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ICJDA Press Release4 January 2012

Iraqi government manipulating UNAMI to imprison the residents of Ashraf

Trampling upon all UN values, norms and standards to please the Iranian regimeICJDA impresses upon its clients again that they should not go to the new locationwithout prior inspection and presence of their lawyers.

While 400 residents of Camp Ashraf prepared to relocate from Camp Ashraf to CampLiberty with their vehicles and moveable assets on December 30th (ICJDA has the relevantvideo clips) upon the demand of Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistances President-elect, the Iraqi government has been engaging in deception and manipulating UNAMI inorder to imprison the residents of Camp Ashraf. To this end, all international humanitarianstandards and UN values and norms are trampled upon as a gift to appease the Iranianregime to ensure that it is satisfied with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

None of the three requests by Mrs. Rajavi and the residents of Ashraf has been accepted sofar, i.e., inspecting the new location by a number of Ashraf engineers, immediate relocationof 400 residents with their vehicles and moveable property and accepting the minimumassurances to convince the remaining residents to move to Camp Liberty in the monthsremaining to the extended deadline.

While the residents of Ashraf are under tremendous pressure to hastily relocate to a site which they have not seen even once, precise reports provided by the NCRI point to ablatant prison building disguised as preparing Camp Liberty.

- US and UN officials had previously said that the new camp allocated for theresidents of Ashraf will be around 40 Sqr. Kms and the US forces have left behindsufficient facilities and infrastructure. In practice, however, this location has beenreduced to one Sqr. Km and the Iraqi government, which took over Camp Libertyon December 3, has left less than 2.5 percent of the area for the residents of Ashraf.

- Iraqi forces are using many cranes to quickly build a prison by installing pre-fabricated concrete walls, three to four meters tall, around an area which containsnothing but worn-out trailers left by the US forces. This is while the residents do

not have the right to venture outside the walls and are deprived of visiting theirlawyers.- The bathrooms are out of order and unusable.- The dining hall, which will be encircled with walls, is outside the living areas and it is

extremely difficult for the wounded, the patients and the elderly to go there.- According to a report sent to Tehran by the Iranian regimes embassy in Baghdad,

the police and the police station will be inside the area encircled with concrete wallsto control the prisoners on a 24/7 basis. This collection of trailers was previously agarrison and it is in no way appropriate for more than 3,000 people to live undernormal living standards.

In a letter on December 26 to the UN Secretary General and his Special Representative for

Iraq, the residents of Ashraf wrote: You will concur with us that forcible displacement, isprohibited under international law. The current drive to relocate us is being done underconstraint, against our free choice and will, and while we do not have the minimumassurances for our safety and security.

ICJDA - 29 bis, rue Chardon Lagache, 75016, Paris, FranceTel: + 33.1.47.55.67.00 Fax: +33.1.47.55.97.04 e-mail: int.cjda@gmail.com

Advisory Board

Founding PresidentLATE Rt. Hon. The Lord

Slynn of Hadley,FormerJudge at the European Court ofJustice, UKHonourary PresidentsM. Cherif Bassiouni,Distinguished Research Professorof Law; President Emeritus,International Human Rights LawInstitute, US

Prof. Eric David,President,Centre of International Law, theFree University of Brussels, EU

ExecutiveDirectorFranois Serres, LawyerParis BarCanadaHon. David Kilgour, JD,Former Canadian Secretary of Statefor Africa, Latin America and theAsia-PacificPaul D. Copeland,Director, Law Society of UpperCanadaWarren Creates, LLB,

Head of Immigration Law GroupFranceMario Stasi,FormerPresident, Paris Bar AssociationProf. Jean-Yves deCaraFaculty of Law, University of Paris VRen DescartesBertrand Favreau,President, Human Rights Institute ofthe Bar of BordeauxGilles Paruelle,FormerPresident of the Val dOise BarAssociationItalyFabio Marcelli,Chairman,Association of Democratic Lawyers-

ItalySwedenKenneth Lewis,President,Lawyers Without Borders SwedenSwitzerlandProf. Marc Henzelin,LL.M, ExeterThe United KingdomThe Rt. Hon. The LordWaddington GCVO DL

QC,Former Home Secretaryunder Prime Minister MargaretThatcherThe Rt. Hon. The LordArcher of Sandwell,

QC,Former UK Solicitor GeneralLord Taverne, QCSir Geoffrey Bindman,Consultant at Bindman & PartnersProf. Bill Bowring,Barrister, Professor of Law, Schoolof Law, Birkbeck College, Universityof LondonMalcolm Fowler,Member, International HumanRights Committee of the LawSociety, former President,Birmingham Law Society, formerChair, Criminal Law Committee ofthe Law Society of England & WalesStephen Grosz,Head ofPublic Law and Human Rights

Department, Bindman & PartnersThe United StatesDr. Allan Gerson,formerDeputy Assistant Attorney Generalfor Legal Counsel, the U.S.Department of JusticeSteven M. Schneebaum,Professorial Lecturer in InternationalLaw, School of AdvancedInternational Studies, JohnsHopkins University

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ICJDA draws the attention of the UN Secretary General and his Special Representative, Ambasador MartinKobler, to the deception by the Committee to suppress Ashraf in the Iraqi Prime Ministers office. On behalfof 8,500 lawyers and jurists in Europe and North America, ICJDA:

1. Demands to visit the new site.

2. Calls on the US, the EU and the UN, in particular the Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions to inspectthe site and issue a certificate as to its compatibility with humanitarian standards and UN norms before theresidents of Ashraf are relocated to Camp Liberty.

3. It again impresses upon its clients at Ashraf not go to the new location before prior inspection of Libertyby the lawyers and the issuance of a certificate of compatibility by the United Nations.

International Committee of Jurists in Defence of Ashraf

ICJDA - 29 bis, rue Chardon Lagache, 75016, Paris, FranceTel: + 33.1.47.55.67.00 Fax: +33.1.47.55.97.04 e-mail: int.cjda@gmail.com