Hossein Abedini 2013-05-22T11:15:30-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/author/index.php?author=hossein-abedini Copyright 2008, HuffingtonPost.com, Inc. HuffingtonPost Blogger Feed for Hossein Abedini Good old fashioned elbow grease. Time for Accountability for the Iranian Regime's Leaders tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.2114560 2012-11-11T16:02:47-05:00 2012-11-12T09:53:44-05:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/ Sattar Beheshti, 35, has sparked international condemnation but not nearly enough has been done to pressure the regime from carrying out further such barbaric acts.

Mr Beheshti was arrested only eight days before his death. The agents of the Iranian regime's Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) raided his home on October 30 under the name of Internet Control Police. They arrested him without specifying any charges and took him to an undisclosed location.

The charge against Mr Beheshti, who was also detained during the student uprising of 1999 in Tehran, is not a secret. He was one of the millions who dream about a free and democratic Iran. And they see the religious fascism as the true obstacle to realising this dream.

Unfortunately, Mr Beheshti will not be the last victim of the regime's brutality.

On November 8, five prisoners were hanged in the city of Shiraz. One day earlier fifteen prisoners were hanged in the cities of Tehran, Shiraz, and Zarand.

Since October 22, six mass executions have been carried out. Thirteen prisoners were executed in Gohardasht Prison on October 22 and 23, three in Ghazvin on October 24, and eight in Evin Prison on October 31.

The number of executions during the past three weeks is at least 45. At least 383 individuals have been executed, many in public, since the beginning of 2012. In another alarming development the regime is trying to speed up the execution of 1,000 prisoners on death row by setting up a death panel in Gohardasht Prison.

These statistics are based on the regime's own public announcements. The real number is far greater.

Many political prisoners are executed under the bogus guise of drug dealers.

In fact the growing domestic repression is a déjà-vu. During the three first years following the 1979 revolution, Khomeini implemented his backward vision of the Absolute Rule of the Clergy using a savage crackdown against peaceful popular dissent by organised political parties with grassroots support.

He wanted to silence the voices of freedom and eliminate the advocates of popular rule and the rule of law. Three decades after the mullahs consolidated power in Iran the mass executions, mistreatment and torture of political prisoners until death have not stopped for even one day. The result is the killing of 120,000 political prisoners and the murder of dissidents inside and outside the country.

Today, the regime is faced with harsh sanctions and economic collapse amid an intensifying internal power struggle.

But the religious fascism is convinced that the only threat to its reign of terror comes from the Iranian people and organised resistance. And so it resorts to increased repression and spread of mass executions at a time when it is most weak.

It hopes to prevent a re-emergence of the nationwide popular uprisings with chants of 'down with the dictator after the sham 2009 election.

Today, the regime's systematic violation of human rights has fallen in the shadows as the international community tries to pressure the regime to abandon its nuclear weapons program.

That should change; it is time for accountability for the leaders of the Iranian regime and all those individuals responsible for torture and executions in Iran.

The UK, the European Union and the United States must raise the case of the Iranian regime's systematic human rights violations at the UN Security Council and demand comprehensive sanctions and prosecution of the regime's leaders for crimes against humanity.

The Iranian people will not stay silent and will continue their protests even in the face of growing executions. The question is whether the international community will find the political resolve to follow their lead.]]> Democratic Change, the Only Viable Option for Iran tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1957477 2012-10-11T09:04:24-04:00 2012-10-12T11:27:34-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/
The historic rulings in the US courts in favour of the PMOI's petition and granting a subsequent Writ of Mandamus setting aside the FTO-designation were the real reason behind Mrs Clinton's decision.

The legal struggle against the unjust terror label imposed on the PMOI began many years ago in the UK and continued for eight years. Finally, through the suffering of the Iranian nation, the sacrifice and unrelenting round-the-clock efforts of members and sympathisers of the Iranian Resistance as well as unsparing support by an unprecedented bi-partisan front of parliamentarians, former US state officials and human rights personalities across the globe, the PMOI succeeded in crushing the terrorist label in its birthplace, the United States.

Following the delisting decision, on October 3, 2012, the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament discussed the consequences of this delisting and the next necessary steps that have to be adopted.


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Oct. 03, 2012, Meeting in the European Parliament, Brussels. From left to right, Romana Jordan, MEP, Nele Lijnen, Chair of Belgium Senate Advisory Committee for Equal Opportunities, Struan Stevenson, MEP, President of the EP Delegation for Relations with Iraq, Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, Vice-President of European Parliament, Tunne Kelam, MEP, Gunter Verheugen, former Vice-President of European Commission, Jim Higgins, MEP, Member of Bureau of the European Parliament.



