PARIS, July 13 (KUNA) — The French Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that it maintained no contacts with the Iranian opposition group Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (MKO) and that it views this body as “undemocratic and violent”.
The MKO is part of the National Council for Resistance in Iran (NCRI), which organised an indoor rally at Le Bourget outside of Paris last Saturday.
Iran summoned the French Ambassador to Tehran to deliver a “strong protest” after the Saturday rally by the Iranian opposition.
“The French government maintains no contact with the Iranian People’s Mujahideen Organisation (MKO),” spokesman Romain Nadal said in a briefing Wednesday.
A decade ago, France was active in putting the NCRI on the European Union terrorist list but this was overturned on appeal in the European Court of Justice. The United States also had the NCRI on its terror list for several years before it was withdrawn.
In the past, French police have raided the NCRI compound and even detained its leader Myriam Rajavi and seized weapons and documents.
Spokesman Nadal was critical of the activities and modus operandi of the MKO and clearly distanced his government from the group which is based in a compound outside of Paris.
“Its violent and non-democratic inspiration has led several human rights organisations to underline its sectarian practices and its refusal to formally renounce violence,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said in the briefing.