By releasing a statement, Amnesty International expressed concern that the US-Iraqi pact contains no reference to the situation of Ashraf residents associated with the Iranian opposition-PMOI who have been under the US protection so far.

The Amnesty International statement dated November 27, 2008, partly reads: “The agreement contains no reference to the more than 2,000 Iranians associated with the People’s Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition organization, who remain at Ashraf Camp in northern Iraq, where they have been under the protection of US forces for several years.

The Iraqi government is reported to have told the PMOI that those at Camp Ashraf must leave Iraq by 31 December 2008. Some Iraqi officials have suggested that they will be forcibly expelled if they fail to comply. According to Amnesty International, the Iranians would be at risk of serious human rights violations if they were forcibly returned to Iran.”

The statement also expressed concern over the situation of Iraqi detainees if they are delivered to the Iraqi officials after the US-Iraqi agreement.