Advocates seek safety for Iranians in Iraq

Family members and supporters of Iranian dissidents living in Iraq demonstrated in front of the White House on Friday, seeking assurances that the United States will continue to protect the refugees.

About 3,500 members of Iran’s main opposition group, the People’s Mujahideen of Iran, designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization, reside in Camp Ashraf, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad. The demonstrators said the Iraqi government is poised to take control of the camp and has ordered that all those living in the compound leave Iraq by Dec. 31.

“I am scared to death. If the Iraqis hand over the residents to Iran, the Iranians will execute them all,” said Robab Barain, 60, a native of Tehran who’s brother Jabid and sister in-law Maria live in Ashraf. Miss Barain stood among about 50 other supporters of the Ashraf residents at Lafayette Park, holding signs and chanting.

Miss Barain said that in the 1980s she was imprisoned and tortured by the Iranian government for seven months before she was allowed to leave the country for medical treatment.

“I have experienced the jails of Iran. I will do anything to make sure no one else does,” she said.

Kenneth Katzman, an Iraq specialist at the Congressional Research Service, said he doubted the Iraqi government would take over the camp while U.S. forces remained in the country.

“I see no indication that this is imminent,” he said. He added, however, that “there is a legitimate concern” once U.S. troops depart.

The group, also known as the Mujahideen Khalq or MEK, killed six Americans in Iran in the 1970s and supported the 1979 revolution against the U.S.-backed Shah. It lost out in a struggle for power and its leaders fled, first to France and then to Iraq, where they fought against the Iranian regime during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

In 2002, members of the group revealed that Iran was hiding a uranium-enrichment facility.

Spokesmen insist that the organization is no longer terrorist, but critics say the group brainwashes members and has a cult of personality around its leader, Mariam Rajavi, who lives outside Paris.

The International Red Cross has repatriated several hundred people from Ashraf to Iran since 2004, but others are afraid they will be jailed. Few countries have been willing to accept MEK members for asylum.

“The problem is that they are on the terrorism list in so many places that no one wants them,” Mr. Katzman said.

Since July 2004, the residents have been formally recognized by the U.S. as “protected persons” under the Fourth Geneva Convention and have been under the protection of the U.S.-led multinational force. The recent security agreement between the U.S and Iraq states that American troops will leave Iraq by the end of 2011.

Advocates for the group say that without the protection of the U.S., it is highly likely the Iranian regime would pressure the Iraqi government to forcibly expel Ashraf residents, exposing the refugees to arrest, torture and execution by the Iranian government.

“The people of Ashraf have the right to oppose the barbaric regime in Iran, and given their status as protected persons, the U.S. is obligated to ensure their safety,” said Majid Roshan, spokesman for the U.S Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents.

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