An Iranian academic says delisting the terrorist Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) from the list of US terror organizations by Washington is an obvious example of redefining terrorism by
Ismail Salami wrote in an article published by Press TV “Truly known to be one of the most misinterpreted and misused words, terrorism is defined and redefined by the West according to the context where it proves deleterious or beneficial to those who define the term.”
The MKO was taken off the State Department’s blacklist on September 28.
The MKO fled to Iraq in 1986, where it enjoyed the support of Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein, and set up its camp near the Iranian border.
Out of the 17,000 Iranians martyred in terrorist attacks since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, 12,000 of them have fallen victim to the acts of terror carried out by the MKO.
Salami added that the US State Department cited the group’s lack of involvement in terrorist acts for a decade while solid evidence suggests that they have been complicit in the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists in the last few years in Iran.
Referring to the establishment of al-Qaeda by the US and CIA in the seventies in an attempt to counter the influence of the former Soviet Union, Salami said the terrorist group is “sowing seeds of blind extremism and religious sectarianism in the world.”
Salami stated that dichotomization of ‘terrorists’ into good and bad is far uglier than any form of apartheid, though “a comparatively similar story is being repeated in Syria.”