TEHRAN – Families of Iranian citizens who lost their lives during a terror group’s attacks in the 1980s have called on Iran’s Judiciary to fully investigate the entity’s crimes and make a just and accurate ruling.

Victims’ families stated their demand on Monday, prior to the first public hearing on the Mujahedin-e-Khalq’s terror organization’s crimes in the Iranian capital of Tehran. The trial reportedly addresses the conduct of group’s main ring leaders.

“Unfortunately, the MKO has not been tried in any domestic or international court so far, and have never been held accountable for their lifetime of inhumanity, betrayal, and crimes. Instead, they freely move around in European countries (the self-proclaimed supporters of human rights) and are even based in many of them,” the families said in a joint statement.

The MKO has conducted numerous terrorist attacks against Iranian civilians and government officials following the Islamic Revolution's triumph in 1979. Within the past four decades, close to 17,000 Iranians have been killed in terrorist incidents, with around 12,000 falling victim to the MKO's brutal acts of terror, which tragically also targeted innocent women and children.

Notably, the European Union, Canada, the United States, and Japan had previously designated the MKO as a "terrorist organization."

In 2012, the group was delisted from the U.S. roster of terrorist organizations, signifying Washington's decision to engage with the notorious terrorist group in efforts aimed at undermining the Islamic Republic of Iran. Subsequently, the EU also removed the organization from its list of terrorist entities.

The group, however, has come under growing pressure in the past year, with Western countries deeming it dangerous for their own security as well.

The MKO, which was initially based in Iraq after fleeing Iran, had its headquarters raided by Albanian Police in June. Albanian authorities, who had been hosting the group under a US-brokered deal since 2016, accused the entity of “terror and cyber-attacks” against foreign institutions. They also imposed entry bans against MKO’s main ringleader, Maryam Rajavi.

The terror organization is now reportedly looking to relocate by transferring its members to Canada and Germany.