hunger strike since Wednesday.
The president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, called the attack on Ashraf residents, a crime against humanity. In a press conference in Rome, lawyers and jurists from Italy, France, Belgem, Sweden, Germany with members of the “Comettee of the Italian parliamenters and citizens” for free Iran, Maryam rajavi asked the lawyers to help the victim’s families to take this matter to and international court. She added that the resistance of Iran will do all it can to help. The siege of Ashraf began in early March after the order of Ali Khamieni supreme leader of Iranian regime reached Nouri Almaliki in Feb. of 2009.
Iraqi Deputy President, Tariq al-Hashemi, demands explanation from Nouri al-Maliki On Thursday evening at 21:00 local time, the al-Arabiya TV channel reported that Mr. Tariq al-Hashemi, the Iraqi Deputy President, wrote a letter to members of the country’s presidential council and highlighted the need to demand sufficient explanations from Nouri al-Maliki about the military operation carried out recently in Camp Ashraf.He also demanded to know the reason for performing the operation as well the political objectives to be pursued by the government in the future with regards to dealing with the refugees of the camp.In his letter, al-Hashemi emphasized that from this point on it would be unacceptable for Iraq’s presidential council to be surprised every time political or security measures are taken without prior consultation with the council.
Ashraf women residents attacked with tear gas, shots fired into the air, and 5 residents wounded
PMOI women prevent the theft of a truck owned by residentsIraqi suppressive forces, which have surrounded and occupied Camp Ashraf, have been looting and stealing resident-owned vehicles.At about 18:00 local time today, Iraqi forces attacked women residents of Ashraf who sought to prevent them from stealing a truck. The forces used tear gas, fired bullets into the air, threw sonic and smoke grenades, and beat the women with sticks and stones. However, the brave women overcame the agents’ attacks and took possession of the vehicle, thus preventing it to fall into the hands of the clerical regime’s cronies.One of the women, Fatemeh Jafari, was injured after being hit in her chest by a stone thrown by the Iraqi agents. Moreover, Mohammad Kangi, Faraj Afshar, Bahman Abedi, and Abdolreza Kalantar, who had come to the aid of these women under fire, were wounded as a result of the sonic and smoke grenades hurled by the killers of the Iranian people’s sons and daughters.In the first two days of the agents’ attack, dozens of vehicles belonging to Ashraf residents, including 12 IFA trucks, 9 Jeep Land Cruisers, 2 Mitsubishi minibuses, 1 Land Cruiser, 1 Nissan Sedan, 2 water and fuel tankers, 1 crane, 1 truck, 1 bulldozer, and 3 loaders were stolen by the suppressive thieves.Thus far, close to one hundred vehicles and various kinds of ambulances, IFA vehicles, cranes, and cars have been damaged by the agents and are no longer operational.
Camp Ashraf resident Alireza Ahmadkhah has died
Alireza Ahmadkhah, who was shot in the leg on Tuesday by Iraqi suppressive forces, died at around 22:00 local time on Thursday. He was 51 and was born in the northern city of Rasht. He had 20 years of professional political experience struggling for freedom of the Iranian people from the clutches of the religious tyranny ruling Iran.Ahmadkhah died in Balad hospital of the American forces, 20 km from Ashraf. On Thursday afternoon, after a two-day delay, 12 of the severely wounded Ashraf residents, 8 of whom were shot by the Iraqi agents, including Asghar Yaghoubpour, were transferred by American forces to Balad hospital. At noon on Thursday, the American military’s spokesman in Iraq declared the US forces’ readiness to provide medical treatment upon request.
