FTO Archives - DeList MEK

MEK removed from U.S. terror list – CNN

September 29, 2012 by Editor

In a report about the long-overdue removal of Iran’s main opposition group the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also referred to as the MEK, CNN quoted segments of statement by the NCRI President-elect Maryam Rajavi, regarding the delisting of the MEK, saying:

Maryam Rajavi, head of Mujahedin-e-Khalq and president-elect of the National Council of Resistance, praised the decision Friday.

“I understand that this decision was difficult and required political courage,” Rajavi said in a statement. “This has been the correct decision, albeit long overdue, in order to remove a major obstacle in the path of the Iranian people’s efforts for democracy. For more than a decade, the mullahs made every effort to prevent removal of this designation.

“They do not conceal their anger and disappointment and are trying hysterically to counter Secretary Clinton’s decision with their lobby groups in the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.

“The people of America and the U.S. Government will realize that, contrary to the campaign of demonization and misinformation orchestrated by the religious fascism ruling Iran, our movement is far removed from all the allegations and accusations churned out by the current Iranian regime, is merely striving for freedom and democracy in Iran, and is campaigning against fundamentalism and export of terrorism,” Rajavi said.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Camp Ashraf, FTO, Iran, MEK, MKO, Mojahedin, Mujahedin, NCRI, PMOI, Terror List

US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR) Lauds MEK’s Delisting by Secretary Clinton

September 28, 2012 by Editor

The delisting, while long overdue, is a courageous and correct decision by Secretary Clinton

WASHINGTON, Sept. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ – The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR), representing thousands of Iranian-Americans whose loved ones are facing a humanitarian crisis as refugees in Camp Liberty in Iraq, lauds the removal of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations by Secretary Hillary Clinton.

The dark chapter of the blacklisting of the MEK, the most distinct feature of the policy of placating Iran’s ruling regime, is now behind us. USCCAR is hopeful that this courageous move by Secretary Clinton will provide a new opportunity for the United States to stand with those who seek democratic change by the Iranian people and their resistance movement for a democratic, secular and non-nuclear republic in Iran.

The delisting of the MEK, which all patriotic Iranians in Iran and across the globe, as well as the US Congress and a stellar roster of the most senior US national security and political leaders had called for, was long overdue. Nevertheless, it will go a long way to remove obstacles placed on the path of Iran’s principal opposition movement, the MEK, to realize its ultimate goal of bringing about democratic change in Iran.

As much as the designation has helped the Iranian regime’s allies in Iraq to murder our family members there, we hope that the delisting would enable the United States to facilitate a safe, secure, and humane environment for the residents of Camp Liberty.

To this end, the United States must double its humanitarian efforts for the fulfillment of its “commitment to support the safety and security of the residents throughout the process of their relocation outside of Iraq,” as stated by the August 29, 2012 statement of the State Department’s Spokesperson.

SOURCE: US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents (USCCAR)

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Camp Ashraf, Delist MEK, FTO, Hillary Clinton, Iran, MEK, Mojahedin, Mujahedin-e Khalq, NCRI, PMOI, Terrorism

STATE DEPARTMENT: Delisting of the Mujahedin-e Khalq

September 28, 2012 by Editor

It is official. MEK is now de-listed.

In a statement released by the US Department of State earlier this afternoon, it is stated that : ”

The Secretary of State has decided, consistent with the law, to revoke the designation of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) and its aliases as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under the Immigration and Nationality Act and to delist the MEK as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist under Executive Order 13224. These actions are effective today. Property and interests in property in the United States or within the possession or control of U.S. persons will no longer be blocked, and U.S. entities may engage in transactions with the MEK without obtaining a license. These actions will be published in the Federal Register.”

The statement also says that

” The Secretary’s decision today took into account the MEK’s public renunciation of violence, the absence of confirmed acts of terrorism by the MEK for more than a decade, and their cooperation in the peaceful closure of Camp Ashraf, their historic paramilitary base.

“The United States has consistently maintained a humanitarian interest in seeking the safe, secure, and humane resolution of the situation at Camp Ashraf, as well as in supporting the United Nations-led efforts to relocate eligible former Ashraf residents outside of Iraq.”

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Filed Under: Luminaries, News Tagged With: Camp Ashraf, FTO, Iran, MEK, MKO, Mojahedin, Mujahedin, NCRI, PMOI

Maryam Rajavi: Writ of the US Federal Court of Appeal is victory of justice

June 1, 2012 by Editor

NCRI – In a writ, the US Federal Court of Appeal in Washington asked the US Secretary of State today to review the FTO designation of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) within four months after this issuance of this writ adding “Should the Secretary fail to take action within the four-month period, the petition for writ of mandamus setting aside the FTO designation will be granted”.

Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance described today’s ruling of the Washington Court of Appeal as victory of Justice over collusion and appeasement which ended the 15-year-long unjust terror label against the legitimate resistance movement of the Iranian people. This writ indicated once again that maintaining the terror label against the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) is totally illegitimate and unlawful merely serving political ends.

Mrs Rajavi stated, “This illegitimate label has been for the past 15 years the key factor in helping the religious fascism ruling Iran to maintain power; it has caused two massacres in Ashraf, execution and arrest of many members and supporters of the PMOI/MEK and the Iranian resistance inside Iran as well as the cruel restrictions against Iranian Americans in the United States. Today, it is still being used as a leverage by the Iranian regime and the Iraqi government to suppress the residents of Ashraf and Liberty.

Mrs Rajavi stressed that denouncing the religious and terrorist dictatorship ruling Iran and its nuclear weapon project is of no impact and value as long as its legitimate and powerful opposition is enchained with terrorist designation. She hoped that Mrs Hilary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, will implement the court writ expeditiously ending an erroneous and destructive policy and a gross injustice in the history of the United States.

Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran
June 1st 2012

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Filed Under: News Tagged With: Ashraf, Camp Ashraf, FTO, Iran, MEK, Mojahedin, PMOI, Rajavi

Opposition group could give Iran trouble

October 24, 2011 by Hugh Shelton

The foiled plot by agents of the Iranian regime to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States has officials in the Obama Administration furiously scratching their heads for an “ appropriate” response.

All too often with Iranian provocations, U.S. policy options swing ineffectually between the uncreative (economic sanctions) to the unrealistic (military strikes). One option sure to get the attention of the ruling mullahs in Tehran — and that could help set the stage for a future democratic transition there — is to unleash Iran’s main opposition group, the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), which remains constrained by an ill-advised U.S. policy.

The MeK was put on the U.S. list of “Foreign Terrorist Organizations” during the Clinton administration as a well-intentioned but naive attempt to gain the confidence of Iran’s new and, it was hoped, reform-minded President Khatami. However, Iran continued to be the world’s No. 1 state sponsor of terrorism and continued to develop its nuclear program.

The Bush administration followed suit, fearful that the delisting of the MEK would prompt Tehran to send IEDs to murder U.S. soldiers. That decision was also ill-advised, as the Iranian regime not only sent the deadly explosives to Iraq, but has continued to train, arm and finance an assortment of terrorist groups, which have been responsible for hundreds of U.S. service members being killed or wounded.

Today, 3,400 members of the MeK sit in Camp Ashraf, attacked and massacred as recently as this April by Iran’s proxies in the Iraqi military, useless to America’s larger strategic objective to contain and neutralize Iran’s radicalism.

A large number of prominent former national security officials agree that not only is the MeK not a security threat to the U.S. (the group has dedicated itself to secular, democratic governance in Iran), it has already proven an able and willing partner to the U.S. by providing critical intelligence on Iran’s nuclear program, and the regime’s role in attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.

So what’s the hold up?

While the Federal Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled in July 2010 that the U.S. government had erred in not delisting the MeK and remanded the case to the State Department for a thorough review, the department has yet to announce its decision.

A well-organized lobbying effort, again by proxies of Iran operating freely in the U.S., has mischaracterized the MeK as a cult with terrorist intentions. But this runs counter to all of the experience by the top brass of the U.S. military as well as intelligence officials who have worked closely with and studied the MeK over the years. It also flies in the face of eight different court rulings in the United Kingdom, the European Union and France, which have resulted in the group’s delisting in those countries.

The still-unraveling plot against the Saudi ambassador demonstrates the skill and reach of the Iranian regime in attempting to threaten and destabilize the U.S and our allies. It is somewhat ironic that while Tehran’s agents are running loose in this country, hatching terrorist bombings and assassinations of foreign diplomats, our government has shackled the main opposition, which the mullahs fear the most.

It is time to revisit this policy. While the administration, obviously caught off guard, is scrambling to find the proper response, delisting the MeK is the strongest signal the U.S. can send to the mullahs of Tehran. The timing could not be better.

Gen. Hugh Shelton is the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. This article was originally published in The Charlotte Observer.

http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/editorials/2011/10/24/opposition-group-could-give-iran-trouble.html

Filed Under: Luminaries, News Tagged With: Blacklist, Camp Ashraf, Delist MEK, FTO, Iran, Iranian Resistance, Iraq, MEK, MKO, Mojahedin, Mujahedeen, Mujahedin, NCRI, PMOI, Secretary Clinton, Terrorism

Iranian Americans call on U.S. to protect Iranian exiles in Iraq

October 23, 2011 by Katherine Shaver

THE WASHINGTON POST

Hundreds of Iranian Americans rallied outside the White House on Saturday, saying they’re worried that the Obama administration’s newly announced plan to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq by year’s end will leave 3,400 Iranian exiles vulnerable in a settlement outside Baghdad.

The protesters also called on the Obama administration to remove Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, the group affiliated with the exiles, from the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. The designation, protesters said, gives the Iraqi government an excuse to persecute residents of Camp Ashraf, which has been more like a small city, 40 miles north of Baghdad, since the mid-1980s.

Supporters from the Washington area and across the country said Iraqi forces are not allowing medicine into the 10-square-mile Ashraf compound and have twice attacked its unarmed residents since July 2009, killing about 45 people and injuring hundreds. Many protesters said they fear a massacre there after U.S. troops leave Iraq.

Former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge speaks to a crowd of hundreds protesting in front of the White House in Washington Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Ridge spoke in support of the call for the de-listing of an Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) from the U.S. terror list. The group also called on President Barack Obama to protect Ashraf, the Iranian refugee camp in Iraq. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

“Whenever the U.S. says ‘Don’t execute these people’ or ‘Don’t send them back to Iran,’ they [Iraqi authorities] can say ‘Why not? We’re killing terrorists for you,’ ” said Amir Emadi, a graduate student from San Diego. His parents and 19 relatives live in Ashraf.

MEK formed in Iran in the 1960s to overthrow the U.S.-backed shah, and in the 1970s it assassinated several U.S. military personnel and American civilians working in Tehran, according to a 2007 State Department report. It also “supported the violent takeover in 1979 of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran,” the report said.

In the mid-1980s, the group moved to Iraq, where it helped Saddam Hussein’s regime fight in Iraq’s war against Iran.

After the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the United States agreed to protect the residents of Ashraf if MEK gave up its weapons. The United States transferred Ashraf to Iraqi control in 2009. Iraq’s government, eyeing MEK’s past affiliation with Hussein, has tried to make the Ashraf residents leave.

Obama administration officials have said the MEK, headquartered in Paris, has been listed as a foreign terrorist organization since 1997 because of its history of violence. The State Department reportsaid “MEK’s leadership and members across the world maintain the capacity and will to commit terrorist acts in Europe, the Middle East, the United States, Canada and beyond.”

On Saturday, joined by former Homeland Security secretary Tom Ridge and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell, several protesters said recent allegations of an Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador to Washington prove that the Obama administration needs to take a harder line.

“You cannot negotiate with Iran!” Ridge exclaimed to cheers, beating drums and chants of “MEK, yes. Mullahs, no! They are terrorists. They must go!”

Since renouncing violence in 2001, protesters said, MEK has not been linked to any attacks.

Demonstrators chant during a march in Washington after rallying in front of the White House Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Hundreds of people rallied, demanding that an Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) be removed from a U.S. terror list. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

At Homeland Security, Ridge was given a daily list of terrorist threats, he said. “Never once did I see a threat to the people of the U.S. from the people of Camp Ashraf,” he told the crowd.

A similar protest outside the State Department in August drew thousands. Saturday’s protesters on Pennsylvania Avenue hoisted yellow flags saying “De-list MEK” and “Protect Ashraf,” as curious tourists looked on. The rally was organized by the Iranian American Professionals and Scholars of Maryland.

Rally leaders said the United States should protect Ashraf with its own troops or urge United Nations security forces to guard it until the exiles can be repatriated.

“We gave our word to protect these people,” Rendell said.

Majid Sadeghpour, a pharmacist who lives in Falls Church, said his brother was executed in Iran in 1989 after being imprisoned for carrying an MEK newspaper. The MEK’s listing as a terrorist group undermines the work of those who want to see Iran governed by a secular democracy, he said.

“We can’t do that,” Sadeghpour said, “when our most organized, capable resistance has been tagged as terrorists.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/iranian-americans-call-on-us-to-protect-iranian-exiles-in-iraq/2011/10/22/gIQAJotj7L_story.html

Filed Under: October 22 Rally Tagged With: Blacklist, Camp Ashraf, Delist MEK, FTO, Iran, Iranian Resistance, Iraq, MEK, MKO, Mojahedin, Mujahedeen, Mujahedin, NCRI, PMOI, Secretary Clinton, Terrorism

Hundreds Rally For Iranian Opposition

October 23, 2011 by Matt Laslo

WAMU Radio

Hundreds of Iranian Americans rallied in front of the White House Saturday demanding the Obama administration do more to help the Iranian resistance movement.

The protestors are asking the U.S. government to take the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) off the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations. The group was once allied with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime, but MEK officials say they renounced violence a decade ago.

Former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was among the protesters. He says U.S. officials haven’t been helping the process.

“The State Department has been horribly naïve – not just this administration but the previous administration – thinking that you negotiate with Iran,” says Ridge.

Amir Emadi traveled to D.C. from San Diego to pressure the administration to assist protestors in Iran.

“I think that the Iranian people deserve a lot more attention than does the Iranian government,” says Emadi.

International attention came back on Iran after U.S. officials foiled an alleged plot to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador at a restaurant in D.C. But for these Iranian Americans their native country never left their minds.

http://wamu.org/news/11/10/23/hundreds_rally_for_iranian_opposition

Hundreds rally in support of Iranian opposition

October 22, 2011 by Editor

ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hundreds of people rallied outside the White House on Saturday, calling on President Barack Obama to remove an Iranian opposition group once allied with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Former Pennsylvania Govs. Tom Ridge and Ed Rendell were among the speakers urging the U.S. to take the Mujahedin-e Khalq off the State Department’s list. Ridge, a Republican, was the nation’s first homeland security secretary. Rendell is a top Democrat who helped elect Obama.

“The only group that should be on the list is the country of Iran itself, under the rule of the mullahs,” Ridge said, noting recent U.S. allegations of a foiled Iranian plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s ambassador in Washington.

The U.S. added MEK to its terrorist list in 1997. But last year a federal court ordered the State Department to reconsider and meanwhile the group has rallied many members of Congress and former high-ranking U.S. officials to its cause.

Delisting would allow the Paris-based group to raise money and operate in the U.S., which it is currently prohibited from doing.

The MEK carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s and fought alongside Saddam’s forces in the Iran-Iraq war. But the group says it renounced violence in 2001.

Ridge and Rendell said the MEK has not been linked to any terrorist attacks since that time. They pointed out that the European Union and the United Kingdom have concluded that the MEK is not a terrorist organization and called on Obama to reach the same decision.

Critics of the MEK say it has cult-like characteristics and that delisting it would be seen even by moderate Iranians as an endorsement by the U.S. of terrorism. A 2010 State Department report on the MEK said: “The group’s worldwide campaign against the Iranian government uses propaganda and terrorism to achieve its objectives.”

