In a big parliamentary session on October 14 with participation of a number of the British both Houses members, the British parliamentarians reiterated on the legal rights of Ashraf residents and emphasized US responsibility in keeping Ashraf Protection. They called the European Union to abide by the rule of law regarding removal of the PMOI from the terrorist list. This session was held in one of the British Parliaments official halls by the Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom in which some of the most prominent British Parliament members from different parties took part and delivered speech. Some of the participants were:

 Lord Corbett, chairman of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom

 Lord Slynn of Hadley, the former Judge of the European Court of Justice and the distinguished jurist from the U.K

 Lord Eric Avebury, from Liberal Democratic Party

 Lord Inglewood DL, member of House of Lords and former Minister

 Lord Brookman, member of House of Lords from Labor Party

 Baroness Verma from Conservative Party

Baroness Turner of Camden, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords

Baroness Turner of Camden, Deputy Speaker of the House of Lords

 Rt. Hon. Lord Archer of Sandwell QC, former UK Solicitor-General

Lord Clarke of Hampstead, former Labor Party chirman

Brian Binley MP from Conservative Party

Mrs. Claire Meskin, the prominent lawyer and the Britain s Courts judge

Roger Gale MP At the beginning,

 Lord Corbett, chairman of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, who chaired the session, said: Today we want to discuss on two subjects. First, the threat which is directed to security and protection of Ashraf residents and the second is related to the continuation of proscription of the People s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). Lord Corbett added: No matter how the US forces situation is in Iraq, doesn t exonerate them from the responsibility based on the Fourth Geneva Convention and they can not transfer Ashraf protection to the Iraqi government, because this is the situation that the Iranian regime pursues and the threat is here; in the case of transfer of protection, any incident would be disastrous for our government and the US government. Regarding keeping the PMOI in the European Union s terrorist list, Lord Corbett said: nothing secret or new and that why the PMOI should be in that list exists. The reality is that the courts have investigated all evidences including secret documents, therefore, remove the chains from the PMOI s hands because this proscription has had most devastating effects. A short film of the Ashraf City history was shown in this session which was welcomed by the audience. Also another film of violation of human rights in Iran by the anti-human clerical regime was shown which touched the audience to the quick. At the end of the British parliamentary session, the statement of The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom was presented to the audience and was confirmed by them.

 The text of the statement is:

 We are extremely alarmed by reports that the U.S.-led Coalition is contemplating transferring to Iraqi forces the protection of nearly 4,000 Iranian political refugees residing in Camp Ashraf, which include 1,000 women, who are protected persons under international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (2 October 2008, written declaration no. 415), Amnesty International (28 August 2008 public statement), the European Parliament (4 September 2008 resolution), the International Federation of Human Rights (8 September 2008 statement), and the Jubilee Campaign (4 September 2008 statement) have warned that such a transfer would jeopardise the lives of the residents of Ashraf. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UNHCR, and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI), as well as U.S. officials who have been protecting Ashraf since 2003, have over the past 18 months declared that Ashraf residents fall within the framework of the principle of non-refoulement and protections enshrined under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and international law. Some 5.2 million Iraqi citizens and 3 million Shiite Iraqis have declared their support for the PMOI s lawful presence in Iraq, which they recognise as the principle bulwark to Tehran s fundamentalist expansion in their country. Some Iraqi officials and state media allied to the mullahs have threatened Ashraf residents with prosecution, extradition and even execution. At the behest of Tehran, the food, fuel, and medicine provisions to the residents of Ashraf have been suspended since 2005. Under pressure from Iran, the Iraqi government released a directive on 17 June 2008 demanding that U.S. forces hand over protection of Camp Ashraf. It also ordered the expulsion of Ashraf residents, who are members of the main democratic Iranian opposition group PMOI (People s Mojahedin), from Iraq. We strongly condemn this explicit call which violates the principle of non-refoulement and IHL. We note that international law prohibits the handover of protected persons to an authority which would seek to violate their rights. Handing over Ashraf’s protection to Iraqi forces will result in further pressure on the Iraqi government by the Iranian regime to crack down on or extradite Ashraf residents, and it will give Tehran a free hand to increase its terrorist and military attacks on Camp Ashraf. Residents of Ashraf, many of whom spent many years in the Iranian regime’s prisons, are sought by the regime and would face torture and execution if returned to Iran. Transferring protection of Ashraf residents under the present circumstances violates the principle of non-refoulement, the Fourth Geneva Convention, the Refugee Convention, the Convention Against Torture and more generally International Humanitarian Law and international law and paves the way for a humanitarian catastrophe. We strongly urge U.S. forces for as long as they remain in Iraq to continue to protect Ashraf residents and uphold their judicial protection in the framework of international law. We also demand that the Iraqi government immediately lifts the unlawful restrictions imposed on them. The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom 14 October 2008