Home >> Middle East >> Iran  Email  Print Iranians rally outside French embassy in London Nasser Razy - 12/29/2008 Iranians from across the UK rallied outside the French embassy on Monday to demand that the French presidency of the EU implement a European Court verdict removing at once the name of the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) from the EU's terrorist list. The supporters of the Iranian Resistance warned that a failure by the EU Council of Ministers to implement the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities and a decision instead to trample on the rule of law could result in a humanitarian catastrophe for political opponents of the regime at Camp Ashraf in Iraq and lead to an unprecedented Europe-wide politico-legal scandal.
The protestors, young and old, chanted: "EU, EU, shame on you" and "We want justice, we want peace, we want Mojahedin off the list".
The Court of First Instance in its quickest-ever judgment on 4 December annulled for a third time the Council of Ministers' unlawful ban on the PMOI. Last Wednesday (17 December), it rejected a request by the Council and France to keep the ban in force until after an appeal process, describing the Council's contention as "manifestly inadmissible".
Elizabeth Sidney OBE, Chair of the International Federation of Women Against Fundamentalism and for Equality, told the rally: "The PMOI is, as we all know, a legitimate opposition which would be recognised in any democracy as a legitimate political force".
"The PMOI has never carried out acts of terrorism", Ms. Sidney said, adding that the Courts of the UK and EU had vindicated the group of the charge.
Azadeh Zabeti, from the Committee of Anglo-Iranian Lawyers, said the failure by the EU to thus far release an updated blacklist without the PMOI's name was an act of appeasing the mullahs ruling Iran and undermined the rule of law. She urged the 27-nation bloc to change course.
Speaking on behalf of the Anglo-Iranian Community in Greater London, Azadeh Hosseini pointed to the cross-party support the PMOI enjoy in Parliament. "A majority of MPs here have signed up to the PMOI's cause", Ms. Hosseini said.
The Iranian regime is putting immense pressure on the Iraqi government to unlawfully expel more than 3,500 PMOI members in Camp Ashraf from Iraq , using the terror tag as a false premise. EU governments would thus be held accountable for any harm that comes to the residents of Ashraf, all of whom enjoy “protected persons†under the 4th Geneva Convention and international law.
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