April 16, 2024

The message we need to send Iran

FOX News

Several years ago, a political leader from the war torn country of Lebanon observed that in his part of the world it is better to be respected than liked. 

When it comes to Iran, the U.S. is neither. 

On the contrary, Iran’s leadership is hateful and disdainful of Western values and the United States. President Obama, time is running out. It is time to act unilaterally and decisively, and publicly support the democratic opposition in Iran.

Following Iranian threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, recent events further demonstrate the impotence of five years of UN Security Council Resolutions and the West’s economic sanctions to stop the Mullahs’ terrorist regime from achieving nuclear breakout: 

– International monitors confirmed that Iran has begun enriching uranium at the new underground Fordo facility near Qom.

– An Iranian court sentenced a former U.S. soldier, Amir Mizaei Hekmati, to death on specious charges of spying for the CIA 

– Mobs chanting “Death to America” accompanied the funeral procession of an Iranian nuclear scientist killed by a bomb as he was en route to his nefarious work.

Clearly, diplomatic engagement has failed to halt Tehran’s nuclear drive. Sanctions have been insufficient. I

In this era of the Arab Spring it is time to support regime change in Iran, from within. 

The Obama administration should support the democratic aspirations of the people of Iran and their most effective opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK).

Regrettably, and without justification, the State Department continues to maintain that MEK, a declared democratic ally, on its list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” (FTO) even though it meets none of the criteria. 

The Clinton administration initially added MEK to the State Department’s blacklist in 1997 as part of a political ploy to appease Iran—this came at a time when the country was mistakenly thought to be moving towards moderation. 

The mullahs, who hate and fear MEK as an existential threat, demanded that the group be listed as a precondition for potential negotiations with the U.S. Those negotiations never materialized and today the mullahs’ regime in Tehran is the world’s leading state-sponsor of terrorism, responsible for countless American deaths.

The unjust designation was maintained by subsequent administrations in an effort to persuade Iran to abandon their nuclear program. 

Sadly, we now see the results of that failed policy: Iran is no closer to moderation, having recently plotted to assassinate, in full view of the world, the Saudi ambassador on U.S. soil; The IAEA warns that Iran’s nuclear ambitions are actually closer to fulfillment, and the failure to de-list MEK, absent any legal or factual basis, continues to stymie prospects for democratic change in Iran.

This folly has given Iran and its proxies a license to kill thousands of MEK members, including a massacre on April 8 of last year that killed or wounded hundreds of unarmed members of the MEK living in Camp Ashraf, Iraq—each and every one of whom was given written guarantees of protection by the U.S. government. 

Now that U.S. troops have left Iraq, Iran is determined to extend its influence in the region and has justified its brutality by categorizing them as “terrorists.”

Whatever way Tehran’s propagandists characterize MEK’s political prospects, culture, or history, it is clear to me that the defenseless Iranian dissidents at Camp Ashraf are committed to non-violent regime change and a democratic, nuclear-free Iranian future. 

MEK has provided the West with valuable intelligence on the location of key Iranian nuclear sites and the organization poses no security threat whatsoever to the United States. Their charismatic leader, Madam Maryam Rajavi, whom I know and admire, embraces human rights for all, the same principles every American cherishes.

Courts throughout the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States have concluded that there is no legal justification maintain MEK on the foreign terrorist list. 

Every one of the residents of Camp Ashraf was interviewed by the FBI and by U.S. military services and there has never been a scintilla of evidence anyone in that camp was motivated by, interested in, or capable of conducting acts of terrorism against this country. Remember, they surrendered all means of self-defense in exchange for America’s promise to provide their safety and security.

Some100 members of Congress, in a bipartisan initiative, have called for MEK to be de-listed. The unfounded MEK designation only serves as a license to kill for both the Iraqi forces and the kangaroo courts in Iran, who regularly arrest, torture, and kill people on the basis of MEK affiliation. 

It shames the State Department designation process that has wrongly maintained the blacklist for misguided political reasons. Consider this: the MEK is on the list — the Taliban is not. 

Nearly two years after a U.S. Court of Appeals found that the State Department violated MEK’s due process rights, and ordered a re-evaluation, Secretary of State Clinton is still “reviewing” the designation.

