Statement by the International Committee of In Search of Justice
International Committee of In Search of Justice condemns the suppressive measures by Iraqi forces against the residents of Ashraf, home to members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and calls on the United States to guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents and restore the pre-January 2009 situation in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
Statement by the International Committee of In Search of Justice
International Committee of In Search of Justice condemns the suppressive measures by Iraqi forces against the residents of Ashraf, home to members of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), and calls on the United States to guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents and restore the pre-January 2009 situation in order to avert a humanitarian catastrophe.
With utmost concern, the ISJ has learned of beatings of two residents of Ashraf with electric batons, an assault on a building in Ashraf, where a large number of women reside, prohibiting logistical needs, such as fuel, from entering Ashraf in the past few days and preventing families from visiting their relatives in Ashraf by Iraqi forces.
On February 28, 2009, The Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei demanded from the Iraqi President to implement the bilateral agreement to expel the PMOI from Iraq. The main subject of the early March visit to Iraq by former President and head of the Assembly of Experts, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, was the expulsion and extradition of the residents of Ashraf. On March 8, Iraq's National Security Advisor Mouwaffaq al-Rubaie, was quoted by the Iranian regime's Arabic language television, Al-Aalam, as saying, "We have adopted a clear and precise policy to expel this terrorist organization from Iraq and quickly return the residents of Ashraf to Iran or to a third country… These individuals have been brainwashed and we must free them from these poisons. And when we begin to remove the poison, if this were the correct interpretation, it would at the outset be painful. There is no alternative other that engaging in painful action."
These comments amount to a call for war crimes and crime against humanity, which clearly endanger the lives of 3,500 residents of Ashraf.
The Tehran regime is poised to cause a humanitarian catastrophe in Ashraf in order to eliminate its opposition, weaken nationalist and independent Iraqi forces and complete its evil domination of Iraq.
In an urgent letter this morning to President Obama, the President of the International Committee of In Search of Justice (ISJ), which comprises 2,000 Parliamentarians, wrote, "Consistent with the international obligations of the United States and in the framework of the Right to Protection (RTOP) as well as based on the obligations arising from the agreement between the residents of Ashraf and the U.S. forces, the protection of Ashraf residents is the responsibility of the U.S. forces. I therefore ask you to ensure that the U.S. forces guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents and restore the pre-January 2009 situation, when the U.S. forces were protecting the residents of Ashraf."
International Committee of In Search of Justice
March 15, 2009