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Relatives prevented from entering Camp Ashraf to visit loved ones

Shahriar Kia - 2/23/2009

Following the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from the EU’s terrorist list and an end to seven years of investment by the religious fascism ruling Iran in this regard and the defeat this regime has sustained during recent elections in Iraq, the mullahs are carrying out new plots against the PMOI and in particular the residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq. In the midst of the blow it has suffered, the regime thinks by imposing pressure on Ashraf it can compensate this great blow and return to the previous balance of power which is now unattainable.

One of the inhumane methods that the regime employs is putting pressure on relatives of Ashraf residents. On the one hand it arrests these relatives in Iran and on the other hand it puts pressure on the Iraqi government to prevent their entry to Camp Ashraf.

Iraqi forces stationed at the gates of Camp Ashraf on 3 February 2009 and during past two days on 9 and 10 February 2009 prevented the entry of 15 relatives who were trying to see their loved ones in Ashraf. They had entered Iraq legally with valid passports and visas, and there was no cause for them being prevented entry into Ashraf. Over the past six years the relatives of Ashraf residents had come from Iran and other countries and visited their loved ones in Ashraf without hindrance. According to Iraqi forces, the Iraqi government has ordered that no relatives be permitted to enter Ashraf. This makes any unhindered visit by relatives of Ashraf residents impossible and is tantamount to allowing the Iranian regime to learn of and have the final say on any visit. This is while Iraqi forces stationed at the entrance to Ashraf currently do a full security check. Currently these families are being kept outside Ashraf’s entrance under unfavourable weather and logistical condition.

Dozens of relatives of Ashraf residents hoping to visit their loved ones in Iraq were arrested at Tehran Airport on 16 January 2009.

Preventing relatives from visiting their loved ones is a clear and serious breach of the International Declaration of Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law and international customs.

The Ashraf residents urge the Iraqi government to immediately halt any actions aimed at preventing or imposing conditions on visits to Ashraf by relatives of its residents. It should not allow this inhumane treatment, which is desired by the Iranian regime, to take place in the name of the Iraqi government.

We also call on the UN Secretary General, the Security Council, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Committee of the Red Cross, Amnesty International, and other humanitarian organs to condemn and prevent the suppressive plots of the regime against the families of residents of Camp Ashraf.