Condemn Camp Ashraf Massacre

United in Violence and Illegitimacy

On April 8, 2011, the Iraqi government attacked Camp Ashraf, where a group of Iranian dissidents (Mojahedin-e Khalq of Iran) have been staying since 1980s. The U.S. occupying forces assumed the responsibility of first disarming and then protecting the people staying at Camp Ashraf when the U.S. forces invaded Iraq in 2003. Under the agreements reached between the U.S. and the Iraqi government, Camp Ashraf was supposed to be protected, in agreement with U.N. refugee agency policies regulating such cases. Camp Ashraf came under a similar attack previously, in June 2009.

Amnesty International Calls for Investigation into Camp Ashraf Attack
April 9, 2011

Take Action For Ashraf Resident!

Amnesty International, April 8, 2011 - The Iraqi authorities must immediately launch an independent investigation into reports that Iraqi troops killed and injured residents of a camp for Iranian exiles north of Baghdad in an unprovoked attack, Amnesty International said today.

“Iraqi troops moved into the camp this morning and used excessive force against residents who tried to resist them, according to the information we have received,” said Malcolm Smart, Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.

“This is the latest of a series of violent actions that the Iraqi government has taken against the Camp Ashraf residents, whose continuing presence in Iraq they oppose.”

Clashes broke out this morning after Iraqi security forces took up positions in the camp using armoured personnel carriers and, apparently, live fire against residents who tried to resist them, resulting in multiple deaths and injuries. As yet, the number of casualties cannot be independently verified.

The camp in Diyala province around 60 km north of Baghdad is home to some 3,400 Iranian exiles and refugees, including members and supporters of the banned Iranian opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI).

Read the complete report here ...

RELATED:

1) See a chronology of the bloody massacre here ...

2) NYT: Iraq Blocks U.S. Aid to Camp of Iranian Exiles After Clash (April 9, 2011)