[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 13]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 19373-19374]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     HELPING THE IRANIAN OPPOSITION

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 8, 2010

  Mr. FILNER. Madam Speaker, on November 16th, 2010 I held a briefing 
on my bill H. Res. 1431, which urges the Obama administration to remove 
the main Iranian opposition group,

[[Page 19374]]

the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) from the list of 
Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This bill has been co-sponsored by 109 
Members of the House of Representatives.
  In a letter to the Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on that 
same day, I was joined by my colleagues and brought the resolution to 
the attention of the Secretary and urged her to delist the PMOI. Below 
are the remarks that I made to the Members and Staff gathered at the 
briefing:

       We have introduced Resolution 1431, which calls upon the 
     U.S. government, the President, the Secretary of State to 
     remove the Peoples Mojahedin Organization of Iran . . . from 
     the State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations 
     . . . Like other parliaments around the world, we in the 
     United States Congress believe that this organization does 
     not qualify to be on the FTO list both on legal and political 
     grounds. Removing the MEK from the FTO list is not only the 
     right thing to do but sends the right message to Iran.
       I would like to thank the President-elect of the National 
     Council of Resistance of Iran, Mrs. Rajavi, who has not only 
     led this fight, but has also offered all kinds of assistance 
     to the residents of Camp Ashraf.

                          ____________________