BRITAIN should take action over the applications of vulnerable
Iranian residents of Camp Liberty in Iraq, who are seeking
relocation in this country, an MP said this week.
Dr Matthew Offord, the Conservative MP for Hendon, and a member
of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom, said that
the applicants had previously lived in Britain.
There were currently 3174 people in Camp Liberty, mostly members
of a resistance group, the People's Mojahedeen of Iran (PMOI). The
most recent attack on them, on 1 September, had killed 52 people,
prompting a hunger strike by Iranians, including some living in Dr
Offord's constituency (News, 11 October).
Camp Liberty was "completely unacceptable", Mark Williams MP,
another member of the Parliamentary Committee, said on Wednesday.
"These people cannot realistically go home, so there is an
international obligation there, and this country should play a
part."
Lord Carlisle, who chairs the British Parliamentary Committee
for Iran Freedom, which met at an event on Iran in Church House on
Monday, said: "Illustrating its violent and intolerant approach to
political opposition, the Iranian regime continues to order Iraq's
Maliki government to attack and slaughter Iranian dissidents in
Camps Ashraf and Liberty." He urged the UK Government, the US, and
the UN to press for the immediate release of seven people taken
hostage by the forces of the Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri
al-Maliki.
The Parliamentary Committee issued a statement arguing that the
President of the United States should refuse to meet Mr al-Maliki
until the Iranian residents of Camp Liberty were properly
protected, and the missing seven were released. Mr al-Maliki is due
to meet Mr Obama in Washington today.
Lord Carlisle said that the Government should press for an
independent international commission of inquiry into "the heinous
massacre in Camp Ashraf".
On Wednesday of last week, the General Secretary of the UN, Ban
Ki-Moon, urged member states to offer relocation to these
residents, and to contribute to a trust fund to cover the costs of
the relocation process. Currently, only ten per cent of those in
the camp have received offers of relocation.