Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras Vice President of European Parliament and President of International Committee In Search of Justice (ISJ) issued a statement today on Ashraf residents and the minimum humanitarian conditions needs to continue the relocation of other residents’ convoy from Ashraf to Liberty. He also responds to the recent remarks by the US State Department’s officials in a press conference on Ashraf. Part of the statement reads:
A- Realization of the humanitarian 10-point-list is the requirement for transfer of the rest of Ashraf residents to Liberty:
1. Transfer of 300 air conditioners from Ashraf to Liberty.
2. Transfer of all the power generators that are currently in Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty. If there is any dispute about the ownership of the generators, they can be resolved in the future, under supervision of UN.
3. Transfer of 25 trucks, containing the belongings left over from the fourth and fifth convoys and six utility vehicles about which there had already been an agreement.
4. Transfer of five forklifts from Ashraf to Liberty for the purpose of moving the residents’ belongings.
5. Transfer of three specially-designed vehicles and six specially-designed trailers for the disabled.
6. Transfer of 50 passenger cars from Ashraf to Liberty. It means one car for every 40 residents, which is absolutely necessary in the hot weather and for wounded and disabled residents.
7. Permission for construction, including the building of pavements, porches, canopies, ramps, special facilities for the disabled and green areas.
8. Connecting Liberty to Baghdad’s water network. Alternatively, the residents should be permitted to hire Iraqi contractors to pump the water into Liberty from a nearby water canal and bringing their own water purification system from Ashraf.
9. Allowing merchants or bidders access to Ashraf to negotiate and buy the movable properties as soon as possible and to make advanced payment and start making partial payments to the residents before the resumption of the relocation of the next convoy.
10. Start of negotiations between the residents and their financial representatives and the Iraqi Government to sell the immovable assets and properties, or negotiations with third parties (Iraqi Government should provide permission) to sign the necessary agreements. Partial payments should be made before the relocation. At least 200 residents would remain at Ashraf to maintain and upkeep the properties until they are sold in their entirety.
B- State Department’s statements linking the delisting of PMOI to closure of Ashraf are unreasonable and unconstructive
C- The statements made by State Department’s officials Daniel Benjamin and Daniel Fried on Friday evening about the terrorism label against PMOI and Ashraf residents were highly disappointing, unreasonable and unconstructive. These statements were widely welcomed by the mullahs’ regime and its media.
The statement adds:
“The U.S. government is thus linking carriage of the law and the court’s decision to evacuation of Ashraf which is completely unrelated. Everyone knows that-as admitted by the U.S. government officials-the goal of the terrorism label was, since day one, to appease the totalitarian regime ruling Iran and has been continued solely for that purpose; a defeated policy that has only encouraged the Iranian regime in its pursuit of criminal policies against the Iranian people and against the international community.”
