*Source: The Henry Jackson Society
– The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) has gained successive victories in European and UK courts to overturn the ban on its main organizational force.
– Despite verdicts that have emphasized the total lack of evidence to justify upholding the ban, the EU has refused to de-list the PMOI. This has lent further evidence to the argument that the EU is using the ban against the PMOI to appease Tehran.
– The effects of this ban have resonated far beyond the EU itself. Despite the PMOI’s considerable popular support in Iraq, Iraqi authorities are using the EU ban as justification for its attempts to extradite PMOI forces back to Iran, where they would almost certainly face execution.
– The UK government must take the lead in de-listing the PMOI. The failure to convince the EU to abide by the rule of law will constitute a significant obstacle to achieving democracy in Iran.
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The Iranian opposition recently gained its fourth legal victory in quick succession as Europe's second highest court ordered the EU-wide ban on its main force annulled. The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) and its supporters across European Parliaments have long accused the EU of using the blacklist to appease Tehran. Although strenuously denied by EU officials on a number of occasions, the argument gained further compelling evidence as the EU once again stated that it would defy the October 23 ruling by the European Court of First Instance (CFI) and maintain the ban on the PMOI.
Since gaining victory in December 2006 at the European Court of Justice, the PMOI has gained further victories in the UK courts, where judgments by the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission (POAC) and the Court of Appeal lead to a consequential back down by British officials, and the group was de-listed in the UK.
The latest legal victory and the ensuing defiance by the EU have lead to outcry from legal and political quarters. The EU has long stated that it has evidence which justifies the ban on the PMOI. Having seen the European Court judgment and the judgments of both the POAC and the Court of Appeal, such statements ring ever more hollow as compelling evidence points towards a policy of appeasement, which the PMOI has found itself at the heart of.
Critically, the CFI verdict emphasized the total lack of evidence which justified a ban on the PMOI. The judgment in turn placed significant emphasis on the decisions of both the POAC and the Court of Appeal. Interestingly, the PMOI had been banned since December 2002 till December 2007 on the decision of the UK Home Secretary. The argument provided by the EU during this period consistently being that the UK government has sufficient evidence for us to ban the PMOI.
However, the evidence of the UK Home Secretary was so lacking that the Court of Appeal emphasized in its judgment of May that neither in the open evidence nor even more significantly in the closed evidence, where the UK government submitted all material which it believed classified, was there any shred of evidence which justified a ban on the PMOI.
The EU's defiance proves ever more disturbing as the Council of Ministers outpaces each and every Court verdict with new decisions to maintain the ban on the PMOI. It is this game of cat and mouse being played by the EU which to many analysts proves conclusively that the EU is using the ban on the PMOI to appease Tehran.
Significantly, since 2002 when the PMOI brought to the world's attention Iran's nuclear program, the EU has played a major role in attempting to convince Tehran to abide by its nuclear obligations. It is here where analysts point to an attempt to appease Tehran and in turn ban the PMOI.
However, the effects of the ban on the PMOI do not simply resonate in the EU. Based in Ashraf City in Iraq, the 4,000 strong PMOI has gained the support of over 5.2 million Iraqis. In spite of such support, segments of the Iraqi government close to Iran are attempting to extradite the PMOI back to Iran, where they would face certain death. This segment of the Iraqi government have used the EU ban on the PMOI as justification for any such act, the first part of which will be the transfer of security of Ashraf City from coalition troops to those of the Iraqi security forces.
The British government has a clear duty to take the lead in the EU in guaranteeing the removal of the PMOI from the EU blacklist. Dialogue with Tehran over nuclear issues cannot and must not play any part in what is a legal battle which the PMOI has conclusively won. Any failure to convince the EU to abide by the rule of law will not only maintain what is the greatest hurdle in the path of democracy for Iran, but will be an act which could lead to the massacre of the 4,000 PMOI members based in Ashraf.
Nigel Evans is a former Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party and Shadow Secretary of State for Wales
*http://www.henryjacksonsociety.org/stories.asp?pageid=49&id=902