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Iran Group Wants to be
Struck From Terror List
A European court recently removed the
People's Mujahedeen from a terror watch list, and a lawyer in Canada wants
the same action taken here.
A Canadian lawyer representing an Iranian
group listed on a terror watch list in Canada says the organization is
considering challenging the decision. The People's Mujahedeen was placed on
the list in May 2005. Warren Creates, an Ottawa-based lawyer who has
represented the group and its sympathizers for seven years, said the
decision was unfair and motivated by politics.
"I have not seen any evidence that would hold up in a court of law to prove
that this group was responsible for or complicit in any terrorist act
whatsoever," Mr. Creates said. He also criticized the process by which
alleged terrorist organizations are placed on Canada's terror watch list.
"It's done without hearing, it's done without–so far as we can tell–any
evidence, in the case of my clients."
The People's Mujahedeen has been listed as a terrorist organization in the
United States since 1997. The European Union also placed the group on its
terror watch list in 2001. But last week, the European Court of Justice
overturned the decision in a landmark ruling, which Mr. Creates said gives
the group the impetus to challenge Canada's decision to brand it as a
terrorist organization.
"We have considered it and I think this ruling in Europe will certainly add
fuel to my clients' position that the listing of the group in Canada was
wrongfully made and made without grounds," said Mr. Creates, though he gave
no timeline on when the legal challenge will start.
In its ruling, the European Court of Justice said the People's Mujahedeen
was not given a fair hearing to defend itself against the allegations. "The
court finds that certain fundamental rights and safeguards, including the
right to a fair hearing... and the right to effective judicial protection,
are, as a matter of principle, fully applicable."
The People's Mujahedeen is known by several names, such as National Council
of Resistance of Iran, Mujahedeen e Khalq, People's Mujahedeen Organization
of Iran, National Liberation Army of Iran, and the Muslim Iranian Students'
Organization. The group is not registered in Canada and does not have any
members here except sympathizers, Mr. Creates said.
Three years ago, the group attracted media attention in Canada when a
26-year-old Iranian-Canadian committed suicide by setting herself on fire
outside the French embassy in London, UK. Neda Hassani, a computer sciences
student at Carleton University, was protesting the arrest of Maryam Rajavi,
the president of the People's Mujahedeen.
Founded by radical university students in Tehran, the People's Mujahedeen
has an ideology that blends Marxism and Islam. It was instrumental in the
overthrow of the Shah in 1979, but soon fell out of favour with the Islamic
Revolution. As a result, the group was forced to relocate to Paris, where it
advocated the overthrowing of the Islamic regime in Iran by force. In the
mid 1980s, it entered into an alliance with Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, who
gave them training grounds in Iraq and allowed them to use these bases to
attack the Iranian regime.
Last month, the Canadian government reviewed the group and found that it
still qualified to be on the list of terrorist organizations banned in
Canada, said Philip McLinton, a spokesman from the Department of Public
Safety and Emergency Preparedness.
"It's according to the criteria [in the Criminal Code] and intelligence
received that this assessment was conducted," said Mr. McLinton. However, he
said under Canada's laws, any group listed on the terror watch list can
appeal the decision, but added that the department hasn't received any such
request from the People's Mujahedeen.
brian@embassymag.ca
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