And the intelligence services of the Netherlands, AIVD, 2012 report, page 37, states:
AIVD has realized that the government of Iran is constantly active against the resistance movement PMOI. The Iranian Ministry of Intelligence (MOIS) controls a network in Europe, which is also active in the Netherlands. Members of this network are former members of the PMOI who have been recruited by the MOIS. Their mission is to impose a negative impact on public opinion about the PMOI by lobbying, making publications and organizing anti-PMOI rallies. These people also gather information about the PMOI and its members for the MOIS.
1. The Iranian Green Movement was a political movement that arose following the fraudulent 2009 Iranian presidential election, in which protesters demanded the removal of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office. Green was initially used as the symbol of Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh’s campaign, but after the election it became the symbol of unity and hope for those demanding the annulment of the election result.
36
Interviews with PMOI Refugees in Camp Liberty, September 2014
Hassan Nezam
‘My name is Hassan Nezam. I was born in Tehran in 1954 to a middle-class family. My father was a businessman. In 1972, upon completing my high school in Alawi School, I enrolled at the University of Tehran school of economics. I finished my studies, but before graduating I was arrested and taken to prison. When I was studying at the University of Tehran, I used to teach in schools in the southern and eastern parts of Tehran and at the same time I used to help my father with his business.
At Alawi High School the atmosphere was anti-Shah and some of the teachers were associated with the PMOI; that is where I was exposed to politics. When I enrolled in university in 1972, I continued my activities at the Students’ Association where I established contacts with the PMOI for the first time. I was in contact with the PMOI from the beginning of my activities in 1972 till 1976, when I was arrested. My activities included distributing leaflets and taking part in anti-Shah demonstrations. At that time, the Shah’s regime was regarded as an “island of stability”, and through the use and intimidation of his secret police, “SAVAK”, no one dared to oppose him publicly. This is where the student associations came in and tried to organise protests from the universities. For example, one of these demonstrations that was organised by the student association in 1978 turned into a widespread protest, and set the stage for the Shah’s downfall. These demonstrations organized by the PMOI had started in 1975; it was the first time the slogan, “Death to the Shah” was taken up by the masses. In 1975, during the Ramadan celebrations in Tehran’s Bazar, Tehran University students started chanting anti-regime slogans. Subsequently, other demonstrations on the campus occurred that spilled over onto the streets and marked the prelude to mass demonstrations and nationwide unrest.
In the summer of 1976 I was arrested by the SAVAK. I was tortured for three months and then was given a fifteen-year prison sentence. I spent my time in Qasr and Evin prisons. I was released after the popular uprisings in 1979. I was in contact with the PMOI and started my activities in the Azerbaijan region. During the political phase after the revolution, the thugs and hoodlums associated with the Islamic Republic party used to attack our centres and newsstands in the universities. To continue our political activities we were forced to pay a price on a daily basis by enduring violent attacks. This went on till 20 June 1981, when the PMOI’s peaceful demonstrations were suppressed violently by the mullah regime’s forces. This was a turning-point, and from this point on we had to continue our struggle in a clandestine manner.
In September 1982 I travelled to the Kurdistan region of Iran and stayed in Kurdistan till 1983. From Kurdistan I travelled to Iraq and joined the PMOI there. When Camp Ashraf was established I moved to Ashraf. When I was in Iran I was in contact with some of the resistance cells that were active in Iran. Upon arriving in Ashraf I kept up contact with these cells. Our activities focused on exposing the Khomeini regime’s warmongering policies and supporting the patriotic personnel in the armed forces. During the Iran-Iraq war, through propaganda, the Khomeini regime used to send hundreds of thousands of students to their deaths in the front lines. They used to put a key around the students’ necks and tell them that this is the key to heaven. Continuing the war was the best cover for the ongoing suppression inside Iran. Our goal was to put a stop to this war at any price. Many of the military personnel who were in contact with us were arrested, tortured and executed. Many others managed to come to Iraq and join the National Liberation Army, and some others managed to leave Iran and expose the warmongering policies of the regime internationally. These activities, along with the blows dealt to the regime by the National Liberation Army, forced Khomeini’s regime to accept a ceasefire.
