UN calls for human rights observers into Iraq's Ashraf Camp

UN calls for human rights observers into Iraq's Ashraf Camp

2011-04-13 04:48:56 GMT+7 (ICT)

UNITED NATIONS (BNO NEWS) -- The United Nations human rights office on Tuesday called for independent observers to be allowed into Iraq's Ashraf Camp where several exiled Iranians reside.

Last Friday, Iraqi security forces reportedly attacked the camp, located in Diyala Governorate, northeastern Iraq. Three Iranians, members of the exiled People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI), were killed in the clashes.

Iraq said that the attack was in response to rock-throwing and threats from some camp residents. The Ashraf Camp is home to several thousand members of the PMOI, also known as Mujahedin-e Khalq.

Rupert Colville, spokesman for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), said that the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) has still not been allowed to enter the camp to independently verify the allegations of serious rights violations.

"While the situation appears to have calmed down, it remains urgent that independent observers are allowed immediate access to the camp in order to establish the truth of the matter," said Colville.

Following the attack, UNAMI requested the deployment of a humanitarian monitoring mission inside the camp to control the situation and ensure that health care is provided to victims and human rights respected.

The Iranian exiled group established in Diyala's Camp Ashraf in the 1980's during the Iran-Iraq war. The organization was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States in 1997 and by the European Union in 2002.

However, after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that ended Saddam Hussein's regime, the Mujahideen-e-Khalq group was removed from the EU's list of terrorist organizations in 2009.

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