The Association of Arab Lawyers in Defense of Liberty Residents issued a statement in relation to the recent report issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and calling for the replacement of Martin Kobler as the UN envoy in Iraq.
“This report reflects the pain and suffering of the residents of camps Ashraf and Liberty due to the lack of the most basic human needs, describing these camps as similar to prisons.
“We had stated time and again in our statements that Martin Kobler provides biased and unreal reports, and we demanded the establishment of international delegations to investigate the actual conditions of the camps.
“The lack of UN’s true role and Martin Kobler’s biased reports show that these measures are carried out only to serve the demands of the Iranian regime and Iraqi government, with the objective of stealing and illegally confiscating Camp Ashraf’s property.
“We in the Association of Arab Lawyers in Defense of Liberty Residents call on the UN Security Council to consider these reports as the real indicators of the situation on the ground, and not the remarks and information provided by Martin Kobler, especially his report to the UN dating 29 November 2012.
“We demand Liberty be recognized as an official refugee camp under UN and UNHCR supervision. Its residents must be given the right to sell their assets in Ashraf, or maintain or transfer them to Liberty by any means they see fit. Lawyers, journalists and MPs must be allowed inside the two camps and the residents able to have meetings with their family members and legal counsels. It is necessary for the UN Secretary-General to appoint an envoy that has the characteristics and conditions to play the legal role of the UN.”