STATEMENT BY THE LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDER

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Thursday, 25 August 2009

 

 

It was reported by the media that on 28-30 July, more than 2,000 Iraqi armed forces violently attacked Camp Ashraf, which houses some 3,500 unarmed Iranian refugees, including 1,000 women of all ages. The Iraqi forces used live ammunition, batons, truncheons, axes, sickles, tear gas, hot water cannons, and bulldozers to attack the defenceless residents of Camp Ashraf. Eleven residents were killed, some 500 were wounded, and 36 others, some of whom were severely wounded, were arrested and later subjected to torture. Amnesty International says it has seen footage of protesting residents being deliberately run over by military ‘Humvees’ driven by Iraqi forces.

 

 The Iranian regime’s Foreign Minister was quoted on 17 August as demanding from the Iraqi ambassador in Tehran that Iraq extradites the Camp Ashraf residents to Iran. The Iraqi ambassador to Iran, Mohammad Majid al-Sheikh, said in an interview with Iran’s state-run Mehr news agency on 19 August that Iraq is ready to receive Iran’s complaints against the Camp Ashraf residents which will be used to ’prosecute’ the residents who have been detained.

 

 All camp residents were recognised in 2004 as ’protected persons’ under the 4th Geneva Convention by the US-led force in Iraq, and this status was confirmed in writing at least three times in later years by the top Coalition commanders in Iraq.

 The US is obligated to guarantee the safety and security of the Camp’s residents as they are “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention. Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states, “if a government fails to carry out the provisions of the Convention in any important respect, the government by which the protected persons were transferred (in this case the US) shall, upon being so notified by the protecting government, take effective measures to correct the situation or shall request the return of the protected persons. Such request must be complied with.” Following the massacre at Camp Ashraf, the US has a duty to take back protection of the camp.

 

A large number of Ashraf residents have been on hunger strike for the past 26 days and their lives are in great peril. Lawyers Without Borders calls:

1. The Camp’s residents must be allowed access to lawyers, doctors, journalists and their relatives.

 2. Iraqi police should withdraw their forces from Camp Ashraf and release the 36 people taken hostage.

3. US forces temporarily assume protection of Camp Ashraf until an international force can take over.

4. The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq immediately stations an international monitoring team under a UN flag inside the camp to prevent further attacks. As a human being, coupled by being the Chairman of Lawyers Without Borders, I feel my sympathy, empathy and responsibilities to emphasise my thoughts and ideas that

 1) Camp Ashraf is in international responsibility in general and the USA in particular, not of Iraqi government

2) Iraqi government has no right at all according to the Geneva Convention to deal with the people in Ashraf, especially if to return them to Iran where they would be highly likely to face risk of their lives.

 

With this feeling and from the legal points, we should be more active in the media to stop Iraqi government from passing the red line.