Camp Ashraf

Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City was a refugee camp in Iraq's Diyala province and headquarters of the exiled People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The population used to be around 3,400 in 2012 but nearly all have been more or less forcibly relocated under pressure by the premier minister Nouri al-Maliki's office of the Government of Iraq to Camp Liberty near BIAP (Baghdad International Airport).

Camp Ashraf (aka US Forward Operating Base Grizzly) is situated 27.6 km northeast of the Iraq the town of Khalis, about 80 kilometers west of the Iran border and 40 kilometers north of Baghdad. On January 1, 2009, the US Government formally transferred control over to the Iraqi government. Over the past 10 years, Camp Ashraf has been attacked several times the last being on April 8, 2011 when Iraqi security forces stormed the camp and killed as many as 36 and wounding 320 residents and also on 17 October 2010 on the eve of al-Maliki's visit to Tehran. The Iraqi government planned to close the camp at the end of December 2011.



Ashraf Rajavi
The city of Ashraf was named in commemoration of Ashraf Rajavi, a famous political prisoner at the time of the Shah and who was slain by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps after the Iranian Revolution.

Under Saddam Hussein
The PMOI established base at Ashraf in 1986. Along with at least six other sites in Iraq, Camp Ashraf was given to the MEK as a headquarters and training site by Saddam Hussein. From this base, the MEK was equipped with tanks, artillery and armored personnel carriers that were taken from Iranian troops during major operations by the group beyond Iran-Iraq border.

Ashraf during occupation of Iraq
During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, coalition forces launched air attacks against MEK forces. Mujaheddin commanders negotiated a ceasefire on April 22, 2003 in which they were initially allowed to keep their military equipment.

In June 2003, US forces took control of Camp Ashraf and the MEK was consolidated, all their weapons were secured by special forces and their munitions and caches were maintained in a bunker complex located northeast of the city of Ashraf. Within months, the US sent in US military police battalions, to secure the bunkers and residents. Within a year, as a result of defecting Ashraf residents, two TIFs (Temporary Internment Facilities) were added increasing the military battalions mission and troop to task requirements. The primary TIF housed approximately 500 PMOI defectors who were under US control and frequently screened for additional intel by various government agencies. Along with the defectors, the compound was home to approximately 22 military police officers and a team of 6 communication specialists from a different unit to establish secure and encrypted modes of communication. The remainder of the military police and other supporting personnel were on the main compound 2 km away. A lack of infrastructure on the compound made housing so many defectors difficult.

There were hostilities between those who defected and the remaining PMOI members who totalled approximately 5,000 and lived a few kilometers away. Threats of attacks by the remaining members constantly put US Servicemembers on alert as they were outnumbered almost 20-1 in 2004.

Military presence
Within the boundaries of the camp is Forward Operating Base Grizzly (formerly FOB Spartan, FOB Red Lion, FOB Barbarian). The Forward operating base is where up to 2,000 US and Coalition forces, used to reside. Under pressures from Tehran, food and fuel rations of Ashraf were terminated; elements affiliated with the regime blew up the water pipelines to Ashraf; and members of the MEK were abducted in Iraq. It is also known that a bus carrying Iraqi laborers to the city of Ashraf was blown up, killing 11. As of Summer of 2010, US Forces no longer maintained a presence at FOB Grizzly after handing over the facility to the Government of Iraq, effectively ending direct US monitoring of Camp Ashraf. Instead, Iraqi police has been stationed inside the camp, and the Iraqi army maintains its presence in the bunker complex outside the camp.

Transition to Iraqi control
On January 1, 2009 the U.S. officially transferred control of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi government. According to a press release from U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the U.S. would maintain a military presence at the camp and the Iraqi government would ensure that all residents were treated according to Iraqi law. A State Department spokesman said the Government of Iraq had promised both humane treatment of people at Camp Ashraf and that none would be relocated to a country where they would have "a well-founded fear of persecution".

Ashraf attacked by Iraqi Forces
In late July 2009 conflict erupted when Iraqi forces attempted to enter the camp to establish a police station without the consent of the MEK. Accounts of the conflict differed. Iraqi forces used violence, including gunfire, water cannons and batons, killing eleven people and injuring about 400; two others were killed later on due to injuries. Videos taken by Ashraf residents show these scenes. Iraqi authorities denied using violent methods, but said unarmed residents used stones, knives and sharp tools to protect themselves and to fight security forces that tried to enter the camp. Journalists were excluded from the area.

Video has surfaced purportedly showing Iraqi forces trying to repeatedly run down residents with vehicles. Amnesty International in its Iraq Report 2010 regarding human rights situation in Iraq wrote, "Following months of rising tension, Iraqi security forces forcibly entered and took control of Camp Ashraf (..) on 28 and 29 July. The camp, which houses some 3400 members or supporters of the People’s Mojahedeen Organization of Iran (PMOI), an Iranian opposition group had been under US military control since 2003 (..). Video footage showed Iraqi security forces deliberately driving military vehicles into crowds of protesting camp residents. The security forces also used live ammunition, apparently killing at least nine camp residents, and detained 36 others who they tortured."

In its report of 27 April 2010, various aspects of violation of human rights in Iraq entitled as “Iraq, Civilians under Fire”, Amnesty International revealed and condemned violation of Ashraf residents’ rights by Iraqi government on July 28 and 29, 2009.

In September 2009, in accordance with their mandate, the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), led by Ad Melkert, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, started attempts for mediation between the residents and premier minister Al-Maliki's office; additionally, as reported by UNAMI issue leader Tahar Boumedra, Chief of the Human Rights Office, it ensured regular visits to the camp for monitoring human rights and as a deterrent against violence.

In October 2009, in the frame of UNAMI's mediation, the Government of Iraq announced their will to close Camp Ashraf, while the residents responded that neither remaining in Iraq nor returning to Iran were safe options for them; they said to be prepared to move to safe third countries as soon as this become possible and asked for the necessary time for exploring this perspective.

On December 10, 2009 the Iraqi government announced plans to move the MEK from Camp Ashraf to a former detention center, Neqrat al-Salman, about 200 miles (120 kilometers) west of Basra. In response, the MEK refused to comply with the decision. On December 15, 2009, Iraqi government sent a group of its security forces into the camp to urge the residents of the camp to leave the camp. They used loudspeakers and distributed pamphlets calling the residents to join them and leave Ashraf. However, no resident accepted to leave there. Media reporters were present on the scene. The UN issued a statement "exiled camp residents must not be deported". UNAMI, led by the UN envoy Ad Melkert disputed Nouri al-Maliki's claim, saying that UN would not embrace the government's efforts to deport Ashraf residents by the end of 2011; instead, as brought forward by the UNAMI issue leader Tahar Boumedra, all parties should be engaged: the Iraqi government for building civilian camp management capacities in line with international humanitarian standards, the PMOI for achieving a more realistic understanding of their reality, and the international diplomatic community.

The failure to relocate the camp residents prompted the "Ashrafi Committee", an ad-hoc group of Premier Minister al-Maliki's office, to tighten the embargo on Camp Ashraf; from January 2010 on, despite the attempts of UNAMI for the protection of human rights, fuel deliveries, water and food supply were severely reduced, resident's vehicles were seized, and, finally, medical assistance and resident's access to hospital treatment and surgery were denied.

In Spring 2010, the Iraqi Premier Minister's Office in cooperation with the Iranian embassy in Iraq arranged so-called "family visits" of some Iranian government-operated NGO's to destabilize Camp Ashraf. Assisted by the Iraqi army, they set up camp at the gate and fixed loudspeakers around the camp; over two years, there were around 300 units "blaring threats and insults day and night at the residents".

On January 7, 2011, assailants bussed from Basra, Amara, Nasiriya and Baghdad to the gates of the Camp, in an action jointly coordinated by the "Ashraf Commitee" of al-Maliki's office with the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, and backed up by Iraqi security forces, attacked the camp resulting in 176 wounded. Iraqi forces prevented the wounded, 93 of whom were women, to go to the hospital for treatment.

