BRIEF ON IRAN	
	Representative Office of 
	The National Council of Resistance of Iran
	No. 527	
	Monday, October 28, 1996




"Even The Rich Will Not Be Able To Buy 
Anything", Radio Israel, October 25

	"If the increase in the prices of agricultural 
products continues with its current speed, the 
people will not be able to purchase anything," 
according to Iranian regime's minister of 
agriculture.
	Eesa Kalantari added that "the prices have 
reached a level that, soon, even the rich will not be 
able to buy anything either."
	[Iran Zamin News Agency reported on 
Saturday that meanwhile, the Akhbar daily rejected 
an assertion by the Central Bank's governor and 
wrote that should the governors claim about 
decrease of inflation rate be correct, then during 
the last year, the prices should have gone up by 
only 5.5 percent rather than fifty percent. Tehran's 
newspapers reported today that once again the 
price of airline tickets have gone up. The Iranian 
airline is owned by the government. According to 
reports, the ticket prices have gone up by as much 
as 300 percent.]


Revolutionary Guards Train Separatists, Iran 
Zamin News Agency, October 27

	According to French police officials, the 
Basque separatists are being trained in southern 
Lebanon.
	A French police official quoted by Agence 
France Presse said that France has obtained the 
information from a reliable source in Lebanon. The 
revealed details indicate that in September, a 
number of the separatists were receiving military 
training in Beqa Valley in Lebanon. The Iranian 
embassy assisted in transferring them to the 
location.


"A Wolf In Shepherd's Attire," Agence France 
Presse, October 25

	On Friday, Rafsanjani expressed hope for 
an "active role by Europe and France" in the Middle 
East and described the United States as A Wolf in 
shepherd's attire....
	The Iranian president said that the 
Americans "do not have the right to mediate 
[between Arabs and Israelis]...."
	In a reference to the defeat of the Iraqi 
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan in its fighting against 
the Kurdistan Democratic Party in Iraq, Rafsanjani 
implicitly acknowledged that Tehran supports the 
Patriotic Union of Kurdistan....


News Overview

Rushdie's Death Edict Invalid
Dagbladet, October 21

	These days Oslo is being visited by an 
Ayatollah who has declared that Khomeini's edict 
against Salman Rushdie is invalid and Islam can 
be the basis for a democratic society.
	The general perception might be that all 
Muslim clerics want to see Rushdie's head on a 
silver platter for writing "The Satanic Verses."  
Therefore, when in 1993 an Ayatollah who is a high 
ranking master and has studied Islam during 
Khomeini's time, stated that the death edict against 
Rushdie is against both the Islamic law and Islamic 
principles, the attentions were aroused.
	Ayatollah Jalal Ganjei [who joined the 
Iranian Resistance in 1981 and later escaped from 
Iran and is currently the chairman of NCR's 
Committee on Denominations and Freedom of 
Religions] says that: It is not true at all to say that 
all Muslims support Khomeini on the issue of 
Rushdie's death edict.  On the contrary, when 
Khomeini called for an Islamic conference about 
the issue, he could not obtain anything more than 
criticism of Rushdie by any of the attending Islamic 
experts....
	Q: In Your book, "For Rushdie", 
(Norwegian version, 1994), you have written that 
"any true Muslim is duty-bound to assist Rushdie 
and defend his rights"...
	Ayatollah Ganjei: Yes. Because firstly, 
Rushdie is being harassed and suppressed and 
every Muslim should assist him, and secondly, the 
edict is encouraging terrorism, and it is important to 
distinguish between Islam and terrorism. Islam is 
not equal to terrorism; it is the Iranian regime who 
encourages terrorism.
	Q: The Iranian regime also claims that it is 
not possible to rescind an edict.
	Ayatollah Ganjei: This is ridiculous. 
Khomeini himself issued a series of edicts and later 
saw to it not to be implemented....
	Q: In the National Council of Resistance, 
do you believe in representing a moderate Islam?
	Ayatollah Ganjei: [In the NCR] we are 
fighting for a free Iran where there is separation of 
religion and state.... Our victory in Iran would 
create a different understanding of Islam in the 
West.... If the West stops its economic assistance 
to the Iranian regime, enforce an oil embargo and 
not sell advanced technology to the regime, it will 
not take a long time for the rule of terror to 
disintegrate....