EU to urge member states to accept Iranian exiles

The Associated Press

By SLOBODAN LEKIC, Associated Press
BRUSSELS

(AP) — An official says the EU’s foreign policy chief will urge the member countries to accept some of the Iranians living in a refugee settlement in Iraq.

Iraq’s government has said it will close Camp Ashraf, where more than 3,000 Iranian exiles are living, by the end of the year. The U.N. says at least 34 people were killed when Iraqi security forces raided the camp in April.

The refugees, many of whom seek to overthrow Iran’s clerical rulers, were taken in at the camp by Saddam Hussein’s regime decades ago.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton will appeal to all 27 members of the bloc next week, asking countries to take in Ashraf residents with ties to them, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Thursday.

Others may return to Iran.