Iranian group wins appeal over UK terrorism list

By Jennifer Hill

LONDON (Reuters) - A British tribunal ruled on Friday to remove Iran's main opposition movement from a government list of proscribed terrorist organisations.

The People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran, a resistance group, said it was a "magnificent victory for justice", after a six-year battle to annul the listing. But Britain's government said it was "disappointed" and it intended to appeal.

The group will stay on the proscribed list until the matter is resolved. The organization is the armed wing of the France-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), which says it renounced military activity in 2001.

Saaed Jalili, Iran's main nuclear negotiator who was in London for talks with the European Union, said: "It's not a good sign for a British court to take such a decision. Of course British officials that I met last night said it was not Britain's official position and they will try to rectify this."

"Even America, which is not our friend... has put it on its terrorist list," he said.

Following the judgment, Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the NCRI, called on the European Union to echo the appeal verdict and remove the group from its blacklist.

"We have always said and repeat again that the fundamental solution to the Iranian crisis is neither foreign military intervention nor appeasement," she said in a statement.

"The solution is democratic change by the Iranian people and resistance, making it imperative to remove the barriers placed in the path of this resistance."