By Bobby Rajabi
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East
BAGHDAD, Iraq – On October 7, Iraqi officials released thirty-six Iranian dissidents after they spent four months in jail. The thirty-six dissidents are members of an exiled opposition group called the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI). They were originally arrested in July during a raid on Camp Ashraf in which between seven and eleven members of the PMOI were killed. The newly released prisoners claim that they were tortured while they were the Iraqi prison. They further claim that they are now in ill health.
The PMOI is considered a terrorist organization by both the United States andIran. The organization made its name after the Iranian Revolution of 1979 where it opposed the new regime that took control of the country. PMOI’s opposition of the Islamic Republic was violent and lead to their exile from Iran. They were welcomed into Iraq by former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein where they set up their operation at Camp Ashraf. The group surrendered to U.S. forces after the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The siege of Camp Ashraf came after the U.S. gave up control of the camp to the Iraqi military. After the dissidents were taken, friends and relatives of the prisoners protested constantly outside of the U.S. embassy in London. They claimed that the U.S. needed to take responsibility for the plight of detained PMOI members.
The leaders of the PMOI called for a hunger strike in support of the members being held in an Iraqi prison. The dissidents were released from prison after a seventy-two day strike. The prisoners were returned by the Camp Ashraf which remains under the control of Iraqi officials. Upon arrival to the camp, the released prisoners were taken to the medical facility for treatment.
The political wing of the PMOI in Iran is the National Council Resistance of Iran. The political group claimed that a number of orders were made by Iraqi courts requiring that the thirty-six dissidents be released. They claim that Iraqi officials refused to honor these court orders. The officials reportedly justified their behavior by claiming that the PMOI members had entered Iraq illegally.
For more information, please see:
Al Arabiya – Iraq Frees 36 Iranians Captured In Deadly Raid – 7 October 2009
BBC – Iraq Release Iranian Dissidents – 7 October 2009
Times-Series – Hunger Strikers End Fast, Claiming ‘Huge Victory For Humanity’– 7 October 2009
UPI – Iraq Releases Iranian Dissidents – 7 October 2009
