Iraqi news website Aljeeran.net reported that Mrs. Claire Lopez, strategic policy and intelligence consultant for Middle East issues and former director of the Washington based Iran Policy Committee stated that the Mojahedin of Iran (MEK) is the oldest, best organized, and most dedicated of all the secular democratic Iranian opposition groups and must be supported and removed from the list of terrorism as soon as possible.
Iraqi news website Aljeeran.net, August 1,2007 – Mrs. Claire Lopez former director of the Washington based Iran Policy Committee said that the Mojahedin of Iran (MEK) is the oldest, best organized, and most dedicated of all the secular democratic Iranian opposition groups and must be supported and removed from the list of terrorism as soon as possible.
In an article published by Human Events, Mrs. Lopez said: "The MEK, which began its struggle for democracy as a student group opposed to the Shah’s autocratic monarchy in the 1960s, since 1979 has battled the savage regime of the mullahs — a regime that repeatedly has been designated by the State Department the top state sponsor of terrorism in the world".
Mrs. Claire Lopes in her article described the consequences of the policy of appeasement toward Iran’s rulers and the pressures and restrictions imposed on Mojahedin of Iran.
Mrs. Lopez wrote: "At the outset of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003, the U.S. bombed MEK camps in Iraq with neither provocation of any kind nor a single shot fired in return. After complete disarmament and a lengthy multi-departmental U.S. government investigation concluded in 2004 that none of the 3,800 MEK members living at Ashraf City in northern Iraq could be charged with any wrongdoing or terrorism, the MEK was granted ‘protected persons’ status under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
"Official documents, including speeches of top MEK leadership from the early 1980s, and the platform of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), the umbrella organization to which the MEK belongs, assert dedication to a secular, democratic government in Iran that eschews nuclear weapons and support for terrorism, and is dedicated to equal opportunity and protection of minorities".
Mrs. Lopez added: "The values and objectives of the MEK closely echo our own hopes for reform in the Middle East. And yet, incredibly, the MEK remains on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organizations list, where it was placed by the Clinton administration in 1997 at the express request of the terrorist clerical regime in Tehran".
Mrs. Lopez stressed that neither the MEK nor NCRI ever belonged on the FTO list and should be removed immediately. This will help the establishment of freedom and democracy for the Iranian people.
