Hundreds of personalities across the world condemn mullahs' plot against PMOI in Iraq

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 24, 2006

NCRI - The new plot by the mullahs' regime against the PMOI in Ashraf City in Iraq and pressures exerted on the Iraqi government to impose restriction on it has caused international outrage.

Hundreds of Iraqi, European and North American parliamentarians, jurists, and prominent political and cultural personalities, in letters addressed to the Prime Minister of Iraq, Secretary-General of the United Nations, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, US ambassador to Iraq and the commander of Multi-National Forces – Iraq (MNF-I), have called on the Iraqi government to abide by international accords and to guarantee the safety and security of PMOI members in Iraq.

They included: the National Human Rights Organization of Iraq; the Solidarity Congress of the Iraqi People; the Independent Jurists Association of Iraq; the Independent Association of Iraqi Turkmen; Dr. Adnan Al-Dulaimi, head of the Iraqi Accord Front and Secretary General of the Iraqi People's Congress; Ayatollah Seyyed Mohammad al-Moussawi al-Qasimi, the founder of the Islamic Solidarity Party; the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom; Mr. Andrew Mackinlay, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the British House of Commons; Mr. Brian Binley, member of the British House of Commons from the Conservative Party; Mr. Struan Stevenson and Mr. Paulo Casaca, joint Chairs of the Friends of a Free Iran Inter-Parliamentary Group of the European Parliament; Ms. Ingrid Holzhueter, Chair of the Friends of a Free Iran group in Germany and former member of parliament; and the Committee for Democratic Action in France, whose distinguished members include, Mr. Sid Ahmad Ghozali, former Algerian Prime Minister; Senator Jean-Pierre Michel; Mr. Marc Reymann, member of the French National Assembly from the ruling UMP party and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee; Mr. Pascal Terrasse, socialist member of parliament; Mr. Yves Bonnet, former head of the French anti-terrorist police(D.S.T); Ms. Anisa Boumedienne, jurist; Mr. Mario Stasi, former president of the Paris Bar Association; Mr. Alain Vivien, former French government minister; Mr. Francois Colcombet, former member of parliament from the Socialist Party; Mouloud Aounit, Secretary General of the Movement Against Racism and Friendship Among Nations (MRAP); Mr. Gils Paruelle, former president of the Val d'Oise Bar Association; Mr. Jean Ferrat, renowned French singer; Ms. Lucie Aubrac, distinguished member of the French Resistance; Mr. Georges Flecheux, president of the Paris Human Rights Institute.

In their letters and statements, they made it clear that any restrictions on the PMOI’s freedom of speech, assembly, and movement or depriving the residents of Ashraf of their food and medicine rations, fuel and water supply was a clear breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention and International Humanitarian Laws, and constituted a war crime.

On July 21, thousands of supporters of the Iranian Resistance held gatherings in various European cities including Berlin, Düsseldorf, London, Stockholm, Trondheim, Oslo (Norway) and the Hague. Similar gatherings were held in the United States and Canada in Washington D.C., New York, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Ottawa, Montreal and Toronto. The Iranian Resistance supporters condemned the plots by the Iranian regime against the residents of Ashraf City including the bombing of their water pipelines. They called on the Iraqi government and the MNF-I to prevent the mullahs' regime from conspiring against the PMOI who have been living in Iraq as political refugees for the past 20 years.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
July 24, 2006