The English version of the text of a resolution in the Italian Parliament ( Foreign Affairs Committee) adopted on 14 June 2007 on People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran ( PMOI).
ITALIAN CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES LEGISLATURE XV
Commission III (Foreign affairs and Community affairs) Thursday 14 June 2007
NEW TEXT APPROVED BY THE COMMISSION
Commission III,
Whereas:
With the resolution of 2 May 2002, the Council of the European Union updated the list of persons and entities whose funds should be frozen within the context of the fight against terrorism, including in this list the People’s Mujahidin Organisation of Iran (PMOI);
In subsequent updates, the PMOI was always maintained in this list, until the Council Decision of 21 December 2005 on specific restrictive measures directed against persons and entities with a view to combating terrorism (2005/930/EC);
The procedure which may culminate in a measure to freeze funds under the relevant rules takes place at two levels, one at national level and the other at community level. In the first phase, a competent national authority, in principle judicial, must take a decision in respect of the party suspected of or accused of terrorist activities based on "serious and credible evidence or clues". In the second phase, the Council, acting by unanimity, must decide to include the party concerned in the list of terrorist organisations on the basis of precise information which indicates that a national decision has been taken. Next, the Council must, at regular intervals of at least every six months, "ensure" that "there are grounds" for keeping the party concerned in the disputed list;
On 29 May 2006, in a six-monthly review process, another decision from the European Council retained the PMOI in the list of terrorist organisations whose funds should be frozen;
The judgement of 12 December 2006 of the Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (case T-228/02) eliminated the Council Decision of 21 December 2005 as it found that "the contested decision does not contain a sufficient statement of reasons and it was adopted in the course of a procedure during which the applicant’s (the PMOI’s) right to a fair hearing was not respected.";
In addition, the Court determined it was "not in a position to review the lawfulness of that decision", as "the Council and the United Kingdom (granted leave to intervene in order to support the Council) were not even able to give a coherent answer to the question of what was the national decision (prerequisite under Article 1 (4) of the joint position No 2001/931) on the basis of which the contested (Council) decision was adopted.";
In its appeal, the PMOI maintained that it had been included in the disputed list, "apparently solely on the basis of documents produced by the Teheran regime", and that "the reasons for its inclusion were most likely diplomatic";
The Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European Communities did not challenge the last Council decision of 29 May 2006, currently in force, not because this was adopted – unlike previous decisions – whether or not the required guarantees (communication of new evidence, statement of reasons for staying on the list and a public hearing for the interested party), are complied with but only because this decision was not subject to the action under examination;
On the other hand, the same Court of First Instance has established, in general, that "the statement of reasons for a subsequent decision to freeze funds must indicate the actual and specific reasons why the Council considers, following the review, that the freezing of funds of the interested party remains justified" and that it "cannot accept that the statement of reasons may consist merely of a general, stereotypical formulation.";
On 30 January 2007, the European Economic and Financial Affairs Council communicated, by means of a letter addressed to the PMOI’s lawyers, that it was not its intention to remove such an organisation from the list, but only to grant it the possibility of presenting its own observations on the case;
From the beginning of the 1980s, Italy has granted political refugee status to many members of the PMOI and the Iranian resistance;
Many Italian deputies and senators of the majority and the opposition have recently expressed their opinions in favour of deleting the PMOI from the European list of terrorist organisations, and over half the deputies signed a document addressed to the European Union in order for it to comply with the judgement of the Court of Justice in Luxembourg;
obliges the Government to:
support, within the Council of the European Union, full compliance with the judgement of 12 December 2006 of the Court of First Instance of the Court of Justice of the European Communities (case T-228/02);
participate actively in the six-monthly revision of this list by the Council in order to ascertain whether the presence of the PMOI and other organisations and individuals in the list of terrorist organisations really is justified, taking into account the points made in the above-mentioned judgement on the preceding decisions of the Council, in particular, as regards the prerequisites of a decision of the competent national authorities, which are: the obligation to communicate and justify, and the right of defence.
"D’Elia, Villetti, Mantovani, Forlani, Pettinari, De Zulueta, Rivolta, Paoletti Tangheroni, Zacchera".