As an emboldened Iran moves ever-closer to nuclear breakout, MEK’s unfounded designation is a lynchpin in the critical test of wills between Iran and the West — a test the Obama administration can ill afford to fail. 

The designation has been and continues to be the single greatest obstacle to the United Nations efforts to resettle the residents in other countries. No country is anxious to welcome any member of a group the United States has designated as a terrorist organization. 

Unshackling the MEK from an unjust blacklist and living up to U.S. guarantees to protect the Iranian opposition at Camp Ashraf will send the mullahs’ terrorist regime in Tehran exactly the message it needs to hear: The mullahs do not run foreign policy in the United States and America keeps its promises.

Tom Ridge was the first Secretary of Homeland Security for the United States of America. He is the former Republican governor of Pennsylvania.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/01/26/message-need-to-send-to-iran/#ixzz1kcpb2UEs

Day 300 of State Department Sit-in: Iranian-Americans Call on Secretary Clinton to Delist the MEK, Protect Camp Ashraf Residents

PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ —  Friday, January 27, 2012, marks the 300th day of a sit-in across from the US Department of State by the families and supporters of Camp Ashraf residents.

The participants will be asking Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to revoke the unwarranted designation of the MEK based on the facts and law and as a necessary condition for safety and security of the residents of Camp Ashraf

3,400 members of Iran’s principal opposition the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK) and their families reside in Camp Ashraf. They have been formally recognized as “asylum seekers” by the United Nations since September 2011.

Following the April 2011 massacre at Camp Ashraf by Iraqi forces, Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), the Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade revealed that, “In private discussions, the Iraqi ambassador’s office has said the blood is not on the hands of the Iraqi government but is at least partially on the hands of the State department because the MEK is listed as a terrorist group and, accordingly, Iraq doesn’t feel that it has to respect the human rights of those in the camp.”

The H. RES 60, which has some 100 bi-partisan cosponsors, reiterates that “the FTO designation of the MEK has been used by Iranian surrogates in Iraq as well as the Nuri al-Maliki Government in Iraq to attack the MEK members in Camp Ashraf or impose inhumane restrictions on them, which has led to loss of life.”

Meanwhile, officials in the office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have told members of Congress that MEK’s FTO designation has blocked the UN agency’s efforts to find a safe haven outside of Iraq for Ashraf residents.

As Iraqi government continues to breach its agreement with the United Nations for a peaceful resolution to the humanitarian crisis in Camp Ashraf, time is running out to re-settle the residents in third countries.

The prompt and expeditious removal of MEK’s FTO designation will enhance US efforts to better fulfill its moral and legal responsibilities for ensuring safety of Ashraf residents. It will also remove a major obstacle to the resettlement of the residents in other countries. 

SOURCE: US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/day-300-of-state-department-sit-in-iranian-americans-call-on-secretary-clinton-to-delist-the-mek-protect-camp-ashraf-residents-138164424.html

‘Don’t turn Camp Liberty into a prison for Ashraf residents’

Council of Europe

Strasbourg, 25.01.2012 – In a statement adopted today at its meeting in Strasbourg, the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) called on the Iraqi authorities not to turn Camp Liberty into a prison, and called on the UNHCR to begin its work in Ashraf and end the delay in affirming the refugee status of the residents there.

While the international community is planning to find a peaceful solution for Ashraf and the residents are helping to make it come true through the relinquishment of their certain rights, the Iranian regime is planning for the failure of this solution through the Iraqi government.

The initial area allocated to the residents in Camp Liberty has reduced by 80 times and the living conditions in the camp are far less than initially proposed. The limited area is becoming enclosed by concrete walls; it is insisted that Iraqi police should be present inside the camp; freedom of movement is not allowed; there are increasing restrictions for the residents such as not being allowed to transfer their vehicles to Camp Liberty and to send a team of Ashraf technicians in order to assess the conditions of the camp. This will be a forcible relocation to a prison.

The Committee urges the Iraqi government to abandon the obstructions and to implement the international laws and standards with all details in the relocation of the residents to Camp Liberty, and urges the UNHCR to defend the resident’s rights within the laws and to immediately start its work in Ashraf, and not wait until Liberty Camp is ready, in order to expedite the resident’s resettlement in third countries.

We encourage Council of Europe member and observer states to consider positively the resettlement demands of Ashraf residents.

http://assembly.coe.int/ASP/NewsManager/EMB_NewsManagerView.asp?ID=7359&L=2

Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan requests help for Iranian dissidents in Iraq

Archbishop of Wales Barry Morgan has made a direct appeal to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to prevent the killing of thousands of Iranian dissidents in Iraq.

The Anglican leader fears that lives of 3,400 lives are in danger because of the Iraqi government’s plans to close down Camp Ashraf, where opponents of the Iranian regime have sheltered since 1986.

The Iraqi Government wants the dissidents to be relocated at an abandoned US military base but Iranian exiles are concerned this will become a prison and expose them to new dangers.

The Archbishop also fears the move could result in a bid to “annihilate these defenceless refugees”.

Camp Ashraf is home to members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, as well as relatives and supporters.

The group is viewed with suspicion by many in Iraq because it was backed by former leader Saddam Hussein. However, it has won widespread international backing because of its commitment to a “secular, democratic and non-nuclear” Iran.

In a letter to the High Commissioner, Antonio Guterres, Dr Morgan writes: “The Iraqi government has twice attacked and massacred more than 50 civilians of Ashraf on April 8, 2012 and July 28, 2009, including eight women. The video clips showing these killings are indeed shocking.

“For the last three years, the residents of Ashraf have been under an inhumane siege including a medical siege. Many have died as a result of their injuries and lack of any medical help.

“Several cancer patients have lost their lives because of the medical ban and preventing them from visiting doctors and receiving medical treatment. It is the responsibility of the UN to protect these defenceless people and help them with their safe transfer to safe western countries.”

The archbishop claims that the residents were told that the new location, Camp Liberty, was a 40 sq km area but they have since learned only 0.6 sq km will be available.

He writes: “This is totally unacceptable. How could 3,400 people, including 1,000 women, be located in such a small area?

“The numerous calls by the residents to send a small team of their engineers to inspect the new location have been ignored. the residents are prevented to take any of their belongings and vehicles to the new location. The Iraqi government has made up to four metre tall concrete walls around this small area and has practically made it into a prison.

“In addition, the whole area has been looted and there are no proper toilets and other facilities for the residents and the list goes on… We are aware that at least 1,000 refugees of Ashraf are former political prisoners who have spent years in prison under torture.

“We are also aware that Iran wants to annihilate Ashraf and its residents as they are Iran’s main opposition and inspire millions of people in Iran who cry freedom.

“The Iranian regime is using its proxies in the Iraqi government to carry out this plan with the collaboration of various UN agencies. We call on you not to allow this to happen.”

He concludes: “The best course of action is for the UNHCR to declare the Ashraf residents as refugees prima facia and to declare the Camp Ashraf itself as a refugee camp.

“This will allow you to immediately start the real work and focus on resettling the residents in third countries. This will cut out all the hassle and time wasting activities of a useless relocation inside Iraq and is certainly more conforming to your mandate and responsibilities.

“The world is watching [the] Ashraf crisis. We trust that you will do what is right and expected of you.”

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/01/26/archbishop-of-wales-barry-morgan-requests-help-for-iranian-dissidents-in-iraq-91466-30206757/

Iranian dissidents: Iraq trying to force us into ‘concentration camp’

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

Iranian dissidents at a camp north of Baghdad allege that the Iraqi government is preparing a “concentration camp” to which they are to be relocated under a United Nations-brokered plan. 

Camp Liberty, a former U.S. military base near the Baghdad International Airport, has been picked as a temporary home for more than 3,000 Camp Ashraf residents – former Iranian resistance fighters sheltered in Iraq since 1986.

But the camp has been reduced to a fraction of its original size and is surrounded by tall concrete walls and is monitored by surveillance cameras and police – all violations of the U.N. deal with the Iraqi government, said Shahriar Kia, a Camp Ashraf spokesman.

“This is clearly not only a concentration camp, but a prison,” he said in a telephone interview.

Radhia Achouri, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq, told The Washington Times that Camp Liberty fails to meet U.N. standards.

