We are former members of MKO who are appealing to you and your colleagues to use your influence and contacts to allow members of MKO in camp Ashraf the opportunity to see their families.
Some politicians and lawmakers have chosen to stand with the MKO and have spoken on their behalf in different occasions (like removing them from the terrorist list, falsely presenting them as a “third alternative”, and so on).
We are asking that you make an appeal on behalf of people who are left without a voice in their plight.
As you know there are more than 3000 members of MKO stationed in Iraq on an isolated location called Camp Ashraf (or Ashraf City as is also known). Here they have been imprisoned since 2003 after the fall of Saddam Hussein.
As relations between the governments of Iran and Iraq got better, some attempts were made by families of MKO members in camp Ashraf to arrange for a visit with their sons & daughters. These attempts were made primarily by the parents or siblings of the members in camp Ashraf. The very first attempts started as early as 2003, some months after the fall of Saddam Hussein. Family members had to travel on very harsh and dangerous roads to reach Camp Ashraf which at that point was under the control of the United States Army.
Today however the MKO have made it impossible and downright dangerous for family members to get anywhere near Camp Ashraf. Parents and siblings who haven’t met their loved ones in years or decades are turned away at the gates under threats and abuse. The Mojahedin accuse them of being “spies” for the Iranian regime, even though all they want to do is meet their sons and daughters after years of separation.
This matter goes beyond politics and is just a basic matter of human rights. We ask respectfully that you make any effort possible to convince the leaders of the MKO to do the right thing in this matter and allow the families to visit their loved ones in camp Ashraf.
Please voice your concern on this matter to the MKO and demand that they allow the families of their own members to reconnect with their parents and siblings.
Here are some articles and videos highlighting this issue:
Children of ‘the resistance’ – Canadian National Post article from 2006
Parents of MKO members in Camp Ashraf – Baghdad 2003 – YouTube Video / Parents getting denied to enter Camp Ashraf and accused of being agents of the Iranian Regime
By Iranpeyvand on Apr 17, 2008