JUSTICE/FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM : PEOPLE'S MUJAHEDIN: COURT PROVES EU WRONG.

A new victory against the EU for the People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), the main opposition force in the Islamic Republic: on 23 October, the EU's Court of First Instance (CFI) cancelled a decision by the Council of Ministers from December 2007 keeping the PMOI on the list of terrorists organisations, which means that its funds have been frozen in the EU since 1992 (Case T-256/07).

The Court considers that "the Council failed to give sufficient reasons for its decision following a decision taken by a UK judicial authority to remove the PMOI from the national list of terrorist organisations".

The Iranian organisation, founded in 1965 with its initial goal being to bring an end to the shah's regime, then the mullahs' regime established following the 1979 revolution, and replace them with a democratic regime, nonetheless remains on the European list, updated twice per year.

The controversy has lasted since the introduction of these lists, following the 11 September 2001 attacks against the USA. The PMOI is fighting appeals before the EU courts to get a favourable judgement, stating that it has renounced all military activity since June 2001.

The CFI has already decided in its favour. In its ruling of 12 December 2006 (PMOI ruling), it had annulled the Council's decision from 2005 ordering the organisation's funds to be frozen, "on the grounds that it did not contain a sufficient statement of reasons, that it had been adopted in the course of a procedure during which the applicant's right to a fair hearing had not been observed and that the Court itself was not in a position to review the lawfulness of that decision," reiterates...