“The government of Iraq is yet to complete the preparation of Camp Liberty in accordance with the international humanitarian criteria specified in the [U.N. agreement],” she said in an emailed response to questions from The Times.

Ms. Achouri said Camp Ashraf residents will move to Camp Liberty only after “the U.N. is satisfied, upon verification of the camp, that these humanitarian criteria are met.”

The Iraqi government had set a Dec. 31 deadline to close Camp Ashraf. Last month, it agreed to extend the deadline to the end of April, by which time it wants all Camp Ashraf residents to leave Iraq.

In December, Martin Kobler, the U.N. secretary-general’s special representative for Iraq, struck the deal with the Iraqi government to move Camp Ashraf residents to Camp Liberty. The leadership of the resistance movement, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MEK), agreed to relocate 400 residents as a goodwill gesture.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accuses the MEK of being a terrorist group and wants to close the camp. The U.S. State Department designated the MEK as a terrorist organization in 1997, but American forces disarmed the resistance in 2003 after invading Iraq to topple dictator Saddam Hussein.

In the past couple of weeks, the Iranian exiles have reported rocket attacks on Camp Ashraf. The Iraqi government also has announced arrest warrants for 126 residents.

Mr. al-Maliki’s critics, including Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlaq, accuse the prime minister of acting at the behest of the Shiite regime in Iran, which has pursued the resistance for decades.

“It was purely an Iranian decision to transfer [the Iranian exiles] from Camp Ashraf,” Mr. Mutlaq said in a phone interview.

“There is no reason to transport them to another location inside Iraq when we are looking to move them to other countries. It doesn’t make sense. We feel ashamed that they are suffering in our country,” he added.

Iraqi government spokesmen did not answer their phones or respond to emailed requests for comment from The Washington Times.

According to the U.N. agreement, the U.N. refugee agency will determine the refugee status of the dissidents after they are relocated to Camp Liberty in a necessary first step for their resettlement outside Iraq.

The deal potentially avoided what the exiles and their supporters feared would be a massacre by Iraqi army and police if they tried to close the camp by force.

Mr. Kia said Camp Ashraf residents have not been permitted to visit Camp Liberty but have received information on conditions at the site from sources inside Iran.

While the Iraqi government is solely responsible for the safety and security of the Iranian dissidents, it has agreed to allow the United Nations to station monitors at Camp Liberty.

U.N. officials have been visiting Camp Liberty regularly. They were accompanied by U.S. Embassy officials on a recent visit.

The Obama administration supports the U.N.-led effort.

“We are closely engaged with the U.N. and the Iraqi government, which are working to ensure that conditions at former Camp Liberty are consistent with international humanitarian standards,” said Noel Clay, a State Department spokesman.

He said the United States wants “a safe, secure, humane resolution of the impasse at Camp Ashraf.”

“Our interest is humanitarian and independent of our views of the MEK’s record,” he added.

The MEK, also known as People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, was responsible for terrorist attacks in Iran in the 1970s that killed several U.S. military personnel and civilians, according to the State Department. The group also received military and financial support from Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Camp Ashraf’s residents surrendered their weapons in 2003 as part of a cease-fire agreement with U.S. forces. The State Department is reviewing its designation of MEK as a terrorist organization. The European Union removed the group from its terrorist blacklist in 2009.

Mr. Kia, the Camp Ashraf spokesman, said residents haven’t changed their mind about moving to Camp Liberty, but they first want written assurances from the United Nations that all humanitarian conditions have been met at the new site.

Ms. Achouri, the U.N. spokeswoman in Baghdad, said the United Nations has urged the Iraqi government to accommodate requests from the residents of Camp Ashraf for more space at Camp Liberty and other requests, such as allowing the exiles to bring their vehicles to what will be their new home.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/23/iran-dissidents-iraq-force-into-concentration-camp/

Urgent international action required at Camp Ashraf

While the world is rightly concerned about Iran’s nuclear and terrorist threats, it is imperative to also keep the focus on the plight of Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, argues David Amess MP.

In December, as a result of an intense international campaign, a humanitarian catastrophe was prevented regarding the 3,400 residents of Ashraf, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, Tehran’s arch nemesis.

