Working to Ensure Safety and Security of Our Loved Ones in Camp Ashraf

Families of Ashraf Residents Support Anti-government Uprisings in Iran, Denounce Brutal Crackdown
Statement by the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents
December 28, 2009
WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents expresses its solidarity with the anti-government uprisings during Ashura across Iran. The Committee denounces the atrocities committed by the ruling religious fascism whose forces opened fire on unarmed protesters exercising their universal rights and ran them over with armored and security vehicles.

The U.S. families of residents of Ashraf pay their utmost respect to the martyrs of freedom killed by the security forces. Having lost many loved ones either by Iran's tyrannical rulers or their Iraqi agents in the past 28 years, Ashraf families express their deepest sympathies with the families of the fallen for the cause of freedom in Iran.

Chants of "Down with Khamenei," "Down with Dictator," and calls across Iran for the overthrow of ruling theocracy and establishment of democracy is at the heart of the aspirations of the Iranian Resistance and members of Iran's main opposition, the People's Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK) residing in Camp Ashraf.

Indeed, the dramatic rise in efforts by Tehran and its proxies in the Iraqi government to "uproot" the PMOI in Ashraf is the flip side of the regime's barbaric crackdown on the freedom uprisings at home.

As TIME magazine wrote following the Iraqi forces' deadly assault on 3,400 defenseless residents of Ashraf last July, "The sudden escalation with Ashraf may have more to do with a bruised Iranian regime's bid to stamp out its opponents both at home and abroad than with any pressing Iraqi national interest." Similarly in 2007, the French monthly Afrique Asie wrote that "the Iranian rulers are very concerned and alarmed" because of "peoples' support for Mojahedin-e-Khalq. Today, MEK is highly capable of attracting the young people born and raised after the revolution."

The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents cautions the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki that bowing to Tehran's demand to forcibly displace Ashraf residents as a prelude to turning them over to the Iranian rulers, in exchange for Tehran's support in the upcoming elections, is betting on a losing horse. As the recent protests in Iraq and Iran show, acting at the behest of the falling Iranian regime is deplored by both Iranians and Iraqis who seek democracy, respect for human rights, and the rule of law in their homelands... Full Story
 

Iraqi Government, Bowing to Tehran, Plans to Forcibly Relocate Ashraf Residents to a Remote Detention Camp in the Desert

USCCAR Urges President Obama to Intervene Immediately and Stop Iraq's Displacement of Ashraf Residents
Statement by the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents
December 10, 2009
WASHINGTON, Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a move, which according to Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, "could lead to bloodshed," the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, announced plans for the "transfer of Camp Ashraf residents to Nuqrat al-Salman" south of Iraq as a "step towards expelling them (from Iraq)."

The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) strongly condemns this unlawful decision which blatantly violates international humanitarian law and runs counter to the Iraqi Government's written assurances to the United States about upholding the human rights of Ashraf residents.

USCCAR calls on President Obama, who received the Nobel Peace Prize earlier today in Oslo, to fulfill the administration's responsibilities in the framework of official agreements it has signed with the people of Ashraf and Article 45 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The Committee urges the President to undertake immediate steps to avert another humanitarian catastrophe.... Full Story
 

Amnesty blasts Iraq over treatment of Iran exiles
Associated Press, December 11, 2009
BAGHDAD — Amnesty International on Friday warned that Iraq's plans to move an Iranian opposition group to a former desert detention camp in the country's remote south would put them at risk of arbitrary arrest and torture...

Amnesty International said it feared the "forced removals of the residents of Camp Ashraf would put them at risk of arbitrary arrest, torture or other forms of ill-treatment and unlawful killing." The Iraqi plan calls for moving the exiles to a remote outpost in Neqrat al-Salman, about 200 miles (120 kilometers) west of the southern city of Basra. It was used for decades as a detention center where Saddam banished political opponents.

"Whatever measures the Iraqi authorities decide to take with regard to the future of Camp Ashraf, the rights of all its residents must be protected and guaranteed at all times," said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, a deputy director with Amnesty International...

"The expectation is not that they're going to expel the ... Camp Ashraf residents, but that they would try to move them — forcibly move them to a different location in Iraq, and that, too, could lead to bloodshed," Jeffrey Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Middle Eastern affairs, told a Foreign Affairs subcommittee in the House of Representatives on Oct. 28... Full Story

Iraq seeks to shift Iranian group to desert camp
Associated Press, December 10, 2009
BAGHDAD — Iraq announced plans Thursday to move members of an Iranian opposition group to a former desert detention camp in a sharp escalation of pressure on a faction that poses complications for both Baghdad and Washington.

The group, the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, strongly denounced the plans as "unlawful and disgraceful" and said they were part of efforts to force its members to leave Iraq.

About 3,500 members of the group — which was hosted in Iraq for years by Saddam Hussein — have been under watch at a camp in northeastern Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. But Iraqi authorities have increasingly taken a hard line toward Camp Ashraf, including a raid by security forces in July that touched off a melee in which 11 people were reportedly killed... Full Story