THE NEW YORK TIMES

WASHINGTON — Republican legislators pressed the Obama administration on Wednesday to remove an Iranian opposition group known as the M.E.K. from its list of terrorist organizations and to do more to resettle about 3,400 members of the group who are confined in a camp in Iraq .
 
The lawmakers said Iraq ’s close ties to Iran put the residents of the camp, Camp Ashraf , in danger, pointing to two incursions by Iraqi security forces that left dozens of people dead. And they demanded that the administration commit to guaranteeing the safety of the camp’s residents as Iraq prepares to close it by the end of the year.
 
Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California, said that without such guarantees, the entire camp was at risk of being massacred by Iraqi forces, adding, “the blood in the sand will stain the Gucci shoes of those in the State Department.”
 
Ambassador Daniel Fried, who was recently appointed to oversee United States efforts on this matter, said diplomats were working to persuade Iraq to keep the camp open long enough to allow the United Nations to resettle residents to other countries.
 
Mr. Fried said the State Department was reviewing its terrorist designation against the M.E.K. He reminded lawmakers that during the 1970s, the M.E.K. had been involved in a campaign of attacks, including the assassination of six Americans and the bombings of American companies in Iran .
 
He also called on the M.E.K.’s leaders in Iraq and around the world to do their part to resolve the conflict over the camp in a peaceful and orderly way.
 
“A humane and secure relocation is possible,” Mr. Fried said, “but it will take intense and serious efforts by all parties.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/world/middleeast/republicans-want-iranian-group-mek-off-terror-list.html

PRNewswire

BERKELEY, Calif., Dec. 7, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The campaign to prevent another massacre at Camp Ashraf, Iraq, home to the 3,400 Iranian dissidents, at the hands of the Iraqi forces took a major step today with the launch of a television ad campaign running in the Washington, DC metropolitan area in the days leading up to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s December 12th visit to the White House.  

The advertising campaign hopes to make the public aware about the imminent danger facing unarmed men, women and children in Ashraf and to make sure that President Obama and Secretary Clinton intervene to resolve the situation peacefully and protect the residents.

The ad, titled People of Ashraf, contains images from the attacks on Camp Ashraf in both 2009 and in April of 2011 and urges President Obama to honor America’s promise to protect the people of Ashraf.

In 2004, the U.S. signed an agreement with each and every resident, promising to protect them until their final disposition. In breach of that written commitment, however, the administration handed over the protection of Ashraf to the Iraqi Government, which at the behest of the Iranian regime, has imposed a siege on the Camp, denying the residents fuel, medicine, and visits by family and friends. In two deadly attacks in July 2009 and April 2011, Iraqi forces killed 47 unarmed residents, including eight women, and wounded about 1,000.

The ad, produced and paid for by the Iranian-American Community of Northern California (www.iacnorcal.com) also invites the public to attend a White House rally for the protection of Ashraf residents on December 12 beginning at 10 a.m.  

The use of the graphic video is not for shock value.  The imagery in the ads demonstrates to viewers that the gravity of the situation of the people at Camp Ashraf is not hypothetical: Iraqi forces have killed unarmed Camp Ashraf residents before and all indications are that they will do so again if Maliki is allowed to follow through with his plans to block U.N. access and close Camp Ashraf by the end of 2011. Despite appeals by the international community and the U.N. for an extension of the deadline, Maliki insists on closing down Ashraf as planned.

The ad will air extensively in the days leading up to Maliki’s visit on all major networks and cable channels. Click hear:  http://www.usccar.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/CampAshrafAd_0002.wmv

SOURCE Iranian-American Community of Northern California

RELATED LINKS
http://www.iacnorcal.com
http://www.usccar.org

SCOOP INDEPENDENT NEWS

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, under investigation by a Spanish court for war crimes against Iranian dissidents in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, is coming to Washington for a hand hake with President Obama at the White House.

As his December 5 op-ed piece in the Washington Post shows, Maliki is visiting Washington to try to defuse the well-placed fears about Iraq, under his leadership, becoming a proxy state for Iran. And, again judging by his commentary in the Post, he feels behooved to justify, albeit ineffectively, his made-in-Tehran plans to either forcibly relocate Camp Ashraf residents to multiple detention centers in Iraq before extraditing them to Iran, or kill them all at Camp Ashraf if the residents resist the forcible relocation.

So, in either case, President Obama may be shaking hands with a war criminal responsible for massacre of the unarmed and defenseless population in Camp Ashraf. That’s not exactly the kind of poster image President Obama may want for his re-election campaign. He must therefore seize the December 12 White House visit to convey in the most unequivocal terms the United States’ resolve in seeing the camp residents unharmed. 

ASSOCIATED PRESS

UNITED NATIONS –  Iraq should extend its Dec. 31 deadline for closing a camp of Iranian dissidents, and third-party nations should accept its residents for resettlement to prevent a violent standoff, the U.N. envoy for the country said Tuesday.

Martin Kobler, the U.N. special representative, told the Security Council Tuesday that camp residents’ lives must be protected and that their forced removal would be “ill-advised and unacceptable.”

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said Camp Ashraf, housing more than 3,000 members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, must be closed by year’s end.

Iraqi Ambassador to the U.N. Hamid Al-Bayati told the council his country “doesn’t want to force anybody to go back to Iran.”

But he nevertheless indicated it will close the camp as planned “with the relocation decision … implemented by the end of the year.”

The Iraqi ambassador said about 900 residents hold dual nationality with third countries they may be able to go to.

Kobler told reporters after the session that U.N. officials are working on a peaceful solution to the problem, “but we cannot do it in the remaining time.” He asked Iraq again “to give us time, to give us space to bring about a humanitarian solution.”

The U.N. envoy also encouraged other countries to take in Camp Ashraf residents so they don’t have to return to Iran.

While Kobler was briefing the council, about three dozen Iranian-American protesters gathered in a small park across the street from U.N. headquarters to demand that the deadline for the camp’s closure be called off.

Several protesters carried yellow flags that declared “PROTECT ASHRAF” in blue letters, while others carried the flag used by Iran before the 1979 Islamic revolution.

“UNSC: Cancel the Deadline, No to Displacement, Blue Helmets for Ashraf,” read one protest sign, calling for the council to dispatch U.N. peacekeepers to protect camp residents.

“Ashraf protection is U.N. obligation,” the protesters chanted.

The camp in eastern Iraq houses Iranians dedicated to the overthrow of the Iranian government. Members of the group won refuge at Ashraf decades ago during the regime of Saddam Hussein, who saw them as a convenient ally against Tehran.

Since Saddam’s fall in 2003, the exiles have become an irritant to Iraq’s Shiite-led government, which is trying to bolster ties with Iran. A deadly April raid on the camp by Iraqi forces drew international criticism of Baghdad’s treatment of the group.

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2011/12/06/un-wants-iraq-to-extend-iranian-dissidents-camp-deadline/

UN News Center

United Nations – The United Nations envoy for Iraq today voiced concern over the situation in a camp housing several thousand Iranian exiles and urged the Iraqi Government to extend the deadline for closing down the settlement as efforts continue o find a peaceful solution that conforms with international law.

THE HILL

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

The United Nations on Tuesday appealed to the Iraqi government to push back a December 31 deadline to close an Iranian dissident camp north of Baghdad, warning of a growing risk of violence.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also renewed appeals to the international community to find a home for the estimated 3,400 Iranian exiles at Camp Ashraf.

Amid heightened international concerns, the UN envoy to Iraq, Martin Kobler, told the UN Security Council many “obstacles” remain to ending doubts over how to end the camp standoff.

The positions of the residents and the government “remain far apart,” Kobler told the 15-member council.

There is “a real danger of confrontation and even violence” because of the uncertainty over the camp, which has been home to members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI) since the 1980s.

Iraq has insisted it must close by the end of the year. But the camp’s inhabitants refuse to move unless they are given UN protection.

At least 36 people at the camp were killed in clashes in April. Residents said they were attacked by Iraqi forces.

Kobler said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees is ready to start interviewing Camp Ashraf residents, but there is little hope of ending the dispute over the camp by December 31.

“I therefore appeal to the government of Iraq to extend this deadline in order to permit adequate time for a solution to be found,” Kobler said.

The envoy said any solution must suit the Iraqi government, which says the camp is a security threat, and the residents’ demands for a safe exit.

“Lives are at stake and must be protected,” Kobler said. “The government has a responsibility to ensure the safety, security and welfare of the residents. Any forced action that results in bloodshed or loss of lives would be both ill-advised and unacceptable.”

UN leader Ban Ki-moon appealed for countries to volunteer homes for the Camp Ashraf residents in a report to the Security Council for the meeting.

“In order to find a durable solution for the camp residents, it is essential that potential third countries indicate their willingness to receive them for resettlement,” Ban said.

Iraq’s UN ambassador, Hamid al-Bayati, also called for international help.

“I would like to assure the Security Council that my government doesn’t want to force anybody to go back to Iran,” he said.

But Bayati said the camp residents were preventing Iraqi forces and government officials from entering.

“We cannot allow any group inside Iraq which will attack neighboring countries, that will cause lots of problems,” he told the Security Council.

UN envoy Kobler also stressed the need for Iraq and Kuwait to make a new effort to normalize their relations. Iraq remains on the UN Security Council agenda because of the 1990 invasion of Kuwait by Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Kobler said “little progress” has been made in the past two years and offered UN assistance.

New efforts are “needed to promote confidence between the two countries and facilitate solutions,” said Kobler The Iraqi ambassador said repairing ties was a “top priority” of the Baghdad government.

Iraq and Kuwait have not settled their border and Iraq still has to pay almost $20 billion in war damages. The two are also in dispute over a new Kuwaiti port that Iraq considers a threat to its sea access.

http://www.france24.com/en/20111206-un-asks-iraq-extend-dissident-camp-deadline