[Mb-civic] FW: European Parliament adopts Iran resolution to review EU terror list

[Golsorkhi]

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From: Samii Shahla <shahla at thesamiis.com>
Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 18:34:03 -0500
Subject: European Parliament adopts Iran resolution to review EU terror list

European Parliament adopts Iran resolution to review EU terror list

Friday, 14th January 2005


Iran Focus

Strasbourg, Jan. 14 ­ After a debate in which a number of Euro-MPs
spoke out against the terror-tag placed upon the main Iranian
opposition group, the People's Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI),
the European Parliament yesterday adopted a resolution on Iran calling
for a review of the European Union's list of terrorist organisations.

Paulo Casaca (Portugal) co-chair of the EP Group, Friends of a Free
Iran, and chair of the Delegation for relations with the NATO
Parliamentary Assembly spoke out against current EU negotiations with
the clerical state and demanded the terror label against the PMOI be
removed.

Struan Stevenson (UK) who also co-chairs Friends of a Free Iran said,
"We should courageously say no to the demands of the Iranian regime to
keep the name of the People's Mojahedin in the EU's terror list".

Ryszard Czaranecki (Poland) said in this regard, "The most serious
message that we could give to Tehran is to remove the name of the
Iranian Mojahedin from the EU terror list. In reality (it is) the
criminal mullahs who are the real terrorists and are constantly hanging
their own people, including children and are also sending terrorists to
the neighboring Iraq".

First vice-President of the European Parliament, Alejo Vidal-Quadras
Roca, chaired the parliamentary session.

A number of other Euro-MPs also addressed the parliament criticizing in
particular Iran's systematic violations of human rights and called for
an end to dialogue with the Iranian regime.

The final resolution stated that the EP "asks its Committees on Foreign
Affairs and Civil Liberties to examine the way in which Parliament may
become involved in the process of regular updating of the Council's
common position on the implementation of specific measures for the
fight against terrorism, taking into account developments from 2001
onwards".

The EP resolution, coming in the wake of a November 2004 international
conference of jurists in Paris, where over 500 prominent legal experts
said blacklisting the PMOI as a terrorist organization violated
international and European laws, raises the pressure on the EU to
redress what is widely seen as a "goodwill gesture" to Iran's clerical
rulers.

Ten eminent experts in international law, including Rt. Hon. Lord Slynn
of Hadley (former judge at the European Court of Justice), Prof. Eric
David, President of the Centre for International Law from Brussels,
Prof. Henri Labayle, professor of European Law at the University of
Pau, Prof. Bill Bowring, director of Human Rights and Social Justice
Research Institute from London, and Prof. Jean-Yves de Cara (President
of International Law Institute of University of Paris V ) presented
their legal opinions to the conference.
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This article comes from Iran Focus:
http://www.iranfocus.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1235


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