Maryam Rajavi calls on U.S. President to intervene for release of 36 abducted Ashraf residents

NCRI - Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, in an urgent letter to President Barack ObamaBarack Obama wrote: “I wish to draw your urgent attention to the dangerous state of 36 residents of Camp Ashraf in Iraq who were abducted by the Iraqi forces in their attack on the Camp in late July. Despite three court rulings, the Iraqi authorities refuse to release them… I appeal to you for your immediate intervention for their release.”

“Upon the Iranian regime’s request, the Iraqi Government is planning to transfer the abductees from the jail in the city of Khalis to Baghdad as part of a wider plot and fabricate new charges against them,” Mr. Rajavi added in this letter that copies of it was also sent to U.S. State and Defense Secretaries, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Commander of the Multi-national Forces, United Nations Secretary General and his special representative in Iraq and also the UN High Commissioner for Human rights.

“They have been on hunger strike for the past 66 days in protest against their unlawful detention and they are now in a critical state… On August 23 and September 17 and 27, the Iraqi court ordered their release and acquitted them of any charges. The third verdict was a definitive one which could not be appealed according to Iraqi law and the 36 individuals had to be released subsequently,” said the letter.

Mrs. Rajavi recalled in her letter that “the American forces had signed an agreement in 2004 with every individual in Camp Ashraf, including the above 36, pledging to protect them in return for handing over of all their weapons. Therefore, I ask you to take any action that you deem appropriate through the American forces and the US embassy in Iraq to facilitate the release of these Protected Persons.”

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 1, 2009