The so-called Human Rights Ministry of Iraq has published a statement full of lies about the Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in Iraq.
By publishing these lies, the Ministry intends, to justify and cover-up the crimes committed by the Government of Iraq against the Iranian refugees, and set the stage for another massacre.
The report is published as the three missile attacks against Camp Liberty- which has led to the killing of 10 residents and injury of over 170 others, as well as the lack minimum security necessities in Camp Liberty – have raised increasing protests worldwide, and the calls for the immediate return of the residents’ to Camp Ashraf have grown much stronger and more widespread.
Also the statement is published at the time that Iraqi forces have cut-off the pumping of water, delivery of electricity and food to Camp Ashraf upon the orders by the Iraqi Prime Ministry and the Iranian regime, with the intention of forcing the remaining 100 residents to leave the camp and abandon the properties and assets they protect.
Through this measure which constitutes a flagrant crime against humanity, the Iraqi government is pathetically attempting to discourage those who advocate that Camp Liberty residents be returned to Camp Ashraf.
The Iraqi Human Rights Ministry statement begins with a sheer lie that “The Government of Iraq acts according to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the United Nations, camp residents and the Government of Iraq.”
The MoU was merely signed by Martin Kobler and the Iraqi government representative, and the residents never signed it nor did they agree with it. Furthermore, the very same MoU has been violated by the Iraqi government hundreds of times.
According to the MoU, Camp Liberty is a Temporary Transit Location and a site meant for for a few weeks or months of stay. However, 18 months have passed and only 5 percent of the residents have been transferred outside Iraq and there is no prospect for the transfer of those remaining.
According to the MoU, Camp Liberty must meet humanitarian and human rights standards but it is clearly far from meeting such standards.
A report by a UNHCR’s expert dated 19 January 2012 -which Martin Kobler covered up and distorted – stipulates that Camp Liberty fails to meet humanitarian standards for refugees, standards set by the World Health Organization and SPHERE.
The so-called Human Rights Ministry describes the PMOI as a terrorist organization and adds: “The Government of Iraq is obligated to implement the constitution and not to keep the members of this organization from Iraqi soil.”
By repeating a label that has been revoked by dozens of European and American courts as well as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada and 27 members of the European Union, the statement has no aim other than resorting to pretexts for another massacre. Particularly as it is being repeated by those whose hands are drenched in the blood of 74 PMOI members in Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty, who were killed in four terrorist attacks and due to an inhumane siege.
To prepare the grounds for yet another massacre of the residents, the Human Rights Ministry statement cites lies by Martin Kobler’s on “human rights violations in the camp and enforced restrictions on the residents by the PMOI”. This lie is being used by Martin Kobler to cover up his criminal role in evicting the residents, or else this very Human Rights Ministry, in 2009, interviewed each and every resident outside of Camp Ashraf and under the supervision of the Red Cross and US, as it even made pledges to them to leave Ashraf and the PMOI. However, only 11 of the 3,400 residents left Ashraf and went to the Iraqis.
The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of the United Nations, US government and European Union to the devious intentions of the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry, and demands their urgent action for the residents’ return to Camp Ashraf and the provision of minimum security and protective measures in Camp Liberty.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
August 23, 2013