A few hours after expressing support for the Mojahedin-e khalq organization, Elina Åberg, member of Sweden’s Environmentalist Party, Green party (Miljöpartiet de Gröna), received severe criticisms from the political leaders in her party so that she was forced to turn 180 degrees and withdrew her comments. On Thursday morning, she said that the MKO was an active organization which “works for the freedom of people” but a few hours later she had to announce that expressing such words resulted from her being young and inexperienced. “After I talked to my colleagues in the party, I found that I had not enough knowledge on the MKO and the situation in Iran”.
Ms. Lotta Hedstrom, member of parliament and Green Party leader, also denied Åberg’s support for the MKO and said to the media that supporting the MKO is not the policy of the party. “The MKO is not suitable for overthrowing Iranian regime,” she said.
Carl B. Hamilton, member of the Parliament for the Liberal Party, also criticized Åberg’s comments and said that her comments proved her inexperience. “I was shocked. This is a terrorist organization”.
Mojahedin-e Khalq has been designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. and EU, mainly because of cooperation with the ousted regime of Saddam Hussein.
Elina Åberg expressed support for removing MKO from terror list but withdrew her comments very soon after receiving harsh criticism from inside and outside her party.
November 7, 2005
