[Beirut Daily Star: Region] Seven men have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges for raising funds for an Iranian opposition group that the United States has designated a foreign terrorist organization, authorities said.The seven, all of Iranian origin, entered the guilty pleas on Wednesday. They had been indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles in 2001 on charges of providing funds to the Mujahedin-e Khalq, or MEK, the Justice Department said. "With jury selection in the case under way, the seven defendants each pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization and one count of actually providing material support to the group," it said in a statement.
Opponents of Iran's Islamic Republic, the MEK carried out operations against the clerical regime in Tehran from Iraq, under the protection of former president Saddam Hussein.