BRUSSELS, Belgium – European Union diplomats have reached tentative agreement to remove an Iranian opposition group from the 27-nation bloc's list of terrorist organizations, officials said Friday.
A final decision on the status of the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran is up to the EU foreign ministers, who meet Monday, said a diplomat who asked not to be named in line with standing practice.
Another official dealing with the matter confirmed that the panel of EU ambassadors had agreed to recommend that the group be removed despite protests by Iran, where the Mujahedeen are an illegal opposition group.
The move could further complicate EU relations with Tehran at a time when the two sides are negotiating on that nation's nuclear program, which the European Union and the United States fear is being used to build atomic weapons.
The Mujahedeen have been on the U.S. State Department's terror list since the mid-1990s.
They were placed on the EU list in 2002. If the foreign ministers agree to remove the Paris-based group, it will be the first time an organization has been "de-listed" by the EU.
The European Court of Justice has repeatedly ruled that EU governments have failed to prove the group is a terrorist outfit.
The People's Mujahedeen, known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is based in Paris. The council said it is dedicated to a democratic secular government in Iran.
It was founded in Iran in the 1960s and helped followers of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini overthrow U.S.-backed Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi in 1979.
But the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq fell out with Khomeini, and thousands of its followers were killed, imprisoned or forced into exile.
The group insists that its terrorist designation is unfair, saying it renounced violence in 2001 and hasn't kept any arms since 2003.
The group had established a camp for about 3,500 members in Iraq, which its forces used to launch cross-border attacks into Iran. After U.S.-led forces overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003, American troops removed the group's weapons and confined its fighters to the camp.
Although the U.S. has branded the group a terrorist organization, Washington does not want its members deported to Iran. However, the Iraqis have been unable to find a third country to take them in.
Iraq has controlled the camp since Jan. 1, but U.S. troops are still there watching over the camp.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_eu_iran
Topic: Pending EU deal to take Iran group off terror list (Read 454 times)