I lost most of my hearing during a terrorist attack by the regime’s agents in Iraq and on top of that I witnessed the massacre of 52 of my friends at Camp Ashraf on 1 September 2013. Over a 10-year period I have witnessed the Iranian regime’s terrorist operations in Iraq against the PMOI. In 1999 an explosion ripped into a bus carrying PMOI members that resulted in 6 deaths and 21 wounded. In another incident in Habib Camp in Basra, a truck that was loaded with 1½ tons of TNT exploded, killing 6 and wounding 54 PMOI members. Three of our brothers were killed on Mohammed Ghassem Street in Baghdad in July 1995. I have had many interviews about the role of the Iranian intelligence forces under the direction of the Iranian regime’s National Security Council.’
37
Dr Tariq al-Hashemi
I had been in touch with the deposed former Vice President of Iraq, Dr Tariq al-Hashemi for many months. He had fled to Turkey after his thirteen bodyguards had been arrested and tortured, one of them dying under torture. On the basis of bogus confessions made under duress, the twelve surviving bodyguards had each been sentenced to death and Dr al-Hashemi, the most senior Sunni in Iraqi political circles, had entered the Guinness Book of Records for having no fewer than five death sentences imposed upon him in absentia, allegedly for terrorist offences, which was Maliki’s preferred charge for Sunnis he wanted to get rid of.
Shiia militias affiliated to the Iranian regime and Maliki’s government had assassinated two of his brothers and one sister. He was perhaps the first and only senior Iraqi official to reveal the barbaric tortures that were taking place in Iraqi prisons. He visited the prisons and then showed films of the torture victims, which infuriated Maliki. He was also a strong supporter of the rights of Ashraf residents and had repeatedly said that they were refugees and Protected Persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention and their rights had to be respected.
I decided that the truth of Maliki’s vicious repression of the Sunnis in Iraq could be best described in person by Dr al-Hashemi, and I invited him to address a special conference in the European Parliament in Brussels on 16 October 2013. The fact that Dr al-Hashemi was on Iraq’s ‘Most Wanted’ list was of course a concern. Nevertheless we checked with Interpol and were assured that, as a political figure, he was not on their Red List, which would have meant instant detention and deportation back to Iraq, where he would have been executed within hours.
It was obviously a huge personal risk for Dr al-Hashemi to fly to Europe. He negotiated a visa with the Belgian authorities, which issued it based on the fact that he had received a formal invitation from me to address a meeting in the European Parliament. We organised a large attendance of leading ex-pat Iraqis and key political figures from the Middle East. Alejo Vidal-Quadras, the Vice President of the European Parliament, arranged with the Parliament’s protocol services for a VIP greeting for Dr al-Hashemi when he arrived in the early afternoon of 16 October.
In fact, I was walking towards the VIP entrance to prepare to meet Dr al-Hashemi when my mobile phone rang. It was a senior official from the office of the Parliament’s President, Martin Schulz. I immediately asked that my thanks should be conveyed to President Schulz for agreeing to the VIP reception for Dr al-Hashemi. ‘In fact that is the very reason I have be
en asked to call you by President Schulz,’ said the official. ‘The President has decided that Dr al-Hashemi should not be allowed to enter the premises of the European Parliament and he has informed security to stop him from entering the building.’
I was stunned. ‘This is the former Vice President of Iraq’, I spluttered. ‘What possible reason has President Schulz given for this ban?’
‘I cannot answer that question,’ said the official, ‘you’ll need to take it up with the President.’
‘Put me through to the President straight away,’ I said, but the official told me that the President was not available. Clearly, having landed this bombshell, he had made himself scarce, unwilling to have to confront me with his arguments for the ban.
