Press Release
30 September 2013

It has been over a month now since the murderous attack by the Iraqi security forces on Camp Ashraf. There is verifiable intelligence that demonstrates this attack was ordered by the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri Al-Maliki, acting on the insistence of his sponsors in the Iranian regime. Unfortunately, despite this grave crime against humanity, the United Nations, the US government, The European Union and specially its key member states such as the UK, France and Germany, have been almost entirely passive and have not taken any action against this outrageous crime and its perpetrators
Maintaining silence in the face of any crime is unacceptable. Maintaining silence when the crime is still on-going and there is the danger of another potentially even more terrible massacre, is appalling and deplorable. The seven hostages, including six women, abducted from Camp Ashraf, are still held by Iraqi forces and their extradition to Iran, where they will face certain torture and execution, is a very real possibility. The danger of yet another attack on Camp Liberty where more than 3,000 members of PMOI-MEK reside is a real and present danger.

1. Detailed and highly accurate reports by the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) leave no doubt that the Iraqi forces attacked the camp and took seven hostages; these hostages are being held by the Iraqi Prime Minister’s Special Forces in Baghdad. Ironically there has been no meaningful explanation on this matter either by the American government or the United Nations. The Iraqi government has denied reports by the NCRI and continues to deny any involvement in either the massacre or the abduction of hostages.

2. Based on accurate and reliable information obtained by the NCRI, Ayatollah Khamenie, the Supreme Leader of Iran and a sworn enemy of the PMOI/MEK, ordered the Iraqi government to carry out the massacre. Ghassem Soleimani, the commander of the terrorist Quds force, had instructed Maliki to carry out the attack at a special meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office in Baghdad on Tuesday 27 August. Four days later, high ranking army officers and police commanders from Dyala Province, held a meeting to go over the details of the attack and coordinate the operation. On 31 August at midnight, General Jamil Shemri the commander of the police force in Dyala, acting on orders directly from Maliki, went to Ashraf where he met with forces from the “Golden Corps,” a specially trained and particularly vicious assault group, also under the control of Maliki.

3. Ironically, on the day of attack, CNN, citing two Iraqi internal ministry officials, reported that the Iraqi security forces had entered Camp Ashraf after mounting a sustained mortar attack on the camp. These officials had indicated that there were casualties in this attack but they did not elaborate further. Reuters citing the two Iraqi sources reported on the same day that the Iraqi army and Iraqi Special Forces had fired on the residents of the Camp. Reuters also added that the two Iraqi sources had told them that the residents were unarmed. Clearly these spontaneous reports were made prior to instructions from Maliki to say nothing or deny all knowledge of the attack.

4. On the same day Alavi, the Iranian Intelligence minister, expressed the view that the Iraqi forces had carried out this attack. Alavi stated in a government briefing, that for some time the Iraqi government and the occupants of Ashraf had been in conflicts and he suggested it was therefore conceivable that the Iraqi government had resorted to force to combat the
‘terrorists’ who occupied the camp. This report, echoed by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry’s paper – Mehr, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps official paper, Quds, was later hurriedly removed on the same day.

5. The NCRI also reported that during the attack, the seven hostages were taken to the northern part of Camp Ashraf in two cars belonging to the residents of Ashraf. They were then taken to a location in the green zone of Baghdad in seven government official black coloured Land Cruisers with tinted glasses. A couple of days later the seven hostages were relocated to the Golden Corps prison near Baghdad Airport. On September 22 the hostages were then moved to another prison called Sharaf. This prison is located behind the Prime Minister’s building in the green zone and is run by Maliki’s son Ahmad. It is a notorious jail used commonly for the imprisonment of alleged terrorists, from which few emerge alive. Following this relocation, the Iraqi government finally allowed the UN to visit the Golden Corps garrison and gave them permission to check the prison cells and the official prison documents to demonstrate that the hostages were not there!

6. Kamil Amin, the Iraqi Ministry of Human Right’s spokesman, said on 12 September “the seven were arrested by the Iraqi security forces because they were attacked by these seven”! (Source: free Iraq Radio 12 September). Biladi TV, which is controlled by the Iraqi government, on 13 September reported that “the Iraqi intelligence forces are interrogating members of the People’s Mojahedin in regards to terrorist activities. An intelligence officer reported that these seven were arrested for judicial reasons”. This report was confirmed by Baroness Ashton. In her letter on September 19 in which she wrote “there are reasons for us to believe that seven residents of the camp are held near Baghdad and there is a grave risk that they may be extradited to Iran”.

7. UNHCR, in its September 13 press release and also in a statement delivered by its spokesperson, cited that “reports received by the UNHCR indicate that seven residents of the camp that had disappeared are kept in an unknown place in Iraq and face the danger of being extradited to Iran despite their own will. These seven are recognized as refugees by the UNHCR and it is our hope that we would be given a chance to conduct interviews with them.”

8. Iranian officials warmly welcomed Ali Ghaydan to Iran a few days after the attack. Ali Ghaydan is the Iraqi Minister of Defence and is a high ranking Iraqi officer. He was in charge of the recent attack on Camp Ashraf. Ali Ghaydan has already been indicted by the Spanish courts for his role in the April 8, 2011 attack and massacre in camp Ashraf.

9. Iraqi’s intent on denying that there are any hostages is very clear. They want to torture and interrogate the hostages and extradite them to Iran, without suffering any consequences for their crimes of September 1. The almost total silence and lack of any action from the US and the UN. is facilitating this process. I have informed Secretary John Kerry and Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon of these facts already. I also am aware that the NCRI has provided very detailed information to the US and UN authorities about this attack.

10. As for the US, it is necessary to bring the following three points to their attention.

a. On numerous occasions the Iraqi and Iranian regimes have mislead the US with deliberate misinformation.
b. As for intelligence on Iran, the US must admit that the intelligence provided by the NCRI is much more reliable than the intelligence gathered by the US services. The US, despite all its technological advances in intelligence gathering, was unable to collect any meaningful information on the Iranian nuclear weapon activities. Most of the intelligence on this matter and the Iranian regime’s direct involvement in terrorist activities were in fact exposed by the PMOI/MEK.
c. The US must be warned that if its intention is purposely to use false intelligence, so that it can abandon or neglect its responsibilities, allowing Maliki off the hook, it is setting a very dangerous precedent and that the American public will never forgive President Obama or Secretary Kerry for.

11. As for an investigation into the September 1 massacre, nothing has been done for over a month. This is hardly surprising, given the fact that the UN Secretary General Ban Ki- Moon called on the Iraqi government to carry out a full investigation and hold the perpetrators to account. Asking a murderer to investigate his own murder is hardly likely to result in a conviction!

12. Given these facts I insist that:

a. The US and UN authorities, should visit the prisons and the sites where the NCRI has indicated that the hostages are being held, without any advance warning.
b. The Secretary-General or UN High Commissioner for Human Rights must conduct their own independent investigation of the crimes that took place on September 1 without any delay. These investigations should be free of any Iraqi involvement.
c. The US and the EU must ask the Iraqi government to release the seven hostages immediately and unconditionally, failing which the Iraqi government will face serious economic and political consequences.
d. The on-going security of the residents of Camp Liberty is still of grave concern. The UN must dispatch observers and blue helmet forces to Liberty as soon as possible to provide for their protection.
e. If the UN has concerns over the expense of conducting its own investigation or the cost of deploying blue helmet forces to Camp Liberty, I will do everything possible to encourage the EU to provide the necessary funds.

13. The failure to relocate the residents of camp Liberty to European countries of safety is a disgrace. Over 900 of the camp residents were originally political refugees in Europe. We ask the European governments, especially UK, France, Germany, and Italy to relocate a considerable number of them to their countries without delay. Their continued presence in Iraq leaves them vulnerable to another imminent attack and massacre.

Struan Stevenson MEP
Chair Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (FoFI)

Friends of a Free Iran intergroup (FoFI) was formed in 2003 and enjoys the active support of over 300 MEPs

Chair: Struan Stevenson (ECR), Vice Chairs: Stephen Hughes (S&D Vice-President); Louis Michel (ALDE); Jim Higgins (EPP) Soren Sondergaard (GUE); Jan Zahradil (ECR Vice President); Tunne Kelam (EPP); Michael Cashman (S&D)