|
Editorial This month we have focused on the two major issues which we believe will play a definitive role in how the future of the Mojahedin will play out. One is the pending court case in France in which Maryam Rajavi and five other leading members will be prosecuted on terrorist charges. To this has now been added four individual allegations of human rights abuses. In the past it has not been possible to prosecute a person for crimes they committed in another country. However, international law and national law is beginning to address such obstacles to justice and it is hoped that, very soon, further cases against Maryam Rajavi, particularly those brought by victims incarcerated in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, will be accepted by the French judiciary. Our other, and perhaps even greater concern is the fate of the captive combatants in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, where they are ostensibly under the control of US forces. The individual combatants have been granted protected person status under the Fourth Geneva Convention. A designation which should have given these individuals a minimum of rights and freedoms, albeit under conditions of internment in Camp Ashraf. However, there is growing evidence that the MKO command structure itself continues to block the proper implementation of the Convention and that as a result concerns are growing about the human rights situation for people in the camp. Article 116 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states clearly that "every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors, especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as possible". Yet such visits have not only been denied, but families who turn up at the gates of Camp Ashraf desperately seeking the relatives they have not seen for many years, are treated with violence and accusations of being agents of the Iranian regime by Mojahedin guards inside the camp. These families need answers from the US forces and the International Committee of the Red Cross as to why their own basic rights and the rights of the internees are being so blatantly denied. In a more sinister vein, why are individuals who have previously expressed a wish to leave, now – after being taken back into the MKO 'system' – declaring vehemently that they do not wish to leave, and being paraded on Mojahedin television making these confessions. Amnesty International is investigating several cases of alleged mistreatment of members. It is suspected that several people have undergone sessions of psychological coercion and manipulation in order to readjust their thinking before they are allowed to meet their families. The survivors of the MKO who campaign to expose these human rights abuses have made it clear that whenever the MKO stops these behaviours we will stop our activities against the organisation. However, it looks unlikely that this will happen any time soon. In the meantime, we appeal to the new Iraqi Government, the US forces and the ICRC to ensure that each and every MKO combatant is able to exercise their full rights and freedoms under the Fourth Geneva Convention, and further, to ensure that they enjoy the basic level of protection as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
|