BRIEF ON IRAN No. 203 Thursday, July 6, 1995 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Iran Rejects Norway Request to Lift Rushdie Edict, Reuters, July 4 ... Official Tehran Radio said in a commentary that Norway's decision on Monday to withdraw its ambassador from Tehran because Iran refused to denounce the death edict aimed at exerting political pressure on Iran. "It appears that the government of Norway struggles to find an excuse to exert political pressure on Iran," said the radio, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation. "However, the request of the government of Norway for lifting the death sentence on Rushdie is unacceptable. And no political pressure in any way can create any change in this religious decree," it said... In Oslo, Iranians Back Norway, From the Statement by the NCR, July 5 Iranians residing in Norway declared support today for the Norwegian move to downgrade relations and cut economic ties with the mullahs' regime. The gathering was sponsored by the Association of Iranian Women, supporters of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The protesters called on the Government of Norway to impose a comprehensive embargo on the mullahs' regime... Subsequently, in a joint press conference, Mr. Paul Schaffey, Member of Parliament (SV), Mr. Lars Gunnar Lingas, Secretary General of the Humanist Ethical Union and Chair of the Committee to Defend Human Values in Iran, and Mr. Parviz Khazaii, the representative of the NCR in Nordic countries, backed the move by the Government of Norway and encouraged it to go further ahead and impose a full embargo on the mullahs' regime... Czechs Government Denies Premier Will Visit Iran, Reuters, July 5 PRAGUE - The Czech government denied on Wednesday that Prime Minister Vaclav Klaus had accepted an invitation to visit Iran. On Monday Foreign Ministry spokesman Vit Kurfurst told Reuters that Klaus had accepted an invitation from Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, although details of the visit had yet to be decided. But Klaus's spokesman Vadim Petrov denied this was the case. "Mr Velayati invited the prime minister to Iran and the prime minister did not accept it," he told Reuters... Fraud Trial of Brother of Powerful Iranian Resumes, Reuters, July 5 The trial of a brother of one of Iran's most powerful men resumed in Tehran on Wednesday in one of the biggest fraud cases since Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution. The Iranian news agency IRNA reported that Morteza Rafiqdoust appeared in court with five other men accused of defrauding state-run Bank Saderat of 1,230 billion rials ($400 million at the official exchange rate) and "sabotaging in the country's economic system."... Iraq Accuses Iran of Hypocrisy, Reuters, July 5 BAGHDAD - Iraq on Wednesday accused Iran of political hypocrisy by saying it wished to improve relations while at the same time carrying out "vicious and mean deeds." "Iraq ... will see it difficult now or in the future to deal with an opportunist and hypocritical regime... that doesn't care to provide a justification for such a foolish policy," said al- Thawra, the ruling party paper, in a commentary... Iran's Fundamentalist Regime Advocates Intolerance of Christians, The Wall Street Journal, July 5, by Michael Horowitz ... While, historically, Islamic nations have been relatively tolerant of religious minorities, the recent rise of Islamic fundamentalism has caused such tolerance to evaporate... Iran's chief religious leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, recently attacked the West's use of the "pretext of Christianity" as a means of committing "all sorts of injustice" against the Islamic world... In Iran, three of the most prominent evangelical leaders were abducted and assassinated last year. Christian converts are effectively barred from attending services of any kind, and large number of converts and evangelizers have been arrested, imprisoned, tortured and forced to recant their faith. Others more fortunate have merely lost homes, jobs and businesses... Mr. Horowitz is a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute