BRIEF ON IRAN No. 374 Thursday, March 21, 1996 Representative Office of The National Council of Resistance of Iran 3421 M Street NW #1032 Washington, DC 20007 Human Rights in Iran Unimproved, Says U.S., Voice of America, march 20 The U.S. State Department recently issued its annual report on human rights around the world. In Iran, the report says, "The government continues to be a major abuser of human rights. There was no evidence of improvement in 1995. Systematic abuses include extrajudicial killings and summary executions; widespread use of torture and other degrading treatment; disappearances; arbitrary arrest and detention; lack of fair trials; harsh prison conditions; and repression of the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association and religion." In addition to Islam, the state religion, the Iranian constitution recognizes Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism. But followers of these religions are often harassed by government officials. The government prohibits Baha'is from teaching and practicing their faith and maintaining links with co-religionists abroad. Baha'is are also denied access to higher education and are blocked from working for the government. Government censorship remains severe in Iran.... D'Amato Slams Reported German Loan To Iran, Dow Jones News, March 20 Sen. Alfonse D'Amato wrote German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to complain about a reported agreement by Germany's BHF Bank to lend Iranian commercial banks $695 million. In a letter faxed to the German Embassy in Washington, D'Amato said that if the media report is true, ''it's outrageous, considering the fact that at this very moment, Iranian protesters surround your embassy in Tehran. ''These kinds of loans are only extending the life of this murderous regime,'' wrote D'Amato, a New York Republican and chairman of the Senate Banking Committee.... In a statement distributed to the media with the Kohl letter, D'Amato said, ''Any country or individual who wishes to continue trading and supporting a terrorist regime like Iran must choose between trade with the U.S. or trade with Iran.''... Mullahs' Government Bank-rupt, Voice of America, march 19 The Iranian parliament that will be elected by the end of April must come to grips with a grim economic forecast. The deputies will face a 30-billion dollar foreign debt, run-away inflation, soaring prices, and high unemployment.... Shops are filled with imported goods. But many customers cannot afford to buy them any more. Statistics show that most consumer products have doubled in price in a matter of months. Residents spend their time in line to buy subsidized rations of oil and sugar and rice.... A sampling of prices shows most basic foodstuffs have doubled during the past year. Diplomats in Tehran say an import craze in the early 1990's and a drop in oil prices have practically bankrupted the government. Other observers talk about mullah mismanagement... Oil income averages about 15-billion dollars a year. Iran's non-oil exports - mostly carpets and pistachios - dropped this year to about three-billion dollars, one fourth less than a year ago.... Western diplomats also point to an acute shortage of jobs. Half Iran's population of 62-million are younger than 15 and will soon be entering the job market.... CIA Chief Warns of Nuclear Smuggling, United Press International, March 20 CIA Director John Deutch said Wednesday the international community has been "lucky" that large quantities of nuclear bomb- grade material has not been obtained by terrorists or anti- Western regimes.... ... He said Iranian agents unsuccessfully sought to obtain nuclear material from Kazakhstan on several occasions in 1992. "We estimate that Iran is some years away from producing a nuclear weapon, but with extensive foreign assistance or receipt of a significant amount of nuclear materials, Iran could produce a weapon much quicker than if left to its own capabilities," Deutch said. Iran: Maybe We Didn't Mean it, But..., Time, March 25 When Iran's official news agency described the suicide bombings in Israel as "divine retribution," the Tehran government, in its current attempt at moderation, went through public hoops to disavow the sentiments... Just before the murderous last spate of bombings in Israel, Hassan Habibi, Vice President of Iran, visited Syria for what amounted to a pep rally for Middle East terrorism. Gathered at Iran's embassy in Damascus were the leaders of such Palestinian extremist groups as Hizballah, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Hamas. Habibi congratulated the Hamas representatives on the previous bombings in Israel and urged them to keep up the attacks. Habibi promised more financial aid and extra training at bases in Lebanon supported by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard....