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Iranians protest outside British Foreign Office for 33 days |
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Friday, 11 May 2007 |
NCRI – The demonstration by the Iranians in London continues outside the British Foreign Office against the terrorist labelling of PMOI. Below is the reports on day 32 and 33 of this sit-in:
Day 32, Wednesday, May 9, 2007:
Iranians converged on the British Foreign Office on Wednesday to mark the 32nd day of a sit-in calling on London to lift restrictions on the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) in line with a verdict by Europe’s highest court.
In an unambiguous ruling on 12 December 2006, the European Court of Justice annulled the EU’s decision to blacklist the PMOI. At the urging of the British Government, the EU has thus far refused to implement the Court verdict.
“The main objective of the Iranian opposition PMOI is to bring prosperity to Iranians,” said Amir who is in his 40s and lives north of London. Holding an Iranian flag outside the Foreign Office, he said that he had staunchly supported the PMOI for over two decades.
“The regime is far weaker than it leads people to believe, and so it cannot survive much longer. Very soon it will be overthrown. What the British government and other states can do is to support the Iranian opposition to bring about democratic change far quicker than anticipated,” Amir said.
He added that signing trade deals with the mullahs’ regime may serve the West’s short-term economic interests but in the long-run it will have a devastating outcome, effectively providing the regime with the funds to pursue its nuclear weapons programmes and terrorist activities.
Still, he contends that once the mullahs are toppled Iran and Britain can pursue trade deals in a far more stable environment.
Day 33, Thursday, May 10, 2007:
A Member of Parliament from Britain’s opposition Conservative Party accused the British government on Thursday of trying to convince the EU to “ignore the rule of law” regarding the status of a leading member of the Iranian Resistance movement.
“The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran, Iran’s main democratic opposition, was unlawfully placed in the EU’s terrorist list in 2002. This was done at the behest of the mullahs’ regime, and the EU’s then-Spanish leadership described it at the time as a ‘goodwill gesture’ to Tehran,” David Amess MP (Southend West) told a group of Anglo-Iranians who braved the cold to attend the 33rd day of an indefinite sit-in outside the British Foreign Office.
“The decision to label the PMOI as terrorist was made by Mr. Jack Straw, the then-Home Secretary, who had acknowledged [this] in an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme on 1 February 2006,” Mr. Amess said.
He added: “On 12 December 2006, however, the European Court of Justice in a lengthy verdict annulled the EU’s decision to place the PMOI in the terrorist list. The ECJ verdict stated, ‘The PMOI was founded in 1965 and set itself the objective of replacing the regime of the Shah of Iran, then the mullah's regime, by a democracy’. It called the EU’s decision to label the PMOI as terrorist and freeze its funds as ‘unlawful’, adding that the decision infringed the right to a fair hearing, the obligation to state reasons and the right to effective judicial protection.”
Mr. Amess accused the British government of having vowed to “vehemently oppose the implementation of the court decision”. “The government’s efforts to convince the EU to ignore the rule of law are unacceptable,” he said
Mr. Amess added: “Today, the mullahs have made it clear that they have no intention of suspending their illegal nuclear activities. The EU and in particular Britain must implement the verdict of the European Court and remove the PMOI from the terrorist list. They must abandon the policy of appeasing the mullahs and instead look to the Iranian people and their Resistance to bring about democratic change in Iran. This is what we in Parliament are demanding.” |
