A few yards away from the steps of the US Embassy 12 men and women are on hunger strike. Police keep a distant eye on them, passers-by and people queueing for visas cast curious glances at the makeshift shelter that has been their home for more than six weeks. Their mute appeal is a desperate attempt to get help for their friends and relatives in the refugee enclave of Camp Ashraf.
Laila, who has been battling furiously to attract media attention to their plight told me: “The people in Ashraf are the cream of Iranian society. They are intellectuals, enlightened and secular – the antithesis of Islamic fundamentalism. Their leaders are women, they believe in equality and freedom.”
Their suffering is documented in a book that makes sobering reading. It lists the thousands who have died or disappeared, picturing many of them and the tortures they endured. Some of the hunger strikers point to the names or pictures of family members. Laila’s husband is one of them. This chilling book of the dead is called “Fallen for Freedom. 20,000 PMOI Martyrs”.
At the end of July Iraqi security forces launched an assault on Iranian refugees under their protection in Camp Ashraf, a relatively unknown enclave situated in Diyala province, 120 km west of the Iranian border and 60 km north of the Baghdad.
Eleven were killed, 500 hundred wounded and 36 taken into custody. Since then no international journalists have been allowed access to interview eye witnesses or victims.
Fears of a second, even bloodier massacre, are mounting unless the International community intervenes.
Ashraf is a ‘safe haven’ where residents were recognised in 2004 as protected persons under the 4th Geneva Convention. They are members of the People’s Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), a group politically opposed to the current regime and, for their own safety, living in exile.
The camp’s uniformed attackers used live ammunition, truncheons, axes, sickles, tear gas, hot water cannons, and bulldozers against the defenceless residents. US forces allegedly stood back and filmed the carnage but no media were present. Despite protests from Journalists Without Borders no unaligned reporters have been allowed into the camp since the assault. Only Iranian TV, the Arabic channel of Al-Alam and the Press TV have been given access and all reported in favour of the Iraqi police.
Extensive video evidence of the attack was captured on mobile phones and widely posted on the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqC61sddaFs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJwiK5S_W1s – Iraqi police beat unarmed civilians in Camp Ashraf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMnPSqesQlg – Civilians shot and killed by Iraqi police in Camp Ashraf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPhD1wotzzQ – Iraqi police with gun aiming at people
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1thwPuuRoQ – Head injuries in Camp Ashraf medical centre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1bKngVzLO8 – Seriously injured civilians in Camp Ashraf medical centre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVmdFDvShpc – Civilians shot by Iraqi police in Camp Ashraf http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6DKL3-f4aQ – More attacks on Ashraf residents http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdGH_Ic88Xc – The second half of this short clip shows Iraqi armoured vehicles trying to run over the residents
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gi_dc3rJ82c – Female residents of Ashraf attacked by Iraqi police
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02cx4X6Lyzk
The lack of international response and paucity of media coverage sparked worldwide protest among outraged relatives of the Ashraf victims and other Iranians and in London 12 are on hunger strike. For some their fast is entering its seventh week.
They are beginning to experience acute symptoms- internal bleeding, loss of vision and multiple organ failure. One woman has suffered a heart attack. The youngest is a 19 year old girl.
In a statement issued on 11 September 2009 Amnesty International expressed its deep concern to Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki about the killings and other abuses committed by Iraqi security forces and the continuing detention without charge or trial of the 36 camp residents.
In its letter to Prime Minister al-Maliki, Amnesty International urged him to establish immediately a full and independent investigation into the methods used by Iraqi security forces when taking control of Camp Ashraf, and to make its findings public as soon as possible, The organisation urged him also to ensure that members of the security forces and other officials found responsible for using excessive force and committing serious human rights violations were immediately suspended from duty and promptly brought to justice.
The US disarmed Ashraf residents and signed an agreement with each of them to guarantee their protection until final determination of their status, but it handed over protection of Ashraf to the Iraqi government at the start of 2009.
Article 45 of the 4th Geneva Convention says “If a government fails to carry out the provisions of the Convention in any important respect, the government by which the protected persons were transferred (in this case the US) shall, upon being so notified by the protecting government, take effective measures to correct the situation or shall request the return of the protected persons. Such request must be complied with.” After the massacre in Ashraf, the US has a duty to request that Iraq hand back protection of the camp.
UN Security Council resolution 1883, adopted in August 2009, gives the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) a mandate and responsibility for the case of Ashraf.
Prominent UK lawyers have produced a legal report, supported by international colleagues, that outlines the legal requirements for UN and US intervention – as well as the criminal ramifications of the action of the Iraqi forces.
The hunger strikers demands are:
1. Iraqi police withdraw from Ashraf and release the 36 people taken hostage and allow the residents access to lawyers, doctors, journalists and their relatives.
2. US forces temporarily assume protection of Ashraf under Article 45 of the 4th GC until an international force can take over.
3. An international force takes over protection of Ashraf and the UNAMI immediately stations an international monitoring team inside the camp to prevent further attacks.
4. UN bodies reiterate clearly that the “principle of non-refoulement” forbids forced displacement of Ashraf residents within Iraq.