NCRI – More than 2000 jurists along with the majority of th House of Commons and 200 Peers from Great-Britain call for the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran from the terrorist list.
Their declaration was made public yesterday in a meeting at the British Parliament, organized by the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom and the Brithish Lawyers Committee in Defence of the Iranian Resistance. Here is the text of their statement:
Statement from Conference
Moses Room, House of Lords, 27 February 2007
The conference,
Draws attention to and strongly condemns the Iranian regime’s:-
– Gross violations of human rights, including summary arrests, torture, public flogging, amputation of limbs, gouging out eyes, public hanging, stoning to death as well as discrimination against women and religious minorities, for which the Iranian regime has been condemned 53 times by the UN;
– Export of its Islamic fundamentalist ideology, which seeks the establishment of a global Islamic rule headed by Iran’s theocratic rulers;
– Interference in the internal affairs of Iraq, from the funding and arming of terrorists responsible for the deaths of Iraqis to the importing of Improvised Explosive Devices used to kill Coalition troops;
– Fomenting of crises in the Middle East, including attempts to topple the democratically elected government of Lebanon and efforts to prevent peace between the Palestinians and Israelis;
– Perpetration of over 450 terrorist operations worldwide resulting in thousands of deaths, giving it the title as “the most active state sponsor of terrorism”;
– Aggressive pursuit of nuclear weapons, evidenced by IAEA findings that Iran was expanding rather than halting its uranium enrichment programme in defiance of UN Security Council resolution 1737 and Ahmadinejad’s statement that Iran’s nuclear train has no breaks and no reverse gear.
Considers:-
– The support of a majority of MPs and some 200 Peers, who in a statement have said, “We support the struggle of the people of Iran and the People’s Mojahedin Organisation (PMOI) to achieve democracy and human rights as an essential part of the defeat of terrorism at home and abroad”;
– The June 2006 statement by Lord Carlile of Berriew, QC (the government appointed independent reviewer of terrorism legislation) that, “There is some concern that the UK government occasionally is inflexible in its attitude to changing situations around the world, with reference to proscription. An example of this is the Iran opposition group commonly known as the PMOI…They certainly have significant Parliamentary support across parties at Westminster. I am sure that the group referred to above [a government working group responsible for scrutinising proscription] will give serious examination to whether the PMOI really should remain proscribed”;
– The statement signed by more than 2,000 British lawyers calling for deproscription of PMOI, adding, “It is time that our government distanced itself from Iran’s hard-line regime, which represents a direct threat to British interests, and instead sides with millions of Iranians and their Resistance movement who seek peace, freedom and a secular democracy in Iran”;
– The legal action taken by 35 MPs/Peers against the government, seeking deproscription of PMOI;
– The 12 December 2006 European Court of Justice judgment annulling a decision by the Council of Ministers of the EU to include PMOI on a list of organisations whose funds were to be frozen; the ECJ finding PMOI’s right to a fair hearing and effective judicial protection had been infringed.
Condemns and describes as shameful:-
– The British government’s campaign to encourage the Council of Ministers to evade the ECJ judgment by keeping PMOI on the EU list, in a continuation of its failed policy of appeasement;
– Violation of the ECJ judgment, which causes immense damage to the Iranian people and its Resistance movement whose only crime is the defence of human rights freedom and democracy, but also represents an attack on the foundation of European democracy – respect for the rule of law.
Welcomes:-
– The report by the Danish News Agency, Ritzau, that the majority of members of the European Committee at the Danish Parliament, as well as representatives of the Danish United List, the People’s Party, the Socialist People’s Party and the Social Democratic Party had described the actions of the Council of Ministers of the EU as shocking and “an ugly act, which violates all the principles of the rule of law”.
Urges:-
– The Council of Ministers of the EU to abide by the judgment of the ECJ by immediately removing the PMOI from the EU asset freeze list;
– The British government to accede to the demand of a majority of MPs, some 200 Peers and more than 2,000 British lawyers to immediately deproscribe the PMOI.
