The Wall Street Journal – Sept. 17, 2014 – French prosecutors have dismissed preliminary embezzlement charges against members of an Iranian opposition umbrella group, putting an end to a protracted probe into the organization.    
The two French magistrates handling the investigation have dropped all charges against the National Council of Resistance of Iran, an official at the office of Paris prosecutors said on Wednesday, without elaborating.   The prosecutors’ decision could give a boost to the France-based group and its main branch, the Mujahedin e-Khalq, known as MEK, which has been seeking to position itself as a rallying point for Iranian dissidents globally.    
“Today’s decision marks the end of this intolerable probe,” said William Bourdon, a lawyer for the NCRI and some of its members targeted by the probe. “The honor and legitimacy of the NCRI has been finally restored.”    
Through lawyers, NCRI members have denied the embezzlement charges.    
The probe traces back to 2003, when 24 NCRI members were put under formal investigation on preliminary charges of terrorism, after a predawn sweep against the dissident movement’s headquarters near Paris.      NCRI members and the group’s leader, Maryam Rajavi , have denied any link to terrorism. The terrorism charges were dropped in 2011.