Home >> Europe >> European Union  Email  Print EU's Misguided War On Terrorism Alan Miladi - 1/29/2008 The EU is at complete loss on what to do with Iran. Iranian nuclear program, benign or not benign, is ticking forward. Another meeting of Javier Solana, the EU Foreign Policy Chief with Iranian nuclear negotiator in Brussels had the same result of dozens of similar meetings in the past 21 months: zilch.
The Iranian side vowed that it would push ahead with its enrichment program and the European side did what it does the best: pointless Talking.
According to news agencies, upon his return home, the Iranian side described the meeting with Solana as being "good." He was correct since Tehran is seeking time and is getting it.
So in this fresh year we are back to square one: The Iranian regime and its belligerence and defiance remain as big of challenge as they were in 2007.
Figuring out the mullahs is no longer the enigma. It has become rather predictable. Understanding the European side is the perplexing side.
Is there any doubt that the current policy on Iran has run a ground? The policy on Tehran is spineless, and has turned into a mockery. Europe should and could get serious and show some encore. This could be done with a stroke of a pen.
It is common knowledge that the EU naively agreed to blacklist the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the principal Iranian resistance movement in 2002 at Tehran ’s behest while it sought "moderates" within the Iranian regime.
The PMOI, the biggest member organization of the opposition coalition of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), has posed the biggest challenge to the clerical regime. During the Ayatollahs' reign of terror, 120,000 PMOI members and sympathizers have been murdered. Yet, the PMOI continued its struggle for social justice, basic freedoms, and a secular democracy. It was the PMOI that first exposed the regime's nuclear weapons program in 2002. So it comes as no surprise that Tehran is so keen to make sure that its arch enemies is shackled by the EU.
The restrictions on the only resistance movement with considerable popular support in Iran , is even more significant since signs of unrest are bubbling up in Iran . According to opposition sources, Iranian cities have been the scene of more than 5,000 anti-regime protest actions during 2007 in which women and students chanted “Death to the Dictator!” and clashed with Revolutionary Guards.
While, these courageous Iranians and the PMOI represent the only viable solution to the mullahs’ threats, the EU, and others still deny their mistakes and continue their failed path.
In dealing with this terror label, the PMOI took the most civilized route and challenged the designation in courts.
The European Court of Justice in late 2006 rebuked the EU for its unlawful inclusion of the PMOI in its list of terrorist organizations, and in November 2007, a Britain 's special court ruled that the PMOI is not a terrorist organization. The U.K. case was brought before the court by 35 British parliamentarians, including a former Home Secretary, Lord Waddington, and the former Solicitor-General, Lord Archer.
The British court ruled the decision of the British government to maintain the PMOI in its proscribed list was “flawed,” “perverse,” and “must be set aside.” The British court concluded that the PMOI's military action against military and security targets in Iran had ceased for good in 2001, that the group had voluntarily disarmed in 2003, and that it had made no attempt to rearm.
On the legislative front, on January 23, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (representing 47 European countries and 800 million European citizens) passed a resolution condemning procedures that are used to "blacklist" groups and individuals by the EU and the UN Security Council.
The resolution, the first of its kind by a European institution, was drafted on the basis of a report by the Swiss senator Dick Marty, the Assembly's Rapportuer for the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights.
The report cited the case of the PMOI "which was campaigning for replacement of the Mullahs' regime by a secular democracy, and had drawn the world's attention to Iran 's nuclear programme in 2002", as "an example of the disastrous effects of the blacklists – in this case, those of the EU."
According to Dick Marty's report, by defying the European court of Justice ruling, the EU Council of Ministers "is no longer following the rule of law," and the UK court ruling gave "a ruling on the merits, having reviewed in detail, the arguments and evidence presented by both sides. The result was … a real slap in the face for the UK Government."
The U.K. court ruling was doubly significant since it was no secret in Brussels circles that it was the British Government, which also appeared to be behind the blacklisting of the PMOI at European level.
As Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the NCRI reiterated, "by deciding to maintain the PMOI on its terror list, the EU Council is absolutely isolated and is defying two pillars of the European democracy, namely Europe 's judicial and legislative institutions. Insisting on the same policy, the Council is not only in breach of the law, but also has defied the will of representatives of millions of Europeans who are represented in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe."
It is the time for a new policy on Iran and it begins with a new approach on the Iranian Resistance by putting an end to the inclusion of the PMOI in the terror list.
This is politically savvy and would tip the balance against the clerical regime. It would also put the EU on the side of justice and recognition of the Iranian people’s right to resist for freedom and
Rarely a stroke of pen could make so much geo-political difference.
Alan Miladi is an Iranian sociologist who holds a PhD in political sociology He has studied in the U.S and Europe . He has followed the Iranian and the Middle Eastern affairs for the past two decades and is currently residing in Europe. He has written extensively on issues of terrorism, national security and foreign policy.
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