In a 20-page ruling released this morning, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities annulled the European Union Council of Ministers’ decision to maintain the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) on the EU terrorist list.
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the Iranian Resistance’s President-elect, described today’s court decision as an acknowledgment of the Iranian people’s right to resist against dictatorship and religious fascism, and called it a triumph of justice over politics and economic dealings and interests.
She thanked European lawyers, jurists, and legislators for their genuine and unforgettable efforts in defending the rights of the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. She added that today’s ruling, which comes after an earlier ruling by the EU court in December 2006 in addition to the High Court and Court of Appeal verdicts in the UK, puts an end to the unjust label of terrorism against the PMOI, and demonstrates that this label was from the outset devoid of any legitimacy and legal basis and was simply used to appease the religious fascism ruling Iran and to make concessions to that regime. This ruling is the final nail in the coffin of the discredited terror label.
Mrs. Rajavi said the verdict shows that maintaining the terror label against the PMOI by the EU Council of Ministers last July, which relied on France’s decision, was a kowtow to the mullahs in Iran while trampling upon the rule of law and defying the courts and the values that have formed the basis for the EU’s creation.
The Iranian Resistance’s President-elect added that, in practical terms, the imposition of the terror label is tantamount to participation and cooperation with the religious fascism in its suppression of the people and Resistance of Iran, and blocks the path to democratic change in that country. The regime exploits the terrorist label as an excuse to execute dissidents in Iran and plot against the 3,500 residents of Ashraf City in Iraq (where PMOI members reside). Moreover, in European countries, the basic rights of refugees, applicants for refugee status, as well as members and sympathizers of the Resistance, have been violated by resorting to the same excuse.
Mrs. Rajavi added that today the Council must immediately remove the PMOI from the terrorist list, compensate the people of Iran for all the damages, and apologize to the PMOI and the Iranian Resistance. Every single day of maintaining this label represents the continuation of crimes committed against the Iranian people as well as the blocking of change in Iran. This change is an imperative for regional and global peace and security, and can only be realized by the people and Resistance of Iran. The EU must put an end to its policy and acknowledge the Iranian people’s desire to bring about change.
Mrs. Rajavi pointed to the statements issued by the majority of parliamentarians from various European countries, as well as resolutions passed by the European Parliament, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, and the foreign and European committees of many of the European parliaments, in addition to calls by 2,000 parliamentarians from across Europe to remove the PMOI from the terrorist list and implementation of the rulings of the European courts in this regard. She added that all these developments readily express that the people of Europe and their representatives are standing with the Iranian people and detest political dealings and appeasement with the ruling mullahs in Iran.
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
October 23, 2008