By Saeid Mehdizadeh

Free access to physicians and medical services are one of the most basic human rights that no individual can deprive any other of. However, here in Camp Liberty near Baghdad International Airport, home to Iranian opposition members fighting the fascist regime ruling Iran, there is no sign of respecting this human rights principle. In fact,

these rights are violated on a daily basis as easy as drinking a cup of water. When you pass by the Iraqi clinic in the camp you see patients suffering for months and waiting to exit the camp for visits or treatment in Baghdad hospitals. You become happy, hoping that there will be an end to their pains and sufferings. At 8 am my eyes follow the ambulance, carrying patients, at the camp’s exit checkpoint. However, minutes later you see that ambulance has been stopped in front of the camp. This tragedy is being repeated exactly like the days before. I stand there waiting for the ambulance exit and waves of questions come to my mind like what will happen if they actually do not exit the camp? If the Iraqi security forces begin obstructing again for no reason at all, what will happen then?

I hadn’t found answers to these questions when, all of a sudden, I heard the sound of the ambulance’s tires running on the gravel road. It was as if a pile of sadness took over me seeing the ambulance turn back into the camp. I look at my watch. It’s 11:30 am. I lose my thoughts and all my hope vanishes in thin air while the ambulance passes by me. My eyes fall on those of the patients in pain and this question comes to my mind for a second, with the all heavy load of the disasters in Liberty: why is it that in the 21st century 2,800 people in a so-called “temporary transit” camp must be deprived of their most human rights?