Iraqi forces impose new medical access restrictions on Camp Liberty Iranians

                  

In a new anti-human restriction by Iraqi forces Camp Liberty patients may only refer to one hospital on any given day

In blatant violation of humanitarian standards, UNAMI agents are calling on the residents to adjust themselves to this tyrannical restriction and each day concur with each other as to who should be omitted from going to the hospital

The criminal medical blockade has taken on added dangerous dimensions with the systematic imposition of a new tyrannical restriction. In addition to all the previous restrictions and the daily hurdles in the transfer of patients to the hospital, it is a while now that Iraqi forces only take the patients to one hospital. As such, everyday, a number of patients who are suffering from refractory ailments miss their urgent medical appointments with specialists and thus their conditions deteriorate further.

On Wednesday, October 15, the Iraqi agents not only forced the patients to change their interpreters and nurses three times, but stalled the patients at camp’s gate for 1.5 hours and prevented the transfer of one of the patients about to lose his sight to an eye hospital. A long time ago and only after great difficulty, this patient had acquired this medical appointment from this hospital and the specialist. However, the Iraqi agents prevented the patient from going to the hospital on the pretext that patients may only refer to one hospital and thus practically cancelled his appointment. Similarly last week, the Iraqi agents had prevented this patient from going to the hospital. His physician was to inject a special drug into his eye yesterday. If this injection is not made, he will lose his sight. Since a few days ago, prior coordination had been made with UNAMI on the transfer of this patient, as well as the other patients, to two hospitals.

Despite the fact that the issue of transfer of patients to two hospitals had been brought up with UNAMI many times in the past weeks, on October 15, the monitors associated with the UNAMI Human Rights section astonishingly advised the patients and called on the residents to accept the new tyrannical restrictions by the Iraqi side. They advised that the residents should adjust themselves and decide on any given day who would go to the hospital and who would not. This is blatant violation of human rights and humanitarian standards and in practice is collaboration with criminals that have so far tormented to death 21 patients. UNAMI’s suggestion on accepting this restriction means that the residents have to wait for months for a patient on the verge of losing his sight or for a cancer patient that is struggling for his life to get to his turn to go to the hospital. And even then, they have to deal with the hampering and intentional delays introduced by the Iraqi forces.

In yet another anti-human measure on Thursday, October 16, the Iraqi forces prevented a special stationary bicycle used by the disabled for physiotherapy to be brought inside the camp and returned it.
The Iranian Resistance calls on the Security Council, the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the High Commissioner for Refugees, and other pertinent UN bodies to be vocal regarding the criminal siege of Ashraf and Liberty residents that has continued for six years, in particular the anti-human medical blockade, and to compel the Iraqi government to live up to its commitments and to prevent the UNAMI Human Rights apparatus from going along or coordinating for this siege that ends up in tormenting the patients to death. The United Nations and the U.S. government have repeatedly and in writing committed themselves to Liberty residents’ well-being and security and this had been the precondition in the transfer of Ashraf resident to Camp Liberty.