(27 Jan 2009) SHOTLIST
1. President of People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), Maryam Rajavi entering news conference room and being greeted by panel
2. President of People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI), Maryam Rajavi, sitting down UPSOUND: applause
3. Cutaway of photographers
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Maryam Rajavi, President of People's Mujahedeen of Iran:
"Finally justice prevailed. The European Union considered the rule of law. The unjust label on the PMOI has been removed. Seven years of political and legal campaign by parliamentarians, jurists, and the Iranian resistance have borne fruit. A major obstacle for change and establishment of democracy in Iran has been removed."
5. Wide of news conference
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Maryam Rajavi, President of People's Mujahedeen of Iran:
"After removal of the PMOI from British and European Union's list, maintaining the PMOI on the US State Department's lists has no justification and it is illegitimate more than ever before. I hope the new administration of the United States will make the most important aspect of change that is putting aside the policy of appeasement with the mullahs and de-listing the PMOI."
7. Audience applauding
8. Pull-out from panel and Rajavi to wide of news conference
9. Various of crowd waving PMOI's yellow flags and flowers while chanting in celebration
10. Close of children, waving yellow flowers and dressed in yellow
11. Pan of crowd welcoming Rajavi
12. Rajavi greets crowd
13. Wide of crowd cheering
14. Rajavi waving to crowd
15. Crowd celebrating in front of European Union Council building
16. Tilt-down from EU council building to crowd
STORYLINE
Supporters of an Iranian opposition group on Tuesday celebrated the European Union's decision to remove the group from its "terror list" and lift the restrictions on its funds.
The decision by the 27-nation bloc's foreign ministers came a day earlier, meaning that as of Tuesday, the assets of the People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, or PMOI, will be unfrozen.
It is the first time an organisation has been "de-listed" by the EU.
France appealed the decision, while Iran condemned it as a promotion of "terrorism."
Iran's Foreign Ministry said the group's hands "are stained with the blood of thousands of Iranian and non-Iranian people," and that the EU decision demonstrated what it called the bloc's "double standards" in dealing with militant extremism.
The EU move is also likely to complicate already difficult efforts by the EU, the US and other nations to persuade Iran to curtail its nuclear ambitions.
The People's Mujahedeen Organisation of Iran, which was blacklisted by Washington in 1997, remains on the US list of "terrorist organisations."
The group had been blacklisted by the EU since 2002, but it waged a long legal battle in the bloc's court of justice to reverse that decision.
Several European Union court decisions ruled in the group's favour, concluding that the EU had failed to properly explain why it froze the group's assets.
Maryam Rajavi, who heads the Paris-based National Council of Resistance, the group's political wing, told reporters at a press conference that the EU's decision removed "a major obstacle for change and establishment of democracy in Iran."
Rajavi said her group would now focus its attention on getting Washington to drop it from the US "terror list."
The People's Mujahedeen, also known as the Mujahedeen-e-Khalq, is the military wing of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is based in the French capital.
The council said it is dedicated to a democratic, secular government in Iran.

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