American Delegation Has Met and Talked With the Seven Ashraf Hostages Held in Baghdad, US and UN Were Called to Intervene Immediately to Prevent Handing Over the Hostages to Iran

PARIS, September 21, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

New information about the Iranian dissidents taken hostage in Iraq reveals that an American delegation has met and talked three times with the hostages at the prison of "Golden Division" near Baghdad airport. This division is affiliated to the office of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Based on the same information, when a UN delegation subsequently planned to meet the hostages at this place, Iraqi police, under a new order from Maliki, denied the presence of hostages at the Airport prison.

Meanwhile, in a bi-partisan letter to the US Secretary of State John Kerry, 34 members of the US House of Representatives noted that Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr. Gyorgy  Busztin, conducted a visit to Camp Ashraf on September 2 following the attack and "verified the 52 deceased in the Camp, noting they had suffered gunshot wounds, the majority of them in the head and the upper body, and several with their hands tied." 

The lawmakers called Secretary Kerry's attention to this critical matter and urged the US to reduce its assistance to the government of Iraq "until they make clear and verifiable efforts to protect this group of innocent people that have been brutally attacked and killed on multiple occasions. The first of such efforts should be the immediate release of the seven hostages reportedly held by forces affiliated with the Prime Minister's Office."

Shahin Gobadi, a spokesman of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, said: "Since the Iraqi government, in violation of the non-refoulement principle, intends to extradite asylum seekers and persons of concern under Fourth Geneva Convention to the Iranian regime, the United States and United Nations have a duty to immediately prevent it."

"The US and UN responsibility is undeniable and thus the issue should be raised immediately in the UN Security Council. The Iraqi government should be compelled to carry out its international obligation and prevented from extraditing the hostages to the Iranian regime, and release them," Mr. Gobadi added.

According to reports, Nouri al-Maliki has been negotiating with the Iranian regime's ambassador in Baghdad through his National Security Advisor, Falleh Fayaz, regarding the fate of the seven residents of Ashraf.  According to this information, the Iranian regime's ambassador in Baghdad is in direct contact with the office of Ali Khamenei, the clerical regime's leader on this issue. The clerical regime has offered al-Maliki three options to rid himself from this crisis, primarily handing over the hostages to Tehran immediately.

Speaking at a conference in Geneva on Friday, the President-elect of National Council of Resistance of Iran, Maryam Rajavi, called on President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, Under-Secretary-General Jeffrey Feltman, EU High Commissioner for Human Rights Ms. Pillay, EU High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Beth Jones, and US Ambassador to Iraq Robert Beecroft to take urgent action to prevent the transfer of refugees currently being held hostage to the Iranian regime and transgression of the non-refoulement principle.

On his official website, al-Maliki denied holding the seven hostages or having carried out any action on September 1st in Ashraf.  It is despite the fact that the UN, US, and EU are completely informed of the presence of the seven hostages in Iraq and know that they are on hunger strike in a prison near Baghdad airport.  

SOURCE Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran