Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI)
Brussels – 1 October 2009
Brussels – 1 October 2009
Press release:
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament strongly condemns the
forcible transfer of 36 detained Camp Ashraf residents to Baghdad
We were informed that Iraqi forces, following some government instructions, went to Khalis
City prison and transferred the 36 Iranian opposition PMOI members to Baghdad. These
people were arrested during the brutal attack against Ashraf residents by the Iraqi police on
28 July 2009.
The hostages were handcuffed and thrown into vehicles to be transferred to undisclosed
location while they were in critical conditions with some being unconscious due to
previously declared dry hunger strike in protest to their forcible displacement.
On August 23 and September 17 and 27, the Iraqi court ordered their release and acquitted
them of any charges. The third verdict was a definitive one which could not be appealed
according to Iraqi law and the 36 individuals had to be released subsequently.
Associated press reported on Wednesday that “Iraq’s chief prosecutor, Ghadanfar Hamoud,
issued a blanket order for police to release 36 members of an Iranian opposition group who
were detained during a raid on their camp in northern Iraq in July.”
The Khalis city’s prosecutor also told the 36 PMOI members that the Sunday’s release
order is legal and it cannot be appealed, therefore, they should be released immediately and
their continued detention has nothing to do with Iraq’s judicial system.
On Tuesday the judge who delivered the decision told AFP: ’I released them; I said that
they should go back to Camp Ashraf.”
These 36 prisoners have now been on hunger strike for 66 days and are in a precarious
condition, some of them near death. Their arrest and continued detention is in blatant
disregard of the Iraqi justice system and is a flagrant breach of international standards of
behaviour. It is also in direct defiance of the European Parliament Resolution on Ashraf of
24th April 2009. Amnesty International have put out a very strong press release
condemning the continued detention of these people and the European Parliament’s
President – Jerzy Buzek – has written to the Iraqi authorities on this matter.
While the Iraqi Justice Department has declared the continued detention of the 36 abducted
PMOI members as unlawful, it is now quite clear that the aim is to transfer the 36 to
Baghdad to start baseless legal cases against them to please the religious dictatorship in
Iran.
We should state that the American forces had signed an agreement in 2004 with every
individual in Camp Ashraf, including the above 36, pledging to protect them in return for
handing over of all their weapons.
So we consider the US Embassy in Iraq and the American Forces responsible for the lives of
these hostages and their return to Ashraf and call for immediate action in this regard.
We have today written to the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, urging them to
make an urgent statement demanding the immediate release of these 36 prisoners, in
accordance with the three consecutive rulings of Iraq’s own courts.
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup (FOFI)
European Parliament
Brussels
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament (FoFI)
Chair: Struan Stevenson (ECR)
Vice Chairs: Steven Hughes (PSE Vice-President); Soren Sondergaard (GUE); Jan Zahradil (ECR); Tunne Kelam (EPP);
Struan Stevenson, European Parliament, 04M091, Rue Wiertz, B – 1047 Brussels; struan.stevenson@europarl.europa.eu
forcible transfer of 36 detained Camp Ashraf residents to Baghdad
We were informed that Iraqi forces, following some government instructions, went to Khalis
City prison and transferred the 36 Iranian opposition PMOI members to Baghdad. These
people were arrested during the brutal attack against Ashraf residents by the Iraqi police on
28 July 2009.
The hostages were handcuffed and thrown into vehicles to be transferred to undisclosed
location while they were in critical conditions with some being unconscious due to
previously declared dry hunger strike in protest to their forcible displacement.
On August 23 and September 17 and 27, the Iraqi court ordered their release and acquitted
them of any charges. The third verdict was a definitive one which could not be appealed
according to Iraqi law and the 36 individuals had to be released subsequently.
Associated press reported on Wednesday that “Iraq’s chief prosecutor, Ghadanfar Hamoud,
issued a blanket order for police to release 36 members of an Iranian opposition group who
were detained during a raid on their camp in northern Iraq in July.”
The Khalis city’s prosecutor also told the 36 PMOI members that the Sunday’s release
order is legal and it cannot be appealed, therefore, they should be released immediately and
their continued detention has nothing to do with Iraq’s judicial system.
On Tuesday the judge who delivered the decision told AFP: ’I released them; I said that
they should go back to Camp Ashraf.”
These 36 prisoners have now been on hunger strike for 66 days and are in a precarious
condition, some of them near death. Their arrest and continued detention is in blatant
disregard of the Iraqi justice system and is a flagrant breach of international standards of
behaviour. It is also in direct defiance of the European Parliament Resolution on Ashraf of
24th April 2009. Amnesty International have put out a very strong press release
condemning the continued detention of these people and the European Parliament’s
President – Jerzy Buzek – has written to the Iraqi authorities on this matter.
While the Iraqi Justice Department has declared the continued detention of the 36 abducted
PMOI members as unlawful, it is now quite clear that the aim is to transfer the 36 to
Baghdad to start baseless legal cases against them to please the religious dictatorship in
Iran.
We should state that the American forces had signed an agreement in 2004 with every
individual in Camp Ashraf, including the above 36, pledging to protect them in return for
handing over of all their weapons.
So we consider the US Embassy in Iraq and the American Forces responsible for the lives of
these hostages and their return to Ashraf and call for immediate action in this regard.
We have today written to the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, urging them to
make an urgent statement demanding the immediate release of these 36 prisoners, in
accordance with the three consecutive rulings of Iraq’s own courts.
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup (FOFI)
European Parliament
Brussels
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament (FoFI)
Chair: Struan Stevenson (ECR)
Vice Chairs: Steven Hughes (PSE Vice-President); Soren Sondergaard (GUE); Jan Zahradil (ECR); Tunne Kelam (EPP);
Struan Stevenson, European Parliament, 04M091, Rue Wiertz, B – 1047 Brussels; struan.stevenson@europarl.europa.eu