Iran Focus: Washington, D.C., May 20 A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch on an Iranian opposition group was factually erroneous, politically motivated, and the result of an investigative process so flawed as to call into serious question the honesty and integrity of those who issued it, the groups counsel in the United States said. Iran Focus
Washington, D.C., May 20 A report by the New York-based Human Rights Watch on an Iranian opposition group was factually erroneous, politically motivated, and the result of an investigative process so flawed as to call into serious question the honesty and integrity of those who issued it, the groups counsel in the United States said.
Ronald G. Precup, U.S. Counsel for the People’s Mojahedin of Iran (PMOI) said, The cited sources for the report are all operatives of Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security, experts in planting false information about the PMOI around the world. The same kind of allegations contained in the new report surfaced more than ten years ago and were completely discredited then. They are wholly without credibility when repeated today.
Precup said that HRW had not contacted either him or the PMOI to afford them an opportunity to respond to the allegations, adding, That speaks volumes about the apparently knowing distortions in which HRW has engaged.
If the report were truly about human rights abuses, HRW officials would not have attempted, in connection with the report, to deliver the pro-Mullah line that the PMOI should not be removed from the list of terrorist organizations. As it is, the organization’s transparent political motivation not only undermines the credibility of the report, but of the Human Rights Watch itself, he said.
A European Parliament committee and a British Parliamentary Committee also yesterday called on HRW to retract the report, noting its violation of well- established international standards and basic rights.
Precup said that the PMOI will be examining all its legal and other options in the coming days for obtaining redress for the HRW’s political invective.
