The State Department made no announcement about the Mojahedin and failed to make clear if this is its formal decision about the group. Under a court decision last year, the State Department was required to review its listing of the Mojahedin.
The annual report was due by law to be submitted to Congress by April 30. But it only appeared last week, 3 1/2 months late. No explanation was given for the delay and whether the issue of the Mojahedin had anything to do with the late submission.
The long descriptive of the Mojahedin (see accompanying box below for full text) cites acts of terrorism back to the 1970s. Significantly, the description mentions no terrorist acts since 2001. The group says it decided to abandon violent acts as of 2001. That is the core issue; Britain and the European Union dropped the Mojahedin from their terror lists on the argument that many years had passed in which the group did not carry out any terrorist actions. But US officials argue that the organization has been physically unable to conduct any terrorist actions since May 2003 when it was taken captive and disarmed by the US Army.
The State Department’s listing published last week says that to be cited as a terrorist group an organization “must engage in terrorist activity … or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.” The issue is, therefore, whether the Mojahedin-e Khalq retains the “capability and intent” for terrorism.
The published description of the group issued by the State Department failed to address that core issue.
The annual terrorism report continues to list the Islamic Republic as one of four state sponsors of terrorism along with Cuba, Syria and Sudan. As it has for decades, the report cites Iran as “the most active state sponsor of terrorism in 2010.” (See accompanying box at right below for full text.)
In fact, the report only accuses the other three governments of minimal links to terrorism, while expounding at length on the Islamic Republic’s terrorist activity.
Cuba is accused only of having “maintained limited contact” with Colombian rebels “but there was no evidence of direct financial or ongoing material support.” It also cites media reports that some Basque terrorists enjoy sanctuary in Cuba.
Sudan is actually lauded as “a cooperative partner in global counter terrorism efforts against Al-Qaeda.” But it was kept on the list because some terrorists remain in Sudan owing to the regime’s inability to locate and arrest them.
Syria is cited mainly for providing sanctuary and a political base for many Arab terrorist groups and for allowing Iran to use Syria as a way station for weapons being provided to the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Iran was cited for a host of terrorist actions across the Middle East and central Asia. It is no longer accused of any terrorist actions in Europe or Asia. Those appear to have been ended in the mid-1990s after severalmurders were laid at Iran’s doors by the courts in Germany and France.
Of the 47 terrorist organizations cited in the report, the Islamic Republic is cited as having provided support for seven. They are:
• The Abu Nidal Organization, a Palestinian group based in Damascus that is no longer very active.
• Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, a small Palestinian group.
• Hamas, the ruling party in Gaza, which the report says now gets “the majority of its funding, weapons and training from Iran.” In past years, Hamas was thought to receive only a small portion of its funds from Iran.
• Hezbollah of Lebanon.
• Kataib Hezbollah, one of the groups in Iraq concentrating on attacks on American troops.
• Palestinian Islamic Jihad-Shaqaqi Faction, which the report says is “primarily” funded by Iran.
• Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, another aging Palestinian group that is based in Damascus and no longer very active.
The report, covering the 2010 calendar year, recorded a total of 11,500 terrorist actions in 72 countries that year resulting in more than 13,200 deaths. The report said that 70 percent of the deaths were caused by Sunni-led attacks and that most such attacks were in Iraq, Afghanistan Somalia and Pakistan. The number of deaths declined for the third consecutive year.