USA: Protesters gather near the United Nations to call for the protection of Iranian refugees inside Iraq

Record ID: 346272

  • Title: USA: Protesters gather near the United Nations to call for the protection of Iranian refugees inside Iraq
  • Date: 16th December 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) HAMID AZIMI, PROTESTER, SAYING: "We are here to raise awareness while the Security Council meeting is happening at the United Nations about the fate of the Iranian refugees of Camp Ashraf, Iraq. These are 3,400 people who have been given protected status based on the Fourth Geneva Convention, but after the SOFA agreement between the United States and the Iraqi government, they have been left under siege and the Maliki government has had that camp under siege for two years now." PEOPLE DRESSED AS PRISONERS PROTESTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) MOSAYYED JALALAI, PROTESTER, SAYING: "Ashraf is 3,400 refugees. They are in a refugee camp. They have to support them. They have to protect them. Right now, they don't do anything." NASRIN SAIFI PROTESTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) NASRIN SAIFI, PROTESTER, SAYING: "The protection of that camp has to be turned over to the United States and the U.N. And the reason is that during this eleven months, these people have been under torture and this is basically killing them everyday with not letting any food, any medication get in. Like my friend Mehdi who died could have been saved today. And in 2010, this shouldn't happen." SIGN SHOWING PICTURE OF MEHDI FATHL MEMORIAL WITH PHOTO AND CANDLES FOR MEHDI FATHL (SOUNDBITE) (English) NASRIN SAIFI, PROTESTER, SAYING: "That's why I'm here. I came here all the way from California. I just got here and I'm going back, but I had to be here for the world to hear my voice." PROTESTERS WOMAN HOLDING SIGN READING "MR. BIDEN REMOVE THE BLOCKADE FROM ASHRAF NOW!" MORE PROTESTERS UNITED NATIONS BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 31st December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa, Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVADCL929SON2S9B1MPJ9GR568A8
  • Story Text: Protesters gathered near the United Nations on Wednesday (December 15) to call for the protection of Iranian refugees living in Iraq.
    About two hundred protesters came together on a cold and windy day in New York to demand help for about 3,400 people living in Camp Ashraf north of Baghdad, Iraq. The protest coincided with a meeting of the United Nations Security Council about Iraq. The Security Council meeting was presided over by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden.
    "We are here to raise awareness while the Security Council meeting is happening at the United Nations about the fate of the Iranian refugees of Camp Ashraf, Iraq. These are 3,400 people who have been given protected status based on the Fourth Geneva Convention, but after the SOFA agreement between the United States and the Iraqi government, they have been left under siege and the Maliki government has had that camp under siege for two years now," said Hamid Azimi, who represented the Iranian-American Community of Northern California.
    The refugee camp had been protected by the U.S. military until it was formally transferred to Iraqi jurisdiction on January 1, 2009 under a bilateral security pact, called the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) which required the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraqi cities.
    The protesters said they want security of Ashraf to be transferred back to U.S. forces and a permanent U.N. monitoring team put in place to help protect the refugees. The protesters said the Iraqi government will not protect the refugees.
    "Ashraf is 3,400 refugees. They are in a refugee camp. They have to support them. They have to protect them. Right now, they don't do anything," said Mosayyeb Jalalai, who also traveled from California to protest dressed as a political prisoner.
    The protesters accused the Iraqi government of installing 140 loudspeakers outside Ashraf this year and using them to threaten the residents with torture and death. The protesters also accused Iraq of refusing to allow food and medical treatment to reach Camp Ashraf.
    "The protection of that camp has to be turned over to the United States and the U.N. And the reason is that during this eleven months, these people have been under torture and this is basically killing them everyday with not letting any food, any medication get in. Like my friend Mehdi who died could have been saved today. And in 2010, this shouldn't happen," said Nasrin Saifi, who said she has a cousin and many friends living in Ashraf.
    Mehdi Fathi was a resident of Ashraf. He died of kidney cancer on December 10, 2010. The protesters said the Iraqi government refused to allow Fathi to travel to a hospital outside of the camp.
    "That's why I'm here. I came here all the way from California. I just got here and I'm going back, but I had to be here for the world to hear my voice," added Saifi.
    For the past 20 years, Ashraf has been home to thousands of members of the People's Mujahideen Organisation of Iran (PMOI), a guerrilla movement opposed to the Iranian government. It sided with the toppled Iraqi dictator, a Sunni Muslim, during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s but has denied helping Saddam Hussein to crack down on long-oppressed majority Shi'ites and ethnic Kurds.
    Iran, Iraq and the United States consider the PMOI a terrorist organization and Iraq said it wants the Iranian opposition exiles based at Camp Ashraf to leave the country.
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