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Prevention and Suppression of Terrorism

It is not the Government's job to tell a proscribed organisation what it needs to do to be de-proscribed. That is absolute nonsense. POAC concluded that there was no credible support for the assertion that an agreement had been reached with Iran pursuant to which the PMOI would remain proscribed, still less for the assertion that it would remain proscribed even if the statutory criterion for proscription was not fulfilled. My hon. Friend has thrown around wonderful words like ““appeasement”” and ““reckless””. As ever, he has been very nice and very loud, but very wrong. I can tell the hon. Member for Southend, West that we shall not be meeting the PMOI, because we do not consider it to be a credible opposition group. We also have no plans to meet members of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. Nor—if I may deal with another of my hon. Friend's points—do we agree with the assertion that the PMOI/MEK or the NCRI constitutes the Iranian Government in exile. I repeat that the PMOI's terrorist acts resulted in the deaths of many Iranian citizens. It fought against Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, and we see no evidence of popular support for either organisation. The judgment turns on our cautious approach. Given the history of the organisation since 2003, we simply do not believe that its intent is entirely passive and peaceful. POAC's judgment, to which it is entitled, is that the organisation's assertions that it is no longer involved in terrorism and taking up arms are genuine and that it should therefore be de-proscribed. In the light of that judgment, we presented the order as quickly as we could. I hope that it will be passed unanimously, as forecast by my hon. Friend the Member for Thurrock—and I do not doubt that Members will rush out of the Chamber and start rewriting history as we speak. I commend the order to the House, Mr. Deputy Speaker—and in passing, and not in connection with this very serious matter, I wish you a very happy birthday for what remains of it.