Press Release
24 September 2012
According to news agencies, the US government is removing the name of the Iranian opposition, PMOI-MEK from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations sometime this week.
Struan Stevenson MEP, President of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with Iraq who is also the Chair of the Friends of a Free Iran intergroup (FOFI) which has the active support of over 200 MEPs said :
“This decision, although long overdue, is the breakthrough that we have all been waiting for and will surely pierce the heart of the fascist mullahs in Tehran. It wouldn’t have happened without the resolute courage and endurance of the PMOI (MEK) members in Ashraf who, in the face of constant provocation from the Iraqi authorities (at the behest of their Iranian puppet-masters) and even the appeasement policies of the EU and UN, have bravely stood their ground. Congratulations to them and to the Iranian opposition leader, Mrs Maryam Rajavi for her inspired leadership which has proved to be not only correct but strategically vital.
The terrorist designation of the PMOI (MEK) in 1997 was an act of appeasement by the US, desperate to keep the Iranian mullahs on side. This has proved to be a complete failure, causing untold human suffering and achieving no progress in resolving the Iranian regime’s race to develop nuclear weapons. PMOI (MEK) camps in Iraq including Ashraf were bombed by the Americans in 2003. The unjust blacklisting of the PMOI(MEK) practically wasted all of the resources of the resistance in fighting endless court battles, in an attempt to clear their name. Their listing as terrorists was used by Iran and Iraq as a pretext to crack down brutally on its members and supporters. It also was used by the Iranian secret service to launch a massive misinformation campaign against this democratic movement.
Iran’s nuclear programme, first revealed by the PMOI(MEK) in 2002, as well as the regime’s hostility towards Israel, its state sponsorship of terrorism and military assistance to the government of President Bashar al-Assad of Syria, has turned Iran into the biggest threat to global security in the world today. The only way forward is a regime change in Iran and the west should now begin a formal dialogue with the umbrella organisation the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
With the name of the main opposition no longer on its blacklist, the US should focus on the safety and wellbeing of all Ashraf-Liberty residents without any exception until their resettlement in third countries.
Struan Stevenson MEP
