UN-US –MEK: Good License to Kill

Egyptian parliament majority and 4000 EU lawmakers condemn US-UN debacle in handling Camp Liberty brewing crisis.

Camouflaged siege by Iraqi forces of refugee Camp; dehydration in sky-high temperatures; blocking basic needs of residents condemned in report by committee of 4000 lawmakers to UN Security Council.

After the recent mediatic bravado by the US State department that conditioned its belated legal obligation to the evacuation of a refugee Camp in Diyala province of Iraq, the situation has evolved into a humanitarian time bomb.
A committee of 4000 European lawmakers issued a report to the Security Council on the escalating humanitarian crisis in two Camps that house members of the pro-democracy opposition to Tehran, MEK.
The report which has been prepared in 10 sections, after reviewing the events in the past three months in two camps of Ashraf and Liberty, presents urgent and necessary requirements for the conclusion of relocation of the residents to Liberty in 10 and 5 articles respectively to the Security Council and while appealing for the Councils’ support.

MEK-NCRI: Largest Iranian pro-democracy Gathering- Yes To Key Opposition

500 prominent political personalities, parliamentarians and jurists from 40 countries and five continents demand basic rights for Liberty residents (MEK members); and formal recognition of NCRI

• No more excuses. No more lies. We want action on Camp Ashraf/Liberty”-Vice President of the European Parliament Aleco-Vidal Quadras ,Villepinte

USCCAR condemns UNAMI CHIEF conduct over MEK Liberty:demands UN neutrality and obligations to Refugees in camp

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012-

USCCAR

On behalf of thousands of Iranian-Americans whose loved ones are in camps Ashraf and Liberty in Iraq, the US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) strongly condemns the mounting pressure exerted on the 3,200 Iranian dissidents in Iraq by UN Secretary-General's Special Representative, Martin Kobler.

His actions and words have only served the murderous regime in Iran and the Nuri al-Maliki government in Iraq, which has been doing the bidding of Tehran. 

MEK June 23 VillePinte Convention- Support Democracy In Iran

International decry over malfeasance in US State Department over the FTO listing of MEK; endangering lives of thousands in Camp Liberty and Iran, demanding Camp liberty recognized as Refugee Camp.

 

72 years ago today, General Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the French Resistance, announced the start of resistance against Nazism while in exile. His voice still resonates today in the Iranian resistance: “Whatever happens, the flames of resistance must not be and will not be extinguished.”

The past three decades have been the most turbulent in the Middle East. The eye of the storm has been Iran. The main element that can capsize the balance for Peace in the region is a pro-democratic group (MEK), feared by Tehran. The group has repeated one message all along in its epic struggle against the religious fascists in Iran:

MEK: Camp Liberty Must Be Recognized As Refugee Camp

Lawmakers and policy makers demand change of policy and commitment to obligations by US and UN before further relocation of dissidents from Camp Ashraf to Liberty

  Officialwire

Each timethe residents and their leadership is asked to compromise their needs so that the issue is not derailed, and every time the government of Iraq doesn’t live up to their side of thebargain and the US and UN keep silence. The two institutions that I grew up believing were thehope of the world, the U.S. and the U.N., have not done the right thing for the residents of Camp Ashraf.

-Ed Rendell, 45th Governor of Pennsylvania and Chairman to the Democratic National Party during the 2000 presidential election

 

iran Obama Court- St.Dept must delist MEK- June 23 Paris Trans-Atlantic Convention Will Support Democracy In Iran http://bit.ly/JF7ker
By S.Sistani
International decry over malfeasance in US State Department over the FTO listing of MEK; endangering lives of thousands in Camp Liberty and Iran, demanding Camp liberty recognized as Refugee Camp.
In a writ, the US Federal Court of Appeal in Washington asked the US Secretary of State today to review the FTO designation of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) within four months after this issuance of this writ adding "Should the Secretary fail to take action within the four-month period, the petition for writ of mandamus setting aside the FTO designation will be granted".
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance described today's ruling of the Washington Court of Appeal as victory of Justice over collusion and appeasement which ended the 15-year-long unjust terror label. “This illegitimate label has been for the past 15 years the key factor in helping the religious fascism ruling Iran to maintain power; it has caused two massacres in Ashraf, execution and arrest of many members and supporters of the PMOI/MEK and the Iranian resistance inside Iran as well as the cruel restrictions against Iranian Americans in the United States. Today, it is still being used as a leverage by the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government to suppress the residents of Ashraf and Liberty.”

iran Obama Court- St.Dept must delist MEK- June 23 Paris Trans-Atlantic Convention Will Support Democracy In Iran http://bit.ly/JF7ker

