Lord Waddington: Why does the EU continue to call these people terrorists?

Lord David Waddington GCVO DL QC, a former Home Secretary under Prime Minister Thatcher, makes the case for de-proscribing the People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran as a terrorist organisation.

As the European Union’s Foreign Minister met with Iranian officials over the proposal for an improved nuclear package to Tehran, one incentive which he would have wished to offer is no longer legally viable.

When the EU was trying to persuade Iran to abide by its nuclear treaty obligations an Iranian opposition group recognised for exposing Tehran's nuclear programme as far back as 2002 and long seen as the democratic opposition to the present Iranian regime found itself caught up in the attempt to appease the mullahs and was listed as a terrorist organisation.

The People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI) has taken legal proceedings in the EU as well as the UK to end the ban and on May 7th its efforts to free itself of the stigma of terrorism were rewarded when the British Court of Appeal, presided over by the  Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Maltravers, gave judgement exculpating the  PMOI and condemning the British Government for maintaining the listing against the weight of the evidence. The Court, having concluded that the Home Secretary’s refusal to de-proscribe the PMOI was "perverse" and "flawed", ordered the British government to remove the PMOI from the terror list forthwith.