Iraqi forces deprive Camp Libety residents of using their own forklift trucks forcing them to carry heavy loads with their hands or on their backs, The anti-human torture has caused residents severe orthopedic diseases

The Iraqi forces continue to prevent residents of Camp Liberty from using their own forklift trucks. As a result of this anti-human measure, residents are forced to carry heavy loads with their hands or on their backs.

After the Iraqi forces prevented the transfer of dozens of forklift trucks from Ashraf to Camp Liberty, following numerous referrals by the residents to the United States and the United Nations authorities, in a trilateral agreement in November 2012 between UNAMI, the residents, and the Iraqi government, two forklift trucks were transferred from Ashraf to Camp Liberty. The Iraqi forces refused to hand over these two forklift trucks to the residents and it was decided that the forklift trucks be kept at the police battalion to be given to the residents on a daily basis and returned back at the end of the work.

At 1:20 a.m, on 18 September 2014, Taghi Abbasian, a resident of Camp Liberty and member of Iranian Opposition (PMOI/MEK) who was suffering from heart ailment and Motor Neurone Disease lost his life at the camp’s Iraqi clinic as a result of the anti-human medical siege on the camp and the lack of access to medical care.

He had been in ranks of PMOI for three decades in their struggle to overthrow the religious dictatorship ruling in Iran and to establish democracy and human rights.

As such, since 2009 that the United States transferred protection of Camp Ashraf to the Iraqi forces, twenty-one PMOI members in Ashraf and Liberty have passed away due to the medical blockade. A number of other patients who suffer from extremely serious diseases are in perilous situation due this criminal siege.

In a new anti-human restriction by Iraqi forces Camp Liberty patients may only refer to one hospital on any given day. In blatant violation of humanitarian standards, UNAMI agents are calling on the residents to adjust themselves to this tyrannical restriction and each day concur with each other as to who should be omitted from going to the hospital.

The criminal medical blockade has taken on added dangerous dimensions with the systematic imposition of a new tyrannical restriction. In addition to all the previous restrictions and the daily hurdles in the transfer of patients to the hospital, it is a while now that Iraqi forces only take the patients to one hospital. As such, everyday, a number of patients who are suffering from refractory ailments miss their urgent medical appointments with specialists and thus their conditions deteriorate further.

On Wednesday, October 15, the Iraqi agents not only forced the patients to change their interpreters and nurses three times, but stalled the patients at camp’s gate for 1.5 hours and prevented the transfer of one of the patients about to lose his sight to an eye hospital. A long time ago and only after great difficulty, this patient had acquired this medical appointment from this hospital and the specialist.

Maryam Akbari Monfared, one of Iran’s longest-serving female political prisoners, was released on April 8, 2026, after nearly 17 years in prison without a single day of furlough. Her release marks a moment of hope for many who campaigned for her freedom. Despite suffering from multiple serious health conditions, authorities repeatedly denied her access to medical treatment outside prison.

Born on December 14, 1975, and a mother of three daughters, Maryam was arrested following the 2009 uprising. On December 29, 2009, she was summoned to Evin Prison “to provide explanations” and never returned home. In June 2010, she was sentenced to 15 years on charges of membership in the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran—an allegation she has consistently denied.

Statement issued today by The Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe:

"The Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe once again draws the attention of the international community to the situation of Iranian refugees in Camp Liberty (Iraq).

In particular, the Committee is worried by a recent statement of the Iraqi Minister of Justice, in which he said that if Iran asked for the extradition of the residents of Camp Liberty, Iraq would deliver them. The Committee warns that this would constitute a violation of the principle of non-refoulement and a breach of international laws and conventions.

A sweeping wave of anti-regime protests has erupted across Iranian universities, as students at some of the country’s most prominent academic institutions boycotted classes and turned their campuses into centres of open resistance against the ruling theocracy.

Demonstrations spread through several major universities in Tehran. Protests also reached Isfahan University of Technology and Ferdowsi and Sajjad universities in Mashhad. Students voiced unequivocal opposition to authoritarian rule, chanting slogans such as “Death to Khamenei” and “Death to the dictator.”