Whereas the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran
(PMOI/MEK) seeks freedom, democracy, and human rights for the people of
Iran;
Whereas tens of thousands of MEK members have been
executed by the Iranian regime;
Whereas tens of thousands of MEK members have been jailed
and tortured by the Iranian regime;
Whereas in 2001, the MEK ceased its military activities
against the Iranian regime and rejected violence;
Whereas in 2003, the MEK voluntarily handed over all its
arms to United States forces in Iraq and cooperated with United States military
at Camp Ashraf;
Whereas in 2004, MEK members in Camp Ashraf obtained
protected persons
status under the Fourth Geneva Convention
based on the United States investigators’ conclusions that none was a combatant
or had committed a crime under any United States laws;
Whereas in 2004, all members of the MEK in Camp Ashraf,
including its leadership, signed a document rejecting violence and
terrorism;
Whereas according to the Intelligence Community Terrorist
Threat Assessment: The August 2002 public disclosure by the MEK of two
Iranian nuclear facilities was a watershed event that led to intrusive
inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and further public
revelations of previously undeclared efforts by the civilian Atomic Energy
Organization of Iran (AEOI) to develop a large nuclear fuel
cycle.
;
Whereas the MEK has continued to reveal valuable
intelligence about Iran’s nuclear program, including additional secret and
underground sites, which according to a senior Los Alamos Laboratory analyst is
right 90 percent of the time
;
Whereas senior United States military officers have
acknowledged on multiple occasions that MEK’s intelligence has played a
positive and effective role in saving the lives of American soldiers by
exposing the threats and dangers of Iran’s terrorist interventions in
Iraq;
Whereas in 2007, the United Kingdom’s Proscribed
Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) concluded after reviewing classified and
unclassified evidence, that the designation of the MEK was
perverse
and had to be set aside;
Whereas in 2008, the English Court of Appeal, in upholding
the judgment of POAC, emphasized that a review of classified material had
reinforced its view that the MEK was not engaged in terrorism nor did it intend
to engage in such activity in the future;
Whereas in 2008, the United Kingdom removed the MEK from
the list of proscribed organizations and lifted all the consequent
restrictions;
Whereas in 2006 and 2008, the Court of First Instance of
the European Communities in three separate judgments concluded that the
European Union had denied the MEK’s right to defense and failed to provide any
evidence that would justify the inclusion of the MEK in its terrorist lists,
and therefore annulled the MEK’s designation;
Whereas in 2009, the Council of Ministers of the European
Union voted unanimously to remove the MEK from the European Union’s list of
terrorist organizations;
Whereas in 2010, some 3,500 European Parliamentarians
supported the MEK and its platform;
Whereas in July 2010, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit held that the Department of State’s designation of
the MEK as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) under section 219 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1189) was faulty because it violated
the due process rights of the group;
Whereas section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act
allows the Secretary of State to revoke an FTO designation if the
circumstances that were the basis for the designation have changed in such a
manner as to warrant revocation; or the national security of the United States
warrants a revocation
;
Whereas the Secretary of State has so far failed to
present the Congress with credible evidence showing that the MEK engages in
terrorist activity, or terrorism, or has the capability and intent to engage in
terrorism that threatens the national security of the United States or the
security of United States nationals;
Whereas the Government of Iran has used the FTO
designation of the MEK as a pretext to execute its members in Iran;
Whereas the FTO designation of the MEK has been used by
Iranian surrogates in Iraq as well as the Nuri al-Maliki Government in Iraq to
attack the MEK members in Camp Ashraf or impose inhumane restrictions on them,
which has led to loss of life;
Whereas the Iranian regime ignored international calls for
their release, including those made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and
hanged Jafar Kazemi, age 47, and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaie, age 62, on January 24,
2011, and Ali Saremi, age 63, on December 28, 2010, for visiting their sons at
Camp Ashraf and voicing their support of MEK; and
Whereas Congress, by an Act of Congress, may block or
revoke a designation of an organization as an FTO under section 219 of the
Immigration and Nationality Act: Now, therefore, be it
That the House of Representatives—
(1)urges the Secretary of State to remove the
People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from the Department of
State’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations; and
(2)urges the
Secretary of State to lift all restrictions imposed on the MEK, its members,
and its affiliates, which has emanated from its designation as a Foreign
Terrorist Organization.