Italy backs EU decision on PMOI

UPI: The Italian Parliament passed a measure endorsing a European court decision to remove the People's Mujahedin of Iran from terrorist blacklists, the PMOI said.

United Press International

ROME, Dec. 10 (UPI) — The Italian Parliament passed a measure endorsing a European court decision to remove the People's Mujahedin of Iran from terrorist blacklists, the PMOI said.

The European Court of First Instance Dec. 4 ruled the European Union had "violated" the rights of the PMOI by not providing sufficient evidence to maintain the group on its list of terrorist entities, paving the way toward its delisting.

The European decision follows a wave of similar rulings. A British court of appeals ruled in May the group should no longer be classified as a terrorist group, and in November the German Parliament signed a petition in support of the group.

Italian lawmakers joined the chorus of European voices calling for "the necessity of full respect for the verdict issued by the European Court of First Instance," as the group's leader, Maryam Rajavi, has embarked on an aggressive lobbying campaign throughout Europe.

The PMOI is blacklisted by several nations, including the United States and Canada, for its bombings and assassinations of Iranian leaders during the 1970s and 1980s. The group says it has renounced violence as of 2003, however. It seeks regime change in Iran.

PMOI members are under U.S. military protection in Camp Ashraf in Iraq's Diyala province. Its political wing, the National Council of Resistance of Iran, is based in Paris.