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Maryam Rajavi, one of the leaders of the Iranian terrorist organisation, People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran (PMOI), was on a visit to Finland on 11-12 March 2010. Ms Rajavi met with many Finnish politicians, public officials, church leaders, and other public figures.

I wrote several letters to MPs, ministers, and officials urging them to reject any contact with Ms Rajavi and her representatives. Some of the responses I got were less than satisfactory, while others served as evidence of the sane judgment of many of our elected representatives.

Some MPs I wrote to admitted they were not aware of the PMOI's past. Conservative MP Pertti Salolainen, Chairman of the Finnish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, pointed out that the Committee hears many different parties, which does not equal to expressing support for them.

Social-Democratic MP Kimmo Kiljunen was apparently better aware of the situation in Iran and the nature of the PMOI than most MPs, and passed on the information to his party colleagues. It seems Mr Kiljunen's information was the primary reason for SDP's caution in regard to the PMOI.

Conservative MP Kimmo Sasi, Chairman of the Parliament's Constitutional Law Committee, said Finland had to "support all forces for change in Iran that had rejected violence," including the PMOI. He referred to UK courts stating that the PMOI no longer engages in terrorist acts.

It must be noted, however, that the UK courts did not pass judgment on the PMOI's documented crimes, but merely on whether the organisation had committed acts of terrorism since 2001. Mr Sasi's legalistic stance ignores the PMOI's past crimes committed under the very same leadership.

The PMOI conducted terrorist attacks inside Iran, fought alongside the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein against Iran, and took part in Saddam's terror campaigns against Iraq's Kurdish and Shia populations. All this has apparently no baring on Mr Sasi's attitude toward the PMOI.

Pekka Ravi, Chairman of the Conservative parliamentary faction, stressed that the party faction had not lent its support to the PMOI, but that the decision was up to individual MPs. It seems, however, that some MPs are more willing than others to jump on the PMOI's bandwagon.

The website of the PMOI's front organisation, the "National Council of Resistance of Iran" (NCRI), reported that Mr Sasi presented Ms Rajavi with the signatories of more than 100 Finnish MPs in support of "the Iranian people's uprising" and "the rights of Camp Ashraf's residents."

Moreover, Mr Sasi "announced the creation of the Finnish Parliamentary Committee for a Free Iran." The cross-party committee would support Ms Rajavi's so-called Third Option for "democratic change" in Iran and "defend the rights of Camp Ashraf's residents."

Ms Rajavi spoke at a "seminar" in Helsinki's Finlandia Hall. The event was chaired by the Finnish former Conservative MEP Piia-Noora Kauppi, who has a long-standing relationship to Ms Rajavi and the PMOI. Centrist MEP Anneli Jäätteenmäki has also helped Ms Rajavi gain high-level access in Finland.

Playing the "women's lib" card, Ms Rajavi has managed to win the support of a great many female politicians and women's rights activists across Europe, including Finland. Several women's organisations took part in Ms Rajavi's "seminar" in Finlandia Hall as well.

Ms Kauppi's commitment to the PMOI's cause seems unprecedented in Finland. In response to my letter, Ms Kauppi retorted that Tehran's propaganda has permeated even the European Parliament. "I have no reason to think that I have erred in supporting [the PMOI]," she insisted.

Earlier, I posted a translation of my letter to Ms Kauppi. A comment from a pro-Rajavi reader said the people of Iran would always remember the people who have stood by them but also those who worked against them. "Be careful," the commenter warned. Why should I be careful?

Finnish veteran journalist and author of a book on Iran, Liisa Liimatainen, told me of her dismay at how so many politicians both in Finland and in other countries have swallowed the PMOI's propaganda. Lacking any knowledge about Iran, politicians are all too ready to fall for Ms Rajavi.

Ms Liimatainen said the PMOI has done its utmost to discredit the Iranian democratic opposition's Green Movement and its leaders. When Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami visited Rome, the PMOI's cadres sent in from Paris launched a campaign to brainwash Italian media.

Ms Liimatainen pointed out that Iran's Green Movement is the first genuine civic movement inside Iran which has managed -- with the help of new media -- to break the wall of repression and unite Iranians of very different backgrounds under a common cause, without resorting to violence.

Some MPs who have had contacts with the PMOI in the past have since taken distance from the organisation and its representatives. Many do not see that the PMOI could be part of Iran's democratic opposition, given the organisation's nature, which is reminiscent of a religious cult.

Irrespective of one's attitude toward the PMOI and its objectives, the problem of the organisation's adherents trapped in Camp Ashraf in Iraq's Diyala province and elsewhere should be solved while guaranteeing their safety and human rights. The camp's current situation seems untenable.