Crime Against Humanity
Brutal massacre and suppression of Iraqi forces against defenseless residents of Camp Ashraf
Ashraf residents are protected persons who signed an agreement with the US government according to which the US assumed their protection.
However, the agreement was violated by transferring this responsibility to the Iraqi government. This initiated a humanitarian catastrophe against the residents.
H.E. Barak Obama,
President of the United States of America
The White House
Washington, D.C.
Dear President,
Through his agents in Iraq, the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, took revenge for the Iranian people’s uprising by massacring defenseless residents of Ashraf. He wishfully thinks that by targeting Ashraf the uprising would cease.
The aggression against Ashraf that was carried out under direct order of Nouri al-Maliki is not only a clear violation of international conventions and the assurances of the governments of Iraq and the US regarding the protection of Ashraf residents, but is also considered a crime against humanity.
Thus far, more than 450 Ashraf residents have been injured while 9 others have been slain. A number of those wounded are in critical condition. Also 36 others have been abducted, tortured and imprisoned by the Iraqi government. In protest to this crime, the residents of Camp Ashraf and the ones taken hostage by the Iraqi government have gone on unlimited hunger strike.
While recalling the April 24, 2009 European Parliament resolution on the rights and humanitarian situation of protected persons in Ashraf, as well as the warnings of Amnesty International and the International Federation of Human Rights on this issue, we urge the US government and President Barack Obama personally to act on American obligations pertaining to the protection of Ashraf residents and also respect for international law.
While supporting the hunger strike by freedom-loving people across the world, we support the demands of Ashraf residents as following:
1. Leaving of all Iraqi forces from Camp Ashraf;
2. Protection of Ashraf to be assumed by U.S. forces, who have disarmed and signed agreements with every single one of Ashraf residents about protecting them until the determination of their final status;
3. Presence of lawyers and international human rights organizations in Ashraf, which has been banned for the past 7 months;
4. Presence of a representative of the UN Security Council or Secretary General in Ashraf for talks about the determination of the final status of Ashraf residents;
5. Compliance of the Iraqi government with the April 24, 2009 resolution of the European Parliament on the humanitarian situation of Ashraf residents;
6. Prosecution and punishment of parties who ordered or perpetrated the brutal attacks and massacre in Camp Ashraf by an international tribunal for crimes against humanity.
