In a letter to President Obama, 103 MEPs urge US to remove
People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from terror list
“Delay in removal of PMOI from the US list could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe”
Today 103 Members of the European Parliament from various political groups in a letter to President Barack Obama urged the US to remove the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the main Iranian opposition group, from the its list of foreign terrorist organizations. The Euro MPs warned of dire consequences in case of any delay.
The MEPs who signed the joint letter are from 24 EU Member States and represent different political groups and tendencies, including European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats, the Socialists Group, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, European United Left ‐ Nordic Green Left and Union for Europe of the Nations.
The European lawmakers welcomed the Obama administration’s expansion of cooperation between the two continents and reiterated that Europe and its representatives stand with President Obama in this objective.
They underscored the need for a coherent Trans‐Atlantic policy to deal with the growing threat of the Iranian regime’s drive to acquire nuclear weapons and its ʺterrorist and fundamentalist meddling and warmongering in the region, from Iraq to Afghanistan and Lebanon to Israel.
The MEPs pointed out to the US President: “Our experience has shown that the Iran crisis cannot be resolved without an Iranian solution and without relying on its main opposition movement. Sadly your predecessors and the EU included the main Iranian opposition group in the list of terrorist groups. In Europe, this unjust decision was annulled by seven decisive European court rulings, and the EU Council finally lifted the ban in January.”
In the letter, a copy of which was sent to the US representative to the EU, the European lawmakers underscored: “The fundamentalist dictatorship ruling Iran has so far executed more than 120,000 PMOI members”, and “2,000 Members of Parliaments from many European states and various parliamentary committees have, in their independent assessments, reached the conclusion that the PMOI is a democratic force with a large social base…It has clearly demonstrated that it is a friend of the West and of freedom and democracy and an enemy of fundamentalism.”
While reviewing various policy options vis à vis Tehran’s threat, the MEPs criticized the previous attitude of the West and stated: “The regime fears only two prospects ‐ foreign military intervention, which at this point is not under consideration, and the PMOI. Until now, we have prevented ourselves from being able to utilize this valuable leverage and have, as a consequence, made ourselves weaker in the face of the mullahs” regime. To show resilience and strength in our dealings with Tehran and to show our good will towards the Iranian people, we must support the main opposition PMOI rather than treat them as enemies at the behest of the mullahs.”
The European lawmakers warned that in addition to the political and strategic imperatives, the blacklisting of the PMOI has evolved into an urgent humanitarian issue since the Iranian regime still uses the pretext that the PMOI is a terrorist group as an excuse to try to have 3,500 of its members, who are based in Camp Ashraf in Iraq and are ‘protected persons’ under the Fourth Geneva Convention, “expelled or extradited to Iran, which could lead to a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.”
Among the signatories of the letter were:
Alejo VIDAL‐QUADRAS, Vice President of theEuropean Parliament,
Struan STEVENSON, Vice President of EPP‐ED Group,
Paulo CASACA, Co‐Chair of Friends of a Free Iran intergroup from Portugal,
Janusz ONYSZKIEWICZ, Vice President of Foreign Affairs Committee,
Stephen HUGHES, Senior MEP from British Labour party,
André BRIE, MEP from Germany,
Gerard DEPREZ, Chairman of Civil LibertiesCommittee,
Edward MCMILLAN‐SCOTT, Vice President of the European Parliament,
Mogens CAMRE, Vice President of UEN Group from Denmark,
Ryszard CZARNECKI, FormerEuropean Minister of Poland,
Tunne KELAM, MEP from Estonia,
Timothy KIRKHOPE, Leader of the British Conservatives Group,
Vytautas LANDSBERGIS, Former President of Luthuania,
Jan ZAHRADIL, Head of Czech EPP‐ED delegation,
Cristiana MUSCARDINI, President of the UEN Group,
James NICHOLSON, Head of the Quaestors,
Rihards PIKS, Former Foreign Minister of Latvia,
Jean SPAUTZ, Head of Luxembourg EPP‐ED delegation,
Johan VAN HECKE, MEP from Belgium,
Gary TITLEY, former leader of British Labour Group
Background information:
• The US government included the PMOI in its terror list in 1997. The US officials at the time acknowledged that this was done to appease Tehran clerics and to send a good will gesture to Tehran in general and Mohammad Khatami, then the President, in particular.
• Iran has made the PMOI’s international terrorist designation a diplomatic priority. (Wall
Street Journal‐ October 24, 2008).
• The UK in June 2008 and EU in January 2009 removed the PMOI from their terror lists.
Office of Dr. Alejo Vidal‐Quadras
Vice President of the European Parliament
President of the International Committee in Search of Justice (ISJ)
May 7th, 2009