The Independent

Letters

By David Amess

Your article "Ahmadinejad seizes on America's retreat at 'anti-terror' conference" (27 June 2011) unjustly attacks the 3,400 Iranian refugees living in Camp Ashraf, Iraq.

At Iran's behest, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ordered his armed forces to attack the camp on 8 April, leaving 36 unarmed and defenceless men and women dead with hundreds of others injured. The author plainly ignores this crime against humanity and the fact that the camp is under a complete siege. Instead, the PMOI members in the camp are wrongly described as cultists.

I attended a rally in Paris on 18 June in which some 100,000 Iranians of all ages turned up to support the brave residents of Camp Ashraf and call for their protection by the UN. There was a striking presence of Iranian youths and women. In other words, what took place in Paris was a microcosm of Iran and was the manifestation of the call to the UN, US and EU for protection of Ashraf residents. Among the Americans who attended were the former mayor of New York Rudy Giuliani, and former congressman Patrick Kennedy. The signatures of 4,000 MPs from across 40 nations, including most European countries, were put on display alongside an international statement calling for Iraqi forces to lift the siege of Ashraf and for the UN to take over the camp's protection.

It is incumbent on the international community and the British media to highlight the reality of the tragic events at Ashraf so that we do not witness yet another Srebrenica-style massacre.

 
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/letters/letters-antieuro-campaigners-are-gloating-too-soon-2306938.html