| Submit your comments on this article |
| Iraq |
| MPs slam govt. decision to move Camp Ashraf to Baghdad |
| 2009-12-27 |
| BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two lawmakers from two different blocs severely criticized the Iraqi government’s decision to move Camp Ashraf of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) to the Iraqi capital Baghdad while a third termed anti-Iran group as “undesirable”. Taha al-Leheibi, the leader of the Iraqi Democratic Grouping, called in statements to Aswat al-Iraq news agency on “the Iraqi government to deal with the PMOI members as humans and in accordance with the principles of human rights and relevant international covenants”. The government’s official spokesman, Ali al-Dabbagh, had said that the government would move the Camp Ashraf, which houses the PMO refugees, from the province of Diala, 57 km northeast of Baghdad, to the Iraqi capital on December 15. Leheibi noted that the step aims to “keep the PMOI members from the Iranian territories as the Iraqi government believes they pose a threat to Iran”. He noted that the Iraqi government has even started to block entry of pharmaceuticals and medical doctors into the camp. Iraqi security forces had entered Camp Ashraf in Diala on July 28, 2009 in order to wield control over it. Clashes occurred between the Iraqi troops and the camp residents, leaving seven killed and 400 others wounded while two Iraqi soldiers were killed. |
| Posted by:Steve White |