Outrageous Liars Slander MEK: Still Main Threat To Ayatollahs

by Fabian Mahmoudi

(OfficialWire)
These days, blaspheming MEK has opened prospects of a SEO marketing carrier for some, and a hobby for others. ParrotingTehran’s outdated lie is not the only insult to injury for respected journalists, but serving as enslaved docile pen-pals to the worst enemy of humanity is obnoxious..
 “The bigger the lie the more prone to be believed” is the outline for a round-the-clock  competition in a mud sliding campaign against the MEK, most probably groomed by Tehran, that outsmarts the famous World's Biggest Liar annual competition in Cumbria, England.
 The moral George Washington was brave enough to say, “I cannot  tell a Lie” while Mark Twain concluded “Washington could not lie. I can lie, but I won't."
Why is there such enormous gap of values between today’s’ American principals and that of their icons?
The answer is profoundly simple: The clerical fascists are at work in Tehran.
 We will go over some of the most colossal and significant lies on the MEK and their tragic results. Of course, such a list cannot be comprehensive since most of the victims of this atrocious hobby have not lived to tell the truth. It is said that the truth will set one free.
 The first grand liar was the founder of the present Iranian government Khomeini (1). When inParisin 1978, he equivocated a vague future forIranand lied about his plot to establish a theocratic jurisprudence and said, “when the Shah is gone, I will go back toQom," implying that he would retire.  When the MEK foiled his plot in an interview in keyhan- February 1979- revealing, “the intentions to derail the trend of change under the name of fighting communism for Islam," Khomeini called them “hypocrites."
In 1978 the MEK, with more than 500 000 supporters only inTehranbecame the popular pro-democratic organization that advocated a platform based on the ballot box and collective participation of people in the social –political change ofIran. Its meetings packed by youth eager to understand the new promoted antithesis to Islamic fundamentalism preached by the Ayatollahs became the deathly battleground for thugs hired by the clerics. Peaceful rallies were attacked by “anonymous” organized crowds equipped with knives' axes and chains. (2) Hundreds of participants were wounded, many arrested and disappeared.
Khomeini called the meetings “against Islam and hypocritical” thus paving the way for more slaughter on the streets. When the MEK objected to “mysterious” crowds attacking and promoting fear, Khomeini in an official broadcast outflanked MEK’s demand for the “right to assemble” and said, “they blind themselves and injure themselves in their meetings and blame it on others to taint the image if Islam."
When faced with a serious rival, whose popularity and fame had reached all corners ofIranattracting the youth from all social classes, Khomeini simply issued a religious fatwa and tagged them as “Anti-Gods” and terrorists being paid by Israeli Moussad and Saddam Hussein.
While Khomeini’s’ cold-blooded  massacre of 20,000 MEK supporters was being reported in the foreign press (3), he claimed the MEK was responsible for these deaths. Later survivors of the massacre from various political tendencies revealed that the plot to massacre the prisoners was initiated in 1977 and had nothing to do with any MEK action outside the prisons.
Khomieni left a legacy of outrageous lies and brainwashing campaign against the group after his death.
In a letter to the UN special reporter, a former deserter of MEK who was repatriated by the Iranian Intelligence service called Tafrashi wrote of his ordeal. “They approached all those who separated from the MEK. They would finally recruit them. We were to focus on a smear campaign against the organization. They said in order to show neutrality we should once in while lash out againstTehran, but hit harder against the group.”
 These instructions formed the foundations of a smearing policy by the mullah’s Intelligence agency, today advocated by Seymour Hersh, the Rubins and their off-springs.
As reflected in my previous articles, ethical journalism is diminishing. Noble journalism that once reflected the truth, remains as an asset for those writers who never bent to ego and Machiavellist journalism.(5)
One such example was a Washington Post article that clarified the truth about chimes involving the MEK in US military personnel assassination. (4)
 A partial list of spectacular lies is proof of the complicated challenge facing professional journalism in defying cheap journalism:
 - Stale gossips about MEK physical involvement in the US embassy hostage crisis in Tehran has repeatedly been disapproved by those responsible at the time (6) yet some find it best to “strike while the subject is hot” only to score in google search.
- The groups’ mutilating of Christian priests inIranhas been categorically rejected in a UN report (7) and yet, the subject is still spicing articles.
- MEK involvement in terrorist acts such as bombing of the holy shrine in Mashahd has been forgotten myths even in Tehran’s smear campaigns, yet they are still favored by some mystery writers today.(8)
- Paltering facts brazenly only to use them as a rouser is repugnant for any journalist, let alone when an expired Iranian Intelligence agent such as “Khodabandeh and wife (singleton)” are used as “experts” on the subject of MEK. A tactic recently used unethically by Seymour Hersh and roused by a number of potent pro-ayatollah sites. Rehashing expired, but colossal lies will not buy ethics for such “parrotists”. The same agent is still panting out lies rejected officially by the Iranian press, probably taking his counterparts as fools. (9)
 Unfortunately, it is true as Winston Churchill once said, “"A lie can be halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on." 
In the life staking struggle by residents incampAshrafand their leaders, an International campaign involving the European Union, The Security Council members and the United Nations is evading bloodshed on the behest ofTehranby Iraqi forces. A long term peaceful relocation of the refugees (some members of MEK) to their countries is planned after they undergo UN registration procession.
 The goodwill gesture of the residents and their leadership for a volunteered relocation to camp liberty has been applauded as courageous by high ranking US officials and their European Colleagues.(10) The new location is a looted garrison, only one sixtieth of the area of their owned town Ashraf, with no basic foundations such as; portal water, electricity, sewage system.
 Regardless of the unequivocal control of the Iraqi forces over living conditions of the residents, we are faced with magnified lies, no doubt cycled by the ayatollahs to impair the residents’ relocation to other countries.
-TabnakState-run news reported 58 residents “escaped Ashraf” for freedom. This is while all 3455 residents have already registered their applications with the UNHCR and are under the supervision of the UN. Earlier, the residents announced  the number of casualties by Iraqi attacks and suppressive measures to be 45 people. The claimed 58 escapees were never verified.
- During the 14-month  total siege of the groups’ residency ‘Ashraf’, which made any contact with the residents impossible, Iranian press claimed MEK women had carried out a kamikaze operation inBaghdad. Lawyers, families of the residents along with diplomats had complained they were not allowed visits to the camp, and the residents were practically imprisoned by Iraqi forces.
- On March 28, after a group of Ashraf residents had voluntarily relocated to the newcampLiberty, the half a kilometer residential area was attacked by mortars, whileBaghdadwas on maximum security alert for the Arab Summit. The Iranian state run Khorasan newspaper, December 27, 2011, attributed the attack to the MEK.
- As the forth group of residents were preparing for relocation toCampLiberty, the Iraqi SWAT brigade attacked residents who have already agreed to refrain from retaliation as a goodwill gesture. They were abiding the MoU signed by UNAMI and Iraq which legally allows their portable belongings transferred to the new compound. This was prevented by Iraqi forces by force.(11) At the moment armored vehicles,(12)  numerous police inspection posts, eavesdropping devices around the small compound and the legal presence of Iranian Intelligence agents at their doorsteps, have transitioned liberty into a prison camp.
The irony of it all is the victims are blamed for “being beaten, attacked by mortars and hampering the relocation process”.
 Villains are let loose while the victims are chained.
 It is rare to find integrity and honor akin to that of George Washington who “could not lie”.
In the annals of history it seems there are 10 dishonest scoundrels for every honorable hero likeWashington. This has often resulted in elaborate hoaxes, perjuries, and forgeries that had enormous ripple effects and humanitarian tragedies.
At the end it is people likeWashingtonand epics such as the resistance against ideological tyrants inTehranthat make history and not egoistic liars.

Annotations:
 1-http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabahaftbaradaran/7000618229/sizes/l/in/photostream/
2- http://www.flickr.com/photos/28353822@N07/2679341534/in/set-72157606234274925/
2-http://www.flickr.com/photos/sabahaftbaradaran/7000649299/sizes/l/in/photostream/
PLEASE DOWNLOAD TO BE ABLE TO READ THE TEXT
3-     http://www.flickr.com/photos/28353822@N07/2678524631/in/set-72157606234274925
4-     http://www.scribd.com/doc/86675201/Washpost1976-VAHID-AFRAKHTEN-coup-leader-against-original-MEK-responsible-for-attacks-on-Americans
5-     http://news.officialwire.com/main.php?action=posted_news&rid=318462
      6- The USstate department reciting cleric media have accused the MEK for participating physically in the US Embassy hostage crisis on November 4, 1979. Ervand Abrahamian’s report (1989, p. 57) suggest otherwise. While the MEK was following a policy of non-confrontation with Khomeini they chose not to support the student take over of the Embassy. ““It was later revealed that these university students were organized by Hojjat al-Islam Khoiniha, a prominent member of the IRP and the leader of the Tehran University komiteh [a morality guard organization].”. According to Massoumeh Ebtekar (Takeover in Tehran, Massoumeh Ebtekar, Talon Books, Canada, 2000, p. 234), who was the spokesperson during the hostage crisis for the radical students, the MEK “had been opposed to the takeover and the confrontation with America from the very first. In sharp contrast to lies mirrored by the State department and parroted by pro-ayatollah pundits, The MEK said the clerics had “engineered the hostage crisis to impose on the nation the ‘medieval’ concept of the velayat-e faqih.”
In return, Mohammad Reza Saadati- an MEK member was taken hostage by government thugs, trialed for treason and spying for the Russians and Mussad and executed. This was while the group mustered over half a million into the streets ofTehran. Its newspapers outsold those of the ruling clerical party by sixteen to one.
7--Accordingly, articles came out accusing the MEK of “mutilating” three dissident Christian priests. Explaining how Abdollah Nouri, a former regime Interior Minister, had admitted at his trial in November 1999 that MOIS had murdered the Christian leaders, the British member of Parliament ,Lord Avebury explained: “The concerted effort to attribute the atrocities to the Mojahedin was intended to demonize the resistance while at the same time ridding the state of troublesome Christian leaders who refused to submit to the dictatorship.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Tolerance, Abdelfattah Amor, in his UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Tolerance, 9 February 1996 stated:
“The Iranian government had apparently decided to execute those Protestant leaders in order not only to bring the Mojahedin organisation into disrepute abroad by declaring it responsible for those crimes, but also, at the domestic level, partly to decapitate the Protestant community and force it to discontinue the conversion of Muslims.”
8- On 20 June 1994, the first bombing of the holy shrine of Imam Reza took place killing 26 people. In several other attempts covert NGOs claimed that MEK planted the explosives at the holy shrine in Mashad. Khamenei publicly attributed the attack on the MEK andIran’s former Foreign Minister, Ali Akbar Velayati summoned foreign ambassadors inTehranto demand that restrictions be imposed on the Mojahedin and the Iranian Resistance’s activities worldwide. During the public funeral held for the victims a large crowd chanted “Death to the MEK”.
A Cleric later revealed the act was the result of infightings and carried out by the MOIS (Iran’s notorious Intelligence service.)
(9) In 1998, during khatami’s presidency a chain of murders of dissidents occurred. The Judiciary spokesman Fotovat Savadkouhi blamed the murders on the MEK. A few days later, the Director of Islamic Propaganda Organization stated as fact: ‘These murders were carried out by the Zionists with the cooperation of the Mojahedin group.’ However, the Iranian regime was soon forced to admit that in fact the murders were the work of MOIS. A statement issued by the public relations department of MOIS in January 1999 read:
“With utmost deep regret, a number of our irresponsible and selfish colleagues at the
Ministry, who were no doubt in contact with foreign intelligence services, have committed these crimes.”( Salam’ Iranian newspaper, 6 January 1999)
 10- http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/iran-resistance/11870-honorable-marc-ginsberg-we-have-to-realize-the-danger-people-at-camp-ashraf-face-
 11- http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11872-injuring-of-29-ashraf-residents-due-to-the-iraqi-forces-attack-while-loading-fourth-groups-belongings-for-transfer-to-liberty
12- http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11887-anti-riot-armored-unit-deployed-to-suppress-liberty-residents

