In its fourth ruling, European court rejects demand by EU Council and France to delay annulment of terror label against PMOI (MEK)
Maryam Rajavi: This puts an end to shameful deals with the mullahs; EU Council has no alternative but to comply with the court ruling which annulled PMOI's terror label
NCRI – he Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI), in its fourth ruling over the past two years, rejected a request by the EU Council and France to delay implementation of the December 4 court ruling on the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI [MEK]) until the deadline to submit an appeal against the ruling has ended. It described their demand as "clearly unacceptable" and ordered the Council to pay all legal costs incurred by the PMOI (MEK).
Thus, the Court put an end to unlawful delays and excuses by the Council, leaving it with no alternative but to comply with the court ruling and acknowledge that the PMOI is no longer on the terrorist list.
The EU Council on December 4, immediately after the CFI annulled the terror tag against the PMOI for the third time, tried to take advantage of a paragraph from one of the previous rulings of the CFI to request that the court agrees with a delay in its implementing the order until the deadline to submit an appeal expires, and if the Council submits an appeal, until the end of such an appeal process. The French authorities immediately supported the Council's request.
Fully aware of their certain defeat in a possible appeal, the Council and the French authorities tried to please the medieval mullahs by delaying the implementation of the court ruling.
When legally the court annuls a "decision" by the Council, the ruling is binding and is not conditional to the appeal process.
The latest court decision comes after the Council refrained from releasing the new list when it simply announced in its December 17 Common Position that 13 new individuals had been added to the Common Position of July 15, 2008. It is a misleading and designed to buy more time for the regime.
The court in its 15 paragraph judgment says, "The application for interpretation is dismissed as manifestly inadmissible." It further orders the Council to reimburse the PMOI(MEK).
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance's President-elect said that the fourth European Court ruling in favor of the PMOI and against the unlawful Council decisions leaves the EU with no remedy but to immediately accept the ruling and admit that the PMOI (MEK)had been out of the list since December 4. She added that there is nothing the EU Council could do to prevent implementation of the ruling. She hoped that the EU would immediately comply with the Court's decision and prevent further disgrace for itself.
Mrs. Rajavi reiterated that over the past two weeks the Council tried to evade the court ruling and had refused to accept it; however, the new decision by the court puts an end to the shameful deals which have been pursued by some European countries with the religious dictatorship against the Iranian people and the Resistance.
She said that the Iranian people should be compensated for the enormous sufferings of the past seven years because of the unlawful designation.
She emphasized that the terror label against the legitimate Resistance of the Iranian people has provided the best opportunity for the religious dictatorship and the Islamic fundamentalism as well as terrorism emanating from it. She concluded that the terror designation has disrupted the campaign against terrorism and the real terrorists.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
December 19, 2008
