Iranian Dissidents in Camp Ashraf Forego Basic Rights

Iranian Dissidents in Camp Ashraf Forego Basic Rights While No Relief is Yet Seen

It was all good news on Christmas Day when the U.N. representative, Martin Kobler announced a breakthrough in the intense efforts he had followed to find a solution to prevent a massacre of more than 3000 Iranian dissidents by the clerical regime in Iran.

The whole story seemed to be too farfetched only a few weeks ahead. As for the Camp residents, they could not imagine coming to the decision of leaving their homes that they had built and lived in for 25 years for an uncertain future. They had already experienced bad treatment and massacre at the hands of the Iraqi army, and were not willing to accept any relocation without safety guarantees.

As time continued to be fast running out and was about to approached its final strokes, no solution could be seen. The camp residents continued to request safety guarantees to overcome their fear of facing another blood bath, while no guarantees were given by any International body. Yet, following the efforts by the U.N. Secretary General, the wheels started to turn to bring good news with the coming of the New Year. To ensure the working of the plan, Mrs Rajavi, the president-elect of the Iranian Resistance who is highly honored by the camp residents played a decisive role by pleading to the dissidents to cooperate with the UN plan and forego all that they had built for themselves during the past 25 years and trust the promises given by the UN representative.

The agreement was therefore made and signed, and many foreign ministries throughout the world, including the U.S. Secretary of State sent congratulations and support for the matter. It was a great achievement for the UN and the world was expecting further steps to follow to be reported to the world outside.

The great feeling of success received alarm only a few days afterwards. Uncertainties emerged once again at 8:00pm on Sunday 25th December when the Iranian dissidents went under attack by mortars fired from near the place of Iraqi forces stationed outside the Camp Ashraf. The mortars landed near the housing units where many of the residents live.

The attack came as a great shock to all the different circles which have for months been following the issues regarding the camp and the safety of its residents. Only last week, the Iraqi Prime Minister, Noori Maliki finally stated in a press conference that he had decided to extend the deadline of December 31 to close Camp Ashraf for another six months. The decision he said was made in response to United Nation Secretary General’s call to pursue a peaceful solution. The camp residents also accepted to leave the place where they have lived for 25 years.

However, the problem seems to have its roots in Tehran and its terrorist Quds Force, who do not agree with the developments and are trying to exercise their sovereignty over the camp area, despite the fact that the camp is situated in Iraq and not Iran. They intend to bar the attempts to reach a peaceful solution for the camp’s residents. To this end, the Camp was again attacked on 27th and 29th of December by mortars and Katusha rockets.

The tensions about the state of the Camp residents in Iraq are still there for the families and friends of the Iranian dissidents. No doubt, to ensure the progress of the planned relocation, provisioning of minimum safe and secure conditions should be the first requirement of any new habitat for the residents. This is especially important since there are a great number of women among residents who should be protected against any harassment and abusive behavior.

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