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EU: Iraq must ensure Iran exile group’s safety

February 17, 2012 by

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

BRUSSELS – The European Union called on Iraqi authorities on Friday to guarantee the security of an Iranian opposition group transferring to a new camp near Baghdad.

The National Council of Resistance (NCRI) has agreed to begin evacuating Camp Ashraf, its long-time base in central Iraq, and transfer the refugees to Camp Liberty, a former US military base.

“We urge this movement to start as scheduled on 17 February and call on the Government of Iraq to fulfill its responsibilities regarding the safety and security of the residents of the Camp,” Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, said in a statement.

“We also call on the residents to fully cooperate with the Iraqi authorities and the UN,” she said.

Camp Ashraf houses some 3,400 Iranians opposed to the regime in Tehran.

The NCRI, which includes the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, demanded Iraqi police be removed from the Liberty site before any more of the group leave Ashraf, which Baghdad has vowed to close.

Under a pact signed on December 25 between the United Nations and the Iraqi government, the residents of camp Ashraf will be transferred to the former US military site near Baghdad’s international airport.

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=365874

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State Department’s Statement on Camp Ashraf

February 16, 2012 by

Camp Ashraf 

Press Statement

Victoria Nuland
Department Spokesperson, Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
February 16, 2012
 

 The United States continues to pursue a peaceful, humane solution to the untenable situation at Camp Ashraf. The critical next step is the voluntary movement of the first group of 400 Ashraf residents to the new transit facility at Camp Hurriya (former Camp Liberty). The United States supports the UN’s call for the Iraqi Government and the residents of Camp Ashraf to continue to cooperate and begin this movement peacefully and without delay. Once the first group arrives at Hurriya, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) can immediately begin verification and refugee status determinations, a necessary step for Hurriya residents to safely depart Iraq.

On January 31, following successful work by the Government of Iraq, the UNHCR and UN Human Rights Office in Baghdad determined that the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Hurriya are in accordance with international humanitarian standards for refugees, as required by the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed by the United Nations and Government of Iraq last December 25. Secretary Clinton, joining European Union High Representative Ashton, has publicly supported this MOU, which fully respects the sovereignty of Iraq. The United States welcomes the Iraqi Government’s continued cooperation with the UN; urges the Iraqi government to fulfill all its responsibilities, especially the elements of the MOU that provide for the safety and security of Ashraf’s residents; and calls on the leaders at Camp Ashraf to cooperate with Iraqi authorities and the UN to make this and all further stages of the relocation successful.

The United States urges this voluntary movement to Hurriya to begin on schedule February 17. The U.S. will not walk away from the people at Camp Hurriya. We will visit Hurriya regularly and frequently, and continue to work with the UN to support their temporary relocation and subsequent peaceful and secure resettlement outside of Iraq, consistent with our respect for Iraq’s sovereignty and in accord with Iraq’s responsibilities for their humane treatment and security.

PRN: 2012/234

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/02/184058.htm

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Iranian exile group to start evacuating Iraqi camp

February 16, 2012 by

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

PARIS — Iranian opposition group the National Council of Resistance said Thursday it has agreed to begin evacuating its long-time base in a camp in central Iraq to transfer to a UN-approved site near Baghdad.

According to a statement issued by the exiled group’s base in Paris, NCRI leader Maryam Rajavi has agreed that the first 400 of 3,400 refugees based in Ashraf camp will be transferred to Camp Liberty, a former US military base.

The statement said Rajavi had received assurances from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton before agreeing to order the move.

“This is despite the fact that there was no agreement on the transfer of all their vehicles and personal movable property to Liberty,” the statement said, while calling for better guarantees for the residents’ safety.

The NCRI, which includes the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran, demanded Iraqi police be removed from the Liberty site before any more of the group leave Ashraf, which Baghdad has vowed to close.

Thursday’s statement said that this demand was necessary “to avoid tension, violence and another massacre of the residents. This is particularly important for the security and peace of female residents.”

In Washington, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said: “The United States urges this voluntary movement to Hurriya (Liberty in Arabic) to begin on schedule February 17.

“The US will not walk away from the people at Camp Hurriya,” she said in a statement.

“We will visit Hurriya regularly and frequently, and continue to work with the UN to support their temporary relocation and subsequent peaceful and secure resettlement outside of Iraq,” Nuland said.

The NCRI has been in revolt against Tehran’s Islamic regime for more than three decades. While many of its members are living in exile around the world, its biggest base is in Ashraf in Iraq, near the Iranian border.

From there, the People’s Mujahedeen fought alongside Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi forces against their Iranian countrymen during the Iran-Iraq war.

The camp came under US forces’ control after their 2003 invasion toppled Saddam, and they oversaw the safety of its inhabitants until January 2009, when they transferred security for the camp to Iraq.

Under pressure from Tehran, the post-Saddam Iraqi regime now wants to close the camp and expel its inhabitants, but they have thus far refused to budge, seeking security guarantees and a new life abroad.

Ashraf residents are being assessed individually by the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees after applying for refugee status, to allow them to resettle elsewhere, but Baghdad is becoming impatient.

Under a pact signed on December 25 between the United Nations and the Iraqi government, the residents of camp Ashraf will be transferred to Camp Liberty, a former US military site near Baghdad’s international airport.

The NCRI is in negotiations with the United Nations over the transfer, but has repeatedly complained that living conditions at Liberty are not adequate.

“Camp Liberty does not fulfill international humanitarian and human rights standards such as freedom of movement, which was raised by (UN refugee agency) the UNHCR, and there is no free access to medical services, lawyers and families,” it said.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i2MWP9f7cEo-BaTNoGThgUzeCK2A

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Iranian dissidents in Iraq agree to move to new camp

February 16, 2012 by

REUTERS 

PARIS, Feb 16 (Reuters) – The leader of an exiled Iranian opposition group said on Thursday she had agreed to start relocating Iranian dissidents from a long-disputed camp in Iraq after receiving assurances from the United States about their safety.

Some 65 km (40 miles) from Baghdad, the settlement known as Camp Ashraf is the base of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group that Washington considers a terrorist group.

The Iraqi government, which is friendly with Tehran, has said it intends to close the camp, which is home to an estimated 3,000 Iranian dissidents and has been the scene of bloody clashes between residents and the Iraqi security forces.

The PMOI said on Thursday it was starting to move people to a new location.

“Maryam Rajavi, after being informed of recommendations and assurances of Secretary (Hillary) Clinton last night, called on Ashraf residents to transfer the first 400 residents to Camp Liberty in the coming days to remove any doubts about their goodwill,” said a statement from the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the PMOI’s political wing.

Baghdad extended its deadline to close Ashraf late last year, under pressure from the United Nations and European Union, from Dec. 31, 2011 to April 30, 2012.

The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said on Wednesday that the infrastructure and facilities at Camp Liberty, a former U.S. base where the Ashraf residents will be temporarily rehoused, complied with international humanitarian standards.

“Transfer of the next groups will only take place after the Special Representative of the Secretary General and the Iraqi government declare their approval of the minimum assurances, particularly the departure of Iraqi police from inside Camp Liberty, in order to avoid tension, violence and another massacre of the residents,” the NCRI statement said.

The fate of Camp Ashraf is one of the main unresolved issues left over after U.S. forces withdrew from Iraq last year. Residents of the camp have long said they fear for their safety at the hands of Iraqi authorities without U.S. protection.

In April, the camp was the scene of clashes between residents and Iraqi security forces in which 34 people were killed, according to a U.N. investigation.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that it hoped the switch from Camp Ashraf to another camp called Camp Hurriya would go ahead without delay as scheduled.

“The United States urges this voluntary movement to Hurriya to begin on schedule February 17. The U.S. will not walk away from the people at Camp Hurriya,” said the statement.

(Reporting By John Irish in Paris and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; editing by Andrew Osborn)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-rt-iraq-camp-update-1l5e8dg5ch-20120216,0,6720264.story

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Maryam Rajavi calls on 400 residents of Ashraf to move to Camp Liberty in coming days

February 16, 2012 by

Next groups will move in after minimum assurances are secured, especially removal of Iraqi police from inside the camp to avoid any tension, violence and massacre of the residents

NCRI – Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, announced that 400 residents of Ashraf have agreed to move to Camp Liberty at the earliest possible time.

On February 14, she called on Secretary Clinton to intervene and make the final decision on the arrangements concerning the transfer of first group of the residents of Ashraf to Camp Liberty.

Mrs. Rajavi, after being informed of recommendations and assurances of Secretary Clinton last night, called on Ashraf residents to transfer the first 400 residents to Camp Liberty in the coming days to remove any doubts about their good will. This is despite the fact that there was no agreement on the transfer of all their vehicles and personal movable property to Liberty.

Transfer of the next groups will only take place after the Special Representative of Secretary General and the Iraqi government declare their approval of the minimum assurances, particularly departure of Iraqi police from inside Camp Liberty, in order to avoid tension, violence and another massacre of the residents. This is particularly important for security and peace of female residents.

On December 21, 2011, Mrs. Rajavi announced that the residents of Ashraf had agreed with the transfer of 400 residents to Camp Liberty with guarantees for minimum assurances. On December 28, 2011, she also announced that 400 of the residents would move to Camp Liberty on December 30 with their movable property and vehicles as a sign of good will gesture. This has been repeatedly raised by Mrs. Rajavi, including February 2, but she never received a positive response from Ambassador Kobler, Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, and the Iraqi government.

On January 31, Ambassador Kobler announced that Camp Liberty was ready for transfer of Ashraf residents. This was while there was no running drinking water or water for washing and the residents had to buy water. Even more importantly, contrary to the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Ambassador Kobler and the Iraqi government, Camp Liberty does not fulfill international humanitarian and human rights standards such as freedom of movement, which was raised by the UNHCR, and there is no free access to medical services, lawyers and families. Only the technical infrastructure of the camp has been approved by a shelter expert.

UNHCR has recognized Ashraf residents as “asylum seekers” and “people of concern” who enjoy fundamental protections, security and well being.

While the Iranian Resistance reminding Iraqi government of its obligations under international law and conventions, highlighting the Secretary General’s repeated emphasis on the Principle of Responsibility to Protect (R to P) and declaring 2012 as “the year of prevention”, calls on Ambassador Kobler not to surrender to pressures and unlawful demands against asylum seekers and their fundamental rights and protections. International humanitarian and human rights and international refugee protection standards cannot be relinquished. The residents of Ashraf, PMOI members will not submit to forcible displacement under pressure and intimidation.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
February 16, 2012

http://www.ncr-iran.org/en/ncri-statements/ashraf/11709-maryam-rajavi-called-on-400-residents-of-ashraf-to-move-to-camp-liberty-in-coming-days

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Assassination of Iranian Scientist and US Role

February 15, 2012 by

THE HUFFINGTON POST (UK)

The mysterious assassination of an Iranian nuclear scientist on 12 January, raised questions on who was responsible for a series of similar killings.

Rumours initiated by pro-Iran bloggers made headlines claiming it was a “joint Mossad-MEK” operation. None of the claims were backed by anything beyond an unnamed “secret Israeli source.”

A month later, the NBC news ran a piece with the same headline: Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists. A story that seemed designed to pour fuel on an almost extinguished fire.

When asked about a possible MEK involvement, an unnamed US official told NBC “All your inclinations are correct.” Another unnamed official in the same story cautioned “It hasn’t been clearly confirmed yet.”

The MEK had rejected any involvement right after the attack. So why would this suddenly be a news story again?

It is very obvious the NBC pitch is designed primly to demonise the MEK/PMOI which constitutes the principal opposition to the Iranian regime today.

The story prompted a series of articles both in favour and against the assassinations. The common denominator remained MEK-bashing, as intended. The mullahs and their US lobbies were pleased as Punch.

A CNN report who tried to verify the NBC claim ended quoting other senior US officials that “they are not sure of the [MEK] connection.”

What would the MEK gain from such terror acts? An organisation that stopped its military operations more than a decade ago, showed extreme cooperativeness with US-led coalition forces in Iraq in handing in all its weapons, was successfully removed from European terrorist lists after years of thorough legal investigations; and has won a similar U.S. Federal Court of Appeals’ ruling – pending implementation by the State Department for nearly 20 months.

Getting involved in assassinations would certainly be the last thing they need at this stage.

While the MEK remained committed to non-violent means, the Obama Administration abandoned their share of the written commitment which was to protect the unarmed MEK members in Iraq until their final disposition. This has so far cost the lives of some 50 MEK members who were cold-bloodedly murdered during Iraqi army raids on their camp since 2009, while US troops were standing by and watching.

The State Department, unable to produce a shred of evidence to back MEK’s Foreign Terrorist Organisation (FTO) designation nearly two years after the D.C. Court told them to do so, obviously feels frustrated by a growing number of high ranking former officials publicly questioning the Administration’s hypocrisy when it comes to respecting the rule of law.

These renowned personalities, who served the United States honourably for many years, include former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Patrick Kennedy and Governor Ed Rendell from the Democrats as well as Rudy Giuliani, Andrew Card, John Bolton and others from the Republicans, plus Former FBI and CIA Directors and Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“I call on the State Department of the United States to be honest, to be truthful, and to follow the facts,” Kennedy told a conference in New York on Feb. 14, referring to MEK’s bizarre FTO designation.

With the elections coming up in a few months, the last thing the State Department needs is the embarrassment of being seen insincere and even incapable of responding to demands of its own courts to provide facts for its claims.

Attributing assassination of Iranian scientists to the MEK which no doubt would serve, most of all, Iran’s state of terror, could also serve the US State Department with the following:

A – Short of any proofs, it would help justify MEK’s FTO designation with fiction rather than facts.

B – Sending an indirect warning to those former officials who don’t buy Tehran-orchestrated defamation of the Iranian resistance that: If you continue, we’ll charge you with providing support for terrorism.

C – Fabricating links between MEK and Israel would also fuel the liberal and the left to produce anti-MEK sentiments which help bringing the State Department out of isolation in the public opinion in this case.

D – Justify abandoning protection of the refugees in Camp Ashraf.

Whichever of the reasons, producing phony fiction stories about MEK death squads teaming up with Israel, make those unnamed US Administration officials look more ridiculous than right.

It will certainly further add salt to the wounds of those in Iran who had hopes in President Obama when they poured in millions into the streets of Tehran following the 2009 sham presidential elections only to be disillusioned with Obama’s “non interference” which was equal to a green light for their cruel suppression.

Even many Iranians who are not necessarily in love with the MEK see USA’s forsaken promise to protect Ashraf and letting the unarmed refugees to be slaughtered by Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki’s thugs as a betrayal.

The least expected from this Administration is to distance itself from such ludicrous disinformation by publicly denouncing these baseless accusations.

Firouz Mahvi, Iranian Opposition Activist

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Iran Policy Committee: NBC Deceived by Iran’s Intelligence Ministry and Anonymous U.S. Sources

February 15, 2012 by

PRNewswire

WASHINGTON, Feb. 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — On Wednesday, 8 February 2012, the NBC Rock Center TV program website ran a provocative story, “Israel teams with terror group to kill Iran’s nuclear scientists, U.S. officials tell NBC News.” The article claims, “Deadly attacks on Iranian nuclear scientists are being carried out by an Iranian dissident group that is financed, trained and armed by Israel’s secret service, U.S. officials tell NBC News, confirming charges leveled by Iran’s leaders.”

In conducting covert operations against Iranian nuclear scientists and engineers, the NBC story asserts that Israel’s intelligence service supposedly uses as a proxy the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq (MeK), an Iranian dissident group the State Department classifies as a terrorist organization.

According to Professor Raymond Tanter, former member of the National Security Council staff in the Reagan-Bush White House and now President of the Iran Policy Committee, “Left out of the NBC story is that the State Department categorizes the MeK as a terrorist group despite the law and facts.” Tanter added, “Tehran’s anti-MeK propaganda machine also routinely blames the MeK for terrorist actions, irrespective of evidence to the contrary.”

Consider an October 2011 criminal complaint filed by the Justice Department against Iranian agents of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force charged with involvement in a foiled plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador to the United States. In discussing Tehran’s role in the plot, the former head of the Department of Justice 2007-2009, Attorney General Michael Mukasey, made an assessment of the law and facts concerning the MeK terrorist designation. General Mukasey said on 14 October 2011, “Continued listing [of the MeK] is totally unjustified as a legal matter. There are no facts that justify maintaining MeK on the terrorist list.”

And what is Tehran’s response when confronted with evidence of its own complicity in the Saudi assassination plot? Professor Tanter said, “The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security blames Israel and the United States and asserts MeK involvement. Even the State Department promptly denied MeK responsibility in the plot to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador and accused Tehran of fabricating news stories to exploit skepticism about the scheme.”

Tanter added, “A similar pattern is apparent in the accusation reported in the NBC story by Mohammad Javad Larijani, a senior aide to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, of alleged collusion between the MeK and Israel to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists. “Larijani simply fabricated a narrative associating Israel with the MeK to exploit uncertainty about the nature of those who are engaged in assassinating Iranian scientists,” according to Tanter.

The NBC story claiming to connect Israel to the MeK also alleges an association of the MeK to al Qaeda. Supposedly, the MeK cut a deal with Pakistani-born terrorist Ramzi Yousef a year after he masterminded the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. Yousef also built a bomb that MeK agents allegedly placed in a shrine in Mashad, Iran, in June 1994. 

The IPC book, Terror Tagging authored by Professor Tanter with the Foreword by General Mukasey, refers to the bombing of the Mashad shrine mentioned in the NBC report implicating the MeK and linking it to one of the operatives in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing—Yousef. Tanter stated, “Contrary to the NBC anonymous U.S. government source, an open Pakistani source accuses a Pakistani militant not the MeK as having connections to Yousef to carry out the 1994 shrine bombing.”

Although [the Iranian] government blamed the Mujahedin-e-Khalq in a TV show to avoid sectarian conflict between Shia and Sunni, the Pakistani daily “News” of March 27, 1995 reported, “Pakistani investigators have identified a 24-year-old religious fanatic Abdul Shakoor residing in Lyari in Karachi, as an important Pakistani associate of Ramzi Yousef. Abdul Shakoor had intimate contacts with Ramzi Ahmed Yousef and was responsible for the June 20, 1994, massive bomb explosion at the shrine Imam Ali Reza in Mashhad.

At the time of the 1994 Mashad bombing, the MeK denied any role. And a few years later, during one of the regime’s regular factional feuds, a former member of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence asserted that the bombing had been perpetrated by the Ministry, and in particular, by Saeed Emami, then one of its deputies.

A main theme of the NBC story is its assertion, anonymously backed by American officials, of collusion between Israel and the MeK. That claim provides a convenient rationale for the Iranian regime to engage in terrorist attacks against Israeli diplomats. “Accusing Israel of using as a proxy a ‘terrorist’ organization to assassinate Iranian nuclear scientists provides false legitimacy for Iranian assassination plots in Washington as well as a trio of plots and bombings against Israelis in New Delhi, Tbilisi, Georgia, and Bangkok, Thailand,” according to Professor Tanter.

Regarding the anonymous leak that lends a veneer of credibility to the NBC story, on 11 February 2012, former Director of the FBI, Judge Louis Freeh, called for an investigation of the leak to NBC because it damaged U.S. national security; and former Governor of Vermont and presidential candidate, Howard Dean, said, “Either the source committed treason or committed the usual Washington sin of lying to the press.”

http://iranpolicycommitteepublishing.wordpress.com/

SOURCE: Iran Policy Committee

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Ban calls for start of relocation of Iranian exiles living in camp in Iraq

February 15, 2012 by

UN News Centre

15 February 2012 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for the start of the relocation of residents of the settlement in Iraq formerly known as Camp Ashraf, urging the Government and the camp dwellers to continue to cooperate so that the process can be carried out in a peaceful manner.

“The Secretary-General reiterates that the Government of Iraq bears the primary responsibility for the security and the welfare of the residents of Camp Ashraf,” said a statement issued by his spokesperson.

“At the same time, the residents of Camp Ashraf also bear a responsibility to abide by the laws of Iraq. Any provocation or violence must be avoided and would be unacceptable.”

The United Nations and the Iraqi Government on 25 December signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on the voluntary relocation of several thousand Iranian exiles living in Camp New Iraq, previously known as Camp Ashraf, in the north-eastern part of the country.

On 31 January, the UN High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR) and the human rights office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said they had confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the new relocation camp met international standards.

In his statement today, Mr. Ban acknowledged the efforts of the Iraqi Government to prepare the temporary transit location to host the residents and allow UNHCR to undertake refugee status determination.

He reiterated his call to Member States to contribute to a durable solution by demonstrating their readiness to accept eligible residents of Camp New Iraq who wish to resettle in third countries.

The Secretary-General stressed that the UN “remains strongly committed to continue to do its utmost to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution.”

Situated in the eastern Iraqi province of Diyala, Camp New Iraq camp houses several thousand members of a group known as the People’s Mojahedeen of Iran.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41253&Cr=iraq&Cr1=

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UN Secretary General’s Statement on Camp Ashraf

February 15, 2012 by

New York, 15 February 2012 – Statement Attributable to the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General on Camp Ashraf

The Secretary-General continues to closely follow the situation in Camp Ashraf. Over the past few months, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), under the leadership of his Special Representative, Martin Kobler, and in close cooperation with UNHCR, the European Union, the United States and other interested Member States, has been tirelessly working as an impartial facilitator to promote a peaceful resolution of this issue, within the framework of UNAMI’s humanitarian mandate.

At the request of the Secretary-General, the Government of Iraq extended its deadline to close Camp Ashraf from 31 December 2011 to 30 April 2012. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed on 25 December 2011 between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq has laid the foundation for a peaceful and durable solution, respecting both the sovereignty of Iraq and meeting Iraq’s international humanitarian and human rights obligations.

The Secretary-General acknowledges the efforts of the Government of Iraq to prepare the temporary transit location to host the residents and allow UNHCR to undertake refugee status determination. On 31 January 2012, UNHCR confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the temporary transit location are in accordance with the international humanitarian standards stipulated in the MoU.

The Secretary-General believes that the time has come to start the relocation process without further delay. He urges the Iraqi authorities and the residents of Camp Ashraf to continue to cooperate and complete the process in a peaceful manner. The Secretary-General reiterates that the Government of Iraq bears the primary responsibility for the security and the welfare of the residents of Camp Ashraf. At the same time, the residents of Camp Ashraf also bear a responsibility to abide by the laws of Iraq. Any provocation or violence must be avoided and would be unacceptable.

The Secretary-General reiterates his call to Member States to contribute to a durable solution by demonstrating their readiness to accept eligible residents of Camp Ashraf who wish to resettle in third countries.

The Secretary-General stresses that the United Nations remains strongly committed to continue to do its utmost to facilitate a peaceful and durable solution.

http://www.un.org/sg/statements/index.asp?nid=5863

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U.N. urges Iraq to move Iranian dissidents to new camp

February 15, 2012 by

REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Iraq on Wednesday to speed up the transfer of Iranian dissidents at a camp near Baghdad to a temporary facility which the dissident group has compared to a prison.

Camp Ashraf, 40 miles from Baghdad, has been home for 25 years to the People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran, or PMOI, an Iranian opposition group the United States and Iran officially consider a terrorist organization.

The current Iraqi government has never concealed its desire get rid of the camp. Under pressure from the United Nations and European Union, Baghdad extended its deadline to close Ashraf late last year from December 31, 2011 to April 30, 2012.

But Ban is now urging Baghdad not to wait until April.

“The Secretary-General believes that the time has come to start the relocation process without further delay,” Ban’s press office said in a statement. “He urges the Iraqi authorities and the residents of Camp Ashraf to continue to cooperate and complete the process in a peaceful manner.”

The statement said the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees has “confirmed that the infrastructure and facilities at the temporary transit location are in accordance with … international humanitarian standards.”

It was not immediately clear how the Iranians at Camp Ashraf reacted to Ban’s call to accelerate their move out of the camp.

Earlier this month a spokesman for the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the PMOI’s political wing, dismissed suggestions from U.N. special envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler that conditions at the new facility – Camp Liberty – were acceptable.

The spokesman, Shahin Gobadi, said in an email the new facility would have “prison conditions,” with residents denied the freedom to come and go and without access to lawyers and medical services.

Camp residents will also be banned from taking vehicles and other property with them, apart from “individual belongings,” and will only be able to contact U.N. officials by telephone, Gobadi said.

NEW CONDITIONS

In an article in Wednesday’s New York Times, however, Kobler said the new camp would have medical facilities and would be monitored around the clock by U.N. observers. Residents would be interviewed by the U.N. refugee agency to determine their eligibility to resettle as refugees outside Iraq, he added.

Camp Ashraf continued to operate after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. But its future became unclear after Washington turned it over to Iraq in 2009. Baghdad has repeatedly said it does not want the guerrilla group on Iraqi soil.

Kobler said Camp Ashraf’s leaders, after agreeing in principle to move out an initial group of 400 residents, had hesitated in recent days to do so, placing new conditions on the transfer to which the Iraqi government rejected.

“The government’s patience is wearing thin, and further delay could lead to provocation and violence,” he said. “Change is understandably unsettling for the residents, but maintaining the status quo is neither a safe nor viable option.”

In the 1970s, the PMOI led a guerrilla campaign against the U.S.-backed Shah of Iran but after the 1979 Islamic revolution turned against Iran’s new clerical rulers. It was hosted in Iraq by former leader Saddam Hussein, a bitter foe of Iran.

Late last year, there were several rocket attacks on Camp Ashraf, which the NCRI blamed on the Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps “and its Iraqi agents.”

In April 2011, Ashraf was the scene of clashes between residents and Iraqi security forces, during which 34 people were killed, according to a U.N. investigation.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/15/us-iraq-iran-un-idUSTRE81E2B520120215

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