Abide by the Rule of Law; Avert a Humanitarian Catastrophe

For three decades the Iranian regime has been a major menace for the international community because of its appalling human rights record at home and pursuit of nuclear weapons, sponsorship of terrorism and meddling in the internal affairs of its neighbors, particularly Iraq. The experience of past there decades of failure in international efforts to rehabilitate the Iranian regime show that neither appeasement nor a foreign war are the right policies to deal with this clear and present danger. Indeed, a robust diplomacy aimed at isolating Iran’s religious dictatorship and simultaneously engaging the Iranian people by empowering their democratic opposition offers the only viable option to bring about democratic change in Iran.

On January 26, 2009, the European Union unshackled the hands of the Iranian democratic opposition by removing its pivotal force, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), from its blacklist. Previously, in June 2008, the United Kingdom had done the same in a move which was ratified unanimously by the both Houses of the British Parliament. Seven European courts, including Britain’s Court of Appeal and the European Court of First Instance, have cleared the PMOI of intent and capacity to commit terrorism. The unjust blacklisting of the PMOI was meant to appease the mullahs in Iran.

In 1997, the United States blacklisted the PMOI in what was described by State Department officials as "a good-will gesture” toward Iran’s leadership. Since then, however, a majority of US House members have called repeatedly for the removal of the Iranian Resistance form the US blacklist.

The listing has had dire impact not only in Iran, where the Iranian regime has been stepping up execution of dissidents under the pretext of bringing "terrorists" to justice, but also in Iraq, where nearly 4,000 members of the PMOI reside. At the behest of the Iranian regime and by invoking the terrorist designation of the group by the United States, the Iraqi government has said repeatedly that it will expel these dissidents to Iran, where they would definitely face torture and execution.

We undersigned, eager to have Iran back in the family of the nations and see the democratic opposition which seeks a free, secular, non-nuclear, peaceful Iran achieve its goals, call on the US Department of State to follow the move by its European allies and judgment of seven European high courts, and end the blacklisting of the PMOI. This would not only be consistent with the rule of law, but would also prevent the occurrence of humanitarian catastrophe as it pertains to the 4,000 Iranian dissidents in Iraq.

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