Tuesday, 18th October 2011
Countdown for Ashraf
The follwing speech was delivered by Struan Stevenson MEP in Brussels at an event entitled 'The Trans-Atlantic Campaign in Brussels'. In it, Sruan calls on the Iraqi Government to rescind its 31st December deadline for the closure of Camp Ashraf
When America & Britain invaded Iraq they had little or no endgame or plan for how to run the country in the post-Saddam era. What vague concepts they harboured involved the overthrow of Saddam’s brutal Sunni dictatorship and the creation of a vibrant Islamic Shiite democracy, which they hoped would act as a counter-balance to the oppressive clerical regime in neighbouring Iran.
What a bad miscalculation this turned out to be. In fact the current Iraqi government is progressively finding itself more and more under direct influence and control by Iran. Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki owes his position to Tehran. He actually lost the election by a single seat, but Tehran forced Muqtada Al Sadr and Hakim, two ardently pro-Iranian party leaders, to go into coalition with Maliki, to prevent Ayad Allawi from becoming Prime Minister. The so-called Erbil Agreement on which this coalition was founded had fourteen clauses, most of which have still not been implemented, leaving huge swathes of power under the direct control of Al Maliki and his Iranian puppet-masters.
The fascist regime in Tehran has begun to panic as the Arab Spring has spread across the Middle East. One of the few supporters of the brutal Assad dictatorship in Syria, Iran tied itself in knots condemning the uprising there, while supporting the uprising in every other country and even sponsoring civil unrest in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, anyone taking to the streets in Tehran to protest at the increasingly corrupt and medieval mullah regime, found themselves under savage attack and almost certain imprisonment, torture and execution.
Even as he plotted to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador in Washington DC, Ahmadinejad smiled for the cameras outside the United Nations in New York, having ordered the release of the two American hitchhikers who had been held for three years in prison, ludicrously charged with spying. He was determined to prove to the world that he was a kind and sympathetic president. Meanwhile, back in Iran a 17 year old boy was hanged in public, while screaming for mercy and crying for his mother. He was one of three teenagers hanged in September, a month in which over 100 people were executed in Iran.
Now, news has leaked out that over 300 prisoners who were condemned to death in mid-September have been transferred to death row in Qezel Hessar prison in preparation for their imminent execution. Many of them are students and protesters who were arrested during the uprisings. This level of barbarism is the fascist regime's response to its rapidly diminishing zone of influence in the Middle East. By creating an atmosphere of terror in Iran it hopes to stem any eruption of popular rage by the restless population.
But as quickly as Iran's influence diminishes in countries like Syria, it becomes ever more determined to strengthen its position in neighbouring Iraq. The fall of Assad will see Iranian efforts to subjugate Iraq redouble. I was in Baghdad in April and saw for myself just how vulnerable that country has become. Baghdad is like an armed camp. It is difficult to see anything other than the rooftops of houses as you drive down streets where every home, shop or office is surrounded by huge, concrete blast-proof walls.
There are bunkers and machine gun posts at every corner. You have to swerve to avoid armoured cars and tanks that rumble down every street. Security is fragile. Assassinations and bombings take place almost daily. There is only 6 hours of electricity per day on average. The economy is stagnant. Corruption is rife. Sectarianism and discrimination against minorities and women is widespread. The Iranian fascists are licking their lips in eager anticipation. Their age-old enemy and neighbour has taken on the semblance of low-hanging fruit, ready to be plucked.
From the Iranian perspective, there is one irritating and challenging obstacle to their geopolitical ambitions....the Mojahedin-E Khalq or MEK. For a country that brooks no opposition, the presence of 3400 determined opponents near the Iranian border in Northern Iraq, is a constant aggravation. Even to support the MEK carries a mandatory death sentence inside Iran. Parents of children in Camp Ashraf have been tortured and executed simply for visiting their kids. The MEK represents everything the mullahs fear: freedom, democracy, respect for human rights, an end to discrimination and an end to oppression.
While the US military was in charge, the Iranian regime had to keep its distance. The US army guaranteed the safety of every resident in Ashraf, but they reneged on their pledge of protection, walked out and allowed the siege of Ashraf to begin. Under close supervision from Tehran, a special committee was created in Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki's office, charged with the task of clearing the camp of its residents.
Two vicious massacres took place in July 2009 and April this year, leading to the deaths of 45 people, with many hundreds injured. In the April attack, two and a half thousand heavily armed Iraqi troops swarmed into Ashraf with trucks and armoured vehicles, shooting indiscriminately and mowing down the unarmed refugees like swatting flies. The Iraqi government then claimed that only 3 people had died after falling under the wheels of military vehicles. When this lie was exposed, they claimed the MEK leadership had shot their own people to try to blame it on the Iraqis.
I myself encountered this crude attempt at misinformation in my meetings with senior government figures in Baghdad, only two weeks after the massacre. I was assured that the human rights and well-being of the Ashraf residents was of primary importance to the Iraqi government and that they were simply determined to exercise their right of sovereignty over Ashraf.
Iraq's concern for human rights is certainly touching. More than 300 loudspeakers were erected around the Ashraf's perimeter fence, almost 3 years ago, blaring death threats and propaganda 24 hours a day ever since, at a deafening decibel level. Basic supplies of food, fuel and medicine are denied access to the camp. Visitors are prohibited. I myself was prevented from visiting the camp in April by the Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari. Two US Congressmen were similarly denied access by Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki in June. Even the 36 people murdered by the Iraqi military in the April massacre lay unburied for weeks, as the Iraqi authorities refused access to the MEK's cemetery.
It was against this background that the UNAMI Representative in Iraq - Ad Melkert - asked me to intervene with the leadership of the MEK in Paris to try to broker a resolution to the crisis and to try to avert what we could all see was a looming humanitarian catastrophe. On my return from Baghdad in April I went straight to Paris and had five hours of talks with Mrs Rajavi, Mohammad Mohadessin and the MEK/NCRI Leadership. What emerged was a proposal to re-settle all 34000 Ashraf residents in the 27 Member States of the EU and other third countries like Norway, Switzerland and Canada. This plan was adopted by the Iraq Delegation, which I Chair in the European Parliament and by the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Baroness Ashton, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, raised the question of the Ashraf crisis in the Foreign Ministers Council meeting in May to a muted response. Unfortunately, our efforts to kick-start the process of re-settlement were seriously undermined by yet another cack-handed intervention by the US State Department, who decided that the 3400 Ashraf residents should be temporarily displaced to a former American military base inside Iraq. This dangerous proposal was firmly rejected by the MEK, but we then had to expend all our energies for more than three months opposing this plan, instead of concentrating on getting the Ashraf refugees out of Iraq.
It wasn't until the Speaker from the Iraqi Parliament - Uthama Al-Nujaifi - came to the European Parliament in July and said that internal displacement of the Ashraf refugees was out of the question, that the proposal was finally abandoned by the State Department and Ambassador Larry Butler found himself internally displaced and replaced by a new diplomat - David Lindwall - who quickly reassured the Ashraf residents that internal displacement inside Iraq was no longer under consideration. However, this hiatus cost us precious time and mindful that the Iraqi Government, under constant pressure from Tehran, had set a deadline for the closure of Ashraf by 31st December this year, the clock was fast ticking towards midnight.
During the summer recess I made three separate trips to Geneva to speak to senior figures in OHCHR and UNHCR, culminating in a meeting with the High Commissioner for Refugees - Antonio Guterres, who assured me that he had written a personal letter to Nouri Al Maliki demanding an extension to the deadline for closing Ashraf. As far as I am aware he has still not received even an acknowledgement to that letter. Mr Guterres told me that if he received individual applications for asylum from each of the 3400 residents in Ashraf, they would immediately fall under the protection of the UN as 'people of concern.' 3400 applications for asylum landed on his desk in Geneva four days later!
UNHCR and UNAMI are now coordinating the process of individually interviewing all of the 3400 Ashraf residents in order that they can be registered as refugees. This is a necessary prerequisite to their re-settlement, particularly in the 27 EU Member States. However, the process of interviewing and registration will take an estimated three and a half months to complete, taking us well past the 31st December deadline set by the Iraqi government and its Iranian sponsors.
In recognition of the seriousness of the situation, Baroness Ashton has appointed Jean De Ruyt as a Special Envoy with responsibility to help resolve the Ashraf crisis. He is an acclaimed Belgian diplomat and is held in high regard in the UN in New York and in the capital cities of Europe. He has a tough job on his hands. To avert a Srebrenica-style annihilation of the Ashraf refugees - which is what Tehran would like to achieve - he has to convince the Iraqi government to give UNHCR and UNAMI more time to complete the registration process and re-settle all of the refugees. I have told him that he can count on every assistance from the European Parliament in his endeavours.
In the words of Winston Churchill: "This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps the end of the beginning." We have got the attention of the world focused on Ashraf. Now, instead of threats, we need some cooperation from the Iraqi government. End the completely unachievable deadline. End the siege. End the psychological torture and tell Ahmadinejad and Khamenei to mind their own business. That way we may secure a peaceful outcome to this crisis, with the re-settlement of the Ashraf refugees and the final closure of this bloody chapter in the history of the Middle East.
STRUAN STEVENSON, MEP
