MP Slams West’s Selective Definition of Terrorism

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An Iranian legislator lambasted the West for changing the definition of terrorism on the basis of its own policies, and regretted that the western world has no specific definition for terrorism.
Saying that the western countries follow no specific logic in their behaviors, member of Iranian parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Heshmatolah Falahat Pisheh told FNA on Sunday that if they had a certain definition for terrorism, they would not strike the name of the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) off the list of terrorist groups.
Elsewhere, he referred to a letter from the European Parliament to the US administration demanding the White House to strike the name of the MKO off the list of terrorist groups, and said, "There is no doubt that the Monafeqin (the Hypocrites, as MKO is referred to in Iran) are the friends of the Europeans and they have now returned to the place where they are rooted."
After removing the anti-Iranian terror group from their blacklist, the EU lawmakers are now urging President Barack Obama to follow suit.
More than 100 members of the European Parliament have tried to persuade the US president to lift an American ban on the MKO.
"Before the event we had no doubt in the Monafeqin’s proximity with the West," Falahat Pisheh lamented, referring to the letter sent by EU Parliament to the US administration on MKO.
"The West has used the Monafeqin as a tool during the (Islamic) Revolution and after that," he added.
Asked if the West could use the MKO to make Iran to attend negotiations, the legislator stressed that if the West aims to attain a pressure lever in negotiations with Iran, the measure would lead to nowhere.
He pointed out that Iran’s hesitation for entering negotiations with the West is rooted in such moves by the western countries.
The MKO, whose main stronghold is in Iraq, is blacklisted by much of the international community, including the United States.
In the past, the MKO was on the European Union’s list of terrorist organizations subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. Yet, the MKO puppet leader, Maryam Rajavi, who has residency in France, regularly visited Brussels and despite the ban enjoyed full freedom in Europe.
The MKO is behind a slew of assassinations and bombings inside Iran, a number of EU parliamentarians said in a recent letter in which they slammed a British court decision to remove the MKO from the British terror list. The EU officials also added that the group has no public support within Iran because of their role in helping Saddam Hussein in the Iraqi imposed war on Iran (1980-1988).
The group started assassination of the citizens and officials after the revolution in a bid to take control of the newly established Islamic Republic. It killed several of Iran’s new leaders in the early years after the revolution, including the then President, Mohammad Ali Rajayee, Prime Minister, Mohammad Javad Bahonar and the Judiciary Chief, Mohammad Hossein Beheshti who were killed in bomb attacks by MKO members in 1981.
The group fled to Iraq in 1986, where it was protected by Saddam Hussein and where it helped the Iraqi dictator suppress Shiite and Kurd uprisings in the country.