The president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) Mrs Maryam Rajavi was the keynote speaker at the meeting. In her speech, Mrs Rajavi said,
"Eight years ago, I said here, from the West, we seek neither money, nor weapons. We only want the West to be neutral between the Iranian people and the Resistance on the one hand and the ruling regime on the other. I said that we and our nation have the necessary wherewithal to bring change to Iran and if external obstacles, especially the terrorist designation, are removed, the third option, namely change by the Iranian people and Resistance will become reality...now, I have again come to the seat of European democracy to say, now that after the removal of this label in the UK, the European Union and France, this designation has also been revoked in the US, our people and Resistance's message is that from the West, we seek neither money, nor weapons. We only seek a definitive end to the policy of appeasement with the criminal rulers of Iran and the recognition of the Iranian people's resistance against religious fascism and for freedom and democracy."


This step is indispensable and the sole satisfactory answer to the clerical rulers who are striving for nuclear weapons. In itself, it is the true answer to terrorism, fundamentalism and a regime which, as the primary supporter and partner of Bashar Al-Assad, is directing the daily massacres in Syria.

Mrs Rajavi added,
"My message is that by learning from the past, do not allow the mullahs to again prevent the adoption of correct and imperative policy and do not allow the mullahs to succeed in steering the West toward a policy that serves the interests of the religious dictatorship...Whether seeking to remedy its disastrous mistakes, which were to the detriment of the Iranian people, or whether attempting to preserve global peace and security, you must respect the desire of the Iranian people for regime change. Time is running out and the international community cannot waste another eight years."


There is no doubt that the Iranian people and their Resistance movement will bring down the regime of velayat-e faqih (Absolute Rule by the Clergy) in Iran. Nevertheless, European and US policy could impede or expedite this trend.

For this reason, the recognition of the National Council of Resistance of Iran that holds the key to change in Iran is of the essence as never before. Any delay would exact an even greater price from the Iranian people and world peace and security later on.

The NCRI wants a free Iran committed to the provisions of the UN Charter, where people's vote has primacy, a republic based on separation of church and state, gender equality, peace and friendship with regional countries and a non-nuclear Iran.

In the new era, which began with the revocation of the PMOI's terrorist designation in the United States, the adoption of a new policy by the European Union and the US vis-à-vis the Iranian regime is an inevitable imperative.

Thus, the Iranian people and their Resistance urge EU and US leaders, especially EU Foreign Policy Chief, Baroness Ashton, and Secretary Clinton to pursue a policy that would:

First, halt any appeasement of or concessions to the religious dictatorship ruling Iran;

Second, safeguard the rights, security and protection of the residents of Ashraf and Liberty; and

Third, recognize the Iranian people's Resistance movement.]]> Time to Empower Iranian and Syrian Resistance tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1459761 2012-04-27T14:43:26-04:00 2012-04-30T06:27:59-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/ conference in Paris last Thursday to coordinate their efforts in finding a very much-needed solution to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. It is obvious that the Syrian dictator has only one answer to the democratic demands of its people - brutal repression. The atrocities unfolding in the city of Homs and other Syrian cities are justified by Assad under the pretext of "fighting terrorists and armed groups'', demonising propaganda campaign directed by the Syrian state-owned media and news agencies.

The regime's message to the people is viciously clear; anyone challenging the supremacy of Assad's rule over Syria is a terrorist.

In a decade minted by the 'War on Terror', the attentive use of the word is just another dimension of the Syrian regime's repressive campaign against the legitimate popular opposition.

The terrorist labelling is a carefully prepared choice serving two essential strategic purposes. The first is to provide a "tolerable" and widely-accepted cover for the use of disproportionate violence against civilians. The second is to breed suspicion around Syrian opposition internationally to deter international response to the acute humanitarian crisis in Syria.

This tactic has not been very successful in the international arena and other than Iran, its surrogates and a few other countries; no other government has bought this argument in its face value. To be fair the verbal condemnation of Assad's regime has been resolute and supportive of the democratic aspirations of the Syrian people who have lately witnessed encouraging progress in international community turning words into actions aimed at stopping the killings.

The Syrian regime's strategy to maintain power is not nothing new. In fact, Assad is imitating his mentors in Tehran, the religious tyrants who have exploited the same strategy in the last 15 years with extreme brutality.

On October 8, 1997, President Clinton's administration took the formal decision to designate the MEK/PMOI (the People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran), the main and most organised Iranian opposition as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). The State Department officials at the time described the act as "goodwill gesture to the newly elected president Mohammad Khatami - erroneously perceived as a "moderate" by some in the US administration.

