A DEADLY attack on Camp Liberty, the home of 3000 Iranian exiles
in Iraq, was condemned as a "despicable act of violence" by the UN
High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, on Saturday.
Mr Guterres condemned the mortar attack, which reportedly killed
six and wounded dozens, and called on the Iraqi government to
guarantee the security of the camp's residents and bring the
perpetrators to justice. He emphasised that the residents were
asylum-seekers and entitled to international protection.
The residents of Camp Liberty - members of the People's
Mujahedin Organisation of Iran, which opposes the Iranian
government - were relocated from Camp Ashraf, their home for 26
years, last year (
News, 24 February). On Saturday, the National Council of
Resistance in Iran called on the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon,
to return the residents to Ashraf immediately. It has warned that
Camp Liberty is vulnerable to attack. Demonstrators protested
outside the US embassy on London on Saturday to call on the US
government to aid the transfer.
Lord Carlile, on behalf of the British Parliamentary Committee
for Iran Freedom, called on the UK Government to bring the matter
to the UN Security Council: "It is time for weakness to cease in
the diplomatic approach to Camp Liberty."