By Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Source: La Razon
A liberation movement, which renounced armed action and proposes to Iran a reform program that will place it among the most advanced, has been classified a terrorist organization by the State Department and the EU Council of Ministers.
La Razon (Spanish daily), Nov. 3 – Two weeks ago, I myself as the head of a delegation from the Inter-parliamentary group “Friends of a Free Iran” to the European Parliament visited refugee camp of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in the north-eastern Iraq near the border with the Islamic republic.
This movement was founded at the end of the era of Shah and since it led a tenacious struggle against totalitarianism that have oppressed Iran during its turbulent history for half of the twentieth century.
First the dictatorship of Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, then the religious regime of the wicked ayatollahs, which is one of the most politically brutal and cruel regimes in the modern times.
Today, the People’s Mojahedin are the main component of the multi-platform called the National Council of Resistance of Iran, headed by a wonderful woman, Maryam Rajavi, a heroic tenacity – suffice it to say that two of her sisters were murdered by Khomeini criminals – and the movement which enjoys growing support in Europe and the USA. It can embody without doubt the best hope of millions of her countrymen who suffer from fundamentalist dictatorship that uses a large-scale repression, torture, the proliferation and support for international terrorism. Thanks to the cooperation I have had with the CNRI, with many other colleagues of various ideological tendencies in the European Parliament, from the time I arrival in Brussels in 1999, I could have almost live some of the richest experiences and emotions in my political life.
Twice, I had the opportunity to speak before a crowd of more than 50,000 Iranians in exile, enthusiastic supporters of NCRI and supporters of Maryam Rajavi at mass rallies near Paris. Like so many other representatives of the European Parliament, the members of Congress from the United States and various national parliaments of our continent who had the privilege to participate. I can not describe the overwhelming emotions, we all experienced. During the many working meetings I had with leaders of the democratic opposition to the ayatollahs, I saw the nobility of their intentions, the height of their approach and absolute honesty behind their actions.
However, much to our shame, the liberation movement that has renounced the armed action and proposes for Iran a reform program that will place the country among the the most advanced countries in the world, has been classified as terrorist by the U.S. State Department and the Council of the European Union. The reasons for this are unjustifiable: contracts with billions of Euros for European companies operating in Iran on one hand, and secondly the unsuccessful attempt to contain the ayatollahs in their promotion of terrorism and their persistence in building nuclear weapons. So this decision is inconsistent with the law, because four times the courts have vindicated the People’s Mojahedin of Iran and declared illegal their listing as a terrorist organization. The Court of First Instance of the European Communities in successive verdicts handed down in December 2006 and October 2008, as the British High Court’s decision in November 2007 and to finality and closes the Court of Appeal in May 2008 , Considered the label of terrorist on Mojahedin contrary to law.
Nevertheless, the Council of Ministers of the European Union has still not corrected this unacceptable and embarrassing situation; a legal point of view turned into a ethical point of view.
In this context, our visit to Ashraf had a very special meaning; boosting the morales of 3,000 Iranian men and women who built in the desert a city well equipped with residential areas, training centers, hospitals, museums, mechanical and electrical workshops, monuments, parks and gardens and probably the only place where thousands of square kilometers of trees were planted.
People able to turn dry and arid plains of Iraq into a center of civility, work, order, cleanliness and discipline, with few resources, to accept all kinds of hazards and put in, efforts, creativity and determination, deserve the support of the West and not be treated as a bargaining chip to get more face to a criminal regime. The ayatollahs of Iran are currently the greatest threat to peace and stability of the planet on which we face. The awkwardness and the immorality of the strategy pursued by the European Union and the United States causes astonishment if not indignation.
Dr. Alejo Vidal-Quadras is the Vice-President of the European Parliament
Editor’s note: Above is a translation from Spainsh of the article appeared in the daily La Razon.
