Mrs. Navi Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
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Dear Ms. Navi Pillay

As you are already aware, on April 8th Iraqi forces attacked the 3400 defenseless Iranian refugees residing in Camp Ashraf with columns of armored vehicles and warfare. In this violent attack 36 residents were killed – including 8 women – and 350 others were left wounded. Maliki’s government has not hidden its intention to annihilate Ashraf residents. He has given an ultimatum to Ashraf residents and the international community, saying he will bring an end to Camp Ashraf at any means necessary and expel the residents from Iraq before the end of the year.

In a writ issued on 11 July 2011, the Spanish National Court accepted a complaint against the perpetrators of the April 8thkilling spree against Ashraf residents, summoning three Iraqi military commanders - including Army Ground Forces commander - to appear before court. This court has also announced Prime Minister Maliki will be called when his immunity as premier expires on leaving office.

Her Excellency made the following statement regarding the April 8th massacre: “There is no possible excuse for this number of casualties. There must be a full, independent and transparent inquiry, and any person found responsible for use of excessive force should be prosecuted.”

His Excellency UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report on 7 July 2011to the UN Security Council urged Iraqi authorities to refrain from use of force and ensure adequate access for camp residents to goods and services.

"To this end, I call upon (U.N.) member states to help to support and facilitate the implementation of any arrangement that is acceptable to the government of Iraq and the camp residents," the U.N. Secretary-General added.

We are asking Her Excellency to carry out the actions necessary in the UN Security Council session to save the lives of the defenseless residents in the camp and stop the killing spree by the Iraqi government, have the necessity of protection provided for Camp Ashraf residents by UN forces be analyzed and as you stressed yourself, have a delegation assigned to conduct an independent inquiry into the April 8th massacre. Thus, a practical and immediate solution be implemented to transfer the responsibility to protect the camp to UN forces and UNAMI until the residents’ resettlement in third countries.

Justice and dignity for us all,

[signed]

Max M. de Mesa
Chairperson, PAHRA

cc:
Embassy of Spain in Iraq
Ambassador of Spain to Iraq
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Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain
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Dr. Juan E. Garcés
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