ASHRAF CITY

Camp Ashraf, or Ashraf City as its residents know it, is situated north of the Iraqi town of Al-Khalis and approximately 60 miles from the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and about 50 miles east of the Iranian border.

Ashraf was built in 1986, after the PMOI relocated from France to Iraq. The Iranian regime had madethe release of French hostages held in Lebanon conditional upon the expulsion of PMOI leaders from France.

What is known today as Ashraf City was once a piece of arid land in a dry, desolate desert. Only a handful of deserted buildings were standing and there were no facilities, paved roads, lamp posts, and running water.

Over the years, Ashraf grew both in size and in improvements. It became the PMOI’s largest enclave

in Iraq.An investigative report after a delegation from the European Parliament visited Ashraf in 2005, wrote: Camp Ashraf “is made up of a complex of roads and buildings. It contains all sorts of educational, social and sports facilities. These include four Olympic sizeswimming pools, a shopping centre, a zoo, a park, a university, a full size football pitch, a ‘museum of terrorism’ containing details of attacks on the PMOI and its personnel by the Iranian regime, a ‘museum of martyrs’, a mosque and even a cemetery. Due to its size and in order to function effectively, Camp Ashrafalso has services such as shops and bakeries, a petrol station and its own traffic police. Camp Ashraf evenhas its own Cola production factory, which produces thousands of bottles of ‘Ashraf Cola’ per day.”

Camp Ashraf is an unexpected site in the middle of the Iraqi desert. British journalist Christine Aziz who

has visited Ashraf several times says, “Ashraf is 14 square miles of impeccable tidiness.”

“The first impression is of a holiday camp rather than a military base. Eucalyptus trees line long driveways, men and women tend gardens, and there’s the smell of bread from the bakery.”

In a report on Ashraf, the Los Angeles Times wrote, “MEK members have built a bustling, idyllic sprawl of self-contained mini-villages with barracks-style living quarters, dining halls, recreational facilities and carefully maintained gardens... Camp Ashraf has its own swimming pool, library, monument to fallen comrades and a museum where visitors can view gruesome videos of Iranian regime brutality.

“Whatever their idiosyncrasies, MEK members also project a progressive streak and political ethos unusual in the world, much less the Middle East. They’reardent feminists. Women make up 30% of the fighters but hold anoutsized number of political and military leadership positions.

“Far from the noise, traffic jamsand ambient daily dread of Baghdad, Ashraf feels like a quiet rural retreat.”

After a visit to Ashraf, a reporter from Knight Ridder news agency wrote, “Iraq has an oasis where fountains gurgle over pebbles and flowers blossom in lushgardens… The hospital is spotlessand fully stocked, schools offerviolin lessons and drivers obey traffic laws. The electricity is always on, and the water is always clean in this serene, self-sufficientcompound.”

For any foreign observer who visits Ashraf, the most striking is the democratic nature of relationships that exist there. The democraticnature of relationships within the PMOI has given Ashraf residents the ability to maintain their unity despite the harsh conditions of the past 20 years.

IntroductionIn recent months the Iranian regime has stepped up pressure on the Iraqi government to disregard the PMOI members’ political refugee status in Iraq and their status as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention. It had demanded that the PMOI members be extradited to Iran or expelled from Iraq. Tehran has insisted that a number of PMOI members be extradited to Iran, which would undoubtedly lead to their arrest, torture and even execution.

Background Some 3,500 members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) are currently residing in Ashraf City, Iraq. The PMOI has been based in Iraq since1986. Its members and affiliates are persecuted in Iran because of their politicalbeliefs and opposition to the clerical regime. Some 120,000 PMOI members and sympathizers of have been executed in the past 27 years. A fatwa by Khomeini condemned all PMOI members, and even their sympathizers, to death. Thisexplains why for the past twenty years PMOI members have resided in Iraq as political refugees.

