Camp Ashraf might be on the plate
By Abbas Rezai
OfficialWire, Strasbourg, 24 Oct 2011- In the past two years more than 450 executions have taken place in Iran, with over 100 hangings only in September this year. The people of Iran are for more than 30 years suffering from a cruel Islamic fascist regime. The Iranian regime recently denied the visit of UN special Rapporteur for Human Rights and at the time when the dictators in the Middle-East are falling one after the other, the regime of Iran is in desperate need of credibility.
At this crucial time, a delegation of five Members of the European Parliament is planning to visit Iran next week.  The delegation headed by Finnish Green MEP Tarja Cronberg Chair of the parliament’s Iran delegation and vice-chairs Kurt Lechner and Cornelia Ernst from Germany plus two other MEPs from other political Groups, likely the Liberal Marietje Schaake from Holland and the Socialist Kathleen van Brempt from Belgium will be received by Iranian regime’s officials from 31 October till 3 November 2011.
Based on experience from the past, the Iranian regime never accepts a visit if there isn’t anything to gain. This time they have a major concern: The Arab spring and the likeliness that it will reach Iran in near future.
Therefore, one of the most critical issues for the regime right now is the issue of Camp Ashraf in Iraq and the 3400 unarmed Iranian dissidents who are based there. These are members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) whom the regime despises as its sworn enemies and has accused them of mobilizing the recent uprisings in Iran. The regime has long wanted Camp Ashraf closed down and the members to be returned to Iran where they would face imminent torture and executions as 120.000 likeminded people have already been executed by the regime during the past three decades.
At the behest of the regime, Iraqi government launched two deadly attacks on Ashraf since the uprisings broke out in Iranian 2009. Nearly 50 unarmed residents of Ashraf including 8 women have been killed by Iraqi soldiers’ gunfire or have been crushed under their vehicles. 
The regime is upset that the European Parliament has taken the lead to press the Iraqi government on respecting human rights of Ashraf residents. The Parliament has adopted two strong resolutions in support of the humanitarian situation of Ashraf. Several EP delegations have travelled to Iraq to visit Ashraf and demanded the Iraqi government to respect the Human rights of Camp residents.
Now that US officially has confirmed that it will pull out all troops from Iraq by the end of this year, Iran sees this as a golden opportunity to finish off Ashraf. Through its proxies in Iraq, it has put a deadline to close down the Camp by the end of this year, something that could lead to a Srebrenica-style massacre.
But in order to pave the way for a new blood bath in Ashraf, the regime needs to find allies and has been working hard to break the EU consensus in support of human rights in Ashraf.
The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs last month appointed former Belgian EU Ambassador as her special envoy for trying to find a peaceful solution for Ashraf and the head of EP Iraq delegation Struan Stevenson has demanded the Iraqi government to cancel the December deadline to close down the Camp.
So no doubt that Ashraf will be on the plate in Tehran if the planned visit goes ahead and it may be also be the only dish that the mullahs plan to serve the EP delegations in different colors and tastes to confuse the atmosphere on Ashraf.
The Demonization Campaign
In 2007 when the last EP delegation visited Iran, it was made to visit bogus “NGOs” who would be composed of “Ex-PMOI Members” and they would tell lengthy stories of how badly they were treated by PMOI in Ashraf.
These shows and theaters are in fact the regular component of Tehran visits by EU lawmakers.
When a delegation from British parliament was visiting Tehran in 2007 the official News Agency IRNA reported: ”The members and chairman of the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee were invited to Iran by the Islamic Consultative Assembly. They met and spoke with a number of victims of terrorism at the Edalat Association, in order to be informed of the terrorist nature and activities of the Monafeqin (PMOI).”
The head of British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee upon his return from Tehran in reported to the committee that : “When we went to Iran I certainly and I think my colleagues, were struck by the number of times that the Iranians wanted to raise the issue of what they call the MKO (MEK/PMOI) terrorist organisation or clique or some other term of that kind to a level of almost of obsession that it was on their program, they wanted us to talk about it and they raised it in lots of different contexts.” He later reiterated that “The Iranian Government are completely obsessed with the Mujaheddin-e-Khalq, the PMOI, or whatever name we choose to give it. They even tried to organise a televised meeting between us and victims of MEK terrorism. “
Even when Iran was caught red-handed in the scandalous terror-plot in US earlier this month, it put the blame on PMOI!
No doubt the Iranian regime will misuse this trip, both against Ashraf and against the innocent Iranian people, who are paying the price of freedom by daily public hangings and tortures. A visit to Iran and shaking the bloody hand of the regimes’ representatives is pure shame. The people of Iran will not gain anything by this trip, and it may mark a black stain in the history of the European Parliament’s good record in support of human rights.