Iranian Mojahedin (PMOI) no longer considered Terrorists

Free at Last

Stop Fundamentalism, 26 January, 2009 â€“ After 7 years of continuous struggle in Europe, the Iranian main opposition group, People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran, has managed to remove itself from European list of terrorist organizations.

A European Court had earlier annulled the blacklisting and ruled that the council of ministers was wrong to include the organization in the list.  The final ruling came on 4 December last year, ordering the council to remove the organization immediately from the list.

Reuters reported today that the European states agreed on Monday to remove exiled Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahidin Organization of Iran (PMOI) from the EU list of banned terrorist groups. 

The list includes Palestinian Hamas and Sri Lanka’s Tamil tigers.

The PMOI is the group which exposed Iran’s covert nuclear program in 2002.

PMOI enjoys the support of many Iranian exiles in Europe and also has won the support of majority among many European parliaments.  The group also enjoys huge support inside of Iran enabling it to expose many activities of the Iranian regime including its military nuclear program and also its meddling in the Middle East.

PMOI’s main stronghold is in Ashraf city in Iraq in which about 4000 Iranian dissidents reside under the protection of the 4tth Geneva Conventions.  Iraq’s government has continuously threatened to closed down the city and extradite the residents back to Iran reasoning that the organization is listed as terrorist organization in Europe.

PMOI allies have repeatedly accused the EU of seeking to "appease" Tehran by keeping the group blacklisted, Reuters reports.

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told reporters that "We have to find a way to respect the court judgment … I think the Iranian standoff with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is very clear. During 2009 there will and should be significant focus on this issue.