NCRI – In a conference held at the House of Lords today, over 30 pre-eminent parliamentarians (from all major political parties in both Houses of Parliament) and renowned jurists spoke on the nuclear and terrorist threats of the clerical regime. Participants gave their full support to a declaration which called for removal of terror label against the main Iranian opposition, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
The conference was chaired jointly by Lord Corbett of Castle Vale (Chair of the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom) and Rt. Hon. the Lord Archer of Sandwell, QC. Other speakers included Rt. Hon. the Lord Renton, QC, Rt. Hon. the Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Taverne, QC, Baroness Harris of Richmond, Rt. Hon. the Lord Waddington, QC, Lord Alton of Liverpool, Baroness Gibson of Market Rasen, Lord Russell-Johnston of Minginish, Lord Clarke of Hampstead, Lord Dholakia of Waltham Brooks, Baroness Gould of Potternewton, Lord Joffe, Baroness Turner of Camden, Professor Lord Turnberg, Rt. Hon, the Lord Judd of Portsea, Baroness May Blood, Andrew Mackinlay, MP, David Amess, MP, Brian Binley, MP, David Jones, MP, John Leech, MP, Mark Williams, MP, Ian Cawsey, MP, David Gauke, MP, Iain Wright, MP, Geoffrey Bindman (Solicitor), Claire Miskin (Barrister and Recorder), Stephen Grosz (Solicitor), Professor Bill Bowring (Barrister and Lecturer), Mark Muller (Barrister – Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee), and Edward Grieves (Barrister).
Text of the declaration:-
1. We endorse the letter by Lords who also hold the position of Queen’s Counsel, including Lord Slynn of Hadley, Lord Waddington, Lord Archer of Sandwell and Lord Renton,( see below)
2. When the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) were proscribed in 2001, members in both houses of Parliament raised serious concerns and objections.
3. There is a widely held view in Parliament that the PMOI’s proscription was politically motivated. The same holds true about the listing of the PMOI by the Council of Europe’s Decision on 2 May 2002. In November 2004, as part of the Paris Agreement reached between the EU-3 and Iran concerning the Iranian regime’s nuclear programmes, the EU-3 pledged to Iran that in return for Iranian cooperation, the EU would maintain the PMOI in the terrorist list, clearly demonstrating the political nature of the PMOI’s terrorist classification.
4. The policy adopted the UK and the EU towards the Iranian regime has failed. Despite economic concessions and short-lived political gains, Europe’s policy on Iran has been significantly weakened by the inclusion of the PMOI in the terrorism list. Instead of leading to moderation in Iran, it has empowered the most radical factions of the regime, because it has hamstrung the most serious threat to its continuation.
5. After careful examination of the PMOI case in the EU and the United Kingdom, we have not detected any meaningful effort by either the Council or the Home Office to take into consideration the significant developments which have occurred since the PMOI was proscribed. This includes the fact that the PMOI have not engaged in any military activity since July 2001, that the PMOI personnel in Iraq have all been granted ‘protected persons’ status and following 16-month investigation by the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, no basis was found to charge any PMOI member with any offence.
6. In this light that we recommend that the PMOI be de-proscribed. We further urge HMG to make the same proposal to the EU for removal of the PMOI from the terrorist list. Finally, we call on HMG to withdraw from the case brought before the European Court of First Instance by the PMOI regarding its listing by the EU and to recognise the changes that have occurred in the circumstances of the PMOI.
7. Some 2,000 British lawyers from across the country have signed a statement, ‘Iran: A Call for Justice’, indicating that there was no legal basis for the proscription of the PMOI and calling upon the Home Secretary to deproscribe the PMOI. The statement said that the Home Secretary had acknowledged that the PMOI does not represent a threat to British or Western or British interests. The statement added: “It is time that our government distanced itself from Iran’s hard-line regime, which represents a direct threat to British interests, and instead sides with the millions of Iranians and their Resistance movement who seek peace, freedom and a secular democracy in Iran”.
8. In December of last year, 430 MPs and Peers signed a similar statement in which they stated: we must respond to the Iranian people’s demand for change by siding with them in their struggle to replace fundamentalist theocracy with secular democracy. The first step along this path must be to remove the terror label against the PMOI, which is the most important impediment to realising this change.
9. In circumstances in which the Iranian regime is (i) aggressively pursuing its nuclear programmes in defiance of the international community, (ii) intensifying its interference in the internal affairs of Iraq including terrorist activities, and (iii) actively opposing the Middle East peace process, we the undersigned endorse the ‘third option’ for bringing about democratic change in Iran proposed by Mrs Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, in the European Parliament in December 2004.
10. We are convinced that for the west to offer concessions to the regime in Tehran will significantly increase the risk of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and risk of military conflict in the region. Further delay in referring the Iranian regime’s nuclear file to the UN Security Council for the imposition of sanctions and other binding measures could have devastating consequences for peace and stability in the Middle East and the wider world. Democratic change in Iran through the Iranian people and their Resistance represents the only means of ensuring peace and stability in the Middle East.
