U.S. Families of Camp Liberty Residents to Join the Worldwide Hunger Strikes Demanding Release of Seven Iranian Dissidents Taken Hostage by Iraq, Says USCCAR

WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The U.S. families of thousands of Iranian dissidents, members of Iran's principal opposition movement, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), who reside in Camp Liberty, Iraq, have volunteered to join an indefinite hunger strike outside the White House beginning today.

The DC hunger strikers will be joining hundreds of others at Camp Liberty, in London, Berlin, Rome, Geneva, Stockholm, Ottawa and Melbourne, who have been on a hunger strike since September 2, 2013, demanding action to secure the release of seven residents of Camp Ashraf, including six women, taken hostage by the Iraqi security forces during the September 1 massacre at the Camp.

The deadly assault left 52 of the 101 residents murdered, execution-style, by security forces under the command of the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

The report released by the National Council of Resistance of Iran on November 24 states that information obtained from inside the Iranian regime reveal that the seven hostages continue to be held in Iraq in the safe houses affiliated with al-Maliki in the Green Zone area of Baghdad. These reports also indicate that the agents of Iran's Ministry of Intelligence and Security have interrogated the hostages on several occasions.

In a November 19 Urgent Action news release, citing reliable sources, Amnesty International confirms that "The seven Iranian exiles abducted on 1 September are now known to be held by the Iraqi security forces at an unofficial detention facility in central Baghdad. They are at risk of torture and other ill-treatment and could be forcibly returned to Iran."

On September 12, Kamel Amin, Spokesman of the Iraqi Human Rights Ministry, told Radio Free Iraq, "[Iraqi] Security forces arrested these individuals [seven hostages] for attacking them [security forces]."

The United States has the responsibility and ability to save the lives of the seven abducted residents of Camp Ashraf by demanding the Iraqi Government to immediately release the hostages. Camp Liberty residents urge President Obama to personally intervene to save the lives of the hostages.

SOURCE U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR)