Le Courrier (Switzerland) – Hundreds of Iranian dissidents demonstrated in Geneva on September 22 outside the headquarters of the ICRC, the UN, and the UNHCR. They demanded that Iranian exiles in Iraq should enjoy the status of political refugees. They denounced Tehran’s pressures on the Iraqi government, human rights abuses in Iran, as well as the mullahs’ determination to acquire nuclear weapons.
Outside the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), demonstrators called for international guarantees for the protection of 4,000 members of the Iranian Resistance in Ashraf, Iraq.
Since early August, families and supporters of the People’s Mojahedin have been protesting against the Iraqi government’s attempts to expel the PMOI members by organizing a daily sit-in outside the headquarters of the UNHCR in Geneva.
As long-time opponents of Tehran regime, the People’s Mojahedin benefited Saddam Hussein’s support in Iraq. When the dictator was ousted in 2003, they had their camp in Ashraf protected by the forces of the Anglo-American coalition, yet they are subjected to more and more restrictions.