Nouri-al-Maliki, the prime minister of Iraq, acting at the behest of the clerical regime ruling Iran, had set an arbitrary deadline to close Camp Ashraf, the home of the dissidents for the past 25 years, by the end of 2011.

In the last days of 2011, subsequent to written assurances by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the United Nations, guaranteeing the safety and wellbeing of Ashraf residents, Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance, persuaded Ashraf residents to agree to move to Camp Liberty, a former US military camp near Baghdad, so the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) could start reaffirming the refugee status of Ashraf residents as a prelude to relocation to third countries.

But less than a month after the agreement, the international community has been confronted with yet another series of dangerous provocations by the government of Iraq.

Meanwhile, it has become evident that Camp Liberty has been looted, vandalised and pilfered away to a point that it is not inhabitable. Actually Maliki has ridiculously reduced the size of Camp Liberty available to Ashraf residents and is trying to turn it into a concentration camp.

As such, despite the Memorandum of Understanding that was signed between the Government of Iraq and the UN, Al-Maliki just last week in an interview with Iranian state media, repeated the false accusations of the Iranian mullahs and said that he has arrest warrants for more than 126 of the residents. This means that he is willingly capitulating further to the demands of Iran’s theocratic regime. Twice in 2009 and 2011 he ordered armed attacks on Camp Ashraf, leaving 47 residents dead.

The international community must now draw its own conclusions. There has been so far too much equivocation from the international community, in particular by the United Nations. It would be foolhardy on the part of the UN to think that it could get positive results with Maliki to resolve the Ashraf crisis by seeking accommodation and being spineless.

As Rudy Giuliani, the former Mayor of New York, pointed out in an international conference on Ashraf in Paris on January 20: “The UN has not objected to any of Maliki’s misconduct. It’s disgraceful for the UN to submit to the demands of a regime like Maliki’s and ultimately to close its eyes to the fact that what they’re doing is submitting to the demands of the Iranian mullahs.”

General Hugh Shelton, the former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, while referring to the conditions of Camp Liberty and recent remarks made by Maliki, said: “Ambassador Kobler, the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative in Iraq, must bring the violations of the Government of Iraq to the attention of the UN secretary general and to the Security Council. That is what an ambassador gets paid to do”.

According to Philippe Douste-Blazy, the former French foreign minister: “As long as the minimum requirements of the inhabitants, particularly in terms of bringing their goods and their vehicles, respecting their privacy or cancelling arrest warrants fabricated to harass them and turn them over to the Iranian regime, are not met, the transfer to the new camp will be a forcible displacement, unacceptable and contrary to all conventions. I urge the UN secretary general not to sign an agreement about that.”

Premonitions of another humanitarian crisis loom on the horizon. In order to prevent this from becoming a bitter reality, the international community must compel Iraq to stop breaching its commitments to the UN regarding Ashraf.

First and foremost, the UN must not keep silent as Iraq breaches its commitments.

Subsequently, the UNHCR should in no unequivocal terms tell Maliki that the UN can no longer tolerate deliberate delaying tactics improvised by the government of Iraq. Ashraf residents’ emergency circumstances and the government of Iraq’s obstructions make it imperative for the UNHCR to follow the collective determination process for the residents. This is an inevitable step to guarantee safety and security of Ashraf residents against various irrepressible threats.

By taking these measures, the UN would make it clear that its objective and mandate is to protect and to guarantee the safety and wellbeing of Ashraf resident and it is not beholden to seeking Maliki’s satisfaction.

This is what the world is waiting to hear from the UN.

David Amess has been a Conservative Member of Parliament since 1983.

http://www.epolitix.com/latestnews/article-detail/newsarticle/urgent-international-action-required-at-camp-ashraf

MOU signed with UN violated by Maliki

NCRI – In an interview on Monday January 16, 2012 with the mullahs’ regime Arabic TV channel al-Alam, the Iraqi Prime Minister completely despoiled the MOU signed with the UN on Ashraf and his engagements towards the UN and the US, repeating false accusations by the mullahs’ regime:  “The PMOI is involved in terrorism. They have been condemned on international level for their involvement in terrorism, so it is not possible, neither legally nor for interest considerations for this organization to be allowed to stay in Iraq.”

