Press release
19 July 2010
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament welcomes a US court ruling in favour of the Iranian opposition PMOI
On Friday 16 July, a US federal appeals court in Washington ruled that the US government erred in classifying the Iranian People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI-MeK) as a terrorist organization. The court ordered the State Department to review its decision to label this opposition group as a foreign terrorist organization, strongly suggesting the designation should be revoked.
The US ruling follows the de-listing of the PMOI by the EU in 2009 after several court decisions in UK and the European Court in Luxembourg found it was not involved in terrorism.
Friends of a Free Iran intergroup in the European Parliament (FOFI), which consists of a large number of MEPs from various political tendencies, believes that the time has come for the US government to respect the rule of law and justice and remove the PMOI from their terror list. The PMOI were originally blacklisted in the US as a ‘goodwill gesture’ to the mullahs in the hope that they would reciprocate by ceasing their nuclear programme. In the absence of any such concessions from the fascist regime in Tehran, the US must now close this shameful episode and de-list the PMOI.
FOFI also calls on the US government to recognise the rights of 3400 PMOI members in Camp Ashraf, Iraq according to the Fourth Geneva convention and to guarantee their protection.
Struan Stevenson MEP
President, Friends of a Free Iran
European Parliament
