Iran General NewsEU court may lift ban on Iran opposition

EU court may lift ban on Iran opposition

-

ImageDaily Telegraph: A court in Luxembourg will rush out a decision tomorrow on whether the EU acted unlawfully in maintaining a ban on the PMOI, Iran's main opposition group, after a similar ban was lifted by Parliament.
 

telegraph.co.uk

A court in Luxembourg will rush out a decision tomorrow on whether the EU acted unlawfully in maintaining a ban on the PMOI, Iran's main opposition group, after a similar ban was lifted by Parliament.
 

By Joshua Rozenberg

ImageA European court is to rule tomorrow on a claim that the EU Council committed a “fundamental error of law” in not removing the main Iranian opposition group from a list of banned terrorist organisations.

The ruling from the European Court of First Instance is expected less than 24 hours after an application by the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran — the PMOI — for the ban to be annulled. Normally, claimants have to wait weeks or months for a ruling from the court, part of the European Court of Justice.

David Vaughan QC told the court in Luxembourg today that this was the 19th time that the Council had named the PMOI as a terrorist organisation.

All previous bans had, in effect, been annulled. “The score is 18-nil to the PMOI,” said Mr Vaughan. But every time the court annulled a Council decision, he continued, the EU simply imposed a new six-month ban.

The PMOI's most recent victory, reported here, was in October. But that related to a ban that had expired this summer. It’s thought the court is anxious to deliver its ruling before the current ban expires.

The EU Council, supported by France, argued at today’s hearing that the PMOI should remain proscribed.

But Mr Vaughan pointed out that a ban by the Home Secretary had been overturned by an English court earlier this year. The Government’s application for permission to appeal had been dismissed by the Lord Chief Justice and Parliament had voted to lift the UK ban in June.

Even so, he said, the EU Council “had replaced the freezing of funds under UK law by an EU measure, notwithstanding the findings of the UK courts and of the UK Parliament that the continued proscription of the PMOI was totally without foundation, as the UK now accepts”.

Mr Vaughan said the PMOI had been blacklisted by the EU for some six years. But everyone accepted that it had not done anything that could be described as a terrorist act since 2001. Even before then, it had acted in self-defence against a regime that “everyone regards as abhorrent”.

First published December 3, 2008.

Latest news

 Statistics show that New Year accidents’ deaths in Iran reached 585

Ahmad Shirani, the head of the Information and Traffic Control Center of the Iranian regime’s police, announced that the...

Land Subsidence in Critical Conditions in Isfahan

Mehdi Toghyani, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), pointed to the occurrence of land subsidence in various...

Iran’s Actual Inflation Rate Higher Than Official Stats

The state-run Donya-e-eqtesad newspaper, in a report analyzing the "general sentiment" regarding inflation in 2023, has stated that households...

Iranian Workers’ Monthly $136 Wages Can’t Cover $500 Expenses

The lives of a significant portion of the Iranian population are marked by uncertainty, largely because the Iranian economy...

Iranian Nurses Earn Twice Their Wages in Ride-Hailing Services

Reza Aryanpour, a member of the regime’s Majlis (parliament) Health and Treatment Commission, highlighted the growing trend of nurses...

Iran: Unprecedented Record of 152 Million Liters of Gasoline Consumption Per Day

On March 19, Iran set a new historical record in gasoline consumption with 152 million liters consumed in one...

Must read

Mullen: ‘concerned’ about Iran’s influence in Iraq

AP: America's top military officer says there's no evidence...

Iran police to “strongly confront” Nov. 4 rallies

Reuters: Iranian police said on Tuesday any illegal rallies...

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you