Statement
25 October 2010
The crimes perpetrated by the Iraqi government, military and security forces under direct instructions by Al‐Maliki and the crimes of the Iranian regime in Iraq, documents of whichwere published in recent days, have shocked and hurt the human conscience in contemporary years.
What has been revealed in these days before the eyes of the whole world, about conduct of Al‐ Maliki and his subordinate system as well as that of the Iranian regime’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and terrorist Qods force are undoubtedly and by all standards considered as crimes against humanity and those responsible for them should be held accountable by the international community.
However, we in the International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) were more or less familiar with this matter and in our statements and correspondence with the United States, Iraqi and United Nations officials particularly in the past two years have repeatedly referred to the acts related to criminal suppression of Camp Ashraf, home to 3400 Iranian opponents, but regrettably no effective protective measures have been implemented up to now. Therefore, we take the opportunity to point out the followings:
1. We fully approve Amnesty International’s call on the USA to investigate how much US officials knew about the torture and other ill‐treatment of detainees held by Iraqi security forces after new evidence emerged in files released by the Wikileaks organization on Friday. We also agree with Amnesty International that these documents add to our concern that the US authorities committed a serious breach of international law when they summarily handed over thousands of detainees to Iraqi security forces who, they knew, were continuing to torture and abuse detainees on a truly shocking scale.
2. The exposed documents reveal that the US government knew in detail about the political, military and terrorist interventions of the Iranian regime in Iraq. According to New York Times, 23 October, revealed reports of the US military warned that Iran is gaining control of Iraq at many levels of the Iraqi government. New York Times also wrote,” The reports make it clear that the lethal contest between Iranian‐backed militias and American forces continued after President Obama sought to open a diplomatic dialogue with Iran’s leaders and reaffirmed the agreement between the United States and Iraq to withdraw American troops from Iraq by the end of 2011.” Therefore, we call for full revelations of the Iranian regimes political, military and terrorist interventions in Iraq.
United States had every access to evidence and documents indicating the extent of Iranian regime’s interventions and influence on Iraq on one hand and the systematic savage violation of human rights by Iraqi government on the other hand, not to trust and accept this government’s promises on humane treatment of Ashraf residents in accordance with international standards. The US government had ample proof to conclude that Iraqi government has no ability and willingness for implementing the international convention.
8. In addition, Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Convention also specifies the responsibility of the transferring state upon the conduct of the transferee state during the time protected persons are being protected by the second. It specifically provides that if the transferee state fails to honor its obligations to protected individuals, the transferring party – here the United States – must take effective measures to correct the situation, or shall request the return of the protected persons. It adds, such request must be complied with. Thus, under the present circumstances, this article clearly requires the protection of Ashraf residents to be immediately returned to the US forces.
Against the above backdrop, while underscoring the need for revelation of all documents related to the suppressive treatment of Ashraf residents by the Iraqi forces, the ISJ calls for the following urgent measures to prevent yet another humanitarian catastrophe:
a. American forces and subsequently the UNAMI monitoring team must be settled in Camp Ashraf to guarantee the residents’ protection. Mutual conduct and relationship should be returned to the situation prior to 2009 when US forces were responsible for the protection of the camp.
b. The Iraqi forces who were responsible for suppressive acts against Ashraf are led out of the premises and settle in the buildings and establishments outside the camp where had been allocated to them by the residents in early 2009.
c. It should be specified that Ashraf residents are still considered as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and must enjoy the fundamental rights and protections of the convention. The cruel siege of 22 months against Ashraf and the 6 months of psychological torture of the camp residents must end and agents of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence, who have unlawfully settled at the main entry and southern side of the camp merely backed by the Iraqi government and forces, be sent away.
Alejo Vidal Quadras
Vice President of the European Parliament
President, International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ)
