In a joint statement, 15 human rights and International law defending organizations from different Arabic countries, condemned the joint plot of the Iranian regime and Nouri al-Maliki against Ashraf residents and underscored that protection of Ashraf residents is responsibility of the international community.
The text of the statement posted on the Cairo Institute For Human Rights Studies website is as follows:
Press Releases
Protecting Camp Ashraf Residents is the Responsibility of the Iraqi Government and the International Community
22/02/2010
The undersigned organizations strongly condemn and are profoundly concerned about repressive measures taken by the Iraqi authorities against the residents of Camp Ashraf. Located about 60 km north of Baghdad, the camp is home to some 3,500 Iranian refugees, largely members of the Iranian opposition group Mujahedin-e Khalq and their families.
We note that the Iraqi authorities have been increasing pressure on camp residents for more than a year, ultimately aimed at expelling them from Iraq by making their continued presence in the country “intolerable,” according to one prominent Iraqi security official. These official statements were put into practice in July 2009, when Iraqi security forces raided the camp, leaving left 11 people dead and nearly 500 people injured. In addition, 36 members of the Mujahedin-e Khalq were arrested, and many reports have stated they were likely tortured before being released in October.
The Iraqi authorities have stated their official intention to shut down the camp completely in preparation for the transfer of Ashraf residents to other camps in the desert area of southern Iraq. Over the last three months, the camp has been placed under an increasingly tight siege, with fuel supplies being denied entry. According to some reports, entry for doctors, medicine, food, and other necessities has also been obstructed.
It is feared that these measures are a prelude to the expulsion of camp residents to Iran, where they are liable to be tortured or executed like hundreds of other Mujahedin-e Khalq members. These measures also make camp residents an easy target for retaliatory attacks inside Iraq; the Mujahedin-e Khalq were hosted by Saddam Hussein’s regime during the Iraq-Iran war, and some Iraqi political currents accuse them of collaborating with that regime to repress the popular uprising of 1991.
Regardless of the political matters that have made Camp Ashraf residents unwelcome in Iraq, the Iraq authorities are urged to respect human rights and international humanitarian law as they deal with the issue.
The Iraqi authorities are required to protect the camp’s residents under the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly since the Mujahedin-e Khalq declared that it had renounced violence after the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its members have disarmed since that time. The undersigned organizations call on the Iraqi authorities to immediately end the unjust siege on the camp’s residents and to suspend any measures that may endanger their lives. In particular, the Iraqi authorities are required to abstain from measures that would lead to the expulsion or forced repatriation of camp residents to Iran.
The Iraqi authorities are also obligated to allow human rights observers to enter Camp Ashraf and assess the humanitarian situation.
We look forward to the Iraqi authorities conducting an independent, unbiased investigation into the attack on Camp Ashraf in July, which involved the death, arrest, and detention of some members of Mujahedin-e Khalq.
In view of American promises to respect the legal status of Camp Ashraf residents as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention, even after the camp was turned over to the Iraqi authorities in 2009, we urge the US administration to intervene with the Iraqi authorities to ensure that these promises are kept.
The undersigned organizations call on the UN and the international community to intervene with the Iraqi authorities and offer all possible help in lifting the siege on the camp and respecting the choice of its residents to either remain in the camp or resettle in a third country where they will be protected from deportation to Iran or retaliatory attacks in Iraq.
1. Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies – Egypt
2. Arabic Network for Human Rights Studies – Egypt
3. Bahrain Center for Human Rights – Bahrain
4. Center for Alternative Development Studies – Egypt
5. Committee for the Respect of Liberties and Human Rights in Tunisia – Tunisia
6. Committees for the Defense of Democracy Freedom and Human Rights – Syria
7. Egyptian Center for Community Participation Enhancement – Egypt
8. Hesham Mubarak Law Center – Egypt
9. Land Center for Human Rights – Egypt
10. Nadim Center for the Treatment and Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence – Egypt
11. Palestinian Human Rights Organization- Lebanon
12. Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression – Syria
13. The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies –Egypt
14. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights – Egypt
15. Kurdish Committee for Human Rights in Syria – Syria