The Australian Supporters of Democracy in Iran issued a call to UN High Commissioner for Refugee Antonio Guterres expressing its concerns regarding the media statements wired by the Iranian regime’s Fars news agency citing the mullahs’ ambassador to Iraq claiming a number of Ashraf residents had already returned to Iran and attributing similar dangerous remarks to the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to Iraq Mr. Martin Kobler.

Excerpts of this letter are as follows:

We are alarmed at the media statements made through the Fars News Agency on January 22, 2012, by the Iranian Ambassador to Iraq, Mr Danaifar, that 750 people from Ashraf City had already returned to Iran, and that the leadership at Ashraf was stopping the majority from returning to Iran. Ambassador Danaifar is also reported by Fars to say that “the UN and its representative in Iraq have underscored time and again in the meetings they had with us that from the UN point of view, the Monafeqin organization is a terrorist grouplet and it will not support them by any means”.
We are informed that both these statements are completely untrue, and very dangerous and must be publicly denounced as untrue by you and Ambassador Kobler. We call on you to take this action now. Ambassador Danaifar also claimed that half of the 6 month extension of the December 31, 2011, deadline set by Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki is now over. This is also wrong and a direct threat to cut short the process agreed in the MOU. Given this exposure of the strategy of the Iranian government, we call on UNHCR to immediately begin assessment interviews at Ashraf City, where there are ample facilities. We urge you to take action now to obtain the security necessary to undertake this urgent task.