Camp Ashraf
Coordinates: 34 ° 4 ′ N , 44 ° 34 ′ E
As Camp Ashraf (also Ashraf City , Arabic معسكر أشرف, DMG Muʿaskar Ašraf ; Persian قرارگاه اشرف Gharargah-e Aschraf ) is a settlement of opposition Iranians in Iraq , whichhas existed since 1986, in Diyala Governorate, al-Chalis district, 60 km northeast of Baghdad and 120 km from the Iranian border. The settlement wasinhabitedby 3534 (as of 2005) People's Mujahedin (MEK), including 1000 women.
origin
After Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini banned the People's Mujahedin in 1981, the MEK went underground. 1986 fled the then leader of the MEK Massoud Rajavi and his followers from Paris to Iraq in order during the first Gulf War against Iranian troops to fight. Camp Ashraf became the People's Mujahedin training camp named after Massoud Rajavi's first wife. Iraq granted the MEK fighters extra-territorial status there .
US-Iraqi Highness
In April 2003, after the end of the war in Iraq , the MEK fighters from Camp Ashraf were disarmed by the US 4th Infantry Division . Around 300 tanks, 250 armored personnel carriers, 250 artillery pieces and 10,000 small arms were confiscated. Since then, the MEK have been treated according to the provisions of the Geneva Convention . Renegade members who criticized the organization's practices and non-democratic actions, or suggested they intended to leave the organization, were held in solitary confinement and beaten for years, Human Rights Watch reports . Since January 1, 2009, the Ashraf camp has been under the control of the Iraqi military, expressly confirmed by the report of the UN Security Council on resolution 1883 (2009) of May 14, 2010.
On July 29th and 30th, 2009 there were serious clashes between Iraqi security forces and the People's Mujahedin in the camp. The bloody battle was triggered by Baghdad's announcement that a police station would be set up here after the American troops had withdrawn. At least 400 people were injured and 11 people were killed. The Iraqi government is reportedly planning to close the camp.
Another incident occurred on April 8, 2011. Depending on the source, between three and eleven residents were killed and 14 to 200 injured after the camp was stormed by Iraqi security forces. On April 14, 2011, the UN confirmed that at least 34 people had been killed. The opposition Iranians are seen by the Shiite-dominated Iraqi government as an obstacle to improving relations between Iraq and Iran. The Iraqi government gave the camp residents until the end of 2011 to disband the camp.
Beginning of the dissolution
In 2012, most residents of Camp Ashraf ins were Camp Liberty transferred, a former US - military base in the northeastern Baghdad.
On September 1, 2013, an incident occurred at Camp Ashraf; A United Nations team found 52 fatalities two days later, most of them with gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, and some with their hands tied. The People's Mujahideen, who also reported seven missing persons, accused the Iraqi army of being responsible. According to the Iraqi army , they and special forces opened fire on the residents after they stormed a post at the camp entrance. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement condemning the "tragic events of Camp Ashraf" and calling on the Iraqi government to "investigate the incidents immediately and publish the results". In September and October 2013, a group of US Senators led by John McCain ( Republican ) and Carl Levin ( Democrat ) sent various letters and messages to the Obama administration calling for pressure to be put on President Nuri al-Maliki , to label Iraq "responsible for the Camp Ashraf massacre and rescue the seven displaced residents". On September 11, 2013, Amnesty International launched an “Urgent Action” to the Iraqi government to protect and rescue the seven hostages. In February 2015, Camp Ashraf was a headquarters for fighters from the Badr organization .
Individual evidence
- ^ German Bundestag, Small Inquiry, Printed Paper 16/13998 (PDF file; 50 kB)
- ↑ Die Zeit online from August 20, 2009 Starving for the People's Mujahedin
- ↑ cfr.org. ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Holly Flechter: mek
- ↑ europarl.europa.eu European Parliament resolution of April 21, 2009
- ↑ The Wall Street Journal, Nov. 29, 2006 Strange Bedfellows
- ↑ hrw.org of May 17, 2005 Armed organization in exile tortures critics
- ↑ aknews.com ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. dated June 26, 2010
- ↑ un.org ( Memento of the original from August 28, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Report Resolution 1883 (2010)
- ↑ Die Zeit online from August 20, 2009 Starving for the People's Mujahedin
- ↑ tagesspiegel.de of July 30, 2010 Iraq storms camp of Iranian exiles
- ↑ Amnesty International Annual Report 2010
- ↑ Spiegel.de of April 8, 2011 Iraqi soldiers kill exiled Iranians
- ↑ Mass grave discovered with 800 dead. In: Der Spiegel . April 14, 2011, accessed October 5, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Isabel Coles and Pravin Char: UN counts 52 corpses after violence at Iranian dissident camp in Iraq. Reuters, September 3, 2013, accessed October 1, 2013 .
- ↑ Reuters, September 1, 2013 [1]
- ↑ PRNewswire, October 9, 2013 [2]
- ↑ Iraq: Seven Iranians abducted from Camp Ashraf [3]
- ↑ Kareem Fahim: Shiite Militia Drives Back Islamic State, but Divides Much of Iraq. In: The New York Times. February 7, 2015, accessed February 8, 2015 .
