Ever heard of Camp Ashraf?
No – neither had I. However, when I was in central London recently, I was approached by an Iranian dissident who is now living in exile in The Netherlands and wanted to talk to me about Camp Ashraf in Iraq. Since I visited Iran two years ago [see my account here], I was interested in what he had to tell me.
Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City is a refugee camp in Iraq’s Diyala province, very close to the border with Iran. It is the headquarters of the exiled People’s Mujahedin of Iran and home to some 3,400 refugees from Iran. In January 2009, its control was formally transferred from the U.S. military to the Iraqi government led by Nouri al-Maliki. He is under strong pressure from the Iranian regime to close down the camp.
The Camp has been attacked several times, the last being in April 2011 when Iraqi security forces stormed the camp and killed as many as 31 and wounded 320 residents and also in October 2010 on the eve of Maliki’s visit to Tehran. The Iraqi Government plans to close the camp but its residents are fearful of their survival outside of it.
The latest situation – as reported by the BBC – can be checked here.