Stop fundamentalism, 03 April 2011 – According to a statement released by the National Council of Resistance of Iran today, Iraqi forces under command of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki government have occupied northern part of Camp Ashraf situated in north of Baghdad, Iraq.
Camp Ashraf is residence to over 3400 Iranian dissidents and members of the main Iranian opposition group the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran or PMOI.
So far 30 BMP armored personnel carriers and Humvees have moved in and stationed inside the camp, says the statement.
Ashraf residents came under the protection of the Geneva Conventions when US invaded Iraq and they gave up their weapons to the American forces.
Until 2009 the camp was under protection of the US forces. The protection was then turned over to Iraqi forces with Iraqi government’s commitment to protect the residents.
On July 2009 Iraqi forces rampaged the camp killing at least 11 residents and wounding a thousand. 36 members were taken in and only released after a vigorous international campaign.
Ashraf is an unarmed, civilian camp so intentions of al-Maliki for moving 30 armored vehicles in to the camp are unclear. The NCRI statement considers the act a violation of international laws including the Fourth Geneva Convention under which the residents of the camp are protected.
PMOI has been struggling to replace the Iranian regime with a democratic republic for the past thirty years and has formed an international movement against rulers in Tehran.
The Iranian regime considers members of the organization to be ‘Moharebs’ and has recently executed three of them.
