The Friends of a Free Iran expresses its support for the resolution adopted unanimously by the Belgian Senate on Friday, December 23, urging adoption of a firm policy on Iranian regime and calling on the EU to remove the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the principal Iranian opposition movement, from its terror list.
The resolution expressed deep concern over “violations of human rights and fundamental liberties” and “public executions, suppression and inhuman punishments, arbitrary arrests, physical and psychological torture, assassination of dissidents and political prisoners, persecution of differing opinions, discrimination against women, and religious and ethnic minorities, and the attacks on freedom of expression and opinion.”
The Belgian Senate called on the government to “firmly condemn and vigorously protest the Iranian president’s repeated calls for the destruction of Israel and his denial of the genocide against the Jews after the Second World War, and recall its ambassador to Tehran for consultations.”
The resolution, which received cross-party support in the Belgium Senate, stressed that “Considering the absence of a precise definition of terrorism, the naming of Iranian opposition groups as terrorist because of their struggle against a regime responsible for systematic violations of human rights should be avoided.”
The Belgian Senate also called on the Belgian Government to “investigate within the framework of the EU if, on the basis of current and revealed information, it remains justified, or not, to maintain the PMOI on the list of terrorist organizations.”
There has been a growing call throughout Europe for removal of the PMOI from the EU terror list in recent months. In December, there was a call by 1,300 lawyers and 405 members of Parliament in the United Kingdom followed by a similar call by 250 European and national MPs.
In view of the Iranian regime’s adoption of a radical course through its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability, its notoriety as the world’s leading sponsor of terrorist groups, its extensive meddling in Iraqi affairs and its appalling record of human rights, a firm policy on Iran by EU is overdue.