Admitting having taken repressive and criminal measures against Ashraf residents he said:  “We pressured them.  Our position was to end their presence on December 31.  In actuality we had taken all measures to prepare to end this presence in any form possible.   There were interventions and mediations.   The UN Secretary General contacted.  Personalities and officials due to interest and that it wouldn’t result in a confrontation with them and as a result they requested they, in four months in 2012, stay until the fourth month.   But an agreement with the United Nation took place for it to take over this job and this (United Nations) take their responsibility.   Until the end of fourth month is reached, Ashraf will be closed and will be returned to its owners and they will be transferred to a new camp near the airport.”
  
The Iraqi Prime Minister, who receives orders from the Tehran regime, said in clear violation of the MOU: “We have now 121 arrest warrants for those who are now in Ashraf city, who have committed crimes.” He added:  “At the end of the fourth month their departure from the country should be finished.  Either they will go to Iran under the Amnesty given by the Islamic Republic or they will go to countries that will extend them refugee status and those who have passports will travel normally to countries they have their passport such as Canada or France or other countries they have their passport.”
 
He then threatened: “We have endured them for long and we will endure them for the next four months and we will see that if the United Nations will be able (to resettle them – translator) or not. If it couldn’t then we will act because we own this country and we are the authority and such an organization is a violation of our authority.”

At the same time, information from inside the mullahs’ regime shows that Danaifar, the mullahs’ regime ambassador in Baghdad, has asked Maliki to “extradite to Iran those leading the PMOI in camp Ashraf, and Maliki has promised to turn over those people in the time frame set by the regime and would do all in his power to further shorten the period.”

According to the same information the Iraqi government, on orders received from Iran and by “building high wall around the camp and the presence of a large number of security forces inside the perimeter of the new camp” is trying to increase pressure on the residents while trying to hurdle the implementation of the MOU, hindering his own engagements according to the signed document, in order to allege that the PMOI was not cooperating and was violating the MOU.
 
Therefore there is no doubt, as the Iranian Resistance has time and again confirmed, including in statements of January 2, 9 and 13, that the Iranian regime aided by the Iraqi government wants to prevent a peaceful settlement of the Ashraf problem.  A settlement confirmed by the international community including Secretary Clinton, Baroness Ashton and the Secretary General of the UN and for which accomplishment the Ashraf residents have to this day abandoned many of their just rights.
 
Maliki’s remarks and his government’s acts constitute a clear violation of December 25 MOU signed by the Iraqi government and the special representative of the UN Secretary General and the latter’s letter of December 28 to Ashraf residents, showing clearly that Maliki wants to turn camp Liberty into a prison for Ashraf residents with the signature of the United Nations, in order to pressure them to surrender to the religious dictatorship ruling Iran. Be it by insisting on the faked warrants or consistent mention of the “amnesty issued by the Islamic Republic” or stressing that he would take action unless all Ashraf residents left Iraq by the end of April, he reveals criminal plans by the Iranian regime and his ill intentions to implement those plans. It is ridiculous to talk of amnesty in a regime having executed 43 people since the New Year, with at least three political prisoners charged with having familial relations with Ashraf residents among them.
 
On the verge of faked legislative elections for the mullahs’ parliament, and increasing internal crisis and at a time when the uprising of the Syrian people has made the bell toll for the mullahs’ regime, this regime tries to avoid certain downfall through acquiring atomic weapons and annihilation of its main opposition through Iraqi proxies.
 
Regretting the complete denial, in words and in deeds, of the MOU just after its signature by the Iraqi government, Mrs Rajavi called for firm position and urgent action by the UN Security Council and Secretary General, the US administration and the European union on the Iraqi violations and the series of illegal acts of the Iraqi government along with continuous violation of international conventions and law related to Ashraf residents. She once again called for an international conference with the participation of representatives of the UNHCR, OHCHR, special representative for the UN Secretary General, representatives of Ashraf residents, the Iraqi government, the US administration and the European Union.
 
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 17, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11623-mou-signed-with-un-violated-by-maliki-through-repressive-measures-against-camp-ashraf-residents-and-announcing-that-arrest-warrants-are-issued-against-them

Unshackle MEK, Protect Ashraf Residents

THE HUFFINGTON POST

“Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”

That old adage is being tested these days in Iraq, where the Iraqi government of Nouri al-Maliki is doing its best to fool the 3400 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) into a no-win move from their home in Camp Ashraf. But the Iranian dissidents and the world community is not buying.

