Al-Maliki – Iran Reunion Over Iranian Dissidents Not Welcomed Worldwide
Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s visit to Washington is not welcomed by the Iranian-Iraqi Diaspora, and the reason is clear: Iran is the epicentre in Middle East policy because of the presence of a preserved, united and organised Iranian resistance that is a thorn in the throat of the Iranian tyrants. It is the only viable solution to Iran that Tehran can understand and appreciate.
Any misguided approach towards this alternative could be a fatal blow to a peaceful solution for the crisis in the region.
UN, US Trust A Fox To Guard The Hen House
The Middle East is riddled with strange and rather unpredictable episodes. The case of the Protected Persons in Camp Ashraf and the failure of the UN, US and EU to protect them is one of the strangest. On September 1, Iraqi special operations forces, at the behest of the Iranian regime, entered Camp Ashraf, home of Iranian dissidents in Iraq. Those forces shot dead 52 unarmed and defenseless refugees, who were all “Protected Persons” under the 4th Geneva Convention.
Most victims were handcuffed, identified and then executed with a bullet to the head. The Iraqi forces took seven of the residents, six women and one man, as hostages.
Now, the Iraqi government, whose ties to the September 1st attack on Camp Ashraf have been thoroughly proven, has assumed responsibility for probing the massacre.
That makes no sense whatsoever.
Guardians Of International Law Abrogate Their Responsibility
Where in the world do we have committed murderers or rapists interrogating their own victims? This outrageous request is not just a criminal act but it is changing the international laws of protecting citizens’ rights.
The undertaking is a mockery of justice and impartiality, and must be firmly rejected by the US and UN. The objective of this sham investigation by the Iraqi government is to wash the blood from Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s hands and pave the way for future massacres.
Following the massacre, a United Nations delegation conducted a visit to the camp the next day and verified that the 52 deceased had “suffered gunshot wounds, the majority of them in the head and the upper body, and several with their hands tied.”
The fate of the seven Camp Ashraf residents missing since the attack is also of great concern, as a letter by Baroness Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, indicates the high risk of them being transferred back to Iran. This is a crime against humanity that should not go unheeded, with silence and inaction, especially since the rest of the Ashraf residents and 3,000 residents in Camp Liberty are threatened by similar massacres.
All residents of Ashraf and Liberty, including the 52 who were murdered in cold blood, are protected persons according to the Geneva Convention, and they are asylum-seekers for whose safety the U.S. and UN are responsible.
The US and UN have been silenced and have resorted to a simple inaction regarding the heinous crime at Camp Ashraf and the fact that seven residents were abducted by Maliki’s henchmen.
This is not the first attack by Iraqi forces on innocent residents of Camp Ashraf and Liberty, but US officials repeatedly ask the Government of Iraq to investigate their own crimes! Despite repeated assurances by the Iraqi government that the Iranian dissidents, members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the principal Iranian opposition movement will be safe and protected, since 2012, 113 residents have been killed in five separate attacks.
It should be clear to all by now, that the Iraqi government cannot be trusted to keep these refugees safe. Meanwhile, the MEK residents at Camp Liberty are not safe and secure.
What makes the Iraqi mockery more amazing is the fact that the Iraqi government claims it had no part in the crime!
UN Whistleblower Says US Coverup
According to Mr. Taher Boumedra, the former UN Human Rights Chief in Baghdad, who resigned in protest last year, this is simply not true.
“I remember the watch towers around camp Ashraf which make it absolutely impossible for anybody to penetrate the camp without being detected. So, for the government of Iraq to say that it doesn’t know what happened, I could tell you that they do know and they did it. I could also tell you through experience because the previous incidents that took place in Ashraf in July 2009 and in April 2011, I was the person who did the fact finding mission and I know they already denied those incidents and later they admitted the killings in camp Ashraf in two instances.”
“This is the third one. They did it once, they did it twice, they got away with it and now they did it a third time and if we keep quiet they will get away with it, and I tell you that they will repeat it in Liberty. The reason they will repeat it is because the highest authority in Baghdad said as long as they are here we will keep harassing them till they leave Iraq.”
“So it is the responsibility of member states and representatives in Baghdad to speak out because they know the realities.”
“The USA also knew the details of what happened. Keeping this quiet is covering up a crime against humanity.”
Nouri al Maliki Sides With The Devil
Despite the cost of two trillion dollars and thousands of innocent American and Iraqi lives lost during the war in Iraq, Nouri al Maliki has chosen to side with the devil, the Supreme Leader of the Iranian regime.
By going after defenceless Iranian dissidents, Maliki is returning a favor to Tehran. This is a clear case of mockery of human rights! The United States and United Nations ought to change their position and force the Iraqi government to release the seven hostages, including six women, immediately, before it’s too late.
The UN must urgently conduct a thorough and independent investigation into the massacre at Camp Ashraf. Moreover, it is appropriate to call for UN monitors to be stationed at Camp Liberty constantly. Keeping silent on the crimes of the dictators is tantamount to complicity.
Keeping silent on the crimes of the dictators is tantamount to complicity
By ignoring clear evidence and the warning voices, and by welcoming al-Maliki, Obama makes himself an enabler and therefore an accessory to the human rights crimes.
Paymaneh Mirshafei, a graduate of San Jose State University and resident of Northern California, is a human rights activist with focus on her birthplace, Iran. Ms. Mirsafei specializes in social media activities and in 2008 hosted her Talk Show in a Persian Satellite TV which broadcast in the US and Middle East. She is also well known in the community for hosting events and organizing human rights events and a series of Self Knowledge courses on Iranian poetry with focus on Rumi.
By Paymaneh Mirshafei