In September 2002, the Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs in the Clinton-administration, Martin Indyk, told Newsweek, "[There] was White House interest in opening up a dialogue with the Iranian government. Top Administration officials saw cracking down on the [MEK], which the Iranians had made clear they saw as a menace, as one way to do so."

The allegation of terrorism levied against the main Iranian opposition, MEK, in 1997 has its roots in the Iran-Contra (Iran-gate) scandal () on the mid-1980s. The Tower Commission Report released on February 26, 1987 cited a letter by an Iranian go-between, Manouchehr Ghorbanifar, to his US counterpart as saying that one of the nine demands of the Iranian regime from the US was the "(issuance) of an official announcement terming the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) Marxist and terrorist."

The terror tag placed on the MEK is the weak point of the U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Iranian regime and the real source of its shortcomings. On the one hand, it has allowed the theocracy in Tehran to advance its position in the region through export of terrorism and religious fundamentalism and on the other hand to enhance its grip on the people inside the country through repression by misusing the "War on Terror", whereas it is well known that this regime is itself the central-banker of international terrorism .

Evidently, the U.S. policy to maintain the PMOI/MEK on the FTO list in order to encourage reforms in Iran, famously hipped policy of "carrot and stick" has been counterproductive. It has disturbed the political balance drastically in favour of the Iranian regime wearying the U.S. position in the region and undermining the Iranian people's legitimate Resistance for democratic change.

Today the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton has an opportunity to right this wrong. Near 100 U.S. Congressmen and 401 members of the European Parliament as well as over 4000 Parliamentarians from National Parliaments of the European countries have called for such move and the ruling of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit warrants it.

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Such a decision would be a decisive blow to the Iranian regime and its closest ally in Syria. The continued listing of MEK is an open invitation to the Iranian regime to continue the violent scenario of repressing the popular uprisings in 2009 and 2010 and gives Assad in Syria the excuse to carry on brutally repressing the Syrian population.

Let's hope Mrs Clinton deprives the Iranian mullahs and Bashar al-Assad of this opportunity by immediately de-listing the main Iranian opposition movement, MEK and hence empowering the Iranian Resistance.]]> Iranian Regime Epicentre of Terrorism tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1417029 2012-04-12T13:00:37-04:00 2012-04-13T10:22:31-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/ Sam Kiley, the defence and security editor of Sky News reported on March 30, 2012, on the search by the intelligence agencies for members of a secret Iranian network of assassins under orders to attack Jewish, Israeli and Western targets in Turkey.

Based on intelligence sources, Mr. Kiley reported that the organization behind the attacks is known as Unit 400, a secret part of the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps' (IRCG's) Qods force, which falls under the direct command of the Supreme Leader of the clerical regime, Ali Khamenei.

On April 6 the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the democratic coalition of Iranian opposition groups, revealed in a statement that one of the key figures in the Iranian regime's global campaign for exporting terrorism and a former deputy Minister of Information, Majid Alavi, has been sent abroad upon the order of Khamenei.

To put this in the right perspective it is necessary to revisit some statements made by the Supreme Leader of the clerical regime, Ali Khamenei, earlier this year. In early February Ali Khamenei issued a stern warning against the international community for imposing harsher sanctions on the regime targeting its vital oil exports and central bank for failing to address the international concerns over his regime's clandestine nuclear program.

Khamenei said, "Iran will not give up" adding "we will respond to threats of war and oil sanctions". A few days later, the deputy head of IRGC, the regime's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, issued another threat to regional countries warning: "Any spot used by the enemy for hostile operations against Iran will be subjected to retaliatory aggression by our armed forces".

Unable to respond constructively to the demands of the international community and addressing the legitimate concerns over its malign nuclear program, the Iranian regime's officials have started to hesitate about the location for the talks with the 5+1 group expected to start next week in Istanbul. The Iranian regime mentions the Turkish government's firm rejection of the Syrian Dictator, al-Assad, and his brutal crackdown of the Syrian people's democratic aspirations as a possible problem that raises concern over the country's suitability as host.

Thus, the departure of Majid Alavi from Iran should not be underestimated and must be put in context taking into account the remarks made by the regime's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. This is in fact a move to prepare the grounds for new terrorist plots abroad.

Majid Alavi is one of the interrogators of the Ministry of Information who spent eight years in Saudi Arabia and Sudan on clandestine missions. Upon being exposed, he was expelled from Sudan and returned to Tehran. Majid Alavi was appointed by Ali Fallahian (Rafsanjani's Minister of Information) to the position of "Director General of Arab Countries at the Ministry of Information". At that capacity, he was in charge of relations with Hezbollah and other terrorist groups in the region.

After the disclosure of serial murders in 1999, Alavi along with a number of other interrogators and torturers from Ministry of Information were transferred to Khamenei's office where they formed a parallel intelligence system under the supervision of cleric Ali Asghar Hejazi, head of Khamenei's office. Alavi is in fact a business partner and a close associate to Hejazi.

In his first term as president in 2005, Ahmadinejad appointed Alavi as the deputy chief of foreign intelligence. In August 2009 upon sacking the Minister of Information, Alavi was appointed Deputy Minister of Information.

In 2011, Alavi was transferred from Ministry of Information to the Qods force to start and activate different "project".

On 19 January 2012 a few weeks before the explosions in Bangkok in which several of the agents of the clerical regime were arrested, Alavi had entered Bangkok under the assumed name of Hossein Tehrani.

The explosion in Bangkok was not an isolated accident involving Iranians. The news reports revealed that attacks were staged in India with the Iranian regime's finger in its planning as well as other planed attacks in Georgian capital and Azerbaijan where authorities' investigation pointed to the Iranian regime's direct involvement. In addition, one should not forget the attempt by the Iranian regime to assassinate the Saudi Ambassador at the US Capital earlier this year.

And the real threat is not limited to individuals; it is in fact the Iranian regime's Qods force, the foreign arm of the IRGC that is the main tool for the regime's export of terrorism. This is the same force that is heavily involved in the suppression of the Iranian opposition members in Camp Ashraf, Iraq. Precisely one year ago Camp Ashraf was brutally attacked by the Iraqi forces when 36 unarmed Ashraf-residents were killed and more than 350 were severely wounded.




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The still image from a video showing a Camp Ashraf refugee trapped beneath the front wheels of a fast-moving Iraqi military truck as part of the 'massacre' on Camp Ashraf April 8, 2011




The Iranian regime's Qods forces played a major role in the planning of the attacks against the Iranian opposition in Camp Ashraf as they do today in Syria, assisting the Syrian dictator to quell the popular protests against its reign of terror. The destructive role of the Iranian regime's Qods force in the region was also recently reported on by the Wall Street Journal, highlighting the activities of Major-General Qasem Soleimani, the Qods force's commander emerging as director of the Islamic Republic's efforts to spread its influence abroad and bedevil the West.]]> Slandering the Opposition; The Dirty Trick That Works No More tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2012:/theblog//3.1344012 2012-03-14T06:41:00-04:00 2012-03-14T13:27:51-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/
The PMOI is the pivotal force of the broad coalition of democratic Iranian organizations, groups and personalities, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), born in 1981 in Teheran. NCRI assembles those aiming to establish a democratic and secular government in Iran, rejects Khomeini's doctrine of absolut rule of the clergy - the principle of Velayat-e faqih.

Twenty six years later, in 2009 when the U.S. forces handed over the security responsibility of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government, Iraq's Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, announced that he intended to close the camp and the expel its residents.

Although, as an excuse to close the camp, the Iraqi government claimed that the Iranian opposition jeopardised his country's sovereignty, al-Maliki was in reality implementing a bilateral agreement between Iraq and the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamene. The French Press agency, AFP, exposed and reported on the existence of the agreement on 28 February 2009. To implement this agreement Nouri al-Maliki twice ordered and carried out hideous attacks on the camp killing 47, (on 8 April 2011), and wounding over 1000. During the 3 year siege of the camp 13 people also died unnecessarily due to lack of access to medicine and medical treatment.

After the 8 April 2011 attack on the camp the US, UN and EU called for investigation of the mass murder and the Spanish Court summoned Iraqi officials responsible for the attack. But al-Maliki responded by imposing an arbitrary deadline to close the camp by the end of 2011. So attention was diverted, as al-Maliki had planned, and as world leaders started to work to prevent another deadly attack, they forgot all about investigating the April massacre.

On Christmas Day 2011, the UN and Iraq signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to relocate the residents of Ashraf to Camp Liberty, a former U.S. Military base near Bagdad. There the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, would be given access to consider all requests for refugee status filed by the residents of Camp Ashraf last September.

Although the relocation inside Iraq before the UNHCR is given access to the residents makes no real sense and is illogical, irrational and economically irresponsible stance by Iraq, a group of 400 residents moved earlier this year as a goodwill gesture and a test of the conditions in their new home which according to the statements by the Special Representative of Secretary General for Iraq, Mr Martin Kobler, fulfilled international humanitarian standards. Earlier, on 28 December 2011, Mr Kobler had written to the residents of Ashraf that "as 'asylum seekers', you will be eligible under international law to enjoy basic protections and well-being".

