NCRI – Nouri Al-Maliki and Iraqi proxies of the Iranian regime, under pressure and upon the Iranian regime’s instructions, continue to intensify the siege, suppression and setting the stage for perpetration of violent measures against Ashraf residents. Some of the incidents in recent days are as follows:
1. Recently the Iraqi forces set up 7 trailers beside the fence at the southern flank of Ashraf for MOIS agents’ settlement. Prior to that, on 30 November 2010, the Iraqi Battalion that is supposedly in charge of “protection” of the residents, in the presence of Nafe al-Issa, a contact of the Ashraf Suppression Committee in Iraqi Prime Ministry, set up a large tent with the capacity to house 200 persons, for the gathering of the MOIS agents. Nafe al-Issa is a well-known lackey of the clerical regime. He is in direct contact with MOIS representative Haji Ali Navidi and Falah Sheibani, an Iraqi employee of the Iranian regime’s embassy. He has visited Iran multiple times and receives a salary from an MOIS affiliated association called Habilian. He has been tasked by the MOIS to form a committee called “the committee to support protesting families at Ashraf’s entrance”.
2. Since Saturday morning, 4 December, the Iraqi Battalion has transferred a number of construction machinery and many of its soldiers to the southeast corner of Ashraf to build sites and roads for the agents and to set up installations for them. Lieutenant Latif Abdul Amir Hashem and other Battalion officers are directly supervising these measures. (photos are enclosed).
3. Under the guise of families, a number of MOIS agents who were previously in Ashraf, have gone to Ashraf’s entrance while covering their faces, and threaten the residents with murder and setting the camp on fire. Some of these agents were sent to Ashraf in previous years by the MOIS to infiltrate the PMOI but they were expelled after being identified.
4. Throwing money around as such for the agents of mullahs’ intelligence services happens at a time that for the past two years all types of construction, electrical, maintenance and water supply materials for renovation of buildings have been banned from Ashraf and even a single bag of cement has not been allowed to be brought into the camp. Some of the buildings and installations are in serious need of repair after 25 years.
The tops of sewage cisterns and their concrete covers are mostly worn out and pose a danger to the residents. Last month, the top of one of the cisterns collapsed causing one of the residents to fall in it. She miraculously survived, however. Concrete edges of some buildings are also worn out and life threatening. Last summer, a piece of concrete from the edge of a building ceiling in the women’s residence collapsed and fell; fortunately no one was hurt.
For the past two years, cement-covered roofs have not been repaired due to a lack of isolation material, cement blocks and cement. The end result will be leaking roof tops in the winter months. In many cases the walls are cracked and there is a risk of collapse. Most of the temporary ceilings are decayed because they have not been repaired or replaced (photo is enclosed). Roads and sidewalks are damaged as well.
The Iranian Resistance draws the attention of UNAMI, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq, and the U.S. government and its forces in Iraq to the hostile measures of the Iraqi forces and underscores the imperative that Iraqi forces should leave Ashraf and be replaced by U.S. forces and a UNAMI monitoring team in order to prevent a human catastrophe and to put an end to the inhumane blockade of Ashraf and psychological torture of the residents.
Intensified conspiracies and suppressive measures by the Iranian regime against Ashraf residents reveal the faltering clerical regime’s trepidation over the widespread and persistent support for PMOI and Ashraf around the world, which includes, among others, the adoption of the European Parliament’s statement, hearings at US Congress and the European Parliament where concerns were raised about Ashraf’s situation, as well as the support of 5000 French mayors and the statement by Amnesty International.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 6, 2010