 |
Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May-June 2008, pages 76-77 Waging Peace The U.S. and People’s Mojahedin: Forging Ties?
THE U.S. HOUSE of Representatives hosted a Feb. 11 policy conference in the Cannon Caucus Room entitled: “Iran Human Rights and Democracy Caucus.” The event included not only keynote speakers and members of Congress, but a delegation of over 200 members of groups within the politically active Iranian-American community. The caucus focused on the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI, also MEK), the main group under the umbrella of National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI). Founded by Iranian students in 1965, PMOI has developed into a formidable opposition group to the current theocratic Iranian administration. It claims to have more of a Marxist ideological base and a “modern” interpretation of Islam. The PMOI opposed the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and supported the 1979 U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran, led by student followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Relationships between the PMOI and Khomeini’s supporters turned sour because of disagreement on the extent to which Islam and politics should meld. From the current Iranian administration’s point of view, the PMOI is an armed, paramilitary group which supports attacks on clerics. Iran has retaliated against PMOI leaders and meeting places, ultimately driving members into exile. The largest consolidation of approximately 4,000 PMOI fighters is in Camp Ashraf, a city in northeastern Iraq near the Iran border. The city is named after PMOI leader Ashraf Rajavi, who was a political prisoner under the shah. The caucus discussed the fact that PMOI is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations (although its supporters apparently are able to meet on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol) and how to bolster support for opposition groups in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The first speaker was Allan Gerson, author, former professor of international law at George Mason University, and chairman of the DC-based Gerson International Law Group. He represents Mojahedin-e Kalq (MEK) before the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control. Gerson described Asraf and the MEK, or PMOI, as a disarmed, nonviolent group that has been cooperating with the U.S. since 2003, when U.S. forces signed an agreement with the PMOI. On July 2, 2004 the U.S. government recognized PMOI personnel as protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention after extensive U.S. investigation of each member in Ashraf. Gerson argued that the U.S. should rescind its terrorist designation to the PMOI in light of their cooperation. A letter from the Coordination Committee of Iraqi National Forces (CCINF) was read aloud by Ronald Precup, a former captain in the U.S. Army, currently a practicing attorney in Virginia and DC, and a representative of the PMOI in the U.S. for over 20 years. According to the letter, 5.2 million Iraqis signed a declaration in support of the PMOI. Gerson and Precup, along with NCRI president Maryam Rajavi (by way of a letter read by Sona Samsami, executive director of Women’s Freedom Forum, and the NCRI’s U.S. representative) made statements labeling Iran as the number one obstacle preventing a stable Iraq. There was no mention of U.S. contributions to Iraq’s instability. Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX), a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Terrorism subcommittee, added his support for Iranian opposition groups like the PMOI. He and other speakers appeared to consider the views of opposition fringe groups like the PMOI, which has approximately 4,000 members, as representative of Iran’s population of 70 million people. —Nina Hamedani |
|||||
