Eddy Van Wessel - Lost in Limbo - 2009

Ultra Rare Book by Eddy Van Wessel

THE MAKERS
Eddy van Wessel is a documentary photographer, capturing life on the edge in all aspects. Real moments, real images that reflect the emotions of the photographers at the moment, taking a very personal point of view. Eddy van Wessel works with international magazines like: Stern, Paris. Match, LeMonde2 and The Washington Post Magazine. He was two times photographer of the year in 1996 and 2004 and exhibits worldwide in galeries and fotofestivals. Judit Neurink is a specialist on the Middle East and currently correspondent in Iraq for the Dutch daily Trouw. She is the author of Misled Martyrs, a book on the Mujahedin Khalq. Paulien Bakker is a freelance journalist.


Published by Aras Publishers
Aras Publishers, Gulan Street, Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq
LOST IN LIMBO
Photography: Eddy van Wessel
Texts: Judit
Neurink, Paulien Bakker
Editing: Ian Bickerton
Design: Kees Bakker
Text, Editing and Design are made in The Netherlands.
First Printing January 2009 Iraq Copyright © 2009, Eddy van Wessel
Book full of black and white and colour photos by Eddy van Wessel; Text in both English and Arabic

This book is about the men and women who spent part of their lives in the Mujahedin Khalq Organisation, and left it when the Americans invaded Iraq in 2003. They were brought from Iran and Europe to Ashraf Camp, the main camp of the MKO in Iraq. Once there, they were barred from leaving. Within the organisation, they were threatened and brainwashed. Some spent years in jail. After the Americans came in 2003, they were able to leave for a special camp that was opened next to Ashraf. Some 600 members left Ashraf Camp in this way, even though the American camp (called TIPF) consisted only of tents, and was very hot in summer and stone cold in winter. There are reports of ill treatment by American soldiers. Some 400 ex-members accepted an offer from the Red Cross to leave for Iran. After interrogation and sometimes jail, most were eventually reunited with family members. They were watched by the Iranian authorities, but left in peace. By the end of 2007, the Americans decided they wanted to get rid of TIPF. The ex-members still there had been waiting years for a country to accept them as refugees. The first group of about 100 people was given a letter and some money, and sent out. Some were able to get to Europe illegally; others were caught by Iraqi police and put in jail. The Iraqis hated MKO because of its close links with Saddam's regime. Some simply disappeared. Then, in April 2008, the last inhabitants of TIPF were forced out; first to Duhok, later to Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan. The Kurdish authorities gave them food and a roof over their heads. UNHCR kept trying to help them get out. Smugglers were working overtime to help ex-members across the borders to Europe. Every week the group got smaller. But those deported and sent back, had no money to try again. Some had none in the first place, nor anywhere to go. They were left in Erbil, in limbo. Waiting for the world to help them move on. Desperately wanting to get on with their lives. Traumatised. Scarred. In between the past and the future. Lost in limbo.
































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