As al-Maliki Government Embarks on Disinformation Campaign, 12 Critically Wounded in Camp Ashraf Face Death; U.S. & UN Must Intervene

WASHINGTON, April 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- At least 12 residents of Camp Ashraf, wounded, mostly suffering from severe gunshot and shrapnel injuries, during the Iraqi Army's deadly and unprovoked April 8, 2011 attack on the unarmed residents, will die absent urgent specialized medical care. Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, is home to nearly 3,400 members of Iran's principal opposition, the People's Mojahdein Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), and their families.

The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) calls on President Obama, as well as Secretaries of State and Defense to order the transfer of all of Camp Ashraf's injured residents, the 12 critically wounded in particular, to the U.S. military hospital in the nearby town of Balad. Their families in the United States and Europe will pay for the cost of treatment.

Alternatively, the UN Secretary General, the UN Security Council, High Commissioner for Human Rights, UNSG's Special Representative to Iraq and the EU High Representative should immediately intervene to transfer all the wounded residents to European countries for treatment at the expense of Camp Ashraf residents or their families abroad.

Finally, the U.S., EU and the UN must demand from the Iraqi government to allow unrestricted access of camp's residents to medical services in public hospitals and private clinics in Iraq.

USCCAR reiterates its April 18 demand for a comprehensive, speedy, impartial and fully transparent investigation into the April 8 massacre by a special representative of the UN Security Council.

Absent such investigation and a U.S. and/or UN monitoring team in and around Camp Ashraf, the Iraqi government, borrowing from Tehran's how-to's of whitewash and cover up of crimes against Iran's democratic opposition, has launched a sinister and despicable disinformation campaign to wash its bloody hands off this manifest case of crime against humanity and create a pretext for another attack on the defenseless residents.

USCCAR urgently calls on U.S. and the European Union to press the Iraqi government to allow visits by families of residents to enter Camp Ashraf to be with their loved ones and attend to the wounded. Lawyers of the residents as wells as independent journalists, human rights organizations, and parliamentary delegations must also be allowed into the camp to examine in-situ the events leading to the April 8 attack and its aftermath.

SOURCE U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR)