Maryam Rajavi Website, 28 Jan 2012
Dear Friends in Germany,
Distinguished U.S. personalities attending the conference,
Dear Compatriots, I sincerely thank you for your efforts in defending the lives and security of the residents of Camp Ashraf. Defending the main opponents of the mullahs’ regime is a vital part of the struggle against a regime which is the most serious threat to global peace and security. The most recent development in the Ashraf crisis
is that the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government are doing their utmost to prevent a peaceful solution. Iraq has clearly violated the Memorandum of Understanding it has signed with the UN. In an Interview with Iranian regime’s media, the Iraqi Prime Minister in violation of the MOU once again stressed on the fabricated arrest warrants against 121 residents of Ashraf.
This is a clear indication of Iraq’s intention to arrest the residents. He also threatened that if all residents do not leave Iraq in four months, his government would take matters into its own hands. In view of two massacres this government has already committed, the meaning of such an action is quite clear.
According to the UN, Iraq had agreed to respect the rights of the residents for as long as the resettlement to third countries might take. These prove that the Iraqi government neither desires nor can comply with its commitments to the United Nations. For this reason, the world community, especially the UN, must not remain silent.
The UNHCR must not delay the task of determining the refugee status of the residents of Ashraf any longer The emergency situation of the residents of Ashraf calls for UNHCR to make a group determination
of the refugee status of the residents of Ashraf. All indications are that the Iranian regime and Iraqi government are trying to turn Camp Liberty into a prison for the residents of Ashraf. It would be a shame for UN if it were to accept the forcible relocation of Iranian dissidents, who are asylum-seekers, to a site where the residents have no freedom of movement.
This site is a prison with tall walls, where the security forces are present within its internal and private premises, and where there is not even drinking water. In its December 26 statement, the European Union emphasized, “The transfer of the Camp residents must be orderly and by avoiding violence or force.” I ask the EU member states, particularly the government of Germany, to prevent a forcible relocation and urge UN not to submit to the demands of the Iraqi government. I urge German government and all EU Member States to help for immediate resettlement of the residents. I urge the United Nations to report this matter to the Security Council and the EU to adopt a new decision to save the peaceful solution.
I also warn about the mullahs’ regime misusing the UN agencies. In recent days, the Iranian regime’s ambassador to Baghdad claimed that Special Representative of the UN Secretary General has told him that majority of Ashraf residents want to return to Iran but leadership of the Camp do not allow them.
We strongly condemn involving the Iranian regime or even consulting with its officials about the issues related to Ashraf residents. This is totally unacceptable. Let us not forget that killing of Ashraf residents as well as executions in Iran are being done by false allegations such as cult, terrorism and keeping the resistance member against their will in Ashraf. Any approval of such false allegations is participation in the suppression of the opponents of the regime. One cannot claim to be a defender of human rights in Iran and yet approve justifications for suppression of the Ashraf residents. Ashraf symbolizes the solution to the Iranian problem. The suppression of Ashraf residents deprives the world of the only means to withstand religious fascism.
For this reason, I urge all friends of the Iranian Resistance, especially our German friends, to expand their efforts in defending Ashraf.
Thank you all very much.