Theresa May, the new British Prime Minister, barred Maryam Rajavi from entering the UK in 2011.
Maryam Rajavi is one of the leaders of the anti-Iran terrorist group Mujahedin Khalq, or the MKO. The terrorist group has assassinated many Iranian officials and killed many other Iranian citizens since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
In 2011, then Home Secretary Theresa May banned Maryam Rajavi from coming to Britain to speak about Iranian allegedly mistreated women.
May said Rajavi’s entry to the Britain would not be conducive to the public good for reasons of foreign policy and in light of the need to take a firm stance against terrorism.
“I have concluded that maintaining Mrs. Rajavi’s exclusion is justified as I do not consider her presence in the UK to be conducive to the public good” May said.
“The government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe they might seek to undermine our society,” she continued.
Mrs Rajavi was originally excluded from Britain in 1997 because of her leadership role in the “MEK” People’s Mojahedin Organisation of Iran.
This group was proscribed as a terrorist organization before the ban was lifted by the Court of Appeal in 2008.
The Home Secretary stated that lifting the exclusion would cause significant damage to the UK’s interests in relation to Iran and place British people and property in Iran and the region at risk.