The judiciary worldwide
Like the US military, the judiciary have been outstanding in their support for the PMOI and the situation regarding the people of Ashraf.
Many court decisions have dismissed the credibility of evidence against the PMOI. This has resulted in their removal from all terrorist lists.
Since the attacks on the life and liberty of the men and women of the PMOI in Iraq since 2009, the actions of the Iraqi government forces and the inaction (or even collusion) of western governments and the UN have been deemed, consistently and very vocally, not only flagrant breaches of humanitarian and international law, but also to constitute crimes against humanity.
Nejat Al-Astal - legislator from Palestine;
Paris Grand Gathering, - 27 June 2014
Nariman al-Rousseau – Jordanian lawmaker
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
Dr Mohammad al Sheikhili - Iraqi lawyer representing the Ashraf residents
UK Parliament - International Community has a duty to protect the residents of Ashraf - 31 January 2012
The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC)- dedicated to promoting principles of justice and respect for fundamental human rights through the rule of law in different parts of the world.
Statement 9 January 2012 expressing deep concern about the conditions at Camp Liberty and the Government of Iraq decision to turn it into a prison camp
A statement released 18 February 2013 by BHRC chairwoman Kirsty Brimelow stated “The Bar Human Rights Committee condemns without reservation the recent missile attack on the residents of Camp Liberty.
The lawyers group is now calling for a full investigation into the attack, including into the conduct of Iraqi security forces before and during the attack, and whether they failed to prevent the attack.
It is also demanding guarantees for the future safety and security of all those detained at Liberty”
Sir Geoffrey Bindman QC - a leading figure in the legal team that de-proscribed the PMOI at the British courts, specialized in civil liberties and human rights issues, and in 1974 he founded the Bindmans Law Firm. He is chair of the board of trustees at the British Institute Of Human Rights
UK Parliament - International Community has a duty to protect the residents of Ashraf - 31 January 2012
Conference on deficiencies of Camp Liberty despite UN approval, London – 25th February 2012
Anissa Boumedienne – Lawyer, Islam expert and former Algerian First Lady
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
William Bourdon - French lawyer specialising in the defence of human rights and of victims of crimes against humanity.
International Conference in Paris – 20th January 2012
Professor Sara Chandler – Chair of Law Society’s Human Rights Committee
The Law Society is committed to seeking the protection of the residents of Ashraf. We have seen the photos of Liberty. It’s a prison camp. It can’t be called Liberty.” (25 February 2012)
Conference on deficiencies of Camp Liberty despite UN approval, London – 25th February 2012
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
Statement 11 February 2013 on the 9 February 2013 rocket attack on Camp Liberty
“Rocket and mortar attacks on Iranian refugees resident in Camp Liberty, near Baghdad airport, Iraq, in the early morning of 9 February 2013 violate international law and humanitarian standards”, the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales has said.
Expressing grave concern at the killings of six residents and many more wounded during the attacks, professor Sara Chandler, chair of the Human Rights Committee, said:
‘I support statements issued by UNHCR, UK parliamentarians and Amnesty International condemning the attacks, and call for Iraqi government protection for the refugees by moving them to a safe area such as Camp Ashraf, from where they were removed from December 2011 onwards. Such attacks must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice.’
Els Demol – Belgian Lawmaker
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
Professor Alan Dershowitz - the world renowned defender of human rights and social justice, a leading academic expert in the United States on criminal law, and member of faculty at the Harvard Law School
Paris International Conference – Ashraf Crisis – Paris 6th January 2012
Former US Officials urge formation of Commission of Inquiry about conditions at Camp Liberty, Iraq – Washington DC, 25th February 2012
Former US Officials say they will not be intimidated or silenced, Washington DC – 6th April 2012
Panel to refute claim Camp Ashraf could hold weapons and calling for de-listing of MEK, Washington DC – 15th May 2012
Paris Grand Gathering - 27 June 2014
Malcolm Fowler - Birmingham lawyer, member of the Human Rights Committee Of The Law Society, always makes a point of stating that he is representing the Law Society of England and Wales.
UK Parliament - International Community has a duty to protect the residents of Ashraf - 31 January 2012
Conference on deficiencies of Camp Liberty despite UN approval, London – 25th February 2012
Allan Gerson - US Attorney, Chairman of AG International Law, specializing in complex issues of international law and politics.
Iran – PMOI de-listing and prospect of change in 2013, Paris – 17th November 2012
Professer Guy Goodwin-Gill - Oxford professor, expert in refugee matters in international affairs, formerly professor of asylum law at the University of Amsterdam, and legal adviser in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner For Refugees (UNHCR) from 1976-1988
UK Parliament - International Community has a duty to protect the residents of Ashraf - 31 January 2012
Conference on deficiencies of Camp Liberty despite UN approval, London – 25th February 2012
Linda Lee - former president of the Law Society of England and Wales
“The Law Society is committed to seek protection for the residents of camp Ashraf and Liberty and will continue to join the call to do so.”
