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HRW should accept the mistake that it has made and withdraw this dire report |
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Saturday, 21 May 2005 |
 Statement by Mr David Amess, MP
The PMOI whose members and sympathisers have been the primary victims
of the Iranian regime's barbarity over the past quarter of a century,
and who have sacrificed everything to struggle for the liberation of
their people, are not in the business of mistreating their members,
sympathisers or anyone else for that matter.
It was with immense surprise that I recently learned of a dire report
published by Human Rights Watch (HRW) on the People's Mojahedin
Organisation of Iran (PMOI). The fabricated stories of 'former
members' of the PMOI interviewed by HRW contained nothing new and are
stories that have been told by the same individuals for many years to
whomever will listen.
These individuals work with the Iranian government's intelligence
services and are simply part of the Iranian regime's long running and
well-financed campaign to tarnish the image of its main opposition, the
PMOI. However, this issue raises a legitimate and pertinent
question. If, as is the case, the stories of these same
individuals have been repeated before on many occasions over recent
years, and therefore there is nothing new in what they have told HRW,
what was the purpose behind the report and its publication at such a
time? Clues as to the answer to this question may be found in
paragraph 2 on page 3 of the report, in which reference is made to
extensive efforts by Iranian communities around the world to have the
unjust terror tag removed from their resistance movement.
What is also shocking is the readiness of a human rights organisation
such as Human Rights Watch to discredit itself by repeating, as fact,
the fabricated stories of individuals who have been proven to be
working with the Iranian government's intelligence services. This
is especially so, when they sought no corroboration of the information
published, and worst still, did not even give the accused organisation
an opportunity to respond to the very serious allegations made against
it, before such allegations were published.
To call the report an outcome of an investigation is
disingenuous. One only needs to consider the methodology
used. The report states that twelve 'former members' of the PMOI
living in Europe were interviewed 'by telephone' and that their
accounts of mistreatment were 'credible'. How can one ascertain
the credibility or otherwise of an individual based on a telephone
call, especially when they are alleging severe maltreatment? It
is standard practice to conduct face to face interviews with victims of
torture, because often the torment they have suffered is shown through
their expressions as much as their words. At the same time, notes
can be made of any scars and marks left on their body as a result of
the torture they have suffered and/or medical evidence can be obtained
from them.
In the circumstances, I call upon HRW to accept the mistake that it has
made and withdraw this dire report. I am afraid that by the
publication of this report, HRW has not won itself any favours from the
long suffering people of Iran or those around the world that care about
the fait of the Iranian people. If HRW are genuinely
concerned about any allegations of mistreatment by the PMOI in Iraq,
they should make the effort to travel to Iraq and properly investigate
such allegations. Open invitations have been provided by the PMOI
to all human rights organisations for many years and yet these
invitations have been ignored. The reason for this is
clear. The PMOI whose members and sympathisers have been the
primary victims of the Iranian regime's barbarity over the past quarter
of a century, and who have sacrificed everything to struggle for the
liberation of their people, are not in the business of mistreating
their members, sympathisers or anyone else for that matter. HRW
would be better placed concentrating its efforts on exposing real human
rights abuses by the mullahs in Tehran, rather than fictitious claims
of human rights abuses made against the PMOI by those working with the
Iranian government's intelligence services. |
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