WashingtonTV, Washington, May 15, 2009 – More than 180 British lawmakers have urged US President Barack Obama to remove an Iranian opposition group from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations, United Press International reported on Thursday.

The request follows a similar effort earlier this month by more than 100 members of the European Parliament, who had called on the Obama administration to join the European Union, by removing the ban on People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran [PMOI].

In a letter to Obama, the British lawmakers expressed fear that a “catastrophic humanitarian crisis” would result if Washington did not delist the group, adding that Iran uses the listing as a justification to threaten the group, said the report.

The group, also known as the Mujahedeen-e Khalq [MEK], has been on Washington’s list of foreign terrorist organizations since 1997. Iran also considers the group a terrorist organization.

It was removed from the EU blacklist in January 2009, a move which outraged Iran, according to the state-run Press TV channel.

The MEK is an Islamist group, which began an armed opposition campaign against the Pahlavi Shah’s government and supported the Islamic government of Iran that ousted him in 1979. The group fell out with the post revolutionary authorities shortly after the new government took over power.