Rait Maruste – Chair of Estonia Parliamentary Constitutional Legal Committee and former Judge of the EU Court of Human Rights
International Conference looking at Change in Iran in 2013, Paris – 2nd February 2013
Judge Michael Mukasey - former attorney general of the United States
Paris Grand gathering - 18 June 2011
Paris International Conference – Ashraf Crisis – Paris 6th January 2012
International Conference in Paris – 20th January 2012
New York Symposium – Bipartisan Group of US Leaders calls on State Department to remove Iranian Dissidents from Terror List and urges UN to protect them -11th February 2012
Ashraf Residents and Obligations of the International Community, Paris – 24th March 2012
Former US Officials say they will not be intimidated or silenced, Washington DC – 6th April 2012
Panel to refute claim Camp Ashraf could hold weapons and calling for de-listing of MEK, Washington DC – 15th May 2012
Paris Grand Gathering, - 23rd June 2012
Panel supporting Iranian dissidents urges de-listing of the MEK and resettlement of Ashraf residents in third countries, Washington DC – 25th August 2012
Iran – PMOI de-listing and prospect of change in 2013, Paris – 17th November 2012
Onward to Freedom, Paris Grand Gathering - 22 June 2013
Paris Grand Gathering - 27 June 2014
Martine Pinville – French lawmaker
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris 10th March 2012
Geoffrey Robertson QC - founder and head of Doughty Street Chambers, Former president of the UN Special Court For Sierra Leone, and former distinguished jurist member of the United Nations Internal Justice Council
Conference on deficiencies of Camp Liberty despite UN approval, London – 25th February 2012
Ashraf Residents and Obligations of the International Community, Paris – 24th March 2012
Lord Slynn of Hadley (dec’d) - Law Lord and hugely influential in the removal of the PMOI from the UK and EU terrorist lists
“the former Law Lord who died on April 7 aged 79, had earlier been Britain’s advocate-general at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg from 1981 to 1988 and a judge of the court for four years after that. He was noted for his vast reserves of energy and his gregarious, willing nature
He also led the legal campaign for the Iranian Resistance which eventually led to the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from the British and EU’s blacklists.
From Lord Slynn’s obituary, The Telegraph, 8 April 2009
(Link to memorial service with PMOI where colleagues express pleasure at being able to talk freely of his great passion).
His lifelong friend, Lord Elton, speaking at his funeral at St. Margarets Church, Westminster Abbey, 20th April 2009 described Lord Slynn’s passionate defence of justice and the rule of law where it concerned the Iranian people. Touching on Lord Slynn’s achievements for the Iranian Resistance, Lord Elton said:
“Gordon’s passion for liberty under the law caused him to take up the cause of oppressed people generally and, in his last great campaign, the people of Iran in particular. He recognised that, in spite of its name, the Peoples Mojahedin of Iran was not a terrorist organisation operating in breach of the Rule of Law - which was both the British and the European view - but a political movement operating within it. To release them from proscription both by the UK and EU it was necessary to bring cases in the courts of both. It was also necessary to talk to all EU governments all of whom could express their views to the court. Suffice it to say that every case was won and that during the campaign he was also tireless in ensuring that the status of the Iranian people in Ashraf was known, respected and protected.
This, his last great campaign, has been of huge importance to the people concerned. In a moving letter to Odile [Lady Slynn], Maryam Rajavi, the President of NCRI - the organisation to which the PMOI belongs - says that “Lord Slynn remains an eternal inspiration for anyone who seeks justice and for the rights of the oppressed, and those falsely accused for political gain, which he abhorred…….; The British people & judicial system owe him for the honour he has brought to them.”
She concludes “We pray for the establishment of justice and freedom, for the principles of which Lord Slynn dedicated his entire life to protect. And we pray for Lord Slynn’s honourable soul”.
We, I think, can do no better than that, while thanking God for a full and fruitful life, the joy it gave to so many, and his part in maintaining freedom under the law for the rest of us. And let us keep a corner in our hearts for Odile in the difficult time ahead.”
The Spanish National Central Investigation Court - 11th July 2011 issued a writ against Nuri al-Maliki and summoned three Iraqi individuals involved in the massacre of residents of Camp Ashraf on April 8,
The court summoned General Ali Geidan, who commands Iraq’s ground forces, for leading the attack, Colonel Abdul-Latif al-Annabi who commanded the attacking battalion and Major Jassem al-Tamimi who was caught on video while directly targeting and shooting at the residents.
According to the ruling, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, will automatically be summoned to the court at the end of his term in office when his judicial immunity will be removed.
Judge Fernando Andreu this week said he wanted to question the four as he expands his probe into the killing of 11 Iranian exiles living in Camp Ashraf in Iraq in 2009 to include the killing of another 35 people there on April 8 2011.
Judge Eugene Sullivan – former Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Services
Former US Officials say they will not be intimidated or silenced, Washington DC – 6th April 2012
Ruth Wedgewood – US Jurist
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
Elisabetta Zamparutti – Italian lawmaker
Equality Activists support Women’s Uprisings in Arab World and Women of the Iranian Resistance in Camps Ashraf and Liberty – Paris, 10th March 2012
