Iran slams UK for lifting opposition ban

TEHRAN (AFP) — Iran on Wednesday condemned as a "disgrace" the decision by Britain to lift a ban on the main Iranian armed opposition group, the People's Mojehedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI).

"The British government's action regarding the group of monafeghin is a disgrace and utterly condemned," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini said in a statement.

Iran always refers to the PMOI -- which carried out a bloody wave of assassinations in Tehran in the early 1980s -- as the "monafeghin" meaning 'hypocrites'.

British MPs approved the move on Monday following a court verdict last month ruling that the government had to remove the group from a terrorist blacklist.

The order to remove the PMOI, which was originally banned in 2001, from Britain's list of proscribed groups will come into effect later this week, after it was approved without a vote.

"This action... is in line with London's ...