Violation of Refugee’s Rights 17 February 2013

Violation of Refugee’s Rights

Terrorist Attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

17 February 2013

 

MEK casualty at Camp Liberty attack rises to Seven

Tuesday, 12 February 2013 17:33

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/iran-resistance/12847-mek-casualty-at-camp-liberty-attack-rises-to-seven
NCRI-Tuesday, February 12, around 2 Pm local time, Ali Ahmadi – MEK member - who was injured in the eye and the head and was severely sounded during the criminal missile attack on Camp Liberty on February 9, passed away in Baghdad hospital (Baghdad medical city). He was in comma from Saturday, morning.

He is the seventh victim of the crime against Liberty residents by the clerical regime and the forces who are under the command of Nouri-al-Maliki.

Ali Ahmadi was 57 years-old and gave up his education in the UK, 25 years ago to join the National Liberation Army of Iran. He is the third member of renowned Ahmadi family that is slain.

His brother Ahmad Ahmadi was tortured to death by the Shah's notorious secret Police, Savak, in 1975.

His older sister Ashraf Ahmadi, a political prisoner under the Shah as well, was among the political prisoners who were massacred in 1988 upon Khomeini's Fatwa.

His brothers, engineer Mahmoud Ahmadi and Javad Ahmadi, MD, are members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. They were political prisoners under the Shah and the mullahs' rule.

The insistence of Dr. Javad Ahmadi, who is a resident of Camp Liberty as well as the attempts by the legal adviser of Liberty residents for  Dr. Javad Ahmadi to visit his brother in the hospital on Monday, February 11, were futile and Dr. Ahmadi was not allowed to visit his brother.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran sent her condolences to the families of Ahmadi and Shah-badi and their friends in Camp Liberty and Ashraf.  She stressed that the Iranian Reistance, its lawyers, and the relatives of those martyred will bring to justice the perpetuators and those who facilitated the crime in Camp Liberty.

UN chief condemns attack on Iranian exile camp in Iraq

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=44105#.USFDH_I7vTo

9 February 2013 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today strongly condemned a mortar attack on an Iranian exile camp near Iraq's capital, Baghdad, which reportedly killed six people and injured several others.
According to media reports, the Hurriya camp, formerly known as Camp Liberty, was attacked this morning while most of the residents were sleeping. Iraqi police officers were among the wounded.
The camp serves as a transit facility for more than 3,000 exiles, most of them members of a group known as the People's Mojahedeen of Iran, where a process to determine their refugee status is being carried out by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Camp residents were previously situated at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq, but were relocated last year, in line with an agreement signed in December 2011 between the UN and the Iraqi Government.
“The Secretary-General calls on the Government of Iraq, which is responsible for the safety and security of residents of both Camp Liberty and Camp Ashraf, to promptly and fully investigate the incident and bring perpetrators to justice,” said Mr. Ban's spokesperson in a statement. “He has repeatedly stated that violence and provocation are unacceptable.”
Mr. Ban also reiterated the UN's strong commitment to continue its long-standing efforts to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution for residents of both camps.
The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, expressed his shock about the attack calling it “a despicable act of violence.”
“I call on the Iraqi Government to do everything it can to guarantee security to the residents,” he said. “The perpetrators must be found and brought to justice without delay.”
In a news release, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said it is closely liaising with the Government on the response to the incident, including medical assistance to the wounded.
Mr. Ban's Special Representative in the country, Martin Kobler, has also asked Iraqi authorities to promptly conduct an investigation into the mortar explosions.

 

UNHCR Chief Guterres strongly condemns deadly attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

Press Releases, 9 February 2013

http://www.unhcr.org/511642289.html

UNHCR Chief Guterres strongly condemns deadly attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

9 February 2013 – The High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres expresses his shock about this morning's mortar attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq that reportedly killed six and wounded dozens.
"I strongly condemn this attack," Mr. Guterres said, noting that the residents of Camp Liberty are asylum seekers undergoing the refugee status determination process and thus entitled to international protection. "This is a despicable act of violence."
"I call on the Iraqi Government to do everything it can to guarantee security to the residents," he said. "The perpetrators must be found and brought to justice without delay," he said.
The High Commissioner also calls on all countries to help find urgent solutions for the Camp Liberty residents.
Mr. Guterres expresses his deep condolences to the families of the victims.

 

Terrorist Attack on Camp Hurriya in Iraq

Press Statement

Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson

Washington, DC

February 9, 2013

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/02/203973.htm

The United States condemns in the strongest terms the vicious and senseless terrorist attack that took place this morning at Camp Hurriya killing 6 people and injuring dozens more. We offer our condolences to the families of the victims and hope for the swift recovery of those who were injured.
We understand the Government of Iraq has undertaken to promptly investigate the attack. We call on it to earnestly and fully carry out that investigation and to take all appropriate measures to enhance the security of the camp consistent with its commitment and obligation to the safety and security of the camp's residents. The terrorists responsible for this attack must be brought to justice.
We are consulting with the Government of Iraq and the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on the circumstances surrounding this tragedy, and we remain committed to assisting the Government of Iraq and UNAMI in their efforts to implement the December 25, 2011 agreement.

 

Norway’s Foreign Minister condemns attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq

Press release, 09.02.2013

http://www.regjeringen.no/en/dep/ud/press/news/2013/condemns_attack.html?id=714311

“I condemn the attack on Camp Liberty last night. Reports indicate that several people were killed and a number of civilians and Iraqi police officers injured,” said Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.

Camp Liberty is a temporary transit facility for former residents of Camp Ashraf, which was established by Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war for members of the Iranian exile group Mujahedin-e-Khalq. In 2011, agreement was reached on the closure of Camp Ashraf and the temporary transfer of its residents to Camp Liberty. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is seeking to clarify the status of the residents with a view to resettlement in third countries. Norway is supporting this work, and has repeatedly emphasised that the Iraqi authorities are responsible for the rights and security of the camp’s residents. 
“The Iraqi authorities must ensure the safety and security of the camp. They must also investigate the attack and bring those responsible to justice,” said the Foreign Minister.
The attack on Camp Liberty is not an isolated incident. Ten years after the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq is still suffering regular attacks. In the past five years, they have killed 200–300 people every month.

 

CAMP LIBERTY: TERZI CITES SERIOUS TERRORIST ACT - UN AND EU SUPPORT FOR IRAQI REFUGEES KEY

Roma 09 February 2013

http://www.esteri.it/MAE/EN/Sala_Stampa/ArchivioNotizie/Comunicati/2013/02/20130209_iraq.htm?LANG=EN

“This is a serious act of terrorism deserving of the firmest condemnation”, commented Minister for Foreign Affairs Giulio Terzi, referring to the bloody attack on the residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq.
Extending his “solidarity and condolences to the families of the victims, the head of Italian diplomacy expressed the “firm hope that the Iraqi government will assume a sense of responsibility for alleviating the humanitarian emergency and adopt immediate measures to protect the residents of Camp Liberty and ensure their prompt reception abroad”.
“At the same time it is essential”, Terzi underscored, “that the European Union and the United Nations make every possible effort to encourage the Iraqi government to resolve the refugee situation, which risks worsening with every passing day”. “Italy”, Terzi assured, “will continue to do its part”.
Over recent months, eight former residents of Camp Ashraf, some of whom in need of urgent medical treatment, were received in Italy thanks to the coordinated efforts of the foreign and interior ministries.

France strongly condemns attack against Iranian dissidents in Iraq
http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2292352&language=en
PARIS, Feb 11, 2013 (KUNA) -- France on Monday strongly condemned an attack against Iranian dissidents which caused several deaths in the Hurriya refugee camp last Saturday in Iraq.
Unknown assailants fired a rocket into the camp which houses opponents of the Iranian regime under the banner of People's Mujahedeen of Iran (Mujahedeen Khalq).
The opposition movement was moved last year and is under the monitoring of a UN representative while a new location outside of Iraq can be found for the inhabitants.
"France firmly condemns the attack carried out against the Hurriya camp last Saturday," a Foreign Ministry statement said.
"We bring our support to the United Nations plan to transfer people in the camp to third countries. This plan is in the process of being implemented and we are ready to participate in it, through coordination with the UN High Commission for Refugees," Paris said.

 

Attack on Camp Hurriya

Media release

11 February 2013

http://foreignminister.gov.au/releases/2013/bc_mr_130211a.html
The Australian Government condemns the rocket and mortar attack that killed at least five people and wounded more than 25 at Camp Hurriya in Iraq, on February 9, 2013.
This was a barbaric attack.
The Government of Iraq has a responsibility to ensure the safety of the residents of Camp Hurriya and Camp Ashraf and to investigate this incident.
Australia calls on the Government of Iraq to fulfil these responsibilities and to do all in its power to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Australia supports UN Secretary General Ban's reiteration of "the United Nations' strong commitment to continue its longstanding efforts to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution for the residents of both Camp Liberty (Camp Hurriya) and Camp Ashraf."

DELEGATION FOR RELATIONS WITH IRAQ

PRESIDENT

 PRESS RELEASE

9th February 2013

Deadly mortar and missile attack this morning on Camp Liberty, Iraq

We are shocked by the appalling news of a deadly mortar and missile attack this morning on Camp Liberty, West of Baghdad. The attack has left at least 6 residents dead so far and 100 wounded.

It is more than one year since 3100 Iranian dissidents, members of the main Iranian opposition PMOI, were forced by the Iraqi Government, at the insistence of the UN Envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler and the US government, to move from Camp Ashraf to this camp. Camp Liberty, at only half a square kilometre in size, is 80 times smaller than Camp Ashraf and unlike Ashraf, there is no shelter and protection at this camp with the residents crammed into trailers that are jammed next to each other.

The residents and their legal representatives have time and again warned about the extreme vulnerability of people in Camp Liberty, but their fears were repeatedly discounted by the UN.