PMOI recognized under the Fourth Geneva ConventionPMOI members were in Iraq when the United States invaded that country in 2003. But well before the war it declared its neutrality in the conflict. Whenthe war ended, prompted by propaganda of the Iranian regime and some other quarters, the Coalition Forces conducted a thorough investigation into the PMOI. All those in Ashraf were interviewed and screened by several U.S. agencies. After an exhaustive 16-month investigation, U.S. officials formally announced thatthere was no basis to charge any member of the group with links to terrorism. Consequently, in July 2004, the Multi-National Force–Iraq recognised the status of PMOI members as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

PMOI members enjoy political refugee status in IraqAlthough Iraq was not a signatory to the 1951 Geneva Convention, PMOI members have enjoyed refugee status in Iraq under the Iraqi constitution and other Iraqi laws since 1986. Obviously, the current government of Iraq carries the responsibilities of the government it succeeded. Prominent Iraqi jurists and 12,000 Iraqi lawyers have confirmed the refugee status of PMOI members inaccordance with the laws of Iraq.

In a legal opinion, The Rt. Hon. The Lord Slynn of Hadley and Professor JeanYves de Cara affirmed that “under the Iraq Asylum Act of 1971, the status asrefugees of members of the PMOI was recognised.”

The principle of continuity of States has important results. The State is bound byengagements entered into by governments that have ceased to exist; the restored government is generally liable for the acts of the usurper.” (Award of 18 Oct. 1923, Rep. Int. Arb. awards, I, p. 377).

Article 34: 1) The Republic of Iraq grants the right to political asylum to all combatants whoare under oppression and tyranny in their own country for defending freedom and humanitarian principals to which the people of Iraq are committed in their constitution.2) Extradition of political refugees is forbidden.

Background on the Iranian regime’s schemes against PMOI in AshrafOver the past few years, the Iranian regime has resorted to every means to destroy its main opposition. In December 2003, when Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim became the rotating president of the now-defunct Governing Council, he issued a decree that had been dictated by Tehran. It said that PMOI members must be expelled

PMOI STATUS IN IRAQIRANIAN REGIME’S SCHEMES AGAINST ASHRAF RESIDENTS

in three weeks. A massive international campaign not only neutralized the ploy but contributed to the recognition of PMOI members as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

New ploys by TehranIn recent months, the clerical regime has stepped up its efforts against PMOI members in Ashraf. After the August 2005 abduction of two members of the PMOI by to the Iraqi Interior Ministry commandos, the mullahs’ agents blew up a bus in May 2006 killing 11 Iraqi workers on their way to Ashraf.

The pipeline supplying water to Ashraf from the Tigris River has been blown up twice by agents of the Iranian regime. Ayatollah Al-Moussavi Al-Qassemi, a prominent Shiite cleric, was assassinated for having expressed support for the PMOI. In another terrorist attack Abdolrahim Nasrollah, Secretary General of the Movement for Justice and democratic Progress in Iraq, and 10 of his colleagues were killed simply for having voiced support for the PMOI and reaffirming their rights as political refugees in Iraq.

In fulfilling the mullahs’ demands, the Iraqi government has cut off fuel and food rations and other essential needs to Ashraf. Even the request for fuel for the hospital in Ashraf was officially rejected by the Oil Ministry.

Under pressure from the Iranian regime the Iraqi government has called for the expulsion of the PMOI members from Iraq.

Remarks by the Prime Minister of Iraq While in Tehran, Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister of Iraq, entered into an agreement with the clerical regime to expel PMOI members from that country. A joint declaration with the Iranian regime called for the expulsion of the PMOI. On July 19, 2006, the French news agency, AFP, wrote, “Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said he was looking for ways to end the presence in his country of the Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.” He also announced the formation of a committee to deal with the expulsion of PMOI members.

In an interview with Iran’s state television, al-Maliki said that PMOI members “were given six

months to leave Iraq.”

Confidential report reveals plot to expel PMOI membersOn 13 September 2006, the National Council of Resistance of Iran cited an internal Iranian regime report about a discussion on the possible expulsion of PMOI members from Iraq in a meeting at the Iraqi Foreign Ministry attended by the military advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister. It was also suggested in that meeting that the government should agree with the Iranian regime’s demand to extradite to Tehran 50 members of the PMOI in Ashraf.

According to the same report, Iraqi Major General Kan’ani said in the meeting that he had already informed U.S. authorities that the Iraqi Government intended to expel PMOI members from Iraq. The report added that a new committee had already been set up comprised of the representatives of the ministries of foreign affairs, human rights and justice, and that it had asked the cabinet to

request from the Coalition Forces that oversaw security and protection of Ashraf City to deliver all available information about the Mojahedin to the Iraqi government.

Iraq Deputy Prime Minister reaffirms PMOI members’ legal status in IranAccording to the Iraqi media, “Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister for Security and Services, Dr. Salaam al-Zubai, reaffirmed PMOI members’ rights to a legal presence in Iraq as political refugees and said, ‘They also enjoy the special status of protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and are protected by U.S. forces.’” (Al-Safir daily, 9 August 2006).

Political dignitaries support PMOI presence in IraqFollowing the remarks by the Iraqi Prime Minister, the most important Iraqi political leaders and personalities and several parliamentary factions have issued statements and or conducted interviews in which they have reaffirmed PMOI members’ legal status in Iraq and condemned the Iranian regime’s measures against them. They included, Dr. Adnan al-Dulaimi, the Secretary General of the Iraqi People’s Congress, Dr. Saleh Mutlaq, President of the Iraqi National Dialogue Front and Sheikh Khalaf al-Elyan, Secretary General of the Iraqi National Dialogue Council..

President of the Iraqi Bar Association: In a letter to the Minister of Human Rights on 3 October 2006, Mr. Jassim Bahadoli, President of the Iraqi Bar Association, wrote, “Numerous legal opinions by Iraqi and international jurists and clauses of the constitution at the time when the members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) legally entered Iraq (including article 34 of the 1970 Constitution, law number 51 dated 1971, and paragraph 4 of article 210 of the Law on Residence of Aliens ratified in 2000) outline the basis for the legal presence of the PMOI members in Iraq as political refugees. Under international law, when there is a change of government, the new government is bound by the responsibilities of its predecessors.”

President of Union of Iraqi Lawyers wrote: In a letter on 5 October 2006 to General John D. Gardner, Deputy Commanding General of the Multi-National Force-Iraq, Mr. Kamal Hamdoun, President of the Union of Iraqi Lawyers, wrote, “I am writing to register the legal opinion of myself and the Union of Iraqi Lawyers whom I represent, on the legal status of members of the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran as political refugees in Iraq protected by the Fourth Geneva Convention. The presence in Iraq of the People’s

Mojahedin of Iran since 1986 (for 20 years) is based on Article 34 of the 1970 Constitution. During this period, according to Law No.51 of Iraq dated 1971, they have enjoyed the rights of political refugees. Paragraph 4 of Article 210 of the Law on Residence of Aliens ratified in 2000, outlines the residence of PMOI in Iraq as political refugees.”

International outrage The attempt by the Iraqi government to expel the PMOI members has been widely condemned by jurist, lawyers, human rights advocates and members of parliament. The Rt. Hon. The Lord Slynn of Hadley, former Advocate General of the European Court of Justice, wrote to the Iraqi Prime Minister, expressing his deep concern over such blatant violation of international law.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale and 16 other members of British Parliament, the inter-parliamentary group of Friends of a Free Iran at the European Parliament, and dozens of parliamentarians from Europe and North America wrote to Iraqi officials expressing grave concern over the plight of PMOI members in Iraq and remarks by Iraqi officials. They called on the Iraqi government to reaffirm the political refugee status of PMOI members in Iran.