Call for immediate return of Iranian refugees to Camp Ashraf to ensure their security

Dialogue with Iranian Resistance as the solution to current Iran’s crisis

On Wednesday, February 20, a conference titled“France and Prospect for Middle East and Iran in 2013, Humanitarian Crisis in Liberty” was held at Colbert Hall of French National Assembly with the presence of dozens of Members of Parliament from political groups. In the conference, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, warned that Camp Liberty, home to 3,100 members of the Iranian Resistance in Iraq, might be subject to another massacre at any time any day. She added that the only way to ensure their relative security until their resettlement in third countries is their immediate return to Ashraf. 

FROM LEFT:DOMINIQUE LEFEBVRE MP, MARYAM RAJAVI PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE IRANIAN RESISTANCE, BRUNO LEROUX PALIAMENT’S MAJORITY GROUP

Stressing on the responsibility of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Mrs. Rajavi stated that the UNHCR interviews was the pretext for the residents’ relocation to Liberty. Now 18 months after the residents submitted their asylum applications and a year after their relocation to Liberty, to secure the residents’ protection, the UNHCR must immediately declare them all as refugees who should be returned to Ashraf. 

The conference was moderated by Dominique Lefebvre, member of the French Parliament, and the speakers were: Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, a number of French lawmakers including  Bruno Leroux, Parliament’s majority group;; Michel Terrot; André Chassaigne;Pascal Terrasse; Pascal Deguilhem; William Dumas; Alain Vivien, former European Minister; Yves Bonnet, former Chief of the French Counter-terrorism Organization (DST); François Colcombet, judge and former member of French National Assembly; Pierre Bercis, President of The New Human Rights Association;Senator Robert Torricelli, from   U.S. and Tahar Boumedra, UNAMI’s advisor on Ashraf. The speakers asked for the return of Liberty residents to Ashraf and recognition of their refugee status by the UNHCR. They described Iranian Resistance as the only solution to Iran’s current crisis and called for dialogue with this resistance movement.

Referring to the brutal attack against Liberty on February 9, Mrs. Rajavi said, “they are after destroying a movement that due to its deep roots in the Iranian society is capable of directing huge social unrests and to bring about democratic change in Iran. It is a resistance movement that represents Iranian society aspirations because its goal is to establish a republic based on separation of Church and State, democracy, a pluralist system, abolition of death penalty,  gender equality, and a non-nuclear Iran.”

Mrs. Rajavi asked U.S., EU and UN to arrange for the immediate return of  the members of Resistance from Liberty to Ashraf. She also asked UNHCR to immediately confirm their collective refugee status.

On the verge of new rounds of negotiations on Iranian regime’s nuclear program, the Iranian Resistance President-elect emphasized that the regime is at an impasse with regards to its nuclear program, and future negotiations have no outlook but failure.

Mrs. Rajavi said, “France’s engagement in Mali is a courageous initiative to confront expansion of fundamentalism; however,  in order to have confronting fundamentalism succeed, it needs to be focused on the source of fundamentalism and terrorism which is the regime ruling Iran that is providing  fundamentalist groups in the Middle East and Africa with  finance and arms.” She added, “We expect French government and National Assembly to pioneer a firm policy vis-à-vis religious fascism ruling Iran, and to support and recognize Iranian people’s resistance for freedom and democracy.”

In his testimony at the conference, Tahar Boumedra, who was UNAMI advisor on Ashraf for three and a half years till last May and resigned to protest to Special Representative for the United Nations’ Secretary-General, Kobler, for taking side with the government of Iraq and the Iranian regime, said that Martin Kobler, prepared the ground for a forced displacement of Ashraf residents to Liberty where there is no security and humanitarian guarantee, by giving an inverse picture of realities and presenting false reports through a certain plan and by taking measures contrary to UN known principles. He said that Liberty is now a killing field and if specific measures are not taken, another attack is on the horizon.

Senator Torricelli, who recently travelled to Baghdad chairing a delegation in order to resolve the problem of moveable and immoveable assets of the residents, presented a report on his trip and reiterated that violating all previous agreements, the government of Iraq prevented the delegation from visiting Liberty and Ashraf and no Iraqi official met with the delegation. In his report, Senator Torricelli stipulated that UNAMI finds its foremost duty protection of Maliki against likely threats.