Commenting following the incident, Struan Stevenson MEP, President of European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq said: “Camp Liberty’s atrocious prison-like conditions, its inadequate protection and lack of progress in relocating these innocent refugees and asylum seekers to third countries, further necessitates the return of these residents to Camp Ashraf until they can be taken out of Iraq to countries of safety. The US Government and the UN are directly responsible for the security and protection of these refugees and they have failed them miserably. I hold them fully accountable for this latest atrocity. The 3100 residents crammed into Camp Liberty are sitting ducks who can be murdered at will by Iraqis and their Iranian sponsors. We warned that this would happen and absolutely no notice was taken. I call on the newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry to take immediate action to get these people relocated to places of safety.”

Stevenson also called on UNHCR to declare the refugee status of the residents of Camp Liberty immediately in order to protect their lives. He urged the UN High Commissioner, Antonio Guterres, to force the Iraqi government to relocate the residents of Liberty back to Ashraf without delay.

“This is a humanitarian necessity, a legal necessity, and an ethical necessity that the European Union, the U.S. government, and the United Nations must try immediately to make happen.”

Struan Stevenson, MEP

President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq
STRUAN STEVENSON, MEP The European Parliament, ASP 12G306, Rue Wiertz, B - 1047 Brussels (Belgium) Email: struan.stevenson@europarl.europa.eu Tel: +32-2 28 45710 Fax: +32-2 28 49710

 

Press releases

Iraq must urgently investigate attack against Iranian exile camp

9 February 2013                                                        AI Index: PRE01/069/2013

http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/iraq-must-urgently-investigate-attack-against-iranian-exile-camp-2013-02-09

Authorities in Iraq must urgently investigate the attack against a camp of Iranian exiles that left several people dead and injured and ensure all those wounded receive appropriate medical care, said Amnesty International today.
The investigation should also look into the conduct of Iraqi security forces in the lead up and during the attack and whether they have failed to prevent any such attack.
Several people reportedly died and have been injured as a result of the attack against Camp Liberty, home of some 3,000 Iranians in exile in Iraq, on 9 February.
“The attack against Camp Liberty is a despicable crime,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International Middle East and North Africa Programme's Deputy Director. 
“Authorities in Iraq must ensure not only that those responsible for this attack are brought to justice but that those living in the camp are protected.”
The residents of Camp Liberty, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran which opposes the Iranian government, were recently relocated to a site in north-east Baghdad – after having been settled for 25 years in Camp Ashraf.
Residents claimed the Iraqi forces attacked some of them during the relocation process in 2012.
Today the UN High Commissioner for Refugees' Chief, Antonio Guterres, stressed that the residents of Camp Liberty are asylum seekers undergoing refugee status determination process and as such are entitled to international protection.
In April 2011, Iraqi troops stormed camp Ashraf using grossly excessive force, including live ammunition, against residents who tried to resist them. Some 36 people ­– 28 men and eight women – were killed and more than 300 wounded. Those injured were prevented from leaving the camp to obtain medical treatment.   

 

PRESS RELEASE

Iraq: Need to ensure the protection of the residents of Camp Liberty

Geneva, 11 February 2013. The OMCT calls on the authorities of Iraq to ensure the full respect for the rights of the residents of Camp Liberty, an Iranian exiles camp located in Iraq, and to ensure a prompt, independent and impartial investigation into the rocket and mortar attack on the camp on 9 February 2013, that left at least six people dead and several injured.

“The attack has to be investigated promptly and independently and those responsible for this attack have to be brought to justice”, said Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of OMCT. “The authorities also have to ensure that those wounded during the attack receive prompt and medical care”, added Gerald Staberock. OMCT is concerned in this regard by information received about the denial of medical assistance following the attack.

OMCT recalls that Iraq has clear obligations under international human rights law to ensure the safety of the camps residents. According to the information received, the living and security conditions in Camp Liberty are currently very poor.

Residents of Camp Liberty, about 3’100 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group, were relocated approximately one year ago to this temporary facility nearby Bagdad, after having lived several years in Camp Ashraf.

In a press release issued on 9th February 2013, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) recalled that “the residents of Camp Liberty are asylum seekers underdoing the refugee status determination and thus entitled to international protection”.

The OMCT considers that the Iraqi authorities have to immediately enhance the protection of the camp. Beyond this it is vital to find a viable and durable solution for the residents of the camp in compliance with human rights law.

After the USA handed the protection of Camp Ashraf over to the authorities of Iraq in January 2009 and despite guarantees by the Iraqi government, the camp was raided on at least two occasions by the Iraqi security forces in view of expulsing its residents and closing the camp. The attacks led to the deaths of 47 residents and hundreds of injured.

The residents have also been subjected to numerous acts of harassment, among others, family members or lawyers being prevented from entering the camp and the use by Iraqi security forces of powerful loudspeakers to psychologically harass them.

Contact:

OMCT, +41 22 809 49 39

 

MPs Demand Iranian Exiles Be Returned To Camp Ashraf

Tuesday, 12 February 2013, 8:47 am
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1302/S00125/mps-demand-iranian-exiles-be-returned-to-camp-ashraf.htm
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom
MPs Demand Iranian Exiles Be Returned To Camp Ashraf
Following Mortar Attacks In Iraq
Camp Liberty (Baghdad), which houses 3,100 Iranian dissidents, this morning came under heavy mortar and missile attacks. So far, six residents including a woman have been killed and over 50 injured, some in critical condition.
Following the attack, Lord Carlile of Berriew QC, on behalf of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom said:
“We should demand that the United Kingdom government takes immediate action to bring this matter to the UN Security Council and takes steps to ensure that the residents of Camp Liberty are given humanitarian aid and returned to Camp Ashraf. It is time for weakness to cease in the diplomatic approach to Camp Liberty. The Iraqi ambassador should be summoned to the Foreign Office immediately.”
British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom
9 February 2013

Background:
Camp Liberty houses members of the main Iranian opposition group PMOI who are “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention. The United Nations and United States have a legal obligation under international law to ensure the residents’ protection.
Camp Ashraf was home to the PMOI members in Iraq for 26 years and is 80 times bigger than Camp Liberty.
Today's attack was orchestrated by the Iranian regime. Camp Liberty is located at the heart of a military zone and is not accessible to anyone without coordination with the Iraqi government.
ENDS

 

Embassy Row: Cold-blooded murder

The Washington Times, By James Morrison

Sunday, February 10, 2013

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/10/embassy-row-cold-blooded-murder/

Former New York Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, seen here addressing a convention ...

Former top U.S. officials denounced the State Department, the United Nations and Iraq for failing to protect unarmed Iranian dissidents in a camp near Baghdad and blamed Iran for a weekend rocket attack that killed six refugees and wounded 50.
“Shame on the United Nations, and shame on the United States Department of State,” said Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was mayor of New York during the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Addressing a Washington conference of 1,500 Iranian-Americans on Saturday, Mr. Giuliani called the attack “cold-blooded murder.”
Mr. Giuliani was joined by Andrew H. Card Jr., chief of staff to President George W. Bush; former Rep. Lee Hamilton, Indiana Democrat and former co-chairman of the 9/11 Commission; former Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas Republican; retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, a former national security adviser to President Obama; former Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy, Rhode Island Democrat; Michael B. Mukasey, attorney general under Mr. Bush; former Sen. Rick Santorum, Pennsylvania Republican; and Frances Fragos Townsend, a homeland security adviser to Mr. Bush.
They are among dozens of current and former U.S. officials who campaigned to have the National Council of Resistance of Iran and its affiliated groups removed from the U.S. terrorist list. President Clinton placed the dissidents on the list in 1997 to placate Iran’s chief demand in bilateral talks.
The weekend convention of Iranian-Americans from 37 states originally was called to recognize those who helped get the resistance off the blacklist and to discuss relocation of about 3,100 dissidents in the ironically named “Camp Liberty” near Baghdad's international airport.
The attack on Camp Liberty came Saturday morning in Baghdad, just hours before the conference opened in Washington.
Mr. Giuliani also called for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to fire Martin Kobler, the U.N. special envoy to Iraq who pressured the resistance to relocate to Camp Liberty from Camp Ashraf, a much larger and more secure fortification north of Baghdad.
Mr. Giuliani noted that he and Mr. Mukasey met with Mr. Kobler in July to express concerns about inadequate conditions at Camp Liberty, which the feisty New Yorker called a “concentration camp.”
“Well, Martin Kobler, it is not only a concentration camp. It’s a killing field, and you permitted it to become a killing field,” Mr. Giulani said.

 

Belgian foreign affairs chief joins condemnation of Liberty attack

Sunday, 10 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12831-belgian-foreign-affairs-chief-joins-condemnation-of-liberty-attack

Karl Vanlouwe, Belgium Senate foreign affairs committee chairman

NCRI - Camp Liberty should be declared a refugee camp and the residents given full international protection after the mortar attack on Saturday left six people dead and at least 100 injured, a leading Belgian politician said today.

Belgium and the European Union must also unite to condemn the unprovoked violence and take urgent steps to ensure no more innocent lives are lost, Senate foreign affairs committee chairman Karl Vanlouwe insisted.

He said in a statement: "On Saturday morning at least 35 missiles were fired at camp liberty near Baghdad airport, where 3100 Iranian main opposition PMOI members are residing.

"The attack has left at least 6 residents dead so far and 100 wounded.

"This terrorist act must be condemned by Belgium and the EU and urgent steps should be taken to prevent more attacks and loss of innocent lives.

"These 3100 Iranian refugees were evicted by force by Iraq from their homes in camp Ashraf last year at the insistence of the UN Envoy in Iraq Martin Kobler and the US government.

"We call for the immediate transfer of these defenseless refugees to Ashraf to protect their lives from the further rocket attacks on Camp Liberty.

"Ashraf has buildings made from cement and contains protection shelters.

"We call on the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to immediately declare Camp Liberty a refugee camp and provide international protection for the residents in accordance to UNHCR mandate."

The attack has also been condemned by the the United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and the the UN's High Commission for Refugees.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called on Iraq to carry out a full investigation to bring the killers to justice.

UNHCR chief Antonio Guterres called the attack a 'despicable act of violence' and said Liberty residents were asylum seekers undergoing the refugee status determination process and so entitled to international protection.

Human rights group Amnesty International demanded that Iraq urgently investigate the attack and look into the conduct of Iraqi security forces before and when it happened to determine if they could have prevented it.

And Struan Stevenson, president of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq added: "The US Government and the UN are directly responsible for the security and protection of these refugees and they have failed them miserably.

"I hold them fully accountable for this latest atrocity. The 3100 residents crammed into Camp Liberty are sitting ducks who can be murdered at will by Iraqis and their Iranian sponsors. We warned that this would happen and absolutely no notice was taken.

"I call on the newly appointed US Secretary of State John Kerry to take immediate action to get these people relocated to places of safety."

 

Ex-UN advisor on Ashraf : Camp Liberty residents at grave risk of further attacks

Tuesday, 12 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12842-ex-un-advisor-on-ashraf-camp-liberty-residents-at-grave-risk-of-further-attacks-

NCRI - The 'highly vulnerable' residents of Camp Liberty are at serious risk of another attack and must be moved back to Ashraf as soon as possible, the former adviser to the UN's special representative in Iraq has declared.

Tahar Boumedra said the security at Liberty was 'worthless' and he was certain there would be further attempts to bomb the camp.

After three and half years working as the Special Representative’s adviser on Camp Ashraf affairs, he resigned in May 2012 in protest UNAMI chief Martin Kobler’s actions.

The roofs of the buildings at Liberty were so weak a soldier could put his fist through them - giving residents no protection from air attacks, Mr Boumedra said.
He told a conference in Paris how he was the first to assess the security at Camp Liberty with an expert from the United Nations Mission in Iraq.

UNAMI chief Martin Kobler claimed he was moving the residents of Ashraf to Liberty to save their lives, but in fact it was aimed at splitting up the leadership of the Iranian dissents to 'cut the head from the body'.

And now they were hemmed in with concrete 'T-walls' topped with barbed wire, security cameras and listening devices designed to contain and control the overcrowded population, he said.

Mr Boumedra added: "A lot of people ask why Kobler is more enthusiastic about closing down Camp Ashraf and moving people to Camp Liberty than anybody else? More than the Iraqis themselves.

"Let me tell you, he's a man on a mission, and that mission is to establish some kind of 'love relationship' between UNAMI and the prime minister Al-Maliki.

"This is good for Prime Minister Al-Maliki because it means he is then holding UNAMI as a hostage.

"UNAMI has been mortgaged.  And Kobler is paying this mortgage.  This is the reality, and the United Nations in New York is approving this."

Martin Kobler’s ridiculous comparison

Mr Boumedra ridiculed Mr Kobler's suggestion that his own home in Baghdad's Green Zone was similar to Camp Liberty.

He said: "He tells them he lives in a place like theirs with T-walls.  Well let me tell you exactly what his place is like.

"The roofing in the UNAMI compound in the Green Zone is impossible to penetrate.  You have one-meter sandbags on the roof, then steel, then a one-meter space, then another layer of sandbags, which makes it impossible for any missile to penetrate.

"But in Camp Liberty, the buildings have a soft skin. A strong soldier could hit it with one hand and break it.

"But the worst is the high density of the population in just half a kilometer square, which makes it so vulnerable that if you throw a stone from outside the wall, you will be bound to touch somebody.

"These are not secrets to the United Nations, they have been reported to New York.  And yet, we are telling the Ashrafis that we are taking them to a place where their lives will be safe.

"If this is saving lives, it defeats me, and also it makes it difficult to see how the American taxpayer, the French taxpayer, the German taxpayer should be contributing to a system that persecutes the Ashrafis and allows such atrocities in Ashraf and Camp Liberty."

UN must overhaul UNAMI and launch a Commission of Inquiry into the Liberty attacks

As long as those in charge kept on misleading the international community, further attacks would take place - and the only way to prevent that is to change the way UNAMI operates, Mr Boumedra said.

He added: "While the present format of UNAMI is in place, there will be massacres, and there will be covering up.

"The human rights report (on conditions at Liberty) has been doctored.  We prepare reports aimed at not upsetting Al-Maliki.

"They are revised in Geneva and in New York, and anything likely to upset Al-Maliki is deleted.  This is how we functioned in UNAMI.

"Also, UNAMI's public information office is tasked to publish all the negative information that it can collect about the MEK and Ashrafis, whether in or outside Iraq.

"This is presented to the United Nations and done intentionally to harm the Ashrafis."

UN’s double standard

Mr Boumedra compared Liberty to the conditions at another camp in Iraq that was home to 11,000 members of the PKK - the Kurdistan workers party.

He said: "They live in Camp Makmur and they're armed.  It's armed group that are fighting Turkey.  This group walks around in the camp with arms in their hands openly.  Nobody bothers them.

"When the United Nations wanted to take care of them, within three months the UNHCR had registered them and regularized their situation and gave them travelling documents.  They gave them the right to move around in Iraq.  They gave them the right to undertake income generating activities.  They also have travel documents to go abroad for those who want to study or those who want to go as tourists.

"Why this double standard?  We have in Camp Ashraf a population that was disarmed years ago, verified by the Americans and the Iraqis, and now it's a disarmed civilian population.

"On the other hand, we have a group openly carrying arms. These ones who benefit from protection and Makmur is declared as a refugee camp."