On April 8, 2011, Iraqi security forces in bulldozers and Humvees stormed Camp Ashraf in an action enthusiastically hailed by the Iranian governement. The Iraqi government, however, stated it believed that the event was a "riot". According to Amnesty International, video clips of the April 8 clashes "appear to show Iraqi soldiers indiscriminately firing into the crowds and using vehicles to try and run others down". As a conclusion, it was confirmed by a UN human rights official, 34 residents were killed and 318 wounded by Iraqi forces.

During Summer 2011, the Iranian authorities took new suppressive measures for espionage against Ashraf residents by installing two tall communication poles south of Camp Ashraf, preparing the grounds for next attacks. The Iraqi government said that the PMOI must leave the country by the end of 2011.

The Central Investigation Court No 4 of the Spanish National Court, in face of impossibility of any investigation into the massacres in Ashraf inside Iraq by a government that itself has ordered these massacres, has taken on this case. In its last writ dated July 11, 2011, the court summoned senior Iraqi officers to appear before the court on October 3, 2011 for war crimes. The Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki is also to appear before the court once he leaves his post as premier that gives him immunity from judicial prosecution.

On Sept. 28, 2011 the EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton has appointed Ambassador De Ruyt, as an advisor to mull over the fate of thousands of outlawed Ashraf residents facing expulsion from the camp in Iraq, their home for 30 years. In the mean time, Maryam Rajavi, called for the new nominee to visit Ashraf and to demand Iraq drop its bid to close the camp by the end of 2011.

2013 Clashes
On Sept. 1, 2013, 52 members of MKO were killed at Camp Ashraf, in what the group claimed was a massacre by Iraqi forces. In a statement, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon deplored "the tragic events at Camp Ashraf" and said Baghdad should "promptly investigate the incident and disclose the findings." Ali al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, later confirmed that several MKO members had been killed, but denied any involvement of the Iraqi authorities and stated the deaths were caused by infighting among the camp's residents. Officials stated that after the incident, MKO members attacked the local army brigade stationed in the camp and killed 4 Iraqi soldiers. . In September and October 2013 letters and messages to President Obama, Senators John McCain, Carl Levin, and others, called for US pressure on President al-Maliki to "hold Iraq accountable for the massacre at Camp Ashraf and to save seven abducted residents". On September 11, 2013, Amnesty International launched an urgent action to the Iraqi Government calling for the the protection and relief of the seven abducted hostages.

Later developments
In 2012 MEK moved from Camp Ashraf to Camp Hurriya in Baghdad (a onetime U.S. base formerly known as Camp Liberty). A rocket and mortar attack leaving at least five dead and 40 wounded occurred at Camp Hurriya on February 9, 2013. Iranian residents of Camp Hurriya and their representatives and lawyers appealed to the UN Secretary-General and U.S. officials to let them return to Ashraf, which they say has concrete buildings and shelters that offer more protection. The United States has been working with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees on the resettlement project.

Status of residents
Camp Ashraf is the base in Iraq of the Iranian opposition group People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK).

After 2003, the coalition forces designated the MEK at Camp Ashraf as protected persons under the Geneva Convention. The UK government no longer holds the view that residents of Camp Ashraf are "protected people," according to a written reply to a question from an MP by Ivan Lewis, Minister of state at the Foreign Office on November 25, 2009

In his quarterly report to the Security Council of 14 May 2010 pursuant to resolution 1883, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stressed the rights of residents of Camp Ashraf, Iraq, to protection against arbitrary displacement in Iraq or forced extradition to Iran. In order to better the humanitarian situation in the camp, EUHR Catherine Ashton appointed Jean De Ruyt, a senior Belgian diplomat, to advise on the EU's response to Camp Ashraf

Brian Binley, a Member of Parliament from the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party, in a big gathering asked for protection of Ashraf.