Eurasia Press & News
Europolitics – Under pressure from Iran and to keep open the nuclear talks with Tehran, the EU is said to be violating the fundamental rights of one of the leading exiled organisations opposed to the Mollah regime by keeping it on the list of terrorist groups in spite of an absence of proof.That accusation has been launched by the Organisation des Modjahedines du peuple d’Iran (PMOI, People’s Mujahedeen of Iran), which went back on the offensive on 30 May in the controversy pitting it against the EU27 over being kept on the Union’s terrorist list.
“We are totally convinced that the Council has no document proving that the PMOI engages in terrorist activities. We conclude that this decision is based on political reasons to please the Iranian regime,” commented Jean-Pierre Spitzer, legal counsel for the Mujahedeens, at a press conference in Brussels. This new snag comes on the eve of a meeting between the EU’s chief diplomat, Javier Solana, and Ali Larijani, Iran’s negotiator on the nuclear issue.
The PMOI maintains that the EU has failed to comply with the ruling of the EU Court of First Instance of 12 December 2006, which annulled the freezing of the organization’s funds and ordered the Council to review its procedures in order to guarantee due process.
The organization, which went into exile in Iraq in 1981 and had the support of Saddam Hussein’s regime to carry out operations against Tehran, considers that the information transmitted to it by the Council in recent weeks does not prove its involvement in terrorist activities.
“This is a political and legal scandal for Europe. The EU Council is violating the rule of law,” declared Mohammad Mohadessin, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (CNRI), the political wing of the PMOI.
The Council is in the process of informing the organisations concerned by the December ruling and is expected in the coming weeks to adopt a new list to comply with the CFI’s order. The PMOI will, in all likelihood, remain on the list. “We have sent out the information and are awaiting any reactions,” commented a Council spokesman.
Judgement of 12 December 2006
The judgement of the EU Court of First Instance (T-228/02) annuls the freezing of the PMOI’s funds, decided by the Council in 2001 and renewed regularly ever since. The Court held that the Council’s decision does not contain a sufficient statement of reasons and violates the right to a fair hearing and the PMOI’s right to effectively make known its views to the Council. It points out that precise information must be transmitted to the persons concerned, who have a right of reply. The Council must also provide reasons for its decision based on precise information.