Call for investigation

Mr Boumedra called on the UN to launch an immediate commission of inquiry in the recent attack at Liberty and to how it is being dealt with by UNAMI and Martin Kobler.

"The other option would be to take what I'm saying as defamation of the United Nations and take me to court.

"But keeping quiet is not a solution.  So take me to court or dispatch a commission of inquiry.  But keeping quiet is unacceptable."

 

Ex-US Commander in Ashraf: Martin Kobler has set up the 'death camp' Liberty

Wednesday, 13 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12851-ex-us-commder-in-ashraf-martin-kobler-has-set-up-the-death-camp-liberty

NCRI - The UN's representative in Iraq Martin Kobler should be charged with crimes against humanity for setting up the 'death camp' Liberty and allowing its residents to be murdered, a former head of protection at Ashraf has said.

Brigadier General David Philips said America had abandoned the residents of Camp Liberty to the hands of the 'Iranian puppet', Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri Al-Maliki.

And he asked how Mr Kobler could live with himself after 'setting the condition' for the attack on Camp Liberty to happen.
Speaking at a Paris ceremony on Monday to honor the victims of the attack in which seven people were killed and at least 100 were injured, he demanded: "Martin Kobler, how do you live with yourself?

"You set the conditions for these murders to occur, and yet you refuse to even go to the scene of the atrocities.  What do the mullahs' regime have on you?  What do they hold over your head?"

He said the promise to protect Ashraf residents had been 'hollow', adding: "It was just words.  I didn't believe that at the time.  I believed those words but now know they were just words to convince the people of Ashraf to 'lay down your arms.  Give over your safety and security to us.  Place yourself at the hands of others.  Trust us'.

"And what did we do?  You were abandoned into the hands of the Iranian puppet Al-Maliki."

Last year, Brigadier Philips said he was also involved in convincing the people of Ashraf they would be protected when they moved to Liberty.

But he added: "I have to tell you, I was very hesitant at that, but I believed them, that you'll be protected, we'll make sure nothing happens to you.  The United Nations will be there, and it's going to be a way station.  You're going to go there and then you're going to fly out someplace else.

"Well, we know how that promise went.  You left a home of over 30 years and moved to a detention camp on the outskirts of Baghdad called Camp Liberty.  Don't worry, you'll be safe.  We're going to protect you.

"What a flashback to 2003, 2004 for me.  The same words, exact same words were used with the leadership last year that were used back at Camp Ashraf in the headquarters building.

"Well, the leadership people at Ashraf trusted us and what did you get?  Suffering, unbearable torment at the hands of the Iraqi captors, your personal property pilfered, stolen, destroyed, your homes destroyed.

"Even the Martyr's Cemetery at Camp Ashraf vandalized.  We watched as what was supposed to be a temporary refugee camp has become a death camp.

"I don't even use the word concentration camp anymore.  Camp Liberty is a death camp.  And to think the United Nations mission under Martin Kobler sanctioned a death camp knowingly."

And he told Mr Kobler: "Not only should you have raced to the scene of the crime, you should have been there all along.  You should have been living inside of Camp Liberty, ensuring the residents' protection.

"Martin Kobler, you should be charged with crimes against humanity.  You set up a death camp; you're complicit into premeditated murder of the individuals out there that you are charged with their safety and security.  Your actions are despicable.

"You know, through all of this though the Iranian Resistance is alive and will remain alive, and will bring freedom and democracy back to Iran.  The mullah's regime directed those attacks, there's no doubt, against the resistance members.

"Because they fear what you stand for.  They fear the Iranian Resistance will succeed, which they will, in replacing the evil that now rules in Iran, and they'll replace it with a government of virtue and righteousness.

"The martyrs we mourn today had something the evil regime doesn’t understand: faith.  The members of the resistance have great faith, faith in knowing that their cause is just and their faith in belief that men and women deserve freedom."

He said the residents of Liberty currently had no freedom, adding: "What happens if they march to the front gate and want to go to the market down in Baghdad to buy some food?  That's right; they'll be shot going out.  What type of refugee camp is that?"

 

Ex-US Commander in Iraq: Al-Maliki cannot investigate Camp Liberty crimes, he is complicit

Saturday, 16 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/12877-ex-us-commander-in-iraq-al-maliki-cannot-investigate-camp-liberty-crimes-he-is-complicit

NCRI - Asking Iraqi president Nouri Al-Maliki to investigate the murder of residents in the attack on Camp Liberty was 'like asking Hitler to investigate the Holocaust', the coalition forces' chief anti-terrorism officer in Iraq has declared.

Colonel Wesley Martin also branded Al-Maliki as 'the world's greatest ventriloquist' because every time the UN representative in Iraq Martin Kobler opens his mouth 'Maliki's words come out'.

He said Mr Kobler needed to stop being Maliki's 'minister of international propaganda' and return to his role of being the ambassador to the UN.

Col Martin - also the former commander of protection for Ashraf - was speaking at a conference in Paris on Monday (February 11, 2013) to pay homage to the victims Liberty attack, where he pledged that the coalition would keep its promise to protect the residents of Liberty.

He said: "A week ago you heard me say something, and I'll say it again, the only time you'll hear me compliment Al-Maliki—he has got to be the world's greatest ventriloquist, because every time Kobler opens his mouth Maliki's words comes out.

"Kobler needs to stop being Maliki's minister of international propaganda and get back to the role of being the ambassador to the United Nations first.

"Please allow me also to speak not only as a former camp commander of Ashraf but as the first anti-terrorism officer for all coalition forces in Iraq.

"This rocket attack was a professional military operation.  It could not have been done by a militia or a rogue element.  To land scores of rockets in such a small location requires reconnaissance, ground surveys and a lot of practice.  This was a Quds force operation working with the Maliki government.

"Now we have Kobler asking Maliki to investigate the event.  That equates to asking Adolf Hitler to investigate the Holocaust.

"If the UN has the resources to invest in American drones then the United Nations has the resources to investigate against this attack that occurred this past weekend.  And while they're at it, go back to 2009 and 2011 attacks on Camp Ashraf.

"Unlike Kobler, I'm not afraid to go into a field of fire as our brothers and sisters at Ashraf and Liberty will tell you.  I'm also not afraid to put my boots into the mud and the raw sewage that has been allowed to spill out of those tanks in Camp Liberty.

"Unlike Herr Kobler, I do not require a security detail to go with me to either Camp Liberty or Camp Ashraf because I know when I am among the MEK I am far more secure than Herr Kobler is among his United Nations security detail."

The UN also needed to work hard to return Liberty residents to Ashraf and place them under UN security control, he said.

Col Martin added: "Despite the promises of Herr Kobler this Temporary Transit Location, once promised to meet humanitarian standards, has failed.

"Of all people, Herr Kobler should know you do not achieve peace in our time by yielding to a dictator.  He knows the horrors of Dachau, of Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, and unfortunately he has allowed Camp Liberty to become not only a concentration camp, but an extermination camp.

"In the future, when atrocities are committed at Ashraf and Liberty, Herr Kobler needs to stop protecting Maliki.

"Herr Kobler has no right in the future to say, "I did not know," because Herr Kobler has had all the opportunity to know and instead he has hidden the truth from the world.

"It is a truth that Herr Kobler hides from the United Nations and the world.  It is time for him to return home and Herr Kobler to retire.  He has been offered the chance to follow the legacy of Conrad (Adenauer) and stand up to tyranny.  And yet Herr Kobler has done just the opposite."

Finally, he called on US Secretary of State John Kerry to 'grab the reins' and honor America's written agreements to protect the residents of Ashraf and Liberty.

Iran dissidents say Khamenei ordered attack on Iraq camp

13 February 2013 - 14H48  

http://www.france24.com/en/20130213-iran-dissidents-say-khamenei-ordered-attack-iraq-camp

AFP - The Iranian dissident group MEK on Wednesday accused Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei of ordering a deadly attack on its camp in Iraq and said the Iraqi government facilitated the assault.
The People's Mujahedeen of Iran (MEK) said in a statement that the decision to carry out the attack was taken late January by Iran's national security council on Khamenei's orders.
It said that the 40 attackers and the rockets and mortars and other equipment they used in Saturday's attack were ferried to the camp by vehicles belonging to the Iraqi police and the Iraqi interior ministry.
The group of attackers was made up of members of the Shiite militant group Ketaeb Hezbollah and "technical agents" from Iran's elite al-Quds, said the statement by the MEK, whose leadership is based in Paris.
The MEK said Tuesday that seven people were killed in the attack on Camp Liberty, a former US military base near Baghdad housing about 3,000 members of the MEK.
The MEK, which gave an initial toll of six dead and around 100 wounded, said several more of its members remained in a serious condition.
No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack but MEK leader Maryam Radjavi on Monday denounced what she called the "crimes of the Iranian state".
She noted that the camp was inside a giant military zone and that the perpetrators could only have got inside with help from "within the Iraqi government".
The MEK was founded in the 1960s to oppose the shah of Iran, and after the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted him it took up arms against Iran's clerical rulers.
It says it has now laid down its arms and is working to overthrow the Islamic regime in Tehran by peaceful means.
Britain struck the group off its terror list in June 2008, followed by the European Union in 2009 and the United States in September 2012.

 

Who is IRGC Commander Abdolreza Shahlai, mastermind of attack on Camp Liberty

Thursday, 14 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/terrorism-a-fundamentalism/12861-who-is-irgc-commander-abdolreza-shahlai-mastermind-of-attack-on-camp-liberty

NCRI – Iranian regime's Revolutionary Guards commander Brigadier Abdolreza Shahlai has been named by the National Council of Resistance of Iran as the mastermind behind the deadly attack on Camp Liberty, which left seven dead and 100 injured.

Shahlai is a top IRGC official who has been posted to Iraq for the past 20 years, where he has planned multiple assassinations of the coalition forces in Iraq - in particular US military personnel.

He has also been involved in recruiting Iraqis to send to terrorist training camps in Iran and is in charge of building the Iranian regime's terrorist network in Iraq.

