Iranian Meddling in Iraq an Ominous Threat
The Middles East Times, October 24, 2008
By DAVID DREW, a Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom from the Labour and Cooperative Party ... Regrettably there are reports that the U.S. authorities in Iraq have agreed in principle to hand over security of Ashraf to Iraqi forces despite the Iraqi government's June 17 announcement. Such a handover would itself violate the "Principle of Non-Refoulement," which is enshrined in international law and international humanitarian law.

It would also send all the wrong signals to Tehran which would interpret it as a further sign of U.S. impotence in countering its nefarious outlaw activities in Iraq. Both democratic-minded Sunnis and Shiites would see the handover of Ashraf to the regime's proxies as a sign of U.S. abandonment of its promises of creating a stable and democratic Iraq in which law and order is observed.

The United Nations has condemned Iran on no less than 54 occasions for flagrant human rights abuses, which include the execution of over 120,000 PMOI sympathizers. Handing over the 4,000 brave men and women of Ashraf to the Iraqi administration as Tehran desires is tantamount to sending them to their slaughter – a stain that no U.S. administration should tolerate on its record.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon should now compel the George W. Bush administration not to succumb to Tehran's unlawful demand. Read More

IACNC Rallies Support for Ashraf Residents
The Bulletin, October 22, 2008 United Nations - Demonstrators from the Iranian-American Community of Northern California (IACNC) gathered outside the United Nations on Thursday in a show of support for the Iraqi city of Ashraf.

Situated approximately 22 miles north of Baghdad and approximately 47 miles west of the Iranian border, the Iraqi city is home to 3,500 émigrés who fled the governments of the shah and mullahs in Iran.

Ashraf is the base of the resistance group Mujahedin Khalq (MEK), also known as the People's Mujahedin of Iran. MEK advocates the overthrow of the Iranian regime in power and the establishment of a democratic government in its place and has been labeled as a terrorist group by the Bush administration.

Volunteers from IACNC erected a collage that graphically portrayed the Iranian regime's atrocities - a visceral condemnation of the persecution the supporters of MEK are subjected to.

The demonstrators demanded that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon intervene to insure that: The remaining American forces in Iraq continue to protect the residents of Camp Ashraf; and The removal restrictions to the rights of Ashraf residents as well as their being recognized as political refugees under the aegis of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Read More

Court Chides EU on Blacklist
The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 2008

Europe's second highest court ruled Thursday that the European Union has wrongly blacklisted an Iranian opposition group, adding fuel to accusations the bloc has abused its terrorist list to appease Iran.

The ruling by the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg was the second the court has issued since 2006 ordering the EU to unfreeze the People's Mujahedin Organization of Iran's assets and remove it from the EU list of terrorist groups. The U.S. also designates the PMOI as a terrorist organization.

The PMOI's repeated victories in court cases that challenge its terrorist designation and the EU's avoidance of those rulings has become an embarrassment for the bloc. A group of prominent European lawyers attacked the EU over the issue last month, accusing it of abusing the rule of law.

"If the [European Union] continue to defy this verdict, it will clearly show that from the very first this listing was the result of a deal with the mullahs' regime, and not based on fact," said Miryam Rajavi, who heads the Paris-based National Council for Resistance in Iran, the PMOI's political wing, in a phone interview. Read More

Blacklist Blues
The Washington Times, September 19, 2008 A leading member of the British House of Lords is lobbying Congress to protect a disarmed Iranian opposition force now under U.S. detention in Iraq.

Robin Corbett fears that if U.S. troops withdraw from Iraq and turn over the 3,500 detainees in Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government, pro-Iranian officials in Baghdad will deport many of them, especially the leadership, to Iran and certain death.

"There is a real threat, at least to the leadership," he told Embassy Row on Thursday. "Because of Iranian influence [on the Iraqi government], they will turn over the leaders, and there will be a bloodbath."

Mr. Corbett, chairman of Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, said House and Senate members he met this week told him they share his concerns. His committee includes hundreds of members of the House of Lords and House of Commons from all British political parties. It also includes a former home secretary, former solicitor-general and former lord advocate for Scotland. Read More