By Lord Alton of Liverpool
THE UNIVERSE, January 22 – Over the years, in this column I have detailed the shocking and widespread human rights abuses in Iran. While it suited our economic interests, we turned a blind eye to this, only recently waking up to the threat posed by the Iranian mullahs’ nuclear weapons program.
The way in which the west has dealt with the threat posed by the Iranian regime’s nuclear weapons program is an illustration of the dangers of appeasement. After having led the European Union on a merry dance for a few years, the mullahs’ nuclear negotiator openly admitted the nuclear advancements they had made while the protracted negotiations were taking place.
During this process, they also broke every agreement reached with the EU, most recently by feeding 37 tonnes of uranium ore into the uranium conversion facility in Esfahan. Now Iran states that it will feed a further 50 tonnes into the facility, providing it with sufficient highly enriched uranium for up to 10 atomic bombs.
The thought of the most active state sponsor of terrorism possessing the world’s most dangerous weapons is terrifying. Since the National Council of Resistance of Iran revealed the existence of the nuclear program in August 2002, the international community had behaved like a headless chicken.
Rather than adopting a firm policy towards the Iranian regime, the EU gave the mullahs concession after concession in the blind hope that they would wake up one day, repent for all their misdeeds and decide that they would give up a nuclear weapons program on which they have spent billions of dollars and which they see as their only means of survival.
Any further delay in the referral of the Iranian regime’s nuclear file to the UN Security Council is inexcusable, as the threat posed by the Iranian regime continues to mount, thereby increasing the potential for military conflict. The EU went as far as to promise the continued proscription of the Iranian resistance movement (PMOI) if the mullahs agreed to comply with their nuclear obligations.
The promise by the EU shows the way in which the West has used those fighting for democratic change in Iran as a pawn in negotiations with the mullahs.
Having been involved with the activities of the Iranian resistance for many years I have learned a great deal about this misinformation campaign and the attempts by the Iranian regime to discredit the PMOI. One of the allegations that I followed concerned the gruesome murder of three leaders of the Anglican Church in Iran in 1994.
We were told that three women publicly confessed to having received orders from the PMOI to murder these Anglicans. Several years later, former intelligence officials of the Iranian regime revealed that the priests had been murdered by agents of the Ministry of Intelligence and Security and that all the allegations about PMOI involvement were fabricated to discredit the group.
The Iranian regime and its agents have recently intensified their misinformation campaign against the PMOI in Europe. A recent example of this was in May, when Human Rights Watch (HRW) was duped into writing a report accusing the PMOI in Iraq of human rights abuses. The report was based on a few telephone interviews with individuals claiming to be former PMOI members. HRW failed to give the PMOI a right to reply to the allegations and failed to visit Camp Ashraf, the scene of the alleged abuses.
The report drew ire from many circles and therefore a delegation from the European Parliament visited the PMOI at Camp Ashraf and conducted independent investigations into the allegations. It published its findings, which concluded that agents of the Iranian regime’s Ministry of Intelligence had duped HRW into preparing the report containing fabricated allegations against the PMOI.
1,000 British lawyers have signed a statement calling for the de-proscription of the PMOI. This cannot happen a day too soon. As things stand in Britain, it is the equivalent of banning the French Resistance during World War II and trying to do business with the Reich.
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