Saudi Arabian Al-Jazeera Newspaper, 24 Sep 2012 -The US finally delisted the patriotic Iranian organization (PMOI) from the terrorist list that is published yearly by the State Department.
This measure was long expected by the US, and it is considered compensation to the Iranian opposition after the US was unable to hold the Iranian refugee’ camp, named Ashraf, in the city of Khales, Diyala province. Under the influence and pressure of the clerical regime in Iran, the Nouri al-Maliki government closed down the camp. Washington persuaded the PMOI leadership, which the Ashraf residents are affiliated to, to come to an agreement with the Nouri al-Maliki government to relocate the Iranian refugees from Camp Ashraf to another camp named Liberty (Hurriya).
Daniel Benjamin, US State Department Counter Terrorism Coordinator, had underscored that the successful and safe closure of Camp Ashraf is a key factor in Clinton’s decision regarding the PMOI.
In the path of their final departure from Iraq, this organization agreed to relocation from Camp Ashraf, 80 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, to Camp Hurriya, near the capital. The US Court of Appeals had asked Clinton to announce her position on the PMOI in the upcoming month. This was a verdict welcomed by the organization’s supporters, who described it as a victory.
The PMOI, which was first placed in the US terrorist list in 1997, says it has renounced violence and had called on the US to delist its name.
Camp Ashraf is situated 80 kilometers northeast of Baghdad, to the extent that it is close to the Iraq-Iran border. The aim of relocating the Iranian refugees to Camp Liberty is to distance them from this area, gather them in a single location until other countries accept to host them.
Last year the Maliki government signed a MOU with Washington to implement the relocation of the Iranian refugees, which in practice became a forcible one.
Now that the PMOI has been delisted from the terrorist list, which most countries are committed to, this organization, being the at the forefront of the Iranian people’s struggle against Tehran’s clerical regime, will become much stronger in its battle against this regime and will have much more influence within the Iranian society.