Iranian MP raps EU’s support of MKO

A senior Iranian lawmaker has condemned the European Union’s support of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO).

Spokesman for the Parliament’s (Majlis) National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Kazem Jalali questioned the EU’s call on the United States to remove the group from its terror list, Mehr news agency reported on Friday.

“The MKO has admitted that it has killed 4,800 people, including ordinary Iranian people as well as officials of the Islamic Republic. The organization has planted bombs in several areas. If this group is not a terrorist one, which label can be attached to it,” he asked.

The Iranian lawmaker criticized Western countries’ double standards on terrorism, saying they should not sacrifice fighting terrorism for their interests.

“Why terrorists are not labeled as terrorists as long as they serve their (European) interests while those who call for freedom and independence are put on the terror list,” he noted.

According to Jalali, the West needs to adopt a “comprehensive” definition of terrorism and refrain from dividing it into a good or bad form.

The European Parliament issued a declaration on Thursday, urging the removal of the MKO from Washington’s list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

The European Union took the MKO off its black list in 2009.

The MKO is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community and is responsible for numerous acts of terror and violence against Iranian civilians and government officials.

The organization is also known to have cooperated with Iraq’s executed dictator Saddam Hussein in suppressing the 1991 uprisings in southern Iraq and the massacre of Iraqi Kurds.