Ebrahim Mir Seyyedi

By Ebrahim Mir Seyyedi, Camp Liberty hunger striker

Usually, a president’s performance is assessed a hundred days after he comes into office. After such a period of time, an analysis is made as to whether or not the person in question has been successful in accomplishing or at least nearing the promises and goals that he has set before his presidency.

Now this issue is manifesting itself in another form in some other corner of the world. Camp Ashraf, Iraq, where more than three thousand Iranian dissidents used to live, was put under the US government’s protection. The aim of the residents was to establish freedom and democracy in Iran, challenging the rule of the mullahs in Iran, who run the most vicious religious dictatorship in the world. These people had all received Protected Person status from the United States.

But while President Obama has, time and again, expressed his support for the cause of freedom, democracy and human rights, he decided to neglect his promises and commitments to the residents of Ashraf in order to reach out to the Iranian regime. The consequence has so far been five deadly attacks on the residents of the Camp by the Iraqi government, a close ally of the Iranian regime. The last instance of such attacks occurred on September 1, 2013, in which 52 defenseless residents were murdered and seven others were abducted.

A hundred days have now passed from that horrible incident. What has the US government done? Nothing!

Not only has the US government turned a blind eye on this terrible crime against humanity, but it is also trying to legally justify its idleness: While the 42 witnesses and survivors of the attack have been calling for an independent delegation from UN and US to interview them and investigate into the September 1 massacre, Obama’s administration has ignored them utterly and has settled on believing and repeating the lies of the Iraqi authorities, the real perpetrators of this crime.

Were these people not entitled to live? Did they deserve to be thus murdered by Maliki’s forces? Is it just that the seven hostages continue to remain in custody of the Iraqi Prime Minister’s brutal forces? If not, then why has this treacherous silence stretched on for a hundred days? Why hasn’t there been any independent investigation? A single arrest?

Hundreds of people are on hunger strike in Camp Liberty and different cities across the world, including Washington. While Obama is warm and cozy in his office, people are standing in the freezing weather in front of the White House, calling on him to honor his commitments to the residents of Camp Ashraf and Liberty. Is he not hearing their message? Is it too much for him to use a fraction of his leverage to force Maliki to release the hostages?

History will be the real judge at the end of the day, but if it were up to me to make an assessment, I’d say that Obama’s poor performance in the past hundred days has left a lot to desire. The increasing numbers of protestors across the globe seem to be favoring my opinion.

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