Paris Court Reverses French Police Ban On Iranian MEK Rally
A Paris court on Friday reversed a decision by the French capital's police to ban an upcoming rally of an Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin Khalq.
A Paris court on Friday reversed a decision by the French capital's police to ban an upcoming rally of an Iranian opposition group, the Mojahedin Khalq.
The court dismissed the police argument of the rally posing a risk of an attack, saying it interfered with the basic freedom to protest.
The ruling by the Paris administrative tribunal comes as police are fully stretched amid the worst riots seen across cities in France since 2005 sparked by the fatal police shooting of a teenager.
The Paris-based National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), political arm of the People's Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI), has held frequent rallies in the French capital over the years. They have attracted thousands of followers and are often attended by high profile former US, European and Arab officials critical of the Islamic Republic.
In a letter signed by Paris police chief on June 15 said it could not allow the protest because of security concerns.
That ban came just days after the release of an Iranian diplomat convicted of masterminding a plot to bomb the group in 2018 and as Western powers seek to defuse tensions with Iran.
The court said the ban "excessively violated the fundamental freedom to demonstrate". The rally will now take place near the French Foreign Ministry in central Paris on Saturday, for a limited period and be confined to one area. The protesters will also provide extra private security, the court said.
In a statement the NCRI welcomed the ruling, which it said denied Iran "the opportunity to exploit 'security concerns' under false pretenses in order to suppress democracy and freedom of expression."
Report by Reuters
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian made the remarks during a ceremony with ambassadors, charges d'affaires, and heads of diplomatic missions from Muslim countries in Tehran on Thursday, on the occasion of Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice).
"We welcome expansion of relations and normalization of ties with other countries in the region and the Muslim world, including the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Muslim and brotherly country of Morocco," he said.
Tehran-Rabat relations are mostly non-existent, and diplomatic relations between the two nations have often been tarred by disputes.
Concerned of Iran’s attempts to spread its Shiite version of Islam in the country, which it deemed as a danger to its moderate Sunni religious identity, Morocco severed ties with Iran in 2009. They announced they were re-establishing relations in 2014. But in 2018, Morocco cut its diplomatic ties with Iran again, with the Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita citing Iranian financial and logistical support to the secessionist Polisario Front through its Lebanese proxy Hezbollah and the Iranian embassy in Algeria.
Iran’s relations with Egypt, a close ally of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf nations, have been fraught since the Shah fell in 1979. His subsequent refuge in Egypt, where he died and was buried in 1980, damaged relations.Qatar-affiliated media outlet Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed reported last June that Cairo and Tehran had agreed on “gradual expansion of Tehran-Cairo relations."
In May, Iranian lawmaker Fada-Hossein Maleki, a member of the parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy committee, said that talks to bolster ties between Iran and Egypt are being held regularly in Iraq.
A lawmaker claimed this week that “many of the hundreds” responsible for schoolgirl poisonings were affiliated with former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and were arrested on “direct orders” of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Using the term “Deviant Current” to describe the political affiliation of those responsible for the poisoning of thousands of schoolgirls across Iran, Morteza Mahmoudvand said hundreds have been arrested and being interrogated.
“We saw that the incidents of poisoning subsided after an order [by Khamenei] and parliament’s investigations,” Mahmoudvand told the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA).
The poisonings started in the religious city of Qom in central Iran November 30, spread throughout the country, and continued until the end of April, sending hundreds of students to hospitals and at least one case of death was reported.
Many ordinary Iranians have been suspicious that hardliners, at the core of the regime, or religious extremists protected by the regime were behind the chemical attacks as a revenge against the active role of young girls in anti-regime protests. Many on social media called the attacks “state terrorism”.
In a statement on April 28, the intelligence ministry denied any indication that poisonous substances had caused the illness of students and said samples taken from the scene of the incidents examined by “the most reliable laboratories” in the country had not yielded any suspicious substances.
The ministry tried to minimize the serial attacks claiming students fell ill by stink bombs (stinkpots), pepper sprays and similar substances used by some students to disrupt classes.
“Officials have not confirmed Mahmoudvand’s allegations against the Ahmadinejad group yet, but it would be conceivable that the regime is aiming to kill two birds with one stone if they confirm these allegations,” a political analyst in Iran who requested anonymity told Iran International. “This will clear the regime itself of any responsibility and will also discredit the Ahmadinejad group in the eyes of some of its supporters.”
A dissident group of experts based overseas which has been investigating the poisonings has said that preliminary results of tests done on clothing of poisoned schoolgirls suggests the use of a nerve agent. Such agents, many say, could only be available to regime insiders.
Some of the victims reported falling ill after an aroma, resembling tangerines, or a putrid stench filled the air in their classrooms. Hundreds had to be hospitalized with some staying in hospital for up to a week due to the severity of their symptoms including palpitation, headache, nausea, cough, sore throat, or temporary paralysis and weakness but most others were released within hours. In some cases, symptoms lasted for weeks.
Mahmoudvand also told ILNA that the “Deviant Current grouplet had infiltrated everywhere”, presumably meaning the government and intelligence organizations.
However, Ahmadinejad has maintained public silence for nearly a year and there has been no sign of any pro-Ahmadinejad group engaging in political activities.
Since a public standoff between Ahmadinejad, then president, and Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in May 2011, officials of the Islamic Republic have used the term “Deviant Current” to describe Ahmadinejad and his inner circle including his vice president and confidante Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei.
The conflict arose when Ahmadinejad fired Khamenei’s favored intelligence minister Heydar Moslehi who took his orders from the Leader.
Ahmadinejad even stayed home and refused to carry out his presidential duties for eleven days when Khamenei insisted that he reinstate Moslehi.
He eventually surrendered to Khamenei’s will, but the autocrat known for his vengefulness never forgave Ahmadinejad whose views he had said were the closest to his own, backing him before the 2009 presidential elections.
Khamenei’s devotees, accordingly, turned against Ahmadinejad who they had ardently supported throughout the years. Ahmadinejad was not allowed to run for presidency in 2017 and again in 2021, clearly on Khamenei’s orders.