Fabian is a freelance writer.

MEK: Do Not Enchain Iranian Peoples' Hope For Freedom

MEK: Do Not Enchain Iranian Peoples' Hope For Freedom

Favoring Mullahs Lobbies to American Rich Values
by S। Azad

(5PR Media)

David Amess, a prominent British member of parliament in an article wrote:

“The State Department is playing a dirty game. Anyone bold enough to express concern about dubious actions of the State Department regarding the PMOI(MEK) is chased by the Treasury, and yet the State Department expects the Iranian Diaspora to express openly its support for the PMOI. What an irony. Inside Iran, anyone daring to support them, if caught, would be sent to the gallows almost instantly. Now in the U.S., that seems to be the case, too. A different kind of gallows – defamation.”

Wide arrays of knowledgeable persons have recognized that there is no justification for MEK’s continued presence on the FTO list.

In Europe alone 4000 parliamentarians from four continents appealed to the US for a change of attitude towards Iran’s main opposition movement in 24 officially votes statements.

An array of former American administrative, military and state officials, including a former Attorney General, FBI director, Homeland Security Secretary, two CIA directors, three former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a former NATO commander, two former US envoys to the UN, President Obama’s ex-National Security Advisor, and political heavyweights Howard Dean, Rudi Giuliani, and Patrick Kennedy support the call for the de-listing of the MEK.

In the Iranian New Year Nowrouz celebrations last week, in the European parliament, Mr. Struan Stevensson President of European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq said:“It is disgraceful that the US continues to maintain the PMOI-NCRI on the US State Department black list. This is used continually by the Iraqi government as an excuse to attack and persecute these innocent people. Now the State Department facing yet another demand by the American courts has come up with the lame excuse that Hilary Clinton has been too busy traveling around the world to have time to consider this issue.”

Mr. Jim Higgins, a member of the European parliament's Bureau from Ireland said: “Unfortunately, the story today is a sad one when the United States seem to have decided to turn a blind eye.”

The Italian senator Lucio Malan expressed his and his colleagues support for the main Iranian opposition MEK and said that both in the House of Deputies and in the Senate advocate the resistance and have declared their support for protection and rights of Ashraf residents on many occasions. The senator rejected recent smear campaigns of US supporters of the MEK and said : “This is unfortunately happening in the U.S. right now at the cost of discrediting some of the most trusted and trustworthy former officials of that nation who are brave men known for speaking out the truth and opposing injustice. They are following the path of the great heroes of American history. I deeply admire them. And I want to tell them on behalf of my Italian colleagues that we join our hands with yours and we join our voices to yours for the protection of the Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty residents.”

In an article David Amess, the prominent British member of Parliament while greeting the Iranian New year wrote: “I have been a supporter of the residents of Ashraf (and now in camp Liberty) for more than 20 years; I stand with them today. The pro-Iranian lobby in the U.S. is trying to smear brave American politicians, military officials, and human rights activists who have been defending our course. We were honored to have a number of these officials with us on our panel. Some in the American government claim the PMOI does not have the support of the people of Iran. This is their justification for the continued unjust designation - and what an absurd justification, as well as a totally untrue claim.”

MEK was classified as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” (FTO) (1) during the Clinton administration at the request of the Iranian government in a futile effort to placate the mullahs in Tehran whom Clinton believed were open to negotiations

Today, the organization has strong bipartisan support in both the U.S. House (2) and Senate.(3) The poisonous “terror tag” has been removed by both the United Kingdom (4) and the European Union by 22 court orders and 3 main High EU courts.

The inclusion of the MEK in the State Department list of terrorist organizations was a “goodwill gesture” by the Clinton administration to then newly elected President Mohammad Khatami. Martin Indyk, Assistant Secretary of State of Near Eastern Affairs at the time MEK was blacklisted, told Newsweek on September 26, 2002, “... [There] was White House interest in opening up a dialogue with the Iranian government. At the time, President Khatami had recently been elected and was seen as a moderate. Top Administration officials saw cracking down on the [PMOI], which the Iranians had made clear they saw as a menace, as one way to do so.”

Putting Iranian politics' considerations parallel to those concerning foreign terrorist organizations is unethical in the first place, and is detrimental to US anti terrorist policy in the second. At the end, it undermines democratic principles of coherent state behavior.

Tehran’s regime is the world’s first sponsor of State terrorism, according to State Department’s categorical definitions. Listing the main opposition movement to the same regime in the FTO list sends a wrong signal to all parties. It suggests that everything, including FTO lists, can be subject to opportunistic bargaining when it comes to short or middle term political interests.

Even if we were putting foreign policy considerations first, the worst policy is to continue a failed policy with no reason. Mohammed Khatami never delivered the promised “reforms”. On the other hand, the engagement policy or “walking behind” has only emboldened the ruthless clerics in Tehran. It has permitted them to quietly construct their array of enrichment centrifuges needed to produce more than necessary enriched uranium to bring the country close to making its first Bomb, creating one the most serious foreign policy challenges of all US administrations thereafter.

The brutal regime in power in Iran has definitely not changed its behavior, nor has the State Department in listing the MEK.

In a Paris conference Lieutenant Colonel Leo McCloskey who served at camp Ashraf,Iraq for 13 months said MEK is not a terrorist organization:“ The people of Ashraf are not terrorists. They are people trying to be a symbol of courage, as you are in here. They have willingly undergone years of isolation in a very difficult environment. They have cooperated with the United States military, U.S. embassy, UNHCR, International Red Cross, the government of Iraq. They have demonstrated that they’re willing to go to the extremes to help out the situation, as they’ve done now with the people that have moved to Liberty in the hope that by moving there they would find freedom. But they’re not finding that.”

The MEK is not a terrorist organization. It has neither the intent nor ability to engage in terrorism or terrorist activity.

Smearing the main opposition to the Clerical dictatorship in Iran, the MEK, is not only unjust to the people of Iran, who thirst for freedom, but it is an injustice to the notion of peace and stability in the Middle East and security of our world.

The FTO list is an important tool in combating terrorism, but its designations must stand to reason. If due process is completed in an impartial and objective manner and not influenced by the likes of an unsubstantiated, amateurish cut-and-paste job like the LHM, then it would lead to delisting the MEK.”

S. Azad, Analyst on Middle East affairs and security, freelance writer and film editor.

When Right Prevails in US, It Will Prevail in Iran

http://bit.ly/HdIgVS

By: Mahin Saremi
Mahin Saremi : former political prisoner who escaped from Iran last year, one of the active organizers of the 2009 protests in Iran and activist has recently entered the realm of freelance writers. Her articles have been published since she escaped from Iran.

State Department Foot-dragging to Delist MEK

Is Unlawful

Charles Montesquieu once said: “There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.”

In the case of the US State department and Obama Administration, this extraordinary simple quotation has become an inverted ideology.
“Rights” founded by Americas forefathers are deliberately neglected because of delusional overestimation of the Iranian cleric’s threat prompted by pro-Iranian pundits.
The first “Right” in the American Revolution was the right to fight for Independence and democracy. No one was tagged as terrorist and no group was enchained, demonised or terrorized for fighting for “democracy." On the contrary, it was an eternal obligation towards humanitarian rights not to refuse help, if given the chance to fight alongside those who strived for these Rights.
Resistance movements have shared a major concept throughout history; the need to be free and chose a Democracy. This becomes an existential need, when there is a blood-stained theocracy unbridled and in a clash with humanity.
The story of the Iranian resistance is the anatomy for “righteousness versus wickedness."
The right to life which a “resistance movement” strives to protect is the bridge between integrity and corruption for every individual regardless of background.

“In law a man is guilty when he violates the rights of others. In ethics he is guilty if he only thinks of doing so”
Immanuel Kant

The concept of “innocent before proven guilty” has long been buried in the grounds of immorality that prevail in current smear campaigns waged by Washington against Tehran’s main opposition; MEK.

MEK serves as the litmus test for all. It is the “bridge” and a passageway through which one can swiftly transcend from integrity to corruption.

Regime change is the core argument against the MEK. The bashing and hideous fouling campaigns all aim to pacify this resistance movement.
The landmark for all those claiming for “rights” and “peace” is: Are you with the MEK or the with the Mullahs?

The processions of political decisions taken to keep the main pro-democracy movement of Iran (MEK) prove it to be highly politicised than legal;

-Secretary Rice made the decision at the end of the Bush administration to keep the PMOI on the list, in the hope that the incoming administration would be able to have negotiations with the ayatollahs. This policy has failed up to date.
- Secretary Clinton said just a few weeks ago that the MEK’s handling of the transfer of the residents of Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty would affect the State Department’s decision on the listing on the foreign terrorist organization list.
- For years, MEK families and affiliates have been persecuted, tortures and killed by the pretext provided for the mullahs in Iran through the US black list.
- The fatal slip in policy by the US administration has resulted in providing the ayatollahs ample time to build their terrorist networks; enhance the nuclear arsenal; engage in repugnant human right violations in Syria and the Middle East; kill and massacre the Iranian people while crushing uprisings. Enchaining the main opposition to the mullahs has emboldened a vile and irrational theocratic fascism in the region and the world.
- There is no legal, moral or ethical basis for keeping the MEK in the list and withholding the Iranian people from the chance of acquiring freedom and democracy.

As Louis Freeh recently said:
“In Washington if people wanted to leak information about the justification, such as it is, for keeping the PMOI on the list, they would do it. The information would be out in the public record. But there have been no such leaks. There’s no factual basis for this designation. It should be lifted.”

Ambassador Bolton recently in a Paris conference said:
“I believe that the declared policy of the United States government should be overthrowing the present government in Iran which is a threat to international peace and security through its role as the world’s central banker of international terrorism, and through its two decade long pursuit of nuclear weapons. Perhaps the most important way in which the United States can encourage regime change is to get out of the way of legitimate Iranian opposition.”

With regards to the FTO listing of the MEK, Ambassador Bolton said: “those of us who have had the opportunity when in government to see information about the MEK have seen nothing that justifies its continued presence on the list of foreign terrorist organizations.”

As Judge Mukasey said in the same conference, the original listing in the late 1990s was in hopes of getting negotiations going with the regime in Tehran. That was a decision not based on facts, but on a political determination as to what could be accomplished.

Judge Mukasey clarified the reason for the smear campaign wheeled by Washington:
“Look at the timing. The MEK tells the State Department and the Justice Department, “You know, you’ve been dragging your feet long enough with this designation. We’re going to go into court.” They gave them not only advanced notice that they’re going to do it, they gave them an advanced copy of the papers they were going to file. And they disclosed the names of the people, telling them on the basis of our experience and our knowledge that there is no basis for that designation. And behold a couple days later subpoenas get served on the speaker agencies that send those people out to express their views. I stopped believing in coincidences like that when I stopped believing in the Tooth Fairy, and that was a long time ago.”

The FTO listing of the MEK, is a mere rejection of the “Right to be” not only as a people but as a set of values, found deep in the hearts of every individual American; the need to be “FREE”. It devours the essential right to life for many and is anti-human.

“Freedom” has been at the centre of all movement where tyrants rule. It is irrefutably immoral to join the song of the “tyrants” in Tehran in the gradual strangulation of the movement for “freedom”.

In the case of the MEK, the State department has taken precedence over all preserved “rights” and is acting above the law.

Its foot-dragging and failure to timely comply with the DC Court’s mandate is itself powerful evidence that the continued designation of PMOI as a foreign terrorist organization cannot be justified.

Mek- State Dept. Vs Rule Of Law

The FTO-List Analysis: US State Department Appeasing The Mullahs By: Soharb safavi If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve the Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. Thomas Jefferson Christopher Hitchens once said: A sure sign of ineptitude and malice is manifested when one's attacker is willing to cover himself with mud in order to try and make some of it adhere to his target. We have been witnessing the same repellant tactics in a smear campaign against MEK- US official supporters only to provide cover for the failed Policy of the US State department towards the Iranian crisis. The core argument behind the current smear campaign against the MEK and its US supporters is that this main Iranian opposition group to the clerical tyrants in Iran is still in the US black list. The term “terrorism” can be double standard unless defined by rule and established by the rule of law. It is to distinguish any group or persons that choose to challenge an establishment: “A person, usually a member of a group, uses or advocates terrorism, or;A person who terrorizes or frightens civilians. A popular saying that “One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter” simply indicates the struggle between good and evil and right and wrong. But the moral question remains, literally speaking: who are the terrorists, and who are the freedom fighters? The list of "Foreign Terrorist Organization" is a designation for non-United States-based organizations declared terrorist by the United States Secretary of State in accordance with section 219 of the U.S.Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). read more at : http://bit.ly/HJ1Xpz

Framing The Core Issue: MEK Court Appeal Against US State Department

By Sadegh Sistani, on March 27th, 2012 Foreign Policy is putting out cheap journalism by Josh Rogin demonizing the Iranian opposition. Josh Rogins’ mystery series in Foreign Policy, with a recent one titled “Terrorist group's supporters throw party in U.S. Congress |”repeat the Iranian regime’s stale allegations against the main organized opposition group People’s Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) and do a disservice to the Foreign Policy’s record of unbiased journalism. They are part of an effort by Iran’s intelligence ministry to demonize the supporters of the Iranian resistance. Some 22 courts in the UK, Europe and the US have ruled that the MEK is not involved in terrorism; furthermore, the European Union de-proscribed the group in 2009 after the courts rejected the very allegations that the articles have yet again brought up. The piece represents a desperate, albeit futile attempt to block, in contravention of the Rule of law and the statutory requirements, the removal of the MEK from the State Department’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO). Rogins’ shedding of crocodile tears for Justice over crime, appears disingenuous given the absence of a mere criticism, let alone condemnation, of the Ayatollahs vicious collective hangings ongoing and the last two blood lead attacks on the victims of an “inhumane massacre in Camp Ashraf.” As far as his concern for complications provided for US MEK supporters in “providing material” support is concerned, Mr. Rogin does not have a clue what these “material” supports are in the legal context and conceals his ignorance by assuming it may include “advocacy”. In a previous reply to similar salivated suggestions Former Trustee of President Bush and High judge Michael Mukasey had this to add: Suggestions that our conduct raises a question under the material-support statute is undone by the text of the law itself. The statute barring material assistance to organizations on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations (“FTO”) says that although “material assistance” includes “personnel,” and although “personnel” may include the person providing the assistance — here, the four of us — the “personnel” have to be working “under that [FTO’s] direction or control.” And then, just to make explicit what is already obvious, the law continues: “Individuals who act entirely independently of the [FTO] to advance its goals or objectives shall not be considered to be working under the [FTO]’s direction and control.” As a result, we felt quite secure, thank you, in relying on the protection Congress placed in the statute, backed up by the First Amendment. As far as Rogins mystery series are concerned “Things are not what they appear to be”. This hypothesis mediated by Mr. Rogin is to lure readers into anti-MEK sentiments. Thereafter; the wave of sentiments and the “much ado about nothing” would cleverly cover US – UNAMI dogged obligations in face of any humanitarian tragedy for the 3400 of Camp Ashraf. It would be a far more “crime” to accomplice readers into a “Crime against Humanity” and “sin” than any alleged financial controversy. The main issue which is being submerged under this entire anti-MEK blitz is that the Washington appeals court on Monday gave the US government until March 26 to examine quickly a request by the main Iranian opposition group to be taken off a US terror blacklist, which is causing immediate threat and deaths to their families and members. In a conference recently Governor Tom Ridge had this to say: “You will not silence us. Whoever is responsible has a moment of quiet reflection, I suggest that they just take a look at the Constitution of the United States, the Bill of Rights, and particularly take a look at that first amendment. It’s called freedom of speech, the same freedom of speech that the men and women of MEK aspire to under the leadership of Mrs. Rajavi, the same freedom of speech that democratic opposition throughout Iran aspire to. at the end of the day we will continue to stand on the right side of history with the people of MEK, the freedom-loving people of MEK at Liberty and Ashraf until they are resettled. Mayor Rudi Giuliani reacted to the hsosh posh of the “treasurey” hunt : “Speaking for myself and so many of my colleagues, that anonymous, cowardly sources in the State Department or elsewhere who unknowingly are doing the bidding of the mullahs don’t frighten me, won’t stop me, won’t stop any of us, ever.” Former High Judge Michael Mukasey also commented on the “anonymous” comments recently used in mysterious press campaigns: “It’s a funny thing about anonymous sources, what are they afraid of? They must be afraid of something. They’re afraid to have their names used. Look at the timing. The MEK tells the State Department and the Justice Department, “You know, you’ve been dragging your feet long enough with this designation. We’re going to go into court.” They gave them not only advanced notice that they’re going to do it, they gave them an advanced copy of the papers they were going to file. And they disclosed the names of the people. Mayor Giuliani, Tom Ridge, others, many others, who would have also filed paper in court as friends of the court, telling them on the basis of our experience and our knowledge—many people on that brief directly involved in national security affairs—that there is no basis, no reason for that designation. They were told that in advance. And lo and behold a couple days later subpoenas get served on the speaker agencies that send those people out to express their views.” To be used or allowed to mislead the public into bogus issues in order to cover the main highlight is unethical and unprincipled modus operandi by Foreign Policy, which boasts of “FP's award-winnings” only, serves to pave the way for another massacre of the residents in satisfaction of the Iranian clerical fascists. Annotations: Sin : http://news.yahoo.com/bipartisan-political-leaders-urge-removal-mek-terrorist-list-043208692.html Washington Appeal Court : http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jst73NnEgd_19BuKsuM85Ag1OBYg Michael Mukasey: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/256689/mek-not-terrorist-group-michael-b-mukasey-tom-ridge-and-frances-fragos-townsend Gov.Tom Ridge: http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11831-governor-tom-ridge-we-cant-be-silenced- Mayor Giuliani : http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11830-mayor-rudi-giuliani-anonymous-cowardly-sources-who-unknowingly-are-doing-the-bidding-of-the-mullahs-dont-frighten-me-

Washington’s Smear Campaign Against MEK Vs. Death In Camp Liberty

Council of Europe Siding With The MEK And Its US Supporters
by Fabian Mahmoudi

As Washington’s smear campaign fires away at MEK, Bardia Amir-Mostofian, a 44 year old engineer and resident of Ashraf, dies of cardiac arrest due to fatigue following a 48-hour-long transit inspection after entering Camp Liberty.

Bardia was one of 700 residents who volunteered to go to the Camp described to be a “prison” by a recent statement by the Council of Europe. (Full statement of Council of Europe)

International pleas by the opposition (MEK) alerting the US,UNAMI and international community of a plot to fail the relocation and blame it on the opposition has not been heeded when most needed.

The statement released by the opposition blames Baridas’ death on his extreme fatigue and stress cause by the rush imposed by Iraq and UNAMI to relocate before the Iranian New year.

The MoU does not allow residents the freedom to transfer their movable belongings.

Why are American MEK supporters targeted now?

Why are American MEK supporters targeted now? Anything to do with the recent court ruling in DC in favor of the MEK?

By Sam Azizi
March 15, 2012

After the US court decision about the mandamus of the MEK (the main Iranian opposition movement known by their Farsi name, Mojahedin-e-Khalq) on their unjust designation as a foreign terrorist group, came an orchestrated campaign against US dignitaries, military and political personalities who have expressed their support for the MEK.

But why all these allegations now?

The simple truth is that if the State Department had any logical argument about this group and its links to terrorism, it would have provided it to the court and to the media in order to justify the designation. And that would have been the end of argument.

But as it is very routine, when there is no evidence, allegations and disinformation campaign is used as an instrument to undermine and derive the course of events.

Little by little we are witnessing footprints of well known lobbies of the Iranian regime disguised as a noble U.S. citizens or outfits, yet with a sinister intent and objective.

One of those is an indiviual called Trita Parsi. according to Washington Times, Trita Parsi, who heads the "National Iranian America Council", argues that the money is connected to the MEK and as such is trying to muddy the water for the US dignitaries who support the Iranian resistance and in particular believe terrorism designation must not be a tool of political deal-making, especially deals with the likes of the mullahs’ regime.

According to the Washington Times on March 9: "Mr. Parsi claims that officials from the State Department have privately told him that the MEK sets up 'shell organizations' to raise money. When asked about Mr. Parsi's claim, a State Department spokesman declined to comment."

So even the State Department is reluctant to confirm these allegations!

It is ironic that Trita Parsi is himself subject of an ongoing investigation for his role and function as an influence peddler of the Iranian regime in Washington, DC.

Actually this mud-slinging and slur campaign is nothing new in Iranian politics at all. The Iranian regime's notorious secret service, MOIS , is a master of tarnishing the image of the regime's dissidents.

But there is another side to this experience. Whenever the person who was targeted showed no fear and did not succumb, the MOIS had no choice but to retreat.

In this case, as they have no evidence against the MEK they try to conjure up evidences and as such to neutralize MEK supporters.

This group of U.S. senior former officials represent an impressive, bipartisan group that is a very rare in Washington, DC. They include three Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Director of FBI, the Attorney General, the State Department’s coordinator of anti-terrorism, the State Department’s director of policy planning, the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, two Chairmen of the Democratic National Committee, two CIA Directors, the President’s National Security Advisor and the President’s Homeland Security Advisor, believe the U.S's principles and values are not matters of bargaining, with Baghdad tyrants, their masters in Tehran or anyone to that effect. They are the voice of conscience of the true values of the US.

They are the ones who dared to do the difficult right, instead of going with the easy wrong.

They do not want to witness again that US put MEK off its list after mullahs are gone, very similar to what happened to Nelson Mandela and its organization. He was targeted by the same allegations but nothing could stop him and his movement to restore freedom and democracy in their country.

But this could be a slough for mullahs' lobbies and those at the Foggy Bottom who have gone over the board over the years in their bid to appease Tehran tyrants. It seems they have not noticed that the end game is near and the death bell for the defunct policy of appeasement and all of its by-products, including the inclusion of the dissidents in the terror list is ringing.

Bipartisan Political Leaders Urge Removal of MEK from Terrorist List, Denounce Attempt to Silence State Department Policy Critics

WASHINGTON, March, 24, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX

With a federal appeals court deadline looming for the U.S. State Department to answer why it has defied earlier court rulings requiring review of a decision to maintain the main Iranian opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khaq (MEK) on the terrorist list, top former US officials and Members of Congress are urging the Department to remove the group immediately.

"I believe we will not only get our day in court, I believe we will succeed," former U.S. Department of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge told an audience of Members of Congress, staff members, and Iranian-Americans during an event, marking the Iranian New Year, Nowrouz. "Sometimes justice takes a little longer than normal, but sooner or later, righteousness and the law prevail, and we will prevail."

Other speakers included Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the House Foreign Affairs Committee Chair, Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO), Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) and retired Army Col. Wesley Martin, who commanded Camp Ashraf.

At issue is the fate of 3,400 Iranian dissidents now housed at Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty in Iraq; their safe relocation has been vastly complicated by the State Department's refusal the make a decision on the Status of the MEK.

In 2010, a three-judge panel in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit unanimously ruled that the State Department had violated the due process rights of the MEK and ordered the Obama administration to revisit the issue. Since then, the State Department continues to be in violation of the due process in virtue of its refusal to make a decision based on instructions given by the Court.

Earlier this month, attorneys for the MEK filed a writ of mandamus seeking the court's intervention in light of State inaction. The court did so expeditiously, and gave the government a deadline of March 26 to respond to the mandamus.

In the meantime, in a move which some observers believe is tied to the court developments, the Treasury Department is apparently contemplating a "potential" investigation into the source of funding for events where a number of senior former federal law enforcement, intelligence and national security officials had urged that the MEK be dropped from the State Department's terror list and the residents of Ashraf be protected.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-CA, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Oversight and Investigations subcommittee, has called this inquiry "a travesty," adding that it is "a sin that our government is going after these people trying to support the people of Iran."

"It seems that the method to silence those who are in favor of the liberation of the MEK from the foreign terrorist organization... is to attack them personally... That is not going to work. Whoever is behind the attacks on these good men and women with unbelievable credentials, who believe in the de-listing of the MEK, it will not succeed," emphasized the Texas Republican, Rep. Ted Poe.

Since the Court ruling, nearly 130 members of Congress, including House Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI), Oversight and Government Reform Chair Darrel Issa (R-CA) and Armed Services Committee Chair Howard McKeon (R-CA), have co-sponsored resolutions calling for the delisting of the MEK

SOURCE California Society for Democracy in Iran

Apologies to US Supporters of MEK: Never Support Democracy

Monday, 19 March 2012, 2:45 pm Article: Steffen Hues Apologies to US Supporters of MEK: Never Support Democracy and Freedom Side with Mullahs and Tyrants for Immunity in US Elections by Steffen Hues March 15, 2012 What could be the reason for Nazi style defamation against certain line of US politicians who have spoken for basic American values: Democracy and Independence? They are either driven by expedient actions guided primarily by self-interested motives for election or misguided policy steered from Tehran. President Obama’s campaign mottos included “Organize for change and "Help me take back America". These embrace values embedded in the American Revolution for independence and democracy from British “Illegitimate tyranny” during the 17 century. If “change” and “American values” are still watchwords of the Administration, then it is unequivocal to presume any person “friend or foe” advocating and paying the price to promote them is a staunch. Read article

MEK- Liberty :Council of Europe Condemns Camp Prison

The Council of Europe has issued a statement on the lack of lack of humanitarian and human rights standards in Camp Liberty and has urged the Iraqi government to implement the minimum guarantees demanded by the residents, including the removal of all armed units from the interior of the Camp. The text of the statement reads:

•          [15/03/2012]  PACE’s Political Affairs Committee has repeated its call to the Iraqi authorities to stop turning Camp Liberty – a site near Baghdad where around 800 members of an Iranian opposition group are now living – into a prison. In a statement adopted yesterday, the committee called for armed units and surveillance to be removed from the camp, as well as free movement for its residents and improved conditions, including access to medical services, lawyers and UN monitors. The complete text of the Council’s statement:

Following the statement made in January and owing to the fact that

unfortunately no improvement has been made, the Committee on Political Affairs

and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe calls on

the Iraqi authorities to stop turning Camp Liberty into a prison. It also calls on

the UN Secretary General to ensure the minimum guarantees required by the

camp residents.

In spite of the lack of humanitarian and human rights standards, to date, 800

Ashraf residents have been moved to Camp Liberty in order to find a peaceful

solution. But this camp is suffering from a serious shortage of drinking water and

electricity. Open sewage has made the area terribly polluted and the danger to

human health and many of the trailers are extremely badly damaged, making

them unusable. Liberty residents are not allowed to leave the camp. They have

no direct access to medical services nor to lawyers. There is a police station and

nearly 150 armed Iraqi forces equipped with machine guns in this very limited

area of half a square kilometre in which 3400 people have to live. Several

surveillance cameras and eavesdropping devices have been installed in the

camp, the output of which has been passed to the Iranian authorities to threaten

the residents and their families.

The Committee urges the Iraqi government to implement the minimum

guarantees demanded by the residents, including the removal of all armed units,

surveillance cameras and eavesdropping devices from the camp; resolving the

infrastructure problem, particularly regarding water, electricity and sewage;

providing direct access to medical services, lawyers and UN monitors; allowing

free movement or at least increasing the camp area; and providing the security

of all residents until they leave Iraq preventing the arrest of even one resident.

We call on Council of Europe member and observer states to respond positively

and rapidly to resettlement demands of Liberty and Ashraf residents.

• Increasing police stations in Liberty and bringing them closer to residential areas

In the afternoon of Monday March 12 and the morning of Tuesday March 13, Iraqi armed forces opened up a 5-meter wide section of Camp Liberty wall and stationed police forces there. These points are at 10-meter distance from living and rest area of the residents. Therefore the number of police posts have been increased to seven. This is a clear threat to the residents and paves the way for attacking the residents.

Earlier on February 27^th, residents of Ashraf and Liberty in separate letters signed by all of the residents to UN Secretary General, his Special Representative and the US Secretary of State had stated their minimum assurances for the transfer of the remaining residents from Ashraf to Liberty, the most important of which was the withdrawal of police and Iraqi armed forces from Liberty 

 

Maryam Rajavi: The Iraqi government tries to hide behind the empty rhetoric of national sovereignty to justify its brutal and repeated attacks on Ashr

NCRI - On Saturday December 10, on the International Human Rights Day, and on the eve of U.S. President Barack Obama’s meeting with Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki in Washington DC, in a call to President Obama, American and European dignitaries urged annulment of the December 31 deadline on Ashraf and the forcible relocation of its residents inside Iraq, warning of an impending massacre and human catastrophe in Ashraf.

Speakers to the meeting were: Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance; André Glucksmann, author and a member of New France Philosophers; Andrew Card, President Bush Chief of Staff (2001-2006); Bill Richardson, New Mexico Governor (2003-2011) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations; Mitchell Reiss, U.S. State Department Head of Strategy Development (2003 – 2005); Alan Dershowitz, one of the most prominent advocates of individual rights and the most well-known criminal lawyer in the world; Geoffrey Robertson QC, prominent British jurist and former appeal judge at the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone; Sid Ahmed Ghozali, former Prime Minister of Algeria; Patrick Kennedy, U.S. Congressman (1995-2011); Senator Ingrid Betancourt, Columbian presidential candidate; General David Phillips, U.S. Military Police Commander (2008-2011); Jean-François Le Garrett, Mayor of Paris 1st District; Aude de Thuin, the founder of Women’s Forum for Economics; Cynthia Fleury, West contemporary philosopher.

Below is speech by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi at international conference- Paris:

Prestigious guests and respected friends,

Today is Human Rights Day. It is the sixty-third anniversary of the day the United Nations General Assembly declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a “common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations.”

We honor the memory of all the brave women and men who fought for this ideal.

Today we can hear the voice of Professor Kazem Rajavi, the Iranian martyr to the cause of human rights, who once said that we write the true history of human rights with our blood.

Brave heroines and heroes, such as 120,000 Iranians who were murdered by the mullahs in Iran in the past three decades, including 30000 brave political prisoners who were massacred in 1988.

They have made human rights a progressive cause.

The women and men who persist in Ashraf in the most difficult of circumstances in a life and death struggle are at the forefront of this cause.

The message of Ashraf residents who persist and the people of Syria and the Middle East who have risen up is: dictators can no longer drench the peoples under their rule in blood under the guise of national sovereignty.

The progress of human rights today faces a formidable wall of regressive policies and interests.

On the one side there are the dictators that cling to power with suppression and murder. On the other side are governments and politicians who keep silent in the face of this barbarism either out of submission or petty interests.

The world watches the public hanging of Iranian youth in the streets, the merciless torture of political prisoners by Khamenei’s henchmen, and the inhuman siege of Ashraf and the psychological torture of its residents through 300 loudspeakers blaring profanities and threats 24 hours a day. Silence in the face of such crimes has emboldened shaky dictators. Such silence must end.

Dear Friends,

The world today stands with Ashraf residents despite all the plots and pressures piled upon them by the Iranian regime and its puppet Iraqi government.

The UN Secretary General’s Special Representative to Iraq called for the postponement of the suppressive deadline of the Iraqi government to close Ashraf, in a session of the UN Security Council four days ago. He called for protection of the lives of Ashraf residents and stressed that there can be no acceptable solution without the agreement of Ashraf residents.

Three days ago, Members of Congress Both parties strongly criticized the US government lack of action and condemned the deadline and the idea of internal relocation.

Yesterday, Baroness Ashton, the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs stressed that the priority is the security of the residents.

In recent days, an increasing number of governments, including the Netherlands, Canada, Belgium and the United Kingdom have called on Iraq to extend the deadline.

Previously, the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and many other world parliaments, the human rights committee of the Iraqi parliament, 85 Iraqi MPs, and several leading Iraqi officials such as the Vice-President and Vice-Premier have declared the deadline as invalid and condemned any forcible relocation.

In a declaration signed by 1 million and fifty thousand Iraqis until now, the Iraqi people have clearly said that “the deadline to close Ashraf and forcibly relocate its residents inside Iraq is a prelude to another attack.”

Indeed, the world unanimously bears witness to the innocence and righteousness of the defenseless residents of Ashraf.

If the Iranian Resistance and the Ashraf residents did not base their position on a desire for freedom, truth and justice, then the world would not have supported them as such.

What do the residents of Ashraf want?

Aside from the cancellation of the criminal deadline set by the Iraqi government, what are the undeniable principles that guarantee the minimum measures for protection of the residents?

The first principle is to defend the lives and security of Ashraf residents. Any plan must guarantee the protection of Ashraf residents with acceptable assurances from the UN, US and EU, including with UN Blue Helmet forces or EU forces.

Secondly, the PMOI will not accept any armed Iraqi force inside of its camp. Iraqi forces must not have any role or intervention particularly in the lives and security of 1000 women residents of Ashraf during the time until their transfer to third countries.

Thirdly, as stressed in the report of the UN Secretary General to the Security Council, any solution for Ashraf must be a bilateral agreement between the Ashraf residents and the Iraqi government.

Fourthly, the siege and all pressuring and threatening measures, including judicial warrants for arrest and extradition must be cancelled.

Dear Friends,

The residents of Ashraf have repeatedly announced that they are ready for any option other than elimination or surrender.
They accepted the European Parliament plan for resettlement in third countries.
They offered seven alternative plans.
They renewed their applications for refugee status and they are now considered as asylum seekers by the UN.

They were always prepared for negotiation and continue to be.

They are ready as in the past months for full cooperation with the UN.

They will accept any expenses for their own protection based on financial assistance from their compatriots. They honor Iraqi sovereignty. But this does not mean that they will go to slaughter on their own feet.

As the UN Secretary General’s representative said in Tuesday’s UN Security Council session, sovereignty can never be an excuse for systematic violations of international human rights, international humanitarian law and refugee rights. These rights of Ashraf residents have been systematically, violently and brutally suppressed during the past three years.

In response to flexibility and cooperation of residents of Ashraf and initiatives by governments and UN as well as to calls by Amnesty International and other human rights organisation the Iraqi government has constantly created obstacles, impeded the UNHCR work and has tried to putting the victims in place of the oppressor and blame the residents for lack of progress.

The Iraqi government has shown until now that it cannot be trusted in any of its promises or commitments to cooperation with the UN.

It has prevented the UN’s effort for verification of Ashraf residents’ refugee status for three months. It completely denies the UN position on recognizing Ashraf residents as asylum seekers with basic protections. It has ignored the UNHCR and UN Secretary General’s Representative’s request to postpone the deadline. It has not accepted the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights’ request for an impartial investigation into the massacre of April 8.

Therefore, the protection of the lives and security of Ashraf residents must be guaranteed by the international community in any solution for their future.

Dear Friends,

The Iraqi government tries to hide behind the empty rhetoric of national sovereignty to justify its brutal and repeated attacks on Ashraf residents, including the two massacres in Ashraf.

Are the 300 loudspeakers installed around Ashraf by the Iranian intelligence ministry, or the jamming transmitters with IRGC logos installed around Ashraf, a sign of Iraq’s sovereignty?

What does it say about Iraqi sovereignty that US commanders report that the Iranian regime’s Qods Force commander directs policy in Iraq? Whose sovereignty is that?

Since the transfer of security responsibility of Ashraf to the Iraqi government, the entry of goods into Ashraf is met with the strict and repeated control of security forces.

The Iraqi government has instituted the rules of a prison in Ashraf under the guise of exercising national sovereignty. In the name of sovereignty, they have converted the hospital attached to Ashraf to a torture center.

Yesterday, the Iranian regime dispatched a gang of its mercenaries associated with the Qods Force to the gates of Ashraf under Iraqi support to launch a demonstration in which they threw rocks and bricks at Ashraf residents and reacted to world solidarity with Ashraf residents.

So if Iraqi sovereignty is not an excuse for doing Tehran’s bidding in killing Ashraf residents, then what is it?

It is for this reason that we stress the responsibility of the United States government in this crisis and call on the US to protect Ashraf residents based on international laws; to prevent forcible relocation of defenseless Ashraf residents. This is a US responsibility and within US capabilities.

In particular, after Maleki’s trip to the United States, the US will be especially responsible for any crime committed by Maleki’s government against Ashraf residents.

The US bears responsibility because the current crisis in Ashraf is a direct result of the US war in Iraq.

The US bears responsibility because it signed an agreement with each and every resident of Ashraf pledging to protect them.

The US bears responsibility because it transferred security of Ashraf to a government whose enmity with Ashraf residents was clear.

The US bears responsibility because it is a signatory to the UN declaration of RtoP (Responsibility to Protect) and it is obligated to intervene to prevent a crime against humanity in Ashraf.

The US bears responsibility because it played a major role in helping form the current Iraqi government.

The US bears responsibility because it should not sit idly by in the face of a preventable crime from a moral and humanitarian point of view.

Finally, I should point out that if the US again fails to honor its legal and moral obligations it will be the best reward to the mullahs. The American people will not likely forgive such a thing in the upcoming US elections.

The safeguarding of the lives of Ashraf residents is a clear issue.

Their right to life is not a complex or undoable matter.

As the UN Secretary General’s Representative said in the recent UN Security Council session, Ashraf residents’ lives must be protected.

Unfounded and outdated analysis of the State Department experts should be thrown away.

End this complacency in the face of the Iranian mullahs’ sinister will and their Iraqi proxies. They want to give themselves the right to commit crimes against humanity in the name of national sovereignty. Do not surrender to their demands. Do not be complicit in the killing of the sons and daughters of the Iranian people, and take action on your obligations under international law and the principle of “Responsibility to Protect”!

Dear friends,
On the international day of human rights while the long enduring pains of oppressed people of Iran continues in prisons and in all over the country, we strongly believe resistance and perseverance of the Iranian people will overcome the evil of repression. The enchained angel of freedom will be relapsed and the Iran’s betrayed human rights will revive.

I would like to end my remarks with unending praise for the brave Iranians who have for months participated tirelessly in sit-ins in Geneva and Washington DC and all through the world in this campaign.

I remind them of Massoud Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance leader’s remarks when he said: “You represent the flames of honor and resistance of an enchained nation.” And as he said, I too say: “The force of our nation’s conscience and resistance will finally triumph.
I thank you all.

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/news/ashraf/11523-maryam-rajavi-the-iraqi-government-tries-to-hide-behind-the-empty-rhetoric-of-national-sovereignty-to-justify-its-brutal-and-repeated-attacks-on-ashraf-residents

Amnesty International is urging the Iraqi government to extend the deadline for the closure of the camp Ashraf .

URGENT ACTION

IRANIAN ASYLUM-SEEKERS IN IRAQ AT RISK

UA: 320/11 Index: MDE 14/043/2011 Iraq Date: 2 November 2011
Over 3,000 Iranian asylum-seekers living in a camp in Iraq are at serious risk of egregious human rights violations, including forcible return to Iran. The Iraqi authorities plan to close down the camp, which has previously been attacked several times by Iraqi security forces resulting in the death and injury of dozens of people.

The Iraqi authorities have publicly announced their plans to close Camp New Iraq, formerly known as Camp Ashraf, 60 kilometres north of Baghdad, on 31 December this year. The camp is home to some 3,250 Iranian asylumseekers who have lived in Iraq for some 25 years. The Iraqi government has repeatedly stated its opposition to the continued existence of the camp. The camp has been attacked several times by Iraqi security forces, most recently in April 2011, causing the deaths of dozens of residents and injuries to others. Camp residents are concerned that excessive force will be used again if plans to close the camp go ahead.
Read More

President Obama: Only you can Prevent Camp Ashraf Genocide

Ashraf countdown to Genocide...  - 55 Days 
 55 days left !! Have you writen a letter yet??

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, 10 December 2009

““We’ve got to do all we can to raise awareness of this so that people will know what is going on – but more importantly, so that the Iraqi Government knows that the world is watching”

Only before Christmas time ( less than 65 days away) more than 3,400 people face eviction from their home of 21 years in what Labour peer and civil liberties champion Lord Robin Corbett has described as ‘a pact with the devil’

Camp Ashraf, 60 miles northeast of Baghdad, is home to 3,400 members of Iran’s principal opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (PMOI/MEK). Some 1,000 of the residents are women and one-third are former political prisoners in Iran, who survived the Iranian regime’s reign of terror and found safe haven across the border. Hundreds of university graduates from the United States and Europe joined them in the campaign to establish a secular, democratic, and non-nuclear republic in Iran. In July 2004, the United States recognized the residents of Ashraf as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and signed an agreement with each resident to protect them until their final disposition. In violation of that commitment, the US handed over protection to Iraq in 2009.On April 8, 2011, Iraqi forces, acting at the behest of Tehran, attacked Ashraf, killing 36 and wounding hundreds more. In a similar assault in July 2009, eleven residents were killed.

My name is Shaghayegh, I am 14, at Camp Ashraf

Our City Ashraf has now been turned into a Concentration Camp by Al-Maliki forces.

It’s now more than 2 years we are under siege.

Last night was freezing, but our fuel is cut.

They threaten us 24 hours a day through 300 huge loudspeakers.

My brother said, the mullahs are helping them out.

I saw new huge black boxes next to the speakers. My brother said it’s a communication interceptor and they want to cut us off from the outside world. What does he mean?

President Obama,

I want to be free like your daughter. I want my friends to have the same chance in Iran. But the Mullahs kill anyone who is with us.

They want us all killed like Srebrenica

Will you save us?!  Is it my fault since I want the same thing my dad and my sister wished for; to be Free? They were both killed; my dad was killed by the mullahs, my sister: by Maliki forces. Will I be killed too?

Dear US president Obama,

Only you in this world can help us. Otherwise we will all be killed.

Tell Maliki to stop threatening us.

My mum said, Maliki just said they will do everything they like to push us out of our city Ashraf. They will kill us and say that we did not let them into our camp like the last time.

Mr President, I am scared!

The UN has already started work to grant the refugees status, but this is needs time.

President Obama

can intervene and impel the Iraqis to lift the illegal deadline

President OBAMA: Prevent Genocide at Camp Ashraf

The Clock is ticking!

In less than 55 days, 3400 defenseless civilians face a holocaust in refugee camp Ashraf 

We can PREVENT IT!