London - The British government Wednesday lost its final
right to appeal against an order to remove a proscribed Iranian
opposition grouping from a list of banned terrorist organizations.
The Appeal Court rejected a legal bid by Home Secretary Jacqui
Smith against a 2007 decision that the People's Mujahedin of Iran
(PMOI) should be taken off the blacklist.
It refused to give the Home Secretary permission to appeal against
the decision by the Proscribed Organizations Appeal Commission
decision that the PMOI was 'not concerned in terrorism' as defined by
the Terrorism Act of 2000.
The PMOI, which campaigns for the replacement of the Iranian
regime by a secular democracy, is a member of the National Council of
Resistance of Iran (NCRI).
It is on a European Union (EU) list of terrorist organizations
subject to an EU-wide assets freeze. The US government has designated
it as a foreign terrorist organization.
In seeking to challenge the de-listing decision, Home Office
lawyers argued that, although there had been a 'temporary cessation
of terrorist acts,' there was reason to fear that terrorist activity
had been suspended 'for pragmatic reasons' and might be resumed in
the future.
Ali Safavi, of the NCRI's Foreign Affairs Committee, said the end
of a seven-year legal battle provided 'vindication of the resistance
that has been raised against the regime in Tehran.'
USA
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