In Letter to State Department, USCCAR Voices Dismay at US Inaction vis-a-vis Atrocities Against Ashraf Residents

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2010 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In a letter earlier today to Assistant Secretary of State, Jeffrey Feltman, the U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) expressed dismay over the State Department's lack of action to halt the continuing atrocities perpetrated against the residents of Ashraf by Iraqi security forces.

The letter came on the heels of a brutal, unprovoked attack Sunday afternoon by Iraqi forces against members of Iran's main opposition, the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. Dozens of residents were severely wounded, including Mr. Behrouz Mohajer, who sustained chest injuries and is in critical condition.

USCCAR wrote, "It is now abundantly clear that the continued U.S. inaction vis-a-vis this deteriorating situation has further emboldened the committee in the Prime Minister [Nouri al-Maliki's] Office, tasked with the destroying Ashraf, to step up the suppression of the residents."

The letter stressed that the United States' see-no-evil-hear-no-evil attitude toward Ashraf residents, "Protected Persons" under the Fourth Geneva Convention, is in violation of Article 45 of that convention and a clear disregard for the call made by a bi-partisan majority of the U.S. House of Representatives who called "upon the President to take all necessary and appropriate steps to support the commitments of the United States" toward Ashraf residents.  

"It is also contrary to the solemn pledges you personally made in a recent Congressional hearing in response to the expression of concern by senior members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including the outgoing and the incoming chairs of the Committee, over the State Department's ambivalence towards the plight of the residents and the continuing and blatant violation of basic human rights of the residents of Ashraf," the latter added.

USCCAR urged Ambassador Feltman, as the official directly responsible for this portfolio in the State Department "to personally and immediately intervene to bring an end the assaults and the inhuman treatment of the residents of Ashraf, including the round-the-clock deafening barrage of 140 loudspeakers and the persistent deprivation of medical assistance to needy patients at the Camp." USCCAR also called on the United States "to abide by its treaty and international obligations and resume the protection of Camp Ashraf," emphasizing that "urgent action by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is vital for averting another humanitarian catastrophe at Camp Ashraf."

SOURCE US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents