Inviting the head of MKO doesn’t mean support for this group/The United States, Norway and the EU consider this group as a terrorist organization.
In an interview with Mehr News in Norway, Iranian ambassador in Norway said the Norwegian officials had assured him that inviting the head of MKO to visit their country and to meet a number of parliament members doesn’t mean they support this terrorist group.
According to Mehr News, Dr. Abdul Reza Faraji Raad also said: "when we were informed that a number of MPs had invited Maryam Rajavi to visit Norway, we managed a meeting with Olav Akselsen, the Head of parliament’s Commission for Foreign Policies. I said to him that this is a terrorist group and that 70 million Iranians, as well as Iraqi Kurds and Shiites, hate this group for its cooperation with Saddam Hussein in killing dissident Iraqis."
The Iranian ambassador to Norway added: "I also reminded them of the fact that the US, Norway and EU have classified the MKO as a terrorist organization. I said we were surprised of the invitation while the terrorist activities in the world are increasing."
Iranian ambassador stressed the necessity of fighting terrorism and said he believed that Norway, as a democratic country, can’t let a terrorist leader in its soil.
According to Mehr News, some media claimed that the Iranian ambassador had threatened Akselsen, but Iran’s ambassador denied the issue and said: "Unfortunately, a Norwegian newspaper created controversy by falsely claiming that I had threatened Mr. Akselsen. I had only said to this official that Iran and Norway have friendly ties and that we don’t expect Norway to do this. "
Dr. Faraji Rad believes that the MKO feeds the newspapers with false reports to create controversy.
Regarding the support of some Norwegian MPs, including Morten Hoglund, for this group, Dr. Faraji said:
"We had previously protested to them about this. We had even prepared a CD of this group’s activities in Iraq, which showed Maryam Rajavi in military uniform and conducting terrorist activities, and now we are trying to convince them not to accept the head of this terrorist organization.
Dr. Faraji said that Mr. Akselsen has been convinced not to meet the head of terrorist organization and to inform the related commission of the views of the Iranian ambassador.
Mehr news – 2006/11/06
