A new initiative by thousands of parliamentarians across the world in "Search of Justice" for the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran

On September 17, 2008, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, visited the European Parliament in Brussels. She was warmly greeted at the scene by Iranians and Resistance sympathizers residing in Belgium.

Upon her arrival, Mrs. Rajavi was welcomed by Dr. Alejo Vidal Quadras, Vice President of the European Parliament, as well as a number of MEPs and members of various European national parliaments, jurists, and political figures. She later attended the parliamentary-legal conference chaired by Dr. Quadras.

At the conference, Dr. Quadras welcomed Mrs. Rajavi and announced the formation of the European parliamentary committee “In Search of Justice,” comprised of parliamentarians and pre-eminent jurists and political figures from across Europe. He said, “After years of challenging the policy of appeasement vis-à-vis the mullahs’ regime and ending the injustice against the Iranian people and Resistance, we are to launch an extensive campaign in Brussels and most member states. Our goal is to defend the values upon which Europe has been founded, such as the rule of law, respect for and compliance with ruling of the courts, social freedoms, and accountability. Regrettably, it appears that in the choice between preserving the rule of law on the one hand and the dishonour of submitting to the Iranian regime on the other, the European Union has chosen the latter. The People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI) must not be maintained on the list. Legal challenges will continue, but as a friend and admirer of France, I thus call on the rotating presidency of the EU to intervene and end this injustice.”

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Rice says new Iran move to show unity

By Sue Pleming

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday a new U.N. resolution on Iran would not include fresh sanctions but aimed to show unity after disagreements with Russia over its incursion into Georgia.

Interviewed by Reuters, Rice said she did not know whether major powers would agree on a fourth sanctions resolution against Iran by the end of the Bush administration but the six nations wanted to show they stood together in confronting Tehran over its nuclear program.

"It's also especially important that the Iranians recognize that the P5-plus-1 process is intact," said Rice, referring to the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council plus Germany, the major powers seeking to persuade Iran to halt its suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

The new resolution will likely be passed this weekend and Rice described it as a "very simple" one which reaffirmed previous sanctions.

Earlier this week, Russia boycotted a meeting of foreign ministers to discuss Iran in a tit-for-tat move after it was told the United States -- angry over the incursion into Georgia last month -- did not want Moscow to attend a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

"We wanted to be absolutely certain that that was not misinterpreted, particularly by the Iranians," Rice said of the canceled meeting, particularly after U.S. tensions with Russia over Georgia.

Russia and China -- permanent members of the U.N. Security Council along with the United States, France and Britain -- are reluctant to impose another round of sanctions.

Asked whether she thought major powers could agree on more punitive measures against Iran via a new Security Council resolution before the end of the Bush administration, Rice said: "Let's see," adding. "As to timing, we'll cross that bridge later."

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(Reporting by Sue Pleming, Editing by Howard Goller)

The Associated Press

By JIM ABRAMS

WASHINGTON (AP) — Asserting the need to force Iran's hand on its nuclear weapons program and its support of international terrorism, the House on Friday moved to reinforce sanctions against the Tehran government.

The House legislation, approved on a voice vote, would also authorize state and local governments to divest the assets of their pension funds and investments in companies that have invested more than $20 million in Iran's oil industry.

The measure takes aspects of several measures passed overwhelmingly in the House last year but which did not advance in the Senate and met opposition from the administration. The chances of the Senate taking up the issue in the last few hours of this session are uncertain.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., said more meaningful sanctions were needed if Iran would not change its behavior as a result of incentives offered by the West. Past sanctions, he said, "have squeezed Iran's economy somewhat but clearly not enough to slow down its nuclear program."

The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, said she supported the bill but said it didn't go far enough. "This weak legislation will send a message to our enemies of a weakened U.S. position on the issue of Iran."

Another problem, she said, was that the bill gave the president authority to waive sanctions for national security reasons.

The vote comes on the same day the U.N. Security Council, in a compromise worked out by the United States and Russia, issued a resolution condemning Iran's nuclear program but not adding to past sanctions imposed on Iran for refusing to halt its uranium enrichment program. The U.S., Britain and France had sought tougher sanctions but were opposed by Russia and China.

The House bill would also:

_ Codify and expand export and import bans on U.S.-Iran trade.

_ Freeze assets in the U.S. held by those close to the Iranian government.

_ Make a U.S. company liable for sanctions violations if it uses a foreign subsidiary to get around the sanctions.

_ Give the Treasury Department greater authority to fight terrorist financing.

_ Increase export controls on countries involved in transshipment of sensitive technologies to Iran.

The bill is H.R. 7112.

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