Referring to Iraq’s sovereignty in order to reject international
responsibility to protect (R to P) and violate international conventions in
order to cover up suppression and murder of Ashraf residents on Khamenei’s
order based on “bilateral agreement” .
The present Iraqi Government is not competent to provide
protection to Ashraf residents and this responsibility lies with the United
States until an international force takes over.
At a time when the crimes of the Iranian regime in Camp Ashraf have
generated outrage and abhorrence among people in Iran and Iraq as well as
the international public opinion and led to widespread condemnations by
governments and international human rights organizations, the Iraqi
authorities have resorted to ridiculous justifications and lies to reject
the international responsibility to protect (R to P) under the pretext of
Iraqi sovereignty. They aim to violate international conventions and cover
up suppression and murder of Ashraf residents.
The Iraqi authorities do not mention the orders by Ali Khamenei, the
mullahs’ Supreme Leader, to Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi Prime Minister, based
on their “bilateral agreement” to suppress the main Iranian opposition in
Iraq, or the naked terrorism of the mullahs and the terrorist Qods Force
against the PMOI in Iraq. Nor do they talk about the activities, propaganda,
plots, or all sorts of lies and misinformation spread against the Iranian
Resistance; however, they claim that Ashraf residents do not respect Iraq’s
right of sovereignty. They also claim that the aim of the criminal attack by
the Iraqi forces against Camp Ashraf was simply to extend Iraqi sovereignty
and set up a police station in the camp just like anywhere else in Iraq.
These claims are totally void of any credibility and are not true, and those
who ordered or perpetrated the crime against humanity cannot evade its
international and legal consequences.
The International Committee of Jurists in Defense of Ashraf (ICJDA,
comprised of 8,500 jurists), the International Committee in Search of
Justice (ISJ, comprised of 2,000 parliamentarians on both sides of the
Atlantic) and resolutions by the European Parliament (July 12, 2007;
September 4, 2008 and April 24, 2009) underline the facts;
1- Ashraf residents and their lawyers have been stating repeatedly that
they respect Iraq’s sovereignty. But it is totally unacceptable if anyone
intends to carry out the orders of the clerical regime’s Supreme Leader
under the cover of Iraqi sovereignty to suppress and murder members of the
Iranian opposition in Ashraf and violate international treaties, as was the
case on July 28 and 29, 2009;
2- While respecting Iraqi sovereignty, Ashraf residents held talks and
discussions with Iraqi authorities for one whole year (from August 2008 to
July 28, 2009) and representatives of Ashraf residents were extremely
flexible in the meetings despite international recommendations such as those
of the ICJDA;
3- Setting up a police station inside Camp Ashraf, and the manner in
which it was suggested, was only a ridiculous pretext to attack Ashraf
residents and suppress them at the behest of Tehran’s faltering regime. The
residents of Ashraf have offered maximum cooperation to Iraqi forces since
the beginning of 2009 when they went to Ashraf, and they have provided them
extensive facilities;
4- Ashraf residents provided the Iraqi forces with a building at the
entrance to the camp with dozens of rooms and halls and a number of caravans
attached to the building. The complex was used as a work place and
residence. Meetings with lawyers, parliamentarians and international
delegations were held at this complex and it was built completely by Ashraf
residents and their resources.
5- Ashraf residents provided the Iraqi forces with four protection
watch towers, roads and installations at four locations outside the camp
just behind the fence. The installations were built by the residents
spending a large sum of money.
6- In a goodwill gesture, Ashraf residents evacuated 10 watch towers
all around the camp within its boundary. They were used for two decades by
PMOI members residing in the camp. This was to make sure Iraqi forces did
not feel their work was not recognized or their task was interfered in.
7- Ashraf residents agreed to be finger printed and registered by
Iraq’s Interior Ministry officers. The process went on for five days ending
on April 9, 2009.
8- Ashraf residents agreed to have private interviews with Iraqi
officials which lasted 19 days outside the camp next to Iraqi forces. This
process ended on April 22, 2009. In these interviews which were conducted in
the presence of American forces, Ashraf residents declared that their choice
was to stay in Ashraf against offers made by the Iraqi Human Rights
Ministry. Their choice were officially registered, and 11 others left Ashraf
of their own free will;
9- Based on a proposal by Ashraf, all buildings, residential places,
farms, gardens and installations within the camp were thoroughly searched by
fully equipped Iraqi Interior Ministry officers. In their search which went
on for three days ending on April 20, 2009, they also used especially
trained police dogs, and according to an officially signed document, no arms
or explosives were found except 23 packages of fire crackers some of which
were empty and a few others were decayed.
10- Therefore, there remains no doubt that the brutal attack and murders
carried out apparently to set up a police station within the camp under the
pretext of implementing Iraq’s sovereignty was just a preposterous claim to
execute the clerical regime’s demands. In a surprise move on the morning of
May 28, 2009, the Iraqi police force attacked Ashraf at its entrance. They
imposed a siege and for two months they exerted mounting pressures, threats
and restrictions on Ashraf. Finally on July 28, 2009, they launched a brutal
attack on Ashraf residents killing them savagely together with other
suppressive forces at the behest of Khamenei who is engulfed in a nationwide
uprising in Iran;
11- Interestingly, on the day of the attack on July 28, representatives of
Ashraf residents met with commanders of the Iraqi forces and envoys from the
Prime Minister’s office at 12 noon to discuss the manner in which the Iraqi
police could be stationed. In their talks, which lasted two hours, the
residents of Ashraf once again emphasized that they have no objection to the
police force being stationed at the entrance and they were prepared to
provide even further facilities to the police at that point if they needed
and costs would be met by the residents. But the other side was not prepared
to listen to the proposals and was determined to attack and kill at the
behest of the mullahs’ regime. During the negotiations, the representative
from the office of the Prime Minister received three telephone calls from
Baghdad and finally he was ordered to end the talks and launch the attack.
The ferocity of the attack, the number of Iraqi forces deployed and their
criminal behavior, unveiled the aim of their operation which indicated that
the issue was not to implement Iraq’s sovereignty, but, to destroy Ashraf at
the behest of Iranian regime;
12- Mowaffaq al-Rubaie who was responsible for matters concerning Camp
Ashraf within the Iraqi Government until May 2009, told the Iranian regime’s
Arabic language television Al-Forat in Iraq in an interview on July 13,
2008: “This case will be closed very soon… The only way is for the Iraqi
armed forces to take over the responsibility and the management of Ashraf
base. It must only be managed by Iraqis. Those who have committed crimes
against the people of Iraq must be put on trial here… Any country that
supports them should take them, and the majority of them should return to
their home country. Perhaps with the exception of 56 of them, the rest would
be pardoned. The rest of them should return to their country.”
13- Therefore, Ashraf residents were from the outset not opposed to the
settling of the Iraqi police forces at the entrance to Ashraf. Their
representatives had asserted in numerous meetings with the Iraqi forces as
well as the US forces that they have no objection to police forces settling
at the entrance of Ashraf. However, police presence in the middle of the
camp and within the human boundary of the residents of Ashraf, in a place
where 1000 Muslim women and girls are living with their Islamic culture and
traditions, pursues other aims which has been repeatedly declared by the
Iraqi authorities. Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, told the same television channel on
April 1, "Gradually, Iraqi security forces will enter the camp and set up
control posts and carry out patrols, stop-and-searches, and attacks".
14- On July 29, 2009, in the midst of the assault and massacre in Ashraf,
Ali Larijani, Speaker of the regime's parliament, followed by several Friday
prayer leaders, expressed their gratitude and praises to Nuri Al-Maliki and
applauded his "brave action" to "annihilate the Monafrqin (The derogatory
term used by the regime to describe the Mojahedin)".
15- On July 31, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki declared with utmost
impudence, "The presence of the police centre is because some of the
residents of the camp wish to travel to Iran or to any other country in the
world but they are prevented by the organization and its leaders and are not
permitted to do so. Some wish to use the amnesty to return to Iran but they
are not allowed. Fifty five of them are under prosecution by Interpol
because they are criminals and there are complaints against them. Those in
charge of the camp refuse to hand them over. Therefore we decided to set up
a centre there". (Al-Hurra Television, July 31, 2009) It is evident that
Al-Maliki relies on the terrorist Qods Force and the "9 Badr Brigade of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps" to maintain power as the future prime
minister of Iraq and, to that effect, he needs appease Khamenei with
wickedness.
16- It was reported on August 2, 2009 that Major General Al-Shemeri,
Commander of Diyala Province’s Police, "set a deadline of 30 days for the
members of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran in Camp Ashraf to
leave Iraq. Al-Shemeri stated that members of the organization would be
given a choice to go to any country they wish or return to Iran. He
threatened that if they do not leave Camp Ashraf, they would be forcibly
expelled with military action. The deadline has started since the first of
this month". (Al-Baghdadiya Television, August 2)
17- Thus, the problem of Ashraf residents is neither to do with Iraqi
sovereignty, nor the presence of police and establishing a police station
and commanding it on the entrance of Ashraf (specifically in the building
dedicated to the late Lord Slynn of Hadley.) The issue is about misusing
"sovereignty," and the "police station" to implement the "mutual agreement"
of Khamenei and Al-Maliki to suppress, murder the Iranian opposition, or
force them to succumb to the clerical regime. Against this background, this
crime against humanity tramples upon international law, conventions and
resolutions and rejects the "responsibility to protect" (RtoP).
18- With regards to the "responsibility to protect", the UN Secretary
General said: "RtoP is an ally of sovereignty, not an adversary. Strong
States protect their people, while weak ones are either unwilling or unable
to do so…RtoP seeks to strengthen sovereignty, not weaken it." (Ban Ki-moon,
the UN Secretary General, Berlin, July 15, 2008).
19- Based on the document signed during the 2005 World Summit, the UN
Secretary General stipulated that in today's world, engagement of
governments to prevent genocide, war crime, ethnic cleansing, and crime
against humanity "is not violating the sovereignty of the involved state."
As was adopted at the 2005 Summit, when “national authorities are manifestly
failing to protect their populations” from the four crimes and violations,
Governments “are prepared to take collective action, in a timely and
decisive manner, through the Security Council, in accordance with the
Charter, including Chapter VII, on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation
with relevant regional and sub-regional organizations as appropriate.”
(Berlin, July 15, 2008)
20- The experience of the past year has proven that the current Iraqi
government does not have the capacity and qualification to be responsible
for the protection of Ashraf residents. In reality, unfortunately, the
Iraqi government implements the wishes of the dictatorship ruling Iran to
suppress the Iranian opposition in Iraq according to the "mutual agreement."
As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran, wrote to the US President on August 2, the solution is
the following: The US forces be in charge of protecting Ashraf temporarily
until an international force under the supervision of the UN replaces them.
The Iranian Resistance calls the UN, the US Government, the European Union
and the Arab League to this effect.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
