Iranian Resistance’s warnings to the US and the UN for transferring Mansoor to the American hospital or Europe proved to be futile
NCRI – Mansoor Hadjian, 52, was one of the Ashraf residents who were wounded in the deadly attack of the Maliki’s forces on Ashraf on April 8th. He passed away today, June 11, in a hospital in Baghdad after two months of pain and suffering due to inhumane and tyrannical medical siege on Ashraf and hindrances made by the Iraqi Prime Ministry Committee charged with suppression of Ashraf residents.
Mansoor Hadjian, the 36th martyr of the 8th April attack, was shot in the chest in the brutal attack of the Iraqi forces which led to a lung injury along with severe bleeding. He was a PMOI member who had struggled steadfastly against the religious fascism ruling Iran for 26 years.
Being severely injured on April 8th, he was taken to the hospital called ‘New Iraq Hospital’ under the control of Iraqi forces; a place where is justly named ‘New Iraq torture center’. Since no specialist doctor was there, they stitched his wound which later caused serious damages to him. He was subsequently taken to Baquba and then to Baghdad. The specialist doctors said that stitching the wound had deteriorated his condition even more. On April 27, while according to his doctor his treatment was not complete and his condition was not stabilized yet, the Iraqi forces returned him to Ashraf upon the order of Ashraf Committee.
Although the patient was still in a critical condition, the Committee, which receives its orders directly from Nouri al-Maliki, prevented his transfer to the hospital. After many attempts and intervention of the UN representatives, Mansoor and two other wounded residents were taken to Irbil on May 23 to be treated in a hospital. However, local authorities stopped them at the entrance of Irbil till late in the night and did not allow them to be hospitalized there. Mansoor, being in critical condition because of collapsed lung and having suction attached to him, was taken to Kirkuk in the middle of night to be hospitalized in a medical center. However again, he and other wounded were not allowed to be hospitalized there due to obstructions made by the Ashraf Committee. Finally, he and other patients were brought back to Ashraf on May 24th after having spent 24 hours in the car.
On June 2nd, Mansoor was inevitably taken to a hospital in Baghdad which lacked sufficient facilities for his treatment. Finally, he passed away this morning because of long delays in his treatment and lack of adequate medical facilities.
Over the past two months, the Iranian Resistance had repeatedly warned the US and UN authorities regarding the situation of the wounded including Mansoor, and has announced time and again that the goal of the mullahs’ regime and Maliki is to put pressure on the wounded and the patients in Ashraf and to torture them to death. On April 22, in its statement No. 76, the Iranian Resistance called the UN Secretary-General, the UN Security Council, the US and the EU to facilitate transfer of the critical wounded to the American hospital near Ashraf, to the hospital in Irbil, or to the European countries, or make it possible for them to have free access to medical services in Iraq. The Iranian Resistance underscored that it would pay for all the expenses in any of these options.
NCRI statement No. 78 dated April 23rd reiterated that Mansoor Hadjian was in critical condition due to being shot in the lung.
NCRI statement number 100 dated May 10 called on international organizations and assemblies, especially the U.S. government, to save the lives of 42 acutely injured residents, including Mansoor Hadjian. That statement stipulated, “Out of 345 residents wounded in the brutal attack against Ashraf, only 93 (about 27%) were taken to general hospitals in Baquba or Baghdad who were then brought back to Ashraf after receiving imperfect treatment, and only seven of them were transferred to the U.S. Army hospital near Ashraf.” It went on to add, “Despite instructions made by the U.S. Secretary of Defense on providing medical assistance to the Ashraf’s wounded (DOD website, April 8), it is one month now that the U.S. forces have not taken any other serious step for the treatment of the wounded.”
Unfortunately, even after that date, inhumane limitations continued and more wounded or sick residents are in danger of losing their lives. On May 29, Kazem Nematollahi who was suffering from kidney dysfunction, died in Baquba hospital due to deliberate obstructions by the Ashraf Committee.
While emphasizing that the Iraqi government and Maliki himself are responsible for the death of Mansoor Hadjian, other injured and the sick, and reminding that depriving the wounded and the sick of access to medical services and medicine are example of war crime and crime against humanity whose perpetrators should be tried and punished, once again the Iranian Resistance calls on the U.S. Embassy and forces and the United Nations authorities to immediately intervene to break the medical siege and save the lives of the wounded and sick; in particular for the transfer of the seriously injured to U.S. forces’ hospital or to Europe.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 11, 2011