Blog by Tahar Boumedra
The Iranian opposition exiles residing in Camp Ashraf in the Diyala Province North of Baghdad were forcibly relocated to Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport in the course of 2012. Based on an agreement between the Government of Iraq (GoI), the UN, the US and the residents’ representatives, the GoI authorized 100 residents to remain in Camp Ashraf as caretakers of the properties left behind while lawyers are working on a settlement.
On first of September 2013, the Iraqi security forces attacked Camp Ashraf, killed (52) residents, abducted seven (7) and used explosives to blow up buildings and vehicles. Then the Iraqi Prime Minister made a statement stating that his government knew nothing about what happened in Camp Ashraf.
Those who know the security setting in and around Camp Ashraf, particularly UNAMI, UNHCR and the American Embassy in Baghdad, would agree with me that it is impossible for any element to penetrate Camp Ashraf without the direct involvement of the Iraqi security apparatus. The headquarter of the Rapid Deployment Force (RDF) in Ashraf and the 36th brigade of the 5th mechanized infantry division are based at the east gate (Lions’ Gate); the 19th mechanized infantry brigade of the 5th division is based in the north of the Camp at ex-FOB Grizzly; the 3rd Company of the RDF is in the north of the crossing point of the 100 and 400 streets. This heavy military presence constitutes the outer security ring. A unit of the Diyala Province police force stationed inside the Camp near the residential area at the water purification plant constitutes the inner security ring; in addition to the watch towers built around the Camp (south, east and west and along the berm erected by the Iraqi army after the 8 April 2013 attack that runs north in parallel of the 100 street from east to west).
With this security setting, it is impossible for a group of assailants to reach Ashraf, enter the camp, spend enough time to chase and kill 52 people, use explosive to blow up building and vehicles and abduct seven (six women and one man), drive them out of the camp passing once again through two security rings of different security forces without being detected. The UN agencies and diplomats in Baghdad are just too familiar with this pattern of conduct of the Prime Minister’s Office and the so-called Ashraf Committee in charge of closing the Camp and expelling its residents.
In a similar attack on 8 April 2011, I personally followed the events hour by hour and alerted the Iraqi authorities and the international community. While the onslaught was still ongoing, I went on Friday morning of 8 April, together with the then Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, to the residence of the National Security Advisor (NSA), Faleh Fayyadh. I urged him to immediately give the order to stop the massacre. He denied any incident taking place in Ashraf while he turned down my request to visit Camp Ashraf on a fact-finding mission on the same day. However, on 13 April 2011, I managed to take a UNAMI team to Ashraf composed of UNAMI Chief Physician, the Chief of the Humanitarian Services, a photographer and the military advisors. Before entering the Camp, I met the Iraqi doctor in Charge of Ashraf Hospital and asked him to brief me on the situation. He too denied that an attack took place. He only admitted the case of three persons accidentally injured and dispatched by his services to Ba’quba Hospital. When I returned to Baghdad, I reported to the Iraqi Cabinet of the Prime Minister the findings of the mission: the fact-finding mission counted 28 bodies in Ashraf, 6 bodies in Ba’quba and Baghdad Hospitals and hundreds of injured located in Ashraf, Ba’quba, Balad (American Military Hospital) and Baghdad. After presenting my report to the Prime Minister’s Cabinet in the presence of Ambassador Lawrence Butler, the American diplomat in charge of Ashraf file at the US Embassy in Baghdad and Political Advisor to the General Commander of the American Army in Iraq, Faleh Fayyadh, the Iraqi NSA, refused the request for an independent inquiry. My personal interaction with the Iraqi officers on the ground and in Baghdad as well as my interaction with the US Forces in Ashraf and Baghdad left no doubt that the 8 April 2011 was a premeditated attack organized by the Ashraf Committee of the Prime Minister Office. Later on, the Iraqi authorities admitted the massacre and justified it by the lack of cooperation of Ashraf residents. UNAMI did not see any interest in following up the matter.
I had to send the report about the massacre of 8 April 2011 to Geneva in irregular manner because I was not able to send it through the regular channel. That means if I had not taken that initiative, the international community would have never found out about that massacre.
I had witnessed similar conduct during the 28/29 July 2009 attack, when PM al-Maliki’s forces killed 11 and abducted 36 residents and disclaimed responsibility.
It is an insult to the intelligence of the international community to hear the Iraqi authorities in charge saying we do not know who attacked Ashraf on the 1st of September. It is also absurd to hear the Spokesperson of the High Commissioner for Human Rights commenting on the abduction of 7 residents saying “If they have indeed been kidnapped”. This phrase is not innocent, not to say malicious. It casts doubt on the facts and reinforces PM al-Malik’s statement intended to direct the responsibility away from the GoI. As a former representative of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Iraq, I would say Mr. Rupert’s statement is either a misrepresentation of the facts dictated by political expediency or is due to a breakdown in communication with Baghdad, which is highly unlikely.
It is a well-documented pattern of conduct of the Iraqi security apparatus. Those who monitor the situation in Ashraf and in Iraqi prisons are acquainted with it. Unfortunately, the international community complaisantly tend to believe the Iraqi Government’s misleading allegations, choosing instead to play the role of an ostrich burying its head in the “dirt” while protected persons are summarily tortured, executed and taken hostages.
The world silence on the fate of the seven hostages and the direct role of the Government of Iraq in the September 1st massacre cannot be explained except by political expediency. While, realpolitik may explain the silence of certain governments, such consideration by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights is unacceptable.
The UN needs to urgently take the necessary measures to salvage its integrity regarding the case of the Iranian exiles in Iraq. This could only be achieved through the establishment of a truly independent and impartial commission of inquiry to probe into the extra-judicial killings and abductions that took place in Ashraf. The UNHCR needs to expeditiously adjudicate the pending refugee status determination cases before it, regardless of any political consideration. The international community, particularly states members of the former Multi-National Forces in Iraq, needs to come forward to assist the UNHCR by offering settlement places.
Tahar Boumedra was chief of the Human Rights Office of United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), and adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General (SRSG) on Camp Ashraf affairs from 2009 until 2012.
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