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170 MPs call on UK government to adopt a new policy on Iran |
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Thursday, 15 November 2007 |
 The text of statement by the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom:
The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran FreedomPress Release
Cross party committee announces initiative supported by a large number of MPs calling on UK government to adopt a new policy on Iran
NCRI reveals secret information about the Iranian regime's Revolutionary Guards terrorist network in southern Iraq.
At a press conference organised by the British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom in the House of Commons on Tuesday, cross-party Parliamentarians announced an initiative on behalf of about 170 MPs calling on Gordon Brown's government to adopt a new policy on Iran.
The panel included former Home Secretary Rt. Hon. Lord Waddington QC; former Scottish Advocate-General Rt. Hon. Lord Fraser of Carmyllie QC; Andrew Mackinlay MP, member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Brian Binley MP; former Chair of the Labour Party Lord Clarke of Hampstead; Roger Gale MP; David Drew MP, Hossein Abedini of the National Council of Resistance of Iran's (NCRI) Foreign Affairs Committee; and Masoud Zabeti of the Committee of
Anglo-Iranian Lawyers.
The parliamentarians announced that a large number of MPs had signed an Early Day Motion urging the Government to impose comprehensive diplomatic, arms, technological and oil sanctions against the Iranian regime. The EDM called for the December 2006 ruling of the European Court of Justice to be implemented by the UK Government and the EU insofar as delisting the main Iranian democratic opposition group, the PMOI.
The NCRI exposed specific information regarding the Revolutionary Guards - Qods Force's terrorist activities and networks in southern Iraq, particularly against British troops. Mr. Abedini revealed the names and positions of senior Qods Force commanders with responsibility in Iraq.
He gave the current whereabouts of Abu Mehdi al-Mohandes, who is wanted by the Coalition for planning the bombings of the U.S. and French embassies in Kuwait in the 1980s. "Abu Mehdi al-Mohandes is based in the Kenesht Barracks north of Kermanshah (western Iran)," Abedini said.
Mr. Drew (Lab), who tabled EDM 1398, told the conference that it was "perverse" that the PMOI which had provided key intelligence on the regime's terrorist attacks in Iraq was itself being restricted by the Government.
Mr. Mackinlay MP (Lab) welcomed the Prime Minister's speech at the Lord Mayor's banquette last night in which he warned that tougher sanctions targeting Iran's gas and oil sector may be necessary to force the regime to halt its illegal uranium enrichment programme. He welcomed the fact that some 170 MPs had signed on to EDM 1398.
Lord Fraser of Carmyllie urged the Government to end its ban on the PMOI before being forced to do so by the Courts of the United Kingdom.Lord Waddington said: "It is high time that the British Government and the EU obey the law and adhere to the ruling of the European Court of Justice."
Mr. Binley (Con) said: "The NCRI led by Mrs. Maryam Rajavi has become the voice of many millions of Iranians who oppose the regime but it is especially the living voice of the 120,000 political prisoners who have been executed in Iran in recent years."
"We have seen how the policy of appeasement has failed. ... The U.S.'s decision to impose sanctions on the Revolutionary Guards must now be supported by the international community. The British Government should be taking the lead within the EU to instigate a firm stance against the Iranian regime, firstly by placing the Qods Force and the IRGC on the proscribed
organisations list," he said.
His remarks were echoed by Mr. Gale (Con), who also urged such action to be coupled with the de-listing of the PMOI.
The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom
13 November 2007
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Note to editors:
The British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom is comprised of over 50 Members of Parliament and Peers from across the political spectrum. It has the backing of the majority of MPs and more than 200 Peers in its endeavours for human rights and democracy in Iran.
The PMOI - Iran's principal opposition force - is a member organisation in the main opposition coalition National Council of Resistance of Iran. Some 120,000 of its members and sympathisers have been executed by the mullahs' regime on political grounds. The NCRI was the first to alert the international community to the regime's secret nuclear projects in August 2002.
The PMOI were proscribed in the UK by then Home Secretary Jack Straw MP in 2001. The same proscription was used as the basis of the group's inclusion in the EU's terrorist list. On 12 December 2006, however, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities in a landmark verdict "annulled" the EU's decision to place the group in the terrorist list. At the UK Government's bidding, the EU announced in June 2007 that it would maintain the PMOI in the list.
The Proscribed Organisations Appeals Commission (POAC) is currently reviewing the PMOI's proscription in the UK and is expected to announce its verdict in the coming weeks.
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