Court Rules Out Freezing of MKO Funds

BBC Persian, December 13, 2006

The Court of First Instance of European Union annulled the decision to freeze the funds of Mojahedin-e Khalq in EU member states.

The court said that the ruling to freeze MKO funds, issued four years ago, lacked sufficient reasoning and that at that time the organization couldn't defend itself in a proper way.

The Luxemburg based court is comprised of 7 judges who deal with complaints against governmental institutions all over the EU.

This ruling can be appealed to EU's Court of Justice.

The MKO, fighting to overthrow the Islamic republic in Iran, is considered a terrorist organization in the EU but its political branch (NCRI) which acts freely in European countries is claimed to be representative of different opposition groups and individuals.

AFP quoted one of the court's officials saying that this ruling can be interpreted as lifting MKO's name from EU's terror list.

However, Reuters pointed to a statement by Council of European Union that declares that, "the court has not annulled rules and regulations on which the list of terrorist organizations or individuals is based".

A spokesperson of Home Office said the UK has its own laws for illegal organizations and that according to these domestic laws, the MKO's activities remain illegal."

After this ruling was issued by the court, Maryam Rajavi, the head of NCRI and the wife of MKO leader, released a statement asking for lifting all restrictions on the group in Europe.

On June 16 this year also, an appeals court in Paris lifted some of restrictions on the movements of Maryam Rajavi and 16 other leaders of the group; Iran protested to this move.
 

Home