Surveillance antennas and eavesdropping towers in camp Liberty must be dismantled

Liberty residents and the Iranian Resistance strongly protest suppressive and police actions aimed at destruction of the opposition at the request of the Iranian regime.

Liberty-no. 9

NCRI - The scandalous conversion of Camp Liberty to a prison is becoming ever more clear day by day. Now it is quite clear why the Government of Iraq did not agree to the requests of 23 American Generals, Secretaries, former Governors, and prominent personalities, including Rudy Giuliani, who wanted to visit the camp at their own expense prior to relocating 400 Ashraf residents to Liberty.

1. In the technical report of the shelter expert dated January 30th, the area of Camp Liberty is stated to be 683,000 square meters. However, building of walls inside the camp has reduced the area by 83,000 square meters, rendering several of the useful buildings whose propagandized pictures were previously released, to lie outside the walls and not be usable by the residents.

2. There are no drinking water and no water for cleaning. On Tuesday, February 21st, the residents succeeded in filling up a tanker of water some 12 kilometers away and bring to the camp. Surprisingly, no fuel is provided for such efforts.

3. Refusing to empty the septic tanks and the rising of the level of septic, which is open in the camp area, has resulted in a highly non-sanitary environment.

4. The Iraqi side still refuses to permit hauling away of the trash that was piled in the camp and the residents collected yesterday and placed in the trash trucks.

5. Lack of electric power and the generators’ failure to function have been attributed in an appalling fabrication, to parts being stolen by residents.

6. On February 21st, a specialized medical appointment by a cancer patient resident at Liberty did not take place because the Iraqi officials were late for several hours, despite the fact that the appointment was made previously and the Iraqi officials were informed at the time. They showed up on Wednesday the 22nd to take the patient. This medical appointment is a specialized one and the patient cannot be called for it without prior preparations. The Cancer patient has written the details of the situation directly to UN Secretary General as she has been falsely accused of refusing to go for the visit.

7. During the 24 hours from 12:00 PM on Tuesday February 20th to 12:00 PM on Wednesday, Iraqi security forces armed with B.K.C. machine guns, Kalashnikovs, and side arms, marched more than 39 times within 20 meters from the residents’ trailers. They disturb residents’ tranquility, especially that of the women. In total, 150 armed forces with machine guns are allocated for 400 residents who are surrounded by concrete walls of 3.6 meter height (on average more than one armed force for every 3 residents.)

8. Surveillance cameras and tall eavesdropping towers are focused on conversations inside the trailers. Clearly, the conversations are subsequently delivered to the clerical regime ruling Iran in order for them to use for the arrest and execution of residents’ family members inside Iran. Surveillance antennas and eavesdropping towers have been installed within a 30-meter distance of the residents’ trailers. This is a telling example of the suppressive and police actions aimed at destruction of the opposition at the request of the Iranian regime (photos are attached.)

The collective sum of these outrageous and appalling actions, prompted the residents to write a petition to the UN Secretary General. Last month, the Secretary General declared 2012 the “Year of Prevention” pertaining to the principle to protect (RtoP).

In their letter to the Secretary General, the PMOI members at Liberty asked to be immediately returned to Ashraf.

At a symposium in New York regarding protection of Ashraf residents held on February 11, Judge Michael Mukasey , the former U.S. Attorney General, said that he resents what has been said about Liberty’s compliance with humanitarian and human rights standards even as a “prison”. He said:

"A prison, as tough a place as it is, is at least a place where both the prisoners and the guards are bound by rules. A prison is a place where we send people as punishment, not for punishment. But there is another kind of place by which Camp Liberty may be compared, a place where even the ironic name, Camp Liberty, makes you remember it, and that is a concentration camp. A place where people are sent to be broken in body and broken in spirit.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 22, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11728-surveillance-antennas-and-eavesdropping-towers-in-camp-liberty-must-be-dismantled