Iranians in Camp Liberty must be moved to safety, former UN envoy demands

Former UNAMI human rights chief Tahar Boumedra

The 3,000 Iranian dissidents residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq under daily threat of attack should be urgently moved to safe countries, former United Nations human rights envoy in Iraq Taher Boumedra has demanded.
He also accused the UN of covering up the prison-like conditions of the camp near Baghdad airport, where Iranian dissidents are denied access to basic medical services and water and subjected to daily abuse by their Iraqi guards.
Mr Boumedra was speaking at a conference entitled 'Iran-Human Rights-Western Policy, Urgent Action for Residents of Camp Liberty' held by the Friends of a Free Iran (FOFI) groups in Nordic countries at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.
The same Iranian opposition, members and supporters of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), were also attacked repeatedly before they were moved from Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, Mr Boumedra said.
He added: 'In April of 2011, the Ashrafis were attacked, 36 were killed and a large number of people were injured. I led the fact finding mission to Camp Ashraf and I did the body count and I reported accordingly.
'UNAMI prevented me from making the report public. I had to send it to Geneva in an irregular way in order to give them the chance to make it public, and I was always being reminded that I have to always report positively.
'Reporting positively means covering up, don't say what you observe on the ground. People were killed, attacked repeatedly, an embargo was imposed on them, access to medical services was denied, access to water was denied, and yet we were supposed to report positively.
'When it came to moving the residents of Camp Ashraf to Camp Liberty, here again, I was the first person to visit Camp Liberty and I reported that Camp Liberty was a center of detention.'
And he accused former UN envoy to Iraq Martin Kobler of doctoring reports and and pictures to convince both the international community and the residents of Camp Ashraf that Camp Liberty was acceptable.
He added: 'We lied to our institution, we lied to the residents of Camp Ashraf and we lied to the international community. And we have reports, special reports that Camp Liberty is very vulnerable to attacks. And yet, we made the international community to believe that they are only going there for six months.
'My fear is that the longer they stay at Camp Liberty, there will be more attacks. The Iraqis are nor hiding this intention, they are making it public. They will attack them and I was personally told at the prime Minister's office that they will eventually be annihilated if they don't leave Iraq.
'I would like you to understand that every day that these people stay in Liberty, their lives are exposed to very serious danger.
'I think the solution is achievable and affordable. It is not something that needs very special effort, it is a small population of less than 3,000 people now. So, those who really care about human rights should do their best to offer them resettlement places.'
The conference on February 24 was also attended by Iranian Resistance president-elect Maryam Rajavi, Geir Haarde, former Prime Minister of Iceland, Patrick Kennedy, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1995-2011), and and politicians from Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark.