Mr. Mogens Camre, Vice president of UEN Group at the European Parliament: “The situation of camp Ashraf, home to 3500 members of the main democratic opposition of Iran, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, has been of great concern for some time and has been the issue of several resolutions in this house in recent years.”
Mr. Mogens Camre, Vice president of UEN Group at the European Parliament: “The situation of camp Ashraf, home to 3500 members of the main democratic opposition of Iran, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, has been of great concern for some time and has been the issue of several resolutions in this house in recent years.”
NCRI – The following is the text of speech by Mr. Mogens Camre, Vice president of UEN Group at the European Parliament, in the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on Friday April 24, 2009, which adopted the resolution titled “Humanitarian Situation of Camp Ashraf Residents.” The resolution was adopted 284 against 42.
Mr. President,
Honorable Colleagues,
The situation of camp Ashraf, home to 3500 members of the main democratic opposition of Iran, the PMOI [the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)], has been of great concern for some time and has been the issue of several resolutions in this house in recent years.
I together with a delegation of four members of this house visited camp Ashraf in October last year and met with American, Iraqi and UN officials there. They all reinforced our concern for the legal status of Ashraf residents because their security was transferred from American troops to Iraqi forces from the beginning of this year.
The situation has got much worse since then. The Iranian supreme leader in an official announcement at the end of February asked the visiting Iraqi president to implement the “mutual agreement” of closing down camp Ashraf and expel all the residents from Iraq.
Since than a siege and surrounding by Iraqi forces has started around the camp. Iraqi troops have been preventing entry of families of Ashraf residents, parliamentary delegations, human rights organizations, lawyers and journalists and even doctors to the Camp and do not allow many logistical materials to get into Ashraf.
Therefore, this parliament found it absolutely necessary to address this as an urgency issue at this stage. We have now worked together with all groups and produced a common text which is well balanced and addresses all our concerns on this matter and calls on international bodies to find a long-term legal status for Ashraf Residents.
There are however some amendments tabled by one Green and Socialist member that are against the spirit and essence of this text and would do more damage than good for those in Ashraf and pave the way for further abuse by the Iranian regime.
We therefore urge all colleagues to stick to the joint text agreed by all groups and reject any amendments.
Thank you