Nevertheless, once the residents arrived at Camp Liberty the story was very different. It became apparent that the infrastructure of the camp its water, electricity and sewage systems are inadequate for this number of people. Residents are deprived of freedom of movement, the right to see their lawyers family or friends and the right to receive unhindered access to medicine and medical treatment.. Regrettably, Camp Liberty is 70 times smaller than Ashraf. And, most importantly the voluminous presence of police and armed forces, together with spying cameras, have turned Camp Liberty into a prison. The lack of minimum human rights and humanitarian standards has led many parliamentarians and prominent dignitaries in the US and EU, and Non-Governmental Organizations to describe camp Liberty as a place worse than a prison. They warned against the continuation of such situation.

Instead of replying to legitimate concerns of these prominent politicians, military officials and human rights activists, the US Department of State has started a defamation campaign against them under the cover of "anonymous official".

The first question remains that if the Iraqi government or the United Nations or these officials who have uttered these remarks, have nothing to hide in Camp Liberty, why didn't they allow the 21 former high ranking officials who wanted to visit Camp Liberty on their own expense, to act as impartial observers?

21 former high-ranking officials suggested going to Liberty at their own expense in order to report to the public about the conditions in Liberty, but the letter did not receive a reply.

Despite all the broken promises and hollow assurances by Iraq to the UN, US and EU to follow the terms of the signed MoU, a second group of 400 Ashraf residents moved to Camp Liberty last week. They were persuaded by Mrs Rajavi, charismatic president elect of the NCRI, who was given assurances by the Special Representative of Secretary Clinton and the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General that they will attempt to fulfil minimum demands of the residents.

The move was made possible following 10 days of dense talks and calls between Ashraf, Paris, Washington and Baghdad, to secure protection for the residents.

Following the relocation of the second group, the shortage of water became more serious and in view of the fact that the hot season in Iraq will soon start it is in fact alarming. The water system in Camp Liberty should be connected to Baghdad's pipe water system in order to avert a water crisis in the Camp.

Until now, Iraqi armed forces have prevented the transfer of many utility vehicles including cranes and lift-trucks while these items are very much required considering the situation in Camp Liberty and the serious shortages in infrastructure and installations there.

Iraqi agents are also preventing, with no reason, the transfer of basic living items such as tables, chairs, heaters, generators and satellite dish. As Ashraf residents have well demonstrated their goodwill, it is the time for the US Government and the United Nations to guarantee the minimum assurances for the Liberty residents so that they can benefit from all their rights.

The anonymous US Department of State official has kept silent before the facts and has instead slandered the residents themselves as having caused the deficiencies. Instead of slurring, the State Department official had better answer to these questions:

Does the camp have drinking water? Is it true that the sewage system is broken? Is it true that when the residents arrived at the camp, there was no running water and electricity? Is it true that the residents in Camp Liberty are denied freedom of movement and that it is surrounded by T-walls making it a prison? Was the State Department, which approved the transfer of first group to the camp, aware of these conditions?

Prominent American figures have come forward and called for respect of the rights of Ashraf residents. They have underlined that US has moral and legal responsibility to protect the residents. Why does the State Department official slanders prominent Americans instead of responding to them? Are they wrong when they demand respect for human rights and humanitarian standards of the residents of Camp Ashraf and Camp Liberty? Are they wrong when they say the US has legal and moral responsibility to protect Ashraf residents? They argue that the US has not lived up to its commitments. Are they wrong when they condemn previous massacres of Ashraf residents and do not regard them as "conflicts" between the Iraqi forces and the PMOI?

The minimum assurances demanded by the residents of Ashraf are legitimate and lawful and have no contradiction whatsoever with Iraqi "sovereignty". Not agreeing to them clearly forebodes of evil intentions to break down and destroy the Iranian opposition or a massacre at Ashraf.

So far none of the minimum assurances that Ashraf residents had sought has been met. Thus those living in Camp Asharf have two options, massacre and death at Ashraf or gradual death in a place called Liberty, under the name and supervision of the U.N.

In this view no more relocation to Camp Liberty until most of the 800 already there are transferred to third countries.]]> Un-Sacred Alliance tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1144010 2011-12-12T14:24:26-05:00 2011-12-13T10:49:19-05:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/
As something to give back to appreciate the backing he proposed an 11 point plan to root out the main Iranian opposition MEK from Iraq and close Camp Ashraf. The plan was discussed in the Mullahs' National Security Council and later was reworked into a seven-point plan and then approved as a platform to eliminate Camp Ashraf residents in Iraq.

