British lawmakers announce support for Iran opposition group

Iran Focus: London, Dec. 13 – Several hundred British lawmakers called Tuesday on the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to abandon engagement with Iran’s religious leaders and remove the main Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), from the United Kingdom’s proscribed organisations list. Iran Focus

London, Dec. 13 – Several hundred British lawmakers called Tuesday on the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair to abandon engagement with Iran’s religious leaders and remove the main Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin-e Khalq (MeK), from the United Kingdom’s proscribed organisations list.

The announcement came in a parliamentary press conference, where several British lawmakers from the three major political parties spoke in favour of the MeK.

A statement signed by 405 lawmakers, including 279 Members of Parliament and 126 Peers, called for the “removal of the terror label against the [MeK”>”. It described the label as the “the most important impediment” to democratic change in Iran.

Lord Corbett of Castle Vale, who chairs the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom which organised the conference, told participants, “The only reason the [MeK”> was proscribed was in a shabby deal to please the mullahs. The policy of appeasement is in ruins as Iran moves nearer to developing nuclear weapons and continues its gross interference in Iraq”.

Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, a coalition which includes the MeK, described the statement as the “voice of the people of Great Britain calling for change in the policy towards Iran”.

“Through this statement, Parliament is showing its support for taking the Mojahedin off the terror list. Parliament wants an end to the policy of appeasement of the mullahs. It declares support for democratic change by the people of Iran and the Iranian Resistance”, Rajavi told the conference via a live satellite link.