INVESTIGATION OF MEK SUPPORTERS REPORTED

A number of media reports say that an investigation has been opened into whether prominent US citizens, who are acting as supporters or lobbyists for the MEK, a sanctioned Iranian organisation that opposes the current regime in Tehran, have violated sanctions regulations. Payment for these lobbying efforts appears to have come from Iranian-American advocacy groups and not from the MEK itself, raising the issue of whether there have been any sanctions violations.

Is this investigation politically motivated ? There are those who oppose the removal of the MEK from sanctions lists, due to the claims that the group supported Saddam Hussein, has no grass-roots support within Iran, and that it was responsible for the assassination of a number of Americans during the period when the Shah was in power. Other Americans support the MEK, due to its stated opposition to the present regime in Iran, and possibly due to its history of attacks within Iran.

The MEK is presently involved in seeking relief though the American court system*.
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*MEK asks Appeals Court to Compel US to Revoke Terrorist Designation, 1 March, 2012.