He is known to work closely with IRGC Major general Ghasem Suleimani, the commander of the terrorist Quds Force, and with Ahmad Forouzandeh, Abdolreza Shahlai and Taghavi - all top IRGC officials who oversee assassinations in Iraq.

In 2003, just a few months after the invasion of Iraq by the coalition forces, Ghasem Suleimani sent three top military officials at the Iran-Iraq borders to meddle with Iraqi affairs.

Ahmad Forouzandeh was in charge of the southern region, Taghavi was in charge of the central region and Abdolreza Shahlai was placed in charge of the western and northern regions.

Shahlai's mission was to recruit paramilitary groups to be trained in Iran.  One such training centre is a military compound called the 'Hezbollah Compound' located near the city of Varamin.

This compound was used to train Badr forces who were sent to Iraq in 2003. The compound was then used by the Quds Force, headed by Shahlai, to train people recruited in Iraq.

Shahlai, alongside Jafari Sahranavardi – who murdered Abdolrahman Ghasemloo in Berlin – acted as a key middle man to maintain contact between Iraqi president Jalal Talebani and the Iranian regime during the previous Government of Iraq.

Talebani has met with both Shahlai and Sahranavardi a number of times in Baghdad, and in one such meetings in 2004, they talked about the extradition of the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) to Iran.

In 2004, Shahlai asked Abou Mehdi Mohandes, the leader of an Iraqi Islamic Group, to organize demonstrations against the presence of the MEK in Iraq.

In a news conference on March 22 of 2007, Alireza Jafarzadeh revealed the presence of terror training camps in Iran. Mr Jafarzadeh presented maps, addresses and the training programs of the camps and emphasized that these compounds headed by Shahlai are all used for training Iraqi terrorists.

The assassination of the Saudi ambassador in the Washington plot of October 2011 was headed by Karimi, and Abdolreza Shahlai is known to have acted as his deputy.

The US Treasury department enlisted two organizations and five individuals in its black list on September 16 of 2008. Shahlai was among them.

The US Treasury department emphasized: " Abdul Reza Shahlai--a deputy commander in the IRGC–Qods Force--threatens the peace and stability of Iraq."

According to the Treasury Department report, “Shahlai has also provided material and logistical support to extremist groups that conduct attacks against U.S. and Coalition Forces.  In one instance, Shahlai planned the January 20, 2007 attack by Jaysh al-Mahdi (JAM) against U.S. soldiers stationed at the Provincial Joint Coordination Center in Karbala, Iraq.  Five U.S. soldiers were killed and three were wounded during the attack.”

The treasury Department report also pointed out that the Quds Force provides weapons, training and financial and logistic support to the terrorist groups that target the US military personnel as well as Iraqi citizens.

All Camp Liberty residents call on UNHCR chief to focus on urgent security matter

Friday, 15 February 2013

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/12872-all-camp-liberty-residents-call-on-unhcr-chief-to-focus-on-urgent-security-matter

The slow resettlement method and continuing the interviews portrays this wrong image as if matters are being pursued in the right path and as if all the residents will be resettled soon. This is something that increases the dangers for the wide majority that will remain in Liberty for a long period
NCRI - All Liberty residents issued a joint letter to United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees emphasizing the fact that they are under the threat of mass murder and the February 9th missile barrage can be repeated at any time. The residents wrote they were forced to depart Ashraf after three deceitful promises made by Kobler – which were nothing but lies – being Liberty meeting humanitarian standards, quick resettlement and their safety and security.
This letter, signed by some 3,100 Liberty residents, emphasizes, “So far, 2,800 people have been registered, and 2,000 have been interviewed. Authorities from U.S., German, France and Italy have interviewed a total number of 274 residents. But in 2012 and 2013 only seven residents were resettled, and there is no near prospect and certain time frame for resettlement of interviewees.” The letter adds while 3,100 residents have been piled up in the Liberty killing field, “we are now even deprived of having the helmets and civil protective vests we had in Ashraf. Despite his assets and armed guards who accompany him, Mr. Kobler was not willing to enter the camp even for a quick 30-minute inspection after the missile attack for ‘security reasons and unexploded rockets’.”
Liberty residents in this letter to the Antonio Guterres demanded the UNHCR’s efforts be focused on the subject of the residents’ urgent collective security, adding, “the slow resettlement method” and continuing the interviews “portrays this wrong image and provides this excuse as if everything is normal and taken care of”, matters are being pursued in the right path” and “as if all the residents will be resettled soon”. This is something that “increases the dangers for the wide majority that will remain in Liberty for a long period” and through bypassing urgent collective security, “plays with the lives of innocent and defenseless people.”
As an urgent solution, Liberty residents wrote, “the US government that signed a security agreement with every single resident until their final disposition… can transfer all the residents quickly to the US as a way station, even temporarily and at our own expense. This immediate and collective transfer can take place to other countries under UNHCR supervision. If such an urgent transfer is not possible, the only practical solution is our immediate return to Ashraf. At least … the 2,000 individuals who have finalized their RSD process be returned to Ashraf, and be resettled from there”.
The residents added 18 months after the beginning of the refugee status determination process, recognizing all residents as refugees will act as a serious preventive measure in relation to their security.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran