WASHINGTON (AP) — An Iranian opposition group is asking a federal appeals court to order its removal from the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations.
The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran accused the State Department in a court filing Monday of ignoring a 2010 court order that it reconsider its status as a terrorist group. The group is also known by its Farsi name, Mujahedeen-e-Khalq or MEK. It carried out a series of bombings and assassinations against Iran’s clerical regime in the 1980s but says it renounced violence in 2001.
The group asked the State Department to remove it from its terrorist list in 2008, but was rejected and asked the appeals court to overturn the decision. The court ruled that the department violated the group’s due process protections in rejecting its petition.
