Press Release
2 November 2011

Iraq is to close Camp Ashraf at the behest of the Iranian regime in defiance of international community

Iraq is to close Camp Ashraf at the behest of the Iranian regime in defiance of international community

The Iraqi government is going to hold a press conference on Camp Ashraf, on Thursday 3 November in Baghdad. It’s necessary to point out the following:

1- Any attempt to close Camp Ashraf, after the Camp residents have accepted the European parliament’s plan for resettlement in third countries, is absolutely illegal, suppressive, in the interests of Tehran and a pretext to massacre Camp Ashraf residents.

2- The Iraqi government, today, has confronted the international community and has sided with the fascist regime in Iran by suppressing Camp Ashraf‘s residents and setting a unachievable deadline to close down the Camp. It clearly violates the European Parliament and US Congress resolutions and is a blatant violation of the UN Secretary-General’s instruction in article 66 of his report to the Security Council on July 7.

3- The Committee on Foreign Affairs of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday, November 2, adopted an amendment on Camp Ashraf to a sanctions bill against the Iranian regime by unanimous vote. The part that relates to Ashraf stipulates: “An increase in Iranian activity and influence in Iraq threatens the safety and welfare of the residents of Camp Ashraf” and added “It shall be the policy of the United States to urge the Government of Iraq to…. not close Camp Ashraf until the United Nations High Commission for Refugees can complete its process, recognize as political refugees the residents of Camp Ashraf who do not wish to go back to Iran, and resettle them in third countries”.

4- Amnesty International in a strongly worded Public Statement on 1 November urged for the deadline to be postponed until the UNHCR can finish its work to recognize the refugee status of the Ashraf residents.

5- Last week over 180 Members of the European Parliament from all political groups in a statement called for the above deadline to be cancelled and urged the EU High Representative and member states that, ” we urgently ask Baroness Ashton, the EU and the Member States, as well as the USA and the UN, to prevent a major human catastrophe, by denouncing the aforementioned deadline and forcing the Iraqi government to postpone it until the final transfer of all residents to third countries has been accomplished. We call on the United Nations and the Security Council to station a permanent monitoring team at Ashraf in order to assure and guarantee the residents’ protection until they are transferred to alternative host countries’. (attached)

Struan Stevenson MEP
President, European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq