Iraq
April 12, 2011
5 minutes read

International Rights Groups Condemn Iraqi Forces Raid of Camp Ashraf

Many human rights organizations have condemned the Iraqi government’s inhuman attack against residents of Camp Ashraf, leaving 35 dead, and more than 300 wounded with many are in critical condition.

The Iraqi authorities must immediately launch an independent investigation into reports that Iraqi troops killed and injured residents of a camp for Iranian exiles in the north of Baghdad in an unprovoked attack, Amnesty International said today.

Dr. Salim Abdullah al-Jubouri, the Chairman of the Commission on Human Rights, said the Committee shall meet with its full membership during the coming two days to take an official position towards this issue.

“The use of arms and violence against (Mojahedin’s) Ashraf Camp is a regretful matter,” he noted, stressing that it is important to deal with the issue under full humanitarian means, away from the effects of politics.

The Arab League urged the Iraqi government to handle the residents of Camp Ashraf in a humane manner as they are Iranian Mujahid-e-Khalq refugees housed in the camp north-east of Baghdad since the Iran-Iraq war.

Mujahid-e-Khalq (MEK) had accused the Iraqi army of committing an “unprecedented crime”, by killing 31 and injuring 300 of its followers during clashes that occurred on Friday within the walls of Camp Ashraf, located northeast of the

capital, Baghdad.

The camp, which has existed for 25 years, is home to some 3,500 people and serves as the base of the People’s Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), a guerrilla group that opposes Iran’s Shia Muslim rulers.

Iran and Iraq, along with the US, consider the PMOI a ‘terrorist’ organisation.

The National Council of Resistance of Iran, the PMOI’s political wing, said Iraqi security forces had been ordered by Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, to attack the camp.

The camp is in Diyala province about 90km northeast of Baghdad in a remote location largely inaccessible to journalists.

‘Al-Maliki, under orders of [Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei, has commenced unprecedented murder in Ashraf,’ the group said in a statement.

‘Forces under his command used Colts, automatic weapons and machine guns installed on armoured vehicles to open fire on residents.’