Re: former members of MKO in TIPF Iraq

کانون اندیشه، گفتگو و حقوق بشر در ایران- تورنتو
9251 Yonge Street
Unit # 219
Richmondhill, ON
L4C 9T3 Canada
Tel: 647-293-8644
Email:niaz_salimi@yahoo.com
Centre for Thought, Dialogue and Human Rights in Iran – Toronto
CTDHR




January 28, 2008

Re: former members of MKO in TIPF Iraq

Dear Mr. Mohamed Rashid,

My name is Niaz Salimi and I am a Human Rights activist from Canada. In the past three years I have been working closely with a group of Iranians, over 200 former members of “Mojahedin e Khalgh Organization”, who were kept in TIPF Iraq.

As you might be aware in the course of past 3 months the Americans in charge of TIPF started to send groups of five people, selected randomly and informed a few hours before their departure, out of the camp and into the outside world. Though, this, their freedom, is something that we were all waiting for in the past couple of the years the conditions under which this transition is taking place is a matter of great concerns for us as well as the residents of TIPF. In the past two weeks your information was given to me along a highly complementary review of your professionalism in your critical position. Based on all that I would like to draw your attention to the grim situation of these people who were kept hostage by the very organization they trusted and paid a heavy price when refused to comply with its violent policies be it against Iraqi people or their own nation and land.

I will not bother you with the details that you might already know about the absence of a proper system to facilitate their reallocation and the grim situation that they are living in. At the same time it is very sad and discouraging for all of us to acknowledge that the very organizations that we looked up to in all our active lives are unable and unwilling to help this case that not only deals with the lives of so many but also sets the record for those who try to reevaluate and reconsider their social and political affiliation with an organization that changed its mission/direction and acts against its original principals.

The dangerous message given hear, by all those involved, is that; even if you realize that the freedom seeker organization that you once joined out of your passion for democracy changed ways and turned to the most brutal and totalitarian organization there is, you should keep following its agenda and actions as there is no room for you in the outside world.

This morning a group of refugees in Erbil were approached by Mr. Akram, a security officer, who collected all their temporary passes and in a few cases their passports and asked them to report to their office at Einkaveh tomorrow morning. Based on similar situation that concluded in arrest and imprisonment of these individuals either in Iraq or Turkey we are very concern about the outcome of this meeting. Based on all the examples, we request that you, or one of your colleagues, be present at this meeting and make sure that their refugee rights are recognized and no harm is done to them.

Yours truly,

Niaz Salimi.

Director