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Iran-UK: Take People's Mojahedin off terror list - British parliamentarians |
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Wednesday, 14 December 2005 |
 Press Association, LONDON - A group of parliamentarians today called on
the Government to lift its ban on an Iranian opposition group.
The People's Mojahedin of Iran was proscribed by former Home Secretary David
Blunkett under anti-terrorism legislation in 2001 because of allegations that it had links to terror.
Some 279 MPs and 126 peers of all parties signed a statement released
today, calling for the removal of the PMOI's terror tag, which they
said was "the most important impediment" to democratic change in Iran.
Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, chairman of the British Parliamentary
Committee for Iran Freedom said: "The only reason the PMOI was
proscribed was in a shabby deal to please the mullahs.
"The policy of appeasement is in ruins as Iran moves nearer to
developing nuclear weapons and continues its gross interference in
Iraq."
Today's statement from the committee said that the Government's policy of
engagement with the Tehran regime had failed to promote moderate factions, as was hoped.
"To continue appeasement of the mullahs at this time would be gambling
with the security and stability of the Middle East," said the
statement. "The solution to the Iranian problem is democratic change by
relying on the Iranian people and resistance."
Maryam Rajavi, the president elect of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran spoke to a conference in the House of Commons by
satellite link.
She said: "Two decades of appeasement played a key role in the rise to
power of the most radical factions of the regime. Appeasement led the
mullahs to conclude that the international community lacks the will to
deal with them.
"Through this statement, Parliament is showing its support for taking
the Mojahedin off the terror list. Parliament wants an end to the
policy of appeasement of the mullahs. It declares support for
democratic change by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance."
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