Mujahedin set out conditions for their return to Iran

Maryam Rajavi, leader of the Council of Resistance of Iran, has set out her conditions for the return of the residents of Iraq’s Camp Ashraf to Iran. Camp Ashraf is located in the Eastern Iraq bordering Iran and is said to house 3,400 members of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran. While from the 2003 Invasion of Iraq allied forced took charge of the Camp, in summer of 2008, this responsibility was passed on to the Iraqi Government who has demanded the return of its residents to Iran. Rajavi demanded that Iranian authorities have to guarantee that upon returning to Iran, the residents would not be arrested, pursued, tortured, executed or subjected to any judicial frame-ups. She also demanded freedom of speech for them. Compliance to these conditions is to be set in an official letter addressed to the United Nations, International Red Cross and the governments of Iraq and United States. She urged the United Nations to grant asylum to those who did not wish to return to Iran and urged United States to resume control of the camp should Iranian leaders fail to comply with her conditions. According to French media, Iraqi authorities entered the camp by force on Tuesday. Over 150 people were injured during the incident. Iraqi forces claimed that all attempts to enter the camp peacefully had failed. Camp residents claim the raid was carried out by the order of Iranian authorities. The incident coincided with the unexpected visit of American Minister of Defense, Robert Gates to Iraq.