Following is a translation from Arabic text
New report by Mohammad Hamdi (Al-Ahram political bureau chief)
The new US administration of President Barack Obama is busy drafting a new plan which relies on talks and negotiations with Iran to resolve various points of contention. Although this represents a clean break from Obama’s predecessor, George W. Bush, it is in tune with the policy of America’s European allies. Meanwhile, as the US concentrates on drafting its policy, the opposition People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) has entered the political arena with power and strength. A decision by the European Union took the organization off the list of the EU’s terrorist organizations. Prior to that, a judicial order was issued in Europe annulling a freeze on the PMOI’s assets.
While there are no known links between the West’s policy of carrots and sticks toward Iran on the one hand and the return of the PMOI to the international arena on the other, political analysts are now notably gauging the Iranian opposition organization’s influence after its recognition by Europe and the freeing of its frozen assets. The question is what role does the organization play, and how influential is it, in the political balance of power inside Iran?
The PMOI was founded in 1965 by several Iranian intellectuals with the aim of overthrowing the Shah’s regime. After the overthrow, in which the PMOI played a significant part, conflicts began to arise between the organization and the new ruling regime. Two and a half years after the revolution, such conflicts broke out in a deadly clash between the two sides, including the execution of thousands of PMOI members. But, the PMOI resolutely pressed ahead with its activities seeking to unseat the current Iranian regime.
The PMOI is part of a broad coalition called the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). The NCRI is made up of five organizations and parties, along with 550 prominent and well-known members, including political, cultural, scientific, and military figures, in addition to leaders of what is referred to as the National Liberation Army of Iran, the PMOI’s armed wing, located in Camp Ashraf in Iraq.
In August 1993, the NCRI elected Maryam Rajavi as the president for the period of transition. According to the NCRI, she is responsible for supervising the peaceful transition of power to the Iranian people after the overthrow of the current Iranian regime.
In [December] 2008, after a multi-year battle in the European Court of Justice, the court annulled a decision by the EU to freeze the PMOI’s assets on the basis of placing it on the EU’s terror list. The court ruled that “The Council has violated the rights of defense of the PMOI by not communicating to it the new information which, according to the Council, justified maintaining it on the European list of terrorist organizations; and [the Council refused] to communicate to the Court certain information about the case.” The ruling found that the PMOI is not involved in terrorism, something that the organization had always maintained.
Iran, however, condemned the EU decision removing the PMOI from the list of organizations the EU considers to be terrorists. The Iranian Foreign Ministry said that the hands of the PMOI are tainted “with the blood of thousands of Iranians and non-Iranians,” and claimed that the EU has a “double standard” with regards to so-called “terrorism.” It went on to say that the European ministers who took the decision pursue “illegitimate objectives,” adding that, “this organization has never condemned violence or put down its weapons, and continues to resort to terrorism.”
The EU also decided to unfreeze the organization’s assets in its Member States. Javier Solana, the block’s foreign policy and defense chief, said that the decision was adopted in the context of compliance with legal rulings handed down by European courts.
The EU had placed the PMOI on its terror list in 2002. However, the PMOI, which is led by Maryam Rajavi, lodged a complaint with a court in Luxembourg requesting that its assets be unfrozen.
Several days ago, Iraq’s National Security Advisor, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, announced while visiting Tehran that it is time to put an end to the PMOI, adding that “it is a terrorist organization” and the Iraqi government has decided to hand over its members to Iran or some third countries he did not identify.
Maryam Rajavi, the organization’s President-elect, said that Europe’s policy of “appeasing the Iranian regime” has failed and that the pace of change in Iran has increased.
Rajavi added that following the seven court rulings in Europe and the removal of the PMOI from the terrorist lists in Britain and the EU, maintaining the organization on the US State Department list is now more illegal and unjustifiable than ever before. She called on the Iraqi government to lift all the unjust limitations imposed on Ashraf residents who are considered protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
Sedigheh Hosseini, the PMOI’s Secretary General, said that the PMOI possesses wide-ranging capabilities and has a widespread presence not only in Iraq but also inside Iran. She also said that the PMOI is the largest opposition group against Iran because it enjoys a broad popular base inside the country. The PMOI’s Secretary General added: As the court in Luxembourg has ruled we are not terrorists; we have handed over all our weapons, including tanks and artilleries, to the Americans in 2003 during the Iraq war.
She noted that Iraqi citizens and political forces are the main supporters of the PMOI in Iraq, adding that such support in Iraq comes from genuine Iraqis who view the PMOI as a part of their own society even though the PMOI is only their guest. More than 3,000 sheikhs and tribal leaders have signed a declaration stressing that “the PMOI has lived in peace and harmony with our people for two decades now and we regard them as part of our own society and our own tribes.”
Despite these developments, the practical consequences of the EU’s delisting of the PMOI have not come into view so far. We shall wait and see what changes the coming days will bring.