Iraqi govt. checks patients, service in Camp Ashraf

BAGHDAD / IraqiNews.com: The Iraqi government on Monday dispatched an official delegation to visit Camp Ashraf northeast of the Iraqi capital Baghdad to check the health and humanitarian services of its residents, according to a statement by National Security Advisor Muwaffaq al-Rubaie’s office. “In expression of the moral commitment to human rights values and transparency that characterize the new democratic Iraq, the government has dispatched an official delegation to check the condition of patients there and see to their needs,” read the statement as received by IraqiNews.com news agency. “The delegation instructed that the ill residents of Camp Ashraf be treated in Iraqi hospitals to offer them full health care,” it added. Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City is situated northeast of the Iraqi town of al-Khalis, about 120 km west of the Iranian borders and 60 km north of Baghdad. The city of Ashraf was named in commemoration of Ashraf Rajavi, a famous political prisoner at the time of the Shah. Camp Ashraf is currently an Iranian refugee camp in Iraq guarded by the United States military. On January 1, 2009 its control was formally transferred to the Iraqi government. Ashraf is the seat of Mujahideen-e-Khalq (MeK) or People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI) members in Iraq. It was in 1986 that the PMOI came to Iraq. The camp houses members of the PMOI who are regarded by coalition forces as protected people under the Geneva Conventions. “The step does not clash with the firm and legitimate position of the Iraqi government to offer the PMOI two choices: either to return to Iran or to go to a third country without any coercion,” the statement noted. AmR (S)/SR 1