I immediately called Alejo Vidal-Quadras. He was outraged and said that he would try to track down Schulz. We decided to rearrange the conference in another venue in central Brussels. We asked al-Hashemi to remain in his hotel until we could come back with new arrangements.
Dr al-Hashemi was staying in a suite at the Steigenberger Grand Hotel in Avenue Louise. I immediately jumped in a parliamentary car and headed down to see him. When I arrived there were several bodyguards posted in the corridor outside his suite. They ushered me in.
Dr al-Hashemi was pleased to see me, but clearly deeply concerned by this turn of events. ‘How can the President of your Parliament do this to me?’ he asked. I told him that it didn’t surprise me in the slightest. I had no doubt that the Iraqi ambassador to the EU had informed Maliki, and Maliki had got directly in touch with Schulz, denouncing Dr al-Hashemi as a terrorist and pointing out that he was under sentence of death. This would be enough to panic the German socialist Schulz, who was ever keen to avoid any diplomatic incident that might have dented his own reputation. Rather than question the veracity of Maliki’s claims, Schulz had simply taken the easy way out and instructed that Dr al-Hashemi should not be allowed to enter the European Parliament. It was a great betrayal of the European Parliament’s claim always to fight for justice.
Just as we discussed this, there came a loud knock on the door and al-Hashemi’s Belgian lawyer was ushered into the room. He had a message from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior, because of the unfortunate situation that had arisen over Schulz’s decision to ban Dr al-Hashemi from entering the European Parliament. As the visa for al-Hashemi had been issued on the basis that he was formally invited to the European Parliament, it now seemed that his visa was no longer valid. We asked him to explain what he meant by this and he said, ‘Basically, if you no longer have a valid visa, you could be arrested and deported to Iraq at any moment.’ He explained that the Belgian government simply wanted to inform al-Hashemi about this, but did not intend to take any action against him.
This was shocking news for Dr al-Hashemi and for all of us. I had invited him to Brussels in good faith and he had come on the understanding that he would be safe from arrest and deportation. Now, because of Schulz, it seemed that he could be arrested and deported at any minute and sent back to face the gallows in Baghdad. This had suddenly become a life or death issue. Nevertheless Dr al-Hashemi remained calm and continued to discuss the matter in an unruffled manner.
Dr al-Hashemi was pondering whether to head straight back to the airport in Brussels to catch the next available flight to Istanbul, but we cautioned against this, as it seemed possible that he might be stopped at border control, although we argued that it was quite unlikely that the Belgian government would create any serious problem for Dr al-Hashemi. Just then, a famous French politician, Bernard Kouchner, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Nicolas Sarkozy and founder of Médecins Sans Frontières, joined us in the increasingly crowded room. Kouchner and al-Hashemi were old friends and they hugged each other warmly.
All of us now began a discussion about what to do next. I explained that we had managed to rearrange the conference in a large hall in the centre of Brussels. I said that whatever Dr al-Hashemi decided to do, he should at least take the opportunity of addressing the conference and the media, otherwise we would be seen as handing complete victory to Maliki. The lawyers meanwhile were in discussion by telephone with the Minister of the Interior. They explained that Dr al-Hashemi was a political target of Maliki’s and was not on the Interpol Red List. Here we had to solve two problems: firstly, to ensure the security and safe return of Dr al-Hashemi, and secondly to prevent Maliki from making any political gains by cancelling our conference. With the help of the lawyers and our Belgian friends, we successfully neutralised the threat to Dr al-Hashemi’s safe return to Turkey. To ensure that the conference went ahead, we changed the venue from the European Parliament to the Residence Palace. I chaired that conference. The keynote speaker was Dr al-Hashemi and several distinguished politicians also spoke, such as Sid Ahmad Ghozali, the former prime minister of Algeria, Yves Bonnet, former Director of the French DST (French Intelligence Service), Lord Maginnis of Drumglass from the UK, Tahar Boumedra, Paulo Casaca, Professor Tanter and Colonel Wes Martin. The conference was a resounding success.
As I sat in an anteroom with the former Iraqi Vice President waiting to make our entrance, we could suddenly hear shouting and noise from the main chamber. This went on for several minutes and we were informed that agents of the Iraqi and Iranian regimes had tried to infiltrate the meeting to cause trouble, and had shouted and become violent when the Residence Palace security guards forcibly ejected them.
Calm having been restored, we entered the room to a standing ovation from the audience. I introduced Dr Tariq al-Hashemi, and he then spoke eloquently about the deteriorating situation in Iraq, citing specific cases of human rights abuse and explaining how the judiciary had become corrupted by Maliki and did his bidding. He also provided an in-depth report on the problems that thousands of innocent Iraqis are facing resulting from false reports that led to their arrests, with their cases remaining in limbo for years. He showed a short film of his visits to many of these prisons and his pledge to the inmates to help. He explained how many of these inmates had been tortured and threatened to make them deliver forged confessions on TV. Dr al-Hashemi said most of those arrested were innocent, while the real criminals were roaming free with the security organs being fully aware of what was going on.
Dr al-Hashemi told the conference how Nouri al-Maliki seemed determined to carve out a role for himself as Saddam Hussein’s worthy successor. Angered by critics in the press who had highlighted the spiralling violence and human rights abuses in Iraq, Maliki had banned Al-Jazeera and nine Iraqi TV channels, eight of which were Sunni. Without licences, news crews from the banned channels would be arrested if they attempted to operate in Iraq.
Iraq’s descent into another sectarian civil war, prompted by Maliki’s determined efforts to marginalise the Sunni population, had become an embarrassment to the US, who regarded the Iraqi Prime Minister as their adopted son. US State Department assertions that they were leaving behind a ‘functioning democracy’, following the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, now had a hollow ring.
Dr al-Hashemi said that mass demonstrations against Maliki had been going on in six of Iraq’s provinces and most of the major cities for the past four months. Hundreds of thousands of protesters were pouring onto the streets, particularly following Friday prayers, to demand an end to sectarian oppression, human rights abuses and arbitrary executions. Maliki had tried to stem the protests by offering talks, bribes and concessions, but all to no avail. In desperation, he turned to his real sponsors, the Mullahs in Iran, who willingly dispatched their menacing Minister of Intelligence, Heydar Moslehi, who was more than happy to advise Maliki on how Iran deals with street protests and demonstrations.
I thanked Dr al-Hashemi for his presentation and reminded the audience that Maliki runs one of the world’s most corrupt regimes. Despite the restoration of oil production to an all-time high with an estimated $8 billion in earnings in the previous year alone, much of this money simply disa
ppears. The infrastructure, devastated during the US invasion and the insurgency, has never been restored. There are only around four hours of electricity a day in Baghdad and most major cities. Many people do not have access to fresh running water. Sewerage systems have broken down. Pollution is rife. Baghdad is one of the world’s filthiest capitals. And to cap it all, youth unemployment is running at around 30%. An entire generation has lost faith in the corrupt and oppressive Maliki government.
I then chaired a press conference for Dr al-Hashemi, where he presented documents and video clips showing the involvement of Maliki and his office in torture and flagrant human rights violations. In the press conference Dr al-Hashemi said he was ready to return immediately to Iraq and appear before a fair court, if a true opportunity was provided for him to prove his innocence and the innocence of his bodyguards who had been brutally tortured.
Following the press conference we set off for the airport. I was extremely nervous. If the Ministry of the Interior had given orders for Dr al-Hashemi to be arrested and deported to Iraq, his fate would be my direct responsibility. I had invited him to Brussels. His deportation and execution in Iraq would be a devastating blow for which I would hold myself responsible. At the airport I went with him to passport control at Terminal B. As we approached the border control officer with Dr al-Hashemi at the front, followed closely by bodyguards, his lawyers and me, we were becoming somewhat conspicuous. Other travellers were stopping to stare at our strange procession.
Self-Sacrifice Page 23