Iran Update
Volume: 1 - Issue:  6621 July 2010
Iran Update
Dear Friend,

We are delighted to present you with the current issue of Iran Update, a publication of International Solidarity for Democratic Change in Iran (ISDCI).    
US watchdog moves to smother Iran trade
AFP
20 July 2010

A top US inancial watchdog outlined fresh measures to isolate Iran Tuesday, as Washington attempts to ramp up pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program. Securities and Exchange Commission chairman Mary Schapiro told Congress she was working on measures that would make it easier for companies to abandon their stake in firms that trade with Iran.
The rules would "make it clear that an investment company cannot be sued for divesting itself from stocks of companies that deal with Iran," said Schapiro.
It would also make it clearer when companies face sanctions for dealing with Iran.
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EU ministers to approve tighter sanctions on Iran
VOA News
20 July 2010
European Union foreign ministers are poised to adopt tighter sanctions against Iran, including measures to ban investment in the oil and gas industry.
Excerpts of a draft declaration made public Tuesday show that EU foreign ministers are expected to approve the decision to adopt further sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program and call on Tehran to resume talks.  
The new EU steps are also expected to target trade, banking and insurance, as well as transportation including shipping and air cargo.
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Washington appeals court offers opportunity to support democracy in Iran
The Hill
David Amess, Member of Parliament
20 July 2010
...The time has come for Western leaders to gather in support of the Iranian opposition movement and work with them in creating a free Iran where people prosper through democracy and equality. These are the democratic aims of the PMOI, aims and ambitions which the US administration must embrace rather than hinder.
As British Prime Minister David Cameron is in the US this week, President Obama must take the opportunity to create a new dawn in western policy towards the Iranian regime. The failures of the past administrations have come and gone. With the rhetoric from Cameron and Obama strong towards the Iranian regime and both administrations appearing to deal head on with Iran's nuclear program, the time has come to couple sanctions with support for the Iranian opposition movement.
...The US administration must now see last week's judgment as an opportunity to right the wrongs of the past. A group of bipartisan lawmakers are sponsoring a bill to press the administration to lift the ban on the PMOI.
The time has come to support the democratic ambitions of the Iranian people and the first step in doing so is by respecting last week's judgment and removing the PMOI from the list of banned organisations. This is not only the legal duty of the current administration, but will send a message of support to the people of Iran in their battle to dethrone their brutal leaders.
Rhetoric is good and well, but having missed previous opportunities to support the Iranian people, we cannot risk missing this one.
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In Germany, bad bank helps Iran
UPI
19 July 2010
HAMBURG, Germany, July 19 (UPI) -- In a bid to go around Western sanctions, Iran is using a small bank in Germany to do business on behalf of the regime's blacklisted companies, Western officials say.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the Iranian-owned European-Iranian Trade Bank from Hamburg has conducted more than $1 billion worth of business for Iranian firms linked to the country's alleged nuclear weapons program.
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Court: Review terror-listing of foes of Tehran
The Washington Times
Michelle Phillips
19 July 2010
State Department told to give group chance to rebut charges
 
A federal appeals court has ruled that the State Department must re-evaluate its terrorist designation of the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), the main resistance organization of the Islamic republic.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled unanimously Friday that the State Department did not give the PMOI due process and that the U.S. must give the organization a chance to rebut accusations against it.
Canada and the U.S. are the only countries that still hold the PMOI to be a terrorist group. The European Union removed the group from its terrorist list in 2009 following several court cases, but in the same year the U.S. denied the PMOI's latest petition.
"The time has come for the U.S. government to respect the rule of law and justice and remove the PMOI from their terror list," said Struan Stevenson, a Scottish member of the European Parliament and president of Friends of a Free Iran, in a press release
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USCCAR welcomes appeals court ruling in PMOI vs. Secretary of State
PRNewswire-USNewswire
19 July 2010

The US Committee for Camp Ashraf Residents welcomes the unanimous judgment on July 16 by a United States Federal Court of Appeals which said that the then-Secretary of State, in refusing the petition filed in 2008 by the main Iranian opposition group, the People's Mojahedin (PMOI/MEK), to be removed from the list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTO), had violated the group's due process rights. The Appeals Court remanded the case to the Secretary for reconsideration with specific instructions. The Committee urges the Secretary of State to promptly remove the PMOI from the FTO list as the Court has recognized that "a strict and immediate application of the principles of law which we have set forth herein could be taken to require a revocation of the designation."
The unjust and unnecessary continued blacklisting of the PMOI has not only been a major impediment to democratic change in Iran but has also been used by the governments of Iran and Iraq to subject our loved ones in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and inside Iran, to murder and inhumane treatment
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Iran: dialogue, divest, delist
Global Politician
David Johnson
18 July 2010
Earlier this month, Iran was slapped with a new round of United Nations Security Council sanctions for its nuclear noncompliance. Offers of meaningful dialogue and sanctions by the United States have slowed Iran's sprint toward nuclear weapons capability. Unfortunately, sanctions have not been effective compelling Iranian nuclear compliance. Still, sanctions are an effective approach to coordinate the international community to achieve consensus and act effectively, at some point in the future. It is becoming increasingly evident that offers of dialogue should be directed toward Iran's democratic opposition.
In addition to sanctions, the international community would be wise to accelerate voluntary divestment from Iranian business ventures. It is equally prudent for the Obama Administration to remove Iran's principle democratic opposition from the Department of State's list of foreign terrorist organizations (FTO). Western financial investment and suppressing opponents, both used invariably as incentives to encourage Iranian compliance, have instead encouraged Tehran's nuclear noncompliance.
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Maryam Rajavi: US government must respect the rule of law and justice, remove PMOI from terror list
Al-Bawaba
18 July 2010
In a gathering in Auvers- sur-Oise, the headquarters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, this evening, following the ruling of the Washington DC Appeals Court against the terror label on the the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the Iranian Resistance said that the time has come for the US government to respect the rule of law and justice and should acknowledge the removal of the PMOI from the terror list. She stipulated that the time has come that the West to respect the will of the Iranian people to overthrow the clerical rule.
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Thank you for your reading Iran Update. We welcome your comments. 
 
 
Sincerely,
 
ISDCI News Group
In This Issue
US watchdog moves to smother Iran trade
EU ministers to approve tighter sanctions on Iran
Washington appeals court offers opportunity to support democracy in Iran
In Germany, bad bank helps Iran
Court: Review terror-listing of foes of Tehran
USCCAR welcomes appeals court ruling in PMOI vs. Secretary of St
Iran: dialogue, divest, delist
Maryam Rajavi: US government must respect the rule of law and justice, remove PMOI from terror list
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By David Klein
Putting Human Rights
First
We invite you to write to your national government officials to ask them to freeze all commercial and diplomatic ties with the Iranian regime until there is a full stop to repression of protests in Iran, release of political prisoners and respect for human rights as demanded by the UN Human Rights Council. Please support sanctions of economic relations that only benefit Iranian regime's repressive elite, enable its suppressive forces (IRGC), and prolong its illegitimate rule in Iran, and its export of terror and instability to the region and world.