Strasbourg, 01/10/2013 (Agence Europe) - “I'm an Ashrafian.” Paraphrasing the words spoken by his uncle, John F. Kennedy, in Berlin in June 1963, US senator Patrick Kennedy expressed his solidarity with the National Committee of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) the president of which, Maryam Rajavi, was present at the Council of Europe on Monday 30 September.
Invited on the sidelines of the plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Rajavai spoke at length of the massacre of 52 members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) and the detention of seven others, including six women. The massacre took place in camp Ashraf in Iraq on 1 September, and it would appear that those taken prisoner are being held not far from Baghdad under the constant threat of extradition to Iran, and effectively their death sentence.
The purpose of the intervention was clearly to shake up the international bodies - the United Nations (UN), the United States, the European Union and the Council of Europe - to push them to impose sanctions on Iraq and Iran. A decision to take such a step would seem to be particularly complex at a time when relations with Iran appearto be warming. The handshake between French President François Hollande and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani, and the telephone conversation between Rouhani and Barack Obama are of concern to many who took part in the hearing, whether they are members of the NCRI, PACE or external speakers. “The French and US heads of state will, of course, not let themselves be fooled”, said the Socialist mayor of Magny-en-Vexin, Jean-Pierre Muller, who was invited to Strasbourg, “but the media images suggest that Iran is changing and that this president is different from his predecessor yet nothing has changed in the day-to-day reality and its unimaginable horror”. “The Iranian government is vulnerable”, stated Rajavi. “It now has to face the discontent of its people and it knows that everythig could change. It knows it is vital to destroy oll organised oppostition; and it has clearly put pressure on the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, whose government is extremely fragile, to order the Ashraf massacre.” For the West to “look on and say nothing is tantamount to approving the crime”, she said. She called for official condemnation of what took place, sanctions to be put in place, a team of observers to be sent to those held prisoner, a guarantee that they will not be extradited to Iran and UN protection for another Iraqi camp, Camp Liberty, where almost 3,000 opponents of the Iranian regime are living with no protection.
The call was heard by those PACE members present, who all promised to put pressure on their respective parliaments, British, Spanish, Swiss and Finnish. “It is the international community's responsibility to take a firm stance towards the Iraqi government and to state zero tolerance towards atrocities”, said Spanish Liberal Jordi Xucia. “Protection must be expressed in action”, (our translation throughout) he added. A promise was also given that everything would be done so that the Council of Europe, too, would act. (VL/transl.fl)