By: Toby Cohen
Source: ReligiousIntelligence.Com, 21 August 2009
Two London priests are co-ordinating a network of church support for the people of Camp Ashraf, as there continues to be no leadership on the matter from bishops.
A cry for support for the 1,000 women amongst the 3,500 Iranian prisoners in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, went out from a meeting in the Houses of Parliament on Monday. Videos were played of the Iraqi security guards beating indiscriminately the Iranian people who they are meant to be protecting since the US forces handed over responsibility.
Baron Carlile of Berriew, QC, opened the meeting by expressing his exasperation at the lack of public concern. He said: “There has been very little publicity in the UK, and I’m bemused, frankly, by the reason why this story has been whispered from journalist to journalist, but not featured as a major humanitarian scandal in the UK media.”
One of the reasons for this is the lack of prominent figures condemning the human rights abuses in Ashraf. Lord Carlile said: “The level of protest by western governments and international organisations has been low, and the effect of the protests, such as they have been, has been almost zero.” The Rev Lindsay Meader, Associate Priest at St James’, Piccadilly, said she was “surprised greatly” that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had not yet spoken out on the issue.
Ms Meader and Canon Mark Oakley, Priest-in-Charge of Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair, are currently working on how to galvanise church support for the people of Ashraf and to spread awareness of the situation. Grosvenor Chapel is next to the US Embassy, where 10 people with relatives in Ashraf have been on hunger strike since July 28, when the Iraqi forces invaded the camp.
At the meeting Ms Meader also criticised the lack of media interest, and said: “I know an audience has been requested with the Archbishop of Canterbury [by campaign leader, the Association of Anglo-Iranian Women in the UK], and I very much hope that is something he will respond to in the very near future… Perhaps through him a wider voice will be heard, his is a voice that a lot of people will listen to.
“I will do what I can, with Mark, to try and get more church support on board because it strikes me this is such a fundamental issue for any person of any faith.”
The campaigners believe that under the fourth Geneva Convention, members of the UN have a duty to protect the people of Camp Ashraf, which is being ignored by the US and UK so as not to damage their relationship with Iraq. Human Rights lawyer, Margaret Owen, said at the meeting: “There is an incredibly well-organised and well-funded misinformation indoctrination campaign which has actually influenced some of our own Members of Parliament.”
One of the hunger strikers, Sudabeh Heydari, a 19-year-old student in Manchester, said: “I would like to ask Foreign Secretary David Miliband why he is silent. There are UK residents among the people in Ashraf. You know 1,000 of them are women. Their lives are in danger. I am on hunger strike until they take action. Maybe we die in front of US embassy but maybe then they take action.”
Although the hunger strikers began ‘dry’ they are now taking fluids to prolong the impact of their protest. The Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, is on holiday until September 2, and a Foreign Office spokesperson said there would be no response to the issue before his return.
