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People's Mojahedin of Iran a legitimate resistance movement - Lord Slynn |
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Tuesday, 29 November 2005 |
 NCRI - The Rt. Hon. Lord Slynn of Hadley and Professor Jean-Yves de
Cara have visited Iraq twice in the past year to study in situ the
plethora of documents and evidence concerning the legal status of the
People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI). Thousands of members of
the PMOI reside at Camp Ashraf, located about 100 km north-east of
Baghdad. The following excerpts from the legal opinion by Lord Slynn
and Professor de Cara show their view on the subject:
Because of some of the past military operations of the Mojahedin, it
may be considered that they enjoyed recognition as insurgents. Such
recognition is a unilateral act by which a State acknowledged a factual
situation and relationship between the State and insurgents fighting
against the incumbent government of another State.
The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran took several limited
military actions against military installations in Iran from the Iraqi
territory prior to the 1988 cease-fire between the two countries, then
they later restricted their activities a) to self-defence of their
camps and people in Iraq that have been targets of military actions by
the Iranian government and b) to political propaganda to Iran calling
for a democratic regime in that country. For that reason and to
that purpose the Iraqi government recognised the PMOI as a resistance
movement.
It seems that this status was based on a verbal agreement between the
Iraqi government and the PMOI who are entitled to enter and reside in
Iraq and enjoy their freedom of action and independence. This is
supported by a general practice of the Iraqi authorities and by some
documents: a statement by the President of Iraq on June 15,
1986: “the Iraqi leadership respects the Iranian Resistance and
its political and ideological independence and freedom of action of
this resistance in its actions and movements to achieve its
objectives … The relations between Iraq and the Iranian Resistance are
based on peace, mutual respect to national sovereignty and respect for
each nation’s ideological and political choice”.
PMOI were allocated by the Iraqi government various places to set up
their camps and offices; the Iraqi authorities consider that “sites
belonging to the PMOI are sites that the government of Iraq has allowed
this organisation to use without any interference”.
PMOI were allowed to broadcast in Iraq and outside Iraq.
PMOI were allowed to carry out military and political training in their camps.
Those elements make clear that the Mojahedin were regarded as a resistance movement.
Several precedents of such recognition may be found in the past. The
French resistance movement had also been recognised as such before it
was regarded as a government. In a more recent past, other
movements of resistance have been recognised as such: FLN of Algeria
during the rebellion against France, SWAPO in Namibia and others which
might have fled out the territory of the State against which they have
been fighting by force or politically.
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