Iranians hold rally against MKO

Hundreds of Iranians have gathered outside the French embassy in Tehran to protest a decision by France to allow a demonstration by the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) in a Paris suburb.

The families of those killed in MKO terrorist attacks shouted slogans and carried banners, denouncing the group’s murderous acts and the French government’s support for their hostile measures against Iran, IRNA reported on Monday.

The families of the victims also condemned France for sheltering the members of the terrorist group, urging the Paris government to hand them over to authorities in Iran.

The Tehran protest, which took place on the anniversary of a 1981 deadly attack by the MKO in the Iranian capital, was organized by an Iranian association representing the families of those murdered by the terrorist group.

The 1981 MKO attack resulted in the death of 70 high-ranking Iranian officials of the Islamic Republic Party, including the country’s Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mohammad Beheshti.

The decision by Paris to allow the MKO to hold the gathering comes while the Iraq-based group is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community.

Founded in the 1960s, the MKO has masterminded a slew of terrorist operations in Iran and Iraq, killing thousands of people and wounding many more.

The group is particularly notorious for taking sides with executed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein during the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war on Iran.