A group of refugees who were forced into exile over twenty years ago, are again being threatened by powerful political forces.

Around three and a half thousand pro-democratic Iranians have lived sixty kilometers north-east of Baghdad, in a small province called Ashraf City since the 1980s.

The group is called the Peoples Mujahedin Organisation of Iran, or the P-M-O-I.

The people of Ashraf have been protected by the U.S military since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, living normal and peaceful lives.

But when the U.S military formally handed control of the City back to the Iraqi government in January this year, the fate of the PMOI suddenly went up in flames.

Just last month, 15 PMOI members were reportedly killed by Iraqi forces with hundreds more injured and unaccounted for.

2SER's Rosie Lewis spoke with Stephen Pitt-Walker, a former Australian military officer and human rights advocate.