Demonstrators protest in front of the White House during a freedom rally outside in Washington Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. Hundreds of people rallied, demanding that an Iranian opposition group, Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK) be removed from a U.S. terror list. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

MEK spokesman Ali Safavi called the State Department’s description “a political statement and not a factual one.” He said the group would not have such broad Congressional support if it was engaged in terrorist activities.

Saturday’s noisy protest took place outside the wrought iron gates of the White House.

“We want President Obama to hear us,” said Rendell, a former Democratic Party national chairman.

Obama left the White House for the drive to Andrews Air Force Base in suburban Maryland to play golf as the demonstration began, and it’s not clear if he heard any of it.

During the rally, the mostly Iranian-American crowd broke into regular chants of “MEK, yes. Mullahs, no. They are terrorists. They must go,” and “President Obama, listen to us. MEK listing is unjust.”

The event was organized by the Iranian American Professionals and Scholars of Maryland.

Organizers say the MEK was put on the terror list to appease Iranian leaders, but that has only given the regime an excuse to arrest and kill dissidents in Iran and Iraq. They contend that delisting would strengthen a major Iranian opposition group.

The MEK has revealed the existence of several important Iranian nuclear facilities.

U.S. officials say that Iran is laying the groundwork for a nuclear weapons program, although its leaders may not have decided to build a bomb. Iran says its nuclear ambitions are entirely peaceful.

Speakers at the protest also urged the U.S. to continue supporting more than 3,000 former MEK fighters and others living at Camp Ashraf near Iraq’s border with Iran. The Iraqi government wants to close the camp and Iraqi security forces have twice raided Ashraf, most recently in April. The U.N. said at least 34 people were killed in that incident.

The U.S. has pledged to protect camp residents from violence, but those rallying outside the White House said Obama’s announcement of a complete pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of the year could make that promise difficult to keep.

Iran exiles demand delay of Iraq camp closure

October 22, 2011 by AFP

Demonstrators holds up petitions to President Barack Obama to protect the Iranian Ashraf refugee camp in Iraq during a freedom rally in front of the White House in Washington on Saturday, Oct. 22, 2011. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

WASHINGTON, October 22, 2011 (AFP) – Hundreds of protesters gathered Saturday at the White House to demand that the closure of a refugee camp for Iranian exiles in Iraq be postponed, arguing that a massacre will occur when US troops leave.

Wearing yellow hats and waving banners demanding “protection for Camp Ashraf,” the demonstrators also called on US President Barack Obama to remove the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran group from a blacklist of terror groups.

“By illegally insisting on the continued listing of the PMOI, the United States has blocked the path to change in Iran while paving the way for a massacre in Ashraf,” the movement’s leader Maryam Rajavi said in a message broadcast live from Paris, where she lives in exile.

Rajavi has previously said that Iraqi forces have finished training for an assault on the camp, home for the past 30 years to 3,400 Iranian dissidents who are facing expulsion by year’s end on the orders of the Baghdad government.

On Saturday, she asked the United States, United Nations and other governments to pressure Iraq to push back the December 31 deadline for closure of the camp, and also asked that UN monitors be sent to Ashraf.
A similar demonstration took place earlier this week in Brussels.

The camp, which has become a mounting international problem, has been in the spotlight since an April raid by Iraqi security forces left 34 people dead and scores injured, triggering sharp condemnation.

The camp was set up when Iraq and Iran were at war in the 1980s by the People’s Mujahedeen and later came under US control until January 2009, when US forces transferred security for the camp to Iraq.

The group has been on the US government terrorist list since 1997.

http://en.cumhuriyet.com/?hn=287680

Demonstrators Call for Iranian Opposition Group to Be Removed From US List of Terrorist Organizations

October 22, 2011 by Editor

FoxNews

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WASHINGTON – Hundreds of people rallied outside the White House on Saturday, calling on President Barack Obama to remove an Iranian opposition group once allied with Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime from the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.