NEWS))))))

US lawmaker compares Iranian exile camp to Auschwitz

Associated France Press reported on Aug. 1st that lawmakers in Washington accused US and Iraqi leaders Wednesday of perpetuating appalling conditions for Iranian exiles housed near Baghdad, with one Republican comparing the facilities to Auschwitz. The outrage over the conditions came as the US State Department expressed concern over Iraq’s threatened forced closure of Camp Ashraf, where 1,200 members of the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) remain despite a UN-brokered accord to leave as a first step toward resettlement.
The Iraqi government has been locked in a bitter dispute with the MEK over plans to relocate them to Camp Liberty, a former US military base, and 1,900 people have already moved there. But the rest have refused to move, and none have transferred since May, under steps toward all the exiles eventually being expelled from Iraq. Several House members spoke at a session highlighting poor conditions at the camps, including Republican Dana Rohrabacher who decried the situation as 'disgraceful.' He cited deadly violence at Camp Ashraf, 80 kilometers (50 miles) northeast of Baghdad, which was set up in the 1980s, and horrific conditions at the newer Liberty facility, near the Iraqi capital’s airport. 'Doesn’t that look like Auschwitz?' Rohrabacher said, pointing to a large photograph depicting rows of white structures at Liberty. 'This looks like a concentration camp. We have sent people to a concentration camp.' He also accused President Barack Obama’s administration of 'betraying' the people in the camps by not working harder to resolve the dispute or the MEK’s status. The group has been on the US terror blacklist since 1997, but says it has renounced violence and has asked Washington to remove it from the list -- dozens of lawmakers signed a July 26 letter urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to do so.

As it couldn't get any more bizarre, UN chief Ban Ki moom told the 1200 remaining in camp Ashraf to leave. In reaction to the protests from residents and their supporters of the situation in camp Liberty, Mr. Ban ki moom says the services at Camp Hurriya(Liberty) are already far better than at most other refugee camps worldwide. This is while there is not enough water, electricity or facilites for sick and disabled people at the camp.

Execution Date Has Been Set For Political Prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi

According to HRANA, the execution date of September 10, 2012 has been set for political prisoner Gholamreza Khosravi. Khosravi who was also a political prisoner in the 80′s has been in the Intelligence Ministry’s detention since 2006. Gholamreza Khosravi was arrested in 2006 on charges of donating money to an opposition satellite TV station. In 2007, he was tried in a court in Rafsanjan on charges of espionage and donating money to Mohahedin Khalgh Organization (MKO). He was sentenced to three years in prison plus three years suspended sentence. Khosravi has been summoned by Nasiri, the Assistant Prosecutor in Evin’s Enforcement Division and informed that his death sentence will be carried out on September 10, 2012.