Friends of a Free Iran (FoFI) on Delisting of PMOI

Brussels, October 3, 2012 - Following the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK) from the US terrorism list, on Wednesday October 3rd, the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament discussed in a meeting in the European Parliament headquarters in Brussels the consequences of this delisting and next necessary steps that have to be adopted.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian resistance addressed this session that was attended by dozens of MEPs from all political groups and chaired by Struan Stevenson President of European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq. A panel of eminent speakers included Alejo Vidal-Quadras, European Parliament Vice President, Jim Higgins, a member of the European Parliament's Bureau, Günter Verheugen, Vice President of the European Commission (2005-2010), Nele Lijnen, Chair of Belgian Senate's Committee on Equal rights, Marian Harkin MEP, Edit Bauer MEP, Romana Jordan MEP, Filip Kaczmarek MEP; and others. Participants stressed the following points:

USCCAR Condemns UN Cover-up in Iraq, Calls for Swift Investigation Following Revelations by Former Senior UN official

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2012 -- /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) has learnt of shocking revelations made by Mr. Tahar Boumedra, chief of the Human Rights Office for the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), regarding the outrageous cover-up by Ambassador Martin Kobler, the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Representative for Iraq, to deceive the international community about the prison-like conditions at Camp Liberty.

Former UN official's revelations warrant full inquiry into actions of UNAMI in Iraq, says Association of Iranian-Americans in NY & NJ

NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- The recent revelations by Mr. Tahar Boumedra, a senior former UN Human Rights Official, about the actions of the United Nations Secretary General's Special Representative for Iraq, Ambassador Martin Kobler, raise questions as to whether the SGSR possesses the integrity, the competence and veracity to be an impartial arbiter in dealing with the issue of the 3,400 Iranian dissidents in Iraq, residents of Camp Ashraf and the "prison-like" Camp Liberty.

Shock UN Report on Conditions in Camp Liberty, Baghdad

Struan Stevenson, MEP
President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq
July 26, 2012

The publication of a report by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is deeply shocking and an indictment of the Iraqi Government and its treatment of the 2000 refugees in Camp Liberty near Baghdad. The report notes that the residents were subjected to humiliating searches, headcounts and long delays when they transferred from their former home in Camp Ashraf. They were denied personal belongings such as wheelchairs and medicines. They are now being held in appalling conditions with inadequate water, sewage facilities or electricity generation. They are denied the right to leave Camp Liberty, despite their recognised international status as asylum seekers and refugees. Lawyers and politicians have been denied access to Camp Liberty. The UN Working Group describes Camp Liberty as a prison in all but name, which is in direct contradiction to the assurances we have received in the European Parliament from the UN Special Representative in Iraq Martin Kobler and US State Department Ambassador Dan Fried, who have gone out of their way to support the Iraqi Government and criticise the Iranian residents in Ashraf and Liberty.