USCCAR Welcomes Appeals Court Ruling in PMOI vs. Secretary of State

WASHINGTON, July 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents welcomes the unanimous judgment on July 16 by a United States Federal Court of Appeals which said that the then-Secretary of State, in refusing the petition filed in 2008 by the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK), to be removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), had violated the group's due process rights. The Appeals Court remanded the case to the Secretary for reconsideration with specific instructions.

The Committee urges the Secretary of State to promptly remove the PMOI from the FTO list as the Court has recognized that "a strict and immediate application of the principles of law which we have set forth herein could be taken to require a revocation of the designation."

The unjust and unnecessary continued blacklisting of the PMOI has not only been a major impediment to democratic change in Iran but has also been used by the governments of Iran and Iraq to subject our loved ones in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and inside Iran, to murder and inhumane treatment.

In the last days of the previous administration the Department's top counterterrorism official, Dell L. Dailey, pushed for the delisting of the PMOI, according to the New York Times. Secretary Rice, however, overruled him.

Following Friday's ruling, Congressman Bob Filner (D-CA), Chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, urged the Secretary of State, "to use the opportunity to revoke the terrorist designation of the PMOI." He added, "De-listing the PMOI is not only just but also to the benefit of the national security interests of the United States, as Iran steps up uranium enrichment and the freedom-seeking youth protest the ruling dictatorship."  "It is on these same grounds that I introduced the bi-partisan resolution, H.Res.1431, which invites the Secretary of State to vacate the designation of the PMOI," the California democrat said.

Noting that "the Federal Appeals Court's ruling today is a long time coming," Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, welcomed the Court's decision and said he was looking forward to the State Department's reconsideration. "The real terrorists - the corrupt regime in Tehran - are the ones we need to be punishing," the Texas lawmaker stressed.

SOURCE U.S. Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents