NCRI – The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) has warned about the Iranian regime’s new efforts to use its ‘political proxies’ and allies in Iraq to increase pressure on members of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, PMOI (Mujahedin-e Khalq, MEK), living in Camp Liberty, Iraq.
“According to reliable sources, the Iranian Embassy in Iraq and an Iraqi government official Faleh Fayyad, who heads the Governmental Committee tasked to suppress Liberty residents, has reportedly recently assisted with transferring elements of the Iranian Intelligence Ministry (MOIS) and the regime’s Quds Force to Camp Liberty, under the pretext of being family members of the residents or going to the gates of the camp for family visits,” the British MPs and Peers said in a statement on the BPCIF website on Tuesday (September 8).
“These agents were transferred in a minibus from Baghdad to the police station near Camp Liberty entrance and started to chant threatening and provocative slogans against the residents as soon as they got there. The ominous intentions of this campaign was exposed when many of those dispatched to the camp, claimed they were relatives of those who have already been relocated outside of Iraq under UNHCR supervision.”
“Those familiar with the situation in Iraq and Camp Liberty’s geographical location near Baghdad’s International Airport know that this would be impossible without the active participation of some Iraqi governmental officials, given the number of checkpoints that must be passed before arriving at Camp Liberty.”
“This is a very alarming development reminiscent of a similar campaign from 2010 to 2011 by the Iranian regime, when refugees, then in Camp Ashraf, were subjected to psychological torture with 320 loudspeakers on a daily basis. Sadly, the International Community failed to respond appropriately to the threats by the regime’s henchmen outside Camp Ashraf at the time. This tragically led to several deadly attacks against these refugees, where over 100 lost their lives.”
“Beside jeopardising the safety and security of these defenceless refugees and preparing the grounds for yet another humanitarian catastrophe in Camp Liberty, this type of campaign masterminded by Tehran is a clear intervention in Iraq’s domestic affairs.”
“We therefore urge the Government of Iraq, the Iraqi Prime Minister Dr Heidar Al-Abadi, the UN and the U.S. to take urgent and decisive action, in accordance to previous assurances, to put an immediate end to such an ominous campaign against the Iranian refugees currently residing at Camp Liberty before it is too late.”
The British lawmakers also called on the UN, the UK and the U.S. governments to “pressure the Government of Dr Al-Abadi to dismiss officials, like Faleh Fayyad, with known ties to the Iranian regime, from the Governmental Committee in charge of the camp and its security. Failing to do so will only embolden the Iranian regime to plot more deadly attacks against these refugees in an effort to annihilate the main and most organised Iranian opposition against its theocratic rule.”