Iran terrorist group PMOI [and its other phony names like MKO, MEK, NRCI] is suing the EU for 1 million euro in damages and to clear its name of being stuck on Brussels’ terrorist register, with the EU’s attitude to the Iraqi-based terrorist group also causing a stink in the Danish parliament.
Lawyers for the MKO on Wednesday (9 May) filed the law suit at the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, saying the EU is breaking its own laws by not following a verdict by the Court of First Instance last December, which annulled the EU’s earlier decision to list the group.
Any officially-designated "terrorist" organisations have their financial assets frozen and are forbidden from fundraising in Europe, with a MKO spokesman telling EU observer "the true [loss] is much higher…the MKO has suffered serious financial and moral damage."
EU experts are using legal technicalities to argue they are in compliance with the December verdict, which based its annulment on the fact the EU had given MKO no evidence as to why it was put on the register, violating its basic right of appeal.
In the past few weeks, Brussels has sent so-called "statements of reasoning" to all 104 people and groups on its list, including the MKO, and is waiting to see which of the parties appeal before reviewing who should stay on the register in July.
"The only people that can say a word on the legality of this situation is the court of justice itself," an EU official said, adding that the latest MKO legal action is "premature" before the comprehensive July review.
The MKO started out in 1965 as a Marxist-Islamist cult in Iran but fled after suffering purges that saw over 150,000 members slaughtered by the post-cultural revolution Islamic regime.
The Mujahidin organised cross-border raids against Iran from bases in Iraq in the 1990s but says it renounced the use of arms in 2001, with a 2003 US army report saying the Iraq MKO wing no longer has any guns.
In the past few years MKO and its sister group, the NRCI, has positioned itself as the democratic opposition in Iran and attracted backers including retired US generals, members of the UK House of Lords, former EU judges and MEPs.
The movement accuses the UK and France of putting it on the EU terrorist register in order to have cards to play in the Iran nuclear diplomacy game.
French diplomats and some Iranian expats in Europe believe it still has a sinister, fanatical fringe, however.
links:
State Department Report on Mojahedin Khalq Orgainsation. Rajavi clut headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi (May 02, 2007)
World wide condemnation of Mojahedin Khalq – Rajavi cult headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi (Jan, 2007)
Evidences Dismissing MKO Mojahedin Khalq Organisation, Rajavi cult headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rjavi) Disclaim of Terrorism (Feb 2007)
Zebari says Iraq government has decided to expel MKO (Rajavi cult) from Iraq (April 2007)
Anne Singleton interview with BBC Radio about Rajavi cult headed by Massoud Rajavi and Maryam Rajavi (2007)
Anne Singleton interview with SUN newspaper (March 2007)
Scott Ritter on Target Iran: The Truth About the White House Plans for Regime Change (April 2007)
EUobserver, May 12, 2007