March 28, 2024

UN human rights office welcomes release of Iranian detainees in Iraq

UN News Center
9 October, 2009
United Nations human rights officials today welcomed the Iraqi Government’s decision to release 36 members of an
Iranian dissident group who had been detained since July when security personnel used force to take control of the camp where they had been staying. Rupert Colville, a spokesperson for the Office of the UN […]

US ambassador tries to allay fears about Iranian dissidents in Iraq

Agence France Press
WASHINGTON — Christopher Hill, the US ambassador to Iraq, sought Thursday to reassure lawmakers who fear for the safety of more than
3,000 Iranian dissidents in a camp in Iraq.
Hill, testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said the US government would work to ensure that 36 People’s Mujahedeen
members arrested after a […]

Going, Ready or Not

By Mohammed Hussein
New York Times
BAGHDAD– The withdrawal of American forces from Iraqi city centers is a remarkable moment in Iraq’s modern history. The Iraqi government publicly celebrated that event as never before, linking it to the 1920 revolution against British forces in Iraq, and describing it as “the day of victory.”
But Iraqis have their worries: […]

Editorial: Camp Ashraf

In a letter to a British parliamentarian last month, a senior State Department official insisted that the United States was “doing its utmost” to ensure that Iraq’s government would treat 3,400 Iranian exiles living at Camp Ashraf in eastern Iraq “humanely.” Two weeks later, a clash between the exiles and Iraqi police left 11 Iranians […]

Iranian Dissidents’ Fate in Iraq Shows Limits of U.S. Sway

By Mark Mazzetti and Mark Landler
New York Times
WASHINGTON — Last September, Gen. David H. Petraeus told reporters in Baghdad that the United States had been assured by the Iraqi government that the 3,400 Iranian dissidents in a camp in eastern Iraq would continue to be protected after the Americans turned over responsibility for the camp […]

Eight reported killed as Iraqi forces attack Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf

29 July 2009
Eight people are reported to have been killed and up to 400 injured after Iraqi forces attacked
unarmed Iranian residents of Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, on Tuesday. Amnesty International
has called on the Iraqi government to investigate the apparent excessive use of force by its security
forces.
Hundreds of armed security forces used bulldozers to force […]

Iraqi Police Crack Down on Opposition Camp

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service

BAGHDAD, July 24 — Iraqi police officers and soldiers on Tuesday raided a camp near Baghdad that is home to an Iranian opposition group that has supplied intelligence information to U.S. forces but that has long been an irritant to Iran.
Officers used batons, hoses, pepper spray and sound grenades during […]

Iraq Accuses Iranian Exiles of Plotting Attack

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Foreign Service
BAGHDAD, Jan. 20 — The Iraqi government this week accused an Iranian opposition group of planning a suicide attack against Iraqi troops, a possible prelude to decisive government action to close the group’s camp in Iraq and expel its members.
The Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or MEK, on Tuesday denied Iraqi national security […]

Iran Watch – December 29, 2008

[spoiler title=”UN General Assembly condemns rights abuses in Iran”]
December 19, 2008
Iran Focus
London, Dec. 19 – The United Nations General Assembly accused Iran on Thursday of continuing the practice of torture and punishments such as flogging, stoning and amputation of limbs. The UNGA adopted a Canadian-sponsored resolution by a vote of 69 in favour to 54 […]

US Says Iraq Won’t Force Rebel Group Back to Iran

By David Gollust
Washington
Voice of America
The State Department said Wednesday that Iraq has assured the United States it will not forcibly repatriate members of an Iranian rebel group that has been based in Iraq since the Saddam Hussein era. The status of about 3,500 members of the Iranian exile group, the Mujaheddin-e Khalq, or […]