Camp Ashraf had been under the protection of U.S. forces since its residents voluntarily handed over their weapons in 2003 and were recognised as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention. But in 2009, when the U.S. began its withdrawal from Iraq, that “protection” switched to the Maliki government – and so did the treatment of the men, women, and children there.

Since then, Ashraf has been besieged, forcibly attacked twice resulting in dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries, and suffered harassment with everything from blaring loudspeakers, denial of food, water and medical services and have even been subjected to rocket attacks. To make matters worse, Maliki also set a 31 December, 2011, deadline for the residents to leave the camp, and be dispersed around Iraq thus breaking their cohesion and making them more vulnerable to personal attack.

At the same time, he blocked efforts by the United Nations refugee agency to screen the residents to allow them to qualify for political asylum elsewhere.

Then, a week before the deadline, the UN, U.S. and Maliki reached an agreement that would allow the dissidents to move to an abandoned U.S. Army base called Camp Liberty, near Baghdad, under the watchful eyes of UN peacekeepers and U.S. monitors.

It sounded good, and the MEK said 400 residents were prepared to go, providing reasonable guarantees were given, in order to test the Iraqi promises – but the euphoria was short-lived. This is where the “fool me twice” situation arises.

First, Baghdad reneged on its promise to allow Ashraf residents to take their vehicles and moveable assets with them. Then, it reduced the area of Camp Liberty to be used by the residents from 40 square kilometers to less than ONE! And it started building a wall that would make it a virtual prison.

The international community therefore rejected the Iraqi offer. They also gave a profound “No” to Maliki’s actions having clearly recognized that he was acting at the behest of his friends, the Mullahs in Tehran, who fear the MEK and all dissidents, both at home and in the Iranian Diaspora.

“Fool me twice” was clearly not an option at an international conference held in defence of Ashraf in Paris on Friday, December 6, attended by leading politicians from across the world including representing both U.S. political parties, together with Mrs Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance.

Indeed, Mrs. Rajavi, who lives in exile in Paris, offered to travel to Baghdad to participate in negotiations to resolve the fate of the Ashraf residents, but the Maliki government rejected that, just as it has blocked the UN relief agency from interviewing the dissidents at Ashraf.

Gov. Ed Rendell, former chair of the Democratic National Committee and governor of Pennsylvania put it clearly when he said: “There are two words that the United States and the United Nations haven’t used that have to be used – ‘why’ and ‘no.'” ‘Why’ to moving Camp Ashraf residents in the first place, since the camp is in the middle of nowhere and a problem to no one. And ‘no’ to the Iraqi government’s objection to having United Nations blue helmets or U.S. troops protecting the residents of Ashraf until they were relocated.

Condemning these obstructions, the conference endorsed Mrs. Rajavi’s proposal for a special meeting to be held in Paris, Brussels, or Geneva, to be presided over by the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Iraq (SGSR); and attended by herself or Camp Ashraf representatives; authoritative Iraqi officials; Ambassador Daniel Fried, Secretary Clinton’s special representative on Camp Ashraf; the representative of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for Camp Ashraf, and others.

Whilst standing with the Ashraf residents, the U.S. must also remove the shackles from the MEK, which it has listed as a terrorist organization for more than a decade, even though the UK and EU removed such listings years ago. Whilst the reasons may have been understandable, though wrongheaded, when they were originally applied, they surely don’t apply today.

At a time when Tehran threatens to execute an American ‘spy’ and blockade the Straits of Hormuz, the U.S. needs the support of all the opponents of the mullahs they can get. There is no reason for the terrorist listing, as the U.S. Federal Court and courts in Europe and the UK have determined, and Secretary Clinton should act quickly to remove it.

The mullahs fooled the U.S. government into putting the MEK on the terrorist list; now the U.S. must show that it won’t be fooled again.

Brian Binley: Conservative Member of Parliament for Northampton South

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/brian-binley/unshackle-mek-protect-ashraf-residents_b_1208578.html

Former Senior US Government Officials: Remove MEK from US Terror List, Protect Camp Ashraf Residents

Former Senior US Government Officials: Remove MEK from US Terror List, Protect Camp Ashraf Residents

Maliki tramples upon Iraqi Government’s Agreement with the United Nations on Camp Ashraf

Acting at the behest of the religious dictatorship ruling Iran, Maliki announces 126 arrest warrants for the residents of Ashraf and accuses them of terrorism, ruthless crimes inside Iraq and murder of political and religious figures in Iran

For the third time, Mrs. Rajavi urges the convening of an international conference, attended by SRSG, Ashraf lawyers, the Iraqi and U.S. governments; the EU, UNHCR, OHCHR and European Parliament, in order to salvage the peaceful solution. She calls for immediate action by the UN Secretary General and the Security Council

In an interview with the Iranian regime’s official media, broadcast widely on the state radio and television network on January 12, including Channel 1, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, using the mullahs’ loathsome lexicon, said, “The Monafeqin [sic] (hypocrites) are a completely terrorist grouplet [sic] and the first group of them will be transferred in a few days from Camp Ashraf to a base formerly run by the Americans so that the preliminary work for their exit from this country can be performed. We stress that in less than four months from now, no Monafeq [sic] will remain in Iraq. After that Camp Ashraf will be closed and the land will be returned to its owners.”

He told the Iranian regime’s English language Television, Press TV, “We will no longer tolerate the presence of the MKO [sic] on Iraqi soil. This is an international sanctioned terrorist organization. It has not only carried out assassinations against political and religious personalities in Iran, but it also has a bloody history in Iraq. It has collaborated with the former Baathist regime of Saddam Hussein. MKO [sic] has committed brutal crimes inside Iraq. Until today we have received 126 arrest warrants for MKO [sic] members in Camp Ashraf that are accused of committing horrendous crimes…” 

And the Iranian regime’s Central News Unit and the IRGC-run Fars News Agency quoted him as saying, “Iraqis consider the Monafeqin [sic] as terrorists and criminals and don’t want this criminal group to remain on their soil… In April there will no longer be a Camp Ashraf and its land will be returned to its original owners… An Iraqi court has issued the arrest warrant of 121 members of the Monafeqin [sic] for complicity in terrorist affairs and these persons are still in Ashraf.” 

Earlier, in its January 2 and 9 statements, the Iranian Resistance had warned of the efforts by the Iranian regime to cause the failure of the peaceful solution for the Ashraf crisis. It had declared, “The National Council of Resistance of Iran has obtained reports and documents from within the mullahs’ regime which clearly bespeak of the conspiracies and efforts by the regime and its operatives in Iraq to cause the failure of the solution for the Ashraf crisis, upon which Secretary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had underscored. The objective is to build a prison named “Liberty” with the UN cover.”

The Iranian Resistance has so far issued 10 statements, addressing specific cases of the Iraqi government’s violations of its commitments to the United Nations.

Today’s remarks by Maliki are a clear testament to the veracity of those warnings. They also foretell of the project to destroy the Iranian opposition at a time when the clerical regime, in order to preserve its survival, cornered by expanding international sanctions and the uprisings by the Syrian people, has resorted to building nuclear weapons and to crush its principal opposition force through its Iraqi proxies.

Maliki’s remarks blatantly trample upon the Memorandum of Understanding signed on December 25 between the Iraqi government and the UN Secretary General’s Special Representative, Ambassador Martin Kobler, and the latter’s December 28 letter to the residents of Camp Ashraf.

Mrs. Rajavi expressed regret and objection over the Iraqi government’s litany of unlawful actions as well as successive violations of international law and conventions, particularly as they relate to breaching the principle of Responsibility to Protect about Camp Ashraf.

For the third time, she urged the convening of an international conference attended by SRSG, Ashraf lawyers, the Iraqi and U.S. governments; the EU, UNHCR, OHCHR and European Parliament, in order to salvage the peaceful solution. Mrs. Rajavi called on the Secretary General and the Security Council to take action to this end before it is too late.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
January 13, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11616-maliki-tramples-upon-iraqi-governments-agreement-with-the-united-nations-on-camp-ashraf