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Iranians urge Red Cross to protect PMOI members in Iraq

Nasser Razy - 3/10/2009

Supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) on Thursday rallied outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in London urging the world body to take urgent action to guarantee the protection and fundamental rights of PMOI members in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.

The demonstrators condemned pressures by the Iranian regime on the Iraqi government to violate the rights of Ashraf residents.

The mullahs' Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei told visiting Iraqi President Jalal Talabani in Tehran on 28 January: "The mutual agreement regarding the expulsion of the Mojahedin from Iraq...must be implemented and we are waiting for it." Moreover, Iranian state-media quoted Khamenei as saying that no other country would be willing to accept PMOI members; thus he was demanding that the Iraqis extradite the PMOI members to Iran.

The demonstrators condemned this brazen act of meddling in Iraqi affairs.

"ICRC take action; ensure Ashraf's protection", they chanted.

Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Cotter told the protestors that Parliamentarians were taking the matter up with government ministers as a matter of urgency.

Under pressure from the regime, some Iraqi officials have said that they will expel PMOI members and close down Ashraf.

Given the illegal pressure on the Iraqi government by Khamenei and his regime, the demonstrators urged the ICRC, as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions and international law, to reaffirm the protection and rights of Ashraf residents in the framework of International Humanitarian Law and the Principle of Non-Refoulement as well as their judicial protection in order to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

All PMOI members have been recognised as "protected persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention and international law by the Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I).