Sout al-Iraq, 27 August 2012 – Iraqi Vice President Dr. Tareq al-Hashemi expressed his deepest concerns over the conditions of Ashraf and Liberty residents and Syrian refugees in Iraq, calling on Baghdad to look into this subject from a humanitarian perspective and not a political approach.
“There are just concerns regarding Syrian refugees in Iraq and I advise the Iraqi government to set aside its biased and narrow-minded point of view and provide shelter and adequate living conditions for any refugee who flees cruelty and violence,” Tareq al-Hashemi announced.
Hashemi said moral and humanitarian considerations are more important than legal concerns, and today we are committed to provide care for the Syrian people who are currently faced with true mass killings by a repressive regime. Therefore, this is a necessary and binding obligation, he added.
“There is a possibility of events similar to those which took place against Iranian refugees in Ashraf to occur at any time for Syrian refugees. Everyone knows the Iraqi government’s history in human rights is very dark, because a government from that has been unable to protect the lives and property of Iraqi citizens and has become a terrible nightmare, can we expect it to have the ability or interest to provide security from a refugee coming from a neighboring country? This of course is nothing but an illusion,” the Iraqi VP added.
Tareq al-Hashemi called on the United Nations, national assistance organizations and Parliamentary commissions to rise to their responsibilities regarding refugees’ rights, either Syrian or Iranian, and supervise the actions of government security bodies in their treatment of these refugees.
“This is the right of Iranian refugees in Ashraf and Liberty to be concerned about the future because the way they are treated is against the law and against Islam,” Tareq al-Hashemi said.
Ashraf and Liberty residents are the guests of the Iraqi people and government and they must be treated according to the Geneva Conventions, al-Hashemi added.
Protecting them and providing adequate living conditions for them is necessary and the Iraqi government must act in this framework at least for Iraq’s national interests and to defend the country’s international reputation, he said. However, the only thing important now for the current Iraqi government is gaining the consent of a neighboring government at all costs.
Therefore, the international community must not hesitate in its full responsibility until the Iraqi government provides sufficient assurances regarding the well-being and security of Ashraf and Liberty residents.

The Iraqi Vice President added in his statement:
The appeals filed for the prosecution of the crimes committed against Ashraf residents have no time limit and this dossier will never be closed. Cages await those criminals. In whatever post they may be, sooner or later they will be placed in these cages. I have no doubt that these criminals will spend the rest of their lives inside prison walls and they will not be able to flee from justice either on earth, or in the heavens above us.
It is too late to prosecute them for the crimes they have committed. They have been hired with the money of the Iraqi people to commit crimes, and a particular government has created obstacles and barriers before justice. However, these conditions will alter immediately when the status quo changes.