National Council of Resistance of Iran

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The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), founded in 1981 in Tehran, is the parliament in exile of the Iranian Resistance, and is a broad-based political umbrella coalition of five opposition political organizations and parties as well as political, cultural and social figures, specialists, artists, intellectuals, scientists, military officers and commanders of the National Liberation Army.

one of the sessions of the NCRI
one of the sessions of the NCRI

The President-elect of the NCRI is Maryam Rajavi who lives in exile in Paris. NCRI's Chairman or President Massoud Rajavi, has not made any public appearances since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and is presumed to be in hiding. Alireza Jafarzadeh was its official representative in the USA until the Washington office was closed by the US State Department in 2002 on the grounds that it was only a front group for the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also known as MEK or MKO), by then listed as a terrorist organistion in the United States.[1] It has been alleged that the inclusion of NCRI and MEK in the list was a token offered to the theocratic regime of Iran rather than based the facts of the matter. According to the Wall Street Journal [2] "Senior diplomats in the Clinton administration say the MEK figured prominently as a bargaining chip in a bridge-building effort with Tehran." The Journal added that: In 1997, the State Department added the MEK to a list of global terrorist organizations as "a signal" of the U.S.'s desire for rapprochement with Tehran's reformists, says Martin Indyk, who at the time was assistant secretary of state for Near East Affairs. President Khatami's government "considered it a pretty big deal," Mr. Indyk says. The NCRI, which has been a controversial subject for economical-political exchange dialogues between the Iranian government, the EU and the US on several occasions, is in itself not an armed organisation and hence has not been involved in attacks on Iranian people or property. The MEK however, was involved in several attacks, including bombings, on individuals in the Iranian military and facilities within Iran.

On 20 February 2008, in a press conference in Brussels, NCRI claimed the existence of a clandestine nuclear site in Tehran.[1][2]

Contents

[edit] Represented groups

The NRCI members cover every part of the political and social spectrum, including those of religious, secular, liberal and nationalist persuasions, as well as the representatives of ethnic minorities, namely Kurds, Baluchis, Turkmens, and Arabs, Sunni Muslims, and members of smaller religious communities, such as Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians. Half of the council’s members are women.

[edit] External views on the NCRI

The NCRI is known as the democratic alternative to the regime ruling Iran. [3]The NCRI is regarded by the Islamic Republic of Iran as a terrorist organisation. The NCRI is classified as a Foreign Terrorist Organisation by the United States, alleging that the NCRI "is not a separate organization, but is instead, and has been, an integral part of the MEK at all relevant times" and that the NCRI is "the political branch" of the MEK rather than vice versa.[3] However, some top US officials such as Dick Armey (the former House majority leader 1995-2003) have acknowledged that the State Department wrongly included MEK in the terrorist list from the beginning.[4] The European Union in May 2004 implied that NCRI is part of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (rather than vice versa) and excluded the NCRI itself from a list of organisations considered to be terrorist organisations, including the People's Mujahedin of Iran "minus the National Council of Resistance of Iran" on its list of terrorist organisations.[5] The Middle East department of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in the United Kingdom stated in early 2006 that it is widely understood that “Iran’s [nuclear] program, which was kept secret from the IAEA for 18 years, became public knowledge largely because of revelations of the NCRI, and this led to heightened international concern.” At the same time Michael Axworthy, former head of the Iran section at the FCO, claimed that the NCRI is a "tightly disciplined front-organization for the MEK and deemed them unreliable." [6]

[edit] Organization structure

All members of the Council have one vote, and all decisions are adopted by a simple majority. The council's 25 committees form the basis for a provisional coalition government once the present government in Iran is changed. Chairing each committee is a prominent political personality who is an expert in the field.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lorimer, Doug (2006). IRAN: US relies on terrorists for nuke 'intelligence'. Green Left Weekly, February 22, 2006.. Green Left Weekly. Retrieved on 2006-05-01.
  2. ^ Andrew Higgins and Jay Solomon, Iranian Imbroglio Gives New Boost To Odd Exile Group, Wall Street Journal, 2006-11-29.
  3. ^ DC Court of Appeals Rules Against NCRI Petition for Review of "Foreign Terrorist Organization" Designation (pdf). United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia (July 9, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
  4. ^ [http://thehill.com/op-eds/empowering-the-democratic-opposition-in-iran-2007-07-24.html }}
  5. ^ Council Common Position 2004/500/CESP of 17 May 2004 (pdf). Council of the European Union (May 17, 2004). Retrieved on 2006-12-28.
  6. ^ Kliger, Rachelle (January 11, 2006). Resistance group claims evidence of Iranian bomb ambitions. The Media Line. Retrieved on 2006-12-28.

[edit] External links