U.S. Must Reconsider Terrorist List Decision

(CN) - The D.C. Circuit ordered the State Department to review its decision to keep the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran on the government's list of terrorist organizations.

The court said the group, or PMOI, must be given the chance to review and rebut the unclassified portions of the government's evidence against it.

The PMOI has challenged its listing five times, claiming it renounced violence in 2001 and has since disbanded its military units and disarmed its members, who purportedly signed a document rejecting violence and terror.

The group also cited its delisting as a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom in 2008 and the European Union in 2009.

After the PMOI was redesignated a terrorist group in 2003, it petitioned to have that classification revoked.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected the motion, relying on evidence that was either classified or heavily redacted.

The organization claimed this decision violated due process, as it has the right to review and rebut the unclassified record.

"This did not happen here," Circuit Judge Karen Henderson agreed.

"[D]ue process requires that the PMOI be notified of the unclassified material on which the Secretary proposes to rely and an opportunity to respond to that material before its redesignation," Henderson concluded (original emphasis).

The appellate panel sent the revocation petition back to Clinton for further review.

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