As an immediate result, the pressure on the besieged refugee camp of Ashraf increased dramatically. Elements from Quds forces, the extra territorial branch of Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, IRGC, were stationed around the Camp and towers holding more than 300 loudspeakers were raised around the camp. These speakers were used to conduct a psychological torture and warfare by broadcasting threats and vulgar language against the residents round the clock.

The Iraqi forces attacked the camp in July 28, 2009 killing 11 unarmed residents and injured hundreds. By imposing severe military siege around the camp, Iraqi government prevented any medical assistance to reach the injured and increased the pressure by denying the basic needs such as food and fuel to the camp.

In April of 2011 despite Iraq's promise to restrain any violence the Iraq's army launched another attack using armored units and ground troops to kill 36 of residents and injuring more than 500.

Video clips of the attack confirm the barbaric massacre of the camp's residents by Iraqi army showing the troops in Iraqi uniform aiming at unarmed residents and shout them in cold blood. It also shows the U.S. made and supplied Humvees were used to run down residents to death in extreme brutality. 36 of the residents were killed during the attack among them 8 young Iranian Women.

Soon after the April attack, a court in Spain reviewed the attack and indicted Maleki and a few of his military commanders involved in the massacre.

When the April massacre failed to eliminate the camp, Maliki announces a deadline to close the camp by the end of December 2011. He prevented UNHCR to commence the registration process of the residents in Camp Ashraf for refugee status and insisted in displacing the residents to new locations under Iraqi government "protection". Having experience of the past brutal attempts by the government of Iraq to exterminate them, the residents refused the plan as a deception aiming to eliminate the residents in isolation and silence.

The U.S. Government agreed to protect the residents in 2004 when they agreed to turn their weapons in and signed a treaty under Geneva Convention with U.S. forces invading Iraq. Despite the viability of the agreed treaty the US played a passive role to interfere to protect the residents and practically conspired with Maliki forces to eliminate the camp, a policy that many US Luminaries believe is totally controversial and unacceptable.

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In his December 12 interview with the "Wall street Journal ", Maliki emphasized that the closing of Camp Ashraf is a pre-condition to normalize his country's relationship with mullahs' regime in Iran. On the same day, he is meeting with president Obama in Washington D.C.

Clearly, Nouri al-Maliki's hands are tainted with the blood of innocent victims in Camp Ashraf. The question is if President Obama, knowing all the facts about the camp, will keep silent and let Maliki use him to legitimize his crimes against humanity or will he raise his voice to support human rights and ask Maliki to cancel his December 31 deadline.]]> The Democratic Governments and UN Leaders should take urgent actions to prevent a massacre at Camp Ashraf in less than 40 days tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.1104849 2011-11-24T18:00:00-05:00 2011-11-25T05:31:12-05:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/
However, after three weeks of preparation and lots of fanfare for the event, the ridiculous spectacle by the agents of the mullahs' Ministry of Intelligence and the terrorist Qods Force in Iraq that enjoyed the full support of the GoI and the Fifth Division of the Iraqi Army turned into an unprecedented defeat.

The purpose of this ridiculous spectacle was to fabricate a popular support for the announced deadline by the GoI to close Camp Ashraf at the end of this year by any means necessary.

This is while the UNHCR (UN organ for refugees) issued a statement on 13 September 2011 declaring, "Camp residents who have submitted requests are accordingly now formally asylum-seekers under international law whose claims require adjudication. International law requires that they must be able to benefit from basic protection of their security and well-being".

Amnesty International (1. and 2.), the UNHCR, the World Organization Against Torture, the Political Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) amongst many other international voices have all urged the Iraqi authorities to postpone the announced deadline for the closure of Camp Ashraf (31 December 2011) to provide sufficient time and appropriate conditions for the UNHCR to consider, on an individual basis, all requests for refugee status filed by the residents of the Camp.

The calls for a humanitarian solution were also echoed by 94 leading Iraqi luminaries including state leaders, MPs and party officials calling for a humane solution for camp Ashraf and condemn the use of violence against its residents.

Faced with a mounting domestic and international pressure to respect the rights of Ashraf residents, the GoI tries to confuse the international opinion in order to revoke a passive stand against its malicious plans to close Camp Ashraf by fabricating and spreading misinformation about the reality of the situation and the status of Camp Ashraf residents.

The announced deadline by the Nouri al-Maliki's government is in reality the implementation of a bilateral agreement between Iraq and the Iranian supreme leader, Ali Khamene, whose existence were reported by the AFP on 28 February 2009, one month after that the Iraqi authorities were handed over the security responsibility of the camp from the U.S. Forces in Iraq.

A letter from Iraqi Embassy in Brussels dated 15 November to the protocol section of the European Parliament lays out the GoI's arbitrary position and its insidious and false interpretation of the Camp Ashraf residents' status. The letter indicated that "the government of Iraq is committed to its decision to close Camp Ashraf by the end of 2011," and that "the Iraqi government was left with no choice but to evacuate the Camp based on principle of sovereignty, and transfer its residents to other camps in Iraq".

In fact, in an earlier meeting with the U.S. officials in Baghdad on March 23, 2009, Iraqi Prime Minister Al-Maliki provided the plan to displace Ashraf residents inside Iraq (Guardian, December 15, 2010).

Struan Stevenson, MEP and the President of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq, called the letter for "the Iraqi Government's Declaration of War on the UN and Death Warrant for Ashraf Residents highlighting the US, EU and UN's Grave Responsibility to Prevent a Humanitarian Catastrophe in Ashraf", in his press release on 18 November 2011.

The Rt. Hon. The Lord Archer of Sandwell QC, Former UK Solicitor-General and the President of the International Parliamentary Campaign in Defence of Ashraf alongside Rt. Hon. Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC, Former Lord Advocate for Scotland and Co-President of the International Parliamentary Campaign in Defence of Ashraf called, in a letter, on EU foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton and all EU member states, in particular the British Government, to strongly condemn the content of the letter [from Iraqi Embassy in Brussels] and al-Maliki's intention to carry out the Iranian regime's dirty work of annihilating its main opposition force. They also call on Baroness Ashton to take up a more direct role in the issue and to work with relevant international bodies to make sure that the UNHCR is given enough time and facilities to carry out the required adjudication process.

The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom (BPCIF) said in a statement that "clearly, the Iraqi Prime Minister, intent on serving his masters in Tehran, is resorting to lies and ridiculous accusations that the Iranian regime's intelligence services have been distributing for decades against members of the Iranian opposition PMOI in order to justify a planned massacre at Ashraf at the end of this year". The BPCIF statement added, "the document [letter] deliberately ignores the extensive efforts of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), the European Union, and others who have been working to reach a peaceful resolution to the Ashraf issue involving the resettlement of its residents in third countries. These efforts have been repeatedly blocked by the Iraqi Government".

In a statement on 24 November 152 cross party MPs and Peers condemned the Iraqi government's intention to forcefully close Camp Ashraf (home to Iranian dissidents for over 25 years) at the end of this year. They warn about the massacre of 3,400 residents including 1000 women in the camp. So far, Iraqi forces, under the command of Iraqi PM Nouri al-Maliki, have killed 47 of these defenceless and unarmed refugees and injured hundreds of others in two deadly assaults at the behest of the Iranian regime.

Mrs Maryam Rajavi, the president elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) said in a statement by NCRI on 20 November 2011 that, "Relocating residents of Ashraf inside Iraq, is a Crime against Humanity and is a prelude to a grand massacre that has been devised by the Iranian theocratic fascist rulers and the government of Iraq. Forcible relocation of Ashraf residents is tantamount to sending them to their deaths and that is something they will never give in to. As it was tested in the massacre of thirty thousand political prisoners in 1988, the regime in crisis would not accept anything but massacre of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI). Currently the bloody annihilation of the Ashraf residents is pursued under pretext of relocation".

AFP quoted some of Mrs Maryam Rajavi's remarks in an article titled "Exiled Iran opposition warns of 'massacre' if Iraq camp shut" on Sunday, 20 November.

All of the concerns mentioned above are legitimate. The history has shown that the GoI cannot be trusted in any way when it comes to its given promises to treat the residents of Camp Ashraf humanely and according to international law.

The GoI has long tried to deceive the international community and different UN agencies by providing such "assurances" that all have proven to be futile and only empty words. Just to give an example, the American Embassy in Iraq received assurance from Maliki that there would be "no violence", six hours prior to the assault on 8 April 2011.

Given the facts on the ground and the alarming development during the past years, it is time for US, EU and UN to step in and adopt measures to secure the protection of Ashraf residents with UN blue helmet forces. The UN Security Council can and should facilitate and guarantee the stationing of UN observers in Camp Ashraf on permanent basis until the transfer of the last person to a third country.

As stipulated by prominent international jurists, United States and the United Nations bear the responsibility to protect the residents of Ashraf and this is a legal obligation. Silence and inaction vis-à-vis a forcible relocation of Ashraf residents pave the way for another great crime against humanity, which is predictable, and any cooperation with regards to their forced relocation is complicity in the crime.

The UNHCR should therefore publicly demand that Iraq start to cooperate with the UN body and allow immediate interviewing of Ashraf residents.

UN Secretary General, the US government, EU foreign policy chief, EU member states' governments should add their voice to the many international calls and pressure the GoI to extend the December 31 deadline to prevent a massacre and facilitate a peaceful solution that is in every ones interest.

The clock is ticking for the residents of Ashraf. They are running out of time, as there is one month left of the deadline. It is time for the leaders of the International Community to back up their publicly announced concerns about the situation of Camp Ashraf by firm and tangible actions to secure UN presence in the camp.

On July 06, 2011, the Time reported in an article "Court Says the Dutch Are to Blame for Srebrenica Deaths" that an appeals court in the Hague placed the blame [for the deaths of three Bosnian Muslims in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre] squarely on the Dutch government's shoulders.

BBC wrote on 5 July 2011, that the court [in the Hague] said in its ruling, "The Dutchbat [the Dutch peacekeepers] had been witness to multiple incidents in which the Bosnian Serbs mistreated or killed male refugees outside the compound. The Dutch therefore knew that... the men were at great risk if they were to leave the compound".

Similarly, leaders of the International Community and the democratic governments cannot wave away their responsibility, as there are enough evidence, warning-signs and reports about a looming massacre in Camp Ashraf.

Today they must show political courage to prevent a full-scale humanitarian catastrophe in Camp Ashraf at the end of 2011 resulting in more than 3000 deaths as the International Community have repeatedly said never again and promised to prevent genocide and mass killing to take place no matter the part of the world.

If they fail to act, they risk being implicit in the crimes of the GoI on behest of the mullahs' regime in Iran.
]]> US Rally Calls for Protection of Iranian dissidents tag:www.huffingtonpost.com,2011:/theblog//3.949818 2011-09-06T02:43:06-04:00 2011-11-05T05:12:03-04:00 Hossein Abedini http://www.huffingtonpost.com/hossein-abedini/
The rally was addressed by US politicians and former national security officials who called on Secretary of State Hilary Clinton to listen to the thousands of Iranians gathered and end the US ban on the MEK. Their call was made not only because an end to the ban would allow the Camp Ashraf residents to be better protected, but because the ban is unjustified and lacking any legal basis.

Undoubtedly the US attitude towards the MEK has given the Iranian regime and its Iraqi counterparts the green light to carry out atrocities against the group. In the last two years, over 50 residents have been killed in Iraqi military assaults on the defenseless Camp and many more have been executed in Iran for their links to the group. The current US ban on the MEK has allowed the Iraqi government to do Tehran's bidding on Iraqi soil on the US watch in that country.

My personal story of having suffered the Iranian regime's terrorism tells us much about the great lengths this regime in Iran will go to silence its opponents.

I narrowly escaped death in 1990 in Istanbul, Turkey, where I was assisting Iranian refugees. The regime's terrorists ambushed our car, and I was shot several times, once very close to my heart. My liver was pierced and has suffered permanent damage. It is currently being held together in a plastic mesh. Even after the assassination attempt, the regime twice tried to end my life in hospital where I was being treated. On one occasion, the regime sent its terrorists under the cover of Turkish police officers and on another they pretended to be friends visiting me. But on both occasions my colleagues who were in the hospital and police officers at the scene managed to foil the plot at the last minute.

At that time it was I who suffered the consequences of western misguided policies and today it is the residents of Camp Ashraf. These residents are today being slaughtered on Iraqi soil with the justification that the MEK is banned in the US, a ban which has been proven in the UK and EU courts to be perverse and flawed.

For the past 14 years the MEK has been unjustifiably banned to placate the Mullahs regime, in a vain hope that the Mullahs in Iran can be moderated. The time has come to end this illegitimate ban, because it is this ban today that is being used by Iran to carry out executions and this ban which the Iraqi authorities seek as justification for the massacring of unarmed civilians at Camp Ashraf.

Now Secretary of State Clinton must do what is just. She must do what the legal system of the United States requires her to do and what the courts of the UK and EU have shown to be the legally correct path in immediately removing the MEK from the US list of banned organizations. The judgments of the British and European courts have unequivocally proven that no case exists for maintaining a ban on the MEK.

The issue of delisting the MEK and hence preventing the massacre of Ashraf residents as Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President elect of the National Council of Resistance has said "is the very test for the universal values that President Obama has committed himself to.''

Hilary Clinton must now answer the calls of the Iranian people and delist the MEK, sending a clear message to the people of Iran that we support